Chapter 19: First Blood
"Ha—Hahahahaha!"
Q-Taro's laugh was born of pure rage, his fingernails scraping against his cane.
Before he could even calm down, Madarame Baku crossed his legs, a sly grin on his face. "What's wrong, old man? Are you scared? Scared I'll win this gamble too easily?"
"I guess big wagers are just too exciting for people your age. Bad for the heart."
Madarame Baku looked at Akagi Shigeru and Shiraki Kei, then proposed to Kei, "Hey, big guy, for your gramps's health, maybe you should sit this one out?"
It was obvious. To avoid more variables, Baku still didn't want Shiraki Kei and Akagi Shigeru to participate in the gamble.
But Baku wasn't the host.
As long as Q-Taro didn't object, whether they participated or not was up to Kei and Akagi.
"Heh..."
Akagi Shigeru glanced at Shiraki Kei, his eyes seeming to read his mind.
Shiraki Kei wouldn't back out. He had the "commission," but it was also partly "personal will."
Akagi understood that "will." He was the same, after all.
Their kind of person was strange. When faced with a problem, even if there was an easy solution—like avoiding it or backing out—they would always choose the other path.
It wasn't a decision based on profit or objectives. It was just... "I want to do this."
"Fine. A little game sounds good."
Akagi Shigeru readily accepted. Shiraki Kei just shrugged, as if it were the only logical choice.
Madarame Baku sighed in resignation. He turned to Yako, "Hey... Referee? Too many people is a pain. How exactly are we playing this?"
"..."
Yako could tell Baku was pretending not to know him.
Faced with such a rare gathering of clients, Yako wasn't about to spoil the fun. He didn't expose the truth and patiently explained the rules.
"It is too chaotic with this many. In that case, tonight's gamble will be split into 'three parties'."
"Master Kokonoe is one party. The other four will be split into two teams of two."
Yako's voice was deep. "This gamble will be decided by which of your two teams escapes this building first... or if Master Kokonoe succeeds in stopping both teams from escaping!"
"One minute after the four of you leave this room, the game will officially begin. Beyond that, there are no time limits!"
"The stakes: Master Kokonoe's Kakerou membership, thirty million yen in cash, and the ownership of the Kokonoe Building."
"And now—"
Yako, ever the gentleman, smiled and gestured.
"The game... begins!"
...
...
The Kokonoe Building had eight floors and was clearly long-abandoned, but every floor had some level of furnishing. The exterior glass was intact, and it even had an elevator.
Just moments ago, they had all taken that elevator to the fifth floor—Q-Taro's office.
But when Yako announced the start of the game and they left Q-Taro's office, they found the elevator was dead. The buttons wouldn't even light up.
"Huh? This is getting weirder and weirder."
Kaji Takaomi mashed the button, frowning. "That old man bet all that money, but we just have to... leave the building? What are we betting?"
After several failed attempts, Kaji Takaomi gave up.
"The elevator was working when we came up! It's like the power was cut. Looks like we have to take the stairs..."
Fortunately, the stairwell was easy to find, right next to the elevator.
By this point, Shiraki Kei, Akagi Shigeru, and Madarame Baku—as if they had expected the elevator to be dead—were already at the fifth-floor landing.
Kaji Takaomi craned his neck. The stairs leading up were pitch-black, clearly disused. The stairs leading down had a faint light, as if the fourth floor was lit.
Seeing the other three hadn't moved, Madarame Baku called out, "Alright, let's get going. Down we go."
"..."
Neither Shiraki Kei nor Akagi Shigeru moved.
Kaji Takaomi was confused. The two teams were competing, right? They should be racing. But none of the three seemed to be in a hurry.
"Baku-san, I'm coming! Man, it's dark up there..."
Kaji Takaomi jogged over, but in the mottled light, he tripped on some debris and pitched forward... toward the downward stairs.
"Waah!" Kaji Takaomi yelped.
...
...
Back in the office.
The one-minute head start was almost over, but Q-Taro wasn't worried. He was meditating, eyes closed.
Yako Hikoichi couldn't help but remind him, "Is this truly wise, Master Kokonoe? You aren't planning to send your man after them?"
"...Yako-san, this must be your first time at one of my games. No wonder you're unaware." Q-Taro smiled. "This game is all about 'sequence.' It's always played this way."
As he spoke, Q-Taro's smile began to twist, his excitement unconcealed.
His "helper" wasn't just the masked man. He had already set traps all over the building.
If they foolishly saw the light and ran downstairs, they were in for a... "bloody" lesson.
...
...
Drip, drip, drip...
Bright red drops of blood welled from a cut, ran down his cheek and the tip of his nose, and dripped onto the stairs.
It was Kaji Takaomi's blood.
He was frozen, only half a foot on the landing, his whole body pitched forward.
If Shiraki Kei hadn't moved like lightning, grabbing the back of Kaji Takaomi's neck and yanking him back, he would have tumbled all the way down.
...No. It would have been much worse.
Because strung across the stairs below were several extremely thin, razor-sharp steel wires, hidden in the patchy light, almost invisible from a distance.
The skin on Kaji Takaomi's face had already been sliced open.
If he had fallen... his own body weight would have driven him into the wire trap, and he would have been sliced into pieces.
"Ah..."
In a state of pure shock, he couldn't even scream.
Shiraki Kei's arm tensed, hauling Kaji Takaomi back to safety.
Kaji Takaomi fell on his backside, the sting from his face finally registering. His entire body went limp.
"What... What is this..."
Kaji Takaomi wasn't an idiot. He wasn't that naive.
The pile of cash. The violent masked man. The "missing" Nogi Group representative. Q-Taro's sudden shift in attitude...
Kaji Takaomi knew this gamble wasn't a joke.
His 'cluelessness' had just been a desperate "fantasy," a hope that this was all just a crazy urban legend, just a lonely old man looking for playmates.
But the sting on his face... that pain... yanked him back to reality.
This gamble... was a death game.
And in this game, the stake... was their lives.
"..."
In a daze, Kaji Takaomi heard Baku-san's voice, which calmed him slightly.
"It stinks down there. Blood and... rot."
"Ah, thanks. You saved Kaji's life. I'm not strong enough to have pulled him back."
Madarame Baku thanked Shiraki Kei, then asked, "Speaking of, Kei-kun, and Akagi-san... how did you know it was dangerous down there?"
"It wasns't anything special."
Akagi Shigeru took a drag from his cigarette. "If it were that easy to go down, it wouldn't be a gamble, would it?"
That alien way of thinking made Madarame Baku look at him again.
As for Shiraki Kei, he gave an even more mystical answer. "A killing aura."
Madarame Baku: "..."
Madarame Baku: "Haha..."
Baku-san gave a dry laugh. Kaji Takaomi, on the other hand, couldn't even manage that.
The one-minute head start was almost up. That terrifying masked man was about to come after them. People were going to die. And these three were just... casually chatting?
What is wrong with these guys?! What kind of world do they live in?!
"In any case, let's move. We go up."
Shiraki Kei yanked Kaji Takaomi to his feet, pointed up, and scanned the surroundings. "There's still a way up, isn't there? Let's go. Head for the roof. Get some fresh air."