VISION GRID SYSTEM: THE COMEBACK OF RYOMA TAKEDA

Reika leads Ryoma out of the meeting room, with Kurogane and Maria noticing their departure. They exchange a brief glance before calmly returning to their conversation as though nothing unusual has happened.

Their black Lexus cruises leisurely through Tokyo’s streets, yet the silence inside feels suffocating, making every passing intersection increasingly uncomfortable for Reika.

It reminds Reika painfully of that night, perhaps even worse, leaving her too nervous to risk starting even the smallest conversation.

Unexpectedly, Ryoma is the one who breaks the silence. ”Did anything happen on the way back?”

Reika blinks before answering. ”Not really. You were quiet for most of the drive. But… at one point, I heard you groan softly. When I looked over, you seemed to be asleep, but you looked really uncomfortable.”

Reika pauses briefly. ”I actually pulled over because I was worried something might be wrong. After all, you had just finished such a brutal fight against a world champion. But then… you slightly opened your eyes, and asked if we’d arrived.”

She gives a small shrug. ”So I continued driving. But even when we reached your apartment, you got out looking a little unsteady. When I tried to help you, you simply shoved me away without saying anything.”

A few moments later, Reika turns into a quiet side street and brings the Lexus to a stop. Before she can ask anything, Ryoma immediately tells her to keep driving.

As she shifts the gear, Reika briefly glances toward him and notices the uneasiness written across his face.

”Um… that was the place,” Reika says quietly.

Ryoma says nothing. He turns his face toward the window, making the silence inside the car feel even more tense and confusing.

”Take me back to the gym,” Ryoma says.

Reika nods hesitantly. At the nearest U-turn, she turns the Lexus around and heads west toward Ronin Fight Management.

What Reika fails to realize is that the alley they just left sits within the same block as the apartment where Hayashida Muneyaki was found hanging.

Ryoma, however, knows the area well enough from following the case. It’s that realization that made him want to leave.

He has already been troubled by the possibility that he might have visited Muneyaki’s apartment that night. Even the faint image of that apartment door is enough to make his stomach tighten.

If anyone saw him lingering around there now, it would look disturbingly similar to a murderer returning to the scene of the crime.

***

Less than an hour later, the Lexus finally reaches the Ronin Fight Management building. As soon as Reika brings the car to a stop, Ryoma immediately opens the door.

”Thank you,” he says before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

Reika remains in the driver’s seat, watching him through the windshield with an anxious, saddened, and disappointed expression. She does not dare get out and follow him, not even to spend some time inside the gym.

His brief thanks feels less like gratitude and more like a quiet declaration that whatever exists between them is over. He has not invited her inside or even suggested that she stay.

For several moments, the Lexus remains motionless outside the building as Reika waits, her eyes fixed on the entrance.

”Please, Ryoma…” she whispers. ”Come back and say something... anything.”

But Ryoma never returns. Eventually, with her heart feeling increasingly torn apart, Reika starts the engine and drives away.

It does not take long before the Lexus leaves the block and pulls to a stop. Reika finally breaks down, her quiet sobs filling the car as tears spill down her cheeks.

That kiss from the other night still feels painfully real, yet strangely distant, like a beautiful dream that was never meant to become reality. It feels like being given wings for one fleeting moment, only to be thrown back onto the ground

Her crying does not last long, however, because her phone suddenly chimes with an incoming message.

Reika wipes her tears away and checks the screen. It’s a message from Ryoma.

[ I’m sorry... But I really need some time alone. ]

It is only a short message, yet it steadies Reika almost immediately. Ryoma has not truly ignored her, and that small reassurance is enough to calm her.

Something is clearly wrong with him. Reika does not know what it is, but for now, she understands that giving him the distance he needs is important.

And just like that, Reika feels as though the wings she had lost only moments ago have quietly returned, carrying her heart upward once again.

***

Meanwhile, Ryoma stands alone inside his office, staring through the window at the street below. His gaze remains fixed outside, but his eyes fail to register the details they normally capture so effortlessly.

For once, his extraordinary perception is completely occupied by something happening inside his own mind.

After several moments, Ryoma’s expression sharpens before he suddenly speaks.

”System, show me every visual record I captured that night.”

A translucent screen appears before him, displaying everything his eyes recorded from a first-person perspective.

The sequence begins with his arrival at the apartment in the evening. The wall clock appears clearly in his vision, with the hour hand pointing at 6 and the minute hand at 8, exactly as he told Detective Tachibana.

The recording continues as Ryoma enters his room. His perspective shifts toward the ceiling as he lies down on the bed, before everything turns black when his eyes close.

Several brief images appear afterward, each showing his eyes opening momentarily before darkness returns. Eventually, the screen fades completely, and the system ends the playback.

Ryoma’s eyebrows draw together. ”That’s all? Where’s everything else?”

The system produces another screen, and this time the recording shows Ryoma opening his eyes. The image corresponds to the moment he remembers waking late the following day.

Irritated, Ryoma immediately waves his hand through the display. ”Don’t play games with me. You know what I’m asking for. I want to see what happened while I was with Reika. I want to know whether I actually visited that apartment and killed Hayashida Muneyaki.”