Sasaki was going through the city with an inquisitive expression on his face—he was seeking someone. While the engines screamed, a car passed by the boy's vision, and he noticed a man. He had dark hair with a turquoise hue in the back and was dressed in a CAU outfit.
'He must be the guy.'
Sasaki approached the man as some people in the crowd passed by. The man has dark silk hair that reaches his shoulders and a tinge of turquoise in the back.
"Uh, hey, you're my buddy, right?"
The man, who appeared to be waiting for someone, stared at Sasaki with confusion. He looked at every area of his body as if he were examining the young boy.
"You are?"
Sasaki cleared his throat.
"I'm Junior Investigator Sasaki Jiketsu, Nakaruma-san? Nakahara? I forgot his name, but he sent me here."
The man sighed in disappointment.
"It's Nakahara."
"Oh there! Yeah, you're right, it's Nakahara!"
The man lit a cigarette and puffed it for a bit, then scowled at the young boy.
"You smoke, kid?"
"Nah, I'm Fifteen."
The man looked at Sasaki with a pleased expression while concealing his smile.
"Partially disciplined, I like that."
The man threw the cigarette in the ground and sighed as he fixed his tie.
"Alright, let me introduce myself. I'm Takehiko Ryuji, you'll only call me Ryuji-san, not Ryu, not Takehiko, and mostly not anything that would ever come up in that brain of yours, are we clear?"
Sasaki was sleeping off the entire chat owing to lack of sleep while cleaning his nose. I snapped back for a second.
"Uh, yeah, Ryuma-san."
Ryuji glared at him with disappointment.
'When did they start hiring airheads for the CAU?'
"Alright, lets go on patrol now; we shouldn't be indulging in idle chat during work hours."
"Yeah, sure."
Ryuji looked at Sasaki with a curious expression.
'I wonder what this guy could bring to the table...'
They began patrolling the city while also assisting individuals with simple tasks such as directing a lost child to their parent and assisting the elderly in crossing the street.
While patrolling, they stumbled into a dark alley. Sasaki detected a strange odor in the air.
"Hey, something's off about this alley."
Ryuji gazed at him, lifting his brow.
"Hm? How so?"
"This place reeks of blood!"
Sasaki dashed into the dark alleyway without thinking. Ryuji began walking in the direction Sasaki had sprinted to.
"Hey Sasaki, you see anyone!"
Ryuji looked around the dark alley to notice a wounded woman lying down on the ground.
"Oh, hey, miss, have you seen my buddy?"
The woman's eyes filled with hope, and she leaped into Ryujis arms.
"Please! Help me; an anomaly attacked just now."
"There you are!"
In the blink of an eye, Sasaki rammed his bone rod into the woman's skull. As she assumed the form of a man.
"Ugh, you're a man?!"
Sasaki said in disgust; he anomaly looked at him in anger and growled.
"Why you, you bas-"
In an instant, Sasaki slanted his bone-made rod to the man's jaw, repeatedly dislocating it while knocking him out.
Sasaki looked at Ryuji with a confused expression.
"Can we report this to the headquarters?"
Ryuji had a few things on his mind while dozing off for a minute looking at the knocked-out anomaly.
"Hm, you know... the more damaged they are, the more they'll praise us there."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, you should create a second pole so that we can continue beating his ass."
Sasaki grinned from ear to ear as he produced another pole with his ability and tossed it to Ryuji. The two continued bashing their poles into the beaten man with a frantic look on their faces until they were really exhausted. They then dragged the man across the street till they got to the headquarters.
They reported to Yozo with a straight face as they carried the man, showing his unrecognizable figure to him.
"You didn't overdo it, right?"
"I'm here to vouch that Ryuji-san's ability was just that kind."
"And I'm here to vouch that ny junior is doing well in his first patrol."
Yozo gazed at their expressionless features, perplexed—he had never seen Ryuji like this, on a good or bad day.
"Uhm, alright, then just place him there; I'll transport him to prison afterwards for identity theft."
"Is that all Nakamura-san?"
Yozo glared at Sasaki in confusion.
"It's Nakahara, Sasaki, and also that's not everything. I've assigned another junior to your squad, and she's a Grade 4 anomaly we've just captured earlier. To be honest, she was begging me to join the CAU when she was in my realm, so we had to choose to agree."
During Yozo's explanation, the door abruptly dropped to the ground, as if a figure had forced it open. They both looked at who it was and saw a woman with crimson eyes and snow-like short hair, with her skin as pale as snow.
"You guys locked the door."
Yozo looked at the beautiful woman with an apologetic expression.
"Ah, I'm sorry about that, Nara-chan. Well, since she's here, why don't you guys approach her yourself?"
Sasaki and Ryuji exchanged stares, wondering who would approach the woman first. Sasaki ended up approaching Nara and reaching out his hand.
"Hey, I'm Sasaki, and I'm going to be your buddy."
Nara gave Sasaki a perplexed look—she was observing Sasaki's features. He turned to look at his hand, reached toward her, gesturing a handshake, and turned back to his eyes.
"I'm interested in women, sorry."
The whole room had a confused vibe, as if their hopes had been shattered to dust.
"Huh?"
The entire room yelled at the same time, staring at the young girl in confusion.
They ended up stepping outside with a downcast attitude, following the young girl to their apartment provided out by the CAU. Out of boredom, Sasaki began murmuring things to Ryuji.
"Hey, Ryuji, are all attractive women lesbians?"
Ryuji murmured back to him with a confused and low tone.
"The world is fucked right now, Sasaki; we can't do anything about it."
During their aimless conversation, they finally arrived at their apartment. The three climbed to the fifth compartment via the stairs and sought room 203.
They discovered the room, and Sasaki was sleeping off with a delighted grin as the other two couldn't help but wonder where the boy's happiness was coming from. They took out the apartment keys to unlock the door but saw it was already unlocked.
"Well, well, guys, if you may excuse me!"
Sasaki walked past the two as he opened the door to the apartment with an elegant expression.
"Sister, I'm home!"
The other two exchanged confused looks and wondered why Sasaki was spouting such nonsense.
"Sister? I'm not your sister."
"I'm not talking about you; I'm talking about my sister!"
Nara glared at him with a confused look 'til she noticed a frail figure with dark hair and pale eyes rub its eyes as if it were woken up in its sleep.
"Miyuki!"
Sasaki raced to his sister and greeted her with a warm, fierce hug, causing both of them to drop on the floor—the CAU agreed to let Sasaki's sister stay in the apartment complex with the other two and even paid for her scholarship.
"You have a sister?!"
They both yelled because they had not expected his sister to live with the three of them.
"Well yeah, of course I do."
"You didn't even mention her to us."
Nara glared in disappointment.
"Well, why would I? We've just met, and second of all, you like women, so you might hit on her!"
"What about me?!"
Ryuji yelled in confusion.
"You like women too!"
"But you told Yozo about her, and he likes women!"
Ryuji replied back.
"He offered to help my sister!"
"Can you three shut the fuck up?"
Miyuki exclaimed, upset by the chaos, as she returned to her room to sleep off the day. The two entered the apartment, left their shoes at the entrance, and rested for the day.
Sasaki went to the drawer below the television to search for something hidden in it.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Nara inquired with a perplexed tone as she turned on the television as a reality TV show was playing. Sasaki ignores her and continues to look for something while the television is playing.
"Can you get off the drawer? Your ass is blocking the view!"
Sasaki ignored her and resumed his search for something in the drawers. Nara, annoyed, jumped up from the couch and kicked Sasaki's crotch, which was exposed to attacks.
"Gargh! What the hell!"
Sasaki fell to the floor as he clutched the drawer; in vengeance, he covertly produced a boned hammer and flung it to the girl, who wove the hammer thrown at him, destroying the microwave in the kitchen.
"Can you two quit it for the love of god? You've already destroyed the damn microwave by being here for only a day!"
"She started this when she kicked my jewels while I was searching for video games in the drawer!"
"What, me?! You men truly are liars! First of all, you were blocking my reality TV show, and you were blocking the view with that ass of yours!"
"Can you three shut up? I'm trying to sleep here!"
Miyuki shouted, annoyed by the commotion.
The three glanced at each other silently as they returned, as if nothing had happened. Sasaki sat on the couch with Nara, but they were not close. As they were watching a reality show on television.
After hours of binge-watching television, it had finally turned night time, Nara's stomach begins to growl as she casts an indirect glance toward Sasaki.
"You, boy, cook me some food!"
Sasaki continued watching the television and sighed.
"Hey Ryuji, can you cook her something?!"
He shouted to Ryuji, who was in his room reading a manga.
"Hey Ryuji, you hear me?!"
"Do it yourself!"
Sasaki rolled his eyes and stood up from the couch to go to the kitchen, which was located behind the living room. He searched through the ingredients and food in the refrigerator to see what he could make with them.
He closed the fridge and looked in the drawer, where he noticed some instant ramen. He took out three packages of ramen and half-filled the pot with water.
He placed the pot on the stove and turned it on, setting the heat to medium and shutting the cover to boil the water. He watched television in the kitchen while waiting three minutes for the water to boil.
After three minutes, Sasaki removed the pot's lid and immersed the three packets of ramen in the boiling water. He grabbed a fork and pushed the ramen into the water.
After the ramen had softened, he opened the ramen pack's ingredients and poured them all into the ramen to give it flavor. He continued to stir for a minute before cooking the ramen.
"Miyuki! You want to eat some ramen?!"
"Alright!"
Miyuki walked out of her room and into the main room, looking dazed. I distributed the ramen evenly among four bowls and placed them on the table.
"Hey you two, let's eat!"
"You guys go first; I'm busy reading."
While the television was still on, Nara rose from the couch and went to the table.
While Sasaki and Miyuki were eating, Nara discovered that her bowl lacked chopsticks.
"Hey, go and get me some chopsticks."
Sasaki looked at her infuriated, yet he held back his anger and kept eating his bowl.
"Are you deaf? I said, go get me some chopsticks."
Miyuki looked at the two as the tension rose—it was as if two savage dogs that hadn't eaten in days were locked within a restricted space.
"I'll get the chopsticks."
Miyuki took a minute to leave her seat and get a pack of chopsticks from above the fridge, which she tossed to Nara. She thought that this would alleviate the tension between the two. She went back to her seat and continued to eat her food despite the uneven atmosphere.
They both stopped staring at each other after Miyuki handed her the chopsticks, and they continued to finish their meal as Ryuji read his books in his room. While eating, the four heard a knock at the door.
"Is anyone home?"
While eating, the three peered at the wooden door, waiting for someone to answer it.
"I'll go get it!"
Ryuji shouted as he approached the entrance to answer the door. He opened the door and saw a man with dark hair, dark rings in his eyes, and a stitched scar wrapped diagonally across his face.
"Oh, Kuroma-senpai, what do you need? Please come in."
The three looked at the man attentively, listening to their chat.
"Ah, no need for the formalities, Ryu-kun; I just need to ask you a favor, that's all."
He chuckled with a light, tender voice.
"I see, what is it you need?"
"Can you guys cover my shift for now? I got to go somewhere involving them. Don't worry, I'll pay you to do it."
Ryuji with a fatigued expression smiled and reached out his hand.
"You haven't changed a bit, Ryuji."
Kuroma handed Ryuji a wad of cash and left the flat, while Ryuji, despite his tiredness, smiled happily after being paid.
"You two, finish that up quick; we have work to do."
Nara sighed, exhausted after ten hours of patrolling.
"Again? Seriously?"
"Just do it; orders from Yozo!"
She sighed deeply and carried the bowl with two hands, finishing everything in just one go and heading to the wardrobe to change her clothes. Sasaki looked at Miyuki and smiled.
"You want more ramen?"
Miyuki nodded and smiled as Sasaki passed her the bowl. He got up from his chair and went to the wardrobe with Nara to change their clothes.
"Don't forget to wash the dishes!"
He shouted from inside the wardrobe while the both were changing.
"Yeah!"
After changing into their uniforms, the two proceeded outside the wardrobe. Sasaki kissed Miyuki's forehead briefly before heading to the entrance to begin their patrol.
The three stepped outside the building to travel around the other side of the city, where Kuroma was supposed to patrol this evening.
"This place is creepy, alright."
Sasaki looked about with a grim look and saw several abandoned buildings and gloomy passageways littered with graffiti, creating a terrible atmosphere in the area.
"You about to piss yourself?"
"Fuck off."
Ryuji examines the gloomy environment with a carefree expression and hands over a map.
"I'll leave you two together; make sure to put that map to good use and do not in any circumstances leave each other behind. Also, if you get lost, I'm just standing by here."
"Yeah right."
"Have fun."
Sasaki and Nara left the area Ryuji was patrolling and went to the region Ryuji had instructed them to patrol. While walking to the area, Nara gives Sasaki a disapproving glance.
"What are you looking at?"
She ignored his question and kept glaring at Sasaki while we're walking.
"Jeez, if you have a problem with me, then spit it out already? You allergic to men or what?"
"You're annoying."
Sasaki gazed at her in confusion and rage, gripping her collar tightly and slamming her against the wall, leaning close to her face.
"Look, you bitch, I don't know what your problem is, but if you have a prob-"
She abruptly silences Sasaki by spitting into his mouth as he was speaking, looking at him furiously. Sasaki, enraged by her stupidity, puts her to the ground and walks away, gulping in secret.
"You want to be alone so bad, right?! Then die in a ditch asshole!"
Sasaki went away, leaving her behind, heading to the area where he was meant to patrol.
' Argh, that asshole... We won't ever get along. '
Sasaki slept off in the breeze as he pondered Ryuji's words regarding Nara.
Remember that in any circumstances, not to leave each other behind!
"Oh shit, I forgot I have to monitor her!"
Sasaki dashed back to where they'd left off, hoping she hadn't gone too far. He ran through every sector of the dark town in hopes of finding her.
"Nara! Where are you?"
"Sasaki, help me! There's an anomaly in this sector!"
When he heard a familiar voice from a distance, Sasaki turned and began sprinting in the direction of the scream.
"Nara, where are you?!"
Sasaki ran into the dark alleyway, generating a pole and searching about for Nara's voice. He quickly moved to the center of the alley, full of alertness.
"Here..."
Sasaki slumped to the ground, and Nara had a cunning grin on his face after knocking him unconscious with a single kick to the back of the skull.
To be continued... ———————————