Nighttime New York fully displayed its reputation as a city of the night. Neon lights intertwined together, forming a dazzling scene of prosperity.
Yet the arrival of rain made the night turn cold and desolate. Especially within the deep alleyways, where the sounds of stray cats rummaging through trash cans echoed through the darkness. The occasional meows only made the atmosphere feel even eerier.
Leather combat boots splashed through puddles atop the brick pavement. Ritsu kept both hands in his pockets as he headed toward an alley completely detached from the city's bustling prosperity. Abandoned apartment buildings lined both sides, forming a stark contrast with the noisy streets beyond.
However, as he was about to step into the alley entrance, a yellow taxi slipped inside ahead of him.
Taking shortcuts usually led to trouble. This wasn't a place ordinary civilians should be coming to.
What he hadn't expected, though, was for the taxi to actually stop right in front of the building where Vermouth was located.
The moment he saw who stepped out of the vehicle, Ritsu swiftly slipped into the abandoned building nearby and cautiously observed the movements of the two people.
Holding a black umbrella, Ran looked around in confusion, unable to find the pale pink handkerchief.
"That's strange. I definitely dropped it somewhere around here. Don't tell me the wind blew it away?"
Shinichi narrowed his eyes and made an extremely straight-man comment, "Then forget it. It's just a handkerchief anyway."
"It's not just some ordinary handkerchief! Sharon-san gave it to me!" Ran protested unhappily.
Yet almost immediately, she recalled the words Sharon had said to her.
—"I told you, there's no such thing as gods in this world."
Hidden within the shadows, Ritsu pressed his lips into a thin line.
Since when would the usually cautious and masterfully deceptive Vermouth expose such a fatal flaw?
"Hey, isn't that it?"
After learning the handkerchief held special meaning to Ran, Shinichi temporarily recovered the emotional intelligence he'd apparently left home with. Tilting his chin upward, he gestured for Ran to look above.
"Look. There's a handkerchief caught on the staircase railing."
"It really is!"
Shinichi headed toward the abandoned apartment building. After peering inside a few times, he closed his umbrella and said:
"Looks like nobody lives here anymore. I'll go get it for you. Wait in the taxi first."
—"If gods existed, you wouldn't have gotten hurt."
—"Thank you, sweet angel. You help me do it."
At that moment, Ran's thoughts were no longer focused on the handkerchief. She kept thinking about what Sharon and Rose had said to her.
Could it be that Sharon knew from the very beginning that Rose was the murderer in this case? Was that why she said those things after she saved her life?
What should she do?
'If I hadn't saved her back then, would Mr. Seth still be alive? So… was it all my fault?
Tap… tap… tap.
Tears filled her eyes. She stubbornly bit her lower lip, desperately trying to force back the painful emotions, failing to notice the heavy sound of leather shoes stepping across rain-soaked pavement growing closer and closer.
When Ran finally snapped back to reality, a Japanese man stood several feet in front of her. He wore a long black high-collared trench coat and had short black hair.
A Japanese man appearing in a deserted alley at this hour.
'Could he be—?!'
Her gaze instinctively lowered. As the man slowly approached, Ran sharply sensed danger.
The left hand hidden within his coat pocket slowly rose upward, revealing the cold outline of a firearm.
A handgun.
"Hey! Hurry up! He must be the murderer!"
Seeing that Ran wasn't reacting, the taxi driver slammed on the accelerator and sped away without hesitation. Clearly, he wanted nothing to do with any criminal incident.
Who knew whether he'd lose his life too?
The man in the black trench coat expressionlessly looked at the tearful girl before him. Somebody hidden deep within his memories seemed to overlap with her.
'She really resembled her… Always crying, just like her.'
"You're Japanese?"
Hearing familiar Japanese only intensified the fear on Ran's face. Her trembling hands tightly gripped the umbrella handle as she desperately calculated her chances against a handgun.
"I asked if you're Japanese."
"Eh? I-I am!"
It was like getting caught daydreaming by the homeroom teacher during class. Ran answered nervously.
Keeping both hands in his pockets, the man leaned forward slightly, trying to soften his tone as much as possible.
"Have you seen a suspicious man? A Japanese man with long silver-dyed hair and a beard."
"No, I haven't seen him."
A black Chevrolet sped into the alley and stopped steadily behind the man. Under the headlights, warm-colored light illuminated his entire figure.
Even so, Ran still found the man utterly chilling. To the point that her right foot unconsciously remained half a step backward.
She didn't want to get close to him.
"Have you found him?"
"No. I have only found a tourist. He probably hasn't come to this street."
The man's deep voice mixed strangely well with the sound of falling rain. Black suited him perfectly.
It was as though the color itself had been tailor-made for him.
His gaze lingered briefly on Ran's face before turning toward the brown-haired young man behind him.
"The beast I was fighting with could not let go of prey like her."
At last, the man pulled his right hand from his pocket and directly grabbed Ran by the left elbow.
"In any case, it's dangerous here. Turn right at the corner ahead and you'll reach the main road. You can catch a taxi there."
"But I'm waiting for a friend here!" Ran lightly pulled herself free from his grip before explaining, "He's my classmate from first year of high school."
"Then let me warn you and your friend one more time."
Even after his hand was shaken off, the man showed no irritation. Turning his head, he coldly shouted,
"Leave here! Leave this place immediately!"
The brown-haired young man couldn't help asking, "We leave her here?"
"No problem. The exit of this alley has already been blocked off by us."
Those crimson eyes stood out sharply within the darkness.
Hidden behind the wall, Ritsu slightly curved his lips upward. For some reason, his mood had suddenly improved.
Perhaps because he had finally seen the long-absent… Mr. Black Cat again.
Still, it really was surprising.
That long hair so similar to Gin's had actually been cut short.
Silently watching the figure disappear from the alley entrance, Ritsu shifted his gaze toward Ran, who had entered the abandoned apartment building.
Were high school students nowadays really this fearless? Even knowing dangerous people were nearby, she still dared to walk inside.
With agile movements, he vaulted through a window and landed soundlessly on the floor. His black tactical outfit blended seamlessly into the rainy night as he quietly approached the brave heroes who had wandered into the witch's territory.
Inside the car, Akai suddenly seemed to sense something and rolled down the window to look behind him.
Rainwater dampened his handsome face, while his dark green eyes remained fixed on the alley rapidly disappearing behind them.
"Akai, what are you looking at?"
"It's nothing."
Surely it was just an illusion. Perhaps seeing a girl who resembled her had made him imagine that he would appear by her side.
Akai rolled the window back up and leaned wearily against the back seat. His thoughts drifted back to what had happened a year ago.
It was the day he regretted the most.
What he regretted wasn't that Camel had caused the plan to capture Gin to fail. What he regretted were the three shots he himself had fired.
What exactly had he been thinking back then?
Probably that, before the mission failed completely, he should at least inflict some more damage upon the Organization.
But who could have expected that everything he did wouldn't cripple the Organization.
Instead, it nearly destroyed himself.
There were very few things Akai regretted. Yet before leaving the Organization, he regretted two things.
He regretted using her to infiltrate the Organization. And he regretted killing him to leave the Organization.
Why had he cut his long hair short?
Only he knew.
He wanted to draw a clear line.
A line separating Moroboshi Dai, Rye, and Shuichi Akai.
The ones left with regret and guilt were Dai Moroboshi and Rye, not Shuichi Akai. Only by doing that could he lessen the burden of guilt.
Though he knew perfectly well, it was nothing more than self-deception.