Ryo stood straight up, after collecting his gun. He was loading it with bullets when he felt that soft touch on his right shoulder. His insides was churning with pain from having to hit the one person who was dearest to him; perhaps even leagues more than himself. From the moment he hit her, he had totally forgotten the bullet wound on his right arm; all that mattered to him was the hit on her. He steeled his muscles and his nerve, not to look back. Kaori now dragged on his shoulder to make him face her, calling on his name softly "R….yo!" Ryo's feeble defense gave way and he had to turn back to face her. He knew in his heart that he could turn back on the entire world, but not from her. "Why are you so adept for revenge Ryo? Why is it that I must have the fear of losing someone close to me? Why Ryo? At first it was brother Hideyuki, and now you want to follow him? Tell me Ryo….. Why should I stand to lose every time someone gets self-righteous? Wasn't brother's loss enough? He left me to you, and now you want to leave me alone?" asked Kaori with tears in her eyes. Ryo's 'steeled' muscles and his nerves gave way against her tears and he pulled her face up by her chin with his index-finger. "I'm not going anywhere you idiot! I'm never going anywhere, leaving you alone. You get that? I just want to stop all this and save the girls. I want to make him suffer, just like the suffering that I went through in the past year. And I am not listening to you this time. So get back and leave me alone." Then he turned to Umibozu and said a bit louder "Falcon, look after her till I'm back. If anything happens to her, you're toast!" His final words sounded like a silent warning, nonetheless, Umibozu nodded in a 'yes' as Ryo too gave a silent nod before proceeding forward. Kaori had tried to follow on his footsteps, but even before she could put her left leg forward, she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. It was Umibozu-san. He nodded in a "No", looking at the figure of Ryo, slowly proceeding towards the mansion as Kaori's legs gave way and she sat down yet again. Ryo's words were a bit of hope for her, but his last words "I want to make him suffer, just like the suffering that I went through in the past year. And I am not listening to you this time" were running inside her head and she was growing tensed. She knew full well about the capabilities of Ryo. Under normal circumstances, Ryo, even in his playful mood, is way above the best person in underworld in terms of reflex and skills. But this time it's a completely different story; Ryo is angry! Even Kaori haven't seen him angry ever. In fact all she could ever visualize about him, was an intimidated Ryo, afraid of her hammers. This was nothing as such! "Be well Ryo! Don't die!" she murmured, as she could feel her legs giving away in pure despair as she was compelled to sit on the ground.

"Saeko and Sayuri were too surprised to even speak. Umibozu was standing beside Kaori with a heavy heart and a blank stare at the figure that was going farther from him with each passing moment. Tairo was looking at everyone with blank glances. He was totally new to this different world. Although he was surprised to see Robert here, who had sent him to Ryo's apartment, his death surprisingly didn't affect him much. But to him, the most peculiar thing seemed to be the man clad in blue overcoat and red t-shirt and the redheaded girl who wore a knee length yellow skirt with a yellow top, with a brown ribbon around her waist. Something was different about her too. She had an appearance that was leagues beyond anyone hardcore from underworld. Everyone seemed to like them. Tairo didn't know the reason, but with what caught his blank gaze was that the person cared for the redheaded girl more than anyone could imagine.