Kanashi was merely minding his own business as he walked back from the Iwatodai strip mall. It was all too ordinary of a day. In fact, so ordinary, that it was… almost painfully so. It was that bad. And Kanashi didn't really notice or care all too much. Besides, ordinary with no trouble was good enough for him, even if he did prefer having some bits of excitement at times. And even if he did prefer some excitement, he didn't want some problem to explode all up in his face. Which kinda happened yesterday, but honestly he didn't really believe it or care all too much.

No-one should've believed something like that, and yet everyone in that room, even Yashiro believed what Minato was saying about Nyx, being a goddess and shit. Just his claim should've told them all that it was a complete and utter load of rubbish. But Kanashi, while he did admit that hanging out with Minato and his weird group of friends was a little fun, he didn't trust any of them.

Not one.

Just as he stepped out of the street and boarded his motorcycle, he felt incredibly sluggish and found it very difficult to move; as if he was moving through water. Kanashi tried to brush it off, however that force was still holding him strong. "The fuck?" he muttered as he looked around.

Observing the area around him, it was kinda… it was uncharacteristically empty, to put it simply. There wasn't anyone around. It was setting off warning bells in Kanashi's head, but before he could do anything about it…

A sharp sound cut through the air, and it sounded a hella lot like Yashiro's cards when he threw them, but… something told him that he should most definitely move out of the way. Kanashi moved his head as he heard the sound coming closer, and breathed a sigh of relief.

A razor or blade of some sort was lodged in the ground behind him, deep within the tiled surface.

"Traesto!" Kanashi heard, and before he knew it…

A deserted alleyway. Kanashi was caught completely unawares by the change in scenery and almost didn't dodge the punch that came flying his way.

"What the hell!? Come out ya bastards!" Kanashi growled. By now, his anger was starting to get the better of him and he clenched his fists tightly and raised them slowly in front of his body in a boxing-like stance.

Kanashi was taken by surprise as he saw three figures standing in the darkness. He couldn't see the faces of any of them, as they were obscured by hoods, and lastly… masks.

…

A certain man rushed to his home, badly bruised and his thinking unclear. By unclear, they were racing so fast and maybe it was because of some chemical like adrenaline coursing furiously around his body. But there was one thing he was sure about. He was angry.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was on his computer and going through his bookmarks, clicking on several links before he got to his destination. He hopped onto the chat box and began typing very quickly: i have a job for someone.

It wasn't too long before another username popped up in it. That person was 'StRaz.'

In the box, another message came up on the man's screen with the words 'yo. Im free this time.'

The man smirked as he typed in the details of what had just transpired that day, including the description of the person that attacked him and the money he was offering.

StRaz replied with, 'lol dude. Sure ill do it, but that's some unfortunate shit right there. neways, expect him gone in a few weeks or something. ill contact you back then.'

…

"So Yashiro, have ya been working on close quarters yet?" Akihiko grinned competitively as Yashiro and he were walking back towards the dorm to hang out for a bit. Apparently he wanted to see how strong Yashiro had become and see how good he was. It was only going to be a spar, and it was a little short notice, but Yashiro wouldn't refuse a request like that from his senpai in boxing.

"Well, sort of… I think I've got a sparring partner for it, if he wants to keep fighting with me at least," Yashiro sighed. If there was one thing that Yashiro wasn't doing so well with in boxing, it was dealing with in-boxers. Granted, there weren't as many as there could be, but it never hurt to be too careful. Yashiro had serious problems with people getting in close proximity with him, and wasn't always the best thinker under those kinds of situations. He was a great long-ranged boxer and could hold his own in middle range, but when the opponent was someone whose strength was getting inside guards and getting them good when they were close up…

Well, Yashiro wasn't good at dealing with those kinds of boxers.

"Oh really? Well, that's good. Introduce me to him sometimes, won't you?" Akihiko chuckled. "Just saying, because you can't neglect dealing with in-boxers either. One could come up, and he'd smash ya good and hard in the face, or worse the temple or chin."

"I-I know," Yashiro smiled sheepishly.

As the two kept discussing how they were doing with boxing and school in general, and huge sound echoed in the area. Namely, some extremely loud cursing.

"Fuck!" the two heard someone yell in pain.

Akihiko and Yashiro immediately looked around to see where the sound was coming from, finding that the voice was coming from the lower alleys. "Akihiko-senpai, we have to go!" Yashiro insisted as he found the source.

"Right," Akihiko said with a determined expression before running into the dank alleys.

Yashiro soon followed after him, and almost froze up when he saw what was happening.

And what he saw, he did not like.

Kanashi was struggling to stand up to his feet, but a constant flurry of sharp blades kept him down as he tried to dodge the sharp items. He boldly pulled one of the razors from his arm, hissing in irritation as pain shot through his body and blood started flowing from the newly made wound. He wasn't only bleeding from the arm either; his legs in particular were covered in scrapes and deeper gashes, presumably to stop him from moving too fast out of the way. As if there was any point. Kanashi felt that he was too slow to react to the attacks fast enough.

"That's Kanashi! What should we do!?" Yashiro for once was starting to lose his cool, and he gritted his teeth as he tried to think of a way to save Kanashi. From what he could see, Kanashi wasn't in the best of conditions and was losing blood fast.

"Only thing we can do," Akihiko muttered as he summoned up his courage and knocked one of the two cronies out with a single, devastating haymaker.

The other cloaked figure, presumably the other henchman backed away as he saw Akihiko's raw strength take out his other ally with just one hard punch. However, not much could be done when Yashiro literally walked up to him and smashed his fist into his chin, knocking him up into the air, out cold and leaving him on the ground.

"Tch, this I wasn't expecting," the last hooded figure mumbled under his breath. With that, he slipped into the darkness as quickly as he had appeared and melted into his surroundings. "I will finish this job soon. Know that, Baru-san…"

"Wh-Wha?" Kanashi said with surprise before he finally felt the effects of fatigue and the pain catching up with him. He groaned before collapsing right onto Yashiro who was able to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Damn… we should take him to the hospital," Yashiro growled as he finally was able to drag Kanashi onto his shoulder so he could take him along.

"I have a better idea," Akihiko bit his lip. "We'll have to wait here for a bit."

"Why?" Yashiro said sceptically, not fully trusting what Akihiko was saying. Whatever he was planning; it sounded far-fetched to say the least.

"I'll explain later! For now, we have to get him some place safe," Akihiko said with a distressed tone. He wasn't going to let anything bad happen to one of Yashiro's friends, or even just anyone in particular.

Yashiro stayed quiet for a few moments before he sighed and let Akihiko help carry Kanashi to a safer place; or at least a place where no-one was going to attack them, and not in another alley, certainly.

"Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked as he spoke into his phone. "Yeah, it's pretty urgent, sorry," he spoke hurriedly.

"Thank you, I owe you another one," Akihiko chuckled as he hung up and waited for Mitsuru to come and help them.

"Mitsuru? You mean, past council president?" Yashiro said incredulously. He couldn't possibly believe that someone like her could get involved in something like this.

"Yeah. She can help. Trust me on this," Akihiko insisted.

Yashiro hesitated for a few moments before he finally conceded. He should trust his senpai; he would know what he was doing, surely. If anyone did, he would.

Nary a few minutes passed before Akihiko perked up to the sound of a motorcycle rumbling. Mitsuru's bike meant that Mitsuru was finally there.

"So, where is he?" Mitsuru asked, cutting straight to the point.

"He's just here," Akihiko said quickly, indicating Kanashi's unconscious form.

"Good. Just a moment," Mitsuru sighed as she removed what looked like a gun from her bag. "I have been practicing, so this should work…" she mumbled as she pointed the Evoker towards her temple.

Yashiro's eyes widened at the spectacle before him. Was she seriously pointing that gun towards her head? Was she serious about shooting herself with it even? Yashiro was about to say something, however Akihiko shook his head, as if he knew what Yashiro was thinking about. Yashiro frowned before sighing. He guessed that there wasn't much he could do at this point.

She pointed the gun towards her head for a few moments before she quietly whispered, "Diarahan."

Yashiro's eyes widened as most of Kanashi's wounds started stitching themselves back together and fading, slowly but surely. Mitsuru caught her breath as she was slightly worn out from trying to channel her spiritual energy in the real world into a high tier healing spell, nonetheless.

"Well… I have other matters to move onto now," Mitsuru sighed as she gazed at her Evoker. "But I have some things to investigate about Yashiro and Kanashi now. Would you mind?" she asked Akihiko.

"Well… depends on Yashiro," Akihiko shrugged.

"I'm sorry to have neglected your presence however my name as you might've gathered is Mitsuru. I am the headmistress of Kirijo electronics and the Kirijo group," she said with a tone of finality. "I gather that your name is Yashiro Tsukigata?"

"Uh yeah," he stuttered.

"I have something for you to try at a later time, however I think it would be prudent to transport Kanashi here to the dorm," Mitsuru sighed.

Meanwhile, Yashiro's thoughts were all in a whirl. What was it that Mitsuru wanted him to try?

However, he guessed at this point… he was just going to have to see if he wanted to know.

AN: I hate sometimes. It's annoying… It apparently did something to the updates of DOD and several other stories, but hopefully this'll get back on track.

Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter, despite the darker tone. Plz box yo thoughts and I'll be away den.

Yoshikunitsu: Haha, yeah, being secretive again… but that's just me being me. Wow, so that's what it looks like when you have a Japanese keyboard… Sorry, studying Japanese at school, and that kinda fascinated me more than it should have…

Nights: Yeah, he always does. Well, when you have a bad relationship with someone, the only way you can go is up. That is, unless you start digging into the ground too.
They are, are they not?
Not this chapter, definitely. I still have more things to build up to.
Sure will.

Raidou: Hah, thanks. Kanashi and Yashiro are very fun to write about. Taka will have more revealed about him soon, not to worry about that… Thanks!