8:35 AM

The morning of Jin's failed assassination attempt on Kito

Jin stumbles down the forest area of a mountain. He clutches onto his coat, shivering. "F-Fuck, this job sucks..." he mutters to himself. "(I should've just stayed at school... should've stayed an engineer. Could've avoided all this...shit.)"

He stops walking for a second and meditates on what he just thought. "(What am I saying? This is way better than engineering.)" He continues to think as he's walking. "(Tch. Seriously. It doesn't matter if I'm good at it, if I hate it, I don't want to do it. But even that's not the real issue. Being an agent grants me all types of freedom. Sure, I can stay at school basically risk free and just work as an engineer for Magic items. Or I can patrol around my region. But what the fuck am I going to see? Some bear that can use magic? There's little to no reason any rogue sorcerer would willingly be here. So then, what did I choose?

Obviously, I joined Mr. Mishima. He's the Ambassador of the Ordinance Academy Project. Meaning, he has a high position. Not only that, but he's sided with the conservative faction. Those geezers and their power, exchanging favors between other geezers in power. They can do basically anything they please as long as they have the paperwork to back it up. And even then, Mishima can just swipe it under the rug because of his position.

Why wouldn't I join him? Its the optimal thing to do. But why did he choose me? I mean aside from being handsome and smart because like, come on; I'm me! But even with that aside, I won't deny that my ability is something that he's mainly interested in. At least that's the vibe I get. Not that I care. All I have to do is join his little secret special forces of groomed agents in his back pocket and I'm good to go. Even if its all just obeying a bunch of fucking old men, what's the issue?

I don't care.

Yeah, getting bitched at all day by Mishima is annoying with the whole 'Jin do this, Jin kill this guy, Jin use your ability on this civilian, Jin retrieve the papers, Jin blah blah blah.' But a job is a job. Even if supporting the older generations running the system inadvertently hurts me, I don't care. Even if he's coming up with schemes that literally only make sense to him, I don't care. Hell, even getting along with the other creeps in his little spec ops group isn't so hard as long as they leave me alone. All that matters is that I get my sweet sweet days off. Work harder jobs to reap better rewards. It's simple logic.)"

Jin eventually trips, his face landing on the snow. He feels a film of intangible oil go past his face. He looks up. It's the domain that separates the campus from the outside world. "Oh cool, I'm here."

He picks himself back up and walks inside the front entrance.

A girl with a bob cut and a red beanie greets him. She's wearing the typical student's uniform.

"Welcome. You look unwell."

Shivering, with icicle seeping out of his nose, Jin responds. "G-GUH- Y-YOU THINK?"

The girl blinks. "Why don't you just use Ki to regulate your body temperature?"

Jin hits head. "Ow. Gee! Why didn't I think of that??? Oh wait, maybe its because I'M ALMOST OUT."

The girl doesn't respond for a couple seconds before going "Suck it up."

"God damn you're annoying. Anyway, does your teleporter work?"

"Mmmmmm...I'm pretty sure it does. You can go check. It's in the basement."

Jin leaves. He walks down the winding halls, eventually finding the teleporter in a dark room. He teleports to the Nigata campus, and eventually finds Mishima's office. As per usual, a windowless room, illuminated only by the glow of Mishima's laptop.

"Welcome Jin. Now, tell me what happened."

Jin then explains how the mission went.

"...I see." Says Mishima. He clasps his hands together and stares intently at his desk. "So he's strong."

"Uh- yeah. If he was some typical rogue sorcerer there'd be no way he would've noticed me. Not only that, but I could've fought him right then and there and won."

"So that confirms my suspicions."

Jin looks confused. "What do you mean?"

"I suspected he was a sorcerer, but this also confirms that he's stronger than he looks."

"...So you just used me as bait?"

Mishima squints at Jin. "...Was that not obvious?"

Jin closes his eyes. "God damn it... well, I understand why. Doesn't make it any less bogus."

"Right. Well, to get the obvious out of the way, this'll be a problem. We need to get rid of him as soon as possible. I'll have to call an agent from another region."

"What for?"

"To actually get this job done."

"ouch."

"And more specifically," continues Mishima, "to find someone more suited for this. I could hire a plethora of agents, but first off, I want this to be as private as possible."

"...Wouldn't it be better to have everyone know that we're targeting Kito?"

"No." Simply responds Mishima. "They might be after him too. And then it'll become a race for who gets to claim him. Not only that, but I fear that we would just get in each other's way."

Jin thinks about the obnoxious students at the Kyoto school; specifically Kyouji and Jinsei. They think they're so much smarter than him. Ugh. He rolls his eyes. "Fair."

"Second of all, in the off-chance that Kito kills a group of agents, that would be assets that not only I would have to pay for, but also just a loss of the Ordinance's forces in general. Even if they're on commission and sign the papers, I'd hate to be associated with that."

"Uh huh."

"And so, that leaves me with finally finding the perfect person for the job. Judging from your testimony, Kito excels in close quarters combat. So, I'll need someone that excels in avoiding direct confrontation. Luckily, I heard of someone like that a couple months ago, and I feel like they're the perfect fit for the job."

Mishima scrolls through the Ordinance Agency's catalog and finds the person he's looking for. He calls the number.

"Hello, is this agent Nowa?" Asks Mishima. The telephone responds quietly in his ear. "Yes, this is Ambassador Mishima. I know this is sudden, but are you available right now? Hm. Yes. It's for an interview; I'm interested in commissioning you. Yes. What's the soonest you'll be available? I see, perfect. Would you be able to use the nearest campus' teleporters? Unsure if they're working? Hm. Well, just notify me as soon as possible. Thank you for your time."

*click*

"And now, we wait." Simply says Mishima. "In the meantime, I'll be making phone calls to the owner of the apartment building as well as the company that owns it."

Jin looks at Mishima. "Won't this hurt their business?"

Mishima shakes his head. "You're still inexperienced in this side of sorcery. Trust me, they'll let anything slide as long as the insurance bonus is worth it."

"But we're just doing our job as a government body. Insurance I can get, but why the hell should we have to give them bonuses?"

"When it comes to politics, all that matters are relationships. It doesn't matter what you do or what you believe in, as long as the person on your side is benefitting from it. Perceptions matter, so it'd be best we all be on each other's good side."

Jin scrunches up his nose. "(Typical.)" He thinks to himself.

"One last thing," clarifies Mishima.

"What's up?"

"Do you remember the HEMATOMA project?"

Jin begins to shuffle in his chair. He folds his arms. "Yeah."

"Did I ever introduce you to the precursor, RUPTURE?"

"No."

"Well, I'll have to introduce you to them. They're necessary for setting up the attack, specifically for reducing collateral damage against civilians."

Jin hugs himself. "Alright..."

"But I'll take care of that later today," clarifies Mishima. "For now, I'm going to I'm going to be making lots of calls to these companies. Especially the banks. I might as well cripple Kito's men before I kill him too."

Jin raises his hand.

"No, you can't leave" Answers Mishima.

Jin puts his hand down.

.

.

.

45 minutes later

Footsteps echo down the hall. Someone knocks on Mishima's door.

"Come in," says the Ambassador.

A man wearing a balaclava with holes for his eyes and mouth, enters the room. He stands at an average height. He's wearing a bulky, black, bullet proof vest with various pockets, as well as a coat underneath the vest. He's wearing fatigues, gloves, and boots as well. The entire suit is pitch black. He takes off his mask, revealing a handsome face as well white, shoulder length hair. He also holds a peach while walking into the room.

Mishima introduces him. "This is agent Nowa. He's from Nara."

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Nowa takes a bite out of the peach as he is being introduced.

CRUNCH

"What? Is that your thing? You eat peaches?" Asks Jin.

"Yeah." Says Nowa in an annoyed tone.

"...ok?" Says Jin in an equally annoyed tone

Mishima starts. "In preparation for an event like this, I've looked up candidates that could possibly take this job. It only gives a brief summary of your skills so, could you please explain your abilities."

"I'm a magic specialist." Explains Nowa. "Roughly 90% magic and 10% Ki. My technique is [Decoy-Surprise]. Technically, its two abilities, but they mesh so well it might as well be one ability. The first is [Decoy]. I can plant markers that give off the illusion of a non-sorcerer's presence. As a trade-off, they can't move, breathe, etc. Plus, they're simply markers; if you see it in person, they're just floating orbs. This is where [Surprise] comes in. With Surprise, I can set bombs with their own conditions. For example, if you open up this door, the bomb planted on the door will explode. They can be detonated as long as I'm within a kilometer of where the bombs are. And finally, the bombs are undetectable through magic, ki, or psychopower, but show up as tangible, red, glowing puddy. Like the plasticizer in C4."

"Let me guess, that can be mitigated by just hiding it well, right?" Asks Jin.

"Correct. The caveat is that since its tangible, it can still be seen by a non-sorcerer."

"Wait, then couldn't it be detected through Ki?"

"Thats the thing, I made it so that its undetectable through supernatural means. But of of course, that sounds too good to be true."

"So what's the catch?" Asks Jin.

"The size of the explosion is dependent on the amount of gel applied. And if you couldn't already tell, this shit's expensive."

"If it were to come to it, how good are you at close quarters combat?" Asks Mishima.

"Not great. I banked my specialization and ability on avoiding that scenario in the first place. If it comes to it, I can technically fight with the gel on my hands and slap it onto them... and although most people's abilities don't affect themselves, I made it so that I'm vulnerable to [Surprise]'s explosions so, I'll only resort to that if necessary. The risk makes it cheaper to use, and I'm not planning to fight hand to hand in the first place so its an easy way of making it cost-effective."

Jin gives him a weird look. "Its like you hate being practical. Why come up with so many conditions for this?"

"Judging by your looks, you're a student, so lemme explain it to you this way: us agents have the freedom to do more than just patrolling. If I designed it so that I'm suitable for assassinations, then they're going to assign me to assassinations."

"I already knew that. I'm also an agent."

"Really? Because you sure don't look nor act like it."

"Listen asshole-"

"Wha- asshole?"

"YEAH, BECAUSE YOU'RE ACTING LIKE AN ASSHOLE."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING ASSHOLE? YOU'RE LITERALLY TOO STUPID TO UNDERSTAND BASIC LOGIC AND PLANNING-"

"Both of you, enough." Interrupts Mishima. "Nowa, if I were to assign you this mission privately for tomorrow, would you be able to do it?"

"Sure. As long as its before 8 PM I should be fine. I'm watching a movie with my girlfriend so-"

"Nobody asked." Interrupts Jin.

Nowa angrily stares at Jin while taking an aggressive bite out of his peach.

CRUNCH

"Perfect." Continues Mishima. "Now, I understand taking you out of your assigned area isn't a good thing. On top of that, there's the obvious price. So what are you asking for?"

"400,000 yen for taking me out of my area. I'd be annoyed if I got chewed out for not being available if it wasn't worth it."

"I'll make sure its waived but, sure."

"As for the actual mission... 9,000,000 Yen."

Mishima pauses.

"It's gonna be a pretty dirty job, especially if the email you sent me about the basic plan is as big as you make it sound to be. Even more so if he's a big a threat as you make him out to be."

Eventually, Mishima responds. "4,000,000 Yen. Plus 4 weeks of vacation."

"Sold," simply says Nowa. "(Doing this everyday for the rest of my life is already annoying, so any free day is as good as it gets)." Thinks Nowa to himself. "With that settled, what's the plan?"

"We're going to have you bomb his apartment."

The room goes quiet for a second.

"Alright... I'm assuming you already have an excuse ready to explain a building in the middle of town exploding."

"I do. Today, I'll email the head of the company that owns that apartment what's going to happen. Everything and everyone will be insured. Since we're the government, they can't do anything about it. Tomorrow, while Kito is out at work in the middle of the day, we will let the fire department know that there is a gas leakage and force everyone out of there. As people are being escorted, Nowa will plant a bunch of decoys around the building, as well as a large bomb primarily in Kito's apartment. And just for insurance's sake, I'll need Nowa to put bombs on various gas pipes as well."

Nowa looks visibly worried. "Hey now, don't you think that's a bit overkill? Shouldn't a giant bomb going off in front of him be good enough?"

"No. I'm not taking any risks with him. If he's as strong as Jin implies him to be, then a large explosion should end him."

Nowa pauses. "But what if Jin's just really weak?"

"Fuck you."

"No, I'm being serious."

Mishima shakes his head. "Jin is a capable person. I wouldn't imagine him running away if it wasn't necessary. Besides, based on how Kito manipulated the mayor's death, as well as Jin's testimony, he's definitely experienced."

"Hmm...alright. And I know its not my business but what about the people's stuff? That's their lives right there."

"Stimulation checks and insurance. It'll all be covered."

"Even those that don't have insurance?"

"For an extreme situation like this, we'll let it slide, just this once."

"But where will the people sleep?" Asks Jin.

"I'm arranging local hotels and apartments to reserve as many vacant places as possible. The leaders of the company will understand, especially with all the insurance funding they'll be getting."

Nowa shrugs. "Alright then, sounds good to me. I'll get to preparing. But aside from that, is there anything else you need from me?"

"As of right now, no. I'll let you know when I'll need you."

"Perfect." Right as Nowa touches the handle of the door, he starts. "By the way, I want to make it clear that I'm just doing this out of my own volition."

"...Meaning?" Asks Mishima.

"I don't want to be involved in whatever political scheme you or the other schools are playing."

"You don't have to worry about that," simply says Mishima.

Nowa breathes out. "Thanks for understanding."

Nowa leaves and closes the door behind him.

"...What an obnoxious asshole" comments Jin.

Mishima clasps his hands together, and holds them near his face.

"What's wrong Mr. Mishima?"

"Nothing. It's a busy day today, but that's just the job. However, now that Nowa's gone, I might as well show you that project."

"...What project?"

"RUPTURE. Come on, its best I show you how to use them."

Mishima stands up and motions Jin to follow along.

Jin feels a chill down his back. His fingers start to fidget.

Mishima looks at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing? I'm fine." Says Jin.

They both leave the room.

.

.

.

They take the elevator and go down the basement of the campus. Through the winding halls, the glow of the fluorescent lights start to dim.

"Where are we going?" Asks Jin.

"To meet RUPTURE."

"I get that but, where are we going?"

Less and less lights begin to appear.

Mishima pauses for a bit before responding. "When you joined the Glow of the Night Forces, you knew what privileges you received, right?"

"...Money and vacation time?"

Mishima's eye twitches. "Not just that. Knowledge. You, along with the rest of the team have clearance towards special projects that we look over."

Eventually, the only light illuminating the halls is the distant faint glow behind them.

But they're past that now.

They eventually arrive at the end of a hall. Jin touches the cold, concrete wall in front of him. He tries to give Mishima a confused look. Yet even his nightvision proves useless in this area.

Mishima calmly places his hand on the wall.

A large spiraling sigil glows in the dark. Various alien runes and ancient kanji blur the insides of the sigil. The only kanji that Jin could discern were the kanji for "mouth," "to listen," and "dog."

Mishima begins to chant.

"Ignorance scrambler

Mind of the masses

Control which cannot be controlled

Fate dictation

Knowledge induction

Consume

In the name of the moon."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pylfy_L6Bjs

The wall cracks open. A vertical slit oozing with thick, old, oil splits open. It's only wide enough to let one person pass at a time.

"Wha- what is this? Why is it like this?" Asks Jin.

Mishima doesn't answer for a couple seconds, before responding. "My...The Vice Principal of the Kyoto campus used to be a colleague of mine. Me, him, and another friend studied a lot back then. He's a very closed off man...the Vice Principal..But, all you need to know is that me, the Vice Principal, and Principal Hanayama put our assets together to make these projects. It's one of the few things we all agree to work together on."

They walk forward.

Jin feels a cold breeze. The room is suddenly large, like an auditorium or a gymnasium. They can see a single faint light coming from the ceiling. In front of them, a single thing is illuminated.

Hanging from the ceiling is an upside down silhouette of a man, half consumed by a body bag. The musculature of the person looks frail and lanky. The arms are crossed together, as if hugging itself. The man is wearing a pure latex gimp suit. Not a speck of skin can be seen. The head of the man is covered by a leather dog mask. The eye holes have been covered, and the mouth sown shut. The perky ears resemble those of a Dobermann. The sheen of the latex reflects a bit of the light.

Mishima clicks his tongue. "Come on girl. We're going for a walk."

Silence.

The head of the figure eventually aims its head directly at Mishima's voice. The arms of the figure slowly let go of their crossed positions, and extend above them, touching the ground. The latex squeaks loudly. Slowly yet surely, as if doing a handstand, the figure controls their descent. Their legs disconnect themselves from the body bag. Eventually landing on all fours, it proceeds to crawl up to Mishima on all fours. Both Mishima and Jin can hear the quiet panting its making.

"Good girl." Says Mishima.

Jin looks at Mishima. Mishima looks visibly disgusted, yet keeps a stern face.

"Give me yours paws." Commands Mishima.

RUPTURE presents their hands. The hands are covered with mittens. Mishima takes off the mittens, thus allowing RUPTURE to move their fingers freely.

"Come on girl. We have a job to do. Stand up. You can get your treat after we're done."

RUPTURE shakes its head, before standing up. They tower over both Mishima and Jin.

Despite having no possible way of seeing, RUPTURE faces towards Jin.

"(Fuck.)" Simply thinks Jin to himself. "(This job sucks.)"

.

.

.

Later in the night.

11 PM

Jin, RUPTURE, and Mishima are above top of a building. Kito's apartment building is only a couple buildings apart from the building they're standing on.

"Hm." Says Mishima to himself.

"What's up?" Asks Jin.

"For some reason, I don't sense an obnoxiously loud presence near us. Perhaps he's out eating dinner. Or drinking. Well, whatever the case, this works for us." He turns to Jin and starts explaining. "In order for the plan to work, RUPTURE here will control the minds of those in the area, so as to prevent collateral damage or any injuries. But Kito would be able to sense that from far away, so we're going to leave RUPTURE here overnight."

Jin squints at him. "Wha- but wouldn't Kito sense him right when he wakes up? Hell, even when he comes back?"

"Not to worry. If we start now, RUPTURE can begin their preparations. They're a PsychoPower specialist, so things like masking their presence is easy for them to do. And since we're leaving them here for plenty of hours, the amount of mudras they'll be doing will make it so that even someone like Kito won't be able to sense them."

"Huh... interesting."

"Plus, with the amount of conditions already running, everything from their side of the mission should be executed flawlessly."

"...So what do I have to do?"

"You're going to be keeping tabs on Kito."

"You're shitting me."

"I'm not. You'll lower your levels to the point of a civilians. You can do that, can't you?"

Jin thinks to himself for a split second. "(Fuck, if I say no he might think I'm some retard who can't do his job. And if he fires me, the last thing I'm expecting is a simple pink slip.)"

"Yeah, I can do that." Responds Jin.

Something catches his eye. Jin faces his left.

RUPTURE is staring at him.

"Good answer," simply says Mishima. "About three hours before he leaves for work, you will pose as a firefighter and evacuate everyone from the building. Meanwhile, Nowa will plant the decoys and bombs. After everyone is evacuated, RUPTURE will take care of the civilians. Afterwards, you will go back to Kito's job. You'll be spying on him as he leaves his work, while radioing to us the process. Meanwhile, the apartment should have notified all of the tenants except for Kito, that a gas leak is in the building and to await further instructions from the fire department. These messages will all be emailed, called, texted, etc. And once Kito is near, is when RUPTURE will do its part of the job. And from there, Nowa's bombs should already have their conditions placed, and that'll be that."

"Sounds simple enough."

"Glad you agree." Mishima then grabs a piece of chalk from his pocket. He starts making a large sigil on the ground, and writes the same runes as the ones from the dwelling. Scribbling in each minute detail, Mishima completes it within four minutes.

He then walks over to RUPTURE. "Listen here, you're going to be a good girl, and you're going to maximize your PsychoPower nonstop until I ask you that. Is that clear, girl?"

RUPTURE aggressively nods its head.

"Good girl," says Mishima as he scratches its head. RUPTURE takes it upon itself to aggressively move its head under Mishima's hand, aiming for the right spots. It then stands up and sits on the circle in a cross legged position. It starts aggressively making hand signs, flashing them in a nonstop sequence. Its panting grows slightly louder.

Jin has never seen someone meditate this hard before.

Within four seconds, RUPTURE and its sigil disappear from the thin air.

"Wha- WHAT?"

"They're still there," clarifies Mishima, wiping his hand on pants. His nose is scrunched up. "Like I said, someone with RUPTURE's prowess, can even fool an experienced sorcerer. But of course, in order for things to get this strong, these things come with conditions. They're a tool, not a weapon."

"(What, what even powers them?)" Thinks Jin to himself. "(Who would even come up with something like this? How?)"

Mishima simply stares at the moon.

.

.

.

The next day.

Kito, reminiscing about the night prior, thinks about Naoki and his friends.

"Hm." He says to himself. "I could go for some crab tonight."

He clocks out, and begins his march home.