The Case of the Blue Tycoon

It had been a long day at the office. Gakuho Tani had had only enough energy during the day to sip his coffee and halfheartedly bark orders at his employees. Of course, being the head of the Tokyo Police department had its perks. Free coffee, for example. And an admirable selection of onigiri and ocha at the convenience store across the street from his office building. He even had an assistant to go buy him the snacks. But today he felt like nothing would make his day like a hot bowl of udon soup and a collapse into his bed. Every five minutes, Gakuho glanced discreetly (though he was fooling only himself) at the small digital clock on his desk. Now, there were only five minutes left until his nine-to-five workday was over. Just as he was about to spring from his desk and gather his things, one of his deputies, Masanori Tadasu, burst through the door, panting and waving around a thin packet of paper like it was a flag of surrender. He extended the packet into Gakuho's glaring eyes, ignoring the way his jaw clenched in annoyance the moment the papers hit his desk. Gakuho snapped, "What is that? And our offices are right next to each other's, why are you so out of breath!?" Masanori gathered his bearings and began to speak rapidly, running his hand over his forehead in an attempt to wipe away the sweat that had appeared during his hustle.

"Sorry for the interruption, sir. The news just can't wait until tomorrow, it's too important. I was down at the convenience store when I got the call. Sir, we just received word from one of our sources in Takadanobaba that the Blue Tycoon is on the move." Now that made Gakuho's jaw drop.

"The Blue Tycoon, you say? We haven't had a lead on him in three years!" He snatched the packet off the table and began to rifle through it eagerly. "What has he done now...?" The papers were financial files from BigHit Entertainment, statements that brought Gakuho to the conclusion that there had been a case of digital robbery, and a massive one at that. He brought his forefinger and thumb to the bridge of his nose and furrowed his brows in thought. "What exactly happened in Takadanobaba?" Masanori frowned.

"Apparently, some of his cronies were using a foreign language school in the area as a base from which to contact foreign entertainment companies and blackmail them into paying a heinous amount of money in bitcoins. I believe the school is called Kyoshin Language Academy. They are currently under the name Blue AOKI. I'm not sure what AOKI stands for, but I'm sure it must be affiliated with the Tycoon's gang because of THIS..." Masanori pulled another paper out of his suit pocket and unfolded it. It turned out to be a map of the city of Takadanobaba, a popular area for foreigners and thrifty shoppers to gather. The map looked like it had been folded and unfolded many times, and it was covered in the markings of a blue pen. Gakuho briefly wondered at the constant mention of the color blue before reverting his attention back to what Masanori was saying. "For some reason, every other building on the streets leading up to Kyoshin Language Academy is called AOKI. We need someone to go undercover and find out what exactly AOKI means in relation to the Blue Tycoon, and how the Tycoon has managed to scam one of the most successful Korean entertainment companies in the world into paying them three billion in yen by bitcoin." Gakuho felt his heart rate quicken. A case! Masanori concluded with a shaky breath. "But boss..." He glanced around, lowering his voice. "Who are we going to put on the case? Yuki's on his honeymoon and Hiro-san is on a Disney cruise. Shuto and Shota are in Belize, and Mayu's doing an investigation in Osaka. Do you have any other connections at all?" Gakuho thought for a bit, and then a spark came into his eyes, and he smirked.

"I think I've got somebody."

-

The sun pierced through the curtains of Carleigh's bedroom, smacking her in the eyes with joyful abundance. She groaned and turned over, raising one hand against the light in a vain attempt to block it from making her get out of bed. Her room was messy, the floor littered with clothes only semi-clean and various blue notebooks and her desk was covered in dry, empty teacups. Each teacup had a single, used green tea bag in it that had begun to stain the bottom of the cup after days of being ignored. Various K-pop posters and polaroid photos were scattered across her walls. Carleigh stretched, and was about to drift back into her dream, in which she was a world famous Muay Thai fighter and conducted a similarly intense hand-to-hand combat scene as to that of the climax in Ong Bak, when No More Dream by BTS began playing abruptly on her phone. Someone was calling. She groaned out loud, and the groan turned into a snort of surprise when she looked at the caller ID. Gakuho Tani had never been photogenic, and seeing his questionable contact selfie up close after nothing but handsome sidekicks, blood and gore made him seem all the more ridiculous. She answered with a scratchy voice. "What's up?" Gakuho chuckled on the other line.