[SS] Chasse au Lapin

It didn’t take long for Kinuhata to eventually reach the first room with any visible signs of human life. Though she may have been acting in a mission with some semblance of stealth needed, she stuck out like a sore thumb. Such was the nature of the very outfit she was wearing.

As such, it wasn’t unnatural for the simple shift of the flow in the air to rouse the sleeping man at the lab bench ever so slightly.

“Huh?” It was a relatively silent utterance coming out of the mouth of a man who was still enthralled in sleep.

As he picked his head off the table, he picked off his glasses that lay to the side of his head on the bench and yawned. Perhaps it was due to resting his head on his arms or taking a nap in a way that the humor of his eyes stayed downwards, but his vision remained blurry.

Nevertheless, a strange figure reminiscent of a naked little girl (no thanks to her microbikini outfit that seemed to have been interpolated out of his vision in those few moments).

Now, the man was hardly creepy-looking. Despite being asleep in the middle of a lab, his face only had a pair of impressions on it from his sleeves. Behind those impressions, he seemed the straight-laced office worker type. One with nothing that particularly stood out in a great way, but also one with nothing that stood out negatively. He was the averaged straight-laced office worker type. That’s all he was.

That’s what it would seem on first glance. Unfortunately, that appearance became nothing short of deceptive as he panicked at the realization of what was going on.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” With a scream, his body flew off the stool he sat as he, clumsily, stood on the ground. As his feet touched down, the stool itself fell on its side, creating a large clashing sound. Though, beyond the screaming and clashing, one could probably hear a characteristic clacking of a door closing.

“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?”

---

If one paid attention to the camera footage, one could see the sight of a shadow moving on the 40th floor. Though, its direction, surprisingly was away from the elevators and main staircase. Was there perhaps another staircase that way? Or perhaps…

The fluorescent lights overhead glared at Kinuhata as the constant drone of lab equipment continued to hum away in the background. Kinuhata was never the best at stealth, at least not by Academy City standards, and especially not when she is reflecting light in all sorts of directions off her fair, uncovered skin.

She slowly pushed against a glass door separating the walkway and one of the many cubicles on either side, and winced as a freezing breeze floated through the narrow gap she had just created; Kinuhata once again regretted the less-than-ideal microbikini/skin ratio of her outfit as she opened the door fully, where she saw a sleepy old man staring straight at her.

A second of silence passed during which the two parties tried to process what they saw. Then Kinuhata charged as the old man screamed.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

“Who are you and what the hell are you doing hrhmphf-”

“One more word and I’ll super call the police, then you’ll have to explain why you are here with a half naked little girl nya~ ”

Kinuhata whispered into the man’s ear as she pressed her hand firmly over his mouth. She had decided the threat of disgrace would be more effective than the threat of death, seeing how he looked like one of those scientist types who valued his image over his life.

With all that shouting and noise, there is no super doubt that the target knows I am here now. Luckily, I am still super close to the main staircase, meaning the target would still need to come this way  to access it, however, there is super no guarantee that this was the only exit. On the other hand, I cannot really go chase the target because that would mean giving up this choke point and allowing the target to super slip by me through the cubicles.

As Kinuhata ran her options through her head, her annoyance made her unconsciously tighten her grip on the frightened researcher’s face.

“Hmmmph, mmmmph.”

Realising what she was doing, she released the man and whispered once again into his ear, “I will super let you go home now, but if you ever mention this to anyone…” Kinuhata paused for effect, “... You would probably be super laughed at. Honestly, seeing a half-naked minor and then being super subdued by her?” Kinuhata smiled as she helped the man to his feet and pushed him towards the exit, “But seriously, tell anyone and I will super kill you.”

Now that the bothersome civilian was out of the way, Kinuhata finally decided to continue her sweep through the cubicles, but first, she straightened up as she eyed the assorted pieces of heavy-looking equipment in the room, she needed to take care of any possibility of the target escaping through this exit first.

Despite being bound by a little girl and despite having screamed like one only a few minutes prior, the man seemed to have gained some calm as he took in each one of her words. He took in every single word of the offer that the girl had provided and processed it, even as she helped him to his feet with a smile and pushed him towards the exit.

As his feet moved towards the exit, the centrifuge began to slow down until it ultimately ground to a halt. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn’t want to really deal with this and the silence of the centrifuge was enough to signify that his work was done for the night—it would shut off on its own after some time.

He stifled the urge to speak back to the weird girl. After all, a minor subduing an adult in this city wouldn’t be unbelievable and the lab had security cameras.

“What a pain,” he sighed before walking out of the lab’s main entrance.

---

And the shadow on the 40th floor camera had disappeared. All signs vanished as not a single hint of any other person walking by that lab. On the opposite side of the hallway from the stairwell and elevator, the hint of the shadow had vanished completely. All that was left were the two doors on either side near the vanishing point, flanking a window.

---

In stark contrast to Building A’s sleepy 40th floor, Building C looked as if it were caught in an incident. Even just looking at the 40th floor’s cameras was enough to realize that something was very wrong there. It was as if the plethora of labs and whatever stood within them was obstructed from view by a thick white-gray in the air.

Though one could initially mistake it for digital artifact, it was clear upon further inspection that this went way beyond that. Whatever was obscuring the view of the numerous cubicles, computers, and office spaces on that floor was clearly physical.

And it was hardly just confined to that floor. The same could be said of the labs on the 38th floor and the offices on the 39th floor. Though the 37th floor and below seemed to have no traces of obscurity, various cameras on the 37th floor were completely pitch black.

Yet, with all the commotion on the top floors of the building, a noticeable oddity was occurring on the third floor as well. Among the increasing number cameras that had seemingly been destroyed leaving static on output, one could sometimes discern a glimpse of black hair.

Though the complex was largely bereft of its normal fauna at night, a number of invasive species would not hesitate to stir and rampage.

Mugino Shizuri was still wandering through building A’s corridors. So far she had only been wandering in a straight line following a very clear aim. However, as she did she would listen to the input she’d receive through her ear-piece.

«This is bad…whoever…whatever is moving in building C is on a rampage. Floors 38 and 39 have suffered tremendous damage. The ones below seem to have been less affected. But I can’t tell for sure…numerous cameras are offline…»

Listening to the exasperated yet clearly focussed description her ally had given, the brunette would move onwards, not at all impressed by any of the news. She wouldn’t comment, just listen.

«There…! I think I caught onto something. They’re moving…!»

Suddenly a shift in her demeanour. The beauty’s silence was as suddenly the frequency of her steps would increase. Like a fish that has caught onto a bait’s stench, she would hurry to become first to arrive.

«Takitsubo, give me the coordinates.»

«Huh? Ah. Mugino, don’t! Did you forget the plan?! If you–»

«That no longer matters. Whoever this is, they’re unlikely to be part of the industrial spies nor their allies. This is too much commotion for them to profit off of. Besides, that one is likely to have stirred up anyone hiding out tonight. Now it’s too late to recover the previous status quo. There is no going back. And no reason to hold back anymore. The best bet we have right now is to resolve this before more damage to our objective is done.»

Not stopping in her tracks, Mugino would keep wandering, until she’d arrive at her self-set goal line.

«So, Takitsubo, the coordinates.»

The pink tracksuit girl would fall silent momentarily, only to open her mouth again. From there only a quick description would follow. Hardly anyone would understand the words, except for Mugino and her. A secret language meant to express coordinates in three dimensional space solely build upon the #4’s position in any space.

«Thanks.»

And with those words spoken the beauty in the dominatrix outfit would finally come to a stop, raising her hand to unleash a perfectly aimed beam of green light, cutting through the wall right in front, across the distance between the buildings and straight into the position in building C where the target was assumed to have moved based on both previous imagery and experience.

«Takitsubo, keep me updated on their movements.»

Increasing the frequency of steps and thus her speed Mugino would rush towards the hole she had just blown open, jumping right through, out of the building, into the night.

«Frenda, building C is under control. Focus on building A, B and D. Especially the exit points. They’re likely in a panic right now.»

With a heavy thud that monster of a girl would land atop one of the walkways connecting the buildings’s roof.

«I’ll be smoking out the trouble maker.»

As words were spoken, beams would follow instantaneously.

In the end, a large motion will inevitably produce large waves. As the ripples spread out and the after shocks collide into each other, new waves will inevitably form into a chaotic and new pattern.  As multiple beams crashed into building C’s third floor, panic followed.

“Was that an explosion?!”

“Earthquake?!”

The panic spread quickly across the people still working in the building complex. For some, the blast was too close for there to be any question. Be it because it happened on the floor above, the floor below, or just outside the window. As the alarm bells began to ring across the building, the people who remained in them made moves to exit the building safely.

One could almost respect the amount of professionalism that shined through as they, despite the panic and the rumors that had been tearing through like a vortex, evacuated in an orderly fashion.

With Mugino’s move, the hourglass had been set. With such a large and conspicuous attack, it was only a matter of time before Anti-Skill would arrive and cordon off the building complex behind police tape.

“Change of plans.” In building A, a single man who had evaded the cameras somehow, spoke. “Focus on escaping and heading to the next rendezvous point. We’ll run out of time and be caught once Anti-Skill makes it here and starts searching for any explosives.”

“Understood.” Upon the side of Building B, a single woman was climbing downwards. Hidden by the cover of night, she carried a one-handed rifle with a scope and a coolant-based silencer attached to it in one hand while deftly using her other three limbs to scale downwards. “Forget the obfuscating tactics, Sakamoto. Focus on escaping. There’s no need to hide from the cameras anymore.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the woman placed the rifle in her hand onto a strap on her back before placing her hand out onto the walls and starting to climb down using all four limbs.

That was all. That was all she could do before the world around her became engulfed in flames and her throat and lungs melted from immense heat. As the heat dissipated and the fragments of glass and reinforced concrete flew around, it was obvious that all that was left was a corpse falling to its death.

“Was that a bit too overkill?” The blonde girl in rags dropped stake-shaped objects to the ground as she walked towards the remnants of wall, window, floor, and ceiling that were left, though she dared not walk too close. Even if the explosion hadn’t killed her on its own, the loss of footing and the propulsion off the building would be more than enough.

“Then again, if Mugino saw fit to attack like that, it’s essentially best to clean things up as quickly as possible.”

Stealth be damned, sometimes the fastest and seemingly most counter-intuitive route was the best one.  

---

“What the hell?!” The girl had fallen flat on her butt as the explosions from the beams of light that had just penetrated the walls behind her rocked the entire floor. As her momentum was broken, she was clearly going to be seen on camera in that embarrassing position, getting up and rubbing at her sore backside.

“Did they mistake me for their targets? Those fucking idiots.” She cursed at the camera and whoever was still in the camera room looking at her. Despite her sweating and panting, she seemed to be quite lively. “There’s more going on in this building than you idiots! So get your shit done and leave me out of this!”

She was a young girl with black hair and yellow highlights. Her outfit was reminiscent of goth loli style and her coat was worn improperly with just the hood on her head, though it was probably more comfortable given the time of year. She was a girl who a certain super nitrogen esper would quickly recognize.

“Dammit, I don’t have time for this!” The girl, having gotten back onto her feet, continued to run. The maw that had been chasing her would not let up, after all. If anything, she probably made things worse.

---

In those few seconds before the explosion rang out from building C, a certain figure who had never before been in the camera’s sights entered its view before heading to the staircase, walking down the same path the meager civilians were evacuating through.

Kinuhata had just finished blocking the door to the stairwell with the lab machinery when she saw Mugino’s iconic green beams obliterate several floors across in building C.

“Tsk tsk, temper temper.” Muttered Kinuhata as she shook her head. No doubt about it, their targets definitely know their presence now, and they will most likely make a run for it. “It is super time for Plan B.” thought Kinuhata as she broke into a run down the corridor where she believed her target is.

“But what super exactly is our super plan B?!”

Labs and offices surrounded Kinuhata on both sides, and this was a cause for concern. The labs could be easily searched, with their glass walls and large empty spaces, but the offices were the large shared types filled with partitions and desks. Whilst open offices were said to improve the efficiency of the workers assigned to them, they certainly did not make Kinuhata’s search for her target any easier. As Kinuhata ran her options in her head, the characteristic boom of a certain blonde girls’ explosives echoed in the distance.

“Oh well. If everyone else is super going all out, there is no longer any super need for me to hold back.”

Mugino’s destruction of building C must have had alerted the authorities, and thus placed a time limit on their mission. Kinuhata had neither the time or the inclination to sweep through every cubicle in every room to search for her mystery man, so she picked up the nearby furniture and let them do the sweeping instead. Desks, tables, and chairs tore into the cluttered rooms, rendering it impossible for anyone to stay hidden in those offices now due to the rooms’ new pancake-like architecture.

With this method, Kinuhata quickly made her way to the end of the corridor, where the sight of the last two remaining rooms, flanked by a window, greeted her. Tightening her grip on a fax-machine, contractor Saiai prepared to give the two rooms, and hopefully her target, a particularly aggressive reconstruction.

«Chase the rats down as they run. That’s Plan B.»

Within moments the entire situation had been flipped upside down. What had been a tension filled stealth invasion had transformed into a chaotic mess. Beams were fired, pierced through Building C and caused countless small to large explosions. Like an out of control firework, the #5’s attacks would wreak havoc upon that massive structure, enveloping its corridors in flames. And yet, the target of all that onslaught was still up and running. Dodging all that lethalness with the bluntness of a cartoon character.

«Mugino, she’s still moving. Make sure to adjust your angle.»

And yet those eyes were glued onto her. In fact, that pair of eyes was currently scanning the entirety of the events unfolding within Building C by trailing all camera footage with equal care. Chaos had been raging, but that pink tracksuit girl would never lose her calm in the heat of all that action. She would oversee everything, not allowing for a single detail to slip her attention.

That was Takitsubo Rikou. Mugino’s human targeting device.

Still, there was no denying that she had tensed up as the situation had proceeded. Navigating this amount of footage and mapping it onto floor plans, was not the easiest task. Especially if one also had to analyse the target’s possible intentions as well as all that outside information – such as the presence of other individuals.

Still, knowing the relevance of each of these factors, that girl was aware that she could not afford to slack off.

And exactly that allowed her to make one decisive discovery.

«Oh. I found something…!»

Splitting her focus like she had, Takitsubo was now able to harvest. While it had only been a tiny detail that could have escaped anyone, it could turn out to become a decisive factor to this mission.

«Possible Alpha Target sighted on Escape Route C29!»

There was no telling if her assumptions were 100% accurate, but 99% was enough to warrant a try. Therefore, she wouldn’t hesitate. They had derailed from their plans. However, that did not mean the actual mission had become irrelevant.

Now, someone only had to have listened to what she had said. Any of those three would do…!

And the one to jump onto it was…

«Run me the details.»

In the meantime Mugino had crossed the intersection between buildings by walking across the roof of the connectors. From there on she had simply broken through all obstacles relying on her ability. Walls, floors, ceilings, fire, explosions, none of these would hinder her. She’d just walk wherever she wanted to walk. And while she did, she had never ceased to chase her actual original prey.

Thus, all the while laying waste to Building C, she would have moved to a certain staircase in no time at all.

«Now, where are you~?»

And upon arrival a few floors above that maniac would glance at the countless fleeing employees down below, twisting a strand of hair, smiling, humming, searching.

But, what Kinuhata Saiai would inevitably find when she let loose was emptiness. Like the rest of the floor after that sleeping researcher had left, the doors would inevitably prove empty. From the mail room on one side to the garbage room on other side, there was nary a person in sight aside from the young girl who had caused such destruction.

Despite the closed garbage chute door, mail chute door, and windows, one thing was fairly certain. Whoever had been on this floor earlier was no longer there.

From there, what was left for Kinuhata?

---

He could hear it all. He may have only been a floor below, but he had escaped just in time before the veritable human typhoon that was Kinuhata Saiai could touch him.

As calm as he seemed over the communications, he was nothing short of panicked. He was confident that if their pursuers had chosen the stealth approach, they would have been able to outdo them in stealth. After all, they were industrial spies. They were trained for this kind of purpose.

But, things were different now. Stealth was useless when the pursuers decided to drop all pretenses of trying to gain an ambush and aimed for scorched earth tactics. At this point, they just needed to blend in with the crowd and escape as quickly as possible. Efficiency and perfection be damned, they just needed results.

So, like Sakamoto in Building C, he made a break straight for the stairs. It was on the other side of the building, but if he could get there, he could hide among the crowd of civilians. Even if he was breaking a sweat from a panicked run, he could still blend in easily with all the other panicked civilians. After all, no pursuer would be crazy enough to add civilian casualties as collateral damage for the capture and elimination of industrial spies, right?

---

In contrast to Building A’s sole attack, Sakamoto could hear the constant one-woman parade of destruction. He panicked as he merged into the group of civilians that was making its way down that staircase to evacuate.

Even if he was on camera now, there was not much else he’d do. He would leave with the civilians and escape without incident. From here on out, he was completely untouchable.

---

The black-haired girl had finally stopped. She no longer needed to keep running. The vicious barrage that had chased her had come to a close. Unlike the three (out of four) industrial spies who had been spotted, she could finally catch a breather.

Wait…

Though she was a professional, it had only taken a moment for her to notice it. The impending pressure of predator-like fangs that threatened to bite down into her had completely vanished.

It wasn’t just ITEM.

Far from it, there was another pressure that had been on her long before Mugino began to try carpet bombing her—a second pressure that had been primary until not only a few minutes ago.

But, now it was gone. Any trace of it had seemingly vanished.

“What the hell his going on here?”

The girl clutched at her head, trying to comprehend what had just happened. For a predator to give up on its prey only meant a few possibilities. That the relationship between predator and prey had reversed. Or…

Was I not their real target to begin with?

Beyond the industrial spies. Beyond ITEM. Something was on the move, and it was not going to let things have a nice, pretty ending.

Garbage chute and a mailbox, that was just about all that is left of the two rooms. The trail of destruction which the super nitrogen esper left in her wake was incredible, but unfortunately did not reveal the hiding spot of her prey.

“Of course they are super empty.” Grumbled Kinuhata as she kicked at a large piece of wood partition leaning against the wall, snapping it in half and revealing a window behind the previously propped up wooden plank. Raising an eyebrow, Kinuhata approached the window.

“Hmm it is still super locked,” Kinuhata tugged gently on the frame before looking through it. It seemed like the staff was evacuating the building from the lower floors. Which way could her target have taken? There was no stairwell on this side of the building, and even if he did slip past her, the entrance to the stairs on her end was blocked off by lab equipment.

“Well whatever, the journey does not super matter, only the super destination.” If her target was no longer on this floor, the only logical place for them to go will be down, and blend in amongst the staff in order to escape. Kinuhata tensed, she needs to finish the job before the target makes it off the floor below her, or else there would be no way for her to know the identity of her target.

With a push, the window in front of Kinuhata shattered and she jumped through the now-open window whilst grasping its aluminium frame. With a swing of her legs, they would connect with the window a floor below her, and Kinuhata rolled into the newly-created hole, picking up a piece of aluminium window frame nearby.

Looking up, Kinuhata saw the back of a frantically running man not too far down the corridor. The super nitrogen esper tossed the piece of metal a few centimeters above her one hand and slammed her other hand into it, driving it forward with a punch. The makeshift lawn dart collided with the sillouette’s lower back, shattering his pelvis. Without the structure necessary to support its weight, the target’s body crumpled to the ground.

Jogging up to the lying figure and retrieving her weapon, Kinuhata swung down unceremoniously at the fallen man’s head.

“Target is super dead.”

«Mugino! Alpha Target blended in with the crowd. They are about to reach the bottom of the staircase!»

From her voice alone, Mugino could tell that Takitsubo was growing more nervous by the minute. The mission had been to take out all of the spies. However, now that one was about to escape, the importance of the mission became more pressing than before.

«If you don’t hurry, they will get away!»

It was like in a video game where the voice providing the player with information was growing ever more panicky when a quest was about to fail in order to put more pressure on the player.

However, was it really panic Mugino Shizuri felt that very moment? Or was it simply the thrill of a challenge?

She had just made it to the staircase, many floors above ground level. Even looking down would have usually sent a shiver down ordinary people’s spines. Thus, jumping down clearly wasn’t an option. Running down the stairs, however, was even more pointless, given the fact that she would have to cross over a dozen of floors in mere minutes.

«Mugino! We need to hurry!»

«Give me the coordinates of the most likely exit he’s going to take.»

«Huh…?»

«Tell me the coordinates and when he’s leaving through it.»

Blowing another hole into the walls across, Mugino’s endgame would commence. Her idea was fairly simple to say. There was no way she would be able to catch up with her target if she were to attempt chasing after them. Crossing this many floors that quickly was impossible. Simply launching a beam to pierce through the entire building for just a single target in a crowd of dozens was also not viable, given that the collateral damage would be too outraging – something she knew would get her into trouble later. So what was she left with?

It would come upon the escapee when he finally stepped into safety. The first step he’d take out of the building, would be the last one he’d ever take. It would come from right above. A beam of green light. In a perfectly straight line. Cutting right through his torso. Hitting only him. Ending only him.

But why? Simply put, escape routes meant for a larger crowd to follow were always preset. If one really wanted to blend in, they had to tag along with the standard evacuation process. This meant that anyone had to follow the exact paths designed by the security committee. They would follow a specific route and leave through a specific exit. However, Mugino did have the advantage here, was she not required to play by these rules. She could simply cross the floor by blasting through wall after wall, reaching her destination point way quicker than an orderly fleeing crowd. Thus, all the had to do was make it to the point exactly above the pre-defined exit, wait there and strike with perfect timing. And with Takitsubo’s guidance, the error rate was perfectly zero.

«Target down.»

Leaning out of the window many floors above the predator clad in the skin-tight yet revealing garments of a dominatrix would set free an annoyed sigh, her gaze wandering away from her dead prey and into the distant beautiful night lights of Academy City.

Mission complete.

Though it was hardly quick and easy, three of the industrial spies were dead. Despite all of the chaos and evacuations, they had cleanly taken care of three out of the four industrial spies. All that was left from that point was Building D.

However, there were no suspicious movements throughout the building. Sure, there were the workers evacuating from the building as was sensible given the situation, but not a single suspicious person entered the frames of the cameras. It was all just normal workers moving at various speeds to the emergency staircase.

However, the eerily quiet world masked something far more deadly.

Upon one of the doors in Building D’s 25th floor on its inner side was what looked like a thin layer of blood in a shape reminiscent of a hand that had moved across it. One could liken it to a hand slathered in blood rubbing across it.

It was something that should have had no place in that building. Though the company may have been involved in shady businesses at some point, it was hardly stupid enough to place something like that in its own buildings if it had survived long enough to be a marginal success.

There was no doubt it was bait. There was no doubt that there was a trap to be sprung.

Even so…

“You’ll bite, won’t you?”

Three down. Only a fourth one left.

Building C was only ruins, hardly resembling the state it had originally been in. However, the other buildings had remained mostly unscathed not having become subject of any of the overly violent modus operandi of the #4.

However, no matter how chaotic recent circumstances had been, a pattern had revealed itself nonetheless. One target had been taken out in Building A, one in Building B and one in Building C. Now, where would the fourth one be the most likely to pop up in?

«This mission really is annoying. Couldn’t they all have holed up in a single place? That clearly would have been quicker to deal with.»

Speaking this casually on their general communications channel, Mugino Shizuri underlined that the tension of the situation had disappeared once more. And along with it the excitement of battle. After all, before it could have gotten to it, the mission had forced Mugino’s hand to act faster, thus giving up on her prey temporarily. Something she took even less pleasure in than the fact that she was still running around in this oversize complex, hunting defenceless pawns.

Thinking in this direction, though, returned her mind to what had initially sparked this mad onslaught.

«Takitsubo. Any traces of our surprise guest? They didn’t slip away did they?»

«Let me check.»

Silence, serving as testament to the deep focus Takitsubo Rikou had to muster while scanning the countless pieces of security camera footage before her. She had obviously lost track of their initial prey with how hectic things had become and the destruction of a large number of Building C’s cameras at the hands of these green beams of death. However, that was nothing that girl couldn’t make up for with her skill.

«It’s probably not related to that person, but I found something odd in Building D…someone left an obvious blood stain on a door in the 25th floor. It’s weird. The placement is really obvious. Could it be from one of the industrial spies?»

Disappointing news. She had hoped to continue that little game of cat and mouse with someone more skilled than those spies. Then again, didn’t this occurrence smell too fishy already? With everything that had gone down, a sign this obvious was a bit too reckless. However, it was blood wasn’t it? That could mean things still had a hope to become interesting again – at least somewhat.

«Should we check it out? As far as I’m concerned we could let the body counts decide the payout share.»

What better time was there to become cocky than at the sight of the finish line?

“Tch.”

Frenda clicked her tongue. The hole she had blown through the windows was not particularly well-aligned with the cross-building bridges below her. When Takitsubo had relayed what sounded like obvious bait in building D, it was fairly obvious what needed to be done.

They had no information on where the fourth spy was, but even bait could provide information. Be it placement, the type, or the intensity, anything regarding a trap could leave behind residual data that was useful no matter how much the enemy wiped it away.

“Let’s do it. I’m heading over to Building D right now. Shall we rendezvous, or shall we do a pincer attack?”

She had said that and she was a greedy person who would love to steal the kill, but she knew better than to head into the unknown without proper support. She would not have survived in this hellish field this long if she did not.

But, unfortunately, she had landed on the wrong bridge. She had landed on the ceiling of the 20th floor bridge that connected from Buildings B to C and it was too far away to jump from that bridge to the one to D and not end up as a stain on the ground like the woman she had just blown up.

She needed to cross to Building C now and use that as an intermediary to get to Building D. It was inefficient, but necessary. So, she ran across that ceiling and tossed a few bombs through the window of the 21st floor. But, rather then exploding, they broke through the glass that had made up the window and fell onto the floor along with the pieces of shattered glass. After she crossed through the hole she had left behind with her throw, she picked up the bombs that were now lying on the floor and stowed them back away.

“Now then—”  Before she could finish speaking, she heard footsteps and reflexively tossed one of her smaller bombs at the end of the corridor. A thunderous explosion roared through that enclosed space as glass shattered within its range.

“Dammit, are you idiots all this damn trigger happy?!” But, crossing through the smoke and debris was a single girl. She had long black hair with blonde highlights and was likely the same age as Frenda herself. She was clad in an odd gothic-like outfit and a white coat that was only staying on her body via the hood—an odd choice for the summer. She had a scowl on her face and her eyes gave off a deep, venomous glare.

But, most of all, she reeked of the world that Frenda, herself, was situated in.

“One of the industrial spies, are you? I didn’t expect them to have a kid in their ranks, but I guess it’s only natural given where they were spying on.”

“Industrial spies? That’s what all of this nonsense was about? Though I have to thank you. I don’t know what you did, but you got them off my back.”

“Just a pointless third party, in the end. Mugino, change of plans. I’ve got a bit of a hold-up to deal with.”

Frenda reached into the rags covering her body and pulled out a flash grenade. It was clear their conversations were too disconnected from each other and there would be no room for talk.

“So, who are you?”

The air in that hall began to move. It circulated around the interloper in a grand turbulence as the two girls felt their hair swishing from the force. Her hands began pointing up as air seemed to circulate around them in almost pointed manner.

“Kuroyoru Umidori. If you want any details, ask that movie-obsessed honors student you keep in your ranks. For now—”

“I see. But, for now—”

“GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!”

A blaze of light enveloped that hallway in the next instant.

Kinuhata lightly tossed aside the mangled piece of metal as she made her way across to building D. Four targets, four buildings, three bodies. The location of the last remaining target was clear.

“I guess it was too super much to ask for all the targets to be in super one spot.” Mumbled Kinuhata as she set off at a light jog.

«Takitsubo. Any traces of our surprise guest? They didn’t slip away did they?»

The brief exchange between Mugino and Takitsubo confirmed Kinuhata’s suspicions, and the promise of extra pay put a little more spring into her steps. “Such an obvious trail, it must be a trap.” Kinuhata knocked aside the machinery she had moved a while earlier to block off the stairwell. “But if that trap was set by someone of the same level of her target, it was probably a worthless trap anyway.”

Kinuhata descended down the stairwell, her destination being the bridge which spanned across the buildings, connecting them to each other. Due to the way the building were arranged, Kinuhata would have to make her way through building A, B, and C before arriving at building D. It was slow and it was the scenic route, but despite that, it was still the shortest way to her target, thus she had no choice but to continue down this path.

As the super nitrogen esper reached the corridor which connected buildings B and C, the tell-tale sound of shattering glass rang out ahead and above her. Kinuhata froze and tried to pinpoint the exact location of the sound, but her concentration was soon rendered unnecessary as an explosion lit up one of the corridors in building C’s 21st floor.

The explosion was small and controlled, which suggested it was the work of Frenda, ITEM’s resident demolitionist. But for what reason would she resort to such measures? Kinuhata wondered about the possible reasons for the explosion, could it be that the final target ambushed Frenda? Could it be that building D was merely a bait for the real trap which was laid along the way?

Before Kinuhata’s thoughts could run further, Frenda’s voice buzzed through over the comms, “Just a pointless third party, in the end. Mugino, change of plans. I’ve got a bit of a hold-up to deal with.”

“Huh, figured as super much. Did not think that these spies were capable of super pulling something like that.”

Frenda did not sound overly concerned over the comms, and in ITEM, everyone was expected to take care of themselves. Kinuhata ignored the commotion above her and continued on her way to building D.