PROLOGUE

He sat near the water fountain as he took a bite from his sausage bread roll. The texture and flavor of the bread manage to rekindle the sensation of his taste buds, something that he had never tried again as far as his memory serves him right. Reveling at the regained sensation, he took another bite as his brownish chestnut eyes glanced at the strangers passing by in front of him.

Old and young, people of certain ages were busying themselves as they try to enjoy the scenery that the nature park has to offer in the evening. Seeing their visages worn a happy and jovial expression, the man with brown chestnut eyes was quite pleased that his lips slightly moved upward at the sight.

How long had he been here in Kyoto? He silently took another bite as he try to remember the exact date he arrived in this place.

Ah yes...it was basically two months ago.

The Middle Eastern man nodded his head as he confirm this thought. For as long as he could remember he had been living a life of a wanderer, of a "voyager". Traveling from one place to another, visiting foreign lands in order to understand how the people live their lives within that place.

Their culture, language...everything.

And for the two months he had spent staying in this place, the brown chestnut eyed man could say that Kyoto was a relative peaceful place. Of course, there were some grievances in here and there. But if he could put a finger on it, those mishaps were mostly perpetuated by "entities" that can't be categorized as human-led activities.

He had general knowledge about these...unusual humanoid and non-humanoid species the moment he set his foot on this land. If he had to voice out his opinion, it seems to be that the people "here" have yet to come to an understanding between themselves. He was disheartened by this news yet he knew deep inside his heart that the people here will reach an understanding with one another.

It might take a while but he was sure that it will happen eventually.

While he was contemplating on this thought, a sudden sensation came up to him. His eyes glowed for a second—

"Plea...se..."

—and caught an unexpected faint voice inside his head.

His eyes then glanced towards where that single plea suppose to came from. He could feel the pain and hopelessness of the owner of that voice that it made him stop eating his meal halfway through. He then slowly wrapped his food, stood up from where he sat and gave the remaining of his sausage bread roll to the homeless man that was snoring on one the park's wooden benches.

He then set his eyes to where that faint pleading voice came from, his mind trying to establish some sort of mental connection with it.

And the next thing that happened, he was already at the voice's place of origin. The first thing that he noticed was the foul stench that his nose immediately picked up then the place itself.

It was a laboratory. However, what makes this research lab far from normal was that there were blood everywhere–from the walls, the floor and even the various laboratory equipment themselves. Aside from the blood stains, there were two bodies lying on the floor. One of them seems to have been decapitated, its head was nowhere to be found.

The Middle Eastern man frowned at this.

"Kuroka... Shirone..."

The same voice resounded inside his head again but this time, it was clearer. His eyes then hovered at the second figure lying not far away from the decapitated corpse. Like the previous one, it wasn't breathing yet he could feel its consciousness still lingering in there. He could also sense the voice's intense feeling towards the two specific names that it mentioned.

"Fujimai...", the man said without moving his mouth.

"Who is there!?"

"You have to live."

"Live...? B-But I'm already—"

"Live on, Fujimai of the Nekoshou race," the Middle Eastern man then bend forward and placed his hand on the lifeless body, "For your children."

The moment those words were mentally spoken, a warm greenish glow can be seen emitted from his palm.