Some time after leaving Loctown, Sifon and Ocho return to the mercenary agency. They're standing outside the main entrance but don't go in, because they don't know what they'll be told for failing to complete the mission.
"Well, we'd better brace ourselves for the scolding," said Ocho.
"I don't know about you, but I don't have any problems here," said Sifon.
"I'm used to getting scolded for stuff like this. The only difference is that my stuff was because I stuck my nose into everything," said Sifon.
"Hey, at least look on the bright side—we'll have a story to tell, hahaha," said Ocho, laughing.
"Okay, but what about that guy? What happened to him?" asked Sifon, referring to Tsurugi.
"That guy—halfway there, I was holding him out of nowhere, and when I no longer felt any weight on my shoulder, I realized he'd slipped away, and I didn't see where he went," said Eight.
"I see why that happened. You're too soft when it comes to killing someone," said
"Unless it's a psychopath or a madman, or rather someone despicable—then you can do it without hesitation," said Sifon.
"Yeah, well, let's go inside," said Ocho, heading inside.
Sifon and Ocho enter the agency, and after a few hours, we see them come out with a file tucked into a folder. "I can't believe we got confused," said Sifon.
"Hey, how was I supposed to know it was a print shop?" said Ocho, who had gone to the wrong place.
"Let's just get in the damn car. We'll never talk about this; we'll never say or mention this mistake," said Sifon.
"Well, at least I managed to get a folder to store the papers I had in the car," said Ocho jokingly.
"You better just shut up and let's go before they see us," said Sifon.
Ocho and Sifon get into the car, and Ocho drives to the mercenaries' building. After so long, they finally arrive at the building, get out of the car, and go inside.
Once inside, they make their way to an elevator and ride up to the top floor where the councilors are. Once there, Eight and Sifon step out of the elevator and continue on.
"Sifon, stay here. This is my problem, not yours. Please," said Eight.
"Fine, but just don't mention me when you talk to them," said Sifon.
"Alright, fine, Seven," said Ocho.
"I told you not to call me Seven," said Sifon.
Ocho enters the boardroom where only one person is waiting for him: Mr. Turuku. He stares intently at Ocho and then pulls out a file.
"Ocho, please take a seat," said Board Member Turuku.
"Yes, sir," said Ocho.
"As you know, we almost never fail," said Turuku.
"So with this report, all I find is pure disappointment," said Turuku, throwing down a folder full of files.
"Well, Mr. Turuku, is it that…?" said Eight.
"It's not that anything! You have one job! One damn job!" shouted Turuku angrily.
"I know, I only had one commitment, let's say. Is that it?" said Ocho.
"Even to talk! You're an idiot!" said Advisor Turuku, placing his fingers on his temples in a gesture of stress.
"Hey, come on, relax," said Ocho.
"I don't want to hear any more. This will be your way of making up for your failure," said Turuku in a disappointed tone.
"You'll have to be this man's bodyguard for quite some time," said Turuku, handing over some documents.
"Keep an eye on him until his conference is over," said Turuku.
"All right, sir. I'll be going now," said Ocho, taking the documents.
"Alright, let's see… ah… Director Kiyoshita," said Ocho aloud as he opened the document and reviewed the papers.
"Looks like he's an important man. Ah… I see, he's the one who inaugurated the new bridge," said Ocho, taking a closer look at the document.
"The one in charge of border roads to further reduce the cost of traffic congestion," said Ocho aloud again.
"That way, they won't have to take a long detour through the whole region to get to another area, so there won't be any more problems," said Ocho aloud.
"So that's what the paper says, right?" said a voice.
"Ah! Who's there!" Eight shouted in fear.
"Well, obviously me, you idiot. Who else would it be?" said that person's voice.
The person standing in the shadows stepped closer, and Eight could just make out a tattooed number on their neck—the number 10. Eight glanced at it out of the corner of his eye and recognized the person.
"Ah! It's you, Ten! How are you?" said Eight in a friendly tone.
"Better not say that nonsense. Anyway, I'll only be here a moment; I don't have much free time," said Ten calmly.
Narrator.—(First, you should know that this isn't the current Ten; it's the previous one, before the current one. And this is a special case, since he was the strongest one who could be compared to One. His ability is magnetism; he uses his blood for that.)—said the Narrator.
Narrator.—(He's from Liberacion Meteoro, and besides, his story is one of the strangest in the future, since no one knows why he resigned or left the mercenaries. It's one of the strangest cases, especially considering he was one of the strongest, second only to Uno.)—said the Narrator.
Ten and Eight are walking through the building's hallways.—Well, looks like the break didn't last long, but I'm fine anyway—they keep me pretty busy.—said Ten with a sarcastic tone.
—I see. Oh… hey, actually, I have this. I know you wanted one for your collection, for your ability.—said Eight, pulling a platinum magnet out of his pocket.
"Wow… I can't believe it's real platinum, hahaha… I finally have something rare," said Ten, surprised and happy.
"Where did you get it?" Ten asked, taken aback.
"Well, you know me—I'm good at this, so my gift is the best you've ever seen, buddy," replied Eight.
"Okay, enough already, buddy. You're making it hard for me to get you a birthday present, hahaha," said Ten, laughing.
"Come on, don't be silly. My birthday's still several months away, hahaha," said Eight, laughing.
"Okay, okay, let's drop it. You better hurry, or else the council will get mad at you," said Ten.
"Yeah, you're right. I better go now or I'll be late. Bye!" said Eight.
Eight walks along and runs into Siphon, who was waiting for him. Siphon turns his gaze and sees him. "Well, tell me—did something interesting happen that made them kick you out of the meeting so quickly?" asked Siphon, curious about Eight's sudden and abrupt exit from the meeting he'd had with the counselor.
"Well, you'll see—I've got this, and you'll see," replied Eight nervously.
Eight tells him all the details—how the meeting went, everything they discussed, and even the mission he was assigned. "I see how things are going. I didn't expect that, though I suppose it's not surprising, so don't be too surprised," said Siphon, slightly unconcerned about the situation.
"Well, although I don't think it'll have any repercussions if I just do it," said Eight, his cheeks red with embarrassment.
Eight walks through the building toward the parking lot where there's a car—a new car that Eight bought after what happened with the last one (the one that exploded before Sifón and Eight arrived in Loctown).
Eight gets into the car and takes the wheel. Before driving off, he adjusts the rearview mirror, and on the inside of the windshield, he sees a photo of his family.
Eight looks at it and smiles before setting off on the mission he's been assigned. "Now I see this is going to be complicated," Eight thought as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.
"There sure is a lot of traffic," said Ocho, looking at the sea of cars.
It took two and a half hours for Ocho to finally arrive at his mission; he arrived at a luxurious reception area where a manager was waiting for him.
"You're the mercenary we hired, right? Your appearance leaves a lot to be desired," said the manager.
"Well, if you're trying to say I look bad, well, I don't have such refined tastes," said Eight.
"Yeah, let's just say… well, we could do something for you while Mr. A hasn't arrived yet," said the manager, hinting at something.
"I'm sorry, but I'm married, so please don't do that," said Eight politely.
"Hah… Well, go to the tenth floor; they're waiting for you there," said the manager grumpily.
Eight takes the elevator, going up floor by floor until he reaches the tenth. The doors open, and Eight steps out of the elevator, heading toward a room where two people are waiting.
Outside a city, in an alley, there were two guys who were muggers. "Hey, look at how much that guy had. We got really lucky," said one of them.
"Yeah, you're right," said the other.
Just then, they saw a person covered in blood crossing the street, but he seemed to be crawling toward a certain spot. "Hey, look at what that man is carrying," said one of them, staring intently.
That man was wearing a luxurious suit that looked super expensive, along with other accessories. "Do you think that guy has a lot of money?" said one of them.
"Yeah, you're right," said the other.
The guys chase after the man, following him discreetly; he doesn't notice, and just as they catch up, the guy who was closest grabs him. "Hey, you forgot your money!" the guy shouted.
Gunshots rang out all along the alley until they reached a street where, luckily, almost no one was awake. Returning to the alley, the guy's partner is sitting on the ground, scared.
While the guy lies dead on the ground with several bullet wounds in his body and blood soaking through his clothes and covering the floor, the man turns around upon seeing the guy's partner.
He approaches and, coming face to face, opens his mouth to speak. "Hey, I want to know if you know which way Fukuoka is, please," said the man, who was Norichi.
"If you don't know, that's fine—I can find someone else to tell me," said Norichi, pointing the gun at the man.
"Haaaaaaa..." Screams echoed throughout the alley.
From there, a person emerged with a smile and continued walking, dragging his feet through the streets as he made his way through the area.
Meanwhile, it started to rain, and the guy got wet from every raindrop that fell on him until he was completely soaked, but he kept walking through the area on that rainy day.