Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow #1

The dim electronic light of a sign "Barowaiko". The silhouette of a mohawk man that suddenly appeared in front of it is long. On the ground, a dropped and forgotten iron plate "Low-Grade Lodging" is brown from rust. As the mohawk man steps on it, an irritatingly loud noise echoes through the alley. The annoying rain polluted with heavy metals.
The mohawk man wields shock guns in both hands, looking for his prey with cloudy eyes and walking with the characteristic stride of a drug addict. A sound obliquely behind him. He turns around with an "Ahhe!", aiming his shock guns. The source of the sound is not a person, it's a sewer bio-rat. "I wanna shoot someoone", the mohawk man cries.
As you can see, this man is a hopeless designer drug addict, and he is broke. Also, he is armed. In other words, he is an extremely dangerous being. Such yotamono can often be found in the dangerous districts of Neo-Saitama. Even if they kill someone, it won't appear in the news. There are many other things to report in the news. Such as the story of a sea otter that appeared in the city.
"I wanna shooot... I wanna shooot...", the man moans. "I wanna blow all my looad... Ah!" His clouded eyes open wide. KADOOM! The shock gun shoots a flash of light. "ABAAH!?" As an old woman who wandered into the alley tries to turn around and run, the lightning hits her. Tragically, the old woman dies from the burn.
"Ahhe! I shot her", the mohawk man trembles. "Yabai, kowai", mumbling as if in delirium, he approaches the face-down corpse. As the highway robber crouches down, a new figure enters the scene. "Ah!" Reflexively, the mohawk man once again pulls the triggers of both his shock guns. KADOOM!
Because of his shaky grip, the flash burns the sign "Moo-like Field" near the figure. "Abunai... Abunai", the figure mutters emotionlessly. "I missed!?", the mohawk man cries, drooling. "I missed!" "Yes, you did", the figure replies in a careless voice. Even though his life was on the line. "What a shame."

From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow"

"Okay then, one more time, just one more tiime", the mohawk man cries to the figure. The figure shakes his head. "I'm afraid that's impossible." "Eh?" "Isn't the LED indicator on your shock gun red?" "Uso..." "So it's no good until you re-charge it." "Ahhe! That's right! Arigato!" "You're welcome."

The figure murmurs while holding a gun. It's a shock gun quite similar to the ones of the mohawk. "What a coincidence. This gun of mine is a successor of yours, well, something like that. Cool, right?" "EEEEH!?" The mohawk man exclaims. "Nande?" "Why not." "I want it!" "Yeah, go ahead and take it. ...The contents, that is." KADOOM!
"ABAAH!" The mohawk man's upper body becomes wrapped in lightning, and he burns to a crisp in the blink of an eye. Instant death. "......" The figure emerges from the darkness and kicks the mohawk's dead body. He then takes a camera out of his breast pocket, points it at the burnt corpse and repeatedly clicks the shutter. Then he puts his hands together in a prayer. "Namu-Amida-Butsu." The figure illuminated by the electronic lights is... A ninja.
"AIE!" A faint scream from the side street. The ninja quickly glances over there. "I didn't see anything." It's a dirty-looking maiko. "Forgive me. I didn't see anything." "Is that so." Instead of answering, the ninja points the shock gun at the maiko and pulls the trigger. It doesn't spark. "Energy..." A sad synthetic guide sound rings. The ninja clicks his tongue.
"It has come to this", the ninja grumbles and unsheathes the katana hanging on his waist. On its grip, the word "Ubasute" is engraved in small katakana letters. "AIEEE!" The maiko runs away. "YEEEART!" The ninja runs after her. In a flash, the katana beheads the crying maiko, killing her. The ninja frowns and mutters. "Namu-Amida-Butsu."
The ninja wipes the blood off his katana and puts it back into the sheath. "But it was a clean hit. Couldn't be any better." He murmurs meditatively while looking down on the unfortunate corpses. Couldn't be any better... Couldn't it, really? Naturally, the maiko does not respond. Because she is dead. As if she was sleeping.
The ninja turns on the stealth mode of his suit, comes out of the alley, and escapes through a rather wide street. "Spasibo! Spasibo is new. A new greeting." "Aka-chan!" "Long. ...Long." The loud voices of advertising holograms immediately fill the air. The people passing by only look forward, as the white rain bounces off their PVC coats.
The ninja approaches an idling vehicle, opens the door and gets in. "Your efforts are appreciated. Silver Karasu=san." The man in the driver's seat bows his head, as if in Zen. Disturbingly, his face is scarred with a permanent smile, and the smile wrinkles resemble a secret code. "Get going. Smiling Jii=san." "Hai yorokondee."
Quickly but precisely, the vehicle drives to the highway, and the neon lights of the signboards are replaced by the monochrome running lights. In the back seat, Silver Karasu takes out the modified shock gun. "It's no good, this one. The energy efficiency is near-useless, not to mention that the consumption rate is unstable, so I don't know how many shots it takes before it runs out of juice, and it doesn't alert me, either."
"Isn't that pretty hidoi", the smile-shaped man answers back, as if he doesn't understand anything. "Yeah, hidoi." Frustrated, Silver Karasu takes out a cigarette and has a smoke. "Because of that, someone might actually die." "The person you shoot at?" "Someone else might die." "Well that's no good."
"Tell them to triple the compensation for the risks I take." "Triple?" "Triple. If the enemy was a ninja this time, I would've been already dead. Tell them not to mess with me. ...I'll send the collected data in about 10 hours over the IRC." "Understood."
Looking out of the window at the night sky, the vehicles on the highway are all lined up, as a kokeshi zeppelin floats above them... At the vision's edge, an advertising video of a sumotori eating a mochi on the beach can be seen. "At the resort, we have delicious mochi, you know? We want to heal you." The ad voice can be heard through the glass. "At the resort..."
... "...Resort?" Next to Silver Karasu's face, a female voice tickles his ears. Lying on his arm, Nonako glances at Silver Karasu. "Did I really say anything? Like that." "You did", Nonako smiles. Nonako... Silver Karasu's favorite oiran. "Now?" "Now. What kind of dream was that?" "Aah..."
Silver Karasu dodges the question. Nonako puts her cheek to his chest. "You really are tired, are you." "..." Silver Karasu searches for a cigarette. The box is empty. He clicks his tongue. "Nonako." "What?" "What if I'm going to die. Pretty soon, too." "Eeeeh?" Nonako laughs. Silver Karasu tries to put on a smile, as well.

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"Neo-Saitama. Conflict. Get ready for conflict. Right now bzzap-" The illegal radio waves could hijack the morning acid rain forecast for just a few seconds. It happens all the time. Silver Karasu shaves his face in front of a mirror, presses the cheek with his hand, then checks the color of his tongue. He then pulls the eye bags and checks the mucous membrane.
Behind him, a shodo saying "Unlike Return" is set on display in a tokonoma along with bio-daffodils in a black tea vase. In his luxurious, but actually narrow room, he gracefully made his own tiny Zen. "..." He takes a note on top of his counter-like table. On it, a Neo-Saitama address is written.
With the note in his hand, Silver Karasu becomes lost in thought for a while. He picks up his box of cigarettes. Still empty, after all. He clicks his tongue. "There are things older than those in Kyoto. It's true. They are in our company." He turns off the TV that broadcasts a commercial, changes into his street clothes, grabs his katana and leaves the room.
...With note in hand, Silver Karasu stands in front of a narrow square parking lot. The meter attached to the LCD screen is blinking. As if laughing at him traveling this far. As the cold wind blows, he holds on to his hat. "Who's youu?" In a kiosk across the road, an old shopkeeper woman raises the "CH" "EA" "P" curtains and shows her face.
"If it's the money, you won't get it, damn yakuzaa", the old woman warns. Silver Karasu turns around. "Unfortunately, I'm not a yakuza." "Who's youu?" "Miss... Why is, there. I mean..." He points at the parking lot. "There was supposed to be iai here. An iai dojo." "...If it's the money, you won't get it, damn yakuzaa!"
"Dojo... The sensei of iai. Where is Taoshi Wantsei?" Silver Karasu patiently keeps interrogating the weird old woman. "Did he die?" "The hell do I know", the old woman answers with her eyes closed. "Miss. Do you have cigarettes... The [Sea of Twilight] ones?" "Don't sell any." "I see."

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"Doomo." Smiling Jii recognizes Silver Karasu as he approaches his car, and bows in his seat. As Silver Karasu takes the passenger seat, he is respectfully offered a suitcase, opening and showing its contents before his very eyes. "Cestus gun. As usual, the name is tentative." It's an equipment resembling a gauntlet. "When you strike with it, the gunpowder mechanisms activate, like this, and it shoots at melee distance."
"They just keep on coming", Silver Karasu murmurs in pretend awe and puts it on his right hand. He clenches his fist, checking its condition. "It's automatic as long as you hit something. You release the safety device on the top. They added it so you don't have any accidental outbursts." "I see", Silver Karasu replies without much interest.
"...The Yagane Street again?" Silver Karasu notices the route of the vehicle and asks, furrowing his eyebrows. "Hai, that's right", Smiling Jii replies. "Don't hai me, not even two weeks have passed. Since I did it there, I mean." "Is that so?", the agent replies, feigning ignorance. "Well, it's better than the other options. Considering the season."
"Tsk", Silver Karasu clicks his tongue. "The one who deals with all the trouble is me." "You're a good killer, right? Even when you have to kill a mappo or whatever else. You're a ninja, after all." The smile-shaped man is disturbingly expressionless. As he shows his Soukaiya cross-katana emblem, "I am superior to you, so I cover your flanks without a hitch, it's all good biz" "..."
Indeed. In the darkness of Neo-Saitama, there exists a grim business. The one that is called Cyber-Tsujigiri, or sometimes Techno-Tsujigiri. Arms, weapons, sometimes poisons and dangerous viruses, all of them are tested on the poor members of the society by phantom killers... Naturally, if one is caught red-handed, he can be shot on sight as punishment for this major crime. That is Silver Karasu's occupation.
Smiling Jii, the agent with deep Soukaiya connections, meets with many mega-corporations that become his clients. Concealing the company's name, he lends the new weapons to the tsujigirists, who then perform the killing and sell the collected data. Even though there are many tsujigirists, Silver Karasu's unique wazamae gives him some advantages over the rest.
Speaking of tsujigirists, it's not like they kill whoever they want. Sometimes the target must be special. It can be a sumotori, or a specific person, or it must be a karateka, or someone who wields a weapon of their own. Sometimes... a ninja.
A few ninjas exist even among the tsujigirists. However, it's a different story when you have to face one. Among all tsujigirists, the only one who can effectively minimize the risk is Silver Karasu. Therefore, Silver Karasu is allowed to set his own terms even to Smiling Jii.
"So. What's the good biz for tonight? Can I kill anyone I want?" "That would be pretty bad", says Smiling Jii while operating the vehicle's UNIX terminal. "It's no good unless you show the advantage in close combat. Well, you always want to avoid that anyways, but women and the elderly are out. It has to be at least an adult male, and you gain a bonus if it's a karateka."
"Bonus for a karateka, huh", Silver Karasu mutters emotionlessly. He reaches his pockets, comes to a realization and looks at Smiling Jii. "You got no cigarettes, right?" "You know I don't smoke. Stop it, please." Silver Karasu clicks his tongue. As he puts on his hood, the clothes transform into a ninja suit. The menpo appears by itself.
..."Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Alternating between left and right punches while running, Tadashii is in the middle of his regular karate jogging. "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby vagabond and runs!
"Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Left fist! Right fist! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby goth and runs! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby pusher and runs!
"Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Left fist! Right fist! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby runaway nerd and runs! Even this night, Tadashii's eyes burn with the dream of championship. Naturally, no one is able to stop karateka's violence.
"Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Left fist! Right fist! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby yank and runs! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a nearby DJ and runs!
"Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Left fist! Right fist! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" "Hmhm, yeeart!" "GWAAH!" He hits a different goth and runs! "Hmhm!" "Hmhm!" Left fist! Right fist! "Doomo, you over there." "Yeeart!"
Tadashii unleashes his punch. The figure casually catches it with his hand. "Doomo. Doomo. Feel free to beat me up, karateka=san. I am Silver Karasu." "Yeeart!" Tadashii tries to punch him with the other hand. "Yeaart!" Silver Karasu strikes back. Counter! KABOOM! "ABAAH!?"
Na, Namusan! Tadashii's face implodes, as if he was shot with a magnum, and he dies in an instant! This is the cestus gun! As Silver Karasu strikes his target, the trigger is pulled, and the muzzles around the wrist blow fire! Cruel! Tadashii was actually violent, but do think of it this way. Dying like this is still completely unjustified!
"...!" Silver Karasu makes a few steps back from the impulse. ""With the muzzles on the wrists, if I strike them the wrong way, it's my hand that's going to be blown off", he reports with a bored look in his recorder. "Namu-Amida-Butsu", after a short prayer over the corpse, he turns away. "Please kill one more person", a request from the communication device. "OK."
He goes in deeper. A neon sign says "Okame". The other day, a young man was killed here in a tsujigiri. Right by the drainage ditch, someone has left a bouquet. "..." He goes around it and keeps running. And just around the corner, there is a yakuza, just what he was looking for. "This one's good. Doomo, I am Silver Karasu", he bows.
"Ah?" The yakuza tries to intimidate him. "Are you a ninja wannabe or something, punk?" "Feel free to beat me up. You, too, come and beat me." Silver Karasu assumes the karate stance. "SUZZOKORAA!" Yakuza attempts a punch! "YEAART!" He hits back! KABOOM! ...Namu-Amida-Butsu! Truly a one-sided slaughter...!

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A few hours later, Silver Karasu is in a coin laundry. ...It's been one rough day for him. In many ways. He sits on a bench inside the laundry and gloomily watches a toon on the TV monitor.
Even the hi-tech laundry in this room is no different from a trash can once it's broken. He moves his eyes away from the TV monitor and looks at the "You can win if you try" lottery poster on the wall. Then he looks at the spinning clothes... At the bloodstained jacket. And then, he looks at the girl on the opposite end of the bench.
By her age, she seems to be a high-schooler. Weird to see her here at this time. The worn-out girl silently reads the ukiyoe comics lying around the coin laundry. "..." The girl looks up. Silver Karasu looks away. The laundry is still spinning. He looks at the girl again. She's still looking at him.

(From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow" #1: The End. To be continued in #2)