Important note: Read Auxiliary Volume/Volume 0 for the Prologue.
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Sixty seconds in a minute.
Sixty minutes in an hour.
Twenty-four hours in a day.
Seven days in a week.
Every single passing moment, that ward in Tokyo City—Minato: riot, quarrels, and crime scene always occurs in its alleyways and narrow streets.
Imagine living in that place where citizens are scared to go out because of criminals and troublemakers.
All of them were oblivion in felony.
Are they vague or naive?
-MINATO, TOKYO CITY, JAPAN-
-6:18AM, MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2020-
-TAKESHI'S POINT OF VIEW-
I yawned and stretched. Then, I looked at the clock
"It's morning already?"
I got up, opened my room's curtain, and then took a look outside.
To my surprise, I saw a grown man snatching an old woman's purse.
"As usual, Minato. Crimes," I murmured followed with a sigh.
And then, I unhesitatingly grabbed a gun with a silencer and shot that man without any thoughts.
Of course, with my good aim, I killed him.
I'm a skilled person, anyways.
"Hey ma'am, run. Don't be scared and look around like you're the one who got shot. You know the situation here," I shouted after I had a deep breath.
Obviously, she ran away.
"Surviving's such a lame situation. I wanna live my life with enjoyment!" I said to myself as I yawned like nothing happened.
"That's it! If I saw another murder, I'm moving to Shinagawa!"
"Well, I mean the crime rate is high as well, but Minato's is just a lot higher than Shinagawa's."
"If only Kakusu would let me conceal myself, I wouldn't be in a bigger trouble right now."
-3:22PM, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020-
Time passed. I don't wanna talk about what happened earlier, okay?
I woke up to the noise of the police cars approaching an alley in front of my apartment.
After that, I stood up and looked outside through my room's window. Should I celebrate and migrate to Shinagawa?
Well, I witnessed another murder.
"That stab in that man's chest was bloody as hell."
"All right, that's it!" I said as I sighed.
And then, I yawned.
"But let me get some sleep first."
Don't mind me! I'm not that sleepy, okay?
I went back to my bed and slept again. Again, I am not that sleepy! I'm just tired!
-SHINAGAWA, TOKYO CITY, JAPAN-
-7:54PM, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020-
Takeshi—our main character, finally migrated to Shinagawa after a long time.
After arriving there, he happily smelled some fresh air.
He saw the stunning architecture of the ward, the dazzling city lights, and the normal life he longed for.
Takeshi felt nostalgic.
"It's been a year or two since I went here, huh. Once again, hello, Shinagawa."
In all of a sudden, the weather changed badly.
As his mood changed with the weather, he asked himself "Is bad luck going after me?" followed with a sigh.
As rain began to fall from the sky and cold breeze blew, Takeshi did not waste a moment of the night searching for a place to stay.
"Where am I supposed to go now?" Takeshi asked himself as he cried in a funny way.
He continued walking and asking strangers the same question over and over "May I spend the night in your house?" but he repeatedly kept being declined.
"Sorry, we have a baby here."
"No, my mom's sick."
"My boyfriend will get jealous."
"No, sorry."
"Do I know you?"
"What a bad luck." said he as he walked in the rain.
"What if I stay in a hotel? No, I don't have that much right now," he thought to himself.
The sun has risen.
As Takeshi looked at it, his vision started to go dark.
A few moments later, he collapsed next to a convenient store.
Time passed, it was afternoon when Takeshi woke up.
He saw someone practically face-to-face as he fully regained awareness.
He was shocked and quickly got up.
"Eh? Where am I?"
As he got up, he looked around and the location was kind of familiar to him.
"Rikuu! Akari! Takeshi's still alive!" said Ichika with amazement.
Akari replied, "Obviously. That's why he's breathing in his sleep."
"Am I currently at Kakusu's headquarters?" Takeshi asked.
Ichika replied "No, idiot. You're under my roof."
Takeshi became confused.
"How in the hell am I here?" he thought.
And then, he remembered how he fell.
"You're right Ichika. I really am an idiot." as he grinned and scratched his head.
As both Akari and Ichika were looking at him, they thought to themselves "Cringe!"
"By the way how are you feeling now?" Akari asked Takeshi as she checked Takeshi's heat with her hand.
"I feel amazing right now. I think I collapsed because of exhaustion."
He added as a question after he sat down properly "By the way, how did I get here?"
Ichika replied "Uhm, Akari went to the convenient store to buy Onigiri. And uhm... yeah! She found you laying down next to the convenient store. You're lucky she saw you before the store opened. Otherwise, you'd be a dead meat there."
Takeshi laughed.
While the three of them were chatting, Rikuu was busying himself in the corner of the room with his studies of the ideology of Kaosu, their clan—Kakusu's rival clan.
He was curious about Kaosu's higher-ups—known as the "Conquerors"—along with the clan's founder and its leader, because they seemed mysterious to both him and Kakusu.
"What the heck is with this clan?"
A few moments later, Rikuu got bored and got up.
"I'm going for a walk."
He took a white coat with a printed name "Kakusu" behind it and a biosecurity symbol above the text.
Everyone was staring at him.
After that, he unhesitatingly left Ichika's apartment.
No one answered verbally.
However, the disappointment were painted in their faces.
After Rikuu left, they carried on having a chat.
"I hate him when he does that," said Ichika in all of a sudden as she was preparing a board game.
"But he always does," Takeshi and Akari said at the same time.
"No, it's not what you think it is! It's only... nevermind," said Ichika while she blushed.
Takeshi and Akari thought of the same thing, "You're too obvious Ichika."
While Takeshi, Akari, and Ichika's inside and playing, Rikuu's roaming the area of Shinagawa as usual.
Suddenly, he noticed something strange: a black coat with a printed name "Kaosu" behind it and a skull surrounded by five crowns above the text, was hanging from a tree.
He approached that coat and took a look at it.
He found a bundle of cash and eight doses of heroin.
He quickly called Kakusu's number.
He was greeted with "Good evening!"
"Good evening, may I speak to the higher-ups?"
"Sure, please wait a moment."
"Good evening, Nagisa Yamada on the line."
"Hello, this is Rikuu Suzuki. I found an interesting item here. I need someone here as soon as possible."
"Sure, please stay right there, we'll locate you."
-ICHIKA'S APARTMENT-
"Big Brother is still not back, and it's already quarter to five. I'm starting to get worried about him," said Akari.
She stood up, put on Kakusu's coat, and turned to walk out the door.
Ichika suddenly grabbed her wrist and said "It's too dangerous in these hours, Akari. We're coming with you."
Akari's eye's looked at Ichika and Takeshi with amazement as she saw both of them wearing Kakusu's coat as well.
While walking outside, the three of them we're looking around to be cautious.
A car suddenly stopped in front of them.
Akari and Ichika quickly hid behind Takeshi.
He grabbed a knife and positioned himself to defend the two.
The higher-up from the car said "It's Nagisa Yamada, the lowest higher-up of Kakusu, a conqueror in clan ranking. You don't have to worry guys. Hurry and get in the car, we'll be going to investigate."
While all of them were in the car, Akari yelled at Nagisa, "Make it faster, we need to find someone more important than this," without thinking twice.
All of them were shocked with Akari's actions.
Ichika quickly covered Ichika's mouth and said "I apologize for her, Yamada-san."
A few moments later, they arrived at their destination.
They got off the car and found Rikuu standing next to a tree while holding a gun.
He was embraced by Ichika and Akari as they ran towards him.
"Big brother, I thought you're dead!" said Akari.
Rikuu felt annoyed but still smiled and just stood there and had to give them a hug in return.
After that, Rikuu pointed at the coat that was hanging.
"This is it."
It was taken by Nagisa and placed it in a vacuum bag.
"I would like to commend you, Rikuu Suzuki, for this report. We'll take important notes of this and provide you with the details you've requested. Please proceed to the headquarters later for a formal report. I shall take my leave now. Thank you for your hard work, everyone."
Everyone replied "Thank you for your hard work, Yamada-san."
As Nagisa's about to leave, he stopped as he overheard Ichika and Akari talking.
"Hurry up, say it!" said Ichika.
"B-but, it's not my fault!" Akari replied.
"If you're not going to say it, I'll shout it out."
"Jeez, fine!" Akari murmured.
In all of a sudden, Akari shouted, "I hope you will forget about it. I'm sorry for earlier, Yamada-san!"
With a smile, Nagisa replied, "Forget about it."
Then, he headed to his car and drove away.
"Hey Rikuu, what's with that coat? You found something interesting in there?" Takeshi suddenly asked the moment Nagisa left.
"Kind of. Let's talk about it later. We have to proceed to the headquarters."