Daisuke Jigen's Melancholy Bet: Seven Days Chasing Fujiko Mine - The Yellow Fiat and Old Scars

The sea breeze swept through the port. The Calione harbor warehouse district—Dockare—was approaching dusk, the sky shifting from orange to purple. I, Daisuke Jigen, hid in the shadow of the quay wall, binoculars raised. Beside me was Riri, a girl clutching a large rifle case. In my field of vision loomed the massive bulk of the cargo ship *MV Strada*. A hunk of steel eighty-five meters long, moored alongside the pier, in the middle of loading cargo. Cranes groaned, and containers sank one after another into the hold. " Port side, two guards." Riri had her own scope trained on the ship, separate from my binoculars. Her dull blonde hair was tousled by the sea breeze. A girl sniper who had betrayed the organization. Probably around sixteen. I'd thought she'd be trouble, but last night's firefight proved her skills were the real deal. " Three at the stern. One watching the deck." I put a cigarette in my mouth and lit it. The smoke was carried off by the wind. " By sea, their movements are limited." She was meticulously noting the guard positions in a small notebook. The handwriting was tiny, but her movements were precise and unhesitating. *(Raised as a tool, huh.)* Fujiko's words came back to me. A girl taught nothing but sniping by the organization. Looking at her sullen profile, something deep in my chest burned with a sharp, stinging ache. To be her age, standing in a place like this. But I quickly turned my focus back to the ship. " No idea about the guards inside. Not from this distance." The operation was tomorrow. Fujiko's plan was to hit the transport vehicle at Grisaglia Pass, but I still wasn't convinced. The informant Pietro's movements bothered me too. How much information was that man leaking to the enemy—? The scar on my left ring finger throbbed, as if it had a will of its own. *(The people you trust will always betray you.)* The sea breeze was cold. That was when it happened. Riri's small body stiffened with a jolt. " ...They're coming." Her voice trembled faintly for the first time. At the same moment, something cold crawled up the back of my neck. Killing intent. Before I could even turn around, my right hand was already reaching for the S&W M19 in my holster. " Don't move, Daisuke Jigen." A man in a black coat emerged from the shadow of a warehouse. Then two more, three more—from behind containers, from atop steel beams, they appeared one after another. All of them held submachine guns. And every single one was aimed solely at me and Riri. Six of them. The main force of Löwenzahn. A band of assassins—the most feared hit team in the European underworld. A small, elite unit, each member a specialist in a different method of killing. Their leader, Wolf, was ex-military. A giant of a man with a white scar bisecting his left eye, his gaze utterly devoid of emotion. " What a coincidence. Fancy meeting you here." Feigning calm, I kept my gun raised and assessed the situation. The encirclement was complete. The sea at our backs. Warehouse walls to the left and right. The enemy fanned out in front of us. No escape. " We received intel. Including the fact that you'd come here after scouting the pass." Wolf's voice was low and flat. *(Pietro.)* That venomous spider had leaked the information after all. Our movements were completely exposed. Silently, Riri tried to raise her rifle. But— *Bang.* A dry gunshot rang out, and a searing impact tore through my right shoulder. "—Ngh!" Agony. The strength drained from my right arm, and my gun clattered to the ground. Blood spread warmly from the shoulder wound, soaking the black fabric of my jacket. " Daisuke Jigen! I told you not to move." " Jigen-san!" Riri cried out and stepped forward, as if to shield me. But a red dot of light was drawn to her small forehead. A laser sight. High ground. On the warehouse roof, on the steel frame of a cargo crane—somewhere, there was another sniper. " ...I can't move." Riri's voice was desperately trying to stay calm. But the laser point on her forehead declared that if she moved even a little, she'd be shot immediately. Pressing my left arm against the wound in my right shoulder, I gritted my teeth. *(Damn it.)* Six of them. One had secured the high ground as a sniper. The remaining five were likely close-quarters combatants. The numbers were too different. Surrounded like this, practically unarmed, I had no chance of winning. Riri gripped the hem of my coat tightly. I felt that small hand tremble slightly. " Jigen-san... Fujiko-san told me." " Told you what." " To protect you. So—" Saying that, she readjusted her grip on the rifle with trembling hands. Even with the laser point still fixed on her forehead. *(You idiot.)* That was when it happened. —*SCREEEEEEEECH!!!* A high-pitched shriek of tires tore through the port's silence. Something was barreling from the road onto the pier at breakneck speed. A painfully bright yellow. A small body. A Fiat. Wolf's men hesitated. Seizing that split-second opening, the yellow Fiat leaped without hesitation into the midst of the assassins surrounding us. *WHAM!* Three men were sent flying by the car's body. One into the sea, another slammed against the warehouse wall— At the same time, a small cylinder was tossed from the car window. A smoke grenade. *Pssssssshhhh...* White smoke billowed out instantly, reducing visibility to zero. I could hear the enemy's shouts and confusion. The passenger door of the Fiat opened. " Yo, Jigen-chan! Long time no see—whoa, you've been shot!" That voice, with its unmistakably flippant and cheerful tone. Through a break in the smoke, a man with distinctive sideburns, black hair, and large, mischievous eyes appeared. The genius phantom thief, Lupin Sansei. " Lupin... you bastard." I tried to ask why he was here, but the pain choked off my words. " Talk later! Riri-chan, shove that kid in the back!" " —Right!" Riri moved instantly. As bullets flew indiscriminately through the smoke, she looped my left arm over her shoulder and half-dragged me into the back seat. Before I could wonder where her small body found the strength, she had thrown herself and her rifle case into the car. " Alright, let's go! Both of you, buckle up—if you don't, you'll die, but no guarantees!" Laughing, Lupin floored the accelerator. The Fiat surged forward. In the back seat, I collapsed, nearly crushed by Riri's small frame. Blood seeped from my right shoulder wound, staining the seat. Gunfire rang out behind us. The side mirror shattered. But Lupin paid it no mind, weaving the car through the narrow alleys between warehouses. A truck barreled out from the oncoming lane. " Whoa—!" The Fiat spun out spectacularly, horns blaring. Riri let out a small yelp: " Eek...!" Even so, Lupin's driving didn't falter. As if he knew the port's geography by heart, he raced through the labyrinthine warehouse district, shaking off our pursuers one after another. Eventually, the clamor faded into the distance. The port lights vanished, and the car slipped into a quiet area of abandoned warehouses. With practiced ease, Lupin hid the Fiat behind a rusted iron door and killed the engine. Silence descended on the car. The only sounds were my ragged breathing and the distant crash of waves. " Well, then." Lupin turned around and looked at the wound on my shoulder. The clownish grin from moments before had completely vanished from his face. " They did a number on you. Riri-chan, there are bandages and antiseptic in that toolbox. Patch up Jigen-chan." " Understood." Riri opened the toolbox and took out the first-aid supplies. Her slender fingers helped me out of my jacket. " ...Sorry about this." Gritting my teeth, I left it to her. The antiseptic seeped into the wound, sending a searing pain through me. " ...It's my fault. I should have noticed the sniper sooner." Riri's voice trembled quietly. The fingers wrapping the bandage were slightly clumsy. " Don't worry about it. It's not your fault alone." Saying that, I put a cigarette in my mouth with my good left hand. I searched for my lighter, but my fingers wouldn't move properly. *Click.* Lupin lit it for me with his own lighter. " Why are you here." Exhaling smoke, I asked. Lupin leaned against the driver's side window and let out a small sigh. " Isn't it obvious? My partner's in a life-or-death situation. No way I could just leave him." " Don't give me that. I'm not partnered with you. This job is—" " A request from Fujiko, right. I know." Lupin's voice suddenly turned cold. " Jigen, don't trust that woman." The air in the car instantly grew tense. Riri's hands stopped. Her blue eyes wavered between Lupin and me. " ...What do you mean." I stubbed my cigarette out in the ashtray. " It means exactly what I said. I've been doing some digging on my own these past few days. About how the Moonlight Tear isn't just some expensive rock." Lupin pulled a folded document from his breast pocket. " That diamond isn't just a liquid asset for Verde Noir. It's evidence tied to a power struggle among the executives. Just having it means getting caught up in the organization's internal conflict." " So what." " Don't you get it, Jigen-chan!" Lupin raised his voice for the first time. A serious light he almost never showed burned in his large eyes. " Fujiko knew that when she asked you to do this. You're a decoy, in other words. Disposable bait to draw the organization's pursuit." Something deep in my chest lurched violently. In my head, I'd known. From the very beginning. Fujiko's requests were always like this. She'd approach with that beautiful face, move me with that sweet voice. It was all calculated. Even so— *(Even so, I...)* That lonely profile she'd shown me in the used bookstore. Her unguarded expression when she thought no one was watching. A part of me wanted to believe that wasn't a lie. " Jigen-chan, you're in love with Fujiko, aren't you." Lupin's voice was gentle now, tinged with exasperation. " ...Don't be ridiculous." I turned my face away. " Don't hide it. You've always been like this. Weak to women, but you'll never admit it. And yet, once you fall for someone, you'll stake your life on it." Riri finished bandaging my shoulder. She closed the toolbox without a word. Her eyes wavered as if she wanted to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to interrupt. " Jigen, please, listen to me. That woman is—" That was when it happened. Something caught my eye. One of the enemies from the earlier fight—the corpse of one of Wolf's men—lay sprawled outside the Fiat. At his waist, he wore a knife of an unusual shape. I got out of the car. Pain shot through my shoulder, and my vision warped for a moment. " Jigen? What's wrong?" I didn't answer. I reached for the corpse's waist. I pulled the knife from its sheath. A dull silver dagger with a blade about fifteen centimeters long. But the blade wasn't the issue. It was the hilt. A finely detailed cross engraving. And a small chip carved into the end of the grip. My heart froze in an instant. *(—This.)* My breath stopped. I could feel the blood draining from my fingertips myself. I knew it. I knew it. This engraving, this chip. Years ago—on that day, there was a man who betrayed me. I thought he was my partner. I thought he was the one person I could trust with my back. He shot through my left hand. The scar left on my ring finger—that bullet wound still throbs like this, even now, from time to time. And the knife my partner always carried had this exact engraving. " ...No way." My voice shook. It didn't sound like my own. Unconsciously, I clenched my left ring finger. Beneath the silver ring, the old scar ached dully. Lupin quietly got out of the car. He looked at the knife in my hand, his expression unchanged. But his eyes instantly went cold. " ...So that's how it is." Lupi

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Episode 4

Name: Daisuke Jigen's Melancholy Bet: Seven Days Chasing Fujiko Mine
Author: Novelia

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