“Looking for somebody?”

Hisashi felt his blood run cold as a muzzle pressed against his head. The deep voice reverberated in his head, sending shivers through his body. Lowering the hand with a gun, he slowly turned his head to find the familiar weight pressing him down. “Not again.”, he thought.

He was met with two blazing suns, the amber eyes blazing like the wildfire. The slim face had a smirk, the brows lowered.

“Yoru.”

The said troublemaker cocked an eyebrow. “It’s not quite fair, is it? You know my name, yet I don’t know yours. Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first?”

Hisashi huffed. “I will do so if you remove that gun.”

“I can’t trust you, so sorry, but the gun remains.”

Hisashi smirked. “No introduction then.”

Yoru grinned. “Such a shame. I’d hate to kill you like this, you seem to have been looking for me for a very long time. I will at least let you go down with a proper fight.”

At that moment, Hisashi fully turned around and kicked him, the gun flying out of his hand. Launching himself upon Yoru, Yoru had a mere second to avoid the attack. Kicking his legs, Hisashi created more space between them, allowing himself time to get on his feet. Grabbing his katana, he evaded the slash of Yoru’s blade, meeting his next one. Hisashi stood his ground, not letting Yoru move him like he did in the factory.

“I see you’ve trained. But not enough.” Said Yoru as he swung at Hisashi’s stomach, his attack being met with another block. Quickening his pace, Hisashi attacked again, and again, and again. Using everything he’d learned in kenjutsu lessons, his steps were light. A nice feeling, the last time he’d felt like this was when he danced.

Hisashi swung at Yoru’s head, the block throwing Yoru off balance. “Perfect!” Hisashi thought, as he swung again, attacking and attacking.

Seizing the control again, Yoru blocked the attack, delivering a strong blow to Hisashi which made his katana fly out of his hand. Backing off, Hisashi took his knife out, blocking the heavy blade. “You’re not giving up. I like that about you. Unlike your friends, you continue fighting although you’re losing. You do not belong among the mayor’s Dogs.” Hisashi’s arms trembled as he held Yoru off.

“I still do not know your name. I have no gun against your head, as per your request.”

Hisashi breathed out. “It’s Hisashi. Fujiwara Hisashi.”

“’Always with you’, huh? You must be a loyal person.” Hisashi felt his cheeks heat up. But it must be from fighting, that makes sense. Taking several steps back, he let Yoru follow his in footsteps until he reached his katana, crashing into Yoru. Attacking, slashing, he didn’t let Yoru have a rest.

Each attack was countered by Yoru. He’d known Yoru is a skilled swordsman, but the force from each attack weakened Hisashi. So he sped up.

Glancing over to the harbor, he saw a ship being anchored. The mayor was down there, greeting the captain of the ship. Arika was right next to them.

The force of Yoru’s attack threw Hisashi off his footing. The man was staggering backwards, so Yoru used the opportunity to strike.

Hisashi was thrown on the ground, yanking his head away to evade Yoru’s killing blow. Heaving in annoyance as Yoru held his right wrist in a tight grip, his other one being pressed into the ground by Yoru’s knee.

Hovering over him, Hisashi felt more weight pressing him into the ground, locking him in the place. He groaned.

Yoru turned his head to the ships, a satisfied smile upon his face. “Perfect, just as planned. Look,” he added as Hisashi sent him a questioning look. “I suppose I should be thanking you, Hisashi.”

“Why?” Hisashi asked as he finally turned his head to the direction Yoru was referring to. Lifting his head up to see better, he spotted dark figures upon the ship, something in their hands. Sticking the thing upon the ship, they fell back into the water, swimming back to safety.

“What is that?”

Yoru released Hisashi once he saw his team had swum far enough. “You still have much to learn. Of course, you couldn’t have known since it’s just our second encounter, but I never make plans alone. And I’m not always the one with the most responsibility. I supposed you and your little friend would be here, after all, you’re not foolish. I knew you’d conclude we would know about the ship. But you were two steps behind.”

One by one, loud BANGs were heard, the mayor turned around, seeing the ships being blown off. The bodyguards threw themselves around the mayor, hurrying him back to his car. Yoru continued.

“Since I knew you’d be waiting for us, I decided to come and greet you properly, so while I kept you busy, my team had enough time to set up bombs upon the ships without anyone noticing.”

Hisashi gritted his teeth. “From underwater.”

Yoru grinned. “That’s right. You’re really smart. Too bad, if only you used that knowledge on the right side. You’re way out of the mayor’s league.”

“I won’t join you!”

“Give it time, sweetheart. I can be very persuasive.”

Sheathing his sword, Yoru watched as Hisashi sunk into the ground. Picking his gun from the ground, the redhead said, “Once again, thank you for making this possible. But don’t be so hard on yourself. You still have much to learn.”

Hisashi couldn’t do anything. Nothing, but grit his teeth and slam his fists into the ground as Yoru left him alone, on top of the barrack.      

Once he came to, he climbed down, Arika’s concerned voice reaching him. Before he even realized what was happening, the mayor’s bodyguards had their hands on him, restraining him.

Looking forward, a loud slap echoed throughout the harbor, and Hisashi felt the sting upon his cheek.

“Where were you this whole time? Where the fuck were you?! Do you even realize what you’ve done?! You fucking ruined everything! Take him to the dungeon!”

Hisashi’s blood ran cold. “Incompetent naïve fool! I saw you arriving with me, yet you were nowhere to be seen once they struck!”

“Yoru ambushed me. He knew. Your client told him about all of this.”

The mayor paled. “My–my client?”

“Haven’t you noticed he never arrived? That’s because Yoru took him. How would he even know about all of this, then? He was one step ahead because of your client. I tried to stop him, but his planned to ambush me and keep me busy while his team dealt with this.”

The mayor slapped him again. “And you couldn’t have known that that prick would pull this off?! Don’t even dare talk back! I’ll see you at the dungeon!”

“Hisashi!” Arika yelled after him as he was dragged by the bodyguards. Fighting them off, Hisashi sensed a horrific headache before everything turned black.

With a noise, the doors swung open.

Reito and Airi froze in spot as they noticed Yoru and Luna at the doorstep. Yoru who was in a good mood. “You’ve been of a great help, Akiyamas. Our plan succeeded all thanks to you.”

“You psycho! Let us go! You have everything you need from us!” Airi bellowed.

“Now, Akiyama, I heard you said some foul things about my best friend here. Sexist comments and such. That is not something I can forgive so easily. Also, what would your dear friend Takeshi say about you giving up your plans to launder money? Not that you can go back to him after you’ve said that. Luna, you can have the honors.”

Luna pointed a gun at Reito’s head and shot, while Yoru did the same with Airi.

“We’ll deal with the bodies afterwards. I want them somewhere the mayor will easily find them.”

The cold has creeped into his bones. His head hurt, the nausea high up his throat. The disgusting musty smell of the room surrounded him. Ah, he knew that smell very well.

Slowly opening his eyes, even with the blurry vision he recognized where he was. How could he not, he’d spent the majority of his training days here. The light barely reached the cold room with no fresh air, so he could barely recognize the other person in the room. Her face was red, a bruise under her eye.

Hisashi gasped for air, opening his eyes. “Arika!”

There was no response from Arika.

“That is your fault, Hisashi. As well as this.”

Hisashi yanked as the cold whip tore his bare skin, leaving yet another cut among the many upon his back. His hands were chained to two pillars in the dungeon, he was forced upon his knees. The cold stone bruising his skin. Another slash was heard, and Hisashi bit his lip.

“You’re a failure, Hisashi. You have one job, yet you can’t do it efficiently. One fucking job. Yet, you dare talk back to me, as if you’re in a position to do so. How can you not capture the Akai Ryu, is that such a hard thing to do, huh?” The mayor’s monologue went on and on, Hisashi stopped counting the whip slashes.

Each word was met with a slash to his skin, the whip digging into his flesh, leaving deep cuts.

The whip stopped after a while. Hisashi’s body was shaking, whether from the cold or the pain, he did not know anymore. He didn’t know when he started dreaming again.

The worst nightmare about the old wooden basement, reeking of alcohol.  

He lay on the ground of the basement, dehydrated, weak, hungry. It had been three days since he’d been dragged here. It was cold, so, so cold.

The tight ropes bound his wrists above his head, the rope fastened to an old barrel. The cold floor cooled his body, he’d been shivering ever since he was locked up. Again, for a stupid grade.

The bruises coloring his body in red, green and purple, his face swollen and aching. He’d heard the doors open, the heavy footsteps echoing the room.

He looked up, to see a familiar face, a familiar figure hovering over him. The rough hand grabbed him by his hair, yanking his head up. Oh, how could he ever forget those hateful dark eyes, which delighted in his suffering.

“Have you learned your lesson?”

Hisashi didn’t dare look him in the eye. He numbly nodded. “It won’t happen again.”

As the hand released his head, Hisashi gasped as a heavy glass bottle smashed against his head.

He gasped, waking up. The darkness of the room surrounded him. Looking around himself, his best friend was still there, unconscious. The chains digging into his wrists, he sensed a cold blade press against his throat.

Footsteps could be heard, as the old fat man walked in front of Hisashi. “Fail again, and it will be worse.”

Dragging his fingertips across Hisashi’s bare skin, pain flared from his new injuries.

The mayor dug his fingers into the wound, and Hisashi groaned in pain. “You surely don’t wish to fuck up again, Fujiwara. Not only will Yoru beat you up, I will as well. Oh no, even worse. I’ll beat up this girl for you to see. You won’t be able to do anything.”  The fingers twisted the inside of the wound, scorching pain spreading throughout Hisashi’s body. He didn’t know what pained him more, his body, his mind, or his soul. He knew there was no escape from it, he had to endure it.

Hisashi shivered. “It–it won’t happen again. I swear.”

The mayor smirked as he took the fingers out. “Good boy.”

A hard punch landed upon Hisashi’s face, and he spat blood. His head was ringing, he hoped he would black out.

But in the end, he didn’t.

In his room, he was sitting next to Arika, who finally slowly came to. Gasping when she saw Hisashi’s bandaged face, he put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “It’s really not as bad as it looks.”

Arika frowned. “That fucker. Is that all he did to you?”

“Yes. He beat me up while you were unconscious.” Hisashi lied, not wanting to worry Arika.

“Hisashi, this is for sure now. We need to find a way to leave this place, this organization. I can’t let them beat you up like this, for what? Failing a mission? You couldn’t have known.”

Hisashi leaned upon the chair. “You’re right. We need to leave… finally. For good. But we need some time to prepare for it, we mustn’t show that we are leaving. Meaning we need to make it seem we are still after Akai Ryu.” His eyes burned with desire to be free, from yet another hell in his life.