Next morning — Masaki’s bungalow…
The dining area is quiet… sunlight falls directly onto the table… faint steam rises from the coffee cup — sshhh… Masaki sits straight in his chair… one hand holding the cup… the other resting on the table…
Footsteps from the door — tap… tap… Hio walks in… a sleek card in his hand… grip firm…
He stops beside Masaki… extends the card — slide… “Look… the ID card is ready.”
Masaki places the cup down — clink… Picks up the card… tilts it slightly, examining… Light reflects off its surface — shine…
“Hmm… very well made.”
Hio leans forward slightly… tone serious… fingers tapping the edge — tap… tap… “It has a tracker inside… we’ll be able to track rankers in real time.”
A faint smile forms on Masaki’s lips… approval in his eyes… He hands the card back — tap… handover…
“Give it to everyone… okay?”
Hio nods… then pulls out another card— “This one’s for Daigo Narumi… you give it to him. I’ve got something to take care of.”
Masaki responds without delay— “Alright.”
Bungalow driveway…
Masaki opens the car door — click… Sits inside… ignition ready…
Then—
Phone screen flashes — buzz… A message.
His eyes narrow… reading carefully… His expression shifts instantly… calm to sharp…
The next second— Engine roars — VROOM!
The car speeds off…
Underground parking — last night’s location…
Dim lights… cold air… dried blood marks… dark stains…
At the entrance, a few men carry injured bodies out — grunt… drag… Masaki gives them a cold glance… walks past without stopping — step… step…
Inside…
In the corner—
Daigo sits slumped against the wall… body slightly tilted… Eyes closed… still…
Sayuri sits there, tightly embracing him… her face buried in his shoulder… Her fingers clutching his shirt… tight… unmoving…
Masaki’s steps slow…
He approaches… stops… His gaze locks onto Daigo…
Dead still.
No reaction.
Just a heavy silence.
Sayuri looks up… tears in her eyes… voice broken— “You…”
Masaki’s gaze shifts to her… tone low… controlled— “Who did this?”
Sayuri breaks again… sobbing — sob… She pulls out a phone from her pocket… hands trembling… Extends it toward Masaki…
Masaki takes the phone… looks at the screen…
Then—
The phone rings — trrr… trrr…
He answers without a word — click…
Silence.
From the other side—
“Your silence tells me… you’re Masaki Fujimiya.”
Masaki remains still… gaze fixed…
“I’m Rokura Hayashi… your ranker took 44 of my bags. He reached where he shouldn’t have.”
Masaki’s jaw tightens… voice low, heavy— “If you cared that much… you should’ve kept your bags out of our sight…” A slight pause… his eyes turn colder… “And for this… you will pay.”
The tone on the other end sharpens— “Then let’s see… in this game of cat and mouse… who comes out on top, Masaki Fujimiya.”
Masaki responds flatly— “I’ll see how long you can keep running.”
Call cuts — beep…
Present — bungalow living area…
The room falls silent…
Hio and Souta stand in front of Masaki… having heard everything…
A few seconds pass… just the air moving — whooshh…
Souta folds his arms… brow furrowed… “So after all these years… why did he come out now?”
Hio places a hand on his forehead… slow rub — rub… “Hmm… looks like it’s for a big deal… that’s why he’s moving so openly.”
Souta steps forward slightly… confusion clear— “Then why challenge us openly? He could’ve done all this quietly.”
Masaki stays silent… head slightly lowered… fingers tapping on the table — tap… tap…
Then—
He looks up… clarity in his eyes… His voice calm… but sharp—
“The meaning of a challenge is simple…”
He looks straight at both of them—
“Hayashi is saying— if you’ve got what it takes… stop me.”
The air in the room turns heavy…
The game had officially begun.
Unknown location — underground meeting room…
Concrete walls… a dim yellow light hanging from the ceiling… shadows clinging to every corner… Footsteps outside the door — tap… tap…
The handle turns — click… creak…
Hayashi enters… his coat swaying slightly with the air — swishh… His eyes scan the room immediately…
Around the table, four people are already seated— Itsuki Reon, Rai Himura, Shiro Amakusa, Shun Miyane…
Each posture different… but the tension the same…
Without a word, Hayashi walks forward… pulls a chair — scrape… And sits down calmly… elbows on the armrest… fingers interlocked…
A second of silence…
Then—
Itsuki leans forward slightly… hands pressing against the table… “We had a chance… Hayashi… to kill Masaki.”
The room freezes.
Shiro, Rai, and Shun all look at Itsuki at once… Their expressions stiff… like a line has been crossed…
Hayashi slowly shifts his gaze to Itsuki… Eyes sharp… tone heavy—
“Masaki…”
He leans forward slightly… “Do you know… that one man wiped out six gangs by himself?”
Itsuki’s fingers tighten on the table — tight…
“You were there too…” Hayashi’s voice drops even lower… “Do you really think… handing guns to four people… would be enough to kill him?”
A flash crosses Itsuki’s mind—
Gunfire… chaos… Masaki alone… bodies dropping — thud… thud…
His breath turns heavy for a second… He slowly lowers his head…
“…Yeah. You’re right.”
Shiro leans slightly to the side in his chair… arms crossed… His gaze fixed on Itsuki… “You were about to introduce a new drug to the market, right… what happened to that?”
Itsuki straightens his posture… tone steady again— “Yeah… it’s already launched. And through Hayashi, we’ve secured a major foreign deal as well.”
Shun leans forward… elbows on the table… “Who’s handling the product this time?”
Hayashi gives a slight glance toward Rai — signal… “This time… Rai will handle everything.”
All eyes shift to Rai…
Rai sits upright… hands folded… expression cold… He speaks slowly—
“This drug… if given to a person… boosts their strength to the level of four men.”
His fingers rub together slowly — rub… Eyes narrowing slightly…
“But there’s a cost…” A pause… “It melts the body from the inside… and it’s addictive. One use… and control is gone.”
Silence fills the room…
Shiro’s brow lifts slightly… Shun’s jaw tightens… Itsuki’s eyes sink into thought…
The same realization in all their minds— Power… and destruction… together.
Hayashi leans back slightly in his chair… His gaze drifts toward the window… city lights blinking outside — glow… flicker…
His fingers tap slowly on the armrest — tap… tap…
“I’ll handle the rankers…” His voice calm… but the threat underneath is clear…
He looks straight at them—
“You focus on preparing the deal.”
Half his face remains in shadow… But in his eyes… a plan is already moving.
University corridor — afternoon…
A long corridor… sunlight reflecting off white tiles — shine… Students moving around… murmur… footsteps… lockers shutting — thak…
Ren Fujimiya stands near the wall… his back lightly resting against a pillar… Phone in hand… thumb scrolling slowly — swipe… swipe… His face calm… but there’s a distance in his eyes…
From afar—
Yeamori Arisa walks toward him… confident steps — tap… tap… Her gaze locked directly on Ren…
She stops right in front of him… leaning slightly to the side… But Ren still doesn’t look up from his phone…
Yeamori’s expression turns serious… brow slightly creased… “What’s wrong with you…? You weren’t like this in high school… what happened? You’ve gotten way too quiet.”
Ren’s thumb stops — stop… He slowly lowers his phone… lifts his eyes…
The moment he sees Yeamori— His shoulders ease slightly… a soft breath leaves his chest — exhale…
A faint smile appears on his lips— “It’s nothing… just like that.”
Then—
Ren’s gaze suddenly shifts… behind Yeamori, a boy stands half-hidden near a pillar… Eyes fixed on them… awkwardly still…
Ren’s expression doesn’t change… He leans slightly forward… close to Yeamori’s ear— whisper distance…
“Yeamori… there’s a guy standing behind you… is there something going on?”
His voice low… controlled…
Yeamori casually flips her hair to the side — flip… Tone completely careless—
“Yeah… he proposed. I rejected him. Still holding onto hope… no idea what he sees in me.”
Ren stands straight… listening… But for a second, his eyes slide from her face to her overall posture…
You’re not the same anymore…
The thought stays silent… heavy…
Next moment—
Ren steps forward… His hand lightly पकड़s Yeamori’s wrist — hold… pull…
And—
He pulls her into a hug — wrap… close…
His arms around her back… grip firm… His face resting against her shoulder… eyes closed — still…
Yeamori freezes for a second… Her hands remain at her sides… no response… posture straight…
Her expression neutral… like she feels nothing…
“What are you doing…?”
Her voice normal… no shock… no warmth…
Ren says nothing… He just stays in that hug… like the moment matters to him…
His fingers tighten slightly… then slowly relax…
After a few seconds—
Ren steps back… grip loosening — release… He gives a side glance… then slightly lifts his chin in a signal—
“Look over there… he’s gone.”
Yeamori turns — turn… scan… No one near the pillar anymore…
“Yeah… you’re right.”
Ren looks back at her… a light smile on his lips… Tone playful, with a slight bow of his head—
“Anything else worthy of me, my lady?”
A smile appears on Yeamori’s lips too… She lifts her chin slightly… confident stance—
“Nothing else… assistant.”
For a second, they just look at each other…
The corridor noise rises again… filling the space…
—Chapter 5 end—