2 months ago

The city of Kobe was booming with life on this particular night.

Street lights were bright, cars were zooming by and the streets were filled with people, all leadings to one direction.

Near the center of Kobe was a building with multi coloured lights that escaped its space and made its way to a couple blocks away from it.

It appeared to have been a very high society club with people desperate for entry.

All around the compass of the area surrounding the building could you hear music, mostly made to energize crowds. To strangers to the town, it would be odd to not see any form of law enforcement prohibiting this type of disturbance.

But to the four figures atop a building parallel to the club, this was just how Kobe is. Or was.

"Yooo! They're playing my favourite song!" Shizu said with child-like excitement in his tone.

"Bro... that's just static" His younger sister Shia responded to him.

"Quality music sis! Qualityyy" Shizu responded with emphasis at the end of his response.

Shia and Shizu were laying on their stomachs looking through a tablet of sorts being held within Shizu's hands. It appeared to show feed of the front entrance of the club.

The front entrance was very decorative and secure with a carpet for the guest, multiple security guards armed with weapons guarding it, and female escorts to lead the guests through a golden entrance into a dark room which only showed rapid blares of lights flashing.

"Hey, Troy, Kichiro. Are you two almost ready?" Shia asked turning her head to face a sheltered stair case hoping for a response.

"Just about!" Kichiro responded through the darkness appearing to tie a neck tie on his collar.

Once he was done, he faced the Troy who was behind him also finished with his clothing.

Kichiro was still weary of Troy even after his conversation with his uncle and the story he shared with Troy earlier that night. But he knew that if they were to be successful, he would need to put that weariness aside for the time being.

For as long as Kichiro can remember, he knew of his uncle's odd decision making that seemed only rational to himself with non-negotiated interpretation. However, since a faithful night some time after the death of his father, he knew that every decision his uncle made was for a great outcome.

"Troy. Are you ready?" Kichiro asked.

"Yeah.... Let's do it" Troy said nodding at Kichiro.

"Then, let's fight together tonight" Kichiro said walking out of the alongside Troy, both wearing black suits.
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The line hadn't gotten any bit shorter. It still had reached past dozens of city blocks.

"That's one busy club, you can say that for sure..." Shia said still on her stomach staring down at the streets below.

"AHHHHHH" Shizu exclaimed at the top of his lungs as though it were an over the top groan. "I wanna gooooo!" He complained. "Why do Troy and Kichiro get the cool job while we're stuck up here!?" He continued.

"Because, we're surveillance. We're their eyes from above before they enter" Shia explained.

"But Kichiro has better eyesight than all of us! Shouldn't he be up here?" Shizu asked.

"Kichiro understands this city and this culture better than us. He has the best chance of entering" Shia explained.

"Then what about Troy? You know how he is. He may get angry or have a breakdown cause of what happened to his friends?" Shizu asked.

"No. He'll be fine. Troy has changed since our first mission. The training Ray put the four of us through helped him to stop dwelling too hard on what happened and strive for a solution. He told me so himself" Shia said, assuring her older brother that a repeat of the event a week ago would not reoccur.

"Good for him, but I still really wanted to go. It's so boooring up here!" Shizu complained forming a disappointed frown.

"Yeah" Shia responded still looking out forward.

Although Shia knew she should focus on the mission ahead of her and her older brother, she couldn't help but feel empathy for her brother. After all, boredom and normality is something they knew all too well.

"..... Wanna prank everyone down below with my new water balloon canon?" Shia asked her older brother to cheer him up.

Shizu's face lit up with excitement when the offer was made.

"Fuck! Yes!" Shizu said excitedly
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Kichiro and Troy had exited the building through the bottom entrance and found themselves on the illuminated streets.

Kichiro had his blue mask which covered his eyes placed on his face to protect his identity while Troy had put his hood up and covered his own face.

Troy was uneasy about the lack of subtlety that he was hiding his face. From where he was from, when people hid their face, it was a sign of danger as it should be for anywhere across the globe.

"Hey, I gotta ask. Wouldn't masks make draw too much attention to us? Everyone in line is showing their faces without a care?" Troy asked.

"You're right. It is suspicious. But we would stand out anyway so even without our faces being covered. We're covering our faces under the guise of precaution. In Kobe, we can at least use the excuse of foreigners hoping to understand the city and buy the drug. All we need to do is enter the club, after then everyone should already be too busy to notice our appearances. I know how these people work and how to smooth talk them if necessary" Kichiro answered.

"Yeah.. guess that'll work" Troy responded still uncertain of the circumstance. He had been in situations before that seemed to have a simple solution become complicated and an out of control circumstance for himself. It was the whole reason why he was here in the first place.

Kichiro recognized Troy's face of uncertainty. He had not lived in the city for as long as himself. Kobe was unlike any city in Japan, except Ronpa city which was unlike any city in all of asia. While still weary of Troy and his ability to work together with him, Kichiro knew he would have to set that aside.

"I know it's been... weird. Getting accustomed to a city like this. A city that can be so violent, yet so peaceful at certain times. A city full of laws, but also one without the structure of said laws. You come from a whole different place unlike this. You, Izu and Shia all had homes and lifestyles vastly different than the one's the citizens of this city are used to." Kichiro said to Troy.

"But. Even though this city is unlike the ones you are from. Their is something that it shared with any city in the world" Kichiro continued.

Troy had an idea of where Kichiro was going with his statement. He knew it would link back to the story he had told him earlier.

"There is evil in this city. An evil that will swallow it whole if it isn't resisted. My uncle and father did everything they could to change this town and stop the evil within it from growing. And that evil took one of them..." Kichiro said grimly when thinking back to that night.

"If we don't learn how to stop this evil, we'll never be ready to face that continent where you're friends may be Troy. This growing evil may end us before we can" Kichiro said to Troy.

".... You're right." Troy responded.

Kichiro stared at Troy slightly shocked that someone so stubborn which he had heard and seen from his uncle, was agreeing with him.

"I failed my team, the moment I let my guard down. I wasn't ready to face the world when I challenged it. And they paid for it." Troy admitted.

When Troy stared to the side of him, he noticed a poster with his face on it next to posters of Honey, Rosé, and Tsuki with a bounty reward underneath.

"I don't want that happen to people I care about ever again..." Troy said pulling down the posters.

"Then show me. Show me your resolve to save them. I want to trust you Troy, I really do. We both know what it's like to have people we care about taken from us. I want for you to be successful in finding them... I want to see it's possible" Kichiro admitted.

Troy nodded at Kichiro's confession

"Once this is all over, and I can prove to you that I am on your side. I'll show you that hope. I'll show you it's possible" Troy said offering a handshake to Kichiro.

Now, with little hesitation, Kichiro embraced Troy's handshake.

"Then let's get to it"

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Present Day

In a dark alley way, you could hear thuds and stomps being made to a body.

If you were to enter, you would find a man dressed in a pure sliver uniform wearing a ballistic helmet, beating down on a pale, boney child.

The soldier had just been asked for assistance by the child currently being beaten down prior. In most countries, it was expected for soldiers, protectors of the country to assist the child anyway they could.

While it was a standard in other countries to assist, it was a standard in the Metal Continent to decline, and brutalize.

Those unfamiliar with the circumstances may see this as abuse of power due to the soldiers believing they are stronger. Perhaps they may blame the soldiers superiors. They may blame the leader of the continent. Or even blame the continent itself.

However, no one is to blame for this occurrence. For it was not pride or hierarchy that made the soldier attack the child.

It was ignorance.

But these ideas where not shared with the blue haired man who rained down on the soldier, driving the heel of his foot down upon the soldier, knocking them out.

Blue grit his teeth as he looked down at the unconscious soldier, disgusted by him and how could attack an innocent child.

Green had then hovered down towards his teammate, not expecting Blue to act so rashly. It reminded him of Black.

"Kichiro..... you alright?" Shizu asled concerned for his friend.
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2 months ago

"Alright Black. Follow my lead and we'll be able to get in no problem. Stay low and don't remove your hood" Blue ordered to the man beside him.

The duo had somehow reached the entrance of the line, even though previously before entering it, it had encompassed multiple city blocks.

Behind them were wet marks with a variety of coloured rubbers on the street. The rubber was also wet and was broken into pieces. As though they had made contact with the ground.

Unbeknownst to the people previously is the line, on top of a large building we're two teenagers laughing as they looked below them to the now wet street.

"Sis! Best! Idea! Ever!" Shizu exclaimed laughing as he looked at his handheld monitor.

"I know right! Did you see that one girl?? All her makeup seeped into her clothes when the water dripped down her face!" Shia reminded her brother also laughing.

"HAHAHHAHAHA" Shizu exclaimed laughing harder at the memory.

Thanks to the actions of the members of TAMS up above, the ones below easily made it to the entrance. All they had to do now was get past the two security guards. They both wore black Tuxedos with white dress shirts underneath as well as intercoms on their ears.

Like Blue had suggested, Black let him do all the talking.

"LET US IN FUCKER!" Blue exclaimed at the top of his lungs.

"HUUUH? BASTARD! YOU GONNA SCREAM AT ME TO GET IN EH?! ILL SEND YOU BACK TO YOUR MOMMA CRYING IF YOU DONT QUIET DOWN!" One of the security guards said screaming at Blue.

"HOW YOU GONNA SEND ME BACK TO MY MOMMA WHEN I ALREADY FUCKED BOTH OF YOURS!?" Blue screamed

"WHA- YOU LITTLE SHIIIT!" The other security guard said flipping him off.

"FUCK YOU TOO! ASSHOLE!" Blue said flipping him off as well shoving them out of the way, allowing both him and Black to enter.

Black was shocked to see that Blue's method of entry had actually worked. He had never heard him nor his uncle scream like that before, albeit he had only known them for a week.

"How did tha-"

"In Kobe, whoever provides the most attitude and delinquent like behaviour will normally cause other citizens to act the same way and forget their objective" Blue explained cutting off Black.

".... Wow"

End

Quick disclaimer, I have no idea if people from Kobe (which is an actual city) actually talk like that. I just wanted to throw in some humour since the story has been so doom and gloom from when chapter 47 was uploaded.

Imma be real with y'all. I was ready to quit tbh. My schedules been packed with work that I barely have time to do anything throughout the day, and when I come home at night, I'm too tired to do anything.

But I swear! I don't know why but TOP (the opening) just does something to me. It just gets me ready to write again. Probably because it really describes this saga.

I'm telling you, this saga has a slow start, but once I finish the Troy/ Kichiro flashback arc. This shit is gonna pick up.

Also, for anyone bored of the Shuichi side, once I'm done the Himiko/ Kirumi story, I'm moving on to the next pair. And let's just say, if you liked the Rantaro vs Kaito fight. This one between the two characters I've selected will be a whole lot better.

So before signing off for who knows how long, I just want to thank everyone who's taken the time to read my chapters. It really means a lot. And also huge shoutout to the voters and commenters. Your actions really encourage me to keep going with the story!

Till next time,

Tori