Adachi Ward,
Daishimae Town, 4-chome.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
After three long and two short knocks, the apartment door silently opened.
The person who knocked quickly slipped inside, and then the apartment door closed, as if nothing had happened.
"Hase, have you contacted anyone else?"
The apartment was filled with smoke, and the pungent smell of smoke and alcohol made the person who entered frown.
"Don't mention it."
"Kazehara, you should smoke less."
His gaze swept over the ashtray on the table, overflowing with cigarette butts. 'Hase', who had returned from outside, frowned in dissatisfaction while taking off his hat and mask.
"Are you trying to start a fire alarm?"
"What does it matter? We're finished... completely finished."
Slumping back onto the sofa, the unshaven 'Kazehara' had bloodshot eyes, as if he hadn't rested at all.
In fact, ever since the organization had suddenly been destroyed, none of them, the 'outlying members' of the 'Zanshi-gumi', had been able to sleep peacefully. During this time, they had contacted their superior organization, tried to flee Adachi Ward, and even wanted to go to the police... but they had all been rebuffed.
That's right, they had gone to try to turn themselves in, but they were kicked out of the police station!
"This isn't normal, this is definitely not normal..."
Kazehara, who had been smoking all day, trembled and kept muttering to himself. Curled up on the sofa, the 200-pound man looked like a delicate young girl.
"Sigh, no matter what, we have to find a way to survive."
Hase, who had gone out to buy food, sighed.
He still couldn't figure out the situation. He woke up one night to hear that the organization's headquarters was surrounded by a large number of police. Soon, other outlying members of the organization could not be contacted. When they tried to ask their superiors for help, the other party hung up the phone as soon as they heard their voices.
It was as if the whole world had rejected them. As soon as they wanted to leave this street, heavily armed police would appear to stop them.
Forced to do so, the two even tried to turn themselves in. However, a strange scene occurred.
The police told them to get lost.
They threatened that if they dared to 'report a false alarm' again, they would be shot on the spot!
It wasn't just a threat; those police officers really did draw their guns.
In this island nation where you had to write a long application to fire a single shot, they had actually drawn their guns so openly!
The two, not wanting to be shot on the spot, had no choice but to hide back in this rented apartment,茫然ly waiting for an unknown fate.
"Bastard!"
"What the hell is going on?"
Kazehara on the sofa held his head in his hands, feeling as if the whole world was filled with malice towards them.
"We're just small-time thugs who watch over adult entertainment establishments and sell some drugs on the side. Even if we go to jail, it won't be for more than ten years... what's going on now?!"
"How would I know,"
Hase sighed and also slumped onto the sofa.
Those police officers were too strange. It seemed they only wanted to 'trap' them in this area, as if... they were waiting for something to happen?
"Hey, Kazehara. Do you think—"
Crack.
?!
A crisp sound came from the side, making Hase turn around abruptly.
Thud.
Kazehara, his neck twisted into a pretzel and his face pointing towards his back, fell heavily to the floor.
Behind the sofa where Kazehara was sitting, a tall figure had appeared at some point.
The other party was wearing a hoodie, and his exposed face had a thick beard that spread to his cheeks! Coupled with his burly figure, he looked like some kind of incompletely evolved beast.
A monster!
Wait, could it be...
Is this the reason the police have surrounded them here?
The other party's emotionless gaze glanced over, and a thought flashed through Hase's mind as he suddenly stood up.
I'm going to die.
"...This gentleman, can I make a phone call?"
?
Facing the request of this Zanshi-gumi member, Tanimura Wataru showed no reaction. So what if the other party called the police?
With his current strength, it would be easy for him to find a sewer to drill into before the police arrived.
Tokyo, as a big city that carried more than thirty million people.
Beneath this city, there was a vast network of underground pipes that was difficult for ordinary people to imagine. Perhaps for ordinary people, the pitch-black sewers were very dangerous. But for Tanimura Wataru, who was now a 'half-demon', it was a hunting ground where he could come and go as he pleased.
"Hey, is that Kohei?"
"Dad has something to say to you—"
Under Tanimura Wataru's cold gaze, the thug opposite him took out his phone and made a call.
"Take care of Mom, and don't follow my path."
Squelch.
A sharp claw swiped across.
The head flew into the air.
The headless corpse fell backwards onto the floor.
From the phone that had fallen, an urgent question came: 'Old man, what's wrong with you?'
"Two."
That's enough.
Turning around and leaping lightly, he squatted on the open windowsill of the apartment. Tanimura Wataru's gaze swept over the city under the night sky. He hadn't been noticed by the police, which was good.
The next second, he walked down the apartment wall in a posture that would make Newton 'rise from his coffin'.
As long as he concentrated his 'demonic power' at his feet, he could easily walk anywhere.
?
Killing, for him now, was as simple as eating and drinking.
Not long after he had walked out, Tanimura Wataru, under his hood, had a sharp look in his eyes.
"Circuit maintenance ahead."
"Please take a detour, we're very sorry—"
A manhole cover was opened, and roadblocks were set up around it. A worker holding a glowing stick came forward and motioned for Tanimura Wataru not to continue forward.
This?
This was originally his 'way home'.
Now it had become a construction site. Tanimura Wataru glanced over. Two workers were busy in the sewer, and it was obviously full.
There was no choice but to go somewhere else.
"Yeah."
He nodded slightly to the worker in front of him.
Tanimura Wataru, wearing a hoodie and with a burly figure, left without a word, which made this power worker unable to help but wipe away a bead of sweat.
"What a terrifying man..."
Just standing in front of this man, even his breathing seemed to stop subconsciously.
"So tall and burly, he must be a fitness fanatic, right?"
Maybe a boxer or something?
Shaking his head, the power worker continued to stand guard here to prevent construction accidents.
It's just that:
"Hey, headquarters."
"There's no problem with the circuit..."
"What? We have to stay here even if there's no problem?!"
From below the open manhole cover, the puzzled voices of two power workers came.
The order from their superior on the walkie-talkie was 'less talk, continue checking'. The two workers, looking at each other, had no choice but to continue staying in the stinking sewer.
How strange!
Damn it.
Not far away, two police officers were coming towards him.
Tanimura Wataru was in a 'semi-transformed' state. His tall and burly figure, and the beard formed by dog hair on his face, had turned him from a young man in his 20s to an uncle in his 40s. But after seeing the police, he still instinctively wanted to hide.
It wasn't that these two police officers were enough to make him afraid, but what they represented behind them.
The state!
Killing two police officers was easy for him.
But if it attracted the army, Tanimura Wataru could only flee in a sorry state. If he was unlucky, he might not even be able to escape.
The demonic power had indeed greatly strengthened his body, but it had not yet reached the point of 'invulnerability'.
Thinking of this, Tanimura Wataru immediately turned around.
"Hey, big guy over there."
"Wait—"
Perhaps it was because his figure was too tall, or perhaps it was because his hooded face was too suspicious, but he had attracted the attention of the two police officers.
Without time to think, Tanimura Wataru immediately quickened his pace.
"Stop!"
Seeing this, the two patrol officers instinctively shouted while chasing after him.
For a moment, the pedestrians on the street watched the chase with curiosity.
On one side was a tall man with a hooded face, who didn't look like a good person. On the other side were police officers with big-brimmed hats chasing him. This kind of scene was... actually quite common in Adachi Ward.
So the pedestrians all stopped and calmly took out their phones.
This is troublesome.
With Tanimura Wataru's physique, it would be easy to shake off these two patrol officers.
But with so many cameras pointed at him, let alone transforming on the spot and running up walls, even if he was too fast, he might make the headlines and be besieged by the army.
I need to find a back alley...
His gaze swept forward. Maintaining the speed of an 'ordinary person', Tanimura Wataru suddenly turned into a small alley on the side of the street.
"The suspect has entered the alley, requesting backup!"
"Chase!"
The two police officers followed closely behind, while calling for backup through their walkie-talkies. This made Tanimura Wataru, who had immediately sped up after entering the alley, frown.
When did Adachi Ward have so many patrol officers?
That's right, it's all because of me...
Realizing that he was the culprit behind the large increase in 'patrol officers' on the street, Tanimura Wataru sighed helplessly.
He didn't want to die.
After obtaining 'demonic power',
the feeling of running up walls and coming and going as he pleased had made him addicted.
If he could, he just wanted to quietly kill those social scum to prolong his life.
However, this was impossible. The government would not allow a 'murderer' like him to roam the city, especially since he had killed so many American soldiers!
"...Roger, we're on our way."
"Senpai, is it this way?"
?!
Just as Tanimura Wataru was about to pass through the alley, two young voices suddenly came from the other side.
It's the police!
The hurried footsteps,
and the smell that came first, all made Tanimura Wataru's pupils shrink.
Swish.
On his five fingers, sharp nails suddenly popped out.
...
"Eh?"
"Aiya~~"
With a muffled thud, four police officers collided in the alley.
"Ouch, what are you doing?"
"We should be the ones asking that. Didn't you see a tall man?"
The four patrol officers, who had been running and ended up falling over each other, stood up rubbing their noses and chests. One of the patrol officers who had come from the other side angrily picked up his hat.
"What tall man? Were you the ones calling for backup on the walkie-talkie just now?!"
"Bastard, are you seeing things? There's no one here. Do you want me to show you my body cam footage?"
"Impossible!"
"Did we really see wrong, Yata..."
"Ah, actually I've been wanting to say, maybe that person didn't run into the alley..."
A living person couldn't just disappear into thin air. But the fact was, the two colleagues who had come to support them from the other side hadn't seen a single person. The two chasing police officers also became uncertain. With the order from their superior on the walkie-talkie, they left the alley in confusion.
Above the alley, in the open window of the third floor, the curtains swayed slightly.