Stay safe, will you?

Two people were seated next to each other in the cafeteria's crowded space. The dining hall was packed with patients and their visitors, along with a few staff members enjoying a much-needed lunch break.

Natsuo, dressed in a hospital outfit, stared at the tablecloth's faint pattern. His mother, seated beside him, never looked away from him.

"What's on your mind? You don't like it?"

The young man stopped poking at the almost untouched pie on his plate and shook his head.

"No, it's not that. I just... want to ask you something," he muttered.

"I'm listening," his mother said and nodded encouragingly.

"Have you found the oyabun yet?" Natsuo asked, glancing nervously at his mother and then at the people around them, wondering if he should even ask such a question in a place like that.

"We don't know if he is still in Tokyo, but he is probably still in Japan. We are working on it, but it seems he may have escaped."