kscans

T/n: 鬼咲 乱丸 previously translated as kizaki ranmanu, should be onisaki ranmaru. his name means as an oni who seeks order, hence his True World organization. meanwhile, yanagi seiichi means a flexibile tree and honest gentleman, yet his organization is called Chaos Army.

If Yanagi Seiichi, the leader of the Chaos Army, was a man of wisdom and power, then Onisaki Ranmaru, the head of True World, could be called a man of luck and power.

Though they shared commonalities in charisma and strength, their core strengths differed. Yanagi used his sharp intellect to elevate the Chaos Army into a major organization in the Supernatural World. This was, in a sense, straightforward. A logical rise to power.

Onisaki, however, was different. He stacked up numerous small coincidences and trivial strokes of luck to push True World into becoming a major underground organization. This was simply unstoppable. If Yanagi had logic as his backbone, one could counter him by pitting another wise person against him. But luck… there’s no way to deal with that. After all, even he himself didn’t intend it, so there was no way to stop it.

“Some call me a monster or a demon, but from my perspective, that man is far more terrifying. He’s untouchable,” Yanagi had said in his prime.

Onisaki was such a troublesome opponent that he could make even Yanagi say such things.

“That’s exactly right!”

I myself had been outmaneuvered by him countless times in the past, so I immediately agreed with Yanagi’s statement despite him being an enemy.

Although I ultimately emerged victorious, he was truly a formidable foe. And yet, such a formidable enemy…

(Why did he become a drag queen…!!)

Come on, give me a break, seriously. My two former archenemies are… one’s homeless! The other’s a drag queen bar mama! How am I supposed to react to this!? This is way too much for an amateur to handle…!!

“Hideo-chan? And Ran-chan too. You two—”

Mama’s words snapped me back to reality. Though I had many thoughts… now’s not the time for that!

“Ah, yeah, just some acquaintances. Don’t worry about it.”

“I see. I won’t then.”

Mama smoothly moved on and began chatting with the bar staff.

“You…”

Onisaki’s eyes widened.

“No matter how much you or I try to cover it up, we can’t fool Mama’s eyes, right?”

“…Indeed.”

“And neither of us wants to make Mama worry.”

“…Yes.”

“That’s why I did what I did. Any complaints?”

“…None. Let me thank you.”

What I did was distort perception. I twisted the recognition of myself and Onisaki so that it could be brushed off as “just the way things are.”There’s no sense of discomfort. For example, if we started fighting right now, Mama and the others wouldn’t think anything of it.

It’s not the best solution, but I didn’t want Mama to worry unnecessarily, and above all, I didn’t want to ruin the atmosphere here.

“…We’ll talk about everything after this party.”

“Yes.”

Damn… this drag queen way of speaking is still so jarring! The image of his former self keeps flashing in my mind, and it’s driving me crazy!!

(I need a drink to deal with this… seriously.)

The party continued until late into the night. After returning to the business hotel with the cheerful company president, instead of going back to my room, I headed to the hotel rooftop. It’s normally off-limits and locked, but that’s meaningless to me.

“Phew…”

Sipping on a cup of instant miso soup I bought to sober up, I ponder absentmindedly. Onisaki Ranmaru. Along with Yanagi Seiichi, one of my former archenemies. Although I ultimately triumphed over both, at the time, neither was an easy opponent for me.

(I wonder how Yanagi would react if I told him about this.)

While I might have been an enemy Yanagi couldn’t ignore, his greatest enemy was probably Onisaki. If you asked Onisaki, he’d probably say Yanagi was his greatest enemy too.

Yanagi Seiichi and Onisaki Ranmaru. The two were polar opposites in every way. Yanagi sought a new horizon at the end of chaos, but his essence was quite gentlemanly. Onisaki sought absolute stability through order, but his essence was that of a ruffian. To put it bluntly, he was a thug.

(How many times did I think, “Aren’t you guys switched?”)

Why would such a thug seek absolute order? People who don’t know the circumstances probably wouldn’t understand. But there’s a proper reason.

Why did he try to bind the world and people with absolute order… at the root of it all was self-restraint. Onisaki Ranmaru was originally from the surface world too, caught up in misfortune and stepped into the underground world.

However, the group that protected him wasn’t good. Not everyone who crosses from the Surface World to the Supernatural World is protected by the Mutual Aid Society.

After all, there are several factions in the Supernatural World. To them, former Panpi are just opportunities to strengthen their forces. (t/n: just to clarify, panpi means formerly regular people in this context. not a n00b)

Onisaki was taken in by an obvious group of wild troublemakers, and at first, he too did whatever he pleased.

He was destined to become the leader of a major faction. His potential was clearly different from the average small fry.

Apparently, he rapidly rose to prominence. However, one day he realized something.

Looking at himself and those around him, he thought,

“Isn’t it dangerous to leave people like us unchecked?”

That’s what hit him. If he had only targeted the troublemakers, it would have been fine… but you understand, right? As I’ve said before, whether it’s positive or negative, you need a strong passion to do something big.

Onisaki was the same. He came to view all of humanity as dangerous. He believed that he and the other troublemakers weren’t special at all. That beneath the surface, everyone was a potential troublemaker.

Human history is a history of liberation. As time progressed, people became more and more unrestrained.

…If left unchecked, wouldn’t this lead to irreversible consequences?

Onisaki harbored such fears.

So what could be done to prevent these fears from becoming reality? What he sought was absolute order. He tried to protect humanity’s future by binding it tightly.

At his core, even though he was a thug, he was a thug leaning towards goodness. So he established True World under the banner of protecting humanity’s future, but…

(Talk about meddling to the extreme…)

Yanagi was the same, but come on.

“Humanity is doomed if things continue like this?”

Hey, that’s just your opinion, you know? That’s all I can say. From the perspective of those caught up in it, it’s really unbearable, seriously.

By the way, I’ve made this kind of counterargument many times, but… well, he never listened. Of course not. A guy who would change his opinion based on the words of a teenager in his teens wouldn’t start talking about changing the world in the first place.

That stubbornness… I guess it’s also what attracts people to him.

(But what is he thinking now?)

From what I could see at the farewell party… I didn’t sense anything dangerous. I don’t think he’s planning a comeback with his former ideology or anything like that.

But he’s definitely hiding something. The reason for this farewell party was that he was handing over the bar to a kid he had been looking after. So, what after that? Mama was asking about that too. Was he going to open a new place somewhere?

He shook his head firmly and said,

“There’s just something I left unfinished.”

Since I’ve forgiven Yanagi, I think Onisaki can do as he pleases as long as he doesn’t cause trouble. But I can’t overlook his “unfinished business” without hearing what it is. Given our history.

“…So you’ve come.”

As I turned around, Onisaki silently landed on the rooftop. He had a serious expression, but…

(The drag outfit is throwing me off…!!)

Couldn’t he have at least dressed as a man for this?!