Tengoku e no Hangyaku - Rebellion against Heaven (english version)

Chapter 18: Dark Night

The night covered Tokyo with a blanket of shadows and neon lights. The sound of the city, the distant conversations, the engines roaring... everything felt distant to Ryuusei. His mind had only one goal. He had sealed his fate the moment his family looked at him as a stranger. There was no turning back.

"So it's definitive?" Aiko asked, sitting on the sofa with her weapons at the ready.

Ryuusei adjusted his gloves and put on his mask. The one she once left behind, but now felt like a second skin.

"Yes," he replied in a firm voice. There are no more doubts. There is no more waiting.

Aiko watched him seriously. He didn't say anything else, he just got up and followed him. Both vanished into the darkness of the night.

Kenta, Haru, and Daichi were together, as they used to be. One more weekend, one more outing. They had no idea what was coming. They were walking down a lighted street, carefree, laughing at some unimportant joke.

Until they felt it.

A shiver ran through their bodies. A sense of danger, that something was stalking them from the shadows.

"Do you feel that?" Daichi whispered, looking around.

Kenta frowned, her instinct telling her that something was wrong. Haru looked to the sides, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"They're watching us," Haru murmured, his tone serious.

From a nearby building, Ryuusei looked at them. His fingers pressed against the cold railing, his eyes hidden under the mask glowing with a contained fire. He was not the same boy who had hesitated, who had looked for another way. Now there was only one truth: they were the reason for their suffering. His family had forgotten him, his life was shattered... and these three were the spark that started it all.

"We'll start by separating them," Aiko whispered beside him.

Ryuusei nodded. The hunt had begun.

The plan was put into action with precision. A loud noise in an alley caught Daichi's attention. Curious, and without thinking too much, he took a few steps forward, away from the other two.

"Daichi, wait," Kenta said, but it was too late.

A shadow moved quickly. A well-aimed blow knocked him unconscious before he could react. Haru and Kenta turned just in time to watch their friend's body being dragged into the darkness.

"DAICHI!" Haru shouted, running in his direction.

But then, a figure fell in front of them from the roof of a building. His white mask shone in the dim light of the lanterns. In his hands, the daggers reflected the radiance of the city.

"We'll see each other again," Ryuusei whispered, his voice laden with icy poison.

Kenta felt his heart stop for a second.

"Ryususei," he muttered incredulously.

"No," Haru whispered, feeling a fear she hadn't experienced before.

Ryuusei raised one of his daggers and pointed it at them.

"This time... No one will come out unscathed.

The hunt had begun. And there would be no mercy.