MaruMA:SideStory01:Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Chinatown

If she were a kid who only ate with her parents, she would definitely never step into this restaurant in her entire life.

Starting with her mother, those posh and uptight Graves family relatives, will only go to those restaurants you can’t get in without proper attire. Let’s put it this way, they feel that eating dinner in plain clothes is a very dumb thing to do.

April holds up the smooth chopsticks, pushing the silver fork aside.

The woman wearing a silk cheongsam with beautiful embroidery is bringing some steaming hot bowls on a tray over to her. She is the restaurant’s lady owner, Kou Li. The long-tailed animal sewn with gold thread is apparently a bid of paradise.

“Bob comes here to eat lobster quite often, but April hasn’t been here in a while, huh. I say, April, does it have anything to do with that man of mine? Did DT prevent you coming to my shop?”

“How is that possible?”

The lady owner puts the soup in front of her customers, and then leaves the table to serve the next dish. April stares, mesmerized, at her long white legs, playing peekaboo through the slit in her cheongsam. DT shrugs, looking surprised,

“Don’t look so perverted. What’s the matter? Are you mesmerized by my wife’s beautiful legs? You are a woman, right?”

“I’m thinking, she has such nice legs, so why did she marry a guy like you?”

“…Y-you really are very not cute…”

Who knows what he was hearing, because Bob says happily,

“Seems like you guys get on quite well with each other, just like Hazel hoped you would.”

“How is this getting along? Don’t joke around, Bob!”

DT takes the opportunity before April can protest, bending over the hot soup,

“I’m just being this kid’s babysitter for two years according to the contract, since Hazel took care of me a lot too, but next week I’ll be free. The only reason I keep holding on, is all for that day… I can finally get away from this bitch!”

“You’re the pansy! I’ve never seen a man so scared of spiders and cockroaches that he doesn’t dare enter a cellar!”

“Mmph!”

“Don’t always pretend like you’re an expert, your success rate only became a hundred per cent after you partnered up with me, didn’t it? Think back on your own previous jobs, your success rate was horrible.”

“Ugh!”

“Seems like she’s got a sharper tongue than you.”

Bob faces the woman sitting with him, introducing the feuding partners.

“Don’t worry, Edith, these two will get it back.”

“Thank you…”

A faint smile appears on the old woman’s wrinkled face, directly opposite to them, but she doesn’t look like she plans to drink the soup any time soon.

Their table is set a bit further away from the other customers, in a good spot near the window facing the sun. Around the table there are five people of different ages and genders, April, DT, Bob, the old woman named Edith, and the bespectacled doctor from before.

These people had immediately been introduced by name once they met in the shop, but no further details were asked.

“April, this lady is Edith Bapu(?), she just migrated to France from Austria.” The old woman with her white hair cut short doesn’t meet anyone’s gazes. The reason she left her country, as an American April can actually hazard a guess.

She was forced by the Nazis to flee.

As for the doctor who feels exactly the opposite of her, the bespectacled Regent, he’s so friendly he doesn’t feel like a Frenchman at all. He uses the uniquely shaped spoon and chopsticks to eat the Chinese food easily. At first she thought he was around 35 years old, but when he chats about his experience as an army doctor near the border of Germany, he should be over forty. There’s a pinch of white in his black hair, and black eyes behind those lenses, Although he’s changed into another suit, but he’s still wearing that Panama hat from yesterday.

Henry Regent. This name sounds familiar, is he one of Grandmother’s young friends?

“After all, these two did find the missing royal jewels that were supposed to be in Mexico in the neighboring state. Although I know quite adventurers and treasure hunters, but it’s really rare to find examples like theirs, who didn’t have to go so far to finish the job.”

Bob expertly pokes his fork into the smooth vegetables, moisture leaking out of the plump stem immediately.

“The way you’re saying it, I don’t know if you’re praising us or taunting us.”

“Of course I’m praising you, April.”

Whatever, whether it’s a compliment or criticism, the most important thing is to successfully his request.

“What happened to that necklace afterwards?”

“It’s in safe hands now, and after the situation in Europe calms down we’ll send it back to Spain. Now, even if we send it back there, it’ll only be reduced to decorating the dictator’s treasure box.”

“But why would they want something so ominous? Most people wouldn’t want to even touch a cursed gem, right?”

“The one who wants it is a man who will soon be a local prosecutor. He has money, status, the only thing he lacks is an imposing family background and bloodline. So he wants to get something that can prove his family line runs wide, and is trying to buy a famous bloodline.”

April harrumphs contemptuously.

“I don’t get what’s going on in that head of his! Why would he want something like that? Look at me, I just wish I could get rid of my name and wealth.”

“Not everyone in this world is like you.”

The man referred to by some as ‘the Demon King of the Financial World’ gives a smile like an old man chatting with his granddaughter. His expression says that he knows anything there is to know abour April.

As for his real roots, there aren’t many people who really know. He has deep grey curls and a mustache, while those eyes whose color is hid behind those thick brows are extremely spirited, sometimes looking gentle and calm, while at other times turning hesitant and distant, due to the content of the conversation.

It was like that when he participated in Grandmother’s funeral. April, having seen him, was shocked into stillness by his unapproachable aura, and didn’t even dare speak to him. Although she doesn’t know the real reason people call him the Demon King, but whenever she remembers his cruel, dark gaze that day, she cannot deny that the nickname fits him well.

But on the other hand, even though he has such an ominous nickname, Bob is actually is a trustworthy person. Even if people betray him, he will never betray anyone! Grandmother and DT both said that before. And they had told her in full confidence, “He will never become our enemy.”

Judging from the time he’s known Grandmother, they must have almost fifty years of friendship. But to April, who doesn’t know his real age, he looks around the same age as the bespectacled Doctor Regent.

Instead of saying he hasn’t changed, it’d be better to say he looks considerably younger than when they first met.

Although his decisiveness comes from his work being largely connected to investments, but he still has other actions underground that shouldn’t come to light. And those secret organization-like operations have everything to do Hazel Graves.

That is, returning objects to their rightful places.

Letting the priceless works of art break away from the illegal deals that defile their worth and return to their truly suitable owners, letting the precious treasures that should be shared by all humankind return to a place of safety where they won’t be affected by personal gains.

“So, Bob, what do you want me to steal this time?”

April brings the rice-roasted tea to her lips, moistening her throat with the warm drink before continuing,

“Is it Madam Bapu’s property?”

“Don’t call it ‘stealing’, it’s not nice on the ears. Actually, that isn’t Edith’s belonging.”

“But you just said you wanted us to retrieve it.”

“…That box, was something my husband was entrusted with.”

“Box?”

April and DT echo in unison after Edith says those words in her soft voice. In the past the duo had come across countless paintings, jewelry and gems, but this is the first time they’re dealing with a box. As for Regent and Bob, who seem to know the whole story, they’re waiting for the old lady to continue.

“My husband was an art dealer who deals all over the world, and after he turned fifty he opened a small art gallery back home, living life almost off the radar. But starting around last year, the party’s rules had become very strict… They said the paintings in our possession will cause rot in the society, and quite a few of our colleagues were forcefully detained. That’s why we decided to end our business and escape to France. But my husband fell ill just as we were departing, and then…”

“He passed away, didn’t he?”

The old woman nods weakly in reply.

“I’m so sorry.”

“No… Thinking about all those young people with their bright futures cut short just like that, I feel that we elderly living for too long is a kind of sin, right now Vienna is just like that… So, as a widow, I had no choice but to hurriedly sort through my husband’s belongings before the agency arrived. No matter what, I wanted to take the precious things kept in the store out of there. Amongst them… is that box, that item we were keeping on someone else’s behalf.”

“Keeping on someone else’s behalf?”

“That’s right, it was something we kept for someone else. According to my husband’s will, it seems that he had forcefully pleaded with the original owner to entrust it to him. Because he was really interested in the origins and decoration on the box, and wanted to investigate it carefully. According to the literal explanation…. I think it’s called Noah’s Box.”

April puts down the teacup in her hands, the amber tea turning cold. She doesn’t take her eyes off the old lady and Bob.

“Wait, is it a box? Or an ark? If it’s an intricate model of Noah’s Ark, or something really religious like that, then that’s beyond me and DT’s expertise. Right, DT?”

“That’s right. After all I’m a pagan, and April isn’t a very religious person either.”

“That’s why, Bob. Maybe you’ll think we shouldn’t say things like this, but I suggest it’s better if you find that whip-wielding university professor…”

“It’s not an ark, April.”

The previously silent Regent suddenly interrupts her, looks like he knows some important inside information too.

“It’s because some devout Christians fear its qualities and call it that. It’s about half the size of a coffin, and it’s just a box made of normal, unassuming wood that sinks when thrown into the water, though that’s because of the heavy furnishings they added on afterwards.”

“You said the box’s qualities? Even if it has some ominous origins, but it’s still just a box, right?”

“About that, MISS Graves…”

Regent pushes his glasses up his nose with his middle finger, a smile in those eyes behind the lenses.

“That thing’s qualities are even more important that its origins, but it’s not any sort of torture device, nor does it have any special mechanisms you can see with the naked eye.”

“Then what is it? Don’t tell me it’s some jokebox with a monster sealed inside?”

“You’re really sharp, just as expected of Hazel’s heir. But the monster sealed inside isn’t the kind of monsters you Americans imagine, though in some sense it can also be called a type of monster.”

DT sticks out his tongue rudely, looking utterly disgusted, perhaps he thought of some Asian monster.

“It shouldn’t be a box, more like a ‘door’. A door that leads to a power that must never be touched, an unbelievable power sealed away so it can never fall into anyone’s hands. This door, which is to say, if this entrance is ever opened, this whole world will be caught in that terrifying power. Long, long ago in the distant past, who knows how much blood, how many lives, were sacrificed to seal up that power capable of destroying the world. Of course that seal can only be opened by the true ‘Key’…”

Regent’s smile takes on a hint of unease.

“What does that mean?”

“…Very unfortunately, something like the ‘Key’ also seems to be in this world.”

“‘Like the Key’…”

“April, the box… that is the entrance, there are four of them in total, and there are the same number of Keys, which makes one Key for each Box. Other than that, nothing can open it. But if we use something like the Key to force it open… It’ll only let the power leak out incompletely. By then no one will be able to control it, be it the mysterious power sealed away, or the user of the Key.”

“Wait a sec. What you’re saying is, as long as you have one of the four Keys, even if you can’t open the Box fully, you can at least open a crack, right? Then, do you know where this mismatched Key that can open the crack is?”

“You catch on quickly, that’s perfectly right.”

“No, I don’t!”

DT, who was reaching his chopsticks out for the shiny squid, says as he replaces the ebony chopsticks back onto the table.

“Like me, I didn’t understand that. I’ve been listening to you quietly since just now, and then all you talk about is demons, monsters, a threatening power and whatnot, and it’s called ‘Noah’s Box’? It’s religion-related no matter how I look at it!”

“DT.”

The Asian man narrows his single-lidded eyes, looking at the people around with dfferent religious views from him.

“Some of you here may really believe in the existence of God or the Devil, and the great man that can change water into wine and split the sea in two. But even if our Oriental hell has demons, we don’t have fallen angels who trick the humans. This may be a bit cruel to you devout people, but all that about the mysterious sealed power being released, or the evil mummy in the Box losing control, all that is just nonsense—”

No one mentioned anything about mummies.

“I don’t blame you for reacting this way.”

Regent replies calmly. This doctor is different from the Frenchmen they met before. Not only does he believe in teamwork, he also has patience, and he’s not partial to French either, speaking to everyone passionately in English.

“Adding the word ‘Noah’ does indeed make people misunderstand that it’s something religious. But DT, the one sealed here isn’t God, or the Devil, and it definitely isn’t some old pharaoh’s mummy, and besides if we were looking for the Ark or the Holy Grail, the church has plenty of experts we can ask for help.”

That’s true, anything that starts with the word ‘Holy’ does tend to be more problematic than others. To get it successfully, not only do you have to be faithful to God, you also have to memorize the Bible from cover to cover. Even Hazel Graves, known as a master amongst masters, usually avoids any item related to Christianity.

Regent gives Bob a look, to confirm if he can state the truth of the matter.

“This Box is called ‘Mirror’s Depth’. If Noah’s Ark is said to protect the people from floods, then this is the complete opposite. It can control seas, rivers, lakes and the sky, creating destructive storms, tsunamis, currents and heavy rain.”

“This illogical nonsense again, how can such a small wooden box control the weather?”

“Don’t tell me that to this day, you haven’t come across anything that science can’t explain?”

His retort puts DT at a loss for words. Most of his requests up until now are supernatural CASEs.

Just then another two waiters send warm desserts over, the decorations on top made beautifully to look like fruits. Before long Kou Li comes by, lightly putting a heavy black cake in front of the silent, head-lowered old woman.

“A German dessert shop opened nearby recently, I hope the taste isn’t too different from your home country.”

“Thank you.”

But the next time you come here, you have to try our ‘Desserts’. Aiya, I’m such a showoff, is my pronunciation all right?”

Edith’s expression softens for the first time, and she smiles at the lady owner.

Kou Li really is amazing, it’s such a waste she married DT. Affected by the atmosphere, April gives a small smile, but even so she cannot forget her work.

“However, even though your husband passed away, aren’t the Box and related documents with you? You don’t have to call of us out here, can’t you just return it to the owner?”

“That’s because…”

DT’s eyelid twitches. But he still doesn’t make a sound, just watches the other end of the road.

“After my husband’s funeral, I left the city we lived in with my daughter and son-in-law. Most of the art pieces we left to our colleagues there, all we took were a few really precious items, but when we reached the border customs, all that…”

“Was taken from you?”

“Yes, all of it was confiscated. Not only the paintings, even the small carvings, gems and jewelry, they were all confiscated.”

“The public order near the borders is really bad, those robbers who don’t even understand art actually…”

“No, they weren’t taken by criminals.”

She was just going to ask ‘then who?’ when she remembered, that this person had escaped from the clutches of the dictator.

“It was the Nazis.”

Maybe remembering the situation back then, Edith’s entire body starts shivering. Regent softly puts his hand on her shoulder.

“…Those soldiers, took those works of art that we risked our lives for, and treated them like—m like magazines or firewood, just piling them onto the truck… They were that rough… Even the little ruby my daughter was wearing on her, and my late husband’s watch was taken away.”

“They don’t allow the Jews to take away any possessions. Be it money, bonds, or precious jewelry. Even the way they treat works of art is getting worse by the day. They go around defacing paintings and famous works, then they throw away everything the President doesn’t like. Technically the government can definitely sell those things to earn a profit, but the way I see even Picassos or Cezzanes could have been burnt, just like that. But what the truth really is, we outsiders have no clue.”

“What a pity!”

The man people call the Demon King puts his long slender fingers on his forehead, stretching his fingertips like a woman. His fingertips are shorter and rounder than April’s, more graceful and refined.

“Back then, the Box too… even the cheap-looking Box was taken away. Because that was something we were holding for someone else, and no matter what we had to return it, that’s why we had it with us.”

“Eh? But didn’t you just say that it’s a plain and common wooden box?”

“That’s right, it is indeed an old box you can see anywhere. Even my daughter and I can’t figure out why the army thought it was worth taking away. But I really feel very guilty, not being able to return the item we had borrowed to its original owner…”

“I understand.”

April straightens her spine, immediately telling the old woman on the verge of bursting into tears,

“So we just have to snatch it back, and return it to the original owner, right? Alright, buck up! There’s no need to beat yourself up over something like this, Madam Bapu, just leave the rest to us. Don’t worry, it’s not our first time going against an army anyway.”

“But though it’s an army, it’s not a normal army.”

“I know that. The people who took away the paintings and the people who were looking for the box, they were wearing different uniforms. One of them was wearing the common Nazi army uniform, but the ones who took away the Box were generals wearing a black uniform.

April’s hand on the table folds tightly into a fist, suddenly covered with warm, uncomfortable sweat. She really shouldn’t have heard that just now.

“It’s the Schutz Staffel, isn’t it?”

What a troublesome opponent.

“But why would the SS want such an ordinary box?”

“I’m afraid they know that it’s the Mirror’s Depth too. As long as it can strengthen their forces, those men don’t care if it’s a legend or a miracle, they’re still willing to give it a try. Maybe they found out about the Box’s true abilities from somewhere, and want to claim it for themselves.”

Suddenly, there’s the sound of metal clanging. Turns out the silver fork DT had pushed aside has fallen to the ground.

“No way? Those infamous Nazis, would actually believe something so supernatural and unscientific? They would believe that inside a dirty coffin is a machine that will cause tsunamis? How is that possible? It’s im—po—ssi—ble! Hey hey hey, which century do you think you’re in? This is the twentieth century, and more than halfway through the twentieth century too!”

“I can understand how you feel, DT.”

Hearing the smiling French doctor call his name, April’s partner abruptly stops his rant.

“Although I don’t know what happened to you in the continent, but it must have been something terrifying that you had no choice to believe, huh.”

“What is it, DT? What on earth happened?”

“N-n-nothing, nothing h-happened at all!”

“Liar! Just look at your panicked expression, something definitely happened! There must be something other than spiders and insects that scares you, right?”

“I said no means… Waa!”

Not too far away, there’s suddenly a loud, dry explosion sound.

Just then, everyone there instinctively bends down.

Not one second after he initial gunshot, the entire piece of glass looking out into the road shatters. Immediately after that, a barrage of bullets smash the window into pieces.

April instantly flips herself off the chair, and grabs the table legs with both hands.

“DT!”

“Damn! I’m going to be hunted down by my wife again!”

Because both he and his restaurant owner wife feel that wasting food is a hateful sin, but now isn’t the time to worry about that. The two of them use the strength of their shoulders and waists to push the round table onto its side, using it as a shield for the bullets that never stopped coming.

Even the other guests start screaming. Because the entire window was shattered, the bullets fly directly into the shop, destroying vases and bowls. Turning back, April finds Regent hiding behind the decorative gong, and he’s even wrapped his arms around the squatting old lady to protect her. As for the clumsy Bob, he’s standing in the middle of the dining hall, standing motionlessly with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

For a moment there she really thought he was dead.

“Bob! It’s dangerous!”

“I’ll be fine.”

“What do you mean, fine, this isn’t an endurance contest!”

He’s still alive, but he’s doing something beyond a normal person’s imagination. He shouldn’t really think that the bullets would automatically avoid him, right? All the staff are hiding underneath the counter, occasionally peeking out for a look.

“How many of them?”

“There are four people shooting.”　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 The familiar shop staff replies in a low voice.

“Hey hey hey! How many bullets do they have? Do they think they’re attacking an army base or something?”

“The only bright side here is that they’re not using machine guns! Hey, what’s going on here? Has this shop made some terrifying enemy?” “How would I know, go ask my wife!”

“Or could it be robbers?”

If they hadn’t even broken in to rob before sweeping the whole place with bullets, then by he time they grab the money and get out of the shop door, they would have probably been long since surrounded by cops. Surely very few robbers would be so bold.

“At least try to fight back! I can’t watch this anymore. Hey, April! Where’s your usual never-say-die attitude?”

“What the hell are you talking about, what kind of teenager carries a handgun everywhere? On the other hand, DT, why don’t you go beat them down with your karate! Since you already got your black belt, dealing with four people should be a piece of cake, right?”

“Since when did I become Japanese?”

The sound of bullets come and go, but before they’ve completely stopped, the lady owner of the shop has already slowly opened the kitchen door and is moving this way, and don’t forget she’s crawling forward in a dark red cheongsam. The white thighs will definitely send tongues wagging, but compared to the sexiness of her body, there’s the spine-chilling look of fury on her face.

April pulls her gaze out the window, pretending not to see it.

“Ah, don’t come here, idiot! It’s really dangerous here! And the floor is covered with glass shards!”

“You’re unbelievable!”

“What’s unbelievable! I was just going to say why there’s a light that keeps shining opposite the road, and then in a few seconds something so terrifying is happening. Kou Li, call the cops quick! Go call the cops!”

“You hooked up another mafia lady again, didn’t you?”

Eh--?

April swallows the yelp that almost leaves her tongue.

“W-w-what nonsense are you talking about! W-why would I do such a thing?”

“If you didn’t, then why the hell are you so nervous? Way I see it, you’ve definitely cheated on me with a mob boss’ mistress again, didn’t you? You perverted blonde-lover!”

What is this!

Kou Li’s expression is still beyond furious, she almost wants to grab her husband and toss him onto the ground.

“Thinking about it, you were like this since high school. All day you’ll just be chasing the blonde, tall sexy ladies. But at the end we finally got married anyway, and I was just feeling relieved too, you sicken me! Even if I’m pregnant now and can’t keep watching you, you can’t fall for another blonde chick again!”

“I told you, I didn’t cheat… What? What did you just say?”

April can’t hold herself any longer, and so she takes a deep breath. She wanted to yell as loud as she could “Whaaat--?”, but before she could open her mouth, Bob gets one step ahead of her,

“Oh! Congratulations, Kou Li.”

“Thank you, Bob.”

The lady owner smiles, her cheeks reddening.

“Whaaat--?”

But the one yelling isn’t April, it’s her husband DT.

“N-n-n-now? H-h-h-here?”

“No, no, no, DT. The Japanese have a saying, ‘You can’t choose where you fart and grow pimples’.”

“Even if I’m giving birth, it’ll be a few months from now!”

April feels it’s still best not to get in between their couple’s quarrel, and so decides not to say anything, but she starts feeling a little sorry for the people outside attacking them. Surely three out of four of them would never have thought that not only are the people inside the shop not afraid of death. they’re also having such a warm conversation.

Although bullets are whooshing over his head, but the Asian man, who just awoke from the shock of the news, is now busy choosing names.

“If it’s a girl, I hope her name will have ‘Plum’ or ‘Peach’. If it’s a boy, then we’ll ask Grandfather to give him a name. How’s that? April, what do you think?”

“…I don’t care if you want Mango or Lychee…”

What to do? She feels so helpless, the woman she idolizes is actually so childish? No, she should say that both of them are basically childish. April can almost hear the sound of the ideal woman’s image in her mind slowly shattering.

“Anyway, let’s call the cops, or someone lend me a tank and a helmet!”

“You can’t, April.”

“Why not? Since the situation is so dire, just lend me a wok, that’ll do.”

If only we can get the cops here, or if possible, the army will be good too.

“Each family takes care of their own business, that’s the rule of this street here.”

“What? Kou Li, there’s no need to drag your relatives into this either…”

“Shh! Quiet. They’re coming.”

She finally understands what they mean by ‘family’. Maybe it’s because they show no sign of resisting, so the enemy relaxes a little, and three of the attackers come in from across the road. The ones who entered are all black-haired Asian men, and they’re yelling all sorts of threats, only in a language they don’t understand.

“Nobodee movee--!”

What, so they speak Pidgin English?”

“Dun move--”

They must be reciting from a combat handbook. Truth is they didn’t have to make the order, everyone was already on the ground to start with, except that certain someone.

When the youngest man meets Bob’s eyes, standing in the middle of the dining hall, he’s shocked into aiming his gun,

“Dun…”

“I won’t move.”

The Demon King crosses his arms before his chest, staring at the other man straight in the face. Those hard-to-describe eyeballs, are shining from behind those brows and lashes.

“At first I was here discussing business over a nice meal, but then you come out and destroy everything? Can you understand the feeling of the dessert you’re eating and the plate it’s one being blown into pieces? Or the helplessness of a fortune cookie and its bamboo basket flying into the air, can you understand that? Is my luck today good or bad? You didn’t even give me the chance to test my luck. Since I’m already so unlucky, why should I move? Besides, the one who should move isn’t me, it’s you! Now leave this restaurant at once!”

Ah~ Bob… Thanks for buying some time.

“But before you leave, there’s one more thing. Give me back my sesame balls! My sesame balls!”

Though she’s beginning to wonder if he’s really trying to buy time.

Bob hangs his walking stick on his arm, furiously yelling in Chinese non-stop, “Sesame balls, sesame balls.”

Just as the attackers who didn’t think the customer in the middle of his meal would freak out like that, April and DT watch the three men carefully. They have five guns, but two of them are holding two, while the remaining one is held by the young man who’s hanging his head in shame over the sesame ball attack. He probably doesn’t have the guts to shoot and kill at close range.

“Listen carefully DT, I’ll take the guy with the bloodshot eyes. Since his eyes are already so tired, I’ll give him a good break, then you rip all the hair off that balding guy’s head, no, I mean, take him down. If you still have energy after that then tackle the young guy, got it?”

“…April, actually I…”

“We move on the count of three! Three, two, one, GO!”

Saying that, she lowers her body and shoots out from behind the table in their blind spot, using her head and shoulders to ram into the bloodshot guy’s stomach, then taking advantage of his loss of balance to sweep him off his feet, causing him to fall flat on his back with his weapon in his arms. Before he falls, though, he loses control of his gun, and his aim is off, sending two bullets through the ceiling.

Just as April is stepping on the fallen bloodshot guy’s arm and kicking away the smoking gun in his right hand, the young man finally regains his senses, pointing his gun at April, though it’s immediately knocked out of his hands by Bob’s raised cane.

With one foot on the bloodshot guy’s left wrist, April pulls a miniature weapon from her pocket, and points it at the spiritless young man,

“Dun move--”

There’s no need to imitate the accent too.

The silver block in her palm has the shape of a handgun, but it really is very petite, and its nozzle is small too, it looks miniature even used by a woman for self-defense. The only person who would raise his hands in resignation faced with such a weapon, is probably this young man here.

“Although I’m extremely against young people wielding weapons, I never said I’m not carrying one myself!”

Whether such a small handgun would actually be of use, is really very doubtful, so she never fired it at anyone. But as a silver item from Grandmother’s entire inheritance, this is definitely a priceless work of art. Every component has been shrunk to as small as it can go, to ensure a perfectly functioning inside to this tiny and intricate exterior. As for the handle of the gun, there are interlocking ivy vibes.

Though it really can’t hold that many rounds, and when it comes to destructive force this weapon has issues too.

She carries it around like a talisman of protection, hoping to solve whatever problems without taking it out. But that’s before today.

“Don’t move! All right, put your hands behind your head like a good boy. At such a short distance, this is really useful, you know!”

But before long, there’s the sound of a gun being cocked! A deep and magnetic voice coldly orders April. Turns out the be the balding Baldy, only he’s completely unharmed.

“You don’t move.”

Really, are you serious? What kind of trickery is this? Just listening to your voice will make me think you’re some kind of hottie!”

“What a rude woman you are, I am a hottie!”

And his English is really fluent, too, the only problem is that head of his. In that I highly recommend you wear a hat.

In her heart she’s wondering if she should throw down the miniature weapon in her hand, and at the same time she can’t figure what happened to DT, logically things shouldn’t have come to this.

“There should be a hag called Edith Bapu here.”

“Hey, where are your manners? Who calls a woman a hag?”

“Shut your trap, brat! Hey, who is Bapu? If you don’t speak up quickly, this brat will lose her life.”

“Hey, where are your manners? Who calls a lady a brat?”

“Stop spouting nonsense, and move your leg away!”

She takes her foot of the bloodshot guy’s wrist, but he has long since fallen unconscious. The young man hurriedly tries to take April’s weapon away. “Really, DT was supposed to take out the baldy, what the hell is he doing?”

“Sorry, April. Truth is I’m weak against balding men.”

“Hah? What the hell? What is this, you pansy! I know you’re scared of spiders and cockroaches, but the problem is I never heard of any adventurer who would be scared of balding middle-aged uncles! You really are a pansy, you!”

The young man who finally came back to his senses took away April’s gun as well, and she clicks her tongue despite herself. If Mother was here, she would definitely faint seeing this. But this is all that useless partner’s fault, from tomorrow onwards I’m calling him ‘useless crap’.

“I’m really sorry, April… I apologize on my husband’s behalf.”

“Ah, no no no, it’s okay, Kou Li, everyone has something they’re scared of.”

Once the other party comes nicely, she’s helpless against them.

“The truth is my husband’s father has that kind of hairstyle as well… and since he was young he has had many conflicts with his father, that’s why he ended up really hating baldies…”

Then in this life he’ll never meet my father.

“However, the husband’s mistake equals the wife’s mistake, husband and wife were always one… so…”

When I feel the difference in the atmosphere and turn around, Kou Li is just jumping into the air, and about thirty centimeters in the air too. She viciously tilts her body and kicks the man in his face, and there’s even the sound of a nose breaking. She then aims a kick at his lifted chin with her left leg, and that man sprays blood as he slowly falls back. Just when Kou Lu’s feet land on the ground, the back of the man’s head knocks onto the ground. What spectacular leg kung fu!

“…I’ll settle it in his place, is that okay?”

Of course it is! The entire restaurant is ringing with applause too. That sexy slit, could it exist for this kind of attack?

The surviving young man lifts his hands in surrender without being ordered. After seeing the sad state of the shop, the lady owner slides her fingertip down the young man’s cheek, saying,

“Little boy, you’re something else. How dare you wreck Kou Li’s shop like this, I won’t let you just walk out of here!”

Her beauty highlight her scariness, the young man is already so scared his face is turning white.

“And we’re comrades from the same home country, too, betraying comrades of the same blood is completely unforgivable, you know! All right, hurry up and tell me which germ hired you. As for compensation, we’ll figure that out later.”

The red fingertip suddenly flicks his cheek.

“I-it’s Germany…”

“There’s no need to repeat my words, is there.”

Kou Li lifts her right hand up high.

“Wait a sec! He looks like he’s about to spill.”

“I-it’s a German… who told us to threaten the hag!”

The young man looks across the street. Following his gaze, April sees a figure disappearing into the crowd, he has a head of neatly trimmed bright brown hair, and is wearing a long black overcoat. Instead of saying he’s part of a quartet, it’s better to say he’s the German who hired them.

The man suddenly looks back, revealing a unique sharp gaze underneath that short fringe. That’s a pair of brown eyes glowing slightly.

“DT, go chase him!”

The Asian father-to-be rushes forth with stumbling footsteps. He should have asked his wife for some of her courage.

“That’s the man who hired you, right? To threaten Mrs Bapu. But why…”

“I’m guessing it’s to prevent me contacting you people.”

The old lady is helped by the French doctor from out behind the gong, using a lot of strength just to get onto her feet. She hands some yellowing papers to April, and then clutches her heart with her empty right hand.

“To get back the Box… It’d be bad if other people got involved, Miss Graves, I have to hand this to you…”

“Are you okay, Mrs Bapu? About the Box, we’ll figure something out, you should just go see the doctor.”

Regent’s expression is clearly saying ‘I am a doctor’ again.

“No… I will… I will go to the hospital… But before that, please look at this.”

April takes the papers from the old lady’s hands and carefully folds them carefully, puts them into her front pocket, then holds her cold hands tightly,

“Don’t worry, I’ll definitely grab ‘The Mirror’s Depth’ back for you, and no matter how far away the original owner is, I’ll return it to them.”

“No, that person isn’t far away?”

“Look at that document carefully.”

“Eh?”

Bob picks up a fallen chair, and sits down slowly. He knocks the floorboards lightly with his cane a few times, and the glass shards around him bounce away. April looks at his stern expression, and opens the first piece of paper.

A familiar name enters her vision.

And it says that after Jacob Bapu dies, the Box, ‘The Mirror’s Depth’ must be returned to its original owner—Hazel Graves.

“…Grandmother was the original owner?”

“When Hazel was around thirty, she discovered ‘The Mirror’s Depth’ in West Asia, and after Mr Bapu begged and begged, she handed the Box to him temporarily for research, but there’s still one very important thing for her to find.”

“But Grandmother is already…”

“That’s right. However, Hazel Graves has chosen you to be her heir.”

Looking at the picture folded in between, April’s round fingertips start shaking.

They look so similar.

And Bob’s declaration, is like a clap of thunder over her head.

“The owner of the Box is you! April.”

Back to Chapter 1

Return to MA Series

Forward to Chapter 3