"Kiwi. Reports."
Maine wasn't playing around anymore. The moment the planning stage began, he dropped the lecherous jokes and the playful banter with David, his voice dropping into a low, predatory hum. The transition was jarringly professional, the mark of a man who had survived far too many nights in the combat zones.
Kiwi sat beside David on a pile of rusted pipes, the cherry of her cigarette a tiny, angry ember in the dim light of the hideout. She tapped a series of commands into her flat-panel workstation, the blue glow reflecting against her pale, unreadable face.
"Nothing yet," she said, her voice a dry rasp. "Since the last incident, Tanaka's security has been airtight. He's ghosted every public network. We can't even get a ping on his motorcade."
Maine cursed, a sound like grinding gravel. "Faraday is silent. We're blind. If we don't find a lead soon, the contract is dead."
"Tanaka?" David asked, the name triggering a memory of a locker room and a humiliating exchange of blows.
"Arasaka executive," Maine explained, not looking up from his hand, which was twitching rhythmically. "High-level target. He's the one who owned that limo you boosted on your first day. Why, you know him?"
"I knew his son," David muttered. "We were in the same class at the Academy."
Kiwi's head snapped toward him. She began typing furiously, her eyes darting across the screen. "Arasaka Academy? Honors student? Dropped out of a full-ride scholarship to run with us?" She let out a short, cynical laugh. "No wonder your mother was always asking Maine for extra credits. She was pouring everything into that tuition."
Aoyama's pen had captured David's expression perfectly, a mix of shame and lingering resentment. "Can we not dig into my high school failures? Please?"
"Hold on," Kiwi said, her eyes narrowing. "I just cracked a secondary server. It's mostly encrypted junk... but I found his personal media history."
"What's he into?" Maine asked, leaning in.
"Black BDs. High-fidelity stuff. Combat simulations, sensory overrides... and a lot of content from a tuner named Jimmy Kurosaki."
"Kurosaki?" David's eyes lit up. "Wait, I know him. He produces the 'Edgerunner' series for the underground markets. He does custom tunings for VIPs, removing the pain limiters and cranking the adrenaline to one-hundred-and-ten percent. If Tanaka wants a custom fix, Kurosaki will have to see him in person. Alone."
The plan formed in minutes. Ambush the tuner. Use him as bait. Kidnap the executive. It was a standard snatch-and-grab, the kind of job the crew had done a dozens times before.
But as the mission began, things went sideways with a sickening speed.
In a heartbeat, the world inverted.
David felt a sudden, agonizing surge of static in his brain. His neural link screamed. His vision turned into a kaleidoscope of broken code. He collapsed, his muscles turning to water. Behind him, Maine let out a gutteral roar before he, too, crumpled to the ground, his cyber-arms sparking as his OS rebooted in an endless loop.
Kiwi wasn't unconscious, but she was doubled over, her body rejecting the feedback loop as she vomited violently onto the concrete.
Through the haze of his failing optics, David saw the tuner's armored limo pull up. Jimmy Kurosaki stepped out, his expression bored, even as he signaled his chrome-clad guards.
"Nice try, kids," the tuner's voice echoed in David's fading consciousness. "But you're playing in the deep end now."
The chapter ended with a shot of Lucy watching from a distance, her eyes wide with terror as she saw the limo speed away with David inside.
---
Shuu Fumiya closed the magazine, his heart racing. The pace was picking up. The sudden shift from a romantic victory to a crushing tactical failure was classic Aoyama.
Across the city, Ryo Shien was feeling much the same, but with an added layer of dread. He looked at the panel where Maine joked about leaving his arms to David in his will.
"Aoyama... you bastard," Ryo whispered, a dark, nervous laugh escaping his lips. "That's not just a joke. That's a death sentence."
He thought about his fellow fans on the Penguin group, who were currently debating if David was going to rescue himself. He looked at the 'message' box, intending to warn them, but then paused.
Why should I be the only one suffering? he thought, his mouth twisting into a malicious grin. Let them hope. Let them cheer. The fall will be so much sweeter when it finally comes.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]