Chapter 101: If You Stay Still, You're Halfway There (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 101: If You Stay Still, You're Halfway There (1)
Leaving the bloodied Indigo behind, I approached Luche, who had been watching the duel. She had been observing with a cold gaze, but she offered me a smile as I drew near.
"Good work."
Luche hadn't been involved in the series of incidents with Team Guerrilla, but she harbored ill feelings toward them because of their attitude and the stories she’d heard from Seira, the 4th Team Leader.
Even after seeing a side of me I rarely showed others, she didn't seem flustered. Instead, she patted me on the shoulder.
"Go to the car first. I'll be there once things are wrapped up."
I nodded at her words and walked past her, leaving the dueling grounds. I could hear the sounds of the cleanup starting along with Luche’s voice, but I didn't listen closely as I headed toward the parking lot.
Inside a car parked not far from the site, Daniel was passing the time, waiting for today's duel to end. For him—someone who only drove and never participated in the duels—it was just another ordinary day.
Since they always lost, Daniel could usually predict how much time it took for a duel to conclude. Thinking it was about time for them to return, he checked out the window and spotted a figure in a suit walking toward him from a distance.
He couldn't see the face because of the helmet, but the suit's radio signal identified the person as A.
"Why is that guy coming back alone?"
The atmosphere was noticeably different from usual. First of all, the reason A was returning was obviously because the duel was over, but no one else was visible behind him. And unlike his usual gait when retreating halfway, A was walking toward the car slowly, one deliberate step at a time.
When A got close to the car, Daniel poked his head out the window and called out to him.
"Why are you alone?"
But A didn't answer. Daniel thought he might be staying quiet because he was still wearing the suit, but even after A climbed into the back seat, he remained silent.
"Did something happen? Why the silent treatment?"
Daniel asked while looking at A in the rearview mirror, but his expression froze the moment he saw him. Having removed his helmet, A sat still, staring into space with bloodshot eyes.
Faced with a gaze like that of a wild beast consumed by extreme rage, Daniel stopped asking questions and simply waited for the others to return.
I thought I had calmed down a bit, but sitting in the back seat and recalling the situation from earlier made the rage toward Indigo and Team Guerrilla flare up again. However, my reason didn't snap like it had when I was beating Indigo to a pulp.
Because I was sitting still and doing nothing, I was able to maintain my composure. I realized that earlier, the adrenaline had surged along with my anger, causing me to lose control.
If I had delivered the final blow to Indigo in that state, I definitely would have killed him. Fortunately, thanks to my teammates, I avoided the situation of killing him with my own hands.
I was glad for the chance to take legal revenge on the source of my fury, and I was grateful for the opportunity, but killing him would have caused a whole different set of problems.
Just as I was thinking it was a relief I hadn't killed him, I saw my teammates walking toward us from afar.
One by one, they climbed into the car, but the usual boisterousness was absent. It was likely because of me.
"Is everyone in?"
Luche did a final head count. Kruger, who had been checking each person as they boarded, replied, "Yes," before climbing into the passenger seat.
It was their first victory in ten years, yet the atmosphere was heavy. Everyone in the car seemed unsure of who should speak first, so I broke the silence.
"I'm sorry. Because of me..."
The teammates, squeezed together in the seats, turned their gaze toward me. Then, they suddenly burst into fits of laughter.
"Hahaha! Hey, what are you sorry for? We won because of you."
"Exactly. I wanted to crush those bastards anyway. It felt so damn refreshing."
"Those guys deserved every bit of it."
Adding their own comments, the teammates gradually brightened the heavy mood. They were being considerate of me, even though I had attacked with the intent to kill after losing my mind.
"Is that so? Thanks."
"Just try to stay a bit calmer the next time we run into Team Guerrilla."
"Man, I've never seen A snap like that before."
Following Kruger’s nagging, Jack spoke up as if my losing it had been a fascinating sight. Since I rarely got angry, it was the first time I had shown such a side of myself in front of my colleagues.
"But thanks to A moving around so much, we collected some great combat data."
The car became noisy as they shared their impressions of the battle, and I listened to their conversation in silence.
*
After arriving at headquarters, I immediately changed out of my suit and ran into Luche standing in front of the locker room.
"Team Leader Luche. You worked hard today."
It was our first win, but I didn't feel like celebrating. Even though I had trampled Indigo—who had caused harm to so many people with his arrogant attitude—something still felt unsettled.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
"Ah, yes."
I followed Luche as she led me to her office with a smile, and I sat down on the sofa. Luche sat on the opposite sofa and watched me quietly.
"Is there something you wanted to say?"
"Did something happen with Team Guerrilla?"
We were still keeping what happened on the night of the team dinner a secret from Luche. We felt it was a private matter and didn't see the need to bring it into the workplace. Above all, it wasn't a pleasant story, and we didn't want Luche to worry.
However, given today's atmosphere, Luche must have sensed something. The fact that I, who rarely gets angry, beat Indigo with the intent to kill meant something had definitely happened. A woman with Luche's intuition wouldn't miss that.
The moment to tell her had finally come.
What happened with Team Guerrilla was something that occurred among ourselves, and it was a situation we could have kept secret without mentioning it at work. But now that things had reached this point, not telling Luche would mean excluding her from something only we knew.
"Actually..."
I needed a moment before starting the difficult story. I slowly explained to Luche what our team had experienced during the dinner. Luche listened to my words in silence, her expression unchanging.
When she heard that we had been picked on and beaten one-sidedly without fighting back, she didn't even flinch. She seemed to be grasping and understanding the situation perfectly.
"So, that was after that happened when I called you?"
That night, we had a video call with Luche after the incident with Team Guerrilla. We had lied, saying we had taken a tumble while drinking, and Luche remembered that call vividly.
Since there was nothing left to hide, I confirmed it, and Luche let out a deep sigh.
"So, do you feel like you've had your revenge?"
"...It still feels a bit lacking."
I couldn't tell Luche, but my ill will toward Team Guerrilla wasn't just because of the scuffle with my team. Even though I had beaten him half to death, I didn't feel completely satisfied yet.
Luche chuckled at my words and stood up. I looked up at her. She approached me and suddenly pulled me into her chest. I stayed still, caught off guard by the sudden embrace.
"So that's what happened."
Luche whispered in a muffled voice, stroking my hair. It seemed she wanted to praise me for suppressing my many emotions and bringing home the victory today regardless.
"...I'm sorry. For not saying anything."
If I could have kept it a secret until the end, I wouldn't have felt guilty toward Luche. But now that a situation had arisen where I had to tell her, I felt sorry for keeping her in the dark.
"No. You guys did it because you were thinking of me."
Luche must have felt a hint of disappointment somewhere in her heart. Nevertheless, she understood that we hadn't told her for her sake.
"Go in and get some rest today. This is the first win since the reorganization of Team 3, so I'll make sure to report it well."
"Understood."
Luche released the hug. I stood up, saluted her, and left the office.
After A left, Luche sat back down on the sofa and sighed. During that call, she had suspected something had happened after seeing wounds that clearly didn't come from a drunken fall, but she felt pathetic as a team leader for not imagining something like this.
"……."
Sitting still and staring at the ceiling, Luche pulled a notebook from her pocket. It was an old notebook she always kept on her person except during duels, and inside was a single photograph.
It was a photo of a man in maintenance coveralls with black hair, standing next to a girl with a silver bob cut whose identity was unclear.
"Senior..."
Luche muttered while looking at the photo and closed her eyes.
"Luche!"
Just then, the office door swung open with a voice that broke the silence.
Seira had rushed in, looking at Luche with eyes full of surprise.
"Did you run into Team Guerrilla?"
"Yeah. I was actually going to go to the Director with you once Team 4 returned."
"What happened?"
"A fought and won. He just left; didn't you see him?"
At the mention that A had just left, Seira glanced outside the office and shook her head. It seemed they had missed each other by a split second.
"Is he hurt? You never know what kind of dirty tricks those bastards might have used."
"No. He won perfectly."
It wasn't that Seira doubted Team 3's skills, but having dueled Team Guerrilla repeatedly, she knew they sometimes used weapons that could kill their opponents. She was checking on Team 3's safety—specifically, she was worried about the safety of A, who was said to have stepped up to fight.
"That's a relief. Let's go see the Director first."
"Right."
Closing the notebook and tucking it into her inner pocket, Luche stood up to head to the Director's office with Seira.
*
Meanwhile, Team Hunter Killer, who had returned after winning the duel, didn't head to the locker room. Instead, they all went up to the Director's office together.
They threw the door open without knocking and locked eyes with the Director, who happened to be on the phone.
Red, visibly fuming, marched over and slammed her hand down on the Director's desk.
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"Then transport him to the lab... I'm on the phone right now, so come back later."
Even after hearing Red, the Director focused on his call, speaking firmly to signal that he didn't want to talk to Team Hunter Killer right now.
He seemed to want to exert pressure by implying he was busy and they should come back later, but the members of Team Hunter Killer weren't women who would be easily intimidated by his attitude.
"I told you several times that team substitutions are absolutely not allowed in duels! Why did you change today's duel schedule on your own?!"
The Director frowned and glared at Red, who was raising her voice. However, he actually felt cowed by the collective gaze of all the Hunter Killer members fixed upon him.
Unable to let his intimidation show, the Director raised his voice even louder.
"I'm busy with that right now, so I told you to come back later!"
Just as Red was about to explode at his attempt to avoid conversation with the very people most closely involved in the situation, something flew from behind her. It whizzed past Red, grazed the Director's face, and shattered against the wall behind his chair.
Red turned around at the sudden projectile. Yellow stood there, the veins in her neck bulging as she glared at the Director.
What she had thrown was a vase filled with water that had been sitting by the entrance of the office.
"You son of a bitch, what gives you the right to raise your voice right now?"
Yellow, who was beyond furious at a duel situation that hadn't even been communicated, let alone discussed, was barely suppressing her rage. The Director's hands trembled at the thought of top-tier Superhumans looking at him with such intense fury.
"W-what is this insolence?! It's because you—because you didn't report properly that Indigo from Team Guerrilla is being transported to the research institute right now!"
Red, who had consistently reported after every duel, was dumbfounded. She had no idea what part of the report on Team 3 was supposedly missing.
It was a blatant attempt to shift the blame for his own mistake onto the Hunter Killer members. Just as Red was about to grab him by the collar, a voice as cold as ice echoed softly through the office.
"Girls. Let's head down for now."
Blue spoke quietly, suggesting they return to the third floor, where Team Hunter Killer's office was located. They had much to argue about and much to say, but she was suggesting they withdraw for the moment. Yet, no one could argue with her.
The eyes of Blue, who always wore a gentle smile and spoke in a warm voice, were sharp, and her voice felt cold and devoid of emotion.
She was projecting a suppressed rage that couldn't be compared to the momentary outbursts of Red and Yellow. Above all, the fact that this expressed anger wasn't violent made it more terrifying than anything else.
"Fine."
The choice was Red's. Regaining her composure at Blue's cold demeanor, Red was certain that even if they confronted the Director now, he would only look for excuses to avoid the conversation.
Ultimately, they had won the duel. They could address this more definitively when he was in a position where he couldn't avoid the discussion. Rather than continuing to go in circles and getting worked up, she decided to take a step back for now.
The members left the Director's office one by one, casting furious glances at him. Pink, the last one remaining, looked at the Director with a smile.
"W-what?"
The Director spoke up at Pink's gaze, as she stood there staring at him instead of leaving. Pink, who had been smiling broadly, didn't drop the expression as she threw one last comment at him before exiting.
"You stupid bastard."
With those words, Pink left the office, slamming the door loudly behind her.
Left alone, the Director gritted his teeth hard, but he knew all too well that he could do nothing against Hunter Killer in this situation.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!"
Clutching his head, his mind was filled only with thoughts of how to handle the situation with the utterly crushed Team Guerrilla.