Bold Steel Commitment

Orange afternoon light freshly bloomed on the Rising Sun's sky and crowded cities like Neo Tokyo received a heartwarming atmosphere. Moreover, the piercing light also shone on a group of quiet houses below the sky.

One house that serenely endured the warming afternoon was a tiny wood-brown house with a coal-black traditional house roof and a creamy door that had a grey doorknob in the shape of a paper card. On the left side of the house, Tabata's police car was parked beside the dirty-white oval-stone motif sidewalk on the middle, acting as a barrier between the parking spot and a clean grassland on the right side.

Inside the house, Tabata walked to the circular wooden dining table beside the silk-clean kitchen room and he caught the presence of a familiar person sitting on the right plastic chair. A glossy face woman with black medium-long hair who wore a red tank-top and long black pants.

The woman was busy drinking the strawberry-red soda inside the large bulky glass similar to beer. In a glutton demeanor, she strongly swallowed the huge chunk especially with her stirring down the glass till there was any sign of leftover.

Therefore, the woman let out an echoing burping sound at a moment as she placed down the vacant glass on the table. She glared towards Tabata who slowly pulled the chair beside and occupied the wooden seat on the middle

It let The Officer breathe a sigh of relief on just staring at the gleeful smirk from the woman's side. Today's investigation had been tiring Tabata due to sweats showering his forehead and hefty breathing could be caught by the diner table.

"How's the work, Minako?" Tabata asked happily, "Is it good."

Minako chuckled, "Well, it's fine as usual especially I'm just finished the newest project and I'm might get started to create the assist your robot in the lab tomorrow

"Good to hear that," Tabata replied in a glad tone.

"Yeah because your Onmyouji power can only buff your allies and…give some crowd control to your enemy." Minako remarked, "Hence I'm working on creating the assisting robot whenever you fight alone."

Tabata cheerfully smirked, "I am very happy with it and grateful to have a wife like you."

"Ah..shut up about that." Minako fluttered and she leaned her back to the chair with a short giggle.

Then, a curious gaze widened Minako's eyebrows with Tabata who came here in this period of time. A gaze that was being noticed within The Officer firm stares as he sharply pinned his eyes at his wife.

"Anyway, did you get an early shift so you can go home early?" Minako asked.

"I'm here to obtain some information from you, Minako." Tabata firmly announced, "Any information related to a criminal name, Kazuto."

Minako shockingly frowned after hearing the familiar name being blurted out by her husband. She even unnervingly bit her lips that quickly washed away as she convinced herself to clinch both of the fists.

"Even though I didn't know much about him, I'm going to tell everything I know based on my experience in the criminal world for about 20 years," MInako assured.

"Kazuto is a superhuman crime lord who had many origins of how he was raised on the top of his background. Minako explained, "But I only knew he is a type of guy that loved to sell rare stuff he obtained by either stealing from a place like a museum or just straight up invading the other criminal organization he wanted."

"Unless the other criminal organization made a fair deal," Minako added. "That's all I know about him when my gang made a temporary alliance with that guy. As for appearance, I never really saw him physically. The only thing I saw back then was his minion."

Minako reluctantly sighed, "And if you wanted to know someone who had been investigating his case, it remained unsolved due to lack of clue or direction or a clear hint. Even worse, some said that Kazuto was either multiple people in one name or didn't even exist in the first place."

Tabata rubbed his chin with a blunt-wondering glare he darted down at the table. The more he wondered about this situation, the deeper his mind ventured into an interrogation that happened a few days ago.

The moment after Thunder Fang faced his defeats against Zero unexpected appearance and was securely put into an interrogation room with Tabata. "I only did this to save my wife from her heart disease and that's it!!" The desperate answer by The Oni Guy became the most memorable moment for Tabata as he motionlessly winced.

Then, the moment bloomed into a blinding light that sent Tabata to the time when he interrogated the wife of the current criminal he chased. The Officer heedfully picked a moment when she mentioned Kazuto's name.

Afterward, Tabata ended his mind journey to the past full of interrogation with him exhaling a burdening air away. The Officer sharpened the nailing eyes towards Minako who just dropped a concerned jaw.

"Minako, do you know what happened to his goons who were captured and suddenly exposed his name?" Tabata heedfully asked

"Based on what I heard from my friend, they most likely had their memory of him being erased or altered." Minako answered with an unsure demeanor, "The thing is it's only a rumor."

"I see and that means my suspicion on Thunder Fang was true." Tabata blurted out in a panic tone, "He lied and the worst thing his memory about his boss would erase was whether he failed or not. Kazuto is most likely aware that the police would be interrogating his wife and of course, he is probably going to erase it now or later."

"I'm afraid so." Minako uttered, "That's why don't fully focus on investigating or trying to capture Kazuto."

"Thank you for the information. I just wanted…to capture this Kazuto guy because I'm afraid he will kill all of the heroes if I don't find him as soon as possible."

Tabata quickly drew a despairful look all over his face and blew a sigh of bitter worriedness. The Officer hoisted the shaking fist that he placed on the table, opening an anxious winced towards the concerned Minako.

A kanji on Tabata's forehand beamed a yellow piercing light the longer he clenched his fist. The light caught Minako's attention and gave a shivering frown colored her entire face for watching her husband extend his unnerving winced.

With pity feeling clouding Minako's thought, she freed a cheering smirk and giggled onto her dear husband. Luckily, the smirk managed to help Tabata from going further onto despairful thought as he pinned a puzzling look.

"Tabata, please just focus on protecting Neo Tokyo right now and put those thoughts of the unresolved investigation aside." Minako advised, "First of all, Kazuto hadn't shown any global threat like The Distrunians. Secondly, you already had Thunder Fang who got exposed by the news. Lastly, you should also anticipate what kind of weird villain that will appear after this."

"Or just think about the future of your Superhero career..I think." Minako added.

At first, Tabata furrowed a confused look onto Minako's cheerful smirk as his thoughts processed her bold advice. In a wondering demeanor, The Officer rubbed his chin and tapped the ground with his feet to dig deeper for the answer.

Tabata sharpened the marking furrow he centered towards his wife, opening a slow realization by raising his eyebrows. He began to chortle and exhaled a chilling air away on the diner table as the answer to Minako's statement was finally captured within his mind.

"You're right, Minako." Tabata assured, "I shouldn't fully focus on that. Instead, I should pay more attention to predicting where Thunder Fang's next move is and improving my Onmyouji power too."

Minako gladfully giggled, "Also maintaining a responsibility as both a Superhero and a policeman too right?"

"Very correct," Tabata mumbled.

"Anyway, did you know Thunder Fang's next plan or just a prediction?" Minako asked with an intrigued stare.

"Probably museums or banks." Tabata firmly answered, "But don't worry, it will be controlled once I and Chemistra came to the crime scene."

The Officer stood up from the comfy chair and heaved the enlightened forehand to above, shimmering a dazzling yellow light in less than a second. Therefore, Tabata's entire body was enveloped with the soft-blanket light that soon dissolved into a scattering sparkle and debuted his Superhero alter ego, Agano to the scene.

Minako proudly opened a widened smile and chortled in happiness seeing her husband daunted the secret identity or even became the direct witness of the heroic debut. Furthermore, she witnessed Agano firmly nodding to her as he was ready to initiate the upcoming stopping the crime mission.

Kazuto as usual took a seat on the comfy chair of his favorite room and glossed his sight at the small glassy jar containing a slimy green liquid. A neon purple letter was planted on the circular ling surface that said, "For lovely Sayato".

Behind Kazuto was Ukitake standing with his tidy red suit who gave an uneasy wince towards his crime boss. The Burly Man clenched the trembling fist especially as he heedfully locked at the jar.

"Ah..Kazuto." Ukitake started the conversation with a nervous voice, "Was Shinjou aware…with his consequence especially on losing his power."

The Karura Masked Man jabbed his throat once again with his knuckle to rearrange a new direction of his voice. He glared at Ukitake who dreadfully shivered through his spine, forcing him to take a step back.

"Shinjou is already aware of that consequence," Kazuto spoke with a stoic-deep tone. "He is a man who will do anything for his wife's sake and well-being. So I can conclude losing the very power he had will not bother him much especially if he finished his job."

Ukitake sheepishly chuckled, "Damn I'm kind of jealous to have that self-commitment like Shinjou. Even though I excluded that…losing power part."

"Not everyone is like him, Ukitake." Kazuto replied deeply, "Besides you are a dirty and prideful fighter. Why would you even care to fight for someone that you love? Hell, I remembered you killed your own girlfriend just for the sake of improving your power."

Vicious grin was widely opened from Kenta's side as he nailed his sight onto Kazuto. The Burly Man crossed both of his hands and let out a burst of high pitch laughter that got louder for a moment, fully admitting the sinister side of his.

"Yup, I'm that kind of person hehe and I'm quite happy…I guess." Kenta willingly confessed.

Afterwards, Kenta frowned a perturbing eyebrow due to his mind being reminded of another important thing about Shinjou. Kazuto with a calm demeanor glanced towards The Burly Man who swallowed his saliva on trying to start the conversation.

"Was Shinjou also aware that his memory about you was going to be altered or erased?" Kenta asked.

"Most likely." Kazuto answered calmly, "And for me is the best way of continuing my business. Shinjou had helped me a lot in the past, but time changed as he chose to become a family man right now.

Kenta gritted his teeth in irritation, "Then why didn't you erase or alter it before, Kazuto?"

"At first, I could trust him to lie." Kazuto admitted with a disappointing demeanor as he shook his head, "But it was the biggest mistake I ever made because he told his wife a little bit of information about me "

"Therefore, he will not die by my hand due to his past contribution." Kazuto added, "Instead I chose a better way which was planting a magical microchip on his head that will alter or erase the memory with me."

"Wow, that's very cold and cruel even for my standards." Kenta reluctantly commented.

A jolly chuckle was let out by Kenta for presuming the ongoing conversation, "You're probably going to do the same with me too, right."

"It's obvious, yes." Kazuto replied bluntly, "Everyone else that worked with me is just a worker at the end and I will not make the same mistake as I did with Shinjou, turning him into a close friend."

Across the Kaomaru Museum which was a shiny grey two stories building that had two entrance pillars being wrapped around by a neon-green statue snake, Thunder Fang with a black hood and long black pants stood there. The Oni Guy clenched the left fist that surged violet electricity, giving him an unnerving glare.

Unnerving glare Thunder Fang quickly prevented from going further within his mind by letting out a refreshing sigh. The Oni Guy extended his leg with the pressed kneecaps and put the resting knuckle on the chest before he heaved the punching knuckle in the front sight of his.

The commitment to clearing the stealing mission blazed up constantly through Thunder Fang as thunder striking electrical surge roared all over his body. He was indeed ready to create another havoc or chaos in Neo Tokyo in the name of curing his wife, especially with him extending a cheery smile.

"Hang in there Sayato, I will save you from your heart disease right now." Thunder Fang mumbled.

***