Chapter Text
The room is dark, with no signs of forced entry whatsoever, though it reeks of death. A gruesome sight, the man, once an influential person in the underground, stands without breath, limbs twisted in each and every way. There’s also the stench of vomit, probably coming from the person who has been first greeted with this. The Port Mafia’s new boss, Mori Ougai, narrows his eyes examining his executive’s motionless body.
“Who could be so skilled as to kill an executive so easily and soundlessly?” his prodigy inquires.
Mori’s eyes dart across the room, where a cross made of white birch lies. “No other than the King of Assassins himself, it seems.”
----------------
It had been 2922 days since the Suribachi incident. Though they seemed to blur together, Randou knew that much. He had had a strange sense of time since he first woke up with little to no memories of who he was. All he had was his hat, which had ended up giving him his current name. He had honestly been lucky to have been picked up by the Port Mafia boss, who, speaking of which, wanted to see him.
Randou quietly wondered what this was about, but he didn’t actually care that much, as he had undergone many different tasks during his time. He had quickly gone from a low level grunt to an important face in the mafia in a matter of a few years due to his ability and hidden talents that he assumed had been acquired during the time of his life he didn’t remember.
He shivered as he walked through the mostly empty halls, no one usually working this close to the boss’ office. He stepped inside. It felt cold, but most things did these days, which was why he was always wearing his scarf and earmuffs, despite it being the last few days of spring. Mori greeted him with a smile.
“Randou! How have the jobs been?” the boss asked as an unnecessary conversation starter.
“Well enough. I still wish I worked somewhere warmer…”.
Mori shrugged. “You go where you need to be. And right now, I need you to find someone for me.”
Randou raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent, waiting for the other to continue.
“I know you have good tracking skills, and your ability might be useful here as well. You may have heard that one of the executives was murdered a few days ago.”
Randou frowned. Of course he had known, whisperes about who would be chosen in place of him had spread quickly. “So I should conduct an investigation and find the culprit?”
Mori dropped his smile. “No. We already know who did it. I want you to catch him.”
“So who’s ‘him’ then?” Randou queried.
“Paul Verlaine, better known as the King of Assassins. I trust that you’ll be able to find him.”
The name sounded familiar and he wanted to ask a few more questions, but he took the fact that Mori’s eyes gazed at the door as a sign to leave. He probably had heard it from the various assassins he had worked with, but… it somehow made him feel a little warmth thinking about this person. Who was this? Well he had no other way of knowing aside from finding him, so he should focus on doing that.
He began planning everything in his head. He had to visit the murder scene and get information about other victims, maybe interrogate some other people who may have heard of him. And once he finds this ‘king’... Randou could only hope that he wasn’t as violent as his name made it seem.
It was sure going to be a long mission for Randou, but all he could do was complete it.
----------------
Meanwhile, somewhere else, a tall, blond man is purchasing a pile of locally grown white birch sticks.