Kouta made his way to the Shinjuku Ward of Tokyo. He got there in roughly forty-five minutes. He huffed and puffed in exhaustion as he pushed his way to ROOT Headquarters, in a medium-sized black building near a convenience store. He caught his breath at the front door.
"This is it. I'm here!!" he thought.
Kouta raised his head and kicked the door down. He stepped into a room with gray walls. A woman sat at the front desk, frightened.
Kouta ran inside, down some halls, and found two large double doors. He kicked them. The loud squeak of metal followed by the clang of them smashing into the walls rang through the building.
It was the dark room he'd been in on his first visit.
Everyone looked at him immediately.
Kouta took a deep breath. Then he yelled out. "JUN!!! WHERE ARE YOU?!!!"
Kouta was breathing heavily. His eyes darted around the room. He saw some familiar faces, but Jun was nowhere inside.
Then he heard a gun click from behind him. Jun was never in the room. He'd heard the noise and came in response.
Kouta felt the sensation of cold metal pressing against the back of his head.
Jun's menacing eyes narrowed themselves. "Murakami Kouta. You at long last show yourself again."
Kouta didn't move. "Jun. Was it you? Did you send Rin after Yumi and Kasumi?"
Jun rested his finger on the trigger. "It was. The little punk couldn't even do one simple task it seemed. What a waste of blood."
Kouta grit his teeth. He ducked his head and pushed his right foot back. He smashed into the wall behind him, leaving a hole.
Jun had shifted to his left and aimed his pistol at Kouta.
pow! pow!
Two shots to the body.
Kouta doubled over, yelling in pain. He looked at his hand. It was covered in blood. He looked back. "You bastard!!"
He managed to stand up before Ayako, the quick female esper that chased Kouta to the train station once, suddenly leapt over Kouta and pushed her knee into his back, forcing him to lay on the floor. Kouta couldn't move under her weight.
Jun's pistol disappeared into thin air. "Bring him to the back." he said.
Ayako stood up and pulled Kouta's hands behind his back. She forced him along behind Jun.
Kouta struggled to get free. "Let me go!! I knew it was you!! All of you!! You're sick you know that?!! How dare you mess with them, fight me like a man!!"
Jun abruptly turned around and kneed Kouta in the gut. He repeated himself five times. He stopped. "Still feel like talking?"
Kouta coughed up blood. He looked up at Jun. "You're mine, Jun. When I get out of this, I'll-"
"Ayako, break his arm."
Kouta instantly felt an excruciating pain emit from his arm. Ayako had snapped the part above his elbow. His legs buckled as tears fell to the floor. He became silent.
Jun turned back around and continued walking.
Kouta's ears picked up the sound of hurried footsteps behind him.
He heard the voice of an old man. "Jun! Ayako! What in God's name are you two doing?!"
Jun turned around once more. "Kenzo. Stay out of this." He pulled up his pistol. "Or you'll be next."
Ayako turned around as well. Kenzo saw the bloodied Kouta in her hands. "Is that...Murakami?! You can't kill him! He's too special to die at the likes of the two of you!"
pow! pow! pow!
Jun fired three shots. Kenzo's body lifelessly fell to the ground.
Jun scowled. "You're just some wealthy old man. I only agreed to work for you to get my name out into the Underground. Don't order me around like some child."
pow! pow!
Two more shots pierced Kenzo's skull.
Ayako held her arm out. "That's enough! He's dead. You're just making extra noise."
"Tch." Jun put his pistol away and led Ayako to the back of the building.
He opened up a tan metal door that opened up to the backstreet of the building. There were four white small semi trucks resting halfway inside of open garage doors.
Jun went to the first one and lifted up the back door to the white box on the rear end. Ayako threw Kouta inside. He hit the cold metal bottom and winced in pain. Ayako shut the door closed.
They both got inside the truck. Ayako was in the driver's seat. She turned the keys as the truck started up. She backed out of the garage space and turned to leave. As she rolled out of alleyway, both her and Jun saw something out on the left side of the truck.
"Kame no Kora Ken!!" (Fist of the Turtle Shell)
Kenzo pounded the side of the truck with his fist in a sideways stance. The entire vehicle flipped over on its side and slid against the ground, sending sparks flying everywhere. A large wide dent was imprinted in the truck's rear box.
Ayako jumped out of the driver's seat window followed by Jun, who was bleeding from the head. They landed on the truck's side.
"Impossible!" Jun exclaimed. "I killed you!!"
Kenzo was wearing a white gown. He was also barefoot.
"Now that I know that the both of you betrayed me, I won't let you leave here alive."
Jun pulled out two pistols. He began firing them both.
Kenzo left an afterimage in his wake as he quickly moved to the truck aside both Jun and Ayako. His right hand ignited with red fire. "Arekuruu Kemono no Tenohita!!" (Palm of the Raging Beast)
Both Jun and Ayako were hit with the powerful shockwave that sent them into the wall on the opposite side of the alleyway.
Kenzo gripped the side of the truck with his left hand and ripped the metal like it was cardboard. Kouta was barely conscious inside.
"You aren't dead in there are you?" he asked.
Kouta opened a pained eye and looked at him.
Kenzo gave him a reassuring smile. "Can you stand?"
Kouta struggled to get on his feet, but he stood, and jumped out of the truck and onto the ground.
Ayako and Jun came out of the hole in the wall, but not without injuries. That last attack nearly killed them.
Kenzo curled his fingers and got into a stance as he watched them.
Jun aimed his pistols at him. Then he saw Kouta outside the truck and moved his right arm so that there was a gun pointed at the both of them.
Kouta was staring at Kenzo. "Why does that old man... feel exactly like a ghoul?"
"Now, now."
Everyone heard the voice. A man walked through the wall next to Ayako. The same wall where the hole was.
Jun's eyes widened. "Boss!"
The man cleanly passed through the wall as if nothing were there. He stood and stared at Kenzo.
Kenzo relaxed a bit and stood straight. "It's not often I see you around here, Abe Shinya."
Shinya chuckled. "That's because I'm not welcome in these parts." He looked at Kouta. "I knew something was off about you, but I never thought it'd be like this. I had a little chat with the doc and found out that you were the kid with the rarity."
Kouta couldn't believe it. "You saw Marie? What did you do to her?!!" he lashed out.
Shinya shrugged. "I didn't do anything to her. Besides, can you even talk in your position?" He pointed at Jun. "Listen, I'm the one who sent these two after you. I heard about your rarity and couldn't help but want it for myself." He chuckled. "Jun."
Jun straightened up. "Yes sir."
fwoosh!!
Kouta watched in horror as blood spackled everywhere. Jun's head was gone. Blood spurt out of the gaping wound on his neck. Shinya absorbed the blood that managed to touch him.
Ayako was terrified. She tried to get away by running.
Shinya formed a pistol in his hand.
pow!
Ayako fell to the ground.
The pistol disappeared from Shinya's hand. He walked over to her body and dipped his fingers into the pooling blood from her head. He licked the blood off and stood up. "I have no need for these two idiots." He looked at Kouta. "I apologize for how rough they were with you. Killing is an art, and they ruined it."
Kouta gradually began stepping backwards. He remembered what Marie said:
"First and foremost, Abe Shinya. I'd say that he's one of the most powerful and influential people in the underworld. He has hundreds, maybe even thousands of followers. He makes a fortune off of drugs, gambling, prostitution, and...vector hunting."
Kouta backed up some more, frightened. "Is this what that is? Vector hunting?! No way... He can do that?!"
Kenzo looked at Kouta. "Boy, just stay there! I'll make sure he doesn't do anything to you!"
Shinya smirked. "Hey, Kouta. Kenzo is an old friend of mine. He wants to control you, not to save you. If you go with him you'll be a mindless robot."
Kenzo sharply turned to Shinya. "Why you...!! Why would you say something like that?!!"
Shinya shrugged. "It's the truth. Also, Kouta. I'm the one who killed Nomura Rin."
Kouta's world was twisting up more than he could ever imagine. "You what...?"
Shinya chuckled some more. "It was me. Though I didn't do it to save your friends. I was going to do it anyway, regardless of where the boy happened to be that day. It was simply a coincidence that he was attempting to kill the girls."
Kouta couldn't even think straight. His eyes darted between Shinya and Kenzo. Both people who want him dead. But the dread quickly loomed over him. No matter what he did, he wouldn't be able to get away. One of his arms were broken, and so were a few of his ribs. Kouta witnessed Kenzo die, yet somehow he suddenly vanished and turned over an entire truck, and Shinya could steal vectors from espers, which means that along with whatever he already had, he also gained Ayako's crazy athleticism, the vector High Throttle. He couldn't get away from Ayako, so he definitely had no chance now.
Tears streamed down Kouta's face. "I just... I just..." He stared up into the sky. "I JUST WANT TO BE ABLE TO SAVE MY FRIENDS!!!"
Kenzo held his hands out defenselessly. "I can help you! I just want to destroy all of the ghouls plaguing this city! You can help me, Kouta! You can, truly!"
Shinya put his hands into his pockets. "Give it up old man, he knows what you want now. You see the look in his eyes? Those eyes belong to someone who knows that there's no one in this world that they can trust. And there isn't. He'll be hunted for the rest of his life because of the rarity within him."
Kouta looked down. He could hear police sirens coming from all directions.
He looked up to see Shinya directly in front of him. "If you stay here the cops will pin all of this on you. There's no benefit to running away, and there's no benefit if you stay with the old man. But I can give you something no one else can; power. Join my side Kouta. I'll still kill you, but this is a rare opportunity to live a bit longer."