Tokyo Wingman King

Chapter 512, Section 89: There's a Traitor and a Man with a Supernatural Imagination

Hua la la la——

The shutter door of the roadside bakery was pulled open by half a person's height, and the shopkeeper bent down and crawled out to put up an advertising flag in front of the shop.

The vertical flags printed with the signature sandwich pattern fluttered in the cool morning breeze, a reminder of the lingering summer heat.

The ground beside the sidewalk looked as if it had just been watered, and the morning sun at 5:30 pm gilded the wet pavement with a layer of gold dust.

The two people, who were walking slowly down the street, stopped at the same time.

Seeing the questioning look in Asama's eyes, Komaba added,
"Don't you think Takishima has been acting strangely lately, Mr. Hachiman?"

"If we're talking about abnormalities, when have you and Takishima ever been normal?"

In Tokyo, male high school students who think about the end of get out of class during class, discuss leaving school after class, and consider what to eat for their next meal are probably 100% normal; male high school students who talk about games, anime, club activities, and girls' skirts every day are probably 60% normal; and the difference between the "Monster Mercenary" who experiences life and the "Grey Hat Hacker" who plays the field and those mentally sound normal high school students is perhaps greater than the difference between men and women.

"Hasn't Hachiman noticed that Takishima is completely different now than he was before?"

"Really? How long ago was that?"

As a godfather who calls himself the son of a dog, Asama is unaware of Takishima's "humanization" phenomenon.

"Three months, no, one month, it shouldn't be two weeks ago."

Komaba changed two exits and finally confirmed the approximate time of his friend's mutation.

"Two weeks ago?"

Asama recalled how he and Takishima had raided a brothel a few days ago, and Takishima had suddenly started talking non-stop for hours.

"Do you mean he's become a chatterbox?"

"Chatterbox? No, Takishima has been deserving of a Nobel Prize for the past six months [as he keeps saying]. That's not what I'm talking about."

Asama pondered for a moment,

"Recently, he has put a lot of effort into history, philosophy, and classical literature, but the similarities are only superficial. He uses these things to make arguments, which is a bit pedantic."

Using historical facts as evidence is not advisable; their only use is to demonstrate that experience must be repeated generation after generation to have any impact and to shake up a deeply ingrained error.
Therefore, we cannot use fiction and experience as keys to verifying truth. You can't assume you're living Newton's life just because an apple fell on your head, nor can you call yourself a spiritual Indian just because you dodged and touched your head. Takishima's labeling me based solely on superficial similarities is clearly a major regression from seeking truth from facts.

Hearing Asama's self-absorbed reply, Komaba felt the fatigue from staying up all night growing stronger, and he covered his head, saying...
"Hachiman, do you know what line always pops into my head whenever you and Takishima are talking non-stop?"

"What?"

Komaba solemnly took out his phone, found a photo, and, as if overcoming some difficulty, awkwardly read it aloud—

"[True rubbish is novels crammed with myths, legends, and religious historical allusions from some obscure, backwater country; filled with theoretical terms from various obscure philosophical authors; or quoted from some line or page of madman's rant in a low-brow literary work. The only things you can find throughout are scattered fragments of inexplicable painful memories, distorted emotions, and self-indulgent sentimentality.]"

After reading several long and difficult sentences, Komaba cleared his throat and continued reading.

"When Joyce was writing Finnegans Wake, he suddenly stuffed in more than 80 onomatopoeic words such as 'thump, thud ...

We must understand that one-way output is never communication, much less literature. For most readers in the world, the experience of reading such works would only be a disaster.

The content Komaba read was a comment written by Asama last week when he helped Niji and the others comment on the science fiction novel "The Gene Revolution: Near Future" submitted by the English and Modern Literature Department.

Komaba put his phone away and rubbed his temples.

"So, could you please set a better example and make sure your way of speaking aligns with your 'less is more' fashion sense?"

Komaba's meaning was quite straightforward—Tetsuya Takishima's bad habit of spouting nonsense and using pedantic language was all instilled in him by Shizumi Asama.

"Okay, I'll be more careful about how I speak from now on."

Asama stated that he had no intention of making communication difficult.

He has actually toned it down a lot these days. If he realizes beforehand that the other party neither understands nor is interested in the examples he's about to use, he'll delete unnecessary "why" explanations. For example, regarding his views on pedantry and empiricism, he didn't explicitly state that his views came from the chapter "The Only Way for Truth to Spread" in Gustave Le Bon's *The Crowd*.

In addition, the excessive use of rambling is also related to the language used. Japanese itself is grammatically complex. Even though Asama basically does not use honorifics, various particles and affixes will make long sentences seem even longer.

Asama further defended himself,

“I’m not trying to prove how knowledgeable I am or to use information flow to condescendingly educate anyone. I’m just trying to show what’s in my head without reservation. Even if many of my views are just parroting others, they still contain my boundaries, needs, biases, emotions, and desires. If they can be understood, then the distance between us can be closer.”

Komaba was caught up in Asama's confession and sighed.

"Master, you may not have noticed, but I have never seen you try to truly understand anyone—you always figure out a person's temperament very quickly, make that person like you, and then stop being interested in that person on your own initiative—you are simply a born galgame player."

"Don't drag galgames into everything."

Komaba demonstrated a casting and reeling motion, and said...

"It's like a top-notch angler who can quickly figure out how a fish was caught, but doesn't care where the fish came from, what its habits are, or what it tastes like."

Asama changed the subject.
"So, if you had to choose between the game and fishing, which would you pick?"

"of course--"

Komaba slapped his forehead and said,
"Tsk—You've steered the conversation off-topic again, Mr. Hachiman! Weren't we just discussing Takishima's unusual behavior?"

"You're the one who keeps veerging the conversation off-topic, aren't you? Wasn't the initial discussion about whether to use aged vinegar or pomelo vinegar when eating crab roe soup dumplings?"

"Didn't this topic end abruptly? Of course, someone who's played Senka Manren is jealous!"

"I understand. You prefer games to fishing."

Komaba rolled his eyes and asked persistently,

"Hasn't Hachiman noticed that Takishima has been acting strangely lately?"

Just then, a group of girls' high school track and field athletes dressed in revealing clothing turned around at the intersection ahead, and the twenty-odd people fixed their eyes on Komaba's face from afar.

Asama, who had already donned a hat, mask, and sunglasses, moved from Komaba's right to his left and muttered,
“I basically agree with your assessment of Takishima’s strange and abnormal behavior. But you’re acting strangely right now too. If you have opinions about your friend’s changes, you might as well talk to him directly, instead of seeking the opinions of a fool from a third party.”

Just as Komaba was about to say something, a petite girl with dark, glossy skin bumped right into his shoulder from behind the high school track and field team that was passing by him.

"Oops~ I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention, I hope I didn't hurt you."

The girl who bumped into the person had a sweet, delicate voice and stood there shyly and awkwardly. She looked more like a trainee voice actress than a female track and field athlete.

Several girls in track and field uniforms around her also stopped, smiling and helping to apologize, and urging the two to exchange contact information and find an opportunity to formally apologize.

Unexpectedly, Komaba grabbed Asama's arm, pointed at the girl with his other hand in a delicate gesture, and said with a wronged expression,

"Darling~ This woman bumped into me! Help me teach them a lesson~~~"

This guy even managed to squeeze out tears from the corners of his eyes while yawning, using a voice similar to that of the famous voice actor Akira Ishida who voices female characters.

Asama, who was wearing sunglasses, felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision and couldn't help but turn his gaze to the girl who was bowing her head in apology.

But there were no girls left; they had all vanished in a flash.

"Hmph, what a cheap way to pick someone up! She wants my contact information? Dream on!"

Komaba withdrew his gaze, still using that disgusting female voice to speak smugly.

"Wouldn't it be better to just refuse?"

"Shouldn't Teacher Hachiman be praising my loyalty and devotion to Yinglihua at this moment? Oh right, I almost forgot that both Teacher Hachiman and Takishima are the type to flirt with other women."

"I filmed it; your disgusting performance."

"Huh? When? To satisfy your video-watching fetish, you've even abandoned your human identity?"

"They started taking pictures from the moment they started targeting you, afraid that someone would try to extort money from you."

"What a joke! If they dared to try and extort me, I'd retaliate with a full-on attack. Wait, with your skills, Mr. Da, pulling me away just now wouldn't have been difficult, right? Did you switch places on purpose?!"

No, no, how did we get off topic again! Let's get back to Takishima! His current condition is dangerous, Hachiman, aren't you worried?"

“Compared to Takishima, I think your current situation is more dangerous.”

Komaba called out as if he were no longer sleepy.
"I was serious!"

"You're disappointed because you didn't get an invitation? The list was probably arranged by Nijo-san's father; Takishima couldn't have made the decision." "How could that be? Hachiman, are you just pretending?"

"Is it possible that I'm not as smart as you think, and that the damage I suffer from staying up late—brain fogging, mitochondrial division and death, pituitary atrophy—is more severe than that of your brilliant minds?"

"Didn't you take a few minutes to sleep while we were playing Street Fighter? We actually stayed up for two whole nights straight!"

Realizing that Asama had once again steered the conversation off-topic, Komaba wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and gave a wry smile.
"Let me put it bluntly, Mr. Hachiman, don't you think that Takishima's recent anti-China remarks, his constant use of titles and praises, are really strange?"

"You were the first one to flatter me with the title 'King of the Harem,' weren't you?"

"Master, you're being a little too deliberate in your insensitivity to your friends. Don't you understand what I mean?"

"It's impolite to pry into other people's affairs under the guise of concern. You should know the line between curiosity and voyeurism better than I do."

Asama always held Takishima and Komaba's privacy in the highest regard. He also hoped that these friends would respect his privacy—not just information privacy, but all aspects of his private space, private activities, private autonomy, and private peace.

Especially Komaba.

"Isn't the most impolite one the teacher? He asked me to investigate the private information of thousands of people. Was it just out of curiosity and concern? It's precisely because the teacher has the ultimate level of control that he and I, who have the ultimate level of voyeurism, hit it off and became kindred spirits."

I was referring to friendships.

"Isn't Hachiman also secretly investigating the news about Futami-san's father? He even asked me to help find the whereabouts of Shinazugawa-san's father and Majima-san's mother, and to collect the latest information on the Yamagumi Group. You didn't get their permission for any of this, did you?"

"You deliberately lost the game to Takishima just so you could tell me these things?"

"I'm not here to interrogate you, I'm just concerned about the two of you. Otherwise, who would bother with this mess? Do you know how many new games I have piling up on Steam that I haven't launched yet?"

Asama said helplessly.
"Then just tell me directly, what's wrong with Takishima?"

"Don't you ever wonder if Takishima's encouragement of you might not actually be his own wish?"

Komaba continued in a low voice,

"If he's manipulated and exploited by his father-in-law, for example, if Nijo-san's chance of inheriting the Nijo family is threatened, shouldn't we take action for our good friend?"

"Since I don't accept Takishima's instigation, what do you have to worry about? Whether Nijo Rena can inherit the Nijo family depends on what the head of the Nijo family thinks, and it has nothing to do with how much Takishima has sacrificed."

"You can't say that. If Nijo Rena can continue to get your support through Takishima, how far away is it for her to become the head of the Nijo family?"

“You know I have the ability to flip the table, but that doesn’t mean I’m sitting at the poker table right now. Barbarians can’t play Tokyo poker.”

"Even a roughneck like Geralt knows how to play cards, so how come you don't? Didn't you admit yourself that you can trade on equal terms with the heads of the five Regent families? Why can't you be at the table?"

"For example, if the US president buys a pizza from me at full price, does that mean I can influence the future direction of the United States?"

"You can just poison it."

"What I mean is, in the eyes of the Five Regents, I am actually insignificant. The chain of interests is too far apart for me to leverage any value. No one would marry their daughter to a beggar of a country just to please the king of that country."

Komaba did not believe Asama's explanation.
"Did you think I'd believe something like that? The Konoe family's heartthrob went to Kansai because of you, and Konoe Chiyo and Shinazugawa-san regained their family's favor because of you. What kind of beggar could do that?"

"No, I was just used as an excuse. Even without the Boston Tea Party, the East Coast of the United States would definitely have gone to independence."

"Teacher, stop deceiving yourself. [Using historical facts as evidence is not advisable], that's something you just said before."

"My goal was simply to make things easier to understand. Well, it seems this example didn't work."

Behind his sunglasses and mask, Asama wore a frustrated expression.

Although Komaba couldn't see it, he captured this emotion.

He sighed as well, and continued,
"In my opinion, you're just trying to tell me you don't want to get involved in any responsibility. Let's put responsibility aside for now. What was the situation with the Justice Investigation Team of the [Right Night Knight] yesterday? You participated in Takishima's operation, but aren't you worried that these are weapons designed by the Nijo family to deal with other families? I don't believe in any nonsense about the [Five Regents Uniting as One]. We were definitely used by the Nijo family."

Komaba's concerns are understandable. Because of him, Takishima didn't hide the recent two operations from Nijo Reina, so Nijo Kenjiro must also know what they're doing.

"Possibly," Asama nodded.

"Similarly, the Trial Grounds KKIS might be a ploy by the Kujo family to lure the Konoe family away from their stronghold? The Kujo family head forcing you to attend the banquet under a different identity is also an attempt to indirectly reduce your influence?"

Komaba's speculation about KKIS is not impossible.

“That’s possible too.” Asama nodded again.

"I don't know how you feel about KKIS, Hachiman. I was really looking forward to this Justice Squad operation, but all I got was the feeling of being used. If this was all part of your plan, it would be fine, but it seems that's not the case now."

Because they didn't want to use cheat codes, their investigation ran into numerous obstacles. The only positive outcome was that it somewhat clarified the false image of [Asama Shizumi as omnipotent].

"Yes, actually I don't even have a plan."

"I knew it! Wait, with your OCD, how could you possibly do things without a plan?"

Komaba's eyes suddenly cleared.

"Master, have you been going with the flow all along? Did you secretly arrange for him to be an inside man for the Nijo family, to play along with you? As the infighting among the Five Regents intensifies and they weaken each other, wouldn't it be easier for you to consolidate them?"

"Yes, yes, I knew it. How could someone like you, Teacher, possibly support a bloodless revolution? You didn't let Futami-san and the others go to this dinner party because you wanted to see bloodshed?"

The king of overthinking is back.

"Why don't you find a chair, sit down, think about the plot again, sort it out, and fill in the gaps? We can talk about it after I buy breakfast."

Did I hit the nail on the head?

"Completely wrong. If there really is blood that day, I'll chop off Takishima's head and give it to you as a Coke cup."

"Phew—why isn't it your own? Is it because you're afraid of revealing that your brain can regenerate?"

For some reason, Komaba, who was a little out of breath from walking, burst into laughter, satisfied by his own fantasies.

A long line had formed at a ramen shop that served breakfast, and the aroma of mackerel and tonkotsu wafted out from the shop, which had not yet officially opened.

The Chinese breakfast shop that Asama and his friends were going to was only a dozen meters away from this shop, and there was also an exaggeratedly long queue in front of it.

With other people around, the two stopped talking about the Five Regents.

"Komaba".

"Ok?"

"What do you think is the biggest difference between me, you, Daiki, and Takishima?"

"What are the differences between the four of us?"

"No, it's the difference between the three of us and Takishima."

"We are all S, but Takishima is M?"

".wrong."

Perhaps that's true.

"That's true, Daiki actually has the potential to be an M. As for physical fitness, that's the difference between me and the three of you. As for looks, Daiki is the darkest, he's at the bottom. As for girlfriends, you have the most, we all only have one... um... Takishima is the only son-in-law?"

"That's not right either. How about we consider it from his perspective?"

"His perspective? He's the only one with squinty eyes?"

"No, that was an act."

"That is, only he likes to pretend to have squinty eyes."

"Not counting."

If you can't guess, just tell me the answer.

Asama looked at the line ahead and said,

"If a revolution were to break out, he would have the fewest followers."

(End of this chapter)