"I messed up," He exhaled with a heavy breath as he relaxed his body by the window.
"Huh?" The soothing voice with an English accent on the other end spoke.
"I was seen last night," He continued, resting his chin on his palm while feeling the cool breeze hit his face. "By a kid in my class."
"..." Oliver took a moment to think. Sounds made from striking a keyboard were audible through the com-device. "Did he see you use your innate?"
"No," Akira sighed with his answer. "But he saw me close to the vicinity of the fire."
"..."
"The possibility he may believe I started it exists,"
Oliver sighed and stopped typing away on his portable computer.
"It's fine," He said after a short pause. "As long as he didn't see you use your innate, I don't think it's that huge of a problem. Stay away from him for now."
"Alright," Akira responded, closing his eyes for a bit so he could enjoy the wind a bit more.
"I called for a more important reason anyway," Oliver began, continuing his typing as he spoke. "I have an assignment for you."
"Already huh?" Akira sighed again, turning to glance at the other individual in the living room he had rescued less that 24 hours ago, planted in front of his TV since he got back from school.
"I know, but it pertains to our main mission,"
"Hm?"
"Thirteen hours ago, operations found out that the guy who is currently aiding our target in hiding has a debt,"
"A debt?"
"Yes," Oliver hummed, sounding almost excited. "And a huge one at that."
"How much?"
"About 26 million yen,"
"What for?"
"Unknown," He continued, "However, he's racked up all this debt with the wrong crowd."
"You mean..."
"Yes," Oliver answered. "Loan sharks."
"I get it," Akira breathed, getting up from his position by the window and trudging to the extra room he turned into a work space. "So you want me to break into their office and steal any documents that may be related to our guy?"
"More or less," Oliver stated. A ding came up on the holographic monitor on Akira's computer. Oliver had sent the mission details. "But you have to be covert about it."
"Hm?"
"Starting up another Holder related mess just less than 24 hours from the fire incident last night would be problematic," He summarized.
Akira could hear the vexing in his tone. He had told him to keep it quiet but it ended up loud and attractive.
"I understand," Akira replied amenably. "I just have to sneak in."
"This group isn't just typical yakuza," Oliver stated, sending Akira a list of their shady operations. "It's more of a cesspool of crime and shady business. Fraud, embezzlement, human trafficking, child pornography- all sorts of things, as long as it's illegal. If you want to infiltrate, I recommend getting kidnapped."
"Kidnapped?" Akira repeated, thinking it over. "Wait, on here it says adolescent male por-"
"I'll handle the creation of a reason to hold you ransom," Oliver said, cutting Akira off before he could finish his realization. "Good luck."
"But, isn't this a problem?" Akira muttered to himself after Oliver had hung up.
~
As he walked in the opposite direction from home after leaving the school station, his eyes met the ones that were gazing at him intently. Inoue Hikaru. The one individual he was truly wary of. They didn't exchange greetings or meager words of familiarity as they passed each other by. While Akira's eyes maintained their glance forward at what was ahead of them, Hikaru's lingered over Akira's figure for a few seconds before assuming their forward position.
As they walked farther away, Hikaru wondered why who he thought was 'Lily' was heading in the direction opposite from how he usually traveled, and wondered if it had anything to do with the slick black car that had been following behind him for a while now.
"Does he not notice?" He pondered as he watched Akira's figure disappear as he turned the corner, the car doing the same soon after. "It's none of my business." He concluded and resumed his trek towards home. He wasn't the type to stick his nose in something that didn't concern him.
Meanwhile, Akira now grew incredibly more weary of him. He disliked his eyes that seemed to be able to see within the depths of people. And for someone like Akira who had lived his life clinging to the shadows, there was much to be disliked about such a person. He had strengthened his resolve to avoid Hikaru as much as possible now.