Shadows Within The Light

Chapter 1: The Masked Detectives

Tales tell of assassins, people that hid among the shadows and killed their targets. Whether their morals were good or not is something I can't justify myself, some would kill as revenge others would do it for sport and that feeling of adrenaline when you take another person's life. This group of assassin all lived together in their own secluded city, all living in fear of what would happen next. This "fear" was obviously kept hidden behind their emotionless masks; I read a book once that stated this. "The beginning, the end; all the world's roads, all the outcries of humanity; lead to this accursed place. Here is the kingdom of night, where God's face is hidden and flaming sky becomes a graveyard for a vanished people". I never understood it when I first read it, but it correlates well to those very assassins that once thrived highly in our world. This...well, this isn't at all my story; this is just a hint of what's soon to come.

"Kamui...please live to protect the lives that need saving."

Those words she said remained in my head; it's the only thing I remember from my childhood besides that incident. Going off topic from that, my name is Kamui. Kamui Otsuka, I'm eighteen and I'm currently living in the Osaka Prefecture. My occupation, well I guess you could say I'm a detective...of sorts. I should probably introduce you to my co-workers whilst I'm going through all of this. I exited my dorm room and entered the main work facility; three people were situated here with me. One was hard at work at his own computer desk.

"Good morning, Kamui!" This happy go lucky individual is Shō Hirigakasu; he's 25 plus both our hacker and technology specialist. He is known as "The Data Ghost"; once he's hacked you, say your prayers that he doesn't disable your whole security system as well. At the young age of eight, he built his own computer, hacked an entire military base in the south, and stole all the data. He is an able tech for anyone whose computer's in need of fixing. Next on the list was Shō's girlfriend.

"D-Did you r-rest well?" This polite and jittery woman here is Amane Bakuyara; she's 23 and the best researcher in Japan. She's well known as "The Book Spirit"; she can skim any book within the course of a second and learn all the contents, she aced all her history exams throughout preparatory school to university. She runs a library as her side job, it holds many classic books and I usually go there in my spare time.

"Please have something to eat before the briefing." This middle-aged man here is Kanai Orenaō; he's 40 and the twelfth president of our FBI agency. He's known as "The Samurai Demon"; he's an excellent president and has been running the agency since he was only eleven, he's also my adoptive father. Folktales surround a boy who slew an entire high ranked mafia by himself; this "tale" is in fact true as that boy is now the man you see here.

"Morning, everyone and yeah, I guess I slept alright. I'll make sure to prepare as quickly as possible." This is of course me, I'm known as "The Killing Reaper"; I'm known for my skills in athletics, I ran a ten kilometer run in only twenty minutes total and won first place in numerous archery competitions. I'm in charge of attacking during scenarios such as hostage situations or bank robberies. I followed my orders and entered the briefing room where my co-workers awaited me.

"So what's the dealio today, boss?" Like usual, Shō kicked back and rocked on a chair with a pencil balanced above his lip.

"The "dealio" is a base infiltration. All of us will be taking part in this mission. Shō, I need you here to hack a few doors for us."

"You can count on me, diggity dog!" Shō pecked Amane on the cheek and bolted almost instantly to his desk, causing Amane to blush bright red.

"Amane, you will be situated on recon duty. You'll be watching out for any soldiers and reporting that information back to me."