Tsukiko ran out of the office as fast as she could, without a word to the others. They reached out to her, started shouting, started telling her things. It was a wall of noise, all indecipherable. She simply forced her way through the heavy metal doors and let them decide for themselves whether they were going to help her or not.

Finally, her mind was clear again. She felt her legs carrying her through the streets, the summer air filling her lungs and her eyes focused forward. She heard the sound of the city, of the people, under the thunder of her boots. Tsukiko felt herself getting closer and closer to the truth.

It wasn't long before she'd arrived. A big mess of concrete, plywood, and steel carefully assembled into a jagged skyscraper stood in front of her, reaching into the sky above. Tsukiko didn't care if it was a trap, she didn't care how big it was, she was going to turn the place upside down to find the son of a bitch or die trying.

Around the perimeter of the site were vertical banners showing the building as the work of the Nakano Construction Company, logo and all. Fumi always beamed when she told Tsuki about the jobs she took, so the thought of some bastard using it as part of some game made Tsukiko practically burn up with rage.

"Hey!" A voice shouted at her.

She turned, eager to punch whoever it was stopping her.

"Don't go in there!" Tanaka ran forward, grabbing Tsukiko's arm.

Asuka stood behind him. "He's already inside waiting for you. It's a trap, an obvious one."

"I know." Tsuki pushed Tanaka away, as gently as she could muster. "So you saw him? He didn't hurt you?"

"No." Asuka replied.

"...I'd better go in anyway." Tsuki turned and started walking.

"Aren't you listening?" Asuka followed. "Wait a minute and think. Don't do something you'll regret."

"No choice." Tsuki kept walking, her head kept forward.

"You could get yourself killed!" Tanaka raised his voice. "Or worse!"

Tsukiko turned to say something, but she stopped herself. She didn't have anything left to say. She paused, then she hopped over a barrier and stepped onto the construction site.

The evening sun had finally begun to turn, painting the whole site in a deep orange. The inside was dark, a mix of murky blacks and dim yellow and red, the place littered with loose pipes, tools and uncleaned debris. It was strange to see it all lying around like it'd been abandoned in a hurry. A siren's wail caught her ear, but it was too far away to make any sort of difference.

Venturing deeper, Tsuki realized the site was much taller than she'd thought it'd be. There weren't any exterior walls yet, just tarps and nets presumably placed to stop anything or anyone from falling through. It was only a few floors high but the state of the place made Tsuki's mind wander.

A mechanical lurch and the sound of an engine humming made her turn quickly. She got a glimpse of Masahiro, or who she thought was Masahiro, riding an elevator upward. It was a single machine with two carriages, and only one was going up. She ran in and moved to the controls, holding the button that moved her upward.

She was overwhelmed by a mechanical squeal as the motor carried her up.. It wobbled a bit and shuddered under her feet, but it didn't falter.

When she finally got to the top, the elevator shuddered to a halt at a floor of metal slats and heavy equipment left strewn about the place. Unfinished uniform spires of metal and concrete rose from the floor. There were still large gaps in the flooring, only blocked off by makeshift wooden guardrails.

As Tsukiko took her first step out of the elevator, a crowbar flew toward her, slamming into the elevator behind her as she just barely moved out of the way. In the moment she took to regain her composure, she spotted Masahiro, moving down to grab a box of nails off the ground as he backed away, keeping his distance as she started stomping toward him.

The box of nails hit her in the side and a tape measure flew past her head so close she could hear it cut through the air over her shoulder. Masahiro was keeping her away with anything he could easily pick up and throw at the Knight, but Tsukiko swatted most of it away with ease, and maintained her path forward unimpeded.

Masahiro finally reached down and found nothing else to throw, so Tsuki pushed forward to corner him. He stopped for a second to look around, suddenly lunging for a pipe bender with a long pole and a heavy end. The Knight stopped in her tracks.

There was a slight smirk on Masahiro's face when he noticed Tsuki's sudden hesitation. He held up the pipe bender and started jabbing it in Tsukiko's direction, the Knight retreating in kind with each motion. A laugh left his mouth, then he swung low, aiming for Tsuki's legs. The Knight stumbled backward to avoid the sweep, almost falling over.

"Scared?" Masahiro taunted. "You fuckin' scared?"

Swing after swing, Tsuki avoided Masahiro's attacks and slowly circled him. He held the pipe bender over his head and brought it down, Tsukiko moving out of the way as it slammed down onto the concrete. Immediately, she planted her boot on the pipe bender's head, locking it down. Masahiro struggled, but eventually pulled it back, overexerting himself and giving Tsukiko an opportunity to move forward and grab onto it.

Tsukiko and Masahiro fought over the pipe bender, both of them yanking at the pole and trying to break their opponent's grip. Tsuki shoved it into his face, pushing him further and further back. The Knight's unrelenting power made it so any loose finger would surely spell his doom, so he could barely defend himself.

After a moment of struggle, Tsukiko was able to pull the pipe bender far enough to force the pole forward, digging into his stomach. Masahiro finally loosened his grip on it and the Knight pulled it free, jabbing him with the pole again and tossing it aside. The makeshift weapon fell down a gap down to the floor below.

Masahiro wiped the dust off his clothes. "You'd better not hold back."

"Fuck you." Tsuki spouted.

Masahiro threw a punch, Tsuki quickly raising her arms to block it. He swung with an immense amount of force, causing the Knight to recoil. Even with her guard up, she still had to grit her teeth as she defended herself from his blows.

Each strike came harder than the last, but Tsukiko kept her guard up, hoping to force him into another misstep. For a moment, Masahiro stopped, and his hand reached forward and grabbed Tsuki's arm, tugging it away from its defensive position in front of her head and chest. She strained against his grasp, but in the middle of the struggle, his free arm let out an open handed slap, striking her cheek. Her hat flew off her head and fluttered down to the concrete floor, a few meters away.

In the moment that followed, Tsuki felt the pain on her cheek and she saw the look on Masahiro's face, the corners of his lips curled up. It was all it took to fill her with a raw murderous intent, all of her pent up rage flooding her head.

Masahiro's arm was still holding onto hers, so Tsuki forced her way free and grabbed onto him. With one hand on his collar and the other on his side, she swung him around and tossed him, his body slamming down onto the concrete. He rolled onto his back and looked up at her as she approached.

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"That's it." Masahiro's expression soured.

Tsukiko continued her march as Masahiro pulled himself back onto his feet and launched a fist toward her. The Knight pushed through, his swing not striking hard enough to stop her, and punched him in the jaw in return. Masahiro recoiled, his face twisting as Tsuki's knuckles pushed into his cheek. Everything went slow as she raised her leg to kick his calf, nearly sweeping him off his feet. When he didn't fall down, she stomped on his toes and slammed her fist into his gut.

Stumbling, Masahiro fell to his knee, Tsuki chasing him down with a brutal, uncontrolled rage. A powerful haymaker punch knocked him down to his side. As he tried to pull himself up, Tsuki ran up and kicked him in the ribs.

"That what you want, huh?" Tsuki spit at him. "Fucking piece of shit."

Masahiro laid on the floor, his chest heaving up and down, trying his best to stay conscious. His face had gone all red and purple from her punches and his shirt had torn from Tsuki's assault.

"You wanna go after Fumi again, you stupid motherfucker?" Tsuki stood over him. "Wanna chase me around, stalk me, try to fucking kill me? C'mon, get up!"

There was no immediate response from Masahiro, no quip or insult spat out without thought. Tsuki stepped away from him, taking a few steps back to look for her hat. When she found it, she picked it up and placed it back on her head, turning back to Masahiro, who'd gotten back onto his feet, a length of rebar at his side.

"The fuck you lookin' at?" Tsuki stared.

He didn't speak, Masahiro's face carrying a glare that said everything he could've said, and Tsukiko returned a silence of her own.

Masahiro started running at her, Tsukiko immediately readying herself to finish the fight. He held the piece of metal high above his head, running at her as fast as he could go. When he lunged forward, she simply pivoted to his side and delivered a devastating kick to the ribs. His legs carried him past her, Tsuki only able to watch as he stumbled toward an open gap in the flooring, smashing through the weak guardrail.

In that moment, things slowed down. Masahiro slipped through her fingers and started falling. What took less than a second felt like a whole minute. The realization hit Tsukiko like a wave and felt like she was drowning on dry land.

He was silent as he went down, as if his mind and body was struggling to process what was happening, but he finally let out a horrible yelp as he hit the concrete. He collapsed in a heap on the floor.

The Knight stared at the body below, her stomach churning at the sight of it. Masahiro was still moving, still breathing, but he wasn't getting back up. She looked for a way down to him, desperately climbing down some wobbling scaffolding to get to him.

"Masahiro." Tsuki approached him, still cautious.

"Damnit, Fuck!" Masahiro shouted.

Tsuki couldn't speak through the knot in her throat.

"D-don't just fuckin' stand there." Masahiro's voice lowered into a loud slur.

Tsukiko didn't know what to do. Masahiro shouted at her, but she couldn't respond. His leg was twisted in a strange, unnatural way and looking at him shudder as he tried to move made her sick.

"The fuck're you just standing there for?" Masahiro reached down to his leg. "Fuck!"

The sirens she'd heard before were louder now, overwhelmingly loud. Tsuki knew they were probably at the base of the construction site now, and it wasn't long before they'd find her standing over Masahiro, who was still shouting at her.

"Are you... fucking... listening?" Masahiro yelled.

"I..." Tsuki finally spat something out, then stopped completely.

A mechanical squeal and rumble sounded behind her getting louder and louder, her vision hazy and unfocused. Masahiro was reduced to a mess of shapes and colors and his voice sounded like a muffled mess.

Tsuki reached for her jacket and pulled out her phone, sending out one panicked message. "Shizuka, I think I fucked up."

She heard the mechanic squeal stop. Tsuki put her phone back into her jacket's pocket, then heard the sound of moving metal. Tsuki knew exactly who was approaching her, she knew it from the way they walked, and she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of seeing her in distress. She wiped the misery from her face.

"Ishikawa?" Tsukiko turned to look at him.

Ishikawa held a baton in his right hand, a prominent revolver in a holster on his hip. "Miss Himura."

"I--"

"I told you to stay out of this." Ishikawa looked over Masahiro's mangled body. "You're stubborn."

Tsuki turned around. "I know it was a setup."

"If you knew that, then why do it?" Ishikawa spoke in a pointed voice. "Is this all you're good for? Hurting people?"

"Th-this isn't what we agreed on." Masahiro choked out.

"Shut up." Ishikawa scoffed. "Do you think I care? You did your part, that's all we agreed on."

"So you were working together..." Tsukiko remarked. "...you wanted to get rid of me."

"I did." Ishikawa said blatantly.

"For what? For money?" Tsuki hissed. "So you can peddle any illegal shit you want?"

Ishikawa shook his head, stepping forward. "No. I would never do anything to hurt my country. I keep secrets, but I don't lie. I want you gone because I want to serve my people."

"What?" Tsuki recoiled. "Your country?"

"People threw their faith onto... meddling women whose only mode of operation was violence and chaos." Ishikawa insulted her. "Tsukiko, you're like a cannon occasionally pointed the right way."

Tsukiko was taken aback. "Bullshit."

"I wanted to prove to the people of Japan that the Knights were no better than common criminals and you left me with just enough to show the world." Ishikawa looked around. "Themis never mattered to me, neither did the Damascenes. Street gangs are just a stain on this city, easily scrubbed out."

"What the hell're you talkin' about, man?" Masahiro groaned.

"You do what I say, you stay out of jail." Ishikawa raised his voice. "I give you funds, you deal with the Knights. That was the deal. Now keep your mouth shut."

"How the hell is that helping anyone?" Tsuki interjected. "How is letting criminals free and working with street gangs serving people?"

Masahiro glared. "How many times have the police let you go?"

"I'm not a goddamn criminal!" Tsukiko spat out.

Masahiro looked away. "Look at what you did. You did exactly what I thought you'd do-- No, what I wanted you to do. You made yourself a criminal. "

Tsukiko's head was too full of anger and embarrassment to think. "You're the one who targeted my fucking girlfriend, my family!"

"Because it worked." Ishikawa explained. "Look at how easily you fell apart. You're not supposed to be doing this. That jacket made you feel invincible, but you're not."

"Fuck you!" Tsuki shouted.

"You faced your first true obstacle and your only approach was violence." Ishikawa motioned toward Masahiro. "Because when you're cornered, you'll end up hurting people or worse."

Ishikawa reached to his side.

"...so you're arresting me?" Tsukiko let out a long sigh.

"No, I'm not going to arrest you." Ishikawa's hand had gone for his holster, producing a dark service revolver.

"So you're gonna kill me, then?" Tsukiko shuddered.

Ishikawa started loading the gun one round at a time "No. I'm letting you go."

"What?" Tsuki stood very still. "Why?"

Ishikawa pointed the gun at her, the hammer pulled back. "I want you to say your goodbyes. Go out and tell Fumi you love her, tell Haru you'll see her in ten years. That sort of thing."

"...fuck you." Tsukiko looked away. "Put the damn gun away."

"I'm not going to kill you, Tsukiko. This is just to make noise. Shooting you would be unwise. Every step you take outside of this building, you're digging your own grave." Ishikawa said. "As of now, you're a wanted criminal. So go ahead, do whatever it is you want to do. Do the same stupid things you always do, turn the people of this city against you. When I find you again, I'll make sure you get what you deserve."

Tsukiko struggled to find her words.

"Go on. Run." Ishikawa spoke.

Tsuki turned and started walking, and Ishikawa fired a shot. She started running, but he fired off another round, and then another, over and over till he'd run dry. He didn't turn to aim at her as she ran, instead aiming at the same spot each time.