In a room with luxury being the core theme with red carpets, royal blue leather couches with intristic designs, and the expensive jewelry just hanging from the walls sat three people who were looking down on a smooth wooden table.
This was a meeting between three of the Night Descent's leading members.
All three of these people were vastly different from each other. One was an old man with a long, well kempt beard and a robe. Another was a well built muscular man, who wore all of his equipment with him. The last was a girl with short curly hair, chewing gum while fiddling with a grenade in her hand.
On the table they were looking at was a piece of paper with just a picture and a few words: "Headless Demon is dead."
Their expressions were terribly serious and grave.
The old man was first to speak out as he pulled out two folders from inside his robe, hoarsely saying, "This is the most recent investigation."
They were all quick to the point and grabbed the folders once he took them out and placed them on the table.
They read through them with the muscular man saying the few words he deemed important. "Headless Demon, formerly known as Dollar Devil, collapsed in a home during one of his missions due to unknown reasons."
The girl put the grenade down to her side and read through the folder with one hand.
His eyes glazed over a large list of names which were a part of the individual's file. On the next page, he spoke once more, reading out the last few names. "Chester Marple, Preston Richards, Terlon Mory, and Anwar Kanaan."
His intention in reading these names was clear: they are possible suspects on who killed Headless Demon or why they died.
.
The girl raised an eyebrow for a second before laughing. She folded her leg over another and rested her arm over the headrest of the long leather couch she was on, pausing her laugh with a smirk on her face. "Wasn't Terlon Mory or whatever the one that tried investigated the little guy?"
It was well known that the Headless Demon was male due to his deep voice when communicating with others.
The old man nodded silently.
She seemed to know something as she gripped the leather hard. "So the little guy was a little angry? Who even thought of pissing off the small devil?" She excessively laughed to a point of coughing.
The muscular man didn't bat an eyelid as he was still scanning through the papers. His eyes stopped at one spot as he read it over and over, looking for a mistake in what he read.
The old man and the girl undoubtedly caught this detail as the girl leaned in, curious.
"The Headless Demon's remnant will dissipated." He spoke slowly as if confused on the words, himself.
The muscular man and the girl grew expressions that were far more grave than when they came here.
The old man furrowed his brows, accentuating his wrinkles, bringing up the topic he gathered the others for, "Now, now, who could do something like that."
---
---
---
In a normal place on Earth, there was once a boy.
With large strides, great pride, and veins that naturally bulged out of his forehead, this boy walked around the city.
'My name is Tashiro Kiyomori.'
The boy stopped in front of a towering building, looking up at the end of it. He smiled and walked in through the front lobby doors.
"Hello, ID?"
The boy, Tashiro, pulled out an ID and scanned it. He spoke, "I'm here for Ms. Hibberts?"
The receptionist pointed to his right, where there was a large hallway that curved to the left so one couldn't see what lies at the end. "Down the hallway, first door on the right."
'I was once just an innocent little kid. I'd think, 'I want to become rich. I want to become an astronaut, a businessman, and a doctor!' and 'if there's one person I can trust, it would be anyone in my family!' Those thoughts are a little outdated.'
Tashiro stepped into a room almost as if he was carefree. His movements and expressions would surely reveal something like that to anyone who simply watched some of his body language.
In the room were a middle aged couple as it seemed as they were lovingly stroking each other's hands. These people sat across a woman with tied-back hair, black framed glasses, and what looked like a permanent stern expression from the natural wrinkles formed from such a habit.
Once Tashiro stepped into the room, all three of them turned to him with varying emotions. The couple seemed to see disgust and the stern woman was...stern. The stern woman gestured for him to take a seat by the couple.
'This is my mom and pops and that angry lookin' girl over there is Ms. Hibberts.'
"Hiya, Ms. Hibberts." Tashiro smiled as he closed the door behind him and took his seat.
'Ms. Hibberts is mad chill. Ode respect to this b*tch. Back in her old days...Yo, she would mess with cops like they were her little play thing, evading them time and time again. She's still pretty cool like that, but y'know she can't be like that no more since she's a government official.
'Oh yeah, she's still a government official after all the crazy sh*t she did. That...That says enough about her. Oh and this is my mom and pops. I think I said that already?'
Tashiro grabbed a figurine of a giraffe that was on the table and played with it once he sat down.
The woman spoke in somewhat fluent Japanese with a slight accent, communicating to the three of them while looking at a clipboard in front of her, "Ms. and Mr. Kiyomori, what could I help you with?"
Tashiro's mother grabbed a paper from her purse. "Ah yes, they told us to come here for the-um-"
She paused and glanced at Tashiro before whispering to Hibberts, "The therapy."
'Ah, she's such a b*tch.'
Hibberts didn't follow Tashiro's mother's gaze and stared at her. "Yes, that is part of what I do here: therapy."
Tashiro's mother looked at her husband happily, glancing at Tashiro from the corner of her eye. She spoke to Ms. Hibberts happily, "Perfect! Oh, is it okay if we start as soon as possible?"
'Isn't that what you're here for?'
As they started their discussion that occasionally brought Tashiro into it, he grabbed an elephant figurine he found and silently encouraged the lifeless figurines. "Aim for the neck, Setta! No, no, don't try to sweep, Jose!"
This interrupted the discussion and caused troubles, but a personal request from Ms. Hibberts usually fixed this.
'This is my first day of my therapy. I was locked in juvie for three months before I finally left that sh*t hole. And to 'recuperate' with my head injury and 'mental illness', I have to do therapy once every two to three weeks. It's nothing too crazy, so I don't care.'
As the therapy ended with some basic introductions of what to expect in the future, Tashiro's parents left first as Ms. Hibberts requested a private discussion.
Tashiro finally put the figurines down as he looked up to Ms. Hibberts. He smiled in a way that was not at all gentle. "Ms. Hibberts, do you wanna spar?"
Her expression was, without a doubt, much more at ease at this moment, but her stern expression seemed almost instinctive. She responded with that exact expression, "What do you mean by that?"
Tashiro was the one that knew about Ms. Hibberts and she actually knew next to nothing about him, so she was a bit confused about what he was saying.
Tashiro revealed an enlightened expression. "Ah yes, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Tashiro, the Diamond Toad. It's a pleasure to meet the Grey Angel in person."
Ms. Hibberts immediately sighed with a complicated expression. "Who comes up with these names? When was I called the Grey Angel, anyway?"
Knowing she was understanding the situation, Tashiro smiled and shrugged. "Not sure. Actually, there was an investigation involving that and, to be honest, we still seriously have no idea."
Ms. Hibberts spoke with more respect to Tashiro as she pressed with interest, "Oh? And how did the investigation go?"
Tashiro revealed a helpless expression which disappointed her, as it meant it didn't go too well for their interests.. He did add, though, "It was absolutely concluded that it originated within the Twin Tiger's clan. The Headless Demon and The Cardinal created that big of an impact."
Ms. Hibberts nodded in agreement, before awkwardly saying, "Diamond Toad, a-erm- let's just call each other by our normal names."
Tashiro nodded in sincere agreement. "Of course, but…" He looked at Ms. Hibberts with an inquisitive look.
She sighed and nodded with some sort of excitement in her eyes, "Yeah, we could spar. You just tell me the place and time."
'To clarify, Ms. Hibberts, the Grey Angel, is close to a middle aged woman. She's 39…I still wouldn't let my guard down, though.'