[Shin and Hannah]

"Who are you?!"

"Does it matter? You're gonna have to become hostages anyway. Ah, by the way, we weren't given any strict orders, so if you're too troublesome, we can kill you, you know?" he winked.

Shin's senses tingled. And he knew this was serious. But more importantly… that hoarse voice really didn't suit his carefree attitude. So much, that Shin was actually disgusted to some degree.

And he reflexively swung his sword.

Naturally, those men flinched and took defensive positions. All of them expected to be hit by the same thing as Shin expected to dish out: a ranged slash attack.

But nothing happened.

"Eh?"

"Eh???"

Both sides were equally perplexed. Forget a lightning slash, not even the wind from the swing reached them with damage dealing intensity. No, it was more like a light breeze.

"You asshole! Don't scare me like that!" the man dashed forward and punched Shin away.

The dormant sword hadn't activated. But that didn't stop Shin. He tried once more. Not a ranged attack, but a melee one.

But, the attack was blocked as the man took out his… rapier?

This added further inconsistencies to his appearance. His voice, his looks, his attitude, his weapon. Nothing matched. Some might even cringe if they saw it.

Oh right, and Shin's sword didn't activate this time either. No matter how much he poured in his Natura, it wasn't working.

It was strange. There was no problem with the synchro rate, neither was there an issue with his material affinity. So then, why?

"Why isn't it activating?! I don't understand!" he clicked his tongue in frustration.

"Looks like you're having trouble with your weapon. Didn't you test out the synchro rate? Well, it's not like you could've won either way though," the man said as he continued 'elegantly' parrying Shin's attacks.

What a blunder. Although not showing it, Shin wanted to act a little cool with his new weapon. He wanted to try it out in front of his friends at first, but it seemed like he wouldn't get that chance.

The only other explanations for it not working were either, it was a dud, or it was because he was still inexperienced with Material Natura. The former was highly unlikely, leaving only the last possibility.

But if that was the case, it was even more frustrating for Shin. Failure was not because he and his weapon weren't meant for each other, but that it was his own lack of abilities that was pulling him down. Quite humiliating.

"Stop spacing out, dammit!" shouted a follower as he intercepted in between and was about to strike Shin.

"Hey, did you forget that I was here, too?" Hannah also jumped in and kicked the man's arm away.

"Hannah C. Rose. We know all about you," said a second follower, "Acting against us, don't think you will leave unscathed!"

"Don't screw around with me! Attacking us in broad daylight in our city like this. You're the offenders here! Don't underestimate Rose's networks! I'll find out who you and your leader are and send you to prison!"

"Hmph, someone with clean hands such as yourself can't even dare to step into the underworld, let alone imprison us. If it was your father, I might've believed it though."

Hannah clicked her tongue. It was true that her father was a powerful figure, but she did not like to be compared to him.

In between these exchange of words, Shin was beginning to get angry.

"Dammit! C'mon, work! Work for me, please! Please, please....." he thought, and, "WORK, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!!!"

Then suddenly, the dormant sword began vibrating violently. The blade glowed brighter and brighter. The sword… had finally activated.

However, it began moving on its own and controlled the held hand. It thrashed about until electrical shocks connected it and nearby appliances like streetlights and cars. And by a violent circular movement, it sent out electrical shock-waves that cut through the assailants.

Cut? Did it really cut? The shockwave seemed to pass right through them, but their clothes were slashed at the regions of contact. But rather than cut, it had burnt through. And it was from this day, that these men would have to bear the humiliations of suffering new scars on their bodies.

"Kyaaa!" Hannah shrieked, reflexively bending down to protect herself. Fortunately, the slash hadn't landed on her.

Yes, it was fortunate. Because, even amidst Shin losing complete reign over his arm, he tried his best not to hit her. And this was when Shin realised… that this weapon… was dangerous.

Not only did the weapon go out of control, but it basically took over Shin's energy circulation systems. Meaning, Shin couldn't even control how much energy was being sent into the sword anymore.

"Shit! Did it… absorb all my energy on its own?!" he panted, and finally fell to the ground.

"Shin! Shin, what happened?! Are you okay?! Shin!" shouted a panicking Hannah running towards him.

Thus concluded the two's encounter with these unknown assaulters.

[Yukio and Marvin]

"Eh? Who are these guys? They know about me?" the confused Yukio thought.

Marvin on the other hand was cautious. These weren't simple street performers. He looked at their attire and badges and concluded that these men were the real deal. They were, or at least they were part of, some big shots.

"You got any business with us?" he asked.

"S-shut up, brat! J-just be quiet and surrender yourselves, s-so nothing would have to turn ugly!" the thin one said.

"Ugh, I really wanna go and eat…" the fat one complained.

"Eh? An act? Hey Marvin, is this one of those street acts where they surprise you by making you think you're really in trouble but in the end they tell you it was just a play?" he excitedly asked.

"Just what kind of act is that!" Marvin jabbed at him.

But after the last exchange of words, Marvin too began to doubt if they were actual thugs. Compared to his uncle, their appearance and manner of speech was terribly underwhelming. Even Stanley felt stronger than these guys.

"Alright, then! I'll play along with you! Let's do this!" Yukio took on a fighting stance.

"W-w-w-wait just a minute, alright! Let's not get hasty! Let's settle this peacefully, okay? E-e-even if you're weaker than that fire using boy, we're still stronger than you, you know? You don't want to get hurt, right?"

"Eh?" Yukio let out a confused sound. Well, it was more awkward than confusing.

Marvin couldn't take it anymore. These two were clearly complete novices who hadn't been sent out to any other missions before. They absolutely had nothing to worry about.

In a small corner of his heart, he was slightly happy when he thought of being attacked by real goons, regardless of the reason. His dream was to fight alongside his cousin, maybe even become stronger than her. So he thought maybe he could get some degree of acknowledgement if he was able to hold his own against real attacks.

But this was truly disappointing.

"Yukio bro, I'll let you handle these guys…"

"Ah! You mean it?! The hidden cameras won't be able to see you in action, though!"

"He still thinks it's an act? Ah, whatever…" he thought, "Yeah, it's fine. Finish it quickly, okay? You don't like hurting and stuff, right?"

"Yup! Got it!"

"H-hey, brat! You underestimating us?! We know you don't know what your Material is yet! And this guy just barely started to use it! You're practically the weakest among the gang!" the thin one blabbered on.

"I don't like fighting much, but…" Yukio quickly dashed in front of him, "Pretty sure you're not supposed to talk so much when facing someone, right?"

"So fast!" he thought, and just as he was about to do something, a gush of water pushed him from behind.

Yes, it was Yukio's doing. Thankfully, it had rained the previous day, so there were puddles here and there. He didn't know how to do advanced movements with water yet, so this was the least he could do.

And just as the thin man was launched forward, Yukio landed a straight kick on his abdomen with full force! Although he used his full strength, Yukio wasn't really that strong to begin with.

"Guhwoh!!" he let out as his mouth curled up and eyes opened wide due to the force of the kick. "What… the…" was what all he could think before he was sent flying wayyy back.

Repeat: Yukio was not that strong. Neither was he skilled enough, yet.

However, he was definitely smart. The gush of water was not meant to do damage, nor was it meant to take him by surprise. It was a setup to make his kick take full effect. Since the man's body was made to project towards him, he would face more damage than the kick itself was meant to deliver.

And this worked much better than what Yukio thought, "Oops, I guess I put too much into it!"

"O-ohh noo! W-what have you done! I'll kill you!" the fat man said with his deep voice and pointed his gun at him.

"Be careful! That's a real gun!" Marvin yelled.

Even if these guys were amateurs, a gun was a gun. Shooting at point blank range would definitely end him.

But the playful Yukio didn't hear it. Rather, he already took countermeasures. The instant the man put his finger on the trigger, he manipulated small collections of water that were near his feet to shoot up at the man's wrist and hand.

Just like a moment ago, Yukio was smart. And good in studies. He knew which muscles were used for different kinds of movement. And thus, shooting them at the right places, made the man lose his grip, allowing Yukio to finally strike the gun off of his hand.

"U-u-uhh…" he stuttered as he took a few steps back, sweating. Making an incredibly frustrated look and clicking his tongue, he ran towards his partner's aid.

"Eh? That's it? Not even a 'You better remember this!' before leaving?" Yukio disappointingly said, "At least tell me when I can see the tape of me in action!" and called out to the man who was already a considerable distance away.

But of course, he got no answer, and so walked back to Marvin, slightly sulking. Thus ended the comedic 'battle' between Yukio and Hisao's hired men.

[Claude]

"Y-you bastard! Weren't you just a normal Natura user?!"

"Wait, those marks… I've seen them before, but… this doesn't make sense! Why is someone like you here?!"

The only two men remaining conscious, lay on the floor, cowering in fear. The dreadful sight of multiple bodies scattered around in the area would bring uneasiness to anybody who came near them.

Luckily, this wasn't a place where people often walked through, so the men thought it was perfect for an uninterrupted assault.

But in this case, they actually would've been lucky if people were there to stop them. That was the realization these two had, in front of the only man standing.

"Huh, if you know what these marks mean, then you guys aren't small fries, are you? But it seems you lack training…" the source of their fear took a step towards them.

"H-hiiii!!!" the man shrieked, "P-please spare us! We didn't mean to attack you for our own reasons! We were just hired by the man who has business with the white haired girl!"

"T-that's right! A-apparently she had a bunch of kids guarding her now, so since you were involved with them, we assumed that—"

"HAH?!" the man, Claude, exclaimed with disgust, rendering the two men silent, "Aren't you guys way too sucky at observing?! Did I really look so chummy with those pieces of shits, huh?! Is that the inference you got from that fight?!!!

Listen up, you useless faggots!" and he stepped on one of the men's arm, "Don't you dare lump me up with them! I don't give a shit about what's going on with them! I'm in a REALLY bad mood, so if I hear something like that again, I swear, I will fuck you up so bad that you'll WISH you weren't born a human!!! YOU GOT THAT?!!!"

Crack!

"AAARGHH! Y-YES, I UNDERSTAND!!!" he tried his best to withstand the pain.

"Now get outta my face and never show yourselves to me again!" Claude kicked him away.

And thus concluded Claude's encounter with Hisao's contractors.

The two men trudgingly tried to help as many of their comrades back into their cars as possible. The minute few who managed to regain consciousness in this time knew immediately that their mission was over. They didn't even dare to ask what had happened and simply walked back into their respective vehicles.

Just then, quite some distance away, in another part of the city, a huge fire pillar, almost forty to fifty meters tall, erupted.

The men were too busy retreating to care about it, but Claude noticed it.

"What…" his curiosity rose.

[Yukio and Marvin]

It was the same on their end. They exited the store and were greeted with the fire pillar from somewhere in the city.

"Whoaaa! What the heck is that?!!!" shouted Yukio in amazement. The people around had the very same reactions.

"Marvin! Yukio!" they heard a familiar female voice as a limousine approached them at top speed, "Quick! Get in!"

"Sis, what happened?!" Marvin asked as they entered.

"I'll explain later. I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Whoa, Shin! You okay?"

"Y-yeah… just a little exhausted…"