Marika told everything to her parents. She exposed Shinzo's dirty deeds and plots to Takeru and Mizuki, and they were very shocked after finding out about it. Takeru admitted that he wanted to build a partnership with a friend of his back during his school days, but he didn't know about it. He apologized to his daughter, and scrapped his partnership with Kamiyama Industries. Mizuki was glad to hear about it, since she also knew about Shinzo and his dirty deeds. As a result, she contacted her sister Yuzuki about a partnership with the Futaba clan, where Mizuki came from. The matriarch of the clan, Emi Futaba, who also happened to be Alfredo's maternal grandmother agreed with the partnership.
Meanwhile, Alfredo just graduated from Rurigaoka Middle School, and now he's continuing his academic studies at Rurigaoka High. He also just had his 15th birthday months ago, with Yurika and his other friends joining in. She also baked a special birthday cake just for him, while his friends bought him lots of gifts. He felt happy and excited as he blew the candle and tore through the presents as if he's still a kid. Even Mizuki sees the inner children within her beloved son, despite the fact that he is now a responsible and independent teenager, but still clingy at certain times. Alfredo is a very filial person and he loves and respects his mother and father.
From all of the presents he got, he prefers his mother's hand-knitted red scarf. With it, she wishes that Alfredo will become a skilled ninja in the future, though he prefers being a swordsman like his father. Days later, Shinzo felt angry and pissed after hearing that Takeru rejected his offer of partnership. He roared in anger as he saw the news that Takahitsuji Securities has forged a partnership with Futaba Food and Pharmacies. He couldn't believe that his former childhood friend would betray him, though he didn't knew that it was Marika that prevented Takeru from partnering up with him.
But his rage didn't stop there. When he saw the news about Kamiyama Industries' corporate misconduct and allegations of abuse from its former employees, he threw a wine bottle into the television, destroying it in the process. His wife and his son Natsume watched in fear as Shinzo spat out foul words from his mouth. He cursed Takeru and Mizuki for their partnership, to the point he had a sudden urge to eliminate his business rivals. When Natsume heard about it, he knew that he's friends with Alfredo and Yurika, though he can't reveal the fact that he's the son of the vile businessman himself. If Alfredo knows, he will be very angry and might not hesitate to kill him.
"Oh geez! My dad's gone bazonkers and now I'm very worried about my friendship with Aru-kun.. God knows what happens next!"
"Fuck those Takahitsuji and Futaba infidels! They shall pay for betraying me, and for exposing my true intentions to the rest of the world! For this, I shall make them suffer"
"Honey, aren't you aware of what have you done to your employees and to the people of Sunshine City?! I can't believe you're such a dirty person!"
"SILENCE, YOU BITCH!!"
Shinzo then grabbed his wife's hair and threw her across the room. Natsume watched in fear as she saw her mother crashed into the wall, lying limp and broken. He wasn't finished yet. He grabbed his cigarette lighter and gave Mrs. Kamiyama some burns on her skin, to make her scream and suffer. Natsume pleaded to stop, but he couldn't. His father threatened to kill him if he spill off the beans about what he has done to his own wife. As a final punishment, Mrs. Kamiyama was locked inside the mansion's old closet. She couldn't eat anything there, and almost starved to death.
Back in the Takahitsuji residence, Alfredo got a phone call from Natsume. He told that he saw Shinzo abusing his mother in front of her after what happened to him. He also told that he wanted Takeru to arrest Shinzo for committing acts of misogyny against his own wife. As he heard about what Natsume said, Alfredo's heart sank. He wanted to talk about it to Takeru, but he was too afraid. However, Takeru told him that there's nothing to be afraid of, and he told everything what Natsume saw during the phone call.
"I can't believe Kamiyama-san gone this far. Looks like I'll need to do some investigations, though this is going to be tough"
"I'm feeling unsure. Shinzo will literally do anything"
"I know, Aru-kun. But as a person who upholds justice in this very city, it's up to me to clean up his mess. I'll send some of my officers tomorrow!"
On the next day, Takahitsuji Securities officers circled the Kamiyama residence. Shinzo and Natsume were nowhere to be seen, but his wife was there. She was evacuated by the officers, and Mrs. Kamiyama was in an emaciated yet traumatized condition. She had to be taken to the hospital for further treatments, and the officers will still be looking for the corrupt CEO and his son. Alfredo didn't wanted Natsume to be arrested, yet he couldn't believe that his own father took him away. The Kamiyama residence was sealed with police lines for investigation. Natsume was absent from school on the next day, and Marika wondered where did Natsume went.
Meanwhile, Shinzo and Natsume managed to escape the officers. They took refuge at a building in the island's southeastern portion, a rather seedy and dark place inhabited by the infamous Blood Gear gang. In that building, Shinzo established Krait Energies, a new company owned by him after Kamiyama Industries was closed due to allegations of abuse and misconduct. Under the guise of researching and innovating renewable energy, Shinzo experimented upon his own son, and find out that Esper Sigils can be converted into energy that could power an entire city. However, Natsume himself felt as if he almost died due to the experiments, but he stayed strong.
"Dad… Please… stop.."
"Nah! As soon as I capture a lot of Espers, I'm gonna make a lot of money by fooling those politicians in the mainland Japan that I discovered a form of renewable energy. Global warming ain't gonna stop itself, eh?"
"No dad…. I'm gonna…"
"Gonna what? Gonna die? Bahahahahahah!! You talk too much! If you don't obey me, then YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Okay.."
After establishing Krait Energies, Shinzo established a partnership with the local Blood Gear gang. He met and spoke with the leader herself, Christie Myers. Shinzo felt as if Christie is not human, but he didn't mind about it. Even the other Blood Gear members doesn't feel human. They felt as if they were alien to humans and Espers alike. He offered the black-haired woman an alliance to crumble the Takahitsuji and Futaba clans, as well as their allies. Christie agreed, since she had a hatred towards Espers. She wanted to kill and slaughter some Espers to fulfill her lust for blood, and her time has come. As soon as the partnership forged, the Blood Gear members came out of their hidings and began to prowl through Sunshine City at night.
Marika felt a disturbance as she went to sleep. She felt as if something dangerous is coming towards the mansion. However, she dismissed it as her own feelings and went to sleep anyways. On the next day, things went normally for Alfredo, except that he got news from Marika that his grandparents are invited for a dinner together by an unknown person. He felt suspicious about it, worrying that it might be some sort of a trap or something. He wanted to come over, but Marika said that there's nothing to be worried about. That is, until the Futaba matriarch and her husband went to the place later that night.
"Come in, Mr. and Mrs. Futaba, we welcome you to this glorious dinner"
"Yes, we appreciate your invitation. We will enjoy this dinner together, right honey?"
"Umm.. yes we will! Haha!"
As they walked into the house, the door behind them shut. Turned out the dinner invitation was a lie. They were trapped inside what used to be Shinzo's old mansion, now repurposed as a trap by him after the Takahitsuji Securities officers and personnel finished their investigation. Alfredo's grandma and grandpa tried to escape, but all of the doors has been locked. Before they even managed to escape, Christie, caught up to them and slaughtered them both with her knife.They writhed and left to die inside the mansion, as the Esper woman and her elderly human husband died in their own pool of blood. Before the Takahitsuji Securities officers caught up to them, both Shinzo and Christie escaped back to their headquarters.
On the next day, Mr. and Mrs. Futaba's bodies were found by Takahitsuji Securities officers, who conducted another investigation after a local denizen reported of hearing screams from inside the supposedly abandoned mansion. Their bodies are delivered to the Takahitsuji residence inside caskets, still wearing their clothes and cleaned from blood. Alfredo broke into tears seeing his maternal grandparents already left the mortal realm. Accompanying the officers is Alfredo's maternal aunt, Yuzuki Futaba. She resembled Mizuki a lot, except she had shorter hair, and a softer voice. She told Alfredo that it was her who heard them screaming and reported the incident to the officers.
"Grandma, Grandpa… Don't go…"
"It's OK, Aru-kun. You still have me, Mom, Dad and Mari-nee. They have departed from this world."
"If only I was there.."
Alfredo felt guilty that he was unable to protect his grandparents. He was trusted as the next heir of the Takahitsuji clan, yet he felt that he was a disgrace. Alfredo felt down and depressed after what happened to his grandparents, and he was unaware that they were murdered in cold blood. That is, until Yuzuki revealed that she heard screams from the supposedly abandoned mansion. Alfredo remembered that it was Shinzo's mansion, but he wondered how he came back to that mansion despite the fact that it was sealed by Takahitsuji Securities officers. He went to the mansion, and saw police line tapes around it. He wondered again, and thinked of something to prevent the deceitful businessman from ever using it again.
"Maybe there should be a way to demolish this mansion, or else Mom and Dad would be the next victim!"
Before even Alfredo thought of something, Natsume approached him. He told him that he wants to spend some time together. The depressed Esper boy reluctantly accepted his offer and decided to go out for a night out together at the mall, without Yurika this time. Whilst Alfredo is away and Marika is still doing her work in the tower, Christie snuck into the mansion with her knife in hand. Takeru and Mizuki were asleep, and unaware that there was an intruder sneaking into the mansion. When she heard a slight rustle, Mizuki woke up and went downstairs. She saw Christie in the ground floor, waiting to kill her. Before Mizuki even fought back, Christie suddenly used her quick reflexes to slash the busty Esper woman in the throat. She was unable to scream, but able to gargle in pain as blood gushed from her throat and mouth. Takeru rushed downstairs with Alfredo's Black Sky sword in hand, but he was dispatched quickly before he cuts down the Blood Gear leader. Takeru bled to death after he fell into the floor, and Christie left the mansion quickly. Knowing that it's almost midnight, Alfredo bidded farewell to Natsume and went back home to the mansion. What he saw there was something that scarred him for life.
"A….Aru-kun… come here…"
Mizuki wanted her son to come by her as she struggled for her life. Takeru already dead by the time he came there, but Mizuki still had enough strength to tell her last words to her son. She gave him her meteor shard pendant as a heirloom from her, and she told him to continue his father's legacy as the next patriarch of the Takahitsuji clan. Before she died, Mizuki shared a one last hug with her beloved son, before a blinding white light flashed on her eyes, signalling her death. As Mizuki fell limp on her own puddle of blood, Alfredo screamed in agony as he watched in disbelief. As he screamed, a mysterious black smog came out from his chest. The smog billowed into his mouth, and he felt an immense pain inside his head.
Alfredo screamed harder as the smog overwhelmed him. He didn't knew that something lived inside him for a long time, and the pain progressively grew from a strong headache to something equivalent of being stabbed in the skull or having his head smashed with a hammer or a club. He couldn't bear the pain anymore, and fell unconscious as a result. As he laid limp on the floor beside his mother, Alfredo's eyes suddenly opened for a while. His pupils are no longer the bright vermilion it used to be, but instead a pair of blood-colored scarlet pupils with darker scleras. It felt as if Alfredo looked lifeless, or as if he came back from the dead. The unconscious Esper boy was then evacuated to the hospital by Lazuline personnels led by his elder sister, along with the dead bodies of Mizuki and Takeru.
"Uhh.. where am I? What happened?"
"Takahitsuji-san, you're in an infirmary. I'm afraid to say that you fell unconscious from shock caused by your parents' death. We are currently monitoring your physical and mental health, and you are not allowed to leave until you're fully recovered. I recommend you to take a rest."
Alfredo woke up inside the infirmary, still wearing his blood-soaked hoodie. He looked at the mirror and saw his scarlet eyes. He was shocked after seeing it, thinking that he has turned into a monster thanks to his grievance and depression. But before he turned back, a he heard a voice inside his head that sounds oddly like him. He told him not to feel sorry for not being able to protect his parents, but to avenge them instead. He saw the pendant from Mizuki, and his Black Sky sword placed neatly beside his bed. He then unsheathed the sword under the mysterious being's behest, charged his Sigil and escaped from the infirmary.
"MUST.. AVENGE… MIZUKI… TAKERU…"
The four words muttered by the possessed Alfredo. He fought his way through Zarvox robots with his sword as he escaped the infirmary. He didn't care if his elder sister created those robots, he only cared about vengeance to make sure that his parents and grandparents are resting in peace in Heaven. Alfredo then jumped into the dark of the night, and Marika couldn't believe the mess he made. The Lazuline personnels were out of luck on capturing him either, but none of them were harmed by the rampaging Esper. Marika began to feel both afraid and worried about her beloved younger brother.