The Trust in Innocence

“Not really like you to chat up random girls, eh Jun? Guess even our resident matchmaker can crave some action once in a while.”

She really does know how to put me into a tight spot

“I’m just trying to help her, you dolt” I replied

“Hmmmmm?” Misha’s smugness gave away her intentions “Well, if you say so” she turned her back to me “Ah” and she turned back around and walked past me towards Minami-san “I’m sorry…. I guess I’m the only one who didn’t introduce myself…. I’m Misha Sakuragi, you can call me Misha…..pleased to meet you”.

That caught both me and Minami-san off guard “Oi, Misha…. Did you really just introduce yourself with your real name?”

“Oh? Didn’t you guys already?” She asked looking back at me

“Yeah, but that was by accident” I replied

“Eh…what’s the harm? And besides, it’s great to get to know another girl here…. Mai and Meguru aside. The only one in our group that is my age is Yukari” said Misha

“Appreciate the sentiment, Misha-san…. but I’ve already grouped up with a couple of friends of mine, along with my sister and boyfriend”

The moment I heard that, I felt life leaving my body all of a sudden….. Oh gods above, how can you be so cruel

“I’m looking forward to meeting them as well… the more the people, the more the fun.” Misha replied to Minami-san

“In that case….although I do have to warn you, Onee-chan has a history of being hard to deal with…. Prepare for a storm but she always comes around” Minami-san warned her

“Ahhh, don’t worry about it…. I am already used to dealing with trouble” She said turning her smug gaze

“Do I want to know why you are looking at me?” I asked

“No reason really… it’s not like you and Hayato bring down the house more times than not” I can guess who she got that sense of sarcasm from

“Huh? If I had a say in this, I’d say Tadashi and Akio were way worse than us….and besides, it’s not like you and Yukari were saints to begin with….I swear, you guys get together with the double trouble and you girls are worse than all of the guys combined” I struck back

“Oi… That was a one time thing” And that made Misha flustered…. It was super effective.

Our banter completely made us forget there was another person with us right now. Only for us to get a reminder as she started giggling listening to Zero’s traditional back and forth.

“You guys sure are close. Like you guys are brother and sister.” Minami-san said

“Sister? To this sis-con….I’ll pass”

“Who are you calling an sis-con, you shota-con” I struck back

“Huh? You got the nerve to call me a shota-con, Bakanie?”

The banter had devolved even further into name calling, and it only resulted in Minami-san’s laughter growing louder…. I guess this is fun in its own way.

A few minutes of bantering and walking later, we made it to the closest Guildhouse in Helios. The outside was supposed to be this wide open-space but instead it’s populated with countless groups trying to find people to party with and coordinating which quests they are going to take.

After wandering outside and finding no-one, we managed to get ourselves inside the Guild. The building was surprisingly uncrowded, with only a few groups inside and many queuing up to the reception.

“Guess we are out of luck huh?” I said after we spotted no one we knew. “What about you, Minami-san?”

“Hmmm…. I don’t see anyone from my group either.” She replied

“Well let's hope that they haven’t spawned in far off cities or that they figure out the fast travel system at least” Misha commented

“Worse comes to worse, we could just log out and agree on a meeting spot” I replied

“Wait? You haven’t checked your menu have you?” said Misha

“Hm? The menu? What about it?”

“The thing is missing a few features…. like fast travel and even the log out button. I even asked a couple of other players about it and even they couldn’t find it. Guess we have to stick around until they iron out that bug”

“As expected of one of CG’s greatest tank players. Always ahead of the info game aren’t ya?” I commented

“Well unlike some people, I don’t run into situations head first” she said looking at me

“Again, why are you looking at me? That is Hayato’s specialty”

While we were bantering in the foreground, Minami-san intervened “Now that you mentioned it, I can’t seem to find the log out option as well”

“I won’t count on it being an issue for long, it’s common for games to have bugs like that at launch… And knowing Arctus’ reputation, they’d fix it very soon.” I said putting my hands behind my head.

I immediately dropped my hands and sighed “Well this was disappointing, we have no reliable way of finding our friends….. At this point, I would even take running into Mai or Meguru”

“Come on Nii-chan, you know we don’t usually do the solo act” And it seemed I have summoned the twin terrors out of thin air

“Oh…Mai-chan, Meguru-chan” Misha instantly reacted to their presence

“Jun-nii, Misha-nee…. Didn’t keep you waiting for long did we?” Mai said, taking the lead in the conversation.

“Where were you two all this time?” I asked sternly

“Come on now, Nii-chan…. At least let us take in the sights for a bit before we meet up will you? And besides, I spawned separated from Meguru and you know how she is…. Speaking of which” Mai immediately looks back at her sister cowering behind her.

I’ve seen this happen enough to know the cause

“Oi, Meguru…let me go will you. She won’t bite” Mai tried to shake her off, but she was clinging onto her, as her social anxiety started to get the best of her. Time to me to intervene

I sighed and looked at Minami-san “Don’t mind her, she is like this around people she has never met” and it seemed Minami-san understood the task before I even clued her in

“Oh?” she closed her distance to the cowering Meguru and crouched down

“Hello there…. You don’t have to be scared. I’m Minami…. Nice to meet you” She said, putting out a dazzling expression.

Meguru looked at me all of a sudden “Go ahead, we are all on real name basis at this point anyways” I said casually

“M-Meguru….here” she introduced herself, trying not to pass out.

“Here, here… I’m Mai, nice to meet you, Minami Onee-chan” effortlessly replied the elder of the two, showing the clear disparity between their personalities to Minami-san.

“O….Onee-chan?!” Minami-san recoiled back, as if she was surprised and delighted to hear that from them “No…wait a minute.” She took a close look at them…so close that the usually explosive Mai toned her energy down a notch “Now that I notice, you two look very similar…Twins?”

“Right on the money there, Minami-san” Misha replied

Minami-san’s face lit up like a Christmas tree all of a sudden “Th…That’s so cute” She hugged both of them together, sandwiching herself in between “Your appearances and personalities are the complete opposite eventhough you are twins, I’m definitely taking you two to go once we log out”

“Can’t…breathe” Mai slipped a few words out of Minami-san’s bear hug

While I wanted to stop the bubbly monster, I couldn’t act as the sight of Mai being tamed and Meguru passed out while literally her soul leaving her body, made it extremely difficult for me to hold back my laughter. But as Misha was having the same issue, we both ended up letting out involuntary chuckles either way.

I took a look around to finally take it all in.

“Bastards actually did it huh? Turned the place we used to live in behind a keyboard into a virtual reality” I looked at Misha “Do you think this means we get a raise?”

“Naturally, we’ll have to relearn everything we mastered from scratch anyways. And orgs love to jump onto those early CGL spots and sign-up star teams…. Zero might even have new management” Misha replied

But while me and Misha were busy talking about our future, Minami-san’s time with us had reached its end

“Ah, Makocchi!.....Over here” she waved her hand at someone across the room and moments later, a guy no taller than me appeared from the crowd

“Minami…. We were looking all over for you, we thought you might’ve got lost.” He said

“I did get lost, it was mostly thanks to this nice gentleman here I found myself here” Minami pointed towards me

“Thank you for keeping this airhead out of trouble” he bowed to me, showing his gratitude

“Pleasure was all mine. I’m used to handling loose cannons” I replied

“Eh…I felt like that was a jab towards me” Mai said from behind me

A brief pause followed “Oh right. I forgot….. Jun-san, this is Makoto, Makoto, Jun-san” and as usual, Makoto-san got caught off guard

He sighed “Minami, how many times have I told you to not give away our real names”

“Don’t worry about it, I told her the same when we first met…. Also, now that I noticed it…. Makoto, Minami…. You guys are Japanese too?” I inquired

“Oh? Didn’t expect to run into any others this soon. Can’t really say who’s what with the auto-localization translating everything. We are from Yokohama ourselves. You guys?” Makoto-san asked

“Me and my sisters back there are from Tokyo, my friend over there is from the boonies” I threw a light jab at Misha

“Eh? You wanna fight punk?” Misha struck back at me

“Case and point” I said

Makoto-san chuckled “Well I see you have found your group. We should hang out sometimes.”

“If our real life schedule align, maybe I’ll take you up on that offer” I replied

“Ah, that reminds me… Makocchi, did you run into any of the others yet?” Minami-san asked Makoto

“So far, I only managed to find Sonozaki-san… I checked at the reception moments ago, Yulia-chan and Taylor-san is in Helios as well so, we can got looking for them later.”

“You found Sayuri-chan? Where is she?” Minami-san asked in joy

“She ain’t far…we’ll meet up with her after we are done here”

They both turned our way “ Jun-san, Misha-san, Mai-chan, Meguru-chan…. It was very nice to meet you, I would add you guys as friends if there was an option to but unfortunately there isn’t”

Wait there isn’t? I quickly checked my menu while she talked only to realize that was true…. Did they completely forget the social features in this game?

“But I’m sure we will run into each other soon. Let's play together then….Till then, farewell” Minami said bowing her head to us

“Anytime, Minami-san….we’ll be around, you can count on it” I replied

“Then, please excuse us” Makoto bowed to us before attempting to leave, until Misha stopped them in their tracks

“Actually quick question” Misha managed to get them both to turn around

“How long have you guys been dating?”

“Oi Misha” I tried to call her off

“What? Isn’t this something the romantist would be dying to find out” Misha asked me

“Not right now he isn’t”

Both of them let out a brief laugh “It’s fine, we’ve been with each other for a bit over a year and a half?” Makoto-san said and looked at Minami, to which she nodded in confirmation

“Hmmm?” Misha slowly turned towards me with a smile straight out of a horror movie

“You are really having fun with this right now aren’t you?” I asked her

“Anyways….it was lovely meeting you all but unfortunately we have to go find the rest of our friends. Till we meet again” Makoto-san finally took his leave with Minami-san in tow

A few moments later, they were out of sight

“Oh gee, Jun… You were almost hitting on a girl who is in a long term relationship. You homewrecker” Misha struck with her sense of sarcasm as well as with her elbow to my side

“At least I didn’t end up being catfished by a little kid…. Shotacon” I struck her back where it hurt

Misha stopping in her tracks was the sign that it was effective

“Jun-nii: 1….Misha-nee: 0” Mai brought her side commentary into it

Misha dropped her arms down in defeat “Crap….You are never going to let that go are you?”

.

.

. ‘2 Months later’

.

.

“You know Nii-chan….When you said that we are going to be having tryouts for a new tank” Mai got up from her chair and slammed the desk “I did expect for us to have actual auditions for one”.

She was clearly off put about the method we are using right now.

“Well… after yesterday’s whole stunt, it’s not like we have much of a choice. Everyone down at the Guildhouse saw our faces, so posting the recruitment call at the reception with our clan name was the only choice we had left.

“Nii’s right you know, we try and recruit someone the normal way and they will treat it as nothing but a joke. This way we have more of a chance” Meguru backed me up

“I know that…. And I know this is all because I messed up…. But can we really trust anyone who walks through that door? The last thing we need right now is someone stabbing us in the back.” Mai expressed her thoughts

“Yeah, and that is why we are doing it this way. They won’t be able to use their gear in this place and we can know a lot about a person just by talking to them.”

“I don’t know, Nii-chan, and besides, shouldn’t Akio-Nii be here for this?”

“He should, if he wasn’t out there hunting ghosts….and relax, Mai… When have any of my plans gone wrong?” And before she started listing them all out I cut her off “Actually, don’t answer that”

Few minutes later, we began

We went through his profile of the first who was to come through, which we requested on the recruitment request itself, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary

“SEA region, Energy Shielder, Peaked Diamond…. Sounds promising already. I already got a good feeling about this” I said to reassure Mai

…..If only that was the case

The first thing the guy did was start laughing “You three? You are the ones that are recruiting?...” The laugh of mockery continued “Scarlet Knights? More like the Scarlet Wimps….. I wouldn’t be caught dead playing for you guys…. That is unless, you get down on your knees and beg for it”

A dozen minutes of tolerating his rants and insults later, we managed to force him through the door, and I was exhausted after that

“Great plan, Nii-chan” Mai rubbed some salt in my wound

“Let's look on the bright side, it was only the first one…Plenty more where that came from”

We saw many in the days that followed, many were there to make fun of us, while there were others that had what looked like good intentions. We attempted to put some RP on the line on the weekend, to play a few matches with the people we thought would work.

But it all fell apart then….While we didn’t end up losing too much due to that ludicrous amount of RP that guys gambled in the hopes of getting one over Akio, the losses piled up nonetheless. Each one we played either had no idea on what they were doing, so over their heads that they attempted to micromanage everything and blame everyone else but themselves when things went wrong, or didn’t outright show up because either they had cold feet or met an untimely demise beforehand.

Week 1 of finding a tank player ended in failure.

Another week begins and all we can do is hope to find a needle in a hay factory.

Sitting at the dining table, scrolling through all the provided profiles in my interface ... .hours passed without having made any meaningful progress….Until I finally gave up and leaned back on my seat without any energy to spare. My mind had shut off so much that I didn’t even realize that Meguru had been searching alongside me this whole time.

“Why don’t we try reposting the request as Zero….that would surely get some heads turning” said Meguru

While I would’ve tried that earlier, I kept remembering what Misha said that day

“That would get heads turning, but that would also make us a target…. Trying to get a jump on one to the top player teams in the world sounds like a no brainer to many who are trying to make a mark” I regained my posture on my chair and prevented myself from sliding down to the floor. “Like it or not, this is the only option we got”

But before anything, I had to address the elephant in the room

“I can see you constantly looking over your shoulder Mai….Something on your mind” I called her out

She suddenly jolted and stumbled on her words for a moment….it was as if her usual self-swapped with Meguru for a minute there… But she took a deep breath and recomposed herself

“It’s just…. The only reason we are going through this is since I messed up” She stopped her chores and turned around to face us

“Meguru told me that this was only going to cause us trouble but I didn’t listen and now ... .now this is happening. But not once for the past few days you blamed me….It’s okay to blame me when I deserve to be blamed, to tell me…it was my fault that we in this” the lack of her mischievous and carefree tone was a dead giveaway that she was being serious

“Onee-chan” Meguru said softly

“No…. I never blamed you because it wasn’t your fault to begin with…. It was mine” I replied to her and turned her way and away from the table

“We wouldn’t have to be searching for a tank player if I had the guts to pull the trigger that day…. It was my fault, that Misha is dead….” I put my hands together, desperate to hide my shivers

“I can’t blame you for doing what you did…. Because if you didn’t do it, I would’ve. In a way, you saved me from the guilt of knowing what would’ve happened if it was…..”

“DON’T BULLSHIT ME!” her tone was filled with rage and frustration, which caught me completely by surprise

“Your fault?.... You always do this…. No matter how much we screw up, you decide to turn the other way and take the blame yourself eventhough it wasn’t…. Misha-nee was your doing?” She looked at me eyes filled with tears ``ONLY SOMEONE WHO HASN’T TAKEN A LIFE WITH THEIR OWN HANDS WILL BELIEVE THAT!”

“Onee!” Meguru tries to call her off

“You stay out of this, Meguru!” Mai saying that spooked off her sister… Rightly so, as it was as if something in her just snapped

“When are you going to stop treating us like kids? When are you going to trust us enough to let us take responsibility for our bad decisions? You keep this up, and Misha-nee wouldn’t be the only one you lose!” She concluded and stormed out of the house

“Onee-chan!” And Meguru went after her

And there I was again, completely defeated and speechless….

Akio warned me about this…. take so much weight and it will end up crushing me ... .but I guess even he didn’t see that others won’t bear to watch me getting crushed…. But what could I do?

I’m not like Misha….not even like Akio and Tadashi….or even Yamori-senpai…..They know how to adapt to change, to do what’s right…..All I know is how to put on a fake bravado to hide my greatest fear….The fear of losing someone that I hold dear and not being able to do anything to change that.

While I was repenting to myself, I suddenly caught the devil himself at the door at the corner of my eye

“Don’t exactly have to be a master detective to figure out that I just walked in at a bad time”

Yamori-senpai stood at the door looking at my defeated self.

“Sibling dispute…happens all the time” I told him, and gestured him to come in

“Well….I guess it would take a master detective to know that you just lied to me to change the topic…. Guess you took that year you were training for interrogation to heart ... .Wanna talk about it?” Senpai asked casually

“It’s more of an us thing….you won’t get it” I tried yet again to evade him

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them….That kind of situation?” and just like that, he traps me in

I looked at him surprised. “I thought you said you were an only child?”

Senpai paused for a moment “I am….but, I have dealt a lot of sibling cases in my time…Interviewed a lot of them too” He then leaned near the stairs of the house right next to me “But if I have learned one thing to do when I am stressed out and a drink wouldn’t cut it…. It’s to do something to get my mind off it completely…. And I think I know just the place…Walk with me”

“Wait, we're leaving?” I asked

“Something wrong?” questioned Senpai

Considering it was him calling, I had little to no reason to hesitate.

I closed up the house and followed him

“Any update from the numbskull himself yet?” I started the conversation a moment later while following him

“Hm? Oh, from Nakamura-san? Actually, that was the main reason I decided to visit-” but while Senpai was talking to me facing backwards, he ended up colliding onto a bystander on the road

“Watch where you are going you-”

But the man cut Senpai off “ My apologies, I was too drawn into my map screen to notice my surroundings”

“Tsk….Whatever” Senpai brushed him off and walked off

Well, that’s new…. Never have I seen him be cold towards someone in the many years I’ve known him… Guess it’s necessary in a lawless place like this.

Senpai walked silently until we turned the corner, leaving that man behind from our line of sight

“Now, where were we? Oh yeah…. Nakamura-san told me to give you guys a message.”

“Message… What’s that?” I inquired

“He said goodbye”

I froze in the moment as I could do nothing but assume the worst “Huh?”

“The lead on Chifuyu paid off…. But it turns out he has left for Typhon. Nakamura-san didn’t have time to say it to you guys directly…but he is giving chase”

I immediately was able to breath again

“Typhon? He’s going back to that place?”

“I was surprised too…. He just told me to let you guys know and cut comms from me as well. He’s back off the grid.”

That doesn’t make any sense…. It was weird enough the Tadashi was scurrying around in Helios of all places… Why would he go back to Typhon of all places?

“Something on your mind?” Senpai asked

But if it is Yamori-senpai who said it, it can’t be a lie.

“Nah, it’s nothing…. Thanks for letting me know”

For crying out loud Akio…. This is exactly your problem, trying to do everything alone without considering what can go wrong. Now all the effort everyone put into finding your ass is now for nothing

A few minutes of idle chatter and walking later, we found ourselves in front of a deserted building I’m all too familiar with

“Are these… the Barracks?” I inquired after scanning it from top to bottom

“That is indeed it…. Barely anyone uses it though, only parties can enter and there is no respawning in here. Many would prefer to not have the guilt of accidentally killing their friends on their conscience. But only very little people know, that this is a perfect place to practice close-quarters combat...There is no rule that states that we have to use our own Gear in there.”

“Wait, so you dragged me out here…. For some sparring?” I asked

“You looked like you could use a restart and refresh…. Back when I was on duty in Tokyo, I used to do that with a few thousand strikes onto a training dummy. And I’d say you fit the bill”

“You really just compared me to a training dummy?”

“Can’t really say that isn’t true my dear Kouhai, you never won against me back in the day.”

I smirked and cracked my knuckles “Oh you are on…. Just so you know, I’ve come a long way since my University Police Academy days.”

“I’ll be the judge of that alright” retorted Yamori-senpai.

Without any complications, we ended up finding each other on opposite sides.

“Been a few years since you last went through close quarters training… I could go easy on you….”

But I went on the offense almost immediately, sending Yamori-senpai on the defense…forcing him to step back to avoid my blows.

“You still want to go easy on me? Because I don’t feel rusty at all” I retorted

Eventhough it might be a bluff in the normal sense, it wasn’t this time…. Last time I went through combat training was before I went pro… However, through all the fights I’ve been through…It’s like my body knows exactly what to do.

Senpai recomposed himself and took a breath…. “Come at me…Kouhai!”

And I heeded his request as I went once more on the offense. Senpai’s counter-offense was solid as he was evading and parrying most of my strikes. Keyword being most, as a few broke through his ironclad defense, causing him to flinch.

I stayed mindful that I didn’t go too aggressive on him, as I didn’t want to strain my stamina bar to the point that I wouldn’t be able to put up a defense. But that ended up being wise as he leapt a short distance back and immediately re-engaged with his own offense.

Thanks to my experience on reading plays, I saw through his moves….he was sticking to textbook grab and subdue moves as his offense was all about giving me no space and snaking his grip around my limbs, in the attempts to throw me onto the ground.

On my defense, I weaved in evades and back steps to give me enough sight of his movements to find the opening I needed to finish the fight, but it was Senpai who managed to find an opening on me as one of his strikes landed on my face, stunning and throwing me away. I kept calm and predicted one of the many possible moves he would do to put me down into submission. And as he grabbed my shoulder, I realized I predicted correctly.

I dropped and rolled towards his left knee, forcing him to lose balance. I immediately regained my stance and grabbed onto his left arm and held him down in an arm lock. Senpai immediately found himself hunched down and unable to move while I stood over him.

“First time for everything, Senpai…. And I guess I will be taking that win”

But as I declared myself the victor, I suddenly felt a sharp sting on my lower leg, forcing me to lose my footing. Senpai immediately reversed my grapple and ended up flooring me…. His knee to my chest and his arm on my neck.

“There are many things that turn a winning battle into a losing one, Junichi…. Over-confidence is one of them….. Victory is mine”

The question of how he got the better of me answered itself as I looked at my leg, and a dagger had sunk itself into it.

Senpai got off me and I stayed floored for a moment more. “Come on, you cheated”

“Back at the University maybe…. But not on the field… And definitely not in this place. Victory is only decided when your enemy is truly out for the count”

I pulled out the blade and popped a healing salve and the puncture in my leg started to close and the sting subsided. If it wasn’t for pain reduction, I would’ve had a hard time to get back up onto my feet.

Senpai hunched down as he was trying to catch his breath “I’m surprised that you’ve improved…. Back in the day, your nerves got the better of you everytime…. Guess all that time behind a screen really did pay off in it’s own way”

He immediately bounced back and stretched his arms out wide, turning his back towards me “Feeling better yet? I know I am”

He was right…. For at least a while there, my head was free of all burdens ... .Might have even been the first time I’ve let loose since I’ve been here.

But all that reminiscing brought back all that was weighing me down with it. My fears….and my burdens.

“Senpai!” My call made him look over his shoulder “I know that you are not the best person to ask this but…. If you had someone close to you, and you knew that very soon you might have to bear losing them…. What would you do?”

Yamori-senpai stood silent for a few seconds before answering “I’d keep her close…. She wouldn’t know what it feels like to see her die in front of me. If I knew that her demise was imminent…” He turned around to face me “I’d spend every moment with her…maybe even try to protect her from her demise”

As much as my intuition is on point most of the time, all it said right now is that his answer felt more personal than random. I couldn’t help but inquire

“Senpai, have you….”

“Anyways, I wasn’t fully honest with you…. I also dragged you here since I myself needed a refresher as well. Thanks for coming along” Senpai was quick to change the subject, and I could take the hint that he didn’t want me prying further

I honored that and didn’t let my curiosity get the best of me

“I’d love to go for another round, but I have a few social calls to make nearby…. I’m sure you’d want to iron things out with Mai-chan as well”

“Eh….she’ll come around…she always does. But might as well go looking” I held the dagger he used on its end and attempted to hand it to him.

“Keep it… One general rule of this place is that it’s a good idea to have an extra weapon on you outside your inventory…. People expect you to fight with two weapons…never three. Besides, maybe I will accept it back if you ever beat me” he said with a tone oozing smugness.

“That a challenge?” I asked

“You know it is…. When you want a rematch, you know where to find me. Catch you later ... .Kouhai” he disappeared from the building along with those words.

The moment my leg was fully healed up, I started to make my way back home…. But it seems that a lot more time had passed than intended. It was 2pm and the streets had gotten a lot busier in comparison to this morning. If I stick to the main path, it’s going to take me ages to get back.

Scenic route it was then…..

I broke off from the crowds of the streets and ducked into the more secluded alleyways. No-one uses this route as it was longer and the risk of ambushes by other groups and player killers were high. But since everyone avoids it, these alleys serve as Helios’ blind zone.

I made my way through, being on guard and the coast was clear for almost half my journey, but I ended up being alarmed by an object being knocked over and the sound echoing through the alleyway.

I turned around to investigate, slowly moving towards the disturbance with my handgun equipped. I stepped forwards carefully, even pulling my gun slide back to check if my gun was loaded and unjammed. I turned the corner and there was nothing but a toppled over trash can.

But eventhough I still didn’t drop my guard, I was still caught out.

“Don’t move… Hands up” said a childlike voice from behind me

I froze in my stance “ How am I going to put my hands up if I can’t move”

But my retort caused my ambusher to fire a bullet into the wall, without realizing it would ricochet. The shot bounced off the wall and found itself in my side. Causing me to flinch and drop to my knee

“Ah!...Goddamnit” I blurted out due to the sudden pain spike and the bleeding that followed afterwards

“Ahhh… I’m sorry, I didn’t expect that it would…. I mean, stay there… don’t move”

The flinch I experienced caused me to turn onto my side, giving me a visual of the one holding me at gunpoint…It was a…little girl?

She was definitely younger than Mai and Meguru…. But the look on her face, she looked scared and desperate…. Two feelings I know all too well.

“I saw you with that man….. Tell me where my father is”