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また会えると思います。ひぐらしのなく頃に泣くとき。

[TW: Drug usage, drug dealing, assassination, brief mention of misogyny]
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Not all beginnings are pretty. Katsuragi Hiro was your average bountiful boy with two loving parents and an abundance of opportunities at his fingertips since the day he was born. Born in the rural part of Kyoto, Japan, he built a strong sense of community and many of his peers would have described him as a promising young man who was most likely to leave their small village and make a difference in the outside world. He was one of the lucky few who was gifted with a natural intelligence and a stable family that didn’t force him to drop out of school or abandon his dreams to help pay rent. With high grades, impeccable test scores, and the clear support of his parents the young man would catch a train to the bustling city of Tokyo shortly after his high school graduation.
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With the intentions of attending university and getting a degree, Hiro was quick to enroll and take upon various classes in hopes to light a fire beneath him. It was picture perfect in the beginning, integrating into this new setting was somewhat difficult but he was able to make friends to help him out in no time. However, these “friends” would prove to be a bad influence on the golden-hearted young man. Halfway into the semester, Hiro realized his money supply that he saved up during his high school years was dwindling faster than he initially believed it would. Looking for a job with fair wages in Tokyo was difficult for someone young in age without credentials. This left him with no choice but to ask his friends for help, to which they sent him in the direction of an esteemed drug dealer- Watanagi Kiyoko. He was apprehensive, knowing that one wrong misstep could squash his ambitious dreams, but without money he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford to live in Tokyo any longer.
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To the surprise of himself and his friends, Hiro accepted their offer and began to deal drugs of all shape and form beneath this mysterious Kiyoko. There were many rumors about the woman herself, since it was a rarity for a drug dealer in Japan to be a female, but it would be a while before he was ever able to push past her tough walls. After a drug bust gone wrong, which caused many of her lackeys to leave her behind and throw her to the curb, the two grew oddly close and began to depend on one another. She confided her rough past to him, detailing all the abuse she underwent as a child. However, their co-dependency was proving to be toxic, especially when they made the fatal decision to ‘try’ the drugs that they often supplied for others. Addiction overtook their fragile minds, Hiro was forced to drop out of college and Kiyoko risked her life on multiple occasions just to partake in some more of these addictive highs.
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The final straw was plucked when she had the bright idea to steal from a well-known drug lord and his stash, which resulted in a bullet being shot into her side and only barely missing a fatal artery. This event allowed the two to reconsider their lives and soon they chose to attend rehab so they could make a healthy return back into society. Years passed as the couple grew into two successful and healthy adults, married and expecting a daughter after being blessed with a son they named Renji years prior. When Kaede was born, it felt as if their happy little family was finally complete and their lives had taken a turn for the best. For years, her life was filled with the happiest of memories and an abundance of love allowed her to blossom in a promising young lady. Her older brother, on the other hand, was having difficulty fitting into society like their parents hoped. But they loved him nonetheless.
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This love proved to not be good enough, as he disappeared into the night when Kaede was only fourteen years old. He had ran away from home, leaving behind a life of normalcy to run the streets with a gang that he officially joined during high school. This event would prove to be a catalyst of sorts as her life began to stumble downhill. Despite being struck with grief over the loss of their son, the family banded together in this time of sorrow and remained as each other’s rock. But it was naive of her parents to believe that their life was meant to be a long one. The night of the shooting incident caused that infamous drug lord to be thrown into jail and locked behind bars for years until he was finally able to bribe his way out of jail. He was not pleased with the Katsuragi’s, rumor had it that he was concocting a plan in prison all those years but her parents were none the wiser.
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Kaede returned home from school one evening to an oddly silent household, her parents not once responding to her calls. In the living room, a horrendous sight awaited her- the dead bodies of her parents littered with bullets was sprawled on the carpet like discarded puppets. Her first reaction was the phone the police, completely horrified and shaken from the traumatic sight. She was nearly unresponsive when they arrived, unable to answer the fast-paced questions thrown her way, but they were able to easily deduce the cause behind this blitz attack. Kaede heard their whispers about how this wasn’t your average break in and how the specific bullets were used by a well-known gang in the area. It was a set up, a brutal act of revenge. But they were useless when it came to charging anyone, something that would forever sit in Kaede’s mind for the rest of her life. Just how corrupt were these policemen?
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With her grandparents being too sick to care for her, the young girl was sent to live in Osaka with her estranged aunt on her mother’s side. They took her in and cared for her as if she were one of their own, sending her to therapy when needed and enrolling her in multiple self defense classes. Her uncle was a retired soldier, one who was more than eager to train his niece and support her ambitious dream to join the police academy in Tokyo after graduation. Kaede hoped to find a lead in her parents death while putting a stop to the crime that ran rampant in the streets. The academy was tough, many men looking down on her and teasing her with their piggish remarks in hopes that she would drop out. But she never gave up beneath the pressure, graduating with flying colors and enrolling in the criminal investigation bureau of the Keishichō at the age of twenty.
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For the following seven years, Kaede’s been climbing the ranks in the police department whilst dodging sexist coworkers and attempting to find a lead in her parents case. She hasn’t seen her brother since the day he disappeared and her parents case has been closed for years, but she refuses to give up until she can find the true culprit behind their murder.