A/N: Tokyo Revengers belongs to Wakui Ken. The cover is a cropped panel from chapter 72 and is not my work.

Canon was rather vague about what happened in this future, so I'm taking a few liberties with it.

Everyone has a different sense of humor. If yours coincides with mine, I'd like to hear it! If it doesn't, I'd also like to hear it! Thanks in advance.

---

"I'm sorry, I...can't accept it."

Kisaki paused as he was about to fill the remaining glass with the bottle of cognac. Two completed highballs sat beside the empty glass in the middle of the varnished table, their ice glinting in the light of the nearby chandelier.

"I didn't expect you to so easily." Kisaki sighed and pushed up his glasses. He set the bottle down and ambled along to the expansive skylight spanning a wall of the room while straightening his pressed suit. The nightscape of the city below glittered past the window, and the acting leader of Toman's face was transposed on it as it reflected off the dark glass. He bore a tired smile. "Baji was such a close friend of yours, and I doubt you'll ever be able to forgive me for what I did, even if it was during my unrestrained and immature years, but I at least want you to know that I do regret my—"

"No, it's not that. I accept your apology. I just can't have any alcohol cause I'm driving tonight." Matsuno Chifuyu said.

"Oh yeah, that's true. You probably shouldn't," Takemichi mumbled from the armchair in front of him.

Chifuyu had never seen this side from Kisaki. This vulnerable, head-bowing, mistake-admitting reaction was the last thing he'd expected from the prideful and power-hungry man, who'd sacrificed everyone and everything in his way in pursuit of his ambitions. He'd never forget about Kisaki's incitement of Baji's death no matter how many years passed, but Chifuyu had to admit that people could change. Kazutora sure had, after his incarceration. But even if he hadn't, that wouldn't have stopped Chifuyu from helping him back up onto his feet by finding him a residence and list of (legal) work opportunities. Kazutora probably didn't fancy going to jail a third time.

Perhaps Kisaki had also changed after attaining the power he used to seek so desperately.

Something about Kisaki did seem to change in front of his eyes. His back straightened as he turned away from the skylight, and he carried himself with a bit more of his usual pride and confidence while he walked back to his chair. "Oh? You don't have a driver tonight? I could have one arranged for you."

"You ordered our previous driver to go kill himself—"

"It was an order from above, from Mikey. I wished that I didn't have to sacrifice anymore lives, but I couldn't do anything to stop it."

"Well, I guess you couldn't have," Chifuyu said. Even if Kisaki was the acting leader, he still couldn't disobey Mikey's direct orders. It...it felt like Kisaki really had changed. They were a criminal syndicate, and they would never escape committing violence. Even Chifuyu himself had taken lives, although never directly. Maybe he could trust Kisaki—Chifuyu himself wasn't an innocent man either.

"But the driver must be someone trusted by the boss. I won't allow anyone less, so I'm driving until we find a suitable replacement." Takemichi glanced back from his seat at Chifuyu in confusion. Normally Chifuyu wasn't too formal with him in private, but some posturing was necessary in public.

Takemichi would usually smile and nod at the respect, but he'd looked like a lost puppy today since coming back from the record shop and lacked his typical smugness. Chifuyu wondered what freak accident had happened to transform Takemichi into a humble and in his opinion, which Chifuyu would never, ever reveal on risk of demotion, a better man.

"How about just some water, then?" Kisaki suggested. "It's the sentiment that matters, and I wish to commemorate Baji's death with a toast. There are some new glasses over there." He nodded at the small bar at the opposite end of the room from the skylight. "I'll go prepare a glass."

Kisaki leaned forward to get off his armchair, but Chifuyu broke away from his position behind Takemichi's chair to head for the bar.

"It's fine. I'll get it myself."

"No, no, it's alright." Kisaki shook his head. "I'm the one apologizing to you, so I should do it. There's no need for formalities here, let's do away with rank."

Chifuyu remained silent as he pondered over whether he should reveal it, but he quickly decided before Kisaki could stand up. "To be honest, I've been betraying Toman," he admitted and looked down at the three glasses on the table, unable to meet Kisaki's eyes. "I've given away some of Toman's businesses to the police, mainly yours. I'm the one who hasn't changed, clinging to my hate all these years. I'm sorry." It felt just to reveal his crimes after Kisaki had apologized for his.

"I-it's fine. It's alright, we'll both put our past mistakes behind us. Let me just prepare you a glass of water—"

Chifuyu plucked Kisaki's empty glass off the table and strode to the bar area without further ado, where he placed it in the sink before grabbing a new glass and filling it halfway with water from the tap. When he returned to the table, he slid towards Kisaki the cup of cognac that would've otherwise gone to him. Kisaki twitched.

Takemichi took the initiative after a long second of silence. He grabbed the glass closest to him and stood up. "So...let's do this."

Kisaki slowly stood and picked up his drink, his prior enthusiasm seemingly diminished. Part of that was probably his fault, Chifuyu knew, but he was a responsible driver. He couldn't drink alcohol tonight, no matter the occasion.

Toman's acting leader regained his composure as he raised his glass forward. Chifuyu and Takemichi mimicked him from around the table. "Let's drink to Baji," Kisaki solemnly announced. They clinked their glasses together, although Chifuyu shuffled back when Kisaki's glass clashed messily against theirs, spilling some of its contents on the table. A few drops splashed into Takemichi's cup, but none into his. Chifuyu kept his mouth shut and refrained from commenting, and Takemichi did the same, looking away from the mess on the table to take a long drink from his glass. Chifuyu drank his water.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kisaki hesitate from drinking, staring long and hard at the amber liquid. Kisaki caught him watching, and he then took a tiny sip from the glass and downed about half a milliliter.

Chifuyu could not understand why Kisaki was acting this weirdly all of a sudden. He'd drunk a little alcohol in front of them earlier, and maybe he was a lightweight drinker. Cognac had pretty high alcohol content, after all.

Moreso that Chifuyu couldn't drink it.

He brought down his cup after a familiar urge in his gut. Maybe he'd drank a little too much water at the admin dinner, since there was little else he could do, standing at attention behind Takemichi and trying to pretend the food on the table didn't exist. The delicious aromas and sounds of the admins gorging themselves had made that all but impossible, but he'd at least managed to hide the growling of his stomach.

He'd known beforehand he wouldn't get the chance to have dinner there, but Takemichi had taken so goddamn long today to get ready for the meeting that Chifuyu hadn't had the opportunity to eat anything beforehand. It was somewhat informal of him to constantly sip water behind Takemichi's seat, but it wasn't like he could take out the granola bar that he'd grabbed on the way out of the office, rip open the crinkling wrapper, and start munching on it in front of everyone.

Eating while driving was also a no-go.

"I have a little business to attend to." Chifuyu looked up from his glass as Kisaki spoke up. The bespectacled man had placed his barely touched alcohol on the table. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Feel free to help yourself to anything in the meantime. There's a couple of wines and liquors I think you may find suitable."

"Eh, really?" Takemichi put down his finished glass of cognac. "Then, don't mind if I do..." He inched towards the bar, stared back at Kisaki as if checking for approval, then poured over the wine shelves like a diabetic child at a candy shop.

Kisaki chuckled. "He's quite excitable today, isn't he? But the same permission—"

"Holy crud, is that a Romanée-Conti?!"

"—applies to you, Chifuyu." Kisaki regarded him with a pleasant smile.

Chifuyu exhaled and returned a smile of his own. "Sure, take your time. I'll show you out."

This time, Kisaki didn't protest as Chifuyu led the way to the door and pulled it open to reveal the hallway behind, the furniture just as ornate and expensive as those in the room. With a quick farewell and nod, Kisaki walked down the hall.

But Chifuyu paused before he could close the door. Kisaki had left, so this...was probably the best time for a bathroom break. And maybe he'd get to finally eat his granola bar. It wouldn't provide much sustenance compared to a proper meal, but it'd at least curb his hunger until they returned to the office in an hour or so. His mind made up, he slipped outside and let the door fall shut.

"Damn, the me here is spoiled as heck..." Takemichi's voice cut off as the thick wood settled in place, but Chifuyu yanked on the door to stop it from fully closing after he spied the small, blinking box above the door handle. It looked like an electronic lock of sorts, but without a keypad. It'd probably be best not to test if it would automatically lock or not. Takemichi should be able to open it from the inside if Chifuyu knocked, but based on the number of bottles he'd set on the bar counter, Chifuyu wasn't sure if Takemichi would sober enough in five minutes from now to do so.

Chifuyu glanced around the dimly lit hallway, looking for anything close enough to...there. The chair beside the closed door opposite should suffice as a door stopper. With his dress shoe wedged in the door, Chifuyu extended an arm to snag the arm of the chair—

Chifuyu hated the fact that he'd barely grown since middle school.

A couple more years, he'd thought, a couple more years until he could stand at the same height as Baji had been. Clearly, that'd just been wishful thinking.

Wishful thinking wouldn't help him here, however.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before stretching his body as far as it possibly could to reach the wooden chair across the hall. He could feel his cells inching apart with how hard he was trying. His fingers managed to brush the wooden armrest, and he allowed his shoe to slide a little further out of the door so that he could grab the chair and drag it back over the carpet.

But after he'd brought the chair close enough, he plopped down on it with his head leaning back over the seat. Although it hadn't been physically exhausting, it'd taken something else out of him. He did, however, feel inordinately proud that he'd managed to actually reach that chair.

Maybe he should measure his height again when he got home.

He peeled himself off the chair and inserted one of its legs into the gap in the door. The chair pivoted about the trapped leg as he let go, but it hit a sweet spot when the door and chair altogether halted, the door effectively jammed.

It was as Chifuyu was walking down the hallway that he realized he could've just gone back inside the room to grab something to trap the door. He could've even taken off his shoe and hobbled over to retrieve the chair without extra effort.

Whatever, it was done. No amount of retrospect could disprove the fact that he'd managed to reach that chair.

But where was the bathroom, anyway? He halted before he could turn the corner into a marble-tiled lounge area. Seven minutes had flown by, according to his phone, and he'd wandered off in hopes of stumbling upon a convenient map or sign. Based on the lack of people and overpriced furniture, the building didn't seem accessible to the public and thus wasn't modeled with practicality and efficiency in mind. He doubted he'd be able to find a bathroom in the next few minutes, so perhaps he should return and wait for Kisaki so that he could ask.

Footsteps echoed from the other side of the room. Although Chifuyu couldn't see anyone past the rows of sofas and ornate metal columns, the sounds grew louder. Had Kisaki already returned?

"—finished the maintenance yet? You've already checked this floor earlier, and there haven't been any problems regarding the power," said someone who was not Kisaki.

"I just need to do a final check-up. Something caught my eye earlier, and I want to examine some of the rooms that might've been affected. It could be dangerous, so I need to check," said someone who was not Kisaki, either. Rather, it was someone else that Chifuyu knew.

Kazutora emerged from the hallway at the far end of the lounge, a large toolbox at his side and a baseball cap pulled down over his blond bangs. A suited man walked beside him, who Chifuyu recognized as the receptionist from the ground floor.

"Sir, how in God's name did you esc—" / "Chifuyu, why're you here—" / "Excuse me, but where's the bathroom?"

Both men fell silent and stared at him.

"What?" Chifuyu groused. He was not a man who'd bend to social pressure. Takemichi called that part of him idiocy, but he called it maturity. Shame and embarrassment were for kids. "I really need to piss."

It would distract him from driving, after all. Despite his younger days of rushing down the roads with nary a care in the world, now he was carrying both his and Takemichi's lives on his shoulders. He couldn't afford any less than his full, unabated attention on the road.

"Go down the hall, descend one flight of stairs, take the hallway on the left, and the restrooms will be at the last door on the right, sir." The receptionist clasped his hands together and gave him a polite smile.

Chifuyu thought he'd heard him about to say something earlier, but he'd cut the man off. "Thanks. And sorry if I interrupted you, but did you say—"

"No, I didn't, sir." The smile intensified. "I didn't utter a word."

"Huh, I guess I misheard." Chifuyu shrugged and looked to Kazutora next, who'd stood motionlessly with his toolbox in hand beside the receptionist. "And, uh, I'm here on...'business.'" Chifuyu let his eyes flicker to the staff employee beside him to emphasize his presence.

Even if Kisaki owned this building, it didn't necessitate that the staff knew about him. He was an infamous gang member, after all. Revealing he owned the place was just begging for the police to storm it. Maybe the employees working here recognized his face from the news, but they were professionals—they wouldn't place their suspicions and distrust before work. Regardless, it was safer to avoid talking about Kisaki in front of them.

I'll tell you later, Chifuyu tried to signal further, adding in a subtle flick of his wrist. I'll give you a call tomorrow morning because I'll probably be sleeping after I finally have dinner when I get home. Maybe 10-ish AM? Give or take thirty minutes. I'll be kinda busy before that since Takemitchy wants me to drop off his records for him at the store two blocks south of Shibuya Station. If I'm not available then, I'll just text you. Kazutora gave no indication he'd received the message, so Chifuyu would just have to trust he'd gotten it.

"What're you doing here though, Kazutora?"

"Huh? Oh, um, I'm on the job." Kazutora blinked and fidgeted in place. He gave a small nod at the receptionist next to him, who'd looked back at the entrance for some reason before continuing to smile at Chifuyu, ever the professional. "This place was having some electrical problems lately, so I got hired to check it."

"Ah, I'm sorry to interrupt you." Chifuyu awkwardly laughed and scratched his cheek. "You never told me you got a job, though. I'm glad you managed to find work this soon." Kazutora had never even informed him he had electrical expertise when Chifuyu was searching for job opportunities for him, but he'd managed to find some good-paying work on his own. He was assimilating back into society without problem.

"Yeah...um, thanks." Kazutora nodded along with a forced smile, his earring twinkling. He suddenly coughed into his hand twice, clenched his other hand into a fist, and gave a pronounced nudge of his head towards the adjacent wall, where a stout vase adorned with a pair of pink camellia flowers sat atop a sleek cabinet that rose to just below the light switch.

Chifuyu had the feeling Kazutora was trying to tell him something, but he wasn't sure what, so he'd just pretend he hadn't noticed. That way, it wouldn't be Kazutora's fault for being so vague with his signaling, and it wouldn't be his fault either for being unable to interpret the vague signaling. "So, I'll let you get back to work."

"No, I'm pretty much finished now." Kazutora adjusted his cap after he shook his head. "Do you mind if we talk for a bit?"

"Hm?" The receptionist perked up. "Satoshi-san, didn't you say you wished to check some of the rooms on this floor?"

Chifuyu looked behind him to check who had walked in while they were talking, but he was unable to see anyone else in the marble-tiled lounge, illuminated by the faint golden glow of the wall lamps alternating between the rows of windows.

"I did, but it's not a big deal," Kazutora replied. "It might actually be better to check on it tomorrow morning, so I can turn the power off without too much disturbance. Maybe 10-ish AM, give or take thirty minutes."

Chifuyu dismissed the strange manner of address. "I guess we can chat here if you're done, Kazutora." Kazutora fidgeted. "But I need to go to the bathroom real quick."

"I'll just come along while you do that." Chifuyu began walking in the direction he'd been pointed to, and Kazutora followed him, but then a third person joined them.

"You don't need to accompany us," Chifuyu said to the receptionist as they exited the lounge. As earlier described, he could see a stairwell at the end of the hallway.

"It is not a 'need,' sir, it is a preference. I would like to guide you esteemed gentlemen to the restrooms. I am not implying that I think you will be unable to find your way, I simply wish to be present to accommodate your every need."

He could tell the man would not leave them alone without a fight.

Based on the tingle in his gut, Chifuyu did not have the time to give him that fight.

"It's fine, let's just go." He sighed and led them down the stairs.

No one spoke a word as they arrived at the bathroom. Chifuyu buckled his belt and straightened his suit in the mirror over the marble slab that served as a row of sinks. A splotch of amber from Kisaki's toast had stained the cuff of his gray jacket, so he gently dabbed at it with a wet paper towel until it had mostly faded.

The two waiting outside for him remained silent as Chifuyu exited the bathroom. They were also silent on the way back.

"Please ignore my presence and speak freely," the receptionist said as they ascended the stairs. "I will not disclose the contents of your conversation or invade your privacy."

He might be a professional during the job, but that didn't necessarily carry over to outside of it. Yamagishi and Makoto would always loudly chat about their work in public spaces, even as they earned the morbid curiosity of nearby civilians who were, not by choice, overhearing two, richly dressed but tattooed, men arguing over ice cream about how they should best carry out their money laundering.

Chifuyu had given up on trying to warn them, but he'd at least made them promise to keep the more sensitive topics in the office on threat of slashing their profits.

Not speaking, however, implied he had something to hide. Which he did, in fact, have. He couldn't talk about Toman or Kisaki in front of a possibly unrelated bystander. So he chose a safer topic to discuss.

"I never knew you had experience with electrical equipment, Kazutora."

Kazutora's toolbox rattled as it swung at his side. "You...you know now, I guess."

"You could've told me about it. Openings for electricians are growing with the market, and it's a pretty lucrative occupation. Are you doing freelance? I could help you get some of the best-paying opportunities after this. It'd probably be hard to apply for them otherwise, with your criminal history."

The receptionist said he wouldn't invade their privacy, but Chifuyu could feel those eyes staring lasers into his back. It was only small talk, and Chifuyu couldn't understand what the uninvited onlooker found so intriguing.

"Uh, yeah, I guess it would've been hard." Kazutora strode to Chifuyu's side and bumped into his shoulder. Chifuyu moved over to give him room.

Although he didn't hear it past the shuffling of their shoes across the carpet, he did feel the vibration of his growling stomach. Kazutora didn't seem like he wanted to talk anymore, and Chifuyu was still hungry, so he slipped his granola bar out of his inner pocket and fumbled with the wrapper, which noisily crinkled in his fingers.

"My apologies, sir, but eating is not permitted in this establishment. However, beverages are the exception."

Chifuyu halted in the middle of the hallway and stared at the man who was getting in the way of him and his granola bar. He was growing less welcome with each passing minute, starting from when he'd stubbornly insisted on following them, which Chifuyu had acquiesced to, but this—this was the last straw.

(He would've normally been more mature about it, he reflected sometime afterwards, but a hungry Chifuyu was not a patient Chifuyu.)

"Please stop following us." Chifuyu bestowed on the receptionist the most magnanimous smile he could muster, although judging from how the man stepped back, some of his true feelings must've slipped out. Fantastic, he was done with subtlety. "You're dismissed. Thank you."

The receptionist did not try to sweet-talk his way out of that clear 'get lost.' He gave a professional smile, bowed, and walked away. Chifuyu watched him disappear behind a potted plant at the corner before he continued unwrapping his snack. He hadn't eaten anything in several hours, and he doubted he would be able to for at least another, if food wasn't allowed in the building. Kisaki would've returned by the time he made it outside to eat, so they could at least spare him his granola bar. No crumbs, pungent smell, or mess. It shouldn't pose any problems.

A stomach growled, but it wasn't his this time.

"Sorry," Kazutora said as he pushed the brim of his cap down over his eyes. "I've been here since noon, and I only had brunch today."

Chifuyu could feel his friendship being tested as he looked from the treat in his hand, the golden oats and assorted nuts covered by a drizzle of caramel, and Kazutora, who was making a valiant effort to avoid looking by twisting his body away, but his feet remained pointed towards Chifuyu.

'Toman's founding members are my treasure.'

"Here." Chifuyu extended the granola bar to Kazutora. "I'm not really that hungry, anyway."

Kazutora didn't bother politely declining the offer. He took the snack and immediately began consuming it. Chifuyu forlornly watched it disappear with each bite, and he crossed his arms over his stomach to ease the pang of hunger, which strengthened after he'd relinquished his only food.

The things he sacrificed for friendship.

They resumed walking back at a relaxed pace. "Anyway, why are you really here? I only heard that Kisaki would be here," Kazutora said around a mouthful of granola bar.

"From who?"

"Oh, the p—that guy from earlier told me. Did Kisaki try anything? Do you need help?"

Chifuyu remained quiet for several seconds. How should he explain it to Kazutora? Kisaki had changed from his past, evil self. He'd apologized for what he'd done to Baji. Removing him was no longer necessary to save Mikey—he was no longer an active, wicked influence that would further Toman's notoriety for his own gains.

Chifuyu predicted that if he told Kazutora that, Kazutora would ask him if he was intoxicated or simply insane, and he was neither, thank you very much.

He couldn't drive if he was.

Seeing was believing, or so they said. Kisaki would surely be able to include Kazutora in his apology, who'd been just as impacted by Baji's death. That had been, after all, the main stimulus that had pushed them to keep trying to revive the Toman of their time instead of jumping from a sinking ship.

"Just come with me and talk to Kisaki," Chifuyu finally said. "He's a new person since then, I promise."

"Huh? Meet...Kisaki?" Kazutora stared at him like he'd lost his marbles, his mind, and his peyoung yakisoba. "Y'know, I'm trying to get him—" He cut himself off with a sharp inhale.

"Get him what?"

"It's not safe to say here." Kazutora glanced around as he crumpled the wrapper of his finished snack and slipped it in his pocket. "But you guys should get out while you can. It's going to get dangerous here."

"Huh? 'Dangerous'?" Chifuyu squinted at him, but his silence indicated he wouldn't clarify. However, he would trust Kazutora as a friend, even if said friend was being cagey. "Fine, we'll leave in a few minutes. We'll just wait for Kisaki to come back so that we can tell him to also—"

"No, no, no, no, no, stop-stop, nuh-uh. Don't tell Kisaki. I beg of you, please just shut-up and leave before he can see you."

Chifuyu made hard eye-contact with Kazutora, who was being very unreasonable.

Kazutora threw his hands in the air with an exasperated sigh. "Y'know what? I'll just go with you. I'll go with you back to wherever you were, so we can retrieve Takemichi and leave before Kisaki notices us." He picked up speed until he was almost jogging, and Chifuyu had no choice but to follow his pace and eventually take the lead to guide them to the correct room.

But they weren't running in the hallway—just walking very, very fast.

He could see his chair still wedged in the door as they sped down the hallway. Chifuyu pulled the chair away so that he could enter the room, but he stopped when Kazutora didn't follow him inside, who instead stood at the entrance with a hand on the door while staring at the electronic lock Chifuyu himself had noticed earlier.

Chifuyu beckoned him in. "You don't need to hold it open, Kazutora. Doors don't lock from the inside."

"No, I...I think I'll stay outside." Kazutora's eyes never left the lock, and he toyed with the door handle.

If that's what he wanted. Chifuyu shrugged and went to the bar, where Takemichi had, true to his prediction, collapsed over the counter with a half-finished glass of alcohol in his hand. Chifuyu was, however, a little surprised to see he'd only made it through a single beer and cider, the least alcoholic of the awaiting bottles on the counter by far. He hadn't even drunk that much of them, judging by how full the opened bottles were.

Maybe it was the cognac from earlier. 40% alcohol content was no joke, and Takemichi had downed a glass of that, even with the ice to dilute it. It'd probably kicked in after Chifuyu had left for the bathroom. He sighed as he pried the glass out of Takemichi's loose fingers.

"Hurry up, Chifuyu."

"Just give me a minute."

Chifuyu drew his collar closer to his neck as he stared at the ceiling vent, which gently hummed. It could've just been his imagination, but the room felt colder than earlier. Maybe it was just because he was starving.

His eyes teared up as a huge yawn escaped him.

And tired, too. It was getting late.

It probably was a good idea to return to the office early, as Kazutora urged. Chifuyu had gotten distracted over the past twenty minutes, but Kisaki had yet to return over that time. Perhaps Kisaki had mistaken how long his business would take him and was too busy to inform them.

If he was too tired, he wouldn't be able to concentrate on the road.

He took off his suit jacket, tied it around his waist (he never really liked that jacket anyway), and rolled up the cuffs of his dress shirt before he angled himself against the counter and nudged Takemichi's unconscious body onto his back. Chifuyu grunted as he stood up straight with Takemichi's additional weight, his arms supporting his boss's bottom and his boss's arms hanging loosely over Chifuyu's neck.

Takemichi...needed to go to the gym more often. Or hold off on the beer, at least.

With a final glance at the three glasses on the table Kisaki had made a toast with them at, where the alcohol dripping onto the floor had dried up by now, Chifuyu hauled Takemichi over to the door, which Kazutora opened wider to accommodate them. Kazutora let the door swing closed once they exited, and there was a subtle click after it shut.

"Ok, you've got him. Now go," Kazutora said.

Chifuyu turned to face him, his tie swinging at the motion. "You're not coming with us? I can drive you back to your house, it's on the way to the office."

"I can't yet. I've got something to do here. Hurry up and go."

"You're still working?" Chifuyu frowned. "I thought you said you were done today and would come back tomorrow morning—"

"Ok. Ok!" Kazutora cried. "I'll go with you if you leave right now. And by right now, I mean right now. Let's go already." He took off with his face in his hands.

Chifuyu didn't understand why Kazutora was being so fussy today, but maybe something had just gone poorly in his day, and his bad mood persisted even now.

Chifuyu didn't think he'd done anything wrong.

"My car's parked on the street of the adjacent building," he called as he hurried to catch up, Takemichi's limp arms swinging over Chifuyu's chest. That was a third life depending on him to safely drive home.

Good thing he hadn't had any alcohol tonight.

---

Kisaki took off glasses, closed his eyes, and rubbed his temples while giving a harsh sigh at the monitor before him.

Why did this have to happen? He'd been so close—if only they'd stopped there. Then it would've been game over for them. He gazed at the screen again with a haunted look in his eyes. His tactics had failed him, his experience meaningless in application.

The stack of gray blocks extending out of the play zone stared back at him, accompanied by a sad electronic jingle.

If he'd just gotten an I-block then, he would have sent that bastard to the other world.

His phone chose that moment to ring. Kisaki accepted the call with a tap. "What? I'm busy at the moment. This better be important," he snapped.

"Sir, it's about your guests."

An acceptable reason to pester him.

Kisaki swept his hair back and put his glasses on. "Are they both unconscious yet? Have they gotten alcohol poisoning? Did they somehow fall through the skylight and off the building?"

"No, sir. They're leaving for the exit."

Kisaki abruptly stood up, knocking his chair back, and strode for the door of his office. "Stop them. Use non-lethal force if you must."

"We tried to warn them with words, sir, but they initiated the violence and took out most of our security and staff. I don't think we can feasibly stop them, sir. Do we have permission to use firearms?"

"No, keep it as indiscreet as possible." He pushed the elevator button to summon the lift. In the meanwhile, he closed the door to his office. "I don't want to draw attention to this building, especially since I've had it built only a few months ago. Where are they currently?"

"Heading down the stairs onto the 4th Floor, sir."

There was a possibility he'd be able to intercept them before they reached the ground floor if the elevator arrived fast enough. His dress shoes tapped on the wooden floorboards as he watched the numbers on the digital panel above the reflective metal tick up. The instant the doors chimed open, Kisaki stepped inside and jabbed the button for the ground floor while mashing the close-door button. He knew it wouldn't make the doors close any faster, but it sure served a suitable target to offload his irritation at.

The doors slid shut, and the lift whirred as Kisaki felt himself descend.

"How'd they escape the room? Did the lock malfunction?" He had that electronic lock specially designed to lock from both the inside and outside, only able to be toggled on and off via his phone. Kisaki navigated away from the call screen and checked the application. It showed the lock was active.

Murder was a little too much but driving that contracted company to bankruptcy was a little too petty, on the other hand.

"I haven't been able to review the security camera footage yet, sir." The voice continued in the background. Kisaki listened to it with half his attention. "However, I did stumble upon Matsuno while showing the electrician around. He was searching for the restrooms, and I guided him there to keep an eye on him."

"Good. What'd he do in the restroom?"

"He did his business."

"What kind?"

"The number one, sir."

"Number one what? Be specific. What was Chifuyu doing in the restroom?"

"If you'll excuse the informal wording, sir, he had a piss. Or that's what it sounded like, at least."

Kisaki doubted it'd been purely that. He must've had some other purpose...contacting his allies in the privacy of a toilet cubicle or the partition of a urinal? Kisaki made a mental note to later install at least three cameras in each restroom. It wasn't hard to fake the sound of urinating. Only a cup of some sort was necessary—a shoe would suffice—and enough water in the bowl to make a sufficient splash.

Chifuyu was a cunning opponent who'd managed to leak several of his businesses to the police while evading Kisaki's suspicions until Chifuyu himself had admitted to it and apologized to him half-an-hour ago. Kisaki's lips peeled back.

He rarely let himself get angry, nowadays. Anger solved nothing. It was wit that fixed all the problems. Anger only created more, when trapped in a primal rage that forsook rational thought. Kisaki did not like himself when he was angry. He took a deep breath, held it for a second, and released the kindling rage with it.

Kisaki was forced to admit that Chifuyu had outplayed him.

Chifuyu must've figured out that Kisaki could and would lock the door remotely after he left and thus offered to open the door for him before he'd even activated it. Just like when he'd refused to allow Kisaki to offer him a glass of alcohol, then of even water. All his tactics, predicted and disarmed with ease.

They'd left him with no choice but to take a more...heavy-handed approach.

"Lower the shutters on the ground floor. Lock the doors. Tell all personnel stationed there to prepare to intercept them. Non-lethally."

"Yes, sir."

Kisaki shifted in place and watched the floors tick down as the employee spoke to someone away from the mic. 8. 7.

"Sir...there seems to be a problem. The shutters aren't responding."

"Hm?" He frowned. "Are they jammed? Is it a power issue?"

6.

"They're not sure."

5.

A particular detail earlier mentioned in the conversation resurfaced to memory. "You mentioned there was an electrician here today. Did he switch off the power?" It would be terrible, terrible timing. This was the most inopportune moment he could imagine.

4.

"He's finished his work for today, sir. I also forgot to mention that there's a third person reported escaping along with your guests. They're saying it's that electrician."

3.

Kisaki's gaze sharpened. "What's his name?"

"Kinomoto Satoshi." He searched for that name among his expansive memories. Ally, foe, client, victim? Nothing came to mind. It was likely an alias, he realized, but that meant that he now had zero clues as to who this person was—

2.

"Matsuno seemed to recognize him, referring to him as 'Kazutora.'"

His head snapped up. "What?"

1.

The LED display flickered and promptly died alongside the lights affixed to the ceiling, casting the inside of the elevator in darkness aside from the pale light of his phone. The lift screeched to a halt, and Kisaki felt the deceleration as his body grew heavier. The elevator fully stopped two seconds later.

The metal doors remained closed.

Kisaki did not like himself when he was angry. He took a deep breath, held it for a second, and released the kindling rage with it.

He angled his phone towards the control panel to illuminate the buttons.

The open-door button failed to work. He knew he was close to the landing; the elevator had been slowing down even before the power outage. He'd have to get that changed afterwards.

He didn't want to use the emergency-call button. He deigned to speak with some hillbilly dispatcher and beg for assistance.

"Sir, there seems to be a building-wide power outage."

"I'm aware," Kisaki icily replied.

Past the unyielding, metal doors, he could hear...something. People shouting, furniture breaking, and most notably, glass shattering. Very likely his glass doors or windows as multiple someones escaped through it.

"Sir, they've left the building. Our ground personnel were unable to stop them."

"I'm aware." Kisaki took a deep breath, and another when just one proved insufficient.

This was fine. Chifuyu may have figured out his true intentions from this slip-up, but Kisaki could track him down wherever he wanted. They were still at his mercy, and he wouldn't have to bother holding back anymore. More glass broke in the background, more raised voices.

"Sir, a squad of armed riot police have emerged from the neighboring building and stormed inside."

"I'm aware." He caressed his forehead as he felt the incoming headache prickle at his skull.

Wait, police?

Kisaki flinched as a metal rod suddenly slammed into the crack of the door like a hammered-in nail. The phone slipped from his fingers and clattered face-down on the floor, casting the elevator in darkness.

But not for long. The bar—a crowbar—slowly inched to the side, using the door as a pivot to creak the metal open, allowing a crack of light to slip through.

An officer garbed in black, bullet-proof riot gear stared at him through his helmet, his gloves on the crowbar.

Kisaki stared back, feeling rather unprepared in his three-piece suit and without his gun.

"Holy—Kisaki! Kisaki's here!" The policeman turned back to shout.

He let the man fade into background noise. There was a clear path from his current position to the shattered front doors. Six meters to cover. The average adult male could reach twelve miles per hour at full power. Nineteen and three hundred, twelve thousandths meters per hour. Five and thirty-six hundredths meters per second after removing a significant figure for accuracy. Escape was a literal second away.

The problem, however, was that he wasn't ten centimeters wide.

The riot officer wasn't stupid enough to pry the door open any further as he called for reinforcements. Kisaki's plan to cripple law enforcement by having his agents train up incompetent officers didn't seem to be working, either.

More police swarmed into view, cutting off his sight of the exit through the crack in the elevator doors. Kisaki backed into the wall of the lift, the metal cage that had trapped him and left him helpless to the whims of the armed officers peering in, who observed his every move like he was an animal.

Kisaki knew he was a genius.

But it spoke volumes that even he couldn't find a way out of this situation. He'd dare anyone else to try—like they'd fare any better.

After ten officers had lined up at the door, the crowbar resumed its task, again wedged in the crack to apply the principles of torque and leverage to force the elevator open.

It was in those last, creaking seconds that Kisaki thought not about Chifuyu, but about Takemichi. Chifuyu may have proved the most prominent annoyance of the night, but in the end, he was just one of Takemichi's pieces. The game was between him and Takemichi, not some overambitious pawn who'd claimed a few victories among the give-and-take of battle.

Takemichi was the one who'd ordered Chifuyu to act. Takemichi was the one who'd caused this to happen.

Kisaki rarely raised his voice. He was a civilized man who wouldn't drop to using crass language, either. It was all below his level—he had the sufficient vocabulary to effectively convey his intent without resorting to profanity. Curses were for the lazy people who couldn't vocalize themselves with their own words.

"TAKEMICHI, YOU SON OF A—mpgh!" Kisaki was pinned against the wall as the officers suddenly streamed into the elevator with a final creak of the doors and dogpiled him. Someone dragged his arms behind him and cuffed his wrists with cold metal. His glasses cracked against the unyielding metal of the lift wall.

This was all Takemichi's fault. All of it.

---

Chifuyu gently offloaded his boss's sleeping body onto the plush couch beside the skylight of their penthouse office and pulled his suit jacket over his boss's chest.

It was late in the night after everyone had left but early in the morning before the sun had risen. The motion-detecting lights across the ceiling had switched on when Chifuyu had entered the room after pushing the door open with his shoulder, his hands occupied with balancing Takemichi over his back.

Kazutora had been awfully rude today, punching the bellboy who'd politely asked them to not run in the hallway, which had incurred the nearby security guards to try and restrain them.

The electrician had kicked one in the nuts and then cracked a potted plant over the other's head.

Although he was an innocent bystander, Chifuyu had been dragged into the manhunt for Kazutora as they rushed for the exit. 'What the heck are you doing?!' he'd all but screamed over the pounding footsteps of the horde of people chasing them down the stairwell. 'We could've just left normally! Why're you like this?!'

'There's no time! We need to leave, now!' was Kazutora's unhelpful reply.

The lights had suddenly flickered off when they reached the ground floor, plunging the lobby in black except for the faint glow from the nearby streetlight and building. Chifuyu had been about to retort that Kazutora couldn't leave yet if he wanted to not get fired from failing to perform his job when Kazutora heaved a coffee table on his back and chucked it through the glass wall leading onto the street, smashing into the frosted glass and sending shards skittering across the sidewalk. A passing car skidded into a bush as it tried to swerve past the broken table that had suddenly shot out onto the road.

'There's a goddamn door right next to it! Are you blind?!'

'The door's locked! I tried it!'

'Maybe it wouldn't be if you'd done your job properly!'

'I did! Everything's going swell!' Kazutora had yelled as he clotheslined a poor chef, whose white hat got crumpled by his unconscious body squishing it a second later. 'Except for you! Get out, already!' He'd grabbed Chifuyu by the shoulder and dragged him outside to his car.

Chifuyu had refused to listen to Kazutora as he drove the three of them back. He'd remained silent even after Kazutora muttered a 'bye' when the car stopped beside his house.

Maybe that had been a bit mean of him. He'd apologize tomorrow, after he'd had dinner and a good night's sleep.

Chifuyu went to the cabinet beside the mini fridge and pulled out a box of peyoung yakisoba. After he filled up an electric kettle with water and set it to boil, he fetched some migraine pills and laid them beside a glass of water on the table in front of Takemichi.

It was while he was pouring boiling water into his instant yakisoba that his boss stirred, dislodging Chifuyu's jacket onto the couch. "...huh? Where am I?" Takemichi mumbled.

"We're back at the office." Chifuyu set the kettle down and walked over to him. "You drank too much, so I brought us back early. How're you feeling? Does your head hurt?"

"...a bit." Takemichi twisted his head on the cushion to look at the headache tablets on the table. "Are those for me?"

"Yep."

He helped Takemichi sit up on the couch and handed him the pills and water. Takemichi took the medicine before sinking back into the cushions.

"Sorry for making you take care of me, Chifuyu. We...had to go back early, and you couldn't take Kisaki's toast or try any of his alcohol, and...I guess you didn't get to eat anything, either."

"Don't worry about it, Takemitchy." The familiar nickname rolled off his tongue. He patted his partner's back and smiled.

"I'm just glad we made it back safely."