The Lion's Den

The rain was still ongoing. It was already dark outside when Kazuma arrived in Shibuya.

As he used his phone to find the way to Yui's location, he did not notice that he entered the dark alleys as he left the brightly illuminated shopping district of Shibuya behind him.

“Damn... Damn it!” he moaned as his breathing became unsteady from running.

Kazuma's emotions were in a mess right now.

He was scared and worried. Was she fine? What happened to her? Kazuma had many questions but not a single answer to one of them. Being completely in the dark, he could only imagine the worst possible scenarios in his mind. And the more he thought about her current status, the more did his anxiety grow.

Kazuma blamed and hated himself. Why did he not contact her sooner? What would have happened if he called her sooner? He deemed himself naive because he thought that she was absent from school due to illness. If she were ill, she would have surely sent him a message to notify him about her absence. The more he blamed himself, the stronger did he hate himself.

But most importantly, he was confused and enraged. Who was the person he spoke to? Did the person kidnap Yui? Why would she be kidnapped? Did the person harm her in any way? Kazuma did not know with whom he had to deal with. But one thing was certain. He will not hold back if Yui was hurt. His confusion faded slowly as he did not care who his enemy was whereas his rage only grew more and more.

“Here it is...” he stopped in his tracks.

Kazuma finally arrived at the address. In front of him was a small run down factory.

He took a deep breath as he entered the factory with a fierce expression.

After he took a few steps, the lights suddenly turned on.

“!”

The first thing his eyes focused on was a person who was tied on a chair with a rope. The person was Yui.

She wore a blindfold and her mouth was taped shut. She still had her school uniform which was dirty and tattered in some places.

“Yui!” he shouted.

When he was near enough, he spotted a few small cuts on her body and face. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in rage. But his main priority was to untie Yui.

“Hnngg!” she muffled.

“Don't worry, it's me, Yui!” he tried to lessen her anxiety.

First, he carefully took her blindfold and the tape on her mouth off. For a second, Kazuma felt relief after seeing her face again. But only for a second.

“K-Kazuma, it's a trap!” Yui warned him with still teary eyes.

“?”

Suddenly, footsteps were heard. It did not take a few seconds until Kazuma and Yui were surrounded by a group of rough looking people who covered their faces with face masks or hoods. There even a few who were equipped with a weapon like an iron pipe, a bat or some knuckles.

“Tch.” Kazuma clicked his tongue as he analyzed the situation and tried to think of a way to at least let Yui escape.

Then, a person emerged from the group and approached the two. The person was the same age as Kazuma and had an intimidating aura. He had a buzz-cut hairstyle which was dyed blonde. He wore a tank top which stressed his bulky tattooed arms.

“So you're Ichinose Kazuma?” he spat on the ground.

“Who are you?” Kazuma's face turned grim.

“I'm Fujiwara Ryuuji.” he grinned.

“So I assume that you were the one I talked to on the phone, right?”

“That's right.”

Kazuma took a step forward closing the distance between him and Ryuuji.

“Then, are you responsible for the kidnapping?” Kazuma asked with a look so intimidating that even Ryuuji's body flinched.

“B-boss' order.” he answered before he covered his mouth with his hand.

Why exactly did Ryuuji tell Kazuma that? He had no obligation to answer that or rather, he should not have answered the question. Was he intimidated by him? Scared? He only knew that he picked the wrong enemy.

“Boss? What's his name?” Kazuma asked.

“I-I can't tell y-"

Pow.

"Ahhrg!”

Ryuuji received a strong kick into his stomach as he did not want to answer the question.

Currently Kazuma was in an inapproachable state whereas Yui could only hide behind him shivering in fear as she saw no escape from their situation.

Kazuma grabbed Ryuuji's head, who was cowering in pain after the kick.

“Tell me the name.”

“I-I can't t- Ahhh!” he screamed in agony when Kazuma tightened his grip on the head making Ryuuji kneel in front of him.

“F-fine, I'll tell you! Please let go!” Ryuuji begged as he tried to knock away Kazuma's arm.

Then, Kazuma let go.

“K-Kanzaki Shinya...” Ryuuji stated while cowering on the ground.

“!”

When he heard the name, Kazuma's rage intensified. He clenched his fists stronger even after they started bleeding. It was a name Kazuma did not expect to hear.

“Are you a member of them?” Kazuma calmed down a little.

“Y-yes.” Ryuuji replied as he pointed to the back of the building.

“?”

Kazuma turned around to see where Ryuuji was pointing at.

“No way...” he was baffled.

Kazuma saw a big graffiti of an owl on the wall. The way the owl was sprayed on and the way it looked was too familiar with him.

"Haha...hahaha!" he could only laugh as he covered his face with his hand.

“W-what the...” Ryuuji could not comprehend why Kazuma was laughing like a maniac after seeing the owl.

“Hey. Let's make a deal. You let this girl escape and in exchange I'll stay here and entertain you. Don't think of refusing this.” Kazuma looked back at Ryuuji.

The other members started to get noisy after they could only watch perplexedly the conversation between Ryuuji and Kazuma.

“Is he crazy?”

“Maybe a death wish?”

“He got guts, for sure.”

They talked among themselves.

“What are you saying, Kazuma?! I won't leave without you!” Yui said as she pulled on his shirt after being quiet the entire time.

“...”

“Why aren't you saying anything?! Don't you see those people?! They're carrying weapons!” she warned him.

“Bring her outside!” Ryuuji ordered the others.

“Y-yes!”

Two people walked to them and grabbed Yui's arms.

“Let go of me! Kazuma! That's too reckless!” she continued to try to convince him to leave with her.

“...” Kazuma only looked away.

Not wanting to move, the guys had to drag her forcefully away.

“Kazuma!” tears started to flow from her eyes.

When she was near the exit, Kazuma finally looked into her eyes.

“I'm sorry.” he smiled at her apologetic.

“N-no!” Yui tried to resist the two dragging her but it was futile.

“Should we take her to the train station?” one of the guys holding Yui asked.

“Yes.” Ryuuji answered.

It was not an act of goodwill. This was decided in order to prevent her from notifying the police.

Silence returned after the they left the factory.

Ryuuji stepped back to the other members.

“Now it's your turn.” he said after regaining his confidence.

“...4...6...11...17...” Kazuma murmured.

“Hm?”

“21.” Kazuma stated.

“What are you talking about?” Ryuuji was confused.

“I counted the numbers of person.”

“What the... Whatever. It's you versus all of us. You can only hope that the police will hurry up to save your ass, hahaha!” he mocked Kazuma.

The entire group was pumped up as they stretched their arms to the roof. It was their signal to commence the attack.

Kazuma, however, was standing still.

He could barely hold back his excitement. After all the years, he found a clue. Don't start a fight? In that moment, he could care less about his promise.

The owl on the wall made it all clear to him. Kazuma was in the new headquarters of 'The Owls of Tokyo' right now. The root of his revenge.

There was still a missing piece but he knew that he could use the members in front of him to get to the missing one. In all these years, he was nowhere near to any significant information than now. It was his chance.

Kazuma cracked his finger knuckles and his neck as he got ready for the brawl .

“I can only hope that the police will hurry up to save my ass? The same goes for all of you.” Kazuma said with a threatening expression as he took up his fighting stance.

Despite being up against 21 delinquents with most of them having a weapon, Kazuma's confidence did not waver one bit. He was not sure if he would win against them but he was certain that he would leave this place with all the information he sought.

Now Kazuma's revenge finally started.