Tokyo, Japan
Shigeyoshi residence, Kichijoji neighborhood, located in the west of Tokyo.
June 18, 2026
10:07 AM 23° Celcius/73°4 Fahrenheit
"Ray....." Izanami began.
"I know what you're thinking. You want to go hunt them down." She added, her voice soft.
Ray didn't answer. His eyes outside the window, scanning for the shooter.
He then turned to her, calm but intense.
"You'll stay here. Protect Akane. Don't let anyone inside." He gave instructions to her.
"You're not the Queen." She whispered, but her tone lacked defiance.
"You live under my roof. That's enough." He replied.
Ray looked down at Akane, scared and confused. Thinking the shooter was with the men who kidnapped her last night.
"I'll be back soon. I promise." He uttered.
Ray stepped outside Shigeyoshi residence, his boots crunching softly on the gravel path, eyes narrowed with a calm yet deliberate intensity. The air outside was fresh, tinged with the scent of dew-soaked earth, and the faint hum of a peaceful neighborhood filled his ears.
Birds chipped, children laughed in the distance.
Then-
Crack!!
Another shot...
Ray's instincts exploded into action.
He tilted his head just enough to feel the whoosh of air past his ear as a small object zipped by, narrowly missing his face. It struck the wooden column behind him with a dull thud.
Ray crouched low and spun, his hand instantly on the grip of sidearm. A pistol he brought before returning back to Tokyo.
He stared at the ground.
A toy bullet....again.
His brows furrowed.
More silence.
Izanami burst through the door behind him, her one dagger drawn, scanning the surroundings also like the Queenswoman she is. She saw Ray kneeling, holding the toy bullet.
"You okay!?" She shouted.
Ray nodded slowly, lifting the bullet between his fingers.
"Toy bullet...again" He uttered, showing it to Izanami.
Another shot rang out.
Crack!!
Ray grabbed Izanami and pulled her to the wall cover. The bullet bounced harmlessly against the stone steps near them.
Plastic, again and again.
But deliberate and calculate.
Someone was watching them, literally playing with them.
"Ray, who would shoot at us with fake bullets?" Izanami whispered.
"Don't know." Ray said, his jaw clenched.
Izanami peeked out from cover, scanning the rooftops, the tree lines, the distant apartment blocks.
Nothing..
Only normality. A family across the street was throwing a ball to their dogs, laughing.
A woman riding her bicycle passed by with headphones in, humming to herself.
Nothing..
No threat..
But they both felt it..
The calm was artificial.
Something in the air didn't belong.
Ray stood slowly, holstering his weapon. His eyes flickered back and forth, reading shadows.
Whoever it was....they were probably gone.
Elsewhere...
High above, nestled atop a lonely rooftop several blocks away, a woman lay prone on the concrete ledge.
She watched Ray and Izanami through a high-powered scope.
Her lips were curled into a sweet, satisfied smile.
Long dark hair flowed in the breeze, and a delicate crimson ribbon fluttered from her wrist like a loose chain. Her pale fingers gently caressed the sniper rifle resting beneath her like a lover.
She licked her lips.
It was the unidentified woman...
"Hmmm....cute reactions. He's sharper than I thought and he's.....not alone." She whispered, almost singing.
She pulled back, removing the used plastic round from the chamber and slotting in another.
Bright red.
Marked with a tiny symbol - an abstract butterfly with jagged wings.
She rolled onto her back, letting the sun bathe her almost revealed face. Then, she lifted a burner phone.
A message already waited from an encrypted contact.
"Did he see you?"
It was Ryuji Takahashi.
"No. I played him. And that's enough." She typed back.
Another message came seconds later.
"Goddammit! If he sees you..I swear to god! Do not engage further." Ryuji is probably frustrated by the unidentified woman's plan and game.
She giggled.
"But I like him." Her message to him.
With a flick of her finger, she deleted the thread.
Then, humming softl, she picked up her gear, slung the rifle across her back, and vanished into the shadows like a breeze slipping through the cracks of a dying world.
Back at the Shigeyoshi residence.
Ray stood motionless, still staring into the distance. His fingers still held the toy bullet. His eyes flickered toward the red paint at its tip.
"Ray, this isn't a game. Someone probably knows your identity and they are testing you." Izanami said quietly, voice steady but shaken.
Ray didn't answer.
Akane slowly stepped outside, timid but curious. "What's going on, Ray-kun?"
Ray looked at her, then up at the blue sky.
"Someone is watching me, us, or you."
"This isn't how the Yakuzas would get back at me.
"Either it is from someone in my past....or someone we still don't know about." He added.
Izanami narrowed her eyes. "Who could that be?"
Ray didn't answer again.
Because for the first time in a long while...
He didn't know..