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

Tacenda VI: Lies

"I thought we had an agreement, Shuuhei. Now look at the mess you made at my nightclub," Rachelle huffed smoke out through the small gap between her lips, then twirled her pipe to put it out before storing it in her jacket. "Didn't I tell you how I'll kill you if you show your face anywhere near my territory?! I'll cut your fingers and display them in my office!" The next moment, she had Shuuhei in a chokehold, his neck over her shoulder.

"O-Ow, ow! Rachelle-san, relax! I'm sorry!!" Shuuhei exclaimed, patting her arm.

"I've heard too many apologies from your stupid ass! You made a word and you broke it! Since I can't kill you, I'm taking at least 3 of your fingers!" Rachelle just tightened her grip on the Illusionist, who didn't really rebel.

"O-On the bright side, this is your 23rd bar and one of the smallest ones-"

"Don't give me that bullshit, Shuuhei! I'm fed up with your snarky attitude!" the two continued to bicker as Hisare stepped out of the car.

"He's not really fighting back... Is he?" He whispered to Okitsu.

"Yeah, he isn't, though he totally can." Okitsu sighed, "Shuuhei-Aniki doesn't hit girls, no matter what." He smiled to the detective.

"Is this woman bad news?"

"Not necessarily," Okitsu gave a vague response.

"From how vast Tokigase's social circle is, she must be a friend of his at one point." Hisare thought before stepping closer to the two, "I'm sorry, but he did what he did out of my request." He spoke up to Rachelle.

"And who are you?" she furrowed her brows at him.

"I'm Fujisaki Hisare, Detective III of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department." Fujisaki showed her his badge, which made her eyes widen and Okitsu's jaw drop.

"Y-Yer a detective??!" he gasped.

"What's an overworld detective doing here?" Rachelle seemed just as puzzled as the 17-year-old was.

"I'm here for an investigation of the ongoing child trafficking case, Tokigase here agreed to cooperate with me." Hisare explained calmly, "So it's not entirely his fault for causing the mess,"

"You're lying, this jerk would never voluntarily cooperate like that, especially with surface law enforcement."

"Of course, it's not for free. He's getting paid a huge sum for it..." Hisare sighed in protest, "While I'm here, may I ask if you recognize this girl?" he took out a picture of his daughter for the woman to stare at shortly.

"Oh, yeah. I've seen that girl before," Rachelle replied, surprising both Hisare and Shuuhei, who stopped trying to gently push her away. "She was here around 2 months ago, with a group of men and a few other little kids."

"Can you give me more details?" Hisare seemed intrigued.

"Well-"

"-Shh," Rachelle was about to say something, but Shuuhei whispered into her ear without moving his head to her direction. "Let's talk somewhere else," His lips moved to whisper outside of everyone's view, but there was a subtle change in Rachelle's expression that the others saw. 

"Well, then she left with them to who knows where, I thought they were just regular customers."

"I see," Hisare sounded disappointed, then turned to Okitsu.

"Don't look at me, I know nothing about that." Okitsu raised his hands and shook his head, "I'm the last person ya wanna ask, I'm only up-to-date with arena stuff."

"If you're done, I have other business to attend to." Rachelle clenched her grip on Shuuhei again, making him choke. "Like cutting off this son of a bitch's fingers," she glared at Shuuhei's direction.