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The junkyard in Shibuya was not just a place for a fight; it was an altar of twisted metal where Tokyo’s youth intended to sacrifice their innocence. The air smelled of old gasoline, rust, and the sharp adrenaline that always comes before disaster. For the Tokyo Manji Gang, this was the darkest day of their lives.
At the center of the graveyard of cars, Mikey was on his knees. His face, usually calm and untouchable, was stained with blood and dust. In front of him, Kazutora Hanemiya moved forward like a shadow determined to erase the last light of the gang. Kazutora’s trauma was not something mystical; it was a human delusion, fed by years of isolation and twisted hatred.
“It’s all your fault, Mikey…” Kazutora growled, his footsteps echoing against the hollow metal around them. “If I take away what you love, maybe you’ll feel the emptiness I feel!”
Draken tried to break through the mass of white Valhalla uniforms, but they formed an impenetrable wall—a barrier of bodies and fury.
High above them, Keisuke Baji moved across the stacked wrecks, ignoring the danger behind him. He believed his sacrifice was the only way to keep Toman together.
He was ready to die.
“BAJI!” Chifuyu’s voice cut through the air in desperation. “LOOK BEHIND YOU!”
The blade in Kazutora’s hand flashed, reflecting the dull gray sky. The attack was fast—a desperate strike aimed straight at the exposed back of the First Division captain.
For that split second, the fate of Shibuya seemed sealed in blood.
But the strike never landed.
Before the blade could touch the fabric of Baji’s uniform, a silhouette stepped between them. There was no smoke, no supernatural light—only the sharp sound of a boot hitting metal and the rush of air from a perfectly timed movement.
Lux Astra stood in Kazutora’s path.
The white porcelain mask appeared like an error in reality. Its surface was so polished that it seemed to glow, though it was only reflecting the dim light of the junkyard. Takemichi didn’t use brute force; he intercepted Kazutora’s wrist with the palm of his hand, redirecting the knife’s path with a precision none of the delinquents there possessed.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Kazutora stepped back, breathing hard, his eyes wide as he saw his own distorted reflection staring back at him from the cold surface of the mask.
“Who… what are you?” Kazutora stammered.
The man behind the mask said nothing. Beneath the heavy clothing, Takemichi’s heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird, yet his posture remained perfectly still—calculated, controlled, stripped of human hesitation.
He was no longer the boy who cried.
He was the Actor who refused to follow the script.
Baji turned around, the knife in his own hand ready to strike back—but he froze when he saw the man in white. Something about the figure pressed against his senses: a silent melancholy that seemed to absorb the hatred in the air.
From below, Mikey watched the scene in stunned silence.
“It’s him…” the Toman leader whispered. “The guy who appears in the dark.”
Members of both gangs slowly stopped fighting. One by one, they looked upward and saw the lone figure standing above them. To them, he was neither ally nor enemy.
He was an anomaly.
A kind of “Saint of Ruins” who appeared to prevent blood from permanently staining fate.
Takemichi only lowered his head slightly toward Mikey. Inside Lux Astra, the internal visor processed thermal readings from Toman’s leader, registering pain and shock. Takemichi wanted to shout, wanted to tell them he was there for them—but the laws of the Troupe burned inside his mind.
He was supposed to be an observer.
And in that moment, he had just become a traitor.
The first act of the tragedy had been stolen.
And the price for that interference would be collected in silence.
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📂 [RECOVERED COLLECTIBLE: DOCUMENT #001]
Location: Found beneath a stack of tires in the East Sector of the Junkyard.
FIELD NOTES: PROJECT MOURNING #TOKYO
Subject: Level-5 Interference
Operator: Unknown (Presumed Unit Lux Astra)
“Record of the date 31/10 has been corrupted. The secondary target (Baji) was expected to expire at 15:14. An unidentified variable—the man wearing the porcelain mask—forced a deviation in the attack vector of the aggressor Kazutora. The result is a narrative anomaly: the target survives, but the emotional pressure on target Mikey has reached saturation levels.
If Actor 0-Takemichi is responsible, he must be taken to the ‘Stage of Purification.’
No one rewrites the ending of a Troupe play without paying with their own face.”
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