They say there are two types of people: those who flee to greener pastures, and those who stay to fight for change. I fall on the latter. I’m Inspector Daigo, and I am a local inspector renowned for unearthing the criminal underbelly plaguing my hometown.

It came without warning, but what was one of the most desirable parts of Tokyo became a magnet to criminal activities. To make matters worse, corrupt police officers gladly turned a blind eye, as well as shutting the case on the gruesome murder of Mr. and Mrs. Michio, in exchange for bribes. Privileged to work as inspector, this was my chance to prove myself to the higher-ups, and bring this town back to normality. Failure would have meant demotion, or being kicked out of the force completely. In spite of the odds, I knew justice wasn’t a matter of “if,” but “when.”

“Good afternoon, Detective,” said a voice on the other side of the phone conversation.

     “Good afternoon, Chief Inspector,” Daigo said.

     “Have you made any progress?” the chief inspector asked.

     “I managed to get a hold on more intel, and it’s pointing to one suspect,” Daigo said.

     Inspector Daigo, a detective at this point in time, was tasked with identifying the people behind a local drug trade, and how they were involved in influencing the police. Three weeks before the Neon Ninjas tried hunting him down themselves, Daigo’s resilience led him to one key suspect: Mr. Akihiro, founder and CEO of AkihiroSoft. From what he could gather from staff members and eyewitnesses, Mr. Akihiro had been bribing the previous sergeant for years, so as to turn a blind eye on the company’s dealings with illegal drugs. In fact, his share of the drug money was funneled into keeping his company from going under due to accumulating debts. This was in addition to bribing the sergeant into closing an ongoing case on the assassination of Mr. and Mrs. Michio, Hiroshi’s parents, as one of Mr. Akihiro’s trade partners, “Human Battalion the Mercenary,” was hired to pull the trigger. Naturally, the last thing a reputable CEO needed was his reputation to be smeared by controversies, but his carelessness in keeping a close eye on his staff had helped Inspector Daigo put the pieces together.

At last, the time came for Daigo to get close enough to see Mr. Akihiro in person, and give the go-ahead for his apprehension. Fortunately, Daigo managed to infiltrate AkihiroSoft posing as a private security guard, and was hoping that Mr. Akihiro would return from his travels. But, that wasn’t the only mission at hand as he enlisted the help of his cousin, Eri, to break into Mr. Akihiro’s office. They needed to gather incriminating evidence that the court could use against their suspect.

     “Were you able to find a way in?” Daigo asked Eri in person, with his cousin wearing her on-duty disguise.

     “I managed to get a hold of AkihiroSoft’s blueprints,” Eri said, as she presented them to Daigo on her phone. “The ventilating system should provide a way into Akihiro’s office, while avoiding surveillance cameras.”

     “I see. And what about the entrance point?” Daigo asked.

     “Through the roof,” Eri said, as she switched to drone footage, and pointed to the exhaust vent. “I’ll just have to make my ascend without being spotted. Granted, there isn't as much surveillance at the east end,” she said.

     “Do be careful. Our chances of getting these criminals off the streets depend on this mission,” Daigo emphasized.

     Eri made her ascend while dodging surveillance as much as possible. On the roof, she tore the exhaust vent open using her plasma pistols set on low power. It was not as quiet as she had hoped. Fortunately, most of the armed guards were at the warehouse, thus no one paid any attention to her. As hoped, venturing through the vents led her to Akihiro’s office. With only a pistol, she had access to the CEO’s personal cabinet containing incriminating documents and receipts.

     The office offered a panoramic view of the packaging facility below. This gave Eri an interrupted view of anyone entering the area, a much needed way for her to decide whether to leave the office if it ever came to that.

But, one individual that got her attention didn’t look like anyone working for AkihiroSoft. It was her boyfriend, Hiroshi, planning an attack on the CEO in his ninja outfit. From below, he saw an individual watching him from Akihiro’s office above. It was Eri but, because he couldn’t get a clear view of her, he assumed that it was either a staff member or Akihiro himself. In contrast, Eri had a clear view of Hiroshi’s face and build, especially after he had pulled down his mask collar. But then, without warning, a giant hand reached out from the shadows, and grabbed Hiroshi from behind. Eri had no choice but to put her mission on hold, and pull out her work phone to send an SOS to Eiji, Hiroshi’s elder cousin and business partner. Fortunately, Eiji was able to save Hiroshi, and his stepdaughter, Itsumi, from Akihiro and his minions on time, but no one was sure as to who sent that message for a long while.

     As for Daigo, this unexpected turn in event wasn’t what he expected would lead to his promotion as “Inspector,” especially as the Michios’ involvement led to the accidental death of Akihiro and his personal hitman, the Human Battalion. Regardless, Eri gathered enough evidence to link Akihiro to the drug trade, and the CEO keeping a supply of drugs to be shipped in his warehouse didn’t help his case either. Ever since, Daigo enlisted the help of the Michios to keep the city’s crime rate under control, at least till the higher-ups were able to flush out corruption in the police system with new recruits. It was ironic that Hiroshi, the son of two of Akihiro’s victims, would get himself involved in assisting Daigo in his work as his in-law.