Mimata Chieri
Mimata Chieri nodded after listening to my explanation. It didn’t feel like she was evaluating whether my plan was good or bad—she simply accepted it as it was and nodded. She really did give off the impression of a seasoned agent who was used to receiving missions. Since Mimata Chieri was the type who received orders rather than created them, she was probably quite familiar with this kind of briefing.
“I’ve laid out the big picture, but I don’t know the field well. Could you handle the detailed tactics, Senior?”
Mimata Chieri nodded readily at my request. She scribbled something on the whiteboard inside the abandoned office building where we had gathered, thought for a moment, and then spoke.
“First, we’ll assign one of the Mumentai to tail Tochimura Kaminojo. Not close surveillance that risks detection—just tracking the movement of his vehicle. The other Mumentai will wait at the villa where Sawasu Amika is staying. That way, we can perfectly map out the movements we need.”
Since we were only going to kill one person, we didn’t need overwhelming firepower. Mimata Chieri’s plan focused on splitting the Mumentai to gather as much information on the target’s route as possible.
“However, there’s one thing you should keep in mind. This mission carries a certain level of risk, Junior.”
“We’re only killing one guy, though?”
I had been about to say we should proceed as planned, but Mimata Chieri insisted on pointing out the potential dangers. If everything went according to the plan, there shouldn’t be any risk at all. Tochimura Kaminojo was the type to come up with underhanded schemes, but according to the documents, he had zero personal combat ability. Even in the photos, he looked like a typical skinny, high-strung salaryman with no signs of martial arts training.
“Since Tochimura Kaminojo was the one who planned the attack you suffered, that makes him a strategist, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“Then he must know that in the big and small conflicts between the Minamoto and Taira groups, if one side takes a hit, the other side always retaliates. Naturally, there’s a high chance that Tochimura Kaminojo is aware he could become a target of an attack.”
Ah. She was right. No matter how well we prepared a surprise attack, if Tochimura Kaminojo anticipated it and prepared countermeasures, we could end up being the ones who got hit instead. Mimata Chieri’s point was valid. If we stuck with the complacent plan we had just made, even if I might be fine, the others could suffer serious injuries.
“If Tochimura Kaminojo decides to counterattack, how many troops do you think he’ll prepare?”
“Since there are six of us… if he predicts our numbers, I’d say he’ll probably prepare ten to fifteen people.”
Hmm… We’d be outnumbered, and it wasn’t like I could ask Taira Danjo for additional forces. If I requested more troops in a situation that he would likely see as a test, he would definitely fail me. Still, fifteen didn’t seem completely impossible for me to handle… Especially since I had been doing solo image training as self-reflection after failing to respond properly during the recent shooting incident.
“How many can you take in a frontal fight, Senior?”
“Me? My style is guerrilla tactics, so I don’t usually fight head-on. But if I have all my equipment and the location is in my favor, I should be able to handle a fair number.”
Mimata Chieri seemed to have considerable combat ability as well. That meant we would need to build a plan around the four of us—me, Mimata Chieri, and the two Mumentai not assigned to reconnaissance—to overcome the enemy. What I had initially thought would be an easy operation suddenly became much more complicated once I considered the high probability of a prepared counterattack.
“Then let’s plan the ambush assuming the worst case—fifteen enemy troops.”
“Understood.”
We were about to start working out the finer details when Mimata Chieri’s lips twitched like she wanted to say something.
“What is it?”
“I was thinking… maybe we should eat first and then make the plan? Hehe.”
When I checked the time, it was already ten minutes before noon—lunchtime. I had thought her obsession with food was just part of her character, but it turned out she was genuinely serious about eating. After learning her true identity, I had assumed her whining about not being able to eat two different menus if she couldn’t have lunch with me was just an act, but she simply loved food.
“For lunch…”
If we took the four Mumentai wearing those cyberpunk helmets, we would definitely stand out… Should we order takeout?
“Don’t worry about the Mumentai. Hey~ Mumentai team! Go eat and meet back here in one hour and thirty minutes~!”
The four Mumentai nodded at Mimata Chieri’s words, climbed into the van they had arrived in, and disappeared somewhere. If we didn’t have to feed them, that made things easier for us.
“Shall we head out too?”
“Yes~!”
We stepped outside. The place we had been using was an empty commercial building owned by a Taira Group subsidiary, waiting to be demolished for reconstruction. Since it was in central Tokyo and close to both the tower mansion where Tochimura Kaminojo currently lived and Minamoto Bussan, it was an excellent location. And because it was in the heart of Tokyo, there were plenty of restaurants nearby, making it perfect for grabbing a meal.
“I spotted a place while coming here!”
Mimata Chieri grabbed my sleeve and led me toward a restaurant. It specialized in gyukatsu, and even though we arrived at 11:56, there were already five people waiting. It seemed to be a popular spot. Once noon passed and office workers poured out for lunch, the line behind us grew rapidly. By the time we were seated, fifteen groups were already queued up behind us.
“If you had waited a little longer before suggesting we eat, Senior, we would’ve been stuck waiting forever.”
“Right? That was lucky, hehe!”
While chatting, our turn finally came and we entered the restaurant. Since it was a gyukatsu place, we both ordered the gyukatsu set (the menu only had that one item anyway). I added four extra pieces of gyukatsu to mine.
“It’s a shame they only serve the gyukatsu set here. We can’t order different menus and share like we usually do.”
“Next time let’s go somewhere with more options.”
“Hehe, sounds good. Enjoy your meal, Junior!”
We ate lunch while promising to have our next meal together. As expected from a place with such a long line, the gyukatsu was excellent. However, between the two pieces that came with the set and the four extra I ordered, I ended up eating six pieces total. It was so rich that I was desperately craving kimchi by the end of the meal.
First, we confirmed Sawasu Amika’s schedule. It turned out the drama she had been filming had just wrapped up the day before yesterday, so she was taking a short break. Moreover, her manager had tipped us off that she would be heading to the villa today. We immediately dispatched a Mumentai to the villa.
However, the Mumentai monitoring Tochimura Kaminojo reported that he didn’t seem to have any intention of going to the villa in Nikko today. Normally he would head straight there as soon as he left work at six, but it was already well past that time.
So was Sawasu Amika just going there for a simple getaway today? Still, just in case, I instructed the Mumentai to keep a close watch on the villa. Meanwhile, Mimata Chieri, one Mumentai, and I waited at the empty shopping center we were using as our base. The location of the shopping center was actually closer to Nikko than either Minamoto Bussan headquarters or Tochimura Kaminojo’s tower mansion, so if he started moving, we could head out immediately and arrive first to set up an ambush.
We took turns resting while receiving reports from the Mumentai monitoring the villa and the vehicle. Then, suddenly around nine at night, a report came in from the one watching Sawasu Amika’s villa.
> Vehicle entering the villa.
Even a taciturn Mumentai could manage the bare minimum of words, it seemed. Up until now he had only sent messages saying “No abnormalities,” but now he was actually speaking. The live feed from the camera we had installed was being transmitted to the laptop in real time. A car that appeared to be Sawasu Amika’s was pulling up to the villa, accompanied by a black foreign luxury vehicle. As soon as a man stepped out, the Mumentai had the sense to zoom in. Very capable.
“Huh?”
The man who got out of the car was not Tochimura Kaminojo, Sawasu Amika’s affair partner. It was Murakata Keiji, the actor whose stock was currently rising after he had harassed Aris’s friend Hanasaka Sayaka at TERT and gotten dragged away by security. We didn’t exactly have a good relationship, but seeing him after so long somehow felt oddly welcoming.
The moment Murakata Keiji stepped out, Sawasu Amika rushed over, embraced him, and planted a deep kiss on his lips. Hmm… This was a bit surprising. If the Taira Group’s information wasn’t wrong, Sawasu Amika was definitely dating Tochimura Kaminojo. Since he had even bought her the villa, their relationship must have been somewhat serious. It was still an affair, though. But seeing her kiss Murakata Keiji like that, it was clear their relationship wasn’t casual either. So she was seeing both of them? That’s impressive, Sawasu Amika…!
Mimata Chieri seemed shocked too. She stared at the screen beside me and muttered, “Sugoi…!” Soon the two of them entered the villa, and only one room lit up—presumably where they would be getting down to business.
“Well, today’s a bust…! Let’s go back to taking turns resting like before.”
Since Sawasu Amika was already with another man, there was no way Tochimura Kaminojo would show up at the villa tonight. They had probably arranged to meet tomorrow or the day after. It looked like Sawasu Amika had met her other lover, Murakata Keiji, before seeing Tochimura Kaminojo…
> Tochimura Kaminojo is moving.
He was probably just heading home after work. Even when the Mumentai’s report came in, we remained indifferent. But the next update instantly made the situation far more interesting.
> Heading toward Nikko. You should depart immediately. I will follow from behind separately.
“Let’s go! Junior!”
Mimata Chieri began urging me with the expression of someone eagerly waiting for the next episode of a trashy drama. Yeah, there was no way we could miss a situation this entertaining. We prepared at incredible speed and jumped into the vehicle we had prepared in advance. Even the Mumentai seemed to move one and a half times faster than usual. This guy… so you were curious too, huh.
The Mumentai outfit. It was quite an eye-catching fashion choice.
In truth, the Mumentai specialized in night raids. During daytime operations inside the city, they used different units.