41 - EPILOGUE, Part 2

A little while later...

"Oh, there he is!" Nazuna called, spotting Yuuto entering the abandoned building with Hugh tied up and slung over his shoulder.

Yuuto continued walking into the building, tossing Hugh into the room where Gyarune was bound to a chair. 'No way... He actually got the old man...?' Gyarune thought, his eyes widening as he saw Yuuto enter and throw his father onto the floor next to him.

Yuuto massaged his shoulder. "Underestimated how heavy he'd be," he said, looking at Akito and Nazuna.

"I see you've done alright on your end too," Yuuto commented flatly.

"Of course. Who do you take us for?" Akito replied with a sigh.

"...How's he?" Yuuto asked, glancing at Gyouma, who sat in a nearby chair, injured.

"I'll be fine. I need a hospital, but it's not something pressing," Gyouma replied.

"Define 'not pressing'," Yuuto pressed as he approached him.

"I could heal on my own with some rest," Gyouma began, lifting his gaze to meet Yuuto's, "but considering I might have fractures, they might not heal correctly if I'm not hospitalized in a few days."

"As I've said, not pressing," he concluded.

"Well, suit yourself," Yuuto sighed as he turned away from Gyouma.

"...Either way, Sakurai, now what? We might have them, but what are we going to do with them?" Akito asked, turning all of his attention to Yuuto.

'To truly defeat these types, you need to make everyone else agree they're criminal scum... That's the best kind of victory. And the most efficient one. It kills their idea. The idea that NTR has anything on ME.'

"Well, we have recordings of them. And video footage of NTR-boy junior here diving head-first into my house after screaming what he'd do to my family. And a recording of him talking to one of the henchmen, admitting their plan and agenda. We could turn them over," Yuuto summarized.

"Huh..." Nazuna exclaimed, looking at Hugh and Gyarune. Akito could almost feel Nazuna's strings of reason snapping one by one. "Just... turn them over... you say, Yuuto?"

It was then that Gyouma raised his head to look at Yuuto, who met his gaze, already anticipating an argument.

"...But that won't be enough to bring them to justice, right, Sakurai?" Gyouma said with a heavy heart, drawing everyone's attention.

'I thought it would be, at first. But honestly, looking at the size of the building I had to extract the Ugly Bastard from and the number of people he has under his thumb, I'm not sure if it's enough anymore. Who's to say they don't have important people on their payroll who will bury the evidence?' Yuuto reasoned internally.

'Should we just resort to murder?' he thought as he glanced back at Nazuna and Akito.

"Yuuto...?" Nazuna repeated his name loudly, in an almost mocking manner, as if trying to provoke a reaction from him, which completely flew over Yuuto's head.

"...I need a minute," he said, walking away from the group towards the edge of the abandoned building's balcony, looking over the urban view of the city from an unseen corner of the area.

In the meantime, Gyouma carefully observed Nazuna and her reactions, sensing her turmoil but choosing to hold his tongue.

'... And then we have this kind of victory. While not as efficient as the first one... It's the safer option, in this case.' Yuuto thought internally as he looked over the view, the wind brushing against his face and clothes, drying the sweat residue from carrying Hugh. 'It ensures we get rid of them... Honestly, it doesn't seem like it has any downsides.' he thought, touching his chest.

'But I won't do it. I won't drag these kids into being murderers...' he resolved. '...No... It was never just me. At any point.'

He felt several presences behind him. 'Hiroki... I want you to remember this. The guilt for killing Saki's 'boyfriend,' those policemen, that British guy, the butler, those African men, and Satoshi is mine and mine alone. It is not your burden to bear. If there's one thing I regret doing in this world, it's doing something like that at the expense of your conscience.'

Yuuto then raised his palm to his face, examining it. 'Everything that happens, and everything that I do, was always mine and mine alone. I serve myself.'

'But more than anything, I serve my clients. And I've been so engrossed in everything that happened in this world, that I didn't consider in those moments of weakness where I've had to kill people, that you and I are not cut from the same cloth, despite us sharing the same body.'

'What I'm trying to tell you is... I'm... sorry.'

'Not to God, myself, or even the spirits of the dead. But to you, Hiroki,' he thought, feeling the presences that had haunted him since the Satoshi incident begin to fade away.

'Despite your own shortcomings, this wasn't your fault. You were just born into shitty circumstances,' he said, feeling a weight lift from his heart as tears began to flow down his cheeks.

'That's why, rest assured, I won't kill them. I'll find a way where everything works out without having to end them.'

'...Because I'm a hero,' he resolved, his tears drying. 'Damn crybaby.'

"Sakurai," Akito called, as Yuuto still faced the view.

Yuuto lifted his head, wiping his tears briefly before turning to him. He spotted the scar-faced henchman of Hugh standing beside Akito.

"...Well, shit."

A Little Earlier...

'The boss just... disappeared..!!?' the scar-faced henchman thought, frantically running around the entire facility.

"What do we do? Do we throw a search party, boss!?" another subordinate asked Scarface.

"Wait," Scarface ordered, opening his phone. "Our boss is a cautious man with many enemies. He asked me to put this tracker on him after the fifth time he was taken hostage," he said, examining his phone.

"Oh, so you have his location! Let's all go and save him!" the subordinate exclaimed with resolve.

Scarface took a moment to look at his enthusiastic subordinate. "Boss?" the subordinate urged, confused at Scarface's lack of response.

"No, you lot wait here and guard the place should he come back somehow. I'll go on my own," Scarface said, tapping his shoulder as he walked past him toward the elevator.

"O-oh... Y-you sure you don't need back-up?" the subordinate offered but was then halted by another henchman.

"Don't worry... If it's him... no one can stop him. He alone is worth twenty men," the henchman assured.

"Right...! Then, we'll guard this place, boss!" the subordinate resolved, saluting Scarface, who waved them off as he left the building.

'The place he's at is some abandoned construction site of some sort. He was probably taken by one of our enemies,' Scarface thought as he glanced at his phone once more. '... Enough is enough... If he's somewhere without a lot of witnesses... I'll kill him and say an accident occurred. If there are witnesses, I'll just kill them too... for my family.'

PRESENT...

"...And the moment I realized it was you, Hiroki Morii, I figured we should cooperate. As I have a brat of my own, I'd rather not have dead kids on my conscience," Scarface said flatly, standing squarely in front of Yuuto.

"Assuming you could kill us... henchman," Nazuna said, glaring at the man as she stood next to Akito.

"I'm... sorry for what happened to your friend, ki-... Girl." He corrected himself, "I heard about it," Scarface said calmly as he turned his attention to her, meeting her fierce gaze.

"Don't apologize for Ryuuji," Nazuna snapped. "This whole time you were on this Ugly Bastard's side. Don't apologize now that someone else did your work for you. Or we just might put into theory which one of us will end up dead," she hissed.

Scarface solemnly nodded at Nazuna, agreeing not to push it further; with Akito standing right beside her, his stance ready for battle.

"Either way, Hiroki Morii." He said, turning back to Yuuto, "I'll offer you a trade. I'll kill this bastard boss of mine and his son." He suggested, his American accent now sounding heavier than before.

"...Alright. And what do you want in return?" Yuuto replied calmly, his gaze steady.

Nazuna couldn't help but erupt. "HEY, MORII! DON'T YOU DARE MAKE A DEAL WITH THIS BASTARD, OR I'LL—"

"...That's what I want in return. To kill him... Wasn't it obvious?" Scarface replied flatly.

Yuuto and Nazuna both responded, "Oh."

"... We at least agree on one thing..." Nazuna added, her voice was so low, it was almost to herself, rather than to the rest.

"Then... what's the trade?" Yuuto asked.

"Well, a company as big as his won't go down with just his death. Someone has to take over. With him and his son dead, it'll be just me left."

"You want us to bury the hatchet on your involvement in this, basically," Yuuto guessed.

"...Yeah," Scarface affirmed. "I realize it's shameful to ask you to stay silent after all you've been through... But I want to make sure they never do that kind of stuff again. So, I'll have to take over."

The two stood in silence. Nazuna, unsure of what to answer, looked down, as if seeking her answer on the dirty concrete while clenching her fists. Akito shared her internal struggle.

Yuuto glanced at everyone before returning his gaze to the henchman. "Let us talk for a minute, will you, henchman?"

"John's the name," Scarface said before turning around, leaving Akito, Nazuna, Yuuto, and the injured scientist alone.

"Because we REALLY care about who you are," She dissed as John walked away, not replying to her taunt.

Gyouma took another long look at Nazuna, prompted from hearing the cynicism in her voice.

"What's your problem?!" she spat as she caught his gaze.

After a few seconds of silence where Gyouma held her gaze, he broke his silence, "...One second, I forgot something inside the building," He said, turning around and walking back towards the abandoned construction's site's interior, "You start without me," He called out as he vanished inside the interior.

"Whatever. Either way, I don't like it, Yuuto," Nazuna immediately started, her eyes frowning more and more by the minute as she folded her arms, looking at Yuuto with a judging gaze.