[MeisterBabylon]

It's been a while since the last post. The crack spreads further...

Spoiler for Hidan no Butei 7777 in "It's the only NEET thing to do":

“Hanamaru?” Jim pipped up as Kujo and he went round the bend.

“You sound like you know this place, Bean.”

Elise began working her way through the afternoon crowd enjoying some backalley ramen.

“Once or twice,” Jim mused, reading off the graffiti that carpeted the scrapped walls. “I’m amazed it’s still open at all.”

Kujo bristled when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Stop!”

She bit back the instinct to scream in fright. “B-Bean! What are you...?”

Jim kept mute, watching the floor closely while moving his hand away. He could faintly trace a lone piano wire stretched across the floor over the girl detective’s shoe.

The next moment, he wheeled around and caught someone audibly with his backhand.

“Jim!” Elise exclaimed as reflexes moved her to see the commotion, and clip the trap.

A faint twang was followed by whistling air.

Elise barely had time to breathe, but Bean had his hand in and out of his jacket, intercepting the projectiles with a wide dagger’s sweep.

“Chopsticks?” Bean wondered as the sliced utensils and the man he punched earlier clattered to the floor in unison.

“Die!”

He looked up in the direction of that warcry and reacted again, sidestepping the charging hostile and using the momentum to beat the bayoneted rifle out of grasp, then slammed his shoulder into him. The unknown assailant recovered quicker than he thought, and skipped over Bean’s low kick easily.

Jim pulled out his 9mm and stared down the barrel of another.

The bespectacled attacker grinned from his end of the Mexican standoff.

“Jim!!”

“It’s alright, Elise,” Bean winked. “We all know who has the real gun here.”

His opponent held his stance for a bit, then shrugged as he lifted the airsoft M1911 to the sky.

“Not bad, for a traitor of the Imperial Army,” he admitted.

“How can I betray a force that I never joined?” Bean sniped tongue in cheek as he holstered the Walter.

“Told you, Major,” The other guy gathered himself off the ground, rubbing his jaw. “There’s no way you can ambush the real Akihabara Agent.”

“It appears that I am better known than I thought.” Jim oozed coolly as he moved between them and Kujo.

“But of course!” The other attacker smirked as he came up. “The government can blot out all media coverage, but down here, word always gets out. Especially about the man who the Fourth owes his life to.”

“That’s too much praise, good man,” Jim gestured. “It however begs the question of why would you then go through the trouble of attacking Mademoiselle and me?”

“You must forgive our lack of manners,” said the second assaulter in a regimented tone as he collected his rifle. “These are troubling times, and we must always be on our guard.”

“No bother, I didn’t even break a sweat...”

Kujo dusted herself off and turned to leave. “Come. We’ve wasted enough time on a couple of nameless half-wits.”

The first man winced. “Ah, sorry. The name’s Tetsu, and we call him the Major.”

“Bean, Jim Bean.”

They shook hands.

“And this is Madame Elise Kujo, of Tokyo Butei.”

The Major kicked his heels together and saluted. “Well met!”

Tetsu acknowledged with a nod and wraggled his aching jaw again. “Alice is expecting you.”