Jin’s Bedroom
“We meet again, my dear…”
The dark figure is moving towards Hatsumi.
“Come with me. I’m here to save you,” he says while holding out his left hand.
A gun clicks.
“Get up!” another figure emerges. It’s Jin. He’s pointing a gun at the man.
The dark figure turns around.
A smirk sweeps across Jin’s face. “It’s been a while. I thought we had an understanding last time we saw each other, Fujiwara-san,” he says.
“What are you gonna do? Shoot me in front of my neice?” Kenji replies trying to mask his fears.
“Why not?” Jin replies with his devious smile. “I’m sure she’ll shoot you herself if she had the chance,” he adds mocking Kenji.
“I guess you’re right,” Kenji responds. He takes out a gun and points it at Sumi. “Drop your gun or I’ll put a bullet in her head,” he threatens. He turns to Sumi, “Get up!” he says grabbing her arm; then violently yanking her off the bed.
“It’s not enough that you sold me off, huh? Go ahead. Shoot me!” she says calmly. “Pull the trigger, Oji-san! Go ahead!” she yells out.
“Shut up!” Kenji yells. He takes Sumi hostage and heads for the door. “Don’t even think about following me, because if I see even a shadow of one of your men out there, I’ll blow her brains out.”
Jin lets him leave with Sumi, but warns him, “Even if my men don’t follow you, the woods will kill you by tomorrow. There are a lot of dangerous animals out there.” He then looks at Sumi and says, “Goodbye, Fujiwara Hatsumi-sama. Let’s meet again in your next life.”
“Let’s not,” she says coldly, but inside Sumi can’t believe what she’s hearing. “Why did you save me, only to let me die like this?” she thought. A sharp pain in her chest is getting stronger as if someone has stabbed her. Her tears of fear freeze as a feeling of betrayal fills her heart.
Within minutes, Kenji and Sumi disappear into the darkness of the woods.
Midnight
Yuya’s car
He’s been driving for hours going from to every place Sumi might go to and stopping at every police station hoping that he’ll find at least a clue.
It’s a battle focus on the road. The rain begins to pour so hard that the wind shield wipers aren’t even helping. Even his own body is not cooperating with him; his eyes blurry and his eyelids closing shut due to lack of sleep; his head pounding even harder than before.
Then….
A sudden flash of light… deafening car horns… and a loud
SCREEEEEECH…..
Earlier
Akanishi Mansion
Jin’s Room
Kazuya walks in. “Where’s Sumi?” he asks alarmed.
“He took her,” Jin replies calmly.
“And you just let him?” Kazuya responds angrier than ever. He takes out his phone and contacts the head of security, “Moshiimoshi… gather as many men as you can…”
Jin snatches the phone from Kazuya and hangs it up. “No one’s going anywhere, and that’s an order.”
“If you won’t look for her, I will,” Kazuya storms out of the room slamming the door behind him.
At the Hallway
Yamapi sees Kazuya leaving Jin’s room in a rush. “Kazuya!” he calls out, but Kazuya keeps walking without even looking back. He grabs Kazuya’s shoulder as soon as he catches up to him. “What’s going on?” he asks.
“I’m going to look for her.”
“Look for who?”
“Sumi! Who else?” Kazuya yells out. “Kenji took her, and Jin’s not doing anything about it.” Kazuya walks away.
Yamapi hears Jin’s door shut. “He must have been listening,” he thought.
At the Same Time
The Woods
“How did you find me?” Sumi asks as Kenji drags her deeper into the woods. “You don’t even know where to go, do you?” she scoffs.
“Shut up!” he replies. “I don’t need to hear whatever crap you have to say.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replies sarcastically; then adds, “I forgot you hear a lot of crap from everyone. May it’s cause that’s how everyone sees you; CRAP… Well at least that’s how I see you,” she mocks.
He smacks her across the face so hard the force sends her to the ground. A few drops of blood lands on her lap.
“Get up!” Kenji violently pulls her off the ground.
As if it wasn’t dangerous enough in the woods, the rain begins to pour. The leaves on the ground turn into piles of slippery death traps everywhere. One wrong step could be their last.
“We have to slow down,” Sumi suggests.
“What for? Are you hoping that bastard would come and save you?” Kenji replies. He begins to walk even faster.
“Look if you want to die out here, fine, but don’t drag me along with you.”
One, two, three… Kenji vanishes.
Sumi slowly walks toward the spot where he disappeared. He fell off a cliff…
“Is he dead?” she thought.
A hand grabs her ankle. It’s Kenji. He’s still alive and he’s dragging Sumi down with him. She could kick him off, but can she live with the guilt? Her weight can’t hold them both, and the leaves are too slippery. The rain is pouring harder than ever. She can feel Kenji’s grip slipping off her ankle. Within a split second, he’s gone; she can hear his screams being accompanied by the thunder as he falls.
Sumi gets a hold of a branch and holds on for dear life, but her hands are slipping fast. “To-kun!” she hears herself screaming.
“Grab my hand!”
“To-kun,” she whispers as someone pulls her up.
Later
Akanishi Mansion
Yamapi is drinking whisky by himself. He’s been watching the gate for the past few hours.
A woman walks in, “Ka-kun’s back,” as if reporting urgent news.
Yamapi remains silent.
“I’ll go get Jin-kun,” she adds.
“No need to do that.”
“I’ll let him know just in case.” Before she leaves the room, she asks, “It’s her isn’t it?”
“You already know the answers to that question,” Yamapi replies as he leaves the room ahead of her. “I’ll go meet Kazuya.”
Downstairs
Kazuya walks through the front door soaking wet. The door behind him is wide open; the rain still ruthlessly falling. Yamapi stands at the staircase waiting for Sumi to walk in any minute.
Kazuya pushes his wet hair back leaving his hand on top of his head. He lets out a loud yell and hits the door with his fist.
“…not there…” Yamapi hears the woman say catching her breath. He turns around confused.
“Jin’s not there,” she says clearly.
Yamapi and Kazuya aren’t moving from their respective spots.
“Well? What are you guys waiting for?” she asks distressed. “He’s injured. He could die out there. Call people!” she demands almost in tears.
(The identity of the woman will be revealed later on)
“We can’t do anything in this rain…” Kazuya replies.
“What do you mean we can’t?!” she asks.
“It’s too dark out there. There’s no way we’ll find him.”
The woman looks at Yamapi as if looking for an ally. “Kazuya’s right,” he says. “It’s better if we search in the morning,” he says calmly.
Meanwhile
In the Woods
Sumi’s walking in the darkness following the man who saved her life. His identity is still unknown to her, but what she does know is that she feels safe as he holds her hand.
He leads her into a cave and starts a fire. The light reveals his face. Sumi quickly picks up a piece of burning wood. “Don’t come any closer,” she warns him waving the burning branch between them.
Adhering to Sumi’s warning, he moves to the far end of the cave. His blood stained bandages are coming off. Jin lies down obviously exhausted and in pain as he removes the soaking bandages.
Sumi tries to ignore him. She takes off her dress to dry; then, lies down next to the fire. “…gome…” she hears Jin say with a shivering voice. She turns around and catches a glimpse of his face; it’s the same expression that he had this morning. “Another nightmare…,” she thought.
She slowly walks over to Jin. He’s asleep and shivering from the cold. She tries to wake him up, but he won’t; he’s burning with fever. Feeling in debt to him for saving her (twice in a row), she helps him move closer to the fire.
After a few minutes, Jin is still shivering. It looks like the fire isn’t warming him enough. “Reio…gome…” he keeps uttering over and over with a painful expression on his face. Sumi almost feels sorry for him.
“No…I hate him…but he saved me…” she thought. Without further hesitation, she embraces him… as if her body had a mind of its own. One arm across his bare chest as she lies next to him, her naked body against his smooth damp skin, his deep breaths filling her ears, and the flickering light exposing every contour of his muscles, are making her heart beat faster and slower at the same time.
The Next Day
Shibuya General Hospital
“Where am I?” Yuya wakes up with an IV on his arm.
Yabu approaches him. “You got in a car accident,” he says. The circles around his eyes are deep and dark after staying up the whole night to watch Yuya.
“How long have I been here?” Yuya says softly
“Since last night…” Yabu replies.
Yuya rips the needle off of his arm. “I have to go,” he says while trying to get off the bed. He falls on the floor.
“Stop it! Why the hell are you doing this?” he asks almost in tears.
“What do you mean why? Sumi’s missing, and no one’s doing anything to find her,” Yuya replies with rage.
Yabu tries to help him off the floor, but Yuya pushes him with all the strength he could gather. “I’m fine,” he says. “I have to look…”
“No you’re not!” Yabu cuts him off. “You can’t even get up on your own.”He holds Yuya down, while telling Inoo to call the nurse.
A few second later, three male nurses arrive to calm Yuya down. He violently resists and tries to hit them in order to escape. After tiring Yuya out, the nurses put him to sleep.
Akiko covers her ears as she cries Akira’s arms. The sight of her only son driven mad by his search for Sumi is too much for her to handle. “Help him find her,” she pleads, but Akira knows that he cannot…
The Next Day
The sun is shining and the birds are singing. It seems that the tempest has passed.
Yuya wakes up and find Yabu, Inoo and Shizuka asleep on the couch. He smiles a bittersweet smile. Although grateful for having friends like them, he can help but remember that their team is incomplete.
Yabu wakes up and sees Yuya staring at them. “Are you feeling better now?” he asks.
“Yeah… gome… Sorry for making you guys worry,” Yuya replies.
“Iie… I would’ve done the same if I were in your place,” Yabu replies with a smile.
“Kota-kun, do you think To-kun would have been able to protect her?” Yuya asks while looking out the window.
Yabu lets out a small laugh, “Out of all the things you could think of, you’re asking me about that?”
Yuya looks at him with a smile silently waiting for an answer.
“Isn’t that the nickname Sumi-chan gave you when we were little?”
“Hai… she called me To-kun the first time she met me…Sometimes I feel like…” Yuya pauses.
“Sometimes what?” Yabu asks.
“Nothing… never mind,” Yuya replies as if he just woke up from a deep thought.
Yabu smiles, “Look. To-kun, whoever he was for her, has been out of her life for years. To Sumi, you’re To-kun; so whatever he can do, you can too.”
“Yuya-kun!” Inoo cheerfully yells out loud. “Daijyoubou desu ka?”
“Hai…”
“That’s great! I have good news for you,” he replies with a big smile on his face as he waits for Yuya to impatiently ask what it is.
“Well? Are you gonna tell me?”
“Hai. The detective that I hired, he said he has a lead to where Sumi-chan might be…”
Meanwhile
Akanishi Manshion
Kazuya’s Room
Kazuya’s looking out the window, watching the gate. Their men have been searching for Jin and Sumi since daybreak, but still no trace of them. It’s already afternoon and the sun just started to set. Soon, it will be dark again, and they would have to stop searching.
“Hai… Don’t worry. I took care of everything. There’s no way he’ll be able to trace anything back to us…”
Yamapi barges in hearing Kazuya’s last word.
“I gotta go. I’ll call you later…” Kazuya quickly hangs up the phone. “Tomo-kun, any news of Jin-kun and Sumi-chan?”
“They’re back,” Yamapi replies while giving Kazuya a suspicious look.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Kazuya says as he heads for the door.
“If you betray him, I’ll be the first to hunt you down…” Yamapi replies making Kazuya pause just a few feet from the door.
Kazuya lets out a chuckle. “I might just do that to get what I want. Not everyone’s as generous as you, you know,” he replies without looking back.
Kazuya knows just where to hit him; Yamapi’s expression changes from a confident and intimidating look to that of a more vulnerable one.
Kazuya turns around with a smile, “I’m kidding! Well, aren’t you coming?”
Yamapi heads out as Kazuya hold the door for him.
“Besides, we both know you won’t even dare harm me…”
Downstairs
“Give her a bath and clean up her wounds,” Jin orders the maids to take Sumi away.
“I’m on it!” Kazuya replies eagerly.
“Eh?!?!” Sumi doesn’t seem to approve of the idea.
“Kazuya!” Jin calls out. He and Yamapi have already been walking away while talking.
“Well, I gotta go. Looks like you’re gonna have to wait for that bath,” he says patting Sumi’s head.
Jin’s Office
“How are we with the preparation?” Jin asks with a glass of whiskey in his hand.
“We still have two weeks until we can move in. They’re still installing the security system,” Yamapi replies.
“That’s not soon enough. We have to leave as soon as possible. What other options do we have?”
“Right now, all our houses in that area are occupied. The only available one was raided recently, and the cops are still keeping a close watch on it,” Yamapi replies.
“That’s good enough. I’ll call in some favors.”
“Jin, it’s too risky. They won’t cooperate just like that, especially at a time like this.”
“They will. Just do what I asked you, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Jin! This is ridiculous!”Yamapi is both worried and angry. He and Jin are both stubborn, and can charge at each other anytime if the argument doesn’t end soon.
Kazuya interrupts, “Well there is another place we can stay in. It has a fully installed security system. All we have to do is rewire it.” “Plus, no one will ever think that the yakuza would move in there,” he adds trying to lower the tension between Jin and Yamapi.
As if reading Kazuya's mind: “If you’re really that anxious to move, it’s better that than the other house. Plus, it’s closer to the city,” Yamapi adds sounding annoyed.
“Kazuya, I’m putting you in charge of the housing situation. Have them fix what they need to fix tonight. We’re moving in tomorrow,” Jin replies.
“I’m on it!” Kazuya leaves with a smile like a child with a brand new toy. After Kame’s long gone, Jin turns to Yamapi.
“Tomo-kun, I have a new assignment for you…”
