Yuzu Kari, owner and CEO of Yuzu Cooperation. His company stood at the forefront of technology and weaponry systems in Japan. Yet lately, things slipped into an unexpected direction, and the thought of it left a sour taste in his mouth.
The source of his frustration had a name: Yaoyorozu Manami. Kari had offered the man a generous price for the new technology developed by the Yaoyorozu Cooperation, generous enough that most men would have shaken his hand before he finished speaking. Instead, that bastard had refused him outright.
Kari scoffed at the memory. Greed, he decided. Either Yaoyorozu wanted to enter the weapon-manufacturing field himself, or he was waiting for an even better offer. Either way, Kari had waited long enough. Months had already passed, and patience had never been one of his virtues.
His thoughts drifted to the bastard's daughter.
At first, he had considered a warning, a threat to the girl, perhaps a carefully staged accident meant to frighten the man with the well being of his daughter. But he dismissed the idea just as quickly. A man like Yaoyorozu would go to absurd lengths to protect his daughter while still refusing to sell. Fear alone would not bend him,the fool thinks himself as a predator but he is just another prey.
So Kari turned to an old yet reliable plan.
Kidnap the girl. Hide her away for days or weeks, and force the bastard into obedience. It was a simple plan in theory, but Kari knew better than to underestimate its risks. Too many things could go wrong. That was why he had sent his men to track the girl's movements and prepare every detail with care. Nothing must fail. He had no intention of drawing the attention of the police or, worse, the heroes.
High risk, high reward. The saying echoed pleasantly in his mind, and a thin smile crept across his face as he imagined the profit waiting for him on the other side of success.
"What's wrong with you today?"
Kari blinked as his wife's voice broke through his thoughts. She stood in the doorway, watching him with mild concern. "You came back late. You've been staring into space, and now you're smiling."
"I'm just thinking about work," Kari said smoothly. "I have a feeling I'm going to make a great profit soon."
She smiled, relieved. "I'm glad things are going well, but I worry about you. You put too much effort into work. You should relax a little."
Kari nodded. "You're right. But this is important. Once I'm done with this new project, I'll be able to rest properly."
She nodded in return and glanced at the clock. "Come on. It's already late, and I assume you'll be going to the office early tomorrow."
Kari checked the time and frowned. Midnight.
"Oh. I didn't realize it was this late."
They turned off the lights together and went to bed, the house settling into silence. Two hours passed in complete darkness, husband and wife deep in sleep, unaware of anything around them.
Then, without a sound, two blue glowing orbs appeared in the middle of the room.
Just beneath them, the space itself seemed to split open, forming an open mouth. From it crawled two spiders. They moved forward, then stopped, as if standing upon empty air.
Junsei, still invisible, held the spiders and carried them closer to the bed. He lowered them gently, and they slipped beneath the sheets. A moment later, Kari shifted silently, but did not wake. The spiders emerged again, their task complete.
Junsei gathered them gently into his mouth and left the room without a single glance behind, as quietly as he had entered.
Minutes later, Yuzu Kari woke up screaming in agony. His wife bolted upright, terror flooding her face as she watched him writhe in pain. Within minutes, she rushed him to the hospital.
It did not save him.
The following afternoon, the news announced the death of Yuzu Kari, owner of Yuzu Cooperation. The cause stunned both reporters and experts alike: a spider bite. What made the case stranger still was that no one could identify the spider responsible. Tests revealed a mixture of necrotic and neurotoxic venom in his body.
Some experts suggested he had been bitten by two different spiders. Yet the evidence showed only a single bite mark, near the neck. That meant one spider, or perhaps some other insect entirely.
But what insect could it be?
Japan had no species known to be so deadly. The police suspected foul play, yet there were no signs of forced entry, cameras didn't detect anything, and guards saw nothing.
In the end, the official conclusion was unsatisfying to all. Yuzu Kari had likely been bitten earlier, perhaps during the day, and the venom had taken time to act. The experts admitted they had no clear explanation. The police issued a warning to the public: if anyone encountered an unfamiliar spider or insect, they were to keep their distance.
Some whispered that Japan might be witnessing the emergence of a new species.
Others, quietly and without evidence, wondered if something far more deliberate had passed unseen through the night. Some quirk or a mix of quirks that killed the unsuspecting man.
——————
Junsei found himself, once again, standing before Mr. Yaoyorozu and Sai. Both men wore serious expressions, brows drawn low, their eyes fixed on him.
Mr. Yaoyorozu spoke first "Yuzu Kari is dead. Killed by some unknown insect." He paused, then added, "It was you again, wasn't it? After I told you to not do anything just yesterday."
"I did what I thought was best," Junsei replied calmly.
"You ignored my words," Mr. Yaoyorozu snapped.
"Because they were illogical."
Sai said. "Junsei, you put yourself at risk and ignored what you were told."
"You were making a mistake," Junsei said evenly. "I won't follow your orders."
Mr. Yaoyorozu's frown deepened. "Do you think I will trust you after this? You…"
"There is no trust to be lost," Junsei interrupted. "You didn't trust me to begin with. Our agreement was that I protect you and your family. When my time here is over, I will return to the forest. Until then, I will not let you or your family die because you want to pretend you are a good human."
Sai drew a sharp breath. "Junsei, the problem is that you took things into your own hands. You did something wrong. You broke the trust we gave you. You…"
"That man discussed kidnapping," Junsei cut in again, "and causing accidents to force what he wanted."
He turned his gaze fully on Mr. Yaoyorozu. "So why wait for him to act? If he sent his people, they could have succeeded. Or perhaps I would have stopped them, but why take that risk? If you truly care about not killing or harming other humans, then what I did is correct. I stopped the one who would have made others do something bad to you. Something that could kill you, your family or themselves."
Junsei's voice remained level, but there was a quiet insistence beneath it. "Who decided you were right? You assumed waiting was good, but clearly it was not."
The room fell silent for a moment. Then Sai spoke, his voice firm with conviction. "Because you could also be wrong. Kari might have abandoned his plan for one reason or another."
Junsei's eyes narrowed slightly. "So to you, the right thing is to wait until Momo is kidnapped or killed first? Even if I shouldn't care about protecting her life, I still care about mine. I am always with her. If something happens to her, it will happen to me."
"That's not what I'm saying," Sai replied quickly. "Self-defense is a different matter."
"I don't see the difference." Junsei replied with a frown.
Mr. Yaoyorozu sighed heavily, rubbing his temple as though the weight of the argument had finally settled on him. "Junsei, that's enough. I understand what you're saying. You can leave… and thank you for what you did."
Junsei glanced at him, searching his face for a moment, then turned and left without another word.
Sai stared after him, a surprise plain on his face. When the door closed, Mr. Yaoyorozu spoke quietly, almost to himself.
"He is right," he said. "Waiting was indeed foolish."
Sai said "That's not the problem here, he is a child, he can't go around deciding who to die"
Mr. Yaoyorozu said "Maybe, but he did what we couldn't. He protected Momo. I didn't want to inform the police because I feared the anti-quirk dome technology would be leaked to the public, it was already problematic when it reached Yuzu's ears."
Mr. Yaoyorozu sighed and said "The boy is right, I am not a good human being. To protect my project and profit, I risked my daughter life"
Sai said "So what are you going to do now? Yuzu was one person, this could happen again. You can't just wait for Junsei to kill threats"
Mr. Yaoyorozu said "The new technology is the work of my life, I can't just let go of it. I think it is time to leave this country."
Sai was taken aback "What?"
Mr. Yaoyorozu continued "I won't risk my daughter again, so I will go to the US to continue the project there, in the meantime, I will leave Momo here to pursue her dream."
Sai didn't expect this.