2002 (Side A): Bullet Garden/Prologue 3—The Stowaways Have No Plan

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Synopsis
Bobby Splot is frantically fleeing from a creature that appears in the blink of an eye wherever Bobby runs. Bobby thinks of how he had considered his small gang 'invincible' by virtue of their ability to escape from police and the weakness of the criminal organization in their area. Although Bobby's parents, grandparents, and great grandmother had advised them not to provoke the Martillos, he had not taken these warnings seriously, and was not worried when his gang stole an expensive camera from a Japanese tourist in Martillo territory. While they were inside their locked base celebrating their success, Ronnie appeared out of nowhere. He informed them that the tourist had asked for help in recovering his precious camera. Bobby, convinced that Ronnie must be a demon, pulls a knife. Ronnie disdainfully scorns Bobby as a child, and suddenly he is holding the knife. Bobby's gang runs away, with Bobby grabbing the camera and jumping out the window. Bobby runs as hard as he can, but is unable to escape.

Just as Ronnie grabs Bobby by the arm, Bobby lets out a scream revealed to be occurring well after the incident, as Bobby wakes up from a nightmare induced by his cramped current location. His companions--nicknamed Tall, Humpty, and Troy--are with him in a lifeboat on the cruise liner Entrance. The group has created a fake floor and hidden inside the lifeboat for over twenty-four hours, as part of a hasty plan to stowaway on the ship. Troy says that he gave the best of his seven computers to the Daily Days in exchange for intelligence about the presence of a certain individual on the ship. Their goal is vengeance on the Martillos, and they intend to take it by stealing the cash of the capo on board and hiding in Japan. Tall, Humpty, and Troy point out the follies of the plan, including the risks of committing crimes in Japan, sneaking past immigration, and the difficulty of mugging a capo. They had agreed to the plan when seeing the capo from afar and deciding that he looked young and weak enough to beat. They are surprised that the capo is accompanied by a woman and child, whom they assume are his sister and brother.

A sudden bang makes them fear that they have been discovered, but a moment later they hear a young girl's voice, and the fake floor above them opens. A girl with long blond hair about the same age as them squeezes into their compartment and asks for permission to join them. Bobby, blushing at her appearance, asks who she is. The girl introduces herself as Carnea, and that she is stowing away on the ship.

Characters in Order of Appearance
Bobby Splot

Ronnie

Tall

Humpty

Troy

Carnea Kaufman