Chapter 9: — "First Strike: Part 3"

"Sup losers!" Rin greeted, after brutally headbutting the damaged robot.

Kaito froze. “…Rin?”

She smirked wider. “What? No hello? I tracked you both down. Thought maybe you could use some backup. I was… worried.”

Worried? My chest tightened. Tracked us? Why? She’s just a classmate. She’s the one who told me about Kaito’s real job, but… why is she here now?

Kaito’s voice was sharp, ice-cold. “Go home, Rin. This isn’t your game.”

Rin ignored him, stepping closer, her boots clicking on the cracked floor. “Oh, come on. What? I can’t help my ex by joining his little war party?” She stopped right in front of him, tilting her chin up with that infuriating smirk. Then, almost playfully, her fingers brushed his chest. “You know I’ve got experience, honey. You’ve seen me shoot before.”

The air caught in my throat. Ex… girlfriend? The word screamed in my head, louder than the gunfire outside. Jealousy twisted in my stomach. She’s not just some classmate. She’s his ex. And she’s skilled. She belongs in this world. Not like me.

I wanted to grab her wrist, yank her hand off him, but my feet stayed planted. My nails dug into my palms instead.

Kaito’s face didn’t budge, but a muscle in his jaw twitched. He shoved her hand away. “You’re not funny, Rin. Stay out of this.”

Rin only laughed. “Still so serious.”

For a second, silence. Then Kaito cursed under his breath, glaring at the ceiling before exhaling hard. “…Fine. You can tag along. Just don’t slow us down.”

My heart dropped. He was letting her stay. I bit my lip so hard I almost drew blood, forcing myself not to say anything. Suspicious. She’s suspicious. And now she’s… staying.

As we started walking, Rin slowed her pace until she was beside me. She leaned close, voice low enough that Kaito wouldn’t hear.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “I’ll protect you. I know you’re not exactly… gun material.”

Her words stabbed sharper than any blade. My fists clenched. “I don’t need your help,” I snapped, maybe a little too fast. “I’m skilled enough.”

Rin arched a brow, amused, then shrugged casually. “Hmph. Your loss, fucker.”

Heat shot up my neck, anger boiling. She’s mocking me. I swear, I—
I sucked in a breath, swallowing the words. Not now. Not in front of Kaito.

I stayed quiet, but inside I was screaming.

Our footsteps echoed through the cracked corridors. Dust shifted under our boots as we moved deeper into the abandoned building.

“Both of you, be careful,” Kaito warned, scanning every shadow. His tone was sharp, commanding.

Rin snorted. “Relax. I know how to handle myself.” She shot him a smirk. “That’s why we broke up, remember? You were always babying me. ‘Don’t do that, Rin. Stop it, Rin. Oh Rin, you could get hurt.’ I couldn’t take two steps without you breathing down my neck.”

I rolled my eyes. Typical Rin.

Kaito stopped dead in his tracks, turning on her with a glare sharp enough to cut steel. His voice rose, echoing down the hallway.
“YOU SNUCK INTO AN ARMED MILITARY BASE JUST TO RETRIEVE SOME DAMN DATA FOR YOUR WEAPON. I HAD EVERY REASON TO NAG YOU AFTER THAT!”

The walls practically shook with the force of his anger.

Rin only rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath, but didn’t talk back.

I stifled a giggle, covering my mouth with my hand. Kaito’s face was red with rage, Rin’s logic was stupid, and the whole thing just seemed ridiculous. He wasn’t babying you, Rin. He was trying to keep you alive.

The argument burned out into silence. The three of us walked on, the air thick with unspoken words, until we entered another room.

And froze.

Drones. Robots. Everywhere.

They turned toward us, metal limbs twitching, glowing eyes scanning.

Kaito swore under his breath, raising his blaster. “Get ready.”

I followed his lead, fumbling with my weapon, but my hands tightened on the grip anyway.

“Yuzuki!” Kaito barked, eyes never leaving the enemy. “Hide in the corner. Now.”

“W-What? What about you?” I shouted back, panic rising in my throat.

“Just do it! Don’t worry about me!” His tone brooked no argument.

I hesitated, teeth digging into my lip, but there wasn’t time to argue. Heart pounding, I dove behind a cracked kitchen counter, peeking out to take clumsy shots whenever I could.

“Dammit Rin! Where the hell are you?!” Kaito shouted, ducking as a drone’s shot barely missed his head.

No answer.

“RIN!” His voice was sharper this time, almost frantic.

Silence.

Then, like lightning, she appeared, sliding across the floor with a wicked grin plastered on her face, both hands gripping assault blasters.

She threw her head back, cackling, her laughter bouncing off the walls like thunder. “You fucked with the wrong girl!”

Her hands whipped out two assault blasters. With a mad grin, she opened fire, the sound deafening as she sprayed across the room.

She unleashed hell.

“You want it?! COME GET IT, MOTHERFUCKAAAAASSSS!”

Metal tore apart. Sparks showered the floor. Drones collapsed one after another, shredded by the hail of bullets.

“FUCK OFF, ALL OF YOU!” Rin screamed, firing like a woman possessed.
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M CAPABLE OF!”
“YOU CAN ALL EAT SHIT!”

Kaito ducked behind a broken table, reloading with frantic speed. “RIN! CALM THE HELL DOWN!”

She didn’t. Her eyes were wild, grin feral, her whole body trembling with adrenaline as she kept unloading, tearing through enemies like they were paper.

From my cover, I stared, mouth hanging open. My hands shook as I clutched my weapon tighter. This… this is insane. She’s insane. Is she even human?

The room became chaos, gunfire, sparks, Rin’s screaming laughter, Kaito’s curses. And me, frozen, unable to look away.

—

Rin finally stopped firing, her dual assault blasters hanging loosely at her sides. Sparks hissed from the last few destroyed drones as they lay strewn across the floor. She collapsed to her knees, panting so heavily that her chest heaved up and down like a bellows.

Kaito’s eyes widened in surprise. “R-Rin… are you okay?” he asked, rushing toward her. His usually calm, collected expression was replaced with genuine worry. “Take deep breaths, come on, breathe!”

“I don’t need your instructions,” Rin snapped, pressing a hand against her chest, her voice still sharp. “I’m fine!”

I crossed my arms, jaw tight. “You don’t have to be a jerk, you know? He’s just worried about your stupid actions!” My voice wavered with frustration. I had been on edge all day, and Rin’s reckless show of force didn’t help.

Rin shot me a sideways glance, a smirk tugging at her lips, clearly amused. But before she could say anything, Kaito barked, “Enough! Calm down, both of you! There’s no time for arguments!”

Rin huffed, sitting back slightly and taking a slow, deliberate breath. I shot her a death glare, muttering under my breath, “Yeah, ignore me… like always.”

While they argued, my eyes caught a faint glint among the debris, a small chip lying near one of the fallen drones. My heart skipped a beat. I picked it up carefully, holding it out.

“K-Kaito! I found something! A chip!” My voice trembled, but I tried to sound confident.

He raised an eyebrow, his sharp gaze shifting from Rin to me. “Where did you find it?”

“From one of the drones,” I answered quickly. My fingers tightened around it. This has to be important… it has to tell us something.

Kaito took the chip, turning it over in his hands. His frown deepened, lips pressing into a thin line. “Hmm… this could be serious.” His eyes flicked toward Rin for a moment, then back to me, unreadable.

Rin, never one to let anything go unnoticed, flopped back onto the floor dramatically and threw her hands in the air. “Ha! All thanks to me! I dominated those drones and robots! That chip wouldn’t even exist if I hadn’t—”

“Excuse me?!” I interrupted, stepping closer, finger jabbing. “Maybe you dominated them, but I found the chip! That’s mine!”

Rin rolled her eyes, leaning back on her hands like I was an annoyance.

Before the argument could spiral any further, Kaito snapped, “Shut up! Both of you! Follow me.” His tone left no room for negotiation.

We hurried through the ruined room, Rin muttering under her breath but keeping pace beside us. The metallic scent of scorched drones and the faint smoke stinging my nose made my head spin. God, this place is insane… I can’t believe we’re still alive.

“I need to find a computer,” Kaito explained as we moved. “Any working terminal in this building. I’ll plug this chip in and see what it contains. Could be important.”

Rin, however, couldn’t resist, leaning toward me with a mischievous grin. “You’re a disgusting piece of fart, you know that?”

I froze mid-step, blinking. “…Uhh… what? A fart? That’s the insult you could come up with?” I raised an eyebrow, trying, and failing to keep a straight face. My lips twitched as a small giggle threatened to escape.

Rin just shrugged, smirking, and didn’t offer another word.

I couldn’t decide whether to be angry or impressed. Despite being a total pain, she clearly had skill, and confidence. I had to admit, watching her in action earlier… that was insane. But now, being stuck walking next to her, listening to her nonsense? Definitely annoying.

We stepped into another room, the faint hum of damaged circuits echoing off the cracked walls. Rows of PC's sat idle, dark screens reflecting the flickering lights above. Kaito strode over to one of them, brushing off a layer of dust, and gestured for Rin and me to sit beside him.

I lowered myself onto the edge of the desk, trying to peek at the chip still clutched in Kaito’s hand. Rin plopped down on the other side, arms crossed, eyes scanning the room like a predator sizing up the terrain.

Kaito powered on the computer with a soft click and inserted the chip into a strangely fitting HDMI port. The screen flickered to life.

Of course, it immediately asked for a password.

Rin groaned dramatically, throwing her head back. “Ugh! OF COURSE! Passwords and shit…”

I raised an eyebrow, staying calm. “What did you expect? It’s a company PC.”

Rin grumbled something under her breath, but didn’t argue further.

Then, Kaito did something that made my jaw almost hit the floor. He lightly tapped a button on his watch, and I opened my mouth to ask—

“Uhm… Kaito, what are you d—”

A sudden, electrical surge erupted across the room. Sparks danced along the edges of the screens, wires vibrating slightly. The world froze. Literally. Every flicker, every pulse of light, every particle in the air seemed suspended in time. Except… Kaito.

He moved like nothing had changed. Calm, methodical. He pressed a series of buttons on his watch, his eyes scanning the screen as if reading invisible codes in the air.

I stared, frozen mid-breath, heart hammering. Rin just blinked, eyes wide, her mouth open slightly, mid-complaint.

On the screen, a line of code appeared:

<PASSWORD-CODING: "ON">

With a few more swift taps on his watch, Kaito switched it to "OFF." A second later, everything snapped back into motion—the frozen air rushing past us like it had never paused.

“Uh… what just—” I started, but Kaito cut me off with a simple, cold tone:

“I’m in.”

Rin tilted her head, unimpressed. “Huh.”

I blinked repeatedly. “…How?”

Kaito’s eyes flicked to me, unbothered. “Classified.”

I narrowed my eyes, suspicion twisting in my chest. He did something... something powerful, but I had no proof, no idea how he managed it. Rin, of course, didn’t care in the slightest.

A quiet tension filled the room as the chip began its download, lines of code scrolling rapidly across the screen. We sat in silence, only the soft hum of the computer filling the air.

Then—

GRRRRUMBLE

Rin’s stomach growled so loudly it echoed against the walls. She pressed a hand to it, muttering, “Goddamn… hunger…”

Kaito smirked, never looking up from the screen. “Someone’s hungry…”

Rin’s face flushed red as she whirled toward him. “SHUT UP!”

I remembered the two granola bars I had stashed in my bag before leaving home, just in case. Quietly, I pulled one out and held it toward Rin.

“Here… eat this.”

Her cheeks flushed even more, and she muttered a soft, almost embarrassed, “Thank you.” She nibbled at it carefully, taking tiny bites.

I offered a granola bar to Kaito next, but he shook his head politely. I shrugged and ate mine myself, crunching quietly as the tension of the moment slowly faded.

Kaito, meanwhile, scrolled on his phone, expression bored, waiting for the chip’s download to finish. I watched him, a small mix of awe and suspicion twisting in my chest. He was calm, collected, and ridiculously capable, yet somehow, it didn’t make him seem less human.

Rin, now quietly munching on the granola bar, stole a glance at me, smirking faintly. I can’t tell if she’s trying to intimidate me, or just enjoys seeing me flustered… probably both.

—

The download finished with a quiet ping, and the screen overflowed with lines upon lines of code, schematics, and stats about drones. Every detail imaginable was laid bare, armor thickness, weapons systems, shooting patterns, and more.

Kaito leaned in, scanning quickly. “Alright… let’s see what we’ve got. The chassis is reinforced with... okay, that’s a standard plasma shield… weapons module… hmm, the targeting sensors are—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Rin interrupted, cutting through his detailed analysis. “I don’t give a shit about how the metal’s alloyed. Where’s the important part? Who made these things?”

Kaito scowled but didn’t lash out. Instead, he kept scrolling, trying to find something, anything, about the company behind the drones. Lines of code blurred past as the tension in the room thickened.

Nothing.

And then, a logo appeared. Clear, unmistakable, embedded in the code like a signature. Kaito’s lips curled into a grin, almost evil in its intensity. “We got somethin’ here!” He pointed at the screen.

Rin leaned forward, squinting. “Never seen it before…”

Kaito nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. “Neither have I… at least, not that I can remember…”

My heart skipped a beat. That logo... I’d seen it before. I opened my mouth, my voice barely trembling: “I… I’ve seen the logo before…”

Both of them turned to me. “Where?” Kaito asked.

I racked my brain, trying to remember. “I… I can’t… I swear I’ve seen it, though…”

Rin rolled her eyes. “You brainless idiot… can’t even remember anything…”

I snapped back without thinking. “YOU SHUT THE HELL UP!”

Kaito raised his voice, cutting through our argument. “SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!”

The tension eased slightly as Kaito snapped a picture of the logo and saved it to his gallery. He then snatched the chip and backed up its data. “We’ve done our part… let’s get the hell out of here.”

Rin and I nodded, but as we walked toward the exit, a sudden flash hit my mind, another vision. My heart jumped into my throat.

“Stop!” I shouted. “The robots and drones… they’re gonna crash through the windows! They’re surrounding us!”

Kaito turned, confused. “What?”

Before he could even process, the vision became reality. Hundreds of drones and robots shattered the windows, crashing into the room and forming a tight circle around us.

Weapons drawn, hearts pounding, we prepared to fight. But Kaito’s eyes narrowed as a sharp suspicion formed. Today, my warnings had all been right:

The drone that nearly grabbed him earlier.
The massive boss drone I warned him about.
The tiny drone that almost knocked him off the hovercar.

His gaze shifted to me. “Yuzuki… how the hell do you know when something’s about to happen? Are you… a time traveler or something?”

I froze, cheeks burning, unable to answer.

Rin smirked and tilted her head. “Wait… she hasn’t told you?”

Kaito blinked, confused. “Told me what? Yuzuki…”

Rin leaned closer, her grin wide. “She can see the future. Either from her sphere… or from her own mind.”

My eyes widened, panic rising. “YOU KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!”

Too late. Kaito already knew. My face burned hot, terrified that he’d see me differently… my crush…

Kaito shook his head slowly, a flash of disbelief crossing his expression, but the drones and robots left no time for questions.

“We fight first, talk later!” he barked.

Rin and I nodded, raising our weapons as the mechanical horde closed in. Sparks flew, drones buzzed, and the hum of energy filled the room.

Everything condensed into a single thought: survive.

And then... the circle tightened, and the first wave of drones lunged forward.