Rika and Ayame froze as realisation hits Rika. their steps stopped.
"We're at Hollow Crane," Rika murmured, in a low voice.
Kaito's step faltered. "The what?" he said as he looked at ayame and rika quickly over his shoulder, turning his head back slightly enough.
"The Hollow Crane," she said flatly. "A hotel that hoards mercs, bounty hunters, and assassins."
The camera seemed to pull back — revealing the vast number of eyes now locked on them.
From the glass entrance, footsteps broke the silence. A man in a beanie and black toothpick in his mouth walked in, passing the reception desk. He grabbed the announcement mic.
Kaito's jaw tightened. "…Beggar Clan?"
"They own this place," Rika replied coldly.
The man's voice boomed through the speakers.
Caption:Name: Jinta. Affiliation: Beggar Clan. Left Hand man of Paper-Cut.
Paper-cut's younger brother.
Nero Ability: "Ruyi Heizhen." {"As-You-Wish Black Needle"}
{similar to sun wu kong's" Ruyi Jingu Bang" staff.}
"Hello, good bounty hunters, mercs, and assassins. The girl standing at the center is Ayame Mizukawa — the girl with Five hundred million bounty on her head. Her associates — the monk and woman here — if you bring us their heads, Hollow Crane will personally reward you. Have your shot at it."
He let the mic drop with a heavy BANG.
The announcement was stretched across all the floors of the hollow crane.
Level 14 – Hollow Crane, Grand Kitchen:
A pancake flips high into the air, landing with a perfect plop on a plate.
"Five hundred mil, huh?" one of the cooks with a buzz cut mutters.
Behind the counter, a man in white overcoat and wavy hair freezes mid-pour of chai, brow furrowing.
Level 7 – Arcade Hall
A cluster of teenagers in bomber jackets and chain necklaces stopped mid-game, as the announcement was made.
"Yo, I know her — this bounty just went live online an hour ago," one said, shoving his phone into a friend's face.
"Yeah, but five hundred mil? That's… that's huge."
Level 11 – Boxing Gym
A group of fighters froze mid-sparring as the announcement echoed.
One leaned on the ropes, smirking.
"Guess we've got new prey in the building."
Level 0 – Lobby.
The trio's faces froze in shock.
The shady men and women at the tables began to move towards the trio to claim rewards, some began to pull out guns, others came with axes and rusted knives.
As one young man from one of the tables rose to participate as well and wise old man sitting on the same table stopped him, placing his hand over the young man's chest.
"Don't." the old man said. The old man was wearing a black beanie and had black shades on.
The guns were cut cleanly in a blink rendered useless, the hand holding the axes and knives were dealt with, kaito was busy fending them off.
Then, behind them — next to the elevator — a tall, bald man with shaved brows covered in wild tattoos began spraying something on the wall with a graffiti can.
"Not so intelligent of you to walk right into an assassin plaza while having a bounty placed on you." the bald man said, as he drew something.
In seconds, the rough outline of a gun emerged.
Rika and Ayame turned, confused. The man slid the spray can into his pocket, then pressed his palm against the drawing. The gun peeled out of the wall — real, heavy in his hand.
He aimed at Ayame.
Caption:Name: Gaku. Affiliation: Beggar Clan. Right Hand man of Paper-Cut.
Nero Ability: "Graffiti Art."
The moment the gun barrel leveled at Ayame, Kaito moved.
Steel flashed — his blade shearing clean through the nozzle before the first shot could fire.
Gaku's mouth curled into a lazy grin.
Kaito stepped in for the kill — but the man simply stepped back… to wall right next to the elevator.
Except there was something drawn on it, something green, fluidy something which felt like a portal.
Gaku passed right through the wall, into the green stuff.
What kaito's blade hit was the wall.
He blinked once in confusion — then heard it.
Hissss-pissss.
The sound of a spray can.
"Eyes here, monk," Gaku said.
Kaito spun — and there he was. Gaku crouched low, just behind Rika and Ayame, drawing a swirling green circle on the lobby floor where Rika and Ayame stood.
Before Kaito could reach them, the finished circle erupted upward in a fluid shimmer. The ground gave way — and Rika and Ayame dropped with a gasp.
Gaku dove into the portal right after them, flashing a peace sign as he disappeared.
"Kaito!!!" Ayame's scream cut through the lobby as they vanished into the portal.
Kaito lunged—
SHHNK!
Pain ran through his right foot — a black toothpick skewering it into the floorboards mid-stride.
The throw had been impossibly fast.
Across the lobby, Jinta lowered his arm, smirking.
Kaito's momentum broke. He hit the carpet hard, Ayame's scream still ringing. Too late.
Kaito wide eyed stared into nothing laying on the ground on his stomach.
The toothpick quivered, then began to stretch, twist, and thicken — elongating into a sleek, black spear. The blunt end slid back into Jinta's palm as if reeled in by invisible thread.
He gave it a casual spin. "Good girl," he murmured to the weapon as he walked towards Kaito, as did the others in the room.
Boots scraped around kaito. Dozens.
"You should be worrying about yourself right now," one of the mercs said, grinning.
Behind Kaito, the elevator chimed open — another wave of armed dumpsters spilling out, blocking the way back.
As kaito still laid on the ground processing his incompetence as he murmured smtg under his breath, a prayer perhaps.
Moments earlier, back at that one table the young man speaks to the wise old man.
"Why not Oyabun(A title given to a yakuza gang's leader.)." he asked.
The wise old man took off his deep black shades revealing scars on his eyes as they were closed shut.
He wiped the shade's lenses to his shirt and spoke.
"How could you not see better than a blind man…"
Kaito's grip tightened on the blood-slick hilt already in his hand. One boot shifted forward, weight low, like a predator's.
"…the girl was holding him back."
His shoulders straightened as he still murmured something under his breath barely audible.. A prayer perhaps?. His blade angled just enough to catch the lobby's light.
"…With her gone…"
Kaito let out a breath, a sigh.
"…there is nothing stopping him."
The lobby erupted.
The words had barely left his lips before the air filled with severed limbs and bodies cut mid-motion — frozen in that last instant before gravity claimed them.