I wasn’t exactly supposed to be there. I was supposed to go straight home, without any stops between, no exceptions. But… the new manga had been released, and there was no way I could resist that.

I was wishing I had resisted it as I stood there, my heart thrashing hard against my ribs as a knife was pressed hard to my throat.

Damn it. How had I not noticed what was brewing? Even with my nose buried in the pages, I should have been able to sense the tension. Yet, somehow it had escaped me. And so had the sounds of the fighting, drowned out by the blaring music from my headphones. That would teach me to listen to music on my way home- not that I could, since the man had slice through the cord when it got in the way of my neck.

Figured.

My hand was wrapped around the man’s wrist, trying to pull him away, but he was stronger than me. And resisting only seemed to irritate him more while his laughter rang in my ears, making me wince. So I dropped my hand, raising my eyes to the man with the gun.

Maybe my gaze was a little hard at first- but if he would just lower the gun, the idiot with the knife would let me go, and I could get out of there. It was partially his fault. Which probably wasn’t a safe way to be thinking when I was in the middle of a fight between yakuza.

“Can’t we-” The begging that I had started cut off in a small sound as the knife pressed into my throat hard enough to draw blood. My teeth locked in my lower lip, and more blood trickled down my skin as I swallowed hard.

Forcing my gaze softer wasn’t hard when I let my fear show. Pleading with my eyes for Kazuo, if I’d even heard my captor right, to lower his gun before I lost something more important than a few drops of blood. Or at least to distract him. I was sure even I, given enough of a chance, could figure out a way to hurt the man enough to get free; throwing my head back into his face, stomping his foot, anything. I just needed that knife far enough away from my neck that moving wouldn’t kill me.

“I said release him,” Kazuo growled that time, his voice no longer soft or even somewhat civilized.

“Why? So you can shoot me! I don’t think so. I’ll be leaving, with him as insurance,” the one with the knife shook me just enough to indicate who he was talking about.

Kazuo looked terrifying as his gaze narrowed and the gun lifted a little higher. My captor moved, putting me further in front of him as he shouted at the other man, his voice high pitched with fear, “You wouldn’t do that! Kazuo! If you simply listened, I wouldn’t need to threaten the boy!”

“If you test me, you will lose, Jin.”

Kazuo was scaring my captor enough that he was trembling slightly. Scaring me, too; I almost missed my chance, too busy staring at him with wide eyes. But my captor’s slight hesitation caught my attention, and I had enough common sense to take advantage of it.

My captor hissed with pain as I slammed my head back against his face; it made me wince, shocked by how much it hurt to do that. The pain was worth it. My captor’s grip loosened a little more, and I lifted my foot to stomp it down on his. His grip was weak enough after that, that I managed to break free. Shaking him off, I threw myself to the side.

The wall I collided with was hard enough to knock the breath out of me, but it was better than the knife. A hand covering my neck to cover the bleeding and my hair sweat dampened where it hung in my face, I looked up and hoped Kazuo was as good as his threatening implied. If he wasn’t… I was pretty sure this Jin guy was going to kill me.

The first shot made me jump, the cry of pain from Jin had me turning to look. He fell to the sidewalk, gripping his knee and rolling back and forth as he whimpered and cried. Kazuo walked up to him, hardly making a sound. He kept the gun level, never once looking to me.

“Now I’m listening. So tell me. What is so damned important? Are you going to tell me you weren’t the one to kill those women? Are you going to tell me that you weren’t the one stealing from me too? I’m eager to hear it.”

Jin hissed and let out a startled sound as Kazuo’s foot landed on his side to keep him still, “I didn’t kill them! I just… Brought them to where he wanted them!”

“‘He’?”

Jin nodded, “Yes. And I haven’t stolen from you. I wouldn’t dare…”

Kazou took in a slow breath. He was quiet for some time before he spoke again in the soft, dark tone that sent ice spiraling into the air, “Didn’t steal from me. Didn’t kill them. I see. The problem, Jin, is that you took those women to someone who did kill them. So, in a way, you have their blood on your hands anyway. As for the stealing. It doesn’t matter anymore. Who is this guy you’re working for? The one killing my townspeople?”

“I don’t know. Never got his name. Just the job, over the phone.”

“Fine,” Kazuo straightened and the gun discharged a second time. Jin fell still on the ground and Kazuo turned to me, a dark glint in his eyes that wasn’t made any better by the blood along his face, “Masao.”

“Yes,” a second voice came and a hand wrapped around my arm tightly.

I assured myself that what I did was perfectly natural; the high, almost girlish shriek as I clawed at whoever had grabbed me. I’d just watched somebody get shot. Granted, somebody who had held me hostage. But still, how was I supposed to trust them to let them get near me, much less touch me, when one of them had just shot somebody?

“Let me go!” My voice was still at that same high pitch, trembling, and I shot a longing look at my new book where it lay on the ground where I’d dropped it. It would have made a good weapon. “Seriously! Let go! What do you think you’re doing!”

I kept flailing and scratching until he had no choice but to let go of my arm. Scampering back a few steps, I kept my back pressed at the wall so I didn’t have to try and grow eyes in the back of my head to make sure I was safe. “Look. I-I won’t tell the police or anything. Just give me my manga and let me go home, okay?” I tried for a daring smile, even just confident, and I probably looked like I was crazy.

Kazuo made an angry, low, growling sound as the other man rubbed at his arms. He stalked up to me, the same deadly grace he had when he’d walked up to Jin. The hand holding his gun hit the wall next to my face while the other snatched hold of my lower jaw tight enough to bruise and make breathing hard.

“You don’t get that choice,” Kazuo uttered in a low voice.

“Kazuo… We should leave. Take him with us. If he see’s a cop, he’s bound to say anything with how frightened he is right now. Not to mention whoever Jin was working with might have been watching. Sorry, kid, that makes you a liability. One we can’t afford,” the one named Masao said, a frown on his lips.

“W-what?” I could have smacked myself when my voice squeaked. Though that might have been partially due to Kazuo’s grip on me. “Hey! I-I already told you I won’t say anything. I swear! I-I just want to go home. You can’t take me with you!”

I struggled to pull away, but I was quickly learning that I would never be strong enough to get out of these situations. “L-look, guys. Just let me go. It’ll all be fine. I-I don’t care about what you, or Jin, or whoever else does. Seriously! I-I have my own life to worry about!”

I may have been begging, or just simply rambling at that point, but I was utterly terrified. If they took me god knew where, what was to stop them from simply killing me? Hell, what was to stop Kazuo from shifting his grip low enough to strangle me and killing me right there on the street? He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would hesitate about that.

“P-please, let me go.” The last words held that thin, reedy tone that matched the tears that had began to form in my eyes. I really didn’t want to die- at least not before I got to finish the manga that had caused all this trouble in the first place.

Next Chapter: 3- Kazuo