The Attack

Despite the surprise attack, Haruki's instincts kicked in, and he immediately began to struggle against his assailant.

He drove an elbow into their abdomen making the assailant grunt in pain, momentarily stunned by the force of the blow.

He then twisted his body, breaking free from the assailant's grip. With a low growl, Haruki turned to face his attacker, his alpha senses on high alert.

His fist connected with the assailant's jaw with a satisfying thud, disorienting the already unsteady attacker.

As the assailant staggered back, Haruki seized the opportunity to press his advantage.

He used his momentum to flip the attacker onto the ground, pinning them down with his weight.

Breathless and heart racing, Haruki looked down at the person beneath him, his alpha instincts heightened by the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"Who are you? What do you want with me?" Haruki demanded, pressing them harder against the ground as they fought back.

The assailant struggled beneath him, but Haruki's grip remained firm. He reached for his handcuffs to hold him down before radioing for help.

However, as his hand fumbled for the cuffs, he realized he was dressed in casual attire, having left his police gear behind at the precinct.

Cursing silently, Haruki's mind raced as he assessed the situation. He couldn't let the person notice though.

He pressed harder against the struggling person. "You're not going anywhere," he growled, his eyes narrowed into slits as his fangs peeked out. "Now tell me, who sent you and what do you want with me?"

He couldn't risk letting the assailant escape, but without his handcuffs, he was at a disadvantage.

As he thought of what to do, the assailant suddenly broke free from his grasp, ducking under his arm and attempting to run.

Reacting quickly, Haruki lunged forward, grabbing hold of the assailant's arm in an attempt to stop them. Instead, he grabbed the assailant's sleeve and ripped it off.

he caught a glimpse of a tattoo on the assailant's forearm, a menacing dragon ascending the clouds curled around a stylised calligraphy of the kanji for strength, a symbol that Haruki recognized all too well.

It was the emblem of the Aramaki family! The surprise made him release his hold on the sleeve and the attacker fled.

Haruki wanted to go after him but thought about the situation. He didn't know if this person was armed, and without his police gear, he was vulnerable.

As he sat there in the alleyway, questions resurfaced.

Why had he been attacked by a member of the Aramaki family? What did they want with him? Did he come close to figuring something out?

He pulled out his phone and made a call to the chief.

"So much for a restful night."

**********

In a dark alley, two people stood face to face. The air was filled with tension.

"Did you do as asked?" A tall figure asked, face obscured by a mask.

"Yeah, jumped the dude and let him see the mark," the other figure glared. "You should have told me he had training! I nearly got caught!"

"But you didn't," the taller figure said. "Here you go," he threw the thick envelope to the other person.

The other figure caught the envelope and quickly checked the contents. Their eyes widened with greed as they saw the amount of money inside.

"Nice doing business with you!" He tucked the envelope under his arm and walked away.

"And you as well," the taller figure said, pulling out a gun.

The silencer went off but didn't muffle the sound of the body hitting the ground.

The taller figure walked over to the body and picked up the envelope.

"And you as well," they repeated.

**********

Haruki found himself in the office again, recounting his encounter with the person in the alleyway. His squad looked worried, "are you hurt?" Aya asked, munching on some mochi.

"No Aya-San, thanks," Haruki smiled at her.

"Boss would be fine! No way some low-level thugs would get the drop on him," Rekka waved off her concerns.

Ryoji, Takahiro and Kenji simply looked him over to make sure he was ok.

Misato stood on the side, an unimpressed look on his face.

"Where is your proof ?" He interrupted Haruki.

"Proof? I don't have any!" Haruki glared as he folded his arms. How the hell was he supposed to get proof that he was attacked?!

"So you expect us to believe your word of mouth? Do I look dumb to you?" Misato asked.

A cough that suspiciously sounded like a "yes," came from the ones behind him. Misato glared at them and turned back to Haruki.

"Look, Sakurai! We need real proof to bring anyone to book," Misato said slowly, as though talking to a child.

"What do you want me to do? Ask the dude to wait while I get my phone to take a picture?" Haruki glared at him.

Did he know how absurd he sounded?

Misato scoffed, "Well, well we don't have enough to bring in anyone for questioning so keep searching!" Misato yelled as he stood up abruptly and walked out of the room, no doubt embarrassed.

"Well, you know what that means," Kenji said, shaking his head.

"Back to the drawing board."

**********

One rainy afternoon, as the team sifted through stacks of paperwork in the precinct's cramped conference room, Aya's sharp eyes caught something in one of the files.

"Hey, guys, take a look at this," she called out.

Haruki and the others gathered around her, examining the document she held. It was a transaction record detailing suspicious payments made by the Aramaki family to various companies over the past few months.

"There's a large sum of money being funnelled into a shell company with no legitimate business operations," Aya said

Haruki's brow furrowed as he processed the information. "Could it be a front for illegal activities?" he mused aloud.

"We need to cross-reference these names with known associates of the Aramaki family," Rekka suggested, his eyes shining.

Ryoji nodded in agreement, already reaching for his laptop to begin the search.

Hours passed in a blur as the team worked tirelessly to piece together the puzzle. Finally, as the shower outside slowed to a drizzle, they found what they wanted.

"We've got it," Takahiro exclaimed, holding a file. "These transactions are directly linked to members of the Aramaki family."

Haruki hurriedly took the paper and scanned it. As he had thought, it detailed payments made using their legal fronts but were actually for their illegal drugs and arms deals.

With the evidence in hand, Haruki wasted no time in drafting a warrant application, detailing their findings and outlining the urgency of the situation.

As he handed the application to Chief Kenji, he was literally shaking with anticipation. The chief went through the necessary process and sent the file off for approval.

"Now we wait," Kenji said, looking at his team.

"Wait?" Haruki frowned. "But we have everything set!" he said.

"Yes and now we wait for their response and hopefully a warrant," Kenji said, levelling him with a cool stare.

But Haruki couldn't sit still, he began to pace the office floor. Warrants usually took days, even weeks before they got to the judge's table.

Then another series of waiting before they're approved. Haruki sighed, this was getting too much to handle.

I'll go and see the suspect at the hospital, see if I can get anything," He said pulling his coat along as he walked to the door.

"Good idea," Kenji nodded, "We might find something from his testimonial," He said, nodding at Haruki.

"Hey, hold up!" Ryoji called, rushing after him.

"What?" Haruki asked, looking at him confused.

"Let's go together, we need someone to keep you in check!" he grinned, swinging his hand on Haruki's shoulder.

"Sure," Haruki smirked, "Or you're just running away from your paperwork."

"Shhhh!" Ryoji hissed, looking around suspiciously. Haruki tried not to laugh, He knew how much Rjoyi hated doing paperwork.

"Get in before I change my mind," he said, opening the car door.

"Sure sure," Ryoji said, diving into the passenger's seat as Haruki sat in the driver's seat.