⛼ The New and the Old ⛼

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~ 3 years later ~

It's been a few months since the event now known as the Dragon's Head Conflict rocked the city of Yokohama. Nobody in the Port Mafia knows what triggered it or what the hell exactly it was but they're all keeping their guard up to make sure it won't happen again. For now, though, they're just glad it's over and who isn't?

A private funeral was held for their first executive, Colonel. Fukuzawa convinced his partner to allow a month of mourning for those who wished for it. The only one to partake was Ozaki-san who became close to the ex-soldier.

Mori, acutely aware of the importance of never letting an organisation grow stagnant, uses the time to assess candidates for the now-empty executive seat. The choice is obvious. Dazai Osamu, already a sub-executive, will become the next executive.

The now 16-year-old Dazai knows he'll get the job and is more preoccupied with helping Oda-san set up a safe place for the five orphans he rescued during the conflict.

"I can't care for them, it's not realistic, and I know it. I'm thinking of putting them in an orphanage."

"An orphanage, most of the ones in Yokohama have been long abandoned, turned into criminal liars. Are you going to send them out of the city?"

"Wouldn't that be safer?" Oda-san frowns as he says this.

Dazai hates seeing his friend upset. "Yes, it would. But I can tell you care about these children, don't just dump them because you're afraid you won't be able to help them enough, trust me Odasaku, you can do it. You're a much better person than I am! You should try to track down any surviving family members, surely all of their entire families can't have been wiped out."

The closest orphanage is two cities away, and they have enough problems to deal with without five new children. One of their 12-year-old wards, a boy by the name of Nakajima Atsushi, just killed someone using an ability they hadn't even known he possessed. Atsushi is an ability user, with the ability to turn into a rare white tiger. The trouble is that they don't know exactly what triggers it. It seems to be correlated to the moon somehow but they're far from having him under control.

Everyone in the orphanage knows it, and everyone has an opinion about him ranging from fear for him to fear of him, and even disgust, only Atsushi himself, who has no memory of the incident involving a certain white-haired "scientist", remains in the dark about his dangerous aberration.

The orphanage director drags the body away, placing it so deep beneath where they plan to pour the concrete slab for the new wing that no one will ever find it. Unfortunately, he misses the man's ability separating from his body. An almost draconian-looking crystal rising up and taking the form of a thoroughly confused human. A perfect replica of the dead scientist.

Still, it wasn't a job badly done, no one will know, even the man himself has no idea he died. His new form doesn't bear the claw marks that ended his life.

While the claw marks meant death to the white-haired man they are a mark of the love the young tiger's parents have for him. Two young lovers, only recently married at one of those shady drive-through marriage places that any person with standards would hesitate to speak of.

— 12 Years Ago —

The newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Nakajima were involved in things which were, to put it lightly, unsavoury. When the time came they ran away from the big city to start their family they thought that they had escaped but the darkness followed them like an invisible plague, always right directly behind them so they could not see it even when they turned around.

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