Then, after Sakura sat down and started drinking her beer, Akira took advantage of the situation to talk to Kai.
She was really curious about him.
He was the only one who controlled a monster like Hina with just his presence.
She kept wondering "Who is this guy for real?" and the fact that they were locked in that bunker could be a chance to know the mysterious boyfriend of her affective sister.
But before talking, she went into the toilet for first.
Meanwhile, Kai shifted uncomfortably as the realization of their predicament began to settle in.
The tension in the air, even after the call with Saito, hadn't fully dissipated.
His mind swirled with confusion and fear, and the weight of the situation pressed down on him like an unbearable burden.
Hina was still clinging to his arm, her soft grip a reminder of the trust she placed in him.
Her wide eyes, filled with a strange mixture of fear and affection, seemed to silently plead for reassurance.
But it wasn't a fear of being in a dangerous situation.
It was a fear of losing his beloved one or make him sad.
The only thought of it was enough to make her heart break into milion pieces.
Kai forced himself to smile at her, though it was shaky at best.
Deep down, he wanted to return to his normal life.
He wanted to leave everything and everyone to go in a very far place, distant from his town.
"Don't worry," Hina whispered, leaning up to speak quietly into her ear. "We're safe for now."
Kai nodded slightly, her lips forming a small smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes since his mind was racing with milion thoughts.
He took the decision to protect her no matter what, but... more than her, he was protecting other people from her...
And more than that, he was protecting Hina from herself.
He was the only one capable of sealing that monster inside her.
But why was Hina so attached to him to the point to kill someone?
The only possible explanation for that moment was that Kai didn't run away like other people after seeing her true nature.
Everyone betrayed and lied to Hina in her past, even her most loved ones.
She had always been a lonely girl... not so different from Kai, maybe...
She was counting on him, and the pressure of that knowledge made his chest tighten.
Sakura, meanwhile, was lounging on the sofa, sipping her beer with the same air of nonchalance she always had.
It was like she was completely unaffected by the chaos swirling around them.
Her calmness in the face of danger was both unnerving and impressive.
She finally reached her goal from the start: Use Hina as her weapon to eliminate the Kobayashi Dragons.
But there was more than that.
It was the perfect chance to make up for the mistakes of the past between them.
Then, Yuna walked close to Hina and grabbed her hand.
Her action caught Hina by surprise as her eyes widened, not expecting something like that.
Hina's grip on Kai's arm tightened a little, signaling her sense of unease after someone interacted with her.
"H-Hina-Chan... can we know each other better?" Yuna said, with a friendly but scared voice.
Hina stared at her with a confused expression, like she was saying "What the hell?".
She took a rapid glance at Kai, like she was asking for his approval.
He replied with a smile, saying: "This is a good chance to make friends. You should know Yuna. She's a good friend of mine." he said, with a friendly tone of voice.
Then, Hina looked at Yuna again and nodded with a small but shy smile.
"Okay..." She said while leaving Kai's arm.
Yuna's smile widened and became more natural.
Then, they walked together into another room and closed the door behind them.
Only Kai and Sakura remained in the main room and an embarassing silence filled the atmosphere.
But then, Kai realized that this would've been the perfect chance to ask for some explanation from Sakura.
"Sak-" He tried to say, but his voice was interrupted by the girl who went into the toilet.
"So..." Akira finally broke the silence after walking out from the toilet, followed by the sound of the wc's flush. "We're really just going to wait here? Is there nothing we can do?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't respond immediately.
Instead, she took another long sip of her beer before setting the bottle down on the small table next to her.
"We wait because that's the best option we have right now," she said, her tone flat but firm. "Saito's got the police distracted, and as long as Yuki Nakamura doesn't get too close, we'll be fine. But you're right, Akira. We're not just sitting around. We have preparations to make." She said while throwing her beer away after finishing it.
Kai's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Yuki Nakamura.
He perfectly knew who she was, but he never told anyone about his relationship with her.
"A detective who wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. She's always been like this... Geez..." Sakura said with a sigh.
It looked like her demeanor changed.
From a calculative and formal woman, she became like a truck driver.
But she looked so calm...
To Kai, the idea that she was actively hunting them sent a shiver down his spine.
Sakura stood up from the sofa and stretched, her joints popping audibly.
"Akira, I need you to scope out the surroundings. Make sure there aren't any hidden cameras or tracking devices. Even though we're off the grid, I don't trust that we're completely invisible. Saito can only do so much. This bunker had always been used by criminals... I already took a look, but it seems like you're the most expert one." Sakura said, with a bothered tone.
Akira nodded, her expression serious. "On it. I'll do a thorough sweep of the perimeter." She said, while beginning to scan every corner of that bunker.
"And Kai," Sakura said, turning her gaze to young man. "You need to stay sharp. No more hesitations. If anyone makes a move against us, you have to be ready. No mercy."
Kai blinked, surprised by the sudden intensity in Sakura's voice.
He swallowed hard but nodded.
"I-I understand," He stammered with his voice trembling slightly.
Kai then started to think.
Despite everything, Kai knew that Hina was ready to destroy the world for him.
It made him proud, but it also terrified him.
He didn't want her to become someone who had to fight for survival.
He wanted to protect her from that world, but now it seemed inevitable.
Sakura's gaze became more serious.
"You need to keep your head in the game. We can't afford any mistakes, especially now. The moment Haruto finds out we're closing in on him, he'll try to disappear for good." She said, with a firm tone.
Kai nodded, swallowing his own nerves.
He wanted to say a lot of things... to many things.
But the situation mixed with Sakura's firm orders were distracting him.
"I get it. But what if we run out of time? What if Yuki Nakamura finds us before we can get to Haruto?"
Sakura smiled with a cold, calculating smile that made the hairs on the back of Kai's neck stand up.
"Then we'll deal with her. She's not invincible, no matter what anyone says. If it comes down to it... we'll eliminate the threat." She said, with a malicious tone, similiar to Hina's.
Kai's stomach churned at the casual way she spoke about taking down one of the most feared important people of his country.
It was like none of this fazed her.
But then again, this was the world Sakura lived in—one of power struggles, deception, and violence.
As Akira prepared to head out and do her sweep of the bunker, Sakura grabbed another beer and threw it to Kai.
He barely caught it, fumbling for a moment before getting a grip.
"Relax," she said, leaning back against the wall. "You're too tense. We've got a little time to breathe. Use it wisely." She said with a smile.
Kai nodded absently but didn't open the beer.
His mind was still buzzing with everything that had happened.
He glanced over the door where Hina was, thinking about their future.
Then, after some minutes, Sakura finished another beer and threw it away.
"AHH! THIS BEER IS SO GOOD!" She said.
It looked like she was getting drunk.
She then looked at Kai, who still staring at the door with the unopened beer in his hands.
Sakura decided not to talk, not wanting to give Kai more pression.
But... he looked strange.
He still had adrenaline in his veins.
He wasn't totally relaxed.
It seemed like he was about to have a mental breakdown.
Then, Akira finally spoke.
"Well, I can assure you that there's nothing. We're not getting stalked. I controlled every possible place." She said.
"Good~" Sakura replied, with a satisfied tone of voice.
Then... Kai's eyes moved to the beer in his hands.
The cold feeling of metal in his hands was reminding him a bad memory.
His body started to tremble instinctively.
"W-What..." He whispered, while his head started to get dizzy.
"Kai? Are you okay?" Akira said, while getting close to him.
"..." Kai didn't answer. He didn't even heard Akira's voice.
Instead, his breathing became faster and he dropped the beer on the floor.
"What is... happening...?" He thought in his mind.
Then, the image of the man he killed appeared in his mind.
He suddenly remembered what he did.
He remembered the fact that he killed a person.
When he was running for his life, he didn't think about it...
But once he was "safe", his normal self returned.
Kai fell on his knees and grabbed his head while looking at the floor.
"it's not my fault... it's not my fault..." He whispered.
Meanwhile, Akira and Sakura walked closer to him, worried about what was happening.
"Kai??" Akira and Sakura said, while trying to get even closer to him.
In the same time, Hina and Yuna walked out from the room and noticed the young man almost falling on the floor.
Hina immediately leaned closer to him with a very worried tone of voice.
He lifted his head up and noticed that his eyes vere empty and his pupils were small.
It looked like he was totally separated from the real world.
Kai kept repeating the same phrase as before.
The images of him killing a man echoed in his mind milions of times in seconds.
He couldn't hear anyone speaking to him.
Instead, a distorded whistling sound echoed in his ears, becoming louder and louder until he lost his senses.
"KAI!" Hina shouted...