Chapter 11: Who Killed Whom? (Part One)

“Uncle Kibana Naomi?”
Seiko stared at the man behind her for a moment, then suddenly spoke.

“Hm?” The other person also froze for a moment, “Miss Yamagami knows me?”

“Of course I know you,” Seiko said, washing her hands, seemingly completely unaware of her life hanging by a thread, “Grandfather once told me that Uncle Takeuchi had a shatei named Kibana Naomi. He greatly admired your chivalry and bravery, and truly wished to keep you, but considering your loyalty to Uncle Takeuchi, he had to let you go.”
Yamagami Nobuo had, of course, never specifically mentioned any loyal and courageous members of the Takeuchi-gumi, but Seiko had been following Takeuchi Toshio for years.
With her extraordinary memory, Seiko could recall most of the Takeuchi-gumi members.
Even now, with Kibana Naomi disheveled and somewhat disguised, she could still recognize him.

Upon hearing Takeuchi Toshio’s surname, Kibana Naomi’s eyes suddenly became redder.
He poked Seiko’s back harder with his gun, snarling, “Behave yourself, Miss Yamagami. If you don’t cooperate honestly, my gun isn’t a joke.”
Seiko endured the pain in her back, her expression unchanged.
She continued, helplessly, “Uncle Kibana, you haven’t even said what you want to do? How can I cooperate with you then?”

“Of course, it’s to avenge Boss Takeuchi!”

“Who do you want to avenge yourself against?”

“Yamagami Nobuo, of course!” Kibana Naomi said impatiently, “You just need to help me call out Yamagami Nobuo. Once Yamagami Nobuo is here, I’ll let you go!”
Seiko sighed and asked, “Does Uncle Takeuchi approve of you doing this?”

“What did you say?” Kibana Naomi didn’t quite understand at first.

“Uncle Takeuchi always called my grandfather ‘Father’,” Seiko explained, “With such deep father-son affection between them, Uncle Kibana, do you think he would permit you to kill his father?”
To say that Takeuchi Toshio and Yamagami Nobuo had some father-son affection, there certainly was some.
Never mind a person, even a dog raised from a pup would develop feelings.
But to say their father-son affection was profound, that might not be true.
In the face of sufficiently large interests, biological fathers and sons can turn on each other, let alone adopted ones.
But Takeuchi Toshio would never openly declare in front of others that he no longer recognized Yamagami Nobuo as his “father.”
Because, whether by personal sentiment or Yakuza rules, Yamagami Nobuo was his “Godfather.”
If he dared to say such a thing publicly, others would only see him, Takeuchi Toshio, as ungrateful, disrespectful of rules, and a petty man.
As long as Takeuchi Toshio cared about his reputation, he would only continue to publicly acknowledge—Yamagami Nobuo is my father.
For many simple-minded and straightforward Yakuza, that was enough.
If the boss said that was his father, then that was his father.
If the boss said he loved his father, then he must love his father!
Yakuza wouldn’t know anything about the Xuanwu Gate Incident, or what it meant to kill a brother and imprison a father.
Upon hearing Seiko’s statement, Kibana Naomi visibly hesitated for a moment, then disregarded it and said, “Yamagami Nobuo already harmed Boss Takeuchi; what’s the use of talking about this now!”

“Who said Grandfather harmed Uncle Takeuchi?”
Seiko tilted her head, an innocent, bewildered expression on her face.
“As far as I know, Grandfather is still investigating the deaths of both Father and Uncle Takeuchi.”

“What?” Kibana Naomi was momentarily confused.

On the other side, Saori waited a long time but Seiko didn’t return from the restroom.
A sense of unease grew within her.
She said something to Yamagami Takashi, then left her seat to look for Seiko.

“Seiko…”
Saori had just rounded the corner leading to the restroom when she saw Seiko being held hostage.
Kibana Naomi then realized he had been talking to Seiko for too long without noticing.
His original plan was to immediately retreat with Seiko after taking her hostage.
But because Seiko had instantly recognized his identity, he had unconsciously fallen into Seiko’s thought rhythm.

“Don’t move…”
Kibana Naomi still tried to scare Saori with the gun, then immediately leave with Seiko.
However, Saori, like an ordinary high school girl, immediately cowered, covering her head, and then screamed.
This scream, like a stone dropped into water, immediately caused a large splash of commotion in the hamburger shop.
The first to react was Yamagami Takashi, who had been watching Saori.
He rushed over immediately, and seeing Seiko being held at gunpoint, showed no fear.
He roared, “Which gang are you from! State your name! Don’t you respect the rules anymore!”
Then, Inoshikachō and the rest of the crew also gathered around.
Seeing the Yakuza’s unusual movement, Kihara Shinichi and the other Investigation Section One police officers quickly realized something was wrong, so they all abandoned their half-eaten hamburgers and pushed into the crowd.

“What are you doing, what are you doing!”

“Don’t push!”

“Everyone, get back!”

“…”
For a moment, the hamburger shop was in chaos, like a bustling morning market during a traffic jam.
Kibana Naomi was anxious.
Although the hamburger shop had two doors, both required passing through the main hall.
The crowd in front had completely blocked the way to the hall, leaving him no chance to escape.

Bang!
Kibana Naomi fired a shot into the ceiling.
The hamburger shop instantly fell silent.

“Everyone, get out! Get out!”
The Investigation Section One police officers had already drawn their guns and were confronting Kibana Naomi.
Kibana Naomi held Seiko in front of him, the shotgun pressed against Seiko’s head.
With seven or eight guns pointed at her from all directions, that feeling of aversion and irritation began to surge within Seiko again.
She frowned slightly, forcefully suppressing that extremely uncomfortable sensation.

“If you don’t want her to die, get outside the shop,” Kibana Naomi threatened again, “And bring Yamagami Nobuo here for me! Hurry!”

“Go.”
Kihara Shinichi held his gun, confronted him for a moment, then finally gritted his teeth and said.
Seiko also helplessly told Saori and Yamagami Takashi, “You two should go out first too.”
The Yakuza also had no choice but to leave the hamburger shop.
However, even though both groups had left, they still surrounded the hamburger shop, making it impenetrable, intently watching every move of the only two people remaining inside.

“Uncle Kibana, why don’t we sit down and talk?” Seiko pointed to a booth with an almost untouched hamburger and fries.
Kibana Naomi glanced at the booth, still wanting to say something.
But Seiko quickly preempted him: “Don’t worry, Uncle Kibana, these police officers’ small handguns might not even be able to break the glass of this hamburger shop, let alone shoot you through the glass. That’s almost impossible; you don’t need to be afraid.”
The Japanese police were currently equipped with a new Nambu revolver, also known as a famously “kind” gun.
It was said that some models had a muzzle energy of only 180 J, meaning a criminal wearing a thick padded jacket would practically have bulletproof armor.
While conspicuously unable to kill someone in three shots, this gun also only had a five-round capacity, and even then, Japanese police were required to load one blank round into the cylinder.
Against the backdrop of Yakuza broadly re-equipping with Soviet-made gear, the Japanese police’s firepower was somewhat comically inadequate.

“Who said I was scared?”
Kibana Naomi mumbled, then sat down in the booth.

“This is what I bought,” Seiko pushed the hamburger and fries on the table towards Kibana Naomi, saying, “Uncle Kibana, you haven’t eaten, have you? Please have some.”
Kibana Naomi was indeed a bit hungry.
He still held the shotgun in one hand and grabbed the hamburger with the other, devouring it hungrily.

“I want to know, Uncle Kibana, why do you think my grandfather killed Uncle Takeuchi?” Seiko continued their previous topic.

“Wasn’t it Yamagami Nobuo who did it?!” Kibana Naomi became agitated again, eyes wide, “He even slandered Boss Takeuchi, saying he killed Yamagami Akira!”
Seiko calmly replied: “If Grandfather truly suspected Uncle Takeuchi of harming my father, then given his relationship with Uncle Takeuchi, he would at least call Uncle Takeuchi home and confront him face-to-face, wouldn’t he? What’s this about assassinating him in a bar? And as for those rumors, it’s even less likely that my grandfather spread them. If one of your sons killed another son, would you want such a thing to be known to the whole world?”
Kibana Naomi opened his mouth, then after a long pause, said, “But he didn’t even spare the Takeuchi-gumi. Everyone in the Takeuchi-gumi is either dead or on the run now; everyone’s doing worse than before.”

Seiko shook her head again, saying, “It’s precisely because the Takeuchi-gumi had loyal and righteous individuals like you, Uncle Kibana, that Grandfather had no choice but to dismantle the Takeuchi-gumi. Furthermore, with the exception of a few despicable and corrupt individuals, almost no one in the Takeuchi-gumi was punished. Although the Takeuchi-gumi no longer exists, Grandfather will continue to take good care of them in the future.”

“How is that possible?” Kibana Naomi’s eyes widened, refusing to believe.
While it was true that few Takeuchi-gumi members had died, they were certainly not doing as well as before and were unlikely to receive much care in the future, as they all had criminal records.
It would be better to empower those without prior suspicions.
However, Seiko didn’t care what the truth was.
She shook her head and began to counter-question: “Uncle Kibana, who exactly told you about the current situation of the Takeuchi-gumi members? I remember you were sent to the countryside in Nagano, weren’t you? How did you return?”

“It was a friend of mine from the Takada-gumi…” Kibana Naomi said instinctively, but after half a sentence, he felt it was inappropriate and closed his mouth.
Just half a sentence was enough for Seiko.
She slowly nodded, staring into Kibana Naomi’s eyes.
After a long contemplation, she said, “Then… Kibana Naomi, was it you who killed Uncle Takeuchi?”