Persona 5: The Delinquent and his lover: Full Edition

Checkmate. Part 2

The inside of the safe house was a complete mess. Shards of broken glass littered the floor, and bullet holes appeared on the front wall. It had started to rain, and water was leaking inside through the various holes on the windows and even the walls. On each side of the only entrance on the first floor, Sae and Iwai were crouched, taking advantage of the momentary peace that their surprise attack had gained them, to reload their weapons and catch a breath.

"How many you got?" asked Iwai

"I counted six." replied Sae.

"Good. I got four. Don't have much bullets left though."

"Last reload?" asked Sae with a worried expression. Iwai just nodded.

"Shit. Me too." said Sae, looking down.

Outside, Kouzo was standing behind cover. He had expected the infamous prosecutor and one of the toughest men to come out of the yakuza world to put up a good fight, but he didn't expect what had happened. Of fifteen men he'd brought with him to do the operation, ten were already dead or gravely injured. The first three had fallen immediately after trying to rush the door. The other seven from the chaotic gunfight that ensued. The five remaining seemed to be losing their courage more and more as time went on, everybody knowing full well that even with them blocking the cell signals in the area, all the shooting would draw the police to them in a matter of minutes.

Well, I guess I have to do everything myself

"You!" Kouzo said to one of his men who was near him. "Run to the others and tell them we're rushing the house on mi signal."

The thug looked terrified. "M-me? B-but sir, I'd have to run through the open.... T-they'll get me for s-sure!!"

Kouzo looked at the man with disgust. Then a half smile appeared on his face. He put a hand on the thug's shoulder.

"You know what? You're right. I'll tell them." Kouzo said. He then hit the goon in the stomach with all his strength. The man almost passed out from the pain, and couldn't do anything as the closer grabbed him from behind and ran with him into the open, using him as a shield.

"Listen up you cowards," said Kouzo as he rushed towards the door under the rain, "unless you want to end up like this little shit, come with me and cover me!!!"

The other thugs came out of cover and started shooting towards the house at the same time that several bullets flew from the guns of Iwai and Sae. They managed to hit Kouzo's human shield but not the others. With a brutal final push, Kouzo used the body of his man as a battering ram and broke the door down. As he did, he could hear the clicking sound of empty guns inside the house.

Kouzo smiled, then he looked at his men who came running behind him and said:

"Think you can handle it now?"

-----

"They're trying to break the door down!" whispered Makoto.

Akira's pale face showed that he understood, even without what Makoto was saying, even if he weren't hearing the loud bangs the thugs were making just a few meters near from where they were. If nothing was done, pretty soon all their friends would be at the mercy of the three armed men. Plans and ideas rushed through the boy's mind trying to come up with a solution, but no matter how hard he thought nothing seemed to be even close to safe or reasonable. He could only think of one thing that would maybe work, but convincing Makoto would be a challenge. He decided to try it, not having any more time to lose.

"I have an idea... But you're not going to like it..."

Makoto knew Akira well enough to know that his idea would involve putting himself in danger. In any other situation, She'd have turned it down immediately, but since she could think of nothing, she decided to just listen.