Leon Flipped through the folder once more and turned to face his client. "I'll do it for 50 asimi, and..." he pointed to a woman in the photo, "I get to keep the hat." The man gave a crooked smile and lit his cigar "no worries, I'll have it arranged that the hat be retrieved by our next meeting." with that he stood up and tossed a folder onto the counter. "consider this a down payment out of good faith, in there you'll find one-third of your payment" as he walked away he uttered a faint chuckle. Leon cursed him under his breath "fat bastard...". His assignment was to assassinate the captain of the Alpha Crimson platoon. Lana Chrydemer, mother of 3 and married to Richard Chrydemer, who is also in the same platoon. Even though she was the only target, he'd feel better about killing off the entire family. Leon knew the pain of losing family and didn't want to make anyone else feel the same. Every time Leon took a life he felt a sense of dread, but it was the only job he could do right. His innate ability to engineer and utilize weapons were the only ties to his parents he still had. So even with the pain he felt from killing, it was still the one thing that made him feel close to them.
As he left the building, he jokingly started to think about his payment. "Just 50 Asimi isn't much for the extra effort I'm putting into this job, Maybe I should ask for more than that... Then again, I get a cool hat too... There's a lot to consider here," As he walked, there was a little girl on the side of the road. She had brown hair and light skin, she wore blue glasses and was in a uniform unfamiliar to Leon. He assumed she must have been lost and tried to talk to her.
"Excuse me miss, are you lost?"
The girl, who was no longer sobbing, turned to face him and spoke.
"You look funny Mister"
Leon looked at what he was wearing. He hadn't realized that he was still in his armor. The suit was mostly red and black with some hints of white and gray. He figured this color scheme would match his hair, which was jet-black with peculiar red streaks in it.he pressed a few buttons on his wrist and the armor de-materialized, showing the blue jeans and white shirt he wore underneath.
"There, better now?"
"Not much of an improvement, your hair still looks a little weird."
"You're gonna have to deal with it kid, it's a natural look."
She laughed "Sure. Anyway, What's your name mister Natural-Looks"
Leon Thought for a moment. She saw his armor, so he couldn't exactly tell her his false name, as it might raise suspicion.
"I go by Leon Orimura, what's yours?"
"My name is Hirogashi, Natsumi. But you can call me Natsumi-Chan!"
Leon noted that she spoke her surname first, which was rare these days. He shook his head.
"I find that to be a bit too informal for my taste, how about 'Hirogashi-san' for now?"
She was visibly upset with this and pointed at him.
"Fine, but imma still give you a nickname. Hmm… How about Li-chan!"
"You sure are quick to make friends with a stranger."
"Not at all. That armor you wore, it's a mecha-form type right? Those are only worn by Aresotsu military personnel. I'm almost positive you're a good guy!"
Mecha-form stood for "Mechanical Uniform". Leon disagreed with this name mostly because almost none of them looked alike. As for "Aresotsu", that was the name of the reformed Japan after losing world war 4. They fought alongside the United States against the U.K., who along with Germany, France, Belgium, and Poland, absorbed most of Europe to form a single nation known as "Contrenatia". The war was instigated by the U.S. who wanted to seize control over the whole north american continent, while japan was brought into the war by the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty from world war II.
Leon nodded in confirmation. "The one i wear is an original design, it's made of a different material than standard units."
"That's neat, but why was the collar black? Collar indicates rank, but i've never seen that color before"
Leon tried to think up a quick excuse. "For now, let's keep that a mystery"
The young girl appeared confused by this answer but shrugged it off anyway.
"Anyway kid, where are your parents? Did you run off or were you left behind?"
"Oh...that. I kinda snuck out on my own, papa is super overprotective and doesn't let me go outside without an escort."
"What do you mean by--". Leon's sentence was cut short by the sounds of gunfire.
"Get down!" A rain of bullets came at them, piercing their surrounding. Leon assumed the assailant was aiming for Natsumi so Leon grabbed her and attempted to flee. He was shot at several times but he couldn't dodge the last one. "Li-Chan, your shoulder!" Natsumi stood there paralyzed as a figure emerged from the shadows.