Chapter 11: Taking In Yuka

Seeing this, Raven offered a gentle smile and said to her, "If you don't mind, why don't you stay with me? I can't really manage this Café all by myself."

"But won't that cause you trouble, Mr. Raven..."

Joy welled up in Yuka's heart, but she asked cautiously.

"There's no such thing as trouble," Raven waved his hand dismissively. He then turned to Yuji Kiba and added, "If you're willing, Kiba, you can stay too."

Kiba, however, shook his head. He said, "I still have some things to take care of, so I won't impose on you."

In truth, Kiba was afraid that staying there would implicate Raven. After all, he was still wanted by the police. Yuka was different; although she had killed people, her identity hadn't been exposed.

"That's a shame," Raven said politely. He genuinely admired Yuji Kiba, knowing him to be an upright person who had been forced into this situation. If it were him, he probably would have already committed a bloodbath against his greedy uncle's entire family.

"Thank you, Mr. Raven, for telling me so much about the Orphnochs," Kiba offered his sincere gratitude.

"I'll be going now."

He drank the coffee in his hand in one gulp. Although the taste was bitter, determination shone in Kiba's eyes. He had no immediate plans; he simply wanted to survive.

"Kiba, if you run into any trouble, you can always come to me," Raven gave him the mobile phone number he had just acquired.

"Okay." Kiba smiled and nodded.

Yuka quietly held Raven's arm and waved goodbye to Kiba.

....

A day later. Inside the Smart Brain headquarters.

"What's going on? Toda is dead, too? Was it Faiz again?"

Kyouji Murakami, the new president of Smart Brain, looked perplexed.

His scantily clad and brightly dressed female secretary said to him, "Not only that, but the two new Orphnochs we recruited have also lost contact with us."

"It seems the Faiz Driver's power is truly not to be underestimated. It was, after all, created to protect the King," Kyouji Murakami nodded.

He clearly assumed that the death of Eiichi Toda and the disappearance of Yuji Kiba and Yuka Osada were the work of Takumi Inui (Faiz). He had not yet detected Raven's existence.

"Regardless, we must retrieve the Driver as soon as possible," Kyouji Murakami ordered his secretary.

"Understood." The female secretary, known as Smart Lady, smiled.

She was Smart Brain's public face, serving as the president's chauffeur and assistant. Besides her daily duties, she conveyed the president's instructions to the Orphnochs operating in the shadows and tried to persuade newly born Orphnochs.

Although her exaggerated makeup mostly obscured her beauty, one could still tell she had good features. However, she always adopted a fawning demeanor and spoke to others in a childlike tone, which often gave people the creeps.

She swiveled her slender waist and left the office.

Ostensibly, Smart Brain was still a human corporation, but in reality, it had been completely taken over by Orphnochs. Most of the high-ranking members, including the former president, Hanagata, were Orphnochs.

However, after learning about the Orphnochs' flawed lifespan, they split into two factions based on differing ideologies.

Former President Hanagata eventually sided with humanity, believing the Orphnochs were a doomed race.

The current President, Kyouji Murakami, was unwilling to sit by and wait for extinction. Thus, he staged a rebellion during the former president's disappearance.

He gained the support of a group of Orphnochs and forcefully seized the position of Smart Brain President. He then began constantly attacking humans to convert them into comrades and desperately search for the Orphnoch King in the vast sea of people.

....

That night, in a secluded area of Tokyo.

Naoya Kaido, who had left the Amazon Café earlier, was unaware of the changes in his body. He decided to attend a job interview at a company.

Because he had evolved into an Orphnoch, his sense of smell had become incredibly keen. He actually smelled blood on the company president who was interviewing him and, being utterly blunt, mentioned it to his face. He even suggested the man must have done something bad.

The president mistakenly believed Kaido had uncovered the secret that he had killed his own wife for the insurance money.

He immediately conceived the idea of killing Kaido to silence him. He arranged to meet him that night in a remote location.

"Why is no one here?"

Kaido arrived at the destination but found no one. Just as he was grumbling and about to leave, a figure attacked him from behind, tightly looping a rope around his neck.

"Agh... Agh..."

"I'm sorry, but to save my factory from going under, I have no choice but to let you die along with this secret!" the company president screamed, his face contorted in madness.

This man was indeed ruthless and wicked, a beast in human skin. His company was failing and facing bankruptcy, so he killed his wife for a huge insurance payout. He thought his plan was flawless, but he never expected a kid coming in for an interview to expose him. He decisively moved to kill Kaido and silence him permanently.

But he had miscalculated completely: Kaido was no longer human.

He was an Orphnoch.

"Urrgh!"

On the brink of suffocation from the rope, Kaido activated his Orphnoch form for the first time.

He single-handedly clamped down on the president's neck. In a fit of rage, he killed his attacker.

This scene was witnessed by Takumi Inui (Faiz), who happened to be passing by.

"Takumi! It's an Orphnoch!" Keitaro Kikuchi, who was with Takumi delivering laundry to a client late at night, shouted immediately.

Takumi didn't waste any words, quickly opening the car door and rushing forward.

But he was too late; the man was already dead.

"Who are you, jumping out of nowhere?" Kaido, still furious, glared at the approaching Takumi and yelled aggressively.

"Just a guy working part-time. At a laundry," Takumi held his Driver and carefully observed the Snake Orphnoch form Kaido had taken.

However, just as he put on the Driver and prepared to transform, Kaido interrupted his movement and landed two swift, heavy punches on him without warning.