Back in the day, this world was too perfect in my opinion. No blood is shed. No bodies lie on the floor. Peaceful. That’s why, when I first committed my first homicide, I felt the rush of excitement coursing through my blood for the first time. He was a middle-aged man, but not necessarily enough that he couldn’t defend himself. Boy was his expression terrifying, even for me. I heard a couple of my own bones broke from his punches and kicks. But after my clothes were bathed in a sheet of red, did I mind? Hell no. Unsurprisingly, I was put into prison. Boy what a strange prison it was. They called it the Reborn Prison? They said the damn place was 400 meters below the surface. I was put into around the 10 meter mark apparently. And you know what, that shit was just an insult to my face. They actually had the balls to say that exact number when I was strapped into chains. Who knows how long I served there.

That was until one man paid a visit to my cell. When I first saw him, it was like laying eyes on the embodiment of friendliness. He said he was the director of a specific organization aimed to maintain the balance of humanity. And what did he do next? He actually went out of his way to go to this vacant prison to invite me to his little organization. Yeah, well, it must’ve been a long time until my laughter finally ended. Life seemed to like to play me like a fucking fool. You know what I did next? I fucking joined it. It was either death by firing squad or this agency. I guess I changed myself. Keh.

Given this job to take out this one scientist dude, I thought the Director was pulling my damn leg. But he wasn’t. He even had me pair up with a woman I found annoying to kill this scientist. What luck. And that’s why when I saw this one guy just standing there in front of the place where I already scavenged, I knew he had some secrets to tell. And I know he won’t tell them unless blood is shed.

Riki arrived at the location unscathed. No automaton tried to kill him luckily. Getting there was the easy part, but he couldn’t shake that feeling that something was a bit off. Fallway, the capital city, had an empty side to it, and the 342 Shaker street address was right in the center of it. He hadn’t seen another person in over 5 minutes since entering the suburb. Now Riki was there, right in front of a nondescript building.

What if that thing does suddenly appear?

He didn’t want to encounter that doll again. Thus, Riki needed to get the hell out of there after he searched the whole vicinity. Which he might be able to do so soon, as there really weren’t anything toward the outside. The only thing left to search was the interior, the place he’s been dreading the most. It took him all of his willpower to go up to the door and open it. As he did, he saw the dust beam illuminated by the entrance. That was the only thing that was being lit as the rest of the interior was pitch black.

With one foot in, he felt a sudden chill throughout his body. It didn’t prevent him from foraging ahead into the house. That was when that chill grew unbearable enough that he couldn’t possibly ignore anymore. When Riki turned around, he saw a guy walking up to where he stood. The man had long unkempt black hair tied somewhat in a messy ponytail. He had a black haori and carried a katana sheath on his hip. But where was the actual blade?

Riki felt the taste of a metallic taste in his mouth. He put his finger on his lips and looked at the result. Red. Again. A silvery glint caught the corner of his eye, that was the man’s blade. He didn’t want to die. He never got to help her get revenge for her friend. He never got to find out who he was. And he never got to see that white-haired girl one more time.

“Great, now it just feels weird to kill someone now.”

Riki felt the coldness of the blade run out of his torso and lost all power in his legs to remain standing. Just when he was about to pass out, he heard the voice of someone calling out.

“Oi, stop, stop, time, time out!”

Popping their body in and waving their hand was a girl with long straight black hair. She was wearing all black except for her leggings which were a magenta shade, but her long skirt covered right up to her shins.

“Shut up you woman, I know a suspicious person when I see him.” the man said while cleaning off his blade.

“Katou, you can’t just keep on slicing every person you just meet, my guy. Also, it’s still not ‘woman’, it’s Oluka.”

At this point, Riki was bleeding laying on the floor, dazed and confused.

“Oi, you whose on the ground right now, what were you doing here loitering around?” the woman said actually expecting an answer, “We already checked this in. Not a soul lives there. Used to be owned by a mad scientist though.”

The eccentric girl walked over and squatted next to him. Her eyes widen at the sight of Riki’s wound.

“I’m surprised Katou, you didn’t go for any vital organs?”

“I’d rather him bleed to death.”

“That’s new. You know, I heard you were crazy off killing people. Haven’t seen you do that at all myself though, gotten softer?”

“Shut up, woman.”

Oluka stared deep into Riki’s eyes. It was as if the light of the room reflected off of her magenta eyes.

“...I have decided. This boy will be saved.”

The response from the girl was enough to catch Katou off guard. That was the last thing Riki understood before he succumbed to the darkness.

[You wish to save your friends?]

[You wish to save yourself?]

[You wish to go on?]

Who exactly are you?

“You know, still can’t believe you actually missed the liver, kidney and large intestine.”

The next thing Riki woke up to was the girl floating in midair, slumped over.

“You and your damn air bubbles, woman.”

“O-l-u-k-a! Plus, you already healed the boy. Going through the extra effort to cut him again seems like wasted effort.”

From what Riki could tell, his wound was healed. He was in the same house where he was supposed to investigate, so that means he wasn’t sent to any hospital nor time being passed. Which would mean that one of these two...

“Oh? The boy’s awake. So he didn’t die.”

“Good.” Katou said, walking up to Riki who was tied up in rope.

Fuck… Fuck…! That hurt so much! Just who are these people?! Why are they here?

“Katou… Should we tell the Director about this bo—”

He already had his blade’s tip pointed at Riki’s neck.

“Oi Katou.”

With the speed almost the same from the automata, the blade came down to his neck. That was, until it was stopped.

“Yeah, yeah. I know, woman. Anyways, listen here. How come you were here stalking this house?”

It was at this point Riki had decided to tell them about the whole situation regarding the stolen earrings, the inn, the automata, all of the evidence, and tomorrow’s Science and Engineering Conference. After all, lying felt like suicide in this situation.

“...an inn, eh?” Katou said as he scratched his chin.

“Those two, Tamaki and Kaori sound like delicious meals to me.” Oluka said, now floating with her belly frontside up and her head upside down looking at them. Her hair dangled and touched the ground.

“Lead the way. I’ll see for myself if you're lying or not. It seems that we share common goals but before I can trust you, I need proof of this fake inn.”

Once again, Riki avoided death. Who knows how long he can keep this up before he actually bites the dust? He really did not want to lead these two to meet Tamaki and Kaori.

“...The fuck is happening?”

As Riki led them to the inn, the three of them saw that the roof was torn a new hole. When they went inside, Tamaki and Kaori were there lying on the floor, bloodied and battered.