TBCTW Chapter 25

Chapter 25 – A Deal

Chapter 11, 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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A month had passed since Toono Ryouji successfully returned to the country.

“I guess I’m just not cut out to be a brilliant producer after all.”  

Aizawa, looking dejected, shut his laptop. Kagura, who had been leaning on Aizawa’s desk to check social media with him, sighed as well.  

“It seems the Eastern Alliance saw right through it—our national human-wave strategy.”  

The plan was for Toono’s secret return to the country to go viral on social media through a flurry of posts about the Eastern Alliance. Aizawa orchestrated a strategy to have citizens upload sightings of Toono online if he was spotted.  

When Toono did return, the internet was indeed flooded with posts of supposed sightings—photos included. The problem was that there were far too many, with the sightings spread evenly across locations from Hokkaido to Okinawa.  

In other words, someone within the Eastern Alliance had sniffed out the police operation and retaliated with a disinformation campaign to confuse them.  

“Still, I can’t believe even those Eastern Alliance thugs caught on. They’re not exactly known for their smarts,” Aizawa muttered.  

Kagura replied in a low voice, “They may have external support providing them with personnel.”  

“External? Like Li Azhar, maybe?”  

That was a possibility, but it was also conceivable that the personnel were being provided by Kiriyama Shungo, the head of the special investigation division. That, however, wasn’t something Kagura could share with Aizawa.  

Aizawa, resting his chin on his hand, looked up at Kagura with a weary expression.  

“Li Azhar—that’s the owner of the ‘Invincible Castle’, right?”  

“Apparently so.”  

“I’d love to get some intel on that place, but none of my people seem to have one of those ‘Invincible Castle’ invitation cards.”  

As they quietly discussed this, a cheerful voice suddenly piped up from right behind them.  

“What’s this about an Invincible-something card?”  

Turning around, they found Sanae Suguru, his round eyes sparkling with curiosity.  

“It’s none of your concern,” Kagura replied curtly.  

The idea of Sanae being linked to the ‘Invincible Castle’ only conjured up images of him stripped naked and auctioned off in the venue.  

“I wasn’t asking you, Kagura-san. I was asking my mentor,” Sanae shot back.  

“Mentor?”  

“Aizawa-san is my mentor now.”  

Sanae puffed out his chest proudly, while Aizawa shrugged.  

“We went out for drinks the other day, and he started calling me ‘mentor’ nonstop. Honestly, he’s a handful when he drinks.”  

Kagura smirked and glanced at Sanae.  

“I’m the one who taught you everything about the organised crime unit, so technically, I’m your mentor.”  

“Ah, but Kagura-san, you’re my partner in the field.”  

“Between you and me, the best we’ve got is a zookeeper and an otter—or was it a sea otter? Doesn’t really matter.”  

Sanae made a face of indignation, and the topic of the ‘Invincible-something card’ was soon forgotten.  

Even among police officers, many weren’t even aware of the ‘Invincible Castle’’s existence.  

It was a fortress so out of reach that attempting to investigate it was a fool’s errand. Perhaps ignorance was bliss—at least it spared them the guilt of leaving countless crimes unaddressed.  

…Ever since Kagura started frequenting the ‘Invincible Castle’, he had been dreaming of his cousin Haruka more often.  

Dreams where Haruka was inside the ‘Invincible Castle’.  

Haruka being coerced into buying deadly drugs from a dealer.  

Haruka being dragged into an orgy room.  

Haruka staring out from a display window, just like the other entertainers being sold.  

And Haruka, sitting beside Toono Ryouji—dressed like a young entrepreneur—on the crimson sofa in Kilik’s VIP room. Haruka, nestled under Toono’s arm, gazed at him with a dreamy expression. Toono looked back with glaring whites in his eyes, grinning wickedly at Kagura.  

As Kagura stepped into the room to reclaim Haruka, his feet sank into the distorted chequered floor with every step.  

Then, as though spat out by the dream, Kagura woke up.  

Frustrated at his inability to save Haruka, even in a dream, Kagura pounded his fist into the mattress.  

Each time Kagura witnessed crimes at the ‘Invincible Castle’, he felt as though he were abandoning Haruka to die. After all, there were countless “Harukas” out there, sinking deeper into an endless abyss.  

***

“If you want access to the SS-ranked area, I’ll accompany you. So stay away from Kiriyama.”  

This offer was likely the greatest concession Zero was willing to make.  

However, tonight, Kagura was once again heading to the ‘Invincible Castle’ with Kiriyama.  

The memory of his knees buckling in despair at Chofu Airfield still stung like a bitter draught.  

But that moment also proved how closely Kiriyama and Toono remained tied, even to the point of sharing the intricate details of Toono’s return plan.  

Surely Kiriyama knew of Toono’s activities after his return.  

If there was even the slightest chance of gathering information, Kagura couldn’t afford to squander it. At the same time, he felt a gnawing sense of urgency—a compulsion to monitor Kiriyama, who knew everything about Zero’s roots.  

If Kiriyama chose to, he could drag Zero and Enwu into the light, subjecting them to ruthless justice and ultimately crushing them.  

Enwu operated to save undocumented children and exploited foreign technical trainees, people who had been abandoned by the system. For these people, Enwu represented justice. However, it was not a justice aligned with the law.  

For example, Enwu provided illegal work opportunities to those who arrived in the country burdened with massive debts to brokers, allowing them to repay what they owed.  

Many undocumented children who ended up at Enwu had already been both victims and perpetrators of crimes in their struggle to survive. Those accustomed to living in the shadows often resisted the restrictions of structured society.  

If someone were to ask whether Enwu was right or wrong in a lawful society, the answer would be that it was not right. But if asked whether it was necessary, Kagura could only answer that it was.  

Enwu saved those whom the police and the government could not.  

Kiriyama must not be allowed to destroy Enwu. Zero must not be sold out to the police or anyone else.  

“Now that Renjou is gone, there’s no point in watching the underground fighting arena anymore,” Kiriyama remarked, his tone bored as he sipped espresso alongside a creamy Basque cheesecake.  

The two were in Kilik’s private room on the eleventh floor, finishing a Spanish cuisine course.  

Sitting across from Kiriyama, Kagura no longer felt out of place with the black goat mask. Perhaps it was because he sensed the mask was a reflection of Kiriyama’s inner self.  

What Kagura could never get used to, however, was the way Kiriyama’s gaze regarded him as a sacrificial lamb.  

The mingling of sweetness and bitterness in his mouth made Kagura grimace. Kiriyama, perceptive even through the mask, let out a faint chuckle. Then, he spoke words designed to provoke Kagura.  

“Li Azhar was also disappointed he couldn’t meet Renjou.”  

“…You met Li Azhar?”  

Kagura demanded an answer from Kiriyama, who offered none.  

“Is Li Azhar still protecting Toono?”  

Kiriyama, clearly amused by Kagura’s irritation, seemed to savour it like dessert.  

Through Kiriyama, Kagura could see the shadow of Toono Ryouji.  

Why was it that Kiriyama, who had betrayed the Eastern Alliance, remained so deeply connected to Toono?  

The only explanation was that Toono had also benefited from betraying the Eastern Alliance. With that hypothesis in mind, Kagura had been piecing together the puzzle. Finally, just a few days ago, it began to take shape.  

By cross-referencing the police’s intelligence on the internal conflict within the Eastern Alliance with the information Zero extracted from Renjou’s associates, it became clear that most of the Eastern Alliance members arrested last summer at Kawasaki Port were part of the anti-Toono faction.  

Kiriyama had purged the anti-Kiriyama faction that had been favouring the Eastern Alliance within the Prosecutor’s Office and subsequently assumed the position of Director of the Special Investigation Division.  

Meanwhile, Toono reduced the anti-Toono faction within the Eastern Alliance, gained Kiriyama’s favour, and, by connecting with Li Azhar, paved the way to transform the Eastern Alliance into a transnational criminal organisation.  

To Toono, the Eastern Alliance was merely a chrysalis.  

―――It must be crushed before it can emerge as a butterfly.

A shiver ran through Kagura—part cold dread, part steely resolve—as Kiriyama rose from his seat and spoke.  

“If you beat me at the casino, I’ll tell you.”  

“Tell me what?”  

“Whether Li Azhar is protecting Toono.”  

“You’d sell him out despite still being connected to him?”  

Kagura felt his confidence falter even as he asked.  

“Even if I do, it doesn’t matter as long as Toono evades capture. It’s no different from not selling him out at all.”  

This was likely a proposal made with the assumption that Kagura stood no chance of winning.  

―――But if there’s even a slim possibility…

Thus far, Kiriyama had misled Kagura and set traps for him but had never directly fed him false information. It was an odd thing to trust about someone, but Kagura couldn’t deny that he did, in this specific regard. Kiriyama had a peculiar sense of integrity.  

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*Translator’s Note: Kagura, please don’t make a deal with the devil… -K

Next update: 2025.11.04

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