At Pier Four in Minato Ward, dawn was beginning to break. The sun slowly rose over the horizon, painting the edge of the sky in pale white.
Snow was still falling and growing heavier by the minute.
The thin layer of snow covering the ground had been stained crimson red, dazzlingly vivid against the white.
Holstering his gun, Rei quickly ran over and dropped to his knees beside Ritsu. The last shred of rationality he had left forced him to call out "Macallan" instead of "Ritsu."
"Macallan?! Wake up, Macallan!!!"
His vision had already blurred, and his pupils were beginning to lose focus. Even though he could hear Rei's voice, Ritsu couldn't respond.
He wanted to move even just a finger, to tell him he was still alive, to make him calm down so the Organization members arriving later wouldn't grow suspicious.
"Don't fall asleep! Didn't you want me to pay you back for your phone? I'll buy it… no matter how expensive it is, I'll buy it for you!"
"Weren't you looking forward to fish and chips? I'll make them for you every single day, okay?"
"Please, don't fall asleep!"
'Don't fall asleep! Don't leave me behind, Ritsu!'
His pleas gradually turned into desperate begging. Rei's voice began trembling as well, because he realized no matter how hard he tried to warm Ritsu's hand, it wouldn't warm up.
Cold enough to pierce the bone. So cold that even the tears gathering in his eyes seemed frozen.
Lowering himself, he pressed tightly against Ritsu's chest.
There was no heartbeat. He couldn't feel Ritsu's heartbeat anymore.
Footsteps approached nearby. Rei instantly drew his pistol in alarm, only to have a gun pressed against his own head first. Slowly, he lowered the hand he had raised.
Despair had completely swallowed his reason.
If he died now, he could probably leave together with Ritsu. At least they'd have each other. Neither of them would be alone.
"Bourbon, why are you here?"
An unfamiliar voice.
Turning around, Rei saw a woman wearing only a thin white dress shirt. She had long silver hair, and even her eyes were mismatched colors, her left eye blue, and her right eye colorless and transparent.
Who was she?
"Who are you…? Are you with the Organization?"
"Answer my question first, Bourbon." Rei slowly raised both hands above his head. Having calmed down slightly, he frowned and replied,
"Macallan and I were carrying out a mission earlier. Suddenly, I couldn't get through to his phone, and I couldn't find him anywhere, so I searched the area and ended up here."
There were no signs he was lying.
In reality, Curacao had been present the entire time and had personally witnessed Akai shooting Ritsu. The Boss's voice came through her earpiece, and Curacao lowered her weapon before saying,
"I'm Curacao. Hand Macallan over to me."
Curacao?
'So this woman really was Rum's confidant, Curacao… And she was actually female.'
Rei frowned. "Where are you taking Macallan?"
"To recover the corpse of an Organization member who failed his mission, Bourbon. That's common sense."
"…Sorry."
Rei slowly stood up and watched as Curacao lifted Ritsu's body into her arms. A nearly six-foot-three man being carried by a woman looked deeply unnatural.
A corpse.
Heh. No matter how unwilling he was to face reality, what difference did it make?
Ritsu was gone.
Forever sleeping here. Forever sleeping in the snowy weather he hated most.
Curacao's figure gradually disappeared from sight, and the final trace of light inside Rei's violet-gray eyes faded away, leaving behind only endless emptiness.
Lowering his head, he looked at the blood staining his clothes.
It was all Ritsu's blood.
His trembling hands slowly touched the fading warmth lingering in the crimson stains, as though Ritsu were still beside him.
The pale white horizon gradually turned pink.
Rei looked up toward the sunrise.
'Ritsu, the sunrise is beautiful. I watched it for you. Rest peacefully, my best friend.'
...
Inside a pitch-black room, a piercing alarm clock rang loudly.
Buried beneath a warm blanket, Jinpei lazily reached out a hand. Still half-asleep, he effortlessly dismantled the alarm clock on instinct alone.
With the noise gone, he immediately collapsed back into bed and continued sleeping. No one could interrupt his date with his bed.
Well… there actually was someone who could.
BANG!
The bedroom door was kicked open violently. Standing at the entrance was Kenji, his right eye covered by a medical eyepatch as he shouted in dissatisfaction,
"Jinpei! How long are you planning to sleep?! Did you forget there's an important meeting this morning?!"
"…Mgh, Ken, just let me sleep three more minutes."
"No."
"One minute at least?"
Kenji had no interest in bargaining with him. To deal with this guy, there was only one effective method. Leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, he smirked.
"Sure. I'll livestream your lazy sleeping face in the Metropolitan Police Department LINE group."
"!!!"
With messy bed hair exploding in every direction, Jinpei instantly sprang upright from bed. The moment he saw the phone in Kenji's hand, he hurriedly wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, his muffled voice emerging from inside it.
"Kenji! Put your phone away right now, or I'll dismantle it too!"
"I'm not arguing with you. Hurry up and get dressed." Turning his head toward the window, Kenji smiled lightly.
"The weather's pretty nice today."
...
The sun slowly rose over the horizon, orange clouds spreading across the sky.
The February wind carried a chill. Having just finished an overnight surveillance assignment, Wataru couldn't help yawning as he rubbed away the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"Date-senpai! It's the sunrise!"
A brown-haired young man wearing a camel-colored sweater stepped out of the convenience store carrying two cups of hot coffee. Handing one to Wataru, he wore a bright and cheerful smile.
His name was Wataru Takagi, currently holding the rank of Senior Patrol Officer. He was Date's junior. A responsible, honest young policeman.
"Takagi, have you never watched a sunrise before?"
"Now that you mention it… I guess I haven't."
Noticing the faint smile at the corner of Date's lips, Takagi immediately looked curious. "Date-senpai, did you watch a sunrise once with someone really important to you?"
Wataru froze briefly before smiling and taking a sip of the warm coffee. Looking toward the slowly rising sun, he said softly, "Yeah. Back at the police academy, we once watched the sunrise together from the rooftop."
"Huh? The rooftop? Wasn't that supposed to be off-limits?" Takagi blinked in surprise.
"Hahaha! Well, there were a few guys in our class who were especially talented at lockpicking, so the rooftop became our secret base."
"Oh… I see."
He had always assumed senpai was the perfect model student back in school. Who knew he'd done things like that too?
Taking out his phone, Wataru sent a text message to his girlfriend, Natalie. Then he patted Takagi on the shoulder.
"Thanks for the coffee. I'm heading out first, someone at home is waiting for me to come back for breakfast."
"Got it! Take care, Date-senpai!"
...
A dark gray suit.
A blue necktie.
Standing before the mirror, Hiro carefully checked the stubble along his chin. Only after confirming everything was neat did he head to the kitchen, pick up the breakfast bento he had prepared for his coworker Yuya Kazami, and leave for work at the National Police Agency.
It had already been half a month since Ritsu last came to report on his missions. He wondered how Ritsu and Rei were doing lately.
Ever since becoming the liaison for the Shadow Group, Hiro had grown closer to Kazami, who served as the liaison for the Zero Group.
Mostly because Kazami could provide him with the information he most wanted to hear, such as updates about Rei.
Driving his dark blue Citroën CX, a different color from his older brother's car, but the same model, Hiro greeted the guards at the entrance as usual before taking the elevator to the fifth floor.
As he walked deeper into the hallway, he was surprised to see Kazami had arrived even earlier than he had.
The next second, he couldn't help turning away to stifle a laugh.
"Morofushi-senpai, did something funny happen?"
Though both of them were liaisons, Hiro held a slightly higher rank and generally had stronger execution skills.
"Pfft… Kazami, your dress pants are on backwards."
"?!"
No wonder everyone on the train had been staring at him. His pants had been backward the entire time?!
This was social death!
Kazami immediately sprinted toward the restroom. After fixing his pants and washing his hands, he walked back toward the office while wiping them with a handkerchief, only to discover Hiro still standing there.
Worse yet, the lunchbox containing his breakfast had fallen onto the floor, its warm food scattered everywhere.
"Morofushi… senpai?"
The sharp eyes that usually shone with life had gone dim.
Hiro's trembling right hand tightly gripped his phone. His mind was completely blank; he couldn't even hear Kazami calling his name.
'What happened to senpai?'
His own phone vibrated inside his pocket. Confused, Kazami pulled it out and saw it was an email from Rei. At first he assumed it contained some Organization intelligence, but after reading the contents, he finally understood why Hiro looked like that.
[Zero: Macallan confirmed deceased at 06:04 on February 7th. His identity was not exposed. Tell the higher-ups not to worry.]
Kazami looked up at Hiro, who had tilted his head upward in a desperate attempt to control his emotions.
Even he felt devastated.
'How unbearable must it be for Furuya-san and Morofushi-senpai, who were Ritsu's closest friends?'
The answer was,
So painful they could barely breathe. It felt as though a massive weight had been crushing their chests.
Expressionless, Hiro crouched down and quietly cleaned up the spilled bento.
There were no tears. Not a single one.
Without saying anything, he silently walked away.
Only after entering his own office did he turn his head toward the cherry blossom tree outside the window, whose buds had yet to bloom.
Whether it bloomed or not didn't matter anymore. Because the flower's core had already withered.
And once the core withered, the petals were destined to fall.
He… would never come back again.