Chapter 4

I stopped breathing on the street corner and looked frantically. My dizziness was still there and i was swaying a little. From a safe distance, I watched the circle of armed men around a brown haired boy.

"Now we have you!" Said one of the guys. "Get the money out or you can collect your fingers from the floor." in doing so he threatened with a knife blade that flashed silver.

" I said you would get it soon," the youth grinned sheepishly. " i uh... just haven't found my middleman yet."

"Save your lies to yourself! Our boss wants to see the cash, otherwise it means goodbye to you."

After casually speaking to some obscure people about my request for fake ID and receiving only vague responses, I saw a boy with curly light brown hair in Hawaiian shirt sprint by in a back alley, closely followed by a crowd of screaming gangsters. The whole thing reminded me of my chase with Faris and I ran after them instinctively. So now i was standing in this dead end and watching what was going on.

"Guys, what is that supposed to be?" The curly youth stammered, laughing with his back pressed against the wall as the group of men proceeds to circle around him.

"You know, Kaito if you have no loyalty you have no right to live!" One of the gangsters whispered in a rough voice and licked the blade of his knife.

I had no idea what the boy with Hawaiian shirt was doing, but i have to act. I quickly hid behind the street corner and screamed as loud as i could.

"Police! Drop your weapons!"

I instantly heard the men scatter in turmoil, but no one dropped their knife. instead a couple of them ran in my direction. Damn it.

"Who's there?" Called one of the thugs hostilely. "I know your not a police. Otherwise you would have shown yourself long ago. Come out you coward!"

I had to go. The brief moment of confusion had been enough to draw the attention away from the boy and he sprinted past me through the crowd of men. he noticed me out of the corner of his eye and in a split second a smile flew over his lips.

"Stop!" shouted one of the gangsters and the whole group started moving again.

I awoke from my trance and sprinted before the thugs could reach my corner.

I ran down the dark alley just behind the boy. in the end the path forked and we continued to run in different directions. With my adrenaline running, i heard angry voices while the group split up.

After a few minutes and turns, i found myself in a dead end. i heard someone approach and tried to desperately hide in a dumpster.

"psst." said a voice from above.

I reflexively looked in the direction from which i had heard it and saw the brown haired boy looking out from one of the windows.

"Quickly, come up here" he whispered, helping me climb over the steel container through the opening.

After he closed the small window quietly, we heard members of the gang arriving in the alley. Without breathing we pressed ourselves to the wall under the window and waited for the thugs to go away.

"He's not here. find them somewhere else we'll get those two rats."

The footsteps went away until nothing can be heard. Slowly i turned my head to the teenager who was sitting next to me with my breath on hold, he also looked at me.

"Thank you for earlier." he said while grinning. "Without your help I'd have a few fingers missing now."

"You're welcome." i replied still completely perplexed by the recent events. "...How did you get up here so quickly?"

"I know this area like the back of my hand," said the boy. "Secret paths and hiding places, you know. Some of the houses are empty and i have my hiding places here and there."

"What type of guys were they?" i asked him.

"Oh just your average gang that is up to some mischief in this neighborhood, petty criminals."

"You're name is Kaito right?" i asked.

"Correct!" My rescuer nodded. " nice to meet you...?"

"...Okab... um HH-Hououin Kyouma!" I introduced myself. I had to be careful who i gave my real name to during this time. It could have unpredictable effects on the divergence, We shook hands.

"So then, Kyouma san, what brings you to this area? You don't look like someone who frequents this area."

"Well...I...need something specific."

"Come on you can tell me, I won't blow you at the cops." grinned kaito.

"It's about...personal details ID cards and certificates, A friend of mine and i have to go into Akihabara."

"Ohhhh, Interesting!" Said the boy. " I wouldn't have expected something like that. You're lucky, because you got the right man for such matters."

We got up from the floor and kaito led me to the ground floor, where we crossed some narrow corridors, left the building and disappeared into a door on the opposite house. After further branches we arrived on a small hidden room with an old futon, an electric hob and dirty pots on the floor. it smelled of noodle soup.

"Welcome to my humble home!" So this is kaito's home.

"How old are you again?" I asked amused.

Kaito waved it off casually. "Now on your matter. Of course i don't work for free, but if you can provide the cash then i would like to do your job."

"How much do you charge for two passports and fake documents?"

"Well... let's see... 50,000 yen should do because it's you." The brown haired man replied with a sly smile.

I was skeptical. I have no idea how much you could ask for such documents, but the boy seemed to be reasonably trustworthy. Fortunately i had taken all my savings from the year 2010 with me.

"Deal!" We shook hands.

In the next hour i informed my forger with the necessary details and afterwards made it back outside thanks to the boy's directions, I got back to the busy center of Akihabara without further incidents. He agreed to meet up at the bridge to the Yanabayashi Shrine in three days at the same time.

Step one was done. If everything went smoothly Suzuha and i would be official citizens of japan within the next few days. At a vending machine I got two cool cans of Dr. Pepper and strolled back to the hospital at dusk. The past was so exciting. It was the right decision to follow the part-time soldier on her mission.

When i made it back to our hospital room, I pit the can of Dr. Pepper on Suzuha's bedside table and lay down in my bed, However i could not sleep because i was still thinking about everything that had happened today.