A nauseating smell and a chill that made his whole body shiver were the first things he felt when he regained consciousness. He stirred in the damp, sticky filth before opening his eyes, disoriented. The world was a blur of shadows and flickering lights. His mind was blank. Only one thing clung tightly to his consciousness: his name.
"Ryota..."
He sat up with difficulty, his muscles stiff and his stomach churning from the stench that surrounded him. His hands touched torn trash bags, oily puddles, and unidentifiable debris. With a barely audible groan, he stood up, staggering. He groped his way toward the exit of the narrow alley, where distant lights flickered like a beacon.
Every step was a struggle. His head buzzed with unanswered questions. Where was he? What had happened? Why could he remember nothing but his name?
A metallic roar abruptly snapped him out of his thoughts. The rumble of a truck echoed off the alley walls like thunder. Ryota stumbled backward, his heart racing. He watched the truck speed by, followed by several police cars with sirens blaring.
As he emerged from the alley, the world hit him full force. Neon lights danced atop skyscrapers; holographic advertisements floated in the air; drones flew everywhere. The city looked like something out of a futuristic dream. Or a nightmare.
He stood frozen on the sidewalk, utterly confused. The urban bustle was deafening. People he didn't know, places he had never seen before, and a loneliness that weighed heavily on his shoulders.
Then, as if the universe wanted to push his misery a little further, the rain suddenly fell. Heavy. Freezing. Relentless.
He sought shelter under a nearby bus stop. He slumped against the wall and watched the raindrops fall onto the asphalt. His breathing was irregular. His body was shaking.
A beam of light suddenly blinded him.
"What are you doing here, kid?" asked a rough voice, accompanied by a police officer's flashlight. "This is no place to take a nap. Especially in this crappy weather."
Ryota squinted, annoyed by the light. He brought a hand to his eyes.
"Could you... could you take that away from my face, please...? I don't remember where I came from..."
The officer lowered the flashlight, frowning.
"You don't know where you are? Are you on drugs or something?" He looked at him cautiously. "Well, come on. Get in the patrol car. We'll check your identity at the station."
During the ride, the officer tried to break the silence.
"Where are you from? Do you always end up in alleys smelling like trash, or is this your first time?"
Ryota stared out the window, his eyes empty.
"I woke up in the trash, walked until you found me. I don't remember anything else."
The officer clicked his tongue, puzzled.
"Well... we'll try to contact someone who knows you. Maybe you hit your head. Or something worse."
The radio crackled suddenly, interrupting the moment:
"All available units: proceed to the central area. Pursuit in progress. Immediate backup required."
The officer grunted in resignation.
"Great. Just what I needed."
When they reached a red light, Ryota, without taking his eyes off the windshield, commented in a calm but direct tone:
"There's no one around here. You could go through."
The officer looked at him in the rearview mirror with a raised eyebrow.
"Laws exist for a reason, kid. Although you don't seem to know much about that."
Ryota pouted.
Suddenly, blinding lights burst in from the side. Ryota barely had time to turn his head before the truck rammed into the patrol car. The world spun. Metal crunched. The air filled with screams and broken glass.
Darkness.
The truck disappeared into the storm, followed by the sound of sirens fading into the distance. Then, a vehicle pulled up next to the wreckage of the police car. Four men got out, dressed in black from head to toe, with helmets covering their faces. One placed a device under the patrol car while the others pulled Ryota and the officer's lifeless body out.
But before they could flee, a female voice cut them off.
"Hey, don't even try it. Your de-locator is useless. We already anticipated a detour in the target's route. Give yourselves up and no one else will get hurt."
A hooded figure in a bright red jacket faced them from across the street.
One of the men grabbed Ryota by the neck, pointing a gun at his head.
"You'll have more problems and a worse reputation if I kill this bastard. Don't provoke me."
The woman raised her hands. One of the men jumped and fired his gun at her. However, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared from her position.
A sharp sound and a crack: she was behind the kidnapper holding the hostage. She broke his neck with surgical precision. Ryota fell to the ground. The others opened fire.
She danced between bullets. Her figure blurred as if she were teleporting. The karambit she carried flashed, shooting burning metal particles everywhere.
One by one, they fell. Ryota woke up from the commotion and tried to get up, staggering, just as a bullet deflected by the blade hit him in the forehead. The world went dark again...
The woman gritted her teeth in annoyance and approached Ryota.
"Tsk... You weren't my target. But I'd rather you didn't end up with a hole in your head."
With no other choice, she got up and radioed:
"This is Officer Remi. I need medical assistance. Five bodies and one seriously injured civilian."
From a corner of his consciousness, sent back into limbo, Ryota could only hear a high-pitched beeping sound as a figure materialized in front of him:
"Ah! That was a hard blow, wasn't it?" A silhouette of a girl suddenly appeared, who strangely seemed familiar to him.
Ryota blinked and cleared his eyes. "Wait, I know you... right? Ahg, why can't I remember anything?" He said, bringing both hands to his face in frustration.
The silhouette extended both arms toward Ryota, signaling a hug. "Okay, now come here."
Ryota was perplexed and frozen by this sudden action. "Eh... Wait a second, please, I have so many questions."
"The silhouette seemed to smile at him and calmly said to Ryota, "I don't give a damn thing, come on."
"Hey, but...'"Suddenly, in an instant, as if in a forced embrace, Ryota was in the arms of that familiar girl. The darkness turned to light. All the knots in his head cleared, unleashing his most primitive instinct: survival.
With a groan, Ryota sat up. The wound was still bleeding, but he was standing.
"What... the hell...?" said the woman, turning around.
"It hurts..." Ryota murmured, bringing his hand to his forehead, blood running down from his hand to his elbow.
"Wow!" said the woman, completely surprised. "You're the toughest guy I've ever seen... not really," she whispered. "Well, help is on the way, sit down and rest for a moment.
But the ground began to shake, and the roar of an engine echoed louder and louder in the room. The radio the woman was carrying on her shoulder suddenly began to sound:
—Agent Naito, withdraw from the site immediately! The target vehicle is heading dangerously toward your location. I repeat, withdraw from the site immediately. —Fuck, just what we needed. Hey! I'll get you out of here. However, before the woman could get close to Ryota, she saw lights. The truck was already just a few meters away from them. No matter how much she wanted to, the woman could no longer do anything for Ryota, who was immobilized.
"The armored truck, approaching like a hurricane... crashed into him head-on. The man didn't move an inch, while the fugitive was thrown away with his vehicle. The man fell to the ground, unconscious moments later," the woman noted in her report.
Hours later, Ryota was in custody, being interrogated. Outside the room, the woman waited. A tall man with black hair, crimson eyes, and a dark uniform came out.
"Well?" she asked.
"You'd better come in too."
Inside, Ryota barely looked up.
"Right... I'll introduce myself again, and the lady here too." The man cleared his throat, his voice firm but not aggressive. "My name is Ki-Tae, and we're from the C.A.C... Classified Anomaly Control. This is Agent Remi, the woman you had a... peculiar encounter with last night."
Ryota slowly looked up. His eyes met hers: short hair with dark purple tones, sharp lavender eyes, and the unmistakable red uniform. For a moment, he was speechless.
Remi stared at him, this short boy with long, bright orange hair and purple eyes.
Ki-Tae picked up a folder and slid it across the table.
According to Agent Remi's report," he said with a frown, "you stopped a truck traveling at 320 kilometers per hour in its tracks, without suffering any injuries!
He paused and let out a small, sarcastic laugh.
"Heh... Not even the most brainless metalhead I know would believe that." He leaned forward, resting both hands on the table. "But there's one important detail, Ryota: eight of the nine hostages in that truck... died." And the urban infrastructure was destroyed. So I have to ask you. Are you involved with those people?
The air became thick. The psychological pressure was palpable. Ryota pressed his lips together and lowered his head. His voice trembled slightly.
"I... thought it was all a dream. That bright city, the rain... It felt so real. I heard a voice in the darkness, then I saw a flash... from afar there was someone I knew very well, but now I can't remember who it was. And then everything went blurry.
Ki-Tae looked at him silently for a moment, then stood up and approached Remi. He whispered softly,
"He told me exactly the same thing nine minutes ago. Do you think this is an 'F-Trait'?"
Remi shook his head, frowning.
"You think so? You should have realized by now. There's no trace of anything that would indicate such a thing."
"I know," replied Ki-Tae, crossing his arms, "but... it's not about modifications either. His body is clean. Clean to an illegal degree. He has no identification on him whatsoever."
At that moment, their communicators activated with a dry, formal voice:
"Miss Astrid is on her way to your position, Agent Naito and Agent Whitlow."
Both agents froze for a second. They looked at each other, and in perfect sync, let out a resigned murmur:
"Shit."
"Ki-Tae... If Major Astrid decided to come in person, that can only mean one thing," Remi crossed his arms. "This case is much bigger than we thought."
"Sigh... Don't even mention it," Ki-Tae snorted, bringing a hand to his face. "These psychopaths always have something new up their sleeves."
He turned his gaze to Ryota, who remained with his head resting on the table, as if the weight of the world were on his shoulders.
"But still..." Ki-Tae murmured, lowering his voice slightly. "I've never seen anything like this before. I can't help thinking that maybe he's a..."
The door burst open, interrupting his thoughts.
"Major Astrid!" they both exclaimed in unison, jumping to their feet.
A very tall woman crossed the threshold with a firm step. Her mere presence commanded silence. It wasn't just her height or athletic build that stood out, but her perfectly styled golden hair and intense emerald eyes that seemed to pierce through everything. Her impeccable, customized uniform was clear evidence of her position as a high-ranking officer in the C.A.C.
Astrid gave them a stern look, but without losing her composure.
"You may leave. I'll take care of this."
They both bowed their heads respectfully. As they headed for the exit, Ki-Tae extended his arm, letting Remi go first with a sarcastic tone of chivalry.
"Ladies first," he murmured, suppressing a mocking smile.
He was about to walk through the door when Astrid's voice stopped him, sharp as a gunshot.
"Whitlow."
A chill ran down his spine. He turned slowly, as if awaiting a sentence.
"This boy was delirious until he passed out," said Astrid, still seated, her tone bordering on bewilderment. "Take him with you to the station. I want him watched at all times."
"Y-yes, ma'am!" replied Ki-Tae, stiff as a statue, clearly embarrassed at having overlooked that detail.
"...
In a change of scene.
Ryota, still unconscious, was lying in the back seat of the agents' vehicle. The atmosphere inside the car was thick, charged with an uncomfortable silence. Only the distant murmur of the city filled the void.
Remi, leaning against the window, watched the skyscrapers rising in the distance, like concrete titans.
"Ki-Tae," she said suddenly, without looking at him.
"Hmm?" he replied, somewhat distracted.
"You're such an idiot."
"Ehhhh!?" he jumped in his seat, offended.
Remi just looked away, hiding a barely perceptible smile.
"Hey, Remi, what are we going to do with this guy once we get to the station..." Ki-Tae said in a serious tone.
Remi adjusted the rearview mirror to get a better look at Ryota in the back seat. "I don't know, maybe you're right and it's an F-Trait. I wouldn't be surprised if he escaped from a training center."
"Well, he's got a rough road ahead of him after that mess he made yesterday, don't you think?"
"Shut up and drive faster. I hate this dead, desert landscape outside the city," said Remi as she stared out the window again.
"What a difficult woman," thought Ki-Tae as he accelerated the vehicle.