A scapegoat system made by some higher-ups of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). A system used frequently by politicians, businessmen an even the same police higher-ups to put a price on their/their clients' crimes so a scapegoat can be indicted for said crime and close the case.
People were attracted to rumors about a "no money gamble" that didn't need for the player to have a wage; a gamble that lets someone enter broke and leave as a millionaire if they win.
There was also the rumor that even if you lose, they wouldn't harm you or make you work until you pay the losses or kill you and sell your organs. If you lose, you're transported back to where they picked you up in the beginning.
Members[]
[]
Modus operandi[]
Per request[]
A client contacts one of the higher-ups of the system (Sasaoka, Amako, Nanpou) to make a deal so they can find an scapegoat for his/her crime in exchange for money.
In the gamble, the money will be used as a wage, if the challenger wins he/she'll have the money, if not, the system keeps it. Depending of the severity of the crime, people of the system will charge ten million, hundred million and thousand million yen to the clients.
Contacting Qalb Ghafiru[]
In an online game site named "G-game", the person interested logs in as "Mutasharrid", then clicks on the shogi section and joins table 48. There's only one player in this table: Qalb Ghafiru. The person has to play shogi with Ghafiru until he contacts the person using the chat and starts talking about the gamble and the location in which the transport will be waiting. After that, the person has to delete the account so another person can do the same process.
The pick up[]
Before the transport arrives, the policeman and the woman do their part: collecting "evidence". Usually, the woman will attack the person by scratching his/her skin so hard it is torn off
while the policeman will hold his head and shake it so he can pull off some hair.
Kurisu picking Kaji up.
Then, Kurisu casually appears, gets the person in the car and takes care of him/her until they arrive at their destination. Also, Kurisu gives the person skin bandages for the wounds (apparently it is done so the car won't get dirty with blood, but actually these bandages have trackers to pinpoint the person's location).
0 money gamble[]
Inside a room of the building, Yukiide Kaoru explains the gamble and the wage that the victim will bet on, his/her memories.
The game is labyrinth: In a 6x6 grid paper, every player will put one "entrance" sticker and one "goal"
sticker and draw 20 walls in the grid to finally make a labyrinth. It is necessary that both players know the other one's entrance and exit. The player will tell the position of his/her entrance/exit to the opponent and vice versa.
Yukiide receives Kaji for the gamble.
The cheat[]
The cheat of the game relies on the pen and the paper used. The pen is oil-based and the paper reacts to this kind of pen. Yukiide's paper is empty but when you overlap the other player's paper, the oil will mark the walls of Yukiide's paper.
In short, after a while, Yukiide will have the player's labyrinth but inverted. This is how he wins every time. Usually, he plays one game with them and after winning, he dismisses the player/victim and Kurisu takes him/her back to where it started.
Kakerou and the alibi[]
The story that a victim tells Yukiide could be used as a testimony in his favor. The victim doesn't know this but he/she is actually betting on a possible alibi; if he/she wins, the victim will get the money and leave, if the victim loses, his alibi "will be taken" by Kakerou.
Kakerou acts behind the scenes to make sure a victim is indicted with a crime by erasing the evidence and coercing the people involved in said testimony (possible alibi).
Afterwards[]
An "investigation" will take place so they can find the culprit. The private funeral division find the culprit using the tracker, while some policemen will forge new testimonies with their influence and plant evidence using the skin and hair samples. The victim, that doesn't even have a witness at this point, can only receive his/her sentence and pay for a crime that didn't commit.
Known system's clients[]
History[]
Conformation[]
According to a flashback arc (chapter 320), Sasaoka had the idea of the system and how to use Kakerou for his benefit after being an spectator of a Kakerou match in which Hachina Naoki was present. The system's hierarchy used to have Yukiide Sr. and probably wasn't that different from the system in the story since Kaoru practically replaced his father. Some of the things that happened from late 1998 to 2005 were:
- Yukiide Sr. pinning a crime on his wife.
- Yukiide Sr. being imprisoned for a superior's crime.
- Kaoru's awakening from his comma and being recruited by Amako.
Labyrinth arc[]
A man that gambled once with Baku at the abandoned building (Mashu Hideso) told Baku and Kaji about this no money gamble, the rumors about it and part of his experience in exchange to forgive him about his losses.
The day later, Baku and Kaji were contacting Qalb Ghafiru as they were told and later that day, Kaji went first to "the pick-up" and also met with Yukiide. He played with him one round and lost. When he entered an elevator to leave the building, he was abducted by Kyara and brought to run-down apartment to hide.
Baku went a bit later and had 3 games of Labyrinth. Baku won the 1st one, because he used a pencil to draw in the walls, disabling the trick. After that, he attempts to withdraw but is influenced by Yukiide to continue.
They agreed to play two more games and Baku tells him that the next date will be April the 9th, 2001. This time, Baku and Yukiide play a fair game that Yukiide wins in the end because he was acting according Baku's reactions. However, winning means destroying the day Usogui lost in "Surpassing the Leader", a thing that leaves Yukiide dumbfounded.
A really nice poster.
After some arguing from Yukiide and questioning about the gamble with Leader, Kadokura-san explains that Kakerou deems the gamble as valid.
For the last game, Baku not only wants 1 billion that Yukiide offered, he also wants back the alibi that Kaji lost, the alibi that he lost in the last round and the names of the people involved in this gamble. This time, Baku wins by using the pen and paper in his favor; he used an eraser to delete a wall so the line couldn't transfer while marking another wall in the back of the paper, a line that could transfer to the other sheet so nobody would suspect anything.
Yukiide was going on as if it was an exact copy until he is stopped by the wall that wasn't transferred. Seizing his opportunity, Baku ends the labyrinth in one go. When Kakerou was collecting the winnings, Yukiide told Baku that he only knows Amako Seiichi from the MPD. A bit later and, as if summoned, Amako and Minowa entered the room.
Real size labyrinth[]
Intro[]
Amako enters the room first acting like he cares about Yukiide and explaining that he wanted to end this gamble someday. Baku stops his show abruptly by calling him lowlife (chapter 105) for attempting to kill his opponent because he won. Marco appears while the others were talking. Kadokura explains that he will only protect the money and Usogui realizes that Amako is stalling time for something. Then, he remembered that Kaji is "under investigation". After a while, Minowa receives a call that informs him about the failure of kidnapping Kaji.
Hot pursuit and battle royale[]
Men from the private funeral division were looking for Kaji. Though they found the room, Kaji and company were already gone. Kaji explains that if he has to suspect the policeman and the woman, he also has to suspect Kurisu and his skin bandages.
Battle royale!!
While they were escaping, Billy Craig recognizes Karl from a moving car and tries to attack him but is suddenly stopped by a motorcycle that crashed with his car. Kyara threw that motorcycle, alleging that could feel a strong killing intent coming from the car.
However, Billy caught up with the group and explained that he used the man next to him as a shield so he receives the impact. Shortly after, Yakou Jouichi joins the fray and the battle royale ensues until people from the funeral division appear and shot Caracal "dead" with fake rounds, creating an end to the fight.
The labyrinth[]
In the labyrinth, Usogui mentions the L-file to Amako' surprise and he offers the USB with the file to Baku for free. Usogui approaches but Amako hits him twice for unsuspecting and states that he "receives compensation for taking care of peaceful idiots" that thinks that there's no danger in something free. After Kadokura and his men investigated the labyrinth they come back to Yukiide's room to check the USB (that USB is related to "no money gamble") and decide the rules of the labyrinth.
The players of this game (Usogui, Marco, Amako, Minowa) will have a different route each and start in a certain order. Every time they open a door they receive a M point that can use to bargain with opponents or allies in an event called "M time".
In "M time ", two players (whether they're allies or not) present their points and declare how many points will use to Kakerou via intercom. The one that uses more points will have 30 seconds to attack (or not) the other player. The player that lost can dodge but cannot counterattack because it is against the rules. If there is a tie, both players can attack.
In the labyrinth, they can continue until they choose a wrong door. When that happens, they have to rest and wait for their turn. A player can go back using the same door that used before. Before starting they were told that there's a different route for each one.
Highlights of the gamble[]
- Baku and Amako started in the same room. As the title of a chapter suggests, they were "probing each other"; Baku impersonated Minowa to see if he can trick Amako but he the latter not only pretended to be deceived, he gave Baku a false hint and tried to sway him using Kaji' situation and telling him that he "is on the verge of death".
- Marco and Minowa encountered two times; in the first one, Minowa fooled Marco to take advantage of the M-time and and landed several strong hits. The second encounter was inmediately after the first and unfortunately for Minowa, the M-time result was a draw so both of them could kill each other for 30 seconds. This last encounter left Minowa heavily injured and coudln't play properly afterwards. Marco was in the same situation but at least he made it closer to his goal before fainting.
- Later in the game, Usogui guesses that the players' routes were done based on a game called "Black", in which you start going straight but after that, you have to go forming curves until you make it to the goal. Both Usogui and Amako realized this, the possible routes of everyone (especially Amako) and the amunt of M points everyone should get after choosing a path.
- There was a low pressure room in the labyrinth: Shortly after the start of the gamble, Nanpou filled room C3 with water, then used the Venturi effect to evacuate the water and also used the air in room C2 to evacuate it faster. After that, C3 was empty and OK but C2 was a lethal trap in the form of a decompressed room; if someone were to enter, he would die for the lack of oxygen. Only Amako and Nanpou knew of this. Usogui was the only one that crossed the room but managed to increase the oxygen percentage in C2's air by using a labyrinth notebook as an obstacle to stop one door while Kadokura opened a door trying to save Baku.
- Near the end of the game, Minowa entered M-time with Amako and killed him for not telling him about room C2. After that. he encounters Baku but because he knew he couldn't win, he attacks Baku outside of M time, thing makes referee Kadokura "purge" him after a great fight that leaves Kadokura badly wounded. After that, Baku finishes his route and Marco is revived.