The DDS Volume 3　　　　　　　Chapter 1 No1

October 1st.

A month had passed since the death of Set, a devil of great power, was confirmed.

However the U.S. Air Force Intelligence Service informed the Japanese government that several devils have descended on Japan.

As a result, curfew after 8p.m was enforced in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

It’s midnight at the east exit of Shinjuku Station.

In the past, drunken people used to walk around here at this time of night, bumping shoulders with each other.

Now the brightly lit station building is empty of people.

A few SDF personnel are standing on sentinel duty to protect the station building.

Shinjuku is close to the point of appearance of Set, and the SDF has been mobilized to be on the alert for the possible appearance of lower level devils that have been following Set.

A military jeep with two SDF personnel was parked a short distance away from the station building, blocking the connecting passageway between the west exit of Shinjuku Station and the east exit.

“Kabukicho, once known as the biggest pleasure quarter in Tokyo, has come to the ruin, sir."

The middle-aged army sergeant in the driver's seat looked at that district, now shrouded in darkness and said.

The young lieutenant in the passenger seat answered in a sarcastic voice, “I’ve heard a few bars are reopening for business in the basement."

"Are there are guys who are very eager to make money, sir ? But what about the police?　I don't want to think they're just going to turn a blind eye, sir."
“No, the order in the metropolitan area is a mess because Set destroyed the western part of Tokyo. The government must really feel that it’s better to turn a blind eye to some of the problems in order to divert the frustration of the young people who have nowhere else to go.”

“Oh! What the devil. Though we are risking our lives to protect this city and its residents____"

At that moment, the army sergeant suddenly stopped talking and pointed the muzzle of his M3A short machine gun toward the connecting passageway behind.

The acute hearing of the veteran SDF Officers. caught the faint sound of footsteps in that direction.

The lieutenant pulled his handgun out of his holster with a clumsy hand, triggered the firing hammer.

After that the two men were stunned to see a pale shadow appear in the dark passageway under the guard, and they lowered the muzzle of their guns.

A woman in a white robe, fluttered her blond hair lightly behind her as she slowly approached them.

Her beautifully toned body under the light robe caught their eyes.

“What a beautiful lady, but is she mentally deranged?”

The same words unexpectedly appeared in both of their minds.

But the woman's eyes, looking straight ahead, were too attractive for them to be voiced.

“Miss, what's going on?”

The Sergeant asked from the driver's seat, his voice filled with all the gentleness he could muster.

“I am Siren."

The woman replied in a pleasant voice like a fresh breeze.

“Ms. Siren, you should not have come out. You know there's a curfew in this city, don't you?"

“Wait, there must be a reason for this. We have to protect her anyway."

When the lieutenant, over control of the sergeant-at-arms, jumped from the passenger seat to the ground,

Siren began to sing a beautiful, slow song.

It didn’t take long for their eyes, bewildered by the unexpected turn of events, to narrow dreamily.

The singing, with its intricate rhymes in an unknown language, was low and then high, spreading over the entire area of Shinjuku Station's East Exit on the night breeze.

Same as them, the SDF personnel on sentry duty at the Shinjuku station building, who was watching the events with a suspicious look on their faces, one by one pointed their guns at the ground and looked up into the dark night sky, as if they were trying to hear voices from the heavens.

No one seemed to notice the white dove flying in the sky as if guiding the woman.

This is Kabukicho.

The live house "Ananta" was located in the basement of an old building.

The space was filled with cigarette smoke, and a strong beat was shaking the space.

The seating area sloped gently down toward the stage in front of the venue.

On that stage, a punk band was playing hard rock music that transported us back to London circa 1980.

Everyone is here with the intention of staying up all night, as there is no way they can wander around the city under curfew.

Here and there in the live house, men with confidence in their skills are fighting to win the hearts of women, putting music aside.

Some of the men are so addicted to drugs that they are sitting on the floor, not knowing whether they are alive or dead.

Many of them are vagrants who had lost their homes and families in the Great Destruction of Set.

As a young lieutenant of the SDF told, if we can turn a blind eye to the fights and rowdiness, it’s true that these illegal bars serves as a buffer to their discontent.

「Hang the Devil！」

When the cheers peaked with the vocalist's ad-libs, a brisk night breeze leaks into the live house, rustling the cigarette smoke that filled the air.

People looked back at the entrance suspiciously.

They saw Siren with a white dove perched on her shoulder and a prim and proper smile.

A glass of whiskey slipped from the hand of one of the startled spectators.

Without a moment's pause, Sawatari, the owner of this live house, rushed to the entrance.

“Close the door! Right now! If the sound gets out, it’s really bad!”

Sawatari closed the soundproof door with both hands as if he was about to pull out the knob, then stared the intruder with his flat nose face.

Sawatari is now the owner of an illegal live music club, but before the Great Destruction, he was a well-known figure in Shinjuku as the owner of a long-established restaurant.

He went bankrupt because of his philanthropic activities of giving food for free to the victims of the Great Destruction.

"Promise to meet someone?"

He asked as gently as possible. However Siren just shakes her head silently.

Sawatari clicked his tongue.

At that time, a heavy hand rested on Sawatari's shoulder.

“Miss, we've got a seat for you."

A tall stocky young man with long, manicured hair was brushing his hair with fingers and smiling wickedly at Siren.

He is the leaders of a group that has recently been gaining strength in Shinjyuku.

"Mr. Oonogi, this lady is ____

“Not master's girlfriend, is she?"

A poke on the forehead with his pinky finger brings anger to Sawatari's eyes.

“Before the Great Destruction, I would have kicked out this son of a bitch, right now!” Sawatari spewed out in his mind.

But Sawatari saw Oonogi's men beginning together around them, a thin film fell over his eyes.

“I feel sorry for you.”, he muttered in his mind.

When Sawatari turned on his heel with his eyes downcast, suddenly felt a pleasant chill in the back of his head.

It was the Siren’s singing.

“What's going on?”

Pushing aside the hard rock sounds, Siren's voice enveloped Sawatari's entire body like a living creature.

An electric current ran through his spine.

“I must protect this woman.”

Prompted by an inner voice, Sawatari turned with his eyes open.

But the men, who normally would never think bad to beating or hurting someone, were already kneeling there, looking up at Siren with longing eyes.

Buzz spread throughout the live house.

Siren, singing without microphones, were fighting against the PA's loud sound and pushing it back with ease.

The vocalist noticed the commotion and raised his voice to a higher pitch.

At that moment, a man with an all-back hair weaved his way through the audience and approached the mixer,

"Hey, turn that punk band’s sound off right now!

He said arrogantly.

The mixer looked back in annoyance, but as soon as he exchanged glances with the man, he said, "Mr. Tashiro! What’s wrong?" he shouted.

Tashiro is still in his 20s, but he is a well-known producer who has nurtured several rock singers and is respected by young musicians.

Mixer had heard rumors that Tashiro had been frequenting live houses in Shinjuku area recently in order to discover rock bands that fit the end-of-the-century era.

“But the customers____”

“Where are your eyes? Look around, no person listening to the band play.”

As soon as he said this, Tashiro extended his arm and turned off the master power to the PA。

A beautiful singing voice echoed through the live house, punk rock sounds wiped out.

Siren quietly made her way to the stage, guided by a white dove that had took flight from her shoulders.

“God has descended to this world.

To save the world from the next destruction.

God will protect the righteous.

神は降臨したまう。
来るべき破壊から、この世界を守るために____

Audiences, violent and not obeying the law and had been called outlaw from ordinary people, began to obediently chant the lyrics, which had unwittingly been switched to Japanese.

“She is a fucking bargain!”

As soon as he put his foot on the stairs after her, all the sounds stopped.

No, it wasn't just the sounds.

A deep darkness enveloped Tashiro, leaving Siren alone in his field of vision.

Siren continued chanting.

But her voice didn’t reach his ears at all.

“What's the hell going on?"

Tashiro was caught in the illusion that he had suddenly been thrown out into outer space, and he crouched down on the spot.

As Tashiro looked around fearfully, he noticed there are two glowing red spots beside Siren.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that they were the eyes of a white dove.

As if the white dove staring Tashiro with red eyes, trying to decide whether Tashiro is useful or not. Then flapped its wings slowly and took off, then flapped its wings in front of him and stayed in the sky.

“Who the hell are you?"

Tashiro made a stern face, as if trying not to be deceived by the hallucination.

“God sent me."

The dove’s voice echoed softly in the darkness.

“God?　What on earth is this?”

Dove stared at Tashiro, refusing to answer his angry question, and said.

“Be an apostle of Siren.”

It’s beak emitted a gravely voice.

“Apostle?"

“Organize a cult for Siren.”

“What nonsense___”

Tashiro scoffed at the outlandish order, and the white dove shook its wings above his head.

As the snowy feathers from its wings began to cling to Tashiro's body, he felt the pain as if his whole body is being cut up, and rolled around on the floor.

After a while, when the all feathers had fallen to the floor, the pain finally subsided.

Tashiro finally got up on his knees,

“You must organize the cult of Siren. A cult of chanting, a cult of exorcism!

The dignified voice announced again.

"I understand____"

Fear, and awe that was greater than fear naturally made Tashiro nod his head.

"Just tell me one thing, what is she____?"

Tashiro pointed to Siren,

"Siren is also a messenger of God."

The white dove pecked Tashiro on the forehead with its gray beak.

"Ouch!"

Tashiro screamed and fell back,

"If you should ever develop a mind to disobey me and Siren, your body will decay from your wounds," The dove told Tashiro coldly and returned to Siren's shoulder.

Darkness has passed.

The place was filled with the Siren's singing as before.

“Was it a phantom ____?”

Tashiro, relieved, felt a dull pain between his eyebrows and casually put his hand on it.

Then he felt a slippery sensation.

“No way____”

Staring at his bloody palm, he looked up anxiously and saw Oonogi and Sawatari standing there with blood dripping from their foreheads, while others were quietly chanting along with the singing.

写真  著作者：Vaynakh／出典：Freepik