As soon as I felt the outside getting a bit brighter just before dawn, I left the room.
“Boss, are you awake?”
“…Oh, you startled me.”
It was Emma who greeted me.
Whether she had been guarding the door all night or had woken up early to wait for me, Emma met me with her usual expressionless face.
…Well, not exactly the same as usual.
Behind her blank expression, there was a hint of anxiety.
After what happened yesterday, it must be hard for her to treat me the same as before.
But…
“Are you feeling alright?”
Emma seemed to be trying to maintain our previous relationship.
…I guess she wants to pretend last night never happened.
So, I treated her as usual too.
“Not bad at all. Thanks to your care, I’m in great shape.”
“…That’s a relief.”
“I’m a bit hungry… but unfortunately, there’s somewhere I need to go before breakfast. Get ready to leave.”
Right now, the most important thing isn’t my relationship with Emma, but safely escaping this city.
And after smoking a cigarette last night and pondering, I finally found a way to escape San Francisco.
“…Huh? But the South Brotherhood and the San Francisco Security Force are still out there. Where are you going?”
“There’s someone who can get us out of this city.”
With that, I left the villa early in the morning with a bewildered Emma.
**
“Yawn…”
As you get older, you sleep less in the morning.
An old man got out of bed and opened the curtains to see the dawn just breaking.
His name was Lloyd Collins.
He was the owner of Lloyd Railways, which owned the most railway operating rights and trains in the West.
Originally, his home was in Sacramento, another major city in California, but due to his schedule, he had to stay in San Francisco for a few days, so he stayed in a hotel suite here.
“They said it’s a new place, but it’s quite satisfactory.”
Today, he was leaving San Francisco again to head east, so he rubbed his eyes and went to the living room to spend his last morning here.
“You’re awake. Would you like some coffee?”
“Ah, thank you. No sugar, please.”
“Sure.”
Lloyd, still half-asleep, headed to the bathroom.
He planned to wash his face and wake up properly.
But…
“Hmm…?”
As soon as he entered the bathroom and saw the sink, Lloyd felt something was off.
‘…I don’t have a personal attendant in my room.’
Of course, Lloyd had been alone in the room for the past few days.
So who was the person who just asked if he wanted coffee…?
Thud.
“…Who, who are you!”
As soon as he realized something was wrong, Lloyd rushed out of the bathroom, and the intruder greeted him nonchalantly.
“Boss! It’s me. Have you already forgotten?”
“…You are.”
Startled by the sudden situation, Lloyd finally recognized the man in front of him.
“Jet Gray?”
“Yes, that’s right. Jet Gray.”
The hero of the train who had saved Lloyd and many other passengers on the way to San Francisco.
He had broken into Lloyd’s room early in the morning and pleaded.
“Boss, please help me.”
“…Huh?”
Naturally, Lloyd was taken aback.
**
They say that as you get older, you gain more composure.
The railway tycoon, though startled by my sudden appearance, calmly brewed two cups of coffee and started a conversation.
Sip.
And so, the conversation began over coffee.
“…So, Jet. It’s good to see you again, but how on earth did you get into this room? The door was locked, wasn’t it?”
“I had to climb the balcony, what else?”
“Climb the balcony? …This is the 4th floor, you know?”
The hotel’s suites were unique to each floor.
And Lloyd’s room was on the 4th floor.
Lloyd looked at me incredulously, but honestly, it wasn’t that hard.
“Just the 4th floor, no big deal.”
Of course, it was impossible for Emma, so she was hiding outside the hotel right now.
“…And how did you know I was staying here?”
“I stayed at this hotel for a while too. I glanced at the reservation list at the counter back then.”
At the time, I just thought it was interesting that I was staying at the same hotel as the rich guy I met on the train, but now it’s my last lifeline.
I pleaded with my last lifeline.
“When we parted, you said to ask for help anytime I needed it. I desperately need your help now.”
“Huh… well.”
The railway tycoon chuckled at my shameless request but asked anyway.
“What kind of help do you need from me? Let’s hear it.”
“I need you to help me get out of this city.”
“This city? San Francisco?”
“Yes, unfortunately, there are people looking for me all over the streets.”
They probably didn’t expect me to come back, so the security at the hotel where I stayed was very lax.
Only a minimal number of people were guarding my room.
But the streets of San Francisco are a different story.
The Security Force is checking citizens and carriages, and the South Brotherhood has started searching the alleys.
It was already tough for Emma and me to get here, and it’s only because it’s early morning.
With the state military guarding the outskirts, escaping by land is impossible.
So, I told Lloyd, the owner of the railway company, my detailed plan to escape.
And after hearing my plan, Lloyd…
“Hmm… so all I have to do is that?”
“Yes, please help this poor guy out.”
“Haha, alright. I’ll help you.”
“…Huh?”
He seemed more eager to help than I expected.
His immediate offer to help without any questions caught me off guard.
“…Really, Mr. Lloyd?”
“What comes must go, right? You helped me on the train last time, so now it’s my turn to help you.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lloyd…”
I bowed my head in gratitude to the wealthy railroad man.
But at that moment, his eyes turned cold.
“However, I’m only helping you this once. I’m grateful you saved my life and our company’s reputation, but don’t think you can milk me dry.”
“Of course, that’s only natural.”
“And if you get arrested for anything illegal, I’ll deny knowing you. I’ve got a family to think about.”
“Sure, that’s understandable.”
I wasn’t expecting much from him anyway.
When I smiled and nodded, the cold look in his eyes softened, and a smile spread across his face.
His smile was almost childlike, radiating pure joy.
“By the way, this sounds like it’ll be fun. Hehe, feels like I’m a Pinkerton agent. So, Jet, what’s the name of this operation?”
“The operation name…? Hmm…”
I pondered for a moment, then smiled like a kid playing a game.
“…East Distracts West.”
“The operation name is East Distracts West.”
“East Distracts… Huh? Never heard that before. Is it some Indian slang?”
“Yeah, something like that. Anyway, we’ve got the plan and the name, so let’s get moving.”
I didn’t have time to explain the meaning of “East Distracts West” to the wealthy man.
The sooner we executed the plan, the better.
I gestured, and the railroad man hurriedly got up.
“Right. Let’s get ready.”
“Oh, and I need a horse. Can I borrow one?”
“You can borrow my prized horse.”
And so, with the cooperation of the wealthy railroad man, the San Francisco escape operation, codenamed “East Distracts West,” began.
**
“Yawn~ I didn’t sleep all night. What’s going on?”
“Tell me about it… I’m so sleepy.”
Members of the South Brotherhood, combing through the alleys of San Francisco, voiced their complaints with tired voices.
“Yesterday, we were running around all day collecting debts… Damn it…”
“It’s a direct order from the boss. What can we do?”
“But why is the boss personally looking for this guy?”
Their mission was to find a man and woman from a sketch.
Even the sketch was hastily drawn, so the quality wasn’t great.
For the members, who had no idea who they were looking for, it was beyond frustrating.
“I don’t know, but the boss doesn’t do pointless things. We just have to trust and follow.”
“Sigh… Yeah.”
“Hey, let’s go smoke a cigarette by the beach.”
“Good idea. Let’s take a break.”
As they headed toward the beach for a quick smoke, they suddenly heard the sound of galloping hooves.
“Huh…?”
They turned to see a man in white clothes and a white mask riding toward them.
“…Hey, look—!”
“…Oh, shit—!”
The sight of the man triggered PTSD in the South Brotherhood members, and they immediately drew their guns.
And for good reason…
“It’s TKK!”
“When did those bastards come back?!”
The man’s appearance matched that of TKK, the worst gang in the West, who had once battled the South Brotherhood for control of San Francisco.
But they never got a chance to fire…
Bang, bang—!
“…What the hell.”
With just two shots, the TKK man disarmed the South Brotherhood members, knocking their pistols out of their hands.
The members were frozen in place, stunned by his incredible marksmanship.
But the TKK man, his face hidden behind the white mask, didn’t kill the defenseless members.
Instead, he spoke in a cold, godlike voice.
“Go tell the others. The Kid has returned to take back San Francisco.”
“…!!!”
The Kid.
A name the South Brotherhood could never forget.
The unbelievable shooting skill they just witnessed confirmed that he was indeed the Kid.
‘This guy really is the Kid…!’
The Kid, who had disappeared years ago, had returned to reclaim San Francisco.
This was a declaration of war against the South Brotherhood and the signal for a new wave of chaos.
“Ahhhhh—!!”
“The Kid is back—!!”
The two men fled to their comrades, spreading the news as if they’d seen a demon.
And so, the already chaotic San Francisco began to boil over, on the verge of exploding.
