Last Dawn

"The final day is dawning."

It's been three weeks since everything started. Winter has already knocked on the door; it was cold outside. Takahiro was never bothered by the cold, but he was freezing at that moment. Maybe the tension rising day by day had made him feel this way, he wasn't sure.

"We're almost there."

"How do you intend to find him?"

"I don't know. I feel like he's gonna find us, to be honest."

"Why would he do that?"

"Don't ask me, it's just my instincts."

After riding a while, they finally arrived in Svobodny. It was a little, peaceful town without much noise. But it won't last too long if Takahiro and Gina somehow fail. That's never been a choice, though.

They kept watching around while slowly driving through the town to see if there was anything suspicious. But they found nothing. Despite being a small town, it was still very hard to find Yuuichi in one day. At least, Takahiro was hoping to have at least one day to find him.

"I think I saw him," said Gina excitedly. "He's entering the church over there."

"Church? What's he planning, confessing his sins to God?"

"I don't know, first take a look to see if it's Yuuichi."

As they left the car, they walked towards the entrance. They opened the rusty door and got inside. There was only Yuuichi praying inside. He didn't move or turn his head even after hearing the door open.

Before Takahiro reached his pistol, Yuuichi started speaking.

"It's very rude to bring a gun into the house of God."

Takahiro stopped moving. It wasn't very possible to understand who had entered the church or had a gun or not.

"I wasn't expecting you to realise it that fast."

"Intention reveals everything, my friend."

"Well, it won't change anything at all, you'll die here at this moment." Takahiro drew his gun. But Yuuichi was giggling instead.

"Oh, it really won't change anything, even if you kill me."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means whether you kill me, torture me, or just have a seat and talk with me, nothing will change. There's no turning back anymore."

"It can not be true!"

"It is the truth."

"Why are you doing this?"

"If I say that it's all because I was bored, would it change anything for you?"

"Stop messing with me."

"I believe that we're very similar, Mr. Oikawa. We both don't believe in God, and we're judging the good and the evil by ourselves."

"Aren't you praying to God right now?"

"No, I'm just messing with him. No matter what I do, even if I become the biggest sinner living in this world, God will just watch me ruin the world he created. No punishment; just pray to him and show that you're acknowledging your sins, and you'll be forgiven."

"It's not how it works."

"Please, I won't learn what a god is from a godless man. Your opinion is not different than mine; the lifes he gave birth to are unfair, and the world he created is corrupted. And all he's doing is watching us without doing anything."

"And you think it's worth getting your hands dirty because of it?"

"Your hands are dirtier than mine right now. You see me as the devil, but you're walking among the souls you've taken. Even in the last 3 weeks, people you killed had families. Many children are orphaned because of you. And now you're judging me because I'll become exactly like you?"

Takahiro didn't say anything for a while. Then he took a deep breath before speaking.

"I know that good and evil are relative concepts. I might be the evil for other people, and you might be the good for them. But it's not us who judge what we are, it's society itself, all the humanity. The judgment of society even justifies murder for people like me. I'm good for them, even though I know that I'm evil."

"And is that why you killed all those people? Only because of society justified the murder for you?"

"Just as you say, it's a corrupted world. We all play a role to avoid being ostracized from society. And there might be good and evil for our roles."

"Then I'm asking you again, who's good in our situation?"

"We are both good and evil for different people. Same for everybody, the matter is only how good or evil you are. All I know is that there's no pure good or pure evil."

"But yet we're killing each other."

"It's how life is. It's how humanity is. It's our history, it's the reason we don't believe in God and the reason why people believe in God."

Yuuichi smiled and started giggling.

"Are you satisfied with my answers?"

"Mostly," answered Yuuichi, and kept giggling. "I knew we were similar humans, Mr. Oikawa. The only difference is that I'm trying to change this world because I saw that God wouldn't do it. A few minutes later, war will start with China and Russia. The USA won't be able to suppress its greed and will only complicate things. And in the end, every single country will try to get its share of the pie."

Now he was laughing, but it wasn't a laugh of a madman, but of someone who had tasted victory.

"What's now?" asked Gina. But she already knew the answer, only by looking into Takahiro's eyes. He pulled the trigger and shot Yuuichi in the head.

"Let's just get out of here, it's not safe anymore."

Takahiro held Gina's hand and got outside with her. They took the car and started driving away from the town.

"Give a report to JGSA, tell them Iron Fist is dead."

"Roger."

Takahiro knew it wouldn't change anything. They were late, but he was hoping for a miracle. And there might be one, if it were a novel or comic, but that was real life. A radio call came from Sergeant Miyano.

"Lieutenant, I think it's started."