Reality Resurfacing

The industrial, dismal air weighs upon Yuuto’s parked car beneath the Tokyo Dome. A popular JPOP band is currently performing just above the asphalt wonderland - causing the underground to be fully stocked in parked automobiles. With Jiro sitting in the driver’s seat, Ren sits beside him, slouching downwards, with an eager Niko in the backseat, on the edge of the leather car seat.

The three boys have their eyes dead set upon a group of six, young individuals walking past their car: three boys, and three girls. Nothing about their outward appearance screams “Tokyo Pistols members!” But, deep within Jiro’s gut, he knew that this group is the gang he’s been searching for. That, along with the fact that they are the only ones heading towards the entrance of the abandoned apartment building next door.

None of the officers in the car said a word, but at the sight of the six kids, they all knew. “It would be so easy…” Jiro mutters to himself lowly, shaking his head as his rage-filled eyes stab the passersby.

“It would be so damn easy to just kill them all right here, right now. In this moment. But that would be stupid. I need to know why they came back. Is their desire to avenge their family that deeply rooted, that they would go so far as to rebuild the dismantled gang my dad killed off?”

Just past Yuuto’s car, Rika slows her already calmed pace as the hairs on her neck suddenly rise. Silently, she drags her eyes across the filled lot, and her heart rate picks up as an unsettling feeling bubbles in her stomach. The rest of the group takes notice of her lag, and they gingerly turn their heads to show their concern.

“Rika?” Hajime asks from ahead, “What’s wrong?” Rika pulls her eyes from her surroundings and places it on the people in front of her. With her eyebrows drawn, and her face set in a questioning and cautious expression, the group realizes that she picked up a bad, gut feeling. “Someone is watching us, I can feel it.”

At her words, the rest of the group takes their turn dragging their eyes around the empty, yet crowded garage surrounding them. Nothing but the muffled ambiance of the concert above them plays with their eardrums. Rolling his eyes, Riku objects to his twin sister’s intuition.

“It’s nothing, Rika,” Riku attempts to assure Rika in a half-hearted tone, “Besides, we’re almost to the entrance. Let’s just keep going, and-”

Suddenly, a metallic racket is heard from behind the group. Whipping their bodies towards the noise, their collective eyes land upon Jiro, Ren, and Niko slowly approaching the group of six. Riku - instead of feeling a sense of worry, fear, or dread - becomes ecstatic at the sight, and a wide, full grin pulls at his lips.

At the mere sight of the three boys, he knew exactly who they were, and what they are after in this somber, dreary parking garage. “It was this easy?” Riku asks sarcastically, in disbelief, “After all this time, this is all it took? Man, I would have come here weeks ago if it meant I’d meet you all so soon.”

“Cut the shit,” Jiro commands in a spiteful tone as the three boys finally approach the group double in size of his own, “We know what you’re headed for. We know you’re the Tokyo Pistols 2.0. We know more than you think, so don’t try and lie on me tonight.” Riku’s wicked, mischievous grin fades into an egocentric, condescending smirk as he side-eyes his friends.

Looking between one another, they all share a nod of agreement. In a simultaneous instant, the Tokyo Pistols whip out their hand guns, and aim their weapons towards the three boys in front of them. ‘Shit,’ Jiro thinks to himself, as he stares down the barrel of Rika’s pistol.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be telling us what to do, Jiro Shimizu,” Riku says, as the smirk on his face is heard in his voice, “We know a lot more than you think, as well.” Jiro scoffs in irritation as he becomes increasingly frustrated in his predicament.

Eyeing each member carefully, Jiro pulls his eyebrows together. “So, what is it, huh?” He pokes at the confident individuals before him, “You guys came back just to wreak havoc under your dead parents’ names? What is it? Why did you return under the Pistol’s name?” Riku stares deadpan at Jiro, with his weapon taunting him so violently.

Drawing his own eyebrows in, Riku shakes his head in skepticism. “You’re kidding me, right?” Riku asks, genuine confusion threading his words, “I’m going to assume that was sarcasm.” Jiro squints his eyes at Riku’s disregard to his own seriousness, and slightly bares his teeth in aggravation.

“Is it me you’ve been looking for? Because my father killed your own, and many more? Well, you found me! Now what’re you gonna do? Shoot me, like a coward?” Gripping his gun tighter within his already tense hand, Riku tuts at Jiro’s bold and mindless words. “Get over yourself, Jiro,” Riku jabs, as the taunting smirk returns to his face.

“Even though Takashi Shimizu was one of the few former Task Force members that killed all of our family, you’re not that special to target alone.” Jiro’s eyes widen as his eyebrows remain scrunched in ire. “So you want to kill all of us?!” Jiro questions, growing infuriated by Riku’s reasoning.

“Ren, Yuuto, Kagome… They had nothing at all to do with your family’s deaths! If you want vengeance so bad, come for me. Come for Junko, even. I’d like to see you try.” Riku rolls his eyes at the jeer, and readjusts his footing against the glistening asphalt. “We aren’t going to kill you just because of our family’s deaths. Your entire operation will end tonight.”

Squinting his eyes at Jiro, Riku made sure his words were set in stone with a threatening, malicious tone: “Your sickening little charade is over.” Jiro’s mind folds under the confusion, and the puzzlement visibly surfaces on his face.

“What?” Jiro queries, perplexed at the vague declaration, “What charade? Are you referring to the Task Force?! We are highly regarded police officers - not some little, unorganized neighborhood gang like you people.” Leiko and Katashi - along with Hajime, Rika, and Katara - all visibly stiffen in irritation at Jiro’s comment.

Riku simply chuckles a short, condensed breath of air from the back of his throat. Raising his eyebrows in a sarcastic look of disbelief, his favorite smirk tugs on his mouth. “Police officers? Really? You’re gonna try and pull that one on me?” He steps closer to Jiro, thrusting the barrel of his handgun into Jiro’s immediate headspace.

“I told you I know more than you think, asshole! So don’t treat me like some stupid, oblivious idiot!” Jiro eyes the bead of sweat lining Riku’s tense temple, and watches it fall into the hairs of his long, black ponytail swept over his shoulder. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jiro shoves towards the boy threatening his life.

“Why would I lie, with a gun pointed straight at my face? We are police officers under the Special Operations Task Force division of the Tokyo Prefectural Police Department. This division has been in effect for twenty years, so don’t take us for some useless, lying bastards.”

Baring his teeth, Riku hovers his fingers above the trigger rigidly, and glares at the collected Jiro before his weapon. “Cut it out! I know you’re not real police-” Before he could finish, a loud engine roars throughout the cavernous parking garage, and pushes into the ears of the nine individuals.

Each person thrashes their body around, scouring the lot to find the origin of this violent noise. As another loud sound of an engine revving reverberates against the surrounding cars, Jiro’s eyes land on a rapidly approaching motorcycle - piloted by none other than his best friend, Junko Fukumoto.

From the other end of the long alley, Junko swiftly navigates down the straight path ahead. At her velocity, the contrasts of her hair violently rip backwards, out of her face. The t-shirt she sports ripples against the harsh momentum, and bounces against her bent torso. As the distance between her vehicle and the group of nine decreases, she begins to stand.

“Looks like the main event has finally arrived,” Riku comments, his sinister grin reappearing on his face as he stares at the incoming Junko from down the long stretch of asphalt.

Hoisting her legs atop the vinyl seat she previously sat on, Junko maneuvers her feet to steady the bike as she continues pushing along the asphalt towards the group. Once Junko stands to her full height, she whips out two semi-automatic pistols from the back of her waistline. Aiming both barrels at the group, she instantly fires two separate shots.

Rika Ota abruptly falls backwards from a fierce bullet ripping through her chest, followed by a grunting Hajime Chiba soon after. “Hajime!” Leiko shouts, darting her gaze and attention towards her wounded friend. “Rika!” Riku succeeds in a deep, chilling cry, “I’m gonna fucking kill you, Junko!”

After Rika and Hajime’s bodies fall onto the floor, Junko promptly hops off of the motorbike, while it is still in motion. Without its operator, it wobbles to its side, skids across the ground, and collides into a parked vehicle situated beside the group ahead of her. Junko’s unwavering gaze falls upon Riku, who holds an indubitable look of rage in his eyes - aimed towards Junko herself. Cocking his gun, he takes aim at the approaching girl.

Without a single trace of fear, Junko swiftly dodges the bullets aiming at her calm gait. Riku grows more infuriated with each passing round, and quickly empties his magazine after he misses every last shot. Before he gets the chance to reload, Junko already arrives beside the idling group of gun-wielding individuals. She stands between Jiro and Ren, with Niko standing off to Jiro’s right.

Stuffing each handgun back into her pants line, Junko smirks at the Tokyo Pistols in front of her. “Now we’re evenly matched,” Junko states teasingly as she roots herself into the crowd, “Isn’t that great?” Jiro, now standing beside his best friend, gapes down at her in amazement of her arrival. After the scene at headquarters, Jiro thought he would never see her again.

But, here she is, in all her glory. Pulling his eyes away from Junko, he places it onto the corpses on the ground, collecting pools of blood beneath their limp bodies. Leiko, Katashi, and Katara each attempt to nurse and coerce their friends back to life, but with no luck. “Junko…” Jiro breathes, giving his attention back to the girl beside him.

“I thought… Didn’t you… Why are you doing this, Junko?” His lieutenant places her slightly tense, but warm and apologetic gaze onto him, and softly smiles wholeheartedly. “This is the last time. After this, I’m heading to Hokkaido, away from everything here.”

Unable to meet her best friend’s eyes under the emotion held within them, she drags her gaze to the asphalt below her. “I made a promise to you, Jiro - no matter if I regret it or not - and I intend to keep that promise. I’m… I’m sorry, about before. I-”

Riku’s yell of agony and complete fury interrupts Junko and Jiro’s sincere conversation, and the two officers haul their gaze onto the rapidly approaching boy. He bares a serrated pocket knife in his raised fist, as he sprints towards Junko’s tense and rigid body. Her eyes catch the glint of light that swims across the blade as he runs in a desperate attack.

Slashing at her figure, Junko easily dodges the messy attempt. Reaching down to her exposed, short-clad legs, she pulls out a knife that is belted onto her thigh. Raising the new weapon up, she smirks at Riku, as he gasps for air. He tears his clouded vision towards Junko once more, and takes off in another attack.

From behind him, his partners ready themselves with their own, respective knives, and take off for different members of the Task Force in front of them. Pulling a knife from his pocket, Jiro protects himself against a sudden attack from Katashi, while Niko whips out two of his own knives against Leiko, and Ren rushes towards a defensive Katara on enemy lines.

Junko squints her eyes at Riku as she dodges another sloppy attack. “Thanks for finally joining us,” Riku comments sarcastically between his heavy breaths, lining up for another attack, “We’ve been looking for you for quite some time. Now that you’re here, I cannot wait to kill you with my bare hands.”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Junko rebukes, ducking beneath Riku’s thrashing arm, and positions herself behind his body, “As if I’d let you do the honors.” Swinging her knife at Riku, he quickly rolls his body out of reach, and stands at a distance from Junko once again. He scoffs at her comeback, then swings his ponytail behind his shoulders with a flick of his neck.

With wild, poisonous eyes, Riku opens his mouth to speak once more, “I was just chatting with Mr. Subordinate before your grand entrance. You've trained them well - to keep their mouths shut about your little operation,” Riku praises sarcastically, smirking a jarring, sinister smile towards Junko, “I was impressed, he almost had me fooled.”

“Operation?” Junko questions, confused by the vague conversation, as she dodges yet another swing of Riku’s knife, “What operation? I didn't tell them to keep quiet about anything.” Junko’s response, similar to that of Jiro’s, causes the anger and rage within Riku to stir increasingly faster. As his eye twitches, Riku stabs his lethal sight onto Junko’s questioning gaze.

Pointing his knife at Junko’s figure, Riku’s eyes swim with bitter hatred and malice. “Don’t play dumb with me, Junko!” Riku shouts, gaining the attention of the surrounding, knife-wielding individuals, “Stop making me feel like an idiot! I know more than you think, so just be straight with me, so we can have a conversation!”

Drawing her eyebrows in, Junko shrugs her shoulders and raises her hands in genuine confusion. “I promise you, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She shouts back in an equal amount of frustration, causing Riku to cry out a raspy groan from the walls of his throat. In an instant, Riku yanks out a fresh magazine from his back pocket, and thrusts it into the empty chamber of his handgun.

Pointing the fully loaded pistol at Junko’s head, the crazed look in the boy’s eyes meets the stoic gaze of the Lieutenant in front of him. “Admit it!” He yells, his heavy voice scraping against the asphalt before it reaches Junko’s ears, “Admit that you know! That your disgusting father created a fake Task Force in the shadow of the real one, and is using you people as soldiers to kill innocent people for money!”

A heavy, hollow silence looms over the parking garage - not even the muffled ambiance could be heard.

Suddenly, a ringing begins itching against Junko’s ear drums - any sound at all is muted from the overbearing and shrilling sound that encapsulates her hearing. Blinking rapidly, she keeps her intent and clouded vision on the feral eyes of Riku Ota in front of her.

From underneath the ringing, Junko manages to make out the shouts from the boy wielding the handgun a few steps before her, “Admit it, already!” He screams, straining the last of his voice, “You're a murderer! You a greedy, disgusting human being, and so is your father! You take and ruin lives, and act like it's no big deal! Admit it! I swear to God, you better fucking admit it or I’ll shoot!”

“...ko?” A soft voice speaks over the slowly fading ringing in her ears, “Junko?! What’s he doing with a gun? You’re such a fucking coward! Fight like a man, would you?!” Ren shouts in a fit of anger at Riku, positioning himself right behind Junko. From behind Riku, the remaining members of the Tokyo Pistols surround the lunatic in an attempt to calm him down.

“Riku, calm down…” Katara’s soft voice eases into Riku’s ears, “A lot has happened, but we need-”

“Shut up! Everyone shut up!” Riku shouts, his voice cracking from the pressure of his powerful yells. His eyes glide onto the corpse of his dead sister, and his eyes swim with even more fury and rage. Suddenly, Riku feels claustrophobic from the people around him, and the sweat from his forehead seeps into his wild eyes.

His surroundings blur from the anger boiling inside of his blood, and blinks away the foggy clouds surfacing in his eyes. Tears begin cascading down his taut cheeks, and collapse underneath his jawline. With trembling hands, he adjusts his aim back at Junko in front of him. Instantly pressing the trigger, Riku fires a shot, landing it into the person in front of him.