It hurts, my leg hurts.
Now that the adrenaline is gone it's really starting to hurt more than ever.
Seriously, why isn't this novel a fantasy so I can have cool powers and heal better?
Right now we're back in Kuromaku's car. I was at the passenger seat, lying down after bandaging up my whole body.
Finally, it was over. My first mission was... well... a success. Yep, the base was abandoned, but we got a lot of research papers, and also that weird glowing cube.
Remembering the numerous profiles of kids I saw at the abandoned base, put me in a foul mood.
This won't do, let's think of something else. The cube is still with me, in the side pocket of my pants, which right now was soaked in blood and hanging at the side of the passenger seat in front of me.
My vest was also there, so right now my body is only covered with an unbottened dress shirt and my boxers.
Wait, that doesn't matter right now.
The cube was gone. Nowhere in sight.
It had barely fit in my pocket to begin with, so maybe it slipped out?
I let out a tired sigh and reached into the pocket. Instead of the cube, my fingers sank into something cold and viscous. A clear, shimmering gel coated my hand, strands of it stretching as I pulled back in shock. Droplets slid off my fingers and fell to the floor with.
What the hell…?
The gel pulsed faintly, as if responding to the touch.
Calming myself, I pushed my hand back in, trying to ignore the cool sticky feeling of the gel clinging to my skin.
Finally, my fingers brushed against something solid, small, hard, and definitely not the cube's smooth shape.
Carefully, I pinched it between my fingertips and pulled it free, making sure not to let more of the gel drip out.
A small, black chip rested in my palm. Thin blue stripes ran along its surface, glowing softly like veins of light.
Is this… the cube?
Or at least what was left of it?
Before I could piece the thought together, a voice rose from the passenger seat.
"You good over there?" it asked, edged with confusion—and maybe concern.
"S-sir, here's your e-extra clothes."
Looking up, I saw the cashier handing me a clean pair of clothes, her movements stiff and careful. One of her hands was bandaged up, a finger missing.
Her hands were small. Actually, her whole body was small, the princess said she was thirty, but I'm having doubts.
Looks like I glared at her without realizing, as she flinched back a little. Ignoring the awkwardness, my hand grabbed the clothes and I began carefully putting them on.
"You okay?" Kuromaku asked, a hint of concern on his voice.
"I'm alive." I paused for a bit, staring at his eyes through the rear view mirror.
"You know the worst part is not getting hit by that car, it's getting dragged up those who knows how long stair case right after getting hit."
"You're lucky I even dragged you." Without waiting for my reply, he turned the key in the ignition and started the car.
We drove off, back to the city. This place is pretty far away from the palace, so the drive is going to take a while.
To kill some time, I looked out the window, trying to memorize some of the buildings we pass by.
While doing this, my gaze landed on a green Ducati superbike. Well, the bike wasn't the one that caught my attention, it was the driver.
The driver was already on the move, dressed in all black, including the helmet. In this kind of heat, that alone was strange enough, but the blood on his clothes made it even worse.
The dark stains blended well with his black outfit. Enough to fool the other drivers on the road who weren't paying attention. But my eyes were abnormally keen, spotting the bloodstains easily.
"Hey, Kuromaku, follow that bike."
"Can you stop saying 'Hey, Kuromaku' when asking me something." He looked at where I'm pointing for a second, before looking back at the road ahead.
"It's a bike, and?"
"No, he's that dude, the one dodging bullets."
Kuromaku looked at me through the rearview mirror. He's eyes asking if I'm sure.
"Yes, I'm sure."
The bike sped up, passing us, and made a smooth turn to the right. Meanwhile kuromaku ignored it and kept going straight.
"Great, now we lost it."
"Lost it?" After saying those words, he suddenly shifted gears and sped up way beyond the speed limit.
Then the digital radio began showing different scenes from all around the city, it was the CCTVs. One of the boxes showed the same green bike we were chasing.
Reaching an intersection, Kuromaku drifted to the right, completely ignoring the red light.
He didn't stop there and kept accelerating forward, zigzagging through the cars while glancing at the CCTVs.
The target veered left, straight into an unbelievable traffic jam. Kuromaku followed, drifting in the same direction. The target weaved quickly between the cars, barely dodging them while his broken taillight flickered as he got farther away.
When the bike suddenly vanished into the heavy traffic, Kuromaku drifted to the right crashing into a... nice fine dining restaurant?
***
"I'll take the ribeye with caviar on top," a well-dressed man in a suit said.
"Same for me," the woman in a red dress across from him replied with a gentle smile.
The waiter nodded and walked away with their order.
Once the waiter was gone, the man restarted their conversation.
"Hey… I really wasn't cheating on you. The girl you saw was just my sister. We were out looking for an anniversary gift for you. I promise, okay?"
The woman gave him a doubtful look, staring straight into his eyes.
"Fine." The man paused for a bit looking outside the window. "But, say if a car came crashing here right now would you believe me?"
"Yeah. Like that's ever gonna happen anyway."
Well… it happened.
Glass burst inward like a firework, shards raining down as suited diners screamed and scattered. The couple leapt back just in time, the man pulling the woman away from the window the moment she finished her sentence.
Tables flew across the floor, chairs toppled, and what used to be very expensive caviar splattered across our windshield in a glittery, oddly luxurious mess. I leaned out of the car,snapping a flying steak out of the air with one hand. The hood became a battlefield of buttered shrimp, delicate desserts, and every overpriced delicacy the restaurant could muster.
The car tore through the other side, smashing into a towering glass wall with a resonating crunch before bursting out onto another open road.
Inside, Kuromaku casually took a bite of the airborne steak I had offered, completely unfazed by the chaos we left behind.
Meanwhile on the now broken restaurant. A couple tightly embraced each other on the floor.
"Fine, I believe you." The girl muttered with a sigh.
The man screamed and pulled her into an even tighter hug, laughing heartily as if they hadn't just been nearly flattened by a car. Then, without a hint of hesitation, he got to his feet and began dancing in the middle of the wrecked interior.
***
"You want some?" I offered the steak to the cashier.
The cashier didn't answer. Her eyes spinning around, dizzy from the whole chase.
I shook my head in disappointment. Is she perhaps allergic to meat? So weak.
"Still alive," Kuromaku muttered, weaving the car through the gaps in traffic with impossible precision and the engine roaring at full throttle.
He slammed into a left drift at the next corner, the car slid sideways, then straightened. As the smoke peeled away, the car surged forward again, now the bike was much closer in view.
I prepared myself, grabbing my gun and leaning out the window. There I saw a high 10 wheeler truck blocking the road ahead of us. The biker slid under it smoothly. While I dove back inside the car, laying down as the front windscreen frame got bent from the impact, and the roof disconnected.
The car burst out from under the truck, the taillights sliced the air like a samurai's strike. The V10 didn't whistle, it howled, the sound deepening as the car downshifted.
The roof ripped away along with the rear panels and the windscreen, leaving it looking like a high-performance convertible, only without a windscreen. The backrests at the front snapped upright again, ready for whatever came next.
Now we were side by side the bike on the right, and we were on the left. Kuromaku didn't waste time and closed in on the bike. Meanwhile I pointed my AKS, aimed, and fired. Thanks to Kuromaku closing in the distance and pressuring the bike, I didn't miss.
The bullets hit one of his tires, forcing him to slide sideways just to stop and crash on a nearby traffic light.
Kuromaku also slowed down, eventually coming to a halt only a few feet away from the target.
I got out of the car, walking towards him whilst clicking my tounge, acting cocky.
"Oh, dear. Did the heat get to you?"
My arms grabbed him by the collar, of course I didn't lift him up as my legs still hurt but it was enough as a threat. Behind me Kuromaku aimed his gun at the biker, ready to shoot.
"Who are you?"
He didn't answer in words, instead shaking his head in response.
"Don't make me repeat myself. Who are you, and what were you doing down there?"
The biker still didn't respond, so I shot him in the foot, a nice and clean shot. He groaned in pain, trying his best not to not scream.
After a while, he finally raised both his arms, admitting defeat.
My voice was firm. "Take it off."
He hesitated for a bit, then dramatically took of his helmet.
"You're crazy man." his voice was familiar, no... his face was familiar.
I released my grip and stepped back covering my mouth.
The man took off his helmet entirely, revealing his grey hair and eyes as he released another painful groan.
"Hey Saitou, it's me. Your bestfriend, Yuta!"
At that moment, it felt like the world's gone silent. Every car's honk, Every scream, was gone.
And in this silence, my voice echoed.
"The fuck are you doing here, Yuta?"
"Would you believe me if I say it was a coincidence?"
I clicked my tongue, this time in annoyance, and sighed deeply. The traffic light flickered from red to green, and I began hearing the world around us again.
"It's... inconvenient here, we're going to HQ, explain yourself there. Your bike still works?"
"Of course... not. So, can you give me a ride?"
I didn't answer, and slowly walked back to the car. Waving my hand as a signal for him to follow.
I have a lot of questions for him. So let's get this over with.