Shintaro was on top of the world nowadays.
Top ten single, selling out entire stadiums full of female fans, even dakimura sales were making him crazy amounts of money.
Shintaro was an idol, and the best one in Mekakucity, and he might dare say Japan. He lived in a fancy apartment on his own, having moved out of his parents' house several months ago, made an obscene amount of money, and had people lining up around the blocks to hire him for commercial gigs, like the one he was working on now.
He trudged to the studio and yawned.
"Is that Shintaro?" whispered two school girls from behind a corner. Shintaro groaned to himself. He didn't have time for this this morning.
One of the girls walked up to him. "Mr. Kisaragi, can I have your autograph?" she asked.
"Of course," Shintaro replied with a pretty smile.
"Shibuya Mints, granted to keep your teeth minty fresh and clean." Shintaro flashed his winning smile.
"Cut," said the director, "let's take a break."
Shintaro sat on a chair behind the scenes, discomforted to find he had sat on someone's old flip phone.
When he turned it on, the phone was open to a chat client. The chat read simply, "Hello, Shintaro Kisaragi."
Shintaro typed "Who are you?" into the phone. He chewed his lip while he waited for the other to respond.
"Shintaro Kisaragi, are you really satisfied living the life you currently live?" replied the phone's mysterious other party.
"I'm sorry, I can't hear you over my swimming pool full of money," typed Shintaro.
On the other end of the line, Kano asked whether he dived into it like Scrooge McDuck. Kido tried really hard not to kick him.
After a long pause, the phone's display read "We have answers about your and your father's death. Come to 175 Mekakucity Block 3 tomorrow at 10 AM if you want to know the answers."
His father? That brought a pause to Shintaro. He had only ever talked about his father in passing, and never mentioned his watery fate in public. How did they know that? He tsked. Maybe it was just a lucky guess on their part. The more he thought, the more this was obviously a burner phone too.
Still, his father's death was something that had always bothered him. They had never found his body, even though they were in a bay and not that far from shore. Logic would say he had simply been swept out to sea, but it had never sat right with Shintaro.
Shintaro made up his mind. He would go tomorrow and check it out.
Shintaro walked up to the receptionist of the building he lived in.
"Hey babe, if I'm not back by 1, call the police, kay?" he said.
"Where are you going?" she responded.
"To see a man about a used set of chainsaws," Shintaro snarked, and walked out the front door without further explanation.
It was 9:40 when he got to the right block in the right part of town, after changing trains several times. It looked like an unassuming apartment block, the kind of place that anyone would recognize and Shintaro hadn't lived in for months now.
He wandered around, looking for the right apartment number.
A voice came from behind him. "Hello, mister."
Shintaro startled and turned around to see a blond young man, dressed in drab clothes.
"Are you the rumored Shintaro Kisaragi?" the boy asked.
Shintaro nodded. "That's me. Are you the one who sent me all those messages yesterday?"
The boy smirked. "Yep, that was us~ I'm Kano Shuuya. I'm sure you're stunned."
Shintaro held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Kano disappeared before his eyes and reappeared behind Shintaro. "I'd rather not."
Shintaro rubbed his eyes.
"I'll explain later." said Kano, "For now, come with me."
Kano walked further down the street and brought Shintaro to an unassuming looking apartment in the block, number 175. He knocked in a pattern on the door and it opened.
Behind the door was an attractive man? Woman? with long mint hair and a black muscle shirt. They nodded at Kano before sitting on the couch.
"So this is the guy." they said. Shintaro couldn't help but feel offended somehow.
"Shintaro, this is my sister Kido. Kido, this is Shintaro, the guy we saw on TV last week." said Kano.
"I remember," Kido looked at him with a calculating stare. "Shintaro Kisaragi. We have something to talk about."
"Yes..." mumbled Shintaro, "You said you knew something about my father over the phone."
"And you, Kisaragi," interjected Kido.
"What do you know about me?" Shintaro clenched his fists.
Kido continued, "You've got a very special ability just like me or Kano."
"Special ability?"
Kano chuckled, "Yes, Kido has the rumored dynamite body, a perfect blend of muscle and fat that many think only exist in men's dreams~"
"Kano?"
"Yes, Kido?"
"Shut up."
"Yes ma'am."
"...Anyway," Kido continued, "I have the ability of Awakening Eyes, which does mean that I can have my ideal body. Kano here has the ability of Concealing Eyes, which means that he can turn invisible."
"Invisible?" Shintaro asked, incredulous.
Kano disappeared and reappeared inches away from Shintaro's face. "Yeah, like this."
Shintaro gulped. It must be a trick of some kind.
"That's all very well," said Shintaro, "but what does this have to do with me or my father?"
"We think you have one of these 'eye abilities'. More specifically, the ability to enchant anyone who looks in your eye."
Shintaro scoffed. "That's ridiculous."
"Is it that ridiculous? You became one of the top idol in the country with record speed, raking in over a million dollars for yourself and selling out stadiums even though you haven't had a single second of singing training."
"Maybe I'm just that good."
"No, no, you're not." replied Kido.
Shintaro grunted concession.
"...And my father?"
Kido grunted. "Your father died on August 15, several years ago."
Shintaro agreed, reluctantly. "What of it?"
"In order to get one of these eye abilities, you need to sacrifice something or someone dear to you. I sacrificed all my memories before the age of 7. Kano and our fourth member Mary were made to sacrifice their own mothers."
Kano looked away with a painful expression.
Shintaro thought for a moment. "You're meaning to say that my father was the sacrifice?"
"Well? Did he disappear into thin air like he'd simply never been in the first place?" asked Kido.
Shintaro nodded slowly.
"There you have it," said Kido.
"...Maybe you're right," Shintaro agreed.
Kano spoke up. "Mary, you can't sneak up on me."
The front door opened again. A small girl with white hair and blue eyes stepped in.
"Umm... I brought the punch. Do you want me to pour i- Who is he?"
Kido spoke, "This is Shintaro, our new member number 7."
"Wait, wait a second- new member?!"
"Oh~ I'll pour the celebratory punch~" said Mary cheerfully.
"Don't ignore me!" snapped Shintaro.
"Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" said Kido. "Besides, we have something else to offer you."
"What, exactly do you have to offer me?"
Kano popped up behind him and smiled. "You must hate getting mobbed by fans or hassled in the streets, right? I can teach you how to avoid being recognized."
It seemed like a pretty good deal to Shintaro. "Alright, but once I've learned how to control this """ability""" of mine, I'm leaving."
"Punch coming through!" yelled Mary.
"Wait wait wait wait wait-"
Mary tripped and punch soaked through Shintaro's new brand name clothes.
"Sorry..."
"Idiot!" snapped Shintaro. "Look what you've done!"
Kido spoke up. "Sorry about that, Kisaragi. How about the three of us take us to the department store and I'll pay for replacements. For now, you can borrow Seto's clothes."
"Psst, glorious leader." Kano whispered in Kido's ear. "Do we have the budget to pay for replacement expensive clothes for the boy wonder over here?"
Kido shook her head. "Never mind that for now. Shintaro Kisaragi, welcome to the Mekakushi Dan, and I am deeply sorry."