Beastars: The Discover Check

Chapter 132: Purchase of Property

"Six million," the auctioneer said. "Seven, eight, nine million. Highest bid now is nine million yen, ladies and gentlemen. Do we have anyone that wants to raise?"

"Ten," one of the phone runners called, raising a hand.

"Highest bid is now ten million yen," the auctioneer added. "Anyone wish to raise?"

Silence. The animals that were in a bidding war a few moments ago shook their heads.

"Ten million ladies and gentlemen," the orangutan called again. "Anyone want to raise? No?"

Still, there was silence.

"Ten million going once, twice," he slammed his gavel and the black grand piano was wheeled away by the handlers to be packaged and shipped to the winner after the money transfer came through.

"Next is lot number one-o-two," the orangutan said. "Ladies and gentlemen this next lot, as in your listings, is a piece you may have heard of in the news. Like everything else in the auction today, this painting was in the possession of the criminal known as Razor. This is the only piece by artist Boujou Kazukiyo, and was displayed by the terrorist in his apartment."

The painting looked like a photograph. It was so photorealistic that the air was sucked out of the room by multiple gasps when the cover came off. The only thing that gave it away as a painting was the artist's signature in the bottom right hand corner. The canvas was massive and barely fit on the stage. The eyes of one sabertooth pierced through the crowd and locked in with Louis, who was the only herbivore, or carnivore, in the room not unsettled by the visage. He stared straight back, daring the centuries-old dried paint to bend and look away from him.

"The Crucifixion of The Sabertooth," the ape continued. "A photorealistic painting from the fourteen hundreds depicting the climax of the same story from The Book of Post Collision. It was taken from his suite apartment when police raided his building. The painting has been deemed priceless, but we'll start the bidding at one billion yen."

Louis looked around to the bidders as they raised their paddles. The flashing numbers made him slowly feel a little uneasy. He didn't show this uneasiness when the people around him reduced to nothing but numbers as they made a mad scramble to buy pieces from the police auction. Today's special: everything that had belonged to Razor. He had become a worldwide phenomenon and anything the bastard even looked at was considered a collectors piece. The CPD was about to make a fortune off of this auction. Louis was only interested in one thing, and was waiting for his time to bid. He didn't hear the final, winning price. He didn't care. The lot he was interested in was now up.

"Next lot," the ape called. "Lot one-o-three. If you'll all be patient, give us some time to set up the slides, we are having some technical difficulties."

"Going for the property as well?" someone asked over his shoulder.

He didn't need to look to know it was Azuki.

"I own the place," he growled.

"I'm sure you do," she sneered. "But not on paper. This is to make it official with the city, right? Divert their attention."

"Not quite," someone else said. This one he did have to look to see. The black, pantherine form was like a living, breathing shadow. She was dressed in a black pants suit just like her business partner. Her teeth had been whitened and her hands were adorned with rings. They sparkled as she used one of her massive claws to pick something from in between her teeth.

"It's more of a front," Reina said. "Someone in the business owns the property and works the books in order to make it look legitimate. Which it will be. But it's more so if the police have questions, it's someone intelligent who can answer the questions without bumbling around and making a fool of the organization."