Plan to Assassinate Tatsuya Shiba - Volume 1 - The Girl Assassin - Chapter 6

[6] Intervention 

“Nuts, are we really setting up here? Inside of Kokonoe Yakumo’s territory?” 

From the driver’s seat of the parked box wagon, Wanizuka asked Yuki a question. On his face floated an expression of concern. 

“There’s no other way. It would be difficult to break into the school and murder him with my bare hands. I can only rely on aiming for him on the school commute.” 

“But still, isn’t there going to be pedestrian traffic?” 

The western sky is tainted red, but it is still bright outside. To match the time of a target coming home that does not engage in club activities, it becomes a situation where you set up before sunset. 

“Croco, you do understand right?” 

Yuki opened the passenger’s seat door. 

“I don’t have much time left.” 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

On the first day of Fumiya’s deployment, Tatsuya welcomed the end of the school day without anything happening. 

“In the end there was no raid on the school.” 

Listening to a subordinate’s report with the transmitter inserted into one ear, Fumiya uttered the monologue in an idle tone. His motivation faded inside the car, becoming his usual tone completely. 

“That’s today’s result, at least.” 

Kurokawa is sitting in the driver’s seat, returns a reserved response to Fumiya in the passenger’s seat. 

“Do you seriously think that?” 

Fumiya asks, the two had not long ago been discussing that the possibility of bombs being used ‘exists’ given the state of affairs.  

“I believe it’s possible. Either way, that is a discussion for tomorrow or thereafter.” 

Fumiya ponders with a serious face. He would probably get mad if you said it, but his facial expression resembled that of a pensive young teenage girl stretching to ponder really hard about politics, literature, and philosophy. There really was no difference in that charming and sweet facial expression. 

“……Think of a plan to infiltrate Tatsuya-niisan’s school.” 

“Understood. After this, what are you going to do today?” 

“Arrive at the station before Tatsuya-niisan disembarks.” 

“Getting ahead of a cabinet in a self-driving car? That’s a troublesome order.” 

Kurokawa expressed his disapproval, but Fumiya feigned ignorance and turned his eyes outside of the window. 

Kurokawa shrugged his shoulders a little and pulled the console out of the dashboard, entering the requirements into the navigation system. 

Eventually, Tatsuya disembarks at the station with his little sister Miyuki, whilst the car carrying Fumiya moved into that station’s carpark almost simultaneously. 

For that, Fumiya did not blame Kurokawa. He understood his request had been unreasonable. That, and because he had deployed subordinates at this station beforehand, there was no substantial inconvenience due to Fumiya’s late arrival. 

Fumiya chooses not to tail Tatsuya, instead going up to the roof of the station building. Naturally, outsiders are prohibited from entering, but this amount of illegal trespassing is no trouble for a member of the Kuroba Family. 

But you cannot say it is entirely without effort. He took the time to climb up to the roof as this is the highest location here in this neighbourhood. 

It cannot be said it is for the sake of standing watch as Tatsuya returning home. In the first place, Fumiya has no intention of standing watch as Tatsuya returns home. That, he is entrusting to his subordinates. Personally, Fumiya is not acquainted with whereabouts of Tatsuya’s house beyond on the map. If he sees it, he will likely want to intrude. Because of that self-awareness, he does not approach. 

Fumiya does not want to bother Tatsuya. The instant he turns his eyes directly at him, Tatsuya will become aware that Fumiya has come here. And then in succession he will become aware of Fumiya’s mission, causing him to finish off the assassination association himself. 

Tatsuya is already acquainted with the professional killer shadowing him. He is just leaving them alone. If they become a hindrance, then he can erase them at any time —— literally. Tatsuya has that power. 

At the present time, Tatsuya is engaging in a tactical cleaning up of the manoeuvrings of the New Soviet Union and Fumiya heard that he had crushed a base for such manoeuvres yesterday. He is not setting out to exterminate the assassination organisation aiming at himself, and the reason is largely because he is currently engaged on another job. 

Fumiya proceeded to the capital for the sake of shouldering Tatsuya’s burden. That being the case, if his intrusion in this matter burdens Tatsuya with unnecessary work, it would be getting his priorities backwards. For that reason, Fumiya was able to firmly endure the desire of wanting to meet with Tatsuya. 

So then why did Fumiya seek the ‘highest location’? That was so upon finding suspicious people, he could immediately face and repel the enemy. 

There is a magic called ‘Mock Teleportation’. By entering a cocoon of air, producing a vacuum tube in the air, and neutralising their inertia, a magician is able to fly at high speed. Although it cannot penetrate though solid matter, the vacuum tube is able to avoid problematic obstacles by bending many times. Because the inertia is neutralised, even if the direction is suddenly diverted there is no time lost. The movement speed is dependent on the skill of the caster, there are cases of the maximum movement speed being three to four times the speed of sound. 

This magic is Fumiya’s older sister Ayako’s strong point. In the case that he is paired with Ayako on a mission, she will use of Mock Teleportation, but that does not mean Fumiya is not able to use it. Considering the normal level for a magician, it is possible to say he is considerably skilful at it. 

Fumiya intends to use this Mock Teleportation to fly to the place he discovers an assassin. 

He is able to understand intuitively, that the fewer bends there are in the vacuum tube, the lower the burden of using Mock Teleportation on the magician. If the route of movement is a straight line, then the energy can be focused on speed and controlling the impact on the surroundings. 

If the starting point is higher than the goal, then you can move in a straight line to just atop the goal, then jump down to directly below. That is to say, by jumping from the highest location, it can be completed without using any energy pointlessly. 

The remaining problem was revealing the hidden professional killers, but that was Kurokawa’s duty. 

The founder of the yin school of thought, ‘Aisu Ikousai’ was reported to be able to read an opponent’s sword by projecting in their mind the opponent’s thirst for blood that preceded the sword. As Ninja place the importance of escaping from an opponent rather than killing them, this ‘sensing of the thirst for blood’ is bequeathed as a special technique. Various names have been given to the ninja schools, and the ninjutsu school inherited by the Kuroba Family is called ‘Shouinkyou’ (Mirror to Illuminate the Unseen) and is connected with Taikoubou’s Mirror of Illumination (Shoumakyou) which discloses the self’s true colours. 

Kurokawa is an expert in this technique. Within the Kuroba Family, only one or two are able to compete with him at ‘sensing the thirst for blood’. 

If the opponent has a gun, then reading the opponent’s thirst for blood is insufficient. If you cannot read the thirst for blood from a hundred meters away, or one or two kilometres for a sniper, then you will become the victim of a shooting. 

Kurokawa is not only capable of sensing in kilometre units, but able to sense the thirst for blood being directed at others. It is also possible to pick out genuine killing intent.  Without being a master who can kill with nothing in your mind, you cannot escape his mind’s eye. 

Kurokawa prepared his mind by cutting off nine sections of the town, concentrating his attention on eyes projecting their mind’s thirst for blood. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Before Kuroba Fumiya trespassed onto the station building’s rooftop, Yuki was lying in wait in the coffeeshop of the same building overlooking the ticket gate. 

“I’ve got them, it looks like they’re walking home.” 

Wanizuka, who was watching from the window of the ticket gate, spoke silently to Yuki who was sitting at another table. 

Using lip reading to read that, Yuki nodded slightly. 

From the station, Shiba Tatsuya’s home is twenty minutes away by walking. Using a commuter or bicycle would be amusing, given the distance. As to whether this is normal or just for today, as yet they have not grasped his behaviour pattern. In any case, walking on foot is convenient for Yuki. 

Yuki crams the chocolate waffle she is eating into her mouth, finishes paying the bill at the table, and stands up. 

Turning his head towards her, Wanizuka moves his lips to convey ‘be careful’. 

Following at a distance of approximately fifty meters behind the leading target and his sister. Today, Yuki is not wearing the middle school’s sailor suit, instead wearing the uniform of an ordinary public high school two blocks away. At this distance, it should not be suspicious. 

At this distance, Yuki will be able to make contact in two seconds by turning her physical boost extraordinary ability to full strength. She intends to close to within twenty meters for the time when the actual plan commences. Matching the sister’s pace, the target’s walking speed was slow. She closed the distance naturally. 

Yuki is waiting for a chance when the public’s gaze disappears. 

But she is hesitant about the attack, and this was not the only reason. 

Commencing in this situation, they must kill not only Shiba Tatsuya but also his younger sister. The girl is not a villain, the only reason to kill her is because she is at the scene of a murder. With that in mind, Yuki was hesitant. 

However, if you put it that way, Yuki’s only killing the boy because he witnesses her work. Yuki’s hesitation was a contradiction, she just has not noticed it. 

While she was hesitating, Shiba Tatsuya had covered half the distance to his home. Just as the pedestrian traffic petered out. Yuki overcame her hesitation, setting her mind to finishing this business. 

But just before she set her gait to start running, they were concealed by the corner at a crossroads. 

It did not dull her determination.  

She sensed a surge of killing intent that was not hers. 

Initially she suspected the possibility that the force that took Shiba Tatsuya captive yesterday had revealed their hand. 

But Yuki immediately realised she recalled that thirst for blood’s nature. 

(——That bastard’s Jack!?) 

It was a professional killer belonging to Abousha, the same as Yuki. One of the ‘supporters’ the company president said he would be sending to assassinate the witness. There are thirtysix professional killers that belong to Abousha. Among them, Yuki only knows the faces of ten of them, but is acquainted with the codenames and modus operandi of all of them. 

All the members of the company know of the style of Jack’s work. He is infamous. 

Abousha carries a reputation of a political assassination association. The founding principle is ‘to judge evil that cannot be judged by the law’, that is what it is supposed to be, but pass through that and in reality, it is a group of professional killers earning an income by taking contracts to assassinate inconvenient people for politicians. That, all the company employees recognise. 

Inhabitants of a dream world, becoming criminals but also not becoming professional criminals. Those people who appear to believe in ‘righteous murder’, will not be hired by company president Morozumi Kuruma in the first place.  The ideal of ‘judging evil’ is whispered within this company as if it were true as bait for drawing out unqualified people. 

However, ‘to target bad people’ is not a complete lie. The targets are people that politicians and their secretaries are willing to take the risk of contracting Abousha for. And then the company decides whether to actually take on the requests. For example, they will not take on a request to ‘kill’ the ‘journalist that caused me to be indicted for fraud’. 

That is the reason that led to Abousha’s founding. Yuki does not know, apart from the company president and senior management no one knows, that the second aim was to ‘give ninja who are not ninjutsu bearers a place to belong’. 

Even though it is crime, it is an environment where ninja can make a living wielding the techniques installed in their bodies. Even if you are personally unable to use the ancient magic ‘ninjutsu’, you are able to declare yourself as a ninja. For the sake of giving ‘ninja who cannot use ninjutsu’ the same as himself a way of life, Morozumi Kuruma created the murder association Abousha. 

Therefore, if Morozumi decides the matter in question is ‘not the work of a ninja’, it will not be accepted no matter how good the terms are. The standards are not justice or humanity, but if it is appropriate for ninja skills. 

That is why in reflected the eyes of Yuki, who is not well acquainted with the circumstances, that ‘the opponent is not a person who is helpless’. The Abousha employees that have the same viewpoint as her —— not just the professional killers, but the employees and backup departments —— are many. 

Jack does not think about that, representing a minority of the professional killers in the company. 

He works fast, and with a high level of skill. As he can complete difficult jobs very quickly, he is convenient for a matter where there is a lack of a surplus of time. 

But when Jack is dispatched, a lot of corpses appear. 

Not using gas or bombs that get a great number of people involved. In that sense, the other supporter, ‘Bobby’, has the larger scale. Bobby’s strongpoint is killing by means of a bombing, that by its nature you can say you cannot avoid other people being swallowed up as victims. 

Jack’s specialised weapon is the knife, same as Yuki. A means of killing where the potential of getting the public involved is low. 

Despite that, many people other than the target die. 

When Jack gives his completion report, he always says they were a necessary sacrifice. The killed were guards, lookouts, and witnesses. 

But now, within the company there is no one who believes that at face value. 

It has not come to light that it is a lie about them being witnesses. 

But surely —— Jack is letting them see on purpose. For the sake of having an excuse to kill. 

Like the other employees, Yuki also thinks that is the case. 

It is not a mistake; Jack is going to kill both Shiba Tatsuya and his sister. The result will be the same even if Yuki takes him down with her own hands. But if Jack does it, it surely will not stop there. Other witnesses will increase, all of whom will be cut to pieces. 

For the sake of preventing that, it was necessary for Yuki to bring down the target before Jack. —— But the reality is that she is getting a late start. 

Swallowing a breath, biting and locking down her regret. 

However, the scene Yuki expected to see did not appear. 

Jack jumped out of a side street to attack Shiba Tatsuya and collapsed onto the road’s surface. 

As though his legs had suddenly become lame. 

Jack’s face appears to have a biting expression which voiced his anguish. 

Lured by his line of sight, Yuki looked up. 

Jack was looking up at the wall one block away near where Yuki was hiding. 

Up there, a young girl was standing. 

(A girl……or is it?) 

Yuki was perplexed for a moment, because the ‘young girl’s’ face was half concealed by goggles. The goggles have a single lens and are the type where the strap holds down the hair. The lenses appear transparent, but from the influence of the light and shade, she cannot see inside. 

However, that bob cut hairdo, the attractive red lipstick, wearing a skirt above the knee with a wide hem. A frilly petticoat under the skirt. Thick tights leaving no exposure, a turtleneck with a faint bosom, but definitely swelling. A girl, you would certainly think she was a young girl of the same generation as Yuki. 

(——Who is she? The heck, before anyone noticed?) 

At any rate, at present that ‘young girl’s’ gender is not what she should be thinking about. It is their true identity. 

It was no mistake, that woman was definitely there a few seconds ago. 

When Yuki tried to attack the target, there was no shadow or shape. 

Besides, why is Jack looking up at the young girl? 

What did the girl do to Jack? 

With so many things she did not understand, Yuki was unable to move. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Kurokawa had perceived Jack’s thirst for blood slightly earlier than Yuki had. 

“Yami-sama, over there.” 

Kurokawa spoke to Fumiya using his codename. ‘Yami’ is the given name for when Fumiya is disguised, derived from reading the last two Japanese letters of ‘Fumiya’ in reverse. 

Fumiya and Kurokawa are wearing matching goggles. 

A H.M.D. (Head Mounted Display) type information terminal, with it, Fumiya was able to understand where Kurokawa’s eyes were pointed.  

“Let’s go!” 

Fumiya disconnected the goggle’s line of sight guidance system and at the same time, without waiting for Kurokawa’s reply, invoked the Mock Teleportation magic. 

Fumiya arrived in the sky ten meters above the road’s surface and slowed the speed of his fall with floating magic, without becoming perplexed when his field of vision instantly changed completely. 

There are two thirsts for blood being transmitted. 

Between them, Fumiya turned his awareness to the one who had already taken action. 

He is wearing CADs disguised as bangles coiled over both the sleeves of his sweater. 

On his right arm was a general type CAD in the often-seen form of a bracelet. 

In his left hand is a specialised type in a rarely seen form. 

Fumiya operates the CAD in his left hand and invokes his inherent magic. 

Mental Interference Magic ‘Direct Pain’. Magic to bestow pain directly into the mind. Rather than recognising the ‘pain’ as signals sent to the mind from the body, the pain given to the mind is translated into feeling in the body, harming bodily functions. 

The man that Fumiya assigned as the target, the professional killer codenamed ‘Jack’, suffered severe pain in his legs. 

Due to the illusion of having his legs broken, Jack loses the strength to stand. 

Simultaneously with Fumiya landing on top of the wall, Jack fell to the road’s surface. 

Fumiya makes a sidelong glance at the movements of the other professional killer lying in wait. 

Inside his mind he was thinking ‘as I thought’. As he had predicted, the other professional killer on the street was the girl who tried to attack Tatsuya in the carpark of the café restaurant the evening of the day before yesterday. 

Bewildered by Fumiya’s appearance, the girl assassin, Yuki, was unable to move. 

He returned his gaze to the front. 

The professional killer Jack is raising his body with both hands. It should expected that the pain received in his legs from Direct Pain will not have been mitigated in such a short amount of time and yet, even though he has no strength in his legs, he is clenching his teeth in pain to stand up. 

Seeing his form, Fumiya was frankly impressed. Of the Kuroba Family’s operatives, few people can stand up after receiving Fumiya’s Direct Pain. His mental fortitude was first class. 

Showing respect for his resilience, but not for that reason, Fumiya jumped down from the wall. Holding down his skirt with on hand just in case, though one would not expect the wind pressure to flip it up if he did not do so. Countermeasures have been prepared there precisely for that. 

By releasing pursuit magic from atop the wall, Jack would not have been able to do anything. Fumiya did not do that for the sake of concealing the scope of his power. Fumiya did not intend to kill Jack and Yuki here. Seeing as they are sending them back alive, the less information provided the better. 

Jack threw a dagger he had pulled out unnoticed. Fumiya dodges by swinging his upper body, taking a palm sized handgun—— at least it appears to be one —— and retrieves it from his waist pouch. 

This is an armament device that feigns the appearance of a pocket pistol (a CAD with an integrated weapon). Not loaded with bullets, but with thick needles five centimetres (two inches) long. It is not equipped with compressed gas or gun powder. 

Fumiya twists his upper body to the left, pointing the pocket pistol armament device in his right hand at Jack. His little finger and ring finger holding the grip, his middle finger on the trigger, his index finger along supporting the length of the muzzle, and his thump raising a small light hammer. 

As a matter of fact, the hammer plays the role of the CAD’s switch. A short activation sequence was instantly output and absorbed into the armament device gripped in Fumiya’s right hand. 

Jack enters the posture for a second throw. 

Fumiya pulls the armament device’s trigger. 

The trigger is for show. It does no more than return the switch disguised as a hammer to its original position, Fumiya himself uses this as a signal to invoke the magic. 

Invoking movement type magic. 

A needle was fired at subsonic speed from the muzzle. 

This needle was not fired with electromagnetics or high-pressure gas, the movement process was determined by magic. 

The needle ignored air resistance and the strength of clothing, no less than half wedging into Jack’s shoulder. 

The tip of the needle remains buried as it gives of an explosive sound and wildly emits sparks. 

Not due to the needle being coated in static electricity. So far, the magic Fumiya constructed has been based on the activation sequence that is programmed into the armament device. 

An electric shock poured out from the needle buried inside the body, completely paralysing the area around Jack’s arm and shoulder. It is not only freedom of movement that is lost. Intense pain oppresses Jack’s consciousness. 

Nevertheless, it is still light compared to the pain brought about by Direct Pain. But the pain is so intense that misunderstanding the method cannot be helped. 

Fumiya fired needles into both of Jack’s legs. 

Jack fell once again, this time he did not stand back up. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Upon seeing Jack faint, Yuki’s temporary paralysis was released. 

The first thing that floated across Yuki’s mind was ‘I can’t escape’. 

He is one of the organisation’s top professional killers, an expert ninja. Though he was at a disadvantage due to specialising in close-range combat, and despite having no extraordinary ability, he was equal in combat to Yuki who also specialised in close-range combat. 

That Jack, despite being caught in a surprise attack, should not have been easily brought down like that. Yuki could not believe her eyes. 

But it is reality. Yuki warned herself even if she thinks it is difficult to believe. 

She is not particularly surprised the opponent is a teenage girl. She herself is one. But she cannot help but receive a shock. 

How could she escape this place? 

The gears in Yuki’s mind were in full revolution, and quickly came to a conclusion. 

——Simply, I cannot escape. 

For that ‘girl’, questions were unnecessary when she commenced the attack on Jack. 

The moment I turn my back, I will be shot. 

She cannot be one hundred percent sure, but Yuki had no intention on placing a wager on a small possibility she did not personally believe. 

Yuki pointed her consciousness inside herself. 

A mental image of the door to her extraordinary ability sinking into the world’s sea, opening the door with all her strength. 

Producing a heat in her solar plexus, diffusing throughout her body by way of her heart. 

Her extraordinary ability reached from the fingertips of her hands, to the tips of her toes on her feet. 

To be full of power. 

Transforming herself. 

From a human being, into a monster wearing a human’s skin. 

Yuki kicks the ground. 

As she runs, everything within her field of vision becomes slow and clear. 

Yuki charges at the opponent with the form of a young girl whose name she still is not acquainted, towards Fumiya. 

The ‘young girl’ opens her eyes wide inside her goggles. Yuki saw it. 

——The ‘young girl’s’ face hidden by the goggles was cuter than her own. 

It made her angry. She did not supress that irrational outburst of anger, she diverted that energy, serving to accelerate Yuki even more. 

The ‘young girl’ pointed the muzzle at Yuki. 

The ‘young girl’ quickly pulls the trigger, Yuki jumps sideways. 

She lands on a wall, runs two steps on the surface of the wall, and jumps again. 

The trajectory passes by the ‘young girl’s’ back. 

Instead of jumping or kicking, Yuki swings her knife at the ‘young girl’s’ neck. 

The ‘young girl’ throws herself forward. 

Turning around before the road. Inside the skirt, the frilly petticoat cannot be seen. 

The ‘young girl’ smoothly twists her body around, preparing to stand on one knee facing towards Yuki. 

In the ‘young girl’s’ right-hand is a pocket pistol, or what appears to be. Yuki believes it is a ‘short needle gun’.  

What appears to be a needle hole —— this differs from a ‘needle hole’ but the meaning is the same ——in the small muzzle, Yuki dodged. 

Now Yuki jumped one-legged three meters in a step. 

The ‘young girl’s’ gun muzzle was not able to follow the movement. 

Yuki appeared to mimic the ‘young girl’s’ movement and turned around on the road. 

However, it differs from before. 

Simultaneously with finishing the spin, Yuki jumps. 

Yuki’s foot connects with a streetlight in an upside-down position, and from that origin point to attack the ‘young girl’ with a kick. 

Spinning in the air. The top and bottom of her body switch places. 

One leg on the road surface, the other leg already extended as it drops. 

The ‘young girl’ dodged Yuki’s heel by bending backwards. 

(I’ve got you!) 

The kick was a feint. Adding the momentum from swinging her foot down, Yuki launched a swing of the knife she was gripping underhand at the ‘young girl’s’ chest.  

(What!?) 

However, the point of the knife never reaches the ‘young girl’. The wrist Yuki is gripping the knife with is stopped by the sole of a short boot. 

The ‘young girl’ raised her foot overhead to stop Yuki’s arm. The ‘young girl’ has considerable physical technique. 

The ‘young girl’s’ back had fallen down to the road. 

(Alright!) 

Yuki has a definite opportunity. No matter how you choose your defensive skills, in a state where your back is on the roads surface, you will not be able to immediately evade attacks. 

This is a good opportunity, 

Yuki,

With all her power, leaped. 

Yuki selected her action, not to attack, but to escape. Rather than attacking the ‘young girl’, she soared over a rear wall to conceal herself from the ‘young girl’s’ muzzle. And now Yuki ran away from the scene at full speed, crossing over and jumping the wall on the opposite side. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Yuki’s escape struck Fumiya with surprise. 

He quickly stands up, glaring at the wall where Yuki disappeared. 

However, he did not touch the CAD’s operation button. 

He cannot magically aim at a target that he has lost sight of. That skill, he has not mastered. 

Just now when they were in the middle of attacking and defending, he did not choose not to use magic for the sake of concealing the scope of his power. Yuki was jumping around so hectically that he could not completely grasp her movements. 

Fumiya intermittently lost sight of Yuki. Each time, the magic process was interrupted. Modern magic uses activation sequences, and to invoke it the coordinate variables must be sent to the Magic Calculation Area. However, you say ‘variables’, but that does not take the form of numerical values. The ‘variable’ is an image. That cannot be vague, it must be characteristic and distinct from others inside your mind. 

No, saying vision is also an inadequate expression that invites misunderstanding. Variable, it is a lump of information that corresponds one-to-one between the magician’s external senses and the internal consciousness. It would also be agreeable to phrase it as information that symbolised as specific phenomena or specific existence. 

At any rate, the variable information must be specific to the target you are trying to interfere with. Fumiya still could not be specific if he ‘could not understand where they are’. 

Not a person’s visage, even inside complete darkness, if ‘being there’ is understood you are able to establish a magic’s target. However, the moment you become unable to specify ‘being there’, the magic construction process will stop, and it becomes necessary to begin again from scratch. 

This is a technical issue Fumiya has at the moment. For example, should his father Mitsugu momentarily lose sight of an opponent he has aimed at once, it is not a hindrance to invoking magic. 

For example, Tatsuya does not lose sight of an opponent’s information in the first place. 

Fumiya was overoptimistic seeing Yuki. Fumiya has never had an opponent who was as mobile as she was.  

With Magic, you would be able to move even faster. But that irregular whimsical movement requires not only magic power; lightning-fast good senses are also necessary. 

In the fight with Yuki, a shark exposed Fumiya’s lack of experience. 

(First of all, here today we successfully repelled the enemy. ……Let’s think of is like that.) 

Checking there is no public notice, Fumiya invokes Mock Teleportation. 

Leaving behind the body of the fainted professional killer Jack lying on the road. 

◇ ◇ ◇ 

Throwing her physical boost to full, Yuki ran for no less than one kilometre. 

Not in straight lines, and avoiding public notice. 

When she was convinced that she was far enough away, Yuki came to a stop and called Wanizuka to come pick her up. 

“Nuts, any issues…… Say, are you injured?” 

Upon seeing Yuki’s pale face as she slipped into the passenger’s seat, Wanizuka changed his question out of concern. 

“……Injured, no.” 

From Yuki’s telephone call to Wanizuka’s arrival, no more than five minutes have passed. Even though it was after dashing with all her power, enough time has passed for her breathing to return to normal. 

For Yuki’s breathing to be disordered, the cause must be connected to mental strain. The girl hiding her face with goggles —— the confrontation with Fumiya, had worn down her nerves to that extent. 

Yuki felt like she had been playing jackstones with Fumiya. But Yuki’s real feelings were that it was no lie that she had barely escaped. 

“…Croco.” 

“What is it?” 

As if talking to herself, Yuki hesitated to continue. 

“……Prepare a small pistol. A concealed gun…… A Dellinger type is fine.” 

Yuki is aware she is not very good with small arms. But that ‘young girl’ was not an opponent you could say is trouble half-heartedly. 

“—— Understood.” 

Wanizuka’s senses were well attuned to being at wits end from Yuki, so he did not ask for the reason in the change in her doctrine. 

“Would a double action be fine?” 

To Wanizuka’s question, Yuki nodded without thinking. 

“I’m not concerned about how heavy the trigger is. Moderately powerful when used at close range is fine.” 

“In exchange, something that doesn’t make excessive noise.” 

“Yes, I’ll ask.” 

Yuki put the weight of her head on the headrest out of exhaustion. 

The ‘young girl’ opponent possesses a needle gun she does not understand, it is grave to think about facing her with just a knife. 

Within the limits of aiming at Shiba Tatsuya, that ‘young girl’ will continue to be a hindrance, without any basis Yuki was convinced of that.