Chapter 11: — "First Strike: Part 5"

Kaito finished wrapping Rin’s arm tight, his fingers moving fast and steady despite the blood. He shoved a different blaster into her free hand, heavier, glowing faintly.

“Don’t waste shots. This one overheats,” he muttered.

Rin just grinned through the pain. “Don’t worry. I’ll make ‘em count.”

We stepped out from behind cover together, all three of us unloading everything we had on the massive drone boss. Plasma fire, blaster bolts, sparks flying off the metal giant, but it didn’t even flinch.

“SHIT, SHIT! IT’S NOT TAKING DAMAGE!” Rin screamed, blasting wildly.

Kaito gritted his teeth, firing steady, deliberate shots. “WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO KILL IT SOMEHOW!”

And then, because the universe apparently hated us, the walls shattered again. More drones, swarming in, smaller but faster, diving toward us.

“Of course!” Rin shrieked. “STOP DISTRACTING US, JERKS!” She spun, firing like a maniac, mowing them down.

I joined in, blasting the smaller ones as they zipped around us, while Kaito covered the other flank. My chest felt like it was caving in, every second, the boss drone loomed larger, it's cannons glowing brighter.

“MISSILE INCOMING!” Rin’s voice cracked with panic.

I whipped my head just in time to see the boss drone’s launcher ignite. A massive rocket screamed through the air toward us. My stomach dropped, my hands froze.

Rin screamed. I screamed.

And then, silence.

The missile froze midair, fire and smoke locked in place like a picture. The drones around us hung motionless, mid-flight. Even the sparks seemed frozen. My heart was still pounding, but… everything else was dead quiet.

Kaito groaned, stepping forward like nothing had happened. His watch beeped faintly.

He grabbed me first, muttering under his breath. “Damn, you’re heavier than you look.”

He hauled me up and threw me across the floor, far from the missile’s blast zone. Then after, he was already back for Rin. He scooped her up, ran far away from the missile and threw her beside Yuzuki behind covers to prevent getting hit by the missile.

Time snapped back.

The missile slammed into the ground where we’d been standing, a deafening explosion shaking the building apart. Fire and smoke ripped through the room. But… we were alive.

Rin and I panted heavily, coughing through the smoke. “Wait… we’re still alive!” she wheezed.

I stared at Kaito, wide-eyed, suspicion crawling deeper under my skin. This wasn’t the first time. Something about him…

But he cut me off, his tone sharp, cold. “No time. Get your butts up! We need to find a way to kill that stupid-ass drone!”

Kaito barely gave us a second to breathe. “You two... take the mini-drones. I’ll handle the boss.”

My stomach twisted. He was already charging forward, his blaster primed. No. Not again. Not him throwing himself into danger like he didn’t care what happened to him.

“NO!” I screamed, surging up from cover. “I’m coming with you, I DON’T CARE!”

He spun back, eyes blazing. “DAMMIT, YUZUKI! NOW IS NOT THE TIME, GO WITH RIN!”

The anger in his voice should’ve shut me up, but it only stoked the fire burning in my chest. My hands shook on my blaster, but my voice came out raw and loud. “I DON’T CARE! I CAN’T LOSE YOU, MY FRIEND!”

For the briefest second, I saw his face falter, saw him actually hear me. But then his jaw clenched, and without a word, he kicked forward, his boot slamming into me. The air ripped from my lungs as I hit the ground hard, sliding back behind cover.

“Kaito—!” My cry came out choked, broken. I scrambled, desperate to get back up, to follow him, but Rin’s weight suddenly slammed into me, pinning me down.

“You do as Kaito says, nothing else… GOT IT?” she barked, her eyes sharp and merciless as steel.

“WHAT IF HE GETS HURT?” I screamed back at her, clawing at her arm. I didn’t care if she thought I was weak. I didn’t care if I sounded pathetic. The thought of Kaito bleeding out somewhere, I couldn’t breathe.

Rin’s eyes flickered, just for a second, and I saw something there… something softer, buried deep. But her voice stayed cold, clipped. “I know. But right now the focus is the plan. Kaito’s smart. He’s my ex-boyfriend, and I know him… he’s careful!”

Her words stabbed me. Ex-boyfriend. The phrase echoed, twisting inside me. But at the same time, I wanted to believe her. I needed to. My chest heaved as I dragged in a breath, forcing myself to nod.

“…Fine,” I muttered, wiping at my face with the back of my sleeve.

Rin pulled me up, and together we broke from cover, guns blazing. The air filled with the screech of mini-drones and the crack of plasma fire. I screamed, firing shot after shot, each one fueled by the storm of anger and fear tearing through me. Rin was right there with me, yelling curses at the top of her lungs—

“YOU PIECES OF SHIT, GET OVER HERE!”

“SCREW YOU ALL!”

It was chaos, lights, explosions, smoke, and through it all, the only thing keeping me going was one thought: I won’t let Kaito fight alone. Not ever.

—

Kaito darted across the ruined floor like lightning, the boss drone’s cannons screaming after him. Every shot blasted the ground inches behind his heels, sparks and shrapnel exploding in his wake. But no matter how fast it fired, he was faster, leaping, sliding, twisting out of its line of fire with the kind of reflexes only Kaito had.

He kept circling it, searching for something, anything, a weakness he could sink his teeth into. His voice echoed across the chamber, raw and furious.
“WILL YOU JUST STOP FOLLOWING ME ALREADY AND STOP?”

The machine didn’t care. It locked on tighter, metal whirring as its cannons tracked him mercilessly.

Finally, I saw Kaito duck behind a crumbling wall, chest heaving. The drone opened fire immediately, blasting the cover with a nonstop barrage, pinning him down. His voice carried faintly between the shots.
“…Shit.”

I wanted to run to him right then, but before I could, he bolted out of cover again, sprinting like his life depended on it. The drone roared, cannons blazing, but somehow, somehow, he made it, dodging every blast by a hair’s breadth.

Then I saw it. He must’ve seen it too. On the top of the drone’s chassis, something glowing faintly. A slot, a port.

Kaito’s eyes lit up with fire. That was his opening.

He sprinted back toward us, sliding behind the wreckage where Rin and I held our ground. My heart almost leapt out of my chest when he came back into view. Before I could stop myself, I lunged forward and threw my arms around him, clinging tight.

“Kaito—!”

He stiffened. Didn’t hug me back. Just muttered, deadpan, “It’s only been like… what… three minutes? No need to be worried.”

My face burned. I pulled back, embarrassed, but the knot of fear in my chest didn’t loosen. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.

He straightened, eyes sharp again. “That thing has a USB port on its head. If I can get this—” He pulled a small stick from his belt, faintly glowing, “—plugged in, the drone self-destructs.”

Rin blinked at it, frowning. “The hell? Where’d you even get that?”

“Ugh,” he groaned, clearly not wanting to explain. “I built it. In case of… serious emergencies, alright?”

I nodded, even though questions swirled in my head. No time for that.

“One of us has to plant it,” he said grimly.

Before he could even finish, the words tumbled out of me: “I’ll do it!”

Both of them whipped toward me.
“WHAT? ARE YOU CRAZY?” they shouted in unison.

I didn’t back down. My grip on the blaster tightened, my voice trembling but fierce. “Kaito’s been risking his life all night, over and over, for me. If he hadn’t, I’d already be dead. Now it’s my turn to return the favor.”

“No.” Kaito’s tone was sharp, final. “I’m not letting you throw your life away.”

Anger flared hot in my chest. “And what about you? You’ve ignored me every damn time I told you not to risk yourself. You never listened! Well, now it’s my turn not to listen!”

His jaw clenched, his hand trembling faintly as he held the stick. For a moment, I thought he’d snap at me again. But instead… his eyes softened. Just barely.

He pressed the device into my palm, his voice low and rough. “Be careful, Yuzuki. Don’t you dare die on me.”

The weight of the device was heavier than it should’ve been. My chest tightened. I nodded, forcing my legs to move, forcing air into my lungs. “I won’t.”

I swallowed hard, sucked in one last deep breath… 

I bolted from cover, the USB clutched tight in my sweaty palm. The boss drone’s cannons swiveled toward me instantly, blasting holes into the floor inches from my heels. My heart pounded so hard I swore it would burst through my chest, but I couldn’t stop, not now. Not when Kaito was watching. Not when I’d sworn it’d be me this time, not him.

The drone’s missile pod opened with a hiss. My stomach dropped.
“Shit—!”

Before it could fire, a storm of plasma bolts hammered its flank. Kaito and Rin had broken cover, blasting it with everything they had. Sparks erupted off its armor, making it stumble.

“KEEP DOING WHAT YOU’RE DOING, YUZUKI!” Kaito roared. “WE’LL DISTRACT IT!”

I skidded mid-step, almost yelling back without thinking. “THAT WASN’T THE DEAL! THE DEAL WAS FOR YOU TO STAY BACK AND LET ME HANDLE THIS ON MY OWN!”

“JUST SHUT UP AND DO YOUR THING!” Kaito’s voice cut over the chaos.

Rin chimed in, laughing between bursts of fire. “Technically it wasn’t even a deal, it was just a choice you made!”

I groaned, biting back the urge to argue. Fine. Whatever. I’d yell at them later if we lived.

I darted across the wreckage, leaping onto a collapsed table, then a chair, then another, clawing my way higher. The drone towered over me like a metal mountain, but adrenaline shoved me forward. I jumped, fingers scraping cold alloy, and somehow, I don’t know how, I hauled myself onto its backside.

It jolted instantly, thrusters whining as it bucked beneath me. My stomach flipped. I flattened down, crawling up its armor inch by inch, clutching the USB like it was life itself.

“Stop shaking so goddamn much, will ya?” I muttered through gritted teeth, holding on for dear life.

The port came into view, a small, glowing slot near the top. My whole body trembled, my fingers slippery with sweat. If I slipped, I was paste. But if I missed this chance, we were all dead anyway.

I jammed the stick in. It clicked. The lights flickered.

“YES!” I screamed, nearly sobbing. “I FUCKING DID IT!”

From the ground, I heard Kaito’s voice, low and stunned. “…She actually did it.”

Rin whistled, shaking her head. “She’s the quietest in our class, you know. Never thought she had such a badass ego in her.”

Kaito only nodded, eyes locked on me.

I slid down off the drone as sparks erupted across its body, joints locking up, plating splitting with ugly screeches. It staggered, systems frying.

I pointed at its spasming chassis, grinning like a maniac. “Hah! IN YOUR FACE, BUTTHEAD!”

The massive machine groaned, metal shrieking as it started collapsing under its own weight.

We were still laughing—nervous, shaky laughter that came from surviving, when I noticed Kaito had gone quiet. His eyes were locked on the drone’s husk, his jaw tightening.

“What?” I asked, frowning.

Then I saw it too. Sparks. Not the usual kind, either. They danced unnaturally across its body, flaring brighter and hotter, until flames licked up its frame.

Rin blinked at it, unimpressed. “So what? It’s breaking down, big deal—”

Before she could finish, the thing erupted. Fire spilled from its vents, explosions chaining through its armor.

Kaito’s voice ripped through the room. “RUN!”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. My legs moved before my brain did, the three of us sprinting through smoke and falling debris. My chest burned with every breath, the air thick with fire and dust.

I wasn’t ready to die. Not yet.

“Kaito—!” I coughed, stumbling as the fire roared behind us. He grabbed my wrist, dragging me faster, eyes scanning frantically. Finally, he pointed. “There... EXIT!”

We crashed through the doorway, heat at our backs, and just kept running.

Outside, we collapsed into the street, panting so hard my lungs screamed. For a moment, it felt like maybe, maybe, we’d made it.

Then the ground shook.

BOOOOM!

The building we’d just escaped tore apart in a deafening blast, flames punching skyward as the structure folded in on itself. The shockwave knocked me flat, ears ringing.

When I looked up, the entire block was glowing orange, ash and smoke curling into the night. People had gathered in the street, staring in horror as the place burned to nothing.

My chest tightened. My voice shook. “I-Is this… my fault?”

No one answered.

Rin finally muttered, voice low. “…Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

Kaito nodded, grim. We slipped into the alleys, away from the fire, away from the eyes.

The city’s noise swallowed us. In the shadows, we caught our breath again.

“That was insane,” Rin said, shaking her head. “One drone. Just one drone, and it took out a whole damn building.”

Kaito’s face was unreadable, but his voice had steel. “At least we got something. A lead.”

He pulled up a holo from his wristband, showing the company’s logo. “I snapped this when I hacked their system. Remember it. Take a picture if you ever see it, on a wall, a truck, anywhere. It’s our proof. Our trail.”

Rin and I both nodded. My heart still wouldn’t slow down, but his certainty… it helped.

Eventually, the tension cracked. We muttered our goodbyes, promising to meet at school tomorrow.

“Yeah, see ya at school—” Kaito started, then stopped. His lips twisted. “…Oh wait. I’m suspended. Forgot.”

I froze. Heat flared in my cheeks, because, oh god, that was on me. If I hadn’t blurted out he had a blaster, he wouldn’t have been suspended.

I scratched the back of my head, stammering. “S-sorry… about that.”

Kaito’s eyes flicked toward me. Cold. “It’s fine.”

My stomach sank at how flat he said it.

He turned and walked off into the night. Rin gave me a faint smirk, then a casual wave before heading the other direction.

And just like that, I was alone.

—

When I finally dragged myself through the front door, my father was slumped on the couch, the glow of the TV flickering across his face. He looked up at me with this stupid wide grin.

“So? Did you get them? The magazines? The women ones. The ones without swimsuits.”

For a second, I just stared at him, confused. Then it hit me, the lie I’d told earlier, so I could sneak out and stalk Kaito. My excuse. My cover story.

My stomach twisted.

I forced a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. “Uh… I couldn’t. They said I was too young to even go inside. Y’know. Because of, uh… ‘naughty things.’”

The smile vanished from his face instantly. He let out this long, tired sigh, eyes falling back to the TV.

“Go to your room.”

That was it. No “thanks for trying.” No “don’t worry about it.” Just dismissal.

I rolled my eyes, biting down the frustration, and headed upstairs without another word.

My room was dark, stuffy. I stripped down to my bra and underwear, tossing my clothes in a heap, too hot to even think about pulling a blanket over myself. Then I collapsed onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Today… was insane.

I held a weapon for the first time.
I killed drones. Robots. Things trying to kill me.
I fought alongside Kaito. My Kaito. My crush.
A hovercar exploded under us, and I almost died if it wasn’t for his grappler.
And worst of all—
I became someone else. Someone vicious, someone who screamed and swore and didn’t stop shooting until everything in front of me was torn apart.

I pressed a hand against my chest, feeling the rapid thump of my heartbeat finally start to slow.

Too much. It was all too much.

I closed my eyes. “Tomorrow’s school… better not be this crazy.”

But even as I said it, I knew.

This was only the beginning.