It’s A Wonderful Life - Volume 5 Chapter 46 5.6

Ira yawned and fell over onto the soft bed. His eyes were so dry that he had to blink repeatedly to see anything and he was so tired, the world was blurry. He was completely unable to get his eyes to focus.

Well, his physical eyes. His mind’s ability to see was still working perfectly.

Another yawn broke through his defenses and he scowled fiercely to himself. He had spent the last two days (including a very productive night) in a row playing games on Silas computer to entertain himself, what with Silas away on a business trip. Ira wasn’t fooled. He knew full well that it wasn’t a business trip, so much as a thinly veiled blackmailing operation.

Ira had no idea who Silas was planning on blackmailing and he couldn’t care less, but he had already eaten his way through his entire storage of Silas baking creations. It had been over a week since Silas had left, two days since he ate the last cupcake and he was suffering from a serious case of withdrawal.

The games on Silas’ personal computer was of the RPG kind, mostly shooting games. There was a game specifically for shooting zombies, and Ira had gotten caught up in it. By the time that he looked up, two days had somehow passed by.

The computer was located in Silas’ home-office, which was right next to Silas bedroom. Ergo, instead of traipsing the whole way back to his own, Ira had elected to borrow Silas bed.

He was so tired that he had walked into a wall three times on the way over.

Because he had misjudged the location of the door.

Regardless, the mattress was soft, the sheets clean and the smell unobtrusive. Ira could easily sleep here without any trouble.

It hardly took any time at all.

The next morning, Ira woke up feeling refreshed. There was a smile on his face as he rolled over on the bed and burrowed deeper into the covers. He hummed in pleasure and sighed when he felt the sun’s ray hitting him. He had forgotten to close the blinds yesterday in his hurry to fall on the bed, so they were now hitting him directly where he laid.

Even turned away from them with his back to the windows, he could feel the warmth hitting his back. He sighed and threw the covers off his head, sitting up with a groan. He cracked his neck and stretched his arms above his head, amused when they made shadow-figures on the wall.

He glanced to the bedside table and Ira quirked his eyebrow up. The clock was fifteen minutes ahead of the current time.

His phone (the one Silas had given him) sat right next to the digital watch. Ira stepped off the bed, pulled on a morning robe and wandered off in the direction of the bathroom, picking up his phone while he walked. He turned it on and quirked his lips in response to the number of new messages.

Instead of reading them all, he simply hit the speed dial and called Silas to find out what the big deal was. If Silas had been in mortal danger, a specially attuned alarm would have woken Ira up.

The phone only beeped two times before Silas picked up.

“Ira?” Silas sounded winded as he answered. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt, are you?”

“Why would I be hurt?”

“Because of the assassins.”

“There are assassins? Where?!”

Ira’s eyes widened as he stopped in his tracks. He held his breath in anticipation as he waited for Silas’ reply.

“You didn’t notice them? They attacked the manor you’re staying in four hours ago.” Silas stated, as if this wasn’t a matter of utmost importance.

Ira scowled harshly. “I was sleeping.”

Silas hummed in response. “As long as you’re okay.”

Ira started walking again, because as much as he wanted to have this conversation, there was the matter his bladder. On the way to the bathroom, he didn’t meet anyone, as this was the private part where nobody but them was allowed in. After saying some more baseless assurances, Silas hung up with the reason of needing to deal with some negotiations.

Ira didn’t protest, having bigger things to worry about.

Were the assassins still here?

Once he was finished with his business in the bathroom, he didn’t waste any time. He made a quick cup of hot cocoa in the kitchen and set off for the public part of the house.

If the assassins were still here, captured as Ira guessed, then that would be the location of holding. Granted, he could easily use his map to find out for sure, but there wasn’t any need when the minions here would answer him anyway. And Ira liked exercising his power over Silas’ minions.

It was fun.

Still dressed in nothing but the morning robe and some underwear, Ira crossed the wooden path between the buildings. It was a short walk so he ignored the cold of the winter air and the sensation of the wind stabbing at him.

He entered through the sliding door of the other building and wandered off in the direction of largest collection of people on his map. Ira attempted to whistle as he walked, but this body lacked that ability, so he was just blowing air out.

Well whatever, it was just a matter of practice.

The largest collection of people in the building was located in the very big meeting room meant to contain hundreds of people.

When he entered through the double doors, he found them cl.u.s.tered together in a two different circles. One circle was surrounding a group of beaten men and women sitting in seiza on the floor with their hands tied up. The other group were standing in a looser circle, discussing the matter of what to do with the assassins until Silas’ returned from his alleged business trip.

“Is this them?” Ira asked, directed at no particular person.

It was the woman from the infamous meeting, the one with the sharp pantsuit and glasses, that stepped forward from one of the circles to respond to him.

“Yes.” Her glasses glinted in the ceiling lights and she threw the would-be assassins a disgusted look. “We’re waiting for Jinguuji-dono to tell us what to do with them, but he’s caught in an important meeting and can’t be reached.”

Absentmindedly, Ira nodded in understanding and walked further into the room. He crossed the floor until he stood in front of the assassins, the minions having parted like the sea for him.

The robe started slipping down his shoulder, too big for him as it belonged to Silas. Irritated, Ira pulled it up again and stared with harsh eyes at the criminals. He crossed his arms across his chest, his finger tapping against his arm. What was he to do with them? They apparently wanted to kill someone here, presumably him as Silas was away.

The appropriate response would probably be… turning them over to the police? Or was this an “internal matter” like the movies showed and he should leave it to Silas?

Wasn’t that boring?

Ira started smiling as an idea was born in his brain. They came here to kill him, meaning that they should be prepared to die, right? Movies always made a big deal about that, a tooth for a tooth, long quests on the hero’s part to get revenge on those who wronged him. Therefore, wouldn’t it be fine if Ira did the same thing?

Shooting games were all well and good, but nothing beat killing in real life.

“We’re gonna play a game of hide and seek.” Ira suddenly announced, ignoring the outcry from behind him.

He grinned down at the prisoners. “If you can stay unfound for twenty-four hours, I’ll let you go to the police and they can deal with you however they want. But if you’re caught…” Here, he paused to let them take in his words. “Well, I can think of plenty of more games for us to play.”

His bloodthirst rose as he imagined hunting them down. “You can hide anyway on the grounds where you like, as long as you don’t leave. Guards will be posted everywhere to make sure you can’t escape.”

“And don’t worry.” Ira licked his lips. “I’m the only one who’s going to be looking for you. You can surely hide from little old me, right?”

They flinched as if he had struck them with a physical object.

Ira took another sip of his hot cocoa, spinning on his heal. If he was going hunting, he first had to get a good meal.

It wasn’t until he was all the way back in the kitchen that he realized he had been followed. Returned around from his roasted bread and gave the woman a curious look. “Are you allowed to be here?”

“Yes, I’m Jinguuji-dono’s personal assistant.”

Ira hummed and sat down at the kitchen table, many pieces of toast bread and a new cup of hot cocoa in front of him. He bit down on the still warm bread and started chewing while the woman sat down opposite from him.

“Are you sure this is the best way to deal with them?” she asked.

Once Ira had swallowed the food (he wasn’t a barbarian), he answered her, “I want to play. I’m bored without Silas here.”

For some reason, this made her sit up straighter. “Are the games not enough? I can get you a new one if you want?”

Ira held off on answering her until he had eaten everything on his plate. Despite this, she waited patiently for him, never once telling him to hurry up. Ira’s opinion of her immediately went up.

“There’s nothing wrong with them. I just don’t feel like playing them.”

She stared at him intently, then sighed as if the problem laid with him. He ignored her and stood up to leave. Now that he had eaten his fill, it was time to start the game.

“Would you at least change into proper clothes?” she asked, an amused glint in her eyes.

He looked down at himself and saw that the robe had slipped down over one of his shoulders again and was now sort of half-heartedly hanging onto him. He supposed that it being so loose increased the chance of it getting caught in something and interrupting his hunt.

“Fine.”

Ira stalked off to his room and threw open the closet. He grabbed the first pieces of clothing that he saw and pulled them on. Back in the hallway, he was faced with the woman again. She held a professional grade camera in her hands and it was pointed right at him.

“What are you doing?”

“Jinguuji-dono responded to my email about your activities and instructed me to personally film your game for commemorative purposes.”

Ira just let her be. The important thing right now was his game. He was already missing it because he had stopped to eat and change clothes, he didn’t want to waste any more time. Now, where could they be hiding?

The grounds of the manor was very big, which it probably shouldn’t be located in the middle of a big town like it was. It had to be very expensive.

Which meant lots of potential hiding places.

Ira had a map, but it wouldn’t be very fun to just follow it… He whistled again as he exited the house and started walking across the garden. Hunting Mode (not an actual thing, Ira was just feeling dramatic) had now been activated.

The woman dutifully followed behind him as he crossed the garden and started peeking behind every single thing that he found.

“What’s your name?” Ira asked, slightly curious.

“Yamamoto Fumiko.”

Ira didn’t make any more conversation with her. He could hear something that sounded like forcefully silenced breathing and a body limping across the ground, and had started following it. That soul though… was probably Amanda?