Monday, 03/19/2001, 9:46 p.m.
A waning moon shone high above a sky covered in smog.
Below, the nighttime metropolis of Domino City kept moving.
Traffic by air and land, neon lights, voices and shouts, honks and screeches, smoke and sweat defined the general atmosphere.
Moving among an uncountable group of pedestrians, Shin stared absently into the distance. His pace was slow and cautious. Frustration was evident in his gaze...
Slowing down, Shin muttered to himself in an introspective tone. His face showed bitterness.
"One good thing, one bad... Life is never simple... Haaa... Maybe I should look for a job with a contract... Hmm... No, forget it, too many restrictions. Those jobs won't even pay me half of what that cheapskate Mr. Kashiwagi pays, and I don't want to bother... my mother for something like that... Mr. Kashiwagi, even after today, still usually pays me overtime. Tsk. But that old bastard. I hate him so much..."
After making a grimace of annoyance, Shin returned to his usual calm. The path continued...
Shaking his head, Shin entered a nearby convenience store.
Ding, ding!
... Shin picked up several products—milk, eggs, tomatoes, cleaning supplies—and paid for his purchases. The voice of the clerk called out behind him not long after.
"... Thank you for visiting! Come again!"
Ding, ding!
With a couple of plastic bags in both hands, Shin resumed his walk, weaving through the crowd...
After passing by a closed McDonald's with a sign that read 'Closed' on the door, Shin arrived at a street where only four figures near an alley were in sight.
Three young men were surrounding a girl.
"... Huh?"
Seeing this, Shin pressed himself against a wall and went quiet, observing. His face showed no expression.
Meanwhile, one of the boys—a blonde-haired guy dressed all in black with lots of metal—spoke loudly to the girl in a suggestive tone. The girl, more a teenager than a woman, was short, slim, had short brown hair, and wore white and pink on top with a blue skirt.
It was Anzu.
While the blonde guy had a look of excitement on his face, Anzu looked somewhere between angry and terrified.
"Come on, cutie! Come with us! We'll have lots of fun, I promise! Right, guys?!"
The other two boys responded almost instantly, their expressions mirroring the blonde's.
"Yes! Ha!"
shouted the tall, long-haired black-haired boy.
Followed immediately by the short, stocky brown-haired boy.
"Hehe! Of course! You'll have lots of fun, babe!"
Surrounded by the three, Anzu looked around with wide pupils. Distant people and a deserted alley behind her was all she saw. Her face seemed to scream for a moment.
'Someone?! Help! Anyone!'
Instead, Anzu's actual words were different.
"I-I'm not going! L-leave me alone, jerks...! Or-or I'll, I'll...?! Kyah! Help! Someone! They're–!"
The reaction to the scream came almost immediately. Several windows in nearby residential buildings opened out of sync.
"What was that scream?"
"What was that?"
"Sounded like a girl? I'm calling the police."
But by then, Anzu had already been dragged into the nearby alley by the three boys.
The street was left empty and silent. The windows closed one by one and only Shin remained, hidden by the wall, frowning, fists clenched...
With her mouth covered, silenced by the black-haired boy, Anzu cried and struggled to escape. But her efforts were ineffective. Despite kicking and trying to bite her captor, she couldn't break free. The dim streetlight grew smaller and smaller in the distance from her view. The darkness of the alley enveloped the four figures, and with it, despair overtook Anzu's face.
Eventually, they stopped near a large green dumpster.
A nauseating stench filled the air. However, the three boys didn't seem to notice. Their laughter and cheering echoed in the narrow space.
Among the noise, growing footsteps were heard. Someone seemed to be running toward them.
That seemed to unnerve the boys. Panic took hold of their faces.
The blonde guy cursed under his breath. His expression was hidden by the alley's darkness.
"Damn it! Shut up, bastards! Hide! Behind that dumpster!"
Tears streamed from Anzu's eyes. Her efforts to call out to the approaching person intensified.
"Mmphhh! Nngh–!"
As the figure neared, the black-haired boy tightened his grip on the girl. His anxious whisper was followed by a knife pressing against Anzu's stomach.
"Shut up, or I'll kill you."
That seemed to silence Anzu, now tense. Her sobs grew louder.
Just then, the voice of the mysterious person echoed through the alley for the first time. His words, rough and calm, made the three boys glance at each other in surprise.
"Tsk. Didn't think you'd stoop this low, Hirutani... Tell me, do you harass and rape defenseless girls now? Pathetic piece of trash."
Briefly illuminated by the glow of the night sky, Shin's figure emerged from the darkness of the alley, metal pipe in hand. His eyes scanned the area for the three boys and their hostage.
They didn't take long to reveal themselves.
The first was the blonde, Hirutani. A mocking grin marked his face. The other two behind him wore similar expressions.
"... Shin Osako, huh? Who would've thought? Grew a pair all of a sudden, or just turned stupid?"
Ignoring Hirutani, Shin briefly glanced at each of them. They all held knives or metal chains, but nothing too heavy. His gaze stopped on the girl in the black-haired boy's grasp. A flicker of recognition appeared in his eyes. A grimace of annoyance crossed his face, but he quickly regained his calm, narrowing his eyes.
Hirutani watched Shin closely. A smile spread across his lips upon seeing his reaction, followed by a chuckle.
"Hehe!"
Carelessly, Hirutani stepped forward until he was just a couple of meters in front of Shin. His knife gleamed briefly in the moonlight.
The brown-haired boy followed closely behind, steel chain in hand.
The last of the three, the black-haired one, stayed back, smiling as he watched. Anzu, in his grasp, seemed to have gone into shock. Her pupils were contracted, and her breathing erratic...
Hirutani smiled and pointed his knife at Shin, ordering him with a sneer on his face.
"You've got two options, Osako. Join us right now or leave, forget what you saw, and crawl into some damn hole before–"
But Hirutani's words were never completed.
With a smile on his lips, Shin swung his metal pipe and before Hirutani could react...
Thud! Clang!
Stunned, Hirutani collapsed with a dull thud. His knife flew randomly through the alley, and his piercing scream scared the pigeons sleeping on nearby wires and eaves, sending them fluttering away, cooing in alarm. The blonde's face contorted in pain, pale and tear-streaked, filled with nausea.
"Aaagh! Aaaaahhh!!! It hurts!!!"
The scream seemed to stun the other two. Their faces went blank.
White, black, and gray feathers rained down from above.
Thud! Clang!
Shin moved again. He stepped forward and made a second swing, lower this time, aiming for the leg of the brown-haired boy with the chains. Another scream echoed in the alley.
"Ow! Aaaaahhh!!!"
The brown-haired boy collapsed, clutching his leg, face twisted. He cried uncontrollably, on the verge of unconsciousness. His face was contorted in agony...
Hirutani lay unconscious on the ground.
Glancing sideways at the scene, Shin slowly advanced toward the last boy, the black-haired one.
He still held Anzu. His knife was pressed against her neck. His hands trembled as he continued backing away, dragging Anzu with him.
"Ah!"
A thin line of blood flowed from Anzu's neck. The pain seemed to snap her out of her daze, and she whimpered. Her blue eyes met Shin's black ones. The rest of the scene came into view.
Two boys lay on the ground.
Shin was approaching with a pipe in hand.
A pleading whisper escaped Anzu's lips, panic on her face.
"Please, help me."
Shin nodded toward her. His gaze shifted. He focused on the black-haired boy. A dark expression overtook his face. In a cold voice, he spoke.
"Let her go and disappear."
The black-haired boy flinched. He dropped the knife and shouted, nodding frantically, terror in his expression.
"Y-Yes!"
Backing away without turning his back at first, the black-haired boy finally turned and ran in the opposite direction of the alley. His silhouette vanished into the distant darkness...
Anzu fell to her knees. One hand went to her bleeding neck, the other to her tear-covered face.
Shin kept his distance from her, not looking at her...
Time passed, filled with Anzu's sobs...
Wee-woo, wee-woo!
"Huh?"
By the time Anzu came to and looked up, Shin was already gone. Her question hung in the air. Doubt crossed her face.
"Where... did he go?"
Anzu's eyes scanned the alley. But all she found were two of the boys who had assaulted her, half-conscious on the ground. One of them, Hirutani, muttered in pain.
"Damn you, Osako."
The metal pipe Shin had used to beat the two boys also lay on the ground.
Feathers of all shapes and colors fluttered through the alley.
Wee-woo, wee-woo!
A siren wailed in the distance.
Shouts, voices, and footsteps seemed to be drawing near the alley.
Another question left Anzu's lips. Her expression took on an unreadable shade. With effort, she tried to stand and managed it.
"Osako...?"
AN/One chapter per day. 100 power stones today means one extra chapter the next day. Each chapter is made up of four acts, plus a prologue and an epilogue, and finally a special act — each ranging from 800 to 2000 words. Leave a comment and report any issues below. You can buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/s/8e7c3d4725