Burnt to Ashes - Kenichi Todoroki

The Moon Gleams Bright

Milo's POV
(The previous day from the last chapter)

Hours had passed after Aaron's funeral, and still I sat with Fox, while he cowled and cried over Aaron's grave.

"I didn't.. I didn't even know him for that long.." Fox weeped. "But it feels like I've known him my entire life.. and then he was just taken from me. Why.. why out of the billions of people on this earth.. why did it have to be him who died?"

Several seconds passed before I gave him my response. "Because if every person thought that about their closest family and friends, then there would be nobody to kill off. No matter what happens, someone is always unhappy, whether it's with themselves or their circumstances. That's just how life is."

But my words did not seem to be comforting to poor Fox Bancroft. Aaron's death was a big blow; especially since I had to watch it myself. That villain stabbed him right through the stomach with no hesitation.

I sat thinking about it, as the moon shone bright through the thick trees hanging over the graveyard. Some could argue that it was out of self defense, but he could've simply smacked Aaron out of the way. There was no reason to stab his guts out.

It really was a cold blooded murder.

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Kenichi's POV

"I wonder why Ryker said to have you here per request." I said, eying Shinju as we waited for Ryker to bring back some possible people for us to work for.

Shinju shrugged. "Maybe they heard I was in the gang on the cards and wanted to meet the famous Shirokage."

Now I thought when he said that he was joking, and his ego was just inflated.

But when Ryker and Milo showed up with them, that was the reason.

About six people came, following Ryker and Milo's lead. The one in the front was a tall, blonde haired boy. His hair covered his eyes, and he had more traditional and dirty gear on, like he was from a jungle movie.

He stuck out his hand at me. "My name's Vint, last name unimportant, and I'm here to do business with you. You're a gang up to murder, right?"

I shook his hand, and Shinju also shook his hand. "Of course." Shinju answered for me. "That's what we were made to do."

"Excellent." Vint leaned against the Graffiti Alley's wall. "Me and my ragtag team are called The Gators. We live in the underground sewer systems, yknow? To give you some background, we're beefing with some other teams because one of them called The Flys think they can get away with cheating."

"Is it like quirk competitions?" Shinju asked.

Vint nodded. "We fight to near death, and there's about six or seven members in each tiny gang, and it's just small face offs. Except The Flys, when nobody was awake or looking, killed our healer and left her in the sewage waste. We found out because the leader always wears a red scarf, his name is Kaito, and a scrap of it got caught in a stake that held down our healer's tent. But we've got no evidence aside from that so nobody else believes us."

"So you want us to kill Kaito? Or maybe The Flys' healer?" I asked. "Or murder the entire gang?"

"Up to you, but I think it's best to only murder one or two so it won't seem suspicious." Vint narrowed his eyes. "And I want that Shirokage listed on the business card to take care of the job."