Adronitis: You Only Live Forever

Prologue, Part 1: Hideous Eyes

"One, two, or a hundred of you. It makes no difference. Spineless bastards won't keep me down. 'Cause, unlike you, I have a reason to get up!" – Michael Fuse

Many people are under the impression that high-school life is easy. And while that may very well be the case for many – others suffer the most during that period.

That's especially true for Michael, a half Japanese, half American student in his early 15s. The Japanese do not take kindly to outsiders and he is not an exception.

While he is walking down the road, on his way to returning home after school, half of his class will spit on him, hit him, and even abuse him – verbally or physically. The other half? They won't even look at him. The ガイジン. The stranger.

Everyone is the same, except for one girl. Someone who truly seems to care for him. Could it be out of pity? Empathy? An act to make herself feel better by treating someone who she thinks of as a victim? Or could it be that she truly, whole-heartedly loves him?

He would never find out. For that girl, known as Sakura, was brutally raped, skinned alive, and left for dead by an organization known as the Yakuza.

Something so disgusting, so dangerous. Any ordinary person would walk away from the intense heat of such a large, hot burning fire. But not Michael. Instead of running away in fear of being burned, Michael embraced the flame. Maybe in hopes of finding warmth; a sense of belonging; maybe for vengeance. Maybe for both. He did not know why himself.

One thing is for sure. Locating Sakura's murderer would be easier from inside the Yakuza, straight from the source. And that by its own was more than enough of a good reason.

And thus, at the age of 18, Michael became a Yakuza himself. He finally found a family. A family which he deeply hated, and in some ways loved – but a family nonetheless.

Tall and slim, yet also muscular in stature, with a black suit, white gloves, and shining metal skull rings on his fingers, this bitterful man quickly became known as one of the most ferocious, unforgiving, yet dutiful men in his family. And soon enough, one of the most fearsome individuals in the whole clan as well.

2 years went by with him executing missions of all kinds and rising above the ranks of his family. Protecting individuals or businesses, collecting loans, and—rumor had it—even killing people if he had to.

He wasn't proud of what he had become. Nothing short of a pawn in someone else's dirty game. But that's a small price to pay for extracting revenge if he ever got the chance to do so.

One day, however, something unusual happened. Michael along with one more, lower-ranked Yakuza member, had the mission of protecting their superior in case something went wrong over a confidential business transaction.

And something was going to go very wrong indeed. Just not the kind that anyone had on their mind.

One night, Michael went to the distant, empty shore which was meant to be the meeting place for the exchange. Ishikari, Japan, far away from his clan's headquarters in Tokyo.

With one hand holding a cigarette, and the other in his pocket, he starts walking next to the shoreline, taking the time to enjoy the few moments of solitude that he could get with the smell of damp air and the sound of his footsteps on the sand as his sole companions.

In the distance, he spots his fellow Yakuza—squatting over a dead body; a female body, pale like snow and stark naked as the day she was born.

Her pitch-black dark hair created a strong contrast which highlighted her paleness even more. And she was extremely small in stature. Were it not for her mature facial structure, one could easily mistake her for a child.