Chapter Sixteen - Monday Night III - 包囲 AKA Under Siege

Huh? Did somebody arrange a welcome home committee or something? ‘Um, did any of you ladies invite friends over for a party or something?’

‘You should already know that if we had friends, we probably wouldn’t be here,’ a voice coldly asserted from one of the back seats.

‘Well, I hope you’ve still got energy then, because it looks like we’ll have to shoo them away before we can get to our beds tonight. Tsubaki, are you awake back there? We could probably take down a few of them in the same way that we did the tank back at that facility.’

‘Mm, wha?’ the doctor waywardly replied, prompting the black and purple-haired driver to bury the rightmost pedal into the floor, thrusting the four occupants firmly back into their seats as a result.

‘What’s going on? Are we racing again??’

‘Not quite, it’s more like we’re in trouble again, so you know what the car could do with having around it,’ Hikari responded, her voice noticeably weighted with frustration.

‘I doubt I’ll be able to hold it for long though,’ the green-eyed passenger nervously protested.

‘Just do what you can, please. Hopefully, we can clean up quickly,’ Hikari mischievously assured, as the Evo crossed from the fields onto the relatively smooth surface of the runway.

‘Nobody brought any weapons in here with them, did they?’ the glasses-wearing occupant in the front passenger seat queried, as she turned back, to face the women seated in the second row. ‘I’ve got my sidearm, but all of the spare mags are in the back.’

‘Kinda boring to not see or hear the car in action, but if three of us work together, we can effectively make the car a vengeful ghost, right? Rose keeps her quiet, I keep her invisible and Tsubaki stops anything harmful reaching her, like some paranormal entity from a fantasy film or something. If you want to join in, then I’m sure you can mess around with whatever weapons they’re carrying, right, Captain?’

‘Huh? When did you get to be the leader? You’re right though. Let’s do it; we’re charging straight in!’

As the car rapidly closed in on the metal building and the pack of men who surrounded the entrance, the roar of the engine and the sight of its body vanished.

Within fifteen seconds, four of the men were violently swept away and the remaining members of their party flinched and shouted in reaction, along with raising their vz 61 Skorpions and P-10 F handguns.

‘What the fuck was that!?’ one of the men loudly queried, atop the pained groaning coming from outside.

‘Someone, or something’s here. I definitely felt wind, like something rushed by?’

‘You’re telling me we were just assaulted by a poltergeist?’

‘I’m pretty sure those guys aren’t great actors, so I guess so,’ one of the men shrugged.

‘Four down, but there’s still a big bunch of them inside, you two love ranged weapons, so keep me covered while I get Tsubaki to safety.’

‘If you want, you can just stick to protecting the car and the plane, Sensei. Don’t push yourself too hard.’

‘What about you??’

‘I have spare armour in my backpack and your prince here is evidently pretty difficult to kill, heh.’

‘You’re the only one who can protect our getaway vehicles, so you take care of them and we’ll take care of you, Hon. Trust us.’

Why do you sound so cheerful when we’re essentially cornered on a battlefield?? Tsubaki internally barked back, though she merely whimpered to the outside world.

As the Lancer came to a rest on the field across from the hangar’s entrance, Hikari turned, facing both left-hand occupants. ‘How are you two doing? I’m fine either way; if you want to go in incognito or give them a formal welcome.’

‘No need for a spectacle; holding the mystery until we get Sensei to safety would probably be best. We can improvise from there.’

‘Alright then, back into the fray we go…’ Hikari remarked, as her right high-top shoe kicked down, rapidly launching the car forward. ‘It might get a bit bumpy, so be prepared,’ Hikari advised, as she shifted gears while staring straight at the rapidly approaching entrance. No time to be pondering or theorising, boys.

‘Whatever; let’s wrap this raid up qui-’

Yeah; no. Hikari internally interrupted, as she forcefully pulled up the lever next to her left thigh and sent the Evo’s rear swinging almost as soon as it had cleared the hangar’s front doors. The car sent another three men erratically tumbling to the floor like bowling pins, save for the furious barking which they and their colleagues responded with.

Renka sighed with relief after briefly glancing out of her passenger window. Talk about cutting it fine, Hikari; you could have wrecked the plane, the car and also one of the hangar walls all in one move. Hell, another metre or two and you might have gotten us all killed as well for good measure, Renka pondered, with traces of an irritated scowl. I wonder how Kasumi is holding up? I’ve still not asked her how she feels about being a car passenger in general since she told me about what happened to her parents.

Loud cracks, along with bright yellow and orange flashes overtook the darkness of the hangar.

‘Ugh, nobody likes a homewrecker,’ Renka commented, with an irritated tone. Having some mechanical trouble, are we? Yep; have fun dealing with those misfires and jams, she internally remarked, as she watched the men, struggling with the slides and charging handles of their weapons, with irritated scowls.

The women’s chariot set off again, in reverse, gaining speed as it eased away from the wall. ‘Just a little longer, girls.’ After passing by the C-130s lowered rear door, Hikari quickly kicked down with her left foot and rocked the shift lever before the car dashed up the incline and came to an abrupt halt soon after.

‘Alright, Sensei, you only need to worry about the plane now,’ Renka cheerily advised, as the women and the white Evo VII returned to visibility. Ticking came from under the bonnet, as its engine fell to a quiet resting state. ‘Let’s go, Kasumi.’

The tall black and pink-haired woman nodded, before leaving her seat and convening at the back of the car with the captain.

‘No fields to protect you out there, so you’ll have to settle for this. On the bright side, we’ll be matching, so it’s not all bad,’ Renka playfully advised, as she presented and swiftly lowered onto her partner’s shoulder the bulky piece of clothing. ‘Sorry if it’s a bit of a dodgy fit; steel plates aren’t too friendly with bigger boobs. If it helps, I’ll give you a massage later,’ she offered, with a mischievous smile, before attaching slim pouches to her own vest and filling them with HK45 magazines.

‘We’re going with a flanking approach. I’ll keep them busy and when you’re ready, you can make like a Russell’s viper and deliver your poison. Speaking of, are you sure you don’t want to use one of the rifles?’

‘No, thank you,’ Kasumi blankly replied. ‘Unless you want to clean up the spilled blood.’

‘Fair point.’

Three still wriggling about on the floor but five still in action. They don’t have vests or any tactical equipment either; standard streetwear, so... Renka considered, as she surveyed the scene from a prone position beside the rear-entry ramp of the plane. I’d rather not bloody the floor, so I guess my only role here is distraction.

Renka hopped to her feet and twisted the Impuls-IIA suppressor until it separated from the barrel of her pistol. With the knurled cap reinstalled in its place, she pointed the handgun towards the front exit of the hangar and silenced the shouting men with three thunderous blasts and bright flashes. ‘Here we go,’ she murmured, while quickly scampering back onto the plane’s rear door.

Thanks. While the knocks from the handgun on the other side of the plane abruptly drew attentive glares from the men in front of the plane, Kasumi sent a projectile ripping through the air, destined to embed itself in the upper thigh of one of them.

The victim who received the arrow clumsily fell to the floor and violently thrashed about after a short period of stillness.

Really? You’re all just going to stand there and watch him? Another long projectile scythed through the air, swiftly burying itself in the arm of one of the men who spectated his colleague struggling on the floor, before hopelessly tumbling to the floor himself.

‘Nah man; fuck this! Ghost, human or some next stealth machine, whoever they are, they’ve obviously got us beat; let’s bounce before we get ended as well!’

‘Let them leave, Kasumi. I doubt they’ll out themselves by running to the police and they don’t have any equipment that suggests they’ll be-’

So much for them letting them go. ‘I’m guessing she doesn’t have a radio.’ Kasumi commented, as one of the men fell to the floor, with a small metal flower wedged in his forehead and another with a trail of blood spraying from his neck. As she finished speaking, the black and purple-haired woman popped back into view, with a hand up her skirt.

‘Resist the urge, Kasumi.’

‘Did you not just advise me to let them go?’ Kasumi coldly interrogated.

‘I did, but if I’ve learned anything in the past week or so, it’s that that one right there primarily acts out of concern for the one that’s currently protecting the plane. I guess she doesn’t want those guys going back and returning with friends or something. As much as I hate to admit it, she’s not entirely in the wrong. That and she’s only giving herself more cleaning work to do,’ Renka tentatively answered, as the woman with a violet water lily in her hair sent another shuriken menacingly zipping through the air.

❀

‘That was quite the display, wasn’t it?’

‘Yet you don’t seem impressed.’

‘Come on, Momo, you’ve known me for what? Almost ten years now? Have you ever seen me be impressed by anything or anyone?’

‘Well… There was the first time we-’

‘Mind out of the gutter, please. Aside from that one time?’ the raven-haired woman exasperatedly asked, with an intense stare focused on her peach-eyed partner, seated across from her.

I wasn't even thinking of that first time though... ‘Way to move the goalposts,’ she sulked.

‘That doesn’t answer my question.’

Ugh; ever the sadist you are, Satsuki... ‘No, you’ve never been impressed by anything or anyone.’

The grey-eyed lady responded with a teasing smile, ‘Mhm’. You play silly games, you win silly prizes. You can at least be happy that you’re the only to have ever impressed me.

‘So, now are we going to warn them about what’s heading their way? The coast seems clear.’

‘We could, but it might interfere with our primary objective. As fun as it would be to ensure those girls’ safety to the best of our ability, if they flee before our primary target arrives, we’ll probably have nothing to report back. With you helping them out from a distance, we can complete our objective and probably watch the target get wiped out without having to lift a finger ourselves.’

‘Heh; you sound like you’re still at the 3rd Division, but I get where you’re coming from though. If they stay inside, I won’t be able to help them out however, unless we send a drone or tap their radios.’

‘We’ll both scan the radio spectrum while we set up. It’s only a precaution; I don’t expect us to engage in combat, but if things do go completely tits-up over there, then that’s a different story. You did pack your 7.62N, right?’

‘You’re asking as if it and your primary rifle don’t spend time together more or less like we do,’ the woman with dark peach-coloured irises jested, with a playful smile.

‘There’s no particularly great nesting spots around here, so I propose we use the lighthouse,’ her raven-haired partner proposed, as her view panned the area while she delicately shut the driver’s door of the Z432.

‘Eh? That’s an unusually romantic suggestion?’ the peach-eyed woman suggested, with narrowed eyes and a teasing smile as she retrieved two long (>1m), slim, polymer cases from the luggage area of the car.

‘Please; if I wanted a romantic setting, it wouldn’t be next to an imminent battlefield, even if there is a nearby seaside,’ Satsuki retorted, as she briskly set off in the direction of the thin, white building whose top overlooked the rocky shores and the airfield that sat nearby.

‘Sooo, does that mean when the storm passes, we can happily enjoy the moonlit bay and the starry sky from atop the lighthouse?’

❀

Heh; you might have supreme control of your ability, but you evidently don’t have physical superiority. It is cute to see you in such a defenceless and shameless state though, sprawled across the back seats like that. ‘Hey, how are you feeling?’ Hikari gently asked.

Ugh, I’m too tired for this. Under normal circumstances, I’d probably have become a burning mess by now. Honestly, even now, with you affectionately staring directly down at me and tenderly asking me that, my body doesn’t have the energy to pour into getting aroused. I will admit that if you were to try something now, I wouldn’t resist. That said, why are you being so well-behaved?? It’s unsettling. ‘I feel like I wouldn’t mind sleeping here tonight,’ Tsubaki wearily replied.

Yep; she’s definitely wiped out. Not even the slightest hint of panic. No fun to be had here, I guess. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you back to bed? It’s not like I haven’t done it before after all,’ Hikari offered, with a teasing smile.

‘Yeah; no, thanks. You’d probably carry me to your bed and use that as an excuse to do something inappropriate.’ I hate that the mention threatens to lead my train of thought astray…

‘Is that your roundabout way of signalling your innermost desires?’ Hikari playfully retorted.

‘Ugh, please go away,’ Tsubaki commanded, feebly waving a hand, in an attempt to shoo the lingering amethyst-eyed woman.

After brushing her hair out of the way and lowering her head, ‘You needn’t worry about the “something inappropriate”; there’s no fun for me if you’re not asking, nay, begging, nay… earnestly requesting it from me.’

The doctor yelped and squirmed slightly. I guess I should have seen that coming; it’s just like the beach all over again, except in this state, I swear I’m more sensitive to your breath stroking my ear as you set out your stall in such a steamy manner. Well, there goes the tiny amount of energy I had left…

‘You want a hand with the clean-up? As much as I hate to admit it, we’ll probably have to help Hikari; though maybe a bit merciless, she did kind of do us a big favour.’

The black and pink-haired woman nodded, while removing her gloves.

‘If my count was correct, we have twelve uninvited guests hanging around here. The truck would have been pretty handy right now, huh?’

Renka casually strolled beyond the edge of the hangar floor. Behind the lenses of her glasses, her eyes panned the surroundings. You know, when the clouds clear away, this setup actually looks pretty nice under the moonlight, with the crashing waves be—

The fuck?

‘Look alive, ladies, we have more guests and it looks like they’re angrier than the clowns we just dealt with!’ Renka exclaimed, as she hurriedly scampered back to the edge of one of the front doors, which she firmly gripped while continuing. ‘A bunch of light strike vehicles headed straight towards us!’

‘Should I close this all the way, or leave it slightly open?’ Kasumi calmly asked, amid the sharp squealing coming from the door which she dragged towards the other, closing in from the opposite direction.

‘Sensei, if you have any energy left, a field for the hangar would be pretty helpful right now!’

❀

‘Imagine; it’s now almost 1am and the party’s only just getting started. It looks like a small assault team?’

‘A mixture of man and machine, so far as I can tell,’ Satsuki remarked, as she peered through a pair of T1042r tactical binoculars. ‘Three LSVs, two of them with unmanned roof turrets and the third is carrying a heavily armoured combatant, I count fourteen hostiles,’ she coolly reported.

‘Should we send our recon drone down there then, we still haven’t fig-’

‘Grab one of the rifles, Kasumi. Shoot anything that moves! Anything that’s outside, obviously.’

‘Ah, never mind, radio contact established,’ the peach-eyed woman confirmed, with a weak laugh.

‘Just stay rested, okay? The last thing we need right now is you overworking yourself with the protective field. I’m heading out, to have a little negotiation with those boys. As much as I hate these things, I’ll carry one so that you can let me know if you’re having trouble in here, okay?’

‘Mhm,’ a voice weakly whimpered in response.

‘Great! Yeah; I’ve got her now. They won’t need to worry about their shield holding up. Though, heading out from the relative safety of that shield is a bold move, even if you can disappear from view,’ the peach-eyed woman commented, frowning as she nervously fidgeted with her braided ponytail for a brief moment. Come on girls! Don’t make this the ending of your story.

All three of the LSVs have come to a halt, in semicircle formation near the front of the hangar. ‘Let the show begin,’ Satsuki coldly murmured.

❀

‘Yeah; I’m not poking my head into that gap to try and determine who’s out there. That said, it is weird that bullets aren’t flying; I’m pretty sure they’re all armed,’ Renka advised, with her voice quietening and becoming heavy with caution as she stepped back from the door.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To also get a rifle. Let’s be honest; we’re not getting out of this with a stealth operation, are we?’ Renka answered, with a mildly irritated tone, as she skittered across the hangar floor.

After returning and leaning against one of the front doors, she looked across to Kasumi. ‘Probably a silly question, but; you haven’t determined how many of them are out there, have you?’

The short-haired woman shook her head in response.

‘You should be able to get a look now, right, Captain?’ a voice playfully asked, as the tall specs–wearing woman and her G3A3 disappeared from view.

‘Ah, thanks. Um, where are you?’ Renka questioned, her voice carrying a concerned edge as she analysed. Three LSVs, thirteen standard operatives and one of those tanks with bulky bomb-resistant armour.

‘Argh!’

‘Shit. Hikari?? Are you hit?’

A feeble voice returned, ‘Drone, electric… fuck…’

Well, I’ve lost the invisibility, so I’m guessing they’ve got UAVs with electric shock payloads(?) out there; I highly doubt somebody could physically sneak up on a woman like her with a stun gun.

‘It looks like we’ve got one,’ a man’s voice assuredly reported through the ladies’ radio.

‘Good work, bring her back to the van.’

‘Ugh, Hikari, you idiot. If you’re going to get yourself abducted, could you at least try to put up a fight?’ a weak voice requested, through the radio.

‘Where’s that noise coming from? If she’s got a radio, get rid of it.’

Great; even with the resistant materials that this outfit’s made with, that surge of electric current has left my muscles a bit out of it. Tits-up, quite literally. Hard to fight back when my muscles won’t work with me, but you’re still not laying a finger on me though, bastards.

‘Ack!’

‘Shit!’

‘The fuck!?’

‘Heh,’ Hikari let out a small chuckle. The sun may have set, but with the almost half moon out, I can still screw you over, even if it’s only to buy time.

‘It’s her head!’ one of the men exclaimed, as he held his hands in front of his face and squinted.

‘The thing in her hair!’

‘Kill her, damnit! We should be fine bringing in the rest of them.’

Almost instantly after the loud command completed and the flash hiders and suppressed muzzles of 433 assault rifles and SCAR-SC PDWs tentatively turned towards the blinding light source, a green glow surrounded the immobilised woman, nullifying the bright light emitted from her hair accessory.

I really am useless, huh? Lying flat on my back and having to call on both Naoka and Tsubaki to bail me out of a mess that I made on my own. At least some feeling is returning to my limbs, so I should be able to repay their kindness. With a hushed tone, Hikari quickly requested, ‘Captain, please deal with that flying piece of shit. I’ll take it from there, well, aside from the heavily armoured assclown.’

‘Understood.’

Renka had once again disappeared from view and steadied the long forearm of the battle rifle behind the small opening at the front of the hangar so that its flash hider sat between the two sliding doors. You might be able to detect motion, but this is the end, my little friend.

A loud blast decimated the relative quiet and tense atmosphere, closely followed by a harsh clatter as a metal and plastic machine crash-landed on the tarmac as small wisps of white smoke rose from the rifle’s ejector port and muzzle.

‘Kill her, damnit? Don’t make me laugh,’ the black and purple-haired woman, calmly mocked, as she flung away the still steaming projectile that she had freshly plucked from her jacket.

Ah shit; here we go again, Renka concluded. If she’s back up on her feet, laughing like that and has that green glow around her; you guys probably want to make like the fellas from earlier and hit the road, while you still can...

The woman slowly approached the pack of men, reaching down to her left thigh.

Her face remained devoid of expression as she advanced, though the intensity of the stare which she issued to her targets clearly communicated menace.

A chorus of automatic gunfire dominated the air in front of the hangar, though amid the rising hot smoke, whizzing projectiles and loud cursing, the woman continued to approach, with a terrifyingly cool smile.

‘AP rounds, men, now!’ one of the strike team members ordered.

‘Yeah; those won’t help you,’ Hikari remarked with a pitying expression, as she burst forward and quickly sliced, stabbed, kicked, punched, bludgeoned and twirled her way through twelve of the men who continuously torrented bullets towards her.

After cutting through the men like a Bengal Tigress, she came to a standstill.

That’s cute, you think you can compete with me in a battle of blades? Honestly; you lot should have just sent the drones to do the work.

Hikari carefully approached the man wielding a dagger in his right hand, who bent his knees and shifted his footing, to create a hand-to-hand combat stance. With a smug smile, she curled the fingers of her right hand and invited her opponent to strike.

Ah, so the field doesn’t stop static objects; good to know. Hikari remarked, as the man’s blade swished past her body. Been a while since I’ve felt a breeze like that, but your fun ends there.

Hikari darted and twirled away from the blade, slicing at the back of her enemy’s neck along the way.

‘Whore,’ he snarled, as his opponent once more invited him to attack.

His blade surged straight forward.

The woman’s rapid retraction preceded her rival overextending and his blade-wielding hand being tightly gripped and twisted, prompting a pained yelp.

The black and purple-haired woman maintained a blank expression, as she plunged her short dark grey blade into the side of his neck.

Her opponent wobbled and staggered while he coughed up blood.

‘Fuck me sideways. We’ve seen it before, but it’s still as impressive and frightening as the first time. Even the heavily-armoured fuckwad appears to be weighing up his options.’ Um, Kasumi, what do you say we get rid of the tank?’

‘What do you have in mind?’ she calmly asked.

‘Aim left of centre on his helmet visor and I’ll aim right of centre. On three, okay?’ Renka instructed, as she raised the front end of the G3 in unison with her short-haired partner, who knelt on one knee and took aim with a G28, peering through the small reflex sight mounted above the main scope.

‘One… Two… Three…’

Two loud cracks shattered the near-silence.

Just as I thought; even if that visor’s thick, it’ll still melt with 3000+°C heat drilled into it. Sayonara... Another loud blast from the muzzle of Renka’s battle rifle preceded the heavily-armoured target’s visor getting coated by a crimson splash on the inside.

The man fell, akin to a boulder toppling over, with a dull thud as the big, bulky protective equipment hit the tarmac.

‘Clear!’ Renka exhaustedly exclaimed, smiling at her black and pink-haired partner.

‘Yeah; I just got rid of their coordination team and it turns out they were holding onto some gifts for Tsubaki.’

I’d rather not check those gifts now, to be honest. ‘So, does this mean we can finally go to sleep?’

❀

‘Well done, girls. A bit messy, but you survived and helped weaken our target.’

‘Mission accomplished, I guess?’

‘It seems so. Unless you were informed of a second wave, that’s all we’re getting tonight, or this morning, rather. I am partly surprised though. Not so much by the technology and equipment that they’re using, but their motives, especially factoring in their live capture intent and the implications of it… It would fit in with the rumours that have been swirling around recently, concerning the nature of their operations in this nation...’

‘Don’t you think it would be a good idea for us to inspect the equipment that they’ve left behind?’

‘It’s too late for that, Momo; the girls evidently see as much use in the resources as you do.’

They’re like curious kittens; closely inspecting the vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other equipment left behind. ‘Great minds think alike, I guess,’ the woman with peach-coloured eyes remarked, with a deflated tone.

‘Cheer up; if they’re in the crosshairs of our target, then we’ll probably cross paths again. Clearly, they need all the allies they can get, even if they are a strong team and when they inevitably end up needing our help, I’m sure we’ll arrive at a mutually-beneficial arrangement.’

‘Pfft; we’ll arrive,’ the partner of the raven-haired woman snickered. ‘They’d only help us because they’re afraid of you.’

‘Don’t try to flatter me,’ Satsuki replied, with a mildly warm smile.

That wasn’t a compliment.

❀

‘So, how’s she doing?’ Renka questioned, with a level tone.

‘She seems alright; pretty tired, but other than that, she’s in good shape. I’m surprised; it looks like casting a field on the hangar and me for that skirmish with the CSS guys didn’t really take anything out of her. She told me herself that casting a field on something or somebody else is usually fairly draining. Hell; you both look like you’re not far behind her. I should be asking you the same question.’

‘Have you looked in the mirror recently? We might be worn down, but we’re not burned and dirtied, like you.’

‘How do you two still have the energy to argue with each other? Even after such a long night? Uh! I don’t want to hear it, from either of you. What I do want to know is what we’re doing next.’ Fixing a condemning glare on the black and purple-haired woman, ‘We have a lot of uninvited guests lying around now and thanks to you, there’s also a lot of spilled blood surrounding us as well,’ Renka asserted.

‘Uh, I guess we’ll be spending the day regrouping then? We have the clean-up, recovering the HiLux and dealing with the vehicles that the CSS operatives left behind as well; I think we could put them to use even if they have trackers on them.’

‘Eh, what do you mean?’ Renka questioned, with narrowed eyes.

‘If we want to strike back, we don’t need to worry about leaving behind one of my vehicles at whichever site of theirs we decide to pay a visit.’

‘Ah, you’re thinking ahead; nice.’ You’re planning a rogue mission, aren’t you?

‘Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly cover myself in glory back there. I didn’t expect them to have the same motion-sensing UAVs with them. Not that that’s any excuse really. Speaking of amends; those gifts for Tsubaki that I mentioned earlier – the command centre van was absolutely filled with computers. Hopefully, when she’s back up to speed, she should find something in there to help us figure out who we’re up against and if they’ve left anything helpful for us.’

‘Right, right. I think that’s all of the debrief stuff taken care of, right? Ah! Not much to say really, but we now have to live with the assumption that we’re actively being hunted. Probably nothing new for you, I can totally imagine you sleeping with a blade within arm’s reach, but we do really need to step up our defence protocols. Not right now, obviously, but it’s something to think about when we wake up.’

‘Got it,’ Hikari confirmed, with a serious nod, matched by Kasumi offering a silent nod. ‘Well, uh, goodnight, I guess. Here’s hoping you get a good night’s sleep, heh,’ she nervously offered while retreating from the captain and her short-haired partner.

As the black and purple-haired woman returned to the bedroom area of the hangar, Renka turned to Kasumi and when their gazes met, she quietly suggested with a friendly smile, ‘Well, I think we’ve earned ourselves a good night’s, or morning’s rest, what do you think?’

‘Does the massage offer still stand?’

Despite how coldly you’ve asked, it’s still managed to spark excitement from whatever small reserve of energy I have left; kinda funny how the simplest of questions from you can permeate all the way to my core. I don’t know if I’ll be able to give you the best service in this state, but I’ll do my best! Renka internally remarked, with a mischievous smile before smoothly issuing her response. ‘I’m a woman of my word.’