Failure

I tried to open my eyelids, but they were unbearably heavy. Trying to lift them was like the time I had tried to bench press a 500-pound barbell… Well, my eyelids must be like bulky bodybuilders, because unlike that time that I had failed at the bench press, my eyelids were opening, slowly, but still opening.

The first thing I saw upon opening my eyes was the blurred, hazy form of a girl.

“Did I die? Are you an angel?” My voice wavered as I spoke, not even I was sure of what I was saying.

When my vision finally cleared, I could see the girl's form in perfect clarity. The girl standing before me had soft looking skin, it almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. Actually, it contrasted beautifully against her mid-back length auburn red hair that she wore mostly down, but with tiny twin tails on each side. Her bangs were slightly long and swept to the side. The hairstyle alone gave her a charming appearance. Well, at least I thought so. 

The girl's eyes were a dazzling brown that had a lively sparkle and seemed to glow absorbing the very light around them. Her eyelashes which were slightly long, framed her eyes perfectly, and her lips had the kind of lines that were supple and as I would like to say, easy on the eyes. If I could describe her face in a single word, it would definitely be cute.

I looked into the eyes of the red-haired girl and started to feel dazed again, my head still hurts... is this a concussion?... hmmmm… wait... there's one thing off about this perfect plot, Why the hell is she pointing a gun at me!?

The angel, or girl standing before me spoke in a quiet yet firm voice. “You’re Saburi Keisuke, the one on CIMEDE's Index of thieves.”

CIMEDE!? Wait! Why the hell do they know my name and what I look like!? I was shocked, and it must have showed on my face. My face must have contorted into something beyond shocked. It's true that I've stolen stuff, but I had never gotten caught before, and as far as I know, my face has never been seen before either... My mind played a single phrase over and over... son of a bitch. son of a bitch. SON OF A BITCH!

I looked at the unknown girl and gave her a questioning expression, I tried to keep my face calm, but I had no idea how it was moving... “Sooo, how did you come up with a joke like that? The school uniform tells me you’re a student, and I have no idea what the index thing you're talking about is. Anyways, I’m going home.”

The girl, who was still pointing the gun at me, smiled and responded, “Have you ever heard of the CIMEDE Agency? Well, you could say I sort of work for them.”

My expression went blank. “Huh… uh say wha?” It's not that I didn't believe in the possibility that she was from CIMEDE, but she's just a student. There's no way a girl as young as her would be an agent from CIMEDE, that's for real pros.

Her expression went blank. “You’ve never heard of CIMEDE?”

“Well not exactly thaaat, I mean I have heard of them of course, but you’re like……. you know?”

“???”

“a student…?” I gave a dry smile like it made obvious sense, then continued, “What I mean to say is that if you want to play at CIMEDE then you should change your look and try harder.”

The girl’s shoulders jerked back in surprise, as I gave a cheeky grin.

“Speechless? good, because I’m going home.”

I dragged my still slightly sore body up from its fallen position, pressed the four buttons on my palm again, causing the crash protection suit to fade into the backpack. I then removed the glove and put it into a compartment in the backpack. This this is actually convenient i thought.

Looking around, I could see the flashing lights and hear the wailing sirens of emergency vehicles nearby. Damn, I must have caused a real ruckus.

I took in a deep breath of the air that reeked of fried seafood and vegetables, then released it in the form of a sigh. I’m actually kind of hungry right now.

I need to somehow get away from this crowd, and those sirens. I need to make my way over to the museum... Somehow. I thought over what I could do to make this improvised plan work. I got it!

Forgetting the presence of the annoying girl, I turned around to leave. All of a sudden, said annoying girl grabbed my right wrist, twisted it around causing me to do a 180, and then she used her leg to sweep my legs out from under me.

“Awwwuuueeekkk” I yelped in surprise, making a weirdly embarrassing noise.

Although I was wearing the backpack, my back was dealt a shocking pain that made me feel like I might have broken something. I unconsciously rubbed at my head which had lightly bumped the asphalt due to wearing the backpack and being raised slightly. I was damn lucky that I didn't get a concussion.

What the hell was that? That tipping sensation, that loss of gravity, that pain of falling backwards. I remember something like this happening before… When was that? right! it was in my very, very, early years of middle school, when my friend Isami had flipped a girl’s skirt and blamed me. The girl who was victim to the skirt flip had shrilly shrieked, got all teary eyed, and pushed me to the floor. Talk about embarrassing. Arrgghhhhhh! the painful memories of my short-lived youth! Anyways, what did I do after being pushed to the floor? Well, I got pissed and then…………………....................................……….…. I cried? DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMMNN ITT! I can’t do that now! Stupid younger me!

Not really knowing how to respond, I grabbed at the girl’s foot. Bingo! and just as my expectations perceived, she jumped back, but my hand had still grasped her shoe, in other words, she was now standing on the intersection street, one foot in a leather loafer while the other was a bare, black stocking.

Yes! I got her shoe! Or to be more precise, I got a weapon!

I quickly launched to my feet and ran towards the standing girl, right hand clenched, and a shoe in my left. I had no idea what the girl might do, especially with the tiny possibility of her really being from CIMEDE.

My mad dash had brought me to an arm's length away from the girl before I had stopped and swung my clenched fist at her, but I was about a foot short of her face. Did she jump back? My mind had started to race faster. Nows my chance!

“What’s wrong, can’t you aim? or are your arms too short!” The girl spat in irritation as she quickly closed the distance on my momentum turned body.

As the girl got closer, I sped up my spinning arc drawn by momentum and unleashed a full 360 spin, slamming the shoe in my left towards her pale, unprotected face.

Was I being too rough with a cute high school girl? Well, normally I would say yes, but in the circumstances that are occurring, I couldn’t dispel the notion that she was telling the truth about being an agent from CIMEDE. What I mean to say is that I might possibly remember reading that there was an Academy built for the training of CIMEDE students, and if I was on their list of people to catch……....................NOT GOOD!

“!!!!!”

Alarmed, the girl shot to a halt just a hairs distance from my flying shoe. I missed again. Damn!

"That’s fighting dirty!” shouted the girl

I ignored the girl’s shout. With my first two attacks having missed, I Let the momentum from my swing carry me to the ground. Now for my third technique, a spinning leg sweep, similar to what the girl had attacked me with. From my ground point of view, Pastel Pink?…............... Get it together! I attempted to sweep the girl's legs out from under her like she had to me just a bit earlier, but something very, and I mean very distracting had caused my attention to waver, and that was only for an instant. With the execution of my leg sweep being slowed down around two seconds, the girl had no problem jumping over my leg attack.

“Wha—” My useless mumbling had been cut off. The cute schoolgirl had sent a devistating attack my way.

Damn she’s fast!

With the cooldown from my leg sweep attack still in effect, I had no chance to counter the low kick she sent flying into my back.

“Gaahhh” wheezed for air as I tried to refill my lungs from their massive deflation. I had been sent tumbling, like a child who had lost his balance on a steep hill.

The red-haired girl walked over to my body, which was still wheezing for air, and picked up the shoe lying next to my limp arm. After putting her shoe back on, the girl stepped on my arm. 

"ahhhgeeeekk" I let out yet another weird noise, before I knew it, my muscles tensed, and a dry screech escape my parched throat. Does this girl do Chinese acupuncture? I think she hit a pressure point.

Using her left hand, the girl pulled something out from her inner uniform pocket. It was brown, it was leather-bound, it was a wallet. The teenage schoolgirl held the wallet by one end, letting the other end dangle, allowing me to see the contents. It was an ID with a badge attached. It looked like the ones carried by federal agents in those crime dramas.

Damn it! she is from CIMEDE. I cursed and let out a sigh not being able to do anything else at the moment.

“I’m third—err… special agent, Chikaoka Oka from CIMEDE Acad—err… Agency.” The girl named Chikaoka Oka gave a pained grin as she named herself.

I couldn’t help but smile awkwardly as well. Still laying on the ground catching my breath, I too named myself, mocking her stutters. “I’m thie—err… abused civilian, Saburi Keisuke from Fuj—err… that coffee shop over there.” I gave a big smile baring my teeth.

Chikaoka Oka’s face went red to her ears, and she gave me a side kick for good measure. My stomach cramped in pain, and I began coughing violently.

“This is an abuse of power” I muttered, holding my side.

Chikaoka Oka walked over to her fallen Beretta pistol, picked it up, and pointed it at me.

I cursed to myself and decided it would be better if I didn’t try anything questionable. At that moment, the gears in my brain started to turn as I considered how to get out of this bind. Seriously though, why does she have to have that thing pointed at me? I believe that she’d use it too. I stared into the barrel of the 9mm gun pointed at me and breathed out a loud sigh. Shit.........

A little past midnight, the white moonlight Glistened off the smiling face of a young girl, pistol in hand; while eight or so police cars blocked off the streets to a certain intersection and a group of policemen wielding guns and handcuffs, ran up to a boy who was laying on the asphalt, hands in the air.