"Finally you're awake."
The girl blinked for multiple times, trying to regain full consciousness. She tried to move her right hand as she turned her head to look at the person who stood next to the bed, crossing arms as he leaned against the wall. He was bored since he had waited for her to wake up since an hour ago. The young man approached her, putting his hands in the pocket of black trench coat.
None of them said a word while both of them were observing each other. The girl was unsure of why she was still alive after what just happened. Moreover it seemed like she was in a ward, being treated with some bandages over her injured left arm. At the same time, the man was merely wondering what kind of value the fourteen-year-old girl could have for his boss to be interested with her. He could have killed her in a blink of an eye after he reported the mission result, bringing her as the evidence.
"You will work for Port Mafia," he finally spoke with a suspicious smile that made the girl frowned. "I don't care if you like it or not because, trust me, I don't like it either. You can try to do your best for the organization or you can just die without doing anything in life."
She stared at the man with disbelief. She cleared her throat, trying to throw questions but only a word slipped from her mouth, "What?"
"You can ask the Boss by yourself," he shrugged, not even bothering to hide the fact that he had no interest in her. "Now... I'm leaving. Don't do anything foolish because you will be directly under my command. Heal and work."
He closed the door behind, leaving the girl alone in the ward. Seconds later, he returned, opening the door slightly to talk, "Oh, as much as I don't feel like it, you need to know the name of your superior. I am Dazai Osamu. I can read your expression. You don't want to tell me your name, do you? Don't bother. I don't need you to answer it anyway."
"I'm really leaving now," Dazai gave her a cold smile. "Until later, Sagawa Chika."
As the door swung to close, she made up her mind to escape. She didn't belong here so, even if she was still injured, she needed to get out of this place. Chika pulled herself to sit up, trying her best not to make a single sound despite the pain she's enduring. Her movement stopped when her eyes found the silver ring she wore on left hand, a birthday gift she received last year from her parents.
Chika felt her heart clenched upon remembering the pieces of her memories in mind.
She just returned from school with excitement since it's been a while from the last time she met her friends at school. Most activities were stopped temporarily due to a big conflict happening in Yokohama. The house was eerily quiet and she could sense immediately that something was not right.
Heading to the second floor to check in the workshop where her parents worked, she was welcomed with the most unexpected scene. There were four men standing with weapons in hands, wearing masks to cover their faces. She noticed two bodies laying on the floor, covered in fresh blood but no sign of breathe. Before she could even let out a scream, one of the uninvited guests had rushed to attack her with a knife.
Chika immediately jumped backwards, almost crashed to the wall. She gritted her teeth as she whispered, "Ability... To the Vast Blooming Sky!"
A transparent, glass-liked barrier was created out of nowhere, shielding Chika from any possible external attack. It seemed like the men didn't expect the sudden turn of event. Another one shouted, "Take the hard disk and leave! We got what we need!"
Her eyes were locked on the hard disk carried by the man with white fox mask. Chika turned off her ability to knock down the person but another group had barged in the building, stopping her movement. Her gaze met with the man's cold eyes who wore a long trench coat, wearing bandage which covered his right eye. Registering the situation, Chika quickly turned on her ability again, just a second before rain of bullets happened, killing the men in masks.
"Oh, an Ability user?" the man murmured while the other behind him stayed still. She could assume that he was the leader. "Ah, the daughter. Oh well, both of your parents have died now so... What should we do with you?"
Chika didn't let her guard down, especially since the man before her had a very suspicious appearance with all the bandages he wore and his gaze was so cold, as if he cared of nothing in the world. The man stepped forward, reaching out his right hand to touch the barrier created by Chika. Without any knowledge of the man's ability, her barrier suddenly disappeared. Knowing she had no time to think for the details, Chika rushed to get the hard disk of which her parents store the confidential data. She quickly created another barrier but, this time, she created it not to protect herself but to buy the time to destroy the hard disk.
No one should have the access to the data unless her parents allowed it. Now that they're both dead, Chika knew the best decision was to destroy any existing data so none could use it.
"Oh my, you made it even more difficult to yourself," the young man clicked his tongue. He heaved a sigh, "You don't think that your Ability can protect you forever, do you?"
In a matter of seconds, everything happened to fast for her eyes to follow. The barrier disappeared once again with only the tip of his finger then a sudden pain was felt as he knocked her harshly on the back of the neck. She looked at her parents' soulless eyes for the last time before everything went dark.
It was Saturday noon when he returned from his mission to supervise the new company which had agreed to cooperate with Port Mafia in arms trafficking. It's been a week since the Dragon's Head Rush incident and there were a lot of things he needed to take care of after he rose to Executive position sooner than expected.
He was halfway going to report to the Boss of Port Mafia when the chaos stopped him. At least a dozen of bodyguards ran passed him, carrying various weapons. One of them almost bumped to him, apologizing quickly but he grabbed the bodyguard's arm, throwing a question, "Hey, what's going on?"
"Ah, Chuuya-dono, it's... It's the new member that Dazai-san brought to the headquarter. She was in the treatment room minutes ago and, now, she is trying to escape!" the low-ranked member answered in a hurry before excusing himself to follow his comrades, leaving Chuuya in confusion.
"Heh? A new member? That Dazai?" a smirk appeared on his face. "Let's see how strong this person is then!"
Chuuya found the new member surrounded by the bodyguards who were more than ready to pull the triggers. His eyes widened upon realizing that the young girl was the one who caused the commotion. Not to mention she had nothing in her hands to fight back. That's how Chuuya came to a conclusion: she must be an ability user.
"Oi, oi, I just returned and a new member is welcoming me, eh?" Chuuya got the attention he wanted from the girl. "Escaping the headquarter? What is it? Dazai got on your nerve?"
No answer. Chuuya was also distracted by the scattered bullets on the floor. He recalled hearing gunshots but no one was injured. He looked up, analyzing the girl he never met before. Why would she try to escape on her very first day?
"What is your ability?" the young Executive chose to ask another question. "I don't think Dazai will be happy to know his subordinate to cause this kind of chaos."
She looked away from Chuuya, mumbling vividly, "I have no obligation to answer you. I just want to leave this place now."
"Okay then," he felt irked to have a younger person being so arrogant towards him. "Let's see if you can walk pass me first."
Activating his ability, Chuuya picked one of the bullets on the floor and threw it directly towards the girl. Before it could reach her, the bullet was blocked by a transparent, glass-like barrier. The barrier protected any kind of attacks and, strangely, this amused Chuuya because the bullet was controlled heavily and supposed to be able to destroy a thick wall. To think that her ability could stop his attack, Chuuya felt that she would be a good opponent.
As he was getting ready to pull another attack, Dazai had appeared from another side of the corridor, touching the barrier with his finger. His ability just nullified the barrier to nothing. Before the girl could react, Dazai had kicked her on the stomach, causing her to cough in pain, thrown away for meters with her back hitting the wall.
"O-Oi!" Chuuya was shocked with the sudden turn of event. "Isn't she your subordinate? What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Oh, Chuuya. Sorry, I didn't really see you there because everyone else is taller than you," Dazai chuckled, teasing him just like what he always did to greet him. "Ah, this girl... I told him not to do anything stupid and, here she is, making me to do extra job."
Chuuya was going to throw a fit for Dazai's words but he already turned his heels, walking away from the corridor, "Dazai! What are- Oi, are you going to leave her just like this? Seriously! Oi, Dazai, you sick bastard!"
The girl had lost her consciousness due to the sudden strike that caused her to cough some blood. Chuuya knelt to check on her condition, kind of relieved to know she was still breathing. He ordered a bodyguard to carry the girl to the treatment room as he followed behind, postponing his plan to meet the Boss. Chuuya was furious with Dazai as he always did but he was curious of why the new member wanted to escape the headquarter and why Dazai didn't even hesitate to hurt her.
"Sagawa Chika," Chuuya read through the paper delivered by one of his subordinates. While he waited for her to wake up, Chuuya used the time to check on her background: the only children in the family, just turned fourteen years old three months ago, a third year middle high school student. Her parents developed a new hacking method which allowed the users to access any security system within seconds. "Mission... Failed?"
Chuuya continued to read the details of the report which revealed that her parents were killed by another underground organization which was also an enemy of Port Mafia. Both the organizations targeted the data of new method because it would be very powerful for them. Unfortunately Dazai and his squad arrived late, minutes after her parents were assassinated for refusing to give the data. Chika was able to survive from the assassins thanks to her ability.
"An ability to create barrier," Chuuya murmured, reading the profile thoroughly. He could assume safely that Dazai must have nullified the barrier and dragged her here. No wonder she wanted to escape from this place since she was technically kidnapped by the Port Mafia instead of joining it voluntarily. "If that Dazai treats her like this... Could it be Boss who wants to keep her?"
"Ugh..."
Chuuya put the paper aside, aware that Chika just gained her consciousness. He stood up from the seat, "That Dazai didn't hold back at all, eh? Are you okay after that blow?"
Again, he was given silence as the answer. He clenched his fists, forcing a smirk, "Oi, I'm asking a question, you know. What is your problem with me, girl?"
This time he received a short response even though Chika looked away from him, "You could be the one who killed my parents. It's just a matter of timing."
For her, the man named Dazai and his group were the same with the one who killed her parents. The scenery of her parents covered in blood was still so clear for her to remember. She felt helpless since there was nothing else she could do other than protecting herself within the barrier as she had no fighting ability.
Just like now, she couldn't do anything to save herself. She felt so useless even though she was an Ability user.
Chuuya scratched his head, sighing heavily, "But you're still alive now. Isn't that what matters?"
Chika decided to say nothing, dwelling in her deep thoughts. Why wasn't she killed? Did the Port Mafia think she knew anything about the hacking method? Could it be that there was a greater plan to use her?
"Fine, if you don't want to talk. It's none of my business anyway," Chuuya grabbed the paper of the girl's data, folding it randomly before squeezing it in his pocket. He walked to the door, ready to step out from the room. "Just a warning, young girl, you won't survive long with that kind of attitude."
She was left alone again in the same room where Dazai also gave his warning. Chika stared at her palm, starting to question whether she really had a choice or not. As much as she didn't want to be a part of an infamous underground organization, her survival instinct knew the best that it's the only chance for her to keep herself alive.
Dazai, on the other hand, predicted the young girl to give up in a week if she realized there's nothing much she could do but doing simple tasks for Port Mafia. As for Chuuya, he actually anticipated a battle with Chika, to find out if her ability could actually compete with his.
"Otou-san, Okaa-san, what should I do now?" Chika closed her eyes, regretting how weak she was for not being able to do anything.
Little did they know, that Saturday was just a prologue of a long journey they would take together.