My Pirate System

Chapter 3 - A Thief

……

I intended to execute my work without fail and make a few Yen before coming home. I would use the money I would earn for my sister. It was for Kira’s sake. Despite the risk involved, I ventured onward and covered my face and identity in case anyone noticed me. I put on a mask and hoodie as I prayed for my fate.

I can still remember the first time I committed this crime. I came across a club that held betting matches, prostitutes, and the sorts. There was not a time I was interested in checking out or hanging out in one of those livelihoods. But what piqued my curiosity was the amount of money those customers had been throwing. Like holy shit, these people in the clubs were the children of famous companies - rich kids who cared little about their parent’s wealth! Talk about a jackpot right there.

It seemed that those people involved in such businesses had at most five hundred thousand Yen in their pockets. So I sat around and lingered for an opportunity to strike. The next thing I knew, I bumped a few candidates, and, with a flick of my hand, I swiped their wallets like credit cards ordering for porn magazines. By the time those staff caught wind of the sudden disappearance of the customer’s wallets, I yeeted out, returned home, and bought the food Kirameki had requested. I only had fifty thousand Yen during that time, but the money I earned… err, stolen, was worth it. Spending a lot of money was remarkable, especially if it didn’t come from my hard work. Why would I, when I could just take it away from them? I was a pirate, after all. A modern one, to boot.

I earned a lot. And the money I used went directly to the tuition I had to pay for the university. But the cash I looted wasn’t enough to pay the damn school in full, so I still had to work my ass off at the convenience store as a cashier.

The money I stole went to the bank, but the hoodlums from before were quick to move, so they cancelled my account before I could even withdraw all of it. But this time, I vowed it would be different. And so far, those goons had never caught me. Those were just minor inconveniences. Compared to the mediocre thievery I performed a few years back, I planned on putting it up a notch.

I hadn’t killed anyone just yet. The thought of taking one’s life had never come inside my mind. But if I had to commit to such violence, it would happen if those people wanted my sister dead. I will never forgive them. Fortunately, nothing had yet to happen. And Kira was still alive.

……

It was exactly midnight when I reached outside, and I had to earn one hundred thousand Yen at least for tonight. I only had myself with me. There were precisely no tools for me to bring, considering my attempt to make some cash wasn’t something welcomed by the government. And even if I had some sort of equipment, I doubted those tools could serve me any purpose for tonight. Moreover, I was… broke. And paying for such gadgets was a stretch for me to achieve.

The same old street greeted me as I walked straight on the pavement. Not a sound escaped from my surroundings, despite the automobiles racing through the night. Smoke filled the street, but I continued on. I followed the road not taken by, and thankfully, not a single soul wandered around the area. When I glanced above, the moon shone its light. And the city lights and the building were alive when my eyes stretched from afar.

Sounds of electronic cassettes and beats entered my eardrums. After passing multiple dead streets, the avenue was filled with people dressed in tuxedos and dresses. And the sign stapled at the centre of the building described it all.

“Casino… Way to gamble my life,” I uttered to myself, and entered the premise.

The security guard stationed at the ingress looked at me with judgemental eyes, telling me I didn’t belong in this den of millionaires. Well, I wasn’t. And I didn’t plan on squeezing myself in a place where I wasn’t invited.

“ID.” With one word, the guard extended his hand and waited for me to offer my identification card. The man also motioned his hand, telling me something about the hoodie I had on top of my face. “Take off your jacket. You can put it back on after showing your face to me.”

I didn’t look like a preschooler, thanks to my average height. And I was already eighteen years old, a freshman all throughout, so the age restriction from the Casino Royale didn’t bother me. But if Kira wished to come with me, she would have already been placed on the side and returned to our house. She was just sixteen years old, two years younger than me.

Moreover, the bodyguard mandated me to show my face to him since I was covering it with my hoodie. On top of that, he wanted my identification card. Like any other security, this man was just doing his job. It was a drag, but I already had a plan for it. Forgery was my answer.

Instead of showing him my current student ID card, I gave him a national ID and a picture far from what I looked like. But the man’s eyes on the photograph on my card matched my eyes. And since I was wearing a mask, I didn’t have to show everything to security.

“Show me your face. Take that mask off,” the guard behested, and flexed his hand.

I shook my head and excused myself. “Sorry. I’m just… a little sick. I might… give you the flu.”

In between my sentences, I coughed and tumbled near the guy where I could bump into him and his pockets. I reached out to his patches and found his wallet and a gun. Of course, he was armed. What was I thinking?! And even the guard was richer than me when he was just standing here, protecting nothing but intoxicated people in the bar. Regardless, I put whatever he had inside his cargo pants and made it into mine.

“Whoops. There goes my virus. If I were you, I would have already shielded my eyes to protect myself.”

The illness I had was an act. Thankfully, nobody noticed me, and the guard knew nothing about his stolen items.

When the guard finally saw everything, he reluctantly let me slide and told me to proceed inside. Since I now had access to the Casino, step one was effortlessly achieved. Now for the main event.

Before I stepped inside the building, I went to the side, undetected, and palpated the pistol I seized. The regular kind that police officers had with them was A Glock 22. Usually, this handgun would have fifteen rounds per magazine. But apparently, the gun only had six bullets.

This was my first time wielding a firearm. If people found out that I had one with me, I would immediately go to jail before I could even explain myself. It was an act of handling a gun with no permit. But I didn’t care shit about it. Maybe I could use this firearm in the future, especially if chaos wrapped around my plan before I could escape this place. I never meant to steal a gun. I was just here for the money. But it wouldn’t hurt swiping a pistol while I was at it. If I had to, I might vend this bad boy for a price on the underground.

I didn’t steal the guard’s wallet but the content of it. It turned out that the staff had around five hundred thousand Yen, and I took every savings away from that man. Not to mention, I also inherited his credit card and some IDs, which I could use in the future. If these ID cards served no purpose to me, I could just throw them away in the abyss. I only needed money. Money was everything.

I swore to god that I heard the security guard looking for his stuff a while ago. He even sent out a dispatch thing of some sort for his missing items. What a sucker. Ultimately, he didn’t suspect me or anyone in the vicinity. That man must have realised that he could’ve placed his wallet around and someone took or. Or maybe the wallet magically disappeared. Who knows? How could he presume it was me and not anyone else, especially when I was just a lone man who wasn’t armed or dressed well? And nobody really thought of me as anything but a lost ant in the hyena’s cave.

As I plunged into the jungle, I stumbled upon the Casino’s exclusive regions, one of which was the station where I could exchange my money for casino chips. These chips were like currencies for the games. The more chips I had, the more money I could earn. And each chip had its own worth. I didn’t know what kind of value they had for each casino coin, but I knew the tokens I had now had a price of thirty thousand Yen - enough to pay one-fourth of my tuition fee.

The place was also full. Everywhere I went, I assumed the entire area was jammed with people who wanted to spend their fortune on these… trivial entertainment. But this was their life, not mine. So I browsed the site and scrutinised the field.

Compared to the suit and tie of the men surrounding me, I had my hoodie on and tattered slacks, which looked like ripped jeans. Fortunately, the guards allowed me to enter the building. But, boy, everywhere I went, dozens of eyes kept staring in my direction. I wasn’t handsome. I knew that for a fact. So it seemed that these people marvelled at how I looked rather than the features of my face or the status I had beside my name.

I looked around and studied the building. The place had two floors: the ground where the betting stadium was located and the main office of the Casino, which was on the second floor. The same floor above us also served as the parking lot, and the pavement meant for vehicles had an exit tunnel leading towards the heart of Tokyo. And the door leading outside was located around the far end of the second floor, adjacent to the ingress of the Casino. Our house was also not far from here. So I established the parking lot upstairs as my main exit route in case some shit happened on my way back.

As soon as I entered the gambling club, the sound of dice rolling on the table, cards shuffling, and whatnot deafened my ears. Luckily, there was some music blasting from the speakers. But even the songs played by those tweeters came from the present grooves, which didn’t match my style. Most people were too busy at the games, while others stayed at the bar and filled their stomachs with alcohol and chips. I didn’t have time for any of those because I had more important jobs to settle with. And idling around wouldn’t help Kira or me.

Tables with various lengths scattered across the aisle, and the casino slots lured people in and out of the machines. Some played the cards, while others tried pushing their luck in the form of rolling dice. I planned on playing all of them except for the slot machines, which would serve no use to me. It was a waste of time. But I still had to check some other gambling spots out, and other people were playing it beside me.

While I was at it, I also spotted all the CCTV cameras on various sides of the structure. One was on the extreme top left near the ventilation and the air conditioner, while other security cameras remained hidden from the regular customer’s eyes. But thanks to my observation skills, the lens gave it away. If one squinted at the slot machines, they should immediately notice that the monitors showed the cameras inside them. These screens deliberately presented every angle of the area, including the ones overlooked by the primary video surveillance.

It was painfully obvious. Although this was the case, I still found ways where I could somehow avoid the view of those lenses. One route I could take later would be the elevator while following the crowd. Once inside, it would be more difficult to track me down. And as soon as the lift opened up, I should use the line of slot machines a massive group of people used as my cover.

From there onwards, I could find the exit there. I wasn’t the only one that I could leave this place. People kept coming in and out from the exit door throughout my stay. The site still had some guards, but those security personnel didn’t bother checking for anything to the people leaving the premises. And those customers exiting the building would go straight towards the car park, signalling my leave. 

However, there was one thing I was worried about. And that was the exterior part of the place. Although I had a master plan to escape from this place alive, I still didn’t know how many guards were stationed in the parking lot. I could only hope that there were fewer guards found in that area than in the casino inside, and they wouldn’t notice me by the time all hell got loose. 

Upon approaching a table, the dealer was at the centre surrounded by gentlemen and ladies betting on the following number. The game was called Craps, where there was a shooter and two dice to be rolled. Each bet laid on the table cost around a minimum of one hundred thousand Yen to whatever the fuck was the maximum paycheck out there. What I knew was… I needed to take part in this.

I had little knowledge of playing the Casino, but I wasn’t here to win. I was here to steal the money, not from the dealer - that was just absurd - but from the participants playing the games.

“Here it is… My one-way ticket for paradise,” I said, and sat beside the contestants.

I was like a manga trying to cosplay myself as a fucking strawberry. My shirt stood out. And my unbrushed and crazed hair was everywhere. Then again, I was out of my league. The moment I walked into this Casino, I knew I didn’t have any rooms to sit beside these tyrants. But here I was, playing with them.

The moment the game started, my eyes stared at the galaxy. My face became blank. And I had no idea what the fuck I was doing. How on Earth did these people find the game so amusing that they would risk their money and wager it, knowing the stakes were high, but the returned income was less? However, this was their life. And why would I fucking care about them?

‘How do people win in these games?’ I questioned, and stared at the chips being taken away by the dealer from my table. I wanted to ask them directly, but it looked like these people weren’t friendly. I mean, one guy besides me had a black suit and tie. He looked like a mafia boss. Did I also forgot to mention that he had a fucking SMG strapped around his waist? This man probably didn’t have any permit to wield a gun, but since he was too fucking powerful, the government or the Casino refused to touch him. As long as he could pay, the establishment will welcome him. The next person was a woman in her twenties. I couldn’t tell. She modeled a dress that revealed her cleavage around her breast and thick thighs to the public. My eyes pursued her until the end of time. Unfortunately, I had other business to finish, so I used every cell inside my body and forced myself to avert my gaze at the angelic pose of the girl right next to me.

‘Well, there goes my twenty thousand chips,’ I added, sighing at the sight. The woman distracted me. I blamed all the money I lost on the woman with jiggling watermelons and perfectly formed peaches.

Whoops. Now I lost thirty thousand Yen. Why did the woman have to spread her legs when it was already crossed? And why did she touch her lips as if seducing me inside a love hotel? No shit. Because of my perverted gaze, I lost all the money I brought to the Casino. Goodbye, twenty thousand Yen. You will be missed.

The people beside me faintly chuckled to themselves as they realised I was screwed over by them. If I won, I would get their money. But it was the other way around. I lost. So the money I brought here flew all the way to the participant’s pockets.

“I guess I’m all out of chips,” I intoned, got up, and left the scene. I tried holding my laughter inside me, but I couldn’t. My chuckle got the best of me.

Little did they know I was already snatching their wallets. The smiles on their faces vanished the moment they realised that all their wallets had disappeared. And now, that was my cue to leave.