[Note: Feel free to skip the following side chapters if you do not wish to read them. Although I still recommend reading them to see what really sets this story apart from others — the rich, extensive characters — they are not crucial to the main plot.]
*****
- Eight Years Ago, Within a Dark Alleyway of District A -
"Hit him!"
"Haha! Feels great to have a punching bag, after a long day!"
"Ngh… agh…" A boy, squirming on the ash-grey ground, groaned in pain, clutching his head tightly and curling his body up into a ball. "Please… stop…"
"Hey, you hear that, boss?" One of the delinquents beating him up laughed. "He's begging us to stop."
"Oh?" The leader of the gang jumped off of the trash can he had been sitting on and blew out smoke from his mouth, tossing the cigarette he had been smoking onto the ground and crushing it beneath his feet.
