TBETW Chapter 26

(M?) Chapter 26 – Fruitless Interrogation

Main Story 2, Chapter 5, Part 1

Novel Title: 獣はかくして囚われる (The Beasts are Ensnared This Way)

Author：風結子 沙野 (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 freenovels.net, the original site of translation. TQ*

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“What happened?”

With his face still pressed to Kagura’s chest, Kiriyama looked up at him with a questioning gaze.

“What do you mean?” Kagura replied.

A light tongue scraped across his nipple, causing Kagura to tense his forehead. Kiriyama narrowed his eyes at his expression.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen that face—the one you make when you don’t like it.”

No matter how much Kiriyama licked him, Kagura had long since stopped reacting to the sensations, as if he’d been numbed by an anesthetic. Yet, just a little bit of sensation had started to return.

The fact that it seemed to please Kiriyama made Kagura sick to his stomach.

He turned his gaze toward the night view outside the penthouse’s bedroom window. The reflection in the glass showed Kagura lying on the bed, naked and on his back, with Kiriyama, dressed in a black bathrobe, hovering over him—this scene had become all too familiar.

Over an hour had passed already. Kagura clenched his fists, trying to suppress the returning sensations when a phone, left on the nightstand, vibrated. The tongue left his skin.

Kiriyama answered the call, exchanged a few words, and hung up.

Thinking that the act was finally over, Kagura started to sit up, only to be pushed back down by Kiriyama. The tongue traced his ear, and saliva trickled down the canal. Goosebumps erupted along his neck, and Kiriyama’s fingertips traced the bumps on his skin.

Nausea began to rise in Kagura’s throat, and he turned his body onto his stomach.

A hand slipped under the sheets, pinching and twisting his nipple tightly. Kiriyama seemed to enjoy the different textures of his skin, especially on the areas of his back marked with burn scars.

Kagura wasn’t sure how many more minutes he had endured, but he blinked slowly. He heard footsteps approaching up the stairs. Through the open bedroom door, the figure of someone entering was reflected in the window’s glass.

It was Itou. The call earlier must have been from him.

“Please prepare yourself,” Itou prompted Kiriyama, but Kiriyama didn’t stop his ministrations.

Itou cleared his throat and added, “At your house, Seina-sama has been waiting for over an hour.”

With a sigh, Kiriyama bit down hard on Kagura’s neck, leaving a mark before he finally got off the bed and left the room.

―――I wonder what kind of face he’ll make when he meets his wife after having his fun with a man like this?

Kagura imagined it, but the only thing he could picture was Kiriyama’s usual unreadable expression.

Despite the complete lack of family atmosphere, Kiriyama rarely returned to his main residence in Shirokanedai. He had promised his wife time at home, though. Despite marrying the daughter of a powerful ruling-party politician, his marriage was probably broken.

After washing the saliva off his skin in the shower and getting dressed, Kagura was about to head downstairs when he heard a loud noise.

Looking down from the landing, he saw Itou lying on the floor of the living room, his mouth stained with blood.

“You intend to give me orders?” Kiriyama stood nearby, his leather shoe grinding into Itou’s chest.

“No, no, Shungo-sama. I just thought… perhaps we should eliminate those who might hinder you, while we still can…” Itou stammered.

“Don’t think about anything unnecessary. Just follow my orders, as always.”

“I understand. I truly apologize for my presumption,” Itou said tearfully, pressing his lips to the tip of the shoe that was crushing his chest.

“It’s filthy with blood,” Kiriyama said disdainfully, and Itou stuck out his tongue to lick the shoe.

It was a revolting sight, but it seemed this master-servant relationship had been this way since their childhood.

When Kiriyama finally removed his foot, Itou immediately stood up, wiped the blood from his mouth with a handkerchief, and followed Kiriyama out of the room as if nothing had happened.

***

In the interrogation room, a young Vietnamese man hung his head, slumped over the desk.

He was technically a language student at a Japanese language school, but in reality, he worked as a laborer in a factory, putting in forty-hour weeks. That factory was located very close to the cold storage warehouse on Keihinjima, where Kagura and the others had been trapped the previous week.

“On September 23rd, at 11:26 PM, the security camera captured you walking with a luggage. Then, fourteen minutes later, the same camera showed you empty-handed.”

When Kagura interrogated him directly in Vietnamese, Phan Giem’s large eyes darted back and forth, as if searching for an escape.

Kagura slid two photos across the table. They were from a security camera across from the factory, and the quality was poor.

“It wasn’t me.”

“You’re on cameras from the factory you work at, as well as from cameras along the street. If you need more proof, there are images and testimonies of you carrying the luggage when you went to work.”

“It’s not me. It’s not me!”

Kagura slammed his clenched fist down onto the photos. Phan jumped out of his chair as if he had been hit himself.

Sanae, who was standing by the desk, intervened.

“I believe Phan-san was hired by someone else. But if he doesn’t come clean, with the physical evidence, it will look like he was the one doing it on his own.”

Phan, as if drawn to the soft tone, lifted his gaze to Sanae. His expression softened when he met Sanae’s animal-like face, and his brows furrowed.

“That’s troublesome. I absolutely didn’t take the lead.”

Sanae nodded with an encouraging smile, and Phan looked at Kagura with tears welling in his large eyes.

“I—I just worked part-time. The site was looking for people for jobs on Keihinjima.”

“Oh, it was one of those illegal part-time job sites for foreign workers.”

There were rumors that the Eastern Alliance was involved in running those sites.

“Everyone does it… why only me… It was my first time. They said it was a simple job—just drop the luggage off at an unused warehouse.”

“You were paid in cash, right? Did you meet the client?”

Illegal part-time jobs typically pay in cash the same day to avoid leaving traces.

“I got 200,000 yen in cash. The client handed me the luggage directly.”

Kagura leaned forward over the desk, staring intently at the young man who had just turned twenty.

“What was the client like? Was it a man or a woman? How old were they, and what were they wearing?”

The young man answered with a frightened face, his words quick and stumbling.

“It was a man. Probably in his thirties. He was wearing a suit. A normal salaryman’s suit.”

“Was he like an ordinary salaryman?”

“He really looked like a regular salaryman you’d see anywhere.”

“Did he have any distinctive features? Anything, no matter how small, try to remember.”

Phan seemed to concentrate hard, furrowing his brow and looking upward.

“He wore glasses and had a flat face… Oh, but he had a watch.”

“A watch?”

“He wore a Carrera Day-Date. It’s a brand I really admire, so I’m sure of it.”

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*Translator’s Note: That watch is so fucking expensive. But ugh… When will Kagura be back with Zero again? Please… -K

Next update: 2025.12.12

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