Chapter Text
A silver-haired individual was cheerily humming as he sat in a taxi with an elderly man as the driver. The old man had white hair, just a few shades lighter than his passenger’s, and a clearly defined hunchback that revealed his age.
From the moment the passenger entered the vehicle, silence filled the air, creating an awkward atmosphere in the enclosed space. With no desire to converse with the old man, he simply looked out the window.
For most of the car ride, he stared at nothing but fields of greenery and scenic horizons until the landscape suddenly changed to buildings and urban scenery.
Perhaps bored by the monotonous sound of the engine, the old man finally broke the silence with a question.
“So, you plan on going to the city of Reflect? Any particular reason?”
“Well, who wouldn’t want to visit the grand city of Reflect at least once in their life?”
“You’ve got that right! You seem like a man of good character, but I have to ask: do you have enough for the fare?”
“Of course! I’m a man of class, after all,” he replied confidently as he pulled out his wallet, only to find it utterly empty.
Slowly, he lifted his head and made direct eye contact with the old man. The gaze he received in return showed no signs of the kinder demeanor from before.
The taxi came to an abrupt halt, and in the next moment, the passenger was kicked out of the taxi and thrown onto the ground.
He could only watch as the old man cursed under his breath before quickly driving away.
There wasn’t much else he could do. He could attempt the same strategy again, but he had a feeling it would lead to the same outcome. So, he lifted himself off the ground, dusted himself off, and began to observe his new surroundings.
He had no idea where he was now, and to make matters worse, it was nighttime.
Although the bright city lights illuminated the night sky, shady figures filled the streets. A large billboard read:
“Welcome to the city of Array!”
“Array? I’ve never heard of it. Wait, isn’t that the smaller city near Reflect? I was so close!”
As far as he knew, Reflect was the ideal city. It was definitely on the wealthier side, and finding work there was relatively easy. Meanwhile, Array appeared to be an entirely different story.
Rumors suggested that the first development attempt for Reflect had failed miserably, leading to the abandonment of the original site. He assumed that was how Array came to exist.
The only problem was that Array was known as one of the shadiest, sketchiest cities around. Crime was prevalent, and finding a job would certainly be a challenge.
He obviously didn’t have any money on him. He had decided to run away from home, planning to live independently in Reflect.
However, given his current situation, he was essentially homeless. The urgency to find some money became even more pressing.
“I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll go job hunting!”
He roamed the city of Array, passing countless uniquely odd-looking individuals, but he appreciated that they all seemed to mind their own business, and he did the same.
He was quite the optimistic kind of guy. After all, he was just grateful that he wasn’t stabbed from behind and robbed of his only clothing.
The weather was chilly, and it was sometime in mid-fall. It was cold enough that he could see his breath every time he exhaled.
There were a variety of businesses lining the streets, all bordering on shady and perhaps even illegal, but he had stepped into every single one to ask if they were hiring.
Yet, time and again, he was turned away or kicked out of the establishments. That was when he noticed an obnoxious sign out of the corner of his eye.
It read: “WANT A JOB? LOOK NO FURTHER!”
Overall, it was very suspicious, and the giant red arrow pointing into a dark alleyway did not help. There was no explanation of what the job was or anything else, except where to go.
“You have to be a different kind of naive and stupid to just trust a sign like that!”
The cold wind blew against his face, making his whole body shiver, while his empty pockets filled with nothing but air. He stared into the dark alley ahead of him and stepped into the darkness.
Most people with logical reasoning wouldn’t follow something so perilously suspicious, but he quickly accepted that he might as well risk it; after all, he could die from hypothermia or hunger.
Only halfway down the alley did he realize he might have made a grave mistake. The long walk seemed to go on for eons. There was barely any light, and he had no idea where this alley was leading him.
"Could this be where I get jumped and have my organs sold on the black market, like I’ve heard about?"
However, that scene never materialized. Eventually, he reached the end of the alleyway, which led to a rather out-of-place and sophisticated-looking building with countless glass windows.
No light illuminated it, making it appear as if it were closed for the night. It stood out yet somehow blended in with the other buildings around it.
At first, he knocked and waited patiently for someone to open the door. When nothing happened, he decided to push the door open himself.
To his surprise, the door opened easily!
“Hello! Is anybody here? I’m here for the job offer outside!”
Of course, silence greeted him. There didn't seem to be a single soul in the building.
There was just an empty reception desk in front of him, alongside a kiosk that emitted light, illuminating the darkness around him.
There was no company name outside or any indication inside, but he was sure this was the place hiring since it was the only building in the alley.
He approached the kiosk and began to interact with the touchscreen. A set of instructions appeared, detailing step-by-step what to do next.
Pictures of different individuals appeared, each accompanied by brief descriptions, such as their names and capabilities.
One particular person caught his eye—he couldn’t help but admire how handsome this guy was. Next to his picture was the name: Ito.
“Ito? Why does that name sound so familiar?”
He began to fill out his own profile.
“Shou. Incredibly intelligent. Special ability: psychometry.”
Feeling uncertain about the job requirements, he figured he might as well make himself look good; none of it was technically a lie anyway.
Now it was time to take his picture. There was already a camera set up not far from the kiosk, facing the wall. He stood in front of it, and the camera automatically began taking pictures of him.
“This almost feels like I’m getting my mugshots taken.”
Once that was done, the kiosk prompted him to find a certain individual and bring them back. A photo was provided.
The person he needed to find looked a bit intimidating, in Shou’s opinion. He was large, with a face that seemed like it had just been released from prison.
"This must be part of getting the job, but I’m curious about why. Well, if finding him is the requirement, so be it!"
With little information except for the stranger’s face now memorized, he left the building and made his way out of the alley.
“I should have taken a picture of the guy with my phone!”
Shou said in frustration as he reached into his pocket, only to realize he did not have a phone. When he made the decision to leave, he also decided to leave everything behind, including his phone.
“Oh right! I didn’t bring my phone! Haha!”
Thus, he decided to approach the problem as they would in the olden days: by asking around to see if anyone had seen the man.
Some kind individuals even offered him a piece of paper and a pencil to sketch a picture, but alas, his poor drawing skills did not aid him at all.
For the most part, through his remarkable ability to describe the man's face and build in great detail, Shou managed to gather a handful of people who had seen him.
It seemed they had all spotted the man in the same area. Shou followed the directions given and found himself in front of a particularly run-down and abandoned-looking house.
Perhaps it was the middle of the night, combined with the fog surrounding the house and the echoing caws of crows, but the place gave off an eerie atmosphere.
"This looks straight out of a horror movie… how exciting!" he exclaimed to himself.
Without further hesitation, Shou approached the front entrance, causing the wooden floorboards beneath him to creak loudly.
The door was already cracked slightly open, its lock long broken and worn.
"Has someone already beaten me to it?" he wondered.
There was no reason for Shou to be courteous, so he stepped inside the house. The interior was dark, except for streaks of moonlight filtering through the cracks in the building, along with a chilling wind and specks of dust floating about.
That was when Shou remembered that, in addition to the single photo he had been provided, there was also a name. Deciding to test the waters, he called out that name.
"Mr. Faliyor, are you there? Helloooooo?"
He had fully expected there to be no answer. Instead, he heard urgent footsteps approaching from the floor above.
“Eh!? No way!? Is it actually him?”
Shou realized he needed to block the only escape route at the end of the staircase. As he waited there, he considered using a nearby chair to knock the person unconscious.
What he didn’t expect was to be greeted by a familiar, handsome face. The person stood at the top of the stairs, holding a small cat in their hands.
They took a quick glance back at the area behind them before jumping into the air, skipping every step as they descended.
Shou could only watch as everything happened in mere seconds. Before he knew it, the same person had landed right on top of him.
Dust flew into the air around them as Shou was forced to fall flat on his back, now carrying the weight of a whole other person and a kitten.
The person before him looked exactly like the picture—good-looking, wearing a red beanie. Right now, they seemed focused on the floor above, patiently waiting and listening for something.
“You’re that beanie guy! Are you also looking for Mr. Faliyor?”
Aside from the soft meowing from the kitten in his arms, Shou was completely ignored. This Ito guy was incredibly rude! Not only did he not apologize for using him as a cushion, but he also couldn’t even respond to a simple question!
“You’re in the way. Also, you should probably start moving soon since he’s coming.”
“You’re the one still on top of me! How about you get off? Who exactly is coming? And what’s with the kitten?”
“Too many questions. How annoying.”
“I only asked two! Both are very important, I think!”
Shou’s frustration with this guy was interrupted by the increasing sound of a chainsaw.
“Run.”
Ito finally got up and ran as fast as he could without looking back.
“What’s his deal?”
By the time Shou stood back up, the sound of the chainsaw was at its loudest. When he looked up, he was met with a figure at the top of the staircase.
It was another familiar face, but this one looked much scarier. The chainsaw in their hand only added to their intimidating presence.
"Oh, so that's why he said to run," Shou muttered to himself.
He then sprinted for his life, now being chased by the very person he was supposed to find and bring back!
The house was relatively small, and he eventually caught up to Ito. Desperate to escape the chainsaw, Shou followed Ito into the basement.
It was only after Ito closed the door behind them, handed the kitten over to Shou, and they descended the stairs that Shou realized he had followed Ito into a dead end.
"Hurry up and find something like a weapon!" Ito urged.
"That's a smart idea, but I don't appreciate you ordering me around!" Shou retorted.
Ito was focused on barricading the staircase by throwing furniture against it, leaving Shou to search the basement on his own.
The bottom floor was uniquely designed as a large square space with every wall lined with bookshelves, but there was nothing useful in sight.
"Have you found anything yet?!" Ito called out.
"Rushing me won’t change anything!" Shou replied, frustration creeping into his voice.
"This isn’t the time! He’s figured out where we are!" Ito shouted back.
Shou stroked the kitten in his arms to help him think when suddenly a thought struck him.
"Oh, I know! I've seen this in detective stories!"
Shou began to feel around the shelves full of books, pulling every oddly placed or uniquely shaped book in and out like clockwork.
“You look ridiculous! Stop wasting time!”
“That’s strange; this always works for detectives. Why else would there be nothing but books here if not for that purpose?”
Then, on one particular book that Shou had pulled out slightly, there was a loud click, accompanied by the sounds of some kind of contraption moving.
“It worked!”
“Are you serious? That actually worked!?”
The kitten meowed as if cheering for Shou’s successful shot in the dark. Then the center of the floor began to part, revealing an opening with what appeared to be a bottomless pit below.
“Isn’t the entrance supposed to be behind the bookcases? What’s with this trapdoor-like secret entrance?”
“That doesn’t matter! He’s found us! Go!”
As Ito spoke those words, the tip of a chainsaw pierced through the door, creating a large gap. He quickly descended the stairs, falling into the opening and pulling Shou and the kitten down with him into the darkness.
While Shou was falling, he focused solely on protecting the small kitten in his arms. Fully expecting to suffer broken bones and a concussion, he was instead met with the blinding light of a phone's flashlight in his face.
It seemed they were lucky enough to land on some sort of mattress waiting below.
“Get up. I’m sure that guy will catch up to us, so let’s move.”
Perhaps Shou was taking too long, but Ito had grabbed his arm and began dragging him down the long, dark hallway in front of them.
There seemed to be no other directions to take, and despite the absence of light, a door could be seen at the very end of the hall.
“There’s a door,” Shou said.
“I can see that,” Ito replied.
Upon reaching the door, both of them were surprised by how easily it opened. Once inside, they found the room was drastically different from the hallway they had just left.
It was a blinding white room, so bright that not even their own shadows could be seen.
Ito closed the door behind them, ensuring it was locked. They both began searching for something they could use against the man with the chainsaw.
The decor of the room was even more unsettling. Directly in front of the door was a jail-like cage, standing just a few steps away and left wide open.
On the other two sides of the room were counters, jars, and various devices used for research and experimentation.
“What an unsettling room…” Shou commented.
“There’s nothing useful to knock the guy out with,” Ito replied.
“Actually, I have a plan,” Shou said.
Shou still had the kitten securely cradled in his arms as he whispered his idea into Ito’s ear.
Suddenly, the loud sound of a door splintering and breaking echoed through the room as a foot kicked the door down.
When the man entered, he was surprised to find it empty—only the sound of his chainsaw filled the air.
“Over here, you fool~”
Shou crawled out from behind one of the counters and yelled to get the man's attention. In that split second, as the man turned to look at Shou, Ito appeared from behind and kicked the chainsaw out of his hand.
The chainsaw flew across the room, narrowly missing Shou, who quickly dodged it just in time.
“Hey! Watch where you’re kicking that thing! I could have lost a leg!”
The man wanted to go over to retrieve his weapon when he was suddenly attacked by Ito, who landed a brutal uppercut. Now distracted from where Shou and the chainsaw were, he became furious and engaged Ito in a fight.
Shou whistled in amazement as Ito skillfully held his own against a man twice his size.
“As expected, he wasn't lying on his application! He’s strong and knows how to fight!”
The man was perhaps too focused on his fight with Ito to notice that Ito was slowly pushing him back and cornering him.
It wasn't until he took a step back and tripped over Shou's outstretched leg that the heavy, tall man fell backward into the cage.
Shou quickly slammed the cell door shut and inserted the key into the lock, turning it with a satisfying click to secure the prison.
"The plan wasn't too bad," Ito said.
"Why, thank you! And with that, Mr. Faliyor has been caught!" Shou replied.
In unison, Shou and Ito high-fived each other. Despite not getting along perfectly, it was clear they worked well together.
“Now the only problem is how are we gonna bring this guy back?”
“I can, knock him out?” Ito clenched his fist as an example.
“Oh! I want to try doing that one move where you hand chop the neck to make them lose consciousness!”
“I can do that easily. I can show you if you want.”
“Why not? I have the perfect subject to practice on after all.”
The both of them slowly turned their heads to look at the caged man as their smiles were filled with evil. That was when the man began laughing.
Their smiles faded, replaced by expressions of confusion as they exchanged glances.
Part of the confusion stemmed from the man’s sudden burst of laughter, but it was also because the voice laughing did not match his appearance.
“Very impressive. Both of you have passed.”
Suddenly, the man ripped off his face like a mask, revealing a beautiful older woman underneath.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Well, I have a fondness for the mystery genre, but I can't say I saw this coming…”
“I'm your examiner for this test—who else? I’m also the owner of Company Shift.”
Like clockwork, Shou and Ito quickly unlocked the door, feeling the need to kneel in apology for their rough treatment of the CEO.
“For now, how about we return to the company and have a conversation in a better environment, shall we?” she suggested.
“Yes, ma'am!”
“Yes, madam!”
Like ducklings, they followed their boss through a secret exit, leaving the abandoned house and all the events that had occurred inside behind them.
The kitten had long since jumped out of Shou’s arms and run off somewhere. As the sun began to rise, the three of them walked back.
“You know, she said we passed, but I found the guy first,” Ito remarked.
“Why, you! You wouldn’t have been able to catch the guy in the first place without my help!” Shou shot back.
The entire walk through the dark alleyway, up until they entered the company’s building, was anything but silent as they continued to bicker through the streets of Array.
They entered a small, minimalistic room that contained only one large desk and two comfy couch chairs, where they were made to wait.
Shou sat in one chair, while the guy in the beanie sat in the other. They stared at each other, both unwilling to back down until they heard the sound of heels clicking against the floor.
A woman in a formal suit with long black hair walked into the room and took a seat at the desk in front of them.
The two ceased their actions, waiting for her to speak first.
“After discussing matters with the higher-ups, it seems both of you will be hired for the job.”
“Oh, sweet! Wait, both of us?”
“When do we start working?”
“I’ll call you two when something comes up.”
“What’s the pay?”
“Oh, yeah, what is the pay?”
The woman pulled out a contract and showed them the number. Shou was impressed by how decent it was; it was definitely enough for him to live off of.
“I just need you two to sign here, and we can get started.”
The two signed the contract and then waited for her to speak again.
“Thank you. My name is Rie, but you can call me Boss. Oh, and I forgot to mention that you two will be working as partners.”
“PARTNERS? WITH HIM??!”
“TOGETHER? WITH THIS GUY?”
Shou and Ito collectively shouted, pointing at each other in irritation and unwillingness.
“Not a chance! This guy and I don’t get along at all!”
“I can do the job alone…”
“Why not? After watching you two, you seem very compatible. Plus, you guys have already signed the contract! That means you fully agreed to work together from now on!”
Shou was at a loss for words. He had been so focused on the salary and passing the test that he hadn’t even read the contract properly. Ito hadn’t bothered to read it at all, so they both had to reluctantly accept their situation.
“If there’s no other choice, I suppose it can’t be helped...”
“Whatever, I guess...”
“Welcome, Shou and Ito, to Company Shift! Starting today, you’ll be bounty hunters!”
“A… what!?”
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t know either.”