Part I

 

“I should have known…” Zero spoke.

 

The merc lay heavily breathing against the wall, staring straight ahead into the night sky. A streak of yellow lightning flashed intermittently to his side. No, he wasn’t injured. He was merely worn out. And he was tired of having to deal with YZ infectees every day.

 

xxx

 

Love Craze Compulsion.

 

Nicknamed, the Yandere Virus, or YZ for short. As stated in the name, it turns the host into a yandere. It is speculated that the virus surfaced around a decade ago, appearing in a peaceful timeline. Being new and all, it went unnoticed, slowly infecting people. At first, nothing happened. People proceeded on with their happy relationships. Some broke up, and some went on to get married — the usual. However, as time had gone on, the virus mutated and was able to amplify the host’s infatuation with someone into obsession.

 

Symptoms would drawl on to possession and stalking of the target of affection, and eventually to… We don’t talk about that. Once infected, the host cannot be cured. However, another solution is to have the host’s target of affection return their feelings. Afterwards, symptoms would permanently be repressed. However, if the host believes that their target of affection is committing adultery, then symptoms would immediately flare up even further than it was before.

 

Not much is known about YZ, as none of the infected could properly explain anything about it. It isn’t even harmful.

 

“I don’t know what to say. I look at my beloved and she fills my entire mind. I love this feeling and I never want it to go away,” spoke one male infectee.

 

There were attempts to gather infected to use as test subjects, even going as far as using several targets of affection to lure them, but each attempt resulted in the massacre of the researchers followed by the disappearance of the targets of affection. Rumors about the infected going after the government spread all over the world, but the infected dismissed the notion, stating that, “they will only target those who present an obstacle to their love.”

 

Shortly after, every ongoing research project on YZ was forcibly shutdown. As for those who protested and were determined to jumpstart another… Well, let’s just say they learned their lesson.

 

But some people were always just curious. Too curious, even.

 

You’re probably thinking, “It can’t be so bad,” right? Yanderes are love. Yanderes are life. You’d be happy to be in a world full of ‘em, yeah? Maybe, you’re correct! Perhaps, there really is such a world.

 

But in this world…

 

Damn, you couldn’t be more wrong than that.

 

xxx

 

Ring, ring.

 

A phone could be heard ringing.

 

With a tired huff, a male picked it up.

 

Click.

 

“YZ? I don’t know, man…”

 

“…Fine, you got it. I’m in.”

 

This protagonist of ours is named Zero, an ex-singer turned mercenary.

 

 

It was about two in the morning when a portal opened up in a warehouse. The portal was a person-sized four-edged star, thinning out towards the ends. Streaks of black and red streaked along it. Dozens of smaller stars emerged alongside it, engulfing the alleyway in a dark red shine. If anyone saw it, they’d immediately believe that magic exists. Fortunately (or unfortunately), activity was very low at the time so there was no chance of being seen. A figure walked out of the portal. It was a young male with messy blue hair. He was wearing a magenta-white shirt with a prohibition sign on the center and baggy dark blue pants. His hands were equipped with spiffy black fingerless gloves. He wore beige combat boots and a brown satchel was hung over his shoulder. Additionally, he had pink eyes (to signify the presence of The Corruption) instead of the signature black eyes that all BFs have.

 

This was not Zero’s world.

 

Zero had been hired to protect a target of affection from YZ infectees. Normally, Zero would not accept contracts related to YZ, but it was a special case seeing as it came from another instance of himself, and he was short on money. Not many other mercenaries were willing to fight against YZ infectees, no matter how much money was offered, leaving Zero as the sole few left to hire. Bonus points for being an instance of BF.

 

First things first, Zero had to meet up with the contractor for briefing and to formally begin his task. He pulled out a tablet and activated the tracker (which would generally only point towards the target’s location).

 

With the tracker now active, Zero stepped out of the warehouse and into an alleyway, and scanned his surroundings. The alleyway opened up to a road and going past it revealed that the entire area was abandoned. It's probably on the outskirts of town. Zero thought to himself. Zero made note of the area to turn it into a potential outpost. Coincidentally a strange spawn location, but better for him.

 

“It’s go time.”

 

 

Thirty minutes later…

 

As Zero followed the tracker, he was eventually led to a city. One might say it’d be a neon city, because of the sheer amount of lights everywhere. A festival, perhaps? He thought to himself. Zero retrieved a skull mask from his satchel and equipped it, thus somewhat hiding his identity.

 

Nevertheless, Zero continued onwards into the town, walking along the streets, and observing his surroundings. There were parked cars and functioning streetlights littered across the road. Moreover, the streets were completely crowded with people, and food stands covered the sidewalk. It seemed that the world he was in was not that different from your generic modern setting. Still, a contract was a contract no matter how cliché the world seemed. Not moments after, though, Zero, while shuffling past people, happened to stumble upon a dog that was aimlessly wandering around. Someone’s lost dog? Zero wondered to himself. There was a collar hanging around the small dog’s neck — it read, Bubba. It was a sign that the dog had an owner.

 

Believing that Bubba would be found soon, Zero continued on his merry way to the marked destination.

 

…Or so he would have if Bubba did not clamp down on the cuffs of his pants.

 

Goddammit.

 

A slight quick tussle later, and Zero had Bubba in his arms. He hoped the contractor wouldn’t mind him being late.

 

Xxx

 

Part II

 

Zero’s past was very strange compared to the other instances of Boyfriend. First, he was an orphan and had never met his parents. Second, Zero had never met Pico or Red (his nickname for Girlfriend). He had only discovered their existence when another BF brought the matter up.

 

During his school life, he was a smalltime rapper, and there were two people he took note of — Darnell and Nene. Darnell was a pyromaniac infamous for causing small fires in school. However, as he was young, he was too scared to go too far with his antics. On the other hand, Nene was known as the player, constantly toying with the hearts of men. However, similar to Darnell, she never crossed the line with them out of fear, opting to stick with… holding hands and hugging, going on dates, as well as close words of affection, in order to illusion them, before ending it with a swift break up and a block of all contacts.

 

Between the two of them, however, there was something they both had in common — no friends.

 

One day, Zero caught them both lacking at the same time. Darnell’s new target was a dusty old unused lab, and unbeknownst to him, inside the lab was a closet where an old associate of Nene had trapped Nene inside and was planning to take revenge. Things went wrong for Darnell as his fire grew too large, unintentionally scaring off Nene’s old associate but leaving her stuck in the closet. The old associate of Nene blocked all the exits, trapping Darnell as well.

 

However, all of this was witnessed by Zero, who, finding the duo to be interesting, knocked the old associate unconscious with his microphone before freeing Darnell and putting out the fire, subsequently rescuing Nene.

 

After a brief clean-up and a smooth check-up at the nurse’s office, Zero opted to become friends with the both of them on the condition that they permanently drop their bad habits, to which they graciously accepted. Darnell, after being coaxed by Zero, admitted to being the culprit of several fires and was miraculously allowed to stay in school (aided by the persuasion of staff from Zero). Though, he was forced to do volunteer work. Zero volunteered as well, so that he wouldn’t be alone. As for Nene, she personally apologized to everyone she hurt. There were even some that tried to attack her as payback, but Zero was always there to stop it.

 

Darnell and Nene, finally free of their burden, and together with Zero, graduated school. Nene, whose feelings for Zero had been continuously building up, had planned to confess during the graduation ceremony, with Darnell being the wingman. Zero was aware of her feelings, but he truly didn’t see her that way, and after learning of her plan, he prepared to reject her.

 

The day of the graduation ceremony had arrived, but Zero was nowhere to be seen. Darnell and Nene searched everywhere- even the entire neighborhood, but the singer was nowhere to be found.

 

Unbeknownst to anyone, a portal shaped as a four-edged star with black and red accents had whisked Zero away, beginning his odd journey, and he wouldn’t return for a very, very long time. The rapper would refer to it as the events of Indie Cross. He hoped that Darnell and Nene could forget about him and move on. Alas, life never goes according to your wishes.

 

As Zero would turn this new page over in life, things for Darnell and Nene turned out differently. Darnell moved away and got a sufficient job for himself, choosing to live his life out in a secluded town, just as Zero had lived. He remained in touch, though. Meanwhile, Nene found successful work as a nurse. Still, she just couldn’t move on from the soon-to-be mercenary. When she did find him, however, Nene would make sure he didn’t have to leave ever again.

 

A few weeks after Zero returned, he reappeared in a different part of the world. Restarting life penniless, he was forced to undertake many odd jobs (there was no way any legitimate business was willing to hire a high school graduate). Eventually, he settled back into the civilian life. It won’t be long before it’s interrupted again, though. As Zero was preparing to leave the mall after finishing his shift at a store, an instance of BF appeared. It wasn’t just any regular instance, however. It was Nightmare BF.

 

Xxx

 

Zero began asking around for the owner of Bubba. Still, nobody claimed it. One of the people he had asked was a pet shop owner who gave Zero some dog treats for Bubba. Zero also received a lot of strange looks, but he shrugged them off.

 

During the small trip, Zero would occasionally give treats he got from the pet shop owner to Bubba, who would happily munch on them.

 

“Hey! That’s my dog!” A woman cried out in the distance.

 

Zero turned towards her- and froze. Fuck, it’s a cop. After god knows how many times he’s interacted with law enforcement in different worlds, he’s learned that they’re all landmines.

 

The woman was a detective. Notably, she had blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Beautiful in Zero’s eyes, but he had his priorities straight — and allowing himself to be charmed and arrested after was at the bottom of the list. Zero let down Bubba and quickly fled the scene. Zero, being the introvert he was, didn’t like interacting with people, and he hoped she didn’t misunderstand his intentions.

 

One look back, and she was already hot on his tail. Zero sped up even faster, as the woman’s shouts to halt arose.

 

“Fuck! Why are you chasing me instead of taking care of your lost dog?!” Zero grumbled to himself before cutting through the alleyways.

 

I gotta shake the cop off before I reach the contractor.

 

Zero gained an idea and rushed towards an intersection in the alleyways. Then, as he was approaching the break in the alley, he retrieved a smoke grenade from his satchel and lobbed it ahead of him. Zero also knocked down some dumpsters to block the path.

 

Click.

 

And the alleyway was full of smoke, minimizing vision.

 

Hope I don’t crash into a wall.

 

Zero turned left, made it back out onto the streets. Then, as Zero was about to blend into the crowd, he was tackled onto the ground, and handcuffs were quickly slammed onto his wrists. A small crowd began to form around, but they were quickly dispersed by the detective who flashed her badge and waved for them to mind their own business.

 

Next thing he knew, he was turned over and pinned to the wall.

 

Knowing he was fucked, Zero pleaded his case, “Listen, lady! You have the wrong idea! Your dog was wandering around, and-“ The sound of a gun clicking stopped him dead in his tracks.

 

“You yap too much.”

 

Zero rolled his eyes at the snarky comment. “Oh, yeah? How about you go fuck yourself.”

 

Zero noticed the woman smile, and she asked, “You’re really acting like that to someone who has you at gunpoint?”

 

Zero shrugged, “It is what it is.”

 

The woman was about to reply, when the dog from earlier showed up and jumped up to him.

 

“Hey, Bubba! You- er-“ The woman shifted her attention to Bubba, as the dog jumped onto her and began to lick her.

 

“Ha- Hey, stop it! That tickles!”

 

Zero, noticing the woman was distracted, quickly pickpocketed her for the handcuffs key (coincidentally fishing his hand into the right pocket), and then fleeing into the crowd. The whole time, however, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him.

 

 

Eventually, after freeing himself from the handcuffs and discarding them in a trash bin, Zero split off from the crowd and removed his mask before storing it into the satchel and continuing to follow the tracker. Morning was approaching, and he finally arrived at a mansion. To confirm that it was the destination, however, he circled the mansion and the tracker would not point towards anything else.  Situated at the entrance was a checkpoint, and past that was a marble staircase leading to a set of reinforced doors. Metal chain-link fences topped with barbed wire bordered across the mansion, and the only way in or out was through the checkpoint. Additionally, there were black panels in places where he thought would be windows (maybe they’re one-way windows?).

 

Damn. Was all Zero thought.

 

As Zero approached the checkpoint, sentry turrets rose up from the ground and aimed at him, and a set of red lasers painted his body in a dark shade. Zero stood there blankly, waiting for the system to finish scanning him.

 

A few minutes pass by, and the lasers turn green. The turrets withdraw and an automated message plays, “Identification completed.”

 

Zero rolls his eyes at that and continues onwards, moving past the defenses and walking up the marble stairs. Upon a closer look, Zero realizes there are cameras watching him, and without any hesitation, he pushes open the doors and heads in.

 

Inside, he is greeted by a nervous wreck of a person. Like any other BF, he has blue hair and red-white shoes. However, he has green eyes instead of the signature black eyes. Additionally, he dons a blue T shirt with grey long sleeves and red jogging pants.

 

“Oi,” Zero calls out to him, snapping him out of his stupor.

 

Zero holds up his hand and introduces himself, “I’m Zero. Your hired mercenary…” Zero paused for a moment, “I’ll stay ‘til the contract is completed.”

 

The nervous wreck reaches out to take Zero’s hand—and when he does, he breathes a huge sigh of relief. Suddenly, he gives off a different air than before.

 

“I’m 764. It’s nice to meet you,” 764 replies, and shakes his hands. He seemed completely different compared to before.

 

“Right…” Zero says, unsure of what to reply with. However, Zero noticed that 764 wouldn’t let go of his hand.

 

“Can you… y’know, let go?” Zero requests.

 

764 immediately realizes his mistake and releases hold, albeit hesitantly. Ignoring that small detail, Zero decides to get straight to the point.

 

“So, it was mentioned in the contract that you’re dealing with YZ infectees,  right?”

 

764 nods.

 

“Do you want them clipped?”

 

764 recoiled in shock at that. It seemed he wasn’t fond of death. “No, no… Never. Can you find a way to permanently get them off my back?”

 

“Sure thing. Tell me about them.”

 

“Okay, so…”

 

“Before that, tell me about this world, too!”

 

Xxx

 

Part III

 

According to 764, this world is one where the supernatural are, well, natural. Alongside that, many races of people exist, ranging from the legendary Atlanteans to the mythical phoenixes. Furthermore, there’s the classic goddamn “superheroes and villains” trope in this world, where they actually have powers.

 

It turns out that 764 knew absolutely nothing about the YZ infectees that are targeting him, so Zero gave 764 a panic button which would alert Zero to his position should he fall in danger.

 

Soon enough, Zero was out and about, exploring the city. After this, he returned to the abandoned warehouse to turn it into an outpost.

 

…Or so he planned to return…

 

“You there!” Someone called out. Zero turned around, only to be met with the barrel of a rifle pointed at his head. The armed man motioned for him to get into the bank. Under the threat of a firearm, he complied.

 

Coincidentally, the bank was just being robbed when Zero happened to come across it, and not many people have known about it yet. The armed robbers, using this to their advantage, gathered as many hostages as they could find.

 

As soon as Zero entered the bank, he was immediately shoved to the ground and zip tied, before being pushed towards the group of hostages. Zero noticed many more hostages inside, and they were zip tied as well. The bank employees were separated from the normal civilians. Zero counted about seven robbers in the lobby. Including the robber outside, there were eight in total. Maybe there were more of them down in the vault.

 

“Calm down, ladies and gents! If you wanna live, don’t run off! We’re willing to gun anyone down.” One of the robbers shouted.

 

One man didn’t believe them, so he tried to run off, only to be gunned down. All of the robbers used suppressed firearms, except for two robbers, one of which used a shotgun and the other who used a rocket launcher, who stayed guard near the tellers.

 

A teller tried to use their phone to call for help, only for it to scramble and explode, injuring themselves and the other hostages nearby. Afterwards, they were beat up by two of the robbers.

 

There must be a jammer…

 

As time would pass, more and more hostages would enter the bank. One of which, Zero recognized to be… the blonde detective?

 

The detective was not wearing her detective garb, but rather a blue-white striped one piece dress, black stockings, and black-red running shoes.

 

Once the detective made eye contact, she winked.

 

The hell…?

 

After the robbers zip tied her and pushed her towards the group of hostages, she made her way to Zero, and sat next to him.

 

“What do you want, jackass?” Zero asked and nudged her side with his elbow.

 

The detective playfully nudged him back and happily responded, “You had no bad intentions.”

 

Zero found this as a strange thing to say, but realized she was referring to their earlier interaction.

 

“I’m glad you found me innocent, but you’re pretty weird.”

 

That earned a chuckle out of the detective. “Also, good job getting out of those cuffs.”

 

Zero simply shrugged.

 

Zero noticed a small commotion at the entrance to the bank. The detective glanced at it knowingly.

 

Bang!

 

An explosion occurred, and several smoke grenades were thrown in. Police sirens could be heard blaring outside. The robbers scrambled to their battle stations, and the small distraction allowed Zero, the detective, and a couple of other hostages to slip away. More hostages tried to follow suit but were immediately shot and killed.

 

“The other robbers will handle ‘em, but we gotta focus on the one time!”

 

“Blow it up!” One of the robbers ordered, and the hostages who heard this immediately got up and ran away. Those who ran towards the entrance were quickly shot down. The robber with the rocket launcher took aim towards the entrance and shouted, “Backblast!”

 

The other robbers responded, “Clear!” and without hesitation, the robber fired. Then, he dove to cover, discarded the rocket launcher, and switched to a heavy pistol. The robbers prepared for a heavy assault.

 

Cans of tear gas were suddenly thrown in past the smoke.

 

“Everyone! Masks on!”

 

The battle had only just begun.