"The Kuze Clan is on the warpath." Yuki takes a sip of her barley tea. It's a little too watery.
"This is unprecedented." Isaka Kaymi nods as she sips her coffee. It's also a little too watery. "We're well past the prevention stage, I presume?"
"I tried to reason with her but the new Kuze Clan head is hell-bent on killing Kasai." Yuki stares at Isaka's sunglasses, "I don't think she'll be satisfied unless she does it herself either."
「Yuki Ryusei」- Undercover ICMG Agent.
"Your sister?"
"Yeah. She says that she saw Kasai kill her friend. But that makes no sense. Kasai disappeared, why would she resurface for this?" Yuki shakes her head.
"Kasai Ryusei, huh?" Isaka finishes the last of her coffee. "Our Blackadder contact says that Oe's been overthrown, with Kasai replacing her as Blackadder's head honcho. She's preparing for war as well. This isn't good."
"Blackadder? How'd she wind up there?"
"Who cares? She was missing and now she's here. That's all there is to it."
"No, no, Kasai was with the Awano Family before she disappeared. That's the whole reason why we couldn't find her, remember? If she'd resurface as the head, you'd naturally think it'd be the Awano Family, right?"
"Well, it seems that we've been barking up the wrong tree. Kasai's been a Blackadder Lieutenant for the past month and as of yesterday, she's the Blackadder Head now."
"Goddamnit." Yuki bites her lip. How did she let Kasai resurfacing slip by her? "And no one thought to tell me?"
"We couldn't risk blowing your cover."
Yuki opens her mouth to say something but decides against it. It's probably best not to bite the hand that feeds.
"Oe's been lax for the past year. The Blackadder gang, Oe included, welcomed a newcomer with some actual strength of character. One woman wasn't much but Kasai was enough to at least keep the Blackadder gang from being splintered between the three lieutenants."
"I see… Still, isn't it suspicious? Regardless of their relationship, someone even remotely connected to the Awano Family swapping over to Blackadder? It almost looks like an infiltration…"
"It is strange… Also, why start a war?"
"I… I think I'm getting something. A war means that both sides are going to need info. And who's going to be there to hand it out?"
"You mean to say this whole thing is a money-making scheme?"
"That's precisely it." Yuki snaps her fingers. "I need to go talk to Shosuko."
Yuki reaches into her pocket to take out her phone but Isaka grabs her by the wrist. "What are you–"
"Wait. Think about it. Would the Kuze Clan head even care? At the end of the day, she's going to want revenge one way or another, right? If anything, it's only going to make her go to war with the Awano Family as soon as Blackadder is dealt with which will only lead to more violence."
"So, what? Am I supposed to just let this happen?"
"We can figure out what to do afterwards. Focus on figuring out what happened to Kasai. The other Kuze Lieutenants will be too busy with the war to pay much attention to what you're doing. You should be able to move freely while still maintaining your cover."
"Hm… alright. I think that could work. If I get to Kasai before they do, I should be able to smuggle her to a safehouse. And then we can wait for the ICMG to put an end to this whole war before resurfacing."
"The ICMG… Right… we're going to have to deal with this mess…" Isaka looks at the ground.
"Isaka?"
"It's nothing." Isaka waves away the issue. "A race against the clock, eh? Well, you're pretty much the perfect girl for the job."
"I sure hope so." Yuki looks down at her rapiers.
Isaka claps Yuki on the shoulder. "Good luck. I mean it."
"Thanks." Yuki nods.
"Oh and one last thing. We have a contact who insisted on sticking her nose into the whole affair so she's coming to back you up."
"A contact? That's new."
Someone steps into the alleyway. "I just had the strangest feeling of deja vu. It was like deja vu but within deja vu."
"That should be her." Isaka gestures at the shadow-cloaked guest.
"Do you guys ever get that feeling?" The contact wears a black and white jacket with rolled up sleeves along with a miniskirt that suits her lean, but not quite muscular build. She looks to be about eighteen or nineteen.
"Name's Oe, by the way. Nice to meet you. Listen, can we wrap this up soon? I've got school in a bit."
「Oe Tenma」- ICMG Contact.
"Hey, how much longer until we get there?" Oe asks.
"We get there when we get there." Yuki has to physically touch her eyeballs to keep them from rolling.
"And how long is that going to be?"
"This is the seventh time you've asked me that question. And this is the seventh time I'm going to say that I don't know."
"Oh. Okay."
Oe leans back into the driver's seat and puts her feet up on the dashboard. Yuki, on the other hand, sits modestly with her hands folded on her lap. The scenery outside doesn't move an inch. They've been stuck in traffic for the past eternity (thirty minutes) and Yuki's at the end of her rope.
"Hey, um, Oe? Was it?"
"That's my name."
"That's… the Blackadder Head's name."
"That I was until recently."
"What happened?" Yuki takes out her notebook. A tiny pocket-sized thing that she uses to keep track of her day-to-day as well as her ongoing investigations.
"It seems that all of my lieutenants prefer your sister over me now." Oe looks down at herself.
"Now?"
"I used to be a lot more hot-headed, believe it or not. Then somewhere along the way, I realized that getting mad was too much effort. So I stopped."
"Just like that?"
"Yep." The car in front inches along the road so Oe takes her feet off the dash and has the car creep forward.
"I thought you'd be a lot more upset about losing to Kasai."
"I am upset."
"You are?"
"Of course I am." Oe snaps, though her gentleness makes it feel like she doesn't. "I hate being upset. But there's nothing I can do anymore. Not without power. Much more power."
"...I see." Yuki listens dutifully and notes it all down. After a moment, Oe seems to settle back down into her usual relaxed self.
"Have you ever had something so precious to you taken away, Yuki? Like a book you wrote? Or maybe something you made for a friend? Something you could be proud of?" Oe bites her lip.
Silence reigns for another ten minutes, then the car in front of them moves. At last, it seems that the traffic jam's behind them.
"And what about you?" Oe asks.
"Huh?" Yuki looks up from her notebook, dragged back to the present.
"What's your stake in all this?"
"I'm looking for my sister, Kasai Ryusei." Yuki closes her notebook and tucks it back into her blazer. "This is the first time in a whole year she's surfaced. I can't let her slip a second time."
"Your sister, huh?" Oe adjusts the rear view mirror for no real reason. "Why do you care so much about your sister, anyway?"
"She's my sister, of course I care about her."
"Blood matters that much to you?"
"Kasai's not just blood. She's family."
"Someone who abandons you isn't family. My parents are my blood, but they're not my family."
"Even then… she's the only family I have left." Yuki almost sounds like she's trying to convince herself.
"What happened to your parents?"
"They were both murdered on the night Kasai disappeared. My guess is that they got involved in some yakuza business and were killed because of it. Whoever's behind it probably kidnapped Kasai just for good measure… but recent events kind of throw a wrench into the theory." Yuki pinches her nose bridge.
"Huh." Oe waves the topic away. "Where are we going, anyway?'
"Normally, I'd go to the Awano Family for info, but the Kuze Clan's probably doing that right now they didn't already. Which means Shosuko's probably going to kill Kasai before we have a chance to even warn her.
"So what now?"
"So now, I'm going to take a risk and try a shortcut. Turn right here. We're going to the Shirayuki Association."