Haru and his group arrived at the largest shopping complex in the area, by 'the area' it means the central area which is the richest area in Saitama city. So, they were not surprised when they saw some vehicles standing in the area and two men guarding the gate.
They knew that anyone with a right mind would want to take over this place and they were also prepared for bloodshed, but Haru can see that Rei and Shizuka were very nervous.
Even though Rei had already killed someone, she was still not used to it so it was normal as for Shizuka, well, she has yet to kill someone but she would be all right since she is an adult and has a better understanding of the world, it would just take some time.
Miku and Kohta didn't seem to have much problem but when Haru caught the sight of Miku's hand trembling a little, he understood that she was just putting up a brave front, though he stayed quiet.
"Your orders, boss," Makoto said, his words caused everyone to turn towards Haru.
"Everyone will be carrying a gun, but don't use it until you are forced to," Haru said after thinking for a while. As everyone was taking a gun for themselves, Haru continued, "We are going to 'talk' to their leader."
Haru had already heard and sensed something amiss from the complex, so, he knew that their talk was going to be anything but pleasant.
Haru told everyone to take a gun as it works better to intimidate people since even a ranked awakener could be killed with any gun other than pistols, Haru knew that the highest rank of any human in the world right now would be D rank, exceptions are not included.
"Wait," When everyone was about to move towards the guards who had already noticed their group and one of them even ran inside to inform someone, Haru suddenly spoke as he got some idea.
"Kohta," Haru said as everyone turned towards him and Kohta whose name was called became tense.
"Y-yes," Kohta didn't know why he shuttered when Haru was looking at him, but he had a weird feeling in his heart, which proved to be true when he heard Haru's next words.
"You will be leading us today." Haru's words were simple and easy to understand but for everyone else, it was not.
"Huh?" Everyone looked at Haru in confusion.
"Why?" Kohta asked after a while as he felt excited and nervous at the same time.
"Well, just think of it as training," Haru said but everyone other than the members of the right wing still seemed confused.
The people of right-wing, they knew what it was as almost every one of them had gone through with it. It was called the 'Coming-of-age ceremony' by them, in this they would be ordered to lead a team for a particular mission and complete it without any casualties.
Even though it seemed simple the mental pressure was high and you have to cop up with the pressure and successfully complete the mission or you will be removed from the team.
So, they were looking forward to the results as it would determine if they were going to get a new member or if they were going to lose a child with a promising future before even getting him on the team.
"Hm, in simple terms, I am training him in case he had to lead a team and I was not there, or I was on another mission," Haru explained further seeing their confused look, they finally nodded, understanding, but Kohta raised his hand and Haru gestured him to speak.
"Why me? Why not..." He didn't continue his words as he felt himself being stared at by everyone, but it was not hard to understand what he was going to say. He was probably going to ask, 'Why not Takashi?', so, Haru replied without hesitation.
"Because I trust you. I trust that you will not make any emotional decisions and put the safety of the team at risk." Haru replied in a serious voice.
Kohta just lowered his head, he knew he should feel happy, and he was feeling happy but the weight on his shoulders overshadowed his happiness. Haru words were approving along with his expectations and Kohta felt that he should not let down Haru's expectations, that was why he felt the weight on his shoulders increase.
"…"
"So? Looking at the situation what do you think we should do?" Haru spoke after a long bout of silence while pointing at the gate of the complex.
Kohta straightened his back and became determined to stand up to Haru's expectation, this change in expression was caught in the trained eyes of the right-wing members, causing them to nod inwardly.
"We should move before they gather all of their force on the gate, that we will have the upper hand in the negotiations. If possible, I would suggest we take the guard as a hostage." Kohta said and Haru along with everyone nodded their heads.
Even if they had guns, they were still a group of 13 people and if the group inside had more members, then the intimidation tactics might not work, and they would have to start a bloodbath that no one wanted.
As for taking in a hostage, that would be a smart choice as it would increase the mental pressure on the enemy, still, that would only happen if their leader cared about them, which Haru doubted they would, but he decided to leave it for Kohta to think.
"Why are you looking at me? You are the leader today." Haru said and reminded Kohta of his position as the guy was looking at him even after telling him the plan, waiting for my approval.
"Let's move and try not to knock out your enemy, if possible, we still don't know their stance." Haru sighed and said as Kohta was just standing there with an embarrassed expression after realizing his mistake.
Everyone nodded and before they moved Haru spoke again, "From now on, I will stay put until necessary, so, try not to get in a situation where I will have to move."
Haru's words caused everyone to look at Kohta, who nodded with a heavy and determined expression.
Haru didn't make Kohta lead them just because he wanted to train him, he did that so that Kohta could get the main role in today's raid. Haru knew that if he led the raid then Asami falling for Kohta was nothing but impossible, it was not because he was a narcissist, it was a fact as his looks alone were enough to make women fall for him.
So, he wanted Kohta to be the leader as that would increase the chances of him and Asami getting together later would increase since rather than focusing on a background character, everyone would have their focus on Kohta, the leader.
As everyone ran towards the guard who started panicking after seeing 13 armed people running towards him, Rei and Shizuka frowned as they saw Miku slowing down and moving together with Haru and giving him flirtatious glances while Haru also smiled at her.
"Don't move," Kohta said to the guard before the guy could run inside. Everyone had already heard the footsteps of five to six people running towards them, so, Kohta decided to take a hostage first.
"I-I Surrender!!!!" The man raised his hands and exclaimed as he saw guns pointed at him.
They quickly tied his hand, and by the time they were done, the six people who were running in their direction arrived in front of them and pointed their guns at them.
But Haru's group clearly saw their hand trembling and their wrong way of holding the guns, clearly showing their lack of experience with the guns.
"Who are you guys?" The guy in the lead asked while aiming for Kohta with the Modernized Howa Type 89 he is holding. If it was a normal case then our gun otaku Kohta would have started singing details about this gun but he didn't, instead, he pointed his pistol in a different direction and spoke.
"Come out or I will shoot." The group of men looked surprised by his words while Haru nodded secretly as he had already sensed someone hiding in front of them with some light-related stealth skill. Kohta had activated his skill just in case, but then he found someone sneaking up on them with a stealth skill.
As Kohta said those words, everyone from the right wing also got ready to shoot, but then they heard a voice.
"Don't shoot," Then they saw a guy with a brown-coloured coloured perfectly trimmed chin stripe beard that matched perfectly with his buzz-cut hairstyle.
He is someone who could be considered handsome if compared with Takashi with his grey eyes and visible jawline, he had a height of 176cm along with his muscular body which showed that he went to the gym regularly or did the workout in a routine, he also seemed more like a Russian mafia then a Japanese person.
He was smiling harmlessly with his hands up in surrender, but Haru and the right-wing member could see the eyes of the man in front of them, they could easily tell that it was the eye of a killer but Haru and Makoto also felt they had seen him somewhere.
"Who is your boss?" Kohta asked looking at the new guy.
"He is inside," The guy replied with a smile.
"Take us to him, we have a deal for him." Kohta continued making the enemy realize that he was the leader of Haru's group.
"…." The guy looked at everyone in the group one by one, his eyes stopped at Rei, Shizuka and Miku but no one noticed it except Haru whose eyes turned sharp while he also understood something.
He wasn't able to see Haru as when that guy used his skill Haru had gained light affinity by looking at it with his ability. Now, Haru could use light-related skills, so, he used them to decrease the light in his surroundings while covering his body with shadows that he had learned from Kuroneko.
However, he hadn't mastered these elements and couldn't use attacks with them as these elements are hard to use, unlike the basic elements. Also, right now, he was more focused on learning more about the Nature element as he felt that they had more potential than others.
If someone were to focus on where Haru stood then they would be able to see him, but the guy just quickly looked through their team so he couldn't see Haru, unlike Miku who was at his side and could see him and also knew he was using some kind of skill to hide.
Other members of the group were more focused on the enemy, so they didn't notice the anomaly in Haru.
"Why should we take you to him?" The guy asked again, turning to Kohta.
"Do you want him to die?" Kohta pointed at the hostage and one of the right-wing members placed the gun behind the guy's head.
"Calm down, I was just asking." The man said with a sigh, again raising his hands in surrender.
"Are you going to take us there or not?" Kohta asked again, trying to maintain his tough act while he was nervous inwardly, thinking what they would do if they were not permitted to meet the boss. Should they just kill everyone? Knock them out?
"I will take you, follow me." The guy said and turned around moving inside but not before gesturing to the other men about something that was not noticed by anyone except Haru, making Haru surer of what he had thought before.
The guy knew that his trump card which is his stealth ability was useless in front of Kohta, so, he decided to do what Kohta asked for.
They followed the guy who led them deeper and deeper into the complex on the first floor, but they still followed him with their guard's all-time high.
As they kept moving deeper, they heard the noise of something falling on the ground from a room on the first floor, something they chose to ignore, thinking that it was normal.
"What's wrong?" Miku asked Haru in a low voice while moving closer to him slowly as she saw Haru still looking at the room intently.
"Who knows?" Haru said and finally moved his gaze away from the room but then he saw Kohta also looking at the room with confusion causing Haru to smile inwardly.
Miku just shrugged not bothered even though she didn't get any answer, then she tried to reduce some more distance between her and Haru only to be stopped.
"Not now Miku, you will get your time." Haru looked at Miku and said in a low voice, not to attract any attention.
Listening to his words, Miku just smiled seductively and quickly kissed his cheek which he also accepted without hesitation while Rei and Shizuka still did not notice anything as they had their focus on the enemy.
Only Kohta was left thinking about why he felt that there was something wrong with that room, he knew that although these feelings were not because of any skills they still saved his life on many occasions, so, he decided to check out the room later. For now, he focused on the guy that was leading them to their boss.
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