“Kita, I want you to be careful going out there. You know how dangerous it is at night,” mom reminded me for the twelfth time this evening. She sits up slowly and gives me a kiss on my cheek before slowly laying back down, wincing at the pain in her body.

“Hai… Ka-san.” Answering her always gave her the satisfaction of thinking I wouldn’t be doing anything dangerous, so I always said something to make her feel good.

Truth is, every time I go out, I’m doing something dangerous. You see, ever since ka-san got sick, I’ve been having to work really hard to pay for medical bills. I kept looking for jobs but never found any until I was caught spying n a group of gangsters in the alley behind my last work interview. They were trying to get a girl to “have some fun” with them when they spotted me trying to call the police on my phone.

I started running when a gangster came up and started beating down on me. The supposed “leader” called the rest of his group to attention. I asked them to let me go with such cowardice back then. The boss just stifled a laugh and kicked me back off of my knees into a fetal position.

“Why should we let a little bastard like you go? Ah?” He started walking towards me; slowly getting louder and louder, “Hah!? Why shouldn’t I just chop your puny little dick Right here, right now?”

My body was shivering as I was back on my knees now. I was glad the girl was gone and safe, but now it was my turn to be the damsel in distress. I started asking for forgiveness so fast i lost the rest of the breath I had in my lungs. I asked them to let me go so many times that I finally gave up and told them my problems.

“Please let me go… My mom is sick! I don’t have any money to take care of her. Please…” I pleaded with the last of my strength, then was finally captive in what they called “grace”.

“Tch… Alright alright. We’ll let you go on one condition.”

“Anything! Please. I’ll do anything!”

They laughed and snickered for the next five minutes.

“Give me your fuckin’ phone,” he shouted at me, holding his hand out.

I hand him my phone out of my jacket pocket pocket. I was shaking vigorously when the phone was given back to me.

“From now on you will be our dog. Every time we call you, you better answer the damn phone the first time or we’ll find you and kill you on the fucking spot. We’ll train you for your work starting tomorrow morning. 5 o’clock, got that shrimp?”

“Ah? Hai! Arigatou gozaimasu!”

“ Good. Now get out of my sight you little bitch!”

I gave them my utmost gratitude and hightailed it back home as fast as my puny legs would go. I came home to my mom sleeping peacefully and went to my room for a sleepless night.

Ever since then, I’ve been a dog for the Yoshimura clan; moving up in the ranks, now a full-fledged member at nineteen. My first kill was at fourteen, when I did my first job. And thereafter, I became sharpshooter and Yoshimura’s #1 subgroup, Alpha's leader. My name is Masamune Kita, and this is my story.