TBITW Chapter 24

Chapter 24 – Surrounded

Main Story 2, Chapter 1, 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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“What happened there?”

As soon as they met upon arriving at the Kasumigaseki office on this overcast, rainy season day, Sanae Suguru pointed to Kagura’s neck and asked.

“I accidentally bumped into something.”

The mark Zero had left on Kagura last night was too large to pass as a simple hickey and looked more like a bruise.

Sanae narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“Tell me the truth.”

Despite looking like a personified otter in glasses, he apparently thought he’d try sniffing out the truth.

“You weren’t attacked by the Eastern Alliance again, were you?”

He whispered this question with concern.

Sanae remembered that Kagura had been tased by Eastern Alliance members before, leaving a mark on his neck, and was worried it had happened again.

“If it were, I’d tell you.”

“Promise me that. And if you go wandering again, please let me know in advance.”

When Kagura answered, “All right, I will,” Sanae relaxed a bit. His round eyes returned to a gentle droop, tilting his head like a small animal.

“Even so, the Eastern Alliance has been awfully quiet lately.”

“Yeah, ever since Rong Lan was raided, they’ve been lying low.”

The Eastern Alliance had stayed out of sight for about four months now.

Until recently, not a day went by without hearing about them in the Metropolitan Police Department’s Organized Crime Division, but then suddenly, all reports had ceased.

Even Zero’s information network hadn’t picked up any intel on the Eastern Alliance’s movements.

Although individual members still committed random criminal acts, as a semi-gang group, there were no coordinated activities.

However, it was certain that they weren’t the kind to stay quiet just because they were wary of the Organized Crime Division after what happened with Rong Lan.

The Eastern Alliance was undoubtedly working on something behind the scenes.

More specifically, Toono Ryouji, the central figure of the Alliance, had long had a hand in Japan’s darkest networks, extending his reach through narcotics and human trafficking.

Kagura’s cousin had been ensnared and destroyed by that very hand.

Right now, where and how far might Toono be reaching…?

Even at this moment, there were likely unseen victims being created one after another. Kagura gritted his teeth.

It was a sense of frustration, as if he’d lost sight of his enemy.

After work, he boarded the train. And before he knew it, he found himself walking through an area controlled by the Eastern Alliance. He regretted it.

He didn’t want to get Sanae involved again. But if something happened here without him contacting anyone, Sanae would feel betrayed and assume he wasn’t trusted. Just as he reached into his suit’s inner pocket to take out his phone―――

He heard a motorcycle coming up from behind, drawing closer at high speed.

Before he could turn around, Kagura threw himself to the shoulder of the road. The bike whizzed past the spot he’d occupied just a second earlier, accelerating further.

A second bike came directly toward him, forcing him to run to the opposite shoulder. When he dodged the third bike in the same manner, the first one looped back, while the fourth and fifth bikes blocked his escape.

He was surrounded―――three bikes in front, two behind.

Even though the face was hidden by a full-face helmet, there was no doubt he was one of those Eastern Alliance guys.

Kagura slowly rotated his body in a full circle, looking at each of the five men around him.

Despite being cornered with nowhere to escape, a nagging sense of unease vanished, replaced by a heated feeling in his gut. His lost prey had shown itself on its own.

As the corners of his mouth unintentionally curled into a smile, one of the men, the third one, seemed to take offence. He dismounted from his bike and grabbed a baton-like stun gun hanging from his belt.

“Mediocre,” Kagura muttered, just as he heard a clicking sound from behind. Glancing sideways, he saw the fifth man still straddling his bike, aiming a gun at him.

Only a short-tempered fool would pull a gun in the middle of town.

It might be best to grab the man with the stun gun and use him as a shield to escape. Thanks to Zero, rough fighting had naturally become one of his options.

“Outside those rules is my world. Just do as I say.”

Zero’s words echoed in his mind.

―――Outside those rules.

If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with that man and pursue the same goal.

If he got killed here, it would all be meaningless.

Keeping an eye on the gun, Kagura was calculating the perfect moment to manoeuvre behind the man with the stun gun, who was closing in on him. 

Just then, with a groan, the gun fell to the ground. He looked over to see the fifth man trying to pull a knife out of his right arm. Then the fourth man toppled over with his bike, and a man built like a pro wrestler stomped on the back of the man trying to get up.

Then, the first and second men fell over in a domino effect with their bikes. A man in a suit, who looked like an ordinary citizen, sighed, keeping his posture after kicking one of the bikes away.

“Detectives are always so careless,” he remarked.

A boy with ash-grey hair came up from behind him, juggling three knives while nodding along.

“Totally careless. Though, as always, they do look fun to slice,” he grinned.

The stun gun man, stunned by the sudden turn of events, snapped back to reality and tried to lunge at Kagura. But before he could, a knife flew in and stuck in his shoulder.

Kagura studied the three newcomers in turn and came to a conclusion.

“You guys… the ones from the warehouse?”

The boy with the lip piercing grinned.

“Bingo.”

They were members of Enwu who had posed as Eastern Alliance thugs, abducted Kagura, and taken him to a warehouse by the coast, where they had staged a scene with Zero.

The knife-wielding boy looked to be in his teens, the wrestler-like guy in his twenties, and the man in the suit in his thirties. Each had a distinct vibe that didn’t make them seem connected.

However, they shared a solid bond.

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*Translator’s Note: Yup. They are the ones from the warehouse who witnessed Zero violating your mouth, Kagura. -K

Next update: 2025.09.27

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