Mika leads Akuyaku and Renji from Seishin Academy to Moonlight Café, choosing a quiet booth beneath the window. Daigo and Kaito remain behind, guarding the sealed records.
Mika Shirogane
The gym is compromised. We talk here, where nobody connected to the archive can easily overhear us.
Rain freckles the café glass, blurring Hoshikawa’s lights. Renji sits beside Akuyaku, while Mika takes the opposite seat and keeps her voice low.
Mika Shirogane
One of my fighters saw the watcher leave Kurogane Train Station. They carried a sealed envelope marked with Takeshi Kurogane’s old ring insignia.
Renji Kuroda
That sounds less like a random threat and more like somebody moving evidence. Please tell me your fighter has a name and a safe hiding place.
Mika Shirogane
I can identify him, but reaching him means entering Kurogane District before the trail goes cold. After that, the envelope may be anywhere.
Mika places one gloved finger on the café table, pointing toward the dark streets beyond the river. She waits, leaving the decision with Akuyaku.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Mika’s fighter from the watcher
“I'll protect him”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -3)
Akuyaku rises from the booth and moves between Mika and the café entrance, positioning himself as the first obstacle anyone approaching her fighter would face.
He reaches for Mika’s note, intending to take responsibility for the route to Kurogane District and keep the unknown fighter out of reach.
Mika Shirogane
No. You cannot protect him by walking into an address I have not verified.
Mika folds the note before Akuyaku can take it. The specific location remains withheld, and his attempt to place himself between danger and the fighter gains no usable target.
Renji Kuroda
Then we verify the account first. Charging into Kurogane blind just gives whoever is watching another person to track.
Mika Shirogane
Your protection changes the problem, Akuyaku. The fighter cannot be treated as bait, and I will not expose his hiding place until his report is confirmed.
The café booth becomes a holding point instead of a launch point. Mika keeps the note, Renji watches the rain-dark window, and the trail to the fighter now depends on verification before movement.
“What of it aint me who goes, its mad baddie who goes”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +2)
Akuyaku
What of it? Ain’t me who goes. It’s Mad Baddie who goes.
Akuyaku keeps his stance between Mika and the entrance, separating the guarded student from the fighter the district already fears. Rain ticks against the glass.
Mika Shirogane
Then Mad Baddie goes, not Akuyaku. I understand the distinction, and I’ll address the fighter you choose to be.
Renji Kuroda
That is either the coolest or most alarming way you’ve ever volunteered for trouble. Still, we verify the report before moving.
Mika Shirogane
Agreed. Mad Baddie will take the route, but nobody enters Kurogane District blind. I’ll confirm my fighter’s account and secure the meeting point.
Mika unfolds the note again, this time placing it within Akuyaku’s reach. The destination remains withheld, but the decision is settled: Mad Baddie is going.
Director's note
I tell them I a. Mad baddie
“Hm, I guess yall be the first to know, renji check what I texted you and show mika too and i swear if yall tell anyone and I mean anyone I will break someone neck.”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +0)
Akuyaku
Renji, check what I texted you. Show Mika too. I swear, if either of you tells anybody, I’ll break someone’s neck.
Renji unlocks his phone and opens Akuyaku’s message about Yuna, the kidnapping, and his absent father. He turns the screen toward Mika without editing a word.
Renji Kuroda
Got it. I’m showing her exactly what you sent, and nobody else gets a look. You have my word.
Mika leans across the table and reads the full message in silence. Her expression hardens at Yuna’s name, while Renji keeps the phone steady between them.
Mika Shirogane
I understand. This stays with us. Your mother, the kidnapping, and your father’s absence do not leave this booth through my actions.
Akuyaku’s threat carries farther than intended. A server pauses near the counter, a young woman with a slim build, warm brown skin, chin-length dark hair, and an alert face beneath a charcoal apron over a cream shirt, and glances toward the booth, raising a small but immediate suspicion about the tense meeting.
Renji Kuroda
Your secret is safe, Mad Baddie. But maybe lower your voice before the whole café decides we’re planning something worse than coffee.
Director's note
I look up and see the lady that works here looking at us
“may I help you?”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Akuyaku looks up toward the server near the counter, meeting her alert gaze across the rain-blurred café. The booth falls briefly quiet.
Akuyaku
May I help you?
Café Server
I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to listen. I noticed the tension and wanted to make sure your table had everything it needed.
The server approaches only as far as the edge of the booth, keeping both hands visible against her charcoal apron. Her attention shifts from the phones to the untouched cups.
Mika Shirogane
We’re fine. Thank you. We’ll keep our voices down.
Café Server
Of course. If you need anything, just signal me. I’ll give you privacy.
She returns to the counter without pressing for answers. Mika lowers her voice, while Renji locks his phone and keeps the family message out of sight.
“Alright, give me the address”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +2)
Akuyaku
Alright, give me the address.
Mika studies Akuyaku for a moment, then unfolds the note fully. Rain taps the window while she writes the location on a clean café receipt.
Mika Shirogane
The meeting point is 18 Kurogane South Street, behind the shuttered Hoshida Laundry. My fighter confirmed the address twice. He is waiting in the storage office beside the rear entrance.
She slides the receipt across the table. The address is clear, with a route from Kurogane Train Station marked in black ink and no extra names attached.
Renji Kuroda
Got it. Station, south street, shuttered laundry, rear storage office. I’m memorizing it, not sending it anywhere.
Mika Shirogane
My fighter’s account is verified, but the watcher may still be moving. Go directly there, keep the receipt hidden, and do not mention the envelope in public.
The address now belongs to Akuyaku’s route into Kurogane District. Mika keeps her gloves folded on the table, while Renji rises and checks the rain-dark street.
Akuyaku leaves Moonlight Café behind and arrives at 18 Kurogane South Street, behind the shuttered Hoshida Laundry.
“Is the watcher already near Hoshida Laundry?”
YES (Likely, rolled 28)
At 18 Kurogane South Street, rainwater gathers along cracked pavement behind the shuttered Hoshida Laundry. The rear storage office glows faintly, but a second shadow moves across the frosted glass.
Mika's fighter
Mad Baddie? Stop there. The watcher is already near the laundry.
A young adult man steps into the storage-office doorway, lean and bruised beneath a dark hooded jacket. His watchful eyes keep tracking the alley rather than Akuyaku.
Mika's fighter
I saw the same sealed envelope from the station. Whoever carried it reached this street before you did.
Across the alley, a metal service door eases shut without a slam. Fresh rain beads on its handle, and faint footsteps retreat toward the laundry’s front side.
Mika's fighter
I stayed inside because they checked the rear entrance twice. They know this meeting point, and they may know you were sent here.
The fighter keeps one hand near the office door, leaving the alley exposed and the watcher unconfirmed. The route is no longer a private approach, but the evidence remains close.
“I move Mika’s fighter somewhere safer”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +2)
Akuyaku crosses the wet alley and takes Mika’s fighter by the shoulder, guiding him away from the exposed doorway and toward the storage office’s inner wall.
Mika's fighter
There’s a back room through here. No windows, one door. That’s safer than the alley.
Akuyaku moves him inside without hesitation. Renji follows, keeping watch on the service door, while Mika enters last and pulls the office door shut.
Renji Kuroda
Good call. Nobody gets a clean look at him from the street now.
The inner room is cramped and dusty, packed with folded laundry carts and sealed boxes. Akuyaku positions the fighter behind them, shielding him from the frosted glass.
Mika Shirogane
He’s secure for the moment. You got him out of the watcher’s sight without exposing the route.
Mika's fighter
He moved like he already knew where danger would look first.
Quest Complete
Protect Mika’s fighter from the watcher
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good