Kouta and Kasumi walked up the stairs of Marie's building until they got up to the ninth floor.
Kouta heard a commotion coming from room 9-J. He already knew who it was.
He burst into the room. "What's going on in here?!"
Shinya turned around. "Ah. Kouta. I was just having a conversation with Marie here."
Kouta scanned the situation. Yumi was hiding, peeking from the other side of the bed. Marie was sitting in her chair. She seemed bothered that Kouta entered at the time he did.
Kouta glared at Shinya.
Shinya smirked. "You seem different somehow. A little more mature? Or rather, less human?" He pocketed his hands and headed for the door. "Marie, dear, don't forget what I said."
Kouta looked at Yumi. "Are you two alright?"
Yumi nodded. "That Shinya guy is making Marie make something like an antidote."
"For what?" Kouta asked Marie.
"It's nothing. You kids don't have to worry about it."
"But-"
"I said it's nothing!! Don't worry."
Marie was clearly upset. Kouta left it alone. He went upstairs to the roof in a huff of irritation.
He sat out in the cool air.
"You alright?"
Kouta turned his head to see Yumi. He looked back out at the city.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Your face looks charred."
"Kouta rubbed his arm across his face. Oh, yeah. I got attacked earlier. Turns out Mr. Sano from math class was an esper all along. He tried to kill me."
"What did you do?" Yumi asked.
"I killed him. And I didn't feel any remorse for him. It felt...good in a way. I've changed."
She walked closer. "But he tried to kill you right? You don't have to feel bad about it."
"That's the problem. I really don't feel bad about it. I feel bad about not feeling bad. I feel evil."
Yumi sat down next to him. "I don't think you're evil. You've always been kind to me."
"Maybe you don't know me like you think you do."
"What if I said I did?"
The two were silent for a few moments.
"Kouta, do you like me?" Yumi asked.
Kouta scratched his head. "Like you? I mean, aren't we already close enough?"
She shook her head no. "I mean the other like."
Kouta looked up and crossed his arms. "Sure. But if you think I'm gonna fall in love with you then you're dead wrong."
"Why not, love is nice don't you think?"
Kouta stood up. "It could be. But I don't want anything to do with it."
Yumi looked up at him. "Whatever happened to wanting to hook up?" she said in a teasing way.
Kouta smirked. "You already said no to that!"
He jumped off the building.
--
The morning came.
Miyazaki Taro walked into a bar.
He sat down at one of the stools.
"Water." he told the bartender.
A hooded man was sitting next to him.
"Why did you call me here?" Taro asked him.
Usako Ban removed his hood. "The day of the revolution is coming quickly. The city is growing unstable and it shows."
Taro took a sip of his water. "You know that I don't care about your revolution. As long as I get what you promised me."
"Of course. Have you heard about that kid who broke into the TPD station to save your daughter?"
Taro smirked. "Yeah I've heard about it. What about him?"
"Apparently he's under Shinya's protection now."
Taro took another sip. "Oh really. Is this important to you?"
Ban chuckled. "You don't get it. He's Jikai's grandson."
Taro put down his glass with a thud. He nodded at the bartender. "More water."
He looked at Ban for the first time since the start of their conversation. "Ryuji's brat?"
Ban chuckled again. "Yeah, Murakami Ryuji of the Lunar Dragon."
The bartender refilled Taro's glass. He took another sip. "You've gained my attention. But he's dead. All of them are, excluding the brat."
"Jikai Murakami was the strongest man in all of Japan at one point. Anyone in the Underground with even a little knowledge knows this. Once the TPD realizes this, hell is gonna break loose."
"So how do we fit in all of this?"
"Shinya's keeping Murakami close to him so that he can steal his vector, the Curse of the Yokai. If he waits for the kid to get stronger and gain more vectors, then it'll only make Shinya stronger in the end. But I refuse to let that happen. The kid's gonna die right along with that bastard."
Taro narrowed his eyes. "So you want to kill the brat?"
A smirk appeared on Ban's face. "I'll have him come to me. It'll be easy."
Taro drank the rest of his water. He left some money on the counter. "Do what you will. Make it entertaining." He got up and left.
Ban chuckled. "Oh it'll be a show for the ages."
--
Kouta waited patiently leaning against a chain-link fence in an abandoned lot.
He had his arms crossed, half asleep.
Kouta's ears twitched as he heard something headed his way. Eyes still closed, he raised his right hand, waited for about two seconds, and caught the thing before it hit his face. He finally opened his eyes and saw an arrow made out of what looked like metal.
"Nice reflexes." Four people walked into the lot.
The arrow in Kouta's hand vanished. "You guys are the Black Dragons?"
The man that shot the arrow at him nodded. "I'm Takuya, and this is my crew."
Takuya and the Black Dragons were like misfits. They dressed in fashionable street clothes and had tattoos in some places.
They all introduced themselves.
Takuya had wild, shaggy black hair with tattoos on his neck.
Hyun-Joo was the second member. He was Korean, with a two block haircut and tattoo sleeves running down both of his arms.
The third member was Fujin. He had low-cut black hair that he kept covered with a black cap.
The final member of the Black Dragons was a girl - Akane. She had long black hair and red eyes.
Kouta could tell that Fujin already didn't like him. He watched him cautiously from underneath his cap.
Takuya put on a friendly smile. "Well, now that that's out of the way, wanna get going?"
Kouta got off the gate. "I was never told what we were doing. Where are we headed?"
"Well our main goal is to apprehend Mandarin. He's an enemy of the boss. Recently he stole some valuable inventory from one of the boss' warehouses."
"We should get going." Hyun-Joo said. He led the way as everyone else including Kouta followed. They got around by hopping rooftops.
The five of them landed in a dark backstreet. They started walking.
"So when did you start working for Shinya?" Akane asked.
"I don't work for Shinya. And I know you're not actually interested in that."
Hyun-Joo looked behind him. "What do you mean Murakami?" he said dryly.
Kouta closed his eyes. "Do we even have any information on where to find this Mandarin guy? And why was I grouped with you four? It's a bit random is all."
Everyone stopped moving.
Takuya was slightly in front of Kouta, with Akane and Fujin behind him. Hyun-Joo was far in front.
Takuya flung his right leg behind him.
Kouta's reflexes were perfect. He narrowly dodged the kick and sent a knuckle punch at his face, which also missed.
Akane and Fujin dashed towards him from behind.
pew, pew.
Two darts shot out the air and hit the two in their necks. They let out grunts of pain and fell to the ground.
Takuya and Hyun-Joo looked up.
Saki innocently waved at them from the building ledge above.
She jumped down to the street.
"Saki?!" Takuya exclaimed. "You're helping him?"
She gave him a sweet smile. "Kouta called me to watch over you guys just in case this was a setup!"
"Tch. We were outfoxed." Hyun-Joo said.
Takuya quickly maneuvered behind Saki and got her in a chokehold. Hyun-Joo then rushed forward at Kouta with his hand outstretched. "I won't fail my mission."
Ice exploded in the backstreet from wall to wall. Kouta had gotten caught up inside.
Saki struggled against Takuya. She couldn't get his hands off of her so she reached down into the pouch on her pants and pulled out a syringe with blue fluid inside. She stuck it into Takuya's leg.
"What did you just do?!" he yelled.
Saki smiled. "Give it a second."
Takuya felt himself lose control over his body. He let go of Saki and fell back on the ground. "She shut down my nervous system..."
Saki playfully stuck out her tongue. "Sorry, not sorry!"
Hyun-Joo turned around. "You're next."
Saki pointed to the ice behind him. "I'm not the one you should be worried about."
Hyun-Joo frowned. "What?" He heard sizzling as he turned around.
The ice was glowing orange from the inside. It broke apart into small ice shards.
"He broke it from the inside?! But that's solid ice!"
The palm of Kouta's hand began glowing a deep orange and giving off steam. He lunged forward.
Hyun-Joo brought his right arm up. Ice began forming from the ground up in spikes.
Saki laughed and started running away out onto the street.
Kouta grabbed Hyun-Joo's right hand with a fiery explosion. The force launched him a few feet in the air. He brought his leg up and down upon Hyun-Joo's head. He then brought his other hand down. Another explosion shot out of his hand with a fiery blaze.
Saki watched as Kouta flew through the air and landed next to her.
"What was all that?" she asked.
"Think I took Sano's vector. He tried to kill me not too long ago. It lets me emit fire from my hands."
Kouta looked at Saki. She was drooling.
"You okay?" he asked.
Saki shook herself out of it. "You're so interesting!! I could die! Your vector takes powers from espers, not just ghouls... But now's not the time for that! We just attacked the Dragons, so you should be able to understand the kind of situation we're in right now!"
--
Police cars began closing in on Kouta and Saki fast. There were at least fifteen squad cars with two officers each.
Saki tugged on Kouta's shirt. "Come on, this isn't good, we have to run!"
Kouta glared at the police cars. "No... I'm gonna teach them a lesson." He held out both of his hands. Blasts of fire shot out as he dragged it across the sea of police. Explosions boomed through the air as each car blew up. Everyone at the scene died immediately. Kouta could feel the warmth of the fire on his skin.
Kouta felt a chill up his spine. He looked back to see Hyun-Joo standing, scowling at him.
"What are you, some kind of devil?" Hyun-Joo said.
Saki backed up a little. "So cool..."
"You gonna turn tail and run away?" Hyun-Joo's palms began glowing blue.
Kouta's eyes glowed. "As if."
They began fighting each other.
Saki watched as the combination of fire and ice caused major destruction around them. She looked off into the distance. She could see more police cars coming their way. "This is getting hectic... I love it!!"