Lucky Dog 1 translations 11 Ivan route 01 best

Part 3: Daivan

Chapter 11 Best

Declaration of War

The Mercedes rolls onto Main Street with us in it, and we drive along until we can just about see the hotel.

Even at this time of night, the headlights beaming from the cars and trucks flow without ceasing like a river down the street.  Our horrendously beaten-up Mercedes cuts through it…

…and turns around into the parking lot behind the hotel.

Ivan: What’s this?  Looks like things’ve gotten pretty busy here.

There’s a lot of cars milling about.  The usual sedans, always lined up neat and pretty on an ordinary day, are now parked all over the lot like they’d been tossed and abandoned there.

Instead, in their place are parked countless other cars.  …The family’s trucks are also trudging in with headlights on…

Gian: Wonder if a big brawl’s going down.

The beams of light move and crisscross over more cars moving in.  A black human-shaped shadow slips through them and makes its way towards us.

Ivan’s eyes snap to the shadow and he honks his horn.  Startled, the person, along with several more, make a dash for the Mercedes.

Ivan’s Subordinate A: …Boss!  You’re all right?!

Ivan: Yeah.  She’s all beaten up, though.  …More importantly, what happened?

Ivan’s Subordinate A: …War, I hear.  Mr. Ortolani has called all of us together for a meeting.  I don’t know what’s going on either…

Gian: War?!  …That’s what Bernardo said?!

The man gives a deep nod at my words.  …So the guys gathered here still don’t know the details about what’s going down either…

Ivan’s Subordinate A: Also, we … were told to guide the Boss and Mr. Giancarlo the moment you returned.

Gian: Wow.

Ivan: Expected as much.  …I’ll leave her to you.  Fill her up full, and do some maintenance.  Just make it so she can run.

We get off the car and leave the Mercedes to Ivan’s troops.  The men, looking over the tragic form of the vehicle again, go wide-eyed and keep glancing between the car and us.

     

We enter from the back entrance.  The floor’s all lit up bright despite the late hour, and several of the human shapes loiter around like statues.

…Of course, every single one of them’s part of our troops.  Not a single respectable around.  The front gate, the revolving door, and the windows…

…all have ‘Currently Cleaning’ signs chained and plastered over them.  Looks like they’ve asked the straight guests to clear out.

Gian: Did we … have this many troops?

Ivan: Never thought they’d assemble so many in the middle of the night…  Hey!  You!!

Ivan gives what sounds like an insulting shout at the stiff men.  Catching them by surprise, they all jump, and swirl around … and, all at once, stampede our way.

…I know it in my head, but even so, the sight scares me just a bit.  No matter how you squint and tilt your head, every last one of them all look like gangsters and hoodlums with their badass faces, so having them all charge in your direction at once is kinda…

Ivan’s Subordinate E: …Boss!  You did great back there!

Ivan’s Subordinate B: We got word you blew the fuckers sky-high!  You’re OK, right?

Ivan: No shit!  Anyone here hear what this gathering here’s for?

At Ivan’s voice, all their rough and tough faces, shining just a second ago, suddenly turn dispirited and silence runs its course.

Ivan: We’ll be setting fire under some asses soon, so get your balls all ready to go!

Cries of “Yes sir!” and “Yeah!” fill the floor with their gravelly voices.  Looking around, I notice … that more than half the soldiers on the floor’ve gathered around us…

…which would make the other soldiers – the ones who didn’t respond to Ivan – Luchino’s, Bernardo’s, and Grampa Cavalli’s troops…

…Wow, the difference in numbers is plainer than day.  …Without Ivan around, we haven’t got a chance.

Rather, if Ivan betrays us, we’re…

     

There’s some soldiers gathered in the lounge, too.  Most of them are wearing neat and prim suits, which would make them Bernardo’s.

…Wow, all the goodfellas arriving in hordes makes you think, ‘…ATF?  Whassat?’  All of them are carrying in and piling up the machineguns and pistols by the case.

Gian: Looks like Bernardo’s serious.

Ivan: He planning on gunning us all down, too?

We slip past all the footmen clattering their equipment together to get to the lounge in the back…

Bernardo: …Welcome back, my prodigal sons.  There’s so many things I’d like to say to you right now, but let’s leave them for after.

Gian: Sorry…  I’m really sorry.  I tried to call, but it didn’t really work out…

Ivan: …I’m … sorry for suspecting you, Bernardo.  There were … turncoats in my troops, too…

The words are so unexpected coming from Ivan’s mouth that I wanted to give a whistle as I glance over at him.

Bernardo: Our spring cleaning schedule is basically this: start from the top down.  Proceed by destroying whatever you can.

Bernardo waves us over with a quick flick of his hand and brings us in towards the sofas.  Standing there is a neat line of suited guards and…

Giulio: …Signor Gian!  Thank goodness you are safe…!

Luchino: I had a feeling this would happen, but you shouldn’t let making ladies cry become a habit, Ivan.

Ivan: Shut up!  Who cares ‘bout a kid like her…!

Ivan grits the words out through his teeth before flinging himself onto an empty sofa.

Just as Bernardo and I sit down and all us CR:5 captains form a circle around the round table, there’s the clatter of someone bringing coffee over.

Ragtliffe: Please, help yourself to some tea.

Gian: …Eh…  Oh, it’s you.

Ragtliffe: Because everyone seems so busy right now.  My turn to be busy will only come a while later.

The janitor brings the coffee set over and sets it on the table with a bright smile on his face.

Bernardo: …Now then.  We’ve been waiting for you, Gian.  Ivan.

Ivan: The troops’re saying we’re going into battle.

Gian: Did the GD declare war on us?

Bernardo: No.  We’ll be the ones on the offensive.  That’s why we were waiting for you, Giancarlo.

Gian: We’re the ones…?!  …Oh, right.  Since the Boss isn’t here, it’s up to me…

Bernardo: It’s more you consenting after the fact…  I’ve managed to contact almost all the soldiers directly under the capos’ command through my network, so everyone’s here and equipped…

…We’re the ones … attacking them?

Luchino: Well, take a look at this.

Luchino picks up a paper bag by his feet and sets it on the table.  After some rustling, he pulls out … something white.  What is that…?  A dress shirt…??

Gian: What’s that?  It’s a bit on the small side for you.

Luchino: Doesn’t look familiar to you?

He tosses the shirt at me with a fwhumph.  I catch it…

Gian: …Eh…?

…It’s just an ordinary dress shirt for guys.  Just … a normal one … but something’s wrong.  Something’s off…

…It’s a weird feeling, like when you randomly find your clothes somewhere you’d completely forgotten about…  What is this weird feeling…?

Bernardo: The stitching.  The shape.  They don’t seem familiar?  There’s no question they’re Master Silvio’s work.

Gian: …You mean…

The strange feeling in my mind and Bernardo’s words meld together … and…

     

Gian: …Isn’t this the Boss’s shirt?!

A crack flashes white through my head.  I know what that feeling is now.  The smell I can faintly detect from the shirt…  It’s definitely…!

Gian: Old Man Alessandro’s?!  Why is this…?!

Luchino: That was mixed in with some other clothes at one of my launders.  Also, only the Boss’s shirt was present.

Gian: Th-Then … the Boss’s in this city?!  Then why’s he been hiding—

Excited, I stand up.

Bernardo: No, the person who brought the shirt in wasn’t from the city.  It came from a golf park on the outskirts…

Luchino: It was mixed in with the laundry from a golf park called Royal Forest Park.  Of course, I’ve already had someone investigate the place immediately.

Luchino: Which turned up … a bingo.  The golf park’s turned into a gathering point for the GD gravediggers.  On top of that, business has been closed since two weeks ago for ‘renovations.’

Ivan: Hey, wait a sec!  Don’t tell me…

Gian: The Boss’s there?!

Ivan and I are just about jumping out of our seats when Bernardo starts talking again, quietly, with his fingers still intertwined.

Bernardo: The possibility … is there.  Why was the shirt there in the first place?  Is the Boss really there…?

Bernardo: We know next to nothing, but there is one thing we do know.  We finally have a clue to Boss’s whereabouts.

I finally … figure out the reason behind the soldiers preparing for battle, and this reason brings me the shivers.

Gian: …Then, we’re storming the place?

Bernardo slowly nods.

Bernardo: The attack is riding on a flimsy basis.  If I told anyone this were a joke, they’d probably believe me.  But, I’m betting all my chips on this.  Luchino and Giulio are with me.

Bernardo: All we have left to wait for … are your opinions.  As a captain’s meeting, we currently have more than half the members here…

Giulio: …The Boss is currently absent.  In this situation, Signor Gian, you are our leader.

Luchino: We’re talking about a war here.  More than half the troops are yours, Ivan.  We wouldn’t stand a chance with just our men.

Ivan’s response … comes immediately.

Ivan: Who needs a reason to fight those GD mutts?  I’m in.

Ivan looks at me.  I … shit, my mind’s half-blank…!  Boss’s whereabouts … a war…

And, if things go wrong…  Me, Ivan…

…and everyone else would be goners.

Gian: …Sorry.  Could you give me a coffee cup’s time to think over this?

Bernardo: If you have a big enough stick, there’s no need to hurry.  Let’s put our information in order then.

Bernardo places a memo pad on the table and starts drawing out letters and symbols – a map – on it with a blunt pencil.

Bernardo: Are they keeping the Boss captive there?  Or … have they already killed him…?

Bernardo: We don’t know.  However, the fact is that they attacked us knowing that our Boss is in the wind, thinking that we wouldn’t retaliate.

Luchino: And that’s where we turn the tables.

Luchino looks at me, only his eyes laughing.

Luchino: It’s not like the GD haven’t noticed us gathering our troops here long ago.  But, they don’t know our target.

Ivan: …The troops don’t know about that Whatever-It-Is Golf Park yet?

Bernardo: The only people who know about the situation with our Boss are the five of us here and Counselor Cavalli.  Of course, we haven’t said a thing to the soldiers or the directors.

Gian: We can’t go around interrupting the old directors’ beauty sleep, after all.  My, aren’t you good to your elders, Bernardo.  Other than to Gramps Cavalli, that is.

Luchino: Counselor Cavalli is on his way here.  …You two can look forward to a good, long torture session with him as he works his temper out.

Ivan: Urk…

Gian: Woohoo.

I chug the cup of coffee in one go … and in the same motion, clang the cup against the saucer.

Gian: …All righty!  I’m in, too.  Let’s go blow some fireworks!

Luchino: Then it’s settled.

At Luchino’s words, Bernardo’s fingers finally fall free from their tangle.  Everyone looks his way.

Bernardo: …We don’t know if the Boss is truly at the GD’s headquarters in Royal Forest Park, or if he’s even still alive.

Bernardo: They may be holding him hostage and using him as a shield.  …If that’s the case … Gian, we’ll follow your judgment.

This time, everyone looks towards me.  I … give myself a mental pep talk despite wanting to curl up in a ball out of fright.

Gian: If we back down, then that’s just what the GD bastards want.  It’s war!  We’ll sweep the place clean and kill every last enemy there.  We’ll make them regret what they’ve done…!

Gian: They’ll have a long time to lament in hell … about picking a fight with us, about taking hostages and betraying us, and about being stupid enough to think they could beat us!

Luchino: I’m worried about Boss Alessandro … but the Boss had probably predicted that something like this would happen.

Luchino: That’s why when we were all were shut in prison, he sent us such an order.

     

In my mind … no, right in front of my eyes, I see the prison grounds again, with everyone standing around me and with the envelope and that crimson wax seal in front of me.

I stand…

…and Bernardo, Luchino, Giulio … and Ivan.  All of us, together, head towards the elevator.

Gian: Now then!  Let’s get the troops together and give ‘em a good pep!  Bernardo, how’s the preparations for the cars and weapons coming along?

Bernardo: For weapons, we’ll be taking all the machineguns and grenades we’ve gathered here on our assault.  I’ve prepared a map of Royal Forest Park.

Luchino: As for the cars, we’ll be taking one of those trucks used to haul alcohol.  That thing could probably fit an entire regiment.

Ivan: What about the cops?  It’ll be really annoying if they start barking and yapping halfway through.

Bernardo: I’ve cut off the phone lines to and from the golf park during the attack, of course.  The city police…  We’ll talk to them later.  Something like, ‘Who would you prefer, us or the GD?’

We make a beeline for the elevator hall.  Behind us, the armed bodyguards follow us in a line, like iron fillings following a magnet.

Luchino: If we go now, we can finish this before sunrise.

Ivan: Those bastards at the Whatever-Park’ll never get the chance to greet the sun again.

Giulio: We … do not need to take prisoners, correct?

Giulio looks my way as he asks this with a smile(?).  Bernardo gives him an immediate answer, not even slowing down his steps.

Bernardo: Kill them all.  We’re done with negotiations and conspiracies.  They wished for this, so let’s write our response in their blood.

…Wow.  Bernardo is reeeally mad.  All that stress from getting taken off negotiations and getting spies sent into every crevice must’ve really taken a toll on him.

We stop in front of the elevator … but at that time, the door opens on its own.

Cavalli: …

Gian: Gramps…?

Bernardo: Counselor Cavalli…!

Because there’s two big, buff guys standing guard around him in the elevator…  No, because the elevator’s so small, the Counselor Cavalli standing there looks horribly small and aged.

Cavalli: …Uu…

Counselor Cavalli keeps his eyes glued to his feet and quietly groans.  …He doesn’t move a muscle.

Luchino: Consigliere?  What’s wrong?

At Luchino’s words, Gramps wobbles forward…

Ivan: The hell’s wrong?  We’re setting out for a fight—

Then, at Ivan’s voice, Gramps Cavalli’s face, his bloodshot eyes, shoot straight up in a flash and glare at Ivan.

Cavalli: It’s … it’s all your fault…!

Ivan: …Huh?  Oh, you mean skipping out on that promise—

Cavalli: It’s all because they’re after you…!

Gian: Gramps…?  …Wait, that’s…!

I finally notice the thing Gramps’s got clutched in his two hands.  At the same time, everyone else’s eyes also switch towards those branch-like fingers.

Clenched there … is a scarf.  Dark blue with white hemming…  Instantly, I know what it is.

Ivan: …?!  Rosalia?!  You mean…?!

Ivan snatches the scarf from Gramps’s hands and stares at it like he wants to sink his teeth into it.  At the same time, a card from inside the scarf clatters to the ground.

Bernardo picks the card up.

Ivan: …Fuck!!  She’s…!!

…There’s no mistaking it.  That’s the chipmunk’s clothes – the scarf from her sailor uniform that’s always waving about her chest…

Luchino: Consigliere, don’t tell me…?!

Cavalli: She’s … been taken by them…!

Gian: How could this happen…

Luchino: Wasn’t the Miss at the mansion?!

Cavalli: The car … I sent to take … her back to the school dormitories … never returned…  Instead, th-th-that came… aaaah…!

Bernardo: …Those shameless thugs…

Everyone’s gazes pierce the card Bernardo has in his hands.  There, in English…

To the members of the CR:5,

Dogs should stay in cages where they belong.  Let them run wild, and they’ll only trample this tiny flower.

We will exchange the girl for Ivan Fiore.  We will be waiting for him at the promised place.

…As I read on, I feel my vision turning black.

Ivan: Those fuckerrrrs!!  She’s got nothing to do with any of this!!

Giulio: …They are not Cosa Nostra.  They are a gang … so they can target women and children just as easily as anyone else.

Luchino: …This is bad.  What do we do, Bernardo?  Gian?

Bernardo: …Not only are they rotten to the core, they’re also persistent.  Now they want us to turn over Ivan…

Everyone’s gazes turn a little uncomfortably towards Ivan.  Counselor Cavalli’s clinging to him like a caterpillar.

Cavalli: You…!  It’s because you fraternized with them…!  They took Rosalia…!

Ivan: …Tsk…

Gian: Calm down, Gramps…!  This isn’t Ivan’s fault!  They’re just stronzo who’ll do anything to survive!

Cavalli: Uu…  Uoh…  I-I’m sorry, Ivan…  They’ve … taken her…!  Ooh…!

Luchino: I never thought that they’d get their hands on the Miss’s schedule, too.  Tsk…!  Shit, this…  This means that they may have predicted our attack and are waiting for us there right now.

Giulio: We should … hurry…

…That’s Giulio for you.  The thought of cancelling the attack never even crosses his mind.

Cavalli: P-Please, save Rosalia…!  Please…!  She’s … innocent…  Please…!

For Counselor Cavalli to break down like this…  Everyone looks away…  No one wants to see him like this…

If I remember right … she’s the last memento of his murdered son and wife … his only relative, his dear granddaughter.  I imagine what it’d be like for someone so important to me to be kidnapped by a gang … and I feel like puking.

Cavalli: If something happens to her…!  P-Please…

Rustle, and Bernardo kneels down.  Takes Counselor Cavalli’s hands … but the only words he gives him are cruel ones.

Bernardo: …I understand how you feel, Counselor, but … we will be proceeding according to plan – declare war and attack.  We cannot yield to their threats.

Cavalli: …Uu…?!  Wh-wh—

…Bernardo’s taking on everyone’s burden and saying something that really doesn’t want to be said…

Bernardo: …If we stop our assault because they say they have a hostage … then it will be the same as yielding to them.  That … doesn’t change, even if the hostage is our Boss.

…He declares this assertively.

Cavalli: I-I know … but Rosalia…  She’s…

…What … should we do…?  Even if we bend to their demands, there’s no guarantee she’ll be safe.

…So the only thing we can do … is leave her to die…?

Ivan: …Hey, everyone.  Sorry.

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