Chapter 9 - A Silent Misstep

Arata was standing at the entrance of the seven story building, where he was supposed to bring the money in about two days. However, he wasn't here to deliver the money, but to recklessly attempt to rescue his brother.

The sun was already up, illuminating Arata's figure and his surroundings. There weren't a lot of people walking outside, because it was still in the early hours, however there were the occasional by-walkers.

Arata looked a bit suspicious since he had a hoodie on. Luckily enough, the hoodie was a size larger than his and it covered his gun which resided in the handgun holster, so they couldn't have a gun on him.

He summoned his courage, and tried to open the door to no avail. This wasn't a surprise to him, because he didn't expect it to be open in the first place, he still wanted to try though.

And with a sudden thud, the glass door which served as the entrance to the building got shattered. Arata kicked it with all of his force.

Sounds could be heard within the building indicating that something was wrong. Which they were most likely caused by his sudden outburst.

(Okay, that surprised me. I didn't expect this building to be equipped with alarms in case something like this happened. Now that I got in, I should find the boss' room.)

Arata thought the boss' room would be on the last floor, so he swiftly made the decision to make his way there.

In front of him was what looked to be a reception, albeit there was no one standing there. To his right was a corridor where there were a lot of rooms, and that was the same case to his left.

The building gave him the feeling that this was the premises of a tech company. Even if that was true, it would probably be an undercover business, since no normal company would try to kidnap someone and give them their actual address.

He could hear shouting coming closer to him, rendering him with a few seconds to react. Questions popped in his head, "Where should I go?" or "What would be the best path?"

In the end, he decided to run to the corridor on the right. Passing by the rooms, he quickly got to the corridor's end. There, he was met with an elevator and stairs in both directions.

"Look he's there!" screamed one of the mobsters.

"Go after him! Fast!"

Arata looked back, and could see the gangsters on the other end of the corridor. The distance between them was close to about seventy-five meters. As the elevator was currently sitting on this floor, he decided to take it, instead of going with the stairs.

He pushed the button to the elevator, and entered it. He could see the three guys going after him getting closer, and he quickly hit the button to the seventh floor.

"He took the elevator! Quick, tell the others!"

"On it!"

The second man took a phone out of his pocket and began using it. The elevator's doors rapidly closed as the men stood fifteen meters away from them. It went up to floor 4 where someone wanted to enter the elevator.

Arata thought the person was going to be an enemy, so he had his gun on the gun holster. The elevator stopped, and a man that looked in his thirties made his way into the elevator. He didn't look suspicious at all, and from the looks of it he didn't have a gun on him either.

However, Arata stepped out of the elevator as he thought this wasn't a good idea. The lift began to close and made its way up.

He sighed in relief and looked around. He was at the end of a corridor, to his right there were the building's windows. He began running and searching for the stairs, when he heard shouts coming from a distance.

In order to hide himself for a few moments, he stepped inside the closest room available to him. To his surprise, the door was open and there was nobody inside.

"I just got the information that he is on this floor!"

"Okay! You four, go to the elevator! The others and I will begin searching the rooms." screamed the person, who seemed to be the leader.

"Yes sir!"

He could hear footsteps outside of the room, making their way to the elevator.

(This is my chance to get off this floor!)

Thinking this, Arata ran out of the room and searched for the stairs. He didn't cross paths with anyone on the way, for which he was thankful.

As he found the stairs, he made his way up. What he didn't expect was that on the fifth floor there were two men waiting for him.

"Haha, he's finally here!" laughed a fairly skinny guy with tattoos on his face, as he saw Arata.

"Yeah. It was worth waiting as the boss ordered us." The man who was looking at the skinny guy gave a quick smirk and turned to Arata, and spoke. "Man, I don't really understand why you had to choose violence. Despite being a part of the yakuza, I don't really like beating up innocent people, y'know?"

"Brother, your acting skills have gotten better, but you can't fool me. It's been a while since we were last dispatched to a mission. I know you've been waiting for this day."

"That's true... Anyway! You won't make it out alive, boy."

Arata, seeing that the two men were distracted talking between themselves, he took out his gun and shot them in the legs. He didn't think he could kill another human being, so this was the best he could do at the moment.

The floor instantly became bloody and the men let out a painful groan.

"How dare you! Shooting someone while they aren't paying attention is cowardly!" the man who was slightly built, glared at Arata while he screamed. "Don't you have no pride!?"

"I think that's low coming from someone who is a part of the yakuza, but I digress." Arata looked down on the men and spat on them. "That's payback for Akira, you sleazebags."

"The fuck did you just do!?" the skinny man somehow stood up, despite Akira shooting him in the leg and continued, "Did you really have the balls to spit on me!? It seems like you don't know who I am. I won't give my name to a dead man, but I can tell you I'm in a higher position inside the yakuza!"

Although he was enduring the pain, he still moved around and took out his gun. That was how much Arata's words affected him. He was aiming at Arata's head. As he did, he looked at him in the eyes and said,

"It's over."

His finger was centimeters away from pulling the trigger when his colleague tried to stop him by trying to lower the guy's arm. This action did ruin the aim however the gun was still pointed at Arata. Mainly, his left arm.

"Dude, stop! Boss told us not to kill him"

"Oh, shit! I forgot!"

The man realized his mistake, but it was too late. The man accidentally pulled the trigger and it hit Arata's left arm. He could feel pain slowly but surely coursing through his arm. Blood was flowing out of the wound, onto the floor.

As this happened all too fast for Arata, he fell on his knees out of pure pain, and the gun that he was holding in his right arm fell on the floor. Screaming internally, his brain started working overtime.

(Did I just get shot? The pain I feel coming from my left arm is intense. If I looked at it right now, I don't think it would be a pretty sight so let's not do that. What can I do? I quickly have to stop the bleeding otherwise I'll die of too much blood loss.)

As the men argued, shifting the blame on one or another, Arata swiftly tore a piece of his clothing and tried to wrap it around his wound.

He clumsily wrapped it around his arm, and turned to look at the men. They were still arguing.

(So that's the guy who shot me, huh? Instead of being a man and accepting the facts he quickly shifts the blame on his friend. Okay...)

Something snapped inside of Arata. He took the gun from the floor and shot the guy in his chest. As the man wasn't prepared for the impact, he slumped down. The colleague looked at his co-worker in pure shock.

Realizing what just happened, he grabbed the gun out of his pocket but he was too slow. Arata had already shot him as well.

The man collapsed, and looked at Arata in terror as if he was scared of him.

"You heartless monster!" he cried out loud, "We didn't have the intention of killing you! Our boss---"

Before he could finish his sentence, three more gun shots could be heard. The bullets, without fail, pierced the man.

Arata was standing in front of the corpses without speaking. He was currently out of breath, desperately taking breaths.

After coming to himself, he realized what he just did.

(Did I... just kill someone? Two people? Two human beings? Fuck...)

He killed two men. He did what he wasn't supposed to do. He committed something that he shouldn't have. Murder. Granted, the man shot him with the intention of taking his life, but in the end he wasn't successful.