The Neon Falls

After listening to him, the hooded man took a close look at Raiko, noticing his lock of phosphorescent red gradient hair. Her blue gaze glowing with a mixture of confusion and distrust. Just as he seemed about to say something, a metallic noise coming from the car caught his attention, as well as Raiko's. They both turned around. It was one of the criminals, staggering as he opened the door. He fell to the ground, his injuries too severe to hold him.

"SHOOT!" the wounded man shouted at the hooded man. The latter looked at Raiko again decisively, squeezes the trigger of his gun... but nothing happened. He frowned and checked, only to realize that the magazine was missing.

"Ah, right...," the criminal muttered with a weak laugh, "We didn't put ammo in it. We thought you wouldn't be useful to us in these situations."

The hooded angrily threw the gun towards Raiko, who easily dodged it. Before he could react, the blue-eyed young man fled into the shadows.

Raiko watched him run, intending to give chase, but police sirens were fast approaching from the same direction. He decided to trust that the officers would catch him and turned to the wounded criminal next to the car, which was now on fire.

"Who was that?" asked Raiko, in a cold voice.

The criminal looked at him with a sarcastic smile. "Even if I die, I won't tell you."

"...Ok," Raiko replied, giving up. He looked inside the car, where he found the second criminal, dead from the impact, next to a bag full of money. Without further interest, he took the bag and started to walk away.

"Hey, help me!" the criminal shouted, desperate. "I'M GOING TO DIE!"

Raiko stopped, looked at him over her shoulder and said calmly, "At least... your death will be justified." And he continued to walk away

The criminal starts screaming, full of panic and rage he managed to grab a fallen gun and pointed it at Raiko. His hand was shaking as he tried to shoot. Raiko noticed the sound of the gun and turned quickly, firing first. An accurate bullet to the man's head ended his life just before the car exploded with a deafening roar.

BOOM.

The explosion lit up the street, and brought several onlookers out of their homes. Raiko, undeterred, continued walking, putting on her hood to hide her red hair. Being a bit away from the area....

"STOP THERE! HANDS UP!" a voice shouted behind him.

Raiko slowly turned around to see two policemen parapeting behind the doors of his patrol car, pointing their guns at him.

"And this...?" said Raiko, his tone almost bored.

"HANDS UP!" one of the policemen repeated. "You are under arrest for suspicion of murder and robbery."

Raiko sighed. "I did my job. If you guys, being cops, can't do the dirty work...I will."

He pointed her gun at them, and the cops instinctively took cover. But when they peeked out again, Raiko was gone. They quickly ran to the corner of the street, to see if they saw him leave, but... there was no one there anymore.

They decided to go back to the patrol car, while one of the policemen, Korben, remained thoughtful. "Who was he? What is his target... And why do I feel we will meet again?"

Inside the car, "Easy," his partner said, noticing Korben's concern. "Next time we'll get him. He'll see that prison is not a bad place for him."

"Yeah... you're right," Korben replied, unconvinced. The car turns around and they head to the site of the explosion.

Meanwhile, Raiko on his way to the cafeteria, repeating in his mind the policeman's words, "You are under arrest on suspicion of murder and robbery." 

"They're charging me with murder... wait... that means-" He realized the situation.

He paused at the cafeteria entrance, staring at the television through the glass. A news item hit him like a dagger:

"Two people were robbery victims, one passed away due to injuries, while the other is in critical but stable condition. Minutes later, an accident on the main avenue left two suspects dead..."

Raiko lowered her head. "The injured person I saw... died..." she muttered, her red eyes glinting with a flash of guilt.