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Chapter 1: The Starter [IGNITE THE SOUL]

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A full moon sits atop the cloudless night sky; it's brilliant white light envelops the Earth below, illuminating the vast land that stretches to the horizon far off in the distance. Beyond that, who knows where the light touches. The human eyes can only see so far. Even then, there are numerous, unimaginable things in this material world - the living world - that the human eyes cannot see no matter the distance between them and the vision they seek. Somewhere in the Fukuwara district of Kaidan city, a porcelain flower vase placed near the entrance of an apartment complex suddenly falls over, breaking into several larger pieces and spilling the water contained within itself onto the dry, concrete street below.

To the eyes of an average person, they may have perceived that event as nothing more but the result of a sudden, powerful gust of wind blowing through this part of the city. But to the eyes of an agent of the Order in Black, this was caused by something much more noteworthy - something sinister; evil incarnate. Digging its finely-pointed, claw-like fingers into the side of the apartment complex was a humanoid creature - it's skin smooth and black. It's a creature existing only in the nightmares of people but this sight was very much real. A supernatural being, it's name is Diabola: an advanced corruption of a human soul and spirit. Before arriving here, the supernatural being had preyed on a young couple returning home from a night out. It left nothing but a gruesome scene of mangled flesh and crimson blood.

If left unattended to, this supernatural being would've killed numerous more people than it has already have. Fortunately, its days of slaughter are nearing an end. "Stop, in the name of the Order!" the voice of young man cried out. Rotating its head nearly 180°, Diabola sees the incoming threat and decides to retreat towards the roof. Halting near the apartment complex, a young man with red hair dressed in a black suit draws a small-framed, black revolver from his holster and takes a couple shots at the creature, successfully winging it in its shoulder. Diabola lets out a painful cry but continues its ascent to the rooftop. Not wasting a second, the young man ascends the series of ladders leading to the rooftop on the side of the building.

Finally arriving up top, Diabola is nowhere to be seen. With a firm grip on his gun, the young man carefully scans the area in front and to either side of him. His attempt to locate Diabola is to no avail. Then, a sudden whoosh emanates from behind him. He swiftly turns his entire body around and enters a firing position. Diabola descends toward him with its sharp fingers ready to strike. The young man lets off a volley of fire but misses every single one. Nearing its target, Diabola strikes with both hands; the force of its attack indented that part of the roof and kicked up a cloud of fine dust, reducing the visibility for a brief moment. Once the dust cleared, it was made apparent that the supernatural being had missed its target. Several meters away, the young man stood with his gun still in hand.

"(I can't afford to drag this battle out any longer. Looks like I've got no choice but to use it!)" the young man thought to himself. Without another thought, he sets the barrel of his revolver against his temple and... BANG!

BLACK LETTERS Opening Song: Start!
Fifteen Hours Earlier...

It was a lively morning as usual in Kaidan just like any other city. The streets were bustling in the downtown districts as everyday commuters go about their daily lives. At Kaidan High School, the hour hand on the massive clock built into the school's tallest building - the science building - reached the "9" symbol, signaling the beginning of the school day. The chime of the school bell alerted the students that homeroom would soon commence. Arriving in an older-model, green sedan is the young man with red hair. His name is Kazuto Tokuro and he is an agent of the Order in Black's Kaidan Branch. The one in the driver seat is his older brother: Haru Tokuro. Haru is a prominent officer of Kaidan's law enforcement scene.

"Hey, I'm gonna be working late again today." Haru informed.

"So I have the apartment all to myself, huh?" Kazuto - or as he prefers to be called Kaz - replied, a smirk could be seen on his face.

"Hey, I'm not giving you my permission to stay up as late as you want. Also, make sure you get to the chores you've been putting off. And do your homework. Oh, and before I forget-" Before Haru could finish, Kaz abruptly opened the car door and rushed out. "Hey, come back here, Kaz! I'm not done with you yet, ya lazy bum!" Haru scolded from his car.

"I heard ya the first millionth times!" Kaz replied in slight annoyance before entering the main building. "Sheesh, can't I just have a quiet car ride for once?" he spoke under his breath. Fortunately for the young agent, he won't need to put up with any mundane tasks tonight because something more important had occupied this night. Tonight will Kaz's first time meeting with his partner and, possibly, other agents of the Kaidan Branch. Although Kaz is an agent, he is only recently so and thus he has yet to meet any of the other agents at the Kaidan Branch's headquarters. In fact, he knows absolutely nothing about his assigned partner other than her name: Saya Kanzaki. He wonders just what kind of person is she like and if they'll be a good match up. In any case, he'll find out everything he wants to know tonight...

Later that night, Kaz arrived back at his apartment to put on the black suit he was issued along with his gun and badge, and proceeded to take a cab to his destination located downtown. Arriving some time later, Kaz stepped out of the vehicle and marveled at the tall skyscraper that stood resolute and proud in front of him. To outsiders, this building was the corporate office of the Kaidan Central Bank but to people like Kaz - to agents - this magnificent marvel of modern architecture is the headquarters to the Order in Black's Kaidan Branch. "You must be Kazuto Tokuro." the voice of a woman drew Kaz's attention away from the spire and towards the origin of the voice. A woman stood in a black suit with a fur cowl and wearing sunglasses. Uniquely, her suit jacket was draped over her shoulders as if it were a cape. Reaching for her shades, she took them off to reveal a pair of dazzling blue eyes.

"That's me. Umm, who are you? Are you an agent?" Kaz asked curiously.

A cocky grin graced the woman's face. "I am your Director: Akane Izanami!" she proudly boast.

"Y-You're my Director???" Kaz was taken back by her reveal. In the Order in Black's hierarchy, the rank of Director is one of utmost importance. A Director is given control of an entire sector of agents; one sector alone is, at the very least, comprised of one hundred agents. In total, there are four Directors at the Order in Black's Kaidan Branch. Kaz falls under the jurisdiction of Akane's sector.

"Come, you're not just here to meet me. After all, I've assigned you a partner, haven't I?" Akane asked rhetorically as she led him inside the building.

"Y-Yes, Ma'am!" Kaz replied and comically saluted before catching up with her. Soon, the two of them arrived in front of a lobby where she proceeded to kick the door open with such a great force that it probably scared everyone inside. It definitely surprised Kaz who stood next to her nervously.

"Listen up everyone, we've got a new rookie joining our ranks! Make sure you give him a warm welcome!" Akane announced to the agents in the room. There sure were a lot of them too - at least a dozen or so. The lobby itself was sort of a hangout area for the agents when they're awaiting their next assignment or partner to show up. With comfortable sofas, a dining area, an arcade, and even a bar, this lobby was the perfect place to relax.

"H-Hello, my name is Kazuto Tokuro but please call me Kaz! Let's all do our best!" Kaz nervously introduced himself as he bowed respectfully. Most of the agents stared at the newbie trying to hold back the laughs. They'd never seen a more nervous rookie.

Moeka was in the lobby room, sitting in a sofa with her smartphone in her hand, well, more than sitting, she was plain out lying in the bed in what's gotta be the most uncomfortable position in the world, and it was really hard to tell if she was indeed uncomfortable or if she had just reached the comfortableness nirvana by lying in such a strange position, with both of her legs, one on top of the other, sitting in the sofa head, her trunk in a perfect 90º arc in respect to her legs, her left arm behind her head, working as a cushion of sorts and her right hand holding the aforementioned smartphone, both of her hands were covered by fingerless gloves. She was browsing through her anime videos, searching for something entertaining to watch with the constant swipe of her toe. She stopped for a bit and admired her Hatsune Miku special edition cellphone she was able to buy, she was really proud of it, after all, a full 2 years of money saving went down in that phone. A faint smile crossed her face and she continued browsing her anime. This didn't last long, though. The usually loud director of the Order in Black (Kaidan Branch) slammed the door open and made more than one guy jump. But Moeka? Moeka just stared at her for a bit and then went back to her phone, without noticing the apparent newbie.

It was not until he spoke that she actually noticed the guy. He introduced himself as Kazuto or Kaz, for convenience. 'So, a new kouhai, huh? I just hope he ain't the kind of galge protagonist. With no real personality at all...' Moeka thought for herself, piercing the boy with her gaze. She wanted him to turn his head and look at her, so she could test what kind of guy he was. Without a second thought, Moeka moved her trunk to break the perfect 90º angle she was in and to pass into a full 180º. Moeka hangs her body down the sofa, her long white hair about to touch the ground but being stopped by the fact that some of it is stuck between the sofa and her body. Not a perfect angle as before, but still, it was as comfortable as before (Yes, she was comfortable). In that position, she raises her voice so the guy can hear her. "Hey, Kaz. Welcome to the Order in Black..." She makes a little pause. That was all she had to say, really, but she remembers she might as well introduce herself. "Oh, by the way. I am Moeka Shirokami. If you ever need anything, just don't ask me." Not meant as a joke, just a word of advice, since even if he did ask her, she wouldn't do a thing about it. She said all of this with her usual poker face and now, with her introduction over, she takes her smartphone and puts it in front of her face again. I think I'll rewatch this one....

Kaz continued to hold his bow for an awkwardly extended amount of time. "Hey, rookie, you can quit it with the schoolboy bow now..." Director Akane informed him. As quickly as he proceeded to bow when he entered the lobby, Kaz stood up straight with his arms stiffly dangling at his sides.

"Y-Yes, Ma'am!" Kaz replied. Kaz's eyes then trailed off and he soon noticed a strange young woman sitting on a sofa in the most ridiculous and uncomfortable-looking position. His physical features were quite striking to say the least. The young, white-haired woman then proceeded to welcome the new agent as well as introducing herself as "Moeka Shirokami". She also gave Kaz a heads up about not asking her for help. After her brief introduction, her eyes shifted from Kaz back to the screen of her unique cell phone.

"So you're the rookie we've been hearing about, ehh?." a masculine voice emanated from the bar area. A man in his late twenties or early thirties stood up from his bar stool with a glass of whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Placing the cigarette in his mouth, he walked calmly towards Kaz. "Name's Takashi Yamada. Welcome to the team, rookie." Takashi said before lifting his cigarette out of his mouth and taking a drink of his alcohol.

"You have an interesting aura about you, Kaz. I wonder what your Soul Weapon is like." another masculine voice came from behind Kaz. Turning around, Kaz was a bit surprised to see a young man observing him. The young man noticed that he had startled Kaz and took a step back, smiling. "My apologies for sneaking up on you like I did. I digress, my name is Eiji Shinda. It's a pleasure to see a new face around here." Eiji stated.

The lobby door opened and a young man passed by it. It was Ryuji Tsukiakari, that looked outside. "C'mon, enter already. There's no need for you to tremble, OK?", he said. It seemed that someone was outside, but didn't wanted to enter. Ryuji looked inside again, and then he said once again to the person outside. "I'm here with you, you don't need to hide yourself all the time? Now, come inside.", he said again. The person outside decided to finally enter, much for Ryuji's pleasure, as he smiled.

The person that entered was Akihara. He was trembling of fear, after all, he never expected to meet many persons. He saw Kazuto, Moeka, Director Akane and the other agents. He stepped back, trying to reach the door to go away back home, where he would lock himself in his room as he always did. However, before he could leave, Ryuji held his arm. Akihara tried to leave his grip, but forgot he wasn't so strong. "Brother... let me go...", he said, in a low tone of voice. Ryuji looked at Akihara once again. "Aki, listen. I know you like to lock yourself away from all. But that's not the way of life I want to you. Now, introduce yourself to the other agents.", Ryuji said.

Akihara looked at everyone that was in the lobby. He was almost breaking down, but took courage. "M-M-My name is Akihara Tsukiakari and... um... i-i-it's nice to m-meet you all...", he bowed quickly. Ryuji smiled at him, but all he could do is look at the ground, scared of everyone. The way that Akihara lived was the way where he felt good, in peace. Always alone, never having to be a bother to anyone. But that time now was past. He now would face something called "social life".

BGM: He's Such a Coward that He Can Laugh

"Ne, what's all the commotion abo- Oh, well who do we have here?"

A cheery-sounding male's voice piped up from almost directly behind Kazuto and Akihara immediately after the sound of the lobby door opening and closing. It was quite evident that the owner of the voice was either a late arrival or had stepped out of the lobby for whatever reason, perhaps he was out to take a leak or something along those lines. Though based solely on the speaker's appearance, it was probably the former. He was only a few inches taller than Kazuto, but shorter than Akihara, and had a head of blue in stark contrast to Kazuto's red. The young man had on a black gakuran with an armband that apparently declared him to be the 'Archery Club Vice-Captain' of the school he went to. Which meant he was more or less the two new members' ages.

"You must be new, am I right? Naoto Aozaki, at your service! Feel free to come to me for advice any time~" the young man known as Naoto chirped cheerfully, despite it being painfully obvious to any established Order in Black member that doing what he just told the two rookies to do was an absolutely horrible idea. Though despite projecting the image of being just a nice guy to the young men who hadn't been properly advised, there was just this air of... Eeriness? Unease? about him. Not to mention that smile of his. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't reach the eyes like a natural smile would. This resulted in an effect where the body seemed happy, but the glint in the eyes lacked any sort of pleasure. It was more like a predator analyzing his prey, if any comparisons were to be made.

It wasn't long until Kaz and the other agents met the second rookie that would be joining the team under Director Akane's tutelage. Akihara Tsukiakari: a severely reserved young man who was about the same age as Kaz. Kaz couldn't exactly put his finger on it but Akihara definitely looked a bit familiar. Perhaps the two of them attended the same high school? In any case, much like Kaz, Akihara also has an older brother but, unlike Haru, Ryuji is also an agent for the Order in Black. Kaz has always wondered what it would be like if his own brother was in the same line of work. It must be nice to have familial support on the job.

"I didn't know we have two rookies joining. And it's Ryuji's kid brother no less." Takashi commented.

"Well, if you had read the memo carefully, you would've known we're recruiting three rookies." Eiji stated as he mockingly adjusts his glasses.

"Don't feed me that line of crap about reading memos..." Takashi, with annoyance, replied.

Kaz was surprised to hear what Eiji had said about a third rookie joining the agents under Director Akane. "Who's the third agent joining?" Kaz asked curiously.

"He's already on an assignment. The other Directors told me he's some kind of 'genius' before they ship him off to me. Hell, I haven't even met him." Director Akane explained.

"(Some kind of 'genius'...)" Kaz wondered. His train of thought was abruptly halted when the voice of a cheery-sounding, young man filled the space behind him. Turning around, Kaz saw a young agent of his age. Surprisingly, Kaz knew who this person was. "(Wait, isn't he-)" Once again, Kaz's thoughts were put on hold when the agent started introducing himself. Naoto Aozaki is the agent's name and it immediately brought the memory back to Kaz. "Hey, you attend Kaidan High, right? You're the Archery Club's vice captain." Kaz stated.

"He's also Moeka's partner." Eiji added before leaning in closer to Kaz and Akihara. "Whatever he says, don't trust him. He's a very compelling and, sometimes, cruel liar..." Eiji warned. Though anyone could probably suspected something wrong due to the fact that his seemingly happy smile doesn't reflect the same emotion in his eyes; they were pretty dead-like and extensively creepy now that Kaz thought about it. Then again, there was something haunting about Eiji's smirk as well.

"So Moeka and Naoto are partners. Does that mean that you and Takashi are partners?" Kaz inquired.

"Hell no." Takashi replied.

"Definitely not." Eiji replied - at the same time as Takashi too.

"I'm Takashi's partner actually." a woman in her mid-twenties said as she walked into the lobby. "I'm Chisa Tomino. It's nice to finally meet the recruits we've been hearing about from Director Akane." Chisa said with a friendly smile. She looked to Kaz first. "You must be Kazuto with the fiery hair." Upon hearing that, Kaz blushed a bit. Chisa then looked to Akihara. "And you must be Ryuji's brother: Akihara. There's no need to be shy around around me, okay?" Chisa said with the same friendly and calming smile. Chisa then looked to Takashi and her tranquil persona from before quickly changed to a fearsome one. "I hope you've completed your half of the report for out last assignment, partner." Chisa calmly - but with clear, veiled wrath - said. Takashi could only stand there with a nervous sweat drop on his forehead.

"So Chisa, what's the situation like in the Saiga District?" Director Akane asked.

"The reports from the scouts were true. There is indeed an influx of supernatural beings currently residing in the Saiga District. If we don't reduce their numbers immediately, we'll soon be hearing frequent news reports about 'mysterious' deaths and disappearances." Chisa explained.

"Very well. Chisa, Takashi, Moeka, and Naoto, you four head over there now and deal with this 'infestation' problem we have." Director Akane paused and looked to the two new recruits - Akihara in particular. "Actually, bring Akihara along with you. He won't have a partner anytime soon but it'll be good to earn some experience in teamwork while he's here now." Akane explained.

"Understood, Director." Chisa replied.

"Don't worry, Ryuji, we'll look after the kid." Takashi reassured before taking another sip of his drink.

"Wait, I want to tag along with them." Kaz brought up.

"It's good that you're energetic, rookie, but you gotta wait for your partner to show up. I have a assignment ready for the two of you to tackle together." Akane stated.

"If you guys say so, then I'll let my brother in your hands.", Ryuji said, cheerful. Akihara, however, stepped back once again. He really was against the idea. "Hey, where you're going? You have a mission to fulfill.", Ryuji said. Akihara looked at him worried. "I... I don't... I mean, I'm not...", Akihara tried to find a way to say that he wasn't the best peron for the job. Ryuji looked serious at his brother.

"I know that your life wasn't the best ever, brother. That's why I want to help you. But if you don't cooperate, then how will we make any progress?", Ryuji stated. Akihara thought for a second. Despite everything that did happen in the past, Ryuji was always there to help him. Feeling how Ryuji had been putting faith on him, Akihara stepped forward. "I... I'll go with them.", he said. Ryuji, happy, kissed his brother's forehead. "I know you'll do a good work. Now I gotta see what I have for today, you got it? Good luck out there.", he said. Before Akihara could do something, Ryuji left.

Yet another rookie arrived, but now, Moeka was way too absorbed on her anime to pay even the slightest attention at him. 'Oh, this is where he discovers that the girl she had spent all this time with and who he had thought was someone weak and that needed protection is in reality the boss of the baddies! God, I love this anime so much!' Moeka's poker face is broken by a big smile as she watches her favourite anime, which she has already watch over a dozen of times, but it still amazes her everytime she watches it. She most likely knows every and each one of the dialogs by now, but she just can't get enough of it. However, her reality of pure bliss is broken by her fellow Agents in Black. She sighs. "Why do we even have a lobby room if I can't sit back and watch anime between mission and mission?" She frowns a little before putting away her cell phone.

"Okay then, if we really need to, then let's get it over with quickly." She says, still upside down. Thanks to her slim figure and elasticity, she brings her legs forward and does a full roll to stand up from the sofa. After standing up in such a flashy way, she puts her right hand on her waist and walks up to the group in which all the introductions are being made. She messes a little with Naoto's hair using her hand. "C'mon, Naochii. We've got job to do and I don't want to take long."

Just now, Moeka notices the other rookie. "Hmm? You seem familiar..." Moeka says and leans in to analyze Akihara's features, staying at a dangerous and also uncomfortable distance from Akihara's face. 'Another rookie, huh?' She closes her eyes for a little bit, still at the same uncomfortable distance and suddenly snaps her fingers when something finally reaches her mind, all of this with her usual disinterested poker face. "I know. You have the same aura as Ryuji... You ought to be his little brother." Moeka finally straightens up and leaves Akihara's personal space. "So, he's coming with us? Alright." She takes Akihara from his head and buries him between her chest that, even though isn't something abundant, it is still a great cushion for whoever wants to sleep in her chest. "I shall take care of him as his senpai." Now, even if it doesn't sound like it, she did all of this just to tease Akihara a little.