DECEPTION (Female Reader) [SAKAMOTO DAYS]

28: "Connected"

Every JAA assassin has their own I.D. number, something I learned after spending countless hours snooping around the JAA's systems. Thanks to my connections with the current chairman, Asaki, I managed to slip into the main database without anyone but him noticing. I looked into several records of dead assassins, including Rion's.

That's when I found something strange... and strangely amusing.

Rion... was listed as dead. But there was still a record of her accessing the JAA site.

Not only that... She was the one who placed the billion-yen bounty on Sakamoto's head.

It didn't make sense. Why go through all that trouble to put a price on a retired assassin? The whole thing lit a fire in me. I had to dig deeper, uncover what was really going on.

'Buuuut before diving headfirst into this mess... I might as well ask a few former clients.'

Back at the arcade, Nagumo mentioned a group responsible for slaughtering over a hundred assassins in just a few months. The killers always leave an 'X' mark at the crime scenes, usually on the walls. Naturally, people have started calling them 'X.' These unknown individuals have been targeting JAA assassins ever since Sakamoto's billion-yen bounty was announced. There's no doubt this 'X' group is behind it. 'The real question is... who are they? What's their motive?'

--

At the Okutabi Science Museum, I questioned a few shady contacts from the dark alleys about any connections between the 'X' group and other organizations. Some pointed me to this museum. Supposedly, behind its innocent facade, there's a hidden lab where they conduct secret experiments and research. Unlike the 'Nameless', the lab beneath the museum is supposedly different. I just hope it's not as bad as where I came from.

Sneaking into the basement, I spotted men in white coats rushing out, their faces strained with urgency. Something big was unraveling beneath this place, and I knew I had to move quickly before the whole operation collapsed. My heart raced as I finally reached the lowest level- the classified information vault. Without wasting a second, I tore through files and data, but the intel was thin.

I turned to the monitors, my fingers flying across the keyboard, scanning through every second of footage. And then, I saw it- the answer I was looking for. 'X,' also known as 'Slur,' had taken control of the entire lab. They'd locked up the original leader and were now using all the projects and creations for their own sinister purposes. "Stealing someone's work and calling it yours... low move." I muttered, though I wasn't particularly interested in the chaos above.

Then came the real revelation. On one of the monitors, I froze. There, a man in a reindeer mask stood flanked by two others. But what grabbed my attention was the figure standing before them. My eyes widened, and a slow grin spread across my face.

White hair, tall, shrouded in a more ominous presence than ever before. I hadn't seen him in years, yet there he was-the mastermind behind all the recent carnage, the one who placed a billion yen bounty on a retired assassin's head. I let out a soft chuckle, my excitement building.

"Behind all of this chaos... the one pulling the strings... Johan Liebert." I mocked. "Ah-no, of course not. It's Kei Uzuki, naturally!" I laughed, my amusement rising. This was going to be one hell of a show-intense, violent, and bloody. And I couldn't wait to watch it unfold.

After hastily covering my tracks in the vault, making it look as if I had never even been there, I moved to climb back up and escape. But just as I was about to sprint out, the floor beneath me started trembling, the entire place about to collapse. I pushed forward, but in an instant, a hand clamped around my neck, lifting me effortlessly off the ground. My breath caught-more in surprise than fear. I hadn't sensed them at all.