Osanbashi Pier
"Now then, let's see if this rock will skip..."
Skipping rocks is harder than I thought. No matter how hard I throw, it just sinks...the splash just gets bigger and bigger.
Dropping a grenade isn't that different from this.
Suddenly, someone threw a rock that finally skipped in the water. I turned around to see someone I already expected to meet.
"You're using too much strength, Yuko-chan. If your rock hits a person's head, I'm sure they'll die." Dazai said as he went down to the riverside.
"They won't die instantly, Dazai-san. First, they'll bleed..."I joked.
Though it wasn't really a joke, right?
Dazai chuckled.
He arrived fast. Good thing I managed to eat breakfast at the old man's.
"I didn't expect to see you so soon. You seem to be in a rush." I said while slowly climbing back, Dazai followed.
"Sad to say, but yes. My workload's piling up these days. I haven't even taken a shower for two days." He complained which made my eyebrows twitched.
So that's why there's an unpleasant smell in the air. The smell of gunpowder and blood...it stinks.
"So? How's your investigation of me doing?" I said with a smile.
We both walked to the pier and leaned towards the railings. Dazai bent his head back exhaustively while I continued to watch him at the side, facing the bay.
"A complete failure..." He smiled.
"I ordered our former agent to dig up your records, and there was none. Completely no one, aren't you? Yuko-chan..."
Former agent? I'm sure he's talking about Ango...but what's with the former? Did they found out he was a spy? Or did he leave?
"But, listen to this..." Dazai continued.
"When I told my Boss about you, surprisingly...he knows you."
I glanced at him.
"Funny, right? I went all the trouble in investigating you when I should've asked the Boss instead in the first place."
"He won't actually tell me anything about you, though. He just told me to bring you, carefully..." Dazai said while giving me a cold smile.
I sighed and turned my eyes to face the sea.
The Port Mafia's Boss?
The last time I remember their Boss was a crazy old man who liked wielding a scythe, though it can't possibly be him. I haven't met him in person.
So, who is it, then?
Only a few people knows about me, and if they do, they're from the government or the people I encountered with.
"By 'carefully', you say...exactly how many men are present in that careful operation?"I asked with a smile.
He couldn't have brought a lot of gunmen with him. They're busy. Not to mention the conflict with a foreign organization they have right now, they shouldn't bother sending more people.
"Two..." Dazai smiled.
I looked at him, surprised by his good decision.
I laughed a bit after realizing that this is Dazai I'm dealing with. There's no need to be surprised.
Two people...
So, I guess he's the first one?
"But we still have to wait. That ugly partner of mine is still dealing with something...let's wait for him to arrive, can we?"
"Sure, I don't mind." I agreed.
"For the mean time...let's have a talk, Yuko-chan."
I stretched my arms in the air before leaning again. I already have a hunch what he plans to talk about.
"Please, go ahead but...on the condition that you're the only one I'm talking to." I said, slowly pointing at his coat's pocket.
I'm not a fan of bugs.
Dazai sighed defeatedly and pulled something from his pocket.
It was a small recorder.
"Oh? I'm sure I left it in my office..." He said amused before he threw it in the water.
I chuckled while listening to him. That was a lie.
He's a crafty guy, alright.
"Sorry about that. The recorder's static is hurting my ears...I get easily distracted." I said while pointing to my ears.
"Really? I couldn't even hear it."
I smiled.
"My ears are sensitive..." I said without looking at him.
Dazai looked at me for a while before leaning to the rail just like me. We're both in the same position with 1 meter distance from each other.
"Tell me...who are you, really, Yuko-chan."
There it is...
"Would it do you good if I answer that?"
Dazai paused. His face turned stoic as he also stared to the sea.
"Depends...it's a natural move for me to know who I'm dealing with."
"Wouldn't that put me at disadvantage, then?"
Well, it's not like I can get away from there.
"Who I am, huh? How much do you want to know?" I said without looking.
"All of it."
I glanced at him, confused.
He's really that curious?
"If I'll get to know you, might as well know everything since you were a baby, Yuko-chan." He smiled.
I chuckled.
"That's too bad. I don't remember anything when I was a baby, but...I'll still tell you the truth, Dazai-san." I said.
Who am I, huh?
My first memory was not in the arms of my parents; not a mother's breast, nor a father's gentle touch.
There were none.
As far as I know, I don't even have a family.
I was four years old when my memories started. I don't remember a thing before that...only my name.
Four years old...
A man found me in the countryside, alone. He saw through my ability and immediately took me under his wing. It was Taneda Santoka, the Director of the Gifted Special Operations Division.
He became my guardian or maybe my father?
No, let's just say he's my teacher.
For a very young girl, I was already aware of my surroundings. My mind was way ahead for a child in my age; and even at four, I was no longer a child. I was raised in a place where violence was deemed just, and that violence is needed to preserve peace.
There's no country that's spared from the cruelty of those who've sinned. Only violence can stop violence and in our case, it was deemed righteous.
The government made me an agent, mostly an assassin, at the age of 8. Capturing criminals and executing them...
It was an odd job for a child, sure, but I didn't mind.
I didn't do it for them.
I did it because it gave me purpose.
Almost at the end of the Great War, the government assigned me to the battlefields to reinforce the military. The war continued to use ability users as weapons and my ability was the best option to bring them under control.
It lasted for three weeks...a gruesome place enough to be considered as hell.
Many soldiers were killed because of that, even the government's. I witnessed how people suffered and died. I thought they were going to be spared, but they weren't...
They were all killed.
Most of them, it was me who gave them the opportunity to die.
Did I killed them?
Soon, the war ended.
Many lives were lost. Those who survived have earned a lifetime scar that they'll continue to bear, it changed their lives for the worst.
All of those, in exchange for peace.
For others, it was the end of their hell, but for me...I didn't know it was only the beginning.
After the war, the government created a project, inspired by what happened in the war itself.
To create a unit of the most powerful Ability User Task Force in the country. The ultimate violence that will serve as the government's ultimate weapon...
"Can you take a guess, Dazai-san?" I glanced at him.
Dazai's expression was serious as he turned his head to face me.
"The Hunting Dogs." He said in a low tone, and it wasn't a guess.
I nodded with a smile.
"They created a unit called Hunting Dogs...and I, was a part of it."
Because of my performance in the war, the military easily caught interest with my ability and immediately enlisted me in the project.
I wasn't given a choice.
Probably because they knew I was raised under the department, they knew I had no family. Basically, I was a government's property.
Under the conditions of the Director for his agreement, I was to become a Hunting Dog whilst still under his supervision. Meaning, the Special Ops Division can still have an authority over me, together with the military.
The government agreed.
Becoming a Hunting Dog, it was a horrendous experience.
Our bodies was subjected to many surgeries and alterations in order to modify and enhance our abilities to its utmost capacities, even passing human limitations. The intensive training given couldn't also compare to the one's I've experienced as a child.
All the strain that's put into one's mind and body to become a Hunting Dog were enough to make a normal person succumb into madness and even death.
But then again...we were no longer human.
I became a government's Hunting Dog at the age of 10.
The rest of us had their own unique personalities and quirks. You can say that I was the most sane in the strange group made with bizarre people. Nevertheless, it's what I can consider as fun, coming from a child who grew up in such conditions.
It was fun.
It gave me another purpose...
To become the ultimate violence above all others. A slave to the society and the government.
One that will do what it takes to preserve peace and order of the country...
This, however, has a price to pay.
Once a Hunting Dogs have started to receive the surgeries and engineering, we must continue to receive it monthly in order to maintain our bodies and prevent ourselves from self-destructing.
This was made purposefully to ensure our loyalty and the government's control over us.
For the course of five years as a Hunting Dog, I continued to receive such maintenance.
I've seen the effects on my comrades whenever their treatments were delayed due to a long mission, and it was horrible.
It was actually something I never experienced and they, too, have noticed it.
I never told them that my body would never feel any pain whenever we're almost due to our surgeries, though I do still take them regularly.
Unlike them, my condition doesn't worsen throughout the time without it. It just stays the same. Sometimes, I even think that I don't need the surgeries anymore to sustain my body.
I didn't mentioned any of it...but one of my comrade did.
As soon as the government heard of my condition, they were alarmed.
They immediately had me under observation.
I spent a whole three months in isolation. In a cell where they conducted numerous tests and investigations on me, but never our monthly surgeries.
They didn't tell me anything even if I asked. I was void from any information.
Soon, the simple tests later became various kinds of surgeries and experiments.
I no longer know what they are for.
Sometimes after every surgery, I couldn't remember...I couldn't think...I couldn't feel anything...
It was horrible.
I was scared.
But after some time...my body will get back to normal again and I would clearly remember what happened.
Part of me was relieved.
I didn't know how long I was there because the next thing I knew, I was transferred into an another facility.
This time, they've stopped doing tests and operations. They locked me up instead.
Guards were also stationed outside my room.
Still, I had no idea.
One day, one of my comrade visited me and told me what was going to happen. For all I know, he was there to interrogate me.
Turns out, it's already been a year since then.
The tests that the government conducted had found out that my body was able to withstand and adapt to the changes they've made, that I no longer require their surgeries.
The various operations I got were supposed to be alterations, experiments, to see if they can still tinker with my mind.
It was their last resort...and it did nothing.
Because of that, I was subjected to a lifetime imprisonment in the facility.
And I was no longer a Hunting Dog.
The government has no need for a dog whom they cannot control after all.