Rikishi stopped driving as they finally arrived in front of the mansion. Everyone was still in shock and silent. They all walked out the car and to the mansion.

Takumi slowly reached for the door, his hand was shaking awfully…

Kuruka…

Kuruka died in front of him…

And he couldn’t do anything…

Takumi grabbed the doorknob, still shaking.

It felt like Kuruka was on the other side…

But he knew that wasn’t true…

It’s just that he wished that…

Takumi opened the door, as suddenly his eyes widened up-

Everything was thrown around, as if someone had broken in.

“What the...” Takumi mumbled.

“What is it?” Nokado asked.

“... Everything is on the ground.” Takumi said, as he ran in.

The first thing he saw was Akane lying between the mess.

“Did someone break in?” Nokado asked.

“Probably… But who would have done it?” Rikishi asked.

“Could it have been The Allied Gang?” Tado asked.

“It could be, let’s check it out.” Nokado said.

Takumi walked up to Akane and helped her up. He then laid her back on the bench. Everyone started to investigate.

Rikishi ran upstairs and checked the bedroom, he noticed nothing interesting. Tado ran downstairs, and noticed the vault not being opened. So the person who broke in hasn’t stolen their money.

Everyone kept investigating.

Takumi noticed something odd. The family picture of them all had cracks on it. There were four digits and a piece of paper. Takumi walked up to the piece of paper and grabbed it.

The paper said: ‘I will come visit on the day written in the cracks.’

Takumi grabbed the picture, as he saw the four digit numbers: ‘02/01’

Takumi looked at Ryan, Anne and Kuruka on the picture.

We made it so far…

So far… That we couldn’t afford losing…

It was for the sake of Ryan and Anne…

I even promised…

But in the end, I failed to keep it-

Suddenly there were knocks on the door. Takumi accidentally dropped the family picture and the glass broke completely, not showing the four digit code anymore. Someone on the other side was knocking on the door as if their lives depended on it. Takumi ran to the door and opened it-

On the other side of the door was the Seppuku clan. Kimoto got a glance to the living room and saw everything was destroyed.

“Woah… What happened in here?” Kimoto asked.

“Someone broke in… We don’t know who it was.” Takumi replied.

“Anyway… You should come with us, and the rest of the boys too.” Kimoto said.

Takumi was confused.

“W- Why? And to where?” Takumi asked.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“That’s a secret you will have to see for yourself.” Kimoto said, smiling.

“I… I am sorry, this isn’t the time for joke-”

Suddenly Kimoto grabbed his arm and pulled him outside.

“K- Kimoto?” Takumi asked.

“I never said I was joking, it’s serious.” Kimoto replied.

The others walked back to the living room and saw Kimoto pulling Takumi outside.

“Wait, wait. Calm down first...” Takumi said.

“There is no time… Just come already...” Kimoto replied.

“You too, Nokado, Ukato, Tado and Rikishi!” Kanami shouted.

The boys were completely confused, but they ended up entering their car and following the Seppuku clan. Takumi was still confused. Maybe they have found where Yanagi was hiding? Or what the Allied Gang was doing at the time.

“So… What do you think she has to tell?” Rikishi asked.

“I… I don’t know...” Takumi replied.

“She did say it was really important, but we have a lot of things we need information on.” Nokado said.

Nokado turned to Ukato. Ukato was looking through the car window, ignoring the conversation.

“What do you think, Ukato?” Nokado asked.

“I… I don’t know.” Ukato mumbled.

Takumi could notice this weird atmosphere around him and Ukato. But that’s obvious, after what they said to each other this was expected. They just needed a break from each other, now especially something really unfortunate happened. But no matter what, they have to move on. How hard it’s gonna be, they will have to...

The awkward silence grew bigger, until suddenly Kanami stopped her car in front of them. Rikishi hit the brakes and stopped too. They ended in front of a abandoned factory. The factory looked really, really bad. The girls stepped out, and so did Takumi and the others. Takumi walked up to Kimoto.

“What are we doing here?” Takumi asked to Kimoto.

“I’ll explain it on the way there… Just follow us.” Kimoto said, walking to the factory.

Kimoto and Takumi walked up front, with the rest behind them.

“Let’s check the reports of the battle.” Kimoto said.

“First of all, we guarded the place, but no one came to attack us.” Kimoto explained.

“That’s true… The place was empty.” Takumi replied.

“Well, that part wasn’t true, because you guys got attacked by that giant man named Grey.” Kimoto said.

“Yeah, we also defeated him.” Takumi replied.

“That is true...” Kimoto said.

“So… Right after things went good, we saw the accident happen...” Kimoto mumbled.

“... Kuruka was falling from what looked like over one hundred feet or so, right?” Kimoto asked.

“Y- Yes… He did.” Takumi mumbled.

They suddenly stopped in front of a curtain.

“So, wanna hear the good news of the report?” Kimoto asked, grinning.

“Good news?- ”

“Yes… Lucky for us...” Kimoto said-

Suddenly she pulled the curtains-

“... There were zero casualties.”

Takumi’s eyes lightened up, the others looked at it with complete shock. There was a person laying on a bed. The person looked exactly like…

Takumi ran to the bed. And his eyes weren’t lying to him, he wasn’t dreaming either. The person laying in the bed was Kuruka! He had bandages surrounding his chest, but his heart was still beating. The others ran to the bed too.

“O- Oi… That is-” Rikishi mumbled.

“When we were retreating, we drove past the river to take him out...” Kimoto said.

“Lucky for him he had a ‘pillow’ and a river to slow down his impact.” Yuno said.

Takumi and the others were so happy… They never expected Kuruka, still breathing. Takumi grabbed his hand.

“You piece of shit… You had me scared for a while.” Takumi said, tearing up.

Kimoto placed her hand on Takumi’s shoulder.

“It’s was no big deal… Since we are allies.” Kimoto said, smiling.

“How long will it take for him to wake up?” Tado asked.

“It should be around two or three days… Unless he is in a coma.” Kimoto replied.

“But he will have to stay here, since it will be too suspicious and dangerous to move him back to the mansion. We will guard the place one by one, so that some stay at the mansion and some are here to protect Kuruka at all needs.” Kimoto explained.

“Y- You’re right… I will start guarding today.” Takumi said.

“Me too!” Nokado said.

“H- Hell no, I’ll guard him!” Rikishi shouted.

Tado was smiling, he noticed everyone was happy in the end…

Almost, everyone…

He turned to Ukato, who was looking down. They both made eye contact out of the blue. Tado could see the frustration in his face, as if Ukato was ready to explode. Ukato turned his back to him and walked away.

“Oi… Where are you going?” Takumi asked.

Ukato stopped walking.

“I… am going out for a walk.” Ukato replied.

The place followed up with a awkward silence.

“S- Sure… ” Takumi replied.

Ukato grinned, then walked out the factory.

Tado looked at Ukato, but then turned back to the guys. He suddenly realized the piece of paper he had in his pocket, quickly grabbing it out.

The coordinates…

The skyscraper probably wasn’t a trap, so this must be the one.

Something suddenly came up on his mind…

You know…

I could go there to get some revenge, right?

* * *