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The agile kid, the one who’d been hiding in the bed, was the gang’s leader. Even after witnessing the unsightly defeat of his men, he still boldly went for the attack. Since this was his plan all along, he couldn’t back down no matter how obviously hopeless it was.
I caught the leader as he tried to charge me head-on. He made an admirable attempt to grab my legs and knock me off-balance, but there was just too much of a weight difference. Seizing him under the arms, I lifted him up, turned him upside down, and shook him. He bleated like a goat with a hangover.
“Give up?” I asked.
“Never!” he screamed.
With no will to fight, the others simply watched to see how much longer their leader could maintain his dignity as commander in chief.
“Then it looks like some Mafia-style torture is in order.”
With both hands under his armpits, I tickled the kid as if there were no tomorrow.
“Hya-ha-ha! W-wai— Ha-ha-hee-hee-hee!”
It took two minutes and forty-two seconds before he agreed to my terms of surrender.
I talked to the children for some time after that. Apparently, life at the restaurant was passable for the most part, but they were rather displeased with the food menu rotating every three days. They demanded swift improvement, or at least permission to be in the kitchen.
“Pops is nice, but…,” the oldest boy said. “Like, he treats us all like kids, but we’re all adults here, ya know? Is us growin’ up so quickly a problem for the adults or something?”
I told him that it probably was.
“We’re gonna get you next time!” the kids proclaimed, to which I responded that I was looking forward to it—and I honestly was. After that, I retired from the second floor. When I returned to the restaurant, I heard a new customer’s voice—a familiar one at that.
“Whoa! This is spicy, mister! Really spicy! What’s your secret ingredient? Lava?!”
“Ha-ha-ha, ya think so? That’s what Odasaku always has. Hey, Odasaku, welcome back. How were the kids?”
“It was close, but I remain undefeated,” I replied. “However, they predicted where I would grab on to, so they colored it in with crayons to make me slip. I was really worried for a second there. You said they’d be able to hold up a bank if there were ten of them, but I bet they’d be able to pull that off in two more years with their current numbers.”
“Maybe I should recruit them…” Dazai smirked while wiping his sweat. “I heard all about it, Odasaku. You’re raising five kids, huh? And not only that, they’re orphans from the Dragon’s Head Conflict.”
Even if I’d tried to hide it, Dazai would’ve been able to figure it out with just half a day’s worth of research.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
The children were orphans. They would have all died if I hadn’t saved them. Two years ago, various syndicates, including the Port Mafia, were involved in a large-scale underground dispute known as the Dragon’s Head Conflict. A certain skill user died, leaving behind five hundred billion yen’s worth of dirty money, which led to a bloody, murderous frenzy that spread throughout the entire Kanto region. Most illegal armed organizations came close to extinction as a result.
I also participated in the struggle. It was such a bloodbath that you’d get attacked once every ten minutes just walking the streets. The result was countless scores of bodies.
The children on the second floor were kids who had nowhere to go after the incident was over.
“A Mafia member who refuses to kill, talented yet has no interest in advancing through the ranks, a man who’s raising five orphans—Sakunosuke Oda.” Dazai smirked. “You’re a strange guy. You might be the strangest guy in the entire Mafia.”
Not as long as they had Dazai.
I faced the restaurant owner once more and pulled out an envelope of bills from my coat pocket.
“Pops, this should be enough money for the kids for now.”
“You sure this is okay, Odasaku?” There was a worried tone in the owner’s voice as he wiped his fingers on his apron and accepted the envelope. “I mean, I know most of your earnings end up here… If it’s all right, I can throw in some of my money, too.”
“I really appreciate you letting us use your place, Pops. That, plus the curry here, is more than enough.”
“Odasaku, do you seriously eat this spicy curry all the time?” Dazai asked as he took a sip of water. “It’s so hot that my jaw’s about to fall off.”
“Dazai, what are you doing here anyway?” I asked.
