5

[A/N: uni is hard so many assignments X0, so sorry for the long delay :(]

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The sudden rock of the tram wakes Ren up. He almost fell but thankfully he was holding on to the handles of the tram.

The tram was emptier than usual, and by that I mean all the chairs were occupied and Ren was the only person standing.

Ren shakes his head while he holds on to the handle bars. A yawn escaping his mouth while he rubs his eyes.

Couldn't even sleep in school today... Maybe next time they'll make it so I won't be able to wear my shoes.

Ren thinks to himself sarcastically.

Whatever they placed under his desk was pungent enough that it was impossible to ignore. Ren recalls several times he almost puked in the middle of class because of how bad it smelled.

"*sigh* I'm tired..."

Ren wasn't talking to anyone in particular as his eyes started to slowly close again. Wondering how bad tomorrow is going to be.

**************************

An hour passes and it was already dark. Ren passes by the sign of his house/bakery before coming in.

Leah looks up from the counter and greets Ren with a smile on her face.

"Ah! Onii-chan welcome back!"

Ren can feel his body instantly relaxing when he sees his sister smile.

"You seem excited, what's up?"

Leah's face practically beams in happiness as she tells me the good news.

"Listen to this! I've been checking our finances and it turns out we've made enough money to pay the debt for this month!"

"Oh that's great. Looks like we won't have to lose the water access like last month."

"Ugh, don't remind me... But fair point, we don't have to sell any of our awards like last time. You sold your black belt last time if I remembered correctly."

"Don't worry about it. I didn't really care about that thing. It's more important we have food and a roof over heads."

"How serious of you Onii-chan~, your little sister will do her best to take after your cool super serious no nonsense cringe attitude."

"Shut up. Kids like you should be asleep already."

Leah let out a cute pout as Ren walked over to the counter.

In front of Leah was a small stack of money, a notebook which was meant for keeping records of sales, and Leah's phone where she was apparently watching a video before Ren came in.

'Our top story for the night. It has been 1 week since the prisoner from Maxsec prison who's current whereabouts are still unknown, has escaped. The convict who escaped was 43 year old convicted drug addict, murderer, and gang member Joseph Slate, also known as Stoneface. The prison guards of Maxsec prsion explained to ENN news how Mr.Stoneface managed to escape the once inescapable prison. Saying:

"Maxsec was prepared for every possible scenario and every possible talent to prevent a jailbreak. Flight? AA-missiles. Super Speed? Gates made out of pure electricity. Some fucking talent that can make you no clip on the ground? Lethal amounts of carbon dioxide in between every wall and floor. And if that all fails your still trapped in an island surrounded by ocean.

We were ready for everything.

Yet despite all that we were not ready for some 8 foot 300 kg hulk of a man to start punching the walls of the prison until each one broke. All the while completely ignoring the deadly amounts carbon monoxide that killed or knocked out all the guards trying to subdue him. The AA missiles were useless against people on the ground, and when he arrived to the gates made out of pure electricity. The guy started to punch the ground and dig under it like it was Minecraft. Some of you might ask why didn't the guards stop him here? Well that was because all the guards were either knocked out cold on the floor or in the nurse's office after inhaling all that deadly carbon monoxide that was spreading rapidly around the prison. By the time everyone woke up he was already long gone. Most likely, he either died from drowning or died trying to dig under the ocean. I don't know exactly what the moral of this story is but we are already taking measures to remove all the toxic carbon monoxide in the facility to switch it to something else more safer. Right now where trying to replace it with arsenic, but if talks with the board go well we might be able to use ricin instead."'

"What are you watching?"

"Apparently someone broke out of Maxsec prison."

"That's the famous inescapable prison right? I remembered how proud the mayor was on tv when it was first made. I can only imagine what he's feeling right now "

"The prison is impressive sure, but something else intrigued me... My dear brother, what do you think happened to Mr. Slate?"

"Hm? You think he's still alive? Why are you so interested in this?"

"Indeed. And I only thought about it for a little bit, just a fun little brain teaser."

".....*Sigh* Alright, I'll bite. Why do you think that little sister?"

Leah's face brights up with a smug smile, with a hand on her chin imitating a famous detective.

"Elementary my dear brother! It seems that Mr. Slate has a certain reputation of being quite... Hard to kill."

"You can't just conclude that someone is still alive just because of some reputation they have you know?"

"Indeed. But after researching his past, i have discovered 3 official records of his supposed demise. Yet here the man stands today."

"Are you sure the documents aren't fake?"

"It's highly unlikely. All 3 documents where officialy signed by the EGD. It is also unlikely that a rat might have faked the records since all 3 documents where from different places, in different times and by different people from the EGD.

I will not bore you on the exact details of each case, but I will say that all 3 of them where scenarios that no normal man, regardless of the talent, could have survived easily. Thus we can presume that Mr. Slate has an uncanny ability to survive scenarios. Maybe he's simply gifted at it, or maybe it's because of his talent."

"Hmm... Alright. I'll take your word for it. Then if he is still alive, then how come the EGD still can't find him after a week?"

"Perhaps he used his connections to the gang to hide him once he escaped. But Mr. Slate was a known gangster, so his gang would be the first place that the EGD would expect him to go to and would place the place at high surveillance. So it's unlikely that Mr. Slate went to his gang first. The same can be said for his home and any close friends he has."

"Other gangs?"

"Unlikely. It seems Mr. Slate never got along with anyone else outside from his gang. I doubt he would have went to any of them for help and I doubt anyone else is not so willing to help him out either considering his circumstances."

"..."

"Thus there is a good chance Mr. Slate would have most likely went to a lesser known hideout where the EGD isn't looking in."

"If that's the case, then he would have still been spotted going to that hideout. The EGD are looking for him everywhere and an 8 foot tall bulky mobster is pretty easy to spot even in a crowd of people. And based off how he escaped prison... He doesn't exactly seem to be the most sneakiest person in the room.

"Indeed. This question has perplexed me. He not only looks like it, but even based off past reports from the EGD. He definitely is not the type to be good at hiding, it seems fighting is about the only thing he's good at. So it's unlikely he a managed to completely evade the EGD's efforts all on his own.

My theory is that he managed to get in contact with a fellow gang member that was able to hide him, perhaps by talents or other means, and bring him to a seperare hideout. One the EGD still doesn't know about, and wait until the heat dies down."

Ren raises his eyebrow.

"... Interesting... But where would that hideout be?"

"Fufu, After my research. It can be theorized that this hideout must be somewhere farther from there main hideout, but close enough that they have some small influence in. It must also be away from the law and must also be somewhat abandoned to throw away suspicion. Thus! The hideout must be somewhere in the outer rim of Kumachi-.... Onii-chan? Why do you have a scary look on your face?"

"For someone who only 'thought about it a little bit', you really put a lot of thought into it."

"Well..."

Ren sighs in defeat as her sister giggles like a child who was acting innocent to get out of trouble.

"... Don't do anything stupid. Got it?"

"Of course not! And it's not stupid! Who do you take me for?!"

"An adorable little sister that does stupid things and gets in trouble because of it?"

"Hehe~ Flattery will get you everywhere Onii-chan~"

Sounds like she ignored my last comment.

Ren thought to himself.

"Anyways I'm gonna go to bed now. Be sure lock up once you come back, okay?"

"It's pretty early still, you don't want to join me?"

"Had a busy day today, and I got some more stuff to do tomorrow. Maybe next time."

"Oh alright then, good night onii-chan."

Leah gently waves her brother off.

He climbs up the tight staircase of their small home and bakery.

Ren opens the door to his room and collapses on his bed.

He opened his phone and checked his message history.

'Sender: Unknown'

'11:00 PM BEHIND CARLO STUDIO'

"...so much for sleeping."

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11:00 PM

Near the outskirts of Kumachinko is an old abandoned music studio called 'Carlo'.

Maybe back in the past it used to be more bustling. Back when the owner of the studio was still alive.

But now it's nothing but a deteriorating hollow shell of it's former self.

Behind the studio are two men wearing animal masks. Both of them where waiting for the last member of their group to arrive.

Suddenly the sound of footsteps can be heard approaching the two men.

They both look at the source of the sound.

There another man much younger than the two wearing a balaclava mask arrives.

"Oi! Greenhorn, the hell took you so long?!"

The irritated person that yelled was wearing a lion mask.

"Eh? But I arrived at 11 didn't I?"

"Tch. We START at 11. Not meet up at 11, dumbass!"

The other masked man, who was wearing a dog mask and sitting down, looks at the person with a lion mask.

"He's pretty green, and young to. You sure about this boss? The place we're hitting doesn't seem that bad for us to do alone."

"*sigh* Yeah, but I promised Eyelot that we'll bring him along in exchange for the tip."

"Friends with a big shot, huh?"

The young man looked as if he wanted to deny that statement. But decided against it and stayed silent.

The lion mask then spoke up, stroking his (fake) mane while getting the main topic at hand.

"Alright. Here's the sitch. An abandoned antique store a few blocks away from here. Place has been abandoned for years now, the stuff there ain't even worth a damn.

But word on the street says that they're planning to open it back up.

And Eyelot told me that a truck carrying some pretty good and expensive shit came in a few days ago. Came in a huge box.

They brought it at night to so whatever it is, it's gotta be worth a lotta money."

"Got word on what security is like, boss?"

"Two. Not badges. One in the front of the store and one on the back. Looks like they're organizing their security so this is a good chance to klep."

"Nice, we hit em while they still ain't ready."

"That's the plan. We go in the front. Place is already a ghost town, and whoever is gonna see us ain't gonna give a shit.

Take out the guards, then take whatever is in that box, give it to the fixer and get out money."

"Got all that greenhorn?"

"Yeah, got it. But can I ask something?"

"Fine, shoot."

"How are we splitting the money?"

The dog mask and lion mask both let out exaggerated sighs.

"Shit, greenie. You asking for that already when we still haven't gotten the cash yet?"

"We'll talk money, once we get the money. Got it?"

"... alright."

It seemed like he had more to say. But had to reluctantly agree.

"Good. Anyways here take this."

The lion mask pulls out a deer mask, with antlers and everything.

"We don't use any real names once it starts. You call us by our code names. Lion, Dog and your Deer."

The young man takes the deer mask from the lion mas and nods affirmatively.

"Good. Now put it on let's get started."

The lion mask starts walking with the dog mask getting up and following behind him.

The young man takes off the balaclava he was wearing when the other two where sufficiently away, revealing the person to be Ren.

Ren takes a good look at the deer mask he was holding. After taking a good look at it, he had a realization.

This is a reindeer.

Ren sighs to himself as he reluctantly puts on the deer (reindeer) mask.

Once he does this, there's no going back, and he knows this.

But maybe... If the score is big enough...

He isn't used to wearing full face masks so has uncomfortable time trying to breathe in it. And he swears the mask is too tight around his face. He barely could adjust the cheap mask before he was forced to hurry up.

"Greenie! Hurry up!"

Ren managed to adjust the mask so he could at least breathe.

I need to do this... We need this money...

...I'm sorry Leah...

He silently says to himself before he runs after them.