A young frail man with dark circles around his eyes is sitting on the grassy fields gazing at the sparkling water on the river crossing; despite the dazzling scenery, he could only focus on the aching in his stomach, for he has not eaten in days.

Staring at the view, he heard a rustling sound near the sidewalk, and out of curiosity and desperation, he decided to follow the direction of the sound as he saw a homeless man wearing a worn-out coat with a hapless expression, scavenging the trashcan with a spark of determination in his eyes. 

The young boy had already spent his time scavenging the bins all throughout the city, yet in the end he still couldn't find a single plate wasted in the bins. In a moment, the hapless man had found a moldy piece of loaf hidden inside the grubby bin. 

He was jealous of the man's

accomplishments and wanted to swipe the bread from the man's hands; he approached the man with a scowl expression. In a moment, the young boy strikes the homeless man in the chin and follows up with a kick to the groin. 

The young boy, out of desperation, continued to assault the homeless man 'til his face became unrecognizable to the naked eye. He took the bread away from the bloodied man and savored the moldy bread with a smile on his face—although it felt as if he was eating something reminiscent of wet dirt, it was all the young man could afford. 

The boy sat on the dusty sidewalk eating the rotten bread like a gremlin—to be fair, he hasn't eaten in days. While eating the bread, he remembered something in the back of his mind.

***

When -aki was about the age of ten, his mother committed suicide after slitting his father's throat in front of them. He didn't understand why, because they had a healthy relationship as a pair, but he assumed that things were supposed to happen in some way or that his mother had a few loose screws.

Ever since their passing, -saki and his sister were forced to live together in the slums. The young boy had all the will to make his sister's life better, even if he had to die in the process. 

After a few years, -aki and his sister were taken in by his relatives—his aunt and uncle were saints who cared for the two as they grew up. 

Although everything fell to rubble when their aunt died from an accidental attack on her way home, killing her and the unborn child in the process, the small kid observed a minor fact about his uncle—his uncle was merely seeking her wife's inheritance, as reflected by the synthetic look of misery in his eyes. 

They soon found out that their uncle was a phony; we weren't actually related in any manner, yet he disguised himself using his skill as an anomaly—we have yet to know where our true uncle is; all we knew was the man was a fraud, and so began our filthy lives again.

He kicked us out of the house and forced me to work in the Yakuza when the boy was eleven. He reluctantly agreed to him—it's not like he had a choice to make in the first place. 

***

His shadow was reflected by the setting sun as he ate the last bite from his bread. 

"Y-you... we could've shared you bastard!"

He looks at the beaten man, annoyed while licking the crumbs off his fingers. He approaches the helpless man and sits on his stomach. 

"Now that's a warmer chair."

He tilts his head to the warm setting sun, gazing as the stream babbles to the faint reflection of the warm atmosphere. 

"You know, I should've brought my sister to see this view."

The beaten man struggled to stand up as the young man was sitting on his abdomen.

"Hnggg... Get off me, you monster!"

"Shut up and enjoy the view."

Sasaki was enjoying the view with a comfortable "chair" when he heard heavy footsteps approaching from behind. 

He turned in the direction of the sound to see his uncle wearing his luxurious clothing and an impudent smile with two lean men wearing a suit as he proudly walked in his direction."

"Hey Sasaki, long time no see."

Sasaki sighed disappointment upon hearing his uncle's voice and pulled out his pockets to reveal nothing but the thin fabric used to hold his belongings. 

"What do you want? If you want money well, you know the answer to your question."

His uncle snickered at his response. 

"Woah, there now; I'm not here to claim your debt, Sasaki."

Sasaki raised his brow, and despite being rather petulant, he was prepared to intently listen to what he was about to offer. 

"Got a job for me?"

"Indeed, I do."

Sasaki got up from his "chair" and leaned closer to his uncle. He knew the rewards he would receive if he'd run errands for the Yakuza. The same goes for the risks he would take—not like high risks would stop. The boy was prepared to accept any mission, with the motivation of giving his sister a better life. 

His uncle took out his cellphone and showed a picture of a worn-out cottage in the woods—the structure of the home has begun to deteriorate, likely due to a lack of management over time.

"Fifty thousand yen."

His uncle smiled, showing him a wad of cash. 

"All this can be yours; you just have to steal a diamond ring inside that shabby cottage."

Sasaki was confused as to how there could be such a valuable item inside a deteriorating cabin—maybe the owner was dozing off when he left a diamond ring in such an open area. 

"How can there be something valuable in such a terrible place?"

His uncle put his phone back in his pocket and smiled at him. 

"You ask me that while you're out here scavenging garbage?" 

Sasaki sighed—realizing that robbing a shabby cabin was no where different from scavenging a trash can.

"Fair point..."

"Well then, I'll get going now; make sure to remember what I said!"

His uncle waved at him as he ventured away from Sasaki. fifty thousand yen—that's five days worth of meals for the two of them, and if they're thrifty, it's ten days worth of meals for both. 

He looked at the trashed man with a jovial expression, and out of nowhere, punting him in the face—out of boredom, Sasaki left the man lying down the ground walking around the city with his hands in his pockets, asking around with a bilthe look. 

The sky closed after the setting sun. As grains of sand scattered around the deep blue sky, Sasaki continued asking around the city about the worn-out cabin—rumors circulated that the cabin I was looking for was somewhat of a haunted place, and in the night they heard multiple voices of spirits scattering throughout the night. I personally do not believe in those superstitions, but information is information. 

While the young boy was asking for directions, he felt a lively presence approach him. A child with vibrant skin tapped his shoulder and stared vigorously at the young boy. 

"Mister! Mister! Are you looking for the haunted house?"

Sasaki conceals his confusion by genuinely smiling at the child in hopes of finding the cabin his uncle was talking about. 

"Well, well, it seems that you know your people, kid! Now tell me, where is that haunted house located?"

In a vigorous manner, the child pointed out the directions of the cabin to Sasaki, eventually leading to his destination. I was an exact replica to the picture shown on his uncle's scrappy phone. 

"There it is, mister!"

The child pointed at the deteriorated cabin with a lively expression. For a moment, Sasaki takes a glance at the young boy to see a figure of her sister reflecting on him. For a moment's notice, he smiled. 

"Alright kiddo, thanks for leading me here; don't forget to go home; your parents must be wondering where you've been."

"Alright, mister, please be safe!"

The child waved goodbye to him as his figure faded away from a distance. 

"You too!"

He shouted back, turned to face the dark cabin, and cautiously walked inside the door. As he gazed around the gloomy living room, he could smell the scent of dust and saw nothing but broken furniture and dirty cobwebs. 

He proceeded to go around the dreary rooms, eventually reaching the kitchen and stumbling onto a glimmer of light from the door inside. 

Sasaki wondered if someone was living in this shabby place, and then he remembered that this cabin had been abandoned for a long time. He unlocked the mystery door to find a plate of meat served in the white room, confident that no one was staying there.

His stomach immediately began grumbling as he stared at the steak for an extended amount of time—after not eating for days, Sasaki was willing to devour anything to restore his body's nutrients. 

"Oh, what a shame for someone to leave you here untreated." 

He approached the table, captivated by the meat's figure, and began to soak up each and every bit of the steak.—He was so immersed in eating that he forgot why he was here in the first place. 

Heavy footsteps passed inside the room, and a man wielding a firearm was taken aback with a grim expression to discover Sasaki munching the meat in front of him. 

"Hey, don't tell me you just..."

Sasaki immersed himself in the moment, ignored the man, and continued to devour the excellent meat in front of him.

"What have you done?!" 

Sasaki gazed at the man, bewildered, as he continued to nibble into the steak.

"What? I just ate my food; what's wrong with it?"

The man approached the youngster and struck Sasaki's abdomen.

"Spit it out!"

Sasaki lashes out at the man's left eye, popping it like a balloon.

"Are you fucking crazy?! If you want to eat that steak too, then we can share you, idiot!"

The man gasped for air and grimaced, gripping his left eye in pain.

"It's not about the food; it's about what you ate!"

As the sound of his dark boots thumped regularly across the floor, a figure in the distance appeared behind the afflicted man, dressed in exquisite attire. The moment he entered the room, Sasaki immediately recognized the man.

"Great timing, uncle. Do me a favor here, won't you?"

Sasaki was pleased to see that his uncle had come to aid him—it was the first time ever that his uncle had helped him in a scenario like this or while carrying out some of his errands with a yakuza.

"Shoot him."

The uncle stated with a failed expression, aiming a gun at the young boy. The man aimed his rifle at Sasaki, irritated by what he did to his eye.

"Oh, so this is how it is, huh?"

Bang! In the blink of an eye, two chambers pierced the young boy's skull—he didn't even have time to pronounce his final words, let alone ask them... why? 

"How long has it been since he'd eaten that flesh?"

The man sighed, disappointed at himself. "I don't know, sir; I just came in here earlier as he's pleasing himself."

The uncle, with a gloomy expression, grabs the man's torn jacket.

"Chop him up into pieces now! Before the auction starts."

"B-but sir, what will we auction?"

The uncle released the man's jacket and gazed at Sasski's corpse.

"Him."

As the uncle sat in that white room starring at Sasaki's corpse, the man dashed off to find something to slice the small boy into pieces.

"It had to be done, Sasaki; you won't be alone though... your sister will be joining you soon."

Scurrying footsteps were heard across the cabin as the man returned with a machete and a garbage bag, prepared to cut apart the youngster limb by limb. 

"Make it quick."

The man took a deep breath as he approached the boy's corpse and began chopping him—first with his right arm, then his right leg, then his left arm and leg, and finally... seizing the boy's head. 

He placed each of Sasaki's limbs into the garbage bag and looked at Sasaki's uncle.

"Where should I toss this?"

"Toss it in the back, also before you do; give me a piece of his foot."

The man, perplexed, took Sasaki's foot from the garbage bag and handed it to the young boy's uncle. 

"What do you need it for?"

"I'm auctioning him instead."

The man concealed his disgusted grimace as he moved to the back of the hut, dragging the tiny boy's reeling limbs. He tosses the waste back into the bushes, then vomits on the other side of the dark forest. 

He gulped for air and pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He put the cigarette in his mouth and searched for the lighter in his pocket. He must have left it in the cabin.

He walks with a tired appearance, looking for the lighter in the cabin. While looking for the lighter, he heard a cracking sound in the kitchen.

"Hey boss, is that you?!"

He yelled, a nasty expression on his face, as he looked down the dark halls going to the kitchen. He cocked his weapon while holding an unlit cigar in his mouth, aiming at what was in front of him as he entered the kitchen. 

A figure stepped out of the light room, and the identical rhythmic steps were repeated in his direction. The uncle turned around to the man carrying a plastic bag with a perplexed look in his eyes. 

"What the hell are you doing?"

The man with a huge weight lifted off his shoulders stopped aiming in his direction. 

"I'm sorry, sir; I thought it was somebody else."

"Get your act together; let's get out of here now; we still have an auction to run."

"Yeah." 

Both of them walked down to the basement, concealing the dismal look in their eyes. As they entered the magnificent surroundings of the basement, they noticed countless rich men and anomalies congregating in the area, conversing with one another while the waiters gave them human flesh and wine. 

"Stay here and guard the entrance; I don't want that kid to ruin this for me."

The uncle left backstage, where the auction was due to take place, leaving the man sitting in the chair, which looked like a cross between a hospital chair and a torture device.

Heading to the backstage with a fake smile, carrying his nephew's foot as he was greeted with the main host. 

"Hello, Jiketsu-san! I'm so pleased to meet you tonight! Have you brought the flesh?"

The uncle chuckled.

"I'm also pleased to meet you tonight, Ganji-san; indeed, I've brought the flesh."

The uncle offered him the paper bag containing Sasaki's foot, which surprised the auctioneer—when selling a portion of an anomaly, severed body parts are worth more than the genuine flesh itself. 

"Quite the find you have his Jiketsu-san; this would go for at least five hundred million yen in a good day!"

The uncle was flattered by the host's compliments. 

"Oh, it's nothing really; I just ordered one of my men from the CAU to hand me a limb of a Grade 1 anomaly."

The host was even more impressed by the uncle's "feats," unaware that he was lying with a genuine face. 

"Connections with the CAU and auctioning off a Grade 1 anomaly! I'm all the more impressed, Jiketsu-san; I'll be all the more glad selling this to the bidders!"

"Thank you, Ganji-san. If you'll excuse me, I'll leave that bag to you. I'll be sitting in the audience now; it has been a tiring day today."

"I understand Jiketsu-san; I wish for you to have a good time throughout the show."

The uncle exited backstage and went up to one of the VIP seats in the crowd, where both of his bodyguards waited for him. As soon as he sat down, the speakers started feeding back as the show had begun. 

"Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you're having a good day tonight. I can see that many of you have gathered here tonight curious of what tonight has to offer!"

Ganji pointed at his human assistant in the edge with a rope hung on his neck as he's standing at the edge of the plasistan—the human was shedding an ugly expression in the crowd, forcing himself to smile while he's on the verge of tears. 

"As soon as I press this button, my assistant there will hang himself! While acting a mechanism that will reveal tonight's product! And while you're at it, please indulge in today's cuisine, deep-fried fingers!"

—human fingers

The crowd of anomalies chanted ecstaticly as their voices echo throughout the room. 

"Press it! Press it! Press it!"

Ganji smiled, tossing the button at the crowd with a psychotic grin. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'll leave the decision for you to make!"

The crowd jumped in chaotically to the place of the button, ready to press it. Due to the turmoil, someone mistakenly pushed the button, eliminating the platform under the assistant and causing his death while simultaneously revealing the item as it popped up the stage through a compartment below. 

"Well well, my friends! Tonight's auction is a Grade 1 anomaly's severed limb!"

The audience murmured in delight as soon as they heard those words.

"Well, my friends, as soon as I press this button, the bidding may now begin!" 

The speaker buzzed as the auctioneer punched the button enthusiastically. And in the flash of an eye, everyone began raising their signs, indicating the sum they were bidding—Thirty million yen... Fifty million yen. Two hundred fifty million yen! 

"Two hundred fifty going up!"

Ganji looked amidst the crowd to see an offer of three hundred million yen written from the VIP lounge. 

"Three hundred going up!"

The audience raised their signs again to indicate their bids—three hundred fifty million yen... Six hundred million yen... A billion yen! Ganji hit the buzzer. 

"Sold! To the mister with one billion-"

In a moment's notice, the auctioneer's mouth dripped a thin red line, and the crowd was perplexed as claws formed of bones protruded from the auctioneer's chest. 

"You... you thought you could kill me, huh?! Uncle!"

Sasaki with a peg leg made of bones gazed at the VIP seats, infuriated, as he formed a big spear out of bones and threw it toward the exit, blocking the route out. The uncle smiled as he laughed hysterically at Sasaki. 

"What's wrong? You accepting your fate?!"

"No, Sasaki, it looks like you're the one who trapped yourself here! This room is filled with countless anomalies ready to kill you foolish child!"

The audience displays their abilities to Sasaki—some people having veins come out of their skin, some having enhanced muscles, and some possessing the same ability as him. 

"Then bring it on! I've long waited for this moment so I won't have to run your stupid errands anymore!"

His uncle glared sharply at him from a distance. 

"All of you, whoever kills that brat gets the flesh for free!"

The throng murmured with enthusiasm, knowing that the reward for such a low-risk effort was on its way! Everyone began lunging at the young boy, with all of their attacks directed at him.

Sasaki used his ability to produce dual kodachi and jumped above the mob, slicing and stabbing everyone and everything on his journey to freedom. 

"Twenty! Fifty! A hundred heads! I'm starting to loose count, uncle!"

He continued hacking and slashing every single one of the guests as he produced countless weapons using his ability.—pistols, swords, spears, poles! Nothing was able to stop the boy. 

A thread of veins from all directions came to penetrate him, but Sasaki easily sliced through their ineffective attacks. 

While Sasaki was slaughtering the anomalies in the basement, his uncle tightened his hands in rage, staring at his two bodyguards. 

"You two fight that brat!"

The both looked at each other and nodded as they jumped down from the top into the audience seat, activating their kigai—the one guard with a Sokkudo (heart) igai and one with a Ito (vein) kigai. 

The man with the Sokkudo type blitzed Sasaki in an instant, but he met his doom as Sasaki manipulates the bone from the ground, piercing his neck while blasting the man with the Ito type behind him. 

Sasaki looked around the stage and saw that every single person who attempted to murder him had died—the number was exactly 327 participants. He glared at his uncle, smirking with excitement as he grasped his dual swords securely.

"W-wait Sasaki, we can talk about this."

Sasaki chuckled madly as he looked at his uncle's sad expression and pointed his blade toward the man's forehead. 

"You didn't even try to talk about it when you killed Auntie! You bastard!"

He punts his uncle in the groin as he squealed in pain, knowing that his Shinkei (brain) type kigai was of no use for his Kosshiken (bone) type."

"That's for the unborn child you killed when you disposed of Auntie!"

Sasaki pulls a chainsaw from his bones and starts it, manically staring at his uncle's gloomy look.

"This is for Auntie!"

He cut his torso in two diagonally, mirroring how his aunt died. He produces a pistol made out of bones and aims it at his brain. 

"And this, this if for killing me!"

Sasaki shot his uncle in the head twice, knowing he couldn't fight back. Sasaki was finally free—free from the Yakuza and debts. He felt a heavy weight fall off his chest as he stepped to the podium to reattach his foot.

"Ah, this feels much more natural than walking with a peg."

Sasaki was having a moment of relief bouncing about with his limb reattached when the ceiling suddenly fell—armed men with black uniforms dropped down as they witnessed countless dead bodies scattered around everywhere while aiming their guns at Sasaki. 

"Oh, can't I just catch a break?!"

Sasaki made a pole with his kigai and moved towards the armed personnel, whose weapons were aimed at Sasaki's head. The moment Sasaki stepped foot in an attempt to approach the men, the luxurious basement suddenly turned black. 

"Did I die?"

Sasaki attempted to look about but was unable to move his head; the viewpoint became clear when he spotted little grains of sand scattered around the environment. He hears water flowing, feels the sun's warmth, and observes vegetation growing and decaying.

Sasaki felt like he was in space, locked in place as he slowly wandered off slowly into the vast abyss for what felt like years. In a distance, he spotted a dark creature wearing the CAU uniform move towards him, a pleasant grin on its face. 

"Sasaki Jiketsu... Grade 1 Anomaly, I am hereby allowed to use lethal force against you, so please try your best to cooperate with us or else... you won't be having another revival soon."