ACT ONE

It was a quiet winters eve in this quaint mountain town. The smooth layer of freshly fallen snow seemed to muffle out any possible sounds. As quiet an evening as it was there was little sound to begin with. The only sound that could be heard was the crunching of snow being stepped on by one lone dark mass was silently walking down a side street in a residential part of the town. His head was pointed downwards and he seemed to be very deep in thought. He wore a coat that looked like it normally would be too thin to be worn in this deathly cold, a sign that he was a local here and was used to cold weather. He seemed unaware of his surroundings as he was going over something in his head. Something that required a lot of thinking to fully think over. As soon as he was done thinking over one side of his problem, he immediately began thinking of another part, and then about how those two thoughts interact with each other and then moving onto the next thought. After wondering around the town for quite some time, this young man finally comes to a conclusion. He finally holds his head up and his hood falls off, revealing short blond hair and a very determined look on his face. Not at all befitting of this particular young mans usual demeanor. His teeth were clenched and he looked enraged. Certainly he was planning some kind of revenge.

The next day was bright and relatively warm. If it were much warmer, then there would have been an acute danger of the sow melting. At the local high school, a gaggle of students was pouring into the gates and proceeding to their classrooms. As things got settled down a bit, the various classes started and their teachers began by taking attendance. In one rather familiar classroom the teacher was rattling off the names of the various students and each one replied by saying "here" or "present". "Furukura!"the teacher bellowed. A high-pitched voice replied "here!" "Hiragawa!" He roared. again, a tired voice replied "here". "Kaori!" "Present!" "Kitgawa!" This time around the room was silent and the teacher put a mark on his attendance sheet and thought to him self "Kitagawa-san is almost never late'. "Kurata!" "Present!" Minutes after the teacher was done with roll call, a young man with short blond hair came running in with a piece of bread in his mouth. "Sorry I'm late!" He yelled excitedly. He took his seat near the back of the room as the teacher marked the attendance sheet to record the new arrival. He was still silently laughing to himself as his good friend Aizawa Yuuichi asked, "over sleep?" Kitagawa then answered "yep!" while still silently chuckling. All the while he tried to catch a glimpse of Kaori, who was too engrossed in her textbook to show any facial expression. Nobody then realized how suspicious it was for her to be already reading when the teacher has yet to give the assignment but then again, reading a text book in class is so common place its hardly was unusual at all. When the class started to settle down, Kitagawa's happy demeanor was quietly fading, and his silent laughter was replaced with an obscure scowl as his mind started to once again focus on the things that displease him.

The day passed much like any regular day. All the attempts Kitagawa made to win the heart of Kaori that day were foiled as usual. When he went home, his parents greeted him in the usual manner, which hardly qualifies as a greeting at all. He then started upstairs to his room, but halfway through, he got a spark of inspiration, his face lit up with an evil smile and he instead proceeded down to the cellar. His basement looked quite like any other basement, there where dozens of cardboard boxes scattered around, and in the corners where the usual necessities, a furnace, washing machine, those kinds of things. But our hero (or should I say villain) had big plans for this room. He opened up several of the boxes. He was trying to see if there was anything useful hidden in them. One of the boxes revealed a large collection of small electronic devices. Just about everything one can buy for $2.49 at radio shack. There where electric motors, and switchboards, a variety of wire connectors, transistors, radio antennae and much more. Surely a collection like this took numerous trips to Akihabara to amass and it was lying in Kitagawa's cellar for several years. More maniacal laughter came to him as he thought of his windfall. He then held up a screwdriver and an adjustable wrench like they where a knife and fork. A quick evil chuckle came to him as he imagined what sort of evil he could create with all these components. He spent all of that evening welding and wiring, and doing everything else one might need to do to create an evil base from scratch.

The next morning, Kitagawa once again was late for class because he once again overslept. He once again acted cheery and once again his face faded into an evil grin. His behavior continued just like that until the weekend. After he got home on Friday afternoon, he walked down to the cellar, turned on the light, and the whole room sparked to life. There where numerous monitors displaying all kinds of charts and graphs, henchmen in white lab coats who walked around, inspecting the machinery while trying to look busy, computer databases in the corner that emitted low pitched buzzing noises and where equipped with a variety of flashing lights, and finally, the crown jewel of this lair, situated as far as possible from the furnace and washing machine (which served to ruin the atmosphere) and facing a wall completely covered by a giant TV screen which displayed a giant map of the world, sat his throne. It was jet black in color, had an array of buttons on each of the armrests, and of course, it could spin around. As it was made completely out of steel it did not look to be a very comfortable throne, Kitagawa obviously foresaw this and installed cushioning that was dyed the same dark color as the metal so not to be noticed. As he sat onto his throne, his faced turned to one with a maniacal smile and all traces of his usual demeanor where gone. He held his hands together so that they met at the fingertips and bent backwards several degrees, stared straight ahead into the glowing monitor and said, in his most deep and unforgiving voice, "It begins…."

ACT TWO

The next morning, Yuuichi found himself walking quite quickly towards the market district. He knew that Ayu was planning some sort of massive taiyaki heist and it was up to him to talk her out of it. He knew that with her ill planned scheme, she was most certainly going to be caught. When ever Yuuichi thought about slowing down and taking a rest, he thought about Ayu being carried away in handcuffs and started merrily on his way again. "Looking for something?" asked a lone figure in a dark hooded jacket. "Yes!" "Do you know where Ayu-chan is?" "I was talking about your notebook!" Came Kitagawa as a reply while holding up a small blue book. With that Yuuichi said, "I was not aware that it was missing!" "Don't play dumb with me!" I told you in the ransom note to meet me right here!" Quoth Kitagawa. "What ransom note?" Asked Yuuichi?" "The one I put in your damn locker!" Roared Kitagawa in a very unkitagwaish manner. Apparently our friend did not consider the fact that since he purloined that notebook and left the ransom note at school on Friday night, his victim would not be aware of any of this theft until Monday as the weekend will be in the middle. "Look." Reasoned Yuuichi. "I am in kind of a hurry here." "Ayu-chan is going to rob a big taiyaki shop and I need to stop here before she gets arrested!" "Oh, I know what this is." Argued Kitagawa. "The GLORIOUS main character needs to save the town from a villainous Taiyaki heist!" "His supporting character best friend is supposed to happily cheer him on from the sidelines and then do something funny at the end of the episode, long after the climax." Yuuichi was already quietly walking away. Completely ignoring Kitagawas long and drawn out speech. This angered Kitagawa. "Are you even listening!" He bellowed. Yuuichi was already several feet away and considered himself outside of his friends little monologue. Kitagawa then simply reached into both of his pockets. From one, he pulled out a large glass bottle, from the other, a rag. "I did not wish for it to come to this." He thought to himself. He soaked the rag in chloroform, then snuck up on Yuuichi and put the rag up to him face. As Yuuichi fainted Kitagawa said, "Worry not my friend!" "As my revenge will be quite swift!" Meanwhile, in the market district, the orders given to the swat team deployed there where shoot to kill, and kill they did. Poor Ayu. Her life was short but she died doing what she loved doing, stealing taiyaki.

Kaori was quietly walking down the road to her home. She was in no hurry, as she had no particular plans. The longer she can stay outside and in transit, the less time she will be tasked with occupying later in the day. She was only moderately surprised when she saw a figure in a dark cloak standing before her. She knew right away that it was simply Kitagawa up to his old tricks again. "So what is it this time?" She inquired. "Why my dear, I am setting about on conquering the world!" He replied with much fervor in his voice. "Yeah, right." She replied in a rather dull tone while setting about back along her way. Kitagawa was unimpressed. "I can make you powerful if you join me!" "We can rule the world!" He replied. "I don't have time for your stupid games!" She yelled. She knew very well that she had plenty of time before her and no way to spend it all. A weekend spent conquering the world will still be better spent than doing nothing, as she originally planed, but she was afraid of inciting his wrath and wisely ignored him. "If you refuse my offer, than you will make a powerful enemy!" He informed her. "My power will be absolute!" "I will crush all who oppose me!" Kaori still showed no interest. She was boggling over where his new ideas came from. A crazy world domination plan seemed far to crazy, even for him. She did not want to keep her mind on this sad subject of Kitagawa losing it, and so she hurriedly tried to get away. "If you do not join me, you will DIE!" And with that Kitagawa lunged at her while she broke into a run and turned a corner hoping to lose him. As she ran, she ducked behind buildings and trees, hoping that he will lose track of her. She still wondered as to what made Kitagawa become slightly more insane than usual today, but at the moment she was more concerned with survival. When she thought that she finally lost him, she sat down gasping for breath. Right as she got up to continue on home, Kitagawa snuck up from behind her, draped a chlorophorm soaked rag over her face and she passed out on the ground.

As Yuuichi awoke from a rather deep sleep, he felt rather groggy, and disorientated. He was unsure about where he was or how he got there. As he became a bit more conscious, he noticed that he was in a jail cell, next to a water heater in someone's basement. As he scanned the room, he saw all sorts of monitors, and computers and other electronics crowded into the room. On the opposite side he saw the throne where Kitagawa sat, looking at his reflection in the giant TV screen in front of him (which was turned off for now so that it acted as a mirror) and practicing his evil stare. Several henchmen in white lab coats where milling about, trying to look busy but not doing any real work. As Yuuichi started to get more awake, one of the henchmen noticed him. He yelled out, "Hey boss!" "The kids awake now!" "Ah!" "Splendid!" Came Kitagawa's reply. He walked over to Yuuichi's cell and said, I hope you see now, the extent of my revenge. "Revenge?" "What revenge?" Asked Yuuichi. "You mean to say you don't know?" Roared Kitagawa in an enraged voice. His henchman then said "Well I don't know what's going on either." To which Kitagawa replied "Shut up!" As he shot the guy in the head with a luger. "I desire revenge for all the times you have wronged me!" "For all the times you have belittled me!" "I will not let this go unjustified!" Said Kitagawa. "I still don't know what you're talking about." Was Yuuichi's reply. "I have no time for your foolish inquiries!" "I have other matters to attend to." Said kitagawa as he went upstairs. Yuuichi could not spend too long worrying about what Kitagawa's sudden problem was. He needed to escape. He looked all around his cell, inspecting every inch of it. Finally, he noticed that the basement window was in his cell. It was obviously locked, but the glass could be broken. He saw that there where henchmen all over the room walking around except for one who was dead. Strangely, they did not take much notice in him. They where more concerned with playing a quick game of poker while one of them stood by the doorway waiting to alert them when Kitagawa came back. If Yuuichi were to break through the window and escape, the guard might not notice until it's too late. He took off his coat a pressed it firmly against the glass window. He then struck it really hard with his fist and his coat muffled the sound of the breaking glass. He then quietly cleared away the debris and quickly crawled through the window and outside to safety. Moments later when a guard glanced at the cell and noticed the prisoner was missing, he immediately ran upstairs to Kitagawa's bedroom, where he found the villain sitting on a desk chair and reading the latest issue of "world domination weekly". "Sir!" "The prisoner has escaped!" Yelled the frantic guard. "You fool!" Yelled Kitagawa as he shot this man in the head with a luger. He then ran downstairs, sat on the throne, and started working some of the controls. "Nobody escapes from me, NOBODY!" He roared as the screen in front of him blinked to life. Meanwhile outside, Yuuichi was frantically running about in the yard trying to find the way out. Normally houses is Japan do not have very spacious lots, and there is rarely enough room to get lost in the yard, but this one seemed the exception. What Yuuichi did not know was that this home was well guarded. Kitagawa made sure that it will prove difficult for any of his enemies to get in, or in this case out. As Yuuichi ran past the garage hoping I will lead to the front gate he heard the faint sound of moving machinery as an automated machine gun rose up from its underground turret and opened fire. Yuuichi immediately ducked for cover and waited until the automated turret ran out of ammunition and retreated. He then ran across the snow-covered minefield ahead of him, being careful not to step on any of the small mounds of dirt, as he knew they must be land mines. All the while, several henchmen standing on the roof were firing assault rifles in his direction. A waste of time really since bullets NEVER hit the main character. As Yuuichi finally reached the front gate, he found it was locked and noticed a control panel connected to a small monitor. He pushed the button on the control panel hoping it would unlock the gate. Instead it turned on the monitor and on it, Kitagawa's face appeared and he said. In a rather lighthearted voice, "did you really thing it would be that easy to escape?" He laughed a rather lighthearted laugh as poison gas leaked out of the holes over the speaker and Yuuichi inhaled it and passed out.

As Kaori awoke, Kitagawa was too busy scolding himself to notice. "Why did I take them BOTH down in the same manner?" He said to himself. "Knocking them out with chlorophorm while they're walking down the street is SO passé, and yet I did it TWICE!" He thought to himself as Kaori slowly gained consciousness Right next to him. They where in a quiet shadowy corner of Kitagawa's basement, the remains of the window where Yuuichi made his escape minutes ago could barely be seen, but the cold air blowing through it could clearly be felt as it made the room feel even more like the cold dark dungeon it was meant to be. Kaori quickly realized that she was haphazardly chained to a wall and she shuddered at the thought that he probably got the idea for all this from some sort of hentai. But in fact, cheesy action flicks where his main inspiration, that and caffeine. As he noticed her movement, he said to her, "you're awake!" "Splendid!" In his usual happy-go-lucky voice. He then announced, to the henchmen still in the room, "Leave us!" Kaori then replied, "What the fuck are you doing!" "Uh, umm, giving you a second chance!" He said in a rather uncomfortable voice since he did not fully remember which stereotypical villain line he should recite in this particular situation. "You're lucky I did not kill you!" He told her as she laughed knowing full well that he would never even consider killing her. He then told her, "My plan for conquest is foolproof!" "In time I shall be king, and if you join me you can be queen!" Kaori was not paying attention to his tirade, as she was more interested in inspecting the clumsy set of chains and lock that was holding her. He then turned toward a nearby computer monitor showing a dimly lit mercater projection map of the world. As he stared at it, he went into his usual speech about weak foreign governments and how to corrupt them, as well as anything else related to world conquest. Meanwhile, Kaori was figuring out how to undo he chains. The locks where obviously of an inferior quality. Unlocking them was so simple, it almost felt as if they where meant to be removed easily. As she successfully unchained herself from the wall, Kitagawa was still reciting his regular speech and being perplexed at how Greenland appeared to be several times larger than usual on this particular map. Kaori then took a length of chain, snuck up on Kitagawa and proceeded to strangle him with it. As Kitagawa started gasping for air, he reached for a nearby control panel with a little red button on it. He punched the little red button with what little strength he could muster and an alarm sounded throughout the entire house. Kaori had to make the hasty decision whether to keep strangling Kitagawa until he passes out and increase the risk of being caught by the guards, or to give up now and get a head start on her escape. She decided to start running early. As she left him, he was still gasping for air when several henchmen appeared at the doorway. Kaori was swiftly running through the shadows toward the door hoping to rip right past the guard. As she approached, the guards crowding the doorway frantically shot at her, all the bullets missed of course. When she rushed through the doorway they where shooting at her at point blank range, and yet every bullet still missed. If she where to ever be killed it would make the story much less interesting. As she ran past the kitchen and through the dinning room in her mad dash toward the front door, all the henchmen where chasing her and frantically shooting at her. As she tore through the living room, where Kitagawa's parents sat on the couch quietly reading, they did not seem to think it was any bit unusual for a girl to be chased by twenty heavily armed henchmen through the living room. When she reached the front door, she was relieved to find that it was unlocked, she then ran across the front yard toward the front gate. She did not notice that two more squads of henchmen came out from the sides of the house and surrounded her. As she tried to open the gate, only to find it was unlocked, she could hear the sound of fifty assault rifles being cocked and pointed right at her. She then put her hands up as if to surrender and turned around. Behind her she could hear a helicopter descending. She slowly turned around to look at it. It landed in the middle of the street several security guards came out to form a path leading from the door of the chopper to the gate, which was now opening. Past these two rows of security guards came Kitagawa, whose neck still had red marks from the incident moments ago. "It seems you have underestimated me!" He said. Kaori said nothing as she was still shocked about the events that where unfolding. "I could have you killed right now, but that wouldn't be very stereotypical would it?" One in the crowd of guards that that he was supposed to answer this question and said, "No it wouldn't sir." "Quiet you!" Yelled Kitagawa as he shot the man in the forehead with a luger. "I could have you placed in an easily escapable situation involving you being slowly dunked in lava as a single inattentive guard tries to keep you from escaping but fails…" He thought out loud. "But I have an even better idea!" He excitedly exclaimed as he got a spark of inspiration. "Guards!". "Take her to room 17 B". Two of the guard grabbed the prisoner by the arms and they all slowly made their way back toward to house. One of the henchmen said to Kitagawa, "but we don't have a room designated 17 B!" "Kitagawa then shot him in the face with a luger and roared, "Then make one!" "Possibly in that work room in the basement, we're not using it any way." He added as the guards all marched inside.

ACT THREE

Yuuichi's second escape attempt went uncontested since in the early morning hours on Sunday, most of the guards where sleeping, and the few who where awake could not decide who's job it was to guard the prisoner. Everyone else thought it was someone else's job and no body took the initiative to make sure the prisoner was being monitored. Plus, they forgot to install locks on the closet that was being used for his cell. And the electronic security system for the complex was shut down over the night to conserve energy. Yuuichi calmly walked back to his house still not fully comprehending what was going on. A JSDF truck swiftly drove past him while heading back to base after the taiyaki heist incident that took place during the morning of the day before. When he finally arrived home, the sun was already starting to creep up on the horizon. Everyone else in the house was asleep and as soon as he arrived, he was too. As he awoke the next morning, it really felt like any other Sunday morning, or noon rather as he slept in quite a bit. Breakfast has already been eaten. Nayuki and Akiko where in the living room watching television. There was a big news report about the American army finding the decayed corpse of a certain notorious terrorist leader; it all seemed to be a very pleasant day. But then, Yuuichi remembered about how Kitagawa went crazy. And that Kaori was still held captive. He then decided that he needed to take action! He immediately rushed out the door. Akiko asked, "Where are you going?" But he was already clear out the door when she uttered these words. She was only moderately suspicious of that fact that he was gone all day yesterday and thought little of it. As he ran down the road, not going anywhere in particular, just running for dramatic effect so the audience can tell he's in a hurry, he brainstormed thing he could do. He considered enlisting the help of Ayu, but then remembered that a SWAT team killed her the day before. He then thought about Shiori, but then he remembered that she was killed a week earlier. She had a chronic illness for a long time, and right as she succumbed to this illness, at that very moment a semi carrying explosives smashed into the building and reduced it to a smoking crater, plus, an earthquake hit at that exact second in addition to somebody accidentally igniting a nearby tank full of methane gas while a mix up at the hospital caused all the patients medicines to be replaced with potassium cyanide and an escaped mental patient from the hospitals mental health wing, emptied a tank full of sarin gas in the buildings ventilation shaft. "But Mai is still alive!" He said to himself. He then turned around and ran toward her house. Sayuri quickly greeted him. He ran right past her without noticing her and ran directly towards Mai's bedroom. Upon his arrival he yelled, "Mai!" 'You gotta help me!" Kitagwa-kun has gone crazy!" "He took Kaori hostage and is trying to take over the world!" With that Mai jumped out the window to try and get a good running start toward Kitagawa's house. However, while in midair she unsheathed her sword for dramatic effect, and while in mid air she stumbled so that when she landed she accidentally stabbed herself and died. Yuuichi then realized that this was one battle that he needed to face alone and ran off to Kitagawa's house by himself.

Kitagawa's house looked a lot different that it did the day earlier. Early in the morning, an army of contractors constructed a large sinister black wall around it that stretched all the way to the street. There was still a large amount of scaffolding surrounding the structure as several masons where putting the finishing touches on the walls black onyx exterior. A clumsy machine lowered the massive steel door that replaced the front gate as several henchmen in black uniforms got out of the path of the car driven by Kitagawa's parents on their way to the market. As one of the soldiers saluted them, they seemed quite happy with their sons' new friends. On top of the wall, where several machine gun emplacements. Most of them did not have guns loaded into them yet, but the few that did where still being calibrated by a team of henchmen. In the garage, a small detail was painting an Abrams tank moss green, while another detail was trying to attach a large radar array on the shed next door. On the roof of the house, a helicopter was revealing on a makeshift helipad while an officer was sitting at the edge of the helipad, with his feet dangling over the edge and enjoying a nice cold beer. Inside, in the basement a few technicians where removing bubble wrap from the newly delivered hologram projector, they where clearly more interested in playing with the bubble wrap. One of them was frantically searching for an empty power socket. Up stairs, in Kitagawa's bedroom, he was talking with several of his top brass. After raising his voice to one of the officers, over one issue or another, he shot the man in the head with a German luger and then started into a conversation with the man standing next to him, about something else entirely. Downstairs, in the living room, a red velvet rope blocked the entrance. Attached to it was a sign made from notebook paper, clumsily torn out of a notebook as one of the corners was missing and there where many tassels sticking out from the side. The words, "RM 17B." and, "don't enter!" Where scribbled on the surface. Inside, Kaori was sitting on the couch watching television with a bored yet restless look on her face. She was watching the near riotous celebration that was taking place in the Mideast and the United States. She thought to herself, "We have some crazy dictators right here in Japan who we could do without!" Just then, two guards appeared in the doorway, pushed aside the red velvet rope and told her that Kitagawa has requested her presence. Kaori was expecting to be led to the basement but was half surprised as the guards lead her upstairs. Several times along the way, they had to make way for the dozens of soldiers moving around, many carrying heavy boxes. As the arrived in Kitagawa's bedroom he was on the phone with an international terrorism company and started wrapping up the conversation just as the prisoner arrived. Once he got off the phone the two guards stood in front of the doorway at parade rest at became pretty much unnoticed. Kitagawa then said to Kaori, in his usual optimistic voice "its so good to see you my dear!" Kaori was a bit more interested now. She's seen enough to realize that Kitagawa was really taking this game seriously and it was not just one of his many practical jokes. In fact, the idea of global domination had begun to intrigue her. She figured she could play along, and once Kitagawa gets really powerful, if he ever gets really powerful, she'll simply kill him and take his place. By now Kitagawa was turned away, for dramatic effect and he recited his usual villainous speech, which he had written on a small piece of paper he kept tucked away in his pocket. Meanwhile Kaori said to him, "I changed my mind you know." "I really want to help you with this world domination thing now!" But Kitagawa was not listening, as he was intent on reciting his speech from the script. He did not even notice Kaori's reply. As he got to the end of his speech, he still did not notice her reply, he still was reciting from the script as he said, "You still do not wish to join me?" And then he pulled out his luger from his holster, turned around and said, "then you shall die!" Once he did Kaori yelled at him, "I'm on your side now idiot!" With that he said, "oh really?" "That's a surprise." He was clearly expecting her to resist again and was quite confused about what to do now. He picked up his copy of "world domination for dummies" and furiously searched for a solution. He found none. He decided to just go along with her new and unprecedented approval. "Thank you so much!" He cried with tears streaming down his eyes. He then tried to hug her but she quickly got out of the way first and he ended up crashing into the ground. The two guards flinched and instinctively reached for their weapons, as there appeared to be a struggle. Just as Kitagawa got up, a red alert was sounded throughout the entire complex. Kitagawa quickly briefed Kaori on her duties as his newest associate. She was clearly not paying attention. As he got to the part where he told her what to do about the current alarm that was sounding, he opened up his closet door to reveal quite a large stockpile of firearms. He gave her a large revolver, and she figured she would have no use for it. Kitagawa turned his back away to run out the door where many henchmen where frantically moving about as officers where barking orders all over the place. One of them came up to Kitagawa, saluted him and said, "Sir!' "The helicopter is prepped to leave right away sir!" "Very well." He replied. He knew that if he was going to evacuate he wanted Kaori to come with him. He motioned for her to come with him to the helipad and she reluctantly came along. From the helipad one could see Kitagawa's entire yard, as well as some of the neighbors, most of who seemed to be marveling about the massive stone structure that seemed to appear over night. Kitagawa directed Kaori's attention toward the front gate where there was quite a commotion. There where bloody body parts littering the ground as all the guards tried to gang up on one solitary figure but where defeated one by one. The figure wore a dark hooded coat with the words "Aizawa the devil" stitched onto the back.

After Yuuichi hurriedly left Mai's house, he went to the local shooting range and did a little target practice for a few minutes. After swiping a few nine millimeter automatics, he went next door to the library where he skimmed through a book entitled, "how to topple a terrorist regime" and then, for good measure, decided to go to the gym and lift weights for awhile. After that, he walked to the park and stood in front of the pond contemplating his next move. As the wind blew against the surface of the water, it made the impression of miniature tidal waves striking the rocks. This whole series was shown as a montage so it appeared to take a lot longer and be much more dramatic. When he was done, he turned into an action movie hero, able to take on entire armies without a scratch, he then went to an embroidery shop and got a dark hooded coat with the words "Aizawa the devil" stitched onto the back. It was now apparent that Yuuichi was now just as crazy as Kitagawa. Now that they are on the same wavelength, Yuuichi thought he could probably defeat Kitagawa once and for all. He ran to Kitagawa's house, the gigantic stonewall, which was just completed moments ago, did not seem odd to him, nor did the fully armed guards marching around the gate. In fact, nobody seemed to think it was any bit unusual. Yuuichi went up to the main gate and said to the guard, in his most maniacal voice ever, "lead me to Kitagawa-san, NOW!" The guard then replied, 'umm, do you have a permit?" "Mister, Aizawa no oni?" The other guard standing next to him said, "you idiot!" That's Aizawa Yuuichi!" "The guy we're supposed to kill, remember?" The other guard just chuckled and said "Oh yeah!' 'I forgot about that!" "Sorry!" Of course, before any of the guards could react, Yuuichi shot them both and then directed his attention to the front gate. It was made out of stainless steel, was designed to take a 17-megaton blast and the words, "Osaka modern steelworks" were printed in the lower right corner. Yuuichi simply kicked it really hard and it fell down, setting off a loud alarm. Guards from all over the facility ran towards the gate to try and stop him. Even though they where all well armed, they still insisted on beating him using Kung Fu. And even though Yuuichi had no experience fighting and was hopelessly outnumbered, he was winning and tossing guards all over the place. As the area around the gate became a pool of blood and severed body parts, Yuuichi noticed a large helicopter rising into the sky. He could make out three of the passengers. One faceless pilot, Kitagawa, and in the back Kaori. Yuuichi thought that Kaori was being held captive, so he decided to rescue her. As the helicopter started shooting at him, he dodged every bullet as he ran around to the back of the house and the aircraft followed. He then drew out his gun, aimed it squarely on the pilot and shot him directly in the forehead. The helicopter then did a crash landing. Kitagawa was knocked unconscious, but Kaori was still okay. Yuuichi then proceeded to dig Kaori out from under the rubble. "Kaori-chan!" "Are you okay?" He said. She then replied in a monotonous tone, "Yes." Yuuich then replied, "Thank god!" "I'm so relieved!" "Now lets hurry up and escape already!" Said Yuuichi, to which Kaori replied, "who said I have any intention of escaping?" She then pointed a revolver at his head and said to Kitagawa, who was just now recovering, "Lets take this prisoner back to the dungeon." Kitagawa happily replied, "Yes my love!" Yuuichi was now filled with rage! Kaori has betrayed him, along with Kitagawa! And now he out to conquer the world! He would not stand for it! As he was lead into the house by a gun wielding Kaori and a rather boastful Kitagawa, he was quite enraged. Kitagawa said to Yuuichi, "there can only be one main character!" "Up to this point, you have held such an office, now I do instead, simple really." Yuuichi, who was still as insane as the rest of them said to Kitagawa, "you fool!" "You will never become the main character and capturing me will not change that!" Kitagawa replied by slapping him in the face as Kaori stood behind contemplating whether to shoot or not. "Silence you insolent (not wanting to say "fool" as Yuuichi just did) bastard! "But you do have a fine point there." He said as his face lit up with glee. "I can't change things by capturing you but I still can by killing you, capitol idea mister Aizawa." Yuichi then groaned as they walked the final stretch of hallway leading to the basement.

Outside of the building, in the yard, the few remaining guards where gathering the bodies of their fallen brethren. An impromptu funeral service was held in the front yard. Meanwhile in the basement, workers with gigantic earthmovers and plenty of scaffolding where digging tunnels that would reach far underground, as well as installing a mass of new electronic equipment. While it was not quite obvious to the casual observer, they where building a set of nuclear missile silos. Some of the tunnels went hundreds of meters out and probably went under other people's houses. Yuuichi was brought only as far as the original basement. While Kaori still pointed the revolver at him, Kitagawa swiftly skipped to his throne, and then turned to face them slowly and menacingly. He was suddenly acting as if this was the first time they met as he asked Yuuichi, "so, you are the one who dares to defy me?" To which Yuuichi simply replied, "yes." Kitagawa then slowly turned away and faced the large monitor. He pushed the rather unresponsive power button on his throne several times before the screen finally turned on and showed the audience a map of the earth. Kitagawa told yuuichi "as you can see, my plan is not just to replace you, but to take over the world as well." So you wish to become both the hero and the villain?" Yuuichi replied in a confused tone. Kitagawa said, "no." "I whish to become very very powerful." "More powerful than anyone, more powerful that you." He added. Yuuichi then asked, "and what has Kaori to do with this?" "Why she is my lovely assistant of course!" He replied quite happily. Kaori on the other hand did not seem to agree with him. It was unclear whether she disliked any particular part of his statement or just the statement in general. Kitagawa continued by saying, "I'll have you know that I will soon acquire several nuclear weapons as well as the means of launching them". "I also have connections to several large terrorist networks and eventually we will be able to launch a joint attack against all opposing military forces and easily conquer all the world!" Yuuichi then asked, 'and why are you telling me all this?" Kitagawa replied by saying, "its tradition for the bad guy to always tell the hero his evil plot before killing him." Yuuichi then asked him, "but I thought you wanted to be the main character and not the bad guy?" Kitagawa said, "Oh yes!" "If forgot about that part!" "Kaori!" He summoned. "Kill him!" At this point Kaori was not really paying attention and by he time she realized what was going on Yuuichi was already running toward the door. Kitagawa was not pleased with him trying to escape yet again. After he pushed the little red button to seal the door shut he said, "there's an old saying, I think from America, or somewhere, well anyway, it says, uh, um, fool me once, shame on you I think, fool me again or, um, something, I forget." "Oh what the hell!" I won't let you escape again Aizawa!" By now Yuuichi has already disappeared in the forest of scaffolding that was used by the work crews digging the missile silos. Kaori and Kitagawa where both frantically searching for him. Kitagawa sensed movement somewhere and fired several rounds in that direction. He then discovered that he instead shot a worker. He heard movement somewhere else and shot at it again, this time killing another worker. By now he was weary about killing all his workers so when he heard someone running he didn't realize it was Yuuichi until he was long gone. Kaori was having better luck. She was following him directly and firing at him. Many bullets whizzed by his ears and came within inches of hitting him. He climbed a ladder to the top of one of the gigantic earthmovers. This gave him a commanding view of the battlefield and he was able to fire several shots into Kitagawa's direction before both men disappeared back into the forest of scaffolding. At one point Yuuichi was swiftly running through a tunnel when he came face to face with Kaori. She tried to shoot him but was out of ammunitition. As she started to reload he heard Kitagawa coming and immediately ran away, cursing himself for not seizing the opportunity to finish off Kaori. Yuuichi quickly found himself caught in one of the unfinished tunnels. He could hear Kitagawa approaching from one side and Kaori approaching from the other. He then ran toward Kitagawa and before he could react, Yuuichi had a gun pointed at his head. When Kaori arrived he said to her. "Stop or I'll shoot!" Kaori then simply answered, "kill him I don't care." Yuuichi was holding Kitagawa in an arm lock. Kitagawa said to him "Damn you Aizawa!" Yuuichi was more concerned with negotiating with Kaori. "You'll really let me kill him?" He asked. She replied, "sure!" "Then I will be in charge of his army!" Yuuichi thought this was a trick of some sort so he said, "alright, I'll let him go". He slowly let go of Kitagawa and backed away scanning Kaori to see her reaction. Kitagawa was quite pleased to be free from Yuuichi's grasp but also quite surprised when Kaori shot him and the forehead and he died immediately. Yuuichi then backed away frightened. He was certain she would kill him next. He tried to reason with her, saying, "so I guess you the one trying to take over the world now, eh?" She replied by saying, "not really." "I just wanted to stop Kitagawa, plus taking over the world is so hard and so time consuming." "I have better things to do." Yuuichi felt relieved. As Kaori walked away looking for an exit Yuuichi realized that Kitagawa's reign of terror was over. But most importantly, his vast evil empire was up for grabs! This could be his chance to become powerful! But, like Kaori, he knew it was too much trouble and he had better things to do so he hurried on after her.

EPILOGUE

Throughout the next week, Yuuichi had to go to many funerals. One for Ayu, one for Mai, one for Sayuri and then, one for Kitagawa. Yuuichi was surprised to see that the dark stonewall surrounding Kitagawa's house still remained. Kaori seemed to care little about the incident. Kitagawa's death did upset a few people, but it wasn't long before he was forgotten. Life went on as it normally did. Yuuichi was now quite lonely these days. Most of his friends where either dead or where kitsunes. However, on the news, things where more upbeat. It was the talk of the international community that all the terrorist groups that once had people fearing for their lives, where disappearing. Their weapons and personale seemed to be scattered to the four winds and the American military believed it has completely wiped them out. It was the talk of the town that many of the houses in Kitagawa's neighborhood where top be bulldozed to make the way for some skyscrapers. While Yuuichi later left this quaint mountain town and started living with his parents, he was quickly starting to forget about this incident. He, Nayuki and Akiko threw a small farewell party for him, and Kaori ended up coming too. He packed up his things and headed out to the train station. As he stepped onto the train-leaving town, he took one last look around. He could see Moromi Hill, which was still frequented by Makoto in kitsune form. He could see the marketplace, which was recently the site of the great Taiyaki heist that killed Ayu. All that looked different where the massive black skyscrapers which replaced Kitagawa's neighborhood and how there where always plenty of helicopters coming or going. As he got on the train and it sped away, our hero was completely unaware, that several blocks away, in an underground bunker, a new threat to humanity was brought to life.