[Author: Mikan Citrus]

Story Arc 2: Death Wish Delinquents

 

   “It looks like our intel is spot-on, but I’m still surprised these troublemakers are bold enough to do this out in broad daylight,” Violet said, observing the target location as she was cradled in my arms. The two of us were hovering just out of sight from the dozens of biker gang members that were loitering around the large parking lot; they were in a strategic position close to an intercity highway for ease of escape, but they still wouldn’t be able to outspeed Violet and I. 

 

   “Arisakan bosozoku are a different class altogether from the ones in Japan, it’s much more than simple youth delinquency. They act way more like a proper crime syndicate, running their own organized operations independent of the yakuza,” I said as I analyzed the formation of outlaw bikers. 

 

   “This reminds me of when I was a commanding officer in the Army. A lot of these delinquent types managed to slip into the service somehow, but at the end of the day they pulled their own weight and did their jobs. I suppose even the bosozoku have their own code of honor, but enough about that stuff.” Violet smiled, then leaned her head forward and kissed me on the cheek. My girlfriend’s tactic of showing affection for me was definitely an effective way of getting me motivated, and I welcomed it with open arms. “Let’s get down there already, you still remember the game plan right?” 

 

   “Yeah, we negotiate for their intelligence on the targets, especially if it’s connected to Casmir Nomura and the Demon Insurgency. We might even convince them to fight for our side, but if they wanna play hardball, then we can do that too.” After finishing my response to her question, I studied my girlfriend’s face in anticipation for her reaction. 

 

   “Now that’s my good boy! You’re sounding like a real ARIA operative already.” Violet let out a cheerful giggle as she patted me on the head. After all the slander, libel and overall disrespect that I’ve had to endure throughout my life, her positive reinforcement toward me was an absolute blessing of her divinity. 

 

   “Thank you.” A slight tinge of blush appeared on my face, just as it did on Violet’s fair cheeks while she stared at me in great admiration. “Are you sure this will work though? We’re outsiders to them, I’m not sure if we can just walk in out of nowhere.” 

 

   “Oh heavens yeah, these delinquent youth types love a good show of force. They respect power and authority if it goes by their standards, good old shock and awe. Besides, from what the current Minazuki Gang’s file read, their leaders are people of business. I’m sure they would know a good deal when they see it, but make sure to be ready for any possible contingencies.” Violet displayed a reassuring thumbs up, then used her index finger to point at the group of bosozoku bikers, but in combination it just looked like she was brandishing a finger gun against the Minazuki Gang members. We would need to get into a firefight sooner or later anyway on our hunt for the demonic enemy, but since these guys weren’t on our hit list, I did prefer if they could help us out against a mutual foe instead, rather than being another group of enemies to dispose of. 

 

   “That makes sense… well you have my trust anyway Violet, I’ll stick with you no matter what.” I gave my girlfriend a quick kiss on her peachy lips. 

 

   “Oh my, even on the job you’re so romantic.” The angel girl radiated a beaming smile, then patted me on the back. “But for real now, it’s time to get professional.” 

   “Understood Commander Violet!” I closed the distance to the parking lot and swooped down below, then allowed Violet to stand back up on her own two feet once we landed. Even from afar when we were surveying the landscape, I could hear the distant sound of yelling without any use of magic for amplifying my senses, but now the enraged speech was loud and clear once we arrived on the premises. 

 

   At center stage of the meeting was a prime figure among the criminal underworld, and according to her file, the feats of the female delinquent and her ferocious gang caused an uproar that reached across both sides of the Pacific: Mizuki Miyamoto. The biker girl was clad in a white uniform, and from the lengthy jacket’s defined collar to the bottom of her utility pants, her clothing possessed all sorts of sharp embroidery and national imagery from Arisakan culture. The most obvious icon was the expansive red sun from the brilliant Arisakan flag: it was displayed in patriotic pride on the back of her jacket with its twenty-four rays of sunshine, each protruding stroke of red symbolized the Republic of Arisaka’s individual states. The twenty-four rays were evenly divided into eight clusters that burst out the crimson red circle, with each group having a larger line of sunshine at the center, its tip ending in a shape reminiscent of a double-edged blade. It was the Arisaka Clan’s family crest, used on the flag and a common national symbol ever since the country’s ancient foundation. Our national emblem was Arisaka’s own unique depiction of the rising sun, but the old family crest also looked like a beautiful flower just as much as it did a hopeful star. It was an eccentric and ornate method of showing her nationality and clan affiliation, but for these bosozoku gangs it was just their modus operandi, and I had to admit that it looked very cool. 

 

   “Stand up! I better not see any of you using regeneration, not that it would help any of your sorry asses anyway!” A rough and rowdy voice bellowed out from the tall and tomboyish woman. Her black hair was styled in a long ponytail that ran down the entire length of her back, with the combat boots she wore matching her hair color, both aspects of her appearance contrasting the white uniform that resembled a singular jumpsuit. 

 

   “Please forgive us, we didn’t know the bikes were yours!” A young man from a group of four delinquents shouted out, all clad in red uniforms that were decorated like the Minazuki Gang’s tokko-fuku—which literally translated into special attack clothing—but their red outfits were nowhere near the same quality as the ones Mizuki and her fellow bikers wore. The four punks were thrown down to the asphalt by four Minazuki Gang members, lined up in a row from side to side. It appeared that they were captured in an earlier skirmish from before, an attempted robbery from the red-clad bikers. Despite the color of their clothing, it was obvious that they were covered in blood from getting brutalized by the rival Minazuki. 

 

   “The hell, are you making a fool out of me? My crew and I always drive out at night, you can see our rides like lanterns on New Year’s, any half decent delinquent or yakuza should know about us!” Mizuki yelled out as the four rival gangsters struggled to stand on their own two feet, the pain must have been overbearing from whatever previous beating they got as a consequence of their ignorant crimes. 

 

   “Well shit, so what? Honestly if we knew they were yours, then forget selling the bikes through a chop shop, we should’ve just trashed them!” Another man from the group continued to show defiance, refusing to bow down and beg forgiveness to the gang leader. Mizuki walked toward the man, lifted him off the ground by clenching his throat, then punched him right into the stomach with her other hand. Once she released her iron grip, the beaten delinquent groveled down to the ground in a dogeza position, then coughed up a puddle of blood as he cowered in the face of Mizuki Miyamoto. 

 

   “You little bitch, don’t talk like that if you can’t back up your own words.” The tomboy crime boss scowled at her defeated enemy. 

 

   “How is this our fault? We were just doing what Ichihara ordered, but I didn’t know that this would happen!” The single female out of the captured group cried out, but whether she was feigning ignorance or simply did not understand the situation was of no importance to Mizuki. 

 

   “Ah, so you admit that it was under Ichihara’s orders, and you little shits aren’t just going rogue—oh wait, I meant Bitchyhara, that dirty fucking vamp tramp.” Mizuki sighed, then launched a roundhouse kick straight into the shorter girl’s head, her now even more bruised face making direct contact with the taller girl’s sturdy combat boot. She dropped to the cold ground like a ton of bricks and folded into a similar position of fear as her accomplice, the same guy who tried talking back and had a fist pummel into his stomach. 

 

   “Wow, I can see that even at that age the level of violence is intense… but I guess it makes sense. You were still in high school when those bullies harassed you, those damn ugly wenches,” Violet said to me as we witnessed the showcase of biker gang brutality in broad daylight, while somehow not bringing any unwanted attention yet. 

 

   “Yeah, I was just about to say… I’m sure you’ve had to deal with fights when you were a teenager too.” My eyes kept up with the events unfolding before me, especially taking into consideration how much longer we had before these other bikers would notice us from the crowd. None of them had even picked up on our magic signatures, and while Violet and I were good at concealing ours regardless, it seemed that everyone else around us had tunnel vision toward the punishment of their captured enemies. 

 

   “Oh for sure, no matter how good you are there will always be people looking to hurt you. Just like in your case, the female bullies I encountered were vicious, especially when it came to bullying other girls. They were very jealous of me, my skills and talents, success and beauty… and especially my big boobs!” Violet displayed a smug grin as she held up her incredible bust through her partially unbuttoned dress shirt, her small hands barely even covering the thickness of the massive breasts that she was proud of. I chuckled at her amusing anecdote, then placed my right hand on her shoulder. 

 

   “Like you said, they’re jealous because of how good you are, and people like that aren’t worth our precious time at all.” I smiled back at my girlfriend, then traced my right hand downward from her shoulder and smacked her peachy rear end; she let out a cute yelp and stared at me as a strawberry red blush steamed from her pretty face. 

 

   “You adorkable human boy, we have time for that later.” The celestial angel woman took a deep breath, then attempted to exhibit a more stoic and businesslike expression. 

 

   “Understood, then let’s get this over with already.” I pulled my left hand out of my leather jacket and walked forward with my superior officer Violet. Thankfully after we finished throwing my birthday party yesterday, my girlfriend had the time to reinforce my clothing with magic enchantments. On top of the base enchantments, my brand new sets of clothes were especially sturdier than ever before, having very thin yet strong layers of supernatural soft armor woven between its seams. It allowed for far greater protection like the old outfits Aunt Lucy handcrafted for me in the past without sacrificing comfort, and retained the same qualities such as flexibility and ease of movement. Compared to a plate carrier with hard armor, it was far more practical for everyday life. 

 

   “Hey you, got anything to say for yourself, or are you ready to die today?” After landing that flashy kickboxing move, Mizuki had arrived at her final target, the last man who had yet to speak among the four captured punks. 

 

   “It doesn’t matter if I die right here and now, the Nomura Clan will still hunt you down,” the last delinquent said. Mizuki grabbed the top of his head and pushed him downward into a hunched kneeling position. 

 

   “Is that so? I don’t need a street level goon like you telling me that. Besides, the Nomura themselves are getting hunted down too, which is what they get for propping up a bunch of demon insurgents.” Mizuki drew out a katana from the sheath attached to her belt, then raised her sword of Arisakan steel in preparation for an execution. 

 

   “Mizuki Miyamoto, you graduated high school in Tokyo, and moved from Japan to Arisaka three years ago in 2022. Although from what everyone that met you back in Japan says, it’s a wonder how you passed in the first place since you were always getting into fights. You started a liquor store here in Amaterasu, and co-founded an outlaw motorcycle club with two other individuals: Adrian Catapang and Areum Song.” By the time Violet had finished the introduction to our negotiation, a loud clamor erupted amidst the gang members positioned by the sidelines. The crass bikers threw around a barrage of curse words and obscenities, swearing in the languages of English, Tagalog, Japanese and Korean. Mizuki stopped just short of an inch from decapitating the captured rival gangster, her lemon yellow eyes fixated with intrigue on Violet and I. 

 

   “It looks like a couple of people did their research on me, you even managed to dig up Akemi’s old Korean name. So, are you two with the police or the yakuza?” Mizuki said as she continued to hold up the katana in her right hand, with her left hand rested against a holstered revolver that was attached next to her sword sheath. Despite the other bikers of her gang talking between each other, none of them actually bothered to stop what we were doing as Violet and I were confronting one of their leaders. Even without her speaking a direct word to them, it was as if her gang knew that she did not wish for them to intervene, not yet at least. 

 

   “You wish we were the police, but don’t worry, we’re not here to mess with you or your people.” I lifted up a portion of my leather jacket, showing off the pouches of pistol magazines and the hefty .50 AE hand cannon those mags were meant to feed through, my good old Ikazuchi. Once I had shown Mizuki my own big iron, the biker girl let out a chuckle and released the grip on her magnum revolver, then placed her right hand back on the hilt of her katana. The glistening steel blade still hovered above the captured thief she intended to execute, but all four of the rival bikers were oddly silent during our interaction, the entire time each one had only spoken when Mizuki initiated it. 

 

   “It’s as my partner says, we’re not here to bust your gang, but we are aware that you have some leads on targets that we do need to take down. It also happens that said targets are mutual enemies between our parties, so I think it would be in your best interest to cooperate.” Violet presented the deal with her charming charisma like that of a true businesswoman, just as much as she was an elite and battle hardened ARIA operative of the Agency’s Paramilitary Division. It was needless to say, but that formal attire of hers wasn’t just for show and aesthetics, and very much suited this professional part of her identity. 

 

   “You two definitely don’t sound like you’re from the local police department, but you’re right, I do have a grudge against the Nomura Clan if that’s what you mean. In fact, these pricks that tried stealing my crew’s bikes are lapdogs of the Nomura, they help fund the Demon Insurgency.” Mizuki cackled as she lowered her blade toward the gangster groveled beneath her, then slashed a chunk of his neck off as he winced in pain. 

 

   “Very interesting, though it’s nothing that we didn’t know already, any activities from the innocent to insidious require some form of funding and resources. However, it does sound like you’re willing to work with us.” Violet’s emerald green eyes glimmered, as if to say that this was an easy victory without even having to fire a single shot—the Demon Insurgency now had even more people gunning directly against them. 

 

   “Sure, as long as I can trust you then why the hell not? I moved to Arisaka for a reason, it’s the greatest country in the world! In the ROA I can truly feel free to express myself, and there’s a lot of like minded people here too.” Mizuki held up her blade sideways and inspected the extravagant piece of steel, her yellow eyes focused on the dose of blood at its tip in particular. “Japan is a far too strict and rigid country, especially for someone that loves freedom like I do. It’s just as the old Japanese proverb goes: the nail that sticks out gets hammered down—that type of collective society literally forces you to be dull and boring.” Mizuki smiled at Violet and I as the outline of her blade hovered between her eyes and mouth. “So if I have the chance to show my patriotism and protect my new homeland, then I’ll gladly take it.” 

 

   “Excellent to hear! We’ll be keeping in touch then, but there are more topics we wish to discuss with you.” Violet extended her right hand toward Mizuki; the bosozoku leader reciprocated, moving the katana in her left hand and giving the purple-haired angel lady a firm handshake with her right. The members of her gang at the sidelines—most of them at least—then gave a round of applause at the agreement between our two parties. 

 

   “Be my guest, we could meet up at my liquor store too if you wanna.” Mizuki restored the original position of the katana in her hands, the same as when was about to begin beheading the four cowering thieves as punishment. “But before we do, I still have to deal with these clowns. The least they can do is spit out some useful details about the Insurgency before I chop their heads off, but these bastards are too damn stubborn.” 

 

   “What I find weird is that they don’t look like demons to me, no horns on their heads or black wings on their backs, and not even an ounce of demonic energy is bouncing off them. So why would a bunch of humans help the Demon Insurgency?” I studied the appearances of the four captured delinquents now that I was close up, and at a glance they did indeed appear to be human. 

 

   “Yeah, it doesn’t make any damn sense to me either,” Mizuki said as she waved her sword around as if she was preparing to swing a baseball bat. 

 

   “That’s because they’re neither humans nor demons.” Violet drew out her Shinigami 1911 just a few seconds before the single female delinquent of the four hissed and sprang into action, the snake of a woman lunging at Mizuki while she still had her back turned against the shorter attacking female. The veteran angel woman fired off her 10mm Auto handgun at the hideous screeching she-devil, the magic bullet exploding into a great ball of warm colored flames as it made contact with flesh and bone. Before Mizuki could even deflect the monster’s attack with her katana, its corpse was now formed into a mere pile of ash and dust from Violet’s condensed magic explosion of divine light. The celestial lady’s attack did not affect Mizuki and I, but instead a shocking backblast was sent toward the three remaining enemies from the female monster’s group. 

 

   “Holy shit! I barely even saw that!” Mizuki drew out her sidearm with her free hand, a large stainless steel revolver, and if the text engraved on its side was indicative of the caliber, then her big iron was chambered in the mighty .44 Magnum. I did the same, brandishing my nitride coated 1911 in preparation for righteous combat against these ugly faced heathens.