A Certain Missing Esper (Arc 4 Main Story)

«I think there might be an even bigger element of surprise on our side. There is someone whose paths I have crossed recently, who might have some reason to involve themselves in the matters surrounding Kurama Kenji. Komaba Ritoku. You should be familiar with him, Naoto. He should be able to help us create an additional element of surprise they might not see coming. Either way. We will make them pay. For the manager and Kohaku’s sake.»

"Okay, so we split up with Kisaragi-san... and we have enough time to contact this Komaba-san. If he can lend support as well, maybe we can even the odds... Kisaragi-san. Can we rely on you to get his help?"

The tone in Kisaragi's voice wasn't as confident as usual, but given their situation, Aiko felt any advantage they could secure would make a huge difference. For that reason and to make sure moral didn't fall any further, Aiko reached out and gave Reina a pat on the head.

"Don't worry. Kisaragi might not be the most sociable type, but she can be plenty persuasive when she needs to be. Besides if Kurama has been as big a thorn in Komaba's as he has in ours, I doubt much persuasion will even be needed."

"Okay, that's great and all, but even if we take care of the gang, what about Kurama's ability? Our gangs have been butting heads for close to six months now and we still haven't been able to figure out a way around it. If that document is for real then he's basically a walking cannon and anything he touches is a shell. That's bad news no matter how you look at it. Unless we used you as a human shield?"

«Reasonable. If it is as Naoto claims, we will need to exploit any weakness we can find in Kurama Kenji. Still, even with a shield in place, we might need a sword as well. Not just against Kurama Kenji but his allies. I’ll need a phone to reach out to Komaba.»

"I'll say I don't like the idea of using anyone as a shield, but if Reina agrees I will relent. If things go south though, stick close to me and I can at least throw off his accuracy. My ability might not be the best at direct offence, but it can at least keep eyes off us."

As Kisaragi stepped out of the car, Aiko gave her a slight nod of confidence. The plan would be riding on her ability to gain them some allies, and failing that, acting as a surprise factor. This was seeming like it'd be the end of the road one way or another.

The red-haired youth stretched his arms high over his head with a groaning yawn.

"Ah, that was fun. It's good to blow off some stream every now and then." He sighed, shaking off his arms and legs. Behind him Tsubasa's manager and his assistants followed, herded by a gang of Skill Out and their leader, Kurama Kenji. "You've got a secure room around here, right? Take the collateral and stash them somewhere they won't be able to cause trouble. Lock the door, post a couple of guards. You know the drill." He waved his hand casually towards the captives. Kenji nodded, eyeing the other man from a distance with a renewed wariness.

He had followed to the apartment under the assumption he would be taking part in the assault. But instead he'd been an observer.

Because this single man standing before him had handled it all on his own. The armed bodyguards hadn't stood a chance. It had been completely one-sided. All without a single casualty.

Until that moment Kenji had been under the assumption that with his ability, together with his gang, with preparation and a little bit of luck he might be able to take down the red haired assassin.

Those notions had been squashed the instant he saw the carnage unfolding in that apartment.

"One last thing." Imai said, snapping his fingers as though an idea had just occurred to him. "See if you can find that nurse girl that hangs around with Eyepatch. I've got a job for her..."

...

Kenji slammed the heel of his fist into the metal door to announce his entrance to the mercenaries' den. When they had relocated to the facility Marybeth and her group, Thanatos, had staked the location out as their base of operations. Kenji wasn't sure why they had chosen that room in particular. No doubt something to do with being the most defensible position in the building or some military mumbo jumbo like that. Until now he had kept clear of it. Out of a begrudging deference, perhaps? Even if he didn't like them, he could respect their skill.

His eyes crossed the room and the hardened combatants within. Some were tending to their equipment, some were training, and others were hunched around a table, muttering quietly to one another over a blueprint map of the building's layout. It looks like they were preparing for a war. To a man their eyes landed upon Kenji and he felt a chill crawl over his skin. The sensation caused him to pause momentarily before he crossed the threshold into that space. Going further would be trespassing, he knew. He remained on the other side of the door.

"You." He beckoned towards Kohaku. "That guy wants to see you." All he would offer as an explanation if pressed was a simple shrug.

...
Imai gestured for Kohaku to sit in the chair opposite him. Between the two couches was a short glass table. A manilla envelope lay open across it. It contained a few pages of small type. And several photographs of her.

"Says here you have an interest in medicine." Imai tapped the envelope. "What would you say to getting some hands on experience?" The thin tilt of his grin and the glint of malice in his eyes was enough to tell Kohaku that this was no normal offer. "See, despite all the interruptions tonight we've still got orders to meet. But we're short staffed." He snuffled forward in his seat to clasp his hands. "We could use someone with medical knowledge to assist in our operation. If you do well, there might even be a permanent position for you."

His hawkish gaze lingered on Kohaku, studying her as he awaited her answer.

***

In the end Misaki's clique had come through. Through means Guy didn't want to know or even consider they had been able to uncover an address. The location of a private medical facility that had recently become the focal point for a high volume of suspicious traffic. Including a number of notable individuals...

Honestly, Guy found that clique far more unnerving than any criminal gang or network of professional spies.

Preparing to forward that vital information to Aiko he hesitated a moment. If he gave her that information, Aiko and her friends would be heading off into danger for sure. Could he live with that? Should he try and handle this himself? But they'd already gotten involved without him. There was no backing out now. And besides... he had something on the line that he couldn't risk. He would use any means necessary to get her back.

“I want to say you can go to hell and never come back. But I can't. Because if I do then I don't have anyone at all.” The words were burned into his memory. “It hurts." He'd made a mistake. "It's not fair!” A serious mistake.

He wouldn't make another.

His thumb hammered down on the call button.

"Aiko." He was as informal as ever. "I know where those guys are hiding."

...

"Oh, you already know?" He felt strangely deflated. "I'll meet you there. Don't make any sudden moves until I get there!" He tried his best to sound like the teacher and responsible adult he was supposed to be.

***

The hours that had followed the phone call had been spent in tense and frantic anticipation. There had been no word from Kisaragi Anko. All they could do was trust in her. Naoto wasn't used to trusting strangers. It hadn't paid off in the past, but she found herself without a choice now. And besides, looking about at the motley crew gathered in the van with her she realised that, aside from her driver, all of these people were functionally strangers to her.

Trust was all they had.

Trust and each other. All the rest was prayers.

"When is this friend of yours getting here? Time's almost up." Naoto peered out of the frosted windows of the van towards the medical facility. Even parked at this distance she felt exposed. The enemy was right in front of them. There was no turning back.

Once more Aoki Aiko’s phone would ring. The display showing a familiar entry.

Watabe Tsubasa.

However, when she would actually pick up, a different, although familiar voice would greet her. Then again, to speak of a greeting was an overstatement.

«Aoki. It’s me. I’m in position. Where doesn’t matter to you. Just be aware that the compound is tightly guarded.», the girl in the tracksuit spoke with the same factual voice she always utilised. Her hair swaying a bit as breeze brushed past her. «There is at least a dozen of armed men inside. Not just the ones from Skill Out but the group we have encountered before. So be aware that this will be dangerous.» She shared those facts as a warning, yet not one she’d expect anyone on the other side to act on.

In fact, she was very well aware that there was no turning back from this.

Which was why her eyes were even sharper than usual when they looked on and forward to the hospital building that laid before her. Or rather below her. From her heightened position on a neighbouring roof top, currently covered by the shadow cast by the clouds that blocked the moonlight.

«Oi, don’t step out like that! We gotta stay down low not to get caught, you idiot!», a nervous voice cut n from nearby. It belonged to a boy, but whoms it was, was not for Aiko to find out, would Kisaragi continue with her final words. «Wait for the signal. Then move immediately. You will recognise it.» Then she cut the line.

Turning towards her ‹partner› in crime. That boy in the black leather jacket and beanie, who currently laid crouched down behind the metal box that was a vent. «Are your friends sure that this is going to work out?», she’d ask, not with any proper concern in her voice. Something to which she would find the most blunt and delusional answer to. «It’s business as usual, y’know? We’re just gonna improvise the whole party and see where things go!» He said that with impossible optimism, yet his stance on the whole matter was something else entirely. «Let’s just hope none of them gets hurt, or I’ll have your head for it. Or your a—OW!»

Struck on the forehead with a screw that girl had loosened from one of the vent covers, the obscene threat would be killed by brutish violence.

And then silence fell for but a moment.

When it passed, the wrivving of an engine and the screeching of tires tore through the night. A car was speeding along the rodes, shaking heavily in the curves it almost flew out of. It was going faster and faster. Too fast for what it was, when, finally, its true shape grew visible beyond the blinding lights. To whom? To the guards, of course, standing in position at the main entrance of the building, out on the front court where, normally, patients are supposed to be dropped off.

When they finally saw the vehicle that was coming, a truck of all things, it was almost too late for them to do anything other than jump to the side to avoid being rolled over or crushed, like the double doors and its adjacent walls.

With a loud crash to be heard in the entire neighbourhood that was.

The signal.

The air was tense as the hodge podge group hunkered in their van outside the medical facility anticipating the call from Kisaragi. The time passed slowly in silence broken only by the occasional complaint at Kisaragi's lack of promptness.

"When is this friend of yours getting here? Time's almost up."

"Hopefully soon, we don't have that much time left."


It wasn't too much later that Aiko felt the vibration of her phone. She answered quickly anticipating the Kisaragi's update.

«Aoki. It’s me. I’m in position. Where doesn’t matter to you. Just be aware that the compound is tightly guarded. There is at least a dozen of armed men inside. Not just the ones from Skill Out but the group we have encountered before. So be aware that this will be dangerous.»

«Oi, don’t step out like that! We gotta stay down low not to get caught, you idiot!»

«Wait for the signal. Then move immediately. You will recognize it.»

Before she even had a moment to cut into the "conversation" Kisaragi cut the line.

"Well, she didn't say as much, but from what I gather she got the backup and said to wait for her signal to advance. She didn't say what that signal was, but that 'we'd know it when we saw it' and to move immediately when we do."

Luckily Kisaragi was right. They didn't have to wait long for the speeding truck that was the signal came screeching down the street before smashing through the front doors of the medical facility, the guards out front leaping to avoid the same fate.

"Let's go, and stick near me!"

Aiko threw open the door to the van, and at the same time activated her ability to throw a shroud of darkness around her, before sprinting towards the building. Those outside her field would be unable to see those within, allowing them to approach a bit safer. Given the large distraction the truck was as well, they might not even notice their groups approach at all.