VISION GRID SYSTEM: THE COMEBACK OF RYOMA TAKEDA

One advantage Ryoma has as an athlete is his ability to move from complete stillness to top speed in just one second. A car cannot do that; it needs time to build momentum, to gather speed gradually.

For a brief moment, that difference creates space between them. But Ryoma already understands that this advantage is temporary.

The distance will not hold. Eventually both cars will reach their full speed, and when that happens, they will close in and there will be nowhere left to run.

So while running, he keeps glancing back at the first car, carefully calculating the exact moment when jumping will still be safer than continuing straight.

It is not a decision made from panic, but from timing, the same kind of judgment he uses inside the ring when he reads an opponent’s rhythm.

Right before the bumper reaches him…

>

Ryoma shifts his weight to prepare for the leap.

But before he can move…

BAM!!!

The second car actually slams directly into the side of the first car with brutal force.

The impact is strong enough to instantly break the first car’s line of movement. It knocks the first car off its path and straight into the glass wall of a Lawson convenience store on the side of the road.

CRASH!!!

The glass shatters outward in a sudden explosion of fragments as the car continues its momentum shortly until it collides hard with the concrete structure inside.

Airbags deploy immediately inside the cabin, filling the interior and shielding the two foreigners from the worst of the impact. But at the same time, it traps them inside the wreckage as smoke begins to rise from the crushed front end.

Inside the second car, the impact leaves a ringing silence for a fraction of a second before everything turns into noise.

Pablo is the first to break it. ”Jesus Christ… what the hell did you just do, Adrian?”

The man behind the wheel doesn’t take his eyes off the wreck in front of them. His voice is steady, but sharp.

”What do you think I did? You saw them. They were about to kill him. If I had been even a second late, that kid would be dead under their wheels.”

Pablo turns toward Adrian, disbelief turning into anger. ”And this is your solution? We’re in a foreign country, man. We didn’t even notify local law enforcement. And look at that store… look at what you just did. I hope to God no one inside got hurt.”

Adrian finally opens his door. ”Then call them now. Stop complaining.”

He steps out and reaches inside his coat, pulling out a handgun and keeping it low but ready.

Pablo pulls out his phone, and immediately starts dialing. The line rings as he steps out of the car, his other hand also retrieving a handgun from beneath his jacket.

Up ahead, Ryoma freezes when he sees the weapon. For a moment, his mind jumps to the worst possible conclusion.

”They actually sent professional hitmen to kill me?”

But Pablo doesn’t look at him like an attacker would. Instead, he moves carefully toward the front of the wrecked car, keeping his weapon lowered but visible, using it more as control than threat.

”Police,” Pablo says into the phone as soon as it connects. ”This is an emergency…”

”Yes, I’m a foreigner. And we’ve just been involved in a multi-vehicle collision at the intersection near the Lawson convenience store.”

”Two suspects attempted a vehicular attack on a pedestrian. We require immediate assistance and medical response at the scene.”

Meanwhile, Adrian stays crouching on the edge of his car, aiming his weapon at one of the injured men still inside the first car.

”Don’t move,” he says coldly. ”Stay exactly where you are. EMS is already being called. You try anything, and this becomes worse than it already is.”

Ryoma quickly pieces everything together from the brief exchange. They are not journalists, not random foreigners either, and definitely not simple criminals sent to kill him.

The most likely answer forming in his mind is Interpol. So he stays where he is, holding his position with lingering caution while carefully observing everything around him.

His eyes move with precision, taking in the condition of the two men trapped inside the wrecked car, the frightened staff inside the Lawson store, and the growing number of bystanders who have started to gather at a distance.

Among them, he notices familiar figures, the local journalists, the same ones who usually wait near the gym, always looking for a chance to catch him before or after training.

They had likely been waiting for him again today, expecting nothing more than another routine sighting, another small update before his next fight. Instead, they have found something else entirely.

Their cameras rise almost instinctively, first aimed at the wrecked car, then at the two armed men controlling the scene. But the moment their eyes settle on Ryoma, the focus shifts.

There is a brief pause, a flicker of disbelief as recognition sets in.

Then confusion spreads among them.

”That’s… Ryoma?”

”Yeah… and look at his clothes… he looks like he’s injured.

”What just happened here?”

”No idea. But this is huge.”

And almost immediately, the shutters start clicking faster, each shot capturing a different angle of him standing at the center of the incident, as if he has somehow become the core of the story without moving an inch closer to it.

***

Back at Nakahara Gym, the morning has only just begun. Kenta is already there, finishing his stretches near the ring while the rest of the gym remains quiet.

Hiroshi and Sera move through their usual routine, preparing the facility before the other members arrive.

The calm only lasts until the front door suddenly swings open.

Okabe rushes in first, breathing heavily. ”Oi! There was a huge accident outside!”

Behind him, Ryohei looks equally startled. ”I heard there were cops with guns!”

Neither of them stays long enough to explain. They immediately turn around and head back outside.

Kenta frowns and follows after them without hesitation. Hiroshi and Sera exchange a brief look before deciding to go as well.

By the time they reach the scene, however, most of the chaos is already over. Police vehicles surround the area. Officers have pushed the crowd back and secured the intersection.

The damaged Lawson store is blocked off, and the two suspects have already been taken away. But that isn’t what catches their attention.

”...Ryoma?” Kenta’s voice comes out almost as a whisper. ”What’s he doing over there?”

They arrive just in time to see Ryoma being escorted into a police vehicle before the door closes behind him. And then, the vehicle pulls away.

For several seconds, nobody says anything as confusion quickly gives way to unease.

”What happened?” Sera mutters.

”Was Ryoma involved?” Okabe says, face twisting.

”And more importantly, why were the police taking him away?” Ryohei asks.

Hiroshi immediately feels his stomach sink.

”Shit.”

Without waiting for the others, he immediately turns around and starts hurrying back toward the gym, finding the need to report it to Coach Nakahara.

”This is a disaster,” he grumbles. ”Less than three weeks before his fight, and now he’s taken away by the police.”