An abandoned garage.
The heavy, suffocating scent of diesel and engine oil hung thick in the air.
Rokura Hayashi stood in dead silence, his unblinking gaze fixed on the line of fully loaded trucks.
His driver stood at attention right beside him.
The driver looked at Hayashi, a faint urgency in his voice.
“Sir. It’s time to go.”
Hayashi swept his eyes over the trucks one last time before turning to the driver.
“Alright. Start the engines.”
Footsteps echoed against the concrete.
Arata Asano sauntered over, casually taking a drag from his cigarette.
His signature reckless swagger was on full display.
“Hey, hey… hold on a second. Aren’t you taking us with you?”
Hayashi and the driver both turned.
Hayashi’s eyes were cold, calculating.
“You are not riding in the trucks with the drivers.”
Arata blinked, genuinely confused.
“Then what exactly are we supposed to do?”
A tiny, sharp smile ghosted across Hayashi’s lips.
“You’re going. But you’ll be trailing us from behind in civilian cars.”
Arata paused, slowly exhaling a cloud of smoke.
“…Hmm. Alright.”
Hayashi made a sharp hand gesture toward one of his subordinates.
The man immediately ran over and bowed.
“Sir, your orders?”
“Give Arata the keys to the cars I prepared.”
“Understood, sir.”
The subordinate handed the keys over.
“Thanks,” Arata said casually, tossing them into the air and catching them.
Hayashi’s tone dropped, becoming deadly serious.
“Keep your gang on high alert. There are others coming who will be riding with them.”
Suddenly, Hayashi’s phone buzzed.
He answered it immediately.
“Speak.”
It was Tensei Arakawa.
He was already sitting in the driver’s seat of a sleek black sedan.
“Yeah. We’re in position. You can initiate the deal now.”
“Understood.”
Hayashi lowered the phone and barked an order that echoed through the entire garage.
“Everyone, get in your vehicles! We are moving out!”
The men loading the cargo stopped instantly.
Everyone, including Arata, bowed respectfully to Hayashi.
Hayashi returned the gesture to the men working under him.
The operation had begun.
Meanwhile, at the base—
Masaki was rapidly typing a message to Kirishima on his phone.
[Masaki]: Did you find it?
The reply came almost instantly.
[Kirishima]: Give me a minute.
Masaki stepped away from the window, walking over to sit on the edge of a table.
Souta, Hio, and Raiga stood before him, waiting for orders.
Masaki looked at the three of them, his eyes sharp.
“The three of you are going in together.”
He glanced down at his phone again, an uncharacteristic restlessness in his movements.
Hio broke the silence.
“We need your permission for something, Masaki.”
“Permission for what, Hio?”
Hio paused for a split second before answering.
“Can we call Ren in for this?”
Masaki sank into deep thought.
Seeing his hesitation, Souta stepped forward.
“Don’t stress over it, Masaki. I’ll personally guide him.”
Masaki looked up at Souta.
Seeing the calm confidence in his eyes brought him a small measure of relief.
With a heavy sigh, he finally relented.
“Fine. Call him in.”
Afternoon — The Expressway
The blazing afternoon sun relentlessly hammered down on the steel roofs.
Sunlight reflected off the chrome panels of the heavy trucks, shattering the city skyline into blinding flashes of light.
The traffic in Tokyo was dense—but this specific section of the highway felt eerily desolate.
Distant sirens wailed, as if the entire city was holding its breath.
Three massive, heavy-duty trucks moved down the asphalt in a flawless, straight formation.
At the absolute front: Tensei Arakawa’s menacing black sedan.
Behind it: The three loaded trucks.
Bringing up the rear: Arata’s two luxury cars—one silver, one blood-red—gleaming under the sun.
Tensei gripped his steering wheel, speaking calmly into his radio.
“Maintain speed. Target team sighted at 3 o’clock.”
A matte-black SUV aggressively merged onto the expressway from a side road.
Souta was at the wheel, Hio in the passenger seat.
In the back, Raiga sat behind Souta, with Ren nervously sitting beside him.
Souta stared through the windshield and smirked.
“Looks like we popped out right behind them.”
Hio tapped the screen of his tablet.
Live GPS dots blinked aggressively.
“Three trucks. One black sedan in the lead, two civilian interceptors in the rear. Tensei and Arata are both active.”
Ren looked out the window, staring at the massive convoy.
“This is broad daylight… they’re doing this right in front of everyone.”
Raiga flashed a wild, bloodthirsty grin.
“That just makes it more fun.” This story is hosted at g.com.
Souta slammed his foot onto the accelerator.
The SUV surged forward with a violent roar.
In the front camera monitor, the trucks quickly turned into blurry massive shapes.
Ren hurriedly tightened his seatbelt.
“What’s the plan?!”
Hio’s voice was ice-cold.
“We target the middle truck. If we hit the core, the third truck will be forced to stop.”
Raiga rolled his window all the way down.
The violent wind whipped his hair wildly around his face.
“Understood.”
He suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt.
“Ren, take the wheel!”
Ren’s eyes widened in sheer panic.
“What?! I only have a learner’s permit!”
Raiga’s expression was completely unreasonable.
“It’s fine! You brought it with you, right? Here, grab it!”
The SUV swerved sharply into the left lane.
Without another word, Raiga kicked the door open—and leapt straight out of the moving vehicle.
Instant chaos erupted on the highway.
Ren screamed in shock.
“He’s literally truck-hopping?!”
Souta calmly took his hands off the wheel so Ren could scramble forward.
“He calls it taking a shortcut.”
Inside the lead sedan, Tensei calmly checked his rearview mirror.
“The Rankers are here.”
At the rear, Arata’s luxury red car executed a sudden, violent swerve.
The high-pitched screech of tires and burning rubber tore through the air.
A voice crackled over Tensei’s comms.
“We’ll intercept.”
Tensei’s response was soft, completely devoid of panic.
“Delay them. Just give me five minutes. After that… they’ll be completely out of Tokyo.”
Raiga broke into a full sprint, leaping across the terrifying gap between the speeding vehicles.
Below him, a river of blinding headlights blurred past.
His heavy boots slammed against the truck’s side-rail—clack!—sending a shower of golden sparks into the air as his body hung suspended over the lethal asphalt.
Inside the SUV, Ren’s heart hammered frantically against his ribs.
“Raiga! Are you insane?!”
Raiga flashed a wild grin, looking like a man who breathed pure adrenaline.
“Not insane… just well-trained.”
In one fluid motion, he pulled a magnetic clamp from his belt and slammed it against the truck’s steel plating.
CLANG.
A compact EMP flare activated, blue pulses strobing aggressively as the countdown began.
“Timer is on.”
Over the comms, Hio’s voice remained perfectly steady.
“EMP set for thirty seconds. Souta, are you ready?”
Souta cracked his knuckles, a dangerous smile forming.
“Ready as hell.”
Arata’s red luxury car pulled up parallel to the SUV.
A subordinate leaned out the passenger window, an automatic rifle gripped tight.
A metallic rain of bullets instantly tore through the air, sparking violently as they ricocheted off the SUV’s reinforced hood.
Souta violently jerked the steering wheel.
The SUV tilted on its suspension, skidding and trailing sparks as it deflected the worst of the barrage.
Ren grit his teeth, drawing his handgun.
“Do I have cover?!”
“Take the shot. Now!” Souta barked.
Ren aimed through the shattered window, his focus narrowing down to a single point.
Bang!
Bang!
Double tap.
Flawless hits on the front tire.
The red car instantly lost control, entering a violent spin.
A massive trail of white smoke erupted into the air as the vehicle slammed brutally into the concrete divider.
From the other interceptor, Arata roared over the radio.
“Damn it! Regroup on my position, now!”
Up ahead, Tensei flawlessly drifted his black sedan alongside the middle truck.
With a screech of tires, he leaped from his moving car directly onto the truck’s exterior.
He scrambled upward, grabbed the blinking EMP device, and effortlessly flicked it away onto the highway.
Climbing over the edge, he stepped onto the roof—coming face-to-face with Raiga.
The distance between them was mere inches.
Despite the roaring engines and the rushing wind, the air felt terrifyingly static.
Raiga tapped his earpiece.
“Listen up… the EMP failed. Send Souta to the third truck.”
“Copy that,” Hio replied.
“We’re lining up for the third.”
The massive trucks hurtled down the highway, police sirens beginning to wail in the far distance.
Raiga and Tensei stood in a deadlock.
The violent wind whipped their hair around their faces.
They moved at the exact same millisecond.
THUD!
Both fists connected cleanly with the other’s jaw.
The sheer impact sent them sliding backward across the metal roof.
They reset their stances amidst the screeching tires.
A single heartbeat.
Then, the sharp shing!
of drawing steel.
Both men produced combat knives, the metallic ring blending into the howling wind.
To the horrified civilians driving below, it looked like a live-action movie.
The two Rankers traded lethal slashes and high-kicks—sparks flying, grunts of exertion, terrifying near-misses.
One wrong step meant plunging to a gruesome death on the asphalt.
Inside the SUV, Hio gave the command.
“Got it. Take the wheel.”
Souta unbuckled and threw his door open, the wind blasting him in the face.
Hio seamlessly slid into the driver’s seat, matching the third truck’s speed flawlessly.
“Go!”
With explosive leg strength, Souta launched himself.
He gripped the side rail of the roaring truck and hauled himself up.
Behind them, the highway chaos only escalated.
Arata watched the carnage unfold with a cold, detached smile.
He took a long drag of his cigarette, the red ember flashing in his eyes.
“Take the wheel,” he muttered to his driver, casually flicking the cigarette away.
In the blink of an eye, Arata leaped from his speeding car, grappling onto the side of the third truck and scaling it like a predator.
His men provided cover fire from behind, raining bullets toward Hio’s SUV.
Ren, now fully dialed in, calmly reloaded his revolver.
With ice-cold focus, he leaned out the window and fired.
*Bang!
Bang!*
The bullets pierced Tensei’s abandoned, rolling car, sending it spinning into the divider where it erupted into a massive fireball.
Up on the second truck, Raiga caught the explosion out of the corner of his eye.
“Nice shooting, Ren!” he laughed mid-fight.
Tensei clicked his tongue in irritation.
“Shut up!”
He doubled the ferocity of his attacks.
But Raiga read his momentum perfectly.
Evading an overextended slash, he delivered a bone-cracking counterblow.
THWACK!
Tensei staggered backward, slipping dangerously close to the edge of the speeding truck.
On the third truck, Souta had just finished planting the backup EMP.
The magnetic hum vibrated as the timer activated.
Suddenly, Arata pulled himself over the edge, an arrogant smirk on his face.
“Not so fast.”
Souta didn’t even flinch.
He rolled his shoulders, settling into a heavy combat stance.
“Perfect timing.”
They clashed instantly.
No guns.
No flashy techniques.
Just raw, brutal hand-to-hand combat.
Punches, elbows, and knees—every devastating impact echoed with a metallic *clang* against the truck’s roof.
Arata was blindingly fast, but Souta was an absolute powerhouse of brutality.
Equal force.
Equal rage.
Equal skill.
Parallel to their fight, Ren maneuvered his side of the SUV flawlessly alongside the third truck.
He leaned far out, slapping a second EMP device directly onto the wheel axle.
The timer blinked.
*3…
2…
1…*
BOOM!
A massive shockwave violently destabilized the third truck.
The massive tires locked up, skidding wildly.
A terrifying, ear-splitting screech of grinding metal ripped across the highway.
Souta and Arata completely lost their footing as the trailer began to tilt precariously.
Over the roar of the wind, Souta leaped, crashing down hard onto the hood of Hio’s SUV.
Arata mirrored the movement, diving onto his own subordinate’s car.
Two dark silhouettes suspended in mid-air.
Behind them, the massive third truck finally gave way, rolling violently across the asphalt in a terrifying shower of steel and golden sparks.
Raiga leaped from the second truck just in time, landing heavily onto the roof of the SUV as Hio slammed on the brakes.
The shocks compressed violently, tires screaming as they skidded to a halt, leaving a thick trail of white smoke.
Through the dust, Arata and his remaining men sped off with the two surviving trucks, crossing the Tokyo city limits and dissolving into the dark night.
Ren and Hio parked the battered SUV on the shoulder of the road.
Raiga slid off the roof, his face smeared with sweat, soot, and dust.
“Only managed to get one…” he panted, exhausted.
Hio stepped out of the driver’s seat, running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh.
“We didn’t have any other choice.”
Souta and Ren stood in absolute silence.
The only sounds left were the howling wind and the approaching wail of police sirens.
The four of them walked over to the overturned wreckage of the third truck.
Souta grabbed a crowbar and violently snapped the container lock.
They ripped the heavy doors open.
Inside…
was absolutely nothing.
It was completely empty.
Everyone froze.
A chilling realization washed over them.
Ren ground his teeth in frustration, his fists clenching tight.
“Great. They played us for absolute fools.”
Suddenly, Hio’s phone buzzed.
Caller ID: Masaki fujimiya.
Hio picked it up, his voice heavy with defeat.
“Masaki… we failed.”
From the other end of the line, Masaki’s voice was terrifyingly calm.
“You didn’t fail. The four of you drew all of their attention… exactly as I intended.”
Four exhausted silhouettes stood on the smoking, ruined highway.
Overturned metal, the howling night wind, and the flickering lights of Tokyo in the far distance.
The war was just getting started.
—Chapter 14 End—