Eiji dropped from the secondary lines onto the thicker, steadier primary lines. It was a risky move—closer to the Depth, always—but the payoff in speed was undeniable.
Arishima smiled faintly. He shook the dust from his jacket, stepped off the primary, and swung into the tram's standard lines.
It was a move that drew frowns from commuters; dangerous for anyone nearby, and strictly frowned upon by the safety codes. But Arishima was Arishima. He would do whatever he liked.
Eiji moved with deliberate precision, one eye glancing down toward the fog-drowned abyss, the other fixed forward. Up ahead, a fallen skyscraper sprawled sideways against another building, its steel bones jutting into the tram paths like broken teeth.
Such ruins were both an opportunity and a threat; the kind of terrain where a runner's acrobatics became as vital as speed.
His team preferred going straight through such obstacles, reattaching to the lines on the far side. It was faster—but also dangerous. The closer to the Depth you ran, the more likely the Depth Whips could reach you.
"Jun, Emiko, Hikaru—listen up. I've got a plan." Without slowing, Eiji dove from the lines straight into the fractured windows of the toppled skyscraper.
Arishima had been expecting it. His fingers danced over his control pad, redirecting the swarm of drones to follow.
"They're not all going. Look!" Romi's voice cracked over the comms. She pointed—Jun and Hikaru were still clinging to their original lines, gliding past the wreck.
It was strange. Dreamtop never split during a run. Arishima felt a flicker of admiration.
"They're trying to confuse us," Maemi said. "I say we stick to our lines."
"Shut up! I'm going in. The rest of you—stay with the others!" Arishima barked.
He dropped, smashing through a pane of glass in a glittering spray, boots hitting the tilted floorboards with a sharp thud.
Ahead, Eiji was already in motion—flipping over jagged beams, diving through skeletal doorframes. His movement was so fluid it was as if the air itself paused for him.
Arishima's jaw tightened. He slammed a diskette onto the air—one of the new round jump-plates now all the rage in the cities—and launched himself forward with a sharp burst. The boost carried him several meters ahead.
But Eiji was still faster. He vaulted a half-broken wall without losing an ounce of momentum.
Got it — I'll keep the cinematic energy and make this a full, immersive, high-tension chase scene so you can almost feel the building sway and hear the Depth Whips.
Arishima pushed harder, the taste of dust in his mouth as the tilted hallways blurred past. Eiji was just ahead, the light from broken windows catching on his shoulders as he moved.
A sharp groan echoed through the skyscraper's steel frame. The floor beneath Eiji shuddered, the sound deep and long, like some old animal waking in pain.
Then—
CRASH!
A section of the building gave way. Rusted beams shrieked as they tore free. Glass, dust, and concrete fragments exploded into the air, swallowing Eiji in a choking cloud.
For a split second, he was gone—vanished into the dark shaft below.
Arishima's grin flashed.
"See you soon, maybe!"
This was his chance. He didn't even look down.
He vaulted the gap, boots scraping the edge, and kept running, every muscle singing with triumph.
But Eiji wasn't finished.
Below, in the lower Depths, the air was colder, thicker. Faint blue light pulsed from the abyss far below, casting long shadows up the walls. Eiji landed in a crouch, hand already reaching for his scooper. He knew what was coming.
The Whips.
They didn't need to see you—they felt vibration, movement, noise. And the collapse had made a lot of noise.
Somewhere in the shadows, something hissed. A wet, sharp sound like air sucked through teeth.
Eiji didn't look back. He ran.
His footsteps became quicker, lighter. Every stride counted. He felt the floor tremble behind him as the Whips stirred. Another hiss—closer this time.
Above, Arishima tried to raise his team.
"These damn buildings!"
Static crackled in his earpiece, then cut completely. He cursed.
These buildings—their thick walls, their collapsed internal passages—killed comms. It wasn't just the signal. It was the way sound got swallowed, warped.
He kept running. Left, then right, down another corridor—but it didn't make sense.
The angles were wrong. The walls were repeating. A stairwell he swore he'd taken minutes ago reappeared ahead.
A maze.
The drones, already struggling, stuttered in midair and fizzled out one by one, their feeds cutting to black. Arishima's temper flared.
He wasn't chasing anymore. He was trapped.
Meanwhile, on the primary line outside, Jun and Hikaru tore forward, the city whipping past. Behind them, Arishima's team was in pursuit—but just as they closed the gap, the runners plunged into a bank of low fog.
And then… nothing.
"What the?...Where did they go?" Aramaki asked.
Team Dreamtop was gone.
The pursuers skidded to a halt, scanning the empty lines, confused. The fog thickened, swallowing the horizon.
Inside the building, Eiji's breathing steadied. He'd timed it perfectly—counting the number of rooms, marking subtle changes in floor tilt and window spacing. His unspoken system had never failed him.
He emerged into a shattered lobby where light cut through the dust in angled beams. Above him, Jun, Hikaru, and Emiko were already moving along a fractured balcony one floor up.
A single leap, hands grabbing a jut of rebar, and he was with them. No words were exchanged—there didn't need to be.
In one motion, they burst through the final panel of warped glass and into the open air, their scoopers locking onto the tram line with a satisfying metallic click.
The line's hum vibrated through their arms as they shot forward, the city unfurling beneath their feet.
Eiji allowed himself a brief smile, turning his head just enough to glance back at the building shrinking behind them.
Somewhere in that twisting maze, Arishima was still running—furious, disoriented, and very, very far from winning.
This was why they ran.
Not for fun. Not for glory. Not even for the thrill of the chase.
They ran for survival. For their families. For their tower.