A Life Surrounded by Anomaly
As Kenji grew up in his painfully ordinary childhood home, his parents—Hirashi Keisuke and Hirashi Mai—only grew more worried.
Even the weakest Devils—the Insect Devil, the Rat Devil—never dared to approach their house, almost as if repelled by an invisible force. Meanwhile, strangers in dark suits (unidentified Public Safety personnel) began to linger in their alley, and neighbors whispered about the "creepy white-haired boy."
Kenji mastered movement perfectly without effort. He could perceive details invisible to others. Most unnerving of all, he never cried out of fear. When his parents tried to startle him, Kenji would simply stare back with those empty, azure eyes, as if the very concept of terror was alien to him.
Keisuke and Mai fought to hide their son's abnormality. They perpetually dressed Kenji in hats and sunglasses whenever they left the house, praying every night for their son to simply be an ordinary boy.
Age Six: Classified Intel Reaches Public Safety
Time sprinted forward. Kenji was now six years old. He was quiet and possessed an unnerving intelligence that belied his age, and his very existence was attracting escalating attention.
Over the past week, Keisuke had felt perpetually watched. He noticed the black, unmarked car parked consistently at the corner of their alley.
At the Tokyo headquarters of the Public Safety Devil Hunters, Makima received a classified report on her desk:
KENJI HAYASHI:
6 Years Ago: Medical personnel reported the birth of an anomaly—white hair, unnatural azure eyes, and a total absence of typical infant reactions.
3 Years Ago: Low-level Devils, under Public Safety observation, exhibited abnormal avoidance behavior near the residence, as if forcefully 'repelled' by an unseen power.
1 Week Ago: An anonymous source provided highly detailed intelligence regarding the child's power to 'distort the rules of his immediate space.'
The intelligence was not a Devil sighting, but a human tip-off, detailing the boy's strange birth and the specific ability to 'warp localized reality' with shocking precision. The report concluded with a chilling warning: this was a power, whether human or Devil in origin, that Public Safety had never encountered.
Makima read the entire report with a faint, expectant smile. Her eyes glittered with a predatory anticipation.
Immediately, an Emergency Order was dispatched from headquarters: Special Assault Units were to move and secure the boy, Hirashi Kenji, without delay.
Saturday Afternoon
It was a Saturday afternoon. Kenji was quietly stacking plastic blocks on the floor when Mai received a frantic call from a neighbor.
"Mai-chan! I just saw a whole motorcade of what looked like police cars drive toward your street... Is something wrong?"
Mai dropped the phone, shock freezing her in place. She looked at Kenji, her sweet boy, but his presence was a blaring warning signal in a world overrun by Devils.
"Keisuke! They're here!" Mai screamed, rushing to the window.
She saw them—a group of dark-suited figures, fully armed with weapons and specialized gear, silently converging on their house. This was the Public Safety Devil Hunter assault team.
Keisuke lunged into the living room. He looked at Kenji, still calmly playing on the floor, then at the front door, which was about to be breached. "Kenji! You have to run!" Keisuke scooped his son up.
BANG! BANG!
The front door exploded inward from an unseen force. Several suited Devil Hunters rushed into the room. They completely disregarded the parents, focusing their deadly attention on the white-haired boy. "The child! Contain the Anomaly!" the team leader shouted.
Kenji, held in his father's arms, stared back at the Hunters' grim faces with his empty azure eyes. He registered the absolute Danger rushing toward him.