Sokudo: Villains Always Win (ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ ᴛᴡᴏ)

Chapter one│here we go

"I don't see why we have to go out at this time."

"I dunno, Satou, isn't it kind of suspicious to do it during the afternoon? We talked, and agreed that it'd be suitable to meet up at... wait, what time is it?"

A sigh escaping the blonde's lips, Satou's head fell and he soon slowed down to a stop behind Minji. Who looked down at her, not phone, but... what appeared to be a tracker. It wasn't too dark, nor too late, it was simply around seven, but Satou would have preferred it if they had decided to meet up at around four-ish. But at least they could still see where they were going.

"Satou!" Minji's excited, booming voice had startled Satou just as he was starting to close his eyes and lean against the wall. He really didn't get enough sleep for this... and it wasn't because he was too excited to sleep, unlike a certain someone who was the real reason he didn't, or more like couldn't sleep.

"They should be just around the corner!" Turning towards the blonde, Minji wore a large grin spread across her face. Grabbing a hold of his hand, she then dashed off, desperately pulling him along. Satou didn't appear nearly as excited, the familiar tired look shown on his pale face, feeling like yawning.

Minji excitedly sped through the alleyway they had been walking through for a few minutes at least, the grip on his hand tightening just as they turned the corner and reached a clearing. When Minji spotted a figure, her heart felt like it was going to jump right out of her chest, until...

"Minji?"

After Minji came to an immediate, sudden and silent halt, Satou looked at her with a hint of confusion. When he pulled his eyes away from her and at what she was staring at, he understood why she had fallen silent...

If what he saw before him was something he hadn't seen before, he would have thrown up on the spot. He almost did, opening his mouth to let out an exasperated gasp, but nothing, no words, no kind of sound came out. It was just silent as their minds processed the sight before them.

"We were too late." Breaking the silence, Minji's hand had slipped out of Satou's, her head hung low and voice deep. "We weren't the only ones searching for them."

If only they had decided to meet up earlier, like Satou had hoped. If only they had met up half an hour earlier, at the very least, then they would have been the first ones to find them. But instead, they were just a little too late.

Written in black blood in front of the pile, were the words; "Let's play tag. We're the chasers, they're the runners. Let's see who wins."

─

Heavy panting and shoes screeching against the metallic floor, along with the sound of punches being thrown, and Chieko's body being shoved, not too roughly, against the wall.

It'd only been a month since she had made the decision to joining the group, and becoming a superhero─ but it wasn't like in the comic books and movies. She didn't get to fight bad guys every day, half of her was disappointed, and the other half was kind of relieved to hear that.

Instead, she was simply an under-cover hero, pretty much. For now, at least, being told that villains were back on the rise, and their crimes were going to change from store robberies to things a lot more... challenging. Which again, was kind of exciting ─ but also fearful to think about.

Though, before Chieko should even think about having to deal with that, she had to be prepared to face it head on. Because she's already encountered one villain, and she did receive a few... injuries. In order to prevent that from happening again, or at least decreasing the number of them she received─ she had to improve.