Chapter 89: Chapter 74: Chrysanthemum, Blade, Phantom Dream
"What the hell is your problem?"
John angrily grabbed Courtney, forcing her back into the room at the end of the management area hallway.
"Eighty percent of the brutal chips in Eden City come from the porn studios of the Skyocho gang. Want to know the specifics? Without the blade on your body, you don’t feel the pain, do you..."
The hallway was filled with dense footsteps.
[あの野郎を逃がすな（Don’t let that bastard get away!）]
[ばか（Idiot!）]
...
The room was filled with a torrent of curses.
John suppressed his rage while his mind raced.
Courtney explained:
"No, no, Fushimi Takeo didn’t do anything weird to me."
She revealed the kidnaper’s name, yet her tone seemed defensive.
"He treated me well, provided food every day, even gave me medicine to take care of my voice, and gave me money to shop online..."
"Voice? What kind of fetish!"
"It’s not sexual, sir."
Courtney’s only job after being kidnapped:
Fushimi Takeo would come to this office, lie on her lap, close his eyes to rest, and have her read scripts.
John was utterly confused.
By now, Skyocho gang members had entirely surrounded the building.
Surveillance showed:
The hallways were filled with numerous muzzles and knives; yet the enemies didn’t attack rashly, just trapping them, seemingly waiting for higher-ups to return and give orders.
John sighed in relief and turned to question the problematic hostage in front of him again.
Courtney pondered for a moment.
She grabbed a data chip from the table.
John, after hesitating, inserted it into his neck.
[Information loading complete.]
It was all weather forecasts, and outdated international news from a Tokyo suburb many years ago.
In English-Japanese bilingual versions.
There was commotion again in the hallway.
John finished reading and suddenly realized—Courtney had special significance, enough to qualify as a hostage.
He grabbed Courtney around the neck, using the gun against her head, pushed the door open, and walked out.
Skyocho gang members cursed and issued various warnings while waving their kinetic submachine guns.
A typical gangster move.
Creating a sense of oppression through sheer numbers.
Yet John sighed in relief.
He gambled and won.
He pushed Courtney forward step by step, retreating, only to encounter another situation as they were about to leave the film studio.
Skyocho gang minions parted.
The wooden clogs clacked on the ground, not crisply, the muffled footsteps added a sense of oppression around.
The controller of the film studio showed up.
It was a tall, burly man.
[Name: Fushimi Takeo]
[Affiliation: Skyocho gang]
[Scan: blood pump, auxiliary heart, ion veins, etc.]
[Bounty: Terrorist attacks, illegal smuggling, human trafficking, etc.]
[Profile: Skyocho gang senior cadre, leader of the Clafu group, manages the order of shops on Sakura Cross Street...]
John cursed Clafu furiously in his heart.
His Shark Coin employer had failed to inform him—the kidnapper was part of Skyocho’s management, tougher than the last time he saw Ryuichiro, with military resources unimaginable at his fingertips.
Fushimi Takeo’s shoulders were as wide as two adults’.
His face was full of scars, without hair or beard, even eyebrows replaced by various terrifying scars, especially the right ear’s flesh was entirely curled inward, likely a permanent scar from a blow.
He was wearing a kimono, with metallic structures peeking out from the collar.
John tried to continue approaching.
Fushimi Takeo looked on impassively.
No Skyocho gang thugs retreated.
The two sides faced off in silence.
Until another member in a suit appeared.
[伏見武男様,誰も死亡していま...都不是致命伤.（Japanese）]
John saw the conversation via a translation plugin.
Upon hearing this, Fushimi Takeo waved his hand, signaling his minions to depart, then proceeded alone while speaking.
"Good, no one’s dead, there’s room to negotiate."
He ignored John, walked through the tatami hallway, and pushed open a room with a wooden table and tea set.
"Ms. Courtney, let me talk to the guest."
Fushimi Takeo was asking her opinion. Instead of considering Courtney a hostage, he didn’t seem concerned about the abduction.
Skyocho gang members gradually left.
The air around the studio circulated again.
John hesitated a moment, then let go.
Courtney even slightly bowed and stepped back, making John feel a twisted sense of unease.
"F*ck, what a screwed-up situation this is."
He was invited into the room, facing the low table and cushions, feeling odd no matter how he sat.
Fushimi Takeo did not speak.
He quietly stood up and opened the door to the courtyard beside them.
This place was modified from an enclosed warehouse—the sunlight was an effect of light strips, the courtyard and rockery were models, the surrounding flowers and plants were holographic projections.
Even the water flow was merely surround sound.
They sat side by side near the completely virtual courtyard.
At a distance.
John could stretch his feet out, resting on the edge of the wooden floor, feeling much eased.
Fushimi Takeo maintained an "elegance" starkly incongruous with his appearance, making the whole scene appear very bizarre.
His kimono patterns were exquisite.
Chrysanthemums and swords.
The background was a large area of malicious ghosts.
John was getting anxious staying in this building and took the initiative to break the silence by explaining:
"This woman, you kidnapped her? I was commissioned to take her from the Skyocho gang."
Fushimi Takeo nodded. "I didn’t mistreat her, and I never restricted her from leaving..."
"Yeah, I saw, f*ck, I really don’t know how you brainwashed that woman like this."
[いいえ（It’s not.）]