Shattered Bonds: Call of Shadows (Vol.1)

Chapter 1: Call from the Shadows

Two regular college Students walk out of their classes. After a hard day of classes and a bunch of exams. Both of them decide to go out and eat something for lunch. One of them is Hiro Namikaze he's 21 Years old, and he had a dark past in his childhood but never really had the chance to have a normal life. But now he's top of his class he works on a regular 9 to 5 job as a manager for a sandwich-making company, as well as doing some boxing as a side gig. And the other person walking with Hiro is Lucina Callaghan, she's just a regular student. She is also at the top of her classes and even is tied with Hiro in their Architecture class. She works for his father at his family company called Callaghan INC. They usually work on making products for the public, the public would send their request to make a product to the company. Then the company would decide if it's going to make a profit out of it and then decline or accept the offer. Lucina's father is one of the richest people in the whole city. He makes sure that everything is in order. As for Lucina, she is in charge of making sure the employees are working properly and making sure they aren't making little to no mistakes. 

After some time Hiro and Lucina are finally close to the Diner. All of a sudden right before they enter the Diner Hiro receives a call from an anonymous caller. He stops by the entrance and tells Lucina. "Go ahead and take a seat. I'll join you in a bit after this call." Lucina nods and heads inside. Hiro heads for a nearby alley and answers the call. All of a sudden he's shocked. He hears a voice he thought he would have never heard again. The caller says to him. "Why hello there Hiro... Remember me?" Saying it in a dark tone. Hiro is still shocked to hear his voice again and responds to him. "How- How in the hell did you get this number!?" The caller responds calmly with "I have my ways... And if anyone knows how the hell I get the stuff I want, It should be you." Hiro was still shocked but tried to remain calm. "What the hell do you want?" The caller responds, with an angrier tone. "I want you to join us again, and before you answer. You don't have a choice. If you decline the offer. I will have no choice but to send out all the missions you did with us in the past to the police or even worse. The government. Even mission X. I'll give you 24 hours to make your decision. You know where to find us." He hangs up the phone. Hiro still being shocked at the news. Is now getting angrier and angrier. He clenches his fist in rage and says to himself "So Aidan... After all these years you still decide to be a coward about it. Even though it was all your fault." He then remembers about Lucina so he decides to head back to the Diner. Lucina sat down near the booth in the corner. She is starting to wonder why Hiro is taking so long. She then sees him outside with a worried look on his face. She then gets up and heads for the entrance.  She goes in front of Hiro and asks him "What's wrong Hiro? Is everything alright?" Hiro was hesitant if he should tell Lucina the truth, and proceeded to ask her. "you can trust me right? You won't get mad if I tell you about my past right?". Lucina was even more curious but responded calmly. "Whatever it is you can tell me. You've known me for so long now. You should know that you can trust me with anything. It's all up to you really.  If it's some stuff that you did in the past, and it was bad. Who cares! As long as you've changed your ways and left it all in the past it's fine." After hearing this Hiro smiles and tells her. "Then I'll tell you but first let's go get something for lunch and go to your place." Lucina agreed. 

They both got to order their food and after that, they headed to Lucina's apartment. They both got inside and Lucina prepared some plates and some glasses of water. They both sat down and ate their meals. After they ate Hiro sighed and started to explain what happened near the diner. "So Lucina... At the Diner I got a call from an old voice that I thought I wasn't gonna hear forever. The voice was from my past childhood friend. His name is Aidan Maganaga. We used to be in a gang together about 6 years ago. We were the best out of the whole gang, hell the whole organization that was with the gang. We used to get money from people who owned money to the organization. I was usually the one to get the information out of the person. And Aidan was the one to finish them if they didn't pay up. I only fought when I needed to. However, after being in the organization for a year. I was tired of hurting people and seeing them die if they didn't pay. So I quit but it cost my friendship with Aidan. And the life of my father... But I left that life behind me and never heard of the organization again. Until now..." Lucina shocked to hear this information out of Hiro says to him. "So let me get this straight. You were part of a gang that I'm assuming worked for the mafia and you got money from people who were in debt with the organization?" Hiro nodded and said "Yeah... Basically. But now he wants me to join the gang again and if I don't he will sell all the information they have on me to the police and the government. The stuff I did in my past would make me one of the most wanted criminals in the country." Lucina was even more shocked. Hiro seeing her expression said to her "I know that all of this sounds bad... But I don't mean any harm. If you don't want to associate with me anymore. It's understandable." She had no words. Hiro then got up and headed for the exit. Out of nowhere, Lucina said. "So... he's a coward to the point he's using blackmail to get to you. I don't care that you were in a gang. You changed your ways and that's all that matters. So what are you going to do?" Hiro was shocked at the response that Lucina gave. He smiled and responded to her. "I'm going to confront him and try to get that blackmail out of his hand and destroy it for good." He suddenly had a worried look. "But... I don't think I'll make out in one piece." Lucina was stunned to hear this yelled at him. "DON'T SAY THAT! YOU BETTER COME OUT IN ONE PIECE!" Hiro being shocked that Lucina screamed, said "It's not that simple... Aidan knows better hand-in-hand combat. Last time we fought I barely got out of there alive... And I feel like this time It's going to end with one of us dying this time." Lucina did not want to hear that and replied "I SAID DON'T SAY THAT. YOU BETTER NOT DO ANYTHING STUPID THAT MIGHT END UP YOU BEING DEAD. YOU BETTER COME OUT ALIVE, AT LEAST PROMISE ME THAT!" Hiro started to contemplate his choices. He thought to himself. "I don't think that I can manage to beat Aidan. But if I manage to sneak through I could pull it off." He started to head towards Lucina and grabbed Lucina's head. As she was sorta giving a head pat. He said to her with a smile on his face. "I promise... I'll make it out in one piece. Ok?" Lucina blushed a bit saying "Good... That's more like it." 

They both smiled and Hiro headed for the exit. He turns around one more time saying to her. "Whatever you do. You stay here ... I don't want you in any danger." Lucina nodded and agreed to Hiro's condition. Hiro then left the room. Lucina out of curiosity went to the living room and opened up her laptop. She started to research on the organization. Trying to see if she could find anything publicly about them. She looked everywhere. The public criminal cases in the police. Even some old news articles on similar companies but she found nothing. Until she found something on the public police records. "Oh no... It can't be" she said as she suddenly started to hold her chest, she started to get worried. She said to herself. "You better come out alive Hiro... Or I will never forgive you for it... I- love you, Hiro..." 

(end of chapter)