They continue their assault and got near the group of chickens they wanted to annihilate first. They hid from a post box standing near a post half a meter away from the nearest chick, a fist small brown chick who was wandering alone. He had thought of a crazy thing he always does to chicks when he met one, and that is to startle them by jumping in front.
"I'm going to do this, Shi-chan.." he said in a whisper and took a deep breath.
He jumped in front of the chick opening his arms saying "Baaaaa!". He felt the satisfaction he usually have after seeing the startled face of the poor little chick. He laughed out loud and wore a grim face.
It made the chick cry out loud, knowing it has nowhere to go. It tried to run from Hachiro but its leg was stuck in the road crack making it unable to move from its position. Hachiro even felt elated. Suddenly, a huge figure as big as a linebacker football player leaped in front of him from above spreading its wings reaching a span of two cars when parked horizontally giving him a loud "Eek!" sound.
His blood suddenly drained from his head to his toes and stood frozen in front of the gigantic-sized monstrous raging chicken. He tried to say "Baaa!"again to startle Chicken but he realized it was the mother of the chick he scared, and it was impossible to scare a Mad Mom.
"Oh, men." He thought and felt like a feather.
He turned around slowly and ran as fast as he can. His fox ran behind him. They ran as if their lives depended on it. Well, it did depended on how fast he ran away from the Humongous Mad Chicken dashing with strange looking eyes behind him. At that moment, he regretted the stupid thing he did to that little chick that happened to be the chicken's chick. He stumbled on every step he took running on the uneven road where debris scatter from the sprouting of the Barn in the middle of the highway though he manage to gain his footing. He ran as fast as the speed of light just to shake the chicken off his back feeling the dry air blowing from the sea bringing heat from the fire engulfing around the city. But unfortunately, the Chicken was getting closer and closer to them and he was getting tired of running, panting.
"Ne, Ha-chan.." Shichiro muttered in a panting voice "We should shake this chicken off or else.."
"I know... you don't need to say it." Hachiro answered, trying to catch his breath. "...We should split up to divide her attention. If not, the other chickens will follow her lead and will come after us as well.."
"Okay, then we should do that on that intersection!" his wolf exclaimed pointing his nose on the intersection ahead of them.
It was a small street crossing with lamp posts and signages saying "This way to the Barbershop!" and many others.
"Okay..." Hachiro replied, "I'll just send my position when everything's fine."
"Got it! Be careful."
"You too.."
They took different turns when they reached the intersection. Shichiro had gone left and Hachiro had gone right. But, the chicken knew who she will be chasing, so it went after Hachiro without hesitation when he turned right.
"Damn it!" Hachiro exclaimed seeing the chicken from his peripheral view. "The right turn was not the right choice..." he grasped his breath.
He looked back seeing the nearing chicken, still running faster than he can, pushing his limits. He did not get a sight of his wolf so he decided to take it all alone, trying to accept his fate. He took another turn to the smaller alley to his right slightly shaking his pursuer but luck was not on his side.
"Super Damn it!" he exclaimed finding himself in front of a wall. "A Dead End." He whispered coarsely, catching his breath even harder. His face turned red from exhaustion and his mind turned foggy from all the running he had done.
He took a deep breath, trying to accept his fate, and took his weapon out. He inserted a chip to his watch and activated a program giving him the black Katana he usually use in ROA and waited for the chicken to turn where he is.
"If you wanted fight, I'll give you one!" he muttered. Sweat dripping from his forehead like hail.
The huge shadow approached his position, growing bigger and bigger in every second. His sweat fell like rain drops giving him a cold feel, he breathes fast, his chest is throbbing from the run and he gulped big trying to calm himself and get ready to fight.
When he saw the shadow of his pursuer nearing him, he was suddenly pulled from his foot into a small hole on the left side of the wall making him give a weird shriek.
"What are you doing?!" he complained to the one who pulled him, raising his guard. "Who are you?!"
"Shhh... she's coming.." the girl replied shunning the panting guy. "You should be saying 'Thank You' instead of 'what are you doing'" she added, giving him a smirk.
"I did not.." he tried to say but the girl covered his mouth saying 'Shhh' and peeked on the small hole right above the hole they enter with.
"She's here." The girl whispered, covering his mouth. She leaned towards him and he can smell her shampoo and feel her soft skin.
Seeing no one on that area, the chicken turned away from that alley and left without a sound.
"Thank goodness." The girl exclaimed and took distance from Hachiro.
"Why did you save me?" Hachiro asked, shaking the weird feeling he just felt.
"I saw what you did back there..." she replied. She doesn't look familiar. She had a blond wavy hair, long enough to reach her hips, tied in a pony tail; her eyes looked calm and mild but deep like it was submerge into the darkness of disparity. She looked the same age as Hachiro and all others participating in the competition.
"You mean the crazy thing I did? Oh, that shouldn't be commended." Hachiro muttered. He took a step back, trying to make distance from the stranger who suddenly approached him. He felt suspicious of the girl so he tried to stop the conversation, unfortunately,
"No and Yes.." the girl replied.
He thought for a second that he can trust this girl. She seemed to be innocent enough to talk to him in that manner he did not expected. So, he utterly reply, "Which one really?" pouting on the girl's answer but his eyes looked away.
"You're from GSSTI, right?" she asked.
"Ahh... you can say that.." Hachiro replied. "Why do you ask?" his eyes glared.
"I saw what you did. You tried to talk to the hacker to find his location, didn't you?" she replied and crossed her legs sitting in front of him. "I saw those codes you ran for the hack, I scanned it using the Horus' eye the moment I saw what you're trying to do. It's to find the hacker, am I right?"
"And what if I am trying to find him?" Hachiro bluntly replied.
"If you do, I want to help!" the girl exclaimed. "I can give you a hand."
"Is that the reason why you saved me back there?" Hachiro snared at her and gave her a cold look. "How pathetic... It's none of your business and even if it does, I don't work with others. Besides, you don't know what lies ahead."
"Sorry for being rude! But, you can say that's one of the motive..." she replied without twitching an eye.
Hachiro saw her grave expression full of conviction that gave him chills to the bones.
"Didn't you think I'm suspicious?" he asked, looking away.
"What kind of suspicious?"
"I mean, I might be that 'Hachiro' the hacker that the Game Master mentioned." He knew that that will trigger something. He has to be cautious on dealing with people since the hacker gave them his identity. The girl seemed to have a deep grudge against the hacker and that might bring him danger.
But, "That's impossible..." she replied. That answer made him change his mind.
"I guess I can use her for a while.." he thought.
"...that damn bastard won't do the thing you did to that chicken out there. That's pretty hilarious." she added. Her conviction is overflowing and Hachiro got the feels, she had reasons why she wanted to help him.
"Shut up.." Hachiro pouted and crossed his arms. "I did that out of nowhere."
"Haha.. that is why I think I can trust you, Haro." She replied
"Haro?" Hachiro thought. "Oh...She can't read Japanese. That is why she did not recognize me. That might be a good thing."
"I did wanted to do that to those chicks.." she chuckled. "I'm Katherine Thorn by the way." Offering him a handshake. "But Kath would be fine.."
A group of chicken patrolling the alley on the opposite spotted their position. A chicken shrieked giving them a hard time to get out from where they are. They stood immediately and run up the stair that was hanging in a nearby wall. They climbed and reached the hallway on the 4th floor of the building.
"I guess they can't reach us from here.." Kath said, catching her breath. "Probably.."
"You're sticking with me?" Hachiro asked, standing from a distance. "Even if you don't know me that much."
"Of course idiot!" she exclaimed. "We haven't settled things up yet..we're both strangers and that is put advantage."
"But I haven't agreed on anything yet.." Hachiro said. "I don't even want to consider."
"You have to..." Kath gave him 'that' cold stare and stood firm in front of him, crossing her arms.
Hachiro looked down the alley to see the chickens following them and one of them gave him the same cold stare.
"Why do you want to help me so badly?" he asked desperately in a coarse voice, not even looking at her eyes.
"It's not that I badly want to help you..." She replied. "I just want to take that hacker's ass kicked." Her expression became darker. "He had a debt to pay."
"He did something....bad?" his expression turned dark and his face turned pale; he's having a cold feet.
"He ruined my life." She replied, forming fists on her hand. "That remote hijacking on Flight Loki brought me to hell.." she sounded hurt and mad.
Hearing the flight's name made Hachiro froze on his ground. That flight brought him into the depths of despair that made his life miserable; that made him who he is and what he is now, a world-renowned criminal.
"My parents were inside that plane." She started to tell her story.
"I don't want to hear it!" He thought, he wanted to scream. He had enough of what happened in the past year and he don't want to remember anything about it. Those memories kept hunting him, lurking even in his dreams. He actually asked Shichiro to hide those memories deep inside his mind by canceling the stimuli in his brain just to made him forget what had happened but now, it was being slapped in front of his face.
"They were celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary 5 days before it happened..." Kath continued
"Stop it!" he wanted to scream even more but no words came out from his mouth as if he instantly turned mute.
"They went to Hawaii for their honeymoon, the one thing they planned for the whole year, something they were very excited to do. They planned to spend their days travelling around the States when..."
"Please stop it!!" his head is hurting but he cannot move from his ground. His heart beat kept on raising. He was forced to listen to her story.
"They were a happy couple. They are good parents as well..." her voice turned angry. "They work hard at their office to give me a better living. My dad is a simple salary man working as an employee to a coal company. My mom was a clerk at the neighboring company who legalize apps and programs for public use. They haven't done anything bad. Then why?!" she exclaimed. "Why did they get to suffer that kind of death, huh?!"
Hachiro flinched as the air suddenly changed around them. He kept on listening though he tried not to. He lift his hand trying to cover his ears but he can't control his body.
"Is it my fault?!" she said, "Is it because I fought with them the day before it happened? Just because of a stupid camping?... pathetic me..." her tears gushed like a river "I was supposed to apologize the moment they arrive at the airport. I even brought them the cake we used to share... and made a signboard, saying 'Welcome home'. I was there waiting...ready to apologize and ask what happened to their trip. I was waiting..." she sobbed. "Waiting...until I saw the plane crashed in the middle of the ocean from the television."
Hachiro looked at her with his eyes full of guilt. "It's not my fault.. I'm sorry.." he screamed in his mind. But an evil voice kept murmuring in his ears, losing himself "It's because you fail.." he stood mystified.
"I was waiting for nothing... that home I was yearning every time I got back from school. That home I tried to get back to in times of my despair, that home full of happiness from everyday venture, that normal home was gone forever." Her eyes turned sinister "It was taken from me." Piercing his swollen and shattered heart.
Hachiro closed his eyes, tried his hardest not to listen to what she's saying, tried to dull his senses.
"Did he just want to hurt us? Hurt me?" she exclaimed madly "Making me see the drastic ending of my parents' life broadcasted like a mere TV show? What have I done to him? I didn't even know him! My life changed miserable because of that damn hacker...He ruined my simple life!" she continued. "Did you know what I have been through, being alone all these times? Did you know how much I wished to get that simple mundane life I have?" she fell silent for a minute.
Hachiro felt the cold dry air slapping his face. He listened to his breathing, feeling his heart throbbing.
"I am just here because of the insurance they paid and the scholarship I receive from QATSU. I'm thankful that I was able to meet them." She continued "But now, things have changed. I know who my enemy was and I have the avenue to make him pay for what he'd done. And I wont lose this chance of avenging my parents' death just because you said you won't let me do it. I won't let you waste that chance. I've been to darkness. I've drowned myself in hatred and I live thirsting only for revenge. I won't let that hacker did the same thing he did to me to other innocent people out there. He must be stopped once and for all. That Hachiro will pay. I will make him pay three-fold of the suffering he gave to every love one we cost on his pathetic revenge."
He found the courage to meet her eyes. It was burning with passion and conviction of taking revenge, of hunting him. He tried to shoulder all the burden, and he was ready to accept that fate, he has decided. He took a step forward and tried to reach her, trying to feel her anguish and suffering. He knew all along that many had suffered due to that indiscriminate hacking all blamed to him.
"But I can't say it now.." he thought. "It's not the right time yet...besides..." he reached her head and held it on his shoulders. She sobbed and whined, crying on the shoulder on a stranger.
"It's alright.." Hachiro whispered. "It'll be over soon. He'll pay for what he's done." He said trying to sound tough.
She raised her head to see his eyes when a fox fell on their heads.
"What was that?!" Kath exclaimed, finding herself on the floor.
She stood up, scanned the area, raising her guard, and found the wolf on Hachiro's back, licking his face.
"Uhh.." she said. "What's going on here?"
"I'm glad you're fine, Ha-chan!" Shichiro exclaimed not minding the girl who was asking.
"You too.." Hachiro replied, shaking his head from the fall. "Good thing you found me.." he got the courage to say a thing after their conversation now that Shichiro is with him.
"Ahh.. of course I can track you..." Shichiro boasted. "Anyway, I found a group of participants at the west side on top of a building. we might be able to find clues if we go there.." he added.
"Hey! I'm talking here!" Kath screamed.
Hachiro and his fox stared shocked at the girl.
"Ohh.. sorry about that, Kath..." Hachiro exclaimed putting his hand in front of her showing a gesture of stopping.
"You have a talking wolf..."she muttered.
"Ahh... he's a.."
"An object in this game created by Ha-chan from a 64-bit hidden program..." Shichiro continued.
"A hack.." she said.
"Yeah, something like that," Shichiro exclaimed with a willful smile. "And I'm a vixen by the way," he said it but she didn't even try to listen.
"Interesting..." she said, calming herself and regaining her ground. "...so about that 'group'... I think we should go and check it out... we might be able to have some back-up and a grasp of the situation." She meet Hachiro's eyes "Let's go, Haro!"
"Haro?" Shichiro asked in his brain but he was shunned again.