“I will not tarry too much for our first order of business. The first and most important thing I’ll address is your housing. I detailed already that for those who follow me as disciples, you will be entitled to one room in this apartment block, and you won’t be asked to pay rent. Your wages will cover more than enough for food, clothes, and medical expenses.”

  Yugi steepled his hands, resting his pert chin atop his fingers, and then counted out–

  “Individually, twelve million yen a year. You won’t want for anything that money can buy. There will be neither pay cuts or promotions of any kind. If I see a wavering of faith I will–” And there he lingered over his words, as if there was something he couldn’t say.

  “–simply remove you.”

  Rin noticed his choice of words there. If he really did recruit by faith alone, then he wouldn’t even have taken a passing glance at her. There was a much more calculated thought behind the selection of people now in the room then he let on in words–an indication that she was important; a concept that Rin was not in short supply of.

  “With that aside, there will be no negotiation, I think. A hefty sum like that needs no alteration, do we agree?”

  The lone raised hand came from the young woman who had stayed completely silent during the entire exchange, arms folded tightly across her shirt and hand flattening back down immediately, maintaining her trim silhouette. She began to tap her pen against her sleeve unconsciously.

  “Aki Yorugai.” Yugi tilted his head towards her.

  “I think that’s exactly why we all need more explanation. One million yen a month is a hefty sum. That would account for one hundred twenty million a year coming from your bank account, just to pay us all. Not even considering the costs of maintaining a whole apartment building, and everything else that might go into a syndicate.”

  When that sort of wealth was spoken out loud, Rin felt a sudden dry weight closing her throat.

  “It’s not that we’d want more or less. What we need is solid proof that you really can afford this sort of thing, otherwise it all sounds like a cheap scam to me.” Yorugai spoke quickly, precisely and in a clipped tone, as if she were presenting an informative graph at a company meeting. Everything about her was collected–her hair, her expressions, her stance and her words.

  It was a fair point to raise, one that Rin had barely considered. To her, whatever money Yugi could give her was tainted, ran through the hands of something almost human–and therefore a mere secondary concern to revenge.

  Yugi sighed, deflated. To Rin, he briefly seemed like an ordinary teenage boy, dressed in his great-grandmother’s oversized vintage piece.

  He dug into the folds of fabric, before he pulled out a small cellphone and flipped it open. It looked new, without any scratches or grimy fingerprints on the case.

  “Dexter, come here.”

  Yugi maintained direct eye contact with Yorugai as the other man curiously approached, like a cat staring down a rival in its territory as he nudged silently for Dexter to open his own cellphone.

  “Hey, hey, are you going to read my messages?”

  When the two electronic devices were almost touching, Yugi’s spindly fingers began typing out something on the keypad, and after twenty seconds or so Dexter’s own cell gave a beep, and something flashed on the screen.

  “Your services have done me a great deal of good,” said Yugi. “I apologise for lingering so on my compensation.”

  “Oh. Oh, hey, what did you do?” Dexter looked at it perplexed, not reading what the notification from his bank said. He couldn’t process it just yet, so he only repeated himself. “What did you do? Uh, what’s this? Hang on. No, there’s no way.” His face paled, and then flushed. “There’s- oh my.”

  “What?” Yorugai demanded. “What is it?”

  By way of answer, Dexter simply raised up his cellphone so that everyone congregated about could see what was upon the screen, and even Rin who could not read any of the surrounding words could clearly make out the number that almost clipped off the edge of the notification:

  ○○ wired a transfer of: ￥10,000,000 to your account.

  “That can’t possibly be right,” said Fukutetsu, and he reached forward to grab the device roughly, snatching it back out of its rightful owner’s hands for the foreseeable future. It was passed about like a cigarette as everyone satisfied themselves with the sight before them, but nothing changed the truth. It really was ten million yen there in Dexter’s account balance, no more and no less.

  For his part, it seemed like Dexter had lost the ability to use his knees, and he sank into the sofa without saying another word.

  “Then how do you even have this sort of money?” Yorugai asked, still gripping the cellphone tightly between her fingertips. “What do you do? Do worshippers pay you? Donations…?”

  Her voice trailed off, as if aware how vague her guesses were, and seeing the blank and lifeless expression in Yugi’s eyes that looked like the untouched surface of a snowfield.

  He only smiled sweetly at her.

  “If you feel satisfied now, may we move on?”

  The silence served enough as an answer.

  “That’s good. Now for the most pressing matter at hand. The goal I have sought for so long has been to overtake Zero Hand’s dominion of this district–we are clear on that, but before then, I was occupied with… other things.”

  What ‘other things’ would draw the attention of an angel? That question was soon answered when Yugi shook his right sleeve a little, shaking loose a piece of paper that fluttered onto the table.

  It was a map of the city. Emblazoned with the characters for ‘Namato’ at the top, it was divided into nine districts, of which the borders were winding and messy, the product of the city’s early formation back at the end of the 19th century.

  Namato had never been a capital city from the start. Instead, it had grown to be what it was now from the rapid growth of many small settlements during the Meiji Restoration. As the increased demand for housing and infrastructure ballooned the rural villages into towns, their boundaries began to merge like a large organism absorbing its smaller cousins into itself. Though each of the nine villages had preserved itself through a named district, Namato was long since a unified behemoth–a terrible thing, the very embodiment of hostile architecture, turning the sky above it almost black and the surrounding plains to dusty, empty wastelands.

  The districts were ordered in a clockwise circle when facing north, surrounding Sakuhata in the very centre, the only district that had no sides left open to the outside and was considered by many to be the first village ever built in the area. Enclosing it were–

  Kitasaka, crammed with factories and warehouses to the brim,

  Oikawa, divided awkwardly in half by the river of its name and a constant source of border dispute,

  Higouya, thick with the richest of the citizens, home to grand commemorative statues and the governing board’s own building,

  Haseoka, stomping-ground of university students and businessmen,

  Shiraikiji, where the beautiful white somei-yoshino trees not yet withered from pollution grew,

  Matsuto?, the most lucrative place to gamble and bet and the easiest place to lose one’s entire fortune,

  Doroi, split at every junction by seedy red lights and brothels,

  and of course Suzumachi, where the most dispassionate and unfortunate rotted on the streets, and trash piled so high it could be used as shelter from the acidic rain.

  On the map itself, though there were many small notes and annotations in an unreadable hand, the obvious point of interest was a large circle scribbled around the entirety of Matsuto?. Beside it was written a simple, clumsily transcribed word:

  ‘Subdue’.

  “The ongoing events that are happening in this city are more complex than the simple edict issued by Zero Hand two months ago,” Yugi began. He circled the printed characters ‘Suzumachi’ on the map with the tip of his nail as he spoke.

  “Of course, as we all know, Zero Hand announced that he would no longer be sheltering Ketsujin of any age on his territory, which encompasses the entire district of Suzumachi, as he manages no sub-syndicates with their own laws beneath his own. The first month, he occupied himself with driving them into the neighbouring districts. It was during the second month that he came to realise the backlash would cost too many of his resources, and began slaughtering all those who refused to comply.

  “And beyond that too, there have been reports of missing Ketsujin children from all districts, not only those of Suzumachi. If they were of any other race, such a thing would pose threats to every other joushi should they let it go unchallenged. After all, the kidnapping of one’s own people is no light matter. But of course, who would expend valuable time and energy, when the victims are merely Ketsujin children with no faces and names?”

  Rin felt her fingers twitching, itching to curl around worn paper once more. Se?tri.

  “As I have said before, this became a point of interest to me. I confess, perhaps it leaned into obsession. I found no leads on the missing children. What I did find was links between Zero Hand and the joushi of two other districts, Sakuhata and Matsuto?. It seems that his connection with Sakuhata is merely a simple allyship, as the joushi there runs a large hospital that purports to treat nokemono below board. However, I noticed that he seemed to be running business deals with the man who presides over Matsuto?. His name is Atsushi Kotaki.”

  The mention of the second district seemed to cause a strong reaction in Paul. He sat up, planting his large hands on the table in order to better examine it.

  “I’ve been to Matsuto? a few times in the past week,” he exclaimed. “The streets have been restless recently. Surely you can’t be suggesting–”

  The bright red ink drew in Rin’s gaze like a warning sign.

  “Mmh. Yes, Atsushi Kotaki has been subdued,” Yugi hummed.

  What an absurd sentence.

  And yet, as Rin leaned in to stare at the map a little closer, she didn’t find it so hard to believe anymore. The simple syllables rang out like an anvil being dropped, and the implications were ominously clear.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  “I perhaps did not make the most pleasing first impression,” Yugi sighed, tugging a single lock of his pale hair and twirling it round one finger. “I arrived in peace, seeking to discuss a possible change of loyalties. I hoped, naively I suppose, that he would be open to an alliance if I were to dazzle him with promises of money. However, the moment I arrived at his base of operations, I was set upon by his syndicate. It seems that Zero Hand has long since declared me a priority enemy, and so I had no chance to speak to Kotaki face-to-face. Though I made easy work of his men, Kotaki fled and disappeared from my reach. As far as I am aware, he hides somewhere in his own district, alone, too cowardly to face my judgement with clear eyes.”

  Seems like he isn’t all-knowing or all-seeing then, Rin noted.

  “So we come to the crux of the issue,” said Yugi, and he reached out to gently tug the paper closer to himself. His finger elegantly traced a line that ran from the southern edge of Suzumachi, the location of their apartment complex, east to the large main connecting road, right past Doroi, circling all the way back to that scarlet note. “This man I sought to charm carries valuable information about our target. And so-”

  Then he stabbed his nail right through.

  “I want you all to track him down for me. But I wouldn’t learn anything about you all if I came along and led the blind sheep, now would I? So I will give you back your eyes.” He smiled, and Rin recognised the subtle difference in his expression–there was something like mirth in the quirk of his upper lip.

  “It’ll be a competition.”

  Immediately there was a mixture of confused sounds and a groan from Nari’s lazily laid-back form from the group, and Rin’s own face contorted into a look of anger that filled her to completion.

  A competition?

  “That’s ridiculous,” Yorugai burst out. “A competition? You seriously want us to compete against each other to kidnap a human man–a joushi, no less! As if we’re just playing tag in the playground! Are you making a bad joke?”

  For the first time, the man lingering at the back put down his cellphone, taking a step forward to now properly join the congregation.

  He spoke, in a deep, mellowed voice that belied his vaguely threatening appearance. “You should be more respectful,” was all he said. A simple, understandable thing on the surface–but it was all Rin needed to form an immediate opinion of him right then and there, one that curled her upper lip into a disgusted snarl.

  Another brainwashed lackey.

  “Thank you, Himaro.”

  “Nobody could possibly take this seriously.” Yorugai appealed to the others, spreading out her arms as she turned from the table to gaze around at the surrounding people. “ ‘Retrieving’ a person is a delicate and grave matter, not a- not a fun bonding activity. Don’t we all agree on that?”

  “Why should it be?” Bravo countered. “He doesn’t matter one bit to me. Seems like a welcome change from the usual boring drivel to make a game out of it. You didn’t even let Yugi finish!”

  “I don’t need to!” But Yorugai was cut off by Nari’s drawling voice, loudly eclipsing her words.

  “Seems to me like you’re just afraid you’d lose if you joined in,” he mocked, “is that right?”

  “I’m not afraid of a thing, do you hear me?” Yorugai refused to rise to his cheap bait, rounding once more on Yugi, who had been watching the conversation with a mild expression.

  “You–You throw around your money like it means nothing, you treat these affairs like games–you might be an angel, but you clearly aren’t a full-grown one. None of this should be recreational to you. How can I possibly trust you? How do we know you won’t let us die when we aren’t useful anymore, if human lives are such toys to you?”

  “Yorugai, dear,” Yugi interrupted her softly. “Look at me.”

  And she did, if only to glare at him in disbelief.

  “There is no shame in being afraid,” he whispered.

  “I know that to believe my words is a terrifying trust fall. I do not expect you to do it all at once. But please, if you will… please, understand how I only wish the best for all of us. This is the first step, do you see? The first step onto a wonderful pilgrimage, that leads to a brighter destination.”

  Gently he gathered both of Yorugai’s hands into his own, clasping them earnestly. She did not pull away, transfixed by his soothing words. Though he was already sitting down, Yugi shifted position so that he was now kneeling on the table before her, bowing down his beautiful face til it was obscured by flowing white hair.

  For the first time, the back of Rin’s neck didn’t prickle with discomfort as she listened to him speak, and something made her untense her muscles one tiny degree.

  He wasn’t making that ‘real smile’ like he had under the streetlight, but he might as well have been. Right now, Yugi was being wholly and completely sincere.

  “I ask only that you prove yourself to me, so that I may prove myself to you.”

  Yorugai said nothing, looking over him repeatedly and blinking each time as if her thoughts were being interrupted. When Yugi let go of her hands, they fell limply to her side.

  “I see,” she finally said. “That makes sense.”

  Rin realised she had somehow almost fallen asleep again. She fought against the creeping warmth to open her eyes, the movement of Yugi’s mouth coming back into focus in front of her.

  “The rules for this game are simple and few. You will split into groups of two. Within twenty-four hours, you will enter Matsuto?, locate him, and bring him back to me. The prize, for the best-performing member of your group, will be a bonus of twelve million yen.”

  Not a single word was spoken amongst any of the people present. Just that short statement was enough to strike them dumb in unison.

  He raised his hand and splayed out three fingers, before lowering the first, second and third in intervals.

  “You may merge teams as you wish. You may cause as much destruction as you wish. And…”

  His words were so matter-of-fact that they didn’t sound like they belonged with that sort of voice.

  “You may attack, harm and kill one another as you wish. You must only bring him back alive.”

  The cloying, heavy silence that crept over every person that stood there in that room took only seconds to swallow them whole. Whatever fragile camaraderie that they’d cultivated was shattered. Now they all stared at one another in watchful, searching judgement, asking the same question in unison–who here would be willing to kill me?

  Rin found herself making direct eye contact with Himaro. He hadn’t moved from where he stood, nor did he make much of an expression as she looked at him. The entire time, he had given her the impression of a still lake–stagnant, calm, utterly unmoved.

  She disliked it.

  He was clearly sizing her up too, and Rin watched him glance at her biceps, her powerful legs, and the bulge of a gun under her jacket before looking away again.

  Bravo could be a wild card. She outwardly seemed nice and friendly, but there was no guarantee that she would remain that way when faced with certain loss. A person with a hidden face was always hiding something worse. Nari, Rin knew well. He wouldn’t hesitate to shred his opposition whether it was necessary or not. Himaro’s build looked suited to violence, but whether he truly wanted to deal it out couldn’t be known.

  Her gaze landed on the boy who was still shivering on the edge of the sofa, trying not to be within touching distance of Nari. The greasy, ratlike young man who looked as if he’d showered even less than Akahoshi did, and reeked of fear along with the body odour. There was something about him that embarrassed her to even look at him.

  But…

  Nestled in his black, watery eyes there was a flicker of something more unstable.

  Rin stared at him as he huddled into his knees, trying to avoid speaking to anybody around him. She noted down that little observation for later.

  Yugi allowed them to all warily glare at one another before he continued–

  “Though only one member of your team will be able to win, you are encouraged to work together until the end…teamwork is an important value, and you will be judged on your capabilities… Now–Paul Woodman and Rintaro Fukutetsu,” and he gestured lightly to the door. The two he had called upon reluctantly made their way to where he pointed, and Rin realised he was beginning to pair them up.

  “Yoritoki Tagaki and Bravo.”

  So that’s the rat’s name, she noted.

  “Aki Yorugai and Kousuke Himaro.”

  Rin felt her left eye twitching as it suddenly sunk in that she’d be required to work with somebody.

  “Nari Vokadj?ysha and Rin.”

  Oh.

  Perhaps he had paired them together to avoid the friction of a ketsujin-human team. She couldn’t ascertain why Yugi had ordered them the way he had–it looked random on the surface, but Rin had the feeling there was always a greater reason for everything that he did.

  “And……………ah.”

  There was a very conspicuous empty space next to where Dexter stood, and she turned to stare at it as Dexter looked up in confusion.

  “Yes, that’s unfortunate,” Yugi hummed. “Haruhiro Tenkawa could not make it. It seems we’re one short.”

  He glanced over at the still-sleeping Akahoshi, who was dead to the world, completely unaware of the meeting occurring around him–and Dexter bristled immediately.

  “No. No. You’re not getting me involved in this! I told you–I said, I’m just organizing this whole thing. You are not–”

  Ignoring him, Yugi crawled over the table and loomed over the passed-out man.

  “Yugi, I’m absolutely not going to pair with–”

  The flat of the angel’s palm came down onto Akahoshi’s forehead with a solid smack.

  The man immediately jolted, his eyes flying open as he scrambled to properly orient himself. He flailed a little before sitting up in a rush, stringy hair falling ungracefully over his face and his bloodshot eyes darting all around the room.

  “What?? Huh? Wha–hmmh? Hello?” He stared around, stunned at the amount of people who now surrounded his awakening.

  “The conversations have been concluded,” said Yugi nonchalantly.

  “You’ll be embarking on your first mission today. Dexter will explain everything to you.”

  Akahoshi made a face reminiscent of a person fighting through a windy day as he swung his legs off the sofa. Rin could smell the alcohol clinging to his clothes, as well as a strange chemical odour. “Right,” he slurred, “Yeah, uh, the conversations. The mission, I can do that. Very nice. Good morninggh-”

  He hiccupped and bent over again, trying to fight back a queasy roll of his hangover-ridden stomach. Dexter looked away with a pointed, unimpressed glare, disgusted by the pathetic sight.

  “Yugi, he’s hardly even fit for going out to the corner store, let alone a search-and-retrieve. Just put him with the others, don’t make me chaperone this moron!”

  “What the hell?” Akahoshi demanded, understandably offended. “You’re working here just like the rest of us ‘idiots’. Do your job, why don’t you?” He stood up as if he was intending on striding up to Dexter and forcing into the man’s personal space, but the next second, his knees buckled and he collapsed against the coffee table.

  “I am not stupid enough to get myself involved in some sort of dead man’s crusade,” Dexter snapped back. His friendly composure always shattered the moment Akahoshi prodded at it. “If that’s what you want to do, you’re welcome to it. I have other things to worry about! I agreed to be here purely because if I helped behind the scenes, I wouldn’t need to risk my life going out and–”

  “Stop.”

  It was a word that cut through the air.

  It sent a rush of pure cold, crippling ice straight to Rin’s stomach.

  She felt Yugi flaring his psychofield before she heard the dull, bass thrum echo through the room, and it was like her brain had been taken out her skull and violently shaken around. Yorugai stumbled and leant herself on Himaro to stay upright, and a few bright sparks collected on the metal doorknob and the buckles of Rin’s belt, accumulating a static charge.

  Akahoshi threw up over the arm of the sofa.

  “Please don’t fight in front of me,” Yugi whispered, and his words carried eerily through the silence.

  Rin shut her eyes and bit down hard onto her lip, hard enough that her sharp teeth pierced the skin and caused a tiny trickle of blood to drip down her chin, to avoid speaking a word.

  She hated it when he did that. Hated Yugi’s calm affect and his emotionless voice. Hated how he showed off like a boy on the playground. Hated his devoutness. Hated his childish face, gentle voice, knowing gaze, and the deep sadness that swam right in the centre of his pupils.

  Rin hated everything but his dreams.

  The two men had nothing left to say, and Yugi stood up, brushing down his kimono.

  He bent down to pull out a tiny drawer from under the coffee table, and whatever was inside it glinted in the window’s light. When Yugi gathered it into his delicate palms, it became apparent: a handful of crucifix necklaces, made with fine steel chains.

  He stepped over to Tagaki and gently lifted one over his head. The young man startled, but his body was locked in place as it settled round his thin neck.

  “Take these,” said Yugi, as he continued to walk down the line of people, adorning them with the necklaces, “And so take my blessing.”

  “Necklaces?” said Dexter with a raised brow.

  “They are constructed from my own body,” Yugi answered him pleasantly, and Tagaki immediately shuddered, silently scratching at his neck as he tried to lift it from his skin. “I must ask that you continue to wear these, no matter what happens. They will keep you safe on your journeys, if God shall will it.”

  Rin stayed utterly still. She maintained a thousand-yard stare into the opposite wall as she smelled the metallic scent of Yugi brushing past, standing on his very tiptoes, stretching his arms as far as they would go to reach her neck.

  The chain was cold on her skin, and it almost tingled. The links cascaded down her leather jacket until the pendant swung free, glittering in the light.

  In the periphery of her eye, Rin saw Yugi smile a secret smile.

  “Bring me Atsushi Kotaki,” he whispered. “I know that you will.”

  Rin jerked her head in a single, silent nod.

  This chapter was delayed because I was struck down by illness. Sorry about that!

  There are a lot of firsts in this chapter. The other members of the group were difficult to name--Himaro was the worst one for me. His surname is made of three kanji. He didn’t leave any kanji left over for Rin to have a surname.

  Yorugai’s dialogue is fun to write. I want to balance the feeling of a schoolteacher with a tired office worker. If I met her in real life, I’d be intimidated by her.

  I wrote this chapter while listening to “Touch You!” - Shiritsu Morimori Gakuen Seishun Boys. Give it a listen.