Kaede726

This is a story of the past. A twisted story of the past. ♂♀ Somewhere in Ikebukuro, in a back alley “Umm, are you...Shizuo Heiwajima-san?” “Huh?” The third-year high school student, Shizuo Heiwajima, unconsciously scowled when he heard a voice call his name. A girl who looked like she had just entered middle school stood before him. She wore casual clothes and certainly did not look like the type of girl to approach a blond haired ruffian. “Um, I’m Kazane Kinomiya. If I mistook you for someone else, I’m sorry.” “...I am Shizuo. What do you want?”

Top of the Second Inning As the weather forecast had predicted, heavy clouds covered the sky over Fukuoka today as well since morning. It looked like it could shower at any time. Today was one of their once-a-week grass-lot baseball team meetups. Their practice would start in the afternoon, so Lin decided to finish shopping in the morning hours and headed to Hakata station. Shopping was one of Lin’s hobbies. He looked around the shopping mall in the station for fall clothes up to two hours, but he did not find anything he particularly liked today. These days could happen every now and then. So instead, he purchased a red hair tie and a flower shaped hairpin. Lin felt like he could use them for practice. Having long hair got in the way of playing baseball. Once he finished shopping, Lin began to think of going home, but he had forgotten something important. Banba had pestered him to get mentaiko . Thank god I remembered , Lin sighed. That man would make a fuss if I went home withou...

Warning : This gaiden takes place after volume 8 and mentions a major spoiler from the ending of volume 7. In the bar Babylon, tucked away in a corner of Nakasu, the owner Jiro was making preparations to open shop. There were no other employees besides himself. Jiro paced around the back of the counter, busily wiping down the liquor bottles and checking the refrigerator’s contents. Misaki loved to walk over to this bar after school and quietly do her homework as Jiro worked. It was a comfortable atmosphere in the bar, allowing her to focus. She especially took a liking to the seats at the counter. Once she finished her homework, she would head home as to not interfere with Jiro’s work. That was a rule Misaki set for herself to follow. But today was different. She had already finished her math drills, and her homework was back in her knapsack. Misaki had her elbow on the counter, resting her chin in her hand as she drank her orange juice and observed Jiro nonchalantly. What ...

This is a story of the present. A twisted story of the present. ♂♀ Raira Academy, in the guidance counseling room “Sonohara. You don’t plan on going to university?” It was a couple months after Anri became a second-year student in high school. Anri was asked that question by the head instructor of her year during her first guidance counseling meeting at Raira Academy. The instructor was holding her career choice survey they received from Anri’s homeroom teacher. “Yes...I’m considering to work right after high school.” “I see...That’s such a waste...With your grades, you could get recommendations for designated schools or universities higher in the rankings.” The instructor glanced at Anri’s scores displayed on the staff’s personal-use laptop.

This is a story of a certain abnormality. A story of a twisted abnormality. ♂♀ Kawagoe Street Kazane Kinomiya was Shinra Kishitani’s younger sister. He was apparently the child her mother gave birth to while with her former husband Shingen Kishitani, but they still had not directly met face to face. Perhaps it was because of timidity or perhaps it was to continue bearing the illusion as an illusion. Just over the past few days alone Kazane had been given explanations as to why she had not yet met her brother, but she finally decided to make the attempt to take that first step, arriving at this place to meet her family. “...I have to be brave.”

Top of the First Inning When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Xianming Lin rose up languidly from the sofa that he used as his bed in the Banba Detective Agency and looked around his surroundings while rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He spotted used clothes tossed aside next to the bed and scowled. He saw something he hated first thing in the morning, worsening his mood. The office was dirty as always. Even though Lin has tried his hardest to keep it clean, how come it always becomes a mess? He had gotten beyond irritated by this as it was not an unusual occurrence. Perhaps his roommate was unable to keep the room clean without falling deathly ill. “Ah, Lin-chan.” Said roommate addressed him. Banba always spoke to him in a nonchalant manner. “Good morning.” Banba stood in front of the sink in a corner of the office. Lin heard the sound of rushing water. Banba must be cleaning something. “...Ahh, ‘morning.” Lin greeted back while suppressing a yawn. “You’re ba...

Fukuhaku Deai Bridge was a large pedestrian bridge that stretched over the Nagaka River. It was given the name ‘Deai Bridge’ as it was the place for the two cities to meet - the samurai city Fukuoka and the merchant city Hakata. There were sakazuki -shaped parasols, gas lights, and a flower beds on the bridge, which made it a popular spot for its scenery. The sight felt more like a small plaza than an actual bridge. Whenever the local professional baseball team won the championship, some problematic fans would try to leap off from the bridge and into the river, and there were even instances when the police officers and rescue crews sent out before. The current time was past eight at night. There was a large crowd of people crossing the bridge, some heading from Tenjin to Hakata and others from Hakata to Tenjin. Some were salarymen on their way home from work, and some were girls heading to work at cabarets. There were a couple of people resting on the benches while others stopped t...

I did use real places, organizations, and events as reference in this series, but this is entirely fiction. The events in this story have no correlation to real places and events. Please take this in mind. And so, we are already on the sixth volume! Time sure goes by fast…

Extra Inning Gonzales regularly thought working as a DEA agent was not up his alley. While the investigators lose sleep enthralled in their work and risk their lives for their mission, the members of the cartel lived it up day and night. They decked themselves out with golden watches and necklaces, built stately mansions, and drove around in luxurious cars accompanied by women. It was so easy going for them. Gonzales found it more ridiculous to work so hard. It could be said he fell to the temptation. Gonzales had lost sight of the significance of his job nine years ago. The DEA was primarily focused on the Veracruz cartel at the time, which was trafficking cocaine to America. A young investigator was sent in undercover to catch them. The boss of the Veracruz cartel was a man named Ramiro Sanchez.

Top of the Ninth Inning There was a white monument with a bronze bird statue perched on top of it located in the corner of Sunset Park. Uno anchored the fishing ship nearby there, tying the rope to the bit. They met up with Treinta and sat down on their guitar cases which held their weapons as they waited for the others to arrive. There was an L shape promenade surrounding the park, as though encasing it. They were currently stationed at the bend section of the L shape. As the time drew near, the Chinese men arrived. Immediately following them, a large crowd of men from the Noma Group came out, surrounding them on all sides. The Chinese group had fallen for the trap. The Noma Group was merciless. They mowed down the Chinese men while they were taken off guard, quickly creating piles of bodies in their wake. “Ahh, what a great night.” Uno remarked as he looked at the bodies sprawled out on the ground. “Today is going to be a historic one.”

Intermission: A Black Business 3 In front of Sonohara Hall in the middle of the night “How is it?” “Well...I’m not sure. I don’t sense anyone there…” The members from Heavens Slave went to check the storehouse at Sonohara Hall under Yukihiko Natsugawara’s orders. They observed the area for any activity, breaking up into teams of two and three and walked by the front of Sonohara Hall, but they were unable to tell when to take action. “I think we can go ahead and kidnap the shop owner. Is that alright to do?” “Dunno. Our leader is filthy rich. He can probably cover up the incident.” “So we abduct her, and he’ll cover for us?” “I guess...But this isn’t just kidnapping someone on the roadside, it’s abduction on top of a robber breaking in. We’ll be in big trouble for this. We’ll be arrested for sure. 100% guaranteed.” As the two men conversed, they noticed something was off. The street lamp ahead of them went out. Except when they squinted they saw that the street light did not t...