"Hey! Old man! Was I the only one who knew you had to pay the stall fee by today?"
The person who kicked the door open was wearing a Hawaiian shirt and covered in tattoos from head to toe.
That look... it was similar to the outfit worn by the Kongkongi Gang member in the operation briefing.
He looked like the textbook image of a thug.
"P-please... give me a break just once. I'll be sure to pay next time."
"Just once? Old man, can't you even do addition? You said the same thing last time! You want me to get chewed out by the boss because I'm babysitting your arithmetic?"
"W-what could you possibly squeeze out of an old man like me, with no strength left and a body that's falling apart...!"
The shop owner looked over at us with an excessively loud cry.
It was obviously a plea for help, but we were bodies that couldn't afford to stand out. As unfortunate as it was, all we could do for now was watch.
"Huh? Now you're raising your voice? Go on, get angry! That'll make me feel a little less guilty!"
And as the commotion continued, every Sinner soon had their eyes on the shop owner and the person who seemed to be a Kongkongi Gang member.
...Wait. Something was bothering me.
"What are you looking at? Got a problem?!"
"Wow... that's such a textbook line I don't even want to answer. Couldn't you pick a more creative way to pick a fight?"
"Shouldn't we help them...?"
Unlike Ms. Ishmael, who snorted at his words, Sinclair kept glancing over there anxiously.
...Something kept snagging on my intuition, but why couldn't I remember it?
"It can't be helped. The back alleys have their own rules, and they're all tangled together in a way that makes the whole thing run."
"If outsiders like us interfere clumsily, we'll only stick out."
Seeing that we had chosen to look away, the Kongkongi Gang member continued bullying the shop owner.
"Tch. If you don't have money, then hand over that thing instead. How many times do I have to say it?"
"T-that one thing is impossible... please..."
The shop owner's pitiful voice seemed to stir pity, and a ticking sound came from beside us.
"...Is it really all right to just leave it like that?"
"If it looks that bad to you, should I step in, Manager?"
Gregor asked us, apparently curious about their conversation.
"But what is 'that thing'?"
"...There are commodities here that are more valuable than money."
"J Corp's Singularity is powerful security technology that can lock up anything."
"But that security technology was built on the old culture and history of J Corp's back alleys."
"H-history...? You're saying you're going to explain that here...? I had no idea studying was part of the hiring requirements!"
Heathcliff had a fit at Ms. Faust's explanation.
...So he's bad with history, huh.
Of course, Ms. Faust paid no mind to Heathcliff's outburst and continued.
"This place uses technology that can extract people's 'wish power.'"
"It wasn't made widely known because it lacked the universality needed to be approved as a Singularity."
"In a way, it's like buying and selling 'luck' as if it were currency."
"To avoid having this wish power forcibly extracted, security technology to defend against it eventually came into being. That's what led to the Singularity we have now."
When Ms. Faust finished her explanation, a blatantly mocking voice rang out.
"Wow~ Faust, you must've had a rough time giving these guys a kindergarten lesson."
"It was something I had already anticipated, so it's fine."
"That way of talking is seriously annoying..."
"All right, all right. Then let's each grab something decent from the display shelves and get out of here."
Ms. Sword waved the documents with the plan on them, emphasizing how busy they were.
"We're just office workers, not 'heroes' who stand up for justice."
Ah, I remembered.
The kind of person who would barge into a situation like this without a shred of hesitation.
And Ms. Sword had even pressed the trigger button, so it had to be her!
"Wait... that word is...!"
"Ms. Don Quixote...!"
At my words and Dante's reaction, a few of the Sinners who caught on hurriedly looked around. But...
"To try and plunder someone else's valuables so carelessly! That can only be the behavior of a villain!"
"No...! Don Quixote...!"
Damn it. Too late.
Before anyone could stop her, Ms. Don Quixote shot out like a bullet and swung her lance without hesitation at the Kongkongi Gang member who was grabbing the pawnshop owner by the collar.
Clang
Apparently he hadn't even considered a surprise attack; the blunt side of the lance struck the side of his head dead on, and everyone stared for a long moment at the man who collapsed limply with a clear ringing impact.
"..."
"Ah, for the record, controlling the Sinners was not included in the duties assigned to me. That's this person's role."
Ms. Faust pointed at Dante as she said that, in response to Ms. Sword's dumbfounded expression.
...Should I say a word in his defense?
"That said, it would be difficult to blame Dante for everything."
"It was clear from a single glance at the documents listing the Sinners' information that Sinner No. 3, Ms. Don Quixote, had that sort of temperament. The one who directly poked at it was you."
"I trust you didn't think you could control every action without even checking the information on the department you'd be carrying out a joint mission with."
"Saramago...!"
Thanks to that, the before-team's sharp gazes turned toward me instead of Dante, but I stood my ground.
You're the ones who provoked her. What, you want to complain? Then maybe you should've looked up the information first.
"Ooooh...!"
The only one pleased by this mess was the shop owner.
"Goodness, that bastard got what was coming to him. Still, it might've been nice if you'd hit him just a little harder."
"Vergilius said, 'It's fine to punish villains, but it'll be troublesome if you drag in people outside the operation,' so I held back!"
It's already troublesome, Ms. Don Quixote. Smiling so proudly won't help, you know?
"Ah, so you remembered that and still went charging in?"
"I had no choice but to uphold my convictions. Please understand!"
Then the shop owner spoke up, sounding uneasy.
"But... this guy, he's not dead, is he?"
"Old man, weren't you just disappointed a moment ago?"
"That may be true, but... if the Yurodivy show up, things will get complicated in a lot of ways."
What kind of organization was Yurodivy?
Most of us, myself included, seemed not to know, but Ms. Rodion appeared to recognize the name.
"Yurodivy? Why would they be here... no, more importantly, why are you worried about them?"
"Goodness, you're really behind on the news. They've been causing trouble around here for months already."
"Are they villains too?!"
Ms. Don Quixote, could you please stop jumping in every time?
As if sensing my frustration, the shop owner kept talking about Yurodivy.
"Oh, they're villains to us, all right. What was it again? They said something about shaking down merchants who were hoarding money and distributing it to the struggling folk. Some kind of redistribution of... something..."
"Redistribution of wealth."
At Meursault's brief explanation, the shop owner seemed to remember and continued.
"Ahh~ right, that. Sigh, what money do people like us even have? And they don't even come themselves. They always send the local thugs in this district to do it."
"Anyway, they swagger around acting like they're doing the right thing, and it's a pain. At first it seemed like they were looking for something, but now they're just stealing money..."
"...Ah! B-but, shouldn't we get out of here? The Kongkongi Gang might come storming in."
Ms. Rodion awkwardly changed the subject, even stumbling over her words.
I was shocked that Ms. Rodion, who had kept her composure even in front of Vergilius, was changing the subject so clumsily, but setting that aside, she was right.
Rustle, rustle
The gang member knocked down by Ms. Don Quixote was twitching little by little, looking like he'd soon come to and get back up.
"Haa, what a headache... making trouble for no reason."
This guy?
"You're the ones who brought this on..."
"Doctor, calm down a bit. This isn't the time for an argument."
"Hey, don't look so grim, Muffin and Soboro. There's no shortage of pawnshops around here, right? We can replace it however many times we need to..."
Muffin and... Soboro...?
Whether he meant it that way or not, Gregor's memory was enough to douse the irritation that had just been building in me over Epi's rude attitude.
"It's Epi and Sword. I'd appreciate it if you didn't turn people's names into food."
"And by 'there's no shortage of pawnshops,' what that means is..."
"Every pawnshop that notices this commotion will be closing its doors soon..."
"Don Quixote...!"
Dante searched for Don Quixote with a horn blast instead of his usual ticking, but Don Quixote still wore only a bright smile, as if she believed she'd done nothing wrong.
"I'm tired of explaining things one by one to fools. Let's get out of here already."
His tone was still so rude it made my blood pressure spike, but we were in a hurry to leave, so I decided not to pick a fight.
And just as we were finally about to leave the shop, a person wearing clothes similar to the one we'd knocked down burst inside.
"Hey, old man, have you seen our youngest...?"
"You runt! What the hell happened here?!"
We did our best to look like innocent customers who had just happened to wander into the pawnshop.
But at the perfect moment, the knocked-down gang member began to regain consciousness...
"Ghh... ngh..."
"Which bastard was it! Say it now! I'll tear your limbs off myself!"
"Ugh... th-there..."
"The red... clock head..."
Damn it, Ms. Don Quixote. You should've hit him a little harder.
At those words, the gang member was glaring at us—more precisely, at Dante—with a hostile look.