The wind howled across the open stretch of Hanairo District's rural highway.
The fields around them blurred into streaks of gold as Yuto slammed the gas pedal, the black sedan tearing down the ten-kilometer straight like a bullet through silk.
"HOLY FUCKEN SHIT-!" Kai exclaimed, while grabbing the seat in front of him, to don't slam against the door.
Behind them, the black van was gaining.
"They're right on us," Akira called out, peering through the rear windshield while cradling her rifle.
"Just in time, as expected." Yuto said, with a very calm tone of voice, like nothing was happening.
"Then let's give them something to worry about," Hina muttered.
Her eyes burned with purpose.
The calm she'd shown just moments ago was gone, replaced by something primal.
Something fierce.
She rolled down her window, braced her arms, and aimed.
The first shot cracked like thunder.
A flash of muzzle fire lit up the interior.
Kai jumped, instinctively ducking lower in his seat.
"Holy shit!" he screamed again.
Akira laughed. Not a chuckle. A full, wicked laugh.
"Hell yeah, princess! Get 'em!" Akira shouted, with a very excited tone of voice.
She was feeling so "happy" in that moment.
She looked like she was having a lot of fun.
Yuto didn't speak.
His hands were tight on the wheel, eyes laser-focused on the road.
He swerved smoothly to the left, narrowly avoiding a spike strip that had been laid out between rows of wheat.
"They were ready for us," he muttered.
"Then they die prepared," Hina replied coldly, firing again.
The side mirror of the van behind them shattered, and sparks flew as bullets ricocheted off their trunk.
Akira propped herself out the opposite window, letting her assault rifle hum with controlled bursts.
Hina didn't aim to the guys inside the van.
Instead, she aimed to the van's wheels, but she missed.
"On your left!" she shouted.
Yuto swerved hard.
Another round of bullets flew wide, rattling the steel of the chassis.
"This is FUCKING insane!" Kai yelled.
He clutched the pistol Hina had given him, knuckles white, his breath ragged.
He felt like a child holding a grenade—dangerous, uncertain, scared.
But Hina didn't flinch.
She was in her element.
She was beautiful.
And terrifying.
Her eyes locked onto the van's windshield. One clean shot was all she needed.
"Steady," she whispered to herself.
*Crack!*
The bullet sliced through the air like fate.
The van jerked to the right, then spiraled.
The driver—gone.
It smashed through a patch of wheat, flipped once, twice, and exploded into a fireball that painted the sky orange.
Kai's eyes went wide.
"You got him!!?"
Hina didn't smile.
She reached into her jacket, swapped magazines, and locked her pistol with a chilling snap.
But then—
"Uh-oh," Akira said, her tone shifting.
Kai turned.
Three cars.
Black, armored, headlights off.
They surged out of side roads like predators smelling blood, flanking their vehicle on both sides and behind.
"Three more!" Akira shouted. "Someone really doesn't want us getting to Rei."
"Damn it!" Hina hissed.
Bullets erupted again.
Glass shattered.
Kai screamed as a side window blew inward, shards raining across his jacket.
"Down!" Yuto barked.
He took a hard turn, the tires screaming against the pavement.
Their car bounced slightly off the road's shoulder before correcting.
Dust and grain flew into the air as they skimmed the fields.
Hina popped back up, her gaze wild.
She fired two rounds into the hood of the car on their right.
"Not enough," she muttered.
Akira pulled a flashbang from under the seat.
"I got a party favor!"
She popped the pin and chucked it backward without hesitation.
A burst of white light exploded behind them.
"Driver's blind!" Akira yelled.
Yuto took the opening and slammed the brake before jerking the wheel into a 180-degree spin that sent their car sliding in a perfectly controlled drift.
They were now driving backward at high speed, and Yuto somehow kept control.
"What the hell are you?!" Kai yelled.
"I'm your driver," Yuto replied calmly, flicking the car into a rotation and switching gears again. They were moving forward before Kai could blink.
Gunfire resumed.
"HAHAHAHA!" Akira laughed hysterically.
She was in her element.
The car to their left opened fire.
But, some how, every single bullet missed thanks to Yuto's ability.
He looked like he was predicting every single shot.
Bullets screamed past Hina's shoulder.
She ducked low, and Kai saw a man lean out of the enemy vehicle, aiming a high-caliber rifle.
Right at Hina.
Time slowed.
Kai's breath caught.
He saw it.
He saw death in the man's eyes.
The way his finger curled around the trigger.
And Hina—
She hadn't seen him.
Kai moved.
His hands shook, his vision blurred, but he raised the pistol.
He didn't think.
He just *pulled the trigger*.
The sound was deafening.
The recoil knocked his arms upward.
But the shot landed.
The man jolted, fell back into the car, and vanished.
Hina turned.
Her eyes widened.
Just for a second.
Then—
She smiled.
A real but a very predatory smile, like the one she gave him when Kai told her about his first kill.
"Nice shot, Kai," she whispered, with still her dangerous smile on her face..
Kai sat frozen, the gun still smoking in his hand.
His heart thundered.
He hadn't missed.
He'd just saved her.
And that... terrified him more than anything else.
He felt it in his chest: not fear of violence—but fear of *what he was becoming*.
The chase wasn't over.
The enemy cars were still there, still firing.
But something had changed.
Inside Kai.
He wasn't a bystander anymore.
He was *part of this*.
And he couldn't go back.
Not now.
Not ever.