CRUNCHHHH

His neck and spine shatter, the bone fragments kill him from the inside.

I toss his body off me before getting back up, bleeding profusely from my side

Akao and Kindaka look on in shock. Sakamoto in his head thinks he would of done the same thing

"Hurry up and stop the bleeding. You'll bleed out before the poison gets you." Kindaka says with a slight worried tone

"I found the antidote!" Nagumo exclaimed happily

First he injected Ai and Konomi followed by Akao and me.

After I get the antidote I begin wrapping myself with bandages to stop the bleeding.

Nagumo whips out his phone and reads out the bounties on the 3 assassins we just killed Higuchi had a bounty of 400 million, the ice man had 400 million as well and Koba had 600 million.

"So what you're saying is we're rich." I said while finishing wrapping myself up

"If that's what they're worth you've gotta be worth 900 million." Akao said to me

"Why not just make it a billion." I ask

"Cause that's Sakamoto's. He's stronger than you after all." Akao said

"I'll have you know I beat him in a race." I said

"No you didn't " Sakamoto rebuked

"Well whatever." I said slumping back against the wall

Akao took a seat next to me.

"Yo Ryu that was pretty crazy what you did back there, you not scared of dying?" Akao asked

"Sakamoto would have done the same thing." I say brushing off her question, cause I didn't know the answer to be honest. It wasn't the best course of action, my vision showed me I could drag it out a bit more but take less physical damage from his knife and achieve the same outcome.

"Since when do you do things as unconventionally as Sakamoto? And you didn't answer my question." Akao said

"Dying's the only certainty in life, why would I fear it? It's just whether it comes sooner or later." I say

"Hmm.... Not that part." Akao said

"Why I killed him like that? Because it was the fastest way to do it....." I said

"Neh just admit it.... You were scared of us dying from the poison right? You don't need to keep up this whole I don't care about anyone front y'know. " Akao said

Is that it...... I didn't want them to die so I discarded rationality?

"Perhaps....." I say staring at the ceiling

"Maybe I'm rubbing off on you~ Mr genius." Akao said with a smirk

"Meaning? There's a lot of things you're infamous for." I say

"You're starting to care for people. I hope you continue down this path." Akao says

"Why?" I ask

"Cause you'll be more like me. And it'll make you a better fighter~" Akao says smoking a ciggy and offering me one

"My answer's still no. I'm never smoking a ciggy." I said pushing her box away

"Sigh* Guess some things don't change." Akao said blowing out smoke

Out of nowhere Uzuki begins speaking. I didn't even know he was here to be honest

"What if.... you had to weigh the people you care about against other people's lives." Uzuki asked

"I'd do whatever it takes to protect Akira. Even kill myself." Akao said

What would I do... Who do I even care about..... Kindaka.... Akao? I can't imagine those 2 being in any life threatening scenario...... I guess I'd do the rational thing..... but what is the rational thing to do prioritise the lives of many? Why do I feel so hesitant

I was brought out of my thoughts by Kindaka saying there isn't enough antidote for him and Uzuki.

"Maybe the poison guy has more." Sakamoto suggested.

"I'll go look." Uzuki suggested

"Ok but don't run!" Akao said

Akao then got up and left somewhere leaving me with Sakamoto and my thoughts.

"Sakamoto.... you would've done the same thing as me right?" I confirmed to which he nodded

"May I know why?" I asked

"Because I didn't know how much time the others had left. So I would have gone with the fastest way." Sakamoto explained

"I see.... so you prioritise others over yourself....." I muse

Is that what I did as well? I don't know..... Oh well....

I get up to go follow Akao wherever she's going.

With Uzuki,

Uzuki on his own again got another phone call. His brother had kidnapped his friend from the orphanage Gaku in order to 'motivate' him to carry out his mission. After the phone call he seemingly made up his mind..... to kill Kindaka.....

he grabbed the antidote from the poison guy's body and dropped it, letting it drop to the ground and shatter. Before it hit the ground Kindaka hit top speed and caught it before pushing it into Uzuki's chest, preventing him from killing himself by depriving himself of the antidote. After which Kindaka collapsed in a pool of blood due to the poison cousin through his body. Akao and I stood on the level above and saw what happened. And then my body moved on its own

I see.... so that's my answer..... I'll do whatever it takes to protect those I care about..... damm Akao making me soft......

I dash at Uzuki and prepare to puncture a hole in his chest with my arm. Before I make contact with his heart, Akao comes between us and grabs my wrist. My eyes widen at the sight

"Wait let him explain." Akao said.

It seems that story Uzuki told her in the car made her subconsciously care about him

"Why?" I say about to shake her off and go kill Kindaka

Uzuki seeing no other way out takes out his long whip sword and attempts to hit us. Akao and I dodge and jump backwards while Sakamoto carries Kindaka's body away. Uzuki strikes again, but this time Nagumo blocks the attack with his sword. Seeing that he can't win anymore Uzuki decides to retreat.

Sakamoto attempts CPR on Kindaka to no avail.

Nagumo asks what happened but I don't respond. I'm just staring wide-eyed at Kindaka's unconscious body.

Akao steps in and explains that she saw Uzuki purposefully drop the antidote and that Kindaka died retrieving it.

The veins around my eyes are popping. I feel an emotion I haven't felt in my whole life. Rage. All I want is to brutally and slowly kill Uzuki.

I turn away from the group and am about to chase after Uzuki. But Akao puts her hand on my shoulder which I swat away with force

"Don't touch me. I'll fucking kill you if you get in my way." I say

Nagumo and Sakamoto's eyes widen as they've never heard me speak in this way before.

"Listen to me. Let me go after Uzuki. If you're not there in Kindaka's final moments you will regret it." Akao said sternly

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH





Why do I feel such rage. Kindaka was just a no good old person who wore kid's stuff.... why for the first time in my life d oI feel like this?!

"You better kill him Akao." I say relenting

She tosses me her pack of cigarettes

"Hold on to these. I don't think I need to tell you not to smoke them. And don't do anything stupid Genius." She said with a chuckle before running into the tunnel

That was the last time I saw Akao

Timeskip(3 days)

After that rage I felt 3 days ago I've just felt hollow. Who would have thought the cold calculating one in the group would be the one who didn't know how to deal with his emotions. Since then I've just been sat next to Kindaka's bed, eating some bread for meals but nothing substantial. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that Kindaka of all people would be comatose. He was like this symbol of power in my life, I guess Akao was right when she said I was starting to care for people, even if it took me 3 days to admit it to myself.

As I was staring into space the door to Kindaka's hospital room opened. It wasn't someone I had seen before, meaning it was probably someone from the order. It was Yotsumura the teacher that came in once a year

"Your Kindaka's little prodigy right. In case you didn't know he was training you to become a part of the order." Yotsumura said

"Yeah I figured that out a couple days ago." I said flatly

"You look like shit kid. Go wash up and eat something. Things like this happen in our line of work." Yotsumura said

"Yeah. I wish I could go back to turning off my emotions and focus on my job." I said getting up to leave

I wanted to ask about Uzuki. But I could already tell the kind of person yotsumura is. He'd probably say something like there's no evidence he did it. I'm not wasting my time on that conversation

Before I could leave the door slid open again. Revealing Sakamoto and Nagumo, who was holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh. Leaving right now Sano?" Nagumo asked

"I was going to." I said

"Oh you must be Nagumo and Sakamoto. Well it's convenient that most of your little gang is here. First of all I'll give my thanks on completing the bodyguard mission on Kindaka's behalf." yotsumura said

"You still haven't found Uzuki?" Nagumo asked

"Nope." He replied

"What? Your just gonna let the dude who killed one of the founders of the JAA's special forces run free?" Nagumo said with a bit of hostility

"His tests only showed that his body was full of poison. We don't have any conclusive evidence that Kei Uzuki was the one responsible." Yotsumura matter of factly said

"But-"

"Don't bother Nagumo. It's a waste of effort." I said

"You were gonna bring up your friend right Nagumo. Your friend whose whereabouts are unknown. You expect us to trust that? Who's to say-"

Before he could finish Sakamoto was pissed and about to punch him. But Hyo stepped in to stop him.

"Easy Sakamoto we're in a hospital." Hyo said holding Sakamoto's arm



But that didn't stop me. With speed nearing that of Kindaka I dashed at Yotsumura and socked him square in the face sending him flying through the wall of the hospital.

"If you ever insinuate anything about Akao again. I will kill you. I don't care what organisation you're part of. I'll let the world burn if her name comes out of your mouth again." I said

"That was a good punch. Kindaka trained you well." Yotsumura said spitting out blood from his mouth and getting up

"If you go after uzuki you'll find your friend. You wanna find someone find them yourself, and get evidence as well." Yotsumura said

"You trust us enough to let us join the order?" Nagumo asked

"No I don't. But we're short staffed, so we take who we can." Yotsumura said heading for the door with Hyo escorting him.j

Timeskip 1 year

it's been a year since we joined the order but there was still no news of Akao. From what little information Uzuki provided the school all we know is that he was from some orphanage. So I started scanning every orphanage in Japan for a guy named Uzuki, but nothing came up, meaning he wasn't from an official orphanage. So I went on the dark web, there were about 20 odd orphanages not listed so the 3 of us split up to go look into all of them. While doing this, I went to look up Akira. She was staying with Akao's sister who was just a normal person. They were living paycheck to paycheck. So I got her bank information and gave her a decent sum of money. The order pays pretty well after all.

While I was exploring Nagasaki I got a group call

"Pufff. What's up Nagumo?" I asked taking a drag of a cigarette

"You're an addict now Sano. A friend in the intel department contacted me. he even sent a map. Sakamoto you're closest." Nagumo said

"Got it." Sakamoto said before hanging up

"I hope he won't kill him before he finds out about Akao?" Nagumo said with a sigh before hanging up

I went to take a seat on a rooftop and looked over the city, taking another puff of my cigarette

"Cough* cough*. How does she do this." I say contemplating my life choices

Well after a long year the search comes to an end. Though deep down I have a feeling she's already dead. The only other possibility is that Uzuki turned her to his side. But knowing Akao she'd just find whatever his profound mission was a drag.

Flashback

After urban operations class Akao dragged me to the rooftop so she could smoked without people complaining

"Since when do you care if people complain?" I ask

"I'm like a couple offences away from getting expelled. If I get expelled Akira won't talk to me! We've been over this." Akao said exasperated

"You've been keeping track. Shit so that means I'm probably in the same boat." I muse looking over the edge of the rooftop

we both take a seat on the roof

"Why didn't you drag Nagumo and Sakamoto?" I ask

"You know the answer to both of those." Akao said slapping my back

"Guess so." I say

"Neh. Whatca gonna do after graduation?" Akao inquired

"Dunno. Mr Silver seems to have a plan for me, but he won't tell me what it is. He just says 'You'll find out when you graduate'" I say

"So in other words, you have no clue." Akao said smiling

"It's okay Akao will plan it out for you. The 4 of us will start an assassin business. I'll own 52% and you 3 can have 16% each. Good plan right." Akao said smirking like an idiot

"That business would burn to the ground." I deadpan

"What?! I'm the most CEO material out of all of us." Akao said jokingly offended

"Sure you are. So you plan to be an assassin your whole life?" I ask

"Duh? Why would I go to assassin school if I didn't. BWAHAHAHAHAHAWhat did you think I wanted to settle down and have a family?" Akao burst out laughing

"who knows what goes on in your head. If anything at all. Besides you seem to care a lot about your niece." I say wiping her spit off my face

"Hmm..... I guess having a mini Akao running around would be pretty fun. Ok I've changed my mind I want a family. So whaddya say Ryu let's get married." Akao said puffing out her chest

"No thanks I already spend way too much time with you. And one of you is more than enough to deal with." I say

With Sakamoto,

He reached the location which was an old run down building.

"Long time no see Sakamoto." Uzuki said

Sakamoto's eyes widened as he saw the scene in front of him

"She's dead..... Sakamoto. I killed her" Uzuki said

"Why....." Sakamoto asked

"It wouldn't change anything if I told you. But let's just say I was enslaved by the JAA. None of you could understand the pain.... the torment..... the loneliness..... It's like being submerged in a void. But now..... I'm finally free." Uzuki said

"That's all I have to say..... So.... ready to kill each other?" Uzuki asked

"I have a friend to mourn. Let's make this quick." Sakamoto says whipping out his knife and dashing at Uzuki

Uzuki whips out his whip blade and starts slashing wildly. Sakamoto dodges all the attacks and gets close to Uzuki. Grabbing his shirt and tossing him away. As Uzuki lands he swings his whip blade out and it wraps around Sakamoto's ankle. He then swings Sakamoto into a stone pillar. Sakamoto gets back up and parries another attack from his whip blade before shooting him with his pistol. With a couple adept movements Uzuki blocks the attack with his whip blade, he then wraps it around Sakamoto's body.

Sakamoto takes out his blazer to escape the bindings. He then grabs his blazer with Uzuki's whip blade wrapped around it, and wraps it around Uzuki, before swinging Uzuki into a support beam. Sakamoto loosens his tie a bit before continuing

In an instant Sakamoto leaves Uzuki with many deep cuts, before he kicks him and pins him to the ground aiming his pistol at his head

"Not the head if you don't mind..... I'd like to watch the sky as I go." Uzuki said

"Sure." Sakamoto said

"I'm tired....." Uzuki said as his last words

BANG

Short timeskip

The gang regroups at the order headquarters. Nagumo and I wait for Sakamoto's report

"Akao's dead....." Sakamoto said

"I see. Did you kill Uzuki." I asked

"Yeah...." Sakamoto said

"Good. Guess we can go do other order stuff now." I say getting up to leave not wanting to linger on the topic

Before I walk out the door

"Wait." Sakamoto said tossing Akao's knife at me

I turn and catch it.

"Thanks. Guess I won't be needing these anymore. If that emo uses a similar weapon I don't want it." I say dropping my chains on the ground

With one fallen horseman and one fallen emo. The 3 of us continue our journey through Assassin society. But this time as the people maintaining order. What will the future have in store for us?