Tokyo:

Jango stood perched high atop the unfinished girders of a construction site. From here, he could get a good idea of the size of the task still ahead of him, and it was a daunting one. From here, each sekirei seemed to glow like a candle in a sea of darkness. Slightly less than one hundred and eight lights across the entire city. Without really thinking about it he put his hand to the scar on his chest that bound him to Karasuba, while he was pleased that it would be quite some time before number four would harm another sekirei, or anyone for that matter, he could not help but feel a small measure of self loathing for his actions. Every one of the one hundred and eight sekirei, no matter where they were, was connected to him. It was what had been thought to be the most effective way to ensure that he would fulfill his duty.

Their pain, he felt, their joy, he felt as well. It was visible in the light he could see from a distance. The happy ones were brilliant beacons in a concrete ocean, compared to the dull flicker of the ones that were being abused, and every dim light was like a knife twisting around in his flesh. A knife that began to burn if he delayed dealing with it. The problem was, there were so many dim lights, he honestly did not know where to begin. In retrospect though, it was their pain that awoke him from the pod on the bottom of the sea.

He gazed into the sky at the moon, and sighed, "Sometimes I really hate what I am. But what else is there? The majority of these humans have proven to be craven wretches. Not worthy of the affections that are manufactured and planted within the hearts of my kin. If only..."

He was cut off by a particularly sharp jab of pain, and his eyes automatically zeroed in on the light in the mosaic from whence the pain came. He felt across his chest for the exact scar out of the one hundred and eight that was aching, number forty three, Yomi. Having made his choice, he vaulted out into the void and let the power of his mind take him there. While he levitated his way there he attempted to deduce just what the cause of the pain was. He could see no other sekirei in the vicinity, so that must leave it in the hands of a human offender. When he arrived overhead, it became blatantly obvious that his assumption was correct. Yomi was seated on the ground, trying to back further into the corner of a dark, dirty alley than the concrete walls would allow. With a man, likely her ashikabi master, slowly approaching.

This was one of the times when he could not help but hate the humans, if that man down there was even remotely worthy of companionship, then the look of terror and betrayed trust upon Yomi's face would have stopped them in their tracks. As it did not, the ashikabi was worthy of only one thing, death.

He dropped to the ground with an audible splash as his feet landed in a puddle, "Stop right there, filth."

The man whirled about and he could see the animal hunger in the eyes, "Who...?"

He cut the man off, "That is none of your concern. What should be, is living, and I'm only going to offer this once. Walk away, right now, and I won't kill you on the spot."

A wicked smirk crossed the man's face, "An errant vigilante? You needn't bother. I payed for this fair and square. So you can go and shove it."

He felt his anger building, which was not a good sign, when he was angry he tended to go overboard on the damage, "So, you are not her ashikabi, just a vile human that bought her for the night. That only makes me hate you even more."

The man pulled a pistol, "You think I care? Now turn around and float away before I put a hole in your head the size of a dinner plate."

He stood his ground and glared, and if looks could kill the man would have been dead the instant he dropped into the alley, "If you wish to die, then try it."

His complete lack of fear put the man off, "Uh..." Then pissed him off, "You arrogant bastard. Take this!"

The gun snapped up and fired twice with a roar that seemed even louder in the confines of the alley. But as the twin rounds neared him they slowed as if they were moving through gelatin instead of air, finally stopping a full foot from his face.

He reached up and plucked one of the bullets out of the air, examined it in disinterest for a moment, then tossed it over his shoulder, "Come now, surely you can do better."

Fury twisted the man's face, "DIE!"

The gun fired again and again, and every round suffered the same fate as the first two. None making it inside the foot wide buffer that he unconsciously projected. The gun clicked on empty a good twenty times before the shooter realized it.

He fingered one of the floating bullets and spun it around to face back towards the man with the gun, "You know, I think I am paraphrasing one of the better works of literature that humanity has created when I say this, payback's a bitch."

He gave all of the floating bullets a gentle push and sent them all back into the one who had fired them. Sending them hard enough to hurt, not kill. Then, while the man was cowering, he walked over and hoisted the other man physically against the wall of the alley.

He backed off and held the man in place with his mind, "Any last words?"

The vile man started to babble incoherent nonsense.

He mentally seized hold of the man's throat and spine, "I suppose not." With a certain sense of satisfaction, he crushed the man's spine into one solid mass of bone, killing him instantly and eliciting a fountain of blood from the throat.

He sensed Yomi start to move away and gently siezed her ankle with his mind, "Yomi, come here."

Though it was clear that she didn't want to, Yomi followed his order and slowly walked over to him, "Why?"

He paused for a moment as he chose his words, "Do you still have such love for your ashikabi, even after he sold you?"

Due to the conditioning Yomi responded with the obligatory, "Yes." But he saw the crack in her will, and forged ahead.

His next words were chosen explicitly to hurt, "And I would guess that this is not the first time."

Yomi's will broke, and she dropped to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. And as if the waves of pain he vicariously received weren't enough, it hurt him in his core just for saying what had caused it.

He spoke softly, trying to calm Yomi down, "Shhh, it's going to be ok."

This was the part of his duty that he hated, even though he knew that these attractions were constructed, constructed or not it still hurt them when it was severed.

He put his hand in front of Yomi's mouth and gave her a one word order, "Bite."

At this point, Yomi was too distraught to do anything else. When he felt her teeth on his hand he started to remove the genetic conditioning, like he had done to Karasuba. It was a long process, and incredibly painful for whomever he was helping and, by extention, him. But, when it was done, it all became worthwhile. That was the rewarding part of his duty, it felt good to help his kin. Even if he was required to do it.

Bottom of the Atlantic: 433 miles west of Iceland

Minato sat in silence as his former cabin on the Ishimura was pushed along the sea floor towards Rapture. He could not help but wonder what dwelled within those shining glass walls. The phrase, 'every rose has its thorn' came to mind. The glass exterior looked too perfect, too serene.

A light shined in, and Ivan's voice followed shortly thereafter, "I've seen that look before. Although granted it wasn't on the face of a kid that was literally getting dragged into Hell in a hand basket."

He looked up into the light and asked the question that had been nagging at him for the past hour, "Why is Rapture so dangerous?"

Ivan took a second to respond, "Well Minato, that question is one that would take a very, very long time to answer." There was another pause, "But I suppose you deserve to know what you are getting thrown into." Ivan began, "So, the absolute essential thing to know, is that every living thing in Rapture is going to want to kill you. Every person in the city has been turned into what I know as a splicer. Essentially, a splicer is a drug addict going through severe withdrawal symptoms. I'll get into what they are hooked on later. But as I said, every splicer in Rapture, man or woman, is going to try and kill you and each of your friends. The only reason I've lasted as long as I have is because I set up shop inside Minerva's Den, security and tech central for the entire city. Robots do a fine job of putting holes through any splicer that wanders too far in."

The explanation answered some questions, and made new ones, "Then why are you down here in the first place?"

Ivan sounded annoyed, "Look, I'll tell you, but not right at this instant. I kind of have my hands full trying to coordinate all the drones that I sent out to bring you inside. So, unless you want yourself or one of your friends to drown I suggest that you leave me be for a while."

The light went away and he saw the robot that he had been talking to float away through the water. At the same time he noticed that he was being pushed towards what looked like a hole cut in the side of the glass and metal perfection. At first it seemed random, but when he looked closer he saw a small sign above the opening that read, airlock. He had no idea what an air lock was, but it seemed to be how Ivan was going to get all of them into the city. The drones pushing the metal cube he was is shoved the entire mass directly up against the airlock. Out in the water he saw small flames touch the sides of the metal.

Ivan's robot returned, "So, you figured it out yet?"

He shook his head, "Not really."

Ivan's bot extended what looked like an antenna, and began to gesture to the work the drones were doing, "What I'm doing is creating a watertight seal so I can drain the airlock. Then you can walk right in with a minimum of water falling on your head."

He paraphrased, "You're welding the pod to the side of Rapture?"

Ivan sounded impressed, "In layman's terms, that would be it. Quite the bright fellow aren't you?"

On the topic of being bright, a thought occurred to him, "But, how are you going to get everyone else inside?"

Ivan didn't respond for a moment, "I take back what I said about you being bright. I'm getting all of you in the same way."

He pondered that for a moment, "Then, you are going to weld on, then cut off each pod?"

Ivan laughed, "Of course not, each of you are coming in at a different airlock. That's oceanic drift for you, the other pods dropped down all over Rapture. Closest one to you is about a forty five minute swim away, provided you can walk through walls. So your going to be on your own when you get inside..."

He felt his blood run cold, he was going to be completely alone inside a city where everything was trying to kill him.

Ivan went on, "But I would count yourself one of the lucky ones. Where you are coming in I can see very few splicers. So you probably won't get killed yet."

He shuddered, "That's comforting."

Ivan laughed again, "Hey, I think I'd call you the second luckiest one. The red head dropped down right outside of Minerva's Den. I'll be bringing her right on inside, hopefully the girl knows her way around a computer."

His spirits lifted slightly, he was happy that Matsu wouldn't be exposed to any harm, "I think Matsu-chan will surprise you in that department."

Ivan sounded delighted, "Really? Good, could use an extra set of hands in here."

He asked, "You mentioned Minerva's Den, where exactly is everyone else?"

Ivan muttered, "Ok, let me check here, the one you called Musubi is being dragged into Pauper's Drop as we speak. The place was built as a slum for the construction workers that built both the city and the Atlantic Express. I didn't really get around to fixing much in that particular district."

Knowing Musubi, he found himself asking, "There isn't anything, important, in Pauper's Drop that could get broken?"

Ivan sounded wary, "Ah, I don't think so. Although I suppose she could manage to drop a train car onto the tracks and freeze up the whole system if she were REALLY stupid." There was a pause, "Musubi isn't that stupid, right?"

Despite the obvious answer, he defended Musubi, "Of course not!" Then he relented, "Maybe."

He could hear the shudder in Ivan's voice, "Now you've got me worrying, great."

He laughed uneasily and attempted to change the topic, "Well ah, what about the others?"

Ivan responded in a flat tone, "Nice change of topic, real subtle." Despite the snide remark Ivan did answer, "So, miss black hair giant tits..."

He interrupted, "Kazehana-chan!"

Ivan relented, "Ok, sorry, I didn't catch her name before. Like I was saying, I'm bringing Kazehana in to Siren Alley. And trust me, you are seriously lucky that you aren't in this district. Splicers seem to love the place for some reason, don't know why. The place used to be the mason's quarters, where the architects of Rapture used to live."

He commented, "That doesn't sound so bad."

Ivan chuckled, "Oh, when I talk about it in the past tense certainly. One of the great citizens of Rapture, Augustus Sinclair, referred to the Siren Alley of today as, "the place you go to scratch an itch that you are ashamed of, even in a town with no laws." Paints a rather raunchy image doesn't it? Although in that outfit Kazehana will fit right..."

He angrily interrupted, "Don't talk about her like that!"

Ivan got defensive, "Easy tiger, one thing your going to learn about me real quick is that if I have a thought, I share it. Deal with it." The Russian moved on without another discussion, "And next we have, ah, the little girl and the he/she."

He started to open his mouth in protest, but shut it after realizing the futility of it.

Ivan kept talking, "Those two are entering Arcadia at the moment. It's where Rapture used to grow all of the green stuff and the fruits that kept the citizens healthy. Also a great place to relax, provided that you like green for scenery. For meat, that came out of Neptune's Bounty, fish fish and more fish, what I wouldn't do for a burger right now, or a steak, something made out of beef..." Ivan trailed off dreamily.

He barked into the radio as the water in the airlock started to drain, "Ivan!"

The Russian snapped out of it, "Eh? Oh, sorry. Daydreaming seems to happen a lot when you go without something for long enough, two years down here, would you believe it?"

He halfheartedly kicked at the door, "Impressive, now what about Tsukiumi?"

Ivan snorted, "You mean the screamer? Well, I'm still dragging her pod across the ocean at the moment, but I will be dragging her inside the Adonis Luxury Resort. There she will replace you as the second luckiest. I havn't seen a single splicer in that district for months. Must be nothing there that they can appreciate anymore. Third place I managed to fix up while I'm talking about it. Tsukiumi might not want to leave when she sees the sheer luxury of the place. I'll admit there were a couple of times I wished I could just forget that I was a hunted man and just kick back in one of the spas. Pity though, splicers would be on me faster than a cheap suit. Bet you must be feeling pretty jealous right now, you get a life threatening situation, and she gets cakewalk."

He shook his head, "No, I'm glad that she'll be safe."

Ivan sounded impressed, "Well, how chivalrous of you." Then he chuckled, "You Minato, are currently entering Dionysus Park. The former home of insane social psychiatrist, Doctor Sophia Lamb. She invited famous artists from all over Rapture to huge mixers to convert them to her psycho commune called "The Family." Crazy bitch, I'd rather choose to help other people than have it forced upon me..." Ivan trailed off again, "You know, never mind. Just a piece of advice from me, until you find yourself a weapon. If something moves, hide, and pray to whatever god you please that you don't get found. The splicers may have terrible aim, but they will kill you with a lucky shot. Now get inside and make your way to the train station, I'll be bringing you to Minerva's Den from there."

The airlock slid open and he stepped through into a water logged atrium. There was coral growing on the walls, and water dripping from the ceiling. But in a way, it was rather pretty. Provided of course that the roof above him didn't cave in and flood the place. But with all the noise from water dripping he would be hard pressed to figure out which way a sound was coming from. Speaking of which, he did hear something over the sound of the water. A light splashing sound, almost like steps.

He suddenly remembered Ivan's advice and hurried behind a stack of crates that were close to the wall. It would honestly have taken someone with the eyes of an eagle to see him through the crates, so he should be fairly safe, as long as he didn't make any noise.

Off in the distance, but growing closer, he could hear a voice with the steps, but he didn't understand the words, English, "All the roles I get offered these days, slapstick, lowbrow, undignified crap. I'm a star, I deserve better!"

He might not have understood the words, but he could tell that it was a woman speaking. Was it possible that there was another sane person alive in Rapture that Ivan hadn't known about? He stuck his head around the stack of crates to get a better look. The woman that wandered into view did not look very healthy, her dress was torn in several places, she looked like she was limping, and what skin he could see was pale, mottled, and splotchy. She was wearing a large mask, for what reason he could not tell, and she also held a large wrench that had likely seen better days. As he watched, the woman started to wander by, muttering to herself, then she tripped and fell down into a particularly large puddle and started to sob in a rather convincing manner.

Aware of the risk he was taking, but concerned nonetheless, he stepped out from behind the crates and started to speak, "Hello? Are you ok?"

The woman's face snapped around at him fast enough that it looked like it hurt, she then stood and immediately started to charge, wildly swinging the wrench, English, "This is MY show! Get out of here!"

He backed off quickly, while ducking to avoid the wrench swings. Clearly, Ivan's advice was sage, don't talk to the locals. Another wild swing clipped him upside the head and sent him sprawling, within reach however, was an iron bar. He grabbed the bar and rolled over onto his back, the bar held at the ready to defend himself from any more wrench swings. More swings came, but every one hit the floor around him, none even came close to him.

Acting out of instinct, he coiled up his legs and kicked the woman solidly in the stomach. His opponent was surprisingly light and crumpled at the hit. The hit also removed the woman's mask, and revealed the most hideous, disfigured, mutated face that he had ever laid his eyes upon. Most of it was a swollen pink mass that was unrecognizable as formerly human, but set against the backdrop of a human body and some slightly recognizable features only served to make it all the more frightening.

Acting out of both fear and self preservation he swung the iron bar from left to right with as much muscle as he could put behind it. He connected with the woman's skull right in the center of the mutated pink mass, where the forehead should have been. Upon contact, the splicer's head exploded like an over ripe fruit, splattering the room, and him, with bits of brain matter and blood.

Rapture: Adonis Luxury Resort

Tsukiumi slowly stepped out of her former room and rubbed her head, trying to massage away the remnants of a headache. Whatever had shoved her inside of this place had not been very gentle about orienting her former room with the door. It didn't help that she had no idea whatsoever where she was. But at the moment, she couldn't care less where she was. The single thought running through her mind was where Minato was, and how she could get to him as quickly as possible.

Before she rushed off blindly she took a moment to look around at where she was, and some part of her made her stop to take a longer look. Her immediate surroundings were absolutely beautiful, white stone columns, wrought iron decorations, three crystal chandeliers... She mentally shook herself, she didn't have time to marvel at the decor. For all she knew, Minato was already in danger and needed her help. A small whirring sound caught her attention.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small robot with a propellor approaching, and it was making no effort to hide its approach. A man's voice, slightly digitized, exuded from the machine, "Well if it isn't the human banshee. Like what you see around you?"

In spite of herself, she did take another quick look around the interior before answering, "Well, yes I do."

If a machine could smile, this one would have been beaming, "Excellent, always does an engineer good to hear that his work is appreciated. Especially after all that time it took me to fix Hephaestus and Neptune's Bounty."

She felt a moment of confusion, "What are you talking about?"

A sigh escaped the machine, "I forgot you were going to be just as clueless as the boy. Oh well."

She felt her pulse start to race, "Minato?"

The man sounded amused, "So you know him I take it?"

She pouted indignantly, "Well I should hope so. I am his legal wife after all."

There was a long pause, "Eh, you're Minato's what?"

Her temper started to flare up, "His legal wife."

The man's tone took on a note of appeasement, "Ok, fine. Then it was him you were screaming about in your pod?"

She leaned towards the flying robot for emphasis, "Yes!"

There was a pause, then the voice of the man rang again, "Could you do me a quick favor?"

The suddenness caught her off guard, "Ah, what do you want?"

The flying machine extended a short arm and beckoned, "Just something quick, I'd like you to step in front of this security camera for a second so I can get a look at you."

She felt suspicious, "You can't see me already?"

The flying robot beckoned again, "I see you on a thermal scope, which means I see you as a red blob."

She still hesitated, suspicion rooting her in place.

A sigh escaped the machine again, "Look, I don't like not knowing what whomever I'm talking to looks like. So I'll make you a deal, you walk in front of the camera, and I'll get you to Minato as fast as I can. And I promise that there is nothing lewd or anything about the camera."

With her suspicions allayed slightly she did as the man asked. She stepped into the green light of the camera and stood still for a long moment.

A dazzled whistle came through, "Wow, had I known that Minato was married to a beauty such as you I probably wouldn't have come up with so many nicknames for you. Minato must be hardly able to keep his hands off of you huh?"

She was cruelly reminded of how Minato had barely looked her way twice since bonding with her, "I, I would rather not..."

The man on the line quickly retracted what he had said, "Oh, ah, sensitive subject. I get it. Sorry for bringing it up." There was an awkward silence, "By the way, I'm Ivan Dragovitch. I'll be the one trying to reunite you with your husband."

She took a deep breath and recovered her composure, "Thank you, now where do I go?"

Ivan sounded a great deal more serious than he had when he first spoke, "The door at the far end of the baths will open as soon as you walk up to it. You want to go through it and take the second left to pass through Demeter's Banquet Hall on the way to Ryan Amusments. That's the fastest way you're going to get to me in Minerva's Den. I'm leading Minato here as well, and if everything goes according to plan he should get here before you. I'll keep him safe for you."

She was unaccustomed to such kindness, except from Minato, and she reacted the only way she could think of, "Ah, thank you."

Ivan sounded downright somber, "Don't mention it."

Rapture: Minerva's Den; security control

Ivan leaned back in his chair and took the headset off that he had been using to communicate with both Tsukiumi and Minato. If those two were married it would make some kind of sense as to why Tsukiumi had been freaking out in her pod. Sure, had they been friends there would be some degree of a freak out, but ones of the magnitude Tsukiumi had had were reserved for lovers. A few things didn't fit though, mostly the presence of three other beautiful women that Minato seemed to care for just as much. He refused to count the little girl and the he/she.

Minato didn't seem like the perverted type, indeed, he sounded more like the kind that would faint at the sight of a woman's naked body. Still, four absolutely gorgeous women fawning over one guy sounded like one of the perverted fantasies that he would have come up with before he had come down into Rapture.

He smiled and shook his head, muttering to himself, "Two years under the ocean away from all human contact sure would put a dampener on the old sex drive, of course until a genuine beauty seems to practically fall right into my lap."

Not that he would try and steal Tsukiumi from Minato, he might have been gone from human civilization for two years but he doubted that free love was ever something that would ever be practiced, nor adultery tolerated. Still, he could not help but feel a slight shred of envy. On the topic of women though, the red-head, Matsu, should be arriving at the door to his little lair pretty soon.

He shut off one of the monitors and used it as an impromptu mirror, and what he saw wasn't exactly people friendly, "Hmm, do I have the time to shave and give myself a quick haircut?"

He flicked a small shot of Winter's Blast onto a rusted razor that he had been forced to use after his first "home" in Rapture had been overrun. The ice coating prevented him from getting tetanus off the rusty metal while still giving him the edge he needed. After a few quick seconds of honing the edge he scraped it along every side of his face and let the matted, twisted locks of hair fall to the floor. He then took handfuls of his hair and hacked at them with the same blade. It wasn't going to look perfect, but in Rapture you couldn't be too picky with looks.

He took another quick look after shaving off about two feet of hair, "Better, good thing that I'm not splicing up like the rest of those crazy idiots. Then my face would be downright hideous."

There was a knock on the double door that led out of the security den.

He stood and picked up his shotgun from its faithful post at his side, "I'll be right there." Once he stood by the door he mumbled to himself, "Now what was the combination again, thirty four, twenty five, sixty one?" When he put the numbers into the locks the first two undid themselves, before re-locking when he put in the third.

He tapped his forehead, "Right, last one's sixteen." He put the number combination in again the right way and the door unlocked. When he opened the door however, there was no one immediately standing there.

He muttered to himself, "Odd, I could have sworn..." A familiar sound behind that made him think of wind him made him stop speaking and whip around, shotgun first, to clock the Houdini splicer in the face.

He sneered as he stuck the barrel of the shotgun in the splicer's face and pulled the trigger, "Not going to work, no matter how many times you try. There is no wind down here, so it's obvious to a trained ear like mine."

The spray from the shotgun blast peppered him with small flecks of brain and bone.

He picked at one of the bone fragments, "Great, and after all the trouble I went through to get myself presentable."

There was a light tap on the metal door and he turned towards it. Matsu was standing there, eyeing him with curiosity.

He gestured towards the corpse, "I hope you aren't squeamish about blood. Houdini splicers try to sneak in here and kill me every once in a while."

Matsu shrugged, "I've seen my fair share of blood, so it's not that much of a problem."

He smiled and pointed at the auxiliary security console, "Good to hear, and I hope you know your way around a computer, because we're going to have our work cut out for us getting the rest of the crew here."

Matsu squealed with delight and sprinted over to the computer station. Immediately upon sitting down she had optimized every system that she had access to and several that she shouldn't have been able to get into.

He stood in stunned silence for a moment, "Well, I guess Minato's praise wasn't misplaced. How did you do that?"

Matsu only turned her head to look at him and flashed him a coy smile, "Natural talent."

He closed the door, triple locked it, and hurried back to his station, "Well good, and since I'm not the type to look a gift horse in the mouth, let's get to work."

Tokyo:

Jango sat under the half finished concrete roof in an abandoned MBI construction project. Sharing a simple meal of rice and sushi, that he had earned doing some chores for a kindly elderly couple, with Yomi. After he had finished removing the genetic conditioning from Yomi she had calmed down enough to explain to him what had happened after her defeat at the hands of number eighty eight.

He recited what Yomi had said to clarify, "So you were defeated, deactivated, dragged back to MBI, held for a while, then reactivated and released back into the city, where you automatically sought out your former ashikabi?"

Yomi nodded, head on her knees and her hands holding onto her death scythe so hard that her knuckles were bone white, "Yes, then he started..." Yomi could not bring herself to say that she had been sold for the night numerous times.

He unconsciously squeezed the hilt of his katana in anger at the memory, "And how many other sekirei does this boy have?"

Yomi thought for a moment, "I think he has six more, and one of them is number five."

He felt for the fifth scar on his torso. Once he touched it, every light that he could see went out, save one, the light of number five, glowing indifferently. From that, he could tell that five neither liked, nor hated his ashikabi, not that hard to believe when he considered the Mutsu's personality.

He removed his finger from the fifth scar and five other lights appeared close to the same general area, "And the five women? How does this Mikagami boy treat them?"

Yomi thought for a moment, "I'm not sure about most of them, but he likes to keep Akitsu to himself."

He tried to ignore the flash of anger the thought induced, "And how does Akitsu feel about that?"

Yomi shifted uncomfortably, "That's a little bit complicated, because she was, ah, discarded."

Even without knowing what Yomi meant the thought incensed him, "Could you, elaborate?"

Yomi traced a shape on the floor with her scythe, "MBI, they made it so she couldn't bond with an ashikabi even if she tried. So Mikogami really isn't really her ashikabi, she just thinks of him as if he were."

He scoffed, "And as the price she becomes the boy's toy. Great trade off."

Yomi defended Akitsu, "She's terrified of being abandoned again."

He sighed and put a hand to his forehead, "I did not mean to sound as if I were condemning her. I just despise the situation that Akitsu is in. Her, and all of you, deserve better than that." He picked up a loose piece of concrete and crushed it with his mind, "That is why on the morrow, we will be paying Mikogami a visit, one that he will not live through."

Yomi's eyes widened, "You're going to take on all of the others, by yourself?"

He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, "No, you will be helping me, but only briefly. I only need to kill Mikogami to void the problem of fighting the rest, and that is what you will do."

Yomi's eyes widened even more, "You want me to kill Mikogami?"

He nodded, but did not open his eyes, "Indeed, I think that it would be a sort of poetic justice, don't you think? He called you useless, sold you numerous times, he deserves everything that he will get, and more."