Chapter 10: No Safe Streets

The city didn’t sleep that night.

Roadblocks appeared where cafés used to be. Alley lights flickered out one by one. Routes Ren had memorized since childhood suddenly felt wrong—too quiet, too watched.

Akio slowed the car. “We’re being boxed.”

Gunfire cracked three streets over. Not random. Coordinated.

Kaito’s voice came through the comms, calm as ever. “Safe streets no longer exist. Assume every turn is hostile.”

Ren tightened his grip on the door handle. “You said protection.”

“I said usefulness,” Kaito replied. “This is the test.”

They ditched the car and moved on foot. A drone buzzed overhead. Ren pulled Akio into a doorway just as bullets chewed the pavement.

Someone was mapping him. Predicting him.

A figure stepped out ahead—armed, masked, waiting.

Ren didn’t hesitate. He moved first, fired once, and kept going.

They reached the safe house just before dawn. The door slammed shut. Locks engaged.

Ren leaned against the wall, breathing hard.

The city hadn’t tried to kill him tonight.

It had done something worse.

It had proven there was nowhere left to hide.