Stay

"Ryo." Sez's voice rang clear in the middle of the night, startling Ryo as he clutched his backpack tightly. Sez's boorish attitude pierced through Ryo's heart like a bullet, making him want to ignore him after his voice pressured him into killing Ash Meguro. Ryo walked past him, stopping at an empty intersection with no people around to stop them from wandering endlessly in Asahikawa.

Sez leaped down from a small tree and landed beside Ryo's quivering body. He placed his hand on his hip as he approached him. "I was about to cancel the hit on that girl, but you decided to go with it. Why did you?"

Ryo's childish voice and roaring attitude ruptured his sanity as guilt possessed his entire outlook. "Because you told me to do it, and you wouldn't shut the fuck up about it," He retorted, shoving Sez aside. "Is that what I am to you? Your slave? You tell me what to do and I just do it? What else can you do in life besides hound orders at me? Am I just a fucking dog to you?"

"No, you're not just a fucking dog, Ryo," Sez stopped Ryo from crossing the intersection. The chirping sound of crickets was all that was heard besides their whispering voices. Sez brushed his brown hair aside and looked directly into Ryo's bloodshot gaze. "You know, you can't run away from home. Not now. If you do, then you'll get caught early. So will I, and everyone else. Even Chiaki."

"Try me. And don't pretend like you give a shit about me or Chiaki," Ryo said, shoving Sez back once more. "It's just about you. That's all you care about, isn't it? If you wanted her dead so badly, then you should have killed her yourself! Leave me out of this!" Ryo began to walk towards the pedestrian crosswalk, ignoring all of Sez's pleas.

"No, don't do that to me, man," Sez blocked his path and pushed him back. "You think you're the only one that's hurt? You running from home hurts me too. And now you're gonna back out of the Yakuza? Don't you know the punishment for that shit? It's death, man. Death."

"Then kill me," Ryo couldn't deny his guilt. "I should be dead for what I did to that girl, but here I am. No one, and I mean no one, deserves to even look at me."

"I still got my eyes on you, though," Sez complimented Ryo to prevent him from storming off. "You still have me. I made a mistake, alright? Stop being so anal about it and man up. Your best friend fucks up from time to time, okay? That's how life is. We make mistakes but we always fight back, forgive, and forget, isn't that right?"

Ryo stood there, thinking about what Sez had said. The incident with Ash Meguro had created boundaries around Ryo, to where even someone as dense and infallible like him knew who to stay away from. The more he saw Sez attempting to stop him from fleeing from home, the more distorted his personality was for him. "Suck my dick." Ryo insulted before walking away in the middle of the crosswalk.

Sez froze in place. As Ryo continued walking, he heard the loud clacking sound of a pistol cocking backward. Ryo stopped moving and turned around, seeing Sez pointing a gun directly at his forehead. Sez's face was unremorseful to Ryo's sudden personality change. He smirked in amusement while maintaining distance from Ryo with the pistol still pointed at him.

"You're gonna kill me?" Ryo asked, disgusted by Sez's reckless solutions. "After following your orders to nearly murder that girl, you're gonna kill me?"

"I don't want to," Sez corrected, tilting his head to the side. "But if you cross this street, I will."

Ryo shook his head and dropped his backpack to the pavement. "Why?" He asked.

"I told you, Ryo," Sez clarified. "You don't just walk away from the Yakuza. There are consequences for bailing on us so soon. I told you that I made a mistake and I will atone for it. Have you forgotten about our dream? The dream that all aliens will be purged from this fucking world to bring freedom to our people again. Those motherfuckers will pay. But without you, I don't think I can fulfill that dream."

"So you'll kill me to solve that problem?" Ryo asked.

"You've forgotten, haven't you? You're truly irreplaceable, Ryo," Sez chuckled. "I built you to become someone stronghearted and passionate about their goals. We've always descended into madness regarding the fate of the aliens. You walking away proves that you were never one of us. You leaving proves that you don't have what it takes to be strong. Therefore, by the Yakuza's code, if you leave now, I have permission to execute you right here and now. It's not because I want to. I follow the code no matter what it says."

"Then shoot me," Ryo declared, extending both of his arms and legs out like a star. "Here. See me? I'm wide open. Shoot me. Shoot me right in my fucking forehead. End my existence."

Sez shook his head and continued aiming the pistol at Ryo.

"Do it," Ryo goaded on. He turned back and began walking towards the end of the street. "Do it!"

"Stop!" Sez roared. "Why are you tossing out everything that we had, Ryo? I've been there for you ever since you were searching for a place in life! You're doing something that you'll never be able to take back! This fucking bullet will pass through your skull and you'll be dead. Everything you know and love will be gone forever! You take one more step and I'll blow your fucking brains out!"

Ryo stopped and stared coldly into Sez's eyes. He could not tolerate the overpowering disgust of seeing Sez's irreconcilable eyes seething with hatred and rage. He turned back and took one step, accepting his fate despite Sez's warning. He had lost his total grasp for his thirst for power. There were no future goals he could glimpse towards. There was no purpose in success. And now, he wanted it all to end.

The thundering sound of Sez's pistol firing rang through the air. The bullet struck Ryo in the back of his shin, sending him collapsing on the damp asphalt. He bellowed in pain before Sez holstered his pistol away and menacingly walked towards Ryo's helpless body. He maintained the same stable slouched-back, acrimonious, and careless attitude as his hips swayed as a frightening gangster would. Ryo spun around as he clutched his wounded leg in pain.

"You're staying here." Sez's monotone and deep restrictive voice came through.

"No..." Ryo whispered, fighting the pain of his bleeding shin.

Sez clamped his foot on Ryo's wound, forcing him to scream in agony. Sez's horrendous smile lit up in enthusiasm after seeing Ryo in desperate pain. His eyes widened in joy as he kept the pressure, and his monstrous personality erupted within his heart. His presence shattered Ryo's mind, reminding him of the exact moment his voice commanded Ryo to murder Ash Meguro. The same moment that Ryo clenched onto Ash's neck, Sez's demonic aura possessed the both of them on the streets as Sez touched the back of Ryo's neck.

"You're staying here!" He bellowed, dragging the back of Ryo's collar back through the streets of where he once was.

As the erupting pain clouded Ryo's vision, something was clear to him at that moment. Absconding was impossible even if he had made his own life decisions. All that life was to him was an endless maelstrom of torture. Sez made it clear that he would continue fighting even if he had no passions remaining. For a gun to his head wasn't enough to stop him. Ryo knew that despite his guilt, he would be encased in the obsequious underground where he belonged.