15. Honoo

Silent and controlling his breathing and heart beat, Kazuki slowly crouched through the vents, as he followed the directions of the operator. He only listened, so he would not be heard by the rebels.

- "Advance and in the next opportunity turn right" - and Kazuki proceeded - "now just a bit and turn left" - on his mind, he tried to imagine the room and his strategy - "advance more and turn left, then right on the next corner" - without focusing on Haruka's suffering - "advance more and slowly now, and turn right when you can" - he was trying to keep himself from going over the edge.
- "Now advance and turn right. I may lose your signal after the turn. You will have a corridor."
- "Alright" - Kazuki whispered, to calm himself and the operator. He did as she said.
- "I am losing your signal. Pay attention to the openings and do you best, good " - Kazuki turned right. Ahead of him the tunnel was straight and next to the manager room, he already could see one of the openings. He advanced until he could see through it, still hidden.

Through the grate, he saw the three hostages, the guard was closer to him, then Renegade in the middle and Haruka on the far side. He noticed she seemed now tired and showing signs of frostbite. He also saw Eisubel, who was standing up, waiting with his pistol, wearing a satisfied face as if he was enjoying his time. Kazuki quickly went over to the other side to look. Now, he saw the large Hammer, who was moving around, anxious. Kazuki thought fast, the grate had quite large holes. He set his rifle on one of the holes, breathed in and shot at Hammer. At the same instant, he moved away to hide.

The gun's bang startled the rebels:
- "What was that!?" - screamed Hammer, who started to move around looking for the source of the shot.
- "Who is there?" - asked Eisubel, who stood there, just looking around. In a few seconds, Hammer started getting slower until he tripped and fell. Eisubel got his pistol, pointed it at the hostages and got closer to Hammer. He saw a tranquilizer shot on his partners arm. He laughed, got up and said:
- "Someone smart is here! How lovely!" - he spoke while looking around the room. - "You may have gotten Hammer-kun, but I still have the hostages. Let's see if you can come up with something before I bring you down!" - Kazuki kept silent and unfazed while he moved fast towards the next opening. At the same time, Eisubel kept looking for a place where someone could hide. Kazuki reached the next opening and quickly removed two screws - "Oh, an air vent! How clever you are!" - Eisubel said that and shoot in the direction of one of the vents. He hit a small flashlight, that Kazuki left on to draw his attention. Kazuki kicked his grate and entered the room. When he pointed the gun towards Eisubel however, Eisubel was already aiming for the guard made hostage.

Kazuki stared at him and said:
- "Drop your weapon!" - Eisubel replied:
- "So someone finally came to see me! A special forces agent nonetheless! I feel so flattered!" - as he said, he pointed his gun towards Renegade. Kazuki remained unfazed. Then, Eisubel pointed towards Haruka. He saw Kazuki's face tensing up and a heavy breath - "AHA! So, she is an agent too! As I expected! I think you care about her!"
- "Release your weapon and surrender, Eisubel, or I will put you down where you stand!"
- "Someone is nervous here. Time to have fun!" - Eisubel snapped his left hand fingers, creating a small ice crystal which reflected the lights of the room and distracted Kazuki. Then, with his right hand, he shot Kazuki on the chest. Kazuki was able to react and also shot, hitting Eisubel's gun, which was sent flying. Kazuki knelt with pain, he was protected by his bulletproof vest, but the pain was still excruciating.

Eisubel took a step forward and raised his hands. A blue light surged in them and Eisubel released and ice stream directed towards Kazuki. Kazuki firmly stood his ground and also raised his hands. He released a stream of ice, which met Eisubel's one. The two streams met in the middle and it became a contest of strength, like they were trying to push a knife against each other.

- "So you know how to use magic, huh!?" - Eisubel said - "How fun it is! We can use it as defence, but we won't be able to hurt each other with it." - Eisubel interrupted his magic and rolled to the side, evading Kazuki's ice stream. - "I wonder if the others can be hurt by ice" - Eisubel was again standing and launched ice wind directly on Haruka, who flailed vainly.

In a split second, Kazuki saw and thought a lot. He saw Haruka's struggle, her face, her neck and her flailing. He also saw Eisubel malicious contempt with his act. His chest pain disappeared from his mind and he got up. He took a breath, and raised his hands from which shone a blue light. From them, he released an ice stream saying:

- "You will pay you bastard!" - Eisubel transformed his wind into an ice stream and turned it into Kazuki's direction. Again, both attacks met in the middle and the two were pushing one another with their sheer strength.
- "Filled with wrath are you?" - said Eisubel, his malicious face was illuminated by the blue light, just like Kazuki's struggling visage. - "Do you really think you can defeat me in a contest of strength?" - Eisubel's stream started to get closer to Kazuki - "you may be well trained, but you are hurt and I can do this all day" - the stream got closer - "it is only a matter of time! When will you accept defeat?"

At this time, Kazuki saw Haruka. Within her wounded body, he saw her struggling, pained face and within it, he saw her eyes. Despite all pain, her green eyes were hopeful. And they were focused on him. "She believes in me, she needs me right now" - he thought to himself. "I need to be strong, I need to defeat this bastard!" - Kazuki took another breath and put more and more energy into his magic. For a second, his stream got close to Eisubel, who also put in more strength, and again both streams met in the middle.

- "You have chosen your fate then!" - Eisubel continued smiling and intensified his magic. Gradually, his stream got closer and closer to Kazuki. Despite that, he was focused, he closed his eyes and channeled his strength, which was enough to stop Eisubel's advance. Then he opened his eyes and gazed at Haruka. As he looked at her, his mind divided. It was like his unconscious was channelling magic and his conscious was thinking about Haruka, her suffering and thinking about saving her. His gray eyes started to become yellowish and glowing. Haruka's eyes widened, she was still looking at him. The light from his hands was becoming warmer, yellowish, then orange. Eisubel's smile turned into a frown and Kazuki now looked at him:
- "I'm gonna bring you down!" - as he shouted that, the light from his hands went red and the ice stream turned into flames, a powerful fiery stream of fire which overwhelmed and covered Eisubel, who shrieked in pain and moved away, falling to the ground.

Kazuki ended his stream and rushed towards Haruka. He was panting and removed the tape from her mouth. She flinched. Kazuki used small flames to burn the strings used to tie her. As he did that, she fell forward and he hugged her. Her body was cold. He carefully set her lying down and used his flames to give her some heat. Panting, she whispered:
- "Thank you Kaa-chan.. I hoped... I knew you would save me."
- "Raikubo-san, breath slowly and keep awake, help is coming."
- "Thank you...Kaa...chan..." - after that, Kazuki knelt on the ground. He felt his chest pain and his hands burning after the magic. He took a deep breath, got up and looked around the room. Unfortunately, Eisubel was gone. Kazuki got the phone he left and reconnected his stream:
- "Agents, the situation in the manager room is secure! We need paramedics, we need to arrest two rebels and look for Eisubel, he disappeared but should still be on the bank!"
- "Yes, sir!" - his agent replied.

In the next few minutes, the paramedics rescued the three hostages to take them to the hospital. Also, the agents recovered everything that was robbed and captured Hammer, however Eisubel was not found. Kazuki got up and left the bank to wait outside for Haruka. There, the operator called on the NCID:
- "Good job, Kazuki-kun. The Colonel has a message:"
- "Good job Yukiya-san. The mission has been successful. Despite Eisubel's escape we probably recovered all the stolen items, arrested two rebels and both you and Raikubo-san will be fine. Have some rest now."
- "Thank you, sir. And thank you, Operator-san, your help was essential."
- "That was nothing, Kazuki-kun! Thank you, I am glad things worked out. Over and out!"

Soon, the paramedics appeared, bringing the hostages on stretchers. Kazuki got up and signalled for the paramedics with Haruka to stop. He took a look at her and said:
- "Be strong, you will be fine soon."
- "Yes, I will, Kaa-chan."
- "I will come to visit as soon as I can."
- "Thank you, Kaa-chan" - Kazuki signalled for them to continue. Due to the stop, the stretcher with Renegade stopped right beside Haruka's. They looked at each other. Haruka noticed Renegade's disappointment and sadness. She closed her eyes and shook her head trying to apologize when the paramedics continued, separating them.

***

Kazuki went to his apartment, took a bath and spent time by himself. He was terribly tired and his mind was full, of worry for Haruka and of questions, about Eisubel and about himself and his new found fire magic. In spite of that, for this night, trusting Haruka would be well treated, his tiredness won and he spent his time painting and relaxing and had a long night of sleep.

***

During the evening, at NUMO's headquarters, the operator was called to Colonel Husky's office. She was a small woman, she had brown hair set in a ponytail, her features were small, her brown eyes were dressed by blue glasses and she wore a blue suit and skirt, blue shoes with medium heels and black tights. She walked slowly, trembling, worried about the colonel. She entered his office and sat on his desk. He was sitting on the other side and turned to her:
- "I've seen you've taken a few liberties conducting Kazuki on the operation." - The operator gulped and said:
- "That's correct sir, but I just did that, because I believed that was our best course of action available, due to the evolution of the situation."
- "I understand that. And in hindsight, it was mostly a good decision, maybe not the best, as Eisubel fled, but nonetheless good, we recovered the items, arrested rebels and our assets are safe. Do you agree?"
- "Yes, sir."
- "So, I hope this was a good learning experience. I am glad you are learning more about decision making, be sure to continue on this path." - the operator hid her sigh saying:
- "Yes sir, thank you sir."
- "About the rebels, soon we will get some information from the ones we captured, it should not take long." - the colonel grabbed his notes on the desk - "and on your report it says that Yukiya-san used fire magic, is that correct?"
- "Yes sir, we still don't have all the details, as I was out of touch in that moment, but I already got this preliminary information."
- "That's great news. I always knew he was capable of using pyromancy, but never knew how to make him do that. You were smart when you told me yesterday that putting him on a tight spot could have this effect. This wasn't planned but it sure did work out fine."
- "Yes, I agree sir."
- "Well, so far so good. Now, operator, before you leave, I have a request for you."
- "What is it, sir?"
- "Keep an eye on Yukiya-san and Raikubo-san, specially after today. Make sure they are not having a deeper emotional relationship. As you know, it's against our rules and you understand those. Correct?"
- "Yes sir, count on me."
- "Thank you, if you see anything out of the ordinary, please report to me."
- "Yes, sir." - the operator got up and left his office. As soon as she left, she sighed and supported herself on the wall in relief. "Haruka-chan, Kazuki-kun. Please don't get too involved and take care of yourselves. I would love to always work with you" - she thought to herself while she returned to her desk.