I was speechlessly looking at Murakami. The girl, meanwhile, was looking around. At last, she found me among the crowd of confused people, made a bright smile, and said:
"Hey there!"
She waved her hand at us.
Everyone around turned their faces to me, Shirogane and Yuki.
"I'm here!.." shouted Murakami and then ran toward us through the crowd.
"Hello!" she said after approaching me.
"Hello…"
"So… I'm here."
"Yeah… Yeah, I see." I gulped and looked at Mishima and her gang. The girl, after a moment of confusion, came to her senses and waved her hand. The other people blinked and slowly started to surround us…
Then the girl gripped her chain and carefully looked at Murakami. Seems like she was worried about her.
Well, I was too.
The situation was becoming was dire. The encirclement was getting tighter and tighter. Shirogane ground his teeth, while Yuki shivered under my hand. I knew that we had to do something, and quickly. And so, after some consideration, I made a step forward and shouted:
"Wait! I have a proposal."
Mishima stopped and, shifting her gaze back to me, asked:
"What? Do you wanna beg? We won't let the traitor get away… And we didn't need help there; we could have beaten the Goliath on our own."
Yeah, sure… I sighed and shouted back, loud enough for the people around to hear me:
"That isn't it… You are the General of this gang, right? Then I'm our general…"
"Ah?" Shirogane looked at me with a strange gaze after I told that. I ignored him and said:
"Sometimes generals just fight each other," or at least that I have heard from Ryunosuke. Where's that guy, by the way?..
"So let's do it. One on one, without involving your army."
"…What?" Mishima was surprised by my words, and so were everyone else.
"Is he for real?" I heard in the crowd.
The girl frowned:
"Why the hell should I agree on that?"
"Well, there will be fewer casualties that way, in your army as well."
"You…"
"Because we have her," I said and pointed at Murakami, who was standing just behind my back.
"She beat Goliath. On her own. Do you still want to fight her after seeing that?.."
"Yep, I'm very strong!" she said.
After my words, the crowd around us shivered. People started to look at Murakami warily.
"She was just lucky," said Mishima.
"Maybe. But, you know what they say… Lucky once, lucky twice. Do you really want to have losses in your army while the war is approaching?"
A hesitant expression appeared on Mishima's face. Good. Seems like she was considering my proposal.
Suddenly, the other girl named Ringo walked to her friend and whispered something to her. After that, I saw a glint appear in Mishima's eyes…
Why do I have a bad feeling about that?
At last, Mishima nodded:
"Hm… If you insist… I will gladly put you down!" shouted the girl and made a severe smile.
The people around immediately started shouting with excitement.
Mishima waved her hand and told me to follow her. I did. Murakami and everyone else was walking beside me. Soon, we approached a clear space. Suddenly, I heard a weak voice behind me. I turned and saw Yuki looking at me with worry in her eyes.
"A-are you sure that…"
"Yeah, I'm. Don't worry about me," I put on a smile.
"I won't!" said Murakami.
I wasn't talking to you…
Shirogane was clenching his fists.
We exchanged swift gazes, and then I turned and walked toward Mishima. I stopped when there were about ten meters between us.
The other people made a circle around us.
The battle was about to begin. The girl took out her chain and let the end of it fall to the ground.
I also unleashed my wooden sword.
Once again, I remembered Mishima's profile. She had [D-] in her weapon mastery, the same as I did. Does it mean that there will be a draw? No, far from it. The Goliath was a real monster, and yet Murakami managed to bring him down in a matter of seconds by throwing her bike in his face.
Attributes were important, and yet the real-life was not a role-playing game. It was more like an action RPG, in which the way of using one's power was equally important.
You can use tactics to beat even a much stronger opponent…
Suddenly, while I was thinking about that stuff, I saw something shine before my eyes. I jumped to the left, and the shiny thing crashed at my shoulder.
I felt a wave of blunt paint and winced. When I came to my senses, I saw Mishima playing with her chain.
"That's it?" asked the girl with disdain in her voice.
I was about to answer her, but before I could even open my mouth, I saw the chain fly once again. There was a little, but very heavy steel ball attached to one of its ends. I managed to put the sword before myself, but the chain made a strange move, and the ball crashed at my belly.
The pain almost made me lose my footing.
I tried to catch to chain, but once again, the very next second it appeared in Mishima's hands. The girl looked at me from above and said:
"Give up".