"Did I hear someone say Yemon?"
Jo, the woman and the white hooded man turned towards the door. A new personnel showed up for the 'meeting' organized by Yemon.
A man, who was a bit older than the rest of the three, walked into the room.
He had a long-sleeved black shirt and brown slim pants. He also had a pair of classic black shoes. This man seemed to be dressed professionally for this matter.
Unlike the three of them, this man did not have any sort of mask to hide his identity.
"Mister, who are you? Are you sure you are in the right place?" Jo questioned the elder man.
The white hooded man sarcastically made fun of Jo.
"The one with the stupid clown mask does not have the right to say that."
"Oi, that is a pretty good mask if I do say so myself."
"Where did you buy this junk?"
"This is not junk. I will have you know that I bought it from a cosmetic shop in Oita."
The white hooded man scoffed and continued to berate Jo.
"Heh. Why bother buying it. I bet that your face itself is a joke."
"What did you say? You have no say in if you are hiding your face yourself. I bet it is as crude as your attitude."
"Hah!?" A vein popped on the white hooded man's forehead. He took off the hood that was still on his head and revealed his brown hair.
He was ready to get into a brawl since he was clenching his fists.
"Shut up!!! Both of you!!!"
Suddenly, the voice of the woman enshrouded the room. All of the men veered towards her direction and judging by her eyes, she was furious.
"Wow, quite the volume you got there, Miss who-i-don't-know-the-name-of." Jo still had his carefree behaviour.
She glared at Jo.
"Okay then..." Jo became silent.
She then proceeded to aim her sight at the other man that was professionally dressed near the door.
"You. Did Yemon tell you to be here?"
"Ah yes. Isn't he here?"
Jo then realized something important.
"Oh, this old man was still here. I forgot."
A vein popped in both the woman and the 'old man'.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" The woman again warned Jo.
"'Old man'? Are your eyes as shit as your clown mask? In what angle do you see me as an old man!?"
Jo was getting attacked from both ends. He was baffled and angry that the 'old man' too was insulting his mask.
"What the fuck is this? Why are you disrespecting my mask, old man?"
He did not back down. Jo held his ground with the pride of his mask supporting him.
However, the 'old man' gritted his teeth. He still did not accept the fact that Jo kept calling him 'old man'.
He replied, "You insolent brat! Can't you just call me by my name instead of giving me unsuitable names?"
Jo answered, "I can, only if you tell me your name."
"....Oh that is right."
The white hooded man stared blankly at the proclaimed 'old man'.
The 'old man' introduced himself.
"My name is Shi."
Abruptly, he was interrupted by the white hooded man.
"'Old man', you are dumb too."
"...T-The hell? And I already told you my name is Shi!!"
Shi was enraged by the other man. He was prepared to launch a barrage of insult however Jo came into their argument.
"'Too'? What do you mean 'too'? Are you referring to me as dumb?"
"This is the first time that I have heard something good from your mouth."
"Go to hell, you shithead!"
Unable to bear the cacophony of insults, the woman again yelled at the angry men.
"For the last time! All of you! Shut the fuck up!!"
This time, Shi was the one to go against the woman. He screamed.
"No, you shut the fuck up lady! Can't you see those 2 brats are talking shit out of their mouth!? Clearly, they are imbeciles and undisciplined."
"I don't care, shut up and listen to me! Everyone!"
Nonetheless, nobody listened to her and did not stop arguing.
"Insolent brats!!"
"Dumb clown!!"
"Poop head!!"
"Shut up!!"
All four of them were now officially bellowing and insulting each other.
The room was filled with their voices. The walls could not contain all of the noise, but no one outside was paying attention to the muffled sound.
Mainly because they were a bit further from the crowded places. They were away from all the people. Well, except for.
"Quite the party I am seeing here."
All of a sudden, the four closed their mouth and had their eyes widened when they saw who was by the door.
Another man was leaning against the door frame as his brown eyes befell on the group of screaming people.
"...Jin...Yuudai?" Shi blurted out.
The rest of them was surprised when Shi mentioned the man's name. They did not think that this criminal was going to show up here.
He wore a dark blue T-shirt with a simple white design in the middle. As for his lower body, he had a pair of long blue jeans. It was tattered in some places, adding the fashion.
To top it off, he had red sneakers which were a bit dirty. There were sprinkles of mud stuck at its side.
"Oh? I am that famous?" Jin jokingly admitted to being that very person they thought he was.
He proceeded to enter the room and found a table. Then he sat on it while assessing the situation here.
"Am I the only one here waiting for a guy named Yemon?" Jin asked.
There was a moment of silence until Jo broke it by replying to him.
"We are all the same here."
"It sure does not seems like it when you were all yelling at each other."
"That is because this donkey right here and that old man over there dissed my mask, saying it looks dumb on me!"
Jo pointed at both Shi and the white
hooded man. They were enraged.
"It is not that dumb or anything."
Jin backed Jo up which him content with his presence. He thought that Jin is on his side.
Moreover, Shi and the white hooded guy disagreed with his opinion. But they did not voice any complaints.
"Thank you, bro. Jin you said your name was, right? How old are you?"
"...26."
"Then I am going to call you 'Aniki'."
Jin, however, did not take that as a compliment or such. It just made him spooked which took Jo by surprise.
"Aniki, why are you making that face for?"
"Being called 'Aniki' by a creepy clown like you just doesn't go right by me."
"...Creepy?"
Jo was in disbelief. Even though he thought had found a comrade with the same taste.
Jin continued to slander him.
"You are creepier than a paedophile."
"Why are you saying this, Aniki? I thought you liked this kind of mask."
"I only said it is not that dumb. And stop calling me 'Aniki'."
The white hooded man snuck a suppressed laugh which made Jo vent his frustration on him.
"You shut up donkey!"
"What? Can't handle the truth?" He retorted Jo again.
"Ku-!"
Jo gritted his teeth, not knowing what to say. To say the least, he lost unanimously.
In his mind, Jo was enshrouded in the dark. There was the face of the other recruits that ridiculed him and mocking his clown mask.
He alone was kneeling and had his head down in the dark.
But this was not over.
He remembered his childhood that went through an unforgettable phase.
The time that, as a child, he would be excited to see a Hero in action whenever some crimes were being displayed on the TV.
The actions the Heroes were making and saving people from critical situations, that sparked a little something in the little Jo.
The inspiration to becoming a Hero.
Like every other child that was in awe and wanted a dream to pursue being a Hero, for Jo, it was a little in excess.
However, he did not consider that excessive. He viewed it as his growing admiration for those specially chosen people.
Like his Heroes that never gave up, he also adapted the same mindset.
He clenched his fists and had his other hand on his hip. He smiled and no one saw it under his clown mask.
He envisioned himself as the Hero he dreams he wants to be.
Then, Jo struck a pose.
"..."
"..."
Shi and the woman were speechless at the scene they were witnessing.
".....The hell?" The white hooded man was confused at Jo's behaviour.
Along with his clown mask, his ridiculous pose pierced all of the people present by the mind.
"Why did he suddenly act with too much cringe?"
The white hooded man added to his perplexed reaction.
To that, Jin just laughed out loud like he was having a fun time spectating this Jo.
"Hahahahahaha!!!!"
It snapped back Jo to the present. His subconscious was living through the determination he had as a child.
"Eh? Why are you laughing, Aniki?"
"Because you are funny and cringe at the same time."
"Cringe? That is not okay!"
Shi joined and confirmed Jin's opinion.
"Boy, you were cringey. I could not even look at you like a normal person.
Jo retaliated, "An old man calling me cringey is not okay!!"
Shi has had enough.
"If I hear the word 'old man' coming from your mouth again, then I'll beat to the point that everyone calls you an old man!"
"Try it, old man."
Jo sarcastically challenged Shi. He was ready to pounce on Jo. Shi was not kidding and everyone else noticed that.
But there was another peculiar presence that no one but Jin detected. He darted at the door and smirked.
He wanted to know about that presence so he stopped Shi and Jo before they would enter in a slugfest of fists.
"Calm down, both of you. We should not be so rude by fighting or by ignoring a guest."
The four others had a question mark on their head. Wondering what he was talking about, all of them then also detected a presence, except for Jo.
The other 3 finally understood Jin's words. They turned their head to the
door, only to find a small but ominous figure.
"This one is a bit different." Jin mumbled to himself and called out to the figure."Who might you be then?"
The small figure did not respond to Jin.
By its silhouette, it was difficult to differentiate between a woman and a man.
Anyway, Jin decided to refer to the figure as a 'he'.
He was wearing a purple long-sleeved shirt and on top of it, he wore an unzipped black jacket. He had long blue jean and normal black shoes.
To conceal his face halfway up to his nose, he also wore a black mask like the white hooded man.
He reassured the mysterious individual that he was indeed in the right place by putting forward the name of Yemon.
"Relax. We are all the same. That Yemon should be arriving soon."
"..."
Nothing was coming out of his mouth, yet he did not rebuke anything. He entered the room and stood in the corner, not disturbing anyone.
"He is a quiet one."
Shi added his comment on the mysterious person. He was not bothering anyone but his presence itself was bugging their mind.
They could not somehow comprehend what was making them feel uncomfortable.
It looks like there was more than meets the eye.
"Well, I guess that Yemon invited all of us, so where is he?"
Shi pointed out Yemon's whereabouts.
However, Jo intervened and wanted to ask about what Shi said.
"Old man, what made you think that this is all of us?"
Shi has heard many times and made him infuriated many times. But what was the point now if that little brat Jo doesn't change his way of calling him.
He had to accept that inconvenience. After all, that is what mature people do.
"*Sigh*...I just guessed. What? Do you know more about this?" Shi probed.
"I actually do. Yemon told me himself. He said that there will be 8 people, excluding Yemon. So we are still waiting for two."
Shi was disappointed at the fact that Yemon told Jo about such a detail. What was the difference between Jo and Shi what Yemon can disclose a bit of his recruitment phase?
The white hooded man did not find something right.
"Why did he tell you about this. And not us?"
"Don't know. Maybe I am more worthy."
"Clearly, it is not."
"Hmph!"
Jo turned away from him. He did not want to hear anything from him.
"Then the remaining two are late for this. Seriously though, if we could go through this early, it would be more suitable for me."
Shi was getting impatient and so did the others. Nonetheless, they did not have to wait for so long. Soon, 3 people turned up.
"Good afternoon, everyone!"
The 6 impatient criminals veered their sights to the door.
"I see that everyone is present here."
A fox mask was scanning the room for the number of people that showed. Judging by his tone even though his voice was muffled, he sounded happy.
Besides the fox masked man, there was 1 masked individual on each side.
On his left was a girl with a rabbit mask. She wore a dark green hoodie and black jeans. She was limping and using the shoulder of the fox masked man as support.
On his right, there was a boy with an anonymous mask with a laptop on one of his hand. He held it like a book.
He wore normal casual clothing as if he just left the house unprepared for the day.
And finally, in the middle, a fox masked man introduced himself, as he faced the 6 notorious criminals that could kill him brutally, right there, right then.
"Hello again everyone! My name is Yemon."