Oh right, I forgot something.
Inozuka Saburo's trembling hand opened the email, revealing several lines of icy text on the screen that formed an even colder message. The ruthless, mysterious superior said:
From this moment onward, you will become "Uzo's" direct subordinate. Remember this codename, but do not reveal it to anyone. You know the consequences otherwise.
—Good luck.
Inozuka Saburo: "..."
Inozuka Saburo: "?!!" Wait, wait, what did "good luck" mean? Was that something you said to a subordinate being reassigned? Why did it sound more like a curse?!
And who was Uzo? Was it that thing? It had to be, right?!—How had things ended up like this?!
"It makes sense that Hashimoto Maya was targeted. Although something unknown has recently worn him down, you could still tell he wasn't an ordinary Peripheral Member... But I, Inozuka Saburo, am the most ordinary member there is! What does any of this have to do with me??"
Inozuka Saburo could hardly believe it. "Was it because I happened to share a car with those two earlier? But I never discussed his affairs with Torimaru Naoko or Hashimoto Maya! I was just an innocent driver who didn't say a word. Why are they doing this to me?!"
While Inozuka Saburo was receiving this terrible news.
Elsewhere, Hashimoto Maya, blending into the night, hurried across the street wrapped in black clothes, intending to check on his Apartment first.
This residential neighborhood was dimly lit, its Street Lamps old and somehow eerie.
While silently condemning Curacao's perfunctory guard duty, Hashimoto Maya could only stay alert and quicken his pace.
As he passed through a dark stretch where the Street Lamps had gone out, he happened to look up—and suddenly froze.
—Beneath a street lamp ten meters away, a cat sat quietly, turning its