Chapter 53:
Chapter 54 — The Performative Arrest
My New Home
◽Outside of JJ's House◽
JJ walked out to meet Itadori and Fujiwara. 「Hey guys, no need to look so down.」Itadori, overwhelmed with guilt, spoke his lines, but his heart wasn't in it. 「Jerry Samuels Junior!」 He took out a pair of handcuffs. 「You are under arrest.」
JJ calmly held out his hands, allowing Itadori to place the handcuffs on his wrists.
Fujiwara whispered apologetically. 「We’re sorry, JJ. We tried our best, but it came from higher up!」JJ chuckled, perfectly at ease. 「Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.」Itadori tried to maintain a serious, professional tone despite his internal guilt. 「Everything you say will be used against you in the court of law.」JJ smiled, perfectly calm and theatrical. 「I know.」
As they walked him out of the gates of his estate, the swarm of reporters surrounded them, shouting questions over each other.
JJ stood still and raised his voice, a spotlight-ready command in his tone. 「Everyone quiet down!」 The crowd immediately fell silent. 「Alright, five questions! That’s all I answer since I’m going to jail.」JNN Reporter: 「Hi, I’m from JNN.」JJ chuckled, a smooth, confident sound. 「Yah, Hana told me about you.」 He checked her out with a knowing gaze. 「Hmm... Interesting.」JNN Reporter was a bit confused by the casualness. 「Okay, how are you really?」JJ: 「Me? The Finance Minister of Militia and the reason why my family became a conglomerate: JJ Samuels!」Foxx Reporter: 「I have one!」JJ: 「Yah, sure.」Foxx Reporter: 「This Akuma person, why'd you attack him the way you did, even though you had the upper hand?」JJ: 「Well, that's a dumb question. He literally live-streamed his crimes, and you’re asking me why I didn’t kill him? Is that what you are trying to say?」Foxx Reporter: 「That’s not what I asked, though, Mr. Samuels. But do I take your answer as you tried to kill him?」JJ laughed, a dark edge to his amusement. 「That's your third! But honestly, if I wanted him dead, no one would know. What you all saw was a performance, an act.」 He walked right up to the Foxx reporter, his voice dangerously serious. 「You should ask Nora Bush what happens when the mask comes off!」Foxx Reporter was visibly scared. 「O-okay...」JJ stepped back, his tone returning to normal. 「Alright, two more!」BBC Reporter: 「I’m from the British Broadcasting Channel. Will this event affect Japan's standing with Militia?」JJ: 「Well, since I’m going to court probably a week or two after this, we'll have to see on that day.」Foxx Reporter received a desperate message from his higher-ups. 【They want me to get under his skin, and I'll get a raise!】 「Is it true the way that Akuma described your daughter’s mother?」JJ’s expression went utterly blank, then he sighed with profound sadness. 「Tsk, tsk, tsk. I hope for your sake my daughter isn't watching this.」Foxx Reporter: 【He’s not reacting, but I’m sure it must’ve worked!】 「Um... If you're evading the question, that means it must hold some truth!」JJ and Itadori exchanged a knowing, somber look. 「Due to that contract I signed with Mellow?」Itadori sighed sadly, acknowledging the political maneuver. 「Yah, we’ll have to detain you for a few days, and a jail cell counts as you not being her guardian for that time.」JJ nodded, his voice cold and calculating. 「Cool, cool. So if she decides to kill this guy, I in no shape or form will be blamed?」Itadori: 「Yes, but if you helped before you got there, then it’s solid. If not, then it can fall on you.」JJ: 「I see. Iris, call Takashi and Kaiser!」 Two projections appeared in front of him. 「I take it you both heard what we just discussed.」Kaiser: ⟦Yah, boss, we did. So, the full armored convoy?⟧JJ: 「Yah, and use tranquilizers! I feel like she's going to chase him down the way I did General Liu in the war when he stole my mother's pendant.」Takashi chuckled, remembering the terrifying event. ⟦I remember that! You stalked them like prey and killed his men systematically, and when he gave it back, you left like nothing happened!⟧
Everyone who heard that was utterly shocked.
Kaiser was surprised. ⟦The boss did that?⟧Takashi: ⟦Yah! And his fight with Yashiro Geto was the best fight I saw in my life. It’s too bad Yashiro died, though. The two of them formed a father-and-son-like bond during that fight.⟧ The people watching were even more shocked.Kaiser: ⟦Yashiro Geto? The Yashiro Geto? The boss killed him?⟧JJ sighed, a flicker of genuine respect in his voice. 「Yah. For a man who had no genetic enhancements done to him, to leave the strongest form of me, in a near-death state is more impressive than people think. Heck, he’s the reason I didn’t destroy Japan, 'cause he said when his son grows up, his swordsmanship would surpass that of Yashiro’s. So it’s nice to know there's someone who's not my immediate family who can kill me!」Takashi nodded to Kaiser. ⟦Oh, yah, JJ is very hard to kill.⟧ He laughed darkly. ⟦In the war against him, basically he was like: 'The day I truly die is the day all of you humans combined aren't a challenge for me, so I'll give y'all the assist of the century when I'm dead.'⟧JJ chuckled, acknowledging his past volatility. 「Yah, I was wild back then. Even my brothers were considering killing me just to stop me momentarily.」Kaiser: ⟦WHAT!⟧JJ: 「Yah, turns out I’m filled with too much rage and hatred to stay dead after I've died.」Kaiser: ⟦Considering you bought a sinking company just to have the family who owned it work as janitors after that, I believe you.⟧Foxx Reporter, scared but masking it with arrogance, scoffed. 「Tch, you’re just using a scare tactic!」Kaiser and Takashi’s projections turned to face him, their digital eyes narrowing. ⟦You kinda look sca— am I the only one who sees that?⟧Takashi: ⟦No, I see that triangle too.⟧JJ: 【Triangle!】 「Shiii—!」
The Foxx reporter's chest violently burst open where the invisible triangle was pointed, killing him instantly. All the other reporters screamed and scattered in panic, but JJ remained utterly calm, resigned.
JJ sighed peacefully. 「Well, guess I’m going to die real soon.」Kaiser was surprised by the calm certainty. ⟦Really?⟧JJ: 「Yep. In our family, due to some changes to the rules, it’s illegal for minors to have weapons, and the fact my personal sniper rifle... Death's Whisper...」Kaiser: ⟦You named your gun?⟧JJ: 「You named your car.」Kaiser: ⟦Hmm, fair enough. But how are you going to die?⟧JJ: 「My aunt's the enforcer of our family's law, and she's currently in Japan. Meaning, even though I didn't tell Shizuko to kill that guy, the fact he’s dead by my gun means I’m not going to like what she does to me. And those were her words.」Takashi chuckled, unfazed. ⟦Good luck.⟧JJ: 「Thanks. I’ll need all of the luck I can get.」 He hung up on Takashi and Kaiser.Fujiwara looked at JJ with genuine uncertainty. 「We should get you out of here, like, now!」JJ: 「Yah, let’s do that.」 They turned and saw a beautiful woman, Aurora, standing gracefully on one of the fence pillars, seemingly posing (aura farming). 「Damn, that’s a cold pose.」Aurora giggled, a hint of steel in her voice. 「Watch your language, young man. But,」 she boasted, 「I’m eating with this pose, right?」JJ hyped her up, despite his impending doom. 「Yes, ma’am, and you ain’t leaving no crumbs!」Aurora looked at JJ with a polite smile that thinly disguised pure malice and familial obligation. 「For the crime of letting my great-granddaughter get her hand on a weapon... one minute. That’s all you have to run for your life.」JJ looked at her, his face showing a blank, desperate gamble. 「Three minutes! And if I survive, in the near future: Viking great-grand-babies!」Aurora, her smile widening with dark amusement, found the offer appealing. 「Viking great-grand-babies do sound nice. Alright.」 She gestured dramatically for JJ to run. 「If you make it to the Third Department, I'll just knock you out. But if you don't, well, then it will be the ass-whooping of a lifetime!」 JJ immediately bolted, running for his life.Itadori looked bewildered by JJ's impossible speed. 「His fast!」Aurora jumped down gracefully and walked toward them. 「Yah, that he is.」
Fujiwara looked at her, instantly and inappropriately blushing.Aurora noticed Fujiwara's reaction and giggled gently, but firmly.
「I'm old enough to be your grandmother, young man, so go for someone in your age range out!」Fujiwara was flustered. 「Err... Y-yah, I-I will!」Aurora chuckled.JJ, now at a distance, turned and yelled back, his voice thick with protective, aggressive love. 「AY! I DON'T USUALLY WEAR CONDOMS WHEN I HAVE SEX, BUT TO WHOEVER IS HAVING MISGUIDED THOUGHTS TOWARDS MY GRANDMA, I'LL WEAR THEM, HAVE SEX, FILL THEM WITH MY CUM AFTER I'M DONE, GO TO YOUR HOUSE, AND SMACK THE SHIT OUTTA YOU LITERALLY WITH A RECENTLY USED CONDOM!」Aurora laughed, shouting back to her fleeing grandson. 「YOU WASTING TIME, GRANDSON! I CAN'T HAVE VIKING DESCENDANTS IF YOU ARE DEAD!」JJ: 「OH YAH, YOU RIGHT! LOVE YOU, GRANDMA!」 He redoubled his effort to run away.Aurora chuckled softly. 「Yah, you too.」 She looked at Itadori. 「Grandkids, am I right?」Itadori chuckled, sharing the familial absurdity. 「Yah. Luckily for me, mine can't do what he does, 'cause Lord knows I wouldn't be able to stop them.」Aurora: 「You right.」 She stretched, radiating immense power. 「Okay, I gave that kid enough time to escape.」
JJ walked out to meet Itadori and Fujiwara. 「Hey guys, no need to look so down.」Itadori, overwhelmed with guilt, spoke his lines, but his heart wasn't in it. 「Jerry Samuels Junior!」 He took out a pair of handcuffs. 「You are under arrest.」
JJ calmly held out his hands, allowing Itadori to place the handcuffs on his wrists.
Fujiwara whispered apologetically. 「We’re sorry, JJ. We tried our best, but it came from higher up!」JJ chuckled, perfectly at ease. 「Don’t worry. Everything will be okay.」Itadori tried to maintain a serious, professional tone despite his internal guilt. 「Everything you say will be used against you in the court of law.」JJ smiled, perfectly calm and theatrical. 「I know.」
As they walked him out of the gates of his estate, the swarm of reporters surrounded them, shouting questions over each other.
JJ stood still and raised his voice, a spotlight-ready command in his tone. 「Everyone quiet down!」 The crowd immediately fell silent. 「Alright, five questions! That’s all I answer since I’m going to jail.」JNN Reporter: 「Hi, I’m from JNN.」JJ chuckled, a smooth, confident sound. 「Yah, Hana told me about you.」 He checked her out with a knowing gaze. 「Hmm... Interesting.」JNN Reporter was a bit confused by the casualness. 「Okay, how are you really?」JJ: 「Me? The Finance Minister of Militia and the reason why my family became a conglomerate: JJ Samuels!」Foxx Reporter: 「I have one!」JJ: 「Yah, sure.」Foxx Reporter: 「This Akuma person, why'd you attack him the way you did, even though you had the upper hand?」JJ: 「Well, that's a dumb question. He literally live-streamed his crimes, and you’re asking me why I didn’t kill him? Is that what you are trying to say?」Foxx Reporter: 「That’s not what I asked, though, Mr. Samuels. But do I take your answer as you tried to kill him?」JJ laughed, a dark edge to his amusement. 「That's your third! But honestly, if I wanted him dead, no one would know. What you all saw was a performance, an act.」 He walked right up to the Foxx reporter, his voice dangerously serious. 「You should ask Nora Bush what happens when the mask comes off!」Foxx Reporter was visibly scared. 「O-okay...」JJ stepped back, his tone returning to normal. 「Alright, two more!」BBC Reporter: 「I’m from the British Broadcasting Channel. Will this event affect Japan's standing with Militia?」JJ: 「Well, since I’m going to court probably a week or two after this, we'll have to see on that day.」Foxx Reporter received a desperate message from his higher-ups. 【They want me to get under his skin, and I'll get a raise!】 「Is it true the way that Akuma described your daughter’s mother?」JJ’s expression went utterly blank, then he sighed with profound sadness. 「Tsk, tsk, tsk. I hope for your sake my daughter isn't watching this.」Foxx Reporter: 【He’s not reacting, but I’m sure it must’ve worked!】 「Um... If you're evading the question, that means it must hold some truth!」JJ and Itadori exchanged a knowing, somber look. 「Due to that contract I signed with Mellow?」Itadori sighed sadly, acknowledging the political maneuver. 「Yah, we’ll have to detain you for a few days, and a jail cell counts as you not being her guardian for that time.」JJ nodded, his voice cold and calculating. 「Cool, cool. So if she decides to kill this guy, I in no shape or form will be blamed?」Itadori: 「Yes, but if you helped before you got there, then it’s solid. If not, then it can fall on you.」JJ: 「I see. Iris, call Takashi and Kaiser!」 Two projections appeared in front of him. 「I take it you both heard what we just discussed.」Kaiser: ⟦Yah, boss, we did. So, the full armored convoy?⟧JJ: 「Yah, and use tranquilizers! I feel like she's going to chase him down the way I did General Liu in the war when he stole my mother's pendant.」Takashi chuckled, remembering the terrifying event. ⟦I remember that! You stalked them like prey and killed his men systematically, and when he gave it back, you left like nothing happened!⟧
Everyone who heard that was utterly shocked.
Kaiser was surprised. ⟦The boss did that?⟧Takashi: ⟦Yah! And his fight with Yashiro Geto was the best fight I saw in my life. It’s too bad Yashiro died, though. The two of them formed a father-and-son-like bond during that fight.⟧ The people watching were even more shocked.Kaiser: ⟦Yashiro Geto? The Yashiro Geto? The boss killed him?⟧JJ sighed, a flicker of genuine respect in his voice. 「Yah. For a man who had no genetic enhancements done to him, to leave the strongest form of me, in a near-death state is more impressive than people think. Heck, he’s the reason I didn’t destroy Japan, 'cause he said when his son grows up, his swordsmanship would surpass that of Yashiro’s. So it’s nice to know there's someone who's not my immediate family who can kill me!」Takashi nodded to Kaiser. ⟦Oh, yah, JJ is very hard to kill.⟧ He laughed darkly. ⟦In the war against him, basically he was like: 'The day I truly die is the day all of you humans combined aren't a challenge for me, so I'll give y'all the assist of the century when I'm dead.'⟧JJ chuckled, acknowledging his past volatility. 「Yah, I was wild back then. Even my brothers were considering killing me just to stop me momentarily.」Kaiser: ⟦WHAT!⟧JJ: 「Yah, turns out I’m filled with too much rage and hatred to stay dead after I've died.」Kaiser: ⟦Considering you bought a sinking company just to have the family who owned it work as janitors after that, I believe you.⟧Foxx Reporter, scared but masking it with arrogance, scoffed. 「Tch, you’re just using a scare tactic!」Kaiser and Takashi’s projections turned to face him, their digital eyes narrowing. ⟦You kinda look sca— am I the only one who sees that?⟧Takashi: ⟦No, I see that triangle too.⟧JJ: 【Triangle!】 「Shiii—!」
The Foxx reporter's chest violently burst open where the invisible triangle was pointed, killing him instantly. All the other reporters screamed and scattered in panic, but JJ remained utterly calm, resigned.
JJ sighed peacefully. 「Well, guess I’m going to die real soon.」Kaiser was surprised by the calm certainty. ⟦Really?⟧JJ: 「Yep. In our family, due to some changes to the rules, it’s illegal for minors to have weapons, and the fact my personal sniper rifle... Death's Whisper...」Kaiser: ⟦You named your gun?⟧JJ: 「You named your car.」Kaiser: ⟦Hmm, fair enough. But how are you going to die?⟧JJ: 「My aunt's the enforcer of our family's law, and she's currently in Japan. Meaning, even though I didn't tell Shizuko to kill that guy, the fact he’s dead by my gun means I’m not going to like what she does to me. And those were her words.」Takashi chuckled, unfazed. ⟦Good luck.⟧JJ: 「Thanks. I’ll need all of the luck I can get.」 He hung up on Takashi and Kaiser.Fujiwara looked at JJ with genuine uncertainty. 「We should get you out of here, like, now!」JJ: 「Yah, let’s do that.」 They turned and saw a beautiful woman, Aurora, standing gracefully on one of the fence pillars, seemingly posing (aura farming). 「Damn, that’s a cold pose.」Aurora giggled, a hint of steel in her voice. 「Watch your language, young man. But,」 she boasted, 「I’m eating with this pose, right?」JJ hyped her up, despite his impending doom. 「Yes, ma’am, and you ain’t leaving no crumbs!」Aurora looked at JJ with a polite smile that thinly disguised pure malice and familial obligation. 「For the crime of letting my great-granddaughter get her hand on a weapon... one minute. That’s all you have to run for your life.」JJ looked at her, his face showing a blank, desperate gamble. 「Three minutes! And if I survive, in the near future: Viking great-grand-babies!」Aurora, her smile widening with dark amusement, found the offer appealing. 「Viking great-grand-babies do sound nice. Alright.」 She gestured dramatically for JJ to run. 「If you make it to the Third Department, I'll just knock you out. But if you don't, well, then it will be the ass-whooping of a lifetime!」 JJ immediately bolted, running for his life.Itadori looked bewildered by JJ's impossible speed. 「His fast!」Aurora jumped down gracefully and walked toward them. 「Yah, that he is.」
Fujiwara looked at her, instantly and inappropriately blushing.Aurora noticed Fujiwara's reaction and giggled gently, but firmly.
「I'm old enough to be your grandmother, young man, so go for someone in your age range out!」Fujiwara was flustered. 「Err... Y-yah, I-I will!」Aurora chuckled.JJ, now at a distance, turned and yelled back, his voice thick with protective, aggressive love. 「AY! I DON'T USUALLY WEAR CONDOMS WHEN I HAVE SEX, BUT TO WHOEVER IS HAVING MISGUIDED THOUGHTS TOWARDS MY GRANDMA, I'LL WEAR THEM, HAVE SEX, FILL THEM WITH MY CUM AFTER I'M DONE, GO TO YOUR HOUSE, AND SMACK THE SHIT OUTTA YOU LITERALLY WITH A RECENTLY USED CONDOM!」Aurora laughed, shouting back to her fleeing grandson. 「YOU WASTING TIME, GRANDSON! I CAN'T HAVE VIKING DESCENDANTS IF YOU ARE DEAD!」JJ: 「OH YAH, YOU RIGHT! LOVE YOU, GRANDMA!」 He redoubled his effort to run away.Aurora chuckled softly. 「Yah, you too.」 She looked at Itadori. 「Grandkids, am I right?」Itadori chuckled, sharing the familial absurdity. 「Yah. Luckily for me, mine can't do what he does, 'cause Lord knows I wouldn't be able to stop them.」Aurora: 「You right.」 She stretched, radiating immense power. 「Okay, I gave that kid enough time to escape.」
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