Reap What You Sow

Mariko staggered onto her feet, her vision still hazy, but her resolve sharper than ever. Phantom Veil and the masked woman—Shatterwraith—were escaping.

She couldn't allow that.

Her body was battered, her muscles screamed for rest, but she didn't care. She had one purpose. One reason to keep moving. She would prove herself to Kayd.

With a ragged breath, she wiped the blood off her lips, her fingers gripping the torn edges of her uniform. Then she moved.

A flick of her wrist—a blade slid into her palm.

The alleyways were drenched in moonlight, casting deep shadows where her prey moved. Their silhouettes danced between the buildings, swift, precise, untouchable. But Mariko had studied them. She had fought them.

She could predict them.

A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips despite the pain. They thought they had left her behind.

How foolish.

…

Above, on the rooftops.

Kasumi's breath was heavy as she carried Kairi over her shoulder. The others were barely keeping up, wounded but still moving. Rin—still masked—kept looking over her shoulder, sharp eyes scanning for any sign of pursuit.

"We need to get out of here fast," Unknown muttered. "I don't like this."

Jin let out a tired scoff, adjusting his mask. "Yeah? No shit."

Kasumi was about to respond—when a whistle cut through the air.

Fast. Sharp. Deadly.

Rin's eyes widened. "MOVE—!"

SHINK!

A blade embedded itself into the brick wall beside them, slicing through fabric—a hair's breadth away from Jin's throat.

Silence.

Then, from below—a slow clap.

They all turned their heads.

Mariko.

Standing in the dim glow of a streetlamp, bloodied but grinning.

She tilted her head, dark eyes burning with an obsessive, unhinged determination.

"…Did you really think you could run from me?"

Rin narrowed her gaze.

Kasumi's grip on Kairi tightened.

Jin clicked his tongue. "Oh, for fuck's sake—"

Mariko took a step forward, blade in hand, her posture eerily relaxed. "Kayd is watching," she murmured, almost to herself.

Then—she sprinted.

And the hunt began again.

Mariko lunged.

Her body screamed in protest—fractured ribs, dislocated shoulder, muscles torn apart from sheer exertion. None of it mattered. Pain was meaningless. Failure was unacceptable.

Her blade whistled through the air, aimed directly at Kasumi's throat.

Kasumi barely twisted away, Kairi still unconscious in her arms. The blade grazed her mask, slicing a fine line across it.

"Persistent bitch—" Kasumi hissed, stumbling back.

Jin drew his gun, but Mariko was already in his face.

Too fast. Too close.

She grabbed his wrist, twisting it sharply—a sickening pop echoed as his fingers spasmed, the gun dropping from his grip.

Jin snarled, driving his knee up into her ribs—the cracked bones shifted, sent a bolt of agony through her body— but she gritted her teeth and took it.

She wasn't done.

Not until they were dead.

Rin blurred in from the side, her fist cocked back—Mariko saw it. Read it.

She turned just enough to absorb the impact against her shoulder instead of her jaw. Still felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer.

But she used it. Used the force to spin.

Her heel shot up—a brutal roundhouse to Rin's ribs.

CRACK.

Rin was sent flying into the rooftop railing.

Momentum was hers.

Mariko whirled—straight for Kairi.

Kasumi's eyes widened. Too slow. Too burdened.

Mariko could see it. The kill. The moment she proved herself to Kayd.

One step.

One cut.

Then—

A hand wrapped around her wrist.

Tight. Unyielding. Burning.

She froze.

Kairi.

Eyes half-lidded, body swaying, face pale from blood loss. But awake.

Mariko felt the pressure on her wrist—bone grinding against bone.

"You don't get to touch my people," Kairi murmured, voice dangerously low.

Mariko's vision swayed. Her body was already past its limit. She knew that.

But she refused to kneel.

So she smirked—wild and bloody.

"…Then stop me."

And she twisted the blade.

Kairi exhaled. A slow, measured breath—the kind that came before something irreversible.

Mariko felt it. The shift. The way Kairi's grip on her wrist changed.

And then—

Steel buried deep.

Aiko's knife slammed into Mariko's stomach, straight through muscle and gut.

The pain was immediate—white-hot, raw, twisting through her insides like fire.

Blood. Too much blood.

Mariko coughed, thick red spilling from her lips. Her legs shook, her body screaming for her to stop, to fall, to die—

But she wouldn't.

She looked down at Kairi. Face unreadable. Eyes like a void.

Mariko laughed. A choked, rattling sound.

"…Tch. Of course." Her voice wavered, but the smirk remained. "That's the problem with you, Kairi… You never die when you're supposed to."

Kairi twisted the knife.

A cruel, deliberate motion.

Mariko's breath hitched, body seizing.

She staggered. But her hands still clenched into fists, trembling with defiance.

Her world blurred. Kayd's voice echoed in the back of her mind, the warmth of his hand on her shoulder, the promises she made—

She gritted her teeth.

She couldn't fail him.

Mariko lunged forward. Even as her legs failed her. Even as her strength faded.

Kairi caught her—not in mercy, but in control. Keeping her upright just long enough to watch the light leave her eyes.

"Die standing." Kairi whispered.

Mariko collapsed.

Mariko lay broken.

Her breath came in ragged, shallow gasps, each one weaker than the last. The warmth of her own blood spread beneath her, soaking into the ground.

Her fingers twitched—reaching for something that wasn't there.

"…Kayd…"

The name barely escaped her lips.

Her vision blurred, but she could still see his face—a memory carved into the last pieces of her mind.

Kayd Arakawa.

The boy who saved her. The boy who gave her purpose.

She failed him.

A sharp pain twisted in her chest—not from the wound, but from the realization.

She tried to lift her hand, to claw her way forward, but her strength betrayed her.

She coughed again, a wet, gurgling sound—her body surrendering.

A shadow loomed over her. Kairi. Watching. Cold. Detached.

Mariko's lips curled into a weak, bitter smile.

"…He's gonna be pissed," she murmured, barely above a whisper. "You don't know what you've started…"

Kairi said nothing.

She didn't have to.

Mariko's body shuddered. Her breath hitched—one last, desperate inhale—

Then silence.

Her hand fell limp.

Her eyes, still open, stared into nothing.