But the girl tossed the boss’s eye into the air and grabbed the men’s gun hands in one hand each, and forced them to point their guns at each other’s legs.
Her fluid movements threw the men off-balance. They pulled the trigger before they realized what was happening.
Two gunshots. The men shot red holes into one another’s kneecaps.
“AGH!” “GAH!”
The men screamed in unison. Then they felt impacts on their faces.
That was when the eyeball finally fell back down.
The girl—Lilei Ei—caught the falling eye, then tossed it back into the air along with her two new eyeballs as though juggling them.
“I do not have. Do not have pipe.”
The men howled in agony. She spoke mechanically.
“I can not control. I will not control.”
She had killed her emotions. But her lips were twisted into a faint smile.
“He kill Fei. He your friend?”
“?!”
It was an unfamiliar name.
Naturally, the men had no idea who Lilei was talking about.
The men who had jokingly called themselves ‘champions of justice’ did not know that, several days ago, a man who truly believed himself to be a champion of justice had killed the girl.
Even more ironic was the fact that this man’s body had happened to fall next to those of the goons, and was taken care of by the Western District as one of the false champions of justice.
“Fei smile in dream. Now Fei smile. But I angry. You are not adorable.”
But Lilei no longer cared if these men were connected to Fei’s killer.
She simply had to follow her brother’s orders to act as bait before joining forces with Kugi and destroying the group.
But when she sensed something similar about these people and the nightmares in her dreams, she allowed herself to make things slightly personal. And a second later, six eyeballs in total were in the air.
It signaled eternal darkness for three people.
“GAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”
The screams of the boss and his men blended into one homogenous noise. Lilei slowly handed down their verdict.
“You die. You die slowly.”
Several minutes later. A medical facility in the Eastern District.
When the time came, the Guard Team gathered around Gitarin’s computer with bated breath.
On the screen, they saw men lying on the floor.
“Huh? Where’s the kid?” Zhang wondered, not sure if he should be relieved or not.
Gitarin seemed to have understood the situation.
“Aha. It looks like the Western District’s taken care of this one.”
Soon, a girl in a qipao entered the screen with a lead pipe in hand.
The flowers in her hair tipped off the Guard Team as to her identity.
The girl slowly raised her pipe, her gaze trained on the fallen men—
The Guard Team watched the grisly scene with disinterest for some time. Finally, Carlos broke the silence.
“So were these sorry shits after Inui because he had the website address and the login info?”
Gitarin smirked.
“Nah, they wouldn’t go that far for something that petty.”
“So what did he have?”
“Inui managed to get the list of all the rich and powerful folks who enjoyed these shows, along with all the transaction records proving their involvement.”
Gitarin then opened up a certain file on the computer.
“Is this the list?” Asked Zhang. Gitarin nodded.
“It is. The people on this list are probably wetting their pants watching the stream. Since they helped fund the show, they can’t just claim they stumbled onto the stream by coincidence. I’m thinking I should start calling them tonight to see how they’d react to us having their dirty secret. We can put up this info online to ruin them later. I can’t wait to see how badly they react to this!”
“Classy, boss. Not that I sympathize with these sick fucks.”
“We’re not champions of justice, so we might as well have fun like the villains we are,” Gitarin chortled, forgetting for the moment that he was still covered in bandages. “To be honest, I was kinda hesitant when Inui offered to sell us this info for a fortune. But then he said he’d give it to me for free if I agreed to give half the list to the Western District. Wouldn’t you know it? I think our mad dog’s trying to keep the balance of power in check in his own way.”
Gitarin complimented Inui in one of the few ways he could and scanned the list of 1,500 names.
“You reap what you sow. But I do feel a little bad for the people on the other half of the list. Our sadistic tattooed friend in the West is probably going to extort them for as long as they live.”
Somewhere in the Western District.
“Munch… So this is the info Inui sent us for free…munch. It’s only half the list, but it’s still got 1,500 names. There are more than a few famous people here. I guess that’s because the group got in contact with famous people mostly. …Munch.”
Taifei munched on a Chinese meatball and watched Lilei’s macabre dance on the screen as he handed Lihuang a pile of documents.
Lihuang sighed in disbelief.
“…It almost disturbs me to watch you gorging on food while watching something like this.”
“I don’t want to hear that from a man who stinks of blood all-year round. Munch…it doesn’t help my appetite, but I’m the one who gave Lilei these orders—I shouldn’t look away.”
It was an admirable sentiment, but the meatball in his hand negated much of his dignity. Lihuang half-listened to Taifei and scanned the list.
“We’ll use this list to advance our business even further. Now the organization will grow stronger than ever before.”
“That list alone was enough to pass off Kugi as a weapons dealer; it’s definitely powerful. Hayato Inui ended up stealing a lot of his work, but oh well. …Man, these meatballs are good even when they get cold. I’d better stock up.”
Taifei downed one meatball after another, but Lihuang ignored him and smiled with the list in hand.
“I almost pity the souls on the Eastern District’s half of this list. Gitarin the sick deviant will play them like puppets for as long as they live.”
Several minutes earlier. The warehouse district on the mainland.
Lilei dragged the groaning men into the warehouse. The man who had been in the driver’s seat of the truck hurried after her, grabbing her lead pipe from the back.
He glanced at Kugi, who silently ordered him to go with Lilei. The man disappeared inside without a second thought.
Two dogs stared each other down by the warehouse, the silence broken only by the crashing waves.
“Now what?” Naturally, Inui spoke first. “How many shots d’you have left? One in your left hand, if my math is right.”
Kugi did not respond. He raised his left hand.
“You too, right? You have one shot left.”
“We’ve got a math genius here, folks! But that’s only if I had a full magazine when I got here.”
“…”
“…Wanna give it a shot?”
Inui copied Kugi and raised his right hand.
So smooth was the motion that it was like looking at a mirror.
“So we’re holding each other at gunpoint again.”
Inui chuckled bitterly. But there wasn’t a hint of annoyance on his face.
He almost sounded like he had been looking forward to this reunion.
“You still hate me?”
“Who knows?”
A breeze.
Inui’s smirk widened. And he asked a question with a very obvious answer.
“So why’re you pointing that gun at me?”
“Because you’re pointing your gun at me.”
Gunfire.
Two shots resounded at on
ce, and the two bullets cut through the roar of the waves.
Each bullet was driven into a target, tearing through fabric and destroying a heart.
“…”
“…”
Inui and Kugi’s gazes wandered behind one another.
Both heard similar gasps of pain behind themselves.
Both saw the surviving goons fall to the ground, their guns still in hand.
“Whoa. Hey. That was our first real co-op finisher.”
“…”
“See? It’s not all bad.”
In spite of Inui’s enthusiasm, Kugi remained sullen.
If the two goons hadn’t coincidentally survived and stood behind the dogs, the duel would have ended in one way or another.
Inui put away his gun and sighed.
“Christ. First the suicidal son of a bitch gets in the way, and then these mindless shits show up. People just keep interrupting us—starting with Mr. Kuzuhara way back when.”
“…Yeah.”
“If us always shooting at each other is fate, maybe never getting to finish our fights is fate too,” Inui joked. But Kugi smiled and shook his head.
“I refuse to let fate describe my life.”
He was not smiling because he had come to a resolution. Kugi was smiling because he had resigned himself.
“I killed Kanae. I escaped to this island. I did all this of my own free will. …Isn’t that how it works?” He said in a rare show of emotion.
Inui put on a smile—a different one from Kugi’s—and nodded.
“You got that right.”
Another breeze.
“…Well, I’m off now. I’m only here because of a misunderstanding. Don’t feel like hanging around long enough for the cops to bust my ass.”
They must not speak any longer, Inui must have concluded. He slowly turned.
But as he climbed onto his bike, he half-turned to Kugi again.
“You know what? I’m still gonna believe in fate after all. We’re fated to pull some crazy shit together again.”
He chuckled. He laughed.
With a wicked grin on his face, the mad dog finally said the magic word.
“Later.”
The hound showed no emotion as he mirrored his fellow dog.
“…Later.”
Only the crashing of waves filled the warehouse district. The two dogs did not look back at each other.
But they had not lost interest.
They would meet again, and bark at one other again.
But now was not the time.
Knowing this, the dogs slipped away from the commotion in their own ways.
Like a dog finally recognizing its own reflection in the mirror and turning to depart.
-End-
Exit
The fountain square.
“So there was a shitstorm of blood on the mainland, is that it? Good going, Kuzu.”
“I just patrolled the Western District like I always do. I didn’t do a thing this time around.”
“C’mon, cut the humility. You’ve got no idea how much influence your ‘like always’ has on the island. Heehahahahaha,” Kelly chortled, adjusting the TV from atop a stepladder. “Inui jumped in ‘case he thought Yua got kidnapped, didja hear? He’s more of a softie than he lets on! Heehahaha!”
“Who knows what goes through his mind?” Kuzuhara chuckled bitterly, holding the stepladder.
“But hey, now the boiled zombies are gone, right?”
“Probably because they’re out of material. They don’t see any profit in continuing operations on the island,” Kuzuhara replied coldly, masking his rage and his inkling about the incidents.
Kelly grinned and continued the conversation. It was hard to tell if she was trying to be considerate or rude.
“‘Champions of justice’ goin’ around butchering people. It’s funny and unfunny. When I was little, I used to think shit like how there was no good or evil in the world, but now I enjoy this island so much that good or evil doesn’t even matter anymore! Heehahahaha!” Kelly howled in laughter, her voice just as childish as the content of her claims. Kuzuhara played along.
“I won’t say that a true champion of justice—one that isn’t just self-righteous—doesn’t exist. But people like that aren’t commonplace. The best we can get are the superheroes we see in movies,” Kuzuhara said cooly. Kelly opened her mouth to respond—
—but a loud voice escaped the radio on Kuzuhara’s belt and put an end to their time alone.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m on my way. Where exactly?”
When the subordinate gave him the location, Kuzuhara turned to Kelly with a serious look.
“Sorry to ditch you in the middle of work. I’ll be back.”
“The hell’re you apologizing for, Kuzu? Get your ass over there and go wild and die for the crazy kids who’re gonna run the island someday! Come back soon! Heehahahahahaha!”
With Kelly’s maniacal laughter at his back, Kuzuhara left the square.
Kelly did not even watch him depart. She climbed the stepladder and gazed into the screen she had just finished checking.
“You know, Souji? I’m not asking for a champion of justice.”
Her voice was low, but there was a smile on her face.
“But I see the island’s—and my—protector right here.”
Reflected on the dark screen was Kuzuhara, running to the scene.
And the many islanders going to and fro at the center of the city.
Kelly watched the flow of people and began scanning for the next main character.
From the main characters of her next radio broadcast to the main characters who disappeared without their actions ever coming to the surface—they all circulated the island equally.
Convinced that the island itself was a hero of sorts, Kelly trembled in anticipation and reached for the power button.
The screen came to life, and—
-End-
Afterword
Hello everyone, this is Ryohgo Narita. And this is a short story anthology from what I like to call the Etsusa Bridge series.
If you’ve bought this book solely because of the funny title, I think you’ll enjoy it a lot more if you were to begin with the preceding stories, Bow Wow!, Mew Mew!, and the Garuguru! books. Regretting not creating one series title to unify the books isn’t much different from crying over spilled milk. And milk is great, especially with cookies. Want one?
…Sorry about the confusion.
In any event, I’d like to thank loyal readers of the Etsusa Bridge series for waiting so long! It’s hard to tell if this really is a short story anthology or if it’s a full-length book, but 5656! involves three stories for you to enjoy—Inui vs. Kugi, Lilei’s nap stories, and a romantic comedy set on the island.
I remember saying this before, but Lilei and Nazuna originally come from Mr. Suzuhito Yasuda’s illustrations. Even I had no idea how large their roles would become. Thank you, Mr. Yasuda! This is why you can never underestimate your battles (?) against your illustrator.
I’m not very accustomed to painting pictures of daily life, so I have my doubts that I’ve managed to accurately convey the flow of things on the island to the readers. But please step in with the mindset of a tourist on a visit.
For 5656! 2 (tentative title), Kuzuhara and Nejiro’s heartful game of hide-and-seek (gunfire and explosions included), a crime action story involving a certain battle in Mr. Take and Mr. Gen’s past, and the Iizuka children’s adventure are stories I’m considering. So I’d like to ask all the Kuzuhara fans, Nejiro fans, and Mr. Take fans (do they even exist?) to be patient with me.
As for myself, many things happened in my life. My chair broke, I threw up blood and had to go in for an endosco
py (it turned out to have been a minor case of Mallory-Weiss syndrome, which wasn’t a problem), and I tried to stretch my neck and heard a very loud crack!, which led to my neck not moving for a week. But I am doing all right.
I have a lot on my plate for next year, so I plan to recover somehow and continue writing. I’d like to get myself settled down so I can work on a new Hariyama-san story, or a modern-day robot battle series, or a nonhuman butler series or an ordinary romantic comedy, but that might still be years off! If only there were three of me.
This is the kind of stuff I fantasize about every day.
But when I tell people that I want to write an ordinary romantic comedy, everyone tells me that’s impossible. “What’d you say? Lemme show you my romantic comedy spirit!” was the thought I had in mind as I wrote ‘Lips x Lips’, the fourth story in the book.
I do wonder if it really is a romantic comedy, though. If you set up Nazuna’s girls with the Iizuka boys on a group date, I’m sure you’d get a heartwarming story, like the kids going on a picnic. Can I? I guess not.
I’ve also written for a collaboration novel this summer, and a sort of spin-off to Castlevania in Dengeki Bunko MAGAZINE Special Edition: Toradora vs. Index. It looks like I’ll have the chance to do a lot more, thanks to all of your support. Thank you!
On to another topic.
Mr. Yasuda’s Yozakura Quartet anime and Mr. Haruaki Katou (who submitted a Bow Wow! illustration and won the Dengeki illustration competition)’s Hyakko! anime are both currently being broadcast. So I’d like to ask readers to tune in to these series and other Dengeki Bunko anime as well! (I’m not sure what to tell you if they somehow overlap with Dengeki anime.)
As usual, below are some words of thanks.
I’d like to thank my editor Mr. Papio, head editor-in-chief Mr. Suzuki (his title’s changed!), editor-in-chief Jasmine, my friend K (the model for Lottie), and everyone from the editorial department.
5656!_Knights' Strange Night Page 17
