Paradoxes of the Sunken District (沈んだ地区の逆説)

Tacenda II: A Deal

"You want me to go back there??" just the very next day, Hisare gasped. "No, absolutely not. He made me spit out coins for crying out loud! Not to mention he's such a bratty and disrespectful bastard!" he folded his arms in front of his chest.

"I know he's not the nicest person to work with, but he's our best lead right now." Seraphim told him calmly.

"Shouldn't we just arrest him? Is that not possible?"

"Quite likely, the Sunken District is already a separate world than the surface, it'll be like making an arrest to a citizen at a foreign country." Seraphim explained, "All we can do currently is to keep it down and cooperate with Tokigase Shuuhei, if he wants money, we'll give it to him. After all, many say he's a force to be reckoned with."

In the underworld, Tokigase Shuuhei woke up from his cabin bed, he jumped down instead of using the ladder and ruffled his hair as he went to wash up. Instead of dressing in attires as noticeable as his Illusionist apparel he left hanging neatly with a hanger, he chose to wear a black hoodie and loose cargo pants in the same colour. What stood out from his dark choice of clothing was his white sneakers, with his silver earring and a simple black choker that he seems to have nearly never taken off.

"Morning, Kenzan." When Shuuhei left his bedroom, he was greeted by a full-grown Rottweiler, who wagged his tail upon seeing Shuuhei. The dog had a loosely fitted chain as a collar, and a right-front leg made of metal.

"Where are you headed?" Okuya was putting away a dirty cup to the kitchen sink nearby.

"I could ask the same thing to you," Shuuhei sneered, seeing his brother dressed in all black. "Got a job to do today?"

"It's so amusing to act like you don't know my side hustle, huh, Shuu?" Okuya just washed his dirty cup without paying heed to Shuuhei, "It won't take long, I'll be back to serve at the bar." He took a rifle case leaned against a wall and placed the strap over his shoulder.

"Is it at the surface? Can I come with?" the Illusionist's eyes sparkled for a moment, hoping.

"Unfortunately for you, it's not." Okuya scoffed as he walked past Shuuhei and tousled his hair as a goodbye.

"How boring," Shuuhei rolled his eyes, "Who is it though? You made it sound like it's going to be an easy hit,"

"Just someone from the weapon cartel who decided to ran away with cargo," Okuya replied as he puts on black gloves, "It wasn't Kosakura-san who wanted it though, it was one of her subordinates who was really upset about it."

"Of course, she wouldn't. Noami-san might have anger issues, but she doesn't have a single murderous bone in her." Shuuhei chuckled, "Let me know if anything exciting happens,"

"For sure," Okuya scoffed again when they reached outside, then he turned and sped off on his motorbike. Just that moment, Shuuhei caught sight of a familiar face approaching the closed nightclub.

"Oh, if it isn't the detective." An affable smile surfaced on the Illusionist's youthful face, "I wasn't expecting you to return, but you've proven me wrong." He grinned as Hisare stopped in front of him.

"This might be out of the blue for you, but I have a request."

"I'm in a good mood, so I can tolerate compromise." Shuuhei smiled, "Not everyone can afford my intel,"

"Hold it in...." Hisare thought to himself, gritting his teeth.

"You want to arrest me, don't you? Too bad you can't," Shuuhei sneered, "As you know, lots of people here love me, even the Four Shrines. So, if I'm gone, they might do really nasty stuff to get me back."