The cafeteria buzzed with low murmurs until Ryker Tensai walked in.
Silence.
Every inmate turned, their eyes filled with both respect and fear. The boy who climbed to Number Two in just two weeks… The one who defeated Higashi.
Ryker sat down with his tray. Kujo flopped beside him with a lazy grin.
"You notice, Ryker? Everyone's scared of you now," Kujo said, glancing around.
Ryker picked at his food, his voice low but firm.
"I don't want fear. I want peace in here," he said, scowling. "Let people live. I'm not here to be a monster."
A whisper passed through the room like a breeze through dry leaves.
"Tch. What's everyone talkin' about…" Ryker muttered. He stood up, scanning the room. "You all don't need to be afraid of me! I'm just a boy—just like you!"
The room froze again.
And then—
A cold voice came from behind.
"What did you say about peace?"
Ryker's body stiffened. His fork slipped from his hand.
He turned slowly.
"R-Ryu…" he stammered. "You… you're here…"
A few inmates stepped back. Kujo's smile dropped.
"You say don't fear you," Ryu said, stepping closer. His calm tone was more terrifying than a scream. "But you fear me."
"I-I was just saying they don't need to fear me," Ryker tried to explain. "I… I didn't mean—"
"Everyone fears me," Ryu said, eyes sharp. "Understand?"
"Y-yes, Ryu," Ryker said quietly, lowering his gaze.
The cafeteria stayed silent as Ryu walked past him and sat at the far end.
Ryker slowly returned to his seat, picked up his fork, and sighed.
Then he looked toward Ryu.
"Hey, Ryu…" Ryker said, his voice calmer. "Can we… become friends?"
The room gasped.
Kujo nearly choked on his drink.
"Tch… Ryker, what the hell are you doing?" Kujo muttered.
Ryu didn't answer.
He just ate—silent.
But a faint, almost invisible smirk tugged at the edge of his mouth.
The cafeteria air felt heavier than steel.
Ryker's voice still hung in the silence.
> "Can we… become friends?"
It was a simple question. Honest. Almost naive. But in this prison, honesty was dangerous—and naivety could get you killed.
Kujo stared at Ryker like he had just offered a handshake to a god of death.
Around them, the other inmates watched with wide eyes, frozen mid-bite, mid-breath. The silence was no longer just quiet—it was suffocating.
Ryu didn't look up.
He kept eating, slow and precise, as if Ryker hadn't spoken at all. His expression unreadable. Calm… too calm.
Ryker sat still, waiting.
His fingers tensed slightly over the edge of the tray. Maybe he'd gone too far. Maybe this was the moment Ryu would decide to make an example out of him.
Kujo leaned in, whispering out the corner of his mouth.
"Are you insane, man? You don't just ask Ryu to be your friend…"
But Ryker didn't look away. He kept his eyes on the Number One. Not in challenge—but in hope.
A few heartbeats passed.
Then, slowly… Ryu lifted his gaze.
Their eyes met.
Darkness and fire.
The cafeteria held its breath.
"Friends?" Ryu repeated, setting down his spoon. "You're strange, Ryker.
His voice was calm. Too calm. No smile, no frown—just cold observation.
"I beat people who talk too much," Ryu continued. "I break people who try to get close. But you… you keep walking into fire like it's nothing."
He stood, tray untouched.
Walked past Ryker without another word.
But just as he passed, he paused.
Leaning in slightly, only Ryker could hear.
"You're interesting."
Then Ryu walked out.
The door echoed shut behind him.
Silence again.
Then suddenly, the cafeteria burst into whispers.
"Did Ryu… just spare him?"
"What the hell…"
"He's still alive?"
"Did he just call Ryker… interesting?"
Kujo looked at Ryker like he'd seen a ghost.
"Damn it, Ryker," he said, shaking his head. "You might actually be crazier than Ryu."
Ryker smiled faintly.
"I don't care about titles," he whispered. "I just want to understand him."
Women prison - cell 17
In the far side of the prison—beyond cold metal gates and cracked concrete walls—was a place few men dared to speak of.
The women's wing.
And within that wing, behind cell 17, lived Mayumi.
Not just a prisoner.
A whisper.
A threat.
A legend wrapped in silk and scars.
She sat cross-legged on the old tatami mat, eyes closed, face calm. Her long, ink-black hair spilled like a shadow over her back. The small candle on her floor flickered gently, but her body never moved.
Outside her door, the guards walked with nervous steps.
One wrong move, and they'd bleed.
She wasn't the strongest. Not in size, not in strength.
But she was the most dangerous.
Mayumi didn't fight like others.
She fought like she already knew how you would lose.
One month ago, she took down three officers with her bare hands—and smiled while they begged.
But today... her thoughts weren't in this cell.
They were across the walls. Across the division.
"Ryker…"
She whispered the name like a prayer.
A name she'd only heard in rumors.
The boy who rose to Number 2 in just two weeks.
The one who made even Ryu pause.
She had heard his story from the guards.
He fought not just for power… but for peace.
"Stupid," she murmured to herself. "You don't bring peace to a battlefield."
Yet... she was curious.
The boy who asked the devil for friendship.
Who looked monsters in the eye without blinking.
Mayumi opened her eyes. Cold, sharp.
And smiled.
"If he really believes in peace… maybe I'll break him myself."
She stood, stretching like a cat, her movements graceful, deadly.
The candle flickered again—then died.
Outside, the guards turned nervously toward her door.
She was awake.
And the caged flame had started to burn again.
Late at night, in the quiet of her dimly lit cell, Mayumi lay on her side, her arm curled beneath her head. The moonlight sneaked in through the tiny window, casting silver bars across the floor. But her mind was nowhere near prison walls tonight.
Her heart had been strange lately. Pounding louder than it should. Faster, even when she was still.
She turned over and sighed, her fingers lightly brushing her cheek.
"What the hell is wrong with me…"
She whispered to no one.
Images kept floating into her mind.
That boy. Ryker.
The way he stood—calm and unreadable.
The way he looked at people like he could see through their souls.
She bit her lower lip, annoyed at herself.
"Tch... it's not like I care."
But every time she closed her eyes…
Ryker...
His voice echoed in her memory.
His strength. His quiet fire. His foolish question to Ryu: "Can we be friends?"
Her heart fluttered again.
"Damn it…" she muttered, burying her face into her pillow.
"What am I even feeling?"
Her cheeks were burning now.
She turned on her back, staring up at the cracked ceiling like it held answers.
"I'm Mayumi. I don't blush. I don't dream about boys…"
And yet.
Night after night, it was him.
"I think about him every day… every night… What the hell does that make me?"
She covered her face with both hands, groaning softly.
Was it weakness?
Or was it the first time she felt human… in a long, long time?
Far away, in the men's side of the prison, Ryker sat staring out his window too.
The moonlight touched both of them.
Neither knowing the other was awake.
But both feeling… something.