TBCTW Chapter 29

Chapter 29 – Toono’s Location

Chapter 12, 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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Entering the apartment in Nakameguro, Kagura Jinya stood before the door and thrust his hands into his coat pockets.  

He took out the keys, took a deep breath, and unlocked the door.  

The sight of Zero standing on the threshold struck him the moment he opened it, causing Kagura to instinctively drop the keys in his hand.  

There was no way Zero could know about what happened with Kiriyama this morning. Even so, his fingers stiffened as he bent down to pick up the keys dangling from their strap.  

“Get in,” Zero said.  

Despite clearly having waited for him, Zero’s tone was curt as he disappeared into the living room.  

Kagura calmed himself and followed. Inside, he saw Haiiro, Kataware, and Riki were also present. It was his first time seeing them here, and it was clear this wasn’t just a casual meeting but a serious Enwu discussion. Kagura instinctively straightened his posture.  

Haiiro, sprawled on the rug with his legs outstretched and his hands propping him up, fiddled with the piercing on his lower lip as he spoke.  

“I won the bet for you, so you got the goods off that creepy guy, yeah?”  

Sitting next to Zero on the sofa, Kagura responded.  

“I got what I needed. You really saved me there.”  

Zero, who must have already heard the details of the wager from Haiiro, frowned as he asked, “So, where is Toono?”  

As promised, after their ‘exchange’, Kiriyama had given him the answer. It had left a bitter taste, but Kagura had taken the information regardless.  

“Toono is being sheltered by Li Azhar in the ‘Invincible Castle’,” Kagura said.  

Toono had boldly entered Japan via Fukuoka Airport, evaded the frenzied police search, and managed to slip into the heart of Tokyo and the Castle’s protection.  

“Have you reported this to the police?” Zero asked.  

Kagura shook his head.  

“Reporting it would be pointless; they’d just bury it.”  

He had no intention of repeating past mistakes.  

Seated cross-legged beside Haiiro, Riki frowned and said, “That’s the right call. Even the Deputy Commissioner-General is under Li Azhar’s thumb.”  

“…Deputy Commissioner-General Hiwatari?” Kagura’s tone sharpened.  

Haiiro exaggeratedly twisted his mouth in a mocking expression.  

“That guy’s a gambling addict and a regular at Seven Lucky Gods Casino. Word is he’s about to be ‘discarded’.”  

“Discarded?”  

“An ‘accident’ or something,” Haiiro replied.  

Typing furiously on a laptop at the counter, Kataware provided additional context.  

“The Castle’s guardians had high hopes for him, even giving him an S-rank invitation card in anticipation of him becoming Police Commissioner-General. But instead, he fell into gambling addiction and learned too much about the Castle’s secrets. They’ll probably deem it prudent to confiscate the card and dispose of him.”  

Possessing a high-ranking card wasn’t just a privilege; it came with significant risks.  

Kagura sought clarification.  

“It’s one thing for the Castle’s guardians to track invitation cardholders, but Enwu keeps tabs on them too?”  

Haiiro smirked playfully.  

“We work part-time at the Castle, gathering intel on the guests. The dealer gigs are commission-based daily pay, so geniuses like me rake it in.”  

Zero muttered beside him, “And then there are the ‘vanished guests’.”  

“Is that different from being ‘discarded’?” Kagura asked.  

“Yeah,” Zero replied. “The Eastern Alliance gets its hands on the vanished guests’ identification.”  

“So they’re giving those identities to undocumented individuals or foreigners…?”  

Riki pounded his fist against his muscled thigh.  

“The rate’s skyrocketed recently. And now they’re being taken into the owner-only area before disappearing. They’ve streamlined their process with that route.”  

“Where is this owner-only area?” Kagura asked.  

Kataware stood up from his stool and placed his laptop on the coffee table, displaying a 3D floor map of a building.  

“This is… the ‘Invincible Castle’,” Kagura recognized immediately.  

Thanks to his previous reconnaissance, he could quickly identify the floors.

Kataware traced a vertical line on the map, pointing to specific areas on each floor.  

“At first glance, it’s hard to spot, but there’s a door at the end of the corridor. It doesn’t respond even to SS-rank invitation cards. Likely, only those linked to the Owner’s Card can pass through. Beyond that door, there should be an elevator,” he explained.  

Kataware’s long fingers danced over the keyboard, bringing up a list on the screen.  

“In the past three years alone, there have been 72 confirmed cases of ‘vanished guests’.”  

“The real number is probably several times more than that,” Zero said bitterly.  

“Most of them are C-rank guests. They buy drugs from Eastern Alliance dealers at the ‘Invincible Castle’, spiral into addiction, and eventually use their identity papers as collateral for debt.”  

“But even if they’re C-rank, they’re wealthy enough to obtain invitation cards. If they disappear, wouldn’t someone report it to the police? And wouldn’t their identities be difficult to misuse?”  

Haiiro, resting his chin on his hand at the coffee table, shot Kagura an upward glance.  

“Invitation cards can also be transferred by the guardians. If they approach some sucker with, ‘Congratulations! You’ve been selected to visit the Castle!’ what do you think happens?”  

“So the cards are handed out with the intent of stripping people of their wealth and identities from the start…” Kagura murmured.  

“It doesn’t stop there,” Haiiro said, his tone sardonic. “They turn you into an addict, pile up your debt, sell your body if you look good—man or woman—steal your identity, and in the end, you’re shipped overseas for snuff films or organ trafficking. Full course.”  

The ‘Invincible Castle’ allows this entire process to unfold without the police interfering.  

Kagura pressed his fingers firmly to his temple.  

―――It’s just like what happened to Haruka-nee…  

Back then, the ‘Invincible Castle’ didn’t exist, and Toono hadn’t yet established the Eastern Alliance. But he had been doing essentially the same thing. Haruka’s case had ended in a supposed suicide, bringing the police into play, but if everything happened within the Castle, there was no such risk.  

Now, it was more systematic, safer, and more efficient.  

A large hand rested on Kagura’s neck, pulling him out of his thoughts.  

“You want to protect the ‘Citizen’ from the Eastern Alliance. We want to stop the Eastern Alliance from using the ‘Citizen’’s stolen identities to dominate the undocumented population. The solution to both is the same: we take down Toono. Isn’t that right?”  

Kagura nodded in response to Zero’s words.  

Though their objectives differed, what they needed to do was clear.  

Haiiro turned his laptop toward himself and nudged Kataware, who was sitting beside him.  

“Hey, the floor map.”  

“Yeah, yeah. Here,” Kataware replied.  

“Which do you think Toono’s in, the third basement or the thirteenth floor?” Haiiro asked Kataware and Riki.  

“No way he’d want to live below the underground fighting arena,” Riki said.  

“Yeah, I can see Toono snapping, ‘Shut the hell up!’”  

Haiiro smirked faintly at Riki’s comment.  

Kataware, typing with one hand, remarked, “We don’t have any clear data on either the third basement or the thirteenth floor. First, we need to do some groundwork to complete the floor map.”  

“If it’s the thirteenth floor, should we just try ‘building climbing’?” Haiiro suggested, grinning.  

“You mean that urban version of bouldering?” Riki asked.  

“Exactly.”  

“…Be serious,” Kataware muttered, exasperated.  

Haiiro shot back, “I am seriously flexible,” but Kataware ignored him and turned to Zero and Kagura.  

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*Translator’s Note: Can’t help but shipping Zero’s subordinates. Lol. -K

Next update: 2025.11.08

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