Tokyo, Japan
In the streets of Kichijoji neighborhood, six houses away from the Shigeyoshi residence, located in the west of Tokyo.
June 18, 2026
6:53 AM.
Inside a decoy car parked six houses away from the wreckage, Ryuji Takahashi sat in the back seat, arms crossed, watching the scene unfold. Beside him was Maria Tachibana, her sharp eyes glued to the chaos outside. In the driver's seat, the unidentified woman - wearing black sunglasses, a hat, and a mask - remained eerily calm, her fingers idly tapping against a seemingly controller. A controller that controlled the white sedan from a distance.
Maria exhaled sharply, unable to hide her disbelief. "Did you see that? He dodged a speeding car like...faster than a bullet. And he stopped it with a damn rock.
"A rock, Ryuji. That kind of reaction speed....He's not normal. He'll be a difficult opponent if we face him head-on." Maria expressed her disbelief.
Ryuji scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You sound impressed." He sneered.
"It's nothing. He got lucky." He added, a bit of contempt.
Maria turned to him, her brow furrowed. "Lucky? He brought down a moving car with a damn rock."
"Tsk. I don't give a shit. I could take him down whenever I want. That bastard 'Dawning Devil' is nothing but an executioner...
Then he looked at the unidentifed woman..
"No strategy."
Then back to Maria.
"No finesse."
Then he looked forward.
"Just a blunt instrument. He's fucking dangerous, sure, but not untouchable." He added dismissively.
Maria narrowed his eyes. "You're underestimating him."
"I'm acknowledging what he is. A rabid dog that needs to be put down and leashed." Ryuji countered, his voiced laced with arrogance.
A soft chuckle came from the driver's seat. The unidentified woman had been controlling the destroyed white sedan and now, merely observing the conversation.
"You both are amusing." She said, her voice muffled slightly by the mask.
"One of you is in denial. The other is delusional." She added.
Ryuji's glare snapped to her. "And what's that supposed to mean, you bitch."
"Think you can just simply 'take him down'?" The woman tilted her head.
"Hell yeah. Just as I said. He has no strategy, no finesse. We can easily take him down if we corner him." Ryuji confidently said.
"We?" Maria Tachibana commented.
Maria gave Ryuji a unimpressed look.
"I though you don't need me, ex - lover?" Maria followed, her voice strong.
"Tsssss..." Ryuji couldn't argue.
The woman chuckled like a kid once more.
"Anyway." Maria then turned her gaze to the unidentified woman.
"How the hell did you manage to acquire this man's address? It seems you know something that we don't, woman." Maria said, her voice a hint of distrust and suspicious.
The unidentified woman didn't reply. The two couldn't gauge her reaction under the sunglasses and the mask.
Maria sighed, rubbing her temples.
"Alright, then explain something else. What was the point of putting those three corpses inside the white sedan?" Maria shot her another question.
"If I remember correctly, those dead bastards were from the family that has connections with Kojima-sama." Ryuji commented.
"And Kojima - sama is questioning our goddamn methods. Those three corpses should've been buried by now." Ryuji added.
Silence ensued, and the woman is yet to respond to Maria's question.
....
....
....
....
"I asked you a question." Maria muttered to the woman, her voice strong and commanding.
The woman leaned back, her voice casual, almost playful. "Psychological attack. It's part of the plan, remember?"
"First and second day, we tail him. Then we play games with him. Third and fourth, we find out if he has allies or not. If he has, we will eliminate them. Fifth and sixth, we drain him. Emotionally, mentally, and physically. And the last day, we take him down." The woman reiterated.
Silence ensued as they watched Ray, six houses away, walked away from the wrecked white sedan that was controlled by the unidentified woman.
...
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...
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...
Minutes later, piercing the silence, the unidentified woman's phone rang.
The shrill sound made them all flinch slightly. The woman reached down to her coat, pulled out her phone, and without saying a word, moved to open the car door.
But Ryuji's hand snapped forward, gripping her wrist tightly before she could touch the handle.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going?" He growled lowly, venom in his tone.
"Answer the call here. I don't fucking trust you." He added.
The woman slowly turned her head toward him, a raised brow barely visible behind her dark sunglasses. Her lips curled into a faint, amused smirk.
"You're overstepping." She said cooly.
"It's my phone. My privacy." She added.
"I don't give a shit. Answer the call here." Ryuji stubbornly said, his voice rising.
"Let me go, Takahashi-kun, or....." The woman camly said, her wrist still grabbed by Ryuji's tight grip.
Ryuji scoffed. "Or what?"
Heavy tension built between them. A matter of secret could destroy their alliance.
Maria heaved a heavy sigh. With a flick of her wrist, Maria Tachibana unsheathed her katana halfway, the metal whispering out of its scabbard like a warning breath.
"None of us trust each other. So cut the 'privacy' talk. We're all playing games here. And we don't know who the hell you are." Maria said flatly.
The tension surged like a wire pulled taut.
The woman sighed playfully, lips curling upward in a lazy grin. "Fine. Have if your way."
She tapped the screen and answered the call on speaker. "Yes?"
There was a long pause.
Then...a voice.
"How is everything?"
It came out like a winter breeze, soft yet sharp, slithering into their ears like a whisper from Death itself. Calm. Cold. Unquestionably powerful.
They all knew whose voice was it.
It was the Mistress's...