The shot echoed in Kai's ears like a clap of thunder.
And yet... he didn't flinch.
He didn't shake. He didn't panic.
He stared.
At the man who had just collapsed from the passenger side of the enemy car, half his skull gone.
The one who was aiming at Hina.
Kai's finger still rested on the trigger, smoke curling from the barrel of the pistol Hina had tossed to him just minutes earlier.
His breathing wasn't frantic.
It was calm.
Controlled.
Cold.
Something in him had flipped. Like a circuit snapping into place.
A strange stillness filled his chest, replacing the panic he'd felt earlier. No more trembling hands. No more dry mouth. No more blind fear.
Just clarity.
"I shot him."
"I saved her."
"I can do this."
For that moment, Kai forgot he was a human and didn't think about it at all.
The engine of Yuto's car roared beneath them, tires screeching as the old man maneuvered with impossible precision, skimming past narrow shoulders and sharp corners like a professional stunt driver.
"Hold on!" Yuto barked. "More on the left!"
Another car swerved in to flank them.
Hina leaned out the window without hesitation, eyes locked in, her Glock raised.
One quick shot—then another.
The windshield of the enemy car exploded, spraying glass, and the vehicle lost control, veering into a ditch.
Behind them, Akira opened the back window on the opposite side.
Calmly, she shouldered her rifle—sleek, black, modified with a sniper optic.
"Two in the back… let's make it one."
Crack.
One of the pursuing cars jerked suddenly. The backseat passenger slumped. The car swerved, scraping the edge of a wall before disappearing behind a line of trees.
Kai, still inside the vehicle, glanced at Akira.
She was grinning.
Enjoying it.
"What the hell is wrong with all of them…?" he thought—yet even that thought lacked judgment.
It wasn't horror anymore.
Just realization.
He was in this now.
Really in it.
They weren't playing games.
And neither was he.
More gunfire rained down from behind.
Bullets shattered the rear glass.
Kai ducked instinctively, grabbing the back of Hina's seat as another round barely missed his head, nicking his shoulder.
The burn was sharp, immediate, but not deep.
Hina turned to him briefly, eyes wide. "You okay?!"
Kai nodded once. "Grazed. I'm good."
She stared at him—there was something feral in her eyes.
Excitement. Respect. Maybe something darker.
"I think I'm falling for you even more now..." she said under her breath, smiling.
Then turned back to unleash another flurry of shots.
Yuto slammed the wheel, took a sharp turn, and suddenly the landscape shifted. They'd exited the main road and were now rushing down a narrow path through thick trees.
"They won't follow us here," Yuto said. "Too narrow for more than one car. I'll lose them. More over, we're already in Rei's territory."
And he did.
Fifteen minutes of hairpin turns, sudden cutbacks, and steep slopes later… silence.
No headlights behind them.
No roaring engines.
No bullets.
Just the hum of the car and the soft rustle of leaves brushing past the sides.
Yuto didn't slow until they broke through the trees into an open stretch—wide fields, endless and untouched.
Wildflowers danced in the breeze beneath a golden sky.
At the center of it all, half hidden behind overgrown grass, stood a crumbling, moss-covered temple.
Hanairo District. The District of Blooming Colors.
Yuto killed the engine. "This is as far as we drive. From here—it's on foot."
The doors opened. Everyone got out.
Kai immediately touched his shoulder—there was blood, but it had already begun to clot. A clean graze.
He'd been lucky.
The adrenaline in his blood didn't even make him notice about that wound.
The air was clean here. Sweet with the scent of wild blossoms.
The field was filled with color—crimson poppies, yellow lilies, pale blue petals scattered across the hills like confetti.
It almost felt too peaceful.
Too pure.
Hina walked up beside him.
She reached out and touched his cheek.
"You saved me back there," she said, eyes gleaming with something he couldn't read. "You actually saved me."
"I just reacted…" he muttered.
But she shook her head. "No. You decided. You chose to pull the trigger. That's what makes the difference."
Then she smirked, a hand slipping down to his wrist.
"But next time, don't go getting yourself shot."
She gave him a light punch on the arm—right near the wound.
"Ah—ow!" he hissed.
She laughed.
Akira came up next, slinging her rifle over her shoulder.
"Well, well. Little Kai's all grown up. Look at you, spilling blood and everything," she teased.
"I didn't mean to enjoy it," Kai said.
"Did you? It seems like I was wrong. You're probably talented for... killing" she asked.
He didn't answer.
That was the answer.
He only felt a shiver down his spine.
Then, they began to walk.
Hina clung to him, like she was trying to calm him down.
She was probably scared that he could have a mental breakdown like in the past.
But, despite her feeling of warmth towards her boyfriend, there was another feeling lingering in her heart.
A feeling of... discomfort.
Her grip on Kai's arm was pretty tight, and it seemed like she totally refused to let him go.
She already knew that place.
And Akira too.
In fact, their mood had changed.
They were being completely silent.
The dirt path was uneven but clear, winding through patches of wildflowers and abandoned stone lanterns.
Signs of what was once a sacred space, now long forgotten.
Ahead, in the distance, were the ruins of an old church—at least, it looked like one.
Crumbling arches.
Half a steeple.
Shattered stained glass pieces glittering like jewels in the weeds.
That's when it happened.
A rustle.
A metallic click.
Then, a whistle.
And suddenly—shadows moved.
Twenty men emerged like ghosts from the edges of the field, from behind ruined pillars, tall grass, and fallen statues.
All armed.
All aiming.
Kai froze.
Hina stepped in front of him instinctively, her hand reaching for her second gun.
Akira raised her rifle but didn't aim—yet.
Yuto didn't move at all. As if this was expected.
A single voice rang out.
"Drop your weapons."
A man stepped forward—tall, wrapped in a cloak. His face partially hidden by a hood, but his posture was that of a soldier.
"This is Rei's territory," he said. "No one comes armed without clearance."
Akira raised an eyebrow.
"Really? And here I thought Rei liked dramatic entrances."
"We don't take risks anymore," the man said. "Not with Sabushi's people sniffing around."
Kai's blood chilled at that name.
So did Hina's smile.
"We're not Sabushi's," she said. "Not anymore."
The man didn't flinch. "Prove it."
Akira smirked. "Should we show him the car full of corpses?"
"I already saw the smoke," he replied.
Another man raised his rifle a little more. "Last warning."
Then Yuto finally stepped forward.
He didn't raise his voice.
He didn't flinch.
He just said, "Tell Rei that Yuto brought the boy."
Silence.
Then a murmur.
The man in the hood paused. Then raised a hand.
All guns lowered.
"…Follow me," he said.
But even as they began to walk toward the ruins, Kai felt it.
Something inside the ruins was waiting.
And it wasn't just Rei.
It was something... more.