"Its great news if none of your family member has ever ran into a member of the Tokyo Ghouls. They have been quiet a bugger in Tokyo recently… I'm curious what their motives are."
Hibiki had been monitoring the gang's movement ever since he heard about them from the news that was 6 months ago. And ever since then, Hibiki only knows few information about the members, mainly their leaders.
From Hibiki and Noel's report, the gang consisted of five group. These five groups were led by individuals with strong minds. And the leader, the one sitting on top of everyone was named "The third eye king".
Two of the group's members were repeatedly caught every time they try to do something that breaks the law. The two groups were named "Division one" and "Division two". They were the largest group but after many times getting caught, they have significantly less members than before.
The three other groups, presumed to be also named "Division three", "Division four", and "Division five", doesn't have as much reports about their activities as much as the first two. Noel presumed that the three divisions worked underground and moves secretly below everyone's eyes.
Shouta was thankful for the information, but he was curious about one thing.
"Why are you sharing this information with me?"
The information that Hibiki shared with him felt like it was something classified; a secret between only them. But Hibiki told him anyways, and he was willingly. And also⸺
"There is one reason"
Hibiki said, shuffling through the files on his desk.
"Noel had found out one of the leader has been lurking around Kamakura and Fujisawa. The leader has been sighted many times but no one didn't do a thing about it."
"…"
"Kazehaya, you and your family lives in Kamakura, right?"
"…How do you know?"
"Well… Through a manga named: Kamisato Shouta's Dream. A work made by my daughter, Sara Fujiwara."
※
"Ugh…"
Sara Fujiwara was waking up. Her eyes opened and the warm ceiling above greeted her with a depressing look. That roof didn't fit into her good memories.
The time Sara had woken up, everyone was already asleep, but most of the hard working kimonos were still awake.
Sara sat up and notice that the clothes she wore yesterday was not covering her body. Replacing its place was a warm and soft sleeping attire, made by the Fujiwara family. It has their name on the side of the arm.
But feeling the new warm clothes didn't make her confused nor the fact that someone changed her clothes while she was asleep. Once her mind was set to the real world, she looked to her right. It was a habit from before. When she wakes up in her apartment, she would always look right to check her phone. But now, what she found was a sleeping Kawabe Hinata.
"Good evening, Miss Sara"
"…?"
There was someone on the other side of the room, she was leaning on the wall and she didn't display her elegance image.
"You are?"
"I am Krista Noelle"
Krista Noelle, the highest ranked gray kimono. She was a candidate to become a purple kimono but she declined to become one and stating that serving her master directly was better.
Krista Noelle was born in Japan but both of her parents mere Germans. Unlike her parents, she grew up on Japanese land and enjoyed the things the things that Japan had to offer.
But when she was entering high school, her family had financial issues and they could barely pay any bills. But luckily, her father was friends with Hoono Fujiwara and he offered their daughter a job at his house.
At first, both of the parents were slightly suspicious about the offer but risked it for the sake of their daughter's future. And once Noelle arrived at the manor, she was shown around the house and the tasks that she has to do every day. And just like everyone, she started from the very bottom ⸺ the red flower patterned kimono.
"And you work for?"
"I work for Master Hibiki Fujiwara. I serve as his right wing"
[So he's not here anymore… huh?]. Sara's mind thought. Her old man wasn't someone named Hibiki, but Hoono. That is, how she remembered it.
"And who did you serve before him?"
"Before Master Hibiki, I serve the previous head of the family, Hoono Fujiwara"
"Do you know where he is now?"
"…?"
"…"
※
She was leaning against the wall in a dark alley way between tall buildings in Shibuya. Her hand was busy scrolling through the phone, passing by many news article about the Tokyo Ghouls.
"How long will you take to tear down this gang…? You're taking a long time y'know that, Kanao?"
She was taking to herself. Kanao Yoshimura was remembering the goal that she had before joining the gang.
※
In the office of Fj Bunko, Sumi Fujiwara was holding the files for the new volume of Kamisato Shouta's Dream. Her short break ended and now, she was sitting in her desk doing nothing. She was holding the files for the new volume so she could read it before anyone else could and there was no problem with that because they had already printed thousands of copies but yet to distribute them to the sellers.
She opened the folder and started reading from the cover. Covers can sometimes have an important story element that could foreshadow what would happen in the volume. And what she saw was the main female character ⸺ Kuriyama Nodoka ⸺ standing on the platform in Fujisawa station. She was alone and the trains passing her was drawn as if they were passing her and not stopping.
"Interesting choice, Sara"
Then she flips the pages and started reading the whole book.
Meanwhile, in the other side of the office, Seiko Fujiwara was examining the story that her sister gave to her.
"Attack on Humanity"
It was the story that Shouta wrote and was sent by his father to the company. And Shouta also submitted in their website, not knowing that his father gave his story to the same company.
Sumi, when she first heard about Sara's book, she immediately wanted to know what the story was about. And when she first looked at it, she was astonished by Sara's detailed art but still having an anime feeling to it. And even now, Sara's art still doesn't disappoint her sisters.
Her art gets better after more releases of her manga. The first volume's art was detailed but it was slightly rough and not so good shading. But in the next five volumes, her art improved tremendously. And now, with the 19th volume releasing, the manga's background art and some serious pages was hyper realistic, but she kept the same character designs and not changing them to almost perfect picture of a human.
The sound of the folder closing was suppressed by the walls of her office. She had read the 19th volume and was satisfied about it.
"You're so talented… I really… Envy you, y'know?"
Sumi said to herself.
Suddenly, after Sumi put the folder on top of many other folders on her desk, Seiko barged in through the office door, carrying a large folder.
"Hey! Sumi!"
Seiko shouted, falling on the floor. The folder exploded once hitting the floor and papers flew everywhere.
"Seiko! Don't do that!!"
"Sorry sorry"
"What is it? It's not normal for you to be this excited"
"Don't say that"
Sumi helped Seiko clean the papers that flew everywhere in Sumi's office. Sumi then noticed a large bolded text on the paper.
[Attack on Humanity?]
"Seiko, were you reading this?"
"Yeah! Whoever gave you that has a great taste."
"Then it must really good?"
"Yeah! We should really make this into a book"
"But the art…"
Sumi grabbed a paper which has the character drawings.
"These are… Not as good as Sara's"
"Well… we'll work out how to fix the art but the story itself is genius!"
※
"The character in her work is… quite similar to you."
"…"
"I'm telling you this because I want to keep Sara and the one she loves safe. I want Sara to stay happy and smiling. And it seems that you're the catalyst of her happiness!"
"…"
"So that's why I want to keep you and your family safe. To keep Sara happy"
"…"
There was a pause. Hibiki just stated that he wanted to make Sara happy and keep her safe. Which was something that a father should do to their daughter or son. It was a natural thing to do as a parent. But something was bothering Shouta's mind.
In the fifth volume of Kamisato Shouta's Dream⸺⸺
"You are portrayed in the fifth volume as a terrible father…"
"…"
"Fujiwara Hibiki… Please tell me"
"…"