The commute home was long and Yuzu couldn't help but impatiently tap her foot through the whole train ride. She was in enough of a hurry to warrant hailing a cab instead of walking back to the apartment and this didn't escape Mei's attention.

"Yuzu, it's not that far. Do we really need a taxi?" Mei was a little perplexed at the decision and Yuzu's sudden change in mood.

"Sorry, Mei. I just really need to get somewhere quick." She smiled back at the raven-haired girl.

It wasn't a lie at all. That call she received was of great importance and there was no telling how much time she had left. Entering the cab, she told the driver where they had to go then decided to close her eyes for a few minutes as she attempted to remember the contents of the conversation.


"Hello?" She asked.

"Okogi Yuzu?" A man asked from the other side of the line. His voice was scruffy and hoarse but familiar.

"Yes, who's this?"

"You know who I am, Okogi. Don't bullshit around."

"Kurosawa-senpai?"

"Listen to me and listen well. Come to xx building at the corner of xx street. I have the answers that you need and the evidence to support it but hurry. I don't have much time left." His voice sounded a little ragged, like he was tired.

"Why don't you just tell me now?"

"I can't speak right now and I can't give you the evidence like this. Come or don't, it's up to you. Just remember, this might be your last chance."


The line went dead after that and she couldn't contact Kurosawa anymore. Thoughts flew around her mind; things like it might be a trap but then why would Kurosawa target her for anything? She didn't have any vital information about any of the cases, no condemning clues that would lead to an arrest. Then it hit her like a truck, 'Would you care to join them?' It was those words that had caused Kurosawa to leave the crime scene that day.

Arriving at the apartment, Yuzu asked the cab to wait for her. She then quickly dragged Mei across the lobby and pushed her into the elevator. An hour passed since the call and she knew she couldn't afford to waste any more time.

"Yuzu, stop pushing me." Mei complained as the blonde quickly pushed her inside the apartment and headed off to her bedroom.

"Sorry, Mei. Don't wait for me and lock everything while I'm out, 'kay?" The blonde said after returning to the living room.

"What's happening?" Anxiety crept up on the raven-haired girl when she saw that Yuzu was buckling her pistol and police badge, "Yuzu?" Mei called out nervously as she eyed the gun.

"Don't worry, Mei. It's just insurance." The blonde smiled before approaching Mei. She held Mei's hands, then planted a chaste kiss on the girl's lips, "I'll be back. I promise." And just like that, she stormed off.

Mei looked at Yuzu's back as the girl left the apartment. Worry painted her features and there was nothing more frustrating than knowing all you can do is watch events unfold. She wanted to run after Yuzu and tell her not to go, but she knew that wouldn't work. Yuzu isn't someone to be persuaded when she set her eyes on something. So she did the only thing she could do and called for help, even if she had never liked approaching others, she was willing to do it for Yuzu's sake.

Arriving at the location, Yuzu paid the driver and thanked him before exiting the taxi. Pulling out her pistol, Yuzu rounded the corner and eyed the desolate building at the end of the street, it looked like it had been abandoned for some time. She didn't know what was waiting for her at the meeting place but you can never be too careful.

'This is like asking to be killed...' She sighed inwardly. Her instincts were screaming at her to get out of there that very moment, but against all odds, her sense of duty urged her to continue, so she did. Looking around, she found that all of the windows have been boarded up all the way to the top floor. Luckily, they weren't shutters and she was afforded the convenience of peering through the small gaps of the wood.

Wiping away some dust from the glass, Yuzu tried to get a better look at the interior of the building. Squinting her eyes, she hoped she would immediately spot Kurosawa but there was no one in her immediate vision. Great, she got her hands dusty for no reason. Though at least she knew that she wouldn't be ambushed as soon as she entered.

Returning to the front of the building, she held onto the doorknob and shook it a little - checking to see if it was unlocked. To her surprise, the door swung open and dust immediately filled her lungs. The building must've been abandoned for longer than she originally thought. With a cough and a wheeze, she continued inside, her pistol at the ready.

The first floor was completely empty, there were no signs that anyone was here and she wondered if Kurosawa had either played her or she was in the wrong place. Though the front door being open meant someone had been here, and with that assumption, she decided to investigate a little further.

The lowest floor seemed to be the lobby of the building. The front desk was still left intact and there were still some documents left around. Yuzu picked up one of the cards that had fallen on the floor, it read the name of the company but it was too dark and the card was far too old to be legible. Over at the far corner, she noticed something reflecting the light from outside and she cautiously approached the glimmering object.

She observed it as she got closer and realized that it was a map of the building, encased in glass. There were nine floors in all and each one was connected to the main staircase along with the rooftop, plus there are two fire exits on each side of the building. Yuzu realized that it was going to take some time to go around the entirety of the building but it was time she was willing to make.

After being satisfied with her search on the first floor, the blonde headed up to the next floor and subsequently kept climbing after that. What she found was nothing but a big pile of dust everywhere she went. The building was still in somewhat of a good condition but there was definitely some deterioration. A lot of the items were also left on top of desks which were once used by the employees of the business.

As she ascended the building, she noticed something strange. The lower floors housed a very formal business setting but the upper floors, starting from the fifth, looked a little different. In fact, on the sixth floor, she found what seemed to have once been a hidden room and inside it, there were still some clothing strewn around. She wondered how thin the owners would've been since even Nene wouldn't fit into the size of the clothing. There was also some gambling tables along with an entire selection of liquor lined up on a dusty bar - It almost looked like a luxurious prostitution den. There was no question that this place housed a shady business, which is probably why it's abandoned now.

When she started ascending to the seventh floor, her mobile rang and she cursed at her own lack of forethought before quickly answering it. It was a good thing that this search was leading nowhere because if this was a trap, she definitely would've been dead by now.

"Hello?"

"Yuzu-cchi?! Where are you?" Harumi's panic-stricken voice called out.

"Harumin? What's with the sudden call?" Yuzu questioned back, trying to make sense of how Harumi would've known about her being out.

"Prez. called me. She's really worried about you. Just tell me where you are, damn it!" Harumi cussed in frustration. This was kind of understandable since Yuzu hasn't been telling them anything.

"Ah, well-"

'Bang, bang, bang.' Three shots fired from the upper floor, causing the blonde to stop in her tracks.

"Hey, Yuzu-cchi?! What was that?!" Harumi's voice grew more desperate.

"Gunshots." Yuzu started running up the flight of stairs. By the sound of it, she knew it was the ninth floor. "Harumin, I'm at an abandoned building at the corner of xx street. It's the white one that's boarded up. Call for back-up and hurry."

"Don't you dare rush in on your own, Yuzu-cchi!"

"I have to! Kurosawa called me here and I need him alive!"

"Yuzu-cchi! Don't you-" Yuzu ended the call. She couldn't afford to distract herself with an armed suspect on the loose.

Coming up on the ninth floor, Yuzu flattened her back against the wall beside the staircase. She tried to get as good as a view as she could afford but there was no one. The gunshots weren't her imagination though, even Harumi heard it, so there's definitely someone here and she needed to be careful. Keeping herself low and prepared, she ventured on into the dark corridors, making sure to quietly check every room she passed by.

Arriving at the last room, she inhaled deeply then slowly pushed the door open and peered from behind the safety of the wall. It didn't take long for her to see Kurosawa lying on the floor, barely breathing.

"Kurosawa-senpai!" She shouted as she attempted to get near her senior but her approach was quickly halted by another figure standing in the shadow right beside Kurosawa. Yuzu instinctively cocked her gun in the mystery man's direction.

"Hold it. Step away from him." She commanded at him and he complied, lifting his hands up to show submission.

"Slowly. Don't make any sudden movements." She kept an eye on him, following his every move as she urged the man to move towards the light that streamed through the boarded up windows.

"Calm down." He said, "This is a misunderstanding."

"Shut it." Yuzu was unwilling to listen to the man's words. Her first and foremost priority was to assess Kurosawa's condition. She slowly approached her senior as the man walked backward, matching every step she took. She knelt beside the older man when she was finally close enough to get a better look at him, her eyes darting from the suspect and back to the old man lying on the floor. It was bad. She couldn't see the entire injury but he was definitely bleeding out.

"Ok... ogi." A bloody cough came from the man as he tried to speak, "I-I-I'm s-sorry."

"Kurosawa-senpai, stop talking. Back-up will come soon, you can still-"

The man weakly shook his head. Yuzu knew what he meant, he wasn't going to survive this. Even the blonde knew that but she didn't want to say it out loud.

"He won't survive." The man spoke.

"Shut up." She answered him, lifting her head to meet his gaze.

"Okogi-san, let's just calm down. Okay?" His features became illuminated by the tiny rays of moonlight, a gentle smile settling on his face.

"Udagawa-san, throw your weapon away." Yuzu commanded at him, her voice filled with nothing but a foreign icy tone.

"I'm not armed, Okogi-san." He continued looking at her with soft eyes, shifting in place.

"I'm going to say it one more time. Drop your weapon and don't move."

"I'm telling you. I'm not armed."

Their eyes met like two vipers staring at each other for any sudden movements. It wouldn't be long until Kurosawa died and Yuzu couldn't afford to let go of Udagawa like this.

"Come on, Kurosawa-senpai. You can't die like this." She whispered to the dying man but he was already unresponsive.

"Don't move!" He shouted at Udagawa once more after seeing that he was trying to lower his hands.

"Wait, calm down. I just want to show you-"

Udagawa kept lowering his hands and Yuzu was left with little choice but to fire a round at him. She never once thought she would ever have to fire her gun again but now that was all null and void. There was nothing else but survival in her mind.

Udagawa screamed in pain, clutching on his leg. At the very least, Yuzu still had the sense of mind to shoot him at a place that would cause minimal damage.

"Tell me, what are you doing here and why did you go after Kurosawa-senpai?! What about the Yamamoto brothers?!" She screamed at Udagawa, her eyes blind with rage. This was it, the man that had done so much, writhing in pain right in front of her.

'Wouldn't it be so easy to just end everything here?' she thought. Every sound disappeared from the world as she pulled her gun and aimed at Udagawa's head.

"Stop..." Udagawa spoke as he squirmed in pain, "Don't do this Okogi-san." He begged.

His words fell on deaf ears. There was only malice in Yuzu. All she could think about was the pain that Udagawa brought onto innocent lives. The pain he gave to Mei. And with each thought that passed, her finger drew a little tighter on the trigger.

"Yuzu-cchi! Stop!" Harumi's voice tore through the darkness.

"Okogi! Drop your weapon!" Goro followed soon after.

Yuzu looked back at her senior and Harumi, their faces obscured by the darkness; right behind the two, stood more police officers who waited on Goro's command. How bad would it be to just shoot Udagawa dead here? She chuckled at the thought but she wasn't that type of person. Killing Udagawa would mean that she was no different from him, so she lowered her weapon and stepped aside.

Goro immediately ordered the paramedics to look at both Kurosawa and Udagawa. He then approached Yuzu and slapped her right across the face, his own features contorted with anger as he spoke, "What were you thinking?!"

"I did what I had to, Goro-senpai." She answered him, unflinching.

"Tsk!" He flicked his tongue in annoyance, "The chief will want a word with you. Taniguchi, take her back to the station."