Chapter 9: Boiled and Obiguro

Lu treats Shin with an eye-drop antidote while Taro demands to know who put out the contract on him. Tatsu stalls, so Lu grabs his own poison blade, drives it into his shoulder, and begins dripping the cure away one drop at a time, warning him to talk before it runs out. He caves instantly, naming the assassin firm Dondenkai LTD as his employer. Shin notes how fast the man crumbled after acting so ready to die, and Tatsu admits he has no wish to die and feels zero loyalty to the agency. When Shin asks whether he comes from the JAA, Tatsu confirms it, prompting Shin to explain to a puzzled Lu that the initials stand for the Japanese Association of Assassins, the outfit he and Taro once belonged to.

Tatsu asks Taro if the rumor that he left the Order is real, and reading his reaction, grasps that the Order is no mere legend. Aoi and Hana wander over complaining of hunger, so the group decides to grab food. Told they have no intention of killing him, Tatsu learns they only came to have fun, and Hana even hands him a bandage and praises his earlier performance. Left alone, Tatsu writes them off as fools and palms a concealed knife, then thinks better of it and settles on one more roller coaster ride before going home.

Over the meal, Shin admits the antidote has left him lightheaded and unable to read minds for a stretch, which could turn dangerous, so Lu proposes calling it a day. Aoi picks up on their odd mood and asks if they are keeping a secret, sending Taro, Shin, and Lu into a panic.

Meanwhile, Boiled and Obiguro reach the park. With the crowds thick, Obiguro wants to bolt, but Boiled barks at her to mind her step after she nearly crushes some ants, reciting his creed that they claim only the lives of their marks. Irritated yet drawn to him, Obiguro finds Boiled attractive. Soon after, the pair discover Tatsu in a restroom, and Obiguro pins him down and perches on his back, earning a scolding from Boiled about how a lady should carry herself. Tatsu recognizes them as Dondenkai's power duo, the ones who two years earlier butchered two hundred people in the Ronriko incident, and concludes Taro and Shin have no chance. As the family denies hiding anything, Aoi announces her next stop and points at a haunted hospital, a setting that alarms the group since it would be an easy place to be ambushed. They head inside anyway, Lu downing anti-anxiety pills, all while Boiled and Obiguro keep watch.

Lu tortures Tatsu with his own poison knife and the fading antidote until he names Dondenkai LTD as the client. The scene establishes the JAA as the professional body Taro and Shin left, and hints at the Order's reality through Taro's telling reaction. The family spares Tatsu and moves on to eat, while a mind-reading-impaired Shin becomes a liability. Boiled and Obiguro debut as a lethal Dondenkai team responsible for the Ronriko massacre, corner Tatsu, and begin shadowing the group as Aoi steers everyone toward a haunted hospital.

Set within the Amusement Park Arc and collected in Volume 2, the chapter takes its title Boiru to Obiguro, or Boiled and Obiguro, from the newly arrived assassins. The cover shows Sakamoto, Shin, Lu Shaotang, and Tatsu. This installment marks the first appearances of both Boiled and Obiguro and seeds the two-hundred-victim Ronriko incident as part of their reputation.