Mirage City

Souryuuden Volume Five

Novel by Tanaka Yoshiki
Summary by Amparo Bertram

Note: This story is an AU adventure.
Jump to: [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [Chapter 6] [Chapter 7] [Chapter 8] [Chapter 9] [Chapter 10] [Illustrations]

Chapter 1: The Mysterious Four Brothers

  1. The four Ryuudou brothers have been called to Kaitou, a large city on the Sea of Japan, by a friend of their grandfather named Hidaka. The man is in charge of a middle/high school called Hakuyou. While awaiting the boys' arrival, he is visited by the rude City Councilman Uesaka. When the boys walk in, Uesaka is threatening Hidaka in an attempt to make him move his school to a different location--deep in the mountains where school buses couldn't get through.

  2. The brothers aren't intimidated in the slightest by Uesaka's posturing. They throw him out the window (from a ground floor room). It turns out that a religious cult with powerful members wants Hakuyou's land. Together with the school's bank, they're trying to take control of it. The boys intend to do what they can to help the school.

  3. The man who practically owns Kaitou is Nagumo Yasunobu. He has policemen and influential politicians under his thumb. He's displeased to hear about Uesaka's failure, but of course he has no intention of giving up on the plan.

  4. The Ryuudou brothers stay the night at Hidaka's house and plan their investigation. It is decided that Tsuzuku will gather information about the cult, while Owaru enters Hakuyou High as a transfer student.

Chapter 2: I Thought We Could Occasionally Be Ordinary, But...

  1. Hajime takes a position as a temporary history teacher so they can move into a faculty apartment. Amaru transfers into the middle school, leaving only Tsuzuku with lots of free time on his hands, since college doesn't begin until later. After seeing his brothers off to school, Tsuzuku goes out to explore. He winds up at the cult's headquarters, where he listens to a lecture about how ancient Japanese had advanced knowledge and technology that was all tragically destroyed by an eruption of Mt. Fuji. He can't believe anyone falls for such nonsense. As he's about to leave, he is invited to have lunch with the cult leader.

  2. The cult leader has an eye for beauty. Though old enough to have three teenage children, he tries to put the moves on Tsuzuku. Reacting to protect himself from an impending kiss, Tsuzuku pulls the man's moustache off. The leader yells for help, claiming Tsuzuku is a demon from the Andromeda Galaxy come to take over the world, but of course the young man easily turns the tables on his attackers.

  3. Owaru's day doesn't go exactly as he had hoped. He gets challenged by an upperclassman, yet rather than the anticipated fight, he's faced with a thin girl named Jinnai Atsuko who shrieks at him and calls him a demon. After he flees, unwilling to hit a girl, the remainder of the day proceeds uneventfully.

  4. Tsuzuku and Owaru think it unfair that they're having such poor luck in the romance/opposite sex department, while Hajime has Matsuri-chan and can't understand their woes. At the same time, Nagumo asks the cult leader's son, a charismatic high school senior, to take care of the Ryuudou boys.

Chapter 3: Servants of Demons, Work Secretly

  1. Hajime and Tsuzuku discuss how Japan's policy of not taxing income of a religious group makes forming a cult a profitable endeavor. Later, on his way out to the library, Hajime catches sight of the cult leader's son. He's a mature-seeming young man with the air of a martial artist.

  2. Owaru and Amaru are mobbed by cultists on their way to school, but they bluff their way out of it by professing faith in an even more preposterous god than the cultists'. In school, their classmates ostracize them. Owaru tries to remain peaceful, but he knows it won't change the cultists' minds.

  3. Amaru runs into trouble when classmates gang up on him during gym. Fortunately, he's strong enough to withstand their efforts. Even name-calling doesn't get to him, because he can't deny he really is a "monster." It simply amazes him that his classmates can gang up on someone supposedly helpless and still feel morally superior. They don't have the imagination to contemplate what it would be like if their own deeds were turned on them.

  4. Tsuzuku goes for a walk again, this time witnessing a suicide. He digs into the matter further and discovers that the man was set up by the police because he wouldn't break the law on Nagumo's behalf. The man left documents with his widow describing Nagumo's illegal activities. Tsuzuku helps the widow get away from Nagumo's thugs and gives her his phone number to call when she's far away and safe.

Chapter 4: Phantoms of the Masquerade

  1. Hidaka had been invited to a masquerade at Nagumo's mansion, but he's no longer in the mood to attend. He gives the invitation to Hajime, who can use it as a chance to scope out the infamous dictator. The younger two boys want to come along (for the food), but Hajime can only bring one guest, and that's Tsuzuku.

  2. Hajime and Tsuzuku hang out at the party (in a wolf mask and vampire mask, respectively) and observe as people toady up to Nagumo.

  3. Owaru takes Amaru to sneak into the party. After eating his fill, Owaru decides to sample the wine. He's even generous enough to share with his little brother. Several glasses later, they're both in high spirits and itching for some action.

  4. Owaru picks a fight with the watchmen. Soon the brawl spreads as watchmen fly through the air in every direction, demolishing the buffet tables. Realizing who the culprits are, Hajime and Tsuzuku grab their drunken siblings and run.

Chapter 5: Full Course Meal of Cannibalism

  1. The boys go to the beach for some fresh air, where they feel a small earthquake. There had been another minor tremor the day of the suicide. Before the four can head home, they're surrounded by a gang led by Uesaka, who wants revenge for his previous humiliation.

  2. Despite the thugs' brass knuckles, chains, clubs, and other weapons, they don't have a prayer against the Ryuudou boys. Still, Hajime knows it will do little good to harm a small fish like Uesaka. They terrorize him a bit, then leave him cowering in the sand.

  3. A pair of politicians discuss that Nagumo is going too far, and if he is allowed to gain any more power, he'll damage the country with his substandard operations. They don't know exactly what he's planning, just that it has to do with "controlling an earth dragon." They chalk it up to cult nonsense.

  4. Nagumo had bugged the politicians and heard everything. He's furious that the central government wants to take away his empire. He's convinced that if he can just get his hands on Hakuyou's land, he'll be victorious. Meanwhile, Hajime and Tsuzuku had taken a bug planted at their apartment and set it up at Nagumo's place during the party. They listen in and hear that the corrupt men are turning on each other.

Chapter 6: Get Through, Go Home

  1. The cult makes another effort to get Hakuyou's land, this time in a civilized fashion. A lawyer offers double the land's value and other concessions. Hidaka is strongly tempted. Hajime wonders if he will accept the reasonable deal.

  2. Tsuzuku gets a call from the widow, who agrees to hand over to him the information her husband had gathered. Hajime comes up with a plan to leak the information to a newspaper not under Nagumo's control, claiming that his political adversaries are responsible. That way it will intensify the corrupt men's struggle to devour each other.

  3. Tsuzuku and Owaru go to the train station to get the documents from the widow, but she's cornered on the train by Nagumo's thugs and can't get off to meet the boys. As soon as they realize what happened, Owaru races after the departing train and jumps aboard. He handles the thugs well, until one takes the widow's baby hostage. Luckily, just as he's leaving the train compartment, the baby is rescued by the unexpected appearance of Hajime.

  4. The oldest brother had foreseen such an attack and circled around to board the train at a different station. After the thugs are dispatched and the documents exchanged, the boys jump out the train window to meet up with Tsuzuku, who followed in a car. Seeing the widow reminds the boys of their own mother. In particular, it reminds Hajime of his desperate resolve to take care of his brothers when their mother died just after Amaru's birth. The boys all decide to visit her grave when they return to Tokyo.

Chapter 7: Will the Climate Finally Convey It's an Emergency?

  1. Matsuri travels to Kaitou to check up on her cousins (and cook for them, to Owaru's delight). Of course, she'll be staying at a hotel; Hajime doesn't want her to sleep under the same roof as him, in case it might harm her reputation. She listens to the story of all that has happened and agrees that they must reveal Nagumo's corruption publically.

  2. Nagumo is furious that his plan to dispose of the widow failed, though he assumes the rival politicians are responsible. The cult leader's son, Ayanokouji Ryou, visits and discovers the bug. He says he intends to replace his father as cult leader, and he'll take care of the Hakuyou/Ryuudou problem within three days.

  3. Hajime is rather disappointed with the way Hakuyou is run, especially considering his brothers are being tormented and no one does anything to stop it. Wandering the school grounds, he comes across an old cave. Hidaka tells him that the rest of the faculty believe it's left over from World War II, but Hajime suspects it's what the cultists are after. It's known to the cult as the "dragon hole."

Chapter 8: The Crazed Dinner Bell Tolls

  1. Nagumo's rival is arranging for campaign contributions for an upcoming election when a news story hits the streets about him taking bribes. He goes into hiding to get away from the press and begins plotting to get even with Nagumo for such a dirty trick.

  2. Hajime receives a phone call from Hidaka, who says he intends to refuse the cult's offer to buy the school's land. In the middle of the call, however, there are loud, violent noises and Hidaka gets cut off.

  3. While Owaru and Amaru go to prevent Hidaka and his family from being kidnapped, the other three fight off the cultists who come after them. Simultaneously, Nagumo's auto manufacturing plant explodes. Seeing that, the youngest two finish up their task and run to rejoin their family.

  4. Ayanokouji Ryou overthrows his father. He was the one who ordered the car factory blown up, yet he calls Nagumo and blames it on the Ryuudou brothers. He leads Nagumo to believe the boys are agents for the political rival.

Chapter 9: The Dragons from the Depths of the Earth

  1. Hajime loads Matsuri up with the boys' valuables and sends her on a train out of town. Owaru and Amaru turn thoughtful when they hear that the entire city might burn if the wind doesn't change or unless rain starts to fall. Nagumo is feeling desperate, while his rival is rejoicing.

  2. The brothers invade the cult's headquarters, where they find Ryou's father locked up under guard. Hajime releases him, in the hope that he'll confront his son and distract him, but the man just grabs his money and runs.

  3. The boys defeat Ryou's bodyguards to get through to him. He admits that his plan is to get Nagumo and the central government to polish each other off, then he'll fill the power vacuum and rule Japan. He equates ruling Japan with ruling the world. Hajime tells him he can do whatever he pleases, as long as he leaves Hakuyou alone. Ryou offers to show them why he wants the school's land.

  4. He takes them to an underground tunnel leading to a spot beneath Hakuyou where he claims "earth energy" is concentrated, according to the principles of the Chinese art of Feng Shui. His notions about Chinese history are so erroneous that Hajime derides him with biting sarcasm rivaling Tsuzuku's talents. It's clear that what Ryou really did was locate a pressure point for a major fault. He activates a detonator sending earth raining down on the four boys.

Chapter 10: Return to the Mirage

  1. The train station is jammed with people fleeing the city, so instead Matsuri takes an illegally parked bicycle and starts pedalling. After about ten minutes, the ground rocks with an earthquake. Nagumo calls his "loyal" police chief, only to discover the man suspects he started the fire for insurance fraud. Nagumo realizes that most of his power was illusory.

  2. Although Jinnai Atsuko prefesses unwavering faith, she refuses to obey Ryou's order to write a suicide note claiming responsibility for setting the fire at Nagumo's request. Nagumo storms into Ryou's office and uncovers the plot against him. During their confrontation, the tremors grow stronger, until finally the ground splits open beneath them.

  3. A sudden torrential downpour begins quenching the fire--caused, of course, by a convenient Black Dragon. Matsuri spots the dragons and immediately rides to the nearest shopping center to buy clothes and food. Unfortunately, on her way back she's stopped by a gang intent on taking advantage of the confusion to have their wicked way with hapless females. They didn't anticipate the Blue Dragon coming to her rescue.

  4. Nagumo, Ryou, and Ryou's father all disappear in the earthquakes. The cult falls apart, and Nagumo's dirty deeds later come to light. The dragons enact a dramatic exit by plunging into the sea, which makes a fine story ending for spectators yet leaves the Ryuudou boys in the position of having to swim to shore naked. Their resourceful cousin meets them there with dry clothes and a picnic breakfast. They all go home to Tokyo and live peacefully ever after...at least for a while.

Illustrations

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