TBCTW Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Don’t Get Involved

Chapter 6, Part 1

Novel Title: 獣はかくしてまぐわう (The Beasts Copulate This Way)

Author：風結子 沙野 (Fuyuko Sano)

Illustrator：小山田 あみ (Oyamada Ami)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 鹿倉 陣也 (Kagura Jinya -MC) & ゼロ (Zero -ML)

*Please read at novels.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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In a private room at a seafood restaurant, a small-clawed otter was nibbling on a boat platter of sashimi.

Kagura watched this scene, sipping his fin sake with a frown on his face.

After finishing up work on a Saturday shift, Sanae had demanded some seafood to keep his trip to Niigata a secret, which led to this feeding frenzy.

With a look of bliss, Sanae swallowed a piece of golden eye snapper and asked, “Aren’t you going to eat, Kagura-san?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you feeling unwell? You barely ate at lunch too.”

“Just sleep-deprived.”

He had left the ‘Invincible Castle’ close to 4 a.m. After returning to his apartment and taking a shower, he had tried to catch some sleep before his shift, but he was too on edge and ended up not sleeping at all.

The SS-ranked territory of the ‘Invincible Castle’ was an absolute extraterritorial zone.

After Renjou’s match ended, Kiriyama granted Kagura permission to roam freely on his own. It wasn’t because Kiriyama trusted him; rather, he likely didn’t care if Kagura ended up self-destructing.

At the underground casino, mountains of chips were being stacked and moved, while on the floors where prostitution took place, popular idols, top actresses, and young male actors were being sold. There was even an auction room where stolen goods were fetching staggering prices.

As he wandered around, drug dealers approached him multiple times. Listening to them a bit, he found that they were selling death drugs with lethal rates, like ‘Krokodil’.

He even saw men and women who seemed to be high on drugs being dragged into orgy rooms.

While he sat at a bar and listened, he overheard conversations that seemed to be between politicians and yakuza executives.

Knowing Kagura’s nature, Zero made a wise decision in limiting his movement to the B-rank areas. In truth, he nearly lost control several times, biting his lips or tongue to hold back. By the time he left the ‘Invincible Castle’, his mouth was full of blood.

Even now, the fin sake stung his wounds unbearably. Yet, this physical pain was also helping to disinfect the disgust he felt inside.

Sanae slurped down an oyster with a squirt of lemon juice and looked around the private room.

“This place has the feel of a hidden getaway for grown-ups.”

“Aizawa-san brought me here before.”

“As expected of Aizawa-san. I bet this is the kind of place he treats the writers he’s managing. I’d like to be like that one day too.”

“…You, managing people?”

Sanae gulped down some fin sake and immediately started coughing hard.

His face grew redder by the second, his eyes becoming dazed. 

Though Sanae wasn’t particularly weak with alcohol, he had the troublesome habit of becoming overly friendly when he drank.

“Kagura-san, you underestimate me too much. I’m going to become a giant otter. I’ll be the giant otter of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police!”

He slurred as he said this, stuffing two pieces of sashimi into his mouth at once, and struggled to chew and swallow them.

“Well, don’t push yourself too hard.”

“I’m not pushing myself. There are even foreigners who rely on me, you know? And didn’t you tell me, Kagura-san, ‘You’re skilled in languages. That’s why we brought you on board. Your job is to listen carefully and convey the victims’ pleas as well as interrogate the offenders.’ So by doing that, I ended up with people who come to me for information.”

Kagura realised that Sanae had remembered his words and held onto them.

―――Even if he doesn’t seem dependable, he has his own kind of inner strength.

Downing some more fin sake, Sanae continued, fired up.

“I may not be able to be a giant otter, but I can at least become a sea otter.”

“Why bring up a sea otter?”

Sanae replied with a triumphant look.

“Don’t you know? Sea otters and small-clawed otters are in the same family: Mustelidae, the weasel family, subfamily Otterinae.”

Though he wasn’t sure which had a higher attack power, it was clear that in terms of size, the sea otter had the advantage over the small-clawed otter.

“I understand. Aim to be a sea otter.”

Kagura let out a relaxed laugh, realising that Sanae’s ability to ease people’s tension might be the reason people are drawn to him.

Despite not seeming fit for the Organized Crime Division, perhaps he would grow into a surprisingly dependable person.

They decided to call it a night as a drunken Sanae launched into a long discussion about otters.

Half-carrying the unsteady Sanae, Kagura managed to get him into a taxi.

“Thank you for the treat today,” Sanae said, bowing his wobbling head and then, as if remembering something, added unnecessarily, “I won’t tell anyone about that senior from high school… so, what kind of relationship do you really have?”

“Just a senior-junior relationship from high school.”

“Oh, I see. But using the same cologne as your senior—that’s kind of cute of you, Kagura-san.”

As Sanae started laughing uncontrollably, Kagura grabbed him by the back of his neck and gave his head a good shake.

This caused the alcohol to fully kick in, and like a drained battery, Sanae slumped down, leaning against Kagura’s shoulder and softly snoring.

―――Otter’s sense of smell is nothing to scoff at.

It seemed Sanae didn’t believe the cover story that they were just old school friends who went on a trip together.

From his tone, he might be thinking it was some kind of romantic relationship.

Of course, he would never imagine that Kagura was actually ‘keeping’ Zero, nor that Zero ‘kept’ him.

Their physical relationship should have been an extension of that arrangement, but at some point, their bond had become something irreversible.

“It’s already too late,” he murmured, feeling a bittersweet ache in his chest.

***

With December came Christmas decorations in the city, and the Metropolitan Police grew even busier. The number of accidents and incidents spikes around the New Year.

Despite the hectic pace, Kagura’s mind was constantly preoccupied with Toono Ryouji.

They were keeping an eye on immigration to spot Toono’s arrival, but so far, every attempt had been a miss.

As for unofficial routes of entry, Zero was using Enwu’s information network to track them nationwide, but there had been no movement detected yet.

―――If Toono does return, Renjou will make a move. Maybe even Kiriyama plans to help.

Even though Kiriyama had entrapped the Eastern Alliance and led to multiple arrests, he and Toono were still connected through Renjou. If Toono were to enter the country, it’s likely Kiriyama would be informed. Therefore, Kagura responded as often as he could whenever Kiriyama invited him to the ‘Invincible Castle’.

Li Azhar, the owner of the Invincible Castle, was reportedly sheltering Toono in Singapore. Accompanying Kiriyama could present a chance to gain insight into Li Azhar’s actions.

That evening, Kagura exited Kamiyacho Station at the last train and glanced into the driver’s seat of a sedan moving slowly ahead. He got into the car’s back seat.

“Did something happen?”

The businessman-like driver, Kataware, replied, “Zero asked me to pass on a message.”

“What’s it about?”

“He said, ‘The Eastern Alliance is launching attacks on Enwu members, but if it becomes a police matter, don’t get involved under any circumstances.’”

Kagura gripped the passenger seat and leaned forward, questioning sharply, “They’re attacking Enwu members?”

The fact that they were attacking meant the Eastern Alliance had identified Enwu members.

How the Eastern Alliance, when even the police couldn’t grasp Enwu’s structure, had identified its members was alarming.

This was a crisis both for Zero and for Enwu.

“Take me to Zero. I need to hear from him directly.”

“I can’t do that. That’s why I came to deliver the message myself.”

Kagura slammed his fist into the seat of the driver’s chair where Kataware was sitting.

“If that’s the case, I’m definitely getting involved.”

“That’s a problem.”

Kagura hit the seat again.

“If it’s a problem, take me to Zero.”

With a low, rough voice, he issued his threat, and Kataware sighed, pulling the car over to the roadside. He then began typing a message on his phone. After a few exchanges, he finally said, “He’ll meet with you,” and started the car again.

He added, sounding displeased, “Honestly, you’re a bit of a hindrance as a cop who lets his guard down. You should be aware of that.”

“…There are things a cop can help with.”

“Do you really think a ‘Citizen’ bound by rules can help a free ‘Non-citizen’?”

Kagura wanted to reply but was at a loss for words. He could only slump back into the seat.

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Next update: 2025.10.25

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