Ruki shifted on his cloud, restless. Sometimes the days up here were so drag that Ruki could hardly sit still. How did he end up here in the first place? He slightly frowned to himself as he remembered:

~~~

It was a cold day in Tokyo. Ruki and his best friend visiting from Korea, Ji, were bundled up, arguing and trudging their way to the super market.

"Ji, you need to quit your gang habits. We used to shoot hoops! Now you're over here shooting up discount stores!"
"I do not 'shoot-them-up' ok Ruki? I've never even fired a gun..."

Recently, Ji's been back into his old gang. Although that may be fine in Korea, it's extremely dangerous here. The Japanese Mafia is always lurking. They headed inside the doors of the market and continued bickering.

Ruki hated shopping, so he grabbed what he needed to come in for, and quickly headed to the register. Ji was following close behind.

As they went to check out, the cashier looked up and gasped, eyes widened. He couldn't have been more than 16 compared to the two older boys.

"Y-you're Kwon JiYong... Right..?" He stammered. Ruki felt awful... The kid must've been scared.

Ji just nodded. He knew he had a reputation here as well as Korea. He wasn't one to with.

Just as quickly as Ji nodded, the cashier slid out his gun and aimed it at the center of Ji's heart. His scared expression quickly turned hard and cold as he spoke. "Then it's my job to kill you."

He didn't waste any time.

He rested his hand on the trigger.

That's when things seemed to move in slow motion for Ruki. Almost instinctively, Ruki shoved his best friend out of the way of the barrel.

The gun fired.

Ruki was down. 

He would never rebound.

Ji was stunned. He knelt down to see his friend, covered in blood, unmoving.

Before he passed, Ruki choked out one single-syllable word.

"GO."

Ji listened and fled as fast as he could while the shocked kid who pulled the trigger struggled to reload.

After that day, Ji stopped all his gang affiliation. It wasn't worth losing the person he practically grew up with. He repented his ways, but he was still gunned down by a more experienced marksman two weeks later at Ruki's funeral. He never forgave himself, even after.

~~~

Ruki sat back on the cloud, lost in thought. He didn't even notice Ji running up to him.

"Hey bro! Wanna shoot some hoops?"

Ruki looked up at him.

He made sure Ji forgave himself, by forgiving him when he came up.

He smiled and nodded.

There was nothing he'd rather do more.