Chapter 8: The Beginning of a War

With the end of the tour, Hiroshi, Matsumoto, and Akio all returned to Shadow Vigil's Headquarters. Hiroshi however was still irritated, as his brows furrowed as he brooded in silence. Takeda, noticing Hiroshi's mood asked, "Huh? What's his problem?"

Dr. Nakamura, tending to Hiroshi's recent wound, chuckled. "Oh, His just sad he didn't get a chance to fully explore Tokyo, or the fact that he didn't get to taste any local cuisine either."

Takeda walked over to Hiroshi, and began teasing him, "Aww is the big baby sad he didn't get to play today?"

Hiroshi, however, was fast asleep, completely ignoring Takeda.

"HEY! DON'T YOU IGNORE ME, YOU BASTERD!" Takeda shouted, his voice filled with irritation.

Dr. Nakamura released a light sigh, however, Hiroshi was only pretending to be fast asleep, 'What a pain.' Hiroshi thought, avoiding any confrontation with Takeda.

Meanwhile, Matsumoto reported to Director Yumi all about the incident at the abandoned warehouse involving Hiroshi and the mysterious elemental that had attacked him. "To conclude my report. The elemental was to the special police to handle," he concluded.

In that moment Yumi was concord with the situation. 'Just who could have targeted Hiroshi? Could it have been?' She wondered.

And in that moment Kai then suddenly appeared, "Hey guys gather the others, there's something you'll want to see."

Moments later, the whole team was gathered, and once they were all together, Kai used his computer to bring up a video on the screen. "Remember that thing you asked me to do, well I did call the special police to pick up the guy who had attacked Hiroshi, just like you asked. They should have taken him to prison by now, but then I found this."

He then played the footage from a surveillance camera. It showed a special police van which was transporting the elemental.

Suddenly, a man in a black jacket appeared, standing in the middle of the road.

"What's that guy doing?" Rei asked, puzzled by the man's actions.

"Looks like someone's in the mood to be road-killed." Takeda quipped.

Hiroshi, however then said. "I don't think so."

And on the video, the van suddenly flipped over, stopping right at the man's feet. And that's when the officers inside the van got out and tried to confront the man, but were swiftly killed. Releasing the elemental from the van, the man then faced the camera with a smile on his face after destroying it.

"Hey, rewind the footage to that last again," Hiroshi instructed Kai. As Kai did so, stopping at the point where the man faced the camera.

"Hey! Would you look who it is, I know that guy," Hiroshi said, a grin expression on his face. "His name is Kaito Ren, and his with the mafia."

Takeda and Matsumoto then exchanged glances. "And just how do you too know each other" Takeda asked.

Hiroshi's eyes narrowed. "Oh we went on a few mission together, however that doesn't make us friends or anything."

Rei nodded. "Then the mafia were the ones who sent that guy after Hiroshi."

Kai fingers then flew over the keyboards. "Not exactly. That guy was actually a mercenary. " He said, as he uploaded a picture of Hiroshi on the screen – a wanted poster of Hiroshi with bounty of 10 million yen. "This bounty was placed on Hiroshi's head."

"Really, by who?" Rei asked.

"It seem to have been placed by the mafia, and it was on the same day we had rescued him from them."

"Seriously but how, that was 6 days ago." Rei said, puzzled

Hiroshi's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow, I didn't think they missed me that much if they're willing to invest that much money on me."

Yumi then stepped forward, her voice firm. "Even so, this changes nothing! After all we were expecting something like this would happen, and that's way we have even more reason to confront them now. So let's give them one hell of a show."

The room echoed with a resounding "Ma'am!"

For Shadow Vigil, this was the beginning of their war.

Later that evening, in their room, Matsumoto and Takeda prepared themselves for bed. Takeda however was still concord with the way Director Yumi was treating Hiroshi.

As he then turned to Matsumoto, "Hey, how can we be so sure it all be okay" he asked Matsumoto reading his book, "What you mean" he asked back, puzzled by Takeda's question. "I'm talking about Hiroshi, for we know he could be out there, ready to betray us at any god given moment." Takeda said, still wavering on whiter or not they should put there trust on Hiroshi.

Matsumoto on the other had remind clam. "There's no need for you to worry. We have a way of keeping track of all his movements. So we'll know where he'll be if he ever decides to betray us."

Takeda sighed still uneasy. "Not that I care but speaking of Hiroshi, where the hell do you think he is now?"

Meanwhile, in the middle of night, Hiroshi stood atop of the Tokyo Sky tree. As the city sprawled out beneath him, a sea of light twinkling within the darkness, marveling the view with each passing second.

"I know it," Hiroshi muttered to himself. "The view from up here really is amazing."

Atop the tower, he held a small device in his hand, it was tracking device Shadow Vigil had installed in him, while he was unconscious. "Hmm... guess I'll just hold on to this for now," he said, as he putted the tracker away.

He then pulled out a necklace with a ring attached to it. "This is only the begging." he muttered to himself, his eyes filled with determination.

And as he gazed out over the city, Hiroshi felt a mix of emotions, anticipation and resolve. As the path ahead of him was unkown, however he was determined to face whatever challenges that lay ahead. Determind to carve his own path.

End of the 8th Chapter.