Meeting

[Attention, this is an old chapter that no longer holds any relation or meaning to the story. Please read it at your own sake and curiosity, as it will not have any value or meaning to the current plot that is progressing currently. Re-release of this chapter will occur at a later date.]

After an emotional argument full of suffering, pain, and sadness, the night peacefully passed before the beautiful morning came. The wonderful morning sunshine bathed the apartment with its marvelous ray of light, radiating a feeling of warmth throughout the entire place.

The sunlight barged through Kurayama's bedroom, radiating it with a glorious light. The ray of light felt gentle on Kurayama's eyelids, encouraging him to open his eyes and bath them with the morning sunshine.

Kurayama slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a little while. He felt refreshed. He no longer felt something heavy on his shoulders. He no longer had the urge to vomit for some reason. He no longer felt a slight pain in his chest. He felt relaxed, refreshed, comfortable, and most importantly…Happy.

As he was staring at the ceiling with a genuinely happy smile plastered on his face, Kurayama felt something on his chest. He tried to feel the thing with his left hand, just to be surprised by a soft surface that felt very smooth. He then tried to grip onto it, just to be surprised again by how small and delicate it was.

Kurayama deliberately turned his head to the right, only to be surprised by Hayate's face that was only a couple of centimeters away from his.

Kurayama gazed at the sleeping Hayate with eyes filled with admiration and affection as he gently grasped onto her hand. He couldn't help but smile as he continued to gaze at her, remembering what she did for him yesterday.

"Thank you, Himari." He whispered in a barely audible voice.

Suddenly, Hayate leisurely opened her eyelids. Her hazel eyes gazed deeply at Kurayama's hypnotic blue eyes. She blushed and quickly averted eye contact with him, feeling embarrassed and a little shy from directly staring at him.

Hayate quickly got up from the bed and turned her back to Kurayama, too embarrassed and shy to stare at him directly.

"Um…I…" She mumbled.

She didn't say anything as she walked towards the door and exited the room in a hurry.

Kurayama simply chuckled as he got up from his bed. He stretched his arms and yawned as he gazed at the sunrise from his window. He opened the window and took a deep breath, smiling from the refreshing feeling of the cold breeze massaging his face.

For the first time in ten years, he felt genuinely happy. For the first time in ten years, he didn't have to fake a smile.

As he made his way out of the bedroom, a delightful scent attracted Kurayama's attention. The pleasant smell was coming from the kitchen.

Upon reaching the kitchen, Kurayama saw Hinotori, Hayate, and Aikawa sitting at the table, eating breakfast in total calmness and peace.

"Good morning!" The three greeted Kurayama at the same time.

"Good morning." The latter replied as he sat on the chair, taking a deep breath before he started eating.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." Aikawa suddenly stated.

"Don't beat yourself over it, okay? We all commit mistakes, just be sure to learn from them." Kurayama nonchalantly said as he kept eating.

Suddenly, with a smile on her face, Aikawa raised her fist and extended it towards Kurayama.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for teaching me some lessons. I don't have much to offer you, but I can safely say that you have a friend in me…Fist bump?" Aikawa said.

"I can say the same, Aikawa," Kurayama replied as he smiled back while giving a fist bump.

While the four were peacefully eating their breakfast, they heard the daily news report from the TV in the living room. It was boring and uninteresting for the most part, until…

"And now that we are finished with our local news, let's move on to the global news segment. Here are the headlines:

Gang violence accends into gang wars after multiple major criminal organizations started their criminal activities and territorial wars for power all of a sudden after ten years of total peace.

After seven years since the last major incident, the royal palace of Paradi goes into lockdown for unknown reasons in an incident first of its kind, leaving some people speculating whether it was the death of a royal member or a much more severe situation to cause this strange and sudden lockdown.

And lastly, the strange miniature earthquakes that struck China and Mongolia in the last three months are back again, but this time they are striking Siberia, leaving the national HGAs in a confused state as they debate whether the earthquakes are caused by strange natural phenomena, weapons tests, or criminal organizations.

More details after the commercial break." The anchor reported.

"Earthquakes?" The four all wondered at the same time.

"Three months ago? Could it be-" Aikawa wondered before she got inturupted.

"Number 5…" Kurayama stated.

Suddenly, the room went silent as the air became thick between the four. The slight hint of fear was easily detectable on the faces of Hinototi, Hayate, and Aikawa.

"But, that's just speculation. I mean, let's be real, number 5 is still a human, not a submarine." Kurayama said, trying to cheer up the mode a little.

Suddenly, Kurayama's phone rang.

"Hello?" He said as he picked up the phone.

"Thirty minutes until the meeting starts, I hope that you will be there, and your group of friends," Amari stated.

"Huh? Wasn't it supposed to be held afternoon?"

The call cuts out as soon as Kurayama starts complaining, leaving him in a state of disappointment, frustration, and slight anger.

------

The room was windowless with a bulletproof door for an entrance. A total of ten heroes were sitting at the long table, five of them sitting opposite of the other five. Kurayama, Hayate, Hinotori, Aikawa, and all the other heroes had a serious look plastered on their faces as they stared at the two standing at the back of the room.

Emilia Amari was standing in front of the table with a large TV screen hung on the wall behind her. Akira Fujimori was standing right next to her with a dead-serious look.

"Well then, Heroes, welcome to the meeting. I am Emilia Amari, the directress of the local HGA."

"And I am Akira Fujimori, special detective of the HGA." Akira introduced himself.

"Now, we shall address the shooting that occurred yesterday at the fast-food restaurant.

First of all, it has been confirmed that the Kitsunes are, in fact, the ones responsible for the shooting. To put it more accurately, it was an assassination, not a shooting. Although we don't have much info on the target, we do know for a fact that he had some ties to other Yakuza gangs.

Other than that, we also know that the B-tier Korean pro-hero, Min-Jeong Park was present at the crime scene. He was the one who warned Kurayama and Hinotori about the entire incident using his evolvement."

"Wait, Min-Jeong Park is here? And the HGA didn't ask him to help us?!" One of the heroes queried in a frustrated voice.

"Well, we did ask for his help, but he refused. Min-Jeong Park is a Korean B-tier hero, we have no power over him while he's in Japan. Plus, he said that he no longer wants to risk his life so much for so little."

The room went silent after Amari's statement.

"Anyways, let's continue.

Second of all, 99% of B-tier heroes that we contacted were either busy or not willing to enter this investigation. To keep it short, the only ones who know about this investigation are the people in this room, any leaked information will mean that one of the heroes here is a traitor.

Third of all, the Kitsunes are a national gang that has many bases across the country. However, due to the worldwide gang wars and uprisings that are happening, the Kitsunes are divided in the meantime, which gives us the best opportunity we could ever wish for.

Now that we cleared that up, let us move to our main point.

You will no longer be operating under me or the HGA. From now on, Akira Fujimori will be your supervisor until the investigation is over.

Two, while you are operating under Akira, you are forbidden from going on any other missions, traveling out of the city, and entering the HGA. You will act like normal civilians until you are contacted. Plus, any unjustified use of evolvements will count as a crime, while justifiable usage will count as vigilantism. Please be careful in the next two weeks, have a good day." Amari declared before she exited the room.

"Now that Emilia has said what she had to say, I will be your new director. So, let us get to the main points of this meeting.

Aikawa, considering that you the one who has the most experience with the Kitsunes, how could you describe them?" Akira asked.

"They use firearms and explosives. Only a handful of them have evolvements. You can even consider them poorly equipped or underpowered for a national gang."

"Excellent analysis, but wrong. The Kitsunes are a national gang that have ties and relations to gangs in China, Russia, Italy, etc....They are far from poorly equipped. However, the reason why you see them as weak and underpowered is because you haven't faced the real Kitsunes."

"Huh?" Everyone in the room wondered in confusion.

"From many investigations all around the world, we found out that the Kitsunes have ranks. They separate between their ranks with the color of the fox mask they wear. Sadly, we don't know the exact colors, nor do we know the ranks, but we do know that the white-masked Kitsunes are simply just a bunch of...recruits.

The Kitsunes became the biggest gang in Japan because of this strategy. They always show their weakest side first, before they strike with their strongest.

When the Kitsunes want to take over a territory or an area, they send recruits there. So when another gang sees the vulnerability of the recruits, they attack them. Then, the Kitsunes send their higher-ranking members to destroy the non-expecting gang.

The reason the Kitsunes couldn't control this area until now was because of the vigilante known as 'The Reaper.' He killed many high-ranking members of the Kitsunes in only three months.

Unfortunately, Reaper has suddenly seized his vigilante work this week. As soon he did so, the Kitsunes sent better recruits here so they can control this area. And as you can see, their plans are already going into action. By the time we're talking, they must have already planned their next attack."

"What do we do then?", one of the heroes asked.

"Well, our only option is to deliver a full-frontal attack to the remaining Kitsunes in this area and make sure that the attack is powerful enough to stop them from entering this area ever again. In short, we shall raid their base."

"How do we do that?"

"Do we even know where their base is?"

"Yes, we already have a group of undercover policemen watching the warehouse from hiding. When the moment comes, all of you and a squad of special police officers will raid their base and capture all gang members. The expected difficulty of this mission is low B-tier."

"So, when will we go?" Kurayama asked.

"The raid will take place two weeks from now. Until then, you are forbidden from going on any other missions, traveling out of the city, and entering the HGA. You will act like normal civilians until you are contacted. Plus, any unjustified use of evolvements will count as a crime, while justifiable usage will count as vigilantism."

"Are we just going to let them do whatever they want for now?!" a hero exclaimed.

"If we attack at a bad moment, we will lose. And if we do lose, the Kitsunes will be too self-confident and send in many more members, stronger ones. If they do that, they will win the war for this area and we will have no other option but to give it to them. Don't be selfish, be patient, and wait for your orders. Meeting dismissed."

------

Kurayama pulled out his keys and opened the apartment, letting out a deep sigh of relief as he entered it.

"Anyways, I'll be going now." Aikawa declared.

"Huh? Didn't you say that you were going to stay here temporarily?" Hayate wondered.

"Yeah, and I did. I don't want to bother you all so much. Plus, I need some time alone to think about something." Aikawa replied.

"Aikawa, can we talk for a minute? Alone that is." Kurayama requested as he turned around to look at Hayate, which she responded to with a simple nod.

Suddenly, Kurayama exited out of his apartment and closed the door, leaving him and Aikawa alone.

"So, did you change your mind about getting revenge?"

"I don't know. I'm just…afraid." Aikawa responded as she held her head down.

"Afraid? Of what?"

"This entire 'Good vs evil' thing. I'm not a bad person, and I have never killed anyone in my life. But, I was determined to kill my brother no matter what happened. But, after our talk yesterday, I became conflicted."

"Aikawa, when you look at me…what do you see?" Kurayama questioned the woman.

"A man?"

"Correct, but that's not what I meant. Look deeper, look at my mind…what do you see?"

"Darkness? A lot of darkness."

"Correct. What is the source of that darkness?"

"Suffering…sadness…emptiness…pain?"

"Correct. What do you think was the cause of that?"

"The laboratories?"

"Correct. But also another thing."

"Revenge?"

"Exactly. Revenge will create an endless circle. If you kill your brother, someone else will want to kill you for killing him, and the circle will go on. Don't play a game where you lose from the start."

A short silence ensued after Kurayama's statement.

"Jeez, you seriously know what to say, don't you? Kurayama?" Aikawa coaxed as she cracked a half-smile.

"For my friends? I always do." Kurayama replied with a smile.

"Fist bump?"

"Fist bump."

The two shared a fist bump with a smile plastered on their faces.

"See ya tomorrow?" Aikawa queried.

"As long as you're willing to."

"Well then, see ya tomorrow, Emo-dude."

"See ya later," Kurayama replied as he waved Aikawa goodbye.

------

4 AM:

In the very early morning, while Kurayama and Hayate were peacefully sleeping in their bedroom, a sudden knocking on the front door echoed throughout the apartment.

The knocking gradually became louder by the minutes, until Kurayama got up from his bed, confused and worried as he walked towards the door in quiet steps. All of a sudden, the knocking stopped as soon as Kurayama placed his hand on the doorknob.

Upon opening the door, Kurayama was startled by an object that came flying at him. Due to his quick reflexes, he blocked the flying projectile before he grabbed it to see what it was. The thing that he was holding in his hands was…a flashbang.

"HAYATE!" Kurayama released one loud yell as he turned his back to the thing.

The stun grenade exploded, creating a blinding light that radiated the entire apartment in a flash.