The armored doors slid open, revealing the night air. Somewhere, in the labyrinthine streets of the city, Kae waited. And I intended to reach her before the countdown ran out.
Less than an hour had passed since the meeting with the Mayor. I had spent the time scanning every corner of the city, tracing any digital footprint, analyzing traffic cameras, and cross-referencing known criminal cells. Every lead twisted into a dead end. My frozen assets gnawed at me, but the stack of cash my friends had left was enough to maneuver—barely.
Then, exactly one hour after I had begun, my phone vibrated. A single, encrypted message illuminated the screen:
"Transfer location for Miss Kae Asamiya: abandoned textile factory, South District. Three billion yen, three hours. Fail, and she dies. Instructions attached."
I read it twice, letting the words settle. The kidnappers were organized, ruthless, and precise. They had likely been monitoring me since the moment my "richest man" status hit the news. They knew the stakes.
I let out a low breath.
*Three billion yen in three hours.*
The clock was merciless, but at least now there was a target. A fixed point.
The armored van five blocks away hummed softly, officers waiting for instructions. I turned to them, calm and focused. "We move immediately, South District. Secure perimeter, but do not engage unless I give the order. Understood?"
The lead officer nodded, voice tight but obedient. "Yes, sir… though, uh, with all due respect, what if this goes sideways? We're talking professional kidnappers here. One wrong move—"
I cut him off with a sharp glance. "Then we adapt. That's why I'm leading this, not you."
Even as I spoke, a flicker of doubt lingered at the edge of my mind. Could I really pull this off? Could anyone?
I slipped my remaining bills into a briefcase, counting every yen I could afford to spend. "This is for starters," I muttered. The rest… would come later, once Kae was safe.
As we navigated through the city's backstreets, the factory loomed ahead—vast, derelict, windows darkened with grime. A perfect staging ground for professional kidnappers.
I glanced at the countdown on my phone. It was forty minutes left. Every second drilled into my mind.
We approached cautiously, vehicles and officers forming a silent, controlled formation around the factory. Inside, somewhere, Kae waited. The next hour would decide everything.
I gripped the briefcase tighter.
*Time to act like the world's richest man.*
The factory loomed like a monolith, silent and oppressive. Its shadows swallowed the weak sunlight filtering through the grime-streaked windows. Officers fanned out, moving like shadows themselves, weapons ready but restrained with every step and every breath counted. I, meanwhile, clutched the briefcase and silently cursed my decision to "improvise" on the way here.
"Remember," I said before leaving for the door, voice low, "do not enter unless I give the signal. We aren't here to start a firefight—we're here to bring her back safely."
I approached the main entrance, hands still firmly on the briefcase. A bead of sweat traced the side of my temple, though my expression betrayed nothing. Thirty-five minutes, time was running out fast. Inside, I could hear the faint shuffle of movement—footsteps cautious and measured. The kidnappers were professionals. They had to be. Every instinct screamed that a single misstep could end everything.
I stopped just short of the doorway and tapped the briefcase.
"Damn… bloody again," I muttered, dabbing at my running nose as I whipped up nosepuds. Not long after, a voice crackled through a small, cheap speaker dangling near the main door.
"World's richest man," the kidnappers' monotone drawl said.
"Your time is ticking, thirty-five minutes remaining. Deliver the full ransom, the sum of three billion yen—or you will never see her again."
"I have your ransom here already," I said out loud while tapping the briefcase once more. "What about Kae?"
"She's inside…"
"How do I know you're not lying? Could be someone doing a really bad cosplay of her. Either way, I'm not impressed."
"Just deliver the ransom and we will bring her out… unless…"
I swallowed hard, then replied with a grin.
"Hold up—three billion yen, and you're all saying no? Are you rich already, or is poverty just your thing?"
"Watch your mouth!" one of them barked. "You just became rich overnight!"
True. This was their livelihood, probably done this way for years, while I'd only just stumbled into it.
"Give us the ransom…"
"Dang, my nose..!" I said holding my nose.
"Stop stalling… The girl is inside. Give us the ransom or we blow her up." One of them replied.
"Fine, here it is." I handed over the briefcase as they scanned it carefully. I smiled wide as they inspected it, oblivious to my tiny, crucial gestures.
One of the kidnappers' eyes flicked to my subtle movements, a flash of recognition in his gaze. "Wait—don't—" he barked, lunging toward the briefcase.
"Too little, too late," I said with a grin.
The second he tried to stop them, the briefcase popped open, releasing a thick, colorless gas that rolled out like a sneaky, invisible wave. Their limbs stiffened, movements sloppy, eyes blinking in confusion..
"Now!" I yelled, seizing the opportunity.
Officers with gas masks surged forward with precision. One kidnapper tried to shout, but it came out as a strangled, slurred "Wh… wh—" before he collapsed, gagged and confused.
Chaos erupted. One fired a rifle, but the gas had ruined his aim. Another hurled a grenade that blew up a police car. A third shot shattered a nearby window. Sparks flew, shouting rang out, masked faces spun in confusion.
I ducked behind a support beam.
"This… is working… probably," I muttered.
I barely had time to think. On the way here, I grabbed whatever chemicals I had lying around—something from the old chemistry set I'd borrowed, a few powders from the art room, and that bottle labeled 'Do Not Mix'. I dumped them into the briefcase, shook it like I was mixing a smoothie, and hoped that whatever I'd read in chemistry about gases would actually work.
A whiff of something sharp and acrid hit my nose. I coughed, waved a hand in front of my face, and muttered, "Yep… that's probably it."
It was rough, it was chaotic. And it was probably illegal in, like, every country on Earth. But desperate times… and I had three billion reasons to hope it would work. Though, I was still wondering why all these risks for someone I met yesterday.
Yesterday… Last week… What's the difference?
Though the kidnappers weren't done yet. One held a detonation device, poised to blow up the warehouse. I lunged, striking the briefcase into his arm and sending the device flying. Bills erupted from the briefcase like confetti—millions of yen fluttering across the warehouse. Heaven, if heaven smelled faintly of money.
I strode toward the center, where Kae sat tied to a chair, amber eyes wide but steady. Relief, suspicion, and mild disbelief flickered across her face.
"Yo… Kae," I murmured, walking slowly toward her as the chaos outside began to settle.
I loosened the ropes around her wrists and mouth, careful not to disturb the scattering bills or the lingering madness of the moment.
She rubbed her wrists and shot me a sharp glare. "Do you have any idea what you just did?!"
I smirked, brushing a stray bill from my sleeve. "Yeah… got a little carried away. But hey—you're alive, aren't you?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Barely. And I swear, if my dad finds out you turned his city into a… a… money blizzard…"
"Relax," I said, hands raised innocently. "Consider it… a donation."
She groaned, but a small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You're impossible."
"And you love it," I quipped, helping her to her feet.
Just as we started moving toward the exit, a shadow detached itself from the chaos—a kidnapper, eyes gleaming behind a gas mask, charging straight at us.
"Move!" I barked, shoving Kae behind me as I twisted my body, narrowly dodging a swinging baton that could have split my head open.
The smell of the gas mask hit the air, sharp and chemical, and I cursed under my breath. "Of course, one of you had to get creative."
Kae stumbled but caught herself, glaring at me. "Why do I even let you drag me into this?!"
The kidnapper in the gas mask moved with terrifying precision. I barely had time to react—dodging, twisting, pushing Kae behind me—and yet, each movement felt like walking a tightrope over a pit of knives. One misstep, one twitch, and it was over.
A sudden swipe nearly tore my side open, the force knocking the wind out of me. I stumbled, heart hammering, and realized just how outclassed I was.
*This is what happens when you try to improvise against professionals...* I thought grimly.
Above, the roar of helicopter blades cut through the night. Floodlights scanned the factory, catching glimpses of the chaos below. The kidnappers' reinforcements were already moving in, coordinating with terrifying efficiency. There was no room for heroics—not for me alone.
Then, in the blur of headlights and engine noise, I heard the unmistakable roar of motorcycles. My friends had returned. Tires screeched across the concrete as they slid to a stop at the perimeter, engines thundering, and without hesitation, they charged straight into the fray.
The distraction was perfect. The kidnapper's focus split, his swings frantic as the sudden chaos erupted around him. I grabbed Kae, nearly collapsing under the adrenaline and exhaustion, and we bolted toward the incoming motorcycles.
"Get on!" Kenta shouted. I shoved Kae onto the back of a bike, barely steadying myself before leaping onto the next. The engine roared beneath me, the wind whipping against our faces as we tore out of the factory grounds.
Behind us, shouts, gunfire, and the faint hiss of gas echoed in the night, but for a moment, we were moving. For now, at least, the nightmare had a fragile edge of escape.
The wind whipped around us as the motorcycles roared through the shadows, engines screaming like wild beasts. I held Kae close, trying to keep her steady, heart still hammering from the near-death encounter.
Her amber eyes widened, glancing back at the chaos we left behind, then at my friends riding like forces of nature beside us.
"They… they saved us?" she gasped, voice trembling with disbelief and awe.
I gave her a tight nod, trying to sound calm though my own pulse refused to slow. "Yeah… and trust me, you don't want to know how close I came to being just another headline tonight."
She let out a shaky laugh, half-relief, half-adrenaline. "I don't even know them… but wow. You really do pick the craziest friends."
I smirked through the tension, letting her see a sliver of humor in the madness. "Yeah… lucky for us, the craziest are also the fastest. Unfortunately, money won't cut it for them this time—each one's insisting on a date with you."
Kae blinked, astonished. "A… date? Seriously?"
I shrugged, one corner of my mouth twitching. "Yeah… apparently being rich is only part of the package. A charming mayor's daughter seems to be non-negotiable."
She laughed, a pure, unguarded sound that made the helicopters above seem almost like background noise. "Hmph… They'll need more than your money to keep up with me, Souta."
By the time the night bled into morning, Kae was safe. The mayor greeted her at the gates like a man clutching the sun after endless darkness, his voice thick with gratitude as he clasped my shoulder.
"You've done more than anyone could ask," he said, eyes glistening. "My family is deeply indebted you and your friends. I'm sorry for every doubting you, Souta."
I nodded, forcing a smile. The chaos, the smoke, the rain of counterfeit yen—it was already starting to blur in my head, like a half-remembered dream.
But then it hit me. Twenty-four hours has passed, I could undo everything, reset the whole board, erase the carnage and the madness as if it never happened.
My hand trembled at the thought. The Unknown was still there, whispering in the corners of my mind. I didn't trust it, not yet.
But in the corner of my mind, the Unknown stirred.
"You realize," its voice coiled through my head, smooth and taunting, "you could have simply wished she was never kidnapped in the first place."
I froze. The weight of the chaos—the blown-up cars, the raining cash, the near-death brawl, my friends demanding dates from Kae crashed down on me all at once.
I sighed, rubbed my temples, and muttered, "Shut up."
Because honestly? He was right.