On the second floor of the Shuryo Inu mansion is a vast library. A library with books of each genre, newspapers, DVDs, CDs and much more. The space was filled with sunlight, light green walls of the room decorated with fake ivy gave a cozy feeling, one which Hisashi felt lacked everywhere else in the mansion.

It was such a shame this library was only used by him and Arika, but at the same time, he wished it stayed like this. It was the only place in the house where he felt safe, unbothered and free. It was his sanctuary.

Reading through books and papers that even slightly mentioned Akai Ryu, Hisashi hoped just for a clue, no matter how tiny, which would help him bring his mission to an end, and prevent any of the past events happening.

The mayor had been avoiding him since he was released from the dungeon, and frankly, Hisashi was glad for it. There was no news on the client either; the disappearance of the Akiyama couple had been reported to the police who searched throughout the entire town, but have been unsuccessful.

Hisashi sighed, reaching the end of yet another book. He threw a look at the pile of books he’d read since tonight. He didn’t sleep well; the nightmares had been plaguing him again. Papers around him, he put down everything he’d come to know about Akai Ryu. Good tacticians, always one step ahead. Immensely skilled fighters, strong and quick on their feet. At least one of them has to be the technician, or a mechanic, since bombs can’t be bought anywhere in Kuroyuki.

“Or do they get the bombs from another town? No, that would be pretty expensive, I doubt they have that much money.” Hisashi talked to himself.

Rummaging through papers and books, he was sorting them out into three piles: the unread ones, the useful ones and the useless ones. The useless ones making the biggest pile, unfortunately.

Deeply in his thoughts, Hisashi tapped his hand to grab another book, but then he stopped. He noticed this book is older than the others, the book covers were slightly shabby. It seems that the book had been used long before, but then it was thrown into a corner, completely forgotten about.

The book’s title made Hisashi hopeless since he’d been reading the entire night; “The Tales of the Black Snow City”. Sighing, he opened the book.

The table of contents on the first page caught his attention. It didn’t seem like a folk tale collection, but rather a historical book. There seemed to be documents about the previous mayors of the city, how the city came into existence, the rise of the economy and how it grew in size and… The history of “Heiwa kōchiku-sha”.

Hisashi raised an eyebrow. He’d never heard of that name before, so he flipped through pages to reach the chapter.

Under the proposition of the fourth mayor of the Black Snow City, a special force of private investigators had been founded. The organization which aided the mayor, serving as his sword and shield to him. Loyal and efficient, they helped the police secure the city, taking loads of work off their shoulders. The organization, called “Heiwa kōchiku-sha”, was composed of fifteen members at the time, with two leaders leading a part of the group. Together, they maintained peace in the city, one part of the group dealing with criminals and conspiracy theorists in the city, and the other protecting the mayor.

However, their viewpoints in dealing with the criminals differed; as one party wanted to have them arrested and brought to justice by the court, while the other rooted for torture and public execution. They could never seem to reach an agreement that would benefit them both so they quarreled a lot. On the twenty-fourth of July, 1998, a case of a man stealing some valuable possessions and the mayor’s money had been reported to the police, and the organization had been sent out to find the man and investigate the problem. The party always in search of the criminals found the culprit, but had horribly tortured the man; he had been on the brink of death as he begged them to end his suffering. The party laughed, and threw him into a dungeon with no sunlight, no food and water. The man died in horrible pain.

Such behavior was unacceptable to the party which stood by the mayor’s side, so they reported the case to the mayor himself.

The mayor was shocked and outraged by the searching party’s behavior, so he called them forth.

Upon arrival, they were arrested, since the protectors had told the mayor all about their behaviors, the tortures, hunting for sports, and gruesome execution. The leader of the searching party argued against the mayor, but he’d sentenced them all to death by hanging.

With shock upon their faces, they were brought to the gallows pole, various insults could be heard from the citizens of the Black Snow City.

A girl with auburn hair and a fierce look, the leader of the searching party, took one last desperate attempt to escape justice by disarming the guard holding onto her, killing him and several other guards. One by one, she set her comrades free, giving them the order to run. While some were shot on the spot, others managed to flee, the police nor the guards have not been able to find them. The girl swung her sword at the mayor, the protection party shielding him and piercing her body with eight swords.

Many people who were present at that moment said the leader cursed the protection party by saying, “Someday, one of your own will be your doom.” As she breathed out her final breath.

From that day onwards, the people who fled the execution have rebelled against the protection party, calling themselves the “Akai Ryu” and continuously committed felony and treason, challenging the other party, now called the “Shuryo Inu” to fights, sabotaging their plans and escaping justice, while Shuryo Inu tried to bring them to justice they rightfully deserved, protecting the mayors and citizens of the Black Snow City.

A loud roar of laughter echoed through the vast, empty spaces of the library.

Hisashi couldn’t help himself. He simply couldn’t stop laughing. “What a stupid legend! Why, just why am I supposed to be wrecking myself about this so much? Just as we’ve known before, Akai Ryu has had their business with the Shuryo Inu. So why attack the mayor? Unless my previous hypothesis had been right, and the mayor somehow wronged Yoru, so he’s getting a revenge. But not foolishly, he seems to have a strategy.” He talked to himself, thankful that nobody actually cared to come and check upon him.

Soft rays of sunlight in the room announced yet another day. He couldn’t really decide where to put the old book, so he put it into a new stack, grabbing yet another one.

Loud footsteps echoed in the corridor. Not that he cared, the Shuryo Inu usually just passed by the library. Just that this time, they didn’t.

The doors swung open, and a shorter, boisterous girl barked, “Fujiwara, mayor’s office! Now!”

Hisashi put the book down. “Good morning to you too, Harumi.”

“Get up, now!”

“Sure, sure. What does the mayor need so early in the morning?”

“We’ll see when we get there.”

As she turned around and left, Hisashi rolled his eyes in annoyance and followed her.

The mayor’s voice echoed through the entire hall, it could even be heard from the opposite side of the corridor. His secretary ran out crying as Hisashi and the rest of Shuryo Inu approached the office.

She sprinted past them, not even saying hello.

“Poor thing.”, Hisashi thought, then put on a calm and collected expression.

Raiden went in first, followed by Daisuke who was surprisingly quiet. Then the rest of Shuryo Inu.

In the office, the TV was on, the news flashing about the death of a certain man and his wife.

Hisashi quietly observed the news. Obviously, the mayor’s client was valuable to him, of course he would be angry.

“300 000 000 worth of money wasted! Just like that! Gone!”, the mayor bellowed.

Hisashi and Arika exchanged glances. Of course, it was never about the client, but rather the money.

“Just how could nobody found them before that happened? Just how?! The police were supposed to find them before that happened. What the hell were they doing?! An anonymous message had been reported to the media about the Akiyamas’ bodies. Not even to the police, but the fucking media!”

The mayor suddenly turned to them, looking each and every one of them up and down.

“I want you all out on this case. Hunt the Akai Ryu down. I want them brought to me, and you better not kill them. I will do so myself!”

Hisashi shuddered.

“But, uncle, we are very busy right now. Don’t you remember we have other work to do?” Daisuke whined.          

Hisashi caught Arika’s eye and knew she was thinking the same as him. “Un-fucking-believable.”

“That’s right. Aren’t those two tasked with dealing with the Akai Ryu? Why shouldn’t they go and hunt them down?” Midori added, pointing a finger at Hisashi and Arika.

“After all, they got nothing better to do the whole day.” Yamato mocked them.

“Also, why should we have to help them? I’m sure they can handle that themselves.” Daisuke finished.

“And why wouldn’t you take your asses off a couch and earn the money, instead of it being gifted to you on a silver plate? Just ‘cause you’re the rich ones doesn’t mean you don’t have to work for the money.” Arika retorted angrily.

 “And you shut your mouth! Who are you to disrespect my nephew like that?! He will be given whatever he asks for!” The mayor screamed at Arika, all red in the face.

Hisashi just chose to remain silent. Even if he wanted to strangle both Daisuke and the mayor.

The mayor and the Shuryo Inu continued throwing accusations at Arika, but Hisashi just pulled her sleeve and said, “We’ll go and investigate.”

With that, he slammed the door of the mayor’s office.

 “Have you calmed down?” Hisashi asked her, handing her melon juice.

“I did. But it’s just so frustrating, they live in a penthouse and we have just a room with one closet. And a nightstand, sorry. What a luxury. And the mayor pays for their rents, what about us? They get to eat with the mayor, and we eat scraps we cook ourselves.”

Hisashi sighed. “I know. I hate it, I hate them from the bottom of my heart, and I wish we leave as soon as possible. That’s why, Arika, we’ll learn everything possible about the Akai Ryu we can.”

“Have you found anything in the library at the mansion?”

“Just an old story about Shuryo Inu and Akai Ryu, and why they have a dispute. But nothing hinting at a reason Yoru would attack the mayor, and not us. They literally have no business with the mayor.”

“That was, until now. Well, I hope the next time you two meet, you make Yoru talk just a bit more.”

“I know that would be helpful, but why me?” he asked.

“Cause he took a liking to you. He always goes after you, and not me.”

Hisashi barked a laugh. “Him?? Like me?? I’m not gay, Arika. And he’s probably just messing with me. Just why would he like me?”

“Cause you have a pretty face. And a good ass.”

Hisashi laughed. “Oh, my god, stop now. Okay, then, I’ll persuade Yoru and you deal with Luna. As for the rest, well, may god help us. I don’t doubt we’ll meet them soon enough. With that, we will learn more about them, the way everyone fights, and how they operate. From the last time, they seem to switch roles around, so basically everybody is vital. For now, we’ve only fought Yoru, so we need to find a way to have the rest of them cornered. Lead them on the wrong clue, so we can ambush them. It’s not going to be easy, they’re all highly intelligent.”

“That devilish smirk on your face… I want to turn it into a surprised expression. I want to show you just how capable I am of capturing you.” Hisashi thought, as he exited the house.

“Arika, I want to go and check ‘Lectio Caritate’ out. Our library may not have anything on the Akai Ryu, but they might have something. Do you want to come with me?”

“Of course! I don’t wanna stay here with those lazy bastards. Are we going with the car, or not?” she asked.

Hisashi mused. “Maybe even on foot. Or we could catch a train; the traffic can be terrible at this hour.”

Arika remained silent. He turned to her, “What?”

“On foot? In this heat?”

“Yeah, it’s not that hot outside. It’s only morning.”

 “We live by the seaside, and it’s freaking summer! Even now, I’m sweating, and we haven’t even made twenty steps.”

Hisashi chuckled. “That’s because on this road there’s no trees to make shade. Come on, we can take a walk around to clear our heads from all this mess, just for a bit. Please?” he added with big, silver eyes.

Arika sighed. “Alright, I’m not going to argue with you.”

Hisashi hummed while they hurried to the library.

They were immersed in a conversation when Hisashi suddenly stopped.  A familiar shadow flew past him, it was somebody so familiar, but he knew he never met them in person.

“What is it?” she asked.

Hisashi said nothing as he pointed to an alley. As Arika looked, she noticed a hooded figure disappearing into the alley.

“Should we follow them?”

Hisashi nodded. “I have a feeling that’s somebody from the Akai Ryu. We might get lucky.”

“But what if it’s not?”

“Nothing then. We continue to the library to study.”, he finished, already on the move.

Their footsteps silent, Hisashi and Arika hid behind buildings as they followed the hooded figure. They were closer to them as they slowed their pace, light shone over their face. Hisashi immediately knew, they were following the right person. One scar over her right eye like a single stroke of an artist’s paintbrush, a cocky smile he’d only seen on a picture. The sun made her hair on each side of her face shine even brighter golden, and Hisashi recognized her; Shiraki Luna.

Finally, a new lead. It appears she slowed down to go into the drugstore that was in a shady part of the town, not so well-known by people. Hisashi wrote down the name of the drugstore, planning to investigate it in the future. “Oh, yeah, it’s all coming together.”

Before he could even put his pen back in the pocket, Luna exited completely normally. The hood was off, and she held a bag of medicine. Confidence shone on her face, which took Hisashi aback for a moment. Aren’t the Akai Ryu supposed to be cowards in hiding, at least according to the mayor’s words?

“But a bag of medicine? Why would she buy that? Maybe Yoru is sick.” He answered his own question, smirking. “Maybe we could have a chance with this, if Yoru’s not with her now.”

“Hey, follow her. I’ll be right behind you.” Arika nudged him.