The fun of the hunt

      Luckily for us, the enemy were marching slowly toward the Ōta ward and haven’t reached their destination yet. Judging by the number of men they left in their hideout to catch Rin; it was safe to assume that there were maybe hundreds of them on the way to start causing destruction and chaos just like 6 years ago.

As we were waiting in silence, hiding in a bush, we looked through the scopes of our sniper rifles to verify when the enemy would get closer to our location, and we didn’t wait for long before seeing the first truck appearing in the scope.

   We knew that the enemy would eventually pass by the uncovered area that we were aiming at. Our plan was to go for the drivers of the big trucks that they’re using first and hunt them down. That was the best way to hold them down in our situation. Obviously, since there’s a limit to what the two of us can do, we won’t be able to fight them head-on.

“Shinji! The enemy is 500 meters away.”

“…Wait until they are in the 300 meters range to fire. Use an EMP sniper and aim for the driver’s position.” I wasn’t able to see if there was someone sitting in that position or not, so I continued explaining: “It doesn’t matter if there is a human driving, or they are letting the autopilot do the job. As long as we land a successful EMP hit on them they will be obliged to walk on their feet all the way to the Ōta ward.”

“Roger that!”

Immediately after the first truck entered the 300-meter zone we started the attack. We were successful in stopping it, but the other trucks immediately took a different path and disappeared. They were expecting something like that to happen. We probably won't find anything in that truck. But that didn’t matter! Since we stopped only one car, we decided to go there and arrest the ones who were hiding in the back. We had the option to continuously hit the truck from far away until it explodes but that won’t be efficient since that will give the enemy enough time to run away.

 If Shuna was here that would’ve been a different situation. That gun freak can use a sniper as if it is a machine gun. The loading speed and the precision that she has makes every snipper jealous of her. And to make things worse for her enemies, she uses a special shotgun that has the same range of a sniper rifle and fires both EMP and iron bullets. With the good aiming and speed she has, she is undeniably the best sniper in our team.

We moved carefully from our location toward the truck that was left behind when the enemy ran away. And before getting closer to it, the doors of the box truck became wide open as 20 men jumped out of it recklessly. If they waited until we arrived at least they would’ve probably got a chance. But thinking of that won’t change the fact that the enemy was acting strangely up until now. The only good explanation that could’ve got was that all the people we’ve been fighting are just disposable members. Those who can’t contribute to the victory are being thrown to act as a hindrance in our way.

We stood back-to-back while the enemy started moving exactly like the group that we fought 15 minutes earlier. I pulled a knife and an EMP gun while saying: “… If you had seen the way in which I handled the situation earlier, then you should know what to do now!”

“No, I won’t do it!”

I looked at her in surprise and asked: “Why?! Taunting the enemy is the best solution to break their formation!”

“I won’t do it!” She repeated with the same firm tone.

I sighed deeply then replied: “Okay! Just tell me why!”

She looked at me silently for a few seconds then responded with a carefree voice: “It is embarrassing!”

I turned to face her again to see what expression was on her face. I was surprised to hear that answer. I thought that she was joking but her face was showing the opposite. She was dead serious when she said that. “… Huh?! What do you mean by embarrassing?” I asked with a surprised tone.

“…I don’t think that embarrassing has more than one meaning.”

Meanwhile, the men who completely surrounded us started to have some doubts. For them, it was the first time they saw a fight between allies in the middle of the battlefield.

“… Tell me the truth! What do you think about my way of dealing with enemies!” She turned her face away as she said that I was acting childishly.

“…What do you mean by that?! Is that how you thank the one who saved you?!”

“Hmph!”

As we were talking, the enemy started shooting us with EMP guns, but we ignored them since they had no effect on us… I pulled my sword and looked menacingly at Rin: “… It looks like you have forgotten who the leader of this squad is! I can fix this problem if you want?” She smirked at me then said: “… It looks like you have forgotten that we’re surrounded by enemies. You’re aiming your weapon at an ally.” After watching us having that intense chat for a few seconds, they decided to attack us. I waved my sword, slicing the arms of the man closest to me while pretending that it was unintentional, then pierce it into the ground. “… How about this now? I am bare handed now. My gun, dagger, and blade are all on the ground. Could it be that you’re afraid of facing me? I can go easy on you. After all, we need you to continue the mission.”

“You look so confident and arrogant. I can’t let the leader show such behaviour. Now I have a reason to hit you in the face.”

After seeing their colleague fall down so easily, they decided to jump all together in order to kill us. They had to do that from the beginning since they don’t have a weapon that can harm us…

We continued our small act, pretending to fight each other while the only ones who’re getting hit and knocked down unconscious are the enemies. When only five of them were left standing, they realized they'd been toyed with the entire time. They thought of retreating, but it was too late at that time…

We quickly jumped behind them, knocking them down, and tying them together. Just like what happened with the previous group… After tying the last one, we gave each other a high-five and a fist bump as we laughed at the idiots who fell for the oldest trick in the book.

“… We could’ve fought them straight forward!” Rin said as she continued laughing.

“Yeah, I know but that wouldn’t be funny! No one said that we can’t troll and bully weak enemies…”

We sat on the ground back to each other waiting for our comrades to arrive and pick us to the next location where another battle was going to happen…

“I forgot to give you my thoughts about your acting skills!”

“I know that I am really bad…” She replied immediately as she looked away.

“Actually, that was a good performance you did there! If we didn’t agree on it from the beginning, I would’ve thought that you were serious about every word you said!”

“Who told you that I wasn’t serious?”

She looked behind her waiting for my answer, but I kept silent. I looked at her with a puzzled expression on my face that made her laugh.

“I am joking, don't make that surprised face once again. It’s really hilarious!”

“If one day we get fired out of the military then at least we have confidence in our acting skills!”

She laughed at my idea then asked: “…Don’t tell me you’re seriously thinking of being fired?!”

“Who knows…”

After a moment of silence, I continued talking: “… But for the time being I am happy!” She turned her head to look at me then replied: “… Did something happen?”

“Well, happy isn’t the correct word. I should’ve said relieved… For the past few days, you were acting a bit strangely and you made everyone in the team worried about you. We thought that you were depressed or something like that. Even the commander asked me to keep an eye on you and protect you when it is necessary.”

“I wasn’t…”

“Now I am relieved to see that you’re smiling and laughing again. With this spirit I think you can fight all out and we won’t need to worry about you anymore.”

“I wasn’t depressed. I just…” She tried to reply again only to get interrupted for the second time.

“I know… You just set your mind to do something in those days…”

Before I finished my sentence Rin stood up suddenly and yelled: “… You do realize that you’ve been interrupting me whenever I tried to talk!” She took a few steps silently then continued: “… It is something like you said… Thank you for worrying about me… I am alright.” I stood up, took my gun, dagger, and blade to hide them without saying anything.

Seconds later, the rest of our team arrived. We notified the police department with our location to come and arrest those terrorists that we defeated and moved on to our next destination: to meet with the commander and the leaders of the first and fifth squad.

On our way we saw that the members of the other squads had already started engaging the enemy. It looks like we were able to buy sufficient time so that they could arrive on time. I think that this was all thanks to the wrong decisions that were made by the leader of the enemy. If he hadn’t chosen to take another longer way to his destination and decided to force his way through the trap we were preparing, then he might have successfully evaded and arrived at the city. He was extra cautious and that is what led them to this situation.

The members of the first squad and the fifth were forming two lines of defence. The rear line uses EMP guns and normal guns rarely while the front line engages the enemy from close distance. From time to time, one of the rear lines leaves his post to support the front line while another one from the front-line retreats to use a long-range weapon. With that strategy, they can continue for the whole day without a problem.

[Unless the enemy breaks this formation, victory is clearly on our side].

That was the thing that made me more eager to know who was leading the enemies. He was literally wasting his manpower here and there without any significant accomplishment. My mind kept telling me that there’s a reason behind all of this and that the enemy is hiding something in his sleeves. So, as we were walking to meet with the commander, I asked Asahi to keep notifying me with every move the enemy makes on both sides…

In the centre of the tent of the 1st squad leader, there was a large table with many chairs around it… The three leaders were already sitting in their positions already. Compared to the commander, the other two looked like monsters!! With their gigantic bodies covered with muscles and the intimidating aura that anyone could easily feel, the rest of my team was wondering how Mr. Kazama was sitting comfortably without showing any sign of discomfort.

“… Shinji!! You’re here! It’s been a long time.” The leader of the first squad greeted me with a smile. I gave him a salute as I answered him: “… Yes sir it’s been three years now!” The other commander looked at me with surprise: “… Oh! So, you’re Shinji! You’ve changed a lot in the past years! I couldn’t even recognize you! I heard that you are now the leader of the 10th squad. Kids surely grow in a blink of an eye.”

“Currently, I am in the position of leader!”

Both of them looked at Mr. Kazama and laughed: “… You always wanted to do everything on your own!” The commander glared at them and immediately the smile disappeared from their faces…

Watching all this scene, the rest of our squad were completely surprised when they saw the commander acting like that. Shuna took the initiative on behalf of the others and asked: “… Is Mr. Kazama…?” I answered with a surprised tone: “… You guys were members in the squad for a long period and you didn’t know? He was the leader of the first squad until he retired!”

“… HUH?!” Everyone screamed with the same voice.

The commander looked at us and said with a serious tone: “… This isn’t the right time to remember the past. We have an enemy that we need to eliminate!”