IGTL Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – High Schoolers in Exultation

The high schoolers who had mugged the “sorry excuse for an old man,” a.k.a. Takahashi Kakeru, of his wallet and scratch tickets were riding high.

“Dude, look at this! There’s three hundred thousand yen in the wallet!”

“No way. Guess the old guy had more cash than he looked.”

“Forget that, check this out! Thirty million yen. Thirty. Million. A thirty-million-yen scratch ticket!”

“““What!?”””

They practically vibrated with excitement before the thirty-million-yen prize.

“I-It’s true! Incredible!”

“W-With that much, how many Umaibo sticks can we buy!?”

“Idiot! This is beyond snack sticks. What do we do with it?”

“What do you think? We cash it in, now!”

Grinning like they owned the world, the high schoolers who had beaten and mugged Kakeru marched straight to the lottery booth.

“I’m sorry, boys. You’ll need to redeem that at a bank. We can only pay out up to fifty thousand yen here.”

“I—oh. Got it…”

They showed the auntie at the counter the thirty-million-yen card. She blinked, then explained they could not redeem it at the stand.

“Useless!”

“Keep thirty million on hand next time!”

“Whatever. Let’s go.”

A chorus of disappointed groans.

“Eh, it’s fine. Either way, we’ll have thirty million tomorrow. Tonight we blow this three hundred thousand.”

“Yeah!”

“Yocchan’s right. Let’s hit the arcade!”

“Arcade it is, rolling up with three hundred thousand!”

With that, they strutted off toward the game center, taking the wallet they had mugged from Kakeru. On the way, they noticed an employee ID inside.

“Hey, look at this.”

“Mm? An employee ID?”

Yocchan, the ringleader, slid the card out and grinned nastily.

“Perfect. Let’s call the old man’s company and say ‘thanks.’”

“Ooh, nice.”

“While we’re at it, let’s say the old man suddenly attacked us and tried to steal our thirty-million-yen scratch ticket.”

“Welp, that guy’s done.”

“Think of it as our little gift. Add some color to his boring life. Something spicy. Maybe a bit too spicy.”

Yocchan dialed Amazing Corporation, where Takahashi Kakeru had worked.

“Alright. That’s done. So, who holds the scratch ticket? And no running off with it. We’re splitting the payout evenly: six million each.”

“Then you keep it, Yocchan.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.”

“Don’t lose it. Man, six million apiece… that’s insane.”

“Never seen money like that. We owe that old man big time.”

“No kidding. Oh? New machines dropped. Let’s go.”

“Someone go exchange the bills.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Counting on you.”

One of them pulled fat bills from Kakeru’s wallet and fed them into the changer for stacks of hundreds.

“Yocchan! Got it.”

“Nice. All right, boys, it’s pre-celebration. Milk this arcade dry!”

“““Yeah!!”””

They played until closing, then grabbed snacks for the road and headed home wearing triumphant smiles.

◆◇◆

When I opened my front door, of course, police officers were there: one older, one younger, both smiling politely.

“Sorry to drop by unannounced. Times are rough lately. There was an extortion incident involving high schoolers nearby. Mind if we ask you a few questions?”

That oily, no-room-to-refuse phrasing.

So this was the police. Sounded like they had swallowed Director Ishida’s story whole. Or maybe they were just here because someone called it in. Either way, once they heard me out, the facts would be plain.

I gave them my brightest customer-service smile.

“Of course. An extortion case against high schoolers, you say? Frightening. If it is true, that is a serious crime, and I will naturally cooperate. Oh, and false accusations are common these days. Even if the suspects happen to be high schoolers, you will arrest them, right? Extortion is extortion. First-time offenders or not, you will not just let them go, right? My apologies, officers—you are paragons of propriety. Now, what would you like to ask?”

Having said everything I wanted, I kept smiling as the officers exchanged a wry look. The older one took out a notebook.

“May we ask a few questions?”

“Yes. As a law-abiding citizen, it is my duty to answer.”

“I… see. First, your name?”

“My name is Takahashi Kakeru. Twenty-three, single. Until today I worked in accounting at Amazing Corporation, but I was unfairly dismissed and am currently unemployed.”

“All right, Mr. Takahashi. Do you have ID? A driver’s license is fine.”

I did. But I chose to say otherwise. Even the police would not rummage through my home to find it.

“Sorry. Five students from Kuzu High School mugged me just now and stole my wallet, with my driver’s license inside, along with thirty million yen in uncash­ed scratch tickets and three hundred thousand yen in cash. I do have my residence certificate, though. I was at Hello Work today for unemployment procedures.”

“That will do. May we see it?”

“Certainly. One moment.”

I produced the certificate from a clear file and handed it over.

“Thank you. Takahashi Kakeru… no doubt it’s you. Now, there was an extortion incident in the area, do you know anything about it?”

Huh?

Was he ignoring everything I had just said? Fine. I would repeat it as many times as needed. I was the victim, after all.

“Yes. I do. I am that victim. Just now, in front of the lottery booth, five high schoolers accosted me and took a thirty-million-yen scratch ticket and three hundred thousand yen from my wallet. Please look at this video.”

On my phone, I played footage of five high schoolers assaulting me and stealing my scratch tickets and wallet.

For privacy, my eyes were barred out. Theirs were not.

“T-This is…”

“Awful, isn’t it? A good Samaritan shot it and posted it on social media. This goes beyond extortion. I was about to file a report, so this is perfect timing. I intend to press charges against the five high schoolers who assaulted me and stole my uncashed thirty-million-yen scratch ticket. Any advice?”

“W-We cannot advise you on that. Please consult the station.”

“Understood. A shame, since you are already here. I also have a medical certificate. I will bring that and this video to the station tomorrow. Now, what was it you wanted to ask?”

The officer grimaced a smile.

“N-No, we have heard enough. We will take our leave. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Not at all. See you tomorrow.”

They closed the door and shuffled off.

I glanced at my phone and smirked.

Twitter impressions were climbing fast. The clip was spreading nicely.

Trending terms in real-time search included “Old-Man Assault,” “Scratch Ticket,” “Kuzu High,” and “My Winning Tickeeeeet!”

For the record, I was not an old man.

Still, I had not expected it to blow up this far.

Must be my impeccable karma.

“With this much traction, we’re set.”

I deleted my posts and grinned wider.

Recording Feature.

It was one of DW’s standard functions. DW let you capture gameplay, edit it, and upload it.

I had used that same built-in recorder to secretly film the scene of the five high schoolers beating me and stealing my wallet and scratch tickets.

I had not expected it to work without a headgear, but results were what mattered.

The idea came when I saw an invisible camera glinting as it orbited me. If the menu and Item Storage worked in reality, recording would too. I had left the recorder running for the big event reveal, and it paid off.

I had never planned to rely on the police.

Courts handed out soft sentences to minors.

Hence: real-name video exposure.

I learned the delinquents’ names via DW’s pass-by player function.

Scream when you see it, you punks.

Faces and real names, plus your school. Indelible unless you get plastic surgery.

Social death, essentially guaranteed.

I would still file a formal report tomorrow.

Anyone who trashes other people’s lives deserved a swift trip to hell.

Some would say minors have a future. Easy to say when it was not your loss.

Saints might pray for rehabilitation; I was not one of them.

You hit me, I hit back twice as hard.

Whether they reformed or not was none of my concern.

This was the groundwork. Tonight, I will reclaim my thirty million yen.

If they cashed it or tore it up in a tantrum, I would be devastated.

I opened the menu, glanced at the Map feature, and let my lips curl into a grin.