Although his adoptive father always said strange things—about escape, about justice, about ideals—the young Kosma never fully understood them. Yet every word carried a warmth and guidance like light itself. He was the only person in the orphanage Kosma had ever felt close to.
However, El Paso, neighboring the crime-ridden metropolis of Chicago, was built upon a foundation steeped in darkness.
One day, that darkness descended upon El Paso. Before Kosma's eyes, the invincible head of the orphanage fell beneath a bandit's gun. At the time, Kosma was only eight years old, having just happily left the cinema with him.
In the alley where crime festered, Kosma wept bitterly, clutching the dying man in his arms. The head coughed with difficulty, and in his final moments revealed a shocking secret.
"I was once a researcher for MOTH. I could not tolerate the actions of certain people, so I defected with the research results..." He coughed violently. "Kosma, you are my hope. You can accomplish what I could not. You have the ability to complete the mission I left unfinished. I hope you will inherit my achievements and protect those who need help."
Kosma received the key to the orphanage basement. There, he saw a set of equipment custom-made for him, called Daybreak, along with piles of research materials he could not understand.
From that day on, Kosma donned the driver known as Daybreak and became the chivalrous Justice.
From that day on, Kosma accepted Daybreak from his adoptive father's hands. It was the afterglow of a hero—and an unfinished mission.
Raising the rocket model high toward the sky, Kosma swore to his adoptive father in heaven, "I will become the flash within the darkness and illuminate this pitch-black night! Shadow ★ Shine!"
"For justice, I will charge forward without fear!"
"Daybreak, transform★!"
For the past two years, Kosma attended public elementary school by day and transformed into Shadow ★ Shine at night, acting as a vigilante to safeguard the town's peace. Relying on the cutting-edge equipment his adoptive father left behind, he protected the people of the town.
And today, he had finally found the man who killed his adoptive father—the gunman from back then.
From the gunman's mouth, Kosma learned the full story. The gunman had merely been instigated. The true culprit was far away in Chicago.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kosma boarded a bus bound for Chicago. Any evil would ultimately be brought to justice. Even if it lay in a distant land, the sword of judgment would fall!
"Ten-year-old child. Free ticket..." the long-distance bus ticketing machine confirmed.
...
Standing heroically atop a Chicago skyscraper, Kosma gazed down at the brightly lit nightscape.
"I smell the scent of crime. This city buries conspiracy and evil, and the root of it lies within that prison."
"Tonight, I will save the world!" Kosma leapt from the building, vanishing into the shadows.
According to the clues provided by the gunman, the one who had instigated crimes in the small town of El Paso—the true source of evil—Godfather—was hiding within this Chicago prison.
This was not the first time. Again and again, Godfather had sent people to El Paso. His target was the research results left behind by Kosma's adoptive father.
Kosma's invincible adoptive father had thwarted his schemes countless times. Yet humans inevitably make mistakes, especially aging men.
The old man had grown somewhat weary. After leaving the cinema, he looked at the excited Kosma and recalled his own past.
And it was at that very moment that the assassin appeared. To protect Kosma, the old man took several bullets.
Godfather succeeded—the gunman killed Kosma's adoptive father.
But he also failed. Even in the twilight of a hero's life, there was still blood and valor. In his final moments, Kosma's adoptive father grievously wounded the gunman, forcing him to flee in panic, leaving him no time to extract any information about the MOTH research results.
And the intelligence concerning those research results vanished with the old man's death. It was precisely because of this that Kosma had enjoyed two years of relative peace, free from harassment by Godfather.
But that peace would not last forever. One day, Godfather would learn of Kosma's existence. And now that Kosma knew the truth, he would never allow Godfather to continue spreading evil.
Whether in justice or in reason, he had to eliminate this demon.
So today, Kosma had come to confront Godfather—for his deceased adoptive father, for the children of the orphanage, for the weak of El Paso, and for the peace of this land... He had to eradicate this scourge once and for all.
Even if it meant stepping into a far more dangerous world, Kosma would not hesitate.
"Ha, found you... one of Godfather's lackeys..."
Lurking in the shadows, Kosma spotted an escaped prisoner slipping out of the prison and quietly followed him.
Taking advantage of the man's distraction, Kosma cast a cowboy lasso around him and yanked him into the darkness. Then, from behind, he used the steel cable within his grappling gun to lock around the man's throat, choking him unconscious before dragging him into a corner.
Tempered by countless gunshots and flames, Kosma's skills had long surpassed those of an ordinary child. He possessed extraordinary combat techniques, agility beyond that of adults, and sharp instincts and judgment in battle.
Kosma knew this operation was extremely dangerous. If the escaped prisoner managed to cry out, it would surely alert Godfather within the prison.
He soon discovered that there were quite a few escaped prisoners here. On some level, they could hardly be called escapees at all. They strolled in and out of the prison gates as if it were their own backyard.
In front of the armed guards stationed at the prison, they would even greet them casually after a bored yawn.
The sight caused Kosma's pupils to contract in shock. Even in the small-town police station of El Paso, criminals were at least superficially detained properly.
"Has the Chicago prison already fallen completely under Godfather's control?"
This was clearly the worst possible news. It meant that if Kosma wanted to deal with Godfather, he would first need to break through the prison's defenses and the prisoners' obstruction. It would be nothing like his usual infiltration assassinations—this would be more akin to infiltrating the presidential palace to assassinate the president.
"In any case, I'll extract some information from him first." Kosma muttered as he hoisted the unconscious prisoner.
...
The prisoner captured by Kosma slowly regained consciousness in a cold, sealed room.
"Where is this?"
He looked around at the empty chamber, unable to recall how he had arrived there.
Wearing a ghastly turquoise mask, Kosma stepped out from the shadows, frightening the prisoner so badly he tried to kick wildly. But his entire body was firmly bound to the chair, leaving him unable to move.