It is a bleak and blustery winter day - snow is in the air, but a sky of grim stone-grey rather than light white promises cold, biting winds rather than a light sheen draping the Earth. Lan Di is driven through the town of Dobuita in a forbidding black limosine and arrives at the Hazuki mansion. Ryo, returning back home after spending time with Nozomi at the flower shop where she works, is perturbed to see the limosine drawn up outside the mansion and rushes through the grounds to the family dojo, where he is confronted by the shocking sight of seeing Fuku literally flung through the doors by a savage strike.