TBITW Chapter 28

Chapter 28 – Accomplice

Main Story 2, Chapter 4, Part 1

Novel Title: 獣はかくして交わる (The Beasts Intertwine This Way)

Author：沙野 風結子 (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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The rainy season has fully set in. For the past half month, Kagura hasn’t seen the sun or the moon even once. A sense of confinement hangs over him, as if he was trapped in a grey box.

He hasn’t seen Zero since they parted ways in the van three weeks ago.

He had sent several messages from his end, but all of them have been completely ignored. He even went to his apartment in Nakameguro five times, but there was no sign that Zero had stopped by. The number of cans of beer in the fridge hasn’t changed.

And again tonight, he missed getting off at Kamiyacho on the Hibiya Line and ended up going all the way to Nakameguro.

Since there’s no point in sending a message anyway, he heads to his apartment without notifying him. He inserts the key into the door, relieved that he’s still able to unlock it.

Will there come a day when he suddenly finds himself unable to open this door with this key?

Will the lease be cancelled without any warning, and he loses his right to enter this place?

―――–If that happened, then we’d be completely cut off from each other.

With a hollow, cold sensation in his gut, he steps into the dark room.

Maybe he doesn’t turn on the light because, by keeping it dark, he can still cling to the hope that Zero is somewhere in this room.

He moves through the dim space, just able to make out the arrangement of the furniture, and sit on the sofa.

Realising he left the right side open as if Zero might sit there, he gets annoyed and tosses his legs up onto the coffee table, grumbling to himself.

“You were the one who came on strong to connect with me in the first place, weren’t you?”

He can’t just let it go like this, as if he’s okay with being tossed aside.

“I’m your accomplice, you know.”

The Organized Crime Division is investing a lot of effort into gathering information about Enwu, the mysterious organisation.

He had connected with the man at its core and is keeping hidden the critical information that Enwu is an organisation made up of people without family registers. This amounts to betrayal of the police organisation, putting him in an accomplice relationship with Zero.

“…”

Kagura takes his feet off the coffee table and leans forward, thinking.

“There’s no way he can easily cut me off now.”

Unless they find a way to silence him by leaving it to someone like Haiiro, Enwu will be put at risk. There’s no way Zero’d abandon him in this vague situation.

“What’s he trying to push me away for?”

Kagura must have shut himself off from the world, lost in his thoughts.

Suddenly, the room brightens, and he’s left speechless.

Looking toward the entrance of the living room, he sees Zero standing there. Silently, Zero approaches and sinks heavily onto the right side of the sofa.

The scent of rain drifts from his damp leather jacket, mingling with the faint fragrance of something bitter-sweet.

It’s a scent that makes Kagura’s chest ache.

“How did you know I was here―――?”

He begins to ask but then realises the answer himself.

“You’re having me tailed, aren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Zero replies, tossing what he had pulled from his ear onto the coffee table. A wireless earbud rolls across the tabletop.

“So, ‘accomplice,’ huh?”

He had eavesdropped on Kagura’s recent muttering.

Kagura’d been operating under the assumption that everything in this place was under surveillance, but even so, his blood boils.

“Spying and tailing me―――you can’t get me off your mind, huh?”

“I’m just keeping an eye on you to make sure you don’t do anything unnecessary.”

“If you’ve been listening, then answer me. Why are you trying to push me away?”

Zero sighs, as if irritated.

“Because, in the end, you’re one of them.”

“So, I’m a ‘Citizen’ and you’re a ‘Non-Citizen,’ is that it?”

Zero gives me a sidelong glance.

“That’s right. So keep your distance from us, or Kiriyama will catch wind of it.”

‘A ‘citizen’ or a ‘non-citizen,’ it all ends the same.’

To block out the echo of Haiiro’s voice in his head, Kagura grabs Zero by the collar and leans in.

“Kiriyama is one of the ‘citizens’. There has to be something I can do.”

Zero narrows his eyes.

“You still don’t get it, do you?”

“What don’t I understand?”

“Kiriyama is a ‘Non-Citizen’.”

I can’t grasp the meaning of his words.

It’s impossible that a legal prodigy like him would be without a family register.

As Zero peels my hand off his jacket, he throws out a hint in a careless tone.

“He’s not treated as a ‘Citizen’.”

A few beats later, it clicks.

―――…So, the elite are still counted among the ‘Citizens’. But Kiriyama isn’t even within that elite range.

He’s destined to be the king of the legal world, someone who’s placed outside the bounds of the law, no matter what happens.

In that sense, Kiriyama, who seems to be Zero’s polar opposite, is actually the same as him.

“A ‘Non-Citizen’’s way of doing things can only be understood by another ‘Non-Citizen’. It’s beyond you.”

It feels like he’s telling him they’ll never understand each other.

“If it’s just the people in the Eastern Alliance, they’re bound by the law, just like you, so you’d have a chance. But those who aren’t bound by the law can easily manipulate those who are.”

A strong sense of resistance rises within Kagura.

“If you’re planning to dismiss me, then I have no obligation to keep Enwu’s secrets.”

“You won’t betray me.”

“And why are you so sure about that?”

“Because you can’t get me off your mind.”

As he says this, Zero grabs the back of Kagura’s neck. His lips crush down on him.

This man seems to think he can make him submit like some docile woman. It makes Kagura’s insides burn with anger. He wanted to deny him, but he couldn’t ignore that he’s managed to put him in such situations in the past.

―――–I’m not letting it end like this.

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*Translator’s Note: Well, you know what they say… in this game, if you fall in love, you’re losing the game. -K

Next update: 2025.10.01

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