The Cost of Justice

“Are you coming? Or do you plan to stay there forever?”

A loud voice called from the street.

The voice pulled Takashi out of his thoughts.

“I’m coming,” he replied.

Finally, he started walking toward the gate, catching up with the others.

Some of the officers were already inside their vehicles, engines running, ready to leave.

Kenta stood by the gate, waiting for him.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“What just happened in there, Kenta?” Takashi said, still trying to process everything that had just happened.

“Probably a false alarm,” Kenta replied.

“Someone was messing with us.”

“No. Something was off,” Takashi said quietly.

“He was clearly mocking us. You saw it, didn’t you?

As if he already knew we were coming.”

“Yes, something was definitely off,” Kenta admitted.

“But you saw it yourself… everything was clean.

We can’t prove anything, and we can’t act on assumptions.”

Takashi nodded slowly.

“Yes, I know… but it pisses me off. His face…”

He stopped himself.

As they walked toward the cars, his face burned with restrained anger.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Kenta said calmly as he reached his car.

“We’re doing our best. Maybe not tonight… but one day. Mark my words—you’ll get your justice.”

He opened the car door and leaned inside.

“Some of the guys are going for drinks. Are you coming?”

He glanced back at Takashi with a small grin.

“You need to live a little, you know.”

“Go on… I’ll catch up,” Takashi said, picking up a pack of cigarettes from the car seat and pulling one out.

“I know, I know,” Kenta replied with a grin.

“You always say that—and you never come.

See you tomorrow.”

He closed the door and started the engine.

Takashi took off his jacket and bulletproof vest, placing them on the seat beside him.

He loosened his tie as if everything around him were suffocating him.

He pulled out his lighter and lit the cigarette, leaning back against the car.

Smoke curled around him, briefly blurring his face.

Kenta’s car disappeared down the road.

Only the sound of waves and the wind remained.

Takashi was alone with his thoughts.

He had just finished his cigarette when a sudden scream shattered the silence.

“Let me go! Stop it!”

A woman’s desperate voice echoed through the night.

Then… silence.

Takashi froze, trying to figure out where the sound had come from.

Then it came again.

“Let me go!” she screamed.

Takashi crushed the cigarette beneath his boot and ran toward the sound.

Within seconds, he found himself in a dark alley.

Two drunk men stood there. One of them had a young woman pinned tightly against him, gripping her by the waist.

She was terrified.

Desperate.

“Let her go!” Takashi shouted as he moved quickly toward them.

They didn’t seem bothered at all.

They simply stood there, faint smiles spreading across their faces.

“I said let her go!” he shouted again.

Their expressions only changed when they saw the gun Takashi pulled from behind his back.

The man immediately released the woman and raised his hands.

She didn’t hesitate.

She ran past Takashi, disappearing into the night.

As she passed him, she glanced back for a brief moment—gratitude shining in her eyes.

“Take it easy, man,” one of the men said.

“We were just having some fun.”

He stepped closer, his hands still raised.

“Don’t come any closer,” Takashi warned.

“Okay… okay. No worries,” the man said quickly.

“Look… we’re leaving.”

He began stepping back slowly, walking away from Takashi without turning his back.

Takashi’s eyes stayed fixed on the man in front of him—so focused that he didn’t notice the other one pulling a gun from his pocket.

In a split second, a gunshot shattered the silence.

Pain exploded through Takashi’s stomach, stealing the breath from his lungs.

Before he could react, the men disappeared into the darkness of the street.

He tried to raise his gun.

To shoot.

But he couldn’t.

He stood alone beneath the dim streetlight, the weapon trembling in one hand, the other pressed against his stomach.

Warm blood began to seep through his fingers.

For a moment, he didn’t even understand what had happened.

The world seemed to tilt.

The sound of the waves disappeared.

He leaned against the wall of the building and slowly slid down until he was sitting on the wet ground.

Pain darkened his face.

Rain began to pour, followed by distant thunder.

There was no one in sight.

No one to call for help.

Only darkness…

and rain.