### **Arc 1: The Ghost and the Algorithm**
#### **Chapter 1: The Calm**
The apartment was a sterile space of white walls, minimalist furniture, and silent, snow-dusted light filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows. It overlooked a quiet, unassuming street in Bern, a city chosen for its profound neutrality. Nothing about the space suggested its occupant was one of the most dangerous men on the planet.
Tsukishiro Renji, known to the world as Kyro, sat on a low sofa, his body a study in stillness. One hand, laced with the faint, silvery lines of old scars, rested on the armrest. The other gently stroked the creature curled in his lap.
Midnight, a small black cat with fur that drank the light, rumbled a purr that seemed to vibrate through Renji's very bones. His gaze was soft, the hard lines of his face relaxed beneath the form-fitting black mask that covered his nose and mouth. The stark, messy white hair fell across his brow, shadowing brown eyes that were, for a rare moment, at peace. Here, in the quiet company of a cat, the killer receded. He was just Renji.
The air hummed with a low-frequency vibration. Renji's eyes snapped open, his hand freezing mid-stroke on Midnight's back. The purring stopped. The cat's head lifted, its yellow eyes fixed on the far corner of the room. A small, burner phone, left on a steel table, was vibrating. A single, encrypted pulse.
It was the signal.
Renji carefully lifted Midnight and placed him on the sofa, the creature's silent protest a soft meow. He rose in a single fluid motion, the transition from rest to readiness instantaneous. As he crossed the room, the placid man dissolved, replaced by a presence honed by a thousand near-death experiences. His shoulders settled, his gait became a predator's prowl, and the air around him seemed to grow colder.
He picked up the phone. A single character glowed on the screen: a stylized K.
Kage. His brother.
The calm was over. Kyro was needed.