I feel like I’m becoming someone with an identity problem. Well, phrasing it like that makes me seem like the victim.

Actually, that’s not so bad.

I’m the victim in all of this. I’m just an innocent guy, forced into a life I never wanted.

I never wanted to join the Yakuza.

Ah, excuse me.

I never wanted to become a chivalrous gentleman.

What would Kanon say? Ninkyō dantai? Yeah. Exactly.

Woe is me. How cruel is this world?

Then they made me join the main family, even forcing me to take their name.

Even now, they’re making me do this job in the Free Cities, and they’ll force me to take a promotion if I succeed.

How terrible of them.

Are you buying it? Probably not. Even if anyone did believe that, I’m sure it would all fall apart soon enough.

Yeah.

Unlike Kanon, I don’t feel any shame about being a member of the Kamiya Family. I don’t feel anything but pride. We provide a service that the people want.

Unlike Kanon, I also still have all of my fingers. That’s not that relevant, I just felt like pointing it out.

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I’m just capable of getting the job done.

So what if I have to abandon my identity? Who am I really? Who was I before? Who will I be tomorrow?

Does it matter?

My entire skill set is based around doing what I have to do, being who I need to become. I even spent some time being nonexistent.

After spending so much time pretending to be other people it’s gotten difficult to remember who I really am. But that just makes it easier to become someone else.

So if I need to support Kanon, I’ll do it. If I need to be a student, I’ll do it. If I need to act like a ninja, I’ll do it.

Wait. One of those didn’t fit. Why exactly was I pretending to be a student? Well, technically it wasn’t pretending. I actually was a member of the ATC.

Now I wasn’t really a student at Evergreen Academy, or its affiliated university, but Kanon didn’t seem to mind those details.

What age was I supposed to be? I could pass as a late teen.

Either way, why was I hanging around with a bunch of students?

What a silly question. Because I was ordered to, of course.

I know, I know, that answer doesn’t do anyone any good.

As for why I was told to blend in with the ATC, well, that’s a more complicated question.

The Kamiya group back in Japan, Kanon, and myself all received an anonymous piece of unrequested advice. Three notes, each saying the same thing.

‘Kamiya Kazuko should join the ATC.’

Now, typically we’d avoid any message from an outsider, especially one who hides behind a veil of anonymity.

But the unique circumstances behind the messages made them hard to ignore.

First, the only people who knew my name were those at Alec’s hospital room when Kanon introduced me.

Second, Kanon and I received our messages before the ATC was even announced.

And third, the letter sent to the Kamiya group headquarters in Japan was delivered over a decade ago.

At the time it made no sense, but after Kanon and I reported the messages we received, one of the older advisors within the group remembered a similar letter from years ago.

Now how were we supposed to ignore something like that?

It was probably a trap, and almost certainly orchestrated by some unknown augmented.

Still, come on. Even if I wasn’t given the order, there was no way I wasn’t going to see how things played out.