D.A.

And thus, the crazy day ended...

As soon as class ended, we got scolded by Mary for taking so much time, even if the teacher himself didn't quite mind it as not much was taught that day.

After the unbearably long period of scolding, we had to endure. I decided to invite Kokatsu to the arcade.

My invitation was met with a simple yet very weird question.

"The fuck's an arcade?"

Was... he serious? If he was then... what the hell were they teaching at building A to create someone so ignorant? I could 100% say that he completely shattered any prejudice that "building A students are smart", that's for sure.

Anyway, Mary lent her membership card to Kokatsu and we walked her back home before going to the arcade ourselves.

There honestly wasn't a better place in district 8 to play video games. I had all the recreations of the consoles and games from the old days and would let us play anything as long as we had a membership card.

Of course, Kokatsu had to annoy me by acting like a fucking country bumpkin as he ran around and kept asking the incessant questions about video games themselves. He was acting as if he had never even heard of the concept.

It was honestly pretty pitiful. Unfortunately for him... not pitiful enough for me to go easy on him.

We tried a bunch of games: shooters, fighting games, racing games, and all other kinds. Of course, I crushed him in every single one of those.

And yet, when it was time for us to try puzzle games, we booted up Tetris, and... it was as if something has clicked within him.

While I was clearly winning and sending him tons of garbage during most of the game, the second I had thought that my victory was secure, he somehow turned things around.

If I were to explain it shortly, it was as if he went from being a noob to suddenly becoming a pro. Felt as if he finally stopped holding back.

And in the matter of a mere three minutes, he had somehow cleared his board of all garbage and had sent an unstoppable attack straight to me. It was a crushing defeat.

Not quite happy with the humiliating loss, I challenged him again... and he defeated me with T-spin setups.

"Wait, when did you learn how to do that?", I screamed in surprise as I witness a noob perform a move that only a veteran could accomplish.

"Dunno... just felt I could.", he simply answered, adding to my disbelief.

After a couple of crushing defeats, I decided to simply leave him be as he tried to defeat the high scores in solo. It only took a couple of seconds for him to just drift into his own world... probably filled with tetrominoes.

I played around some games for a bit and then when it was time to go home, I went back to the puzzle section to find Kokatsu still playing the same game.

That guy totally got addicted... so much that he filled the entire score list with his own scores as he always surpassed his past attempts.

It got so bad that the owner, for the first time since he opened the place, to kick out a customer. He did it with a smile, so I guess he wasn't that angry.

Kokatsu got salty that he couldn't play more so he simply went back home to probably cope with the loss of a new high score.

So, I ran back home and sat directly on the couch... only to find out I had missed the daily news show.

"Ugh, that's what I get for managing my time poorly.", I thought as I begrudgingly bolted to my room.

I usually don't really care for some boring news about a world I don't care about. I mean, do I have any reason to care about the unchanging weather and hmm... no that's about it.

It's just that, this time, something quite interesting has happened concerning the idol entertainment industry specifically.

In summary, someone's been exposing every single big shot in the industry and the crimes he exposed them for is... to say the least... not a pretty sight.

But that's not quite the thing that caught my attention while it's nice to see justice being served.

The odd thing is, after every exposed post, a lead figure of the targeted company disappeared. Whether it was a senior idol manager like Yobe from E-entertainment or the straight-up CEO of Angelcorps, they all just disappeared without a sight.

Their bodies were never found, it was as if the grim reaper had swiftly reaped their souls and disappeared, leaving only the wind. To be honest, I don't quite believe that they died, it's obviously just a very smart way of hiding them from the eyes of the public.

But... what if it was real?

The "reaper" must've targeted them for a specific crime, a crime that made stick out in the rotten mess that was their company. His motivation was also obvious as he always mentioned the victims by name in his posts.

A killer that avenges the dead.

"A... deadly avenger.", I say out loud as I start reading through one of my manga.

"Tom, you know I love you but... you should work on your naming sense. You also promised you'd clean this mess!", softly whispered Mary to my ear as she enters my room.

Oh yeah, Mary and I live together. We've been raised in an orphanage, so we've learned the necessary skills to survive on our own. So... who needs stinky parents, right?

Anyway, Mary was right, I really needed to sort this mess out. My room was filled with manga, books and opened DVD boxes everywhere. This room truly was my only escape from this boring world, a place where I could simply live in an endless fantasy created by the various works of my favorite mangakas.

Even then, it's not much of a haven if it stays a mess, so it's about time I cleaned it up.

"Also, you should stop putting him on a pedestal.", continued Mary as she started scolding me.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with admiring someone that actually bothers to bring some justice?", I ask, legitimately curious.

"Because you're admiring him on the basis that he's a psychopathic serial murderer! His victims being bad guys doesn't make what he does ok! In fact, it just makes him stoop at their level! He could've instead made use of the authorities like the police to serve justice, no?", scolded Mary as she gasped at my response.

"But if he didn't, they'd still be running free hurting more and more people, no? Besides, we don't even know if they are dead. Chances are their "disappearance" is just a cover-up story to hide their arrest."

"I... hope so... the last thing we need is a roaming serial killer acting under the pretense of justice.", simply answered Mary as she bit her nails, trembling a bit.

"Anyway, this is none of our concer-"

"Yes, it is Tom! I know you don't give much attention to the outside world but if innocent people were to run into this guy, who knows what could happen to them!", scolded Mary

There it is, Mary over worrying about the possibility of others being hurt while she never realizes that danger constantly surrounding us... guess it's up to me to make sure she never realizes... huh?

I send Mary to bed with a goodnight kiss and start cleaning up my room without ever quite stopping wondering about the Deadly avenger.

More like, I was really curious about the "E.S.", a criminal den linked to the idol industry the avenger was planning on finding after he took down the 8-leading figure of said industry.

The mere thought that the news broadcast I missed could have had info about it ruined my mood.

Aw man feels exactly like when Kokatsu just left me hanging this morning.