TBITW Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – A Young Girl

Main Story 1, Chapter 5, 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 knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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After finishing work at 9 PM, Kagura went back to his apartment. He changed into a down jacket and slim pants, packed his glasses, hat, and scarf into his messenger bag, slung it over his shoulder, and put on short boots. With a helmet in hand, he left his room.

He went down to the underground parking lot and mounted his motorcycle. He had just bought it two days ago, intentionally choosing a second-hand one. He prioritised being inconspicuous and avoiding leaving an impression.

After about thirty minutes of riding, he entered Ichikawa City.

He parked his bike in an area where street parking was allowed, put on black-rimmed glasses, wore a knit hat, and wrapped a scarf around his neck to hide the lower half of his face. With this disguise, even if he ran into members of the Eastern Alliance gang, no one would recognize him as Kagura.

After stopping by a convenience store to shop, he headed toward the Edogawa area, where his targeted place came into view.

The place, called ‘Phao Hoa’, was a Vietnamese restaurant with a drawing of fireworks on its signboard.

Since Zero informed him that this restaurant served as a base for the Vietnamese mafia known as ‘Rong Lan’, Kagura had already visited the area twice before. Previously, he had travelled there by train, but the motorcycle allowed him the flexibility to come and go more frequently and keep watch without worrying about time constraints.

On both visits, instead of entering ‘Phao Hoa’ directly, he watched from neighbouring restaurants, observing familiar faces from the Eastern Alliance gang going in and out of the place.

Tonight, however, he planned to monitor the back door where members of Rong Lan were known to come and go.

He took a small cup of sake out of his convenience store bag and poured about half of it at the base of a telephone pole. Then he proceeded to the alley where the back entrance of ‘Phao Hoa’ was located.

The street was entirely deserted, but Kagura hunched his shoulders, staggered slightly, and pretended to drink from the cup, acting as though he was drunk. He made his way to a spot where he could see the back door and leaned his back against a residential wall, slowly sliding down to sit. He slumped his torso at an angle, pretending to sip the sake little by little.

Passersby avoided him, muttering under their breath or clicking their tongues. Some even kicked his legs in disgust as they passed by, mistaking him for a drunken vagrant.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kagura saw the back entrance of ‘Phao Hoa’ open.

He continued to observe without looking directly at it.

The man who exited glanced briefly at Kagura before walking away. The man was wearing a camouflage jacket with elaborate embroidery on the back―――a typical ‘Vietnamese jacket’.

―――Is he one of Rong Lan’s men?

Within less than twenty minutes, the same man returned.

This time, he had a young girl with him. She looked to be about sixteen. From beneath her black down coat, the hem of a pink ‘ao dai’ fluttered. Her steps were heavy, almost as if she was being dragged along.

The girl kept her head down, barely opening her eyes. She didn’t seem to notice Kagura’s presence as she was pulled through the back entrance of ‘Phao Hoa’.

That night, with no further developments, Kagura returned to his apartment in Kamiyacho. He soaked in the bath, closing his eyes as he warmed his chilled body.

The image of the pink ‘ao dai’ hem lingered behind his eyelids.

He could easily imagine the ordeal that girl would be forced to endure that night. Pushing down his disgust, Kagura tried to keep his mind clear and focused.

The girl had been brought from somewhere within a ten-minute radius of ‘Phao Hoa’. It was likely that young girls being used for prostitution or sexual services were being housed in the area.

Considering her age, she couldn’t have come to Japan as a foreign technical trainee, as the age requirement for that program is eighteen or older.

―――Most likely, she’s an illegal immigrant.

Whether she was sold by her family, deceived by promises of good work, or forcibly brought here, it was clear from her demeanour that she was in a situation against her will.

“…”

Overcome with revulsion, Kagura scooped up water from the tub with both hands and splashed it on his face.

“Get it together. This is where it really begins.”

He was finally getting close to the goal he’d set for himself when he became a detective in the Organized Crime Division.

The Eastern Alliance gang is involved in Rong Lan’s human trafficking. Kagura needs to follow the trail and unravel the entire network.

By doing so, he’ll also be able to uncover the culprit behind Machida Shogo’s murder case.

…For that, he has to accept leaving the girl to her fate for a while.

***

On Sunday afternoon, Kagura wandered around Ichikawa City. Today, he was disguised in a down coat, knit hat, and black-rimmed glasses. Unlike before, since it was daytime, he’d also added a clip-on moustache under his nose and on his chin.

He looked like a dreary, nondescript man in his thirties.

Feigning casual interest in shop window displays, he kept gathering information from his peripheral vision, searching for places where trafficked individuals might be kept.

So far, he hadn’t informed his colleagues that the Vietnamese mafia, Rong Lan, was working with the Eastern Alliance gang.

He couldn’t afford to let this opportunity slip through his fingers.

Once he had concrete evidence, he planned to report everything and take down the entire operation at once.

Walking within a ten-minute radius of ‘Phao Hoa’, Kagura suddenly stopped, narrowing his eyes beneath his glasses. A girl inside a shop with a battered glass door had caught his attention.

She wore a faded pink sweater and jeans, with her long hair tied in a ponytail. She was makeup-free, and her profile looked innocent and childlike.

Kagura wandered casually into the Vietnamese goods shop.

“Welcome,” the girl greeted him in halting Japanese, glancing his way.

―――No doubt about it. She’s the girl from that night.

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*GLOSSARY: 

• Ao dai: the traditional and national dress of Vietnam, featuring a long, form-fitting tunic worn over loose trousers.

Next update: 2025.09.16

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