Dramatical Murder - Mizuki's Disappearance

Mizuki's Disappearance

Dry Juice's truf is in the... East district.
"Yukisagi", where there's tons of alleways filled with good food.

While making us very noticable, I start to feel that something is wrong when we get close to their turf.

Dry Juice members would always hang around in this area, but there's no one here. Not a single person.

Aoba: It's like a ghost town.

Koujaku: Do you think they moved to another place?

Aoba: I didn't hear anything about that...

I feel a horrible premonition.

I quicken my pace and hurry on my way.

I go into the alleyway where they usually hang out.
And of course, no one's there either.

Koujaku stops and grabs onto my arm as I attempt to hurry through the entrance.

Koujaku: ...Hey.

Aoba: What...!?

I look to the same place Koujaku is, and I freeze up.

...It's gone.

The Dry Juice tag art on the wall...
It's been painted out pitch black.

Aoba: Why...?

No way... Were they defeated?

But by whom? What team?

Koujaku: Aoba, look at that.

On the wall, there's a different picture painted.
It's not Dry Juice's.

Robot-like wings... and a halo around a heart.

That tag belongs to...

Aoba: Morphine...!?

That can't be...

Morphine took out dry Juice...!?

Koujaku: 'Mysterious disappearance', my ass...

Koujaku mutters something and my heart skips a beat.

Yeah... their 'mysterious disappearances'.
I thought they were just an urban legend.

...No, this might just be a prank or something.

Dry Juice is the largest team in Rib.

There might've been some people who didn't find it fun anymore, so they might have done this and fled.

So they must be trying to blame it on Morphine to get away...

That's just as realistic if not more than them being abducted.

...Really.
Is there really no one left here?

Aoba: ...Gh. Hey! Is anyone here!? Hey!

While running, my shouts echo in the empty space.

But no one answers me.

Shit...!
What's going on...!?

I go towards the other alleyway where Mizuki would always be.

There would definitely be a bunch of members there with him.

Aoba: ...!!

I enter the other alleyway...
I saw it coming, but I still felt disappointed.

As I predicted, no one was there.

And in the inner part of the alleyway, the tag art of Rib's largest team was, of course, blacked out.

What the hell is going on...?

Mizuki would always lean on the wall, next to that tag.

And whenever I came, he'd greet me with a smile...

Feeling as if everything important to me has been torn apart, I turn my head away from the horrible sight.

But I look right back.

Koujaku: Aoba, there's no one on the other side either.

Koujaku came running into the alleyway.

Koujaku: It's bad here too, huh.

Aoba: ...Hey, this-

Koujaku: What...!? This... blood!?

Aoba: It looks like it.

There are skid marks from shoes, and blood is scattered evrywhere. It looks fresh.

When I take a more careful look, there's evidence of trash being kicked around and fighting.

The more I look, the more it seems likely.

'Mysterious disappearances'.
Morphine's work.

People in Rib would always be fighting one another, but the worst they would do would be to beat up each other and scribble over their tag.

This isn't one of those situations.
This is obviously more than just a petty fight.

It looks like the opposing team didn't even think of holding themselves back. They certainly got their message through...

Aoba: .....

What... happened here?

It should be bustling with Dry Juice members.

Everyone got along, and you could forget about your loneliness here.

That's why I think people joined.

You're not alone here. There'd be numbers of people you'd spend time with.

Even if it was temporary, the bonds between the members were as tight as family.

For that... to come to this.

Koujaku: Shit, I can't get through to Mizuki.

Koujaku clicked his tongue while using his Coil.

Koujaku: What's going on? What kind of monster went through here? Is this Morphine's work?


Aoba: Mizuki...

Reality hits me and I'm completely in shock. I can hear footsteps coming here from both the entrance and the exit at the same time.

Aoba: !

Koujaku: .....

Virus: Hey, I was wondering who it was. Fancy meeting you here, Aoba-san.

Trip: Yoohoo, Aoba!

Aoba: You guys...

The footsteps coming into the alleyway came from Virus and Trip.

Aoba: Why're you guys here?

Virus: We're in charge of the area around here.

Koujaku: ...Yakuza?

Koujaku glares at the two of them, murmuring curses under his breath.

Koujaku was in Rib, so seeing yakuza walk around like they owned the place wasn't a pleasant sight to him.

Koujaku: Are you guys twins? You look exactly alike.

Virus: We are not twins.

Trip: We're not twins.

Koujaku: Aoba, you're with these kinds of people?

Aoba: I'm not... They weren't yakuza when I first met them anyway. It was when you left the island, Koujaku.

Virus: Yep. You could say that we're old friends.

Trip: Yeah, yeah, nothing to do with our work.

Virus: We're in a pretty violent business, but we're not breaking any rules. We do as much as our common sense allows; it's nice to meet you.

Koujaku: You're still yakuza. That's not good or bad. From the last bone and to the last drop of their blood, that's what they are and always will be.

While Koujaku speaks, he looks at both Virus and Trip.

I was a little astonished too, to be honest.
Koujaku's tone was so awfully angry and violent.

Does Koujaku really hate yakuza to that extent...?

Virus: Although these are our words, both the yakuza and police have never really changed much on this island. Isn't that right? Aren't you that team's Head? I wonder how many policemen you had to make nice with.

Koujaku: I'm not trying to say that all policemen are bad. Just that some are rotten in the barrel.

Virus: Well, we'd like to thank you. As rotten yakuza.

Trip: Haha!

Koujaku: .....

Virus: By the way, isn't one of your friends in Dry Juice, Aoba? Have they moved off to somewhere else?

Trip: We haven't seen of their members yet.

Aoba: They're all... gone.

Trip: Gone?

Aoba: We only just got here a little while ago, but Dry Juice's tag was painted out, and... Morphine's tag was drawn on it.

Virus: Morphine...

Virus puts his hand to his lips in deep thought.

Trip: You mean Morphine, that living fantasy team?

Aoba: Yeah. I was thinking that maybe it was someone trying to frame Morphine for it, though...

Virus: All the same, that's quite barbaric. Taking out an entire team in one shot... how vicious.

Koujaku: .....

Aoba: Aren't you guys in charge of this area? Do you know anything?

Virus: That's true. What we know...

Trip: It was difficult to make the rounds last night.

Virus: We couldn't find a single Dry Juice member.

Aoba: Around what time was that?

Trip: Around nine? Didn't it happen later anyway?

Virus: And they didn't kidnap just one member... but all of them. That isn't such a simple thing to do.

Aoba: I know that. So...

Isn't this exactly like when Morphine just disappeared on the map back then?

I want to say that, but all that I mutter to myself stays in my mind.

Virus: So that's it. Now I understand the situation a bit more. I'll contact you if anything happens on our side.

Aoba: Thanks.

Virus: We're already used to these kinds of dangerous subjects. Be safe, Aoba-san.

Trip: I don't know why the hell we're doing this, but we'll do what we can.

Koujaku: You should get your fucking noses out of Rib. What do you think you can do?

Koujaku tries to provoke them, but Virus just heightens his eyebrows in amusement.

Virus: You think we're parasites of this town, don't you? Our goal is to just hold our footing and build up our influence. Morphine or whatever is fine, but to dirty up our land is a bit of an unpleasant thing to do.

Koujaku: Tch.

Koujaku clicks his tongue at the cheerfully smiling Virus.

Virus: Well then. We'll go check out the area and... Hm?

Policeman 1: Hey, you all over there! What're you up to!?

We were exposed and policemen started to run after us in hordes. They're the ones who patrol this area.

Policeman 2: Don't move! If you do, I'll shoot!

The policemen all point their guns at the same time.

Koujaku: Well, we're in trouble.

Virus: Oh my, they're even more noisy today than ever. They're so full of energy.

Trip: Isn't this where we split up?

Virus: We're not too good at that either. Please escape, Aoba-san.

Aoba: Got it.

Trip: We'll all run in like a kamikaze attack. Then feel free to split up. Run on my signal. One, two... three!

Trip gives the signal, and we all start running.

Policeman 3: You fuckers!

The policemen start firing. But they never found the effort to train every day, so not a bullet ever scratched us.

Virus: All-

Trip: -Right.

Policeman 2: Whoa! Y-You!

Trip and Virus jump onto a policeman, and they all fall like dominos.

Virus: See you later then, Aoba-san!

Trip: Bye bye!

Aoba: Thanks!

Koujaku: Let's go, Aoba!

Policeman 1: B-Bastards.... Stay right  there!!

Virus and Trip go to the right, and Koujaku and I run to the left as fast as we can.

Behind us I could hear the sound of gunshots and angry yelling, but was we ran from Yukisagi to Aoyagi I couldn't hear anything at all.

Aoba: Ha... Haah, hah.

Koujaku: Haa... We're having an awfully bad day.

We really are...

I catch my breath and close my eyes, and my vision slowly becomes clearer.

The Dry Juice tag painted out in black.
The bloodstains scattered everywhere.

Where did Mizuki go?

I wonder if he's okay.
Who did this?

Maybe another team held a grudge against Dry Juice or something...

Maybe it was... Morphine?

Aoba: What the hell's going on?

Koujaku: Aoba...

A few moments pass and I boil over in vivid anger.

No matter the reason, this is unforgivable.

Going around doing things like this...

Aoba: I'm definitely going to find the guys who did this.

Koujaku: That's right. I'll go ask my team members if they saw anything.

Aoba: I'm counting on you.

I don't know who or what Morphine is, but they've got to be the criminals.

If Mizuki and the others are hurt when I catch Morphine...
I won't go easy on them.

I'll never forgive them for this.