Smash! Bash! Crash!

«⟨ Smash! Bash! Crash! ⟩»

WHERE ARE WE GOING?!...

Chitose was currently running across a narrow alleyway, dodging trash cans and piping trying to catch up to the two in front of him.

“Just a little bit further!” Hazel shouted.

It was quite impressive to see her moving all while tinkering with her phone. Chitose was already used to running in such dark places, but to think that even both of these girls were capable of maneuvering themselves here truly impressed him.

Automata sure are something!…

Chitose then noticed Hazel taking a peek at her back in his direction, Huh?... Then she turned back to her front–focusing back to her footing with her cape waving on her back as if nothing happened.

What was that??...

“Grab this,” she said.

An object instantly lobbed from her, which Chitose barely able to catch–bouncing left and right in his hand.

“Hey! That's dangerous!” He shouted.

However, ignoring Chitose's whining, Hazel continued, “That's a transceiver! Put it in your ear, and don't lose it!”

While minding his footing too, Chitose plugged the transceiver into his ear.

A fuzzy buzz crackled before a voice sounded, [....can you…. hear me?....]

Fryd?

The moment he recognized the owner of the voice, he turned to the figure of her running in front of him. Still, she wore the heavy white parka all while slipping left and right as she ran–not even looking at him. How can she run in that??...

“Y-Yeah.. I can hear you…” he replied, “Where exactly are we going?”

[Battle,] Hazel replied, [There's going to be an anomaly up ahead, so you better watch out.]

“EEHHH?!?!”

[It's quite an unfortunate timing — We can go over the explanation later, just run for now.]

“O-Okay…”

Knowing that there's going to be a clash up ahead, Chitose sharpened his sense of surroundings. He adjusted his sprint, and threw unrelated thoughts out the window.

Focus… Focus…

After a brief moment, he could see some light up ahead, indicating the end of their alleyway run.

The moment the three stepped out of the alleyway shadow—

BOOM!!!

—Chitose saw a figure smashed onto the brick wall just to his right at a high speed. WHAT THE?!

The figure then dropped onto the concrete floor beneath along with some brick pieces.

“DAMN IT!!” the figure shouted, covered in dust.

Wait a minute?!…

Chitose instantly recognized that wavy purple hair of hers.

“Lena!” Hazel shouted, rushing to the figure she referred to as Lena.

“UGH!!! DAMN IT!!! THAT THING IS A FREAKING TANK!!!” Lena shouted.

Hazel extended a hand and gave a lift to Lena. She patted the dust off her tattered dress as she stood up.

Usually if a person got smashed into a brick wall at a speed similar to that of a racing car, they would instantly turn into soup. But seeing how fine she was after that really speaks volume on how durable automata’s bodies were built. That's crazy…

Perhaps she had held herself back when slapping him before…

“Thanks…” Lena said.

And the moment she turned into Chitose's direction, a furrow formed on her face.

“WHY THE HELL IS THIS GUY HERE??!!”

Oh man… she's pissed…

“We can talk about that later, for now—”

BOOM!!!

Another entity smashed onto where Hazel and Lena were standing, shattering the brick wall as a whole–tearing it down–and forming a cloud of dust within the area.

It was in the blink of an eye, but Chitose was able to briefly catch the figure of a black tire about double his size before it smashed itself just now.

“HAZEL!!” Chitose shouted.

[We're good! Just get away from there now!]

Following her order, both Hazel and Lena emerged from the dust cloud, running towards an open basketball court.

He was relieved the two were fine.

“come here!...”

A sudden tuck pulled him back into the alleyway they had come from.

He lost his balance and fell butt first onto the ground, “Ouch!..”

When he looked up, he saw Fryd already leaning her back against the wall. She got a piercing glare in her eyes as she peeked out the alleyway.

Chitose realized that the girl had pulled him into here to avoid direct confrontation with whatever that ramming entity was.

“T-Thanks…”

He immediately got off the ground and copied what Fryd did.

What the hell is that…

Peeking out, it was basically as he had seen before. A giant black tire about two meters tall, and had a thickness of half its height.

The entity recovered itself from the crash–getting upright, then started spinning itself slowly in one place, seemingly scanning the area.

Chitose couldn't really tell what the pure white orb that seemed to be imbued to its left and right inside the center was. But one thing for sure, it acted like the eyes for that entity.

[It's Armadillo.] Hazel said through the comm.

Her figure was nowhere to be found, but perhaps she was already in a hiding similar to Chitose and Fryd somewhere with Lena.

“Armadillo?…”

Why an animal name?...

But the more Chitose observed the entity the more relevant the naming for it became.

Unlike a tire, the entity doesn't seem to be made of rubber–but instead it has those bumpy-like textures similar to that of armadillos.

And not only that, seeing how shiny the bumps were and how it had just withstand the impact before, it might be safe to assume it was made of materials similar to that of steel.

[Where's BonBon?] Hazel asked.

[Up there,] replied Lena.

Up???....

Chitose peeked at the surrounding.

The area they were at was surrounded by apartments with brick walls on each side. At the center was an open basketball court but with no usual mesh gate. Basically a local neighbourhood quadrangle.

As his eyes wandered, he spotted a figure that seemed to be plastered high up on the wall next to the apartment window.

Huh?!?!

“HAZELLLL!!!! HELPPPP!!!!!!” shouted the figure.

It was one of the girls who was with Lena this morning. The one who picked up her sling bag back in the meeting room.

She had a blonde ponytail tied in a bun. And wore an oversized turtleneck of graffiti patterns.

As of now, she seemed to be somewhat stuck like a fly on a spider-web. Perhaps the reason had something to do with the pink adhesive on her back.

That must be BonBon…

[HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET UP THERE?!?!] Hazel shouted over the comm, slightly inducing a static after her high-pitched voice.

Oh… She's pissed…

Chitose then returned his focus back to the Armadillo who was still spinning about at the same place.

……

Can I do something here?....

He was about to give a thought on some strategy or tricks that he could use to at least be useful, when he felt yet another tuck on the hem of his hoodie.

Again, it was Fryd, but this time, she just gave him a head shake.

??....

“....for now… just watch….”

“.....”

Perhaps she had caught Chitose trying to include himself in the fight and decided to stop him right there.

…What… I can be useful too…

It was somewhat dejecting to be labelled as a leader, yet all he could do was sit and watch as his comrade did all the heavy lifting.

“.....”

“?.....”

He then found himself being stared at by Fryd.

“W-What?...”

Fryd continued her stare for some more second, before she opened her mouth,

“....hazel trust you…. so i trust you…. but for now…… learn……”

It was the longest sentence he had ever heard from her.

Was she trying to cheer me up?...

However, she was right. If Chitose were to jump into action right now, it could only call for even more disaster. And being a newbie in this field, he could even bring more harm than good to his comrades.

“....Thanks…”

Fryd gave him a thumbs up, before returning her gaze back towards her target.

Man that was embarrassing…

The fact that Fryd had done that must've meant that she saw him being all sad and what not. I gotta get a grip here man!...

“HAZELLLLL!!!!!!” The ponytail girl voice echoed throughout the court.

She also has to get a grip there…