Oroshi’s eyes were fixed on the monitor, full of anticipation as Tanaka sped through the footage of Narita’s immigration security camera.

  There! 10:24 pm.

  The picture of a large westerner now filled the screen. The man was obviously tired and badly in need of a shower, his shirt crumpled and stained, and his hair was all over the place, but he was beaming. The man just looked… happy.

  Now, THAT is going to change, thought Oroshi with a grin of his own.

  “This is Allaire Ma?l, sir. He arrived from Thailand. And just like you said, he declared that he came to Japan for Judo.” Tanaka said, reading a scan of the arrival card. “It says here that he is a ‘Digital Nomad’, whatever that is. Is that the guy we are looking for?”

  Oroshi didn’t reply. The Gaijin did not look like much at first glance. He played through the immigration interview. Ma?l spoke a few words in Japanese, a couple of set phrases, but switched over to English almost immediately. The idiot doesn’t even speak Japanese, Oroshi noted.

  “Where is he staying?” Oroshi asked.

  “I’m not sure. His writing is a mess. Looks like something-dokan.” Tanaka said, showing the card.

  “It’s Kodokan, you idiot! The oldest Judo dojo in the world and it’s right next door from Suidobashi station. Find me the number.”

  Oroshi picked up the phone and dialed the number now displayed on the screen.

  “Hi, I’m looking for a foreigner by the name of Allaire Ma?l. He was supposed to be here a few days ago, but I haven’t seen him.” Oroshi said, sounding concerned.

  “Oh Maeru? He didn’t arrive yet, but I wouldn’t worry too much, he’s always like that. Last year, he booked a dorm room, his backpack arrived a week before he did!”

  “You know him?” Oroshi asked, interested.

  “A bit. We trained together a few times. He’s pretty good.”

  “Thank you so much.” Oroshi said, hanging up. Pretty good, he said? So the guy’s a monster, he thought, surprised. He looked again at the screen and finally noticed the width of the man’s shoulders and the way his muscles stretched the otherwise loose shirt. Checks out.

  He turned to Tanaka.

  “There’s no doubt, that’s our man.” Oroshi declared. “See if you can find a trace of him. I want you to check all the hotels in Honshu, and see if he has made any payment through credit card.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I’ve already checked all the main hotel chains in the country. There are no reservations under that name anywhere. My team’s been sending queries to all the smaller hotels, but that will take time. Everything is on paper so it could take weeks to check the whole country. We’ve asked the booking website for his credit card details, but it will take a while. For now, all we know is that he took a limousine bus to Ikebukuro, and paid cash.” Tanaka straightened slightly, a flicker of satisfaction in his voice.

  “Good work. With the amount Kaori withdrew from her bank, I doubt he’ll be paying for anything with his card any time soon.” Oroshi said. “Did you find out where they went past Enoshima?”

  “No, Sir, not yet. We’ve checked all the cams around the areas and in the surrounding cities. It’s like they never left Enoshima. I’ve checked the hotels, the ryokans, and even the love motels. No one’s seen them anywhere.” Tanaka answered. “Also, they don’t have any known property in that area at all. Not even factories.”

  “Does she have any friends out there?” Oroshi asked.

  “Not that we were able to find. To be honest, it looks like most of the people she knows are acquaintances; actresses she stared with, friends of her father… that sort of thing. She knows tons of people, but either she protects her privacy incredibly well, or she just doesn’t hang out much with anyone.” Tanaka answered.

  “Now that you mention it, I’ve dated her for a month and she hasn’t introduced anyone as a ‘best friend’.” Oroshi said, pensively. “That doesn’t mean she has no one she can call on when she needs it though. Most people in the country would help her with anything if she asked.”

  “That doesn’t narrow our search much.” Tanaka said, tongue in cheek. He paused, realizing who he was talking to. Fortunately, Oroshi seemed in a good mood for he didn’t react to the implied complaint.

  “Isn’t there a harbor in Enoshima?” Oroshi asked.

  “There’s a fishing port on the shore and a small yacht club on the island, but she doesn’t have any boat registered there.”

  “Call your guys in Enoshima and tell them to check if any boat left that night or the next day.”

  “You think she would steal a random ship? Does she even know how to operate a boat? Security is lax, but if you don’t have the ship’s key fob, it’s not that easy to start a ship or take it out of the harbor,” Tanaka declared.

  Thefts were extremely rare in Japan, and the thought of Kaori stealing some random ship in the middle of the night seemed ludicrous—but then again, so was the idea that Japan’s most famous celebrity could evade a country-wide search for several days without anyone seeing anything at all. The guys manning the call center were already going mad.

  Oroshi paused to consider. Kaori had seemed quite at home on his superyacht, but that didn’t mean much. A yacht like his was closer to a high-end residence than an actual ship.

  He was about to reply, when he was interrupted by one of the guards.

  “Masamune-sama would like to see you at your earliest convenience, sir.”

  Contrary to appearances, this wasn’t a request or subject to any delay. Oroshi followed the man who was already leaving.

  What the hell does my old man want now?

  As he was about to leave, Tanaka asked: “Should I get my men to check the harbor, sir?”

  “Yes, but only use your personal team. If she is at sea, we don’t want anyone to know about it.”