When I heard Miuco's tense voice say,
"Genso… we have to leave now"
I didn't ask anything
We ran in the direction she pointed to, into a narrow side street
I could only hear our footsteps and my fast breathing
But before we reached the end of the street
a car turned sharply from the corner, appearing almost out of nowhere
A black car
It stopped right in front of us
I froze
My heart jumped from fear
But when the side window rolled down—
my eyes widened
"…Ryoko?"
It was him
Sitting behind the steering wheel, looking at me with a serious expression I wasn't used to
I rushed to him
"Ryoko!! What are you doing here? Where have you been these days? Why didn't yo—"
He raised his hand to cut me off
"Not now. Get in. We don't have time"
I exchanged a quick look with Miuco, then we both got into the car
I sat in the front, and Miuco in the back
Ryoko started the engine and drove immediately
After a few seconds, I noticed something above the speedometer
A small screen, divided into many squares
Each square showed a different view of the street and even the whole neighborhood
I lifted my eyebrows
"Ryoko… what is this?"
He kept his eyes on the road
"The camera network. All of it"
I didn't understand at first
"Wait… what? You hacked all the cameras in the area?"
Miuco looked at the screen from the back, trying to understand
Ryoko continued with a calm tone
"The system is old. Same default passwords. It wasn't hard"
I stared at him
"I know you're good with tech… but this is another level, Ryoko"
He didn't look at me
He only said:
"There are things I never told you"
---
Eight years earlier
A small room, lit only by the glow of a computer screen
Papers, wires, and broken devices everywhere
Thirteen-year-old Ryoko sat in front of his computer
On the screen was a strange website with a black interface and big letters on top:
'Professional Market – Dark Web'
A new alert appeared
You have a new message
He opened it
Someone wrote
"I need a Gmail account hacked. I will pay whatever you ask"
Ryoko smiled a little
He typed back
Accepted
Then he turned to a young boy sitting next to him on the floor—
a familiar face
"Genso… I got a new request"
Genso, holding a small game device, replied
"That's good. You're getting popular there"
Ryoko smiled again
without knowing that this small world he entered out of curiosity
would pull him into something much bigger later
---
Back in the car
I was still staring at the screen with all the camera feeds
"Ryoko… how long have you been able to do this?"
He answered quietly
"For a long time"
He threw a quick glance at me—short, but with something I didn't understand
"And you… don't know half of what I used to do, Genso"
I was about to ask more, but Miuco spoke first
"There's something I don't get… how did you know we were here?"
A short silence followed
Then Ryoko said without turning his head
"I've been watching the area for days"
I looked at him
One question filled my mind
"Why"
But before I could say it—
a red dot appeared on the screen, moving closer to our location
Ryoko pressed a button next to the wheel
"We'll talk later. Right now… we need to get off the open roads"
The car sped up
I looked at Ryoko… then at Miuco
and for the first time
I wasn't sure who was on my side
or why any of this was happening