Legendary Detective at the World's End (Volume 1) (5 page)

   “Jake! What’s up man.” a voice said leaping out in front of them. Jake grinned as he approached a man dressed in black save for a red neon shirt under his dress coat.

   “Karl.” Jake said giving an odd slap of the hand to Karl before they raised their legs and kicked the heels of their feet together.

   “Boom!” they said at the end of their kick before they started laughing.

     Karl Laughed. “I can’t believe you remember that handshake.”

   “I can’t believe you went through with it.”

   “Hey, we’re old friends, nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” Karl looked to the side of Jake, noticing Kirin’s baby face as he peered at the gambling tables.

   “Hey, who’s the shorty? A new girl of yours?” Karl raised an eyebrow while looking at Kirin. “Or not…” Karl looked back at Jake with a sly smile on his face. “I guess what they said was true about you, you did change. I don’t remember you being into this sort of thing when I was around.”

   “Shut up,” Jake shook his head. “He’s just a friend.”

   “The name’s Kirin.” Kirin said turning briefly with a disinterested look on his face. “And I’m no shorty, I’m a detective.” He said turning his attention to the attire of Karl. He then looked at Jake. “He’s not the one with the almond, right? I’m going to go look for him.” Kirin said walking away from a half-confused Jake.

   “Wait…” Jake said. “Hold on, let me just ask around.”

   “Too slow.” Kirin said walking away, leaving Jake stuck explaining himself to his old friend.

   “Reminiscing…” Kirin said under his breath disdainfully as he walked away. He never liked talking about the past or associating with the old friends that come with it.

     Making his way by the colorful faces and jovial mood of the people that occupied the seats at some gambling tables around him, Kirin noticed that some of the faces in the crowd watched the games with a wholly detached mood that did not suit the high-risk exploits of some of the gamblers inside the hall. They were not guards, nor were they drunkards on a lean, they were more like young professionals in waiting for something, something Kirin had an idea of and noted it in the back of his mind.

     Moving on from taking mental notes of his environment, Kirin began to take action, fixating his eyes on a door that swung open at the end of the main hall. It looked as if the Gambling Union representatives had gotten up from their seats and had entered a room with a heavy built bouncer at their side. Before the door swung close, Kirin slipped inside, using his small frame to his advantage as he entered a brightly lit office space. There, he saw a single table with four seats occupied by better-dressed men with more serious and deadpanned looks on their face. The atmosphere in here was much different than outside. Some real stakes were on the line here and the heavy sense of tension in the room showed this, especially on the youngest face at the table as he pulled out a card from the deck with trembling fingers.

     Noticing his odd numbered cards, Kirin realized something and almost blurted it out.

   “Ah!” Kirin gasped, holding his breath as his voice sliced through the tension and redirected everyone and their focus to the front of the door where Kirin stood behind the tall back of a bouncer and an elderly Union Representative. With everyone’s attention on him, Kirin smiled. He pulled the Chocolate Grenadier out of his pocket and stepped forward.

   “Sorry, but I got what you wanted big brother.” He said in an almost childlike voice to the young stressed out man at the table. The guard rebuffed him anyways, holding him back from entering. “Who are you?! Hey Lee,” the bouncer said looking at the young man at the gambling table. “You know this kid?”

   “Um…” Lee said looking at the innocent smile of Kirin and the intense stare in his eyes contrasting it. He then saw the red and gold ball wrapped in aluminum foil. Seeing the ball caused his eyes to widen with familiarity. Noticing this change in his demeanor, Kirin’s expression grew more intense. “Hey, big brother,” he continued. “You told me to find you here, right? I’ve brought your things.”

    “Ah, yeah…” Lee nodded reluctantly. “He’s my younger cousin visiting from the Better Cities, I told him to come here and bring me some extra smokes.”

    “Tch.” One of the gamblers across from him scoffed. “You could have warned us earlier.”

   “Sorry Davos, I forgot.” Lee said patting the back of his head apologetically.

   “Fine, whatever, I needed a bathroom break anyways.” Davos said standing from his seat and heading out a door on the other side of the room along with two other men. Lee got up from his seat as Kirin approached him. Combing through his hair with his fingers, he let out a sigh of relief from his lungs. “Thanks kid.” He said as he looked at Kirin who stood in front of him in silence. Noticing his innocent smile gone, Lee shook his head. “Who are you?” he said pointing to a bench on the wall close behind his seat. “Have a seat and maybe tell me why you’re here?”

     Kirin walked over towards the bench along with Lee, but he did not take a seat, he just let his eyes continuously analyze the stress-filled body language of Lee until he was satisfied with the conclusion building up in his mind.

   “Do you have the almond?” Kirin said frankly.

   “Almond?” Lee said surprised by his words at first, before he looked back at the aluminum ball in Kirin’s hand. “Oh, you don’t mean, wait… Where did you get that in first place?”

   “From me, Lee.” Jake said entering the room alongside Karl who was off to the corner speaking to the Union Representative on friendly terms.

   “Hmm…” Kirin hummed while ignoring the pleasantries and the elaborate handshakes between Jake and Lee. “So,” Kirin interrupted them mid-laughter. “Where did you sell it?”

     Lee looked at Kirin awkwardly before turning to Jake. “Hey, who is this kid?”

   “He’s K–” Before Jake could finish his introduction, Kirin interrupted. “I’m the guy who just saved you from losing everything from that pick-up card.” Kirin replied giving Lee a piercing gaze.

     Lee turned his eye again toward Kirin before chuckling. “So you noticed that Queen playing into Davos hand?”

   “I did. And the pitiful and scared play that came along with it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lee said dismissively.

  “What I’m saying is,” Kirin replied looking at the table as the players walked around in conversation, their words light, and their mood joyful. “You don’t know a bad con when it’s staring you dead in the face.”

   “Stupid, this is a Union represented Gambling Den,” Lee snickered. “No cons in this place lest they have the Ministers City Guard breathing down their throat.”

   “Naïve.” Kirin shook his head with a smile on his face. “Gambling is a con; it’s a game of cons, and you’re a fool to think anything else. Walking into this match with your straightforward play, you might as well be handing them your money.”

   “Tch.” Lee sucked in his teeth, annoyed. “I don’t need to hear this.”

   “Listen.” Kirin said stepping in front of him with an intensity and concentration to his demeanor that demanded Lee’s attention, even when unwilling. “In a game of deceit, unpredictability is king. You’re too predictable Lee, and you know that. And that’s why you can’t win.”

   “D-Do you even know how to play poker?” Lee asked raising an eyebrow.

   “Haha… No.” Kirin said unapologetically.

     Lee scoffed at him. “Jake, I don’t know how you know this kid, but get him out of here—this is no place for boys.”

   “Or men too scared of dying.” Kirin said with a cocky grin on his face and an unyielding intensity in his eyes. “Are you dying in this hand, Mr. Lee?” With those words lingering in the air, Lee looked at Kirin with hesitation in his eyes.

     Kirin smirked, knowing that he hit a nerve with Lee. “I can sense that your dying on that table.” He continued. “You don’t want to win—you just want to stay alive. It’s the last thing people think about when they’re gambling with their life. How much did you put on the line this time? Fifty, maybe a one hundred pieces of gold?” Kirin said staring down the flinching eyes of Lee. “No, you don’t seem like the type that’s liquid with their money. No… You must have wagered something equal in value…” Kirin said searching Lee’s guilty eyes. “People, right?” he said. “You bet people. Organs or slavery, which one?”

     At those words, Lee let out a big sigh as he slouched over on the bench, resigned.

   “Hey…” Jake said nervously. “H-He’s joking, right? Lee? You’re a gambler, but, you wouldn’t sell people off because of it, would you?”

     Lee did not respond. Covering his eyes as he lowered his head, he shook his head in remorse. “I’m sorry Jake.” He said lifting his head up, revealing a pain full look on his face. “I messed up big this time, and I don’t know what to do.”

   “Ah, c’mon Lee.” Jake shook his head in disappointment. “Even after I loaned that money to you, you still felt the need to go to this extreme?”

   “I don’t know, I don’t know…” Lee replied while smacking the sides of his head with his palms. “One thing led to another, I felt I had the edge when I didn’t, and here I am.”

   “Who?” Jake asked with a look of concern in his eyes after realizing a dangerous possibility. “Don’t tell me you got Jade involved in this?”

   “No!” Lee said emphatically. “Just myself.”

     Jake sighed in relief. “Because if you did, I’d kill you myself right now.”

   “Jade?” Kirin asked with a raised eyebrow.

   “She’s Lee’s younger sister—a beautiful young girl with a worthless older brother.”

   “And a useless uncle.” Lee said staring at Jake defiantly before taking notice of the calm and unaffected demeanor of Kirin. Staring at Kirin, he felt something odd about his presence, something mysterious that could not be accounted for in the here and now.

   “Kid,” Lee called out to him. “What was your name again?”

   “Kirin.” He replied as his eyes still combed the room.

   “You want to trade places?” Lee asked.

   “Hey!” Jake stepped forward. “You’re not asking him—”

   “Yeah, I’m asking him.” Lee said to Jake before looking back at the now interested Kirin. “You think you can take my place the next round?”
     Kirin smirked, letting a cocky expression wear on his childlike face before laughing aloud. “Haha, I like that, a gambler to the end, aren’t you? You do know you’re taking an enormous risk with me not knowing the rules to poker.”

   “Don’t worry, if my hunch is right, I’d take you for a quick learner. I’ll teach you the basics.”

   “Are you playing by some sort of round system?” Kirin asked.

   “Yeah,” Lee nodded his head. “Were playing a game called ten rounds. Each round, a winner gathers points. The one with the most points wins the game.”

   “How many rounds you have left?”

   “Five.”

     Kirin closed his eyes for a moment before quickly opening them up again with a wild gaze sparkling from the inside of his being. “No… I won’t do it.” He said frankly.

   “What?!” Lee said confused by his sudden refusal.

   “Unless…” Kirin continued. “You tell me where you got the Chocolate Grenadier. I want to know the who, what, when, where, and why about the extracted almond that was inside of it.”

     Jake face palmed himself as Kirin broke the tension with his awkward demands concerning his fascination over this missing almond. Lee looked on bewildered for a moment before smiling and looking over at Jake. “Is this the person you gave the Chocolate Grenadier to? I thought you were going to give it to the girl at the Seamstress shop, Kate, right?”

   “Yeah…” Jake said embarrassed. “I was.”

   “But…” Lee said looking at Kirin’s face. “He is cute too. I just never knew you swung that way, Haha.” He laughed forcefully.

   “It’s nothing like that.” Jake said uncomfortable. “I just needed his help and this was his going rate, as you can see.”

   “I sure can.” Lee said with a distracted mind.

   “So?” Kirin said eagerly. “Is it a deal?”

   “Fine.”

     Kirin smiled as he headed for the table with the other players while they sat down and took their seats.

     Lee looked on in confusion as Kirin turned around. “Hey, don’t you need the rules?” Lee shouted out to him with a concerned look in his eyes.

   “Just finished reading them.” Kirin said pointing to the walls behind him with the basic instructions of the game on them.

   “Well,” Lee cringed a bit. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get too complex out there.” he said with hesitation, almost regretting his decision.

     Jake shook his head. “Are you crazy? This is poker—of course it’s going to get complicated.” Jake chastised.

   “I know, I know… But that kid, looking into his eyes, I could tell he could handle the pressure, besides, didn’t you tell me about this detective before? Something about how he was a genius that saved your neck. Maybe he’ll do the same for me.”

  “Even if he is a genius, you still need experience.”

  “It doesn’t matter—I just need someone who hasn’t cracked under the pressure to handle this game, someone with new eyes.” Lee said with his hands folded as they trembled with every look to the shuffle of the cards ahead of him. Jake, unsure of what to say to his friend who was breaking down in front of him, sat down next to him, showing his support in his silence.