Peko

Peko arrived at Shuichi’s apartment at about 5 PM. Searching for public registries proved to be more difficult than she thought, partly due to an over-abundance of people in the city with the exact same name, but eventually, she was able to track down the building that her Shuichi Saihara was staying at. From what little she could find on the man, he apparently lived the humble life of an office worker, and the averageness of the apartment only added to this perception. Peko knew better than to judge things solely by their appearances, though, and approached the building with heightened caution.

She snuck up the stairs with the quiet stealth of a cat, located his apartment door, and, after making sure there were no signs of life inside, she began to pick the lock. A moment later, the door swung open, and she entered with her hand on her sword hilt, ready to go on the offensive. After she was absolutely sure that there were no traps or people waiting for her inside, she began the slow and meticulous process of searching the place from top to bottom for signs of the stolen cash. She could have just ransacked the place, but she didn’t want to make too much noise or leave too much evidence she was there, lest someone come by.

Frustratingly, though, she not only failed to find so much as a single banknote, but she also failed to find anything unusual in the place. There were no ****, weapons, signs of any connection to crime; nothing. There was an unusually robust collection of DVD porn in his bedroom closet, but beyond that, she couldn’t find anything even remotely eyebrow-raising in over an hour of searching.

“Augh… this doesn’t make any sense! The passport I found proves that this is his place, but there’s no sign of the money! Did he stash it somewhere else?” Peko wondered to herself. “Perhaps he has another safehouse somewhere that he-”

Peko’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone jiggling the handle of the front door. Not knowing who might be on the other side, Peko swiftly shoved herself into Shuichi’s hall closet and closed the door, shrouding herself in darkness just in time.

“Strange… I could have sworn I locked my door when I left this morning,” Shuichi said as he walked inside. “Ah, whatever, I don’t have time to get something to eat and get changed, or I’ll be late to meet up with the girls at Kokai park!”

“Girls?” Peko peeked out from the crack in the closet door just long enough to see Shuichi rush by her to his bedroom. “Ah! It’s him! Finally… I can get the answers I want, with no one to interrupt us.” She reached for her sword and relished in wrapping her fingers around the handle. “You have brought dishonor to my clan, but now I will get the satisfaction that I–”

Before Peko could finish her inner monologue, Shuichi came rushing back out of his bedroom in his gym clothes, grabbed a bagel and a squeeze yogurt from his kitchen, and dashed outside with his gym bag.

“Ah! Wait!” Peko rushed out of the closet, but by then, it was too late - Shuichi was already out the door and running down the stairs. Peko rushed to the door and hastily unlocked it, but when she got outside, he was nowhere to be seen.

That was, until she looked out from the balcony down to the apartment parking lot and spotted Shuichi heading toward one of the cars.

Specifically, the super rare, incredibly expensive, and possibly one-of-a-kind MTS 20XX convertible is parked in the middle of the lot.

“I see… so that’s what he spent the money on.” Peko gripped the railing in front of her hard as anger built up inside her. “So it is too late to recover the case. No matter - if you will not pay in cash, then you shall pay in blood… at Kokai Park.”

Her eyes followed Shuichi’s car like crosshairs as he put the convertible into drive and drove off into the distance.

“Hey, everyone,” Shuichi met his friends as he walked into the park and set his bags down underneath their usual tree. “Phew… for a second there, I was afraid that I was going to be late.”

“Long day at work?” asked Murkuro.

“Sort of; just a lot of extra work for a project that I’m doing,” Shuichi replied. “I managed to make some good progress, though!”

“Let me guess - the project is so big that you can’t handle it and your normal duties at the same time?” Mukuro asked as she began stretching out her legs. “It’s stuff like that which almost makes me grateful that I avoided getting a normal job.”

“It’s not that bad, and besides… at least it’s something.” Shuichi got in between Mukuro and Maki and joined in on their stretches. “So how have your days been? Anything exciting happen since I last saw you two?”

“Not particularly,” Maki answered honestly. “Just dealing with more dicks, day-in, day-out. Both the literal and the figurative kind. Things have been a lot better since you gave me those tips, but I swear, you’re still the only customer I’ve ever really liked.”

“O-oh… thank you.” Shuichi looked away to hide his blush. “What about you, Mukuro?”

“Other than the weapon thing, not too much,” said Mukuro. “I got into contact with some of my friends from my… old career, though.”

“Really?” Maki cocked an eyebrow as she moved to do some sit-ups. “It must be hard to speak with them considering their work.”

“Yeah, we can’t exactly use regular phones or laptops to speak, but we have our ways,” Mukuro explained. “Most of them are still alive and well, but one of my old flames recently took a bullet to the shoulder.”

“What!? That’s terrible!” Shuichi gasped, shocked that she said something so casually. “How does that not count as ‘exciting’?”

“Well, because that’s just part of life when being a mercenary; people get shot all the time, your friends included. You just… get used to it. Otherwise, you just won’t cope.” Mukuro shrugged. “On the bright side, my friends and I all agreed that whenever one of us gets wounded, they have to pay the others one thousand USD, so at least there’s that.”

“Wow…” Shuichi stopped his stretching and stared off into the distance for a moment. “I’m not sure I could ever handle being in an environment like that. I’m pretty sure I’d just panic on the spot.”

“You’re right… you probably would,” Maki agreed.

“Uh… was that supposed to make me feel better?” Shuichi asked, finishing his stretches.

“No, but there’d be no point. War and **** are both terrible. Just pray that you’ll never have to see it yourself.” Maki rolled her shoulders and walked out onto the main path that circled the park. “Now, let’s get our jog started, shall we?”

“Yeah… let’s.” Shuichi shivered and followed behind Maki and Mukuro, officially starting their nightly jogging warmup.

“So, are you going to finally tell us about what happened last night, or are you going to keep being unnecessarily mysterious?” Maki asked as they went.

“Oh, right! I can’t believe I almost forgot!” Shuichi swallowed and did his best to avoid looking Maki in the eye. “I sort of… went gambling for the first time last night.”

“Shit.” Maki knew immediately where this story was going. “How much money did you lose?”

“... All of it,” Shuichi said after a moment of silent shame.

“All the money that you were carrying, or that you made in the last month, or-” Mukuor bean.

“All of it, all of it!” Shuichi interrupted. “As in, every single yen in my bank account. I didn’t go into debt, thankfully, but after I walked out of the casino, all I had left was the money in my pockets.”

Mukuro whistled. “I don’t know if I should feel impressed or just sad. Did you get too cocky?”

“Y-yeah, I guess you could say that.” Shuichi grimaced as the image of Nagito flashed in his mind. “It’s okay, though; what happened was my responsibility, and I’m not about to go begging either of you for money.”

“That’s noble, but, in case you haven’t realized, you’re a little ways away until your next payday,” Maki pointed out. “How are you going to survive until then? Sneak catsup packets out of restaurants and survive on those?”

“Actually, I think I might not have to,” Shuichi replied. “You see, I haven’t even gotten to the strangest thing that happened last night, and it’s the real reason I wanted to talk to you girls about this.”

Next to Shuichi, Mukuro did her best to split her attention between what Shuichi was saying and the path in front of them. It wasn’t that hard for her since she was used to multitasking but suddenly, she saw something in the distance that tore her mind away from Shuichi completely. It was something shiny and glittering in one of the trees surrounding the park path. Most people probably would have ignored it, but for Mukuro, there was absolutely no mistaking what it was.

The scope of a sniper rifle.

“You see, when I was leaving the casino, I found this briefcase that–” Shuichi said, only to be cut off by Mukuro putting a hand on his back.”

“Hit the deck!” Mukuro shouted as she threw herself and Shuichi to the ground. Maki, not even questioning the order, followed them down mere milliseconds later, just before the crack of a rifle echoed through the park, and a bullet whizzed over their heads.

“W-what!?” Shuichi gasped, his face covered in dirt as he writhed underneath Mukuro. “What the hell is going on?”

“Stay down!” Mukuro **** Shuichi to stay flat to the ground and, with more bullets whizzing over their heads, she crawled along the ground and dragged Shuichi to an area behind a small hill where she was relatively sure they’d be safe. “Maki! Is this a friend of yours?”

“Don’t think so,” Maki shouted from behind a nearby stone bench. “They’re aiming at you two, so you must be the target.”

“Impossible; if they were one of my enemies, they wouldn’t dare use such a predictable tactic,” Mukuro argued. “They’d use an IED, or a **** squad, or an airdropped explosive.”

“Speaking from experience?” asked Maki.

“Maybe,” said Mukuro. “Either way, we’ll have to kill them before they kill us.”

“W-wait, s-someone is trying… to shoot us!?” Shuichi gasped, his mind still unable to fully process what was happening.

“Shh! Calm down, Shuichi! Take long, deep breaths,” Mukuro said calmly as she rolled on top of his body, even as the shots continued to be fired. “Breathe in… and out… in… and out.”

Shuichi felt the strong urge to hyperventilate but, staring into Mukuro’s silver eyes and calm beauty, he was able to get himself back under control.

“Now, listen to me; it doesn’t matter how we got into this battlefield; what matters is that you need to get out of it alive.” Mukuro took Shuichi’s hand and held it tight. “Don’t worry about us; we’ll be just fine. You just stay here and, when you see an opening, run to your car and drive away from here as fast as you can. But only move if you believe it is absolutely safe.” She then reached for one of her hidden combat knives and handed it to Shuichi. “And if you have to fight, do not hesitate, understand? Nothing is more important than your life.”

“I… I…” Shuichi gripped the knife and closed his eyes. “I-I understand.”

“Good.” Mukuro rolled off Shuichi and crawled closer to Maki so they could speak to each other more quietly. “So, what’s the situation like?”

“Well, given the rate of fire and the trajectory of the bullets, my guess is that we’re dealing with a lone gunman,” Maki answered. “Though, we should be wary of any backup they may have hidden nearby.”

“I see… and do you have any weapons on you?” asked Mukuro.

“I have my knife,” Maki replied, unsheathing it from its hidden spot against her inner thigh. “But all my powerful stuff is back in my bags on the other end of the park.”

“Same,” said Mukuro, taking out her spare knife. “Should we try to retrieve them?”

“No, too risky - we’d get cut down before we even got close,” Maki replied. “But I do see plenty of useful cover that we can use between us and the shooter’s vantage point - and the closer we get, the harder it will be to aim with such a heavy gun.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Mukuro said as she got ready to sprint.

“Splitting their attention by alternating jumping from cover? Of course.” Maki got ready to run as well. “Follow my lead…”

A moment later, Maki vaulted over the bench, dashing toward the fountain in the middle of the park to take cover behind that next. As soon as she was safe, Mukuro followed suit, using some bushes for cover so she could hide behind a nearby tree. As this went on, the sniper continued to take shots at both of them, each time missing but always coming uncomfortably close to grazing them - though, the sniper never quite took her eyes off where she last saw Shuichi.

“Th-this can’t be happening… this can’t be happening…” Shuichi said to himself, hands shaking, as he continued to lay in his hiding spot. “This doesn’t make any sense; Maki and Mukuro have both gone years without something like this happening, and now an assassin shows up when I’m working out with them? Oh, of all the rotten–”

Shuichi cut himself off as he suddenly remembered the pin that Nagito had given him and the suitcase full of money that he had found last night.

“Oh no!” Shuichi almost felt his soul leave his body. “The gunman isn’t here for them… they’re here for me!”

Back in the rest of the park, Maki and Mukuro were both making good progress on approaching the assassin, the silver-haired gunman unable to keep up with their shockingly fast movements. Eventually, Maki managed to get directly beneath the tree without the gunman noticing, at which point she looked to Mukuro for guidance. The soldier didn’t hesitate and gave Maki a hand signal to take the sniper down.

Maki nodded in response and swiftly climbed the tree, tackling the sniper out of it like a twin-tailed eagle. The sniper, who turned out to be a silver-haired woman in a Yakuza suit, wasn’t caught entirely by surprise, though, and managed to kick Maki off of her - though, her sniper rifle wound up getting tossed into the park fountain in the process.

“Tch… of course, he’d have bodyguards… this job is never easy,” the silver-haired woman thought to herself as Maki and Mukuro both surrounded her with their knives.

“Alright, I’m only going to say this once,” Mukuro announced, stepping out towards the disarmed sniper. “Surrender now, and tell us who you’re working for, and I promise that we’ll only cripple you from the nose down.”

“As… generous as that deal sounds, I think I’ll have to refuse,” the gunwoman replied confidently, wiping the dirt off her suit coat.

“You can’t really think you can win this, do you?” asked Maki. “You’re outnumbered, and you’re short one gun.”

“Maybe, but to be honest, I always preferred fighting in close quarters anyway.” Before Maki or Mukuro could react, the silver-haired woman reached behind her and unsheathed the longest katana sword either of them had ever seen. “In a way, I should be thanking you; now, I get to finish this job my way.”

With that, the swordswoman charged forward and began to fight the assassin and the soldier, her steel clashing with their knives again and again. She had expected the two to go down quickly with a few well-placed strikes, but she was impressed to see the women hold their own. Similarly, Maki and Mukuro were both impressed to see the swordswoman handle two opponents so easily, even blocking their blades from multiple angles with no effort.

This stalemate went on for several minutes, sparks flying every time their blades clashed, until Mukuto finally spotted an opening and kicked the swordswoman in the shin hard enough to bring her to her knees.

“Gah!” Peko cried out in pain, trying to get back to her feet as quickly as possible. Maki was faster, however, and pinned the silver-haired woman to the ground, her sword clattering onto the hard concrete next to her as it was knocked away.

“Finally.” Maki raised her knife and aimed directly at the swordswoman's heart. “When you get to hell, feel free to join my fan club.”

“Wait, stop!” a voice suddenly cried out, but by then, the knife was already descending down for the killing blow.

The knife never collided with the young Yakuza’s body, however. Instead, the knife’s trajectory was abruptly interrupted by Shuichi’s arm, creating an ugly, bloody gash in his flesh as he **** Maki to embed the knife into the ground. The young office worker screamed in pain, but fortunately, the knife had simply glanced off and not embedded itself into his arm.

“He… he saved me!?” Peko thought to herself in shock as she stared up at her target, the event playing out in slow-motion. “Impossible!”

“Gah!? Shuichi!?” Maki instantly felt a tidal wave of regret rush through her so powerful that she, a practiced assassin, nearly vomited. “What the hell are you doing!? You should have gotten out of here! What were you thinking, deflecting my knife like that? If it had been a centimeter closer, I’d have just stabbed you!”

“I know, I know, that was… pretty stupid of me,” Shuichi replied, clutching at his bleeding wound and grimacing. “But, I couldn’t let you kill her. If she dies, whoever sent her will just send someone else right after her, and then this will never end.”

“Maybe, but it’s not as if turning her into the police or holding her hostage would accomplish anything. At least this way, her bosses would know that we’re not to be trifled with,” Mukuro said as she walked up to Shuichi. “Now, come here, and let me look at that cut.”

Shuichi reluctantly offered his arm to the ex-soldier.

“Hmm… you got lucky. It’s relatively shallow, and you didn’t hit any major arteries.” Mukuro tore off the bottom of her shirt and wrapped it around Shuichi’s arm as a makeshift bandage. “Next time, you likely won’t be as lucky.”

“Tch… if you expect me to talk, then you might as well just give up and kill me now,” the silver-haired woman said bravely beneath Maki. “I would sooner walk into hell than betray my comrades.”

“Actually, I think I already know why you’re here.” The cool evening breeze flowed through Shuichi’s hair as he turned to face his would-be killer. “And I’m sorry for all this, but there’s been a big misunderstanding! No one has to die here!”

“Hmph! That’s easy for you to say,” the bound woman spat. “Especially when it wasn’t your honor that was disgraced, and you still have your ill-gotten gai-”

Shuichi interrupted the woman by placing the briefcase, which he had just retrieved from his car, in front of the girl and opening it, revealing the stacks of cash that lined the inside.

“Is… is that?” The swordswoman’s mouth hung open as she was shocked into silence.

“What… the… fuck!?” Maki’s eyes glowed red as she turned toward Shuichi. “Didn’t you just say that you lost every yen that you had?”

“I did! Really, I did!” Shuichi put his hands up defensively. “But then, when I left the casino, I found this underneath a dumpster outside! And, well, since it was just sitting there and I was broke, I figured that I might as well take it home with me…”

“Augh!” Maki slapped herself in the face. “You idiot! Haven’t you ever seen ‘No Country For Old Men’? With that much unmarked cash, of course someone is going to come looking for it!”

“Indeed - I’ve seen more than a few people killed in Columbia for accidentally digging up cartel money,” said Mukuro.

“But… I… I don’t understand,” the girl underneath Maki spoke up. “It doesn’t look like you’ve touched a single bill. But… what about your car?”

“The car was a gift from my parents,” Shuichi replied. “And I knew taking the money would be risky, which is why I didn’t spend any of it yet. I wanted to get your advice on what to do first.”

“Well, I would have advised you to burn it, lest it somehow be traced back to you, but I believe we’re a bit beyond that at this point,” said Mukuro.

“So, uh… I know this is a little late, and I’m sorry I took it in the first place, but… I hope this makes up for everything.” Shuichi pushed the suitcase full of money towards the swordswoman and got on his knees, bowing so deeply that his forehead touched the dirt. “Please, take the money back, and tell whoever your boss is that I deeply regret taking it. I am sorry.”

Maki glanced over at Mukuro and, at her signal, she finally stood up off the swordswoman and let her approach the briefcase under their careful watch. The silver-haired girl didn’t attack, flee, or reach for any weapons, however. Instead, she crawled toward the suitcase of money and picked it up with her eyes wide, as if to confirm that it was real.

“No, you are not the one who should be apologizing. I am.” The swordswoman closed the case and returned Shuichi’s deep bow. “Please, forgive me. I had assumed that you were some sort of criminal mastermind, but it is clear that, while you have some unusually combat-skilled friends, you are completely innocent. On behalf of the whole Kuzuryu Clan, I apologize for nearly breaking our code and putting you in harm’s way.”

“Wait, hold on a second.” Maki suddenly interjected. “Did you say ‘Kuzuryu’? As in, the single biggest Yakuza gang outfit in the city, and maybe even the country?”

“Yes… I do suppose I owe you all a full explanation, don’t I?” The swordswoman sat back up and wiped her glasses clean with a small white cloth. “My name is Peko Pekoyama, and I am the personal bodyguard and lieutenant of our leader, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. We had been feuding with a local gang called the Savage Tigers for the last few months, but we managed to come to an agreement to avoid war at the last second. The lynchpin in that agreement, however, was that we would receive one hundred million yen from the Tigers, so my Master was understandably upset when the briefcase was not there at the pickup spot that we had agreed upon.”

“Oh… so taking that money was even worse than I thought it was,” Shuichi said, swallowing nervously.

“That’s correct; because of this misunderstanding, the chances are quite high that a gang war will break out by the end of the day. But, I know I cannot blame you for that, especially after you so selflessly saved my life,” Peko explained.

“A war between the Yakuza and the Tigers!?” Maki gasped. “Shit; no wonder weapon prices have been going up so much.”

“A war between two gangs of that strength could very well tear the entire city apart,” Mukuro coldly calculated with a hand on her chin. “I’d estimate that the casualties would be about 2,000 gang members and at least 8,000 civilians and police.”

“What!? That many?” Shuichi clutched at his heart in panic. “But, you have the money now, right? That means that the war doesn’t have to happen, right?”

“In theory; but at this point, it is likely too late,” Peko replied. “I tried to contact Fuyuhiko when I picked up that rifle, but I couldn’t reach him. That can only mean that he is already lying in wait to ambush the Tigers’ leadership.”

“I see. Then perhaps fleeing town, at least for a few months, would still be the right idea after all,” Mukuro suggested.

“No… no!” Shuichi slammed his fist onto the hard dirt. “I’m not going to let it come to that! We have to stop them!”

“Seriously? You have to be joking right now.” Maki rolled her eyes and knelt down next to Shuichi. “I know that taking the money started this, but you can’t consider yourself responsible. You were ****, tired, and not thinking straight, and you’ve already paid for your mistake with your blood. And, despite all odds, you have a chance to walk away from all of this scot-free. Don’t throw your whole life away just because you feel a little guilty.”

“I… I’m sorry, Maki. But I can’t do it.” Tearing up a little, Shuichi looked Maki directly in the eye. “I know it’s risky, and of course, I’m terrified of getting hurt again, but… if anyone innocent were to get hurt because of me, I don’t think I could handle it.”

“Tch.” Maki grunted as she remembered all the times she wished she could have avoided the deaths of an innocent… and how she wished there was another way. “Fine. Let’s go see if we can stop the war.”

“W-wait, are you being serious?” Peko gasped and stood up. “The only way to stop the war would be to stop Fuyuhiko’s ambush, and if you’re not part of the Yakuza there’s a chance they’d shoot you if you tried to talk to them.”

“Maybe, but you’re a member of the Yakuza, right? And a lieutenant too.” Maki picked up Peko’s discarded sword and tossed it to her. “They won’t shoot you.”

“I… suppose that’s true.” Peko sheathed her blade and began following the group back to Shuichi’s car with the suitcase of money in tow. “But there’s still no guarantee of success, and it will be extremely dangerous. Doubly so if the Savage Tigers spot us.”

“That’s fine. I’ve faced far worse odds than this before,” Mukuro replied, not the least bit fazed by the possibility of **** as she got into the car’s back seat with her friends’ bags. “The real question is if you’re really willing to accept fate and risk your ‘Master’ getting killed in a pointless fight.”

Peko’s eyes widened at the thought of her beloved Fuyuhiko being cut down without her to protect him.

“...Let’s get going. I think I know where they’ll be.” Peko jumped into the passenger’s seat as Shuichi started the car. “Now, you’re going to want to start heading north…”