It was 5:00 p.m and the metro was packed as always at this time of the day. Most people travelled from work and students leave school late due to club activities.
That is what made up mostly of the standing populace in trains. There was hardly any place to move. The amount of space was minuscule.
Only the lucky ones that grabbed seats in the first place had the most comfortable ride.
Fukuyama Akane was amongst those lucky ones. Not exactly lucky, but she was at the first station for this metro's route so there were plenty of seats.
She was wearing a pale pink shirt tucked into her black pants. Her fatigue from her office work was high because she was part of a big project.
The person in charge for that specific project kept giving works as the pressure kept coming from their superiors.
So in the end, the staff members were the ones that suffered the most, mentally and physically.
But now knowing that she was arriving pretty close to her destination, she tried to forget about her work.
At the corner of her eye, she caught an old man who was struggling to stand amongst the crowd. No one was giving him seats.
Akane acted by informing the old man to take her seat. The old man politely declined her offer but she was persistent and said that she was going to step off anyway.
The old man thanked her and sat on her seat.
Akane stood for about 20 minutes before the train stopped at the next station.
She got off and walked to her house. After 30 minutes of walk, she arrived and detected something shocking.
From afar, she saw her neighbour, Shinagawa Mitsuo was leaving their yard with suitcases in his possession.
On the side of the road, there was Mitsuo's car that was waiting. As Akane assessed the sight she was looking, she immediately jogged to him.
Mitsuo was loading their belongings onto the trunk of the car. As he finished unpacking their stuff, he closed the trunk and turned around.
He then returned to his house and after a few moments, he exited with his wife, Arata. She was getting supporting while getting led to the car.
"Mitsuo-san! Arata-san!"
Both Mitsuo and Arata looked at Akane who was approaching them fast.
Multiple questions sprung in her mind. The first question she blurted out was,
"Where are you going?"
Mitsuo paused before declaring a major decision on his part.
"Akane-chan, we are leaving Osaka permanently. We are going to stay at my wife's aunt in Tottori."
Akane was appalled at what Mitsuo said. His wife, Arata did not say anything. She was gloomy and less talkative than usual.
"But why?" Akane raised her voice a bit.
A lonely smile emerged on Mitsuo's face. Arata just tilted her head down and had such a depressing air around her.
"Akane-chan. Just looking at this house makes my heart tremble."
Mitsuo veered his attention to his house he was leaving from. Akane followed his gaze.
"Every time I enter the house, I know that it is not going to be the same ambience than what I have been experiencing before."
Mitsuo turned to his wife. He placed her hand on her shoulder and brought her closer to him.
"All my wife could hear are the cheerful voices of our son in that empty house. It is agonising for her to stay here and remember about those lively moments."
Her wife's lifeless eyes were aimed at Akane. It was painful to look at her in this state.
"From time to time, she gets panic attacks. This environment is just deteriorating her health.... That is why I have decided we should go away from here."
Her pity increased towards Arata. She gently touched her shoulder and called out.
"Arata-san....."
She slowly reacted to her touch and weakly smiled.
"...Akane-chan... Are you well?"
"...I'm well Arata-san. You should rest."
She shrugged her concern and proceeded to pat Akane's head.
"Take care of yourself."
"...I will."
She was broken. Akane saw that in plain sight. Mitsuo could not do anything but look at his wife with anguish.
Akane grabbed Arata's hand which was on her head and held it with care. She turned to Mitsuo.
"Mitsuo-san, did you take her to a doctor?"
"I did. What she really needs right now is a change of scenery. So it is a good call we move from here."
Mitsuo's tone was filled with uncertainty.
"I don't know if she will ever recover..... but..... we will try."
"Mitsuo-san....."
The comprehension now invaded Mitsuo's expression.
"We lost someone precious... Akane-chan, you felt the same when your parents were no more, didn't you?"
Akane bit her lips, catching onto what Mitsuo said. Akane was starting to get sad and silent.
Mitsuo continued.
"No one should ever go through this phase but what can we do? Everyone comes and must go. It is what it is....."
Suddenly, a strange yet frightening pressure was emanated from Mitsuo. Akane felt a tinge of coldness.
"The way Miyauchi died though.... I am not forgiving that murderer."
He glared at the ground with an immense hatred and uttered a single name.
"...Gello."
Akane heard the news that the most feasible possibility for the murder suspect was indeed Gello. But it was a serial killer who was never captured due to unknown identity.
Now Mitsuo and Arata were suffering while the killer was enjoying. Akane too felt anger towards that murderer. Who knows how many families Gello destroyed.
Mitsuo calmed down and rested one of his hands on Akane's shoulder.
"Take care of Harue-kun and Kana-chan. Treat them as your children."
Tears formed on Akane's eyes. She couldn't speak as she was busy trying to suppress her weep. So she nodded to Mitsuo's kind words.
He let go and ordered his wife.
"Let's go, Dear." He took one last look at Akane and said, "We are going Akane-chan. You siblings were like family to us."
A stream of tears flowed down Akane's cheek. She could not contain their sorrowful separation. Mitsuo and Arata got in the car while she watched them.
The engine started and the car slowly took off, disappearing out of her sight in just a few seconds.
Akane just stood there, staring where they left.
"Nee-chan." "Nee-chan!"
Both Kana and Harue were approaching their house. They saw their elder sister just standing outside.
They were coming from behind so they did not see Akane's weeping face. Quickly, she wiped off the tears and put on a normal face.
She looked back at her little brother and sister.
"What are you doing outside?" Harue inquired.
Before she replied to him, she placed her hands on both Kana and Harue's head.
"Huh?" Harue was confused
"...What's with you?" Kana felt the same as Harue.
Akane fiddled with their hairs and reflected on what Mitsuo just said to her. She informed them of the sad news.
"Mitsuo-san and Arata-san are moving out."
""Eh.""
Harue had a shocked face while Kana was still surprised yet a sense of understanding was in her mind.
....
The brown door with an artistic and luxurious design opened. In the room was a middle-aged man who was sitting down behind a table.
He wore an all-black outfit, except for his shirt. The man had an intellectual vibe surrounding him.
The table was occupied with various documents and a computer. It was his workstation.
Yemon who came to this room waited for the man behind the table. The middle-aged man was typing something on his computer but momentarily stopped.
He laid back and opened his mouth
"You may speak."
"Yes."
Yemon stepped forward and informed.
"I am reporting back on my progress of the task you ordered, Zaizen-sama."
The middle-aged man named Zaizen glanced at the young man's right hand. It was wrapped in a bandage. Zaizen inquired about it.
"How did you get that injury?"
"I got it during the process of recruiting one target, Zaizen-sama."
"Do you feel the need to go get treatment?"
"No sir." He firmly declined.
"...Hmm..... Continue."
"Yes."
Yemon did as ordered.
"I have currently made contact with 5 of them. We are working on the search for the 3 other targets."
"...'We'?"
Yemon made a slip-up. However, there was no reason to cover it so he honestly told Zaizen everything.
"I am having one of the targets to help me find the other targets."
"Hoh~" Zaizen was genuinely impressed at his method. "I assume you are talking about Virus, that genius hacker."
"Yes. It has been much easier to find the other targets."
Zaizen smirked at the capability of the members.
"In the span of 2 weeks, you and Virus found 4 criminals, in which 3 of them had unknown identities."
Yemon gave the credits to Virus.
"To be honest Zaizen-sama, it is all his part on locating the objectives. I only capture them."
The competence of one of the targets did not disappoint Zaizen. His plan was starting to get all together.
"Wouldn't you say that you two are a great team?"
Zaizen joked with Yemon. On the other hand, Yemon was thinking about all the conflicts he had with Hoga. He thought negatively.
He thinly smiled and responded.
"We are not that compatible."
"Is that so?"
After a small exchange of a humorous moment, Yemon tried to pry onto Zaizen's decision. He was being careful about the matter to not bother Zaizen in any way.
"Zaizen-sama, may I ask a question about the targets?"
"Hm? Go on. I am listening."
Yemon lifted his courage and asked.
"Are there any specific reasons that you demanded for those particular criminals?"
Zaizen looked at Yemon, staring at his eyes. Yemon thought he had made a mistake. He did not budge his gaze from Zaizen's.
"Well, you should know at least since you are going to be their leader."
Yemon relaxed a bit and listened to his reasoning. Zaizen stated,
"Those 8 criminals that I specially picked out..... are all Magic-Users."
"W-What?"
"Surprised?"
The blatant shock on Yemon's face was inevitable. All of the criminals were Magic-Users?
Yemon obviously encountered a Magic-User like Mara and Shi. But the others did not show a sign of their powers.
'Even Hoga?' Yemon pondered on Zaizen's word.
"...A-Are you sure about that, Zaizen-sama? Are all of them Magic-User? " He wanted to confirm it.
"Yes."
"How are you able to know about this?"
"Now that part is confidential."
"Ah, I'm sorry Zaizen-sama."
"It is okay."
Yemon did not get any information further than this.
Nevertheless, he did not know if he ever wanted to hear more. The fact that all of the criminals on his recruit list are Magic-Users.
Every single one of them.
There was another point that made Yemon discontent. Why hasn't Zaizen informed him about it? It would have been less dangerous to encounter those criminals and be better prepared.
'Did he try to see how I would handle the situation?' Yemon did think of that possibility.
Zaizen saw that Yemon was lamenting on what was brought up. So he opened a drawer and took something out.
It was a small rectangular metal piece which displayed a screen with a horizontal and stationary line. It had 2 little antennae looking pole attached to one end of the device
Yemon noticed it but did not say anything.
"This is called a Pielser. It is a magic indicator and mostly the upper echelons of the SMF use it for researching and recruiting members."
Yemon had never seen this type of device nor heard of this function. That's why he was surprised for the 2nd time.
"Well, there are only a few in each country because there are certain materials that are scarce. So it is pretty rare."
His astonishment kept increasing as Zaizen talked more about the device.
"Then how did you have this in your possession?"
"I just borrowed it."
Knowing that there were more than just 'borrowing', Yemon digressed and let Zaizen explain why he pulled it out.
"You are still not sure that all of them are Magic-Users, right? Then use this."
He gave it to Yemon with care.
"But Zaizen-sama. Didn't you say that this is rare? Why would you give this to me?"
"To clear your doubts. Isn't that enough of a reason to give it to you?"
The amount of trust put in him was huge. Yemon looked at the device and accepted it.
"You can keep it for yourself as long as you need it. No need to rush it and give it back."
"....I will make the most of it, Zaizen-sama."
Zaizen grinned happily for him. The next step was to show him how to use it.
"Press the big button and it will light a green dot on the side, then point the antenna-looking pole at someone. Go on try it on yourself."
He did exactly as followed then pointed the pole at himself.
He saw that the line on the screen remained the same. Nothing changed.
That means that Yemon was nit a Magic-User.
"Point it at me now. It should give some kind of signal."
Yemon veered the pole to Zaizen and the lines were spazzing out giving multiple distorted signals.
"Is it working fine?"
Yemon was in awe and replied, "Yes, it is."
Nobles are Magic-Users so it was obvious that signals would be shown.
He finally turned it off and kept it in his pockets.
"You are dismissed. Go and find the remaining targets."
"Yes, Zaizen-sama."
Yemon exited the room which left only Zaizen in his workroom.
He laid back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. He contemplated about what he heard and happened from Yemon.
After a few minutes, he chuckled and talked with no one in particular.
"Not bad..."
The plan was just getting started.