One Horn

Chapter 1: Patrol

Welcome readers! To my antidepressant, and impulsive posts! I post whenever my brain tells me to, knowing very well I'm going to regret it later! Cuz then I'll FEEL THE PRESSURE TONIGHT! :D:D:D Gods I'm a mess. Anyway, thought I'd mention that the idea of this chapter was someone else's. I rewrote a lot to fit my narrative, and so it's a little different, but the core idea is the same. I adopted this from @depictedwolf who adopted it from someone else. They wrote the first chapter and sent it to me, but I had a different timeline and way I wanted to write it, so if you're reading this, I hope you don't mind.

Also, I posted this and then immediately unposted it because I remembered that I didn't have cover art for it. So I sat down and drew for about five to six hours (my wrist feels like it's about to snap) and finally finished the cover art. I kinda always felt bad for taking art from online like I did with my original fics, so I'm drawing all of my cover art now. Something about taking someone else's art makes me feel like a piece of shit, even if they consent to it. So here we are, it's finally up.

Enjoy~
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Popping his knuckles with his thumb, Shouta sighed. It was currently eleven at night, the start of his shift and he was already holding a cup of coffee.

It was a quiet night so far. Nothing out of the ordinary. But of course Shouta is one of the few people who know that things can just pop up at random, even in the most peaceful of times.

The man sipped from his coffee while overlooking the city. As much as he would have liked to sit down and drink, he trusted his gut not to lower his guard. It had saved him on more than one occasion. Snow licked the top of the roof, his footprints light in his tracks.

Maybe if he was lucky, the night would be completely calm. Save for the lost children and early drinkers. They're the most common on night patrols.

Both of his ears perked up at the sound of quiet chattering and he set down his cup. He cursed under his breath when he took a step, looking down to the crunch of the snow as he placed his foot down.

The voices came into focus as he crouched in the shadows over the alley.

"Hey," Someone called. "You Asagi?" It was a pair of men, one gruff and bulked while the other looked was more lean and tall.

"Yeah, that's me. I got the bullets if you got the money," A man with a bird mask answered as he came into the alley from the street. He looked like Yakuza.

"We got two hundred thousand yen. That should be enough," The business man smiled. "Just so we're clear, the bullets do work, correct? Are they permanent?"

"No. Boss is working on the permanent batch now, but due to limited equipment we only have the temporary batch right now," Asagi explained as he slowly pulled a case from his pocket. Shouta pursed his lips as he watched, his gut rolling uneasily.

"How long will it take the permanent batch to be on the market?"

"I'm not sure, but Boss said that it'll probably be soon," Asagi held the case up, looking around them for eavesdroppers. He didn't think to look up.

"Will they be out in a month?" The lean man asked. Shouta watched the Yakuza member agitate a little.

"Come on already, what's with all the questions? Overhaul's given you the details he knows! I'm just the salesman, not some informant. Are you going to buy the case or not? It's four hundred thousand yen." He tapped his foot impatiently.

"Wait, that's not what we agreed on!" The man objected.

"That's always been the price," Asagi said. "And what you have isn't enough."