Bait

 “Hachi!!” Nana yells as she sprints after seeing Juusaki on top of Kyou lying on the ground. “What happened!?” She looks up to the laboratory on fire.

“W—why hasn’t the fire alarm set off yet?” As Juusaki asks this, an alarm blares, and the sprinklers activate in the hallway. “Kyou, are you alright?” Juusaki stands up and lends a hand to help Kyou up.

“M—mhm,” Kyou nods and he lets Juusaki pull him up to stand.

“Why are you here, Nana? Have you found Denji-san yet?”

Nana shakes her head, “I thought you found him already. Anyway, I tracked Denji’s phone,” Nana shows him her phone, “his tracker was deactivated during the play. That’s why I couldn’t find him. But it has appeared and it says he is on this floor.” Nana, while holding the phone, scans around to follow the tracker’s direction, “It says he is… right… over here!” Nana points into a boy’s restroom, and Juusaki immediately runs inside.

“He is not here,” Juusaki looks over to the sink with mirrors on the wall. He then checks the stalls opening them hastily, but each stall is empty.

“Is this a phone?” Kyou points to a rectangular object on the sink.

Juusaki rushes to where Kyou pointed and holds up the phone, “Th—this… is Denji’s, isn’t it?” He shows Nana.

Nana glances between the phone Juusaki has on hand and hers, “That seems like it. But why is it here?”

“I found this too,” Juusaki pulls out a black swimsuit from inside one of the stalls, “Did Denji wear this?”

“I don’t think he owned such a swimsuit,” Nana replies.

“Then… where is he?” At this, Juusaki’s phone vibrates, and he pulls his phone out and answers the call, “Speaking… What!? Where? Alright, heading over right now.”

“Is that about Denji?” Nana asks.

“Yes, he is at a gasoline station. I’m heading over right now.”

“I’m coming too!” Nana follows Juusaki as he rushes to the elevators.

Kyou stares at them, “What am I supposed to do?”

“Call the fire department!” Nana shouts back.

At that gas station, Denji scans around anxiously, “Where could he be?”

“Master, we should get going. It is dangerous out here,” his driver warns him.

“Wait, just a bit more. I need to make sure Juusaki’s safe.”

“Master, think about it. They used this message to bait you out in a vulnerable place. They won’t show up with this friend of yours.”

“How can you be certain?”

“Sir, look, my phone has no signal out here. They cut off all our communication!”

“Wait, let me try my phone,” Denji feels for his pockets, but he doesn’t find his phone in it. “What? Where is my phone? Is it in the backseat?” Denji turns around to open the car door, but the sound of multiple motorcycles interrupts him.

The motorcycles approach with their blinding lights and deafening mufflers. The driver is alerted as he places his hand inside his suit, “This is trouble, sir, we should leave immediately!”

“Wait! This could be them!”

The motorcycles stop near the parked limousine and one of them with a red bandana on his head dismounts. His rugged face matched with his beard. An image of a gang lord fitting for his large, and muscly physique. At his left side hang a sheath for some kind of machete, and on his right, his shiny gun flashes. “Oy, what fancy’est ye in a place and time like this?”

“Are you the one that called for me?” Denji fearlessly asks.

“Ah, don’t speak me in that tone. Respect your elders, kid. Don’t let your richness get into your head. We don’t like spoiled brats around here.”

“I’ll ask again, mister. Are you the one that called for me?”

“I didn’t call for you. Why would I call for you, self-entitled brat? You have a big head, you see.” The delinquent narrows his eyes, “Don’t I recognize you from somewhere?”

“Master, let’s leave, now.”

“Ah!” the guy’s face brightens, “you are the Kurosaki’s son, ain’tcha? Ohoho! Looks like we got ourselves a treat!”

“What are you talking about?” Denji now has fear in his voice.

“You know, I’d like to kill you rich kids all day, but they’d pay me more if you’re alive. Boys!” the gang leader gestures to his mates, and they dismount from their bikes as they approach Denji menacingly. “Save yourself some harm, little boy. Jus’ need you to come with us. And, oh,” he looks at the driver behind the car door. The driver instinctively takes out his gun behind his coat, but before he could aim and shoot at him, he gets shot in the foot. “We don’t need this one.”

The driver writhes in pain, but gets up on his feet and rests his arms on the car door to aim his gun. The riders bring out their revolvers and shoot at him, but they hit the car’s door and window instead. The car is bulletproof, and the driver falters inside the car.

“Such a coward bodyguard, eh?” the guy scoffs and aims his gun at Denji, “Need ya kid to come with me if ya don’wanna get hurt.”

“Freeze!” a girl shouts from behind the threatening group, and they face her.

“Eh? ‘Cha want girl?”

“Do you wanna die?”

“Nah, save her. She’s in for a good time!”

Denji looks behind the group and his face goes pale, “Nana!”

“Oh, you know her? Take him boys!” the gang’s leader commands.

But Nana points a gun at the group, “Drop your weapons and walk away from the car! Now!” But they still approach her slowly, “And what’cha gonna do? Shoot?

“That’s a toy gun, isn’t it?”

“All girly girls should play with their doll toys.”

Nana interrupts their insults by shooting her gun into the air, “It’s real. It’s my lovely doll. Now drop your weapons!”

“Can’t shoot us all,” a member raises his gun toward her, “but you’ll be riddled with bullets soon.”

The gang’s leader faces away from Denji and starts walking toward Nana, “What’s the holdup? Are you guys pu—” He looks back to where the limousine is and realizes that Denji and his driver have escaped, “He got away! Chase him!”

The group refocuses their attention in pursuit. They run to check the opposite side of the car to see if they are hiding, but they find someone else instead.

“I’m not the one you are looking for,” Juusaki immediately shoots the gun to their legs taking them all out in one magazine. “I’ll call an ambulance. Don’t worry.”

“Hey, kid, who do you think you are!?” the unfazed leader swings his machete wildly at Juusaki, but Juusaki dodges them all effortlessly.

“Hold on, need to reload.”

“As if I’ll let you—!” A gun is thrown to his face, and he wavers backward for a second. “What did you—!?”

“Had to borrow this for a second,” Juusaki aims a revolver he has taken from one of the injured gang members.

“Ha!” but the opponent doesn’t retreat but lunges forward with his machete, and Juusaki pulls the trigger, but nothing shoots out of it.

“What?” Juusaki glances at the gun he is holding and realizes that it’s a fake.

“You are dead now!” he pierces his machete into the empty air as Juusaki dodges to his side.

“I didn’t mean I was reloading,” Juusaki glances at Nana who has now closed the distance unnoticed. “Leg. They are helpless,” he says to Nana. Then Nana shoots at the machete wielder’s leg, but he remains standing.

“Whaddya think? I’d fall from—!” another shot is fired and he screams wildly in pain and lies to the ground while he holds his groin area with his hands.

“Nana! What are you doing?” Juusaki yells at her.

“But he was still standing,” Nana quickly answers.

“You could have shot his leg. Now he might die.”

“Fatality is 89%,” his AI tells him.

“You are on to talk,” Nana sighs as she sets the safety on her pistol.

“Pretty sure it’s 100%,” Juusaki mutters back. Then he pulls out his phone, “No signal here?” Juusaki wears his glass and quickly looks around the buildings' rooftop and spots a structure on one of them. “Over there, shoot that,” he points.

“Wait for a second,” she flips the switch off and shoots to where Juusaki is pointing. “What did I shoot at?”

Juusaki checks his phone and calls a number. It rings. “That was a signal jammer, but I don’t think this is the reason why you couldn’t track Denji.”

“This is emergency services. How can I help you?” a voice speaks through the phone. Juusaki throws the phone to Nana, and she catches it. “Wait, this is Denji’s phone.”

“Tell them what happened,” Juusaki starts briskly walking away.

“And where are you going?” Nana asks.

“I’m going home.”

“What?”

“Oh, right, the driver is wounded in that store,” he points to gasoline’s convenience store, “Denji is there too. Tell him, ‘You’re welcome.’”

“Roger that. Thanks for the work, Hachiko-kun.”

But Juusaki didn’t go back to the tower. Instead, he returned to the floor of the laboratory disguised as a fireman. He goes back to the bathroom where he found Denji’s phone. He looks to the stall where he found and left the black swimsuit and discovers that it was gone. “Just as I thought,” Juusaki mumbles as he stood on the toilet seat while holding up a panel of the ceiling. And inside the ceiling is a gas mask.