I became Hokage in Tokyo

Chapters 238 and 239: Kamen Rider, Resurrected!

Outside the ICU at Osaka General Hospital, a pale-faced Reiko waited anxiously, accompanied by a police officer.

Suddenly, the door to the ICU emergency room opened, and a doctor with bloodstains on his white coat walked out.

"Doctor, how is my daughter, Mamiya, doing?" Reiko asked anxiously.

"Although the rescue was relatively successful, the patient suffered a severe head injury, and the situation is not optimistic. The next two weeks will be a critical period. If he can pull through, perhaps..." The doctor shook his head, winked at the nurse beside him, and then hurriedly left.

"How could this happen? How could Mamiya have fallen out of the window?"

Having just heard the whereabouts of Masamichi Moribe, who had run away from home, Reiko was about to be separated from him forever. She couldn't accept this fact and her body swayed precariously.

"Perhaps it wasn't an accident."

"That's what the police officer who was standing near Reiko said."

"The Dotonbori Police Station previously received a report from Ms. Moribe, saying that someone had been following her recently. There were also signs of a struggle in Ms. Moribe's room. Ms. Moribe may have panicked and fallen out of the window while resisting the illegal attack."

"A stalker!?" Reiko was horrified.

"Unfortunately, the surveillance system at Mutsuki Apartments has recently malfunctioned."

The officer produced a printed copy of the surveillance footage: "However, the night before Ms. Moribe fell to her death, we checked the street cameras and spotted this bespectacled man suspiciously following her. Do you remember this man?"

"It's him! He came to my house yesterday morning!"

Reiko still vividly remembers the young man who came to her door yesterday, claiming to be a classmate of Moribe High School.

As if grasping at a straw, she recounted everything that had happened yesterday in detail.

"Is that man the criminal?"

The officer shook his head: "We can only say you're a suspect. We'll investigate further down this line, ma'am. If you have any further leads, please contact our station."

"We will do everything in our power to bring the criminals to justice!"

That's what they say, but even the police officers themselves weren't sure if they could catch the criminal, or when they could catch him.

It's Golden Week, and the influx of tourists has stretched Osaka Prefecture's police resources thin. While Ms. Moribe is in critical condition, she's not dead yet, so as long as no one dies, it's not a major issue. Under these circumstances, it's impossible to allocate sufficient police officers for questioning.

The Dotonbori Police Station may not be able to free up its resources until after Golden Week.

The officer said a few meaningless words and then took his leave.

The nurse, who had been standing to the side, stepped forward a few paces after the police officers left and said:

"Are you Ms. Moribe's mother? Please go to the front desk to pay the fees, as well as the follow-up medical expenses."

"How much?"

Upon hearing the number announced by the nurse, Reiko's already pale face turned even more bloodless.

"It cost a lot of money to treat Mamiya's sister, and I don't have that much money right now... Could we postpone it a bit..." Reiko stammered.

The ICU ward is burning through money every day; even mountains of gold and silver could be burned to ashes. Reiko herself is currently unemployed and simply cannot raise this huge sum of money.

"Our hospital is also in a difficult position. Please prepare as soon as possible, otherwise it may delay Ms. Moribe's treatment," the nurse said politely.

"Waaah..."

Reiko buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.

"I'll figure out the money problem."

Suddenly, a young man wearing non-prescription glasses quietly emerged from around the corner of the corridor and spoke to Reiko.

"It's you! Did you kill my daughter?!"

Like a shrew, Reiko rushed forward to grab the hem of Tosu Hideo's clothes, but Tosu Hideo grabbed her by the neck.

"Shut up, keep your voice down!"

Tosu Hideo stared directly into Reiko's eyes with an expressionless face, his eyes burning with unfathomable rage.

"I'm more upset than you are about what happened to Masamichi Moribe, but this has nothing to do with me! Do you understand?"

Overwhelmed by the terrifying aura emanating from Tosu Hero, Reiko, whose throat was being choked, turned bright red and couldn't utter a single word, only nodding repeatedly.

"I'll send the medical expenses to you tomorrow. Besides taking care of Mamiya Moribe, you also need to go and bring Mamiya Moribe's child here," Hideo Tosu instructed, releasing his grip.

"A child? When did Mamiya have a child?" Reiko coughed a few times, her face full of disbelief.

"Doesn't Mamiya Moribe have a child who's three or four years old? You should know that, right?"

Hideo Tosu frowned. According to what he had heard, Masamichi Moribe had only run away from home a year ago, so it was impossible for Reiko not to know.

"No, that's not true at all."

Reiko blinked in confusion, and after a while, she seemed to remember something and tentatively said;

"Three or four years old, are you talking about Yukari? But she's my youngest daughter, three and a half years old this year, and she's Mamiya's younger sister..."

Hideo Tosu also recalled that he did hear a child crying when he was at the Moribe family's house.

"Whose child is this Yukari? Is she that host named Hanyu?"

At three and a half years old, this delicate age gave Bird Hero a flash of inspiration, and he quickly pressed for an answer.

"Right..."

Reiko's eyes darted around, and she spoke without much confidence.

Tosu Hideo knew immediately that the woman was lying, and he unceremoniously pulled up his sleeve, revealing a very conspicuous stitch mark on his left wrist.

"Ah!" Reiko covered her mouth in surprise. In her mind, only Yakuza had such a wound.

"Tell me the truth! Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"

Tosu Hideo felt disgusted by this promiscuous woman who betrayed Moribe-kun, and without any psychological pressure, he launched a threatening attack on Reiko.

He clenched his fist, and beneath the skin of his left arm, countless blue veins bulged and writhed, looking extremely ferocious and terrifying.

"Bang!"

Hero Tosu raised his left hand and pressed it against the wall in the hospital corridor, directly pressing down on the clearly defined handprint.

What kind of superhuman strength is this?!

Reiko closed her eyes in fright and said uncertainly.

"I don't know either, maybe it's my ex-husband, Moribe."

Under repeated coercion from Tosu Hideo, Reiko reluctantly confessed everything.

After Moribe disappeared, Reiko discovered that she was pregnant. Reiko herself did not know who the father of the child was. At that time, she had several lovers, one of whom was the general manager of Osaka Shinpei Industrial Co., Ltd.

After the scapegoat, Moribe, went missing, Reiko was eager to find a new scapegoat, so she lied and claimed that the child in her belly was the general manager's.

Well, it's not exactly a lie, since there's a possibility of one-third or one-quarter.

The general manager, who was childless in his old age, was overjoyed and immediately declared that he would divorce his wife and marry Li Zi as soon as the child was born. Li Zi could be considered to have married into a "wealthy family".

Even though Reiko's plan was brilliant, things didn't go as expected. Her second daughter was diagnosed with a rare disease after birth. The general manager also discovered during the examination that the child's blood type didn't match his, flew into a rage, and stormed off.

As for the other lovers, their whereabouts are also unknown at this time.

"So, you're using the money that Moribe Mamiya sent to pay for Yukari's medical treatment?" Tosu Hideo asked expressionlessly, his tone devoid of any warmth.

"Um."

Although the hospital environment was already quiet, the air was now filled with a strange chill, making Reiko tremble with fear.

Although Tosui Hero tried his best to remain calm, a surge of anger welled up in his head, and the murderous aura on his face almost solidified.

A rustling sound came from under his clothes, and black lines appeared on the surface of Tori no Hero's body. He could barely suppress the black tentacles inside his body and rushed out to poke Reiko like a beehive!

Although Moribe-kun and Moribe-miya are not related by blood, they are both kind-hearted people. How could they have such a shameless and promiscuous wife and mother!

For a fleeting moment, Torii Hero felt an urge to strangle the woman before him.

But thinking of Mamiya Moribe and her other daughter, Tosu Hideo barely managed to suppress his murderous intent.

"If you have any conscience as a mother, take good care of the Mamiya sisters and sever ties with those lovers."

The hero of the stilt house left a curt remark and got up to leave.

"I'll have the money ready tomorrow. Just wait for my call."

"Sir, you said you know Moribe? Where is he now?"

Just as Tosu Hero's figure was about to disappear into the hospital corridor, Reiko mustered up her courage and asked.

"Moribe-kun is no longer here, but I am his incarnation!"

Emerging from Osaka General Hospital, the furious Hideo Tosu wandered aimlessly through the streets for a few moments before gradually calming down.

Although he desperately wanted to tear the stalker who drove Mamiya Moribe to his death to pieces, Tosu Hideo had no way of finding the culprit in Osaka, a place he was unfamiliar with.

The most urgent task is to make money, a lot of money!

Moreover, the ICU can cost 100,000 yen a day, plus subsequent treatment costs, and even for Mamiya's sister's medical expenses, Tosu Hideo believes that at least eight figures would be needed to barely make ends meet.

To get that much money overnight, besides robbing a bank, there's only one other way...

Unbeknownst to him, Tosu Hideo followed the flow of people and arrived at the geisha district of Tobita Shinchi.

As night slowly fell, the paper lanterns on the shops in Tobita Shinchi began to glow, and the wrinkled madam, speaking in an Osaka accent, began to solicit customers, as tourists from all over the country flocked to the shops.

hateful!

Staring at the brightly lit Tobita Shinchi for a long time, Hideo Tosu cursed under his breath, then turned back and walked into a Kamen Rider merchandise store in the Dotonbori shopping district.

…………

In Airin 2-chome, just one street away from Tobita Shinchi, there is a shop without a sign.

On stage, the master Kagawa, dressed in a sharp suit, and his partner were giving it their all, mixing and matching jokes, to perform Osaka's hottest manzai show, "Who's More Important, Me or My Wife?"

Meanwhile, the audience at the dining tables below the stage had no interest in watching Master Kagawa's performance.

The two men sat on either side of each other, with several henchmen standing behind them, all of them stern and menacing.

"Come, come, Brother Tsuruoka, have a drink first."

A man rolled up his sleeves, revealing his arms covered in colorful tattoos, and poured a full glass of beer for the burly man opposite him who had a scar on his forehead.

"Okano, stop with the nonsense." The scarred man sneered disdainfully.

"When will you hand over those stores of your Hongdao Association in the Xintian enclave to me? According to the agreement between our executives, it should be our group's turn to take over in the second half of the year."

The tattooed man smiled, but did not give a direct answer.

Instead, he grabbed a steak from the table with his bare hands, tore off a large piece with his white teeth, and juices dripped from it.

Tobita Shinchi has only about 200 ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurants) to date. Due to pressure from domestic and international public opinion, the Osaka government stopped issuing licenses long ago, meaning that each ryotei is a non-renewable resource.

These restaurants have extremely high daily turnover, and the renovation costs can be invested in one go. In addition, the salaries of the women working there and the madams are all based on commissions, so the cost is negligible in comparison.

It's fair to say that Tobita Shinchi's tiny ryotei (traditional Japanese restaurant) of less than ten square meters is a golden goose!

In this era of suppression and decline of yakuza groups, the few ryokans (traditional Japanese restaurants) under the control of the Kodo-kai have become an indispensable source of funds.

"Brother Hegao, it's not time yet, you guys are too impatient." The tattooed man chewed on the fragrant roasted beef, his mouth full of oil, and said indistinctly.

Having tasted the sweetness of success, Hongdao would be reluctant to spit out such a large piece of fat meat, and secretly instructed the tattooed man to delay as much as possible.

Having witnessed the massive crowds at Tobita Shinchi during Golden Week, the yakuza gang to which the scarred man belonged was extremely envious and urged him to come and hand over the reins to the tattooed man even before the appointed time.

"Does your Hongdao Society intend to back out?!"

The scarred man slammed his fist on the table, stood up abruptly, and his two henchmen glared angrily at the tattooed man behind him.

The tattooed man's henchmen were equally defiant, baring their teeth and brandishing threatening expressions.

The air was instantly filled with a tense atmosphere!

Master Kagawa, who was performing manzai on stage, was also startled by the heavy atmosphere and even stopped his performance.

"Don't stop, keep talking, keep singing!"

The tattooed man waved his hand at Kagawa and the other man on the stage with a displeased expression, then stood up and pressed his oily hand onto the scarred man's shoulder, forcibly pushing him back down.

"Brother Hegang, don't get so angry. We can talk things out. What era are we living in? Do we still need to resort to fighting? Harmony brings wealth, harmony brings wealth!"

The scarred man reluctantly sat down again and began to speak:

"So how do we resolve this?"

"Brother Tsuruoka, those shops aren't actually as profitable as you think."

The tattooed man began to complain incessantly: "With the economy so bad right now, more and more women are turning to prostitution—schoolgirls, respectable women, office workers, you name it. Many women think that as long as they're willing to go all out and lie down, they can easily make hundreds of millions. That's just wishful thinking!"

"Even the sex industry isn't making money anymore, what kind of world is this?!"

"What exactly do you mean!?"

Seeing the tattooed man's hesitant and evasive attitude, the scarred man's anger was reignited.

"Therefore, for the sake of the friendly relationship between our two groups, let's leave those stores in Tobita Shinchi to our Kodo-kai to manage in the second half of the year."

The tattooed man grinned and said, "Of course, we won't treat you unfairly; we'll give you a large share of the profits. You can make money just by sitting down, saving you the trouble of management and operations. Isn't that wonderful!"

"You're asking for it!"

Scarface flew into a rage and was about to turn hostile on the spot.

Just then, a series of loud clattering sounds came from outside, along with the screams of the gatekeeper. The tattooed man and the scarred man both paled.

Could it be that the Osaka Prefectural Police have come knocking on our door?

A Kamen Rider wearing a helmet with prominent horns and a black trench coat walked in with his head held high.

"Justice will be served! Hand over all the money!"

(End of this chapter)