Tokyo Knights: The Odd Jobs X Files

"In that case, let's just forget about the 200 million yen from last time."

Chizuru Kagura suffered heavy losses, and Li Xin couldn't offer much help in terms of business; that was all he could do.

"No need, my Kagura Group isn't short of that kind of money!"

Kagura Chizuru gritted her teeth, wanting to reveal the truth, yet fearing that someone might perish with her. Torn between these conflicting emotions, she finally snapped a thread of reason within her. She leaped from her desk, grabbed Li Xin's hand, and said, "Xin, come with me!"

Seeing Kagura Chizuru's rapid breathing and noticing that she was heading towards the same lounge as before, Li Xin couldn't help but ask, "Again?"

Of course I'll come! I can't ruin my image and get nothing in return!

Kagura Chizuru cried out in her heart.

A short while later, conversations could be heard coming from the lounge.

"Chizuru, you're bleeding again..."

"It's just a reopened wound, don't worry about me, continue!"

Main text

Chapter One: The First Business Deal in Tokyo

In 1995, although Japan had just experienced the collapse of its "bubble economy," it was still the world's second-largest economy and had the highest per capita income in Asia, far surpassing the second-place country. In addition, Japan's economy was gradually recovering and improving, so everyone thought that the "bubble economy" was just a minor hurdle. After it passed, Japan would still be the country that created the miracle of "Japan speed," and it would still be a desirable developed country full of opportunities and wealth.

As the de facto capital of Japan, Tokyo has naturally become a grand stage for countless people to pursue their dreams.

At night, under the dazzling neon lights of Tokyo, a man jogs silently in an empty park.

The man was about forty years old, with a standard mustache on his upper lip. He was tall and had exceptionally strong muscles. His loose sportswear was stretched taut by his muscles, and he exuded explosive power.

Anyone who enjoys boxing would easily recognize this middle-aged man as Mita, the reigning champion of the Japan Jr. Middleweight Championship.

The new Japan Jr. Middleweight Championship is currently underway, and Mita, in order to continue his title defense, has not slacked off in his training even during the competition. His daily night run has become a regular part of his life.

Suddenly, Mita sensed danger. His professional boxer instincts kicked in, and he reacted quickly, but it was too late. A man with a stocking over his head appeared behind Mita, covering his mouth with one hand to silence him, while the other hand slipped under his armpit and pressed the cold tip of a knife against Mita's neck.

"Don't move, Mr. Boxer, if you don't want your head to tear itself apart from your body."

The man in stockings spoke to Mita in a sinister voice.

"Who...who are you?"

Mita said with some panic. Although he was a professional boxer, he still couldn't ignore the sharp knife. After all, no matter how hard a fist is, it will still draw blood when it comes to a sharp knife. Moreover, he was being held hostage and dared not move an inch.

The man in stockings ignored Mita's question and continued, "I have a favor to ask of you, Mr. Boxer... It's a very simple matter. In the next tournament, could you please lose in the third round?"

Upon hearing the man in stockings' words, Mita instantly forgot his fear of the knife and shouted, "You...you're asking me, the boxing champion, to throw the match?! Impossible! I can't agree to that!"

"Hehe, if you don't agree, this knife will be stained with your precious daughter's blood. Even so, you don't care? Hehe, hehehehe..."

The man in stockings' threatening words made Mita panic: "Daughter? You bastard, this has nothing to do with my daughter! You're not allowed to touch her!"

For Mita, who lost his wife at a young age, his daughter was the greatest pillar of his life, something more important than boxing. When he heard the man in stockings use his daughter as a threat, even though Mita was prepared to defend his dignity as a boxer with his life, he completely panicked.

"If you don't want to involve unrelated people, just do as I say."

The man in stockings said.

"Waaaaah..."

Mita let out a few sobs, choking out, "I...I understand...I will do as you say..."

He betrayed his pride as a boxer, and he felt ashamed of his actions, but what could he do when he thought that his daughter would be in danger if he refused the man in stockings?

Upon hearing Mita's agreement, the man in stockings said smugly, "Very good, it seems you're much more sensible than Ogino. No wonder you're the boxing champion!"

"Ogino?"

Upon hearing that familiar surname, Mita immediately realized: "Could it be you!"

The young man named Ogino was the number one middleweight boxer in Japan's Jr. division and the original challenger for the Japan Jr. Middleweight Championship. However, not long ago, just a few days before the start of the championship, he was shot and killed while jogging. The murderer has not yet been arrested.

Mita had high hopes for the young man, believing that Ogino would definitely succeed him as the boxing champion in the future. He was very sorry for Ogino's sudden death. He never expected that Ogino's death was caused by the man in stockings who threatened him!

Faced with Mita's questioning, the man in stockings remained unfazed, instead saying smugly, "That's right, it's his fault for always disobeying me. I already taught him a lesson once, but he still dared to swagger back to participate in the tournament, so this time I simply took his life! Now you know I'm serious, right? If you don't want anything to happen to your daughter, behave yourself, or you'll be in big trouble!"

As he spoke, the man in stockings withdrew his hand from the knife and struck Mita hard on the top of his head with the hilt, knocking him unconscious.

After Mita lost consciousness, the man in the stockings pulled down the stockings over his head, revealing a sinister face. He stood on top of Mita's head, looking down at him and said, "Now, no one can stop my dream of becoming the boxing champion. I am the true champion! Hahaha!"

Just as the man in stockings burst into laughter, a series of footsteps came from ahead, startling him.

Damn, this lousy park is supposed to be deserted at night, which is why I specifically chose this section of the road to ambush Mita. Why are people suddenly appearing now?

The man in the stockings deeply regretted his overconfidence. He had taken off his stockings before even leaving the scene. Now that Mita was lying on the ground, if someone who saw his true face called the police, and Mita reported Ogino's situation to the police as well, his life would be over!

No way! My dream is about to come true. How can I go to jail before becoming a boxing champion? I won't allow it!

The man in stockings gleamed with malice. He had already killed one person, and for the sake of his life's dream that was within reach, he didn't mind killing another one.

So the man in stockings raised his knife and walked toward the direction from which the footsteps were coming from.

You nameless passerby, blame yourself for seeing something you shouldn't have seen. Go to hell!

The man in stockings was internally shouting.

"Thank you."

The man in stockings was taken aback when he suddenly heard a "thank you," and the accent was also very strange. It didn't sound like a local from Tokyo, nor did it sound like someone from the Kansai region that he disliked. The man in stockings paused for a moment and didn't immediately take action. Instead, he tried to find the source of the sound, but after looking left and right, he couldn't see anyone.

The footsteps continued to approach, and figures emerged under the park lights.

The newcomer looked very young, around twenty-five years old, wearing a trendy black leather jacket. Despite it being late at night, he was wearing black sunglasses, which, combined with his dark complexion, provided excellent camouflage in the darkness. No wonder the man in stockings couldn't spot him at all.

"Thank you for being an utterly wicked and incorrigible villain, so that I won't feel any regret or guilt when I recall my first murder."

The young man who emerged from the darkness spoke softly in Chinese.

"Ok?"

The man in stockings didn't hear what the young man was saying, but it didn't matter. He was going to kill the guy who had seen his true face!

The man in stockings thrust out a sharp knife with incredible speed.

He was a boxer, and his jab was his specialty. He also had excellent dynamic vision. He believed that once he stabbed, his opponent would not even have a chance to react before dying under his blade.

The dagger gleamed blindingly under the light. The man in stockings was determined to strike, but the young man remained calm in the face of the gleaming dagger. He simply dodged slightly and passed the dagger, simultaneously throwing a punch that struck the man in stockings squarely in the chest.

Having been a boxer for half his life, the man in stockings swore he had never been punched so hard. One punch sent him flying more than ten meters before he crashed into a big tree and stopped.

The tree shook violently from the impact of the man in stockings, and countless leaves fell. The man in stockings reached out to cover his chest, feeling as if his heart was about to shatter, but because he had lost all strength, his hand fell limply after he only managed to lift it slightly.

With his last breath, he could only ask the young man, "Why...why did you hit me?"

He was just about to kill the young man, but now he's asking the young man why he hit him. How strange!

The young man ignored the man in stockings, instead leaning down to the unconscious Mita, shaking him gently, and saying, "Wake up, your daughter is waiting for you to come home. Don't keep her waiting too long."

Upon hearing the word "daughter," Mita, who was in a coma, seemed to be injected with strength. His body trembled slightly, and he covered his head as he shakily got up from the ground.

"it hurts……"

A jumble of memories assaulted Mita's mind. Before he could figure out what had happened, he suddenly saw the man in stockings lying under a big tree with his eyes wide open, clearly dead with his eyes wide open.

Mita's eyes widened as he stared at the corpse before him and shouted, "It's Koji Inagaki!"

The man in stockings is named Koji Inagaki. He is the third-ranked Junior Middleweight Boxer in Japan. After Ogino was shot and killed while jogging, he became the challenger for this year's championship. As for why, after the first-place winner was eliminated, it wasn't the second-place winner who became the challenger, but Inagaki Koji, who was in third place, that's a good question.

Upon seeing Koji Inagaki's corpse and the stretched-out stockings at his feet, Mita, being no fool, immediately understood what had happened.

Koji Inagaki killed Ogino to gain the title of tournament challenger. Having tasted success, he now threatens me, wanting to take the championship title. He deserves to die!

But how exactly did he die?

Mita pondered for a moment, then boldly approached Koji Inagaki. He saw that Inagaki's chin was covered in blood, a sharp knife lay beside his body, and his chest was sunken. Mita compared the sunken area to the area and found that it looked like a fist's mark, only larger than a normal person's fist.

After examining Koji Inagaki's body, Mita paused for a moment, gritted his teeth, and ran to a phone booth in the park to dial the police: "Hello, is this the police? This is XX Park. I was attacked on the street, and I accidentally killed the person who attacked me. Please come quickly!"

....................................

Boxing champion Mita was attacked while jogging at night, and killed the attacker in self-defense!

"A champion in the ring, a champion off the ring; capable of a fatal blow even against a knife-wielding opponent—Mita, the strongest boxer in history!"

The fake challenger, Koji Inagaki, brutally murdered genius boxer Shunichi Ogino in order to obtain the qualification to challenger!

On the overpass, the young man who killed Koji Inagaki handed a newspaper and a photograph of Inagaki at the time of his death to a young, beautiful woman with curly hair.

Looking at the photos and the newspapers reporting Koji Inagaki's death, the curly-haired woman burst into tears, her tears soaking the newspaper.

The curly-haired woman wept uncontrollably, but the young man showed no reaction whatsoever. He was still dressed as he had been the night he killed Koji Inagaki, wearing a black leather jacket and black sunglasses, making him appear extremely cold and aloof.

"Is the work ready for acceptance?"

The young man leaned against the railing of the overpass and asked, his voice filled with indifference.

The curly-haired woman stopped crying, wiped her face, and said to the young man, "Thank you."

Instead of saying "You're welcome," the young man asked directly, "What about the payment?"

The curly-haired woman's name is Megumi Iwasaki. She is a doctor and also Shunichi Ogino's lover. When Shunichi Ogino was shot, she was following behind him and was the last person to touch him before his death.

Before his death, Shunichi Ogino told Megumi Iwasaki about his killer, but the police did not accept Iwasaki's testimony. As a result, Koji Inagaki not only escaped legal punishment, but also replaced Shunichi Ogino as the challenger in the tournament.

Suffering from cancer, Megumi Iwasaki no longer had time to seek legal justice for Shunichi Ogino. She could only choose to avenge her lover in her own way. She used her connections to find a hitman. She originally thought that this hitman would only kill Koji Inagaki, but unexpectedly, he also brought Shunichi Ogino's death to light. With the testimony of Kenji Mita and the fact that Koji Inagaki had a clear motive, the police finally accepted Megumi Iwasaki's testimony and identified Koji Inagaki as the murderer who shot Shunichi Ogino.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that this was the result of the police hastily closing the case in order to improve the case-solving rate.

Regardless, Megumi Iwasaki has avenged herself and her lover can rest in peace. She can finally go to the River Sanzu to find her lover in peace, so she prepares to give the assassin who helped her achieve her wish an extra gift.

Megumi Iwasaki took out a thick envelope and a piece of paper from her bag. The young man took it and saw that the envelope contained a thick stack of 10,000 yen bills, which was about two million yen. The folded piece of paper was actually an insurance contract. He turned to look at Megumi Iwasaki, and his question was self-evident.

Megumi Iwasaki ran her fingers through her wind-blown hair and explained calmly, "This is a 30 million yen life insurance policy. I will put your name as the beneficiary. I have cancer and don't live more than a year. You will receive this money soon."

Logically, if Megumi Iwasaki had cancer, the insurance company wouldn't have accepted her policy. However, since Iwasaki was a doctor, it was easy for her to manipulate her medical records, which is why she was able to get this insurance that was originally impossible.

The young man accepted the envelope but folded the insurance contract and returned it to Iwasaki Megumi: "Keep this for your parents. They raised you, and you haven't really taken care of them yet. Keep this 30 million yen for their retirement."

Without giving Iwasaki Megumi a chance to speak, she walked directly off the overpass.

Megumi Iwasaki watched the man's departing figure and whispered, "Thank you, 'X'..."

She didn't know the young man's name, only his code name as an assassin, "X".

Despite his cold exterior, his actions, such as orchestrating the truth behind Ogino Shunichi's case and refusing to accept her insurance contract, demonstrate that he is an extremely gentle person.

After the young man stepped off the overpass, a sharp pain shot through his chest, and a trickle of blood escaped his mouth. He swallowed the blood, gently wiping away the remaining blood at the corner of his mouth, and said in a tone that defied description, "Not even a year to live... as if I could possibly live that long!"

Chapter Two: Li Xin

Back in the shabby rented room, a chubby guy with a slick, oily look was eating instant noodles. Upon seeing the young man return, the chubby guy quickly wiped his mouth, put the noodles under the table, and then, feigning seriousness, asked, "Ah Xin, how's it going? Did you get the payment?"

The chubby young man had a buzz cut and looked somewhat older, though not obviously so. He sighed and said, "Well, normally I should be the one to ask for payment, but Dr. Iwasaki treated me before! You know I'm a very loyal person, and if Dr. Iwasaki used that incident to negotiate, someone as loyal as me would probably offer to do it for free! Of course, I'm rich and powerful, and a mere million yen is nothing to me, but you're different, Ashin. This is your first job, and I can't let you get nothing, so I have no choice but to let you go!"

The young man called "Oshin" didn't speak. Instead, he took out an envelope from his pocket, counted out one hundred "Fukuzawa Yukichi" bills, and placed them in front of the chubby boy's table—a 50/50 split, which the two had agreed upon beforehand.

Upon seeing the thick stack of "Fukuzawa Yukichi" bills, the chubby boy beamed with joy. He quickly stuffed the money into his empty wallet, then reverted to his serious demeanor: "Shin, I'm telling you, you're good in every way—you're a good fighter and loyal, but you're just too quiet. But it doesn't matter. For us assassins, being quiet is an advantage. Keep it up!"

He sent Ashin to collect the payment precisely because he was drawn to Ashin's cold and ruthless demeanor. Ashin was clearly the most ruthless of assassins. Once the employer saw Ashin, they wouldn't just refuse to pay or pay less; they'd probably have to give him extra "Fukuzawa Yukichi" to save his life. Unlike him, who was only 1.53 meters tall and couldn't possibly project the aura of someone 2.8 meters tall. If he went to collect the payment, no one would even bother with him.

Wait, if that's the case, then I won't be able to get a share of the extra money Ashin collected, right?

The chubby boy felt this was wrong, so he said, "Ah Xin, there was a reason for this. In the future, when we collect payment from the employer, let's go together, or let the employer transfer the money directly to my account. Anyway, you don't have a bank account, and we're practically family, right?"

Ah Xin ignored the chubby boy and instead pulled up a chair and sat down in front of him: "Uncle Yue, I just want to know, when exactly will this big business deal you've been talking about start?"

He traveled all the way to Tokyo with the chubby boy for the "big business" the boy had mentioned.

"Hey, what's the rush? Since it's a big business, it's not something an unknown person can do. You need to build your reputation first, so we can take on big business!"

The chubby boy gave him a "you're too young" look, and then said, "Also, don't call me 'Uncle Yue.' When we're out in the world, we can't reveal our real names. Call me by my nickname, like 'Crocodile' or 'Crocodile Guy,' whatever you want. But don't call me by my name, understand?"

Then why are you still calling me by my name?

Ah-Xin thought to himself that he actually knew that it was because Uncle Yue didn't like his name that he had others call him by his nickname.

"Got it, Crocodile."

Despite thinking this way, Ashin still decided to go along with Crocodile, because he really needed money, really, really needed it. He was a complete stranger in Japan, and if he wanted to make money, he could only cling to Crocodile's leg... uh, fat waist.

Crocodile nodded in satisfaction, touched his spiky hair, and then looked at Ashin's look, saying, "A black leather jacket to prevent any clothing fibers, tar-infused mousse in the hair to ensure no dandruff is left on site, plus these sunglasses..."