This is Still An Exchange, Right?

“The plan is we play their little game, Shiba-kun.” Hazama started as they got out of Ishigami’s car and moved closer to the abandoned factory. “Your mom is going to be there, but don’t freak out. You will be requested to enter a magic circle and touch the big straw doll in the middle. You will do that. It won’t harm you directly. It’s a ritual that will give the malevolent spirit Nagamori Arisa a stronger body to inhabit that everyone can thoroughly lynch.”

“Wait,” Shiba Kakeru mumbled. “How did you—”

“We knew.” Hoshino patted his head, smiling. “Did you actually want to talk about that?”

Shiba Kakeru lowered his head. His gaze bounced from Hazama to Ishigami and then to Hoshino. Rubbing the back of his neck, he seemed to struggle to find what he believed would be the right words to respond with. But then again, he didn’t need to say anything. Hoshino patted his head again, calling his attention before giving him a thumbs up.

Hazama smiled a bit at that too. “After getting your mom back… Ishigami-san, I need you to take them to safety. I called the boss. There will be personnel around the area where you parked your car. The exchange will most likely happen at the largest building in that compound, so it shouldn’t be a problem for me and Hoshino to hold the Butterflies and Nagamori Arisa while you do that.

“But what if they don’t bring my mom there because I got the police involved?”

“Nah,” Ishigami responded, groaning as he stretched his shoulders. “They’ll definitely bring your mom there. It’s the easiest way for you to do what they want.”

Hazama punched Ishigami’s shoulder, making him laugh. “Believe it or not, the Butterflies would very much like it if the ritual went as smoothly as possible. Really, it means abandoning your mom to their hands… but there’s nothing else they can do now that you’re under our jurisdiction. It’s not like they’re going to take your mom with them.”

Shiba Kakeru grimaced. “Wouldn’t it make even more sense to just keep me in jail, call it quits, and wait until they eventually release my mom?”

“True.” Hoshino chuckled. “But nah. Something making sense doesn’t mean that you have to do it.”

Ishigami laughed back. “I swear I heard the same thing from that old guy hanging around the pachinko parlor near the office. But yes, I agree.”

“And it’s my job.” Hazama fixed her glasses. “Rescuing hostages from a terrorist group who views themselves as modern Robin Hoods while also being hell-bent on turning malevolent spirits into weapons is technically a part of my job description.”

Shiba Kakeru frowned. “There’s no in it for you…”

“Well—” Hoshino raised his voice a bit, still keeping it as cheerful as possible. “I get to do what I wanna do, which I think is cool. Besides, who wouldn’t help save a kid in need? I think my superiors here feel the same.”

“There’s a right way to beat people up,” Ishigami added, glancing at Shiba Kakeru with a thousand-watt smile. “This is it.”

“I mean, we’re getting our OT pay. That’s enough for me.” Hazama tied her hair into a clean ponytail. “This means that I’ll have enough extra funds to get the 1/60 Gundam Flauros model kit that’s been collecting dust in my cart.”

They finally made it to the abandoned factory, which was composed of four buildings. The largest building was in the middle. The second-largest building was on the left. The two other smaller buildings were on the right. They didn’t have the time to get the actual blueprints of the compound. Hoshino expressed his worry about it. Hazama said that they didn’t have enough people to cover these buildings, much less hide some of their people to be their backup. Ishigami said it was fine since he loved surprises anyway.

The Butterflies revealed themselves not long after. There were five of them, all with wands in their hands. Nose and Shifu were there. Oh hey—Tattoo was there too. The other two he couldn’t recognize. Hoshino liked to believe that they were the pair of dumbasses he jumped at the second floor back at Sakuramine… but that was wishful thinking.

At least they were in sync. They were glaring at them, smiling like the evil bastards they were. If Hoshino looked hard enough, he was sure that it would look even more comical to him. Most of their attention was placed on Hoshino like he was some kind of sweating ugly bastard or something. But fair. Hoshino had blown some of these people’s arms and legs off, maybe even both.

A part of him thought about what to say or do, but then the other wolf inside him cried and let his inner child win. Hoshino smiled as bright as he could, tilting his head slightly to the side, and waved back. Gehehehe. This made the Butterflies all the more pissed but what would they do? Beat Hazama and Ishigami to a pulp and they get to him? Hoshino thought not!

“Ishigami-san.” Hazama nudged her head toward the large building behind the Butterflies. She puffed a breath through her mouth and her mana surged like a large bubble of boiling water. All the energy she conjured was compressed back to her wand, its bluish hue turning into hot pink as it reshaped itself into a jet-black staff. “Please break down the door. I’ll give you the signal.”

Hoshino snapped forward and shielded Shiba Kakeru with his body. His eyes wandered. He drew his wand, his hand shaking at the thought of whether he should defend or attack. AND COVER. Oh lord. They didn’t even have cover. Black was somewhere out there. Lemmy was hiding in the darkness too like the little bitch that he was; Hoshino told the both of them about Lemmy, but still the man could just swoop in, grab a lemon, and give them a taste of retirement in the worst way possible. And you know who else could just swoop in and send them to the farm where all their departed pets live? Fucking Satoru—

Ishigami raised his arm, which now seemed to be as thick as Hoshino’s thigh. Maybe it was thicker. Hoshino dared not to take a second glance. But Ishigami… He was telling him to stand down.

Hoshino calmed his breath in response. Not out of full trust. No. No. No. It was not the fact that Ishigami was smiling at both of them like it was Tuesday and Hazama was about to throw a magical bowling ball and knock their enemies down like pins. It was fear. It was the fear of Hoshino getting punched in the face if he decided to throw a tantrum about their IMMENSE need for cover.

“Point.”

Hazama’s tired, commanding voice cut through the dead air. Hoshino let his jaw hang. He shifted his eyes forward to see the action, aware of how slow his breath was, and just in time to see one poor, poor Butterfly get catapulted and slam into the building on their left like an unwanted brick.

The remaining four took their positions. Nose fired a bolt—which Hazama dodged—to buy some time. Shifu said the cutest, most panic-filled “fuck, fuck, fuck” ever and summoned a shield big enough to cover their group. By then, the other two had their wands pointing forward, processing what just happened and taking even more time to gather their focus.

“Exploding Bolt.”

Hazama blasted Shifu’s shield, making the old buildings around them scream as the ground shook beneath them. The attack was powerful. Yes. And showy, too. But Hoshino doubted that it would’ve done anything more than crack the bastard’s shield. Unless—

Hoshino grinned. The smoke and dust from Hazama’s attack did not dissipate and instead grew to blanket all of them. The attack was for a goddamn cover and to shake their enemies up.

Normally, this would still be a problem for both sides.

“Piercing Bolt.”

Hazama waved her staff and fired a slower, denser bolt through the wall of dust. Sure enough, a shield was shattered. Hoshino widened his awed smile. A few bolts were returned to Hazama in response; she stepped to the side, dodging most of it and intercepted the rest with a shield small enough to break them upon impact. As soon as both her feet touched the ground, Hazama conjured a spread of bolts—not as wide and as many as Satoru’s but seemed more controlled—and returned fire in their direction.

There were several grunts. Hoshino could tell that it was from Nose, Shifu, Tattoo… and that other guy before they rolled to the floor. Hazama fired a quick, smaller scan spell before she stepped back and nodded at Ishigami. This became his cue to kick the ground, break into a run, and ram himself into the building with the might of ten men plus the speed of a booming ten-wheeler truck violating several traffic laws.

The explosion of Ishigami’s attack brought an even bigger cloud of dust and smoke—not to mention how the front of the building looked like a smushed piece of loaf. Hoshino feared that Shiba Kakeru would be too scared shitless to cooperate, but looking at the boy right now… By the way he smiled, Hoshino could guess that convincing the boy that his coworkers were awesome and what they were doing was awesome shouldn’t be too hard.