“...ey! Hey! W… up!”

Hiro felt his whole body shaking.

“Hey! Hellooooo?”

He fluttered his eyes open. Sunlight poked through the curtains and hit him directly in the face. A blurry mix of blue and red lay on top of him. He fell back to sleep.

“Wake up already!”

A searing pain in his right cheek jolted him awake. He gasped as his vision cleared. Maki straddled him. She poised her hand for another slap.

“Okay, okay!” he yelled. “I’m awa—”

She struck his other cheek. It left a red imprint of her hand on his skin. “You awake now? Or do you need another one?”

“YES!”

“Yes to what? Another slap?”

Hiro flinched in fear when Maki raised her hand again.

“No! Stop!” He covered his face.

“You suuuure?”

“Of course! You just wanna slap me again, don’t you?”

“Was I too obvious?”

In one swift movement, Hiro sat up and pushed Maki away. She tumbled backward and hit her head on the floor.

“Ouch! What’d you do that for?!”

“Ugh, my head…” Hiro let out a prolonged yawn as he rubbed his temple. “What do you want, Maki?”

“Oh YEAH! We gotta leave! Like, now!”

“Wait, what?!”

“There’re police cars outside!”

“...WHAT?”

They both hurried to the living room. Red and blue lights flashed outside. They could hear the voices of several men.

Haruka, unbothered by all this, meticulously dried her hair with a towel. “Morning. Sorry. Used your shower.”

Hiro stopped in his tracks. “Oh, uh… Don’t worry about it.”

Maki slung her bag over her shoulder. “You done yet, Haruka? Can’t you see the police outside?

“They came before I could finish.”

“Why’d you even take a shower anyway? Couldn’t you just do that back at the base?”

“I don’t want to be stinky like you.”

Maki pouted. “Hmph! How dare you!”

Haruka stuck her tongue out.

“Wait…” Maki pointed at Haruka’s face. “I know why! It’s ‘cause we’re bringin’ a boy with us!”

She turned away. “No.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

Hiro stifled a laugh; the gravity of the situation quickly sobered him. He cautiously walked to the window. His heart sank as he saw two police cars parked in front of Granny Jay's house. A uniformed officer sat on one of the cars’ hoods and spoke to his receiver.

“They’re right outside. What do we do?” Hiro asked.

“Hmm…” Maki rubbed her chin. “We have to get to the main entrance of the village somehow. That’s where I parked my baby.”

“Wait, you had a car?! This whole time?!”

“Yeah! It’s hard to explain, but I couldn’t really bring it around. Plus, it was way more fun zoomin’ around through your retro truck! So long as you’re not drivin’, of course.”

“Okay, but by the village gate? Someone’s bound to have found it by now.”

“Nah, nah! They can search a million years. They’ll never find it! All we gotta do is get there.”

“What? Are you serious? Alright, well, even if that’s the case, we still need to somehow get past the police outside.”

The phone rang in the kitchen. Hardly anyone ever called their home, and if they did, it was usually for Miles. But he was no longer around; no one had called since. Hiro reluctantly picked it up.

“Hello?” Sweat gathered along his brow.

An old, feeble voice responded. “Hiro! Hiro, is that you?”

“Granny Jay?!”

“Hiro! Thank goodness! I’m glad you’re safe! Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes, but—”

“There’s policemen at our door! They’re asking about a massacre. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m alr—”

“The killers are still on the loose! Stay here with the police.”

“Mom, who are you talking to?” Hiro heard Johnny say from the phone.

Rapid footsteps got louder and louder. It was clear they came from more than just one person.

“H-Hey! What are you doing?” Granny Jay yelled. “Give it back!”

“We can’t let you do that, ma’am,” a different voice said. It was a slightly higher pitch than Johnny’s. “Now, come with us, we have some ques—”

The call was cut off.

Maki placed her hands on her hips. “So? Who was it?”

Hiro’s forehead furrowed; his jaw dropped. He clutched the phone. “Guys… They found out about Bandito. We need to go. Now.”

“What?! I thought it’d at least take a day or two. How’d they know so fast?”

Haruka distanced herself from Hiro. “Was it you? Did you tell them?”

“No, no! Of course not!” He raised his hands up. “You still think I’d set you up like that? Why would I be here talking to you if I could just turn you in right now?”

“...Fine, but I’m watching you.”

“Stop gettin’ on each other's throats already. This is an emergency.” Maki peeked at the police cars. “If we wanna make a beeline for my lil’ baby, then our best bet is to steal their car.”

“You wanna steal a police car?!” Hiro opened his eyes widely.

“Duh. We’re criminals, silly.”

“Yeah, but… I mean… What about being secretive? They’re gonna know who we are. They’re gonna know what we look like. We won’t be safe anywhere!”

“Calm down! You’re startin’ to piss me off! It’s a lil’ too late for you to back down, so get your act together! Unless you wanna stay here. Have fun in jail, I guess.”

He felt stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“No.” Haruka aimed her palm at him. “If he stays, we have to kill him.”

A point of no return, rather.

“Okay, okay! I get it,” Hiro said. “Still, there has to be a better way than just barging in and taking their car. What’s the point of hiding in the shadows if you’re just gonna cause a ruckus anyway?”

Maki waved her hand dismissively. “You don’t have to worry a damn thing! Leave it to us, as usual!” She opened her bag and took out a handful of her hornets. They silently passed through the window's hole she previously got stuck in and made their way to the cars. Maki wore her goggles and turned them on.

Haruka waited by the door. “Just tell me when.”

“Gimme a sec… Alright! I disabled the dashboard camera. Hiro, give her your cloak!”

He raised his eyebrow. “Huh? Why?”

“‘Cause mine reeks of booze. That, and I don’t really want her showin’ her face to anyone. Unless you want her to kill the witness in the other house.”

He tossed his cloak to Haruka.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go wild, girl!”

Haruka wrapped the cloak around her head. Like an elegant dance, she swiftly decapitated the two policemen outside. A few seconds after entering Granny Jay’s home, Johnny’s ear-deafening squeal reverberated in the air. Haruka returned with two more headless police. She tossed them into a pile with the other corpses.

“That’s our cue!” Maki readied her bag. “Anythin’ you wanna take before we go?”

“It’s too late to pack clothes now, huh?”

“Meh, all I saw in your room were borin’ white shirts anyway. I’m sure we got some clothes that’ll fit you in our base.”

“Oh yeah. You snooped around my room.”

“Of course. I was bored. You ready or nah?”

He took one last look around the living room. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

“Then let’s get outta here!”

The three entered one of the cars. With Maki in the driver’s seat, they sped down the road, headed for the village square.

Hiro leaned over to Haruka, who sat at the front seat. “Say, there was an old lady and a hairy guy living in that other house. Did you happen to see them?”

“Yes.”

“D-Did you do anything to them, or…?”

“I told them that if they left the house, I’d kill them.”

He breathed out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. She’s safe.”

Around halfway to the village square, the radio transceiver crackled. A female voice spoke. “Officers over at the Walker residence, can we get an update on the situation? Over.”

The three were dead quiet.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” After five minutes of utter silence, she spoke again. “We’re sending another unit your way. They’ll be there in approximately thirty minutes. Standby for further instructions. Over.”

The crackling ended.

Maki slammed on the brakes; the car came to a screeching halt. “Alright, change of plans. We can’t be seen in this car. We’re walkin’ the rest of the way. Man, how’d they find out so fast? I’m pretty sure we killed everyone.”

Hiro looked down. He recalled everything he’d told Johnny last night, including the wiped Bandito.

“Well, whatever. Hiccups like these can happen any time. Let’s get movin’ before they find our mess at the farm.”

The three continued the rest of the trek on foot. Not long after, a police car rapidly approached them. They hid behind a large rock until it sped by.When they were near the village proper, Maki scanned the area with her goggles.

“Gosh, they have a whole squadron along the perimeter. Sneakin’ around would be impossible. Unless…” Maki turned to Hiro.

“Hm?”

“They don’t know what Haruka and I look like, so we can’t show our faces. But technically, you can show your face as much as you want. They already have pictures of you lyin’ around. Plus, your friends are probably gonna rat you out anyway, so… You can be our distraction!”

“Are you telling me to turn myself in?” Hiro placed his hands on his head in disbelief. “You’re insane!”

“Hey, whatever works, right? We’ll come to your rescue once we get to my baby!”

“Or you could just run off after using me as bait!”

“Yeesh, don’t be such a damsel in distress!” She tapped his shoulder. “You still don’t trust us? After all we’ve been through?”

“Haruka still doesn’t trust me either. It’s only fair.”

“True, true. But ignore her for a second and focus on me. You got my precious guarantee. If things go south, we got your back, okay?”

“I-I still don’t know…”

“Frankly, I don’t care. We don’t got time. Here, take these. I managed to take some from those bozos last night.” Maki handed him a few nanobarriers and hamster-shaped bombs from her bag. “Get as close as you can to the gate. Then, use the bombs to get everyone’s attention. We want as huge of an explosion as we can get!”

Hiro shook his head vehemently. “That’s a suicide mission!”

“No no! This is a hundred percent full-proof! The nanobarrier’s immune to explosions and bullets anyway. You’ll be fiiine! Once the coast is clear, Haruka and I will sneak around with my baby and come get you.”

“I don’t know if I can do this,” he said between rapid, shallow breaths.

“Think about it this way. If you don’t, we’re leavin’ you alone, and you’re endin’ up either dead or in prison. So man up or give up. Either way, we’re movin’ ahead. Best of luck!”

Maki grabbed Haruka’s arm and hurried over to a nearby alleyway. Hiro stared at the bombs and nanobarriers. His hands carried them with ease, but they still felt heavy. Even so, he had no time to waste. He slapped himself in the face and snuck inside the village square through a different alley.

Ushiro was a cramped village; maneuvering away from the watchful eyes of policemen proved to be a menial task. That was until a wide open road stood between him and the village gate. Police cars lined the perimeter. There was nowhere to hide. Hiro placed his hood over his head and briskly strided to the gate.

“Hey, you there!” a policeman said. “Where are you going? We can’t let people leave Ushiro yet. There’s an investigation going on.”

Suddenly Hiro sprinted forward as fast as he could.

“Hey! Where are you going?” The policeman gave chase, but was no match for Hiro’s speed. “Come back here!”

Nearby officers joined in. “Stop right there!”

His eyes blazed green. He continued to run.

They took their guns out. “Freeze! Or we’ll shoot!”

When he heard their threat, Hiro crouched down and set up the nanobarriers around himself. He tossed the hamster bombs at the street and caused a fiery explosion. Sirens came from all directions. The smoke cleared; police surrounded him left and right.

“Men! Fire!”

Hiro shut his eyes and grit his teeth. The sound of ricocheting bullets pounded against his ears. Soon, the gunfire stopped, and he slowly opened his eyes. Neither he nor the nanobarriers suffered any harm.

One of them spoke through a megaphone. “This is the police! We have you surrounded! Put your hands in the air and surrender!”

“I-I have more bombs!” Hiro yelled out. “Don’t come any closer!”

“We don’t want this to be any uglier than it has to be! Lower your shields and put your hands up!”

“How will I know you won’t shoot? I can blow all of you up right now! Don’t get any funny thoughts in your head!”

The police looked at each other. For a while, no one said a word. Hiro’s desperate plan to act like a lunatic worked well. Eventually, a striking figure appeared—a robust man with a full head of gray hair and a long goatee. He took the megaphone and leaned against a police car.

“Men, point your guns down.” The gray-haired man spoke in a casual manner, but the tone of his voice was one imbued with authority.

The officers did as they were told.

“This is Officer Eichi, chief of police. We want to solve things as peacefully and humanely as possible. Now, the rest is up to you. Do you want to do things the easy way, or the hard way?”

“How can I trust you?” Hiro lowered his pitch to try and match Officer Eichi’s. “Bandito was here for years and you just ignored them!”

“So you admit to killing them?”

Hiro gulped nervously. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Listen, if you come with us, we can have a nice, long chat. Our investigation team will look into it.”

“Only if you let me go after!”

“We’ll do our best, but mass murder isn’t exactly an easy thing to get out of. If you want even the slightest chance to live a normal life, you need to surrender. Now!”

Hiro ran out of things to say.

“Tick tock! Don’t keep us waiting! We want to help, but you have to let us help you first!”

Another car arrived. Johnny and Granny Jay stepped out together with two policemen.

“Is that the man?” they asked him.

Johnny pointed at Hiro. “That’s him, alright! He’s guilty, officers! Guilty!”

“This ugly bastard…” Hiro whispered.

“Hiro? Is he here?” In her haste, Granny Jay stumbled onto the hard pavement. The policemen rushed to her aid and helped her back to her feet. Blood oozed from her knee.

Hiro’s eyes were locked on to her.

“Hiro!” she yelled with a raspy voice. “Stop it right now! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?!”

Officer Eichi motioned for her to stop. “You stay right there, ma’am. We’ll handle this.” He turned to Hiro. “Listen to her, young man! Take your shields down and raise your hands in the air.”

“What’re you guys waiting for? Get him already!” Johnny took the megaphone, but was instantly tackled by three officers.

All of a sudden a pair of red whips emerged from behind the village gate. They stayed suspended beside Hiro. The police stepped back and raised their weapons.

Hiro got to his feet and looked at Granny Jay. “I’m sorry. This is Goodbye.”

He shut down all of the nanobarriers. Before the police could react, the whips opened up like flowers and fully engulfed him in a cocoon-like structure. They fired all at once, but the bullets couldn’t penetrate the thick, rubbery membrane. Hiro was dragged into the air and disappeared behind the gate. The policemen hopped into their cars and rushed out of the entrance, sirens blaring. To their surprise, however, there was no sign of Hiro whatsoever.

He had vanished completely without a trace.