Arturo's POV
Then, two people from the Agency came into the office. I looked at them, and these two are the Director Yukichi Fukuzawa and Detective Dazai. "Oh…" Dazai acted as if he was intrigued by the mess the Black Lizard gang and Arturo had made minutes ago. Kunikida was busy calculating the estimated damages the fight had caused, and then looked at Fukuzawa-san. "Director!"
As Kunikida ran to the Director, Atsushi and the others in the office were alerted and tried to explain to Fukuzawa and Dazai what had happened.
"I know," Fukuzawa responded back with his usual stoical look on his face.
"B-but the damages and everything, Director!" Kunikida stammered, waving his notebook at him. "The budget simply cannot…we can't possibly—"
His sentence was interrupted when Fukuzawa showed the check Minamoto signed for him. "My acquaintance had allocated money for the repairs."
Seeing that, the others and I were stunned.
"O-ho!" Dazai applauded playfully. "That guy was a generous man, guys!"
"Dazai, show some respect!" Atsushi retorted back in response, his voice hovering somewhere between relief and nervous exhaustion." Whoever sent that check just saved our lives!"
While Kunikida was relieved to see the check for the damages and stared at it like some sort of holy relic, I was wondering who that benefactor was.
But that was interrupted when a phone call rang in his phone, and I picked up and saw that the number was unknown. I said to it, "Hello? Who is this?" In the other line, Minamoto was the caller. "Mr. Byeon, are you okay there?"
Hearing Minamoto's voice, I was stunned. "Barbaza-san…?"
The name hung in the air immediately, and I felt the eyes of every Agency member swinging towards me fast.
"Yes, it's me, Arturo-kun," Minamoto replied while reclining on his ergonomic chair in his office at the university. "Are you okay there?"
I glanced at the wall in front of me, which currently looked more like a piece of Swiss cheese thanks to the Black Lizard's machine guns and their leader's dual pistols. "Y-yes. Not a scratch on me, sir."
"Good, and as for the damages there, I had written a check for that."
Hearing that, I was stunned again. "Woah…wow…you really didn't have to do that, sir."
"Think nothing of it, Mr. Byeon. You did well handling the Black Lizard in that situation," he said, his tone shifting to something more paternal. "Now, get some rest. Your first day of class is tomorrow at 8:30 am sharp. Don't be late, okay?"
"Okay, sir, thanks, bye!"
Both then ended their phone call.
After that, Kunikida asked, "Wait, Byeon-san, who was that person on the phone?" I grabbed my messenger bag, placed my phone in it, slung its strap over my shoulder, and looked at Kunikida and the others. "It was my university head, and apparently, he's the one who covered the bill for us."
Fukuzawa was surprised, yet he remained stoical and nodded in appreciation. "I am grateful for his timely intervention. He was my acquaintance, everyone."
Now, everyone knows about Minamoto's connection with Fukuzawa, yet the weight of Minamoto's influence in the Agency felt heavier than before.
Third person POV
After some time, Arturo left off and went back to his university dorm room on foot. Meanwhile, in the main office of the boss of the Port Mafia, Michizou and his gang made their reports to Mori and Akutagawa on their failure to capture the Weretiger Atsushi and the Shadow Kid Arturo, as well as their defeat at the hands of the "Shadow Kid."
Akutagawa, hearing that, stood to the side, his jaw tight. The memory of Arturo's deception and that alleyway fight two days prior: the deception and the humiliation basically burned like a fresh wound. Mori, meanwhile, wasn't furious at the Black Lizard for failing him; instead, he was amused, sitting behind his desk, fingers intertwined with a dark smirk. "How amusing it was…a Shadow student defending the Agency…how clever he was… A Shadow student now playing guardian for the Agency...? This is becoming quite the interesting term, isn't it?"