Arriving to his home in Ceres, Riki goes to sleep on his first night of freedom. Meanwhile, Iason continued his duties as a Blondie and confirmed to Katze that Riki is no longer with him, although the latter assumed that Riki was killed. Traveling through Midas, Katze compared the greedy and lustful citizens to the slums mongrels, whom are looked down by others and must steal to survive. Nights later, Kirie is chased down by the gang members of Jeeks, but managed to hide in the same location Riki was smoking at. While Kirie was hiding, the Jeeks confronted Riki, only to have Riki badmouthed them, which provoked a fight. After Riki easily defeated the Jeeks as Kirie watched on in amazement, he is reunited with his former gang, Bison, when they came to find Kirie. Overjoyed to see him, Bison warmly welcomed Riki back, especially Guy, whom embraced his former pairing partner.
With news of Riki's comeback spread through the slums, mixed feelings from other slums residents noticed how different Riki is from after his three years of absent. Keeping his time with Iason a secret, Riki enjoys his freedom and spent most of his time with Guy, who also wondered what happen to Riki. One night, Kirie mentioned how he was willing to become a pet to the elites to get out of the slums, which angered Riki. Seeing Riki's current state, Guy recalled one night before Riki's "disappearance" when he that came home with expensive wine. Guy asked Riki if gotten into any trouble for earn money, but Riki ignored his question and voiced how he will get out of the slums one day. Back to the present, Guy tried to hold Riki's hand, only to have Riki moved away, and thought about how Riki no longer opens up to him.
