Nagumo Shian's Request
"Hyaang!!!"
A wet splatter echoed as love juices and semen sprayed across the factory floor. I caught Sawayanagi Azuma just before she collapsed. The outdoor sex in an abandoned factory felt surprisingly good. When I checked the time, it was already past one in the afternoon. We'd been at it for nearly three hours. Looked like I'd skipped breakfast entirely.
"Should I grab some takeout so we can have lunch with the Seryu team?"
"Yes, let's go together and bring it back."
When I asked the now-recovered Sawayanagi Azuma, she nodded in agreement. She seemed to be checking the group chat, asking everyone what they wanted to eat.
"Just get some easy donburi bowls. That should be fine."
"Sounds good."
Sawayanagi Azuma and I hopped on a small electric bike and headed to the nearest donburi place I'd found online. I was hoping for Matsuya, but the closest spot turned out to be Yoshinoya. A little disappointing.
"Azuma, which gyudon place do you prefer?"
"I like Sukiya. What about you, Investor?"
"I'm not too picky, but Matsuya's my go-to."
We chatted about our gyudon preferences as I drove. Before long, the bright orange Yoshinoya sign came into view. I ordered a large negi gyudon packed with green onions, while Sawayanagi Azuma chose a short rib bowl. We also placed orders for the donburi and curry the rest of the team had picked in the group chat.
Ten portions was quite a lot, so we drove back to the abandoned factory slowly to avoid spilling anything. When we arrived, the new transport vehicle Seryu Military Company had purchased, along with a black SUV for carrying gear, was already there. They'd arrived earlier than expected—probably thanks to Kiyona Hori's driving specialty.
"Lunch is here~"
"Nice!"
Everyone cheered at Sawayanagi Azuma's announcement. A few of them had thoughtfully rummaged through the factory office and set up tables and chairs, so we could all sit comfortably while we ate.
Over lunch, Sawayanagi Azuma explained the strategy for recapturing Yurihonjo City that we'd discussed earlier.
"This is the sewage treatment plant… and over here is the softball field."
"Hold on…"
While eating, Sawayanagi Shinya pulled out his laptop and started typing away at Sawayanagi Azuma's explanation.
"While preparing for this mission, I got access codes for the police CCTV network. Here, these are the nearby feeds."
Sawayanagi Shinya turned his laptop around. The screen showed roughly thirty-six split CCTV views. But only about half were actually displaying footage—the rest were completely black.
"These black screens…"
"It's definitely Kurotsukidoo's doing. Those bastards destroy every camera they can find…"
Given how Kurotsukidoo turned areas into slums, CCTV was their biggest obstacle. So whenever they settled into a new spot, they immediately smashed the surrounding cameras to neutralize them.
"Then the cameras that are still working must be either outside Kurotsukidoo's territory or ones they haven't gotten to yet."
"And if we map the locations of the disabled cameras, we can get a rough idea of their positions."
Comparing the active and inactive CCTV maps should tell us where they were concentrated and where their defenses were weak.
"Let's eat and head out right away to take care of this."
"It might be better than waiting until night. They've probably heard about the reinforcements, so they'll be on high alert after dark. Striking now could catch them off guard."
The Seryu members tossed around various tactical ideas, but the final decision belonged to their president and leader, Sawayanagi Azuma. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again. She was probably concentrating to check for any bad precognitive visions.
"We'll depart right after lunch. And the Investor will be helping us until tomorrow, so keep that in mind."
Most of the team responded with excited "Oohs!" at Sawayanagi Azuma's words, but the four members who hadn't worked with me yet looked a bit puzzled. Among them, Rianna Holden raised her hand.
"I know this handsome Honey played a big part in saving Azuma. I don't mind him helping in this battle either. But if that's the case, shouldn't he tell me—his operator—exactly what his Ability is so I can Operate properly?"
She had a point. Since Rianna Holden was the telepathic operator coordinating things from the rear, knowing my capabilities was important.
"I don't mind showing you, but can we finish lunch first?"
Our conversation about tactics had already slowed down the meal. If I started demonstrating my traits in the middle of it, we'd probably still be eating at three. So I suggested we finish lunch first.
"Alright. Did I make things awkward for my handsome Honey while he's trying to eat? Still, once you're done, you have to show this big sister your skills, okay?"
She was technically older, but hearing her call herself "big sister" felt strangely off. I nodded and enjoyed the rest of my negi gyudon, which still had plenty left. The others stopped talking strategy and focused on finishing their meals.
Were they really that curious about my powers?
I finished the last spoonful of negi gyudon and stood up. Everyone else set their bowls aside and cleared the table. The ones who'd fought alongside me before knew I'd used some kind of ability in the heat of battle, but they didn't know the exact details, so they were naturally curious.
"Um… I have the ability to manipulate shadows."
As I explained to the Seryu members, I pulled a pillar of shadow from Rianna Holden's shadow and flipped up her skirt.
"Kyaa! What are you doing, Honey?!"
"I don't see what the problem is, sis-ter."
When I looked at her with wide, innocent eyes and pretended not to understand, everyone around us burst out laughing.
"And I'm pretty good at hand-to-hand combat… That's about it?"
"Investor, you know martial arts too?" Sawayanagi Seari asked with pure, sparkling eyes.
I borrowed Fujigasaki Rinka's name again and told them my master was the world's greatest martial artist.
"Whoa! You're a disciple of Fujigasaki?"
Katayama Junichi, with his sporty haircut, asked with shining eyes. Since Fujigasaki Rinka herself was a national hero in Japan, their reaction made sense. If this were before my possession, it would've been like saying I was the one and only disciple of Son Heung-min.
The Seryu members who'd seen my ability each asked whether this was possible or if I'd tried that method. Surprisingly, it was quite helpful. Most of them were veteran ability users and their friends, so they offered several creative questions and approaches I hadn't considered. I gained quite a few new ideas to try later.
"Alright, everyone into the transport vehicle."
At Kiyona Hori's words, we all boarded. Sawayanagi Shinya drove the vehicle carrying the Seryu equipment from behind, and a few others rode with him, so the transport wasn't too cramped.
"We'll arrive in about forty-five minutes. If we run into any Kurotsukidoo bastards blocking the roads, it might take a little longer."
Kiyona Hori explained before setting off. Katayama Junichi, who had shown his fandom for Fujigasaki Rinka earlier, and Sawayanagi Mikiyo, the team's sniper, stuck close to me and asked questions about her. I answered them and even showed them photos I'd taken with Fujigasaki Rinka. When I said I'd get her autograph for them next time, their reaction was explosive.
Screeech.
Hm? It hadn't been forty-five minutes yet. Maybe thirty?
Sawayanagi Azuma, who was sitting closest to the driver's seat, asked what was wrong. The reply came from Kiyona Hori.
"That building on the side of the road looks suspicious. I caught a metallic glint reflecting toward me for a second."
Kiyona Hori insisted she'd seen a flash of light from the abandoned building beside the road. Everyone grabbed their guns and got out of the vehicle. Just as she'd said, it was suspicious. There was no reason for anyone to be in a derelict building like that.
"Seari, can you check for us?"
"Yeah! Just a moment…!"
Sawayanagi Seari clasped her hands and closed her eyes briefly. She seemed to be asking the wind to scout for her. It was a method only someone with wind affinity like her could use.
"Yeah, there are five people holding guns watching us."
They were probably Kurotsukidoo's lookout sentries, the kind they scattered along roads to attack incoming PMC reinforcements. It looked like they'd spotted our transport-like vehicle and were keeping an eye on us.
Sawayanagi Mikiyo, who was holding binoculars, looked at the abandoned building through them. Then she raised her sniper rifle and fired.
Bang!
With the gunshot, a window on the abandoned building shattered. Mikiyo smiled and said, "Four left now."
But the enemy wasn't completely incompetent. They returned fire.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of bullets ricocheting off the transport vehicle's armor rang out. While the Kurotsukidoo in the building were focused on us, Sawayanagi Shinya, Sawayanagi Tobey with his steel transformation ability, and Sawayanagi Shigeru with his speedster ability had slipped out of the large SUV that had passed us earlier and were infiltrating the building.
To keep their attention on us while they snuck in, we fired wildly at the abandoned building. Our distraction seemed to work—the three from the equipment vehicle successfully slipped inside.
A little while later, we heard a barrage of gunshots from within the building. Eventually, the shooting stopped. Rianna Holden, who had been receiving telepathic updates, smiled and spoke up.
"Victory!! They took them all out! And our kids are all safe."
As expected of an elite unit with supernatural abilities, they made quick work of Kurotsukidoo's sentries. We were giving each other high-fives and about to get back in the vehicles when Sawayanagi Shinya's radio transmission came through.
RPG-7? As in the "magic wand of Allah"?
If Kiyona Hori hadn't noticed that reflected metallic glint, our transport vehicle would have exploded. During World War III, the old RPG-7 had been upgraded, and its warheads could now deal serious damage even to new-model tanks. This had been an extremely dangerous situation.
I couldn't believe those Kurotsukidoo bastards were using weapons like that. Normally they'd only have machine guns. It looked like they were pouring in considerable firepower.