Shura walked into the living room of the apartment. Someone else was sitting there in the living room. His feet were kicked up on the table and he was leaning back. It was the apparition from before, for those not following it was Geno Ranzu. A ghost of the Ranzu’s lineage that Shura couldn’t seem to shake. Ever since that day of training he has come to haunt Shura’s everyday life. The thing was he wasn’t really there. Shura was made aware of that one day while he was getting groceries. Geno followed him around the store, creating all sorts of problems. Shura even found himself yelling at the phantom, but only to realize only he could see him. The bottom line was, Shura was slowly going mad. His mind was slowly slipping downward into the abyss.

The abyss being that of madness. A bottomless pit that Geno Ranzu dwelled in. “Hello there sunshine.”

“You aren’t real.”

“Real enough to kick your sorry ass.”

“Fuck you”

“Someone is a little salty this morning.”

Geno was right in that department. That punch felt very real that day on the beach. That feeling will always sit in the back of his head as a remainder of what was to come. Shura rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. See the past couple of days Shura had been sulking in his room. Dealing with this phantom that had been following him around. It was about time to get off his ass and do something. Ambitions do not fulfill themselves.

“So what is on the menu for today? More smoking and lazing about? Or are we going to get out today?”

Shura rolled his eyes while walking into the kitchen. “Yes we are getting out today. Wait you don’t exist why am I entertaining this conversation?”

“Because you are slipping into insanity.”

Shura did not respond because he knew Geno was right. The past couple of days have been harder than usual to gather thoughts. Twisted things creeped into his head. Unspeakable things that never crossed his mind before. He was never one to be sadistic or inflict unnecessary pain. He was a strong believer of ending it quickly as a sign of mercy. Mercy was becoming a more fleeting thought with each passing day. ‘Was the appearance of this phantom the cause of all of this? It had to be.’ He thought. Shura was setting up the coffee maker before going to get dressed. He had a job to get ready for. One that put him on the dark side of the spectrum. He was stealing a map for the usual clientele, Raegan Hullston. Ideally the mission was to take place at night. But Shura needed to case the place out and steal a uniform from the location. He was trying to be covert about this. He did not need the whole state barreling down on him while escaping. A clean get in and out scenario.

502/2000

Shura left the apartment shortly after getting his coffee in a travel cup and getting dressed. Of course Geno was following behind, looking around the area. Just being a general annoyance per usual. At this point Shura could not fight it or push against it. Geno was here against Shura’s wishes for some strange reason. He struggled trying to put a reason for it due to the giant being so tight lipped. The only thing that left his lips were snide remarks and unhelpful comments. There had to be a reason for him being here. He could not let this pest drag him away from the main concern at the moment. That was the mission at hand. As stated before Shura had to steal a map. The issue was the map was kept under surveillance in a museum. It wasn’t long before the two were standing in front of the museum.

“So I am guessing this is the place?” Geno asked.

“Just try not to distract me.” Shura responded.

Geno laughed in response but for once he obeyed. He made the jester as if he was zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key. Shura shook his head, “I swear you are like fucking 10.” Geno gave a shrug in response, showing that he meant it. Shura noticed something on the glass pane as he opened the door. He removed his mask and used a clip he had designed on his belt to keep it on his side. Shura was past the idea of hiding his face and no one knew who he was really anyways. At least not in Hargeon. He grabbed the paper off the front of the door and walked in. There was a clerk at the front, she was a elderly woman reading something. She had large glasses that acted as magnifying class, surely she was blind without them.

She did not flinch at the sound of the door opening and closing. So she must have been deaf on top of it. Aging was something that Shura was not to fond of. That was something else he wanted a answer too. The human body was capable of so much more and here the skeleton that sat in front of him was a prime of example of how to squander potential.

“Yes I am here for the poster? See it’s for a night shift.”

Still no response, this agitated him a bit. So he repeated but a bit louder. The old lady looked up with a disinterested look on her face. “I can hear you boy. I am not deaf.” she responded. Shura smiled and apologized. “I am sorry for my rudeness.” He had to sound convincing even though he could just walk through and take what he wanted. The mission was pretty specific about being covert about the heist so he had to act the part. She climbed down from her desk, she was short too. “Follow me.”

She was leading Shrua somewhere, he followed while casing the area with Geno in tow. His eyes scanned the area, looking for camera lacrima, armed guards and anything else that could get in the way. It seemed the security was rather light but that could have all be a distraction. She lead him into the employee section of the museum. There was a man in a black policeman like uniform with a cap. He had a larger badge than the few individuals Shura passed by. So clearly he was in charge. “This kid is here for the job.” The old woman’s voice was just bored and uninterested. Shura saw that there were Camera lacrima, thankfully only one on the map.

The man went to speak but Shura cut him off. “Look, I am not here for the job. I am here for something else.” While saying this he walked over to the door and locked it. The man had a worried look on his face. Geno’s eyes lit up at this scene unfolding in front of him.

“Let’s chat.”

1180/2000

“No need to speak just nod in agreement.”

The man said nothing, just nodded. “Good you can listen to orders. You look like a reasonable person. I am going to ask you some questions.”

The guard nodded.

“Nice family? Wife and kids nice home. This is a side job maybe the 2nd job you do to make ends meet? A stand up kind of man, one that I can respect. Do I have this all correct?”

The guard nodded.

“I don’t want to cause you any trouble or remove you from this world. I need something from you.” Shura pointed at the lacrima that was monitoring the map. “I need that for someone who is way more dangerous and invested in the underbelly of this city. I know your face and your name is Harold. According to your badge. It would be a shame if something happened to you.”

He looked a bit flustered and began to open his mouth. “You speak and I remove your vocal cords and send them to your family. We both know you don’t want that. You are going to give me access by giving me your keys. Say ya lost them, someone stole them I don’t care. But I will trigger the alarm too make sure you catch no flak or suspicion okay?” The man said nothing after Shura finished his speech. Shura let out a deep sigh and pointed his right index finger at the man's head. It began to give off an ominous glow. He held up a open left hand and motioned for the keys. The man slowly grabbed at his waist, removing the key ring from his back pocket.

“Good, now remove the key to the back and keep the rest. It will be odd if you come up with missing keys as the manager.” The man nodded and removed one of the keys that gave access through the back. The map wasn’t under any glass or anything just sitting in a storage room with one camera on it. Shura took the key and slid it into his pocket. “See how easy that was Harold? Now you should know you tell anyone about this chat not only will you go down. They won’t catch me, I will find your family and make sure to mail them to you in pieces while you rot away. Don’t make me hurt innocent people Harold.” Shura stood up and left the back room with the key in hand.

Geno appeared again and was actually impressed by Shura’s moxxie. “Wow kid I didn’t know you had it in you. But we could have just taken it right now and cut out all the waiting.”

“Let me do my job.” Shura’s response was cold but it got the point across. Geno said nothing and shrugged. Now it was time to wait until night time. Shura retreated to his home to get ready for the heist. He wanted to change into some more fitting clothing that covered his entire body. That way the camera did not know what it was looking at.

526

1706/2000

Later that night..

It was almost midnight and the museum had long since closed at around eight at night. This gave the curators an hour to clean up and lock up. Only leaving the night guards to watch over the place. Shura used the shadows as a way to keep himself hidden. Without a sound he was able to move towards the back and avoid the guard patrolling outside. Shura popped out into a light that shined downward in the alley. He was in a full body zentai spandex. It was black in color and covered his body from head to toe. He wore a utility belt to hold all sorts of little gadgets and the key for breaking in. With ninja tabi on he left no footprints, and wore gloves that left no trace. Geno appeared out of a small patch of darkness to confront Shura.

“You look fucking stupid.”

Shura did not say anything just flipped open the small pouch on his left. He removed the key and held it upward so Geno could see. “Yea? Well I can’t just blow up the place or barge in. We will have all of Hargeon chasing after us.”

“So? Why the fuck should that matter? You are a Ranzu you take all challengers and leave destruction in your wake,” Geno explained.

Shura rubbed the portion of the black mask that his eyebrows were located at. “People must have been a bit more barbaric back in your day. Ranzu’s are a bit more civilized...why am I explaining this to someone who doesn’t exist anymore.”

“Because you are crazy,” Geno responded.

Geno couldn’t see it but Shura rolled his eyes and walked around to the back. He looked around and saw one camera that was rotating left and right. Using the blind spots created by the shadows Shura waited till the Camera moved away from the door. Shura rushed up and unlocked the door quickly and slipped in the back. He let out a sigh of relief and looked around for a moment. He had a mental image of the place and since he came through the back it was rather easy to get to storage. He moved quickly, making sure not to trip the alarm just yet. He was sitting in front of the storage where the map should be located. Shura slipped inside and closed the door. He flipped on the light and looked around quickly. He only had a few moments before the camera picked up where he was and the person watching tripped the alarm. It did not take long before he found the map. He pulled out a elongated container that was strapped to his back for the map. He took out the map and popped it inside before putting the top on. He looked up at the camera and threw up a middle finger.

Of course the guard watching saw this and slammed the alarm in a frustrated fashion. He slipped out of the storage and footsteps could be heard running in his direction. A window was directly behind him conveniently. He pulled out a smoke bomb and threw it down the hallway where the guards were coming. The bomb blew up and he used this as a opening to slip out the window. Not until he broke a vent open next to the window. Using that as a decoy he slipped out the window without breaking it. He climbed out of the window and hit the ground running. He had to meet the client at a nearby spot. Shura sprinted towards the location that was five minutes away. A fat man was sitting at the bench under a light quietly reading the paper. There was a bag next to him. Shura slipped the container off and put it next to the client. He grabbed the bag of jewels and made off into the night like the bandit he was.

659

2365/2000