Sirens blared as the police surrounded an apartment complex. Several of the inhabitants left their homes to figure out the cause of the commotion only to be assailed with questions by detectives. It was almost surprising how little these people knew about the atrocity that had occurred right in their home. 

An entire family was brutally murdered by what could only possibly be a monster. While none of the neighbors were allowed to see what had happened for themselves for obvious reasons, the investigators did their best to describe it to them while holding back their own squeamishness. Each member of the family had been slaughtered, not just killed. Chunks of their body were missing. Their bodies were surrounded with visible tooth marks not unlike those a dog could dish out. But at the same time, they had bruises surrounding seemingly afflicted by a blunt object of some sort. 

By far the strangest thing, however, is the trail of bloodied footprints the culprit left behind. As if to give more credence to the theory that the perpetrator was a monster of some kind, there were no footprints found at the scene. Rather, they were pawprints. Stranger still, the investigators have reason to believe that the culprit never actually entered the house in the first place. The pawprints started at the room of the family’s son and ended only after whatever creature did this left the building. The police’s search for evidence as to a possible motive for the boy’s death proved inconclusive. 

His name was Tendou Ryuga. From what they could gather, he was just an average boy with no real enemies, okay marks, and was not a member of any particular club. The only other thing they could find out about him from his room was that he was also a major fan of video games. Recently, it seemed as though he had been hopped on the bandwagon and started to play the new Digital Demon game and had been playing it moments before his death. His blood soaked phone was on his bed with the app opened up, with the following message taking up the boys screen:

“Kobold has not been fed in [b]5[/b] days.”

[hr]
 
Ueno Station. 11:30 AM.

July 15, 2017. 

The day had largely been uneventful for the vast majority of Tokyo's population so far. Other than being particularly hot, nothing of any real note had happened lately. The school year's first term was nearing its end and some students were acting as though it were already over. To be fair, with all of their exams out of the way, it practically was. That's way the Ueno station was so packed on this particular day. Not only was it a weekend, but the atmosphere was fairly light all things considering all of the weird rumors that had been floating around.

News of the family's death had already spread far and wide. The further the story traveled, the more distorted it grew as time passed. Some versions of the tale had spun it so that the Digital Demon app was responsible for killing all of them. Of course, most took the rumor as mere slander for the exceedingly popular game, though many had their own theories about what could have possibly killed the people. The most popular theory so far was that the murders had been carried out by some deranged extremist out to give the game a bad rap for its use of religious figures as tamable demons. It wouldn't be the first time something like this happened, but many of the game's most vocal detractors had been claiming that the deaths were caused by a rabid fanboy or something who had too much time on his hand to play the app. The debate was almost inescapable wherever one went. 

Not only that, but news of the Japanese Self Defense Force's presence in Tokyo had spread far and wide that morning alone. While their presence was not particularly alarming, it was abrupt enough to quickly become a main subject of discussion so early on. The common consensus was that they were getting ready for an announcement of some sort, though many felt as though it was connected to the brutal murder case just three days before. Most assumed that they were getting ready for a public service announcement or something along those lines. 

But that was about it as far as noteworthy events were concerned.

All the same, priority number one was making the best of the off time they had. There was a good reason why Ueno station of all places was so packed. With so much free time on their hands, people could go to the station and visit Ameyayokocho Street which was just outside of the station. The numerous vendors who sold food, art, and fashion accessories made it a booming social hotspot during the weekend. Jack Frost key chains were all the rage these days. The creature's popularity was well known even to those who had never even touched the Digital Demon app. 

Those walking around Ueno station on this day would hear an almost angelic sound as they went about their day. There was a short, foreign man playing a flute that enthralled all those who heard it. By the looks of things, he was an Indian street performer who  captured the hearts of all those who heard him playing. All the same, he took no donations. The strangest part was that his audience (primarily consisting of women) almost looked like they were caught in some hypnotic trance by his flute.