TBITW Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Raided

Main Story 1, Chapter 7, Part 2

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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“I can’t accept that the human trafficking case is being suppressed by outside pressure either. So if you’re planning to take action, I want to help.”

In the past, Sanae had supported him and had even been caught up in the Eastern Alliance case more than once.

Kagura gave Sanae a teasing look.

“I don’t need an otter’s help.”

“Calling someone weird nicknames at work is harassment now, you know. We’re only two years apart, so why do you act like you’re from a different era, Kagura?”

“Yeah, yeah, stop whining,” he replied, giving Sanae a pat on the shoulder and keeping his hand there.

“You’re good with languages; that’s why they brought you here. Your job is to listen to the victims and convey their stories clearly―――not just interrogate perpetrators. Leave the dangerous stuff to others and focus on that.”

From behind his glasses, Sanae gazed at him with wide, uncertain eyes.

“What’s going on all of a sudden?”

“Nothing, really.”

Kagura clapped him on the shoulder again, this time a bit harder. Sanae jumped back, exaggerating, “That’s harassment!”

According to Xuan, there were six girls in total, including herself, being held above that shop. He’d reserved an SUV capable of seating seven during work hours. Once he rescued them, he’d take them straight to the main police headquarters… since the local station might be too close to the Eastern Alliance and Rong Lan’s influence.

Then he would spread the truth online: the extent of the human trafficking network, and the pressure politicians and business elites were placing on the police.

This would undoubtedly mean the end of his career as a police officer. No―――he’d likely be risking his life. He was about to make enemies of not only the country’s power brokers but also anti-social groups both domestic and international.

But if he let self-preservation get in the way, he couldn’t protect a single girl.

His cousin had been ruined by a man named Toono Ryouji.

Until now, he’d been driven by a personal desire to destroy Toono, to dismantle the Eastern Alliance. Yet, through Xuan, he’d come to realize that there were countless others who had suffered as his cousin did.

Just as the Organized Crime Exclusion Ordinances had weakened the yakuza, there needed to be legal actions taken against these semi-gang groups as well.

What he was about to do was planting a seed for that change.

―――If anything happens to me, Zero will continue my work.

It was this trust in Zero that helped him make his decision.

Among the data he’d given Zero, he’d included everything about his cousin’s fate. He wanted Zero to know the whole truth.

As he prepared for what might be his final mission, a faint smile crept onto Kagura’s face.

“I’m really just a spoiled kid, huh?”

While the smile still lingered, Aizawa burst into Section Two’s workspace.

“Ichikawa and―――” he shouted, gasping for breath, “Ichikawa and six Rong Lan hideouts in Shinjuku were raided by Enwu!”

Kagura felt the blood drain from his face, and before he knew it, he had grabbed Aizawa by the collar.

“What do you mean Enwu raided them?! What about the girls above the shop?”

Aizawa responded in a low, strained voice.

“They were probably taken. By the time the local police arrived, only injured Rong Lan men were left at the scene.”

“Damn it…”

Once again, he’d failed to save them.

As Kagura shook with frustration, Chief Takizaki struck him on the back with a clenched fist.

“Pull yourself together,” the chief commanded in a steely voice.

When he turned to look, he saw the chief’s eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade.

―――I’m not the only one…

Kagura glanced around at his colleagues. On each of their faces, he saw the same bitterness and anger, impossible to hide.

Kagura felt frustrated, believing he was the only one with a personal grudge in the Eastern Alliance’s affairs, but that was merely a misguided assumption as he looked around at his colleagues.

“Things have moved regarding Rong Lan. This is our chance to act openly, right?”

Under the chief’s watchful gaze, Kagura nodded vigorously.

***

The Organized Crime Unit conducted raids on six Rong Lan locations. Ironically, it was through the attacks that Enwu inadvertently revealed all the bases.

Through interrogations of Rong Lan members, they identified the perpetrator responsible for the murder of Machida Shogo.

However, it appeared that all those forced into prostitution under Rong Lan―――reportedly around sixty individuals―――had been taken away by Enwu, and they couldn’t hear the victims’ accounts.

The fact that the technical interns taken by the Eastern Alliance were also reportedly being forced into prostitution under Rong Lan made it all the more painful that they couldn’t expose that.

Despite his bitterness, Kagura felt somewhat reassured.

A week after the raids on Rong Lan’s bases, Kagura received an email on his smartphone.

‘I’m safe and I’m really sorry. -Xuan’

It was a message sent using a payphone with a numeric keypad.

Xuan was also said to be involved in the abduction of technical interns, and it didn’t seem that her situation had improved. Still, knowing she was alive and safe allowed Kagura to breathe a sigh of relief for the time being.

…He hadn’t seen Zero since the morning they kissed.

He could see that his message had been read, but there was no reply.

Kagura transferred all the information he had onto a memory card and handed it to Zero.

Was that all he was to Zero now―――a tool for obtaining information from the police? Each time he thought about it, he was hit by a sensation like a large hole had opened up in his abdomen.

What had the past three months of his relationship with that man meant?

To Zero, he might have been nothing more than a means to gather police intelligence, but to Kagura, he was someone he believed he could trust.

―――…No, even now.

On the very day he had conveyed his determination to rescue Xuan and the others, Rong Lan was attacked by Enwu, and the girls vanished.

It was hard to believe that was just a coincidence.

Could it be that Enwu moved on that particular day because Zero had somehow influenced them?

Previously, when Kagura had asked Zero if there was any information he wanted, Zero had mentioned Enwu.

Was it possible that he hadn’t been trying to extract information about Enwu, but rather wanted to gauge how much the police knew about Enwu?

What had Zero given him?

What had he saved him from losing?

Thinking about that made Kagura feel that his feelings for Zero hadn’t been misplaced.

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*Translator’s Note: Kagura had fallen for Zero, but he had no idea that Zero had fallen for him first and harder.😏 -K

*GLOSSARY: 

• A specific service allowed users to send email messages from some payphones in Japan by dialing a special number and typing a message on the phone’s keypad after inserting a coin.

Next update: 23rd Sept 2025. If you see no updates, wait for announcement on Discord

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