Chapter Text
Don’t mess this up. This is your big chance you’ve been hoping for.
Usually, Rumi was not one for nervosity or anxiety. At all. She knew her limits, she knew her capabilities and she had never known imposter syndrome. She wasn’t one for doubting herself. Except now, she felt nerves creeping up on her. Her superiors had put a lot of emphasis on the importance of the mission as well as the fact that they had solely put Rumi on the case because she was ‘a pretty girl’, just what they had been looking for. By the end of this, they’d know that she had more than just a pretty face.
“Ready to go?”
Toyomitsu next to her dragged her from her grim thoughts, as always an encouraging smile on his face. Despite only an age difference of one year, he had been prepared to actually do something on this mission, he knew all the steps in and out (and thankfully had clued her in on everything regardless of their supervisors’ low opinion). To Rumi’s displeasure, she somewhat looked up to Toyomitsu - and not only because the guy was literally two metres tall.
She answered him with a resolute nod, ignoring the distracting tingling from her obnoxious earrings. Her whole outfit felt ridiculous but was still slightly less humiliating than the first option she had been presented with - practically a broader belt. Clearly, her bosses had watched one or another street race film to get inspired.
“Hold tight, Usagiyama. You better wanna see this one.”
The only reason she could begrudgingly admit to liking Toyomitsu was his equally questionable taste in thrills as her own. The man definitely knew how to have fun and could hold his own in a boxing ring against her, a feat that had earned him her respect. Another thing she would have never believed about the guy was the fact that he was fast in a car. Presumably, he had been driving in some junior formula league when he was younger, the reason why he had been chosen for the mission in the first place. They needed someone with experience but who still fit the role of a youngster, desperate to get somewhere.
Just as he had finished speaking he floored the gas pedal and their car took off. More out of reflex, she mimicked the gesture despite occupying the passenger seat. Rumi hoped he hadn’t seen it, couldn’t risk her street creds.
They flew around the first corner, out of the parking garage they had been in, not yet in the lead but that was only a matter of time really.
When accepting the mission to help in the investigation of the organized crime scene in Tokyo, she had not thought she’d find herself as a contestant in an illegal street race. To be honest, she had not thought a lot of things except the pride she had felt when her former superiors had recommended her to the capital’s force. Having dreamt of joining the police and climbing ranks, this had felt like a win in the lottery. Just more the reason for Rumi to show what she got now.
As they flew through the streets, Toyomitsu didn’t lift his gaze, always focused on the next turn, the next streetlights.
“Check the route they gave us.”
“Okay, what am I looking for?”
“Dead ends, roadworks, anything that will test us. I don’t believe they would make it that easy.”
Rumi scrolled through the directions that expanded on their navigation system, currently busy with giving the next left turn. As the car swivelled to the left, they had the chance to see their opponents, close on their rear who probably were aware of possible hurdles as well.
“Wait, there is one. I know this road is closed because I had to stop a fistfight there the other day,” she finally exclaimed. “The instructions say to simply follow it but that won’t do it. It’s crazy narrow.”
“Great. Check for parallel streets so we can go around without making a too big detour. And you better hurry, Usagiyama.”
“On it! On it! Okay, wait for my signal, we’ll take one earlier on the right and we can make a shortcut. Three,... two… the next one, now!”
She just had enough time to grab the side handle as the car was already turning and if she hadn’t been prepared, Rumi knew, her face would have been smashed against the window. Gods be damned, Toyomitsu was way better than “decent” as he had told her.
“Floor it, we can go to the very end, then to the right and we’ll be back on the main track.”
She wasn’t the religious type but at that moment she prayed there wouldn’t be anyone coming from the other direction, the street was already narrow enough and at their breakneck speed, they’d have no possibility to avoid a collision.
Only as they were out of the sidestreet and back on the main track towards the finish line, Rumi exhaled deeply.
“Fuck. You’re amazing, never undersell yourself again, please. These are some mad skills.”
Her driver laughed deeply and even started wheezing which was concerning regarding their current speed level. Yet, they made it safely to the end and even came in second. In Rumi’s eyes a miracle. She knew they’d have to repeat that stunt for the real deal but for now: they had just secured a place in their undercover job.
A knock on Toyomitsu’s car window brought them both back to reality.
“Here”, a guy in a simple suit announced unceremoniously and tossed a burner phone into the car. “We will call you ahead of time to give you the meeting point and the plan. Do not try to contact us, keep it switched on at all times and be ready at all times. Congrats on the second place.” With one last nod, he vanished as quickly as he had appeared and left the two cops in stunned silence.
***
The task force was waiting around the mobile, Toyomitsu and Usagiyama took turns accepting any incoming call.
But there weren’t any. While the more experienced one of the two of them kept rather cool, not losing any of his cool, Rumi felt more like a failure with each passing day. How should she prove her worth if there was no chance, to begin with? If that was the end of their mission, she’d have an unsolved case on her file for the rest of her career. No way in hell she’d let that happen without trying everything in her capabilities.
“You gotta ease up a bit. It’s not our fault and they will call,” Toyomitsu assured her five days after their stunt. “Sometimes it takes some time for everything to be in order and in the right place.”
As much as she didn’t like to sit around and just wait, doing nothing, it turned out to be true.
On the sixth day, the phone rang.
“You will receive the coordinates for the meeting point. Be there by 3 hours at the latest.”
No more. Just that before the line disconnected.
Rumi didn’t even know if she had heard a man or a woman speaking, all that counted was that they were on. Whatever was happening would get her the boost she wanted and maybe even her promotion on top. Things were finally looking up.
Little did she know her life would change drastically with that one job.
***
The check-in, as Toyomitsu called it, took less than 30 minutes. The boss’ mechanics took a glance at them and made sure everybody was up to the task before they gave their okay and their actual plan was laid out to them.
They were to rob a truck convoy that was supposed to have consoles and other technology stuff loaded, what exactly they were looking for was not said. They only knew they had to get the marked boxes, not to open them and just get them out of the minefield the truck would be. Easy enough if you were willing to give your all.
“Fat Gum, right? You got a partner, so you two will take the lead, get as close as possible and open the door. We got a kit for you, so you’ll be able to get in no matter what.”
Both of them nodded. Rumi was still not used to calling her colleague Fat Gum but he had told her in advance that everybody went by a nickname in order to protect their identity.
“Miruko, you’ll hop into the truck, it’s not a high one, and help unload. Everything will happen while in transit, understood? You got exactly 5 minutes to clear the ramp before the truck will exit the road and notice something is off. After that, you won’t have a chance to leave without risking everything.”
“Yes sir.”
***
As easy as the plan had been in theory, it turned out that practice was something else entirely.
Rumi hang from the handles of the truck, currently going at 90 km/h, one of her legs was linked through a beam to give at least one of her hands the possibility to move freely. It was both exciting and absolutely horrifying. If she fell, she’d die. If not from impact then for sure from one of the following cars running her over. What a way to go.
“Fuck”, she cursed for the umpteenth time already, trying to cut the lock open to finally get into the truck but it does not give. A speciality lock made sure of that. A speciality lock that had not been mentioned by anyone before. Thanks a lot. Without any more patience left in her and the time slowly ticking away, she drew her gun and simply shot the thing off.
Finally a fucking success in sight.
Just in time, she ducked underneath the heavy doors that swung open and climbed onto the loading area with just enough space for her. That definitely was not legal. Not that she had any doubts about that.
“All good?” The metallic voice belonging to Toyomitsu rang from the walkie-talkie at her belt.
“Perfect”, she quickly replied and got to work, pushing the crates towards the edge.
“Good, make it quick, we lost time with the lock, Miruko.”
With silent diligence, she set off to hand box after box to her conspirators, she had no hard feelings about that. In the end, they’d get everybody by the next expressway exit anyway, their colleagues stationed there to catch all of them. Easy. The contents of those boxes didn’t even matter since nobody would get a glimpse at them anyway before the cuffs were put on their wrists.
Just as she grabbed for the last box to get out herself, the lid came loose. Obviously, it had not been closed correctly when loading the first time.
Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t help but save a glance at her bounty.
And blanched.
“Miruko! Miruko, get your ass out of there, come on, it’s time!”
Fat Gum’s voice brought her back into the present. She tried to swallow the bile rising in her throat and made a move for the box. The lid didn’t screw shut completely anymore but that wasn’t important, important was that she didn’t look at it. That she focused on the job at hand.
With a big leap, she made it back to their car, one arm grabbing the A-pillar where the window on the passenger side had been opened for her. Rumi deposited the box on the seat and moved to get back into the car when a shot cut through the air and Toyomitsu swerved to the left.
Against her better judgement, a scream escaped her.
“Hold on”, she could hear Toyomitsu’s voice, one of his hands trying to grab hers through the newly opened roof window. Yet, he was interrupted when another shot could be heard before the rearview window burst into countless little shards despite the security glass supposed to prevent splinters. The manufacturer probably hadn’t thought of actual gunshots to be a high probability for their customers. Which was fair.
“Come on! Get in, Usagiyama”, she heard him yelling and with both their efforts, she got a hold of his hand and the rim of the window, finally able to pull herself up and in before a salve of bullets managed to get her.
“Get us away from here”, she heaved and dared to look at their pursuers through the busted rear window. She came to regret that quickly, the black SUV on their tail looked way too professional, way too well-equipped for them to stand a chance any time soon. Their only hope was the roadblock ahead to put an end to that.
With screeching tires, they sped along the street, ignoring the gunshots they could hear from behind them. They knew the plan by heart, get the shipment out of the truck before entering the city, leading everybody into the roadblock and seeing cars, goods and criminals getting taken in by their colleagues. It was easy enough.
However, the longer they drove, there came no roadblocks and dread started to pool in Rumi’s stomach. Had they taken the wrong exit? There was no way, they both hadn’t noticed, right? She turned around to look at Toyomitsu, his face a stony mask, only betrayed by the white knuckles grabbing the steering wheel. No, this wasn’t planned.
“Where is everybody?!” The question escaped her against her better judgement.
Toyomitsu opened his mouth, eyes darting to Rumi with his usual look when he had to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.
The words never made it.
Glass shattered around them, windows cracking into countless little shards. Dark red splattered on Rumi’s face. She blinked, trying to keep up with reality. Before she could do anything, their car crashed and the world tipped upside down before everything went dark.