For a moment, no one moved.
Even the alarms felt distant here, like they were happening in another layer of the barge entirely. Red light pulsed across the lounge in slow, uneven beats, catching on the edges of broken glass and the blood-soaked carpet.
Sho shifted first, shoulders lowering slightly as his stance changed.
'Assassins,' he muttered. 'Great. That's always a good sign.'
Yasuko didn't take her eyes off the figure. 'He did that… to the crime lord?'
Kanesaki's gaze dropped briefly to the body again. Clean. Precise. Too clean.
'One cut,' he said quietly.
Ryuu didn't answer. His attention stayed locked forward, every part of him still in a way that felt sharper than motion.
Sugimoto Satoshi tilted his head slightly, as if listening to the alarms for the first time.
'You're louder than expected,' he said calmly.
His voice carried through the mask without strain. Not raised. Not emotional. Just… certain.
Sho let out a short laugh that didn't quite land. 'Yeah, well, sorry for interrupting your murder party.'
Sugimoto's eyes drifted to him.
There was no reaction. No recognition. Just a brief assessment, like Sho was a tool that hadn't been worth picking up, then his gaze moved on.
'Ryuu,' he said.
The name landed heavier than before. Ryuu stepped forward half a pace before stopping himself.
'You're still working for him,' Ryuu said.
Sugimoto didn't deny it. Instead, he lifted one hand slightly, flexing his fingers inside the glove.
A pause.
Then–
'I was instructed to retrieve this barge without any unwanted bloodshed if possible,' he added. 'But instructions are flexible.'
The air in the room changed. Sho's posture shifted instantly, his hand drifting closer to his weapon.
'That sounds like the part where things go bad,' he muttered.
Yasuko swallowed. 'We can take him, though, it's four to one...'
Kanesaki didn't answer. He was watching Sugimoto's stance now instead of his face, nothing wasted, no visible tension, as if he had already finished this fight in his head.
Ryuu's voice came low.
'You killed the crime lord.'
Sugimoto gave the smallest nod.
'He was interfering with transport routes. Slowing movement. Creating noise.'
'So you cleaned it up,' Ryuu said.
'Yes.'
A beat of silence.
Then Sho exhaled sharply. 'Okay, can we just take him out?'
Sugimoto's eyes shifted slightly toward him again, still nothing.
Suddenly–
He moved.
It wasn't a charge, nor a rush, it was simply that the space between him and the room stopped existing. One moment he was at the far wall, the next, he was inside their formation.
Sho reacted first, swinging wide – too wide.
Sugimoto slipped under it without looking, his shoulder brushing Sho's arm as if by accident. A soft impact followed immediately after.
Sho's breath caught, then he was thrown backwards into the table.
CRASH
Glass shattered and cards scattered across the floor.
'Tch—!' Sho snarled, rolling up immediately.
Ryuu was already there, his fist hurling from his side – fast, controlled, aimed for the assassin's face.
Sugimoto caught his wrist, the motion stopping dead in midair. Ryuu's eyes widened a fraction beneath the mask as Sugimoto leaned in slightly, almost curious.
'Still relying on brute force,' he said quietly. 'You haven't adapted.'
Ryuu twisted, trying to break the grip.
Nothing.
The pressure didn't increase, it didn't need to, it was already absolute.
Yasuko moved next, darting in from the side, fists raised.
Sugimoto released Ryuu, leaving him to stagger half a step forward as Yasuko's strike cut through empty air.
Sugimoto wasn't there anymore. He was behind her, one hand rested lightly against her shoulder.
'Too slow,' he said.
Yasuko froze.
Sho shouted her name, but was too late . Sugimoto pushed her forward gently. Her body hit the floor as if the strength had simply been removed from her legs.
Kanesaki stepped in now, finally committing fully. A straight punch, full weight, aimed for the centreline. Sugimoto turned his head slightly, the punch missing by a breath.
Kanesaki felt it more than saw it – something brushing past his knuckles, redirecting the angle without force. Then Sugimoto tapped his wrist – a single, precise motion. Pain exploded up Kanesaki's arm, he dropped to one knee instantly, breath hitching.
Ryuu's voice cut through everything, low and sharp.
'Don't engage individually.'
Sugimoto looked at him again.
'Better,' he said.
For the first time, something like interest passed through his gaze – not emotion, but more recognition of resistance.
The alarms outside continued to scream, and boots were closer now. But inside the lounge, none of it mattered.
Sugimoto tilted his head slightly. He didn't move, and neither did Ryuu.
For a few seconds, the alarms outside felt like they belonged to another world entirely. Red light washed over the lounge in slow pulses, sliding across blood, glass, and polished wood as if the room itself were breathing in warning. The body in the center of the carpet lay forgotten between them, a clean cut marking the end of someone who had never even understood what was coming.
Sho was the first to shift, wiping a smear of blood from his lip as his gaze stayed locked on Sugimoto.
'So,' he muttered, 'this is what they send for cleanup.'
No one answered him.
Yasuko's grip on her weapon was tight enough that her knuckles had gone pale, her attention fixed on the same figure without blinking.
Kanesaki pushed himself back up slowly, one arm still trembling from the last impact. His eyes never left Sugimoto, tracking him like he was trying to understand something that refused to make sense.
Ryuu didn't look at any of them.
'Sho,' he said.
The tone was flat, absolute in its lack of variation, not a request.
Sho's attention snapped slightly toward him. 'Yeah?'
Ryuu's gaze stayed forward as he continued speaking.
'Take them and clear the corridors. Now.'
Sho paused for half a beat, the distant sound of impact and shouting threading through the walls outside growing louder, closer.
Ryuu didn't turn.
'Guards are converging,' he said. 'If they reach this room, we lose movement.'
Sugimoto tilted his head slightly at that, as though he was listening more closely now – not to the chaos outside, but to Ryuu's voice itself.
Sho exhaled once, steadying himself as he straightened.
'Got it,' he said quietly.
Then he looked toward Yasuko and Kanesaki.
'We move,' Sho added. 'Clear the corridors. Don't let them reach this room.'
Yasuko hesitated for a fraction of a second, still watching Ryuu as if waiting for something else, some reversal.
'Ryuu—'
'I said go.'
Still nothing raised in his voice, but it cut deeper than shouting ever could.
Kanesaki wiped blood from his mouth, his eyes still fixed on Sugimoto as he asked, 'You're staying?'
Ryuu finally shifted his stance, just enough to acknowledge him.
'Yeah.'
A pause followed, heavy and deliberate.
'He's mine.'
Just slightly, Sugimoto's expression changed. Not surprise, but something closer to interest, like a calculation adjusting itself.
Sho turned away first, already moving toward the door.
'Stay alive,' he said flatly over his shoulder.
Yasuko lingered a moment longer, her eyes flicking between Ryuu and Sugimoto before she tightened her grip on her weapon.
'Don't lose,' she said quietly.
Ryuu didn't respond, and that was enough.
They moved.
Sho kicked the door open on their way out, and the alarms spilled into the lounge like a physical force, dragging the world beyond the room back into motion. The corridor swallowed them instantly, their footsteps vanishing into the rising chaos.
Then the door shut again, and silence returned – not peace, pressure.
Sugimoto Satoshi and Ryuu stood facing each other across the broken remains of the room. Blood stained the carpet between them, glass shifting faintly under their boots whenever either of them adjusted their stance. The air felt compressed, like the space itself was holding its breath.
Sugimoto spoke first.
'So you just stay behind here.'
Ryuu's gaze didn't shift.
'Someone has to.'
A pause stretched between them before he continued.
'They're doing what I told them to.'
Sugimoto's eyes narrowed slightly, studying him.
'Command structure under pressure, is it?'
Ryuu's hand drifted slowly toward his shoulder, his posture not relaxing in the slightest.
'This isn't a structure.'
A beat.
'It's just survival.'
Sugimoto regarded him for a moment longer before stepping forward once, measured and unhurried.
'And you believe that makes you different from them.'
Ryuu exhaled once through his nose, the sound controlled and restrained.
'No.'
Another pause.
'It makes me the one still standing when it matters.'
Sugimoto's head tilted slightly.
'Then you understand your function.'
Ryuu's voice lowered.
'Function?'
Sugimoto didn't stop moving, but his pace remained unchanged.
'Eliminate threats, maintain stability, remove interference,' he said calmly. 'That is what you're doing, isn't it?'
Ryuu's jaw tightened beneath his mask.
'Don't compare me to you.'
Sugimoto stopped, something sharper entered his expression – some form of focus.
'Then why are you here?'
Silence stretched.
The alarms outside surged louder, as if trying to fill the gap where words refused to form.
Ryuu finally answered.
'We had a job.'
Sugimoto didn't look away.
'Well so did I.'
A pause followed.
'Just like you.'
That landed heavier than anything else so far.
For a moment, neither of them moved. Then Sugimoto's tone shifted subtly – still calm, but colder beneath the surface.
'Guess we're just doing our jobs,then.'
Ryuu's fingers flexed once.
'Guess so.'
The change was immediate, a change in presence. Something in the air sharpened, like the room itself had decided to stop tolerating the conversation.
'Let's get our paychecks, then.' Ryuu said quietly, hands reaching up.
His fingers pressed lightly against the space just above his shoulder blades.
The air shifted.
Black matter bled into existence – manifesting as though it had always been waiting beneath him. Two massive machete-like blades formed along his shoulders, heavy and curved, their surfaces matte black with a faint crimson glow bleeding along the edges and into the hilts. They hung in place for a breathless moment before settling into his grip.
Sugimoto watched without blinking.
'Been a while since you've used them?'
Ryuu tilted his head slightly.
'No.'
Sugimoto's hand drifted behind him, slow and deliberate.
'Guess I oughta show off, too.'
From his lower back – near the tailbone – the air split. Reality itself bled into thin distortions, the objects phasing into existence.
Two hilts emerged first, identical and guardless, black and minimal in design. Then the blades followed, unfolding from nothing into existence with a precision that felt almost ceremonial.
Twin katana. Perfect symmetry.
He drew them with opposite hands at the same time, the motion smooth, controlled, and exact in a way that felt less like technique and more like inevitability.
Sugimoto rolled his shoulders once, settling into stillness.
'We're made for the same purpose,' he said quietly.
Ryuu lowered his stance, the crimson edges of his blades catching the pulsing red light from the alarms.
Outside, the corridor erupted in distant violence as Sho, Yasuko, and Kanesaki met the incoming guards.
Inside the lounge, only the two of them remained.
Sugimoto tilted his head slightly.
'You first.'
Ryuu's grip tightened.
'I insist.'
A beat of silence followed. Then the room broke, and they moved.
Sugimoto closed the distance in an instant, and Ryuu met him before the space between them could properly exist. Blade met blade in a collision that didn't echo so much as collapse sound itself, as if impact had nowhere to travel.
Steel pressed against blackened edge, neither yielding even slightly.
Sugimoto's second katana came in immediately, precise and low, aimed not for flesh but for structure itself. Ryuu twisted into it, letting the strike pass so close it tore through his cloak, crimson edge flashing as he countered upward in the same motion.
Sugimoto leaned away by a fraction, not retreating, only adjusting.
Their fight didn't settle into rhythm, it refused rhythm entirely. Each movement interrupted the last, each strike arrived already answered.
Ryuu pushed forward, forcing space with brutal intent, his blades carving arcs that would have ended most fights instantly. Sugimoto erased that space before it could exist, never allowing himself to be where the attack resolved.
A table split cleanly in half behind them, a chair collapsed under a redirected strike, glass shattered in midair without ever reaching the floor, and still neither of them slowed.
Sugimoto's voice cut through the violence, calm and even.
'You've refined instinct, have you?'
Ryuu answered with motion rather than words, driving both blades down in a crushing diagonal meant to end the exchange.
Sugimoto slipped inside it, too close.
A counter followed immediately – one that should have ended everything. Ryuu barely rotated his shoulder in time, letting the strike graze instead of land cleanly.
Blood marked his coat, the first real damage.
Sugimoto paused, just for a breath – then, quietly–
'Better.'
Ryuu's blades shifted again as the room tightened, the alarms continuing to scream outside.
The two paced for a moment, checking one another. Ryuu squatted partially, then propelled forwards, swinging both blades in a downward arc.
Sugimoto swung both katana in a sideways arc, removing most of the force, but still sliding back, careful not to lose footing. Under the mask, a small smirk touched his lips.
And they went once more.
Chapter 71 – end