Chapter 16: Disengagement

Alpha glanced around the surroundings, frowning at the crowd of people pointing and staring. Adjusting her hair ribbon, she turned to her partner, Beta, and said, “Sister. Do you understand why we are drawing attention?”

Beta shook her head, causing her long crimson hair to sway. “Negative, Eldest Sister.”

“Strange.” Alpha tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear and said, “Do you think it will be a concern for our Master?”

“Spiritual readings indicate a lack of combat power among the local populace.”

Alpha nodded. “Affirmed. However, there is our Master’s reputation to consider…”

“That is a non-issue. Our Master’s reputation is already at the lowest amongst the Three Realms.”

“Ah. That is true.”

Silence, the pair of ‘sisters’ walking along the street up to Myth Inc.’s office.

After a few steps, Alpha spoke up again. “…This ‘Rin’ that Master ordered us to serve. Do you think she is the latest addition to Master’s collection?”

“Of self-proclaimed wives or self-proclaimed daughters?”

“Daughters.”

Beta paused, tilting her head slightly. Then she said, “There is a 99% likelihood of the latter, 25% of the former.”

“…Sister. The probabilities do not add to a hundred.”

“Confirmed.”

“…You have spent too much time reading Master’s collection.”

“…”

Alpha sighed. “And the odds of Mistress being upset when she arrives?”

“That is a pointless question.”

Alpha stopped in front of the glass doors to the office and deactivated the formation. “That is true. And we have arrived.”

Silence. And then Beta turned to her sister and said, “Question. Why did we not simply use our spatial distortion functionalities to enter the building?”

Alpha paused and then said, “Mistress was correct. Master’s idiocy is contagious.”

The pair sighed and then entered the building.

An underground warehouse in the depths of Shinjuku. After using his spiritual sense to sweep the area and beating up a few captains, John managed to find out where Chef Miyamoto’s granddaughter was taken.

However-

“This is still raw! How do you expect to serve this to the customers?!”

…The situation was completely opposite from what he imagined it to be.

A man in a suit flew through the air, crashing through crates before bouncing a few times on the ground and letting out a groan.

The person responsible for that lowered her leg and then flipped a hand through her hair. “Hmph. Imbeciles.”

John blinked, caught off guard at the current situation.

A beautiful young woman tossed a dish to the ground and then tucked a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. “You guys wanted to satisfy your young master, right? Then what the hell are you all doing just standing around like that?!” She clapped her hands and said, “Chop, chop! Go learn all you can from the other chefs in Tokyo!”

“Yes, Kaichou!”

John blinked again and double-checked his spiritual sense. “This… should be the place…?”

From everything he heard, and from the people he interrogated, the local Yakuza had kidnapped Chef Miyamoto’s granddaughter to pressure him to personally serve under their young master, who went on a gourmet craze recently and then made all the Tokyo chefs lose confidence in their skills.

But…

A grand stage, lit up with fluorescent lights. A table with dishes arrayed all around it.

Men in black suits, knelt on one side of the table, holding up dishes in offering. And on the other side, a beautiful young woman with blonde hair and sharp brown eyes, her arms crossed against her chest.

While she was only wearing a school uniform, there was a heavy and authoritative air around her that somehow suited the current situation.

“…Ah.”

He was wrong.

John had thought that the Chef’s granddaughter was a maiden in distress, but-

“Oi! You there!” The young woman pointed at John and his shadow servants. “The hell are you doing standing around like that? Get to it!”

The men kneeling before the table stood up and turned. One of them, a man with an eyepatch frowned. “Kaichou… Those aren’t our men.”

“…What?”

John sighed, covering his face. He waved his hand and said, “It’s a misunderstanding. We’ll be leaving now.” He turned around and started walking off.

“Wait!” That young woman called out.

John walked faster.

“I said wait, dammit! You guys, grab him!”

John flicked his wrist and said, “Incapacitate them and then leave. I’ll head back first.”

His shadow servants bowed and then stepped forward, closing ranks around the exit.

At the same time…

“…Yeah, I think it’d be best to just work with Rin for a while…”

It seemed like something out there was trying to drag him into troublesome events.

“What the hell? Who are these guys?! What family are you from!?”

The sounds of fighting and bodies being tossed around echoed behind him, but John ignored it.

Let’s see… Well, since buying food would be out for the time being and hiring a personal chef like he planned to do would end up being more trouble than it was worth after seeing that mess.

“You! I’ll remember your face, you bastard!”

…John thought he heard a troublesome voice call out as he left the area, but he decided to ignore it and warp back to his apartment.

Landing back in his bedroom, he changed his clothes back to the usual dress shirt and jeans combo. That done, he walked over to the door, planning to head down and return to the office.

And then there was a knock.

“Hm?”

John blinked.

Did Rin come visit? Or did the automatons he sent out come back ahead of time?

Confused, John opened the door.

“Hello! We heard that you recently moved into this apartment and-” A cordial male voice, though one that was a bit sleazy. Also familiar… Though the last he heard it, the man was screaming in fear.

John laughed. “Well now. It seems that the world really is trying its best to annoy me today, isn’t it?”

Yuuki Arimasen paled, quickly lowering his clipboard and taking rapid steps back. “S-Sir! W-W-What a surprise to s-see you here!” He spun around and said, “Enjoy your day-!”

John stepped forward and grabbed the man’s shoulder. “Where do you think you’re running off to? I’ve got something to discuss with you…”

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