Ryuji wakes up with blinding light hurting his eyes and weight on him. He sits up and hisses as a woman leans off of him.
"Whoa! You're awake already!?"
He looks around grabbing his side with a groan. A cramped sterile room full of medical equipment and documents. A desk with a computer dimly glowing under the florescent lights. His eyes focus on the strangest doctor he's seen. A woman who wears a goth punk clothing with torn leggings and spider theme. She sighs with forceps in hand with a bullet being held.
"It's a good thing I managed to get this last shell out. Aren't you in pain?"
He grabs at his head as his face pales further. His face is exposed. The woman frowns at him feigning disappointment as she revels in his mortified reaction.
"Don't worry. Your stylish mask is in a safe place. You know, I thought you'd be better looking underneath."
Ryuji glares at her and remains silent as she continues to examine his body. She rolls her eyes before poking his chest.
"I deal with stink eye on a daily basis. You're not ugly. Now lay still so I can finish with you."
He glances around before relenting to her guiding hand easing him down on his back. He speaks as the stitching needle enters his arm.
"N-Ngh! Thanks... I owe you big time for this... Are these new clothes?"
"Hand me downs from a family who owns the theater. You saved the local coffee shop from going out of business. I guess that makes us even."
"Are they okay? The old man and the girl?"
"The girl is outside. Sakura-san is talking with the police at Leblanc. Did you know about the men you beat?"
"That they were Hebi in disguise? At first, I couldn't tell, I was going to let myself get arrested... Then I noticed they weren't acting like police. Some struggling later and I saw their gang band on one of them."
"They were part of that terrorist group? You really pounded the tar out of them..."
She pauses for a moment to feel his bicep with a gentle squeeze.
"How do you do it? Do you use steroids, some supplements of a kind, muscle therapy or bone surgery?"
Ryuji looks at her with slight offense. He did think about it though but shakes his head.
"I don't know about supplements, my teacher probably slips some stuff into my food when he feeds me, but I don't use needles. I just jump into the fight."
The doctor's brow slowly raises at his answer before her stoic face becomes a shady smile.
"That's quite a meathead response... Still, your body is fascinating."
"I thought you said I wasn't good looking?"
"You're a far cry from handsome."
He narrows his eyes as she finishes with a chuckle.
"However, your epidermis is like leather, durability wise. It feels smooth despite that, and your muscle is also pretty dense, it was hard to puncture it. I felt like I was trying to sew into shark."
She holds up broken scalpels. That comes as a surprise to him as he remembers how badly such instruments harmed him in his fight with Takamata. He still had several minor lacerations, and his armor played a big part in keeping his hide in tact, but he barely had any armor left by the time the fight was over. Ryuji looks to the door ignoring her observations. He sits up slowly and stands on his feet with a stumble.
"Hey... How come I'm not in handcuffs?"
"The real police are busy with collecting the imposters. They're too busy with that to look for you. Plus, everyone saw you saving Sakura-san and the girl. You were pretty loud in your fight, but no one wanted to get involved, turns out you exposing those fake officers won the neighborhood over."
"So no one told the real ones I was here...? Talk about a lucky break. Can I go now?"
"Can you move on your own without keeling over?"
He rolls an arm smiling cheekily at her.
"... I could do with a painkiller."
Futaba jumps out of her seat as Ryuji walks out. He flinches at her practically crashing into him with a worried whine.
"You're awake-! D-Do-Don't move around too much...! S-Sojiro... He... He got those clothes from a friend and... I, uh... Are they...?"
Ryuji eyes her curiously before popping his collar with a grin.
"I feel great and they fit pretty well. Hey, something happened? What's with the stammering?"
"I-I d-do-don't do well with being... Outside."
The doctor speaks up as she sits behind a windowed counter.
"Classic case of high levels of social anxiety. She's toughed it out just for you. You should be grateful."
Ryuji looks to Futaba in shock.
"That's why you wouldn't leave the house, huh?"
She shakes her head in silence. There must be more but she won't say. He can't say much to her like that and gestures for her to follow.
"Let's take you home. Your old man is gonna worry if you're gone long."
"I-I can't go home..."
"Huh?"
Futaba glances at the doctor before she snatches Ryuji's wrist and pulls him outside onto the streets. She looks around before whispering harshly with an unintentional glare.
"I-I messed up, okay? If I go back home, Sojiro is going to be in danger, that Inari and those palookas aren't going to stop until I'm dead!"
Ryuji grows a grim expression as memories begin to resurface of his own situation.
"This certainly sounds familiar. What about your computers or Yamatachi?"
"I-I have a strict no face to face with any of my clientele!"
Ryuji looks at her with skepticism, then sympathy as he rubs his head, unable to look at her with a serious face for much longer. Futaba Sakura for all intents and purposes was a child even by his own immature standards.
"Okay, okay, but it isn't like I have a place for you to go."
"You have a single bed for two in a guestroom at your home for family visits!"
"H-How'd you know about that...?"
She holds up his phone, something he thought he had lost, and taps the camera on the back.
"I had Yamatachi apply a personal app that allowed me to see through your camera when you started training at his penthouse. I know more about you and your private activities than anyone else. Plus I can record audio too!"
She grins with a mischievous laugh adjusting her glasses.
"You've got quite the diverse taste in women, huh? The amount of blackmail I have on you is tremendous actually! Who would've thought you were the submissive type!~"
"Y-You almost died before sunrise and you're talkin' about my internet history all of a sudden?!"
"I need my own way of coping. You're a pervert too, not exactly the kind of hero I'd want to save me."
Ryuji laughs mockingly as he starts to walk away from her.
"Yeah well, I ain't exactly a hero myself, you can't stay with me."
Futaba doesn't move and nearly falls over as he pulls at her. She grumbles under her breath before looking at him with a pathetic somber frown.
"...There's... Nowhere else I can go without feeling safe."
He turns around in surprise at that.
"Really? You know, he gave me the address to save you, don't you two have something tight between you?"
She looks down at the ground shaking her head.
"I didn't know that he wasn't who he said he was... I usually have all the information on people who use my services... I-I... I felt betrayed when he revealed himself to you."
He looks back at her perplexed. Is it jealousy or betrayal, he wonders, not that it matters right now. The priority is her safety.
"You are a strange and creepy girl."
"I... I know..."
She sighs with the distant voices returning... Telling her things she already knew, things she should be doing, things she should've done to make everyone's lives easier... The voices vanish as she finds a warm hand patting her head.
"I don't know you though so I ain't gonna judge you like I do. I'll take to you my place and see if I can convince my mom to let you stay. You're pretty cute and very earnest despite everything, so she'll probably let you stay, especially if she and the old man talk!"
Futaba looks up at Ryuji. This, stupid, brutish, vulgar ape that hasn't realized just how dangerous his life really is just keeps going. It's this ignorance that she believes is his strength.
She used to at least.
It wasn't until this moment that it has finally hit her. Why people would ever give someone like Ryuji the time of day. There's a strength he gives others, a sense of security and power, a certain hope through his own struggling that gives Futaba hope. She's in the same boat he is now. Whether she likes it or not this boy is her best bet. Her hold on his wrist loosens and he removes her from him just to hold her hand.
"You got anxiety right? I wish we could've just taken the way I took but we'll have to play it normal for now. Stay close to me, okay?"
"Y-Yes..."
He tenses slightly as she hugs his arm the moment they enter a crowd. His body aches as the pain killers haven't kicked in yet.
"Your old man, Sojiro, he knows about your situation?"
"I... I had to show him a lot of things on my monitors... It hurt, and was a lot to take in, but... He understands..."
"I just wanted to make sure before we got too far away. Won't you need those?"
"I-I'll just ha-have you or Ren move them to wherever I'll be staying for good. This stay at your place is only temporary!"
"You sound like you have a plan!"
He smiles at her with herself beaming at him pridefully.
"I have a contingency plan for nearly all situations and scenarios! I'm never at a loss!"
Her smile begins to crack as she shakes terribly as a stranger lightly brushes against her.
"I-I-I-I j-j-ugh-jus-just... D-Didn't think... I'd be leaving... Ever..."
"You okay? You look like you're about to cry."
She shakes her head and looks around frantically before pointing ahead to an empty park.
"Can we stop somewhere quick, please?!"
They make a stop and Futaba takes to a vacant bench. Ryuji stands next there rolling his shoulders with a grunt.
"Man, I'm gonna get an earful for messing that suit up... Oh-! I-I forgot my helmet too!"
"No you didn't. She didn't have it. Someone came and picked it up."
"Huh? Who?"
"Some stranger that Takemi-sensei was familiar with. He talked like he knew a lot about you already."
"And you didn't get a name!?"
"O-Of course not! I hate violence! Th-The sight of blood is enough to make me wanna gag! I-I figured he was alright because he helped her fix you up..."
He hangs his head low sighing.
"Yeah, well it's okay. 'S just scrap metal and leather. I just gotta be a little less reckless is all."
"Or pick fights you can win without getting hit..."
They give each other a look before Ryuji snickers.
"You're right. I ain't any good dead or crippled."
"Of course! Especially since Yama- er, Ren, is down a leg! How is he going to school like that?"
"I thought you've been watching us through my camera!"
"Not twenty-four seven! H-He had me work on some research papers on some discontinued project awhile back."
He rolls his eyes at her and takes her back out to the streets.
"Yeah well... I guess we've all been busy."
"Oh my... You really have nowhere to go, young miss?"
Futaba sits hugging herself on at the dining table. Ryuji scratches his head as he tries to figure a way to word this for his mother.
"I-I didn't want to just drop this on you b-but it was so sudden and-"
"She can stay."
"... huh?"
His mother laughs at their bewilderment as she waves it off with a passive gesture.
"These things happen. There was a time when you were like this, y'know? A time I was like this too. I doubt it's the same, but if I can help someone get back on their feet, I wouldn't mind if it meant letting them stay a few weeks."
Futaba looks at her with unspoken gratitude, her mouth open to thank her, but seeing Ryuji hug his mother stopped that. She finds herself in another moment of self-loathing. This petulant feeling of envy towards them made her hate herself for feeling that way.
Why wasn't her mother like this towards her...?
She gasps as she feels a warm touch. His mother holds Futaba's shoulder cautiously as she guides her to her feet.
"Futaba-chan, right? Let's get you settled in! A small tour of the place should suffice."
She only nods but immediately looks to Ryuji.
"A-Are you staying?"
He shakes his head with his own guilty conscious. He looks to the front door sighing.
"I gotta report to the boxing club at the gym. Tell them the situation."
She looks at him skeptically until she looks back to his mother.
"R-Right... Boxing club. D-Don't be gone too long! It's a Sunday..."
"I-I'm coming back! Sheesh!"
They trade faces as Ryuji leaves. His mother laughs at their minor argument.
"You two get along so well already."
"As if..."
"Futaba-chan, if I may be so bold, can I ask something personal?"
The girl tilts her head without giving either a yes or a no. Curious yet ever closeted.
"How long has my son been acting as the Vigilante?"
If Futaba had a drink she would have spat all over the floor. In a way, she saw this coming, but the real surprise is the implication that his mother may have known from the start.
"I... W-Why are you asking me?! I-I-I-I ne-never even suspected-!""
"Please don't lie to me. I get enough of that from him. I just need to hear the truth from someone."
Futaba shrinks under the intense gaze. It reminds her of her own mother.
"You're his mom! Why haven't you stopped him from doing those things?"
She wants to kick herself after blurting out like that. This woman is deceptively luring her in, the genuine care in her face and voice, it hurts Futaba. It makes her want to tell the truth. The woman sighs before taking to a photo on the kitchen shelf.
"So it is him. I knew it was from that first fight on the news. I was so afraid I thought my heart would give out... He just walks it off and tells me it's boxing club."
She laughs to herself as she takes the photo out of the glass frame and shows it to Futaba. A photo of herself and a far younger Ryuji. It's folded in halfway.
"Any other mother would chastise him. Condemn him. They may have called the police hoping they could fix their child."
"B-But not you...? Why?"
"Because."
She unfolds the rest out. A man with a mournful grimace stands there. His teeth more like fangs and eyes fierce as a tiger's. Aside from his mouth and hair, he was the spitting image of Ryuji, or rather Ryuji is of him.
"His father was exactly the same. I didn't fall in love with that strength, but what he used it for, he was a good but broken man..."
She wipes a tear from her eye trying to laugh the pain in her heart away.
"I just hope he doesn't go and file his teeth like his father. Futaba-chan. I can't stop him from doing what he does. This country right now needs people like him but he's still my son you understand. So please, tell me what you know."
Ryuji looks behind him as he leaves the subway tunnels. There's no one he can identify, and yet he's under constant strain of suspicion, paranoid to the idea of being followed. No, he expects it now. Regardless, before anything, he has to make a stop to a special place.
In the eyes of Yusuke, who has been stalking his prey since he left the clinic, Ryuji vanishes upon entering an alley in Central Street. Unaware of the sacred place kept unknown to him.
Ryuji enters the Velvet Room to a patient Nameless standing in the foyer.
"Ah, Chariot. We've been expecting you!"
"You have?"
The blind butler steps to the side gesturing to a case sitting on a table behind him.
"I take it you are here for the upgrade?"
"U-Upgrade?!"
"Of course. There are less metal plates, so it's lighter, flexible, and we've decided against a full helmet this time. Caroline put a lot of effort into this one."
As if on cue, as Ryuji reaches for the case, he pulls back with a yelp as a baton strikes his hand. Caroline hisses at him.
"Is there something you're forgetting you barn raised Neanderthal? Where's your gratitude!?"
"Holy shit! K-Keep from breaking my hand and I might be a little grateful!"
Justine causes him to jump as she speaks up from his side.
"This certainly took up most of our time. Please be more careful with this one."
"Wh-Where'd you come from?!"
Nameless chuckles as the twins take to his side.
"It seems you've managed to a time of brevity with your efforts. Isn't the school trip soon?"
"Yeah, it is. How did you know about that...?"
Caroline scoffs pointing the baton at Ryuji.
"Don't be a fool! We know just about everything about you! I thought you would be used to this by now!"
Caroline shakes her head before looking down at her clipboard in hand.
"The Scotsman will keep his word. However, he is only one man, you still have to worry about an entire world."
Ryuji takes the case with a raised brow.
"What? Who else could be gunning after me and my friends?"
Nameless rolls his wrist before flicking it repeatedly, a card flying from his sleeve into his fingers with each flick, before twirling them between his fingers. He carries a full hand and offers them to Ryuji.
"Take three please."
He takes the first card and looks at it. A winged demon drinks from a mug as it sits on top of a man and a woman who are both leashed.
"Devil. The indulgence of desire, detachment, the idea of releasing one's limits. It can be interpreted as true freedom or crippling addiction."
"I can figure who this is on my own..."
He takes the next one. A robed man sits upon a stone throne with a fox's head, an ankh in one hand and a globe in the other.
"The Emperor. Authority, establishment, structure in life and in all things. It also may mean domination, a lack of discipline, or even obsessive control."
The image gives away who this foe is. He's sure he can handle someone like Fox, for he wasn't as fast as the murderous doctor, and Ryuji has the experience advantage. He takes the last card. A fair young man facing front, half revealed as the other half is obscured by darkness, a pendulum in the hand of the light half while a sword is held in the dark half. Doves fly from behind the dark half while crows sit on the pendulum and shoulder of the light half.
"Justice. What an interesting interpretation of this Tarot you've drawn, Chariot."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you will be facing one that is with the law, yet unlawful themselves, someone who has already taken action. Is his side that of the right one or is yours?"
Ryuji stares at the three cards. O'Shaugnessy, Fox, and the last one only known to him as Justice. Three obstacles in his life he'll have to face. Caroline then hands him a fourth card.
"Don't forget that you'll have to look out for a Death. A change that's gonna determine if you live or die. Do us all a favor and try to stay alive?!"
"Y-Yeah. Thanks."
He leaves the building mystified and lost in thought. He looks back to the door to the Velvet Room, only to find a decrepit building in it's place, and the cards once in his hands gone.
"W-What...?"
He realizes the case is still with him and the modified outfit is inside as well. As he closes it, he stumbles back narrowly dodging a blade, the assassin from last night, Fox appears in the alley waiting for him.
"You'll have to die now."
"No thanks! I can't let my friends down now!"
"They'll be following shortly."
He swings his new wakizashi at his target, a shorter blade than before allowing higher speed, forcing Ryuji to block. He's faster than he used to be but Fox is far faster now. The assassin had underestimated Ryuji before, but never again, he must always learn from his mistakes. He stabs into Ryuji's case, the knife coming out the other end, and uses all of his weight to slam his prey into the wall to stab him.
Ryuji holds his ground, he twists the case in his hands in an attempt to disarm the assassin, briefly taking him off-guard as the handle spins out of Fox's grasp. Ryuji throws the knife embedded case to this side and kicks Fox in the waist to send him back.
"Unless you got tricks up your sleeve you should quit now!"
"I can't. I never fail in my missions! The country depends on men like me."
"What's the point of killing a teenage girl who has an asthma attack every time she walks outside?!"
"... She does?"
Ryuji falters from Fox's sudden strange tone.
"Y-Yeah... She's got a bad thing for crowds and roads. I thought you were the type to know all about your target!"
"My master points and I strike. You are in the way so I must strike you down, now!"
Fox rushes Ryuji throwing fast knife hands. The delinquent prepared for the worse, but began to grow confident as he parries the attacks with ease, even seizing one of the hands before punching the chest.
Fox wheezes before falling to his knees with a grunt from a kick to the side of his leg. However, this is part of his plan, to lure his prey in a state of complacency. Confidence. To underestimate him now instead. Ryuji holds his offending arm hostage.
"Hey, I thought you samurai ronin types knew how to fight hand-to-hand."
In a flash of a motion, Fox's free hand blurs for Ryuji's chest, his heart to be exact. A metallic clang sounds as the assassin clicks his tongue. Ryuji had used a trash can lid as a shield, but the fighter sweats regardless, seeing significant dents in his makeshift shield. He pushes Fox away with a bash to his skull.
"I gotta fight like the old days..."
Fox rolls for his blade and immediately runs to gut his foe. Sparks fly as the blade meets a discarded pipe. Metal grinds against metal as they push against each other.
"There's a lot of trash and litter in this alley. For a guy like me I'm practically armed to the teeth."
"How fitting... You're nothing but street trash anyhow!"
Fox is the superior one handed master, even as he backs away from Ryuji, it's child's play to disarm him after a small exchange of swings. He will finish him this time with a thrust to his ribs.
Then his head throbs with vision blurred. While Ryuji had a pipe in one hand, unbeknownst to his enemy, his free hand held a half full liquor bottle. He suffers a deep cut, leaning away from the attack in time to save himself from being skewered. With the gap between them closed Ryuji breaks the bottle against Fox's head.
He sends a knee to the assassin's gut as he stumbles forward further before bringing the pipe down on his head as well. Fox groand as he loses consciousness from the concussions. Ryuji stomps down on his back holding his newly open wound.
"Shit... Fighting you is troublesome. I'm having fun even though my life's in danger. I wish we could be friends, man."
He perks up and looks in the direction down the other end of the alley. The owner of the gun shop stands there, hearing the commotion, his eyes wide and mouth agape at the scene unfolding before him. There's a moment of silence between the two until he speaks up.
"You should get out of here before someone more vocal notices."
"... Thanks."
The man goes inside grumbling as he leaves Ryuji to escape, but the delinquent has other plans, taking Fox's unconscious body into the secret entrance to Ren's club.
Makoto pinches the bridge of her bruised nose as Ren paces back and forth. Yusuke, unmasked and bound to a chair, sits in the middle of the concrete room. Makoto glares at Ryuji who is getting his cut sewn by Haru.
"Why can't you ever go a week without getting bled out when you're on your own...?"
Ren watches Yusuke carefully.
"Give our local brute some credit. He's done dumber things. This might be our lucky break regarding the nightmare this city is going through."
Haru sighs placing a bandage to finish her work.
"If that means we can end the fighting then I am in full support. Don't move too often, please."
Ryuji smiles with a guilty face rubbing his neck.
"Y-Yeah, sorry. He didn't hurt me too bad, but that's only cause I bet he didn't want to kill me, right Ren?"
Makoto scoffs at that.
"He nearly turned your cardiovascular system into a kebab with his wakizashi. How could you say that?!"
Ren stares at a symbol on Yusuke's outfit. An icon on his chest that stands out to him.
"Because he's dealt with killers before. Something is going on in this kid's head, and it was enough to give Ryuji the edge he needed to win, since our boy is a blockhead."
Ryuji sucks his teeth at the remark until Yusuke moans. Everyone looks to him as he comes to.
"Where... Where am I? What is this!?"
Ren runs a hand through his white hair smirking.
"Believe it or not, this isn't a torture scene about to happen, we just want to know a few things ourselves."