Oda looked straight up at his ceiling, the fan that usually spun in place in the middle of the small bedroom had stopped moving. He did not know for how long he had simply lied there, motionless on the bed staring at it but it felt like hours passed while the blonde man stayed in that exact position, unmoving. He could vaguely remember the events of the last night, after the events at that bar he had been offered a drink by a regular who recognized him, one drink turned into multiple and before he knew what was happening he was already drunk out of his mind. He does remember somehow stumbling his way back to his old apartment and making his way inside, so at least Oda had managed to avoid sleeping on the street like he had done several times in the past. Eventually, something would pull him from his dream-like state back into reality. The buzzer, someone was outside of Oda’s front door and wanted something to do with him. With groggy steps the man got up and began heading for the front door, although he was wearing the clothes of yesterday they would have to do for this unfortunate visitor who had the bad luck of visiting Oda during a terrible hangover.

When he opened the door the first thing that would hit him was a breeze of cool air, after which the people outside his door became clear to Oda. They were both people he recognized, a shorter man with long white hair and a taller one without any, Jonathan and Mifuyu. Without even asking if it was okay for him to do so, Mifuyu stepped into the blonde's small apartment and continued past him, giving him a single line of dialogue as he moved. “We have to speak, sit down.” Jonathan would stand outside for another moment, but it was clear that the cold was getting to him as he shortly followed the white haired man into the apartment without saying a word to its owner. First Mifuyu sat down at his kitchen table with Jonathan promptly following him, leaving a single seat left for Oda to take in his own home.

As he made his way over to ask just what was going on he could see that something had changed with the white haired man, the air of comedy that usually surrounded him had disappeared. As he sat down he had a feeling that Mifuyu wanted to talk about something serious with him, normally, Oda wouldn’t allow a guy that he had only meet once into his home like this but Jonathans presence was what made him decide that the least he could do was hear the guy out.

Once all three of them were seated the white haired man would not wait long before he began speaking, he had a solemn voice which seemed out of place given his young appearance. “It’s about Maru-Maru.” Everyone at the table recognized that name, it belonged to the monstrous girl who had attacked Alice and put Jonathan in the hospital. Oda had first seen that name in an SMS conversation with Evelina, Alice having been the one to give it to the red-haired girl to begin with. Jonathan had gotten the name from Mifuyu, it apparently being the alias of his attacker and although the bald man wanted to ask how he had found out about the name to begin with, he had decided that it would be better to not ask. The three of them knew that she was a problem and they would have to deal with her sooner or later, but the general consensus was a naive belief that if they simply ignored the problem long enough it would somehow be resolved on its own. They knew that was nothing but wishful thinking.

“I met an old acquaintance not long ago…” Mifuyu said, clearly remembering his encounter with Kigura the previous night.”... he said something terrible is going to happen within the town of Pandemonium.” The three of them knew the strange string of disappearances and cannibalistic murders were most likely tied to her but, at the same time she was hardly the only foe they had to deal with. The strange man that had attacked Oda and put him in the hospital was just as much of a threat, perhaps even more so since they knew almost nothing about him. There was a saying, ‘if it bleeds we can kill it’, although none of them wanted to kill another human being it seemed like it was inevitable… and possible.

Surprisingly, the conversation was not carried on by Mifuyu continuing speaking but by Jonathan who asked a question. "What would you have us do then? It's not like either of us…" Him and Oda. "... could possibly damage her in a real fight." Mifuyu would have a stern look on his face as he spoke up. “If it ever were to come to that, I will take care of it.” It was clear from his facial expression that he was serious if the worst were to come then he alone would face that monstrous woman. Naturally, having felt first hand just how monstrously strong that girl was Jonathan was uncertain whether it was within reason to believe that Mifuyu could hold a candle to someone like that. That was also apparent on his face as the disbelief was practically seeping from it, Oda wasn’t looking very assured by his statement either. Upon seeing this the man sighed and took a fifty-yen coin from his pocket. The coin was made out of nickel and near impossible to bend even with the use of tools. But, to both of their surprise the white-haired man bent the coin with nothing but the force of his fingers, something that would be impossible for even the world's strongest humans. He put down the coin on the kitchen table for all to see. “I guess there really are some people in this world who are simply beyond any concept of normality.” Oda stated softly before going quiet.

The three of them shared several moments of silence before Jonathan decided to break it by asking Oda a question, “Anyways, you never told me who put you in the hospital? Would you mind sharing?” The blonde man remained quiet for a moment before he spoke up himself and answered the bald man. “The guy who beat the shit out of me, kept pestering me about Alice beforehand. He said something about a friend of his as well, maybe that was Maru-Maru. Damn blue haired prick.” He felt stupid for not saying this earlier, after all, the information could have been vital to their current situation. With that, Oda revealed a piece of information about the day that he had been attacked that he hadn’t told anyone but the police before, this caused Mifuyu to react. “Blue hair? Was he young as well?” He looked the apartment's host straight in the eye as he spoke, almost immediately the blonde would nod as he heard the two questions. “Yes, a bit younger than me, seventeen or eighteen perhaps.”

The white-clad man would have a worried expression as he heard that. “There was a guy that’s matching your description, he’s special, I could feel it simply by passing him on the street. Him being aligned with Maru-Maru, it’s bad but from the looks of things that is probably the fact of the matter.” The three of them knew that one monster was bad enough, but two of them were more than horrible. They sat in silence for a moment, pondering their options before Jonathan said something. “I will be going back to America in a few weeks.” The words he spoke told more than enough, Jonathan wanted out of this entire thing, after all they were three guys in a dirty apartment. Yes, even with someone as extraordinary as Mifuyu by their side there was little they could do against two monsters. It was an uphill battle so therefore one wouldn’t be dumb to say retreating was the best thing to do. After all, whatever terrible thing Mifuyuys acquaintance spoke off was bound to happen within Pandemonium, so staying away from the city was the choice any logical person would choose.

The other two men who sat at the table responded only with silence. Eventually, Mifuyu would make a comment on his remark. “If you want to do that, nobody is going to stop you.” Even if he offered words of reassurance, Jonathan could not help but feel like he was being mocked, like the white haired guy saw him as a coward for merely suggesting that. But at the same time, he had nothing keeping him in this place, no family, no close friends, hell he barely knew the language. He wanted nothing to do with this whole thing and stood up, the bald man felt like a coward as he headed towards the apartment door, giving only a quick ‘Goodbye’ to the two men who were still sitting down as he exited. While he walked away from the cheap apartment complex, he felt like a fool for going back to the same bar where he would inevitably meet Mifuyu again. One thing led to another and now he had narrowly avoided being dragged into some paranormal freakshow in this town called Pandemonium.

After the taller man left the apartment the two sat in silence for another moment before Oda gave the white-haired man next to him a suggestion, although it wasn’t anything concrete it was better than nothing. “Maru-Maru is after Alice, I can’t let that twisted girl get to her. Mifuyu, you might not be able to handle them both at once.” A short pause ensued. “But what if you fought them separately.” The white haired man would lean a bit closer, towards the blonde. “I can see someone’s strength simply by being close to them, when I passed the blue haired boy on the street I saw that although strong, he would be no match for me in a real fight… I am more worried about Maru-Maru.” He would remain quiet for a moment, thinking about how they could use the situation to their advantage. “If we were to take that guy hostage we could use him as a source of information and even if he would refuse to speak then she would likely show up herself if the two are aligned to save him.” From his words it became clear that Mifuyu considered going after the blue-haired man was the best thing to do in this bad situation they had found themselves in. “Do you want something to eat before heading out?” He asked Oda, assuming that he was going to go along with him on the search for the strange man. Not wanting to appear weak before the man, Oda simply shaked his head and went to the door, being the first to stand up and take the initiative.

Around a minute after the two men exited the apartment, Mifuyu would stop for a moment and close his eyes. After maybe ten seconds he opened them again and was greeted with a very confused Oda staring at him. “By doing this I can perceive everything within a hundred meter radius for some time… I guess you could call it a talent of sorts.” Although he didn’t say anything, given the nature of what he had been shown back in his kitchen Oda was starting to believe more and more that Mifuyu was some eldritch creature rather than a human being.

Despite believing that the man next to him was more of a superhuman than an ordinary person, he kept quiet as inquiring about the man's abilities would be rude. As the two walked through the streets of the city the fact that it was Sunday became apparent by just how few people they were meeting. After maybe fifteen or so minutes, Oda was eventually able to work up the courage to ask the white-haired man about his abilities even if it could be seen as rude. But just as he was about to open his mouth the other man said something that the blonde didn’t expect to hear just yet. “Found him.” Upon hearing that Oda would turn around towards the man, who was already quickly moving in a seemingly random direction. Trying his best to keep up with him, Oda would sprint after the plainly-clothed dude. It was not long until all the smoking he had done over the past couple years caught up to him and he fell short of breath, catching a glimpse of Mifuyu as he slunk into a small alley.

Moving inside the cramped pathway between two buildings, Oda could see both his companion and the blue-haired man facing off. Upon noticing that the blonde man had entered the alley as well, Mifuyu would make a comment about Maru-Maru. “I don’t see her within my area of perception, we should count ourselves lucky.” His eyes then glanced back to the man in front of him which had an irritated expression on his face. “Hey… mind telling me what this is about?” It was clear from the way he spoke that he wanted nothing to do with this situation and couldn’t wait to get out of it. Upon spotting Oda however, his expression would change to one of smugness. “Ohh, come for seconds have you? Brought a friend as well.” Before he had a chance to react, Mifuyu spoke for Oda. “No, nothing like that. We would just like to inquire about a certain friend of yours… I think her name was Maru-Maru.”

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Oda felt a bit offended, while it was true that he didn’t really care much about getting revenge, the fact that Mifuyu had gone ahead and spoke for him like that irritated the blonde, yet there was little he could do about it in this situation. When the blue-haired man heard that name the guy would lean backwards and put his hand on his chin. “Ohh, maybe I know something about her, yes. But if you want to know something you will have to beat it out of me, nothing in this world is free after all.”

With those words the young man assumed a fighting stance, clearly getting ready to get into a quarrel with the two guys before him. But he was given no quarter for in an instant the white-haired man had cleared the distance of the few meters that separated them and delivered a powerful strike to the man's jaw using some sort of pole. Or, that was what the object that Mifuyu had seemingly conjured from nowhere looked like to Oda. But he was not given any particularly long amount of time to inspect the object for just as quickly as the magician had made it appear; he also made it disappear and the only proof of it ever having existed was the now unconscious body of the guy they were supposed to interrogate lying on the ground before them. The blonde man would look at the unconscious man for a moment before looking the man standing next to him in the eyes. “So, what’s the plan now?” Both of them understood that dragging an unconscious body through the streets of the town would result in nothing but a one way ticket to the police station so they would have to come up with a plan to get to a quieter location, lest they stay here and end up being discovered sooner or later anyways.

Mifuyu would look at the body for a moment before opening his mouth. “I have an idea, Oda, how good are you at acting?” When he heard that the delinquent would look at Mifuyu with an uncertain look in his face for a moment. A few minutes later Oda regretted ever listening to this fool in the first place. The two of them were supporting the limp body of the stranger as they slowly walked through the streets of Pandemonium, trying to get a cab to pick them up as soon as possible. He didn’t believe that this stupid plan would work and that the two of them would soon find themselves in the back of a police car but nevertheless he didn’t have a better idea so he was forced to go along with this stupid idea. Several taxis passed them by, the drivers only glancing at them before they kept going.

It was not until maybe four or five cars had passed like that that someone decided to give the odd group of three a chance. As the car stopped next to them an elderly man rolled down the window and gave them a snide look. “What happened to your friend?” He said, clearly referencing the blue-haired guy whose head was leaning on Mifuyu’s shoulder as the two supported him. “He had a bit too much to drink, he’s somewhat of a lightweight.” A forced smile would appear on Mifuyuy’s face as he said that he was really trying to sell his story to this driver. In turn, not a single emotion could be determined from looking at the old man’s face, he had a perfect poker face so to say. After a few moments he would let them know of his offer. “I’ll do it, but it will cost you extra. Where to?”

A stroke of relief could be seen on Mifuyu’s face as he heard that. Getting into the car, Mifuyu would tell the man to drive outside of town. Specifically, to the south of the town and to a nearby lake. It sounded strange to Oda, but he decided not to question the wiser man's decision and simply kept his mouth shut as they got inside the taxi. The ride outside of town was rather awkward, with the two of them trying to keep the man straight. As soon as they arrived at their location they got out of the cab, the road they were on was a small off-shot on the one that led into town. Trying to keep the man straight on his own, the blonde saw as the white haired man handed over quite a large sum of lump money to the driver. Not changing his expression, the man would take the money before turning his car around and driving off.

Watching the car disappear in the distance, Oda would take a quick look around, they were in a small clearing with forests surrounding them both further up and down the road. A bit away from them a small run-down house could be seen, and further still was a small lake that no sane person would attempt to swim in at this time of the year. As soon as Mifuyu caught up with the two he would support the slumped over man down to the small house. Once there, a quick glance at it revealed that it had been run down, with nobody living in it for probably at least twenty years. The windows were smashed open, but despite that Mifuyu began moving towards the door and forced the other two with him. Once there he would simply place his hand on the doorknob and force it open through pure physical force, breaking the lock mechanism in the process. A cold sweat would roll down Oda's forehead as he imagined what that kind of strength could do if turned on a human being.

Heading inside, the little light that shone in from the dark skies outside made it clear just how run-down and trashed this place really was. The walls looked like they might come down at any moment and graffiti covered them. Most likely, whoever had been here before the three having made their way in through one of the broken windows.The only piece of furniture that looked usable was a worn couch standing in a corner of the room, that was where the two decided to put down their captive. After rummaging through the house for a few moments Mifuyu retrieved an old piece of rope. No idea how he was able to find it so quickly, Oda decided once again against questioning this strange man and helped him tie the hands of their hostage behind his back. Shortly after, the superhuman took a bucket that he had found and went outside, leaving Oda to watch the hostage.

After a few moments, he stepped back in through the door with a now filled bucket which was promptly splashed all over the tied up man. A low grunt could be heard as he slowly woke up and scanned the situation he had found himself in. He wasn’t given much time to get accustomed to the newfound situation before Mifuyu started barraging him with questions. “Who are you? Why did you attack Oda? What do you do for a living? How old are you? Are you-” He suddenly stopped mid sentence. “Sorry, I got a bit ahead of myself then. Why don’t we start with your name, mister…?” The blue-haired guy looked at Mifuyu, then Oda and then back at Mifuyu again, he narrowed his eyes and it was clear that he was thinking about his options in this situation. Eventually, he gave in and answered the question. “Kusari… My name is Kusari Kowari.” He said with a defiant look on his face. “I see, what is your age and occupation?” He would answer much quicker this time, seeing that there was no way out of this situation. “I’m seventeen, so I don’t have a job.” The white-haired man would nod upon hearing that and that was when he started asking the real question. “What do you know about Maru-Maru?”

Kusari would lean back upon hearing that, he knew that he had some liberties even in this situation since he possessed valuable information. With a relaxed expression he began talking. “She’s strange, don’t know if you could truly call her human. I sure as hell wouldn’t.” He would sigh a little before he continued speaking. “I suppose I should say a little more than just that. Go on, ask me something.” Although it seemed like Mifuyu would be the one to lead the conversation, Oda broke both his own and the other man's expectations by speaking up instead. “Alice… what does she want with Alice?” The relaxed expression remained on Kusari’s face as he asked that, maybe even changed into a tiny smile. “I don’t have the slightest idea, truth be told she is more similar to a wild beast rather than a human being… I kinda like that about her.” A dreamy expression appeared as he said those last words.

After that, Mifuyu would be the one to ask the next question. “Now, I think it’s about time you told us. What is your manifestation?” Upon hearing that word a confused expression would appear on Oda’s face, despite standing in front of him, Mifuyu seemed to catch onto his confusion as he turned around to explain the term he had just used to the blonde. “A manifestation, it’s a bit tricky to explain, a simple way to explain it would be to call them special powers granted to special people, each one unique and different in nature.” Oda grasped that concept almost immediately, he had a creeping suspicion that the ‘special talent’ he had displayed earlier was in fact a manifestation. Regardless, he decided to wait until later to ask more.

But, even though he had only turned around for a single moment it was apparently enough time for Kusari to free himself of the rope that bound him and grab Mifuyu’s head from behind. There was not enough time for Oda to react or even open his mouth to warn Mifuyu of the incoming danger. “You want to know what my manifestation is? Sure. I’ve named it ‘Principle of Destruction’ as for why… well.” Mifuyu’s limp body would hit the dirty wooden floor of the building, his eyes glazed over. “... It allows me to destroy anything I touch, or part of it. For example, touching someone’s head to destroy their mind would be trivial.”

He would sigh before taking a step towards Oda. “Let’s just get this over with.” A single swift strike hit him in the solar plexus, sending the blonde man stumbling backwards before slumping down on the ground. The attack had been so fast that he had no chance to react, but compared to Mifuyu, who literally had his very mind destroyed, he got off easily. He would look up towards the man who towered over him, in his face he could only discern one emotion; sadism. “Come on, now you’re making me feel bad. Fight back a little bit at least… please?” With those clearly mocking words a strong hand grabbed Oda’s shirt before throwing him into a nearby room that was dimly lit, from a quick glance it became apparent that this was the house's kitchen. His mind ablaze with adrenaline quickly detected a loose pipe that could be used as a weapon, grabbing onto it he would get up on his feet and look towards the man who was slowly approaching him.

Taking a step backwards, he scanned the kitchen and saw a door leading out to a nearby hallway, remembering how he saw a closed door in the living room with the couch, Oda assumed it would lead back there. He practically threw himself on that door as it swung open, leading him back to the living room. Looking back he could see Kusari slowly approaching, his light-blue hair wavering with every step. Well back in the living room Oda would slowly backstep towards the front door as the other man entered the area. Standing between him and the couch, he would speak to mock the blonde once more. “Do you seriously think that is going to protect you?” He said, referencing the metal stick he held in his hand. Spurred on by both anger over Mifuyu’s death and adrenaline for his own survival, Oda forgot his fear for a moment and stepped forwards. As he did he brought the pipe down, aiming to hit Kusari’s exposed head.

But his plan was easily spoiled as the man simply deflected the attack with a light slap of his hand, all the force instead being redirected to the couch behind him as the metal pipe tore a clean line through its fabric. The content inside spilled out, and along the usual stuffing you would expect, several different pills and syringes would appear from within. Oda wasn’t really surprised, everyone knew that the drug dealers within Pandemonium used houses like these at the outskirts of the city to stash their wares. Upon witnessing the contraband spill out over the ruined couch, a devilish smile would appear on Kusari’s face as he picked up the nearest syringe. While it was unusual to find a syringe that had already been filled like that, it could be assumed that someone had filled it before being forced to leave in a hurry, or they simply forgot about it. Regardless, silent tears began to form in Oda’s face as he realized what was going to happen next.

“I have an idea, why don’t we do a little experiment, you and I?” With a swift motion he grabbed ahold of Oda’s arm and the blonde already knew what was about to happen. Desperately, trying to get away from what had caused him so much pain and suffering over the last few years, he would struggle with all his might against Kusari’s grip. But the man’s grip held firm and he began speaking as he slowly pushed the syringe into Oda’s arm. “Come on now, don’t tell me you have never done drugs before? You don’t look like a goody two-shoes, but appearances can be deceiving I guess. What does it matter though? You are all gonna be dying soon anyways.” While he said that, all that was racing through the blonde’s mind was how he had to get out of this situation at any cost. In his mind, if he were to relapse here and now he might as well just drop dead on the spot. All the work he had put in, all the effort to cleanse himself of that horrible lifestyle would be rendered null in a single instance as Kusari pushed down on the syringe and injected Oda with the disastrous content that it held.

He would keep trying to resist for another moment, but it was not long until his entire body went limp. Kusari still held tightly onto his arm, but when he realized that this wasn’t just some acting to get out of the situation he let go, causing the man’s body to drop to the moldy floor with a thud. He would glance over to Mifuyu’s still body for a second before sighting. He hadn’t wanted to kill either one of them, it was just that, doing so was so easy. Truly, the man known as Kusari Kowari was bad at holding back. With heavy steps he exited the house, as soon as he got outside he spent a moment watching the nearby lake. The cool temperature caused mist to rise up from it, combined with the cloudy dark skies above it gave the entire landscape a dark and ghostly feeling. He would shrug. “Well, it’s not my fault that they all die so easily.” With those words he began to slowly walk away from the house.