The spectators watching the match had their jaws dropped down in awe. What kind of match was that!? Only Natsu seemed unfazed by the match. He had a quiet frown on his face though.
'Blonde guy here is good. He managed to take Reo's arm!' considering what he knew of Reo's abilities, he was impressed!
The blonde took off his VR helmet and watched Reo as he took off his helmet and dropped the pad.
"You're pretty good blondie! Hahahahaha!" Reo was happy with the prospect of getting free money.
"What's your name?" the blonde said calmly.
"I'm Reo Minami!" Reo replied with a smile.
The blonde nodded slowly.
"I'll remember it, my name is Arvin." he said as he dropped a bundle of money in front of Reo.
"Huh? What's your last name?" Reo asked in confusion.
"It's not important, moreover, tell me how you detected the mines I set up?
"Oh, that...." Reo smiled lightly "It's a secret"
"Is that so...."Arvin frowned slightly
Is there a way of pinpointing a mine's location that he did not know about? He really wanted to ask but Reo seemed unwilling to tell him.
He nodded his head towards Reo and said. " You were a worthy opponent Reo Minami, we will meet again."
He then quietly took his leave after that.
Everybody in the arcade was looking at the unfolding events with disbelief!
Reo took the money Arvin dropped with a huge grin on his face, he waved it at Natsu as he walked excitedly towards him.
"Let's go get my SVN! I can't wait any longer, not even a second!"
"Alright…alright let's go."
All eyes were on them as they were leaving the arcade. Sai was in a daze all this while. When he saw them leaving, he snapped out of his daze and ran towards them.
"Natsu! Reo! What the hell guys, you never told me you were so OP at Alpha ops! How did you dodge that bullet Reo? That was fucking amazing! " he was very excited!
"I was very cool wasn't I? Hahaha!" Reo laughed proudly.
"Stop boasting!" Natsu smacked his head.
"Tch! Can't even allow someone to revel in his own awesomeness, no wonder you're a fucking retard."
"Shut up and let's go, quickly." Natsu delivered another smack.
"Sai, you can come too."
Natsu hurried them forward towards the largest tech shop around. He seemed to be wary of something as he kept looking behind and smacking Reo whenever he lagged behind.
They got to the shop and ordered an SVN helmet, the tablet device used to set it up, and the special storage device that contained the game Age of magic.
After paying for it and registering Reo as the user on the game's database. They left the shop and headed home.
Reo and Sai having long noticed that Natsu was acting cautiously finally decided to ask him about it.
"Bro, you've been acting all weird since we left the arcade." Reo frowned.
"Yeah what's the matter? Are we being followed?" Sai asked trying to look behind him.
"Don't look back!" Natsu said sharply.
"You're right, we are being followed. And it seems like it's Feng's lackeys. They've probably been following us since the arcade."
"Feng!!?" Sai said with a hint of fear.
Feng was a local terror among the younger generation in their town. He led a group of boys to form an organized gang to terrorize people and committed acts ranging from petty theft to illegal drug deals.
There were rumors that he works for a big Yakuza hotshot in Tokyo and was building up his gang here to join the Yakuzas when he's deemed good enough.
Everyone was afraid of Feng, who in his right mind wouldn't be? Very few stood up to him and fewer still were able to get away with it.
"Oh, Feng?" Reo said casually as he kept on rummaging through his package to look at his SVN from time to time.
"We have dealt with him and his grunts before, don't be too scared" he tried to comfort Sai.
'Scared?' Sai looked at him with tears almost streaming from his eyes.
'Bro why won't I be scared? I have loved ones, if you want to die why drag me with you?'
"B-but this is Feng we're talking about, we can't face him head-on, he has his gang behind him!" Sai said stuttering.
"Sai is right Reo, even if we've had past dealings with Feng we won't be able to fight all his lackeys off, and escape would be hard with their information network" Natsu said while walking forward also acting as if nothing was wrong.
"Oh, then let's keep going then, I think everything will be alright for now anyway." Reo said.
"Okay then, I don't think they'll attack soon, they'll probably wait for us to pass through Feng's territory since we have to pass there on our way home" Natsu said.
"What's the plan? How are we going to escape them?" Sai said nervously.
"Escape? No, we're not doing that, we'll have to meet Feng himself!" Reo said with a wide grin.
"Wait what!? We are talking about the same Feng here right?!" Sai said almost screaming.
"Calm down Sai, don't let them find out that we know what's going on. Trust Reo, if he says we're going to face him then he's naturally sure we have a way for us to go out unscathed." Natsu said reassuringly.
"Yeah bro, trust me." Reo said
Sai looked at both of them and sighed deeply. Seems like he had no choice either way and had to work with them on this.
"Let's stop by old man mu' shop to get some snacks, I'm hungry." Reo increased his pace.
"Wait snacks? Reo, wait what are you doing, we have to...". Before Sai could continue, Reo and Natsu were already in the shop.
"Hey, old man mu! Get us the usual!" Reo said cheerily.
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A shadow moved quickly down an ally located in some shady neighborhood. The boy was small and extremely quick as he moved to accomplish his mission.
He was new to Feng's group so he was usually used to run such errands. He didn't mind though, he was extremely light on his feet so this job suited him perfectly. He wasn't one for the front lines.
He reached the entrance to an abandoned building that looked dark and shady. There were a bunch of boys patrolling outside the compound with small weapons like clubs, tasers, and even one with a small gun.
'Probably an officer....' the boy thought.
He gave the password at the gate and stated his mission. He was allowed entry after a thorough search and was escorted into the entrance.
"Wow…". The boy said silently.
If someone were to look at the house from the outside, they wouldn't know that the inside was such a well-furnished, clean, and organized building. It was far bigger than it looked on the outside.
He had been here twice before now and the place still amazed him. He stared at the large hall filled with golden light from the large hanging chandelier which reflected on the different assortment of goods arranged on tables in one corner of the building.
'Definitely from the thieves' faction' the boy thought.
Boys were arranging all the stolen goods according to their type and price. There were a few boxes arranged by the wall of already packaged goods and boys taking some boxes out a door into the backyard.
The boy was led upstairs and down the hallway to the last room where an extravagantly designed pair of doors faced him and he stood waiting nervously.