'This is troublesome.'
Hachiman Hikigaya stopped his pen, ceasing his frantic scribbling. On the notebook paper before him, the background information he had dug up on Fumimaro Ayanokouji stood out starkly.
A former 28-year-old Police Inspector, now a mere Police Sergeant. At that young age, an Inspector was at the absolute height of his career trajectory. A Sergeant was still a respectable position for an ordinary cop, but for a rising elite...
'What exactly caused him to be dragged down to Tokyo in disgrace?' Hachiman wondered. 'He was clearly a rising star of the Kyoto Metropolitan Police Department, yet now he's acting like a rabid, stray dog.'
Even so, the Hikigaya family still couldn't afford to offend him.
In fact… while researching, Hachiman keenly sensed something highly unusual. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department seemed fundamentally different than before… Without fully understanding the hidden reasons behind this shift, trying to save his family was nothing short of a naive pipe dream.
Unless that guy was completely brought down…
But that was impossible.
Thinking of this, Hachiman felt an immense, throbbing headache. Fumimaro Ayanokouji had survived some kind of massive political purge, so what could a cynical high school student like him possibly do? The sheer disparity in secular power was beyond description.
He unconsciously gripped his pen tighter, a rare, chilling sharpness appearing in his usually dead-fish eyes.
He might be a solitary person who usually wouldn't meddle in other people's business; he even considered himself a passive observer of youth. But being actively oppressed wasn't something that could be avoided with mere "hiding"—this disgraced cop was clearly trying to financially and socially kill the Hikigaya family!
And Hachiman probably understood the pathetic reason why.
Fumimaro was a complete stranger in Tokyo, and many people in his new precinct looked down on him for his demotion. So, he was going to use an unlucky civilian family to establish his dominance and set his own rules. Clearly, the Hikigaya family was that unlucky target. His sister Komachi's minor altercation in the street was just a convenient excuse for him to make trouble.
'This is truly… incredibly unlucky…' Hachiman gritted his teeth. 'How can a person's heart be so petty and evil?'
So, why was that guy demoted? And how did he escape the purge? What did the Metropolitan Police Department's "unusual" behavior signify? He rubbed his temples, forcing his sleep-deprived brain to think seriously.
'We must find the answer. I absolutely must find his weakness! It's our own home, and I have to protect it myself.'
If he could hold on and solve this, he could go back to his old, peaceful, loner life. If he couldn't, his whole family was finished. His parents had already been taken to the local police station for "routine questioning" by that guy under some fabricated pretext. Komachi could still go to school under Hachiman's protection, but only he couldn't rest.
'Should I ask for peace?' Hachiman suddenly had this desperate thought.
Ask for peace. Humbly beg for mercy. If there was really no other way out, groveling wouldn't be so unacceptable to save his family. Hachiman was smart; he was confident that he could act as a useful pawn and help Fumimaro come up with some good political ideas if he submitted.
The key flaw was trust.
'Will that guy actually be willing to accept me, the person he's oppressing, as his subordinate?' Hachiman reasoned. 'He wants to cut off my family's lifeline, and now I want to turn around and rely on him. He will naturally become wary. He'll suspect that I'm just enduring the humiliation temporarily, waiting for the perfect moment to take revenge.'
Ding...
The computer screen suddenly lit up. With his brows furrowed, Hachiman hadn't really wanted to keep using the computer because he had found almost no useful public information.
But with just a glance at the notification, he couldn't sit still for a moment longer.
Who sent this anonymous email?
Sender: "Dragon"
He didn't remember ever adding anyone named "Dragon" to his contacts. Opening the encrypted email, Hachiman's heart tightened in his chest.
This was… Fumimaro Ayanokouji's personal diary?
He quickly slammed the laptop shut and looked around his bedroom in sheer panic. No one was there. He then got up and searched the room thoroughly. There were no hidden security cameras. He stared at the fairly bright window. The clear afternoon sunlight cast a weak, unwelcoming glow into the room.
Hachiman expressionlessly reached out and drew the heavy curtains shut, instantly darkening the room.
'Calm down. Hachiman Hikigaya. Calm down!' he told himself, taking a deep breath. 'Someone powerful is secretly helping you; that's a good thing. Whether it's Fumimaro's political enemy or someone forcing me into a larger vortex, this is the Hikigaya family's only chance to escape the clutches of this vicious dog.'
He didn't rush to read the diary immediately. Instead, he went to the kitchen, made a strong cup of black coffee, forcibly calmed his racing heart, and then sat back down at his desk.
He opened the laptop again and clicked on the email attachment.
Fumimaro Ayanokouji's Diary...
With a critical and highly suspicious mindset, Hachiman was prepared to be dragged into whatever political vortex this "Dragon" was orchestrating.
'Fumimaro... you really deserve to go to hell...'
> [Yukinoshita is gaining momentum... A small provincial landowner dares to compete with those massive political big shots in Tokyo? And those big shots are just watching and letting it happen. What exactly changed? The Ayanokouji main family says that Yukinoshita has someone incredibly powerful looking after her, but that's too irregular...]
Yukinoshita?
Hachiman knew a "Yukinoshita." Yukino Yukinoshita was his classmate. The icy, unattainable beauty of Sobu High School. But the Yukinoshita family's sudden political rise had nothing to do with him; he only wanted to find something he could use against Fumimaro.
As for the "main family"... that had to be the former Minister, Atsuomi Ayanokouji...
> [This is truly enviable... The Suzuki Zaibatsu, the Shinomiya Zaibatsu, and many other untouchable figures are secretly helping the Yukinoshita family. Why is that? Well, knowing too much isn't good either in this line of work; just knowing that Yukinoshita is someone you absolutely cannot mess with is enough.]
> [The main family's child ran away?]
'That can't be...' Hachiman frowned. 'Isn't the Ayanokouji heir enrolled at Advanced Nurturing High School?'
> [The main family wanted to send someone to bring Kiyotaka back, but unfortunately, the Chairman from the Sakayanagi family is a tough nut to crack. It's going to be extremely difficult to bypass his authority...]
Tsk...
There was basically not much useful blackmail information here. Most of it was just the disgraced cop's daily political complaints and observations. This wasn't what Hachiman had desperately expected. He thought the diary would be full of concrete evidence of Fumimaro's financial crimes or corruption...
He clicked through several more mundane pages before his hand suddenly stopped moving the mouse.
> [Excellent! This time I actually managed to earn a favor from the Yukinoshita family! The second young lady of the Yukinoshita family might be in grave danger, and the location is at the sacred mountain of the Yin-Yang Bureau. I happen to have some lingering blood connections with that old Great Onmyoji, Kyomei Hashimoto, so I notified him to keep an eye on things.]
'Yukinoshita again...' Hachiman thought, his eyes narrowing. 'And this time he even got a life-saving favor from her. Could this be the specific reason Fumimaro managed to escape the political purge that wiped out the rest of his faction?'
Not sure. He needed to read further...
> [Damn it! Damn it!! How much have the higher-ups been hiding from us!? How could they hide something like this from the world!? Are they crazy!? The sacred mountain, the supernatural... Is this the true reason for Yukinoshita's unstoppable rise to power?]
> [Damn it... I had to sign a blood-bound confidentiality agreement, and those guys currently running the Metropolitan Police Department have unusual, terrifying methods of enforcement. I can't say it. I can't tell anyone. Sorry, main family.]
> [I'm just a nobody now. I can't go against them, and I certainly can't disrespect Him...]
Hachiman's expression completely froze.
He rubbed his dead-fish eyes, unsure if he was reading it correctly. What exactly had this disgraced cop seen on that mountain? And, as he had suspected... something massive must have happened at the MPD. Something truly, impossibly unusual had occurred. Otherwise, a standard government confidentiality agreement would be nothing but a worthless piece of paper to these powerful, corrupt figures.
Finally... there was that last sentence.
Him.
That single, capitalized word—He—sent a primal chill straight down Hachiman's spine, making his palms instantly break out in cold sweat...
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