The Fight with Akai Shuichi
Evening. A hotel room in Beika City.
Akai Shuichi idly prodded at the ice in his glass with one hand while holding his phone in the other, speaking with his superior on the other end of the line.
"You're saying the investigation into the drug has made progress?"
"Mm. In several recent operations, our people noticed that when core members of the Black Organization in Japan get injured, they sometimes drink a kind of potion," James Black said. "Once, we were on the verge of capturing one of them alive, but after he drank the stuff, his wounds seemed to heal on the spot. Then he appeared to take something like one of those stamina-boosting tonics that have been circulating on the black market lately — suddenly all that post-injury weakness was gone. He stalled our men for a few minutes and slipped right out of the encirclement."
James paused to gauge Akai's reaction. When the line stayed silent, he pressed on. "Later, we found that even among the Organization's core members, only a handful possess this potion. Judy risked going back inside to search while 'Shinichi Tomizawa' was away from home, and managed to get her hands on a few samples. We sent them in for testing, but nothing unusual turned up chemically. Animal trials, however, revealed that it accelerates wound healing and boosts vitality... It's honestly nothing short of a miracle drug. That's why the priority now is to find out who exactly is supplying the Black Organization with it. Something that could be strengthening the Organization's people — if we can help it, we'd rather it didn't stay in their hands."
"So your meaning is — this isn't something the Organization developed themselves, but something an outside party is trading to them?"
James Black confirmed it. "That's right. We found that this potion simply appeared in the hands of the Organization's members out of nowhere — no development curve at all. What they got was already a finished product, flawless in effect, with zero side effects. That's clearly impossible. Someone must have handed it over to the Black Organization."
Akai took a sip of the gin in his glass and asked, "Then what's the progress you mentioned at the start?"
Only then did James Black reveal the real reason for today's call. "We've learned that Bourbon — the codenamed member you told us about before — recently visited a hotel to meet with someone. According to the hotel's records, the person he was meeting was an aristocrat from Nation H, here traveling in Japan. Our investigation revealed that this aristocrat is the adopted son of House Ragvindr of Nation H. The Organization's activity in Nation H has been ramping up lately, apparently with House Ragvindr's assistance. And the timing of this man's arrival in Japan lines up closely with when the potion first appeared. So we suspect this nobleman from House Ragvindr may well be connected to the potion — at the very least, he's someone who knows something."
"But he may have recently noticed the surveillance we've posted near him, because he hasn't stepped out of his hotel since. We can barely gather any information now. That's why we'd like you to find a way to get close to him, Akai, and see whether you can dig up any leads."
Akai listened to his superior's report, mulling it over for a moment before draining the rest of his glass. "No problem. Send me the address of where this man is staying, and I'll find an opening—"
The words cut off abruptly. Akai had just caught an unusual sound from outside the room — a stranger had entered his hotel room!
"Hey, Akai? What's wrong? Did something just happen?"
James Black, hearing Akai's voice stop mid-sentence, realized something unexpected was unfolding and anxiously pressed for details.
"Someone's come into my room. I'll call you back." Akai got the words out in a rush and hung up.
He drew the gun from the drawer, flipped off the safety, and eased his footsteps toward the door as quietly as he could, tilting his ear to listen for any movement from the living room beyond.
But there was nothing. Not a single sound — as if the noise he'd heard had been pure imagination.
Akai refused to lower his guard. He waited in silence a while longer, ready to throw the door open suddenly and sweep the living room with his eyes, checking for anything suspicious.
Tsee—! The instant Akai flung the door open and leveled his pistol, an arrow packed with force slammed into the gun in his hand. His grip gave out, the weapon tore free, and it clattered away across the floor, knocked loose by the strike.
Akai reacted instantly, dodging the volley of arrows that followed, then spun to look back — and there stood a tall, slender young man, drawing on him with a bow of bizarre design.
The man had short orange hair and blue eyes, dressed in grey clothes with a red scarf, some strange trinket fastened to his belt.
Akai was certain he had never laid eyes on him before. A man this distinctive — one glance, and you'd never forget him.
Akai was just about to demand why the man had attacked him out of nowhere — surely some kind of mistake? — when the stranger did something to the bow in his hands, and it transformed into a pair of blades. Then the man charged straight at him, twin swords raised, giving him no chance to say a single word.
Caught off guard, Akai could only answer with Jeet Kune Do.
He's fast!
Once the fight truly began, Akai realized he might well be outmatched.
This man was practically a seasoned warrior — blindingly fast, airtight in defense, no wasted motion anywhere, reacting instantly to whatever surprises the fight threw at him.
Akai bent sharply backward, letting the man's blade slice past before his eyes, and used the opening to put distance between them.
Hss— Akai touched the cut on his face. He hadn't dodged cleanly after all. By now, beyond that gash, his body was already covered in wounds of every size.
Once the two of them had separated, Akai saw that the man across from him showed no intention of pressing his advantage, and he couldn't help but breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
Taking the chance, Akai spoke up. "Friend, mind if I ask — what exactly did I do to you, that you'd come bursting in out of nowhere to beat me down?"
During the fight just now, he had keenly noticed that although the man fought without a shred of mercy, he showed no intent to actually take his life. Otherwise, Akai would never have been able to hold out this long.