Chapter 186: It's Showtime.

The bus continued with Haru sleeping along with the rear seats. Shadows and silhouettes bounced off his sleeping face making whoever saw him wonder how someone could sleep within that array of flashing lights. But it wasn't even a bother for him.

He was sleeping so deeply that by the time the bus pulled up to the service station just before it hit ten PM the man who he had tasked with waking him up had the physically shake his body just to get him to open his eyes.

"Sir, It's time to wake up now. We have arrived at the first stop." The man insisted on waking Haru so he wouldn't miss the chance to go to the bathroom before they set off again.

Haru opened his eyes to see that the interior lights inside the bus had been turned on and everything was illuminated. The only people on the bus now were Haru and the man with glasses he had asked to wake him up.

"I'm sorry I was having a nice dream and didn't want to wake up." Haru yawned as he apologised to the man with a now frustrated look on his face like his time had been wasted.

The man just nodded his head and then got off the bus as fast as he could. From what Haru knew. They would stop for twenty minutes to give everyone enough time to go to the bathroom and get some food and that was exactly what he had planned to do.

He followed the man with glasses as they both appeared to have the same idea and then went to the bathroom. As he came back out the man with glasses was waiting for him.

"I'm sorry about before. I thought I wouldn't be able to hold it in so I didn't want to waste time talking to you. What is your name?" The man with glasses asked as Haru finished washing his hands.

"It's fine. I can understand that. Thanks for waking me up. My name's Haru Kitagawa. What's yours?" Haru asked him. As he got a closer look at his face the man seemed to be in his early twenties. He had a clean-shaven face but oily looking skin like he hadn't showered for a few days.

"Don't mention it. My name is Ryan Chen." The man with glasses introduced himself. Before they both started walking to the fast-food chain that was within the service station.

"Ryan Chen? Are you a foreigner too?" Haru asked. He hadn't met many foreigners since he had come to China so he felt somewhat of a connection with him.

"Yeah, My mother is Chinese but we moved to Singapore with my Australian father when I was just a kid. But I ended up coming back here for work. What about you? Your name is Japanese right? How did you end up here?" Ryan asked before they both joined the line to the restaurant.

"Me? Well, I went to Shenzhen to live with my uncle about four years ago. And then I moved to Shanghai to go to university. What do you work as?" Haru explained how he ended up in China and then asked him a personal question.

Ryan hesitated before answering Haru's question.

"Have you heard of the Lan Organisation from Beijing? I'm an intern there. I just got a few weeks off work to spend time with my family but now I have to go back. They offered to pay for a plane ticket to get me back to work sooner but I'm afraid of heights." Ryan laughed at his confession of being scared of heights and then looked up at the menu on the wall to change the subject.

"What should I get? I wonder… Say Haru, What do you usually get from here?" He asked and then looked back at Haru who was also entranced by the menu. He didn't know what to pick either.

"I'm not sure. I haven't come here before. But I will probably go with a chicken rice box. That sounds pretty good." Haru said and then began to pull out his wallet as it was coming up to his turn to order.

Ryan lowered Haru's hand and then smiled before pulling out a stack of cash.

"It's on me. Let me treat my new friend okay?" Ryan said with sincerity before walking up to the counter before Haru could even say anything and then coming back with two chicken rice boxes as Haru suggested.

"You didn't have to do that you know? I have money of my own." Haru felt kind of strange letting a stranger buy him food but he wasn't overly offended. He seemed like a nice guy and did it out of kindness.

"I know. But I wanted to. They then both walked over to an empty table and sat down.

As they both sat down Ryan took off his glasses and placed them in his inside pocket before opening the steaming tray of rice that would have fogged them up if he didn't remove them.

"You don't need your glasses to see?" Haru asked curiously. Most of the time people who wore glasses wouldn't take them off to eat so he found it a little strange.

"No, not at all. They are just for work. I have trouble looking at bright lights for a long time. It gives me migraines so they help filter out some of the light so I can focus. It would have been hard this job if I needed to wear glasses." Ryan said casually.

"Is that so?" Haru said softly before opening up his tray of rice and feeling the steam rise up to his chin. They talked for a few minutes while they ate and then both got up with time to spare to make it back to the bus. As they boarded once again everyone else was already there. It seemed like they were waiting for the two of them to get back.

"About time…" One of the men sat toward the front of the bus said which got a giggle out of the woman that was sat next to him. Ryan sighed slightly before walking ahead of Haru with his head slightly down and sitting down in the same seat he was sat in before.

Haru looked at him for a moment and then asked.

"Hey wanna come to sit up here with me? I could use the company." He asked Ryan who then looked up to a man who was sat at the very front of the bus with a scar on his face smiled slightly and nodded, giving permission for him to do so.

Haru pretended not to see anything but he had used his spiritual essence this whole time to keep an eye on every single one of them. There was nothing that could happen on the bus without Haru knowing about it first.

Ryan then stood up from his seat.

"Sure, Why not. I finished most of my work so far. I don't mind taking a little break." He said and then walked to the back of the bus with Haru were then talked for a few more hours until Ryan passed out against the window.

The bus continued on throughout the night with the drivers pulling over halfway through to switch so one of them could take a nap.

Most of the people on the bus were sleeping but they were all clutching their metal briefcases or at least had them nearby. And the same was true for Ryan. After he had stood up from his seat he picked up a metal briefcase before going to sit with Haru.

'They probably have weapons inside right?' Haru thought before using his spiritual sense to penetrate the hard case a bit like an x-ray machine and peered into what was within. He saw the faint outline of a gun in his head but it looked weird to him.

It wasn't a regular gun. It looked more like the guns that the military would use. But they required mana to use.

'Are they all military mages? Then what in the world are they doing protecting two children? Shouldn't they be stationed at guard posts somewhere?… But then again. They don't really act like the military. Sure they have an obvious leader but they are acting like civilians…

Which means they are either private military contractors. Or a highly undercover special forces unit?' Haru came to a quick conclusion about the people he was on the bus with. He hadn't worked with PMC's before but he knew that they didn't tend to work in big groups like this unless the government had hired them.

Which would explain the lack of professionalism in the way they acted when they first saw Haru. It was like they thought he was a threat to them since he was an unforeseen variable. They all panicked. If they were special forces then they would have just ignored him and kept to their objective like the man with a scar on his face.

Haru sat still contemplating who exactly they were when a loud bang shook the whole bus as it skidded across the road. Even the soundproofing couldn't hide the sounds of tires scratching against the road as they went off course before another loud bang emerged from the other side of the bus as it ploughed its way through multiple trees before coming to a sudden stop after throwing everyone from their seats.

'Its showtime. I guess I will find out who these guys are in just a few minutes.' Haru thought with a smirk before looking over at Ryan to see if he was okay.