Makino Yuzuha had severe nearsightedness and could not see what was happening in front of her at all.
She only felt that the Yakuza who was grabbing her collar had become a few more blobs of color.
It was messy.
A warm, fishy liquid splashed onto Makino Yuzuha’s Face, accompanied by a sudden scream that pierced her eardrums.
“Who… who are you?”
The tattooed man looked at the grey-haired girl who had suddenly appeared in front of him.
His lips trembled, and he could barely speak.
The coat of this girl with long, grey hair was stretched extremely tight by the mutated flesh and blood of her arms.
At her shoulders, tissues that clearly did not belong to a human body bulged high under her clothes—making the girl look like a double-door Refrigerator.
Her extremely long fingers, like sharp claws, gripped the severed hand of the Yakuza and tossed it aside casually.
“Me?”
Jiang Jian Yue’s cold eyes scanned the people in front of her.
“A Hot-hearted Citizen.”
“Huh?”
“What’s going on!”
The masked youth, who had heard the commotion outside the Warehouse, rushed in with his Mobile Phone still connected.
When he saw the Insect Blade on the grey-haired girl’s hand, which was clearly different from a normal person’s, the masked youth immediately grew alert.
“Chairman! There is a Superpower User here to save the person!”
After saying that, he hung up the phone, frowned, gritted his teeth, and raised his hand once more.
An invisible shockwave surged toward Jiang Jian Yue.
However, the girl did not dodge or even look at the masked youth.
She simply waved her arm as if dusting away some light soot.
Pop—
The shockwave was shattered head-on, and the dust on the ground instantly soared into the air, creating a dense cloud around Jiang Jian Yue’s feet.
“What?”
The masked youth’s expression changed.
He pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, and the light in his eyes flared brightly!
“Die!!!”
The roar suddenly got stuck in his throat.
A trace of confusion flickered in the masked youth’s eyes.
Because the girl had already vanished from the spot.
What?
Invisibility… or…
The thought flashed by.
At the same time, the masked youth could feel a gust of wind blowing past his side.
Something had come behind him.
Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
The shockwave he was gathering in his hands had already been interrupted.
He slowly turned his head.
A pair of blood-red eyes were close at hand, flat and deep, like the surface of a lake on a cloudy day without a single ripple.
“Can we settle this peacefully…?”
***
In a car speeding along the highway, Oowada Toshihiro sat in the back seat, his expression grim as he repeatedly dialed numbers on his Mobile Phone.
“What the hell is going on?”
Without exception, even after trying several numbers, no one picked up.
He had originally been having dinner with the vice chairman of the Saitama Prefecture Agricultural Cooperative when this mess happened.
Suddenly, strong headlights flared on the road ahead.
The driver said, “Chairman, someone is blocking the road.”
Oowada Toshihiro squinted and saw that a checkpoint had been set up on the road ahead.
A group of people wearing reflective vests were waving fluorescent sticks, signaling the car to stop.
The car slowly came to a halt.
The red-haired youth in the passenger seat cursed as he unbuckled his seatbelt, opened the door, and yelled, “What the hell are you doing?”
After the car stopped, these people in reflective vests quickly surrounded the vehicle.
The rear window was smashed open with a small hammer by the nearest person.
Oowada Toshihiro brushed the glass fragments off his body and cursed, “Yuanming reaaaa-—I’ll kill you!”
“What department are you from! How rude!”
The red-haired youth had just finished speaking when he was struck to the ground by a club from one of the approaching personnel.
The surrounding personnel did not look like they were there to arrest him; instead, like riot Police, they struck him with their clubs one after another.
The driver sitting in the front seat’s expression changed.
Sensing that these people did not seem like Police, he pulled out the Handgun at his waist.
In the next moment, the front windshield rolled down like a rain curtain as dense 5.56mm NATO rounds were fired into the driver’s body, penetrating through the driver’s seat.
Oowada Toshihiro clutched his head and shrank into the corner of the back seat until the gunfire stopped.
The roar in his ears lasted for a long time, and the cabin was filled with various strange smells.
One of the smells came from his crotch.
The car door was opened, and Oowada Toshihiro was dragged by his hair and thrown onto the road.
He cursed, “Bastards! Do you know who is behind me!”
“Ah!”
A cigarette butt was extinguished on his Face.
Wincing in pain, Oowada Toshihiro shook his head but still did not use his Ability to fight back.
He knew which was faster between a Wave Fist and a gun.
“Who is it?”
A smiling white man knelt down beside him and asked in somewhat broken Japanese.
“Heh…”
Oowada Toshihiro’s expression suddenly froze.
He did not continue and remained silent.
“You’re collecting bad debts for the bank, right?”
Standing nearby, a Japanese man holding an NR97A said, “Specifically for the JA bank? I heard you recently got in touch with Mitsui Sumitomo as well?”
“But it’s mainly the Agricultural Cooperative? Your last method of forcing farmers to store their goods was too crude. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has had their eyes on you for a long time.”
The matter started with the inflation in the United States in recent years.
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates to suppress inflation.
Norinchukin Bank—which is the financial institution of the Agricultural Cooperative—is one of Japan’s largest investment institutions in the international market.
Before the interest rate hike, they held a large amount of long-term US debt.
An interest rate hike meant that US bond yields rose, so the price of the bonds naturally fell.
In June of last year, after repeatedly misjudging the Federal Reserve’s policies and enduring floating losses, Norinchukin Bank finally announced—I can’t play anymore, I have to cut my losses.
It was unclear if they really couldn’t handle it or if it was to ease the Yen exchange rate—but in any case, outside of the financial games, the money of the farmers who honestly tilled the land was gone.
Having lost so much, they naturally needed to make up for it from other areas, such as deliberately raising rice prices or the task of securing 1.2 trillion Yen in new financing, which fell onto the shoulders of Agricultural Cooperative organizations across the country.
Originally, this kind of collection was proceeding normally.
But after the Ikebukuro Monster Incident, turmoil broke out worldwide, and the international financial markets fell into chaos.
Various international investment institutions suffered varying degrees of damage.
Among them, Norinchukin Bank, which was already severely injured, tightened its efforts to gather funds from other places… and even began to turn to desperate measures, collaborating with the Yakuza.
The Dragonno Association, a Yakuza Organization made of Superpower Users, took advantage of the current period of unclear authority between the Tokushu Jishou Taiou Honbu, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and the Judiciary to fish in troubled waters, becoming a sword in the hands of the Agricultural Cooperative.
Whether it was collecting bad debts, threatening protesting farmers, or “collecting reserves,” they were experts.
Although the Dragonno Association’s Headquarters was in Tokyo, they could follow the orders of the Agricultural Cooperative at any time, taking root in the rural grassroots across the country.
“Heh heh… I haven’t said anything.”
Oowada Toshihiro forced a smile.
He thought these people of unknown origin would show some respect because of the giant that was the Agricultural Cooperative.
After all, because of Japan’s unique electoral district system, the current ruling party relied on the support of the Agricultural Cooperative to stand in the political arena for so long.
The Agricultural Cooperative raising rice prices was considered a tacit agreement by the ruling Government to allow them to make up for their own losses—who could say that the existence of the Dragonno Association was not also tacitly approved by those even higher up?
You might say the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has always allowed the Violence Group to grow, but the Police also had their own difficulties.
If they investigated… what if they found something they shouldn’t?
The former Prime Minister wanted to reform the Agricultural Cooperative and was turned into a heroic spirit by Japan’s No. 1 Marksman—who could say if there was any involvement or design by the Agricultural Cooperative in that?
Conspiracy theories have a market everywhere.
“The Agricultural Cooperative, huh…”
The white man nodded thoughtfully, then turned to the Japanese man beside him.
“Are they very powerful?”
The Japanese man was stunned for a moment, then nodded.
“They are quite influential in Japan. Compared to those conglomerates, their influence on the Government is deeper.”
“That is indeed a problem.”
The white man shook his head and sighed—seeing these people show some “timidity,” Oowada Toshihiro’s confidence rose, and he immediately stiffened his neck.
“Did you hear that? If you mess with our Dragonno Association, you mess with the Agricultural Cooperative. If you mess with the Agricultural Cooperative, you mess with the national Government!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the people around him suddenly burst into laughter.
Oowada Toshihiro’s expression changed, and he murmured, “What… what are you laughing at?”
The white man laughed so hard that tears came out.
He quickly wiped the corners of his eyes and placed his hand on Oowada Toshihiro’s shoulder.
“It’s nothing, I just thought of something funny.”
Oowada Toshihiro’s face turned pale and then green.
He clearly saw that these people did not seem to fear the Agricultural Cooperative at all.
“Who… exactly are you?”
He finally asked the question.
The white man lit a new cigarette, then took out his Mobile Phone and waved it in front of Oowada Toshihiro’s eyes.
On it was the wiki for the Dawn Resources Group.
Oowada Toshihiro’s eyes widened instantly.
“You… you guys…”
The white man held the cigarette in his mouth and swiped his finger across the phone screen, sliding to the list of Governments that Dawn Resources Group had “interfered” with, which was a long, dense list.
Then, Oowada Toshihiro’s chin was suddenly grabbed and lifted, and a cloud of thick smoke was blown into his Face.
“Boy~ we don’t care about any bullshit Agricultural Cooperative. You’ve messed with someone you shouldn’t have, do you know that?”
The white man tilted his head, and a youth in a suit walked up from behind him.
“Your side detained our diplomatic mission member Makino Yuzuha without cause and entered a temporary security zone designated by us while carrying dangerous goods.”
The youth adjusted his glasses.
“According to the Special Security Cooperation, we have the right to open fire to eliminate threats and reserve the right to pursue further action. Subsequent judicial trials will be transferred to us. Do you understand?”
Oowada Toshihiro’s heart went cold—he knew that even if the Agricultural Cooperative wanted to fight Dawn Resources Group to the end, a small character like him… would usually be the first pawn to be discarded.
Just because of a… tiny High School Student?
What diplomatic personnel!
Where is there a diplomatic person this young, hey!
Nakano!
I curse you, what the hell did you bring upon us?!
A Collar was suddenly tightened around his neck, and he was dragged onto a van.
Inside the van, there were two other youths, both wearing Collars.
After seeing them, Oowada Toshihiro was suddenly resigned.
No wonder he couldn’t get through on the phone.
One of the youths tugged at the Collar on his neck and gritted his teeth.
“What the hell is this thing?”
“Chairman, what do we do?”
The other person said with a crying voice, “These people… these people are simply terrorists. They rushed in and mowed down all our people with guns… cough cough… what is that smell? It stinks…”