Tap. Tap. Tap.

The typing sound echoed the luxurious car as the man sat in the passenger seat, the neat black formal jacket draped across his shoulders, the white shirt tight on his torso. His dark brown hair slick back, his brows furrowed as he typed the message on his phone.

Yes, sir, we are about to enter the city now. See you in the morning.

Finishing the message, he pressed “Send”.

The driver looked in the rear-view mirror, seeing a motorcycle approaching them.

Soon after another one closed in on the car.

“What the hell, who let you pass the driving exam?! Watch where you’re going!” yelled the driver, slamming the car horn.

“Ah, should I just let them pass by? We are in no hurry.” The driver asked, composing himself in front of the politician.

The man in the suit looked out of the window, seeing a motorcyclist lined up with their car. “Let them pass by, aren’t all motorcyclists lunatics on the road, anyway? It’s not like they’ll pull a gun out and shoot us.”

Just when he finished saying that, the motorcyclist pulled a gun out and shot the driver.

The man in the backseat screamed when the car took a sudden turn, crashing into the fence, banging his head upon the headrest.

His vision blurred, every movement he made felt painful. His head was heavy when he lifted it up, blood oozed and dripped onto his palm as he touched the wound.

When he came to, the man’s look fell upon the driver, whose head was crushed. He gasped, tapping to find the briefcase which fell to the car’s floor. Getting a hold of it, he went for the doors, which flung open.

Looking up, he found himself surrounded by six guns, all pointing at his head.

The tallest man took off his helmet, the blazing amber eyes struck him. The wide smile upon the man’s face gave off an eerie atmosphere. “Akiyama Reito.” Reito did nothing but grit his teeth upon the sudden appearance of the most recent troublemaker in the city. “You’re coming with us. If you cooperate with us, I promise you, not a single hair on your head or your beloved ones’ heads shall be harmed.”

“What do you want, Azuma Yoru?!”, he screamed as he recognized the culprit.

Yoru looked around, making sure his teammates were not harmed, and that there aren’t more ears listening than necessary.

“Just some useful information on our dear mayor. Hopefully, you’ll be cooperative.” He said as he approached Reito, picking him up like he weighed nothing. “Rumor has it that the mayor is hauling something across the sea, and now, you’re going to tell us what that is.”

Reito squirmed, trying to break free, but Yoru’s grip was like iron. “I’m not saying anything to you.”

The tall woman appeared behind Yoru, the menacing aura making Reito still. Yoru turned to the woman.

“Luna, I’m giving you the honors. Do whatever it takes to make him talk.”

Luna took her helmet off. With a smirk, she purred, “With pleasure.”

Swinging her arm, Reito didn’t have any chance of avoiding the hit as he was knocked out.

Wanting to drag him to her motorbike, Luna was surprised when she felt the weight lifting off her body. “Hey, you didn’t have to.” She said with a smile.

The tall man behind her hauled Reito across his shoulder, and lifted the shield of his helmet. “Don’t mention it. I know you’re a strong, independent woman, but save your strength for questioning.”

Luna swung her helmet in a bow. “Thank you, Kyoshi. I’ll pay you that one back.”

Kyoshi simply smiled as he sat on his motorbike, using a belt to strap Akiyama upon his back.

Yoru threw one look upon the car and the body inside, before he nudged his team. “Let’s go back.”

One by one, the Akai Ryu fled the scene of the traffic accident, Yoru throwing back one look as he ignited the lighter, throwing it upon the car and the dead body inside of it.

As he had already caught up to his team, a loud “BANG” was heard in the distance.

Slowly opening his eyes to the blue of his room, Hisashi winced as sharp pain struck his head. Grabbing his forehead, his look fell upon the silhouette sitting next to his bed, their strong frame leaning forwards to hold his hand. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he comes to realize Arika is patiently looking at him, her eyes filled with emotions. He couldn’t pinpoint everything, but he could guess most. As Hisashi slowly sat up, he winced, grabbing his injured shoulder.

“You shouldn’t move much. You took a pretty harsh beating. Worse than me.”, Arika said.

Hisashi groaned, this time in frustration. He knew Arika was worried about the same thing as him.

“He is too fucking strong, Arika. We had to find out one way or another, but I wish we were able to do some damage to him. He beat us like we were mere flies. The next time we attack him; we need to outsmart him with a strategy.”

“Right, but I don’t think we have anything to use against him. We aren’t skilled in anything other than close combat.”

Hisashi stayed silent for a while. “Then we need to become skilled in various things. For starters, we need to analyze what we learned about Yoru.”

Arika nodded. “He is insanely strong. He picked both of us up like we weighed nothing.”

“He seems to have learned several combat sports, and is not afraid to use his skills if his safety is threatened.”, Hisashi continued.

“Let’s not forget the swordsmanship. It’s different from yours, Hisashi.”

“His is freestyle. I learnt kenjutsu. He is quick and precise despite being tall and heavy, I mean he almost crushed me when we fought. Also, his reflexes and coordination are too good. He’d been able to fight both of us no matter who attacked first, or if we did it at the same time. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to look around the room, but it seemed like it was his training room. So, we need to build both strength and stamina.”

Arika mused. “Then I think it’s the best that the mayor makes an investment.” Hisashi raised an eyebrow. “For us?”

“Yes, for us. His current problem is Yoru, and we’re tasked with capturing him. It’s only fair that he gives us the tools to do so.”

Hisashi huffed a laugh. “We’ll have better luck asking Daisuke to persuade the mayor to update the gym.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do if the initial plan fails.”, concluded Arika. Eyeing Hisashi, she said, “You should put a shirt on, I don’t want them to ridicule you because of bandages.”

Putting a t-shirt on, Hisashi replied, “At least I did something, alongside you I found the notorious Yoru and fought him. What did they do, eat the newest chocolate on the market? I work to earn my money, so I don’t care what they have to say about me.”

Fetching his katana, Hisashi walked out of his room, Arika following him, her expression sad.

Knocking on the familiar doors, Hisashi took a deep breath before the mayor’s “Come in” echoed from inside of the room.    

“Excuse us.”

Opening the doors, Hisashi scowled when he saw Daisuke’s sneer as he turned to look at them.

“Ah, here they are, uncle. And I was just wondering where did they go, I thought they were out in the city somewhere.” The younger man smirked, which annoyed Hisashi to no end.

“Daisuke, be nice. Now, Hisashi, I suppose I should congratulate you two.”

Hisashi was taken aback. “Congratulate us, for what?”

The mayor kindly smiled.  “While you didn’t manage to capture Akai Ryu, you have temporarily stopped them from creating trouble. And I’m giving you the task to continue doing so. Whether you capture them or even get beaten by them, if that’s what it takes to prevent them from messing with us, then so be it.”

Hisashi was enraged to hear the last sentence but kept it to himself.

“Now, then, did you want to ask me something?”

Hisashi took a breath to compose himself.

“Yes, sir, I would like to make a request.” Seeing the mayor wasn’t responding, he continued. “I am asking you for some new equipment in the gym. Some heavier weights, new resistance bands as well, as the old ones are already stretched out.” He looked as the mayor took down notes, but he couldn’t decipher his ugly handwriting.

“Anything else?” the mayor asked, not looking up.

Hisashi’s eye twitched, but Arika quickly added, “Boxing bags. Preferably of the weight of an average man.”

The mayor nodded, writing it all down. “I will see what we can afford for 20,000 wyrettes.”, he said, looking at them fiercely so they couldn’t rebut.  

Daisuke stood there with his eyebrows raised, then took a closer look at Hisashi and Arika’s faces. “Well, who beat you two up so badly, I should thank them. You seem–”

Arika cut in, “If that’s all, sir, I’d like to go back to our task.”

Hisashi felt the blood in his veins freeze. Nobody ever dared cut Daisuke off like that without getting beaten up.

The mayor closed his eyes for a brief moment, before seemingly remembering what he told Arika and Hisashi about the mission. “Yes, please do so. I hope you learned your lesson. Take it slowly, but bring them to me.”

Hisashi nodded, and bowed down to the mayor, before exiting the office.

On his way out, he briefly heard Daisuke asking the mayor, “Uncle, you gave them the task to capture that Akai Ryu?”, before he shut the door behind him.

Sauntering the first floor of the Shuryo Inu mansion, Hisashi let out a sigh. “How do we capture Akai Ryu if we’ve just been beaten up by their boss? I mean, how does he expect us to bring them to him? Should we set a trap up for them to show up?”

“Hisashi, as we said, we need a strategy. Attack on Yoru was testing the waters to see what we’re dealing with. We need a plan that will pique Yoru’s interest enough to lure him from wherever he’s hiding, as well as the rest of the team.”

“We also need the money. The reward for capturing the Akai Ryu is generous, however we do need money to afford both food and weapons. Those 20,000 wyrettes aren’t nearly enough to cover all of the costs. I’ll try to get us police stretch jackets, as there’s no way Akai Ryu wouldn’t have guns with them the next time we see them. There’s no guarantee that we’ll fight just Yoru the next time we go after them.”

Arika mused. “In that case, we need more manpower. Though I’m hopeless, we should ask the rest of the members for help. And before you say anything”, she cut in, seeing Hisashi make a scowl, “just think that it’s better to face them in greater numbers. Even if they get killed like Haruto did.”

“I don’t want to ask them for help, Arika. And why should I, to get ridiculed again?”

“Better to be ridiculed and actually complete the mission rather than dying because we were unable to do anything against them ourselves.”

Hisashi looked at her as he opened the zipper of his bag. “Call me crazy or stupid, but I’d rather die by Yoru’s hand than ask for their help. I don’t care. Whenever I needed them, they weren’t there for me, but I always come in handy to do their jobs. Also don’t think we would be paid the same amount if we asked them for help.”

Arika’s face sunken. “You’re right about the last one.”

Fetching out a blank piece of paper and grabbing a pen, Hisashi wrote down: “Bringing that motherfucker Yoru down”. Arika snickered as she watched him list down things they agreed upon.

Looking up, Hisashi’s expression was grim as he noticed other members of Shuryo Inu coming closer, passing by the same corridor. Daisuke, the annoyance he is, starts yelling, “Who beat you? Who beat you? Who beat you?” Turning to the rest of the members, he said, “See? I told you they got beaten up.”

Hisashi and Arika looked at each other in annoyance before Hisashi replied, “Why are you so eager to know? Do you want to get beaten up by them, too?”, with serious sass in his voice. Daisuke stood there speechless, before responding, “Of course I could beat them up! I’m not weak like you guys.”

Hisashi side-eyed Arika, before rolling his eyes.       

“Then you might as well go and capture them, then. The rewards are pretty handsome.”

Raiden stepped up then. “You do realize everyone in Shuryo Inu has their own tasks to adhere to? We can only evaluate each other’s achievements or process.”

“You can evaluate my ass. Not literally.” Hisashi said, his brows furrowed.

Raiden narrowed his eyes. “I suggest you choose your next words carefully, Fujiwara.”

Hisashi scoffed. “Is that the best response you could muster?”

“Look here, Fujiwara, we didn’t come here to argue. So, you should drop that attitude, or your wages will drop as well. Oh, sorry, you don’t have any.” Midori taunted.

Hisashi leaned into Arika, “I told you this would go like this.” He whispered, before raising his voice, “Well, sorry to have bothered you. I’m sure you have so much work to do. You’ve done so much work in these few years; it would be unfair if we took more of your precious time.” Hisashi eyed them up and down, before making his own way. Arika followed him.

“Hisashi, if the mayor just heard you…”

“What would he do? Whip me for talking back to his nephew? I’ve had enough of their attitudes. If they have problems with me misbehaving, they can fire me on the spot. Then I won’t have to be bothered by Yoru anymore.”

Hisashi took out his phone. No news about Akai Ryu aside from the parade crash. “That’s good.”, he thought. The city doesn’t have to know about them attacking Yoru. That means he can work in shadows, and get the hell out of this city once he finishes the job.