The next morning, in a supermarket located near Takashimadaira Danchi, Kanan picked up a simple packed bento from the food section. She had planned to buy it for Zi Yang as she was worried he didn't eat much. She went to the counter and paid for it before driving to his apartment.

She took the lift up to the thirteenth floor and walked to his unit. She knocked on the door and called his name, but as usual, there was no response. She knocked on the door again and waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. She looked at his doorstep and realized the bento she had bought for him the previous day was still there. She also checked his shoe rack, and his shoes were in the same place as the other two days.

"You know, I'm really worried for you, Zi Yang." Kanan voiced out anxiously, "You haven't been responding to my calls or messages for the past two days. Nobody has heard from you either. You had never stepped out of your house. Even the food I bought for you yesterday is still at the same spot where I left it. I don't know if you're okay or not, and it really makes me very worried."

No response.

"I know that you still might not want to talk, and I said that you can call or message me anytime, but I really can't help worrying about you." She continued, "I'll feel guilty if something ever happens to you and I never did anything to help you. Please say something, Zi Yang. At least let me know if you had eaten or drank any water."

No response.

She couldn't take it anymore. She had been losing sleep over him and his well-being for these past two nights. If she were to leave this place again, she would have another sleepless night brooding over him. She also knew he wouldn't contact her at all since he had not done it for the past forty eight hours. In the case that something actually happened to him, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself for stepping out of this building and doing nothing. She was determined to help him.

She stretched her arms and cracked her knuckles before barging through the main door. When she finally got through the main door, she ran to his room and saw him sitting at a corner, looking down on the floor. His hair and clothes were dishevelled. He did smell a little, but she was just glad he was alive.

"You could've left me to die." Zi Yang muttered, "Why won't you give up?"

"Because you're my partner." Kanan retorted, "You're my friend, and friends care for each other. I told you this once, and I'm going to tell you again. I'll be there for you no matter what. I'll never give up on you, and I'll always help you like how you helped me when I first joined the force."

"Heh…" He let out a half-suppressed laugh, "And how will you do that, exactly? My wife left me. She took my daughter away from me. The one thing that kept me sane…I lost it. What else is there to live for?"

"The police force." She replied sternly, "The officers, higher-ups, or even the bosses may not agree with your idea, but your leadership helped them catch numerous wanted criminals and prevented many casualties. And me. I may have the brains, but you have both the brains and brawls. All the cases that I've managed to solve aren't my effort alone. Without your guidance and assistance, I would never have been able to become an inspector."

"Nah, that's…"

"Now you want to take your own life away because of what that shitty outlaw said about your wife?!" She screamed at him, "Have you ever thought of how it might affect the police force? Or me? Or even your daughter, who might be trying to find you for all her life?"

Zi Yang looked up at the ceiling and sighed, "Ever since my wife left me and took our daughter away from me, I started committing fully to the police. A hundred and one percent. I always followed what my higher-ups tasked me to do. I would spend days and nights thinking hard of ways on how to solve the cases using my own methods. I then worked diligently to execute my plans so that I could impress my superiors and climb up the ranks. All of this was to distract me from being depressed about my losses. I always bottle up my true feelings, and this job helps maintain it."

He leaned his back against the wall before continuing, "However, what Jeff said, as much as I hate to admit it, made sense to me after I reflected on myself. I was so caught up in running away from the truth that I couldn't tell what's morally right or not. I was blinded by my own stubbornness. I knew that one day, I would still have to face reality, but I just didn't want to. I kept avoiding it like the plague, as if it wasn't going to consume me if I kept working. Aren't I just a pussy and a coward?"

Kanan felt empathetic towards his past. He had told her once when she started her job, that he had a traumatic past he did not want to revisit. However, after hearing him today, she understood him more. She knew how it felt to run away from the past. She sat down beside Zi Yang and looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm sure you know that I've worked in a gang before." She said, "Back then, laws were less strict. A gang fight could literally happen any day, anytime, anywhere. As long as no innocent people or bystanders were killed, even if the big boss of an enemy gang was assassinated, the police didn't care. We were technically left to our own devices.

"That unfateful day, I was told to get rid of an enemy gang, who were hanging out at the bar. I had just been promoted to gang leader at that point of time, and I thought it would be a piece of cake since I had expertise in this field. After all, I've been into many fights before, and I fought well. What's the difference in this one? Even though I've been presented with different plans by my other members, I chose to stick to mine. I thought, with my plan, experiences, and skills that I have, I would be able to protect my gang mates. Little did I know I was about to be proven wrong.

"My plan went awry because we were severely outnumbered. They knew of my plan to ambush them in the bar. Many of my gang mates were wounded badly. My best friend, who was in my platoon, jumped in front of me and took the shotgun bullets to the neck. She died instantly. That night, me and my gang mates ran away, bruised and defeated. I was ashamed of myself for not being careful and leading my members into doom, but I felt even more devastated that I caused the death of my best friend as I held her lifeless body in my hands.

"Her older sister was crying uncontrollably, blaming me for my influence on her and her death. That was when I realized how excruciating it is to lose a family member or a loved one. My overconfidence, stubbornness, and stupidity resulted in my best friend's demise. I was indirectly killing the people I love, not helping them. I felt really guilty about it. The next day, I severed all ties with the gang and turned myself in to the police and confessed my crimes. I was jailed for two and a half years.

"After I came out, I decided I wanted to become a police officer to help those in need, and in a way, to atone for my mistakes. You know what happened afterwards. I worked twice as hard in order to prove to the higher-ups that I wasn't the person I used to be. I diligently took on the tasks that were handed to me, be it solo or teamwork. I even managed to solve cases that were tough thanks to the help I've received from you and others. With encouragement from you and my newfound police friends, I became the police inspector I am today, and people finally started respecting me. Although some still look at me in disdain for my past that I don't want to be reminded of, I don't care about that. As long as I have friends like you by my side, I'm happy with it and that gives me courage to face the future."

"Wow, you surely are very brave, Officer Matsuura." Zi Yang smirked.

"I just want to tell you two things, Zi Yang." She placed his hand on his shoulder, "Number one, listen to people's opinions sometimes. I know you have the police's best interest at heart, but sometimes others might have it too, and it might benefit all of you. Discuss, and I'm sure we could reach an amicable conclusion. More importantly, nobody's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. What matters is that you learn from it, get back up, and be a better version of yourself. Don't you think so?"

He nodded his head in response.

"Also, you're very brave too, Zi Yang." She smiled at him, "You said you always keep your own feelings to yourself, but today, not only did you tell me how you actually felt all this time, but you even told me about your past. That takes a lot of courage, you know."

"Thanks…for everything, Kanan." He sobbed, "Even though I was mean and unreasonable at times, you still stood by my side and helped me out, even telling me about your life experience to make me feel better. I'm really grateful to have a partner like you."

"Aww, don't say that." She replied, "I'm grateful to have a smart and strong partner too. Besides, we're friends. I will always help my friends. Just know that I'll be supporting and helping you anytime."

"Thank you." He cleared his tears, "I promise to sober up."

"That's great to hear." She grinned, "Also, since you know, what Eli and her friends are doing are…morally right, why don't we help them?"

"What?!"

"You know, that could be a way of you making it up to them for causing trouble to them previously. After all, they're bringing down the crime syndicate, our main target. Am I right?"

Zi Yang kept quiet for a while before sighing, "Fine, fine. We'll…help them. Not just because I feel guilty towards them, but also because I want to bring stress to that motherfucking superintendent."

"Oh right, speaking of her, I feel that Ma'am is really suspicious." Kanan stood up, "When we first started working on the case of Yosuke Lee and the Lee Lee Restaurant massacre, we had evidence that tells us the crime syndicate were responsible for the murders. Remember Alex Witzshop? His car was used by Menemis, also known as Bernard Allen, for his female boss for a trip to the bank, which turned out to be a robbery that was stopped by Eli and her friends. I doubt the latter group would come up with a robbery and beat the robbers up just to look good as that's pretty stupid, so it most probably is the crime syndicate's doing. In other words, the trio and Jeff were preventing casualties and crimes. However, Ma'am wanted to apprehend Eli and her friends instead. Isn't that strange?"

"Now that you say it, yeah it does." Zi Yang answered.

"I know for a fact that she also has a certain bias on you." Kanan spoke, "I've eavesdropped once on the conversation between you and her in the hospital. She threatened to dismiss you if you did not catch any of the trio."

"I'm surprised you even heard it. She does that quite a lot."

"Which brings me back to this same question. She pressurized you so many times to catch the trio, but not once did she ask you to investigate the crime syndicate or arrest its members, am I right?"

"That…is true too." He scratched his chin, "Why is she so fixated on the trio and Jeff?"

"Precisely." She crossed her arms, "Also, I have this feeling she seems to know what was about to unfold. Take recently, for example. She knew that members of the crime syndicate would be raiding the lawmakers' offices. How did she know exactly that it's the members of the crime syndicate and not anyone else? Also, on the day Kotori went to save Umi, Ma'am said she would send backup to the warehouse. However, according to Kotori, she didn't see any backup, and when she asked Ma'am later, Ma'am said she had forgotten to and apologized. I'm pretty sure a superintendent will always look out for the safety of their juniors, because that's just common sense. Besides, she doesn't forget to keep reminding you to catch the trio, but she can forget such a simple thing. It doesn't add up."

"So you're saying that she did not send backup not because she forgot, but because she knew that something was going to happen to Kotori or Umi, and she didn't want to help them?" He asked.

"That's a possibility." Kanan responded, "Which leads me to the conclusion that…"

"Ma'am is working with the crime syndicate." Both of them said in unison.

"This is just my institution." She stated, "I don't have any evidence to point her towards that, so we can't accuse her of anything. However, I'd like to think that if there's a will, there's a way. She will slip up sooner or later."

"I might have a plan…" Before he could finish his sentence, his stomach rumbled loudly. Kanan giggled and held up the bento that she had bought earlier.

"I could heat this up for you and get you a glass of water at the same time." She said, "Then we can talk about what plan you have. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks once again, Kanan."