"Every…option, sir?"

"You heard me. And I'm kind've in a hurry. Could you make it quick? I also want it registered under this identity." YF held up a small box with a low glowing light at the top.

The dealer frowned. YF attributed the dealer's hesitation to the fact that he could not rectify YF's shabby appearance with the price of a fully decked out sport bike. And yet here he was, standing with the money in hand. YF zoomed in to his bank page and held out his receiver.

"...right away sir."

YF soon saw the dealer wheel out the bike after disappearing through the front door and reappearing through the back. About four strides away, he stopped and continued holding onto the handlebars. YF swiped the money toward him.

The man left the levitation modules on as he pushed it slightly toward YF. "You have a good day sir."

"You too."

The man bowed deeply once, turned, and reentered the shop.

YF gripped both handlebars. The subsequent feeling dispelled any guilt he felt about taking a cut of the apartment sale for himself. It was not much. Between the bike and the key money deposit to move Erika out of the strip club, it was still barely a dent in the hundreds of millions he forwarded to Saru and the others. They risked their lives and they will live comfortably for it. But YF still needed one last reminder that he was his own person. Besides, there would be at least one unselfish use for the bike.

YF mounted the bike and engaged the reactor, a genuine smile growing across his face as he accelerated down the platform and merged onto the main road.

***

YF was standing at the foot of Katayama’s bed when Toa’s message about who had sponsored the latter’s high school came. YF already knew the answer and knew he would need to pay for it anyway. He decided he was going to read the message later; it was only going to give him more stress. YF looked at Katayama’s right hand, which was cuffed to the bed.

“Reika…”

YF stayed as still as he could.

“Reika…”

Katayama’s eyes opened, and he seemed to realize that YF was standing there. “You—”

“Kita’s dead.”

Katayama’s eyes seemed to search YF’s as if trying to come to his own conclusion whether the latter was lying or not. YF then saw Katayama's neck bulge, his face growing beet red. At first YF expected him to start yelling or jolting in anger. But then he realized what was really happening. Katayama’s pupils grew thin and he sat up, reaching out for YF. He then fell off the bed as the cuff held him to the railing, trying to fight the restraint in vain as he lunged forward over and over again.

“Gah!! Kah!!”

YF twisted off the cap to his bottle and stood, waiting for an opportunity for Katayama to stop moving. That opportunity never came. YF went to the other side of the bed, making sure it was out of range of Katayama's reach. He took the IV pouch off its stand and then grabbed the stand with both hands from the middle. YF smashed the pole into Katayama’s head as the latter climbed over the bed to get to him, knocking Katayama out cold. Seconds later, a nurse and a priest of The Way opened the room door, standing in the doorway as they stared at YF with the bloody pole still in his hands.

"Guards! Guards!"

Two men with long stun batons pushed past the nurse and the priest to enter the room. They raised the batons in a center-stance and pointed them at YF. "Drop the weapon!"

“I need to give him some medicine,” said YF, still holding the pole. “But he wouldn’t stop moving, so I needed to put him to sleep.”

The nurse's eyes began darting from Katayama to YF, a look of confusion mixed with terror in her expression.

"I need to give him medicine ma'am," YF repeated.

“We cannot…cannot allow that,” the nurse finally replied.

“Why not?”

“The…d-doctor has to sign off on whatever is given to him within this compound.”

“You’ve seen these episodes before?” asked YF, motioning with his head toward Katayama.

“Y-yes.”

“And whatever you’re giving him, it’s not working is it?”

“No.”

“Let me try then.”

The nurse neither consented nor dissented. YF approached Katayama with the open bottle and lifted it to his lips. He then turned Katayama’s head to the side. The wound where YF had struck him was already starting to heal. YF grimaced, quickly emptying the bottle’s contents into Katayama’s mouth. Katayama coughed and hacked a few times, though his demeanor seemed to calm greatly. His appearance started to normalize soon after. The nurse began to walk toward the bed but YF held his arm up. "I would like to make sure he's stable first and have a few words with him. Is that going to be a problem?"

The nurse blinked a few times.

"Please?" asked YF.

She backed up and bowed, motioning for the others to leave the room after her.

Saliva was dripping from the corner of Katayama's mouth as YF watched him come to.

"You need to get out of town," said YF. "Come on, I'll bring you to a safe place."

Katayama brushed the shoulder of his hospital gown against his mouth. "I have my pride, senpai. I can take responsibility for what I have done. Either take my life or give me the dignity of taking my own."

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

"What's your real name?" asked YF.

"What does it matter to you?"

"You nobles have some misplaced notion that killing yourself is taking responsibility when I don't believe that to be the case," said YF. "Seems like a slightly more painful way to run away to me."

"What would you know about it?"

"I don't get the sense that whatever happened was planned by you," said YF, changing the topic.

"That's immaterial."

"Skip town and go to the west, out of this hell hole."

"And if I refuse?"

"My guess is that enemies of your house will find you and skewer you like an animal. It will not be an easy or dignified death," said YF.

Katayama squinted.

"I'm sure you understand that whatever allies you had before have abandoned you to take the fall for their own plans. You will not be honored in death, merely forgotten, your only legacy being the pawn of those higher than you. Is that what you want?" asked YF.

YF could see the conflict in Katayama's eyes. It was what he was hoping to see. "So you're smarter than I gave you credit for. Even now the seconds on your timer to escape are ticking. You need to follow me now."

"Why are you doing this?"

"You want to deny it but you are just an Itsugo boy born with a fancy last name, whatever that name may be. No one will take care of us, so we need to take care of our own."

Katayama's eyes shifted to the door.

"Right," said YF. "It's time to leave, come on."

***

As expected, YF's colleagues at the Town Office did not have the time or resources to pursue a lone bike speeding off into the countryside in the opposite direction of the Ward. Katayama was asleep in the back for most of the trip, the leg and forward arm clamps — a feature of the new model year — keeping him from falling off the vehicle.

But around the time he left the boundaries of Itsugo Nanachome and entered unincorporated territory, YF noticed that there were three cars still on the highway about a few minutes distance behind him. They were too evenly spaced and all in the same lane, as if their formation were coordinated.

It did not take long for them to close the distance. Eventually YF could see in his rear view mirror that there were three identical, black sport cars. The first one stopped about two car lengths away from YF, while the second came around to block the passing lane, matching speed with the first. The third tailed the second in the shoulder, ensuring there was no path for YF but forward.

"Wake up and hang tight," YF spoke through his helmet radio.

"Shit."

YF pulled the throttle about halfway and held onto it to accelerate forward. The cars followed suit, leaving the same distance buffer that they had before. YF looked up to see the highway they were on leading into the mountain range. He leaned forward and pulled the throttle all the way until it would go no further, rushing down the straightaway for the first mountain. The reactor temperature increased notably, heating his legs which were prevented from melting only due to the upgraded thermal guards. At that point the mirrors were too unstable to see anything, but the windshield HUD image of the rearview camera revealed the cars were not far behind.

At the first turn YF pushed his handlebars to the right and leaned hard in the same direction, cornering around the mountain at as high a speed as he safely could. Just as he exited the corner, a family van was entering from the other direction, forcing him to decrease his lean angle and slow down on the exit. The three cars exited the corner behind him in a perfect line, quickly accelerating up the slope behind him. YF ducked under the windshield as rifle bolts started to fly toward him, riding temporarily into oncoming traffic to avoid the line of fire. As he drifted back in front of the cars he saw that the next corner was on the left side. YF leaned harder than the first corner and pulled on the throttle, accelerating through the turn. Even though he tucked his chin, his helmet was almost scraping against the side of the mountain. YF cornered each subsequent turn as fast as he could, but every time he exited the cars were right behind him.

When he reached about halfway to the first mountain village YF saw that there was a runaway truck ramp ahead and to the left. YF pushed the button to force the reactor into overdrive and pulled on the throttle as hard as he could, the wind screaming over the windshield as he headed straight for the ramp. Katayama yelled out through the radio as they ascended. Within seconds, the bike launched off the end, flying over the river below where the road bent inward toward the mountain. The bike landed awkwardly on the highway and the handlebars immediately began to swerve back and forth. YF heard an explosion and flinched, initially believing it was the bike before realizing nothing had happened to them. But the stabilization system prevented the bike from going down and disabled the brakes from operating. Instead, it began accelerating to righten itself.

When the bike was stable, YF turned to see that a single car had made it over the gap, with one car stopped at the ramp end and starting to back up. He did not see the third car. The lone car followed him at a distance until they cleared the mountain range, arriving at a straightaway leading to a larger town. YF pulled off at the first dirt road away from the town he could find, prompting the car to do the same. When the road ended, YF noticed the car slowing down. He slowed down as well, and the two vehicles stopped in the open plain. YF dismounted, though he noticed that Katayama was shaking uncontrollably. Behind him, the driver of the car opened the door. When he stepped out, YF saw that it was Mizuno.

"I see the oyabun wanted some insurance," said YF.

"I've heard there is an Ardan saying: 'trust but verify'. I think it's an astute suggestion," said Mizuno.

YF opened his arms. "So now what? You going to take both of us out?"

"There were specific orders to ensure your well-being Mr. Sakai. But not of our mutual friend behind you."

"That's unfortunate, because my well being hinges on his."

"Let's not make this difficult, Mr. Sakai."

"Turn around and leave."

"I cannot do that."

YF and Mizuno stared at each other for a few seconds. Then the world seemed to slow down as Mizuno reached for his beltline and grasped a pistol, his finger starting at the thermal guard and sliding down toward the trigger as the muzzle started pointing toward YF. YF crouched down and sprinted toward Mizuno, who still did not return to a regular movement speed. YF grabbed Mizuno's weapon hand with both of his, raising the latter's high above his head and kneeing him hard in the stomach. It caused Mizuno's grip to slacken enough for YF to wrench the gun out of his hand and toss it to the side. The world seemed to return to normal as Mizuno fell onto his back. The sectarian looked up at YF with a stunned expression.

"I'm going to need you to call Uwada and make sure we come to an understanding," said YF, panting. Though he started to grow dizzy, he tried his best not to sway from his stance.

"There will be no understanding if the oyabun is involved. There is nowhere we can go where she cannot find us, and eliminate us," said Mizuno.

"Who says the oyabun will be involved?"

Mizuno chuckled. "Mr. Sakai." He coughed. "I admire the bravado but what you are suggesting is impractical. It will not happen."

"Do you want to live the rest of your life a dog, or do you want to let the Village determine the Village's fate?"

"Careful…" Mizuno coughed again. "You're speaking like a sectarian."

"Maybe that's the problem," said YF. "Plenty of talk about fixing the Village with little to show for it."

Mizuno raised his hands as he sat up. "If you want to call aniki you're welcome to do so. I will do as he wishes."

YF slowly pulled his receiver from his pocket and scrolled to the number for Uwada. He held his thumb over the call button for several seconds before pressing it. YF held the device near his waist as the phone rang. He heard someone pick up on the other end.

"Yes?"