He didn't offer a single word. Silence became his shield, and he embraced it, unflinching. He knew what was coming, knew the path he'd chosen, and now he sat here, staring down the line. He'd long accepted his fate.
As long as his comrades managed to push forward — even if just one of them made it through — he'd consider it a victory. Their success was all that mattered, their cause firmly etched in his mind, and he would not falter from it now.
"Are you going to talk?" the detective questioned, his voice breaking through the quiet tension that filled the small, sterile room. The bare walls gave nothing for the eye to settle on, and the single table in the center offered no comfort.
The detective leaned forward, trying to catch Terrance's attention, but Terrance wouldn't give him even that.
Terrance's gaze held steady on the plain wall beyond. He'd said his piece back there — those final words to his comrades before the dust settled. Everything that needed saying had been said; his part in the story was over.
All that was left was to wait, to let his comrades pick up the torch. They believed in the same cause, and he trusted them to see it through, whether he was there or not.
The detective exhaled sharply, rubbing his brow in irritation. For the past few minutes, he'd tried every approach he knew to break Terrance's silence, offering him water, hints of leniency, anything to coax him into a word. But Terrance knew the tactics well and shut them down. He waved away the glass of water with a simple gesture, uninterested in their attempts to ease him into compliance.
"Death to all homeless people. They don't deserve to live. Glory to the Shinigami — the God of Death," he murmured, then let his eyes shut. It was as if those words sealed something for him, as if they'd been waiting to fall from his mouth.
The detective stared, struggling to grasp the twisted words. Trying to press Terrance, he found himself hitting the wall of the man's indifference. Question after question went unanswered. At one point, he saw Terrance's breathing grow slow and even; the bastard had fallen asleep, completely unmoved by the detective's persistence.
Frustration surged, almost tempting the detective to shake him awake, but he bit down on it. Knowing it would get him nowhere, he pushed back from the table and left, thinking a different approach was in order.
In another room down the hall, a team worked around a bank of monitors, the screens filled with security footage and street feeds from Ginsukimura. Yinhaie and other staff from her family, as well as members of Xinyi's network, were gathered, tracking the movements of those who had managed to escape the earlier sweep.
They'd pinpointed eight of the fifteen who'd broken free, their locations blinking on the map displayed in front of them.
The remaining fugitives, however, were proving harder to pin down, moving through the city with practiced evasion. Even now, they crept closer to the park where Yasushi's event was underway. Their warning to Yasushi's group had given them a chance to prepare, though there was no certainty about how long they could keep that advantage.
+-+
Yasushi's phone buzzed, and he glanced down, frowning at Yinhaie's message. "Eight are moving toward the park. I'll let everyone know." He tapped out a quick message to the group chat, then waited as the replies started pouring in. Some came across as worried, a few ready to face whatever was coming their way. They all knew what it meant: a dangerous set of maniacs was closing in on them.
"Eight? And what about right here?" Furuya asked, his eyes flicking over to his friend, his expression hardening.
"No idea," Yasushi replied, exhaling, his hand curling tightly into a fist. "But you better brace yourself for weapons or whatever else they decide to throw at us. From what I can tell, we have the go-ahead to bring them down if it comes to it — self-defense and all that."
Xinyi scoffed, crossing her arms. "We always end up attracting psychos. Do you think—" She stopped herself, catching the words on her tongue as she glanced at Furuya, aware of what she might reveal.
The truth of what she and Yasushi knew, the existence of the supernatural — it hung there, unsaid, just a hair's breadth away. "Never mind. Let's get this done," she finished, her tone steely, redirecting her focus back to the task at hand.
Yasushi's phone buzzed, and he glanced down at it, his lips pulling into a faint smile. "They caught four more. That leaves eight still loose. Two of them are headed right toward us, and the others are coming in from the east and north." His words made Furuya stiffen, eyes narrowing as he processed the situation.
"Plans?" Furuya demanded, already bracing himself, fists flexing in anticipation.
"Simple. We punch them," Yasushi replied, his voice deadpan, which earned a disappointed shake of the head from Furuya.
"That's barely a plan!" Furuya retorted, just as two figures rounded the corner up ahead. Their focus stayed glued to whatever was behind them, but each of them gripped a bat in one hand.
"They've got bats, and they're probably high," Xinyi observed, her voice laced with resignation as she settled into a ready stance, her eyes fixed on the two figures approaching.
The sight made Furuya's nerves flare. He'd been in his fair share of fights before, but something about this encounter made his skin crawl. It was different. The stakes felt sharper, heavier, and not just because of the threat in front of him. Even with the reassurance that they wouldn't get into trouble with the law, he couldn't shake the jittery tension building within him.
As the two men closed the last inches between them, Xinyi sprang forward to intercept the one on her left. He swung his bat, but she drew back, her movements precise. Her arm shot out, hitting his forearm in a way that forced his fingers to relax, making him lose his grip on the bat.
Not pausing, she drove her foot into his shin, causing him to stumble, then struck upward with her palm under his chin. His head snapped back, and he wavered, disoriented, staggering as he tried to regain his footing.
Without giving him any chance to react, Xinyi followed with a hard kick aimed straight at his groin. He dropped the bat instantly, doubling over, hands clutching at himself as he sank to his knees, all semblance of resistance gone.
Xinyi moved in, raising her knee and bringing it down against his face with a dull, crunching sound. His head snapped back, nose twisted and already streaming blood, and he crumpled to the ground, out cold, a red pool beginning to spread beneath him.
Meanwhile, Yasushi turned his focus to the second man, stepping forward with the ring from Fujin gleaming on his right hand. As he clenched his fist, a subtle glow pulsed from the ring, a gift of raw power coursing through him.
He swung down, landing a bone-snapping blow against the man's wrist. The man's face twisted in pain as his wrist bent into a sickening angle, his hand losing all control, and he dropped the bat instantly, his voice breaking into a scream.
"Your move, lover boy," Yasushi said, throwing Furuya a look that barely concealed his amusement.
Without a word, Furuya stepped forward, closing the space between him and the man. A quick sweep of his foot caught the guy's ankle, and the man toppled backward. Furuya darted around him, wasting no time, and pinned him down on the ground.
Locking his arms around the guy's torso and gripping his neck in a tight hold, he made sure there'd be no escaping this. Furuya knew his job was simple: knock the man out, cut off his air supply, keep him down until he stopped struggling — and it worked.
The man barely put up a fight, his attempts half-hearted. With his wrist already twisted painfully from Yasushi's earlier strike, there wasn't much fight left in him. He seemed to understand there was no escape, and with that realization, any lingering hint of resistance melted away.
His strength drained fast under Furuya's unyielding grip, and in moments, his body went limp.
Furuya checked, ensuring the man had gone fully unconscious before easing his grip. He took Yasushi's hand, letting himself be pulled up, and rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. "Guess all those classes actually paid off," he muttered, a nervous chuckle escaping him as he tried to shake off the tension.
As everything settled, police cars arrived on the scene, along with the SAT — Japan's Special Assault Team, comparable to America's SWAT. The park, once relatively calm, now became a buzz of activity as several vehicles lined up around the area, creating confusion among the park-goers who hadn't yet realized what had gone down.
Nervous glances and murmurs spread through the remaining crowd, but the officers quickly got to work, securing the area. They began hauling off the two men Yasushi's group had knocked out, treating them with more restraint than the criminals had shown for their own lives.
In the distance, scattered shouts and commands rang out, hinting that the authorities had likely begun rounding up the others who had tried to flee. Yasushi, Xinyi, and Furuya were promptly questioned, each doing their best to explain the sequence of events in a way that wouldn't add more tension.
The officers listened with blank expressions, but it was clear their attention wasn't only on the story; there was more than one sidelong glance at Yasushi and Xinyi. Both of them caught some firm words from the officers, who suggested, in no uncertain terms, that they had gone a bit too far with the force applied, especially Xinyi.
After enduring the reprimands and explaining their side of things, they were told to wait. The officers organized themselves, moving further into the park to rejoin their colleagues and verify the "mission's" final status.
The crackling voices over police radios confirmed the entire group had been secured, making it clear that the operation was, at last, wrapping up, even if not everyone had come through unscathed.
"Well, at least that's wrapped up," Furuya mumbled, though the tension still knotted in his shoulders.
Meanwhile, Yasushi had his phone out, thumbing through a string of messages from Sakura, who had disappeared right before things took a violent turn. The reason, it turned out, was that she'd dashed over to the west side of the park, where one of the last thugs had assaulted one of their own and even roughed up a security guard.
Yasushi muttered to himself, his face darkening, "Let's hope they're not too messed up."
Furuya and Xinyi picked up on his reaction, catching enough to prompt a question. They glanced down at his screen, reading Sakura's texts, and Xinyi's worry broke through. "Should we go check it out?" she asked, looking between the two.
Yasushi shook his head. "They told us to stay put. Last thing we need is getting pinned to the ground by SAT officers now." He cut her a look that said more than words could, and Furuya nodded in full agreement beside him, visibly relieved to stay out of SAT's line of sight.
They stood together, resignation settling between them as they took in the scene around them. Yasushi scanned the area, realizing Jingliu, Layena, and Yunxue were nowhere in sight. His stomach tightened at the thought, concern breaking through, but he forced himself to breathe, reminding himself of their strength. Trusting in their skill, he pushed some of the worry down, though a thread of unease still clung to his mind, refusing to let go.
+-+
As the dust finally settled and the day edged past noon, Yasushi spotted the entire organization gathered, his friends among them. Relief filled him as he hurried over to find Jingliu, though his stomach clenched when he saw her hand wrapped tight in blood-soaked bandages. Without thinking, he stepped closer, words tumbling out in concern.
"What happened?" He fixed his eyes on her hand, feeling an uneasy pull of worry.
Jingliu looked at him and broke into a chuckle, the unexpected response throwing him off even more. "Well…funny thing, Yasushi," she said, voice light. "It's a bit like what happened to you two years ago."
He blinked, even more confused by her response, but before he could ask again, Layena moved up beside them, her face marked with a seriousness that hinted she had been waiting to step in. "Let me explain," she offered, lowering her head slightly. "And I need to say this, Yasushi — I'm sorry. My response was too slow, and I failed to prevent this."
He shook his head, brushing off her self-blame. "…It's alright. Just tell me what happened," he urged, waiting as Layena gathered herself to recount the scene.
"One of them broke into the west side, and Lady Jingliu, Yunxue, and I arrived a little later," she began, a faint pause marking her recollection as if tracing the chain of moments in her mind.
"We got there and found he'd already put one of our people down," Layena began. "So we went in to help, but the moment he spotted us, he turned his attention to a guard, grabbed his knife, and mangled the guard's hand to ribbons before we could stop him." Her tone held the frustration of the memory, pausing before she went on. "Lady Jingliu, faster than either of us, jumped in to intercept him…she tried to force his hand aside, but it—"
Jingliu cut in. "Ended up just like that time you handled our serial killer classmate," she said, her voice frank. "Only this time, I wasn't aiming for it. I tried knocking his hand back, but ended up shoving his knife right into mine instead. Guess I remembered what you did to him back then and just went ahead and finished the job."
Layena dipped her head lower, her voice shaded by what she was holding back. "Yes. That's it exactly. I failed to react quickly enough, and it went too far." She gave Yasushi an apologetic bow, shoulders bent as if carrying the scene on her back. "I apologize."
Yasushi cast a glance toward Yunxue, who stood to the side, her head turned just enough to avoid meeting his eyes. The guilt in her posture was as plain as her silence, and with a sigh, he let the tension out of his shoulders, holding back whatever he'd wanted to say.
"She's safe, barely a scratch, so don't go tearing yourself apart over this," Yasushi told Yunxue, his words easing the tension in her shoulders.
Then, putting his hands up, he cupped her cheeks, giving them a soft squeeze. "And listen up, I'll be taking on some of your work, no discussion. You did it for me back then, so fair's fair."
Jingliu watched with a small chuckle and leaned over, brushing her lips against his left hand. "Alright, then. I'll be counting on you," she added, a glint of relief in her eyes.
As the hours ticked by and the tension settled down, the event somehow managed to pick up pace again. Conversations started flowing as people — park visitors and even some of the homeless — came over to the stands, curious about the scene that had unfolded earlier and eager to share their own take on it.
Despite everything, the day began rounding out, leaving Yasushi and his group with a sense of achievement. But the event pressed on, their work far from over.