Hijiri felt bitter. From the looks of it these two gaijin were serious in making her part of them. Then again it’s the Babaika Company! What serious luck! But they are also dangerous… not to mention… fighting the Ahra Cult is a serious thing!

Hijiri wanted to ask, but the look that the gaijin kept on giving her was worrying. Not that she minded since the two were quite a looker. There was always something about those that came from Europe that made her feel odd. Then again, they were far nicer than the Europeans she had met lately. My gals wouldn’t believe me if I said this. Still, accepting this means that I’ll get in the sights of the Cultists… not that they’d stop now.

“Hardy-san, if I may ask.”

He stretched his left hand out. Hijiri squealed at the sudden action that was followed by the glasses breaking. She froze. Only seeing the arrow caught narrowly by the Hardy-san.

“Bondat, Janna. These guys aren’t easy to deal with.”

“Told you. These guys are paranoid and it was obvious and easy to tell that they have eyes everywhere,” she shook off the glasses that were stabbed on their bioshield generator. “Are you fine, Missy?”

“I-am fine,” Hijiri stammered. “But what happened?”

“What do you expect?”

A half-mask was deployed around Hardy-san’s mouth. His fists augmented with this exoskeleton. Hijiri thought he’d use that pistol on his holster, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Panic came to the café. The beauty who was with Hardy-san shouted something in the local language. The security doors were deployed.

Hijiri found it strange that Hardy-san was alone while the beauty watched.

“M-miss… is it okay for you to be here?”

“It’s fine, Gato will take care of it. These cultists wouldn’t mind killing everyone inside this café to achieve their goal. I’m here to make sure that you are safe. Don’t be disobedient, that’s all.”

Hijiri nodded. The miss thumped her head with her gloved hand. “I’m Janna Lucas, you’ll be alright, Hijiri? Or do you want me to call you Kathy?”

“P-please call me whatever you want.”

“It’s Hijiri then,” Lucas-san told the café to keep the surveillance camera pointed outside of the café. Lucas-san told everyone to keep a low profile and stay behind the bio-shield grid.

Behind the café, Hardy-san was fighting two assailants. One of the assailants was keeping a distance, firing this stony arrow while the other assailant was assaulting Hardy-san.

“W-will he be okay?”

“Don’t worry too much,” Lucas-san said.

At the same time Hardy-san started moving at high speed. He grabbed the stony arrow and then threw it on the incoming arrow. The multi-functional weapon that the one engaging Hardy-san was a spear. The assaulter tried to stab Hardy-san, but he caught it, then slammed his knee on the body of the spear, splitting the spear in half. Before the assaulter could move away. Hardy-san grabbed him, made use of him as a shield and then took a eleven foot leap and slammed the assailant on the ground, before making a pounce towards the remaining enemy.

Every step that Hardy-san made created a force that broke the concrete road. Before he could arrive at the assailant there were two explosions sounds that broke the air. It made Hardy-san take cover for a moment before rushing towards the one firing the arrows. Faster than his first sprint.

Hijiri did not see the result of the attack. But from the way the assaulter flew like a ragdoll. Hijiri guessed that it took one shot. Hardy-san tried going after the ones who shot him, but he was shot with a smoke canister that was followed by another shot. Hardy-san lobbed the canister away, and then hastily defended against the shot with his bioshield.

He remained stationary while preparing for the next shot that didn’t come. From the looks of it the two had escaped after witnessing the two go down. Hardy-san stayed vigilant for a few minutes before leaping back to the front of the café.

Lucas-san gestured for the safety doors before telling Hijiri to get out. Hardy-san retracted his mask before his exoskeleton returned back to his suit. Hardy-san stared.

“Looks like contacting you in a public location was asking for it,” Hardy-san offered a bow of apology.

“N-no, it’s not something you should apologize to.”

“No. This is a mistake. But our offer remains and from the looks of it, we have forced you into a corner.”

Hijiri forced a smile. It felt like an offer she couldn’t refuse any longer. And even if she does, the fact that they were already looking for her made Hijiri anxious. There was always something awful about these fanatics who are looking for excuses to get rid anyone who even tied their names

And this is what I get for trying to write about schizos! Hijiri shuddered. She approached Lucas-san while holding on to her left arm. “Are you two going to guard me?”

“Janna will,” Gaston said. “As you can see. I’m more of an affiliate that focuses more on dealing with clients.”

Hijiri frowned. It sounded like nonsense to her, but looking at Miss Janna and Hardy-san made it quite clear who was far equipped. It didn’t take much to figure out who had defensive qualities. It didn’t stop Hijiri from thinking about wanting to acquire their protection nonetheless.

“What a mess,” Hijiri muttered. She couldn’t believe that one article would pave the way into this kind of trouble. And from the looks of it she gathered the attention of a group that wanted her dead for one single article.

“Again, we will do our best to compensate you. However, since you have the skills, you will be employed as an operator for the Babaika Company. Are you a breaker?”

“No, I’m just human.”

Gaston nodded. He pressed on his earpiece. “Bridge, this is Adjutant Gaston Hardy. Do you copy?”

“Umm, Ms. Lucas.”

“Call me Janna, please. You’re doing better than expected, Ms. Hijiri. Must be used to this kind of scene. Drone work?”

“Yes, I was employed two months ago, but the group I was working on suffered casualties in Tenryū Ward’s storming event.”

“I see. For now,” she placed her two-handed sword on her shoulder, “guess you should worry about your standard. Hmm, the Babaika Lions have Japanese employees so it shouldn’t be too hard to mingle with them."

"Thank you, Janna.”

“Well, we made quite a mess of your life. Then again, you don’t look that bothered about it,” Janna-san holstered her MF-weapon. Hardy-san walked back and then operated his bracer.

“Miss Kathy Matsui, you will be written a contract once you reach the battle-carrier of the Babaika Lions.”

There was an implosion of air. Hijiri looked up and saw a shuttle-class split-realm ship appear. The back of the shuttle opened and a crew member was signaling them. The shuttle marked a designated landing spot. Two suppressers came out and hurried to the body of the cultist while the rest secured the landing spot. It wasn't long before the JSDF appeared on the scene alongside the local police. Hijiri gave her testimony of what happened along with the three before leaving the area.

“That was not nice,” Hijiri commented.

“Well, it can’t be helped. We might be hired by the country, but we are still foreigners operating in this land. We play by their rules as long as they don’t interfere with the activities of the Babaika Lions.”

“I don’t see the chains on your shoulders?”

“We’re only hired by the Babaika Lions. We are acting as their Adjutants, and aren’t official members,” Hardy-san explained. “Don’t worry, even if we aren’t you will be given proper employment. From the start, it was us who recommended you because of our findings after following your article.”

“I see.”

“Don’t worry,” Janna-san said. “You have skills so it shouldn’t be a problem. Your worry right now should be the grudge of the cultist… We are grasping straws with you after all.”

“That doesn’t make it better…”

“This was my idea in the first place,” Hardy-san said. He remained indifferent as he checked on information with the AR-module. It took quite a while before the shuttle jumped into the otherside of the split-realm. The loss of gravity, the disorientation, and the sixty second blindness. It felt like an eternity to Hijiri while the rest of the people inside the shuttle didn’t look alarmed as the shuttle got out of the split-realm’s otherside.

The implosion of air made the shuttle feel like it was being suppressed before it continued flying to its destination. From the external camera outside of the shuttle, Hijiri saw the flying carrier of the Babaika lions that had revealed itself.

“Helicarrier, Cecil. To think that it really was in Japan!”

The reason the Babaika Lions rose to fame immediately was because of the helicarrier that appeared on the Balkan peninsula, creating the same saturation process like the one that happened in Tenryū Ward recently.

Hijiri’s life was upturned.

“I’m never going to shitpost again,” Hijiri swore to herself as she followed the duo out of the shuttle.

***

Gaston shook his hand.

“Doing fine?”

“Pretty well,” Gaston replied.

“That was something. To think they made you stop.”

“Anti-material rifles hits like a bitch. Have to defend against them unless you want to blow an arm. Not to mention they were enchanted by recent ‘spells’ going around the market.”

“Ah, guess what we have right can really be called magic now, eh?”

“Sufficiently understood… yes, but because of these sparticles that we are able to do so much. Seriously, do you really not want an upgrade?”

“Why would I? My pistol and blade still work well. I doubt I can find anything that wouldn’t cost us millions. Hey, besides, you know how I hate fighting.”

Janna nodded. She leaned closed. “About the black-hat. You think she’d help?”

“Miss Matsui is experienced. Also, she wasn’t that bothered about the events. If anything, it might have been her advertisement of her abilities. Methods like these are unpopular, but are quite effective.”

“Ah, it did sound familiar. How she got people to look. Then again, she could have discovered it by accident and decided to write an article about it. From the looks of it, she wrote it before the abduction of the behemoth.”

“Feeding grounds possibly?”

“Could be. We don’t know anything about them other than they are tight and secretive. If we had known anything about them, we wouldn’t be grasping at straws with Hijiri'.”

“True. Anyway, from the looks of it we’d just have to follow the other trail.”

“You explained it to the Lady.”

Gaston nodded. They went to the office of the Lady Romanov who was waiting for them in her office located deep in the helicarrier. Waiting for them was Lady Romanov and the Red Valkyrie herself who was staring daggers at Janna.

Gaston strode in front of Lady Romanov’s desk. Standing straight, squared shoulders, and hands behind his back. His eyes did not move away from the lioness’s gaze.

“A black-hat hacker? Hmm, she’s quite lucky to have come up with this. We were lacking experienced hackers so she might be useful. Of course, she will undergo some ‘questioning’ first before we hand over some of our systems.”

“That is understandable. However, we need her for the lead.”

“This is grasping straws. But it is amusing because it gave us quite coverage, so I’ll allow this.”

“Any information that you may provide will be helpful.”

She leaned back on her chair’s backrest. “Information these days causes millions and information regarding the cult is within the price range of a billion dollars.”

“Is that so?”

Lady Romanov smiled, “Ah, it looks like you’ve got an idea.”

“Not really,” Gaston stared back.

“Adjutant Gaston. One thing is trying to find anything about the Sitra Ahra Cult, but trying to target them is one thing. I’ve an idea on what you can do, but this is a new force that is akin to what we call ‘magic’ in this world of ours. You saw how they manipulated the split-realm themselves to abduct what is ours.”

“Madam, if you have known anything about our dossier, then you know that we don't exactly follow the normal rules as well. That’s why you bought our debt in the first place.”

Gaston leaned forward. Lady Romanov leaned forward, matching Gaston’s glare. “That’s why I needed to have you two. You have my blessing, Gaston Hardy,” she craned her head to Janna. “And what about you, Miss Janna?”

“I’ll be watching Hijiri’s back. You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all. I always adore having beautiful valkyries around me.”

“Gato,” Janna said. “Be careful. I’ll try to keep Hijiri alive so make sure to find some clues.”

“Aneu amb compte, Janna.”

“I’ll be careful, Gato.”

Gaston nodded at her before leaving the office. Acquiring someone like Hijiri was merely to buy time. What Gaston needed the most was to follow whatever happened to Constable Yu.