act21side

Texas!

What?

Miss Caterina... I mean, Giovanna, might be in danger!

What did you say?

I just called her, and have a really uneasy feeling.

Lappland.

Yo.

What do you want?

I just wanted to give you an update on your old friend. She's somewhere near your little hideout, surrounded by wise guys from her own famiglia.

Texas, we should go help her!

...I know.

Just a sec.

Are you seriously going?

You were all ready to make an enemy of the Rossatis to get out of here.

But now you're going to stay in the swamp just for her?

Think, Texas.

This is your best chance to turn around and walk away from it all.

Sora...

You know, Texas?

This was supposed to be a little job I picked up as a way to go looking for you.

But, I soon came to realize that I'd fallen in love with Siracusa's performing arts scene.

People here have a certain arrogance to them, but they're much better than the materialistic Lungmenite businessmen.

And Exusiai won't stop raving about how she's going to find the best pizza in Siracusa.

As for Croissant... She's always been easygoing.

I just wanted to catch up with you. Maybe we can go back to Lungmen after everyone's had enough fun here.

We'll go back to Lungmen eventually. The four of us, together.

That's right, the four of us, together.

Well, actually, I just had a chat with Miss Giovanna and asked her to take a tour of Lungmen with us. So that'd make five.

...Okay.

A number of people have collapsed in an alley.

A number of wounds have appeared across Giovanna's body.

Everyone, including herself, knows there is no escape for her.

Give it up, Giovanna.

Got anything to drink, Wallach?

Go grab a bottle from the car.

Yessir.

I've thought about it before. If we would've been better off getting into certain businesses back in Columbia.

Originium weapons, designer drugs, military channels...

I've also thought about... if there were certain opportunities that I should've seized.

Getting on good terms with those officials, or even extending an olive branch to the Columbian government.

But in the end, I decided that some things had to be done in moderation.

We're too deeply invested, we're holding too much. I won't claim to be a good person, but at least we can't forget that there are some things we can't do.

You could call it principle, or you could call it stubbornness.

Times have changed, Giovanna.

A new era calls for new norms.

The so-called 'morality and justice' of the old guard should be cast aside.

Even if we don't do it, someone eventually will. And when that time comes, we'll be the ones who get pushed out.

Or you think sitting around, watching Columbia's other famiglie get their mitts on these things is the right way to do it?

What would you do in my position, Wallach?

I'll control it all, new and old. Everything will be at my disposal.

We're not taking the world back to the old ways, we're turning away from them.

Got the booze, Wallach.

Come on. Have one last drink with me.

Fine.

This one's my favorite. You've been waiting a long time for this, haven't you?

It was supposed to celebrate your return.

Hah.

Well, how about that. From here on, you're Don Rossati.

Giovanna.

Do it.

The sound of sharp metal slicing through flesh appears in the alley.

It is quickly drowned out by the sound of the falling rain.

Texas knows she is already too late.

The alley is scarred by traces of battle, and blood spreads out across the ground.

Her gaze goes to the source of the bloody water, where a familiar figure lies fallen.

Her heart quivers.

Giovanna!

We should be able to have a nice discussion over here, Your Honor.

I won't become your accomplice.

Accomplice? That's a rather extreme choice of words.

Shouldn't you be thanking me for saving your life?

Forget it, just treat it as an act of kindness on my part.

The upside about you young folks is that you're go-getters. The downside is you tend to overdo it.

There's nothing I particularly need you to do for me, actually.

I just don't want to see an outstanding young woman like you fall.

You? Really?

I think the Carracci incident has given you some misconceptions about me.

No, I don't think it has.

I happen to care more about what's in front of me, that's all.

'The government is just the cloth draped over Grey Hall's round table.'

Lavinia, everyone in Siracusa knows of Signora Sicilia's lament.

But I'd imagine there are few who understand the source of this lament.

Thirty years ago, there was a group of youths like you who naively believed they could free Siracusa from the famiglie.

But there was no end to the dark clouds that hung over the country, and they couldn't conjure up any support.

So they chose to try to win over a number of famiglie by catering to their interests, trying to fight... the thing they thought they could resist.

As for what happened to them... nobody knows.

Nobody knows?

Try to picture this scenario, Signorina Lavinia.

Your father is a clerk who works for the city government.

One day, you get up, shower, and have breakfast as usual. That's when you realize your father forgot something at home, and your mother asks you to bring it to him.

It's the rainy season, and you're in a bad mood because you had an argument with your father. But then you think to yourself, it's partially your fault, and it would be better to just apologize.

But when you walk into city hall, you feel an unnatural stillness.

The place shouldn't be so quiet at this time of day.

Soon, you see blood seeping from beneath the doors of various offices.

And that's when you realize that streaks of blood are painted all across the floor.

You find that everyone in city hall has gone missing.

What scares you even more is that not a single soul will comment on it, no matter who you ask. Even your own mother is completely silent.

It's as if the disappeared never existed in the first place.

After a while, people begin to appear at city hall again, and a bit after that, the normal hustle and bustle returns.

And you finally realize, that's all there is to it.