Chapter 24
Living up to his title as the conscience of the port mafia, Nakahara Chuuya was willing to admit defeat and survived the seven days with amazing perseverance.
Obviously, no one would notice if we were chatting via text messages...Kono Seira felt a little amused and sent someone to send the report to Chuuya's office.
He found that Chuuya's reaction was particularly big when he showed up. The auburn-haired boy was having a hard time enduring the consequences of losing the game. He had no paper or pen, so he could only rely on the window of his mind and stumbling gestures to convey his thoughts - mixed with a few cordial greetings to Dazai Osamu.
Looking at Chuuya's clumsy movements due to his lack of experience and his eyes that were particularly bright due to his excessive seriousness, Kono Seira often lost his concentration in the middle of listening.
There's nothing I can do, because Chuuya is so adorable like this - afterward he apologized with an attitude of humbly admitting his mistakes but not wanting to repent.
Nakahara Chuuya accepted the apology gift of snow-skin strawberry daifuku, his ears turned red. As there were other people in the corridor around him, he had to quicken his pace back to the office and sent someone to deliver a luxurious afternoon tea set during the afternoon tea break.
To be honest, he felt that there was something else mixed in with the harmonious and loving card game between Chuuya and Dazai, but no one mentioned it, and it was not convenient for Kono Seira to ask about it.
The communication at work over the next few days was only possible thanks to the middleman. Fortunately, the time was not long, otherwise he would really have to consider the feasibility of learning sign language.
After the cooperation with Changmu Group was completed, the Port Mafia was jubilant. The subordinates received salary subsidies and extended paid vacations, and the senior executives were very satisfied with the immediate benefits and new business. According to gossip, the leader Mori Owl Wai Xuanban has increased the time he takes Alice out for shopping.
Taking advantage of the holiday, Gongye Shengliang, who was rolling on the fluffy carpet in his new apartment, did some calculations and found that he had been in the Port Mafia for more than half a year.
The mission progress has reached 25% in just half a year. There is really a bright future ahead!
...Although he still had no idea where this progress came from.
[You don’t need to know,] The light ball saw through it but didn’t say anything, and sighed faintly, [Just keep the status quo, contractor.]
Kono Seiryoshi: "...You make me look stupid."
After pondering for half the night, Gongye Shengliang attributed the fact that he took his career too seriously and successfully surpassed others. Promotion, salary increase, power and throne seizure are just around the corner!
——Thinking this way, he felt more motivated when he went to work the next day.
"Good morning, Mr. Oda." Kono Seira, who arrived at the office early, greeted Oda Sakunosuke who arrived on time. The other party seemed to have not expected to meet him so early, and his eyes widened slightly for a moment.
"Thank you for taking care of me these few days while I was away." Kono Seira looked at the succulents on the table and found that they were growing better than when he was taking care of them. Thinking of this, he smiled a little more. "If that winter beauty could talk, it would definitely like Mr. Oda very much."
Oda Sakunosuke thought carefully about what he said, "Then it should like you the most."
"Oh, is that so?"
Gongye Shengliang leaned down and looked at the succulent plant at eye level, and pointed at the tender green leaves with his fingers.
After a while of making up stories, Kono Seira heard Oda Sakunosuke's voice again: "I prepare cat snacks every day, but the teacher hasn't come in the past few days."
"Teacher?" Gong Ye Shengliang was stunned for a moment, "Is it the calico cat?"
"Well, it's also a regular at the bar we often go to. Dazai calls it teacher."
I mentioned this before when we were chatting. Oda Sakunosuke, Dazai Osamu and Sakaguchi Ango were good friends who often drank together. When the three of them met in a bar, they would drink and chat about unimportant daily things.
Oda Sakunosuke took out the documents from the bookcase and walked back to his office. His eyes fell on the rabbit doll next to Kono Seiryo's desk.
After they parted that day, he took the dolls home and wanted to give one to each of the children, but the five little heads put together to discuss for a while, and finally the only girl, Saki, held the last doll and handed it to him like a treasure.
"I'm leaving this little Ultraman bunny to Odasaku. Please take good care of it!"
Oda Sakunosuke had no choice but to accept it. After a little thought, he hung the doll on the zipper of his briefcase.
When he went to Lupin with his backpack that night, he received surprised looks from Ango Sakaguchi and Osamu Dazai: "Does Odasaku (Mr.) like such cute furry dolls?"
Oda Sakunosuke ordered a glass of Gin Tonic and told the two the whole story without thinking too much.
The warm orange light made the transparent cocktails look golden. Oda Sakunosuke thanked the boss and put the wine aside. "I didn't have any expectations, but Kimino asked me to try it."
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but Oda Sakunosuke noticed from the corner of his eye that the smile on Dazai Osamu's face seemed to fade after he said a certain name.
"That is, the dolls that should have been sold out are now in stock in the warehouse, which is good."
Dazai Osamu's tone of voice was a little strange compared to before. Oda Sakunosuke wanted to ask him something, but he cleverly changed the subject.
A few days later, Dazai and Kono went on a business trip to Tokyo. If he hadn't suddenly remembered it today, Oda Sakunosuke would have almost forgotten about it.
Doll...what's the problem?
Oda Sakunosuke stared at the little gray rabbit on the briefcase and frowned unconsciously.
Until a clear voice with a hint of laughter called him back to his senses: "Mr. Oda, we have a new mission."
Oda Sakunosuke looked up and saw the gray-haired boy waved at him with his eyes bent: "I'll leave it to you this time too."
"...Okay." His heart moved slightly, he suppressed his slight doubts and took the document from the young man.
--
The Zhonghui is an organization that has been subordinate to the port mafia since the previous generation was still in office. Its main business is casinos. Its power is deeply rooted in the Yokohama nightlife. Almost all casinos, big and small, that can be seen in Yokohama City are related to the Zhonghui.
It is also the target of Kono Seiyoshi's inspection mission this time.
"The leader has actually decided to take action against Zhonghui?" When handing over the task, Sakaguchi Ango was shocked when he heard the news and murmured, "I thought it would take at least a few more years."
Upon hearing this, Gongye Shengliang realized that there was something he didn't understand. He looked around quietly and spoke in a lower voice, "Is there any problem?"
"I learned a little about it before because of work needs." Sakaguchi Ango pushed his glasses and said cautiously, "Conservatively estimated, the amount of money handed over by the arbitration association every year reaches a quarter of the total income of the port mafia. It can be said that two buildings are operated by the arbitration association." He pointed at his feet suggestively with his eyes.
"Since Mr. Mori became the leader, the Zhonghui has been making many small moves, but the leader ordered them to be ignored. There was no other way. After all, the Port Mafia was constantly worried about internal and external troubles at the time and was indeed short of money."
In fact, they are very short of money now. The salaries of members, purchasing intelligence, smuggling weapons and other scarce materials from abroad, and managing personal connections in the political and business circles... If you want to run such a big mafia, you have to spend money everywhere.
At this point, Sakaguchi Ango suddenly remembered something and looked at Kono Seiryoshi thoughtfully: "So, the leader's decision to inspect the meeting may have something to do with you."
Gongye Shengliang let out a "hiss" and he also understood.
The money paid at the meeting is an indispensable part of the port mafia, and it cannot be easily moved. Otherwise, with Mori Ogai's character, he would not keep the poison seedlings for so long. And what suddenly gave Mori Ogai confidence was the billions of gold found in the cave and the huge investment of Changmu Group.
It just so happened that he was directly involved in both of these things, and it seemed that there was indeed a hint of bad fate between them.
"Let me take a look... um, should I inspect the accounts and the state of operations?"
Sakaguchi Ango patted his shoulder comfortingly: "Although there are minor frictions, the relationship between the Zhonghui and the Port Mafia has always been harmonious on the surface. The leader probably just wants to give them a warning this time."
Gong Ye Shengliang accepted the comfort, but he was not relieved. He always felt that Mori Ogai's style of doing things would never be so gentle. However, the content of the mission book was indeed very brief, and there was not much room for him to play. He could only take it one step at a time.
The next day, a low-key black nanny car carrying Kono Seira and Oda Sakunosuke stopped outside Leibo Street.
It is said that after the explosion that year, the Zhonghui chose this place as its headquarters. The slums were built along the terrain of Leibo, and the mixed crowd made it easier to hide and do other business.
Their inspection was a surprise operation, and in order not to attract attention, all the subordinates accompanying them were waiting in the car outside the street. Kono Seira and Oda Sakunosuke walked all the way over, carrying not only their self-defense guns, but also a special commission to prove their identity - the Silver Letter.
I heard that the Silver Handwritten Order could mobilize the entire Port Mafia, including all the cadres, so it was a bit of a waste of talent to just use it as a certificate. When Kono Seiryoshi got it, he was still secretly thinking about whether he could mobilize the leader to work for him.
...But forget it. I always feel that Sen Ou Wai will hold a grudge.
Compared with the branch casinos in the bustling city of Yokohama, the appearance of the headquarters of the brokerage is not magnificent. It can be said that it is so simple that it does not look like a casino that spends a lot of money.
It blends perfectly into the slums behind it, right down to the environment inside.
When Kono Seiyoshi walked in, even though the air had been treated by a high-power purification system, the smell of cigarette smoke that had been lingering for years still penetrated his nostrils.
He covered his nose calmly.
The front desk only collected a symbolic deposit and did not conduct a body search on them - it makes sense that in a slum like Leibo Street where no one is allowed to rule, people who have extra money to gamble would at least have some self-defense items on them.
He and Oda Sakunosuke were wearing ordinary black suits, which did not attract attention in the dim light. Therefore, except for the person who was closest to them when they first came in and looked at them with bold and wanton eyes, the gamblers who were having fun inside did not notice them.
Oda Sakunosuke frowned slightly and leaned sideways to block most of Kono Seira's sight.
They didn't plan to get straight to the point, so Kono Seira exchanged some chips and prepared to join the game. Oda Sakunosuke understood and pretended to pay close attention to the situation at the table.
While placing the bet, Gongye Shengliang's experience when he first came to this world flashed through his mind. At that time, he was unfamiliar with the place and had to worry about being robbed even if he won a little money in the casino.
It has been so long since those pioneering days, and he felt a little sad. Who could have imagined that he would work for the port mafia in the future?
Gongye Shengliang's luck today was neither good nor bad, with some wins and some losses, but he did hear a lot of gossip from the people around him.
"Hey, have you heard that a few days ago a gang was attacked in Tokyo?"
"Play your cards right now - Yokohama isn't a mess enough, why bother with Tokyo?"
"Yokohama has been quite peaceful lately... I heard from the police that it was done by foreigners, and it's hard to control..."
Speaking of foreigners, the complaints around here have become louder. People who live in port cities always have such complaints.
Kono Seiryoshi threw a card as if nothing had happened.
By putting the blame on foreign forces, neither the government nor the conglomerates can investigate further. It has to be said that Dazai Osamu's move of diverting trouble to foreign powers was very clever, and it must have taken a lot of thought.
The round was over, he brushed off the dust on his coat, and was about to go to the next project to collect some more intelligence - a man in a dark suit stopped him in the corner with a smile.
"It's too noisy here, can you two talk for a moment?"
Kono Seira's face was cold, and his hand hidden under his coat gently pressed Oda Sakunosuke's suddenly tensed arm. He had been wearing this expression since he stepped into this place, and it didn't seem abrupt when he rejected the man's inexplicable invitation: "No need, may I ask who you are?"
"I'm Zhuikawa, the person in charge here." The man didn't mind his cold attitude and still smiled, "You two are from the black building, right?" He didn't directly say the name of the port mafia, but used a nickname that only the two parties in the conversation could understand.
"I've heard a lot about you," he continued, "Let's go upstairs and talk."