Night Ends, Distant Thunder

Move to the left here, and turn…then stop. I did it!

That was perfect, Kafka! You did awesome!

Yeah, somehow… Phew… I only did one song, but that’s my limit for now.

Hey, idiot. I fixed your ward tour plan. Read it. *smack*

Ow! Why’d you have to smack me with it?!

Shut up. You’re the one who asked me for my opinion. You’re lucky I even took the time to look at it.

I-I gave you advice on your plan too!

And nothing you said was worthy of consideration.

D-Dammit…! Oh, but… I see. I can avoid congestion if I do this…and this way of presenting things would probably be better…

Anyone with common sense could figure all of that out. Looking at your plan gave me a headache.

I-I was about to thank you! God, you’re the worst!

Renga and Liguang have gotten closer.

Ahaha… They’re still picking fights with each other though.

(But they’ve made a lot of progress if Renga-kun is able to ask Liguang-san for his opinion.)

Oh, yeah, Kafka! I figured out the thing you asked for!

Our unit name?

What’s that about?

“Morning Team” doesn’t really sound that great, so I asked Renga to give us a better name.

Yeah! You, uh, asked me to put a number in it, right?

Yeah, since we’re the first team to form under HAMA Tours, I wanted you to use leet speak to put a 1 somewhere in the name. Good job on remembering.

Oh, I see! Yeah, it’d be nice to have a new name!

I-It’s like you’re a real idol group…!

I didn’t really get the “leet speak” thing, but…I just had to replace the letter I with a 1, right? I tried out a bunch of words, but I finally got a good one.

Our unit name is…R1ze!

Do you guys like it?! Since we’re the Morning Team, it’s like we’re making the sun rise on HAMA! Cool meaning, right?

If that’s what it means, shouldn’t it be spelled R-I-S-E?

Huh? D-Did I get it wrong?!

I think using a Z would be fine.

Why?

It looks cooler.

Y-Yukikaze…! Yeah, you’re right!

Kind of a stupid reason, but…I guess it’s fine. The misspelling might prevent us from being confused with other things too.

Th-Then that means we’re all members of R1ze starting from today!

(Renga-kun looks so happy… Haha, it warms my heart to see him smiling like that.)

Renga kind of reminds me of a dog.

(I totally get what you mean, but don’t say it out loud!)

I think so too… He’s like a stray dog wandering on the streets…

(He’s been saying stuff like that ever since he found out that Renga-kun was poor… Yachiyo-kun, that’s rude!)

So when Renga-san takes Shumai out on walks, does that mean it’s a dog walking another dog?

(Now Ten-kun’s in on it too…)

What are you talking about? Renga, a dog?

(Tell them off, Kafka, please…)

You just realized that? He’s practically had ears and a tail this entire time.

(No! I didn’t want you to join in!)

Huh?! What’re you guys talking about?!

They say that an average dog is about as intelligent as a three-year-old.

What?! Is everyone tryna insult me?! What is this, the Insult Olympics?!

(You guys… But still…)

(Ever since Renga-kun told us his secret, everything’s started to come together. They’re still getting into little arguments, but maybe that’s what a team is supposed to be like.)

Oh, yeah. Ten, how are things going with the thing I asked you to do?

Ohh, you wanted me to come up with a signature pose, right?

I figured a college student would know what’s popular these days.

I mean, not really… But I asked some of the girls around campus.

They said you can make two peace signs and curl your fingers like this…

And it means “good luck.” What do you think, Renga-san?

…!! That’s really good! It’s awesome!

Like this?

I like it. It’s nice and simple. Let’s go with that! I want every ward mayor to do it moving forward.

Are you insane?

That includes you, Liguang. This is an order from your president. ♪

…Tch.

Oh, we should add a greeting to it too! I heard a good one a while back…

Ooh, what is it, Chief?

Someone I know named Hachinoya Nagi came up with it… “HAMA nice trip!”

Is it supposed to sound like “have a nice trip”? Man, that’s so corny that it’s kinda funny.

B-But I like it! It’s easy to say! And it’s really good that it has the word “HAMA” in it!

I agree. It’s catchy.

Yeah, that sounds great. Chief, could you ask that person you mentioned if we can use it?

Yeah. I think he’d be okay with it.

(But Liguang-san probably isn’t on board with the whole signature pose and catchphrase thing…)

*sigh*

I promised to listen to Oguro’s orders until his plan led to success… So I suppose I’ll have to agree to some level of idiocy.

(That’s a relief… Liguang-san is starting to open up little by little.)

(Things are looking up for us!)

What? They can’t just make us scrap the whole story. That’s bullshit.

There’s no way I’d let go of a scoop like this. They already took most of the evidence, but I still got some in this microchip…

As long as I have this… Haha! This is gonna be the biggest moment of my career!

Ack?! Wh-Who are you?!

*sigh…*

Weren’t you told to dispose of the info and keep quiet? Do I need to spell it out for you?

Y-You’re… Lu Liguang, from the Lurong family!

Gh… S-So this info came from you…!

Hyahh!

You have three seconds.

Give me what you’re holding and get lost.

B-But this is what you guys…!

One…

Wait, I just…!

Two…

Hyah…! O-Okay, here!

Three. *grab*

Good boy.

Urgh… F-Fuck…

Sojun, check what’s on here and dispose of it.

Understood.

And let our weasel who infiltrated the wolves know to spread the rumor that Nishizono Renga might not be a Nishizono by blood.

…? I can do that, but why?

If Kiba finds out, he’s sure to cut off all sources of information. Tell him to do it well, or else all of the spies will be destroyed.

I see. Understood.

*sob* Why…? You’re the one who gave us this info in the first place…

*sigh* Listen up.

I’ll let you off the hook if you just want to pick up leftovers from the ground. But if you want to come over to this side, there are some rules you’ll need to follow.

Justice does not exist in this line of work. Whatever the most powerful people say is law. If you can’t handle that…

Then stay in the light, where the sun can still protect you. Don’t come over to the dark side.

*sob, sob…*

Let’s go, Sojun. If this happens again, I’ll clean it up. Keep me updated on your end.

Of course. But you don’t have to go out of your way, Boss. The supervisor and I can handle it.

No…

I sowed this crop, so I’ll be the one reaping it.

It’s something Kiba and I have to settle.