Chapter Text
—
The soft breeze of the wind could be heard, the breeze gently brushing at his tattered cheeks. A melancholy melody, far too quiet for the average passersby ringed in his ears. A tune far too peaceful for the deranged scene that sat in front of him.
Blood. Splattered almost everywhere. It stained his hands, his body, the smooth wood floor, but most importantly, the lifeless body that stared directly at him. It felt like a fever dream, one that he’d live through a thousand times over. Except this time it was different. Normally, he’d feel nothing. Yet, as he stared at the reflection of the knife he clutched ever so tightly, a sense of dread and guilt overcame him.
Reluctantly, he tore his gaze away from the corpse. Adrenaline fading away, he finally realized how much his body ached in pain. He took a deep breath in. Except he couldn’t with the way his lungs burned at the action. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe.
A particularly harsh breeze blew his way. Several red petals surrounded him, almost as if they were mocking him for his crimes. He willed himself to calm down. His head was spinning in insanity, the world felt like it would swallow him whole. Slowly, he limped into the clearing.
Immediately, he felt the rain. The droplets of water rolled down his face, washing away the crimson blood. He never liked the rain, it was an inconvenience, an annoyance to him. But as of now, he couldn’t help but enjoy the way it splashed against his skin. The way it fell at a steady, calm pace. As the blood faded from his body, in a way his sins were also being washed away.
Suddenly, he heard quiet footsteps from behind. He turned to look, no sense of vigilance left in him. There stood a man, pointing his handgun towards him. He expected no less. But as he recognized the man, he couldn’t help but feel his stomach drop.
“Why?” He whispered, unable to mask the hurt and betrayal in his voice. He sounded terrible, his voice raspy and out of breath.
The man’s confidence seemed to falter at that. However, they still pointed the gun shakily at him.
He heard a gentle click, followed by a loud obnoxious noise.
“It was never going to work.”
So why did he feel himself burn in betrayal?
—
It was a peaceful day for Tsukasa Tenma. The sun was high in the sky, reflecting against the snow beneath his feet. The trees were bare, the autumn leaves nowhere to be seen. As he walked through the plaza, he could see the pedestrians wearing heavy jackets with scarfs and mittens, signifying the cold season. He too wore his own winter clothing, an especially thick yellow scarf draped around his neck.
On days like this, the strawberry blonde enjoyed strolling through the city. He looked through the windows of different shops, marking down any that seemed of interest. As he mileniously walked, a particular dessert shop caught his attention. The smell of coffee and fresh baked treats welcomed him as he approached the window. There inside the shop sat some of the best treats he’d ever seen. The shop didn’t seem to have many customers either. He could get some desserts for his dear sister and himself!
As Tsukasa was about to enter the shop, his phone rang. He grumbled in annoyance before fishing the phone out of his pocket. This better be important! The screen lit up, revealing that none other than Emu was calling him. He picked up the phone and brought it to his ear. Big mistake.
“Hello?”
“TSUKASA-KUN!! Hello!!” A loud and enthusiastic voice screeched out of the phone.
“Gah!” He physically cringed, quickly lowering the volume. “Don’t scream into the microphone like that, Emu!”
“Oh, sorry~!” Emu giggled, clearly not sorry at all. “There was just something very very important I had to tell you!!”
“Eh? Important?” What could possibly be more important than getting his sister and himself delicious bakery treats! Many things, actually.
“Mhm mhm! The executive said they have something superrrr important they have to talk to you about,” Emu said, a little too happily for the context. “Oh! But! I’m sure it’s nothing bad…” She trailed off.
The executive wanted to personally see him? Was he in trouble? Did he do something bad? Surely not. “Oh. I see.” Tsukasa muttered.
Emu seemed to sense his worry, “It's okay Tsukasa! It didn’t sound too bad! But then again… the boss never asks to see coworkers personally…”
Tsukasa visibly groaned, slapping himself on the face. People passing by probably thought he had a problem. “Thanks a lot, Emu. You made me feel so much better.” He said sarcastically.
“No problem Tsukasa!!” Emu beamed, clearly not sensing his sarcasm. “So- huh?” He could hear Emu get distracted by another voice talking to her. She seemed to get farther away from her phone, as he could now only pick up inaudible voices.
“Ah, it seems that I have some super duper important stuff I have to do!!” Emu sighed, her voice audible once again. “Sorry Tsukasa!! Bye bye!”
“Eh? Okay, by- oh.”
Tsukasa was cut off by a beep, signaling that the call had ended. He couldn’t believe it! Emu had essentially dropped a bomb on him while he was in a great mood and ditched. He huffed to himself in annoyance, leaning against the concrete wall. Today was going just splendidly.
Now, what was Tsukasa so worried about? Confronting his extremely intimidating boss. Normally for any job, of course you’d be nervous around your boss. It’s normal. However, Tsukasa didn’t just have any ordinary job. He was an assassin. An assassin for a particularly feared organization. The executive of said organization was an incredibly feared man, well known to be skilled and capable of taking many lives. So of course, when they personally request to see you, it can’t be anything good.
Tsukasa was also, however, an experienced and gifted assassin. He had worked in the industry since he was young, having spent years becoming the person he was today. Tsukasa was no average player and had the title of one of the best assassins at his age. He and his boss had a decent relationship, both holding immense respect for each other. (Or at least he held respect for his boss) He sincerely hoped that that was true, his boss couldn’t possibly end him now right?
The strawberry blonde took one last glance at the bakery shop and made a mental note to come back when he had time. Why’d he have to sign up for such a stressful and taxing job? Well.. technically he didn’t.
Tsukasa began his dreadful journey to the organization's building. Luckily it was only a short walk to get there, so hopefully he wouldn’t be yelled at for being late.
Upon arriving at the admittedly, fancy building, he sighed to himself for probably the 12th time since he had gotten the message from Emu. Tsukasa opened the spinning doors to be met with… your average office space. As he walked towards the elevator, he saw plenty of people walking by, busy with their own normal 9-5 lives.
You see, for obvious privacy reasons the institution decided to make an underground base so as to not be easily found out. The workers here were completely oblivious to the fact that essentially a mafia was underneath their feet. He still had absolutely no clue why they haven’t stopped to question why the same people, who don’t work here, keep showing up to take the elevator and disappear. He knew for a fact that they noticed him, because many of the same workers waved to him when he passed by. Maybe the organization was paying them to keep quiet.
Tsukasa entered the elevator once he made sure there was no one entering. He pressed 1 followed by a quick 3 and 9 on the button pad. The elevator seemed to hesitate for a moment before shaking in registration. Suddenly, a robotic voice spoke:
“Hello, Tsukasa Tenma.”
“Hi Miku,” He greeted back. Miku, or Hatsune Miku was a built in artificial intelligence that existed throughout the secret underground base. It was in charge of handling any tech matters and was especially useful when it came to hacking databases. It always irked him on how such an intelligent being came to be, but unfortunately that was just something no one knew. Or at least if someone did, no one ever bothered to tell him.
“Where are you heading?” Miku asked casually, her formal tones dropping as she realized who she’s talking to.
“R1, specifically Kaito’s room.” Tsukasa said rather hesitantly.
“Ah! Kaito wants to see you? Well that’s certainly new.” Miku giggled. The elevator shook slightly before starting to descend. “Is our future best assassin in trouble~?”
“WHAT! Of course not!” He shouted gruffly. “I’ve done absolutely nothing wrong!”
“Oho! Tsukasa-kun sounds so sure of himself!”
“Miku!”
“Kidding~! Just teasing you.” The robotic voice giggled light heartedly. “Kaito thinks quite highly of you y’know, don’t assume it’s something bad.”
He thought for a moment. Miku wasn’t wrong, when had Kaito ever shown ill intention towards him? If anything, he’s been nothing but kind and polite. Maybe he was just overthinking it. “Hmm… maybe you’re right, Miku.”
“You act like I’m not always right!” He laughed as he could hear her pouting.
The elevator came to a halt, the letters “R1” appearing at the top of the exit to signify he was here. “Well, I guess I’ll see you next time Tsukasa! Bye bye, and good luck.”
“Thanks…” He sighed. “Bye Miku!”
The shiny silver doors slid open to reveal an extremely modern and fancy hallway. The walls were painted a shiny white and were decorated with several paintings. Some walls had intersections that led to the computer rooms. These rooms were mainly used to search up data on your victims and what not, but at this time of day almost no one came here.
As he walked through the hallways he couldn’t help but shiver. It was awfully cold and it didn’t help that it was deathly quiet. After what felt like forever walking through the irritatingly long hallways, he arrived at the main attraction of this floor. The executives room.
Tsukasa couldn’t help but wonder who decided to make the entrance to this room look so damn intimidating? The doors were huge, almost like they were made for literal giants. The doors were covered in golden flower patterns and two flower pots with Iris hung from the roof.
Tsukasa took a deep breath and made his way to the doors. He was about to grab the handle when the doors dramatically swung open. He quickly stepped back, nearly face planting into them. Muttering a curse he looked up to find brown eyes glaring at him. He was met with a woman much older then he was with short brown hair. She wore a black leather coat with dark leggings, as well as a noticeable silver necklace.
“Ah- Greetings, Meiko.” The strawberry blonde gulped. Well this was just exceptional timing.
“What a nice surprise,” Meiko smiled at him coldly. “Hello Tsukasa. You must be here for Kaito, no?”
“T-That’s correct,” Tsukasa stammered. Gah! Get yourself together Tsukasa, it’s just your co-worker. Okay, maybe not just your co-worker.
Meiko was one of the superiors in the organization, well known and especially feared. The big question though was why? Why was she such an important figure? MEIKO didn’t participate in missions nor help with planning them. She had no special feats to back up her skills. She was simply a mysterious figure that showed when she wanted. There were several rumors of her being a deadly assassin, but retired after a mission that caused her a grave injury. He personally thought that that couldn’t be true, she must’ve done something in the past to gain such a title. Maybe her secret power is just being intimidating, her glare already enough to scare away her enemies.
“No need to be so timid,” She deadpanned. “Kaito isn’t going to kill you or something.”
I’m scared of you! Not Kaito! He wanted to scream. “Ah, of course.” He nodded politely. “Is this a bad time though? I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
Meiko raised an eyebrow at that before shaking her head and putting on her intimidating grin. “No, I’m sure he’d love to see you.” She stated. “I’ll leave you two alone now. Nice seeing you Tsukasa, until next time.” She patted him on the shoulder before walking away.
Tsukasa looked back utterly stunned. “Bye…?” He said, but judging by the way Meiko didn’t show any sign of acknowledgment, she didn’t hear him.
Tsukasa grumbled to himself, reaching for the door knob once again. He was almost expecting something to pop up and scare the living shit out of him. Fortunately for him though, nothing unexpected came up and he peacefully walked into the office.
Kaito’s office was a drastic change from the outside. The walls were painted in a royal blue color and were covered with monochrome shape patterns. Book shelves littered the room, almost to the point it could be called a library. Despite the mass amount of folders and paper work, the room was surprisingly tidy.
At the front desk sat none other than Kaito. The dark blue haired individual seemed frustrated about something, as their eyebrows were furrowed and they seemed to be in deep thought. Uh oh.
Kaito seemed to notice his presence and looked up. “Ah, Tsukasa. I’m glad you could make it,” He smiled politely. “Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the cushioned chairs that sat directly in front of the desk.
Taking a deep breath, Tsukasa mustered as much confidence as he could and walked forward. He took a seat in the black chairs and tried his best to look polite. “Thank you, sir. What did you need to discuss?” The blonde inquired.
“Right, yes, there was an important matter I needed to talk to you about.” Kaito opened a drawer and pulled out a massive folder. He opened it and pushed it into Tsukasa’s direction.
Tsukasa looked over curiously at the document. It seemed to be a document with… a lot of information on an individual. Judging by the bold words “Kamishiro Rui” at the top, that was who the information was on. Why exactly was Kaito showing him this? “What’s this about?” He asked, clearly confused.
“Kamishiro Rui,” Kaito said, a hint of unhappiness in his voice. “He’s been causing quite the trouble for the organization.”
Trouble, eh? It must be a big deal if Kaito looks so distressed talking about them. “How so?”
“They’ve been sabotaging a great deal of our missions, even going as far as murdering people within the organization.”
“Why hasn’t it been dealt with yet?” If this was such an important matter, surely it would’ve been solved by now?
“We initially thought that this was some rando and sent the inexperienced ones to assassinate them,” Kaito explained calmly. “Only one came back on the brink of death. They were sent back with a message.” Kaito flipped through the folder to reveal another page with a picture of a bloodied note.
I see you’ve finally caught up to my advances. Although I must say, I’m quite disappointed. The ones you sent were nothing short of pathetic. Either your little corporation has been failing or you think this a joke. It doesn’t matter, though. I’ll enjoy our little game regardless of the outcome.
:3
This Kamishiro guy sure was… how should he say it? Boring. Tsukasa knows he should feel some sort of dread, but he can’t seem to take them seriously. He’s dealt with many of these types of people. They try to sound menacing, sending intimidating notes and making a big deal out of their murders, but in the end they’re not very smart. They do all this teasing, trying to seem like they have the upper hand, but while putting on this show of theirs they slip up and end up dead.
Kaito seems to tell that he doesn’t care, and visibly sighs. “Kamishiro… he’s not like the others. He’s very capable of causing harm to us if not put down soon.”
“But why? He seems pretty average to me.” Tsukasa mutters, maybe a little too loudly. “Do you even know their motive?”
The dark blue haired male seems to think for a moment. “We believe it’s revenge.”
Tsukasa tilts his head in interest. “Revenge? For what?”
Kaito sighs, “You see, Kamishiro was an ex-assassin at this organization. He worked with a different branch so you wouldn’t know him. He was an incredibly skilled assassin, surpassing, essentially, everyone. He…” He pauses for a moment, his eyebrows scrunch in thought, seeming to debate his next words.“After an incident several years ago, Kamishiro disappeared without a trace. No one’s really sure what happened, but something must have angered him.”
Tsukasa’s eyes widened at that. An ex-assassin? That left voluntarily? He wasn’t familiar that such a thing was possible. Why would Kamishiro just… disappear with no reason to? Tsukasa can’t help but be suspicious of Kaito’s story. There’s so many holes in it. It doesn’t add up. However, he’s not going to push Kaito for an answer at this very moment.
“I see,” Tsukasa begins. “But how does any of this have to do with me?”
Kaito smiles at the question, “Ah, yes.” He reaches for one of the many folders on the desk and hands it to Tsukasa.
“We are giving you the mission to assassinate Kamishiro Rui.”