Chapter 2
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Main Character’s POV
Tsukasa calls me “Takkun,” but my real name is Kitaoji Ren.
There is no “t” in “Takkun”.
The reason for this nickname is as follows,
”I wanted to call my little brother ‘Takkun’.”
This is a very selfish reason.
Therefore, most of the time, people who meet me for the first time mistake me for “Takuya” or something like that.
”Takuya, I see you are with your sister again today.”
My classmates, knowing my real name, call me by my fake name.
”Shut up!”
I give them a middle finger and kick them away so that Tsukasa doesn’t notice.
Tsukasa, who has a brother complex, is always with me at school because of my ((sickly)) status.
”Takkun, aren’t you popular now?”
”Who’s to blame? Sister.”
”Well, isn’t it because of your personality?”
Many people must envy this sanpaku-eyed-looking high school boy, who is often mistaken for a criminal, being loved by the most beautiful girl in the school.
Anyway, a year has already passed since the ((drowning accident)).
We have successfully moved on to the second grade.
Like last year, Tsukasa has not gained weight nor lost any weight.
However, I, who had been told that I lacked muscle strength, had been training hard and had gained the same level of physical strength as I had in my prime in my previous life.
I bought a real gun on the dark web, and I use it.
One might ask, “How can a high school boy use the dark web?”
However, it is not impossible, as shown in the case of a high school boy who committed suicide with a gun on June 8, 2020 (*1).
”Today is the exam, isn’t it?”
”Why do you look so happy?”
”Because, you know, the results of our study will be shown.”
Tsukasa changes her shoes in the shoe box with a humming sound.
That’s a great positive attitude.
Probably, among all the high school students in Japan, only Tsukasa as well as the most advanced schools have this kind of positive thinking.
”Takkun, do you hate the exam?”
”No, I don’t hate it.”
”Well, after all, you got a good grade.”
”Because I don’t want to embarrass mother.”
A surgeon’s child with a low-performance record could be a threat to the reputation of the hospital where mother is the director.
Some may say, “Aren’t parents different from their children?”
Well, because even if the number of hospitals increases, the number of patients does not necessarily increase. So, I mustn’t make the hospital’s reputation to reduced.
As for my family, it has a private hospital.
In addition to surgery, it has internal medicine and so on, but since there is a university hospital nearby, most of the patients go there even for the first examination.
Compared with a private hospital, it is natural that they would prefer a university hospital, even if it is more expensive.
So, to keep the private hospital in debt for MRI and so on, Satsuki, my mother, goes to the university hospital on weekends to work part-time as a surgeon.
Having such an extremely busy mother take care of my schoolwork is not an option for me.
Anyway, on my way to the classroom, Tsukasa and I pass by first-year students and third-year students.
Standing like chinese peony, sitting like a chinese tree peony, and walking like a lily. (NB: It means a beautiful woman)
These are the words for Tsukasa.
”””Kitaoji-senpai, good morning!”””
”Good morning!”
Tsukasa replies briskly, and the girls are all,
”””Hawaa!”””
They let out a strange cry and stand there.
It looks like they’ve been shot in the chest with a ♡ bow and arrow.
”Sister, you’re a popular girl, aren’t you?”
”Really?”
”Yeah. You’re like a male Takarazuka actor.”
”I see… yeah.”
Tsukasa hangs her head.
She might have wanted me to say “female”.
At the same time, the girls and boys alike are staring at me.
As if to say, “You’re making the madonna of the school sad.”
Well, I can counter against the male students with my bad eyesight, not to mention the female students.
”((Huh))?”
I scowl, and intimidate them,
”””Eeek”””
Not only the boys but also the girls ran away.
Now Tsukasa’s clingy bug is gone.
”Geez, you’re such a worrywart. Takkun…”
Tsukasa smiled at me with her big sisterly love for her brother.
Anyway, after the exam, I go to the bathroom.
I enter the private room and check the armpit of my blazer.
Inside it is my favorite gun, a Beretta M92.
I was skeptical at first about its high quality since I bought it on the dark web, but I test-fired it several times and got used to it in my own way.
If I run out of 9x19mm Parabellum bullets, I can buy them from a defective American soldier at a nearby U.S. military base.
”…”
I can’t give up my gun, even though I know it’s illegal in this country.
Even if this country is more peaceful than America.
Well, the National Rifle Association (NRA) says, ‘It’s the people, not the guns, that kill people.’
So, I can’t give up my gun even if I die.
(Well then…)
I check my ((work)) cell phone and find a text message.
’It’s been a while.
Thank you very much for your response to my request the other day.
My boss is very happy.
Please keep in touch with us in the future.’
It is a simple sentence, but this is a communication with my ((regular customer)).
”…”
I connect to the Internet bank and confirm the payment.
The amount is ‘Transfer: 5,000,000 yen’.
It’s a bit lower than the usual rate, but that’s how it should be at first.
After that, I should be able to steadily improve my skills.
Anyway, I used to have a relationship with a criminal organization through the dark web.
Though, at first, both parties were suspicious of each other, but as I produced results, they began to trust me, and now we are in frequent contact like this.
Some of my regular customers, some of them Yakuza, welcomed me when they found out who I was.
They are not afraid of the law, because I am a law-abiding juvenile.
Besides, since the request is made through my corporate disciples, it is unlikely that even the head of the Yakuza will be arrested as an employer’s liability unless there is substantial evidence.
Well, after the Anti-Money Laundering Law, it is very difficult for the Yakuza to get a profit, but they can get any kind of profit as long as they are connected with the money tree, such as entertainment and political circles.
Even 5 million yen is a small amount of money.
(…Well, now that I have enough money, I might want to start a side business…)
The balance of my savings is more than 100 million yen.
With this much money, I can live as long as I don’t spend it all.
My parents are surgeons and they give me a separate allowance, so my life is rich.
All I wanted to do was to protect Tsukasa in earnest.
* * *
”Good morning. Leader…”
”Good morning, everyone.”
Somewhere in Tokyo.
A warehouse at the docks.
That’s where I built the Secret Service.
There are four members, including me.
The composition is as follows…
・Leader.
・Vice Leader.
・Sniper.
・Analyst.
As a result of making full use of my pre-reincarnation connections, I was able to gather this many members through my best friends.
”How have you been?”
”As good as can be seen.”
As can be seen, the vice leader is a handsome man with a fresh smile.
He’s got the looks of an idol, but he’s actually a CIA operative who tortured terrorists in Cuba.
His name is Robinson.
Currently, he works for the Tokyo branch of the CIA.
And he’s a good friend of mine.
”But now that I look at you again, I can’t believe it. I never would have guessed you were Lou.”
”I’m surprised, too.”
When we first met, Robinson suspected I was mentally disordered and had me checked into the hospital.
But since we were on the same page, he ran me through a series of lie detectors and determined that I was telling the truth.
Still, he stares at me just right now.
”Hey, I’m straight, okay?”
”I know.”
Well, maybe he still can’t shake the doubt.
After all, he never thought he would meet his dead comrades in arms in Eastern Europe in this way.
”So, let me introduce you to our sniper. Nikolai. Former KGB.”
”…”
A Russian in his 40s gives a small bail with a blank expression on his face.
He looks like an Afghanistan veteran with an old scar on his face.
”Former? And now?”
”Russian mafia. Works as a bouncer at a Russian pub in Tokyo.”
Robinson, thankfully, translates Nikolai’s words for me.
My Russian, though not bad, is not at a native level.
So, if Robinson is the interpreter, I will be very grateful.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of the soldiers and KGB who lost their jobs are said to have become Russian mafia.
That makes them better coordinated and better at killing than criminal gangs in other countries.
”…”
Nikolai is interested in my youth, but says nothing.
I’ve explained it to him before, but is he convinced?
Or maybe he is just not interested in other people.
In my experience, Russians tend to be quiet and expressionless, so there is no problem with this kind of unsociability.
On the other hand, it is hard to trust Russians who are too talkative.
”And the last one is the most eccentric of all the members.”
”The eccentric?”
”You’ll know it when you see it.”
Robinson takes me to the security room in the back.
As we entered, the room was filled with monitors, laptop computers, smartphones, and drones lined up on desks.
”…”
As I looked around out of curiosity, I felt a murderous intent.
But before I could look, I saw a military knife held to my neck.
”(…who are you?)”
I heard a small voice like a mosquito’s.
If I hadn’t been so close, I wouldn’t have heard it.
”Natalie, stop. He’s our leader, our employer.”
”(He’s trying to kill me and he’s the leader of this team?)”
It seems that Robinson can hear the whisper as well as the normal voice.
Well, as expected of the CIA.
He has one hell of an ear.
”Lou, show what you can do.”
As Robinson says this, I grab the girl’s wrist and ((return)).
”!”
Less than a second later.
I push her down and thrust it into her ear.
”The tables are turned… Hmm?”
I was surprised to find that the girl I straddled was much younger than I had expected.
In fact, I expected her to be in her late twenties.
”…”
Now, in front of me was a frightened girl—Natalie, an introverted German with glasses and shaggy hair.
But what raised my eyebrows more than her appearance was her clothes.
What a surprise.
Natalie was wearing the uniform of a junior high school I knew.
”…Your age?”
”…”
Natalie doesn’t answer, tears in her eyes.
”Uh, Lou?”
Robinson, reading the situation, pulls me out of the guardroom.
”I’m sorry I didn’t explain. In this case, she’s…”
”What do you want to explain?”
”…”
Robinson, concerned about Natalie’s attempts to fix the mess in her uniform, said,
”She’s a victim of Cologne.”
”…you’re joking, right?”
”Unfortunately…”
Robinson shook his head emphatically.
Cologne is the fourth largest city in Germany.
In Japan, Sapporo is the fourth most populous city, so it might be easier to interpret Cologne as the German version of Sapporo.
In Cologne, a large-scale s*x crime occurred between 2015 and 2016.
It is the so-called ‘Cologne New Year’s Eve Sexual Assaults’.
In this case, 1,000 men, mostly Arabs and North Africans, attacked and assaulted women who gathered at the central station and the cathedral square from New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day(*2).
There were 516 reports of victims as of January 10, 2016(*2).
Police investigations have revealed that more than half of the offenders were refugees (*2).
Then, Robinson continued.
”She’s been phobic ever since. It took her a while to open up to me. But she’s always been hostile to men.”
”…Then, why is she an analyst?”
”Her great-grandfather was Gehlen.”
”…! That Reinhard Gehlen?”
―Reinhard Gehlen (1902-1979) was a specialist in counter-insurgency under the Nazi regime, and after the war, he was favored by the U.S. to establish the Gehlen Agency (*2).
In 1955, he became the first director of the BND (Federal Intelligence Service), and worked for the dark struggle against the Eastern bloc (*2).
Despite his past problems, such as his involvement in torturing prisoners of the Red Army during the war, the fact that he was loved by the U.S. is evidence that he was such a capable person(*2).
”She is, as you can see, an introvert (nerd), but she is a specialist among specialists when it comes to intelligence gathering, perhaps because of her great-grandfather’s ancestry. Until now, she has been active in locating terrorists, showing her ability beyond her age.”
”…At her age?”
”Yeah. She’s a terrible kid. She worked on an American base in Germany, and she was in protective custody, but it was her own fault that day, when she hung out with her friends. I hope they get punished for what they did. It’s a shame that Germany doesn’t have the death penalty.”
”…”
Forgive the language, but I guess Robinson is her surrogate parent in Japan.
I can sense his kindness in every word.
”Why did she come to Japan?”
”Apparently, this girl’s grandmother was born of a love affair between a Japanese diplomat stationed in Germany during the Third Reich and a relative of Gehlen’s. Nowadays, her Japanese blood has faded, but DNA tests show that she is of Japanese descent.”
”…”
”She had an incident like that in Germany. Then, she came to her relatives in her second home country, but unfortunately, they were executed as war criminals, and I ended up taking her in. I never thought I’d be able to take care of her at this age.”
”…”
She’s had a hard life and seems to be alone in the world.
”Well, it’s just a coincidence that Lou and she went to the same junior high school―”
”Do you know?”
”I don’t know.”
Smirking, Robinson denies it.
A good-looking guy can look good with a devilish smile.
”But she’s the right subordinate. She’s a geek, which you don’t have. She’ll make up for our shortcomings.”
”…”
I looked at Natalie, who was sitting at her computer, not looking at me.
She had a terrible blank expression on her face.
［References and sources]
*1: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20200801/p2a/00m/0na/009000c
*2: Wikipedia
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.