*Sanji Ryuko (Officer CA-1-19-19-0)
I heard my alarm ring, but I did not budge.After some seconds, I opened my eyes and sat upright on my bed, then turned off the alarm.
I sat there for a moment, meditating about everything.
I looked towards the clock, and it read 5:12 AM.
Then I used my right palm to rub my face, drawing it down as I yawned.
After yawning, I turned onto my back and gently kissed the forehead of my wife, who was sleeping beside me.
"...Is it 5 AM already?" she asked, barely awake, with her eyes still closed as she lay still.
"Yes, but you can sleep in if you want," I said.
Then I kissed her on her forehead again and jumped off the bed.
"No…wait for me, I'm coming," she said reluctantly, still lying on the bed and showing no sign of moving an inch.
I smirked, then entered the bathroom and did the needful.
I came out of the bathroom with a short towel draped around the back of my neck.
Immediately, as I came out of the bathroom, I could smell my wife's cooking from the other room.
I put on my jeans and singlet, carrying my T-shirt and shoes in my hands, then walked into the other room—the dining room/kitchen.
I walked up behind my son - Aki; who just clocked 7 years few weeks ago... Look at the rascal.
He was seated at the dining table.
"Hope you slept well," I said, patting his head as I sat down.
"Good morning, Dad," he responded.
"What are you doing there?" I asked, seeing some papers, crayons, scissors, and paper-tape on the dining table in front of him instead of a plate of food.
"I am just finishing some homework…" Aki answered, his eyes completely focused on whatever he was doing.
"He completed it yesterday, but woke up this morning saying he wanted to change some things, and now he has littered the whole table," my wife, Aiyo, reported to me, approaching us with a pan of hot scrambled eggs.
"Hey, put those things away and have your breakfast. I don't know why you are doing another one when you did a good job already," Aiyo said, sharing the eggs onto the plates in front of us.
"Leave him alone; he knows the blood that runs in his veins," I said jestingly to my wife as I chewed down my food.
"We hail from a linage of hardworking men. If you do something but think you can make it better, then make it better. Always do your best and stand tall," I said, as I gently patted his head.
"Hope you will be the one to clear all this mess after he is done?" Aiyo asked rhetorically, looking at me dead in the eye.
"I should be going now; my partner must be waiting for me at the station," I averted her gaze and said, standing up immediately.
Then I went to my son and kissed him on the top of his head.
I moved to my wife, giving her a big smile and kissing her cheek with everything I'm worth.
I put on my shirt and shoes, then exited our apartment.
Almost immediately as I walked out, my phone rang.
I flipped it open to see who was calling.
"What's up?" I said to the caller on the other side of the phone call.
"You and I will run point at Downtown Nishinari. Kaitsu and Kondo will have to leave their station and run some errands," the caller said, without any formality.
"Damn it," I muttered, annoyed.
"How long will we be patrolling around Downtown Nishinari?" I asked, because slums like that only invited trouble, and I preferred not to stay or visit such places.
"We will be on patrol for a few hours. Just meet me at the station," the caller said softly.
"What the hell are Kaitsu and Kondo even running?" I asked out of frustration; I really didn't want to go to Downtown Nishinari.
The caller just exhaled softly into the phone and ended the call.
It was then I realized I had screwed up.
"Shit, I shouldn't… Why did I have to open my big mouth?" I immediately scolded myself in a low and anxious tone, as I tried calling the person back, but they didn't answer.
"Damn it!" That was the only thing I could say after multiple attempts of calling the person.
I placed my phone back into my pocket and walked six blocks away from my apartment to the Nishinari 5th Terminal train station, and got off at Nishinari 1st train station.
I then had to walk for about 27 minutes to the 8th Metropolitan Higashi-Sumiyoshi Enforcer station.
I greeted a few of my uniformed colleagues, without saying their name of course, then walked straight inside the station.
"Hey Sanji, did you see the game last night? Your club had their tail between their legs. Two goals to one," Fuyuku-san said, a stationary Enforcer.
We were in the same unit at the academy, but while I was given a 'Patrol Enforcer' role (without any choice), he became a Stationary Enforcer by choice.
"You know, cheaters like to brag," I said mockingly.
"Hey, how did we cheat? Rossel made his shot before he entered box 18… That was a fair second goal," Fuyuku-san said defensively.
"Oi, are you guys talking about the match?" one of the two guys that just walked in, Ren-san, asked, before we bumped the side of our fists as a form of greeting.
"…Hell, you guys clearly slipped something to the referee. That was a very clear 'off-side.' There is no one who watched that match that will say it wasn't 'off-side,'" Ren-san continued.
"We weren't on the field. You can't be arguing with someone who was there on the field and saw what exactly happened. You just have to accept that Chester City is quite better than your team, if we look at that play… Touji-san, help me out here," Fuyuku-san said with a smirk on his face.
"Look, I might be a Chester City fan, but I can't say we beat Aldershot if the last goal was an offside," Touji-san commented softly, as he pulled off his jacket and hung it on his shoulder.
"Look at this traitor! Why in hell will you be supporting Aldershot?! That goal was clearly not an 'off-side,'" Fuyuku-san still protested.
"Buddy, you are the only blind one here. Even your fellow fan isn't supporting you," I mockingly said to Fuyuku-san.
"Noooo, you guys can keep him. Club 1 doesn't want him anymore…" He was saying when the sudden entrance of our captain caught us off guard, scattering to look as busy as we could fake it.
"I really hope you boys aren't wasting the city's taxes standing here and talking about soccer?" she asked rhetorically.
"Good morning, Captain," I greeted along with the others in our own way.
"I'm sure you all have places to be and people to attend to," she said, looking at Fuyuku-san as she finished that last part.
"Yes, ma'am!" We all answered a bit reluctantly and slowly parted ways.
"Officer CA-12-2-14-13 and CA-1-19-19-0, walk with me; we have something to discuss," she ordered, halting us.
We followed her from behind.
"Officer 12-2-14-13, how is the investigation with the homicide case on Blue-Garden Park going with the police?" she asked Touji-san first, while we all walked slowly to her office.
"The police forensic team swept the whole park clean for anything that might be a lead. They recovered some prints belonging to some people that had a record or two, and we assisted in tracking and questioning some Evolves, while they handled the Non-Evolves," he responded with his usual soft voice, as he scratched the side of his mouth.
"Did they find anything substantial yet?" she asked in a tone that suggested he talk a bit faster, as we all entered her office.
"Nothing yet. I will take a detour to the police station and ask if there are any new leads," Touji-san responded a bit faster, in order not to displease the captain.
"Do that and update me on the matter. You can go," she said as she sat down on her seat in the office.
"Alright, ma'am," he said, then left her office and locked the door behind him.
She then faced me with a bit of a stern face and said, "Kaistu and Kondo have some business to take care of. I trust you already know your given station?"
"Yes, ma'am," I responded with a bit of discomfort.
"Since you and your partner will not be doing the usual patrol," she said, with her eyes away from me and hands searching for something in her desk drawers.
"You will guard certain city officials collecting donations from the passengers exiting from or boarding trains in Sumiyoshi. Your job is to make sure no 'dogskins' from the slums severely beat or abduct the officials on your watch," she continued, slamming a stack of files on her desk.
"You will be briefed properly before you and your partner set out. The reason I am telling you all this follows this little piece of advice: Don't let your guard down for a second; those 'gutter-runts' will definitely act up.
Do not be afraid to drop them. The top priority are the officials. Just try to make sure nothing considered as 'excessive brutality' is captured on camera," she firmly said, leaving the work she wanted to start and looking at me straight in the eyes.
"I don't want to start writing a report as to why you were stationed there, or how Enforcers failed to enforce 'proper' law and order for common passengers," she continued, finally returning her eyes and hands to writing on the files in front of her.
"You and I know that those people are anything but common passengers that respect law and order" I responded with a bit of a jest.
"That is why I'm giving you the 'go ahead' to drop any of those punks that pull anything and write it off as them 'endangering public safety' or better – 'attempted assault on officer.' Do anything to make sure those officials don't have a scratch, or I will simply throw you under the bus. You can go now," she concluded, using her hand to shoo me away.
I immediately left her office and headed to the changing room.
I put on my Enforcer tactical uniform with my serial number on it.
A Senior Officer conducted a debriefing and assigned locations to those that were on patrolling duty like me, which was a repeat of what the captain said earlier.
After the debriefing, M16A3 arcane-assault rifles and four tear-gas grenades were distributed to all of us, which showed how intense things would be.
Then I called my partner, and she told me to meet her in the patrol car parking lot.
I geared up with my arcane-handgun, regular sidearm, taser, and handcuffs.
I checked myself out with the Stationary Enforcer stationed as a receptionist—that is, Fuyuku-san.
"Look…" I barely completed my statement, when my partner cut me short, by saying, "Let's get there before the officials' arrival at the train station."
I just kept quiet, since she didn't feel like hearing me out.
So, we got into our patrol car and drove to the train station.
*Shitsubo
Daigo took us to a large shaft around the bridge that he knows.
The 'shop' was actually a very big, barn-like building, made of rusting zinc sheets and nylon bags used to cover openings.
The whole area was filled with old, crushed vehicles.
The individuals hanging around the building were armed mostly with machetes, with a few carrying AKs.
Some gave us the usual death glare as we walked to the open entrance of the shop.
But Daigo assured me that they were harmless as long as 'we' too remained harmless.
The noise, heat, and different 'metal against metal' sounds coming from inside the shop were on another level, especially the heat.
It felt like I was mining in a tunnel tens of feet below ground surface, even though Daigo and I were still a few feet away from the entrance.
I looked around as we entered this giant shop.
It was filled with people: buying, selling, making, and disassembling different types of tools, weapons, etc.
There were also individuals carrying AKs strolling around the shop.
Daigo strolled through the shop while I followed from behind.
We soon reached a particular counter that had a small queue in front of it, which we joined.
After a while, it was our turn—Daigo's turn to be exact, because he was in front, and I just stayed behind him.
Daigo greeted the middle-aged, stout woman with hideous moles all over her face, standing behind the counter.
"What you want?" she asked with a stern face.
"We want to sharpen and refill these axes," Daigo responded, as he stretched his hand out for me to retrieve the axes from my backpack and hand them over to him.
She took the axes, placing one on the table and examining the other one.
"Hmm, this is some old junk; probably made in the 1990s and definitely not made in Japan, maybe Germany or Russian. It even has an old refill mechanism, and the patterns are as foreign, as they come" she said, looking at the axe before tossing it onto the counter.
"I will take 5,850 yen for both sharpening and refilling," the unpleasant old woman said, then spat on the ground beside her.
"Fine, how long will it take?" Daigo said without flinching at the price.
It also seemed no one could bargain here because I hadn't seen any of the people who were attended to before us bargaining for a lower price.
"I will cover everything, don't worry about adding a dime," Daigo whispered to me.
He seemed to think I planned on contributing, which wasn't even in my mind.
Yes, the price was high, but he had said he would pay for everything before coming here.
I wasn't going to spend money I didn't have on something like this, I would let him keep his word.
We stood there aside and waited for nearly 45 minutes for the axes to be ready.
When the old woman handed the axes to Daigo, the design markings by the sides of the head of the axes were glowing blue—a sign that they were now filled with mana.
"Wait, you got a holster back there for the axes?" Daigo asked the old woman.
She pulled out the counter's drawer and vigorously searched it without taking her gaze off us.
Then she brought out an old holster and said, "600 yen."
Daigo handed her the fee for everything and gave me the holster.
Daigo and I decided to leave, so we headed towards the shop's exit.
We heard a loud gunshot from where we had just left, which not only silenced that area like a graveyard but also attracted everyone's gaze, including ours.
The old woman behind the counter held a two-barreled shotgun, with its muzzle still letting out smoke.
One of the individuals carrying an AK47 walked up close to the person that was shot.
The person that was shot seemed to be alive because I could see some movement, but the person still lay flat on their face, definitely meaning they were barely clinging to life.
The stout woman said something to the thug.
I could not really hear what she said, but I picked up some words like 'Fucking,' 'Steal,' and 'end.'
No one seemed to be asking about what the person did; most of us just watched, while some lost interest and continued whatever they were doing before the gunshot.
The thug bent down and searched the person on the ground.
Then he pulled out something that looked like a small, faintly glowing yellow glass tube with multiple short wires on each end of the tube.
The thug immediately aimed his AK47 with one hand at the back of the person and fired about seven shots.
Then he uttered something, which I could not hear, but by reading his lips, I think he said 'Motherfuck....'
Then he shot the person two more times.
By that time, two other thugs were already there and entered a conversation with the thug who had shot the man.
"Let's go…" Daigo said softly as he pulled me by my left arm to exit the shop.
When we left the shop, we found our way underneath the destroyed highway bridge we made a stop at after fleeing from Daigo's neighborhood.
"So, should we head to Taisho, or do you want to do something else?" Daigo asked, as we walked beside each other.
"You mean, is my head clear now?" I replied rhetorically.
Then I continued, being as honest as I could be, "The truth is, I don't know and I don't care. Like you said, if I let myself get drowned in whatever this is, then I will be dead, and I can't afford death."
"Yeah, it's a bit of a luxury for us," Daigo cut in, making a shitty joke.
"I think we have chilled enough. Thanks for the axes and the holster. Time to get up our asses and make some coins," I suggested, and Daigo nodded his head in agreement.