The Year ‘35, 4th Month, 18th Day

– Fei Cui, Jae-dyn

The Wet Market, The Red District

4:43 PM

“You’re quite lucky nobody found you,” Sunren told him, sighing as he parked his motorcar by the curb. His aura was blaring brightly, which he subdued the moment he pulled the brakes and tugged the key from ignition. “Old Man Peng would have had your head if he found you up there.”

“Thanks for opening the fire escape door for me,” Kizuna laughed softly. “I wouldn’t have found a way down from the roof otherwise. I didn’t expect the ladder to just break like that.”

Sunren hummed, reaching a hand to click the car radio off. “What were you doing on the rooftop, by the way?”

“Ah, I just wanted to see the stars,” Kizuna smiled.

Beneath the gauze that lined his neck, his skin was still sore and bruised. He was bare-footed, too.

As Kizuna flung the motorcar’s door open and stepped outside to fall by the man’s side— Sunren grasped him gently by the shoulder, making him seize up in shock.

The man, with his milky eyes, stared down at him as though he could see past Kizuna’s gauze. Past the smile, past even the words themselves.

“What were you really doing up there, Kizuna?” Sunren asked, soft, nearly lost as they finally stepped into the wet market. There were little flaglets strung up between the packed storefronts. It was the eve of the Ghost Festival, so spirits were high.

Kizuna prickled, lowering his voice as they passed the street vendors, who were calling out to them as the smell of hearty fried food tickled their noses. “I just told you.”

“You weren’t… I mean,” Sunren began, then shook his head. “I know how you feel about the Triads.”

“I am lucky that the Master would so gladly—”

“How you really feel, child.” Sunren smiled crookedly. There was a laxness to his face, perhaps due to being unable to lay eyes upon his own reflection. An openness, tainted not by any external stimulus. “If you wish them all dead, I would not put it against you. Xian, I’m sure you wish me dead as well.”

“No, sir, I—”

“I do inventory checks, you know. On the rouge.” Sunren leaned back in his seat. “There was one pot missing yesterday. And no, this was before they were sent out… so it couldn't have been Citra.”

Kizuna’s eyes widened, though he could only attempt to hide a sigh of relief. For a moment, he had thought that the man knew of his run-in with the Enforcer. Though, that did bring into light this rouge thief.

Sunren continued, “I’m not going to attempt to incriminate you, but all this talk of Shen…”

“Sir, I didn’t. I swear, I never—” Kizuna’s blood ran cold.

But Sunren was watching him with his lips pursed, brows drawn downwards in worry. Kizuna hadn’t been faced with such a look in so long. Pity, in all its awful shades, prickling at his pride. Yet even still, he could sense no fear nor malice behind it; which Kizuna had, quite frankly— had enough of.

“Please, sir. You have to believe me.” Kizuna said, smallish. “I didn’t do it.”

The panic was so fresh and raw that Kizuna did not even have the opportunity to hide the genuine hint of fear in his voice.

And for a moment, the facade he had carefully plastered upon himself had fallen.

He did not obey the rules his Master had given him, only for Sunren to falsely accuse him of being this thief. Did not offer his power, blood, and life to the Triads to be thrown away like this.

He would not let them.

Sunren looked at him so patiently, that it scalded him more verily than the blood that was broiling beneath his skin.

“I know how it feels, to lack so much control in your life. To feel trapped. Shackled.” There was a flash of severe pain in the man’s features, before he steeled against them. “Sometimes, it may even feel like the only way out is to… end all of it.”

Kizuna’s eyes widened when he caught notice of what the man was insinuating. How all of this must be panning out for Sunren. Kizuna, climbing up to the roof all by himself, not caring about escape—

“I wasn’t going to kill myself,” Kizuna muttered incredulously. “You know that it wouldn’t even work in the first place. I’d just snap.”

“Just because you know that doesn’t mean that you would not give up this life in favor of an escape. If not to at least destroy the entire runner den, and everyone in it,” Sunren shot back, though he sounded as patient as ever. When Kizuna opened his mouth to retort, Sunren merely raised a hand. “And… the thought of you stealing that rouge… I cannot stand it.”

The man faltered when a vendor slipped too close to him, Sunren smiling and shaking his head politely as the vendor offered him a freshly caught sunfish that the man claimed had only been killed that afternoon.

As the two of them slinked away from the crowd and deeper towards the alcohol stalls, Sunren said, “I know that it makes you want to give up— to take it, whatever it is they throw at you. If indeed you were targeting those men… I understand it was you lashing out. At Li Roulan, or at Shen, the whole lot of them… it doesn’t matter to me.”

There was a brazen truth to the man’s words. At least, it did not seem like Sunren was going to report him to the Master for stealing the rouge, despite it not being true.

Kizuna bit his tongue, nodding along.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“You’re not like the other runners. I don’t want you to so readily throw your life away.” Sunren said gravely, “What you don’t realize, dear child, is that life is a game.”

“A… game?”

Sunren nods, “Not just any game. Not the kind where you slaughter to get to the top— no, it’s the ones that make you want to reach that perfect ending.”

For Kizuna, there was no such thing.

There was no ending. It was the never-ending toiling of his bones. Like his soul— he would never die, and there would be no end to his torture. The days simply blurred, and he focused on living and savoring the smallest of joys as they came.

“There’s no such thing.” Kizuna told him, facing ahead.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Sunren only smiled, and leaned in close to whisper. “My perfect ending is one where you are saved.”

Kizuna was so shocked that he halted in place, and Sunren laughed and waited for him upon noticing that the steps at his side had grown quiet. Kizuna forced his mouth to speak. “That’s why you want to give me this money so badly.”

“Not quite,” Sunren’s eyes were crinkled as he shrugged easily. “I wanted you to pocket it so that you could escape from the Triads.”

“Escape?” Kizuna whispered the word with reverence. A prayer, in its own way.

This was the deal Sunren had spoken of.

It was for his escape, this whole time.

“You aren’t the only one tethered to this life, child.”

“But, I-I…” Kizuna cleared his throat, “have a family…”

Again, Sunren shrugged. “At least consider it.”

But a deal always had a catch.

Those were the last words Sunren said to him before Kizuna pointed a shaky finger and said, “That… that seems like the place Citra had seen Chin Hae last.”

“Good eye,” Sunren said jokingly as he grasped at Kizuna’s hand, feeling with his own to find the direction of the boy’s finger. Passingly, he said, “It reeks here.”

“We’re by the alcohol stalls. He’s bound to be…” Kizuna trails off, only to have his brows shoot to his forehead. “Here.”

Chin Hae was standing before them.

While Kizuna had never met this may face to face, he had seen photos of him within the Triads’ registry, during rare moments when Kizuna was called into Master Banzai’s office for a meeting.

Chin Hae had seemed like a fat, dull man who looked more like an accountant than a gang member.

But looking at him now— Chin Hae was different.

Instead, the man was hunched into himself, as if he were preparing to lunge an attack.

This was the first time Kizuna had laid eyes upon the man, and the first thing he noticed was the awful scab etched across his face. It looked fresh, still a bright black, thick and curdled and just itching to be scratched off the skin and allowed to bloom into a scar.

“Chin Hae?” Sunren asked tentatively. Kizuna stepped forward to grip the wandering man’s forearm, to ground him.

“Sunren,” Chin Hae spat.

Sunren must’ve heard the sharp edge in the man’s voice, because then he said, “We aren’t here to rat you out to the Triads, old friend. I know what you did, and I don’t blame you for it.”

Chin Hae sneered, something dawning upon his features, and he stood up straighter. More lax, now. “Blame me, huh? I heard that you was lookin’ for me, wanted my kin or somethin’ like that.”

“Just our share. That’s it, and you can get back into hiding if you so wish.”

Kizuna tried not to react when cold eyes shifted to him. “Who’s the brat?”

“He’s…” Sunren hesitated, before replying, resolute. “The Beast’s Blessing.”

Kizuna felt his sweat bead. He couldn’t fathom why Sunren would say such a thing. It was dangerous.

If anything, Chin Hae, who had defected from the Triads, would have all the more reason to wrangle Kizuna away.

Chin Hae’s hands were shaking when he heard this, but it wasn’t from fear. Kizuna could see the man squinting his eyes. To make his senses keener, sharper. Perfect for a man with a—

“Gun!” Kizuna screeched, rushing forwards to push Sunren out of the way as a bullet came shooting straight at him.

Screams echoed from around them as the sound of the gunshot reverberated through the wet market. This was a public space. It wouldn’t be long until Enforcers were on the scene. And Kizuna, panicked and peeking past the tops of storefronts and the heads of scrambling vendors, could see navy uniforms attempting to lodge themselves past the sea of people.

Chin Hae turned to Kizuna. “You, kid— are comin’ with me.”

“Chin Hae…” Sunren began, making Kizuna snap his head towards him. There was blood pooling around the Collector’s side.

He had been shot.

“The Prince sends his regards, Shen.” Chin Hae said with a sneer towards Sunren.

“No! No, no… you’re mistaken. He isn’t Shen. I—” Kizuna cried as Sunren’s feet finally gave way, and the boy had no choice but to let the man lean heavily against his shoulder.

“Enough. My bossman gave me a pretty wopping sum of kin to kill this dope, but he didn’t tell me the Beast’s Blessing himself would be payin’ me a visit,” Chin Hae said darkly, rounding closer. “I wonder how much the Osamu gang would pay to make you theirs.”

Kizuna swallowed, taking a step back. But then, he pulled Sunren’s cane out of the man’s hand, and swept it across Chin Hae’s legs. The latter clearly hadn’t expected this, because he plummeted to the ground, Kizuna sparing a moment to raise the cane high— before battering the man’s face in with the metal end.

Chin Hae screeched, a tooth chipping and blood spattering from his nose. But he managed to shoot a hand out, catching the cane as Kizuna made to swing it back down.

With an animalistic grunt, Chin Hae tossed the cane out of Kizuna’s grip, making the latter lose his balance for a quick second. A foot met Kizuna’s face, the rough sole of the other man’s shoe knocking the side of his ear.

While Kizuna absorbed himself in the fight, he knew that the Enforcers were approaching by the second, and it wouldn’t be long before they arrested everyone on site.

So he managed one last strike at Chin Hae’s face to keep him down, before bolting over to Sunren. Grunting, he pulled Sunren away from the panicked crowd, leaving Chin Hae to be dragged away by the Enforcers as the man struggled and swore.

The man in his arms was bleeding profusely, the dark liquid pooling beneath their shins as they both leaned down behind the back of a dumpster, somewhere behind the wet market’s sprawling alleys. There was the rank stench of fish guts and stale oil in the air as Kizuna pressed his hands to Sunren’s side.

“You can’t stifle a wound like this, child,” Sunren wheezed, his aura flashing before it finally died out.

“I-I have to try.” Kizuna was stammering wildly. “I’m— I’m sorry. He must’ve thought that you were… that you were me and— I sh-should’ve been the one who got shot and—”

“Please, hush.” Sunren told him, and even with death creeping around his eyes, his crows feet lingered with disbelieving mirth. “You didn’t know.”

“If I just… if I hadn’t…” Kizuna hadn’t noticed when tears began to trail down his cheeks. “Did you tell him I was the Beast’s Blessing so he wouldn’t shoot me?”

Sunren laughed, and it sounded like bells heralding a burial. “Very perceptive.”

But there was no explanation as to why Chin Hae would think Sunren was Shen.

It was common knowledge that Shen had the Beast’s Blessing— so why, upon hearing that Kizuna had it, would he not think Kizuna was Shen?

Kizuna’s throat was tight as he spoke, “I’ll get help.”

“Poor thing,” Sunren cooed, weakly raising a hand to wipe the tears from his eye. Kizuna flinched as the hand wandered closer, grazing past his lashes, until the man’s fingers were against the edge of gauze on Kizuna’s face. His fingers pushed deeper, feeling the soft skin hidden beneath the tight cotton.

Kizuna flinched when an Enforcer wandered too close to the alleyway, and Sunren whispered to him, “Run away, child.”

“But—”

“Run,” Sunren forced, as the boom of voices got too close for comfort, and Kizuna saw one of the vendors speaking with a group of three Enforcers, pointing down the alley and gesturing wildly.

“Damn,” Kizuna swore, gathering himself up to his feet and bolting off.