Akemi had clearly learned from the last getaway.
This time, her driving was smooth and precise, her nerves steady. After loading Ren Kuroda and their "guest" into the car, she sped away from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police headquarters, taking a serpentine route through backstreets before pulling into a nearby parking lot to switch vehicles.
Once they'd swapped cars, she circled toward Beika Department Store, where they switched again—and this time, added wigs and disguises for good measure.
Half an hour of detours later, Akemi finally exhaled in relief. "No tails," she said, checking the mirrors one last time. "We lost them."
"Good. Now let's go get what we came for," Ren said.
Dino Cabane directed them toward an abandoned building near a bridge on the city's edge.
The three of them got out and climbed the stairs to the rooftop. The moment they arrived, Dino—desperate to stay alive—didn't need any prompting. He moved quickly to the far corner, reached into a loose ceiling panel, and pulled down several large burlap sacks.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each heavy bag hit the ground with a metallic clatter, the sound of treasure long hidden.
Akemi's eyes widened. She knelt and untied one of the sacks—then gasped aloud.
Inside were stacks upon stacks of gleaming gold coins.
She picked one up, brought it to her lips, and bit down gently. "That texture… that weight—there's no mistaking it! These are real! They're pure gold!"
"All of them are," Dino said quickly, eager to prove his worth. "Fifteen thousand maple-leaf gold coins. Every last one's here. They're yours now!"
Akemi's face lit up in sheer excitement. She opened another bag, then another, unable to contain herself as golden light spilled across the floor. "They're all real… we're rich!"
Meanwhile, Dino looked at Ren cautiously. "So… can I go now?"
Ren nodded casually. "Go ahead."
Dino hesitated, took a few slow steps toward the stairs, and then glanced back. Seeing the red-masked man make no move to stop him, he sighed in relief and hurried off.
As he walked through the empty streets, anger began bubbling up inside him. "Those bastards… selling me out to the cops! I'll gut them both when I find them!"
His fury burned hotter with every step—until a sharp pain pierced his chest.
He froze. Looked down.
A hole, neat and dark, bloomed in the center of his chest.
He didn't even have time to process it before collapsing face-first onto the pavement.
Back on the rooftop, Ren lowered his sniper rifle with a faint sigh.
Akemi had been watching in disbelief. "You—you shot him? But didn't you just say you were going to let him go?"
"He looked back," Ren said flatly, tossing the rifle aside. "That told me everything. He was planning to come back for the gold."
Akemi frowned. "That's… kind of a stretch, don't you think?"
Ren could tell she was genuinely unsettled. She was too kind-hearted to understand the logic of betrayal and blood.
"Then let me prove it," he said. "I'll bet you anything these gold coins are bugged with trackers."
He knelt beside one of the bags, untied it, and began digging through the coins.At the same time, he opened his System's Black-Market Menu and quietly purchased a small GPS beacon.
A moment later, he pulled it out of the pile and tossed it to her. "See that? Told you. He wasn't planning to share."
Akemi's eyes went wide. "W–what?! You mean he really—he was going to steal them back?"
"People like him never change," Ren said, shaking his head with mock disappointment. "Human greed knows no limits, Akemi."
She clutched the little device in shock, her faith in humanity visibly shaken.
Ren hid a faint smile behind his mask. Of course, the "tracker" had come straight from the System's inventory. But it did the job.
Too bad the store doesn't sell coin-shaped models, he thought. That would've been perfect.
Ren went to another bag, reached inside, and "found" another one. He handed it to her as well. "See? Told you. Guys in this business eat each other alive. You're lucky I'm the one you met first."
"If not, even if you'd pulled off the bank job perfectly, your partners would've taken everything and left you with nothing."
"Worse—you'd have worked yourself to death for free. Like a slave."
Akemi caught the second tracker, her face falling. The realization hit her hard.She'd been naïve—laughably so.
She'd thought she was being honorable, keeping her word. In this world, that kind of thinking got you killed.
If she'd taken the gold home tonight, Dino Cabane would've shown up before dawn—with a knife.
Her spine prickled at the thought. The underworld was a place where one mistake meant death, and anyone without a cruel edge wouldn't last a week.
"Mr. Azu…" She bowed deeply to Ren, guilt coloring her voice. "I'm sorry for doubting you."
Ren waved it off. "Don't apologize. I chose to work with you because you are kind—and trustworthy."
He smiled faintly. "That's why I can turn my back on you without worry."
Akemi's heart swelled with emotion. Gratitude, shame, and relief all tangled together.She felt foolish for ever doubting him.
After all, he'd never hurt the innocent. Unlike Cabane, he targeted the corrupt and the criminal.
How could I have compared him to that scum?
"I promise," she said quickly, eyes shining with conviction. "From now on, I'll follow your orders completely!"
Ren blinked. She looked like a soldier pledging her life. Well, he thought dryly, that worked better than I expected.
But rather than push it further, he changed the subject. "You got a way to offload these coins?"
"I'll sell them through the organization's channels," Akemi said. "Turn them into cash quietly."
"Good. Handle that," Ren said, lifting the bags with ease and loading them into the car's trunk.
He was about to close the hatch when something occurred to him. He looked over. "You're not planning to, say, keep a 'souvenir coin' for yourself, are you?"
Akemi froze.
Her cheeks turned pink as she pulled a single coin from her pocket. "I… I thought it was pretty. Just one couldn't hurt, right?"
Ren sighed. "Wrong. If anyone sees that coin, they'll report it. Then what? You'll have police knocking on your door asking why you're holding stolen gold."
She opened her mouth to argue but wilted under his stare. "You're right. I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
She quickly put the coin back in the bag, then dashed off to the driver's seat before he could scold her again.
Ren closed the trunk with a solid thunk and leaned against the door.
"Akemi," he said, half amused, half serious, "watch more crime movies."
"Huh?"
"Learn how the criminals get caught. You're in the business now—might as well study the field."
Akemi nodded furiously. "Right! Starting tomorrow, I'll watch one crime movie every day!"
Ren chuckled. "Good. Then I expect a written report next time—at least eight hundred words."
"Y–yes, sir!" she said, giving him a quick salute.
As she climbed into the driver's seat, Ren slipped into the passenger side, the city lights reflecting faintly off his red mask.
In the trunk, fifteen thousand gold coins glimmered softly in the dark—symbols of greed, blood, and survival.