The white-haired with eyes that were hard to interpret the color of, wearing a bright white set of clothes had exited the main room where a leader was seated. He was now heading towards another room in the building, where a bunch of members of the gang was located. He found it at the same time as Kori and his gang just entered the building. They were far apart, but something told connecting their hearts told them of their locations to each other. Oroku Hakijuu was delighted at the news as he timidly sat down by a chair as the members took a strange look at him. Kori Hanesawa, however, was confused at the sudden feeling. He had no idea who or what he was connected to in a sense, it was a new sensation he'd never felt before.
In the large room with members in its walls, a member built up the courage to approach the strange man who just suddenly barged in and sat down.
Oroku cast one look at him, as the member said
"Who the hell are you!? Why are you here?"
Oroku stood up, with the most bored face he'd ever worn. He didn't even bother to see the rest of the member's body, instead just focusing on his face. He then said
"You all ask the same questions, don't you? I'm getting tired of it."
That would be the norm for Oroku, being completely numb to things were normal.
But as that was the case, when what was normal would repeat itself too much, he got another emotion ignited inside of him.
Anger.
Even though it didn't feel good, the change of pace was actually nice to Oroku as he quickly grabbed the member's throat and squeezed it. He could feel some energy slip away from his body and flowing into his arm as he crushed the man's throat. Everyone stood silent as they watched blood drop down from the man's body, Oroku showing a faint smile as excitement pumped through him. He said
"Even though you were boring, for the most part, you actually managed to make feel an emotion. I have to commend you, although that won't be necessary."
Before the other people in the room even had the chance to react, Oroku quickly turned his head towards the door and said
"Looks like they're here soon."
Everybody drew their attention towards the door, and Oroku counted down
"3"
Some faint tapping could be heard from the outside
"2"
That tapping drew nearer as the people in the room realized something was going on, but whether the guy in white had something to do with it was going around their heads.
"1"
The tapping had neared itself, but ultimately a silence remained as Oroku looked at the door with confusion. He slowly said
"What, did I get some----"
*BAM*
The door was suddenly breached by a duo of enthusiastic teenagers who jumped into the room with an explosivity that rivaled Oroku Hakijuu's own walking. They were in the air, but managed to land with style as they posed themselves. Kori Hanesawa quickly inspected the room and got his eyes glued to the out-of-place white-haired, 20-something-year-old. Even though he, by appearance alone, looked harmless, with a very loose set of clothes and a neutral set of facial features, he was both holding a dead guy by the throat and exerting a lot of energy. His excitement was leaking out a little too much, as Kori quickly got a hint of it. But that wasn't the scariest part for both Biharu nor Kori, that laid right next to his right hand. The freshly-killed gang member's corpse hung from Oroku's hand, which intrigued Kori as much as it scared him.
He smiled wryly as he looked over to Biharu, and said
"You go ahead, it looks like there's something for me to take care of here."
Biharu raised his eyebrows and asked
"I agree, he looks like trouble. So shouldn't we tag-team him, to raise our chances of success."
Kori chuckled as he answered
"Even though I'm not the first to say stuff like this, we do have a mission to carry out and that takes priority. You feel the weight of this mission as well, right?
Besides, I wouldn't want to share a fight with anybody. Partially because of pride, but that would also take the fun out of it.
I'll defeat him, by myself."
Biharu nodded as he continued to run, eventually punching some guys who stood immediately in his way. Oroku had changed his facial expression to a clear smile as he had heard Kori's words. The confidence exerted made his strength seem possible, and more importantly, imminent. A fight that would finally excite him had arrived.
Oroku tied his hand into a fist as he said
"Is this what you were talking about, dad?"
…
Korumu was running quickly through the ventilation systems of the building. As much as people needed air to breathe, it also proved to be a very effective way for Korumu to transport himself through the building. Ever since he was younger, Korumu had been classified as a quiet type. He had an eventual goal of getting out of his bubble and finally start speaking a lot more with people. But to do that, he decided that the only way of truly learning how to speak with people was to get a course.
That costed money, so he utilized his natural fighting and sneaking ability to teach himself effective battle strategies. After a trip to the convenience store, where he met Kurohito who was trying a new flavor of bubblegum he saw on the TV, he joined the Pride group as it earned him a pretty good sum of money.
As he ran through the vents, he thought back to his own past, when he used to hear things like
"That Korumu kid? He's totally disgusting, he never speaks. It's like he's a dysfunctional robot, unable to speak or operate correctly"
"What's with that analogy? Hahaha, Astro boy broke!"
As he thought about it, Korumu formed some thoughts in his head
-I'll show you all! I'll learn to speak, and become popular and show all of you wrong! Until then, as a power seal, I'll wear this metal-like leather mask to make it harder to speak. I would've gotten a metal mask, but that would've been, like, super heavy and a pain, so leather will do.
Also, what's with that follow-up!? At least compare me to someone like Tsukimoto Makoto! -
Going with a gut feeling, he jumped as high as he could in a ventilation shaft, and broke through a layer of grating, making him fly towards the ground of that floor.
He'd gotten to the room he wanted, but in front of him stood someone menacing. The number-3 bodyguard of that establishment turned around as he noticed Korumu.
…
Biharu continued running as he waved goodbye to Kori Hanesawa. Making his way into the room next to the main assembly hall, he thought about the mission. It was a heavy burden to carry, but the way Kurohito had accepted him into the Pride Group encouraged Biharu to take a hold of this responsibility and nurture it into an opportunity of growth for him. For some reason, he wanted to get stronger than his usual partner, Kori Hanesawa. The question of whether he was stronger than him or not had been pestering his mind for some time, and his conclusion said that it was probably impossible
- He's just so strong, isn't he? he's able to follow his own mind in this crowded world, and do what he wants to. He has the power to back it up, although I suppose that power is what is key to what he wants to do. Either way, he fights strongly and I want that as well. -
Biharu often lived life loosely, without direction or motivation. He decided to join the Pride Group on a whim, after all. In the end, he just wanted to have fun in his life. But even after playing around at nights and playing around during the day, there was something that felt missing. He had nothing to fight for.
He had nothing to strive for. That was fine to him, he had enough fun to compensate for that. But as his dopamine dulled to the excitement of mild shoplifting, he started to actually consider it. That was why he decided to join the Pride Group, to join a larger collective. He never thought he had the strength to decide for himself what to do with his life, so he sought something higher than himself. As he'd joined the Pride Group, he questioned his own background. For what reason had he traveled from China to Japan for? Just to play around without any meaning?
Now Biharu had gained a goal as well, something to strive towards. As he blasted through the corridor leading to another room, he vowed to himself.
A vow that entailed getting stronger. Stronger to beat his unofficial rival, Kori Hanesawa. Their rivalry hadn't ever been legitimized, nor had their friendship. But they both knew that it existed, although it was kept under wraps.
Biharu wanted to keep that, but he simply wanted to add some water to the sauna water. He kicked a poor gang member to the floor as a sign of hurry, and a shadow turned around. He showed himself to be a 2 and a half meter tall guy, practically clad in muscles with a confused face as he rubbed his bald head. He looked at the comparatively skinnier Biharu with lighter and more feminine facial and body features with a strange contempt. Ever since he'd started working there, he'd never experienced a break-in at all. His mind wandered as he wondered what they could be after, but since he was often kept out of the loop when it came to gang secrets, he had no idea. He only had one goal in front of him:
To beat and eventually kill the intruder of their hideout.
Biharu looked over at the bodyguard, who didn't bother to communicate with words but instead just put himself into a battle-ready stance.
Biharu had just encountered the number-1 bodyguard at The Measly Gang.
"My training starts immediately, I suppose."
…
At a different location from where he usually spent his time, Kurohito stood among the cubicles on the second floor of his office. There he was chatting with one of his regular employees, who worked for the more normal part of the office. He asked
"How's work going along?"
The employee, not wanting to spill her feelings too much, said
"It's chugging along okay, I suppose."
Kurohito smiled as he leaned nearer to the employee, saying
"You don't have to lie to me."
A nervous smile broke out on the employees face as she said
"Right, I'm sorry sir. I've just had some problems with this budget, it's hard to fit everything I want in there."
The employee scared herself a little bit with how blunt she was, it wasn't the best thing for her to just blurt out stuff like that. Especially in front of the CEO of the company.
Kurohito nodded understandingly and said
"Tell me, do you believe in this project?"
The employee looked up at Kurohito's face with an estranged face of her own, as he continued with
"Like, with your whole heart?"
Not caring anymore, the employee just yelled out
"Yes, I do! I, with my whole heart, want this project to succeed and believe it will do so."
She quickly covered her mouth as she prepared to use the company before her to search for a new job, but that wouldn't be necessary as Kurohito responded
"Nice. That's what I like to hear.
I'll allow it, contact your supervisor with your desired budget and I'll see that it gets approved."
With that, he gave a quick thumbs-up and left the cubicle towards his own office, where he frankly felt the most comfortable in. The employee was left in shock as she tried to decipher what she'd just heard, at the same time as Kurohito stared at a picture frame at his desk.
It featured himself, and two older people overlooking him from behind.
He said to himself, inside of his own office with a closed-door
"I'll do it. You'll see it soon..."
…