I walked on the roads of Chizunai city, twelve years later, twelve years older, twelve years stronger.
The streets were quiet.
Almost empty.
A man walked ahead.
Around twenty-nine.
Calm.
Casual.
Eating a vanilla ice cream like nothing in the world mattered.
Then—
he stopped.
Slowly, he took the last bite.
And turned his head…
toward a dark corner.
Toward me.
"Oh," I said, stepping out of the shadows, casually eating a banana,
"So… you found me."
A small pause.
"Yamato."
He didn't move.
Didn't speak.
Just stared.
The shock on his face said everything.
Like he was looking at something that shouldn't exist.
"…How did you escape?" he finally asked.
I smirked slightly.
"Why do you want to know?" I said.
"Besides…"
I stepped forward.
"You can't put me back."
Silence.
Heavy.
Tense.
Then—
his phone rang.
He didn't take his eyes off me as he picked it up.
"Yamato! Listen—this is bad! The prison maze—"
"It's broken," he said calmly.
"I can see that."
He hung up.
For a moment…
we just stood there.
Then I tilted my head slightly.
"So…"
"What now?"
Yamato exhaled slowly.
His expression hardened.
"You can't just walk around like this."
His hands moved.
Slowly coming together.
A familiar stance.
A technique.
I clenched my fist.
"Who are you," I said quietly, stepping forward—
"to decide that?"
The air between us grew heavy.
Like something was about to explode.