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Glasses clinked together, patrons laughed as they talked about their days, and the smell of smoke filled Ryu’s nostrils every waking moment of his shift. The cool metal of the shaker kept him focused as he poured the last drink of his shift.

“Here you go!” Ryu happily pushed the drink towards a white haired woman in front of him.

“Wow, you’re so good at that,” The woman took a sip of her drink and smiled. “This is the best Vodka Sunrise I’ve had in all of Japan.”

“Ha! Well, thank you for the praise. If you need anything else tonight, the owner will help you,” Ryu was wiping down the counter while he spoke. It was the last thing he did before heading out. A clean space made taking over the bar easier for his boss, the owner of the establishment, even if said owner always said he could skip that step.

“Ryu! You leaving?” One of Ryu’s regulars, a kind old man, leaned against the counter before the woman could say anything.

“That’s right, Kazuto,” Ryu reached up and tapped a finger against the single clock they had behind the bar. Its hour hand was getting close to the twelve at the top. “Gotta head home before the last train leaves.”

“Got it. I’ll wait for the boss to get me my next drink.” The old man chuckled.

“I won’t make you wait that long,” Ryu’s boss, a rather strict middle-aged woman, came from the back room. She was wiping her hands with a towel that she swung over on shoulder. “Another of your usual, Kaz?”

“Yup!”

The owner turned to Ryu. “And you, go on and get home. You have tomorrow off, right?”

Ryu nodded. “I’m going to see mom.”

The air behind the counter stalled for a minute before his boss softly smiled. “Give Aiko a hug for me and tell her that I’m wishing for her health.”

“I’m sure that she will be grateful for your words.”

Ryu’s current job had been his mother’s, before she got sick. When he came looking for a job to help pay her medical bills, the owner had been quick to offer him the same job. She had become good friends with his mother during her time behind the counter and worried for Ryu’s family just as much as he did.

Saying his goodbyes to his regulars, Ryu quickly found himself climbing the last few stairs into the cold November Tokyo night. A cold, just like the cold from the shaker, bit into any exposed skin of his. The ground was still wet from the rain earlier in the evening, but now the night sky was clear, not a cloud in sight.

Ryu fell in line with the few people walking by the bar entrance heading in the direction of the nearest train station. His mind thought about the people that had come into the bar that night. The white-haired woman stood out the most in his mind. She had spoken perfect Japanese, but didn’t look the part. He wondered if she grew up there to foreign parents. Maybe adoption. Regardless of the answer, Ryu would never learn the answer. After all, he would never meet her again.

Ryu was still thinking about work when he got off the train. While walking out of the station, Ryu suddenly found himself being hugged from behind.

“Guess who!” A cheery familiar voice rang out from behind him.

“Chika? Why are you out so late?” Ryu pried Chika’s arms from around him and turned to face her. She was a childhood friend of his, though she was two years younger and had only just turned eighteen.

“I can be out if I want to! I don’t have school tomorrow anyways. I just got back from some late night karaoke with schoolmates.”

Ryu simply shook his head. “Let me walk you the rest of the way home then.”

“What? You think someone is gonna try to get little old me?” Chika’s eyes stared up at Ryu’s face with a glint of something in them.

Ryu scowled and started to pull Chika along behind him. “I’m worried that your innocence is gonna get you hurt one of these days. And at least if I’m with you, I can protect you from yourself.”

Ryu wasn’t oblivious to what Chika wanted. She had been trying to get him to go out with her for years. He knew that, and yet he had always pretended not to get the hints. He didn’t feel the same way, and he couldn’t figure out how to tell Chika that.

Ryu was resolved to simply treat Chika like another little sister. He hoped that she would realize that was what he saw her as and move on. But in the years since he made that decision, his hope has never been fulfilled.

“Ryu! Ryu!” Ryu’s arm was yanked backwards as Chika stopped while calling out his name. They had stopped in front of a small alley between two buildings, barely wide enough for a car to fit through. “Can’t we cut through here? This should take us right out to the riverside.”

“I-” Ryu thought about it. She was right, it would take them straight to the river, which they could follow the rest of the way to the apartment building that they lived in. “Is it really faster though?”

Whether it was faster or not didn’t matter to Ryu. His gut was telling him that he shouldn’t go into that alley.

“I’m sure it will be, come on!” Chika pulled Ryu towards the alley. When she wanted to, her pure strength could rival his own. Whether that was an attribution to her own strength or his own lack of strength was up for debate.

Ryu knew that he wasn’t going to be able to stop Chika and, despite the warning from his gut, went with her. A few steps into the alley, his gut reaction turned into a full shiver that went down his entire spine. It was as if something in the air had changed.

“Oh my god…” Chika whispered.

She had seen it first.

Only ten feet in front of them was a man standing over a body.

In the man’s hand was a pistol.

A pistol with a smoking barrel.