The Second Mission: I Am Alive?

Slowly, the blinding purple light faded and Hinako could see again. She stared up, where moments ago the cavern ceiling came crashing down on her. Now it was completely dark with thousands of little white light spots interspersed in it and one big white circle looking back down at her. It took her a while to realize that she was looking at the night sky. A face appeared above her and looked at her with two glowing blue eyes. It was Kuro.

“I am alive?”, Hinako asked still slightly stunned.

“Well, you’ve definitely looked better, but yeah, you’re alive… pretty battered but alive.”, Kuro answered with a friendly smile.

Hinako tried to get up but felt a sharp pain in her chest area.

“Ah, shit… my chest hurt…”, she moaned, breathing sharply in.

“Wait, let me see…”, Kuro said worried.

She felt his hand carefully touch her chest.

“Yeah… you’ve got a few broken ribs…”, He after examining her.

“Could have told you that… You just wanted to cop a feel, huh?”, Hinako said with a cheeky smile.

Kuro pressed a bit more on one of the broken ribs, which send a sharp pain through her body.

“Ouch! That hurts you idiot!”, She hissed.

“Well, you haven’t lost your cheekiness, so it can’t be that bad.”, Kuro said with a smirk.

Hinako felt him touch around her waist.

“My ass doesn’t hurt! Now you’re just taking advantage of the situation, you perv!”, She said, giving him a strict look.

Kuro didn’t answer but pulled the first aid kit from her waist bag. He took a pill container out.

“Here, this will help with the pain until we can fix you back up.”, Kuro said and handed her one of the pills.

“Do you have something to wash it down with?”, She asked.

“Just be a big girl and swallow.”

Hinako looked at him with a raised eyebrow but then swallowed the pill. The pain in her body immediately subsided.

“Help me sit up.”, she demanded.

Kuro pulled her gently up and leaned her against a rock. Hinako now could look around and noticed that they were inside an enormous crater.

“Where the fuck are we?”, She asked confused.

“Well technically we haven’t moved from that cavern…”, Kuro answered looking around himself.

“Wait… did you… blow up the… ceiling?”

“And everything that was above it…yeah…”

“Isn’t that a bit overboard.”

“What else was I supposed to do? Let us get buried?”

“Yamada-san is not gonna like this…”

“Nope… she isn’t…”

As if on command Kuro’s phone began to ring and play the theme song of an anime.

“Speaking of the devil…”, Kuro said and sighed.

He cleared his throat and answered the phone.

“The number you have dialed is curre-“, Kuro began in a monotone voice

“Shut the fuck up Otaku! What the fuck have you done?!”, Yamada interrupted angrily.

“Umm… I may have gone a bit overboard…”

“A bit?! That shit could be seen from all the way here in Tokyo!! Again… WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DID YOU DO?!”

“Umm… I think it’s easier if you see it for yourself… could you come and bring a recovery team? Ah, bring Yukiko along as well, please…”

Kuro turned because he heard something and spotted someone moving under the rubble. It was the cultist that Hinako seemed to have only knocked unconscious previously.

“Oh, and bring something to apprehend someone in.”, Kuro added.

He heard Yamada sigh at the other end of the phone.

“Hang tight… I’m already on the way…”, she said and hung up the phone.

Kuro went over to the cultist, who crawled on his belly. He turned him over with his foot.

The cultist squirmed and tried to get away from Kuro, but a quick punch to the temple sent him back into sleepy land.

“Well at least, we got one… I doubt there is anything left from the rest…”, Kuro sighed and sat herself down next to Hinako.

She looked at the moon and suddenly remembered something.

“You called me by my name!”, Hinako said and turned towards him.

“Huh?”, Kuro replied confused and looked at her.

“Before you blew up the ceiling… You called out my name!”

“Nah… you must have imagined it… all the adrenaline and stuff…”

“No, no! I clearly remember you calling out my name! For the first time actually! Normally you call me, ‘Kid’, ‘Girl’, ‘Dude’, or ‘that one’…”

“Naah… and even if, I called you by your name before… Just a few days ago when we arrived in the resort!”

“That doesn’t count! You introduced us to a client. I would have kicked you in balls if you had called me like usual in a professional setting!”

“That’s hardly professional of you.”

“Do I look if I would care?”

Both laughed a bit.

“Do it again.”, Hinako demanded.

“What?”, Kuro asked.

“Call me by my name.”

“Kid.”

“Oi!”

Hinako punched Kuro on the shoulder, or rather touched him slightly, as she was really exhausted.

“Okay, okay! Homura-san.”, Kuro gave in.

“Use my first name!”, Hinako demanded.

“Hinako-san.”

“Drop the san”

“Hinako-kun”

“Oi!”

“Hinako”

“Better! And now like you did when you called out to me!”

“…Hina…”

“Again!”

“Hina.”

“Good… Sounds nice coming from your mouth… I could get used to it…”

Hinako’s eyelids began to feel very heavy, as the pill showed its second effect. She closed her eyes and fell asleep immediately, leaning her head on Kuro’s shoulder.

“You did a great job, Hina-chan.”, Kuro said and patted the head of the sleeping woman.