POINT OF VIEW : KOIHIME

The yellow dim light envisioned the café, with the arrival of the three men in black, it became even grimmer.

Iykos Meister…?

You can’t be serious! That’s the leader of Wolf, mafia who has been running behind the scene in Nagoya….!

Even the police department can’t put a leash on their collars…

Why would they come here….?

Whatever I am in, it’s messed up!

Being very cautiously reserved, I stood still behind Aki accompanied by Yuki. Meanwhile, Kano walked on quietly to guard the entrance.

Meister removed his hat and bowed imperceptibly, showing his Animalia ears and putting his hat on the table. Aki offered a glass and poured wines into it.

“Our best was smashed by some maniac, I hope this is good enough.” Said Aki.

Ups…. that maniac was probably meant by me.

Staring into the shiny glass, Meister replied with his raspy voice,

“I don’t mind.”

Then he took a sip and briefly glared at me and Yuki.

“—New girls?”

“Yeah.” Answered Aki.

Aside from me, Meister seemed to take a long glare at Yuki before shifting his sight towards Aki afterwards presenting a black suitcase

“A full payment as usual.” Said Meister.

Contradicted to what a normal guy would do, Aki made an eye contact with Kano at the entrance across the café instead. Shortly after that, Meister assured,

“Don’t worry, they don’t know I am here.”

“How are we going to be convinced with that? I’ve heard you were being attacked restlessly yesterday and you’re without doubt, their main concern at the moment.”

“I’ve created dummies before we departed, those were the diversion. As peace as it sounds right now, we can proceed accordingly.”

Satisfied by the explanation, Aki opened the suitcase and peeked inside it. At the same time, Meister took another sip.

“So, what’s up?” asked Aki as he closed the suitcase.

“There’s a family fiddling around our business lately.”

“And… that family is currently pushing Wolf at the corner?”

“Precisely. Have you heard a group called, Fortune Five Hundred? In short they were called F500.”

“Isn’t it the name of International rebellion group during the Great War? Weren’t they eliminated shortly after the peace congress was signed?”

“That was the rumors but, the remnants of the group returned out of nowhere. My first guess is that they weren’t completely annihilated.”

F500 is a rebellious group that opposed the peace conference planned by Japan, they gathered people around the world with the same mind and were plotting to assasinate the roots, Japan Imperial Family to stop the peace congress. History says that plot was prevented and peace was finally achieved. –That’s what I learnt from school.

What a disaster such lunatics still exist…..

Chi….

Meister took another sip as he eccentrically played with the glass before continuing,

“—Now they are messing with us.”

“Are you sure it’s just the ‘remnants’? It looks like an army trying to pursue you, seeing Wolf getting cornered this effortlessly, nonetheless.”

“That’s the problem.”

“—They are too powerful for simply being ghost returnees. To add something to the worst, we recently found out that their boss is… an Undead…”

“You can’t be?!”

“Ha…” Meister nodded.

“—Inaros.”

BAM!

My hands, without my living conscious, smashed the table.

Chi’s in danger……………….!

My vision blurred and blackened, and my hands throbbed, as my heart pounded excruciatingly.

What should I do……………..?!

If I don’t do something….! Chi might die……………!

No…..!

No…………..!

No…………………!!!

I gulped my saliva countless times, and my head was about to go blank.

But then,

“It’s alright, I’m sure Ichihime is sound and alive.”

I heard Aki’s gentle voice as he gave me a benign pet on the head, which brought me back to my sense.

My eyes gained its proper vision, seeing Aki’s smile, I somehow felt calmed.

“—Good.”

He then attended Meister back.

“—That bastard, he’s still alive huh…?” whispered Aki.

“We are not sure yet, but report says he looks like Inaros. Other gangs also have met and claimed that is indeed, the real Inaros.”

Knowing what a red alert this threat was, everyone couldn’t help but to sweat. Aki looked furious and worried, as he was biting his lips subconsciously, but at the same time he seemed thrilled, proven by the corner of his mouth getting quirked up.

“Any idea why you are being targeted in the first place?”

“An obvious thing comes into my mind, and you know it.”

“Whatever things you have in the Corolla?”

“True. During past few months, we discovered a book of ancient recipe at the excavation point where the Pyramid of Cleopatra collapsed. There are two things we managed to decipher from the ancient tongue.”

“—First, a method to embed one’s magic into a weapon. With this method, we created firearms that have equal or more tenacity than ordinary magic. This means, anyone may have magic-like firepower at his/her disposable without the needs to chant.”

“You do realize your creation can lead to another war?”

“Certainly we are aware of that. Rest assured, we aren’t fools to repeat the worthless repercussion, we merely want to use that to expand our domain.”

“Can’t you use that to push them away?”

“It’s just an untested prototype and we were attacked before we had the chance to test it out. Nevertheless, each of the assault led by Inaros…”

“I see… dealing with an Undead is tough. So, what’s the second one?”

Meister took a break for seconds and drank the whole wines. Responding to that, Aki poured another portions. Once his throat cleared, he continued.

“Say, what happens if everyone has his or her specifically strong regret?”

“Ummm….. Well, for starter, if we all die, we don’t, and will reincarnated as Undead. One way to achieve immortality I guess? Considering craving a strong regret is not an easy thing to get, it’s not something humanity should strive for.”

“Additionally, you will have no limitation in physical and magical strength.”

“Yeah, that’s one advantage of it –Use it until the end as if you want to end your life.”

“What if I told you there’s a technology that can instill regret in ones’ body that had been long forgotten?”

“Then everybody would….. --Wait, are you serious….?”

Meister nodded.

“It’s called “Regret Inducing Potion”, liquid made out of coded magic chanted in ancient tongue. If you drink it, followed by the other procedures, you can kill yourself and get reincarnated as Undead along with your ‘regrets’.”

“Heh…. Ohhhh….! I see, I see………!” Aki clapped between his hands.

“—That scum plans to create an Undead army. With those devastating manpower, starting a war is mere a child play! ….Though…. this is no laughing matter…..”

An army of Undead….?

I’ve never seen or fought one before but people say they are dangerous and strong kind.

Who knows what an army of lunatics in Undead-form is capable of….

“Our deduction came to the same exit. This is why I am here, I need you to be my bodyguard. This morning at 2, Inaros agreed to trade hostages with the prototype and the potion.”

“Hostages?”

“The missing Elves, they’re the one who had been kidnapping them. Our Elves are all prodigy in magical research involved in creating the ancient technology –Probably the very reason they were kidnapped in the first place.”

“—Though, they can’t proceed since they don’t have the ancient recipe book.”

“Not a favorable situation for us….And where’s the book?”

“I burnt it…. We can’t afford to expose anymore vulnerability.”

“Hmmm……I’m not really into this trade, do you really think Inaros will play this clean?”

“Me neither, he definitely plays thing dirty neglecting his second thought. The same reason why I asked you to safeguard the prototype, they can’t move around so casually during the day since their leader is an Undead.”

“So, I expect you have plan to confront this, aren’t you?”

Suspiciously avoiding the subject, Meister looked at his watch.

1.04 a.m.

“It’s almost time, I’ll tell you while we’re on the way there.”

“Alright. Let me drive the Corolla with you and follow your subordinates to the meeting place.”

Meister made a nod of agreement, putting on his hat and stood up.

“—Yuki, I guess you can leap around the convoy for watches?”

“Okay.” Replied Yuki as she was progressively leaving the café.

“And for my beloved girlfriend…” Aki took something out of his pocket and threw at me.

I caught it. It looked some sort of remote with a horse emblem, like a wireless key.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Key to my babe in the garage, give it to Kano.”

Your babe….?

Isn’t it just a car….?

“Ha… Sure….”

“Good, let’s go.”

We all left the café and I specifically, met up with Kano and handed over the key to her. Thereafter, we went to the garage to catch Aki’s ‘babe’ and rendezvous with him, and Meister’s subordinates on the road to start a convoy. Meister’s men led the convoy, followed up with Aki in the middle and we were in charge to guard the rear.

In the car, Kano was driving despite being the minimum age to do so.

I wonder if she has real driving license?

“What’s with this lavish-looking ride?” I asked, sitting properly on the passenger side.

“One of Aki’s favourite, he picked up last year.”

The car looked very sophisticated, the dashboard was modernized in black, sleek and comfortable leather seat, a large screen LCD in the middle and other cool stuffs I hadn’t discovered.

“Heahh…. Aki has this kind of hobby…. Is this the reason he’s opened a workshop?”

“Sort of, he said ridiculous thing like ‘This is the very definition of beauty!’ and bought it on the spot –Cash.”

“Oh wow, isn’t it expensive? If not, to me it looks expensive.”

“Well… I think it was around 4 million…?”

….!

Yes, I’m dating a rich man!

“—By the way, can you open the dashboard near your feet and take a wireless earpiece.”

I did what Kano asked and found a thing I wasn’t familiar with.

“An earphone?”

“A way for us to communicate. I’ve already set it up for you, you only need to push the big button to open the channel, and talk. It’ll connect to me, Aki, and Yuki simultaneously.”

“I understand. So, where are we going?” I asked as I put on the earpiece.

“Received the info from Aki and we’ll be going to an old abandoned factory in Alchi Perfecture.”

And so, we arrived at the destination. Kano unlocked the trunk and took out a sniper rifle and other guns. At least everything I saw, she held no melee weapon.

“Ow… you guys really have so much unusual things on your hand…” I spoke, the same time I felt a little bit clunky.

Kano chuckled, then said,

“You’ll have to situate yourself around us, this what we will do most of the time to make more money.”

“—I’m going to watch out around the area, you go with Aki during the meeting. Remember, your job is to protect Iykos Meister no matter what.”

“Eww…. I’m protecting that mafia? I hope you’re joking.”

“Sadly I’m not. You’ll get used to it. Well, if you can’t avoid to feel mainly disgusted doing this job, just consider it you’re helping Aki to survive.”

“…Ah…. That’ll do….”

“Thanks, good luck.”

We both went our separate path, whilst Kano took a long road around the factory, I straightaway joint Aki who was walking with Meister into the entrance. Meister was bringing a suitcase and Aki was holding his wrapped Excalibur. My eyes caught the interest to see the huge building and while on it, I saw Yuki was scouting on the rooftop, relishing under the moonlight.

Looks like the wolf of the moon….

It was pitch dark, but once our step surpassed the entrance, the whole factory lighted up.

“Welcome, Iykos Meister.” A very screeching voice echoed the factory.

A flash of light banged prior showing a group of eerie people. There was a preeminent person in the most front, attended by a person in mask next to him, and a countable amount of escorts at the rear.

So… that’s Inaros….?

He had skinny body, a crippled skin and dark eyes indicating his Undead form, wearing a black jacket paired with black jeans. Apart from the gruesome leader, the escorts at the back didn’t fail to stimulate the ominous situation…. Especially the guy in the mask.

“Inaros…. Finally I get to see you. Isn’t it a handful of reinforcement back there?”

Smirked, Meister tried to tense things up.

“You too…. What a surprising idea to hire a dangerous hitman…. Isn’t it right?---“

Inaros glared ferociously at Aki.

“—Hiroaki Kuznetsoz.”

“Heh, no worries. I’m not some shithead lunatic murderer like you.”

Smiled mischievously evil, they both traded a cold stare.

They looked like they had known each other quite a while….

Wait, what does that mean?

Does have Aki has anything to do with that freak….?

I know he is some sort of dangerous guy, but…. Is he crazy too, unbeknownst to me?

History states that Inaros and his gang had slaughtered hundred to thousand innocent people during their operation….

I hope he is not one of them….

After some time, Inaros suddenly had her eyes on me. Noticing his odd behavior, Aki asserted,

“If you’d plan anything on her, you better think twice. She’s not someone to take on easily.”

“…Oh….. I see…. She’s an important person to you….”

Huh…?

“Back to the subject, I expect you brought our Elves just as promised.” Said Meister.

“Of course! We’ll release them as soon as you hand over the prototype.”

“We trade at the same time, period.”

“Didn’t I tell you? You’ll get them as soon as I get the prototype.”

“I’m seeing no benefits here to hand over the prototype to you.”

The guy in mask approached Inaros and whispered something. Maintaining his posture, Inaros continued.

“Alright, we’ll do this together. I’ll bring the hostages.”

“….”

“He’s lying.” Whispered Aki to Meister.

“I know.” Replied Meister.

Fizz*

Incoming radio wave.

“Aki, something is on this way.” -Kano