Izuka - Chapter 156

After he said so, Narukami got a bad premonition.

“What are you planning?” He asked but received no answer as Saiko went back to his original position.

Immediately afterward, the phone rang and it was from Jim. Narukami turned his gaze at him.

“Ah, sorry,” said Jim as he stopped talking and answered the call.

“Hello, who is this?” Jim asked with a frown as he found the number was foreign.

“It’s me,” the caller responded. His tone was hoarse and seemed static as though concealed with a voice changer.

After a slight hesitation, Jim replied, “Is this someone playing a prank on me? Don’t think I’ll fall for your tricks!”

“Then did my call ten years ago a prank, Officer Jim?” The voice pondered as its tone was a bit unfriendly.

Jim’s expression sank.

He put down his phone as he covered the speaker with his hand and got up from his seat.

“I’m sorry. It’s an important call,” said Jim as he apologized and went past Narukami. The latter moved his legs to the side so that Jim could go through.

“Thanks.” Jim smiled as he walked a few distances away from Narukami and stopped as he grabbed the hand holder with his free hand.

Jim did not want Narukami to hear what he was talking about, hence furthering the distance between them.

Futile nevertheless as Narukami’s ears were terrifyingly sharp. He could also control the range of his hearing.

It could be up to five kilometers but doing such a thing was simply overbearing. He had to listen to every noise in the area and he might be one step away from the madness.

Eavesdropping on their talk, Narukami had a calm face and asked as he glanced at Saiko, “Is this your doing?”

“Perhaps or perhaps not.” The edge of his lips lifted as he formed a mysterious smile. Narukami stared at him for three seconds straight before shifting his vision to what was front and listening to Jim’s talk.

“Why are you calling me? I’ve done what you asked me, what else do you want?” He asked impatiently as he was annoyed.

“Well, well, no need to be in a rush. I just want to have a chat with you,” said the voice as he calmed Jim down.

It worked but Jim kept his guard up, “You’re not the type to have a chit-chat should there be no purpose.” Jim frowned.

“You know me well. Officer,” the voice chuckled and continued as his voice turned solemnly, “Help me to steal some databases from the NYC police department.”

“Okay sure, is that what you want to hear? Don’t make me laugh, why would I help a criminal and a person who destroys my life?”

“Looks like being separated from your family makes your heart turn cold. How are they, anyway? Right, I’ve heard your daughter is as talented as you, entering college two years earlier than her peers, and has a bright future.

“I’m curious what her expression will be if her future isn’t as bright as she thought? I can’t wait to see her expression, you know?”

“Leave my family alone!” He yelled as he was truly infuriated. Then, Jim realized his voice spread out throughout the entire bus and everyone’s attention was focused on him except Narukami.

He closed his eyes as though he was sleeping.

Being at the center of attention, Jim hurriedly apologized, “Sorry!”

Next, he pressed the stop button on a yellow thin pole. The bus halted and the doors opened, he hurriedly took his leave with the flip phone near his ears. He forgot about Narukami at this point. What was more important was his family.

“Why does it have to be me? Out of all the people you can threaten and use, why me?” Jim asked as his brows knitted together.

Simultaneously, Narukami got up from his seat and silently walked out. Before that, however, Narukami paused his steps as he heard Saiko saying, “You even care about a person you’ve just met?”

“So what?”

“Nothing but shouldn’t you worry about your subordinate, Asahi? You kinda leave him hanging after you teleported him there,” reminded Saiko but Narukami found it odd. Did his reminder out of kindness or mean something else? They were not close, to begin with.

If Narukami could frown, he probably would have done it already. He turned his head to Saiko but what happened next was bizarre.

Saiko was no more. It was as though he vanished from the spot. Narukami had thought that his talking with Saiko may be anything but an illusion but the swayed about standee proved that he’s real, not an illusion or hallucination.

The reaction of passengers who saw his disappearance was real too. Which was shocked and filled with disbelief.

“It’s okay, he’s just doing a magic trick!” Narukami yelled out loud and everyone hurriedly believe him despite the fact they have some doubts.

This was human instinct when something abnormal happened before them. Their brain would figure a way out to explain it and deny superstition answers. Except those who believed in superstition but they would still keep their logic number one before concluding it to anything supernatural.

After that, Narukami left the bus, and with silent steps, he followed behind Jim and listened attentively to his conversation.

Simultaneously, he was pondering what Saiko’s words meant.

Indeed, he was able to split his attention into two and multitask. It was not that hard.

As Narukami stalked Jim, he purposely lowered his presence to the point of invincibility.

Oblivious to Narukami following him from behind, Jim was walking on steady steps.

“Why? Because you’re the only person I know that has access to the NYC police department,” said the voice slowly.

“How did you know?” Jim asked.

“You think my gang as the title of one of the dangerous gangs in America only a title? We have a wide network,” replied the voice as a hint of pride could be heard.

Not waiting for Jim to utter a sound, the voice hurriedly continued, “You’re the best cop in America, Officer. I’ve heard the FBI and CIA send you an invitation letter to join them but you flatly reject them.

“Don’t you think you’re too arrogant, Officer?” The voice asked.

“What I do is none of your concern.”

“That’s true but I find it weird though. Are you hiding something, officer?”

“What are you talking about?” Jim pondered.

“Well, you’re the best cop in the country yet we beat you so easily. Any sane person will think it is weird.”

Jim halted his steps as soon as heard the other party’s words.

“Hum? What’s wrong? Hello?” The voice asked upon noticing anything strange. Jim out of the blue stopped talking!

“Hello? The signal is kinda bad here, I lost connection a few seconds ago but now we’re good, what are we talking about again?” Jim wondered as he continued his steps.

“Nothing important. Coming back to the topic, work with me, or something bad might happen to your family. You can know that by rejecting my offer but I don’t necessarily recommend it.” On the other side of the phone, the sunlight went in through the small gaps of the curtain. The outline of a middle-aged man could be depicted thanks to the faint light.

He was holding a telephone as he rested his chin on his hand.

After saying that to Jim, the silhouette shook his head.

“Is there no other way?” Jim asked.

“Are you dumb? Of course, there is no other way. Aren’t you a good man? Or is it possible that you become a cold-hearted monster that’s cold enough to abandon your family? Ahahaha! If that’s the case, why don’t you join my gang? We have muscles but we lack people with good brains!”

“You must be kidding. The day I abandon my family for my safety is the day I lost my humanity. Very well, I’ll work with you but you have to promise me that you will not mess with my family, ever again or you’re going to pay the consequences.” His few last words were slow and deep.

“Don’t worry, this is also going to be the last time we met,” said the voice as he assured Jim.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Jim asked.

“Check your email, it has everything you need to do. Right, I want to warn you. Be cautious of anyone following you. A certain organization is hunting every member walking on the street by sending their best assassin, bye.” The voices end their talk in a hurry. Jim did not think it was weird. Probably the other party was afraid the cops or any other organization would use some kind of method to track the voice’s location.

The owner of the voice was one of the dangerous men in the country, after all. Though, Jim felt he changed. His temper to be precise.

Opening his email, the interface of the web appeared in the phone’s scene.. Next, he found an email that just entered his inbox a few seconds ago.