Shortly after the events of April 26th 1999, LALA succumbed to the wounds she sustained from untreated infections. It seemed enduring multiple injuries throughout her time in Cantilados accrued into a body unable to withstand more trauma. Her 24th birthday was just around the corner.

Strangely enough, the few who attended her church became invigorated by her untimely death. Sycophantic disciples recount her sacrifice with hyperbolic zeal. 

It's said they consider her as Our True One. The number of Her followers are in the low hundreds as of 2002.

❝ 

I wasn’t made for any life but this one. I’mma die before a single wrinkle forms on my face, and you’ll be jealous of me for it. While y’all waste away at a desk job, I’mma be immortalized as the bitch with better taste in clothes, in women, in jewels, than you. The bitch with more money, more bitches, nicer cars, than you.

I’m ISA TORRES, and people can try they best to make me smaller than I am, but no dyke with a pierced taint can be forgotten. 

I’mma stay here, in Cantilados, 

and I’mma wreak so much havoc, and nobody gon’ get a single ‘sorry’ outta me.

❞

Who isn’t talking about that martial arts flick with Jack Chang and that Texan girl? You cried? Haha loser. (They cried too.)

Her name? SAVANNAH GEORGIA!? No shit!

She’s inescapable: TV, billboards, radio. Tabloids gasp. “Stripper!?” She rides the fame. Try and type cast her, but you can’t box Savannah Georgia.

Addicting to watch.

She helps build a Broadway to rival NYC’s. Opens a studio funding indie films with stories to tell.

Passions evolve, seemingly doing it all— but some things don't change. Time for friends. For her family. You look at her and think, wow.

What can’t this girl do?

Maybe it was better if he had stayed in Cantilados. DANIEL's apartment looks as though he'd never left, save for some clothes and, of course, the man himself.

In the frosty lands of Russia, the body of an Asian man, presumably in his mid to late 30's is discovered. An autopsy shows that he died to a single shot to the head. The time of death was just after midnight.

No one claims his body. He is eventually buried far from home alongside the other unclaimed, remembered by a simple placard.

— — — 

In Loving Memory

Daniel Mạnh Hà

July 31st, 1964 - February 1st, 2000

❝ 

I've moved on. 

Ironically, back to Los Angeles. Traveled out of the country for my new career. Been back in Cantilados a few times for business.

"Private consultant", making real use of my time with the CARTEL. There are still nights when I can't sleep, but I don't regret any of it. Why should I?

But, it took me a few years to get to a point where I wanted to see any of them again. I'm glad I got to that point. 

If it matters, I'm fulfilled. My sister and I are alright. Booger keeps me company. I got a nice place. A sick ride. 

I keep it moving. I hope they kept it moving, too. 

❞

A wave of pain just splashed over the already unbearable migraine LIU SHU HUA has. One could not focus on what is in front of him. 

All thoughts and visions are drowned in layers of darkness; it felt so heavy that he could not bear to stand any longer.

His body was screaming to lay down, so Shu Hua paid no mind to the hard impact he made with the concrete floor. 

Each throb,

          each heartbeat,

                           ...slower......

                                    longer........

He could not escape the unchanging fate.

He died the same way as "he" did on the summer of 1998.

VASILY GAVRIILOVICH SORGOYEV is ever content with simply being a CARTEL member, tending to his gym, living a good life of food and company in the great immigrant city of Cantilados.

❝ 

I have my friends and allies and colleagues,  I have the CARTEL, where I have no interest in moving up the ranks— I will die in Cantilados, when the time finally comes. And I will be honest… I still feel as though the people who want my head are still out there. 

If it so happens that there is a renewed interest in my head… well, let them come.

I will continue to remain here and live until then.

❞

LUTHER stays. Of course. Why wouldn't he?

Though he still works with The Clinic as an apothecarist, Luther eventually steps away from a doctor's role. It's not meant for me, he'd say if asked. 

Instead, you'll find him in the streets of the city― visiting for check-ups, to inspect the dead, and some days, to deliver unmarked packages. (Among other tasks.) 

He remains ever loyal to Ptr. GUZMÁN, still ever at her beck and call. (Though, in a surprise, he eventually marries Ms. TAN. "For taxes," apparently.)

The airport prospers, directed in cooperation with Cpt. IRIHAMA. He winds up wealthy.

SAM sold everything, fleeing back to NYC with the kids and MAL. “I was born here and I’ll die here!”, he decided after all.

Back to sales. Find a roof. Provide. The hustle didn’t end cause the show did. With nerves still shot and all her ginger bled, one bad attack led her to finally “GO TO FUCKIN’ THERAPY”, as her ex used to say.

It helps. Somewhat.

The moral here? Cantilados is Sodom, it didn’t count, and my sacrifices are the only reason we lived. So love your new family, keep working for your old redemption, and memory-hole it all—except for the nice parts, of course.

Some people never change.

The sound of ticking.

click

Wrying of machines.

click

Static.

click

Music.

click

News.

click

Then silence. 

Where… 

click

Waves washing up against the shore. 

Oh! there she was. 

HOYING stood with her feet in the sand, heels hooked in her fingers. Gazing out into the waters as the sun slowly set behind the horizon. 

This view never gets old. Even after the many years that had passed. Then once night fell it was dotted by the moon and stars.

They were all under the same sky, no matter the location.

“Captain... it’s time to go.”

“Soon..."

She just happens to choose this one.

❝ 

I would leave only a ghost of me, in every corner that I've graced. Perhaps I would be remembered, perhaps I'd be forgotten. I have no plans to return here just as I've never returned to Miami or Italy and every where I've last been in.

I will continue to sail the winds and traverse the world. Find more stories to leave it all the same. By the time I'm 40, I will finally rest—that, I promise. I already know where home is, and it isn't here.

The ocean is calling. Perhaps, it'll carry a piece of me ashore here one day, once more. I hope it would be cherished more than I ever was.

❞

❝ 

If you read this, I must already be gone. I have to be. A strange affliction has overcome me that no doctor can cure, or has it always been there and I’ve only recently come to realise it? 

The problem seems to rest within my soul. It's so cold. I no longer sleep. I cannot eat. I look in the mirror. I can’t even see myself. I just cry. 

And then cry.

It is a grave sickness. I fear that I won’t make it to see another year. I cannot bear to say any goodbyes. It would only be for the best to go silently.

I hope in the next life, I am a butterfly.

My impossible wish...    is to be happy too.

❞

Cpt. SEPULVEDA would remain in Cantilados, overseeing his family with a strong fist and soft palm. Under his oversight, non-evasive development of Cantilados' poorer neighborhoods were put into action.

...Still, the Patriarch knew what she signed up for when she found his office deserted no later than a year after, and something else important to the CARTEL missing -- Cpt. ANDERSEN. 

He learned enough self respect to walk away. Still, he dreams of that sunny coastline more often than he'd like.

Call it love or Stockholm Syndrome: Kazik always keeps one toxic relationship close to his chest.

Lacking impulse, BRIGITTE couldn't just leave—that would mean the abandonment of all of her projects and an assured death to everything she worked so hard for in the past several months.

So, she stayed. She saw through the actualization of free breakfast programs, community fridges, clothing drives and more, and entrusted these projects to a select few so that they would thrive in her absence.

And then one day, she and Cpt. SEPULVEDA were simply gone.

Brigitte went on to employ the experience she gained in Cantilados in her bid for District Attorney...

...and later, Mayor of New York.

SAUL's exits are either explosive or done in the dead of night. This is the latter, a quiet exodus with BRIGITTE and FIVE, leaving behind three thriving businesses instead of the usual human wreckage. 

New York is as it was when she left it years ago: big, beautiful, loud, busy, and with every opportunity for anyone willing to seize it. 

Brigitte has ambitions. 

Saul's making sure they get met.

LEXY returned home rejuvenated from her extended vacation, much to the ire of those who had high hopes of her finally dropping dead (their only consolation being the shrapnel and burn marks adorning her skin), and color finally returned to her bedbound husband, who had grown more frail with worries of her sudden departure, just to be stricken by a coma at news of her subsequent vacation.

❝ 

How's New York been? Have you finally settled in? I'll stop talking about Cantilados here, I don't think you'd ever be happy to hear about it. You were never meant to be in this life.

There's not a moment where I don't think back to the day I woke up to empty sheets. 

I think that I should feel bad for letting you back into my life despite everything, for pulling you along for as long as I did, for ever bothering to take care of you. 

But sometimes, I'm glad that I did. Sometimes, I would think to myself; I'd do it all over again. 

I'm sorry we had to part the way we did. 

I still miss you.

❞

❝ 

New York’s been quiet. Better that way, I think.

I never really belonged in Cantilados. We both knew that.

The scars on my body took everything, but maybe they were the only reason I ever got out. I spent too long buried in blood and business, acting like any of it was still worth it. So I left before I lost the last of myself.

I still think about you. More than I should.

Part of me wishes you were here. 

Maybe that’s selfish. You probably have your own future to build, your own place to be.

Maybe in another life, we could’ve...

Come visit me sometime. 

I’ll be staying here for a while.

❞

"爹, what's this?"

"Ah, that-"

"Oh, there's two of them - one for you and one for dad?"

Silver pins in the shape of a diamond.

He'd forgotten all about them.

Visits were rare after the kids. Travel's expensive, life gets busy, and—

Oh, it's just all so hard to explain.

"…Just a little souvenir from our time in the Cartel."

A long time ago. Back when his hair wasn't grey and his glasses were fake. Back when his paintings weren't his. A lifetime ago. And yet—

"Pff- you? With a cartel? Yeah right!"

—it may as well have been just yesterday.

How are you, Cantilados?

Still bright and sunny, I reckon.

JOHN SMITH retired at 45 in Ottawa, Canada. 

Some may call him money savvy. Others might know him as a ruthless parasite in the world of Real Estate. His two projects in Cantilados were merely a stepping stone into his new passion: amassing great wealth through his property investment empire. Every dollar saved, reinvested, and quadrupled.

When asked why he ruined so many lives, he replied honestly and without shame:

❝

I want to spend the remainder of my days relaxing with my husband and kids, and when we’re gone, I want to make sure they never have reason to struggle ever again…

❞

❝ 

Hey Mom & Dad,

Gonna stay here a while longer.  Gotta look after things while my coworker's abroad. I moved again, my old roommate's brother had a spare room above the bodega. It's pretty nice. Love you.

- H 6/23/99

❞

— — —

❝

DION says thanks for the care package. We're still getting things set up, I'm gonna stay a while longer. Say hi to everyone. Love you.

- H 10/25/00

❞

— — —

❝

Is it cool if I bring someone to visit? My friend SACHA's never been to Hawai'i. I think you'd like him. Dion says hi. Love you.

- H 4/14/01

❞

“I want to leave this place.”

​

She had made her intention clear the moment she set foot on the sands of Cantilados. She never ended up leaving, though.

She found a few people she cared about, friends she decided to stick around for. Just for a little longer; maybe a month, or a year- even a few years. Time ticked by as she continued working for the TRIAD, sticking by "CADE" TATSUTORA, whom she considered her 'partner in crime.'

…

A few years pass, and she buys herself a boat, something small to fish on. 

One day, she goes out, and although her boat shows back up, she never does.

Let’s review!

      [ Landed a high end job? ]

You could say that…Though it turned out to be short-term.

      [ Built strong connections? ]

One can only hope they’ll last a lifetime.

      [ Became a…stigma male? ]

Apparently it's sugma, 

but it doesn’t hold as much meaning as it used to.

He deserves a passing grade, wouldn’t you say?

With new goals set in mind, he will depart from the city that once knew of “Diablo” to follow the one that calls him “SAMAEL”.

One unremarkable man left the city, with another in tow.

The city could care less who dies or lives another day.

“The sun shone, having no alternative, 

on the nothing new.”

❝ 

Mom, dad.

It’s me, GOLDIE.

How’s the weather up there?

Ma’s already with you two, right?

Say hi from me and AXEL, okay?

Also, did she tell you about me and Axel?

Don’t laugh, mom. I know you’re laughing at me right now.

But, surprise, we’re adopting soon!

The company’s getting bigger, Axel’s works have been taking off too.

Things have been hectic, sure, but we agreed that it’s finally time to start a family of our own. God, I love him so much.

I can’t wait to tell you guys more about the kid, though.

I’m sure you guys would love him so much.

Look after us, yeah?

I love you,

To eternity

❞

The seasons change.

Leaves let go before the cold comes.

Snow falls and forgets itself by morning.

"Mother," 

he whispers, promise kept.

"Despite everything, I'm still alive." 

AXEL FROST stays. In so little time, he’d rekindled his art, crossed into clearer waters — and found a family of his own.

"I showed you."

The young man kneels. White daisies rest against the gray tombstone, the wind moving softly through the grass around him.

"Things do get better after all."

Light breaks without asking. 

Even the longest summers end in gold.

And Cantilados was his, where the warmth never left.

It’s the adrenaline that pumps through her body first before the wave of crushing agony that tears her mind apart over time.

Even until the very end, KANG SEULKI… you are still nothing special. But you are far worse than anything you feared you’d become.

You’re a killer. Just as the mayor said. 

Every time you shut your eyes, your body trembles and sweats. 

Guilty. Murderer.

He leaves with nothing.

No.

He leaves everything behind.

Whatever he wraps his fingers around bites back. Only GILES will protect himself. So he goes.

North. But there's nothing there.

East. But home is the same prison.

Then, south. Chasing something that may always be denied to him. It doesn’t matter. If he wants to live, he has to try.

He can go anywhere in the world, but he is still Giles. That, he can never escape.

❝

I don’t disappear this time.

For years, I stay where you can find me.

I follow recipes, as well as orders.

I ask about your day. Where it hurts.

At the party, you find me on the roof, gazing at stars.

I'll place my child in your arms.

When I leave, I say I'll see you soon.

I hold you tight.

I let you go.

In scarlet blooms, I find home and listen to his songs.

You once glimpse us through pixels.

They probe. They look for answers. But I won't have them.

And as my eyes close for the final time, I'll dream again of those sunny Cantilados waves—

When they belonged to a girl named ALMOND.

❞

And so, the lost boy returns home to witness his granny’s first tears. 

You aren’t the same as when you left, your ambitions largely extinguished… but where even the tiniest ember remains, fire may burn anew. 

Rekindle your loves, your passions, share them with those from faraway lands. Meet new friends, but hold tight the bonds you already possess. Don’t forget them, those memories warm, painful.

When you’ve made a name for yourself, when you’ve prepared a place, when she’s ready to join you… Be sure to greet them with a smile.

“Welcome home!”

Welcome home to you as well, young MIKIO.

NAMA remains right where you found her—in Cantilados, ever loyal to the CARTEL.

Her lifestyle is comfortably outfitted with dense routine. In 2003, she founds her own security agency in direct cooperation with San Candido International.

Through the years, she lives in a modest estate with the love of her life. What starts as a small flower bed at the Irihama residence eventually grows into a resplendent garden, adoringly cared for by yours truly and her wife, HOTARU.

And when a certain L.C. sends a letter her way a decade later—

She's bound for a business trip to Barcelona that summer.

She doesn’t expect to stay, but she does. HOTARU remains in Cantilados, working with the CARTEL, managing Oldbury Street, and expanding her tax firm.

Eventually, she moves into a modest home with her wife, NAMA.

Life becomes comfortable over the years as things change, and everything settles into a quiet routine. They wake up, make breakfast, take Nana out of her cage, and tend to the garden. Hotaru wouldn’t change a thing. 

It’s peaceful. As peaceful as it can get. 

And when a certain letter is sent to their address—

— Well. You really can’t say no to a vacation to Barcelona, can you?

And so the ending credits finally roll in…

JETT decides to stay in Cantilados. He has an auto shop, construction site and a bar to run afterall.

In 2003, he dies from a stab wound with a rusty knife. That was always just his kind of luck.

In all honesty, Jett was never able to be fully sober. He would earn his sobriety then lose it after a year, but he was still making an effort to get better. 

In the past 4 years, he managed to find some real happiness hiding in the corners of this city. 

It was short-lived, but what matters was that it existed.

TUTU continued his work for the CARTEL in pursuit of his own agenda. He was good at what he did, and he did what he was good at.

Beyond the carnage, he chased a gentler future. To Tutu, Cantilados remains a fond memory compared to what fate had for him.

His life became littered with losses and funerals from the departure of people he once knew and loved. Yet, the sun still rises today, tomorrow, and every day after.

Despite everything, he never escaped the lessons carved into him. He chewed thoroughly—  guiltlessly— all that will ever fall into his maw.

❝

People come and go. Some stay, some stray. 

Cantilados was never meant to be a home, as they say,  for me. I was always meant to float away with the flow. To forever stray. 

Funnily enough, I've learnt fond memories made will always stick with you. With me. With everyone.

Life can be fulfilling, after all.

It's surprising to have such feeling of belonging even as we all part. At the back of my mind, you will always be remembered.

I share my thanks with many. One day when we meet again, I'll be the same person everyone had always knew about,

...unless?

❞

There are versions of this story that end with SUKBAN "SPENCER" HOK drifting down the Thames, or where he blasts someone important's brains out and gets executed by the TRIAD; but in this one, Spencer stays put. London lacks an audience, and a love-crime would bore the critics to tears. 

(That, and he's learned his lesson.)

Instead, he sticks to paperwork, obeys Miss MURASAKI's every whim, and terrorizes his subordinates. Word is he's often phoned and loves to walk out on meetings to chat with friends from seemingly all over. 

He never retires, though he vacations and travels generously.

❝

Flocks migrate south for winter. 

I, too, will leave at the end of Autumn.

❞

Cantilados was a city for a second chance, for the weak, for the wicked, for the damned.

37 years.

YUHAO was a man built of broken pieces, anchored to his own mistakes.

This time it’ll be different. 

Before he reaches the point of no return, before he loses everything.

The sky.

The sea.

The mountain ranges.

And.

The love of his life.

These are his choices.

No longer the shore that waits for the waves, he takes flight alongside you.

Into the vast and silent horizon.

The thing about running is that eventually you have to stop. 

Cantilados glimmers behind him. 

The place that taught him how to survive by forgetting how to live. 

How to forge success on graves. 

How to negotiate anything except his own freedom.

ZHIWEI crosses the bridge back to where he began.

He doesn't return as the man who left. That person was buried in the glittering streets.

But he's not alone anymore. 

So one last time, he runs.

Towards home. 

Towards himself. 

Towards you.

The city where she was afraid to walk through alone and spent numerous nights restless over the safety of her friends— The borders reopened, who would have expected that this lone girl would return here after getting on the first plane away?  

Call it stupid or call it idiotic, but CHENYI believed one day Cantilados could become a safer place. 

The sunny shore and sand that multiple footprints once imprinted the surface of... 

Today, only a single set trail towards the sea.

Gently her figure places a flower into the water. 

— For the ones that made hope for this city possible again —

He travels to Mongolia with someone beside him, learning at last to become a real doctor. 

Freedom feels gentle, he tastes unfamiliar dishes, gathers small souvenirs.

Once, he returns to Hong Kong, and in his mother’s arms, time forgets to move.

Leaving the fighting ring behind, but keeps the quiet medical room. There is still so much to become.

He remains rooted in Cantilados, collecting plants like quiet companions, often seen with one in hand, smiling.

Today, he returns holding a green chrysanthemum, 

before figuring the meaning a voice interrupts—

"Welcome back, DOCTOR."

The room hums like a dying appliance.

Towering over you is a man— buzzed head, easy smile, maybe in his late 40s.

“So...did they get ya with the old ‘Your paperwork has been flagged for discrepancies’ bit? 

Haha. Classic. Ya really are wet behind the ears.”

When he turns away, you see a diamond emblem seared into his nape.

“Look, I'll tell ya this. Our city doesn't pull punches so neither should you.

You'll get out of Cantilados either a made man or in a body bag—” 

Click.

The lights flick on. A tall woman sighs.

“GUY NGUYEN. Scaring the new recruits again?”

A bird that no longer needs to seek flight. 

That's found its heaven, here, on earth. 

A perch for weak & weary wings, a soul to suffer their burdensome weight.

A home where one feels they belong. 

It came to him through forceful lungs that filled his own, denying him death's quiet calm. A bitter wake from stolen slumber that gifted something sweet. His once-blunt claws, sharp, as he seized it.

A consequence. His revenge.

Days pass, then years. 

His greed, still embraced.

Undeserved. 

...Cherished.         

H2SOUP remains a home to every guest. SACHA, a grounded BIRD.

"Thanks, HAV."

Getting shot once had been enough for her to decide to get the HELL out. 

It had been easy for her to come to Cantilados, and it had been just as easy for her to leave. She would later find herself living back in Miami with her husband— her time with the TRIAD becoming nothing more than a faint memory, or a one-off joke.

She had welcomed her first son with her husband, and then some time later she had welcomed twins.

No longer had she been lost and weary, for she had had a family and a place to call her own without all those… strings attached.

「さようなら」

“We will not meet again, Cantilados.”

One last trip to the hospital, and we can both go home. Sunny Cantilados had felt like one long dream— a dream that changed his life forever.

Moving back to Miami with MARI, the 2 had finally become 1— The Banderas.

Soon 2 became 3.

Sebastian, you are the kindest experience to fatherhood I could've had.

Then 3 became 5.

We had wanted a girl, but 3 boys is just as fun! I don't know how we could've managed Leon and Mateo if it weren't for my parents helping out.

"Your mom and I used to be troublemakers back then!" An older man would reminisce.

"What? Jaja-- no way!" His adult sons laughed.

5 months ago, your daughter disappeared out of your life, and time has stopped since then. You wait on the porch every night, hoping someday she'll come walking up the steps again.

But she never does.

A postcard finds its way into your mailbox one day. The card, illustrated with a sunny beach on one side, a pendent bell flower pressed into cardstock, and on the other: neat, cursive-print handwriting that you never thought you'd see again.

❝

Dad, wanna come for a visit sometime?

❞

SIDNEY didn't think he'd get used to organized crime so soon, but Cantilados manages one last surprise. He refuses to be caught in another web of monotony. Entered the city for a fresh experience, he's leaving for the same.

His goodbyes are brief. He never liked long, tearful separations. He'll come back, probably.

He doesn't mention his company, but anyone can see the motorcycle hitch freshly mounted on his car. 

SIRKE disappears along with them, the shop should be plenty safe in her absence.

"Let's see every inch of the world, and then fuck it all up."

"... Hey, are you still awake?"

ADEYEMI leaves Cantilados the way he came in. Multiple GSWs and a body count are good at convincing a man a place isn't home. Despite everything, little about him's changed. Except...

bzzt. bzzt.

1 message received

visiting soon

want anything frm ny

These days, he's getting more sleep. It's easy when you don't have to drive. He also texts, first, to let people know he's still alive. And he stays alive, much longer than he'd dreamt as a child. 

"Keep your eyes on the road, SIDNEY."

He won't miss the city, but the people...

Well, he's not going to say it aloud.

SONGYI sits on the Clinic porch, mindlessly thumbing a vial of dried blood. He's found a new lead on the people who carved him open; the hunt would take him far away from Cantilados. 

Yet for the first time in his life, he feels compelled to stay. Not just for ROO, but also for the friends and memories he's made in this dangerous, unpredictable, beautiful city. 

A weary voice cuts into his thoughts.

"If you wouldn't mind, Songyi, come help me with these..." 

“Doctor!”

He rises, letting the vial fall from his fingers. It shatters, its contents purling away into nothing in the cool morning breeze.

Just Married!

Though CLOVE goes to New York to honor all of SAM's sacrifices, even Papa can't stop her and CILLIAN from heading off on a long road trip, travelling across the country and surprising old friends.

Memories of solitude feel akin to a mirage. 

Clove's new world is vibrant, and she is loved.

After some ill-fitting months of trying to settle into his new life with CLOVE in New York, a familiar yearning bristles in CILLIAN's chest— the same one that compelled him to go westward that fateful Fall of 1997.

And so, they pack up what they can to soon begin their long drive.

To the beach. California.

Though, it's a little different for him this second time around.  This time, he's got his Love by his side and the now ever present haunt of his Summer's Mirage just above the asphalt horizon to guide them there.

...To the beach, Cantilados.

Low and slow.

The bell on the door chimes as it opens into Cafe de WANder nestled in a quiet corner of Cantilados. A white color bengal cat basks in the sun pouring through the glass, and dogs run circles happily greeting every new patron.

“Did you have a long day?”

The airy laughter and voice of the rather handsome dog cafe owner. 

“Why not rest a while then?” 

There’s comfort in sitting still and letting something good sit until it inevitably slides away. People come, people go, change is inevitable but REN UTO stays.

“Will it be the usual, Princess?” 

Khabarovsk, Russia. 

20XX 

Back home. Far East, or West, depending on your point of view. Where the forest is thick with Korean pine and Mongolian oak and the underbrush heavy with fat juniper and tigers stalk you from five miles back— 

Tigers? 

Yes. Tigers. 

Here's a final message from the one you raised, YAKOV. 

养虎为患.

Chk.

BANG!

— — —

Following the years after the mayor's disposal, Cpt. AHMAD ZHAO continues to oversee the city's red light and entertainment districts. 

During this time, he dutifully remained as YAKOV CHZHEN's right-hand man and successor until the other's retirement. 

You hurt me, bruised me, and destroyed me. You were like a knife in my side, an endless gush of pain and agony. Your ugly face was twisted with truth. 

Maybe that’s why… it changed me.

Your truth, your grasp. It never really let me go. 

Why, oh why?

And yet, I never let it shake me or hurt me.  Whether I’m ten stories high or ten feet in the ground, no one will ever kill what’s in me!

Mi Alma, my soul. You will not take it from me, Cantilados. Only I have the power to decide if I get to give it to you! 

That's why I will still stand here, stay here, and continue to build what I fought for!

–" you're going on hiatus again?" 

An interviewer had asked him just last year. 

–" Oh no no, I’m just taking a little break once in awhile. It's fun to see cameras trying to reach at all!" 

In two years, with a movie finalized, a name for himself, and a culminated cabin, CHERYL makes sure to come back to Cantilados every summer without fail. 

Parties, asados, and fishing competitions are often held around this time of year, in hopes of a certain someone to eventually arrive and make up for their 2 years of lost time.

"I’m starting to think you only ever come to greet me for those…!!" 

After the CARTEL and TRIAD's successful raid of J99, ZACHARY WIXOM received promotion to Consigliere. During his time leading operations under Ptr. Guzmán, he developed the faction internally, promoting the collective strength of principled, trained members towards peace and security across the city. Wixom resigned formally in 2008, with all of his initiatives concluded.

——

The day before I drowned myself, the landlady was going to tell me her tres leches cake recipe. I never learned what made it special. When I went back, there was an ambulance parked outside. 

Ischemic stroke, I think. (1999)

❝ 

It's been so fun!

I've been continuing on my path to be a great BL Mangaka!

I visit my friends now and then to see what they are up to and oh with social media I keep up with most of them, isn't it so convenient? Technology is amazing!

I traveled the world, befriended some monks, got my stuff stolen, befriend a dude in a camper with his two dogs to travelled back to the border, not in that order but you know!

I'm surprised I haven't been kidnapped yet! 

Um what else...

The sound of pages being flipped.

Honestly there isn't enough time to get into all that >w<

I'm enjoying myself!

❞

He couldn't find what he wanted.

It was a waste of time one thought. So, he booked a ticket to fly back home.

His fate was unknown after that.

❝ 

The United States treats me well. Americans always have treated me well. The best way to show thanks is to stay as long as I can, working as hard as I can. Maybe this’ll make up for everything America has done for me when I was young. 

Am I still young? 

❞

❝ 

Ain't it obvious? He'll just keep being the best fence and thief on this side of the West Coast. He's  got a pretty important job, after all.

A good life, is what he's got here.

... He's not leaving the CARTEL for anything. If he kicks the bucket, it'll be with this pin on. And he ain't planning on dying any time soon— best remember that.

Keep watching your pockets.

❞

❝

I was there on the day of your birth, so I suppose it's only fair that you're here on the day of my death.

——.

You should smile when you're about to achieve all of your dreams, 海涛. 

…

We both knew that this was coming, we just didn't know which one of us would continue past this point.

—?

Do I have any last words? Aha… aha ha!

…

No, not particularly.

—.

I've never had anything in particular that I've ever wanted to say.

…

Well, I guess there is one thing.

—?

It's nothing, really.

…

I just think that right now…

Kchk.

…I might be feeling kind of sad.

❞

BANG.

05.04.99

The Detective Dies (at) Last.

❝

Dear Mom & Herman,

Dad finally figured out the city lockdown thing— I’m on my way back to NY! I had a great extended spring break otherwise.

Love, ABBY.

❞

Yep, life’s a piece of cake. SAM’s moving back nearby—said he missed me too much (unsurprising!). I met my cool new sis, CLOVE, and I’m hoping to meet Ross soon (I always wanted siblings!). Still studying hard in college and playing even harder. The world is unchanged; the world is as bright as the sun.

Never found out what had Sam all nervous on the phone, though. Was it really just the half-sister thing?

What a silly old goof I have.

PAPAYA stays in Cantilados, because there's no reason for her to leave. She loves the grime of the city, the bright lights and dark alleys, the pulse of the place. It's where the TRIAD, her Triad, is. So she stays.

She has a fling with ISA TORRES that both of them forget was supposed to be anything, and instead turns into a long friendship. She bothers her Captain, YAKOV. She marries her high school sweetheart Avaline, who thinks she's a man. She does what she's always done, and will always do: whatever catches her interest.

She dies in 2019 of a mysterious respiratory illness.

FELICIA may not have gotten the girl of her dreams, but hey— with the border open, at least her band's able to go on tour now!

PUNK'S NOT DEAD !!!!!!!

Too many absences? Giant crowds kept draggin’ you around? Got stuck on a ship for a few days? Yeah, maybe I’d fire you too. I mean— Glad ya made it out, that office wasn’t…

Hired? By who… Is that safe? She’s TRIAD, y’know?! …She’s tall and… Hey! Ya can’t just let a pretty face— I know ya like ‘em! Listen ‘ere, dumbass—

…

That’s it? Cookin’, cleanin’… You a housekeeper? Wait, are those euphemisms?! Like “cleaning” bodies and—

…

You. Just go home after you’re done? Off days… The jellyfish, huh?

…Fine. Still don’t like it, but s’long as the boss lady’s treatin’ you well.

Right. See ya.

MALLORY MURASAKI, upon the urging of SAM, quickly leaves Cantilados for New York City. He's sad to leave so soon, but excited to experience the bright lights of the Big Apple. 

His brief stint at NCU is enough to get his foot in the door at a small community college in New Jersey. He likes it well enough and it's a legit job. An honest job.

Mal remembers Cantilados as a whirlwind, and thinks of it fondly as the most romantic time of his life, and still visits occasionally.

Nowadays, he enjoys visiting The Met and catching Broadway musicals with Sam. ("Sam has such impeccable taste!")

Never could she have imagined that she would be the last one standing amongst her peers, the rest buried six feet under. Her generation now slowly fading while newer and fresher blood emerges from the wreckage. What a cycle.

So what’s the next step? Retirement? It seems like a laughable outcome for her considering all that’s happened. However, with her supposed “nephew” being in charge…she doesn’t mind lingering a little bit longer. Someone’s gotta keep an eye out for this faction’s legacy the same way a certain someone kept an eye out for her all these years.

After a brief but gratifying reunion with SONGYI, topped off with a fierce hug to make up for a decade of lost time, JIJI boards the plane and leaves Cantilados. 

It's a fun place! she thinks. 

I should visit again.

She never makes it back to Korea. 

Her mother phones Songyi, worried - it's been a week since Jiji's return flight was scheduled. He doesn't know anything either. 

Where did she end up, you might ask? 

RP TO FIND OUT........

ELYSE stays in Cantilados, ever loyal to EIRENE. When the day comes that Eirene decides to step down and move away, then Elyse will follow. But she’s sure that day will never come. 

It’s just such a shame that she lost a handful of her usual toys on the day the borders opened back up.

Oh well. 

She’s content staying here, stirring up a little mischief between her usual work. 

Wherever the light shines, there will always be a shadow. Elyse watches Cantilados prosper while keeping an eye on the ground, as always.

To a traveler, every place is just another destination. Cantilados was no different. A city’s ecosystem rising, collapsing, and now showing signs of life again. Seeing it with his own eyes was enough for him. He already had more than enough stories to write.

Now he prepares to leave once more. Where next? Texas? Florida? Anywhere with interesting movements would be enough to draw him in. 

Isn’t that what a horse of the plains was born to do?

❝

I'm back on my Solo Tour, baby!

❞

Nobody saw the stray disappear from the Cantilados skyline. 

No one noticed.

No one ever would.

His part in this story is over. 

Now, only a frantic echo of laughter cuts through the darkness.

A hollow reminder to those below that he once existed.

"I am here."

And he shall stay here. 

A loyal dog until he has nothing left to give. 

And then a little more, still.  

His pack— his people, (the furry ones, too)— BEAU's intentions remain as rigid as he.

In the warmer month of Spring, I changed my name to 龍虎. Tatsu, dragon. Tora, tiger. I did it to show devotion to my new 'clan', or rather, that warmth I find in between my arms. 

I don't think there was a life I was 'meant' to live. There is no 'best' life or 'worst' life. Only the life that is. I could have lived it one way, or another, but my decisions and reality are the only truth. 

I wonder if the truth will be satisfactory.

I wonder if it will be the one of triumph, fear, pain, sadness, laughter, 'family.'

I wonder if it will be nothing.

But for now:

"I was here."

''Same old, same old.'' 

The rustling of a newspaper accompanies his reply to your 'how is business going?'

If you ever come across for a refreshment, ask for access to the fishing pond, or bait, you'll most likely recognize him. 

DOMINGO is in charge of all business left by CHERYL, working diligently every day. Both Pez Dorado and Los Perros Calientes are surprisingly striving underneath his guidance, and Domingo is now looking forward to formally settle down in the town. 

He shares rooms with HAVI on the second floor of Pez Dorado.

He loved tragedies because they promised meaning in sorrow, yet Cantilados held none of the ending he searched for.

Perhaps travel waits next, another road, another dim station beneath foreign skies.

There is someone he thinks of, though he never speaks it aloud.

Wandering does not trouble him.

An informant belongs to passing places, half-heard names, and doors left slightly open.

Still, he walks on carrying the quiet hope of finding the one story he was looking for.

Patr. RENATA TRIAD lives and dies as her predecessor, standing steadfast at the helm of the CARTEL.

In the decade following the death and deposition of the Mayor of Cantilados, the Cartel and its leadership shift their focus to rebuilding— reclaiming public land and broadening their sphere of influence across the California coast.

New territory brings new challenges.  

Renata appoints her new consligiere, WIXOM, to spearhead the aggressive expansion, while IRIHAMA holds the line at home. 

Under their joint effort, the CARTEL endures.

With its rapid urbanization and drastic changes within Cantilados, LAI becomes increasingly alienated from the city of his own birth.

He wasn’t made for this type of life. So one sunny day, he leaves for his father’s hometown in Catalonia, Spain. There's no goodbye, there's no see you later.

He opens a little gelato store by the shores of Barcelona. Locals always see a chonky black cat accompanying him. He seems happier, unfettered by the sorrows of his past.

You'll receive a letter one day. No return address. A pressed flower is inside.

Someday, under a kinder sun… ☀️

"Have you ever been to Australia, SONGYI?"

ROO smiles, a nostalgic tilt to his lips.

"You haven't? Well, it's your turn to humor me for a while, then."

They depart, leaving behind new friends, found family, lost hopes—

With the constant presence of his new life and death companion by his side, the frail Doctor slowly recovers, walking upright on his two feet once more.

But Cantilados has a way of calling her children back home.

"It's time we return, Songyi."

Roo hangs up the borrowed blue-grey coat, locking the door behind them.

"They shouldn't be left unattended for long..."

Absolved of obligations to the CARTEL, and cut off from the Family's coffers— DALLAS continues to eke out a modest and unremarkable existence in the city. 

Occasionally he visits his cousin in the TRIAD— his last surviving family— claiming unearned closeness from the comfort of a worn living room couch. 

He looks forward to spending summers in North Cantilados.

"Did you bring me back a souvenir?"

Under Chmn. EIRENE TZEN, the TRIAD resumes full operation as the dominant force in North and Central Cantilados, moving swiftly to claim the abandoned City Hall and casting a long shadow southward into CARTEL territory.

Her Captains are quick to reign her in. 

In the years following, the Triad turns inward— and their labour is returned tenfold in the loyalty of its members and the compounding weight of accumulated wealth. 

The TRIAD endures into the future.

Cantilados.

She hadn't intended to stay for so long in this haggard concrete jungle. But loyalty, and the ties of blood family... kept her wanderlust at bay, it seems.

But now, replacement secured in the tired but satisfied shark-tooth smile of a certain TRIAD Understudy, AKRETA ULAANTSÖL MEDREKH departs.

She will never return.

MIKI MURASAKI, as steadfast as ever, remained with the TRIAD.  People had come and gone—citizens, subordinates, her brother—it was no matter. Life continued.

On the eve of her 45th birthday, Miki abruptly resigned. She enjoyed her work, but she enjoys not working even more, and upon counting her small fortune in savings, declared an early retirement.

In 2006, a new manga in an obscure magazine is released. Crime City Blues. A tale of two gang leaders who try to put aside their differences to unite a corrupt city, and in the process... they fall in love? 

It becomes a cult classic.

Paranoid creature that he is, YAKOV CHZHEN cedes the formal, public facing position of Chairman to EIRENE TZEN, to no real change—  within the TRIAD, it's an open secret that Madame Chmn. sits close in his pocket.

Having never truly aligned with the late patriarch YASAK's principles, peace in Cantilados bores him. 

Yakov retires in 20XX, closing out a long chapter with the Triad. The only person privy to his destination is his right-hand man and closest colleague, Cpt. AHMAD ZHAO.  

He disappears from the city with little fanfare. Out of respect for his wishes, the TRIAD does not contact him again.

Last I heard, he was living out a peaceful, solitary retirement in the Far East.