"A glass of honey water." On the dance floor bar of the nightclub, Ryoichi put down his wine glass, looked up at the glass ceiling illuminated by colorful lights, and took a long breath.
"Don't you need to continue with the same thing as before?" The bartender is a beautiful young girl. Judging from her face, she is probably a student. She is wearing a work apron and wiping the cup and looking at Ryoichi with a smile.
"No need." Ryoichi took the straw he got from somewhere and stirred the remaining ice cubes in the wine glass, making a clinking sound.
It's already five o'clock in the morning, and even if you go to a bustling nightclub, there will be signs of closing. The nightclub where Ryoichi is staying at this time is no exception. The young men and women on the dance floor are already lying dead holding bottles.
In the booths, there were either snoring or rustling sounds, the heavy rock music in the nightclub was switched to soothing piano music, and the bubbles floating in the exhibition fish tank seemed much lazier.
The female bartender is very skilled in her skills. Even a glass of honey water is made with a cocktail shaker. Various colorful liquids are poured into it and shaken in a fancy way. Finally, it is poured into a cup and pushed from the marble bar counter to Ryoichi.
in front of.
"In order to make your honey water more effective in sobering up, you also added a little more fructose." The female bartender sat on a chair and smiled, explaining the intention of making the honey water better.
"Thank you." Ryoichi took the cup and took a sip. The strong sweetness indeed lifted his spirits a lot.
"I said, since you have work the next day, why do you come here to drink so late?" the female bartender asked, looking at Ryoichi who was sipping the mead.
"Work is very important, so I get up very early. If I don't have anything to do, I can only drink." Ryoichi answered casually.
"Why don't you drink at home? You come to a nightclub at a time like this."
"I don't have the wine I want to drink at home." Ryoichi doesn't hate chatting with the bartender while drinking. Almost every bartender in a nightclub is very talkative. If you want to be a top bartender, you probably need to take a psychological counseling certificate in advance.
.
The female bartender looked at Ryoichi carefully and suddenly asked: "You are not much older than me, right? Why do people of your age want to do this?"
Ryoichi glanced at the female bartender, and out of the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of himself reflected in the mirror wall inside the wine cabinet. He was wearing a black suit lined with a button-down open-collar white shirt, his hair was oiled and combed meticulously, and he had a pair of light yellow glasses on his face, and his shirt
There is a little bit of color visible in the collar. Anyone with eyes probably knows what a person with this kind of outfit does.
"Then how come a student of your age works night shift in a place like this?" Ryoichi chose to answer the question with a question.
"I am already 18 years old, and the labor law restricts me to be under 15 years old. Isn't it normal for me to go to work to support myself?" The female bartender shrugged with a smile and played with the cocktail shaker in her hand.
"I'm very skilled at playing with the cocktail shaker, but my shoes always get wet when I walk by the river. It's not like a girl like you is used to going barefoot," Ryoichi said.
"I work here with my boyfriend. He will protect me if anything happens." The female bartender smiled lowly.
"But I didn't see your boyfriend."
"He went home from get off work first." The female bartender changed the topic: "You are about the same age as me, right? 21? 22? How can you do such a job at this age? Do you guys like to fight and kill? "
"Sometimes you don't want to live a life of fighting and killing, but you can only live by fighting and killing." Maybe it was because he drank too much before, so Ryoichi talked a bit too much tonight.
"Don't you just have to pretend to be brave and ruthless in this business? Why do you still need to get up so early to prepare for work? Do you want to go?" The female bartender touched her thumb and index finger and whispered in her mouth, then put it down again.
He looked at the wine glass on the bar that had been drained by Liang Yi before: "Is that why you came here to drink to build up your courage now?"
"How can there be so many shootings? We are a society governed by law now. Even yakuza know that daggers are used for scratching and not stabbing when fighting." Ryoichi shook his head: "We are not the only ones in this line of work.
Fight and kill, whatever the boss wants, we will do it."
"I'm sitting in a nightclub drinking at five o'clock in the morning. I don't dare to drink too much and I still have to drink honey water to relieve my hangover. Your task seems to be very entangled? Do you not like this task but you have to do it?" asked the female bartender.
Ryoichi was slightly startled and glanced at the female bartender. He seemed to be guessing whether the girl was majoring in psychology at university, because the other party's guess was pretty close.
"I just went to pick up someone, just like the girl who is accompanying you in a nightclub. She is reluctant but for the sake of livelihood." Ryoichi thought for a while and only said some harmless things. In the end, he couldn't help but use metaphors.
The technique is self-deprecating.
"If you don't want to go, just go. I think your boss will sympathize with you."
"It's not that simple." Ryoichi said calmly: "If there were better choices, you wouldn't sit here and take the risk of being molested by drunk customers with a student salary."
"If someone teases me, my boyfriend will beat them up!" the female bartender waved her fist.
"Your boyfriend is not here." Ryoichi said: "Quit this kind of job as soon as possible. The nightclubs on this street are not very clean. The ones with a better foundation are all over Bafan Street. I think I will work for you for a while longer."
He will ask you to go to his office."
"How did you know my boss called me?" The female bartender subconsciously raised her head and looked at Ryoichi.
Ryoichi was also stunned for a moment, then he just tsked softly and took a sip of honey water.
"Hey, don't get me wrong! I'm not stupid. Of course I can make a lot of money if I go there, but it goes against my original intention. This is not how I want to get ahead." The female bartender immediately stopped talking when Liang Yi stopped talking.
explain.
"I won't say anything. As long as you can get ahead, whatever you do is your own choice. You decide the path you want to take." Ryoichi's expression was flat: "It's better to prove yourself, or do you want to lick it when someone else gives you the opportunity?"
Well, at least you still have the right to choose. Those who don’t even have the right to choose when encountering this kind of thing are the saddest people."
So this is also the reason why he still goes to the midnight nightclub to try his luck, isn't it? Ryoichi thought.
There are many ways to get ahead. He has always insisted on the path he wanted, constantly completing tasks that would be a headache even for the Executive Board, proving his strength and power, but what now? He has to give up what he thinks he values.
Are you ready to please a child you have never met in order to gain your own future? This way of proving yourself is different from what you originally thought. Maybe compared to the female bartender, he is the poor person who really has no choice.
"Maybe this is the reason why my boyfriend doesn't want to see me recently." The female bartender sighed: "I didn't explain this matter to him clearly. Even if there is a conflict, it is mainly my fault."
Ryoichi stopped listening after half a sentence. He was not very interested in caring about a female bartender's self-pity about her love life. The time on his phone showed that it was already late.
He needed to arrive at Narita Airport in Chiba on time at 6 o'clock this morning. Even though he had plenty of time, as a person with little qualifications and yet being entrusted with important tasks, it was basic etiquette to arrive early.
In order to receive the Inuyama family, all the important people were mobilized. The motorcade was as grand as a drive-in show. The Metropolitan Police Department had also said hello in advance, and the police phone number at Narita Airport was blocked. There would be no accidents.
It ruined the mood of the head office commissioner.
The most luxurious cabaret and dance club street in Shinjuku has been greeted. From this morning until tomorrow, all entertainment businesses will operate 24 hours a day, just for the guests of the headquarters to walk to Shinjuku Street and experience various customs and culture.
, today the entire custom industry in Tokyo will have to give face to the Inuyama family and show the most businesslike smile to the 16-year-old boy they have never met before.
16 years old? What can a 16-year-old boy do? In this country where you need to be 21 years old to drink alcohol, buying a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of wine at the age of 16 is a problem. Ryoichi thought with a smile in his heart. What's even more ridiculous is that his task is to take care of this person personally.
A 16-year-old boy, 'S' class? Even if he is 'S' class, at the age of 16, he probably only knows how to sneak into the maid cafe in Akihabara, right?
Liang Yi was thinking about his own affairs while drinking honey water. During this period, the female bartender kept talking to herself, mostly talking about her boyfriend and how dissatisfied she was with her job. Liang Yi was a little confused when he heard this.
If you are irritated, at least the other person still has a choice. You can open your legs in front of the boss or close your legs and walk away in style, but what about you?
"Then let's split it." Ryoichi interrupted the female bartender's chatter. He thought that this girl was probably born to do this job. Chatting can make people drool dry and force people to order more expensive things to drink.
, if her boyfriend dumps her one day, it must be because of her unstoppable mouth.
"You are so ruthless. Are all underworld people as ruthless as you? Or only ruthless people can join the underworld." The female bartender sighed.
"I've never been in love, so I don't know much about these things. No one likes to talk about these things with people in our profession." Ryoichi took out his wallet, counted out a few bills, and threw them on the bar.
"Actually, he broke up with me yesterday." The female bartender sighed: "Maybe it was because I went to the office to meet the boss that he misunderstood. No matter how I explained, he didn't listen. Maybe he thought that someone like me
How could a girl who often works in nightclubs give up the opportunity to get ahead? He also met another girl in the nightclub these past few days. They had been chatting happily and decided to go home for a date together last night."
"Oh." Ryoichi's reaction was very dull. He stood up from the bar and was about to leave, but suddenly he felt something was wrong. He turned around and asked more: "Have you seen the woman who kidnapped your boyfriend?"
"Are you going to ask her if she is good-looking?" The female bartender said with a wry smile: "Of course she is good-looking, with an oval face, short hair, and a tear mole."
Ryoichi was stunned. After hearing these descriptions, his face suddenly turned serious: "Is your name Mieko?"
"You know her? She can't be your girlfriend, right?" The female bartender was also a little dazed.
A blind cat meets a dead mouse.
Ryoichi never expected that his purposeful visits to various nightclubs would actually lead him to find clues to the murder case of a man living alone.
"Your boyfriend lives alone? In a rental house?" Ryoichi asked quickly.
"How did you know?"
"Do you know the address?" Ryoichi took out his cell phone.
"Mr. Mafia, you are not going to help me stand up, are you?" The female bartender suddenly looked at Ryoichi funny: "I actually don't care. If he dumps me, I will dump him. I won't let myself down.
If I get a higher position in the boss's office, I might as well find a temporary job in a convenience store. Although I'll earn very little, at least I won't be taken advantage of."
"Does it matter even if your boyfriend brings back a dangerous murderer?"
"Eh?" The female bartender was stunned.
"Name." Ryoichi frowned and looked a little unhappy.
"Itsuki Misawako." The frightened female bartender replied subconsciously.
"I mean your boyfriend's name and how old he is."
"Morishita Shunaka is about the same age as me."
"I'm about the same age as you, live alone, and often go to nightclubs." Ryoichi frowned: "It really suits his taste."
"What did you mean by murderer just now?" The female bartender was a little anxious due to the atmosphere.
"Literally, it seems that your boyfriend is very unlucky with his love of things." Ryoichi said, "I don't know if it's just good luck or bad luck. Now I might have a chance to try it when I go to your boyfriend's place alone.
For a moment, although there is little hope, but "
Ryoichi lowered his head and looked at the time on his phone.
However, it is now this point, and he seems to have no free time to take care of the work of the Executive Bureau. Now it is inevitable that he can rush over to the Executive Bureau as soon as possible if he calls the other side, right?
"It really posed a problem for me." Ryoichi said in a low voice.
The motorcade that the Inuyama family welcomed must have rushed to the airport, right? He is also the most important part of the airport pick-up. Compared with a murderer wandering around in Shinjuku, welcoming the principal's 'S'-class darling is the most important thing.
After all, the death of so many people in Tokyo will not affect the operation of the city. Even if Ryoichi goes there, he may not be able to save anyone, and he may even offend the Inuyama family head and be severely punished.
Now, Ryoichi has two choices in front of him. Either seek stability, drop this matter immediately, get in a car and rush to the airport to fulfill his dream of rising to success; or he can be dumbfounded and try to save his life.
The boyfriend of the female bartender in front of me, who was abducted by a dangerous hybrid, has to prove himself by completing the case that he has been investigating, but he will not get any benefits, and there is a high possibility that he will let go of the pigeons of the Inuyama family and be expelled from the family.
?
Just because of a temporary temperament, doing something without reward, and an opportunity to easily get ahead as long as you step out, everyone can do this kind of multiple-choice question, okay?
After all, he is a gangster, and he has to explain to the head of the family and the team leader that for such an important matter as picking up the principal's precious student, he will get it no matter what he says.
The time on the phone showed five-thirty. Ryoichi glanced at the ice bucket and skate blade behind the bar. His face showed no expression, but he had his own plan in mind.
*
It's six o'clock in the morning.
The morning glow reflected on the horizon. Sleipnir fell from the black clouds and slid towards the runway of Narita Airport. The open space around the runway was filled with black luxury cars. The man wearing a black suit had a solemn face.
The old men of the underworld stood at the front, followed by men in black on both sides. These were the elite cadres of the Inuyama family. Today they had to put down all their affairs just to welcome the distinguished guests on the black giant eagle.
The head of the Inuyama family looked up at Sleipnir's landing strip and began to taxi. Behind him, a girl with a fresh face and a kendo girl's ponytail stood holding an umbrella. A few raindrops that had fallen dozens of minutes ago were flowing on the umbrella.
"Yoshitaka, hasn't your child arrived yet?" The head of the Inuyama family asked, looking at Sleipnir who was gradually slowing down in the distance. Behind him, Hasegawa Yoshitaka in formal attire leaned forward and lowered his head in a low voice.
He responded: "I called ten minutes ago to urge him. He said he would definitely arrive before six o'clock."
"The education is not adequate." The head of the Inuyama family shook his head slightly.
"Ryoichi didn't arrive at this time because something went wrong on the road. He is usually cautious and a careful person. This mistake is all Yoshitaka's fault. He will be disciplined strictly from now on." Hasegawa Yoshitaka's old face tightened and his forehead tightened.
Shed a drop of cold sweat.
"There is no room for error in this matter, otherwise we will lose the face of the entire family." The head of the Inuyama family said calmly.
"Hi." Hasegawa Yoshitaka responded.
At this time, someone came running from the end of the aisle lined with men in black with their heads lowered. When they got behind Yoshitaka Hasegawa and the head of the Inuyama family, they stopped and whispered: "Okubo Ryoichi has arrived."
"Ryoichi is here?" Hasegawa Yoshitaka suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and looked back, but did not see Ryoichi's shadow at a glance. His eyes couldn't help but fall on the man in black who was summoning him in front of him, and found that for some reason the man in his hand was holding a
Ice bucket.
So he looked inside again, then froze and said nothing for a long time.
The head of the Inuyama family under the umbrella noticed something strange and looked back at the ice bucket. He saw countless fresh ice cubes inside, with a few bright red stains on the inner layer of the ice cubes. The kendo ponytail girl behind him stretched out his hand.
He fiddled with the ice cube and revealed a cold little finger of his left hand.
"It seems that we won't be here for the time being, but we have an explanation and are ready to receive the distinguished guests." The head of the Inuyama family just glanced at it and withdrew his sight, turning to look at Sleipnir who stopped in the distance and put down
on the gangway, behind him Yoshitaka Hasegawa was sweating like a waterfall while holding an ice bucket.