Translator: Athena13
Editor: Silavin
Proofreader: p4553r
Akira spent his day in Sheryl’s private room again.
They decided to stop selling relics for the time being. The room that they used to sell relics was in ruins after the fight, so they were in no situation to sell relics anyway. Not to mention, many of the relics were destroyed during the fight, it might take some time before they reopened the shop.
Akira had been visiting the base regularly lately, but it was originally in order to guard the shop. And now that the shop was closed, he actually had no real reason to come to the base.
But even so, that day, Akira was in Sheryl’s private room, he was there to calm her down. Sheryl was still traumatized after the shoot out inside her base.
Akira was alone in Sheryl’s room, Sheryl herself was in another room, teaching some of the members how to read and write.
But it was not like he was not doing anything, Alpha was teaching him stuff and he sometimes played that game from before, which also served as training too.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened, it was Alicia and Erio.
“If you’re looking for Sheryl, she’s not here. I think she’s teaching in the other room.”
Erio and Alicia looked at each other, their expressions were saying that they had made their resolve. After that, Erio firmly said to Akira.
“No, we have something we want to ask you.”
“Me? What is it?”
Erio then said to Akira with a serious face.
“Can you please train us?”
After talking about the details, it seemed that Erio wanted Akira to train them so that if another fight happened in the base just like last time, they could at least put up some resistance.
Erio and Alicia believed that training others would be an easy thing for someone as strong as Akira.
But of course, that was not exactly the case for Akira. Right when he thought about refusing it thinking that it was too much of work for him, Alpha suddenly interjected.
“I won’t force you, but if you’re okay either way, it might be a good idea to accept it, you know?”
Akira a.s.sumed that Alpha would be against it, so it was strange for Alpha to say that.
“…I don’t mind if you say so, but why?”
“If these guys can protect themselves, there won’t be any need for you to be here anymore.”
Although it was very unlikely, it was a precautionary step. In case Akira decided to come there regularly because he’s worried about Sheryl.
If Sheryl’s gang got stronger, it would reduce the burden on Akira. If they learned how to fight, Akira might be able to find a use for them. And with them under control, it would reduce the possibility of them affecting his decision like Sara and Elena, and he would not always need to accompany them to hunt for relics. That way, Alpha thought if something were to happen, it would be easier for Akira to just abandon them when needed.
“Moreover, it’ll be good training for you too. You did something similar before, remember?”
Akira remembered the time when he was in Higaraka residence ruin and replied.
“Are you sure it’ll be okay? It’s not like something bad will happen again like last time, right…?”
“It’ll be alright. We’ll not go that far away from the city anyway. Not to mention, your skill will get rusty if you keep spending your time inside like this. Considering that fight not too long ago, it might be a good idea to get you used to fighting other people.”
“I might sound a bit arrogant, but will fighting these guys really help me train in fighting against humans?”
“I’ll do something about that, so don’t worry. It’ll need a little bit of preparation for that though.”
“Well, if you say so, then okay.”
“It seems that it’s decided then.”
Akira listened to Alpha’s explanation for what he needed to prepare before replying to Erio.
“Alright. But I’ll need to prepare a few things first, is that okay?”
Erio was surprised, but he immediately thanked Akira.
“Really!? T-thank you!!”
“Thank you very much!”
Alicia also thanked Akira before she looked at Erio and smiled happily.
Akira who saw that found it a little weird.
“I’ll go out for a bit then. If Sheryl returns back, just tell her that I have some business with Katsuragi, and do tell her about the training too. You can tell me how many people will join the training later.”
“Of course!!”
Alicia replied happily.
Akira tilted his head, he still could not understand why Alicia and Erio were so happy. But he decided to just forget about it and left the room.
Erio and Alicia were left behind inside the room as they hugged each other.
Akira was a Hunter who was able to win against 8 armed people all by himself, he then even went and sold those robbers that he spared, and he did not hesitate when he killed the guy who did not want to get sold. This time, Erio and Alicia were able to get their request accepted without angering such a Hunter. It was great news for both Alicia and Erio.
Akira was indeed strong. If they could learn some of his fighting skills, Erio and the other children might become as strong as Akira.
Of course, there was also the difference between their equipment. But even back then when Akira did not have his powerful equipment yet, he was strong enough to be able to return back alive even after he dragged a dead gang member of a prominent gang in the slum city to that gang’s base. So even if they had different equipment, Erio thought that they might, to some extent, get as strong as Akira.
Erio and Alicia were still hugging each other as Erio said to her.
“… I… I’ll work hard and get stronger so that I can protect you myself.”
Alicia smiled happily.
“Erio, thank you.”
Erio was almost killed in the previous shootout. Back then, he had better equipment than the other children as he and the other children in the fighting squad tried to fight back the robbers. But the result was terrible, he got injured pretty badly. The robbers were able to neutralize them without much trouble. The reason why Erio did not get killed immediately like some of his friends was simply because of luck.
Fortunately, Akira gave Alicia an expensive medicine and she used some of that medicine for Erio, Erio’s life was spared thanks to that. In the end, Sheryl lost 8 people. If Alicia did not prioritize her lover, she might have been able to save one more life. Alicia did feel guilty about it, but she did not regret her choice.
When Erio was about to die and thought that there was no way he would be saved, he thought of Alicia in his fading consciousness. When his consciousness finally returned back, he found Alicia crying really badly while hugging him, that was when he made his decision.
Alicia understood that Erio made his decision not because he was close to getting killed, but it was because he did not want her to go through something similar again. She felt happy about that and made her resolve just like Erio did.
Both of them forgot where they were hugging each other out of happiness to the point that Sheryl, who had returned back to that room, was weirded out by them.
Akira went to Katsuragi’s trailer and was talking with him.
Katsuragi was a bit surprised when Akira put in his order.
“I get what you want to buy. It’s not exactly what I’m usually selling, but well, I don’t really mind. It’s not like we’re strangers anyway.”
“I’ll be counting on you. As for the payment, just put it on Sheryl’s tab.”
Katsuragi sounded a bit dissatisfied when he heard that.
“Wait for a sec, that money is not for something like this, isn’t it?”
“They’re training equipment for Sheryl’s gang.”
“Even if you say so…”
Katsuragi seemed to have some objections. Akira then asked him a question.
“By the way, how much money do you think you’ll get from those robbers?”
“Alright, I’ll put it on Sheryl’s tab, I’ll tell them to hurry up with the delivery too, it was a good deal after all.”
Katsuragi did not miss a beat when he said that, it seemed that he actually did not want to tell Akira the number. Akira question might have sounded like a threat to Katsuragi.
Akira then exasperatedly said.
“…I don’t really care how much profit you get from selling those robbers, but make sure to earn the same amount of money from selling equipment, alright?”
“But of course, I’m a merchant first and foremost, you see. I won’t do anything as despicable as tricking you and keeping some of the money from selling the robbers for myself. Plus, after that one incident there, I feel like Sheryl would finally become a proper customer for my shop. Trust is number one for merchants, so don’t worry… I won’t do something as nasty as tricking your lover. I don’t want you to chase me to the end of the world after all.”
Depending on how you interpreted it, it also meant that he would do that if Akira stopped supporting Sheryl. Akira looked suspiciously at Katsuragi.
Katsuragi decided to change the subject as not to worsen Akira’s mood any further.
“By the way, I really hope you would start bringing relics to me, you know? So what’s going on lately with that?”
“I’m in the middle of renewing my equipment with the money that I got from my last request. I’ll be looking for relics again after I get my new equipment.”
Katsuragi annoyedly said.
“That’s why I’m telling you to buy that from me.”
But Akira replied back casually.
“In that case, get good equipment for Sheryl’s gang. If you get something good enough to make me want to change shop, I might as well think about it.”
Akira thought that although he would consider it, there was a good chance that he would not change shop. Katsuragi also noticed that it was highly unlikely for Akira to change shop unless something big happened.
“I really wonder if you’ll properly bring relics that you’ll get next to me.”
“It depends on what kind of relics that I’ll get next time. Just hope that it would be something that would sell better in your shop.”
“Make sure to bring them to me, yeah? Don’t do anything cheap like selling them in Sheryl’s place first and only bringing them to me if they don’t sell well.”
“As long as it’s faster and I can get better money by selling them to you, I won’t do something like that.”
Katsuragi sighed.
“…Haaah, you were just a strong boy not too long ago, but you’ve been turning more and more like a real Hunter lately.”
“Thanks for the compliment!”
In contrast to Katsuragi, Akira seemed a bit happy.
Erio and some other children from Sheryl’s gang were waiting for Akira not too far from slum city. That day they were planning to go for training with Akira. Erio plus the other 8 children were waiting nervously for Akira.
One of the boys asked.
“Say, what are we exactly going to do for today’s training?”
The other children looked at Erio, who said.
“I have no idea either.”
That boy looked a bit surprised at Erio’s reply.
“You don’t know? But you’re the one who asked Akira-san to train us, right? Why don’t you know?”
“Shut up! There’s nothing I can do about it, I really don’t know. I was indeed the one who asked Akira-san, but it’s not like we talked about the details. I only heard from the boss later that Akira-san wants us to wait for him here.”
Another boy asked Erio another question.
“I heard that you and Alicia went to ask Akira-san directly. You guys did that without asking for permission from the boss, right? Is boss okay with this?”
“It’s alright. Akira-san is okay with it, and since it was Alicia and me who asked Akira-san, I’m sure Sheryl won’t get that angry. After all, both I and Alicia are pretty close to her. So it should be alright… maybe.”
Erio sounded a bit unsure there, so the boy could not help but panic a bit.
“Maybe?! This better be alright, okay? I don’t want to be dumped in the middle of the wasteland, you know?!!”
Erio got a little bit worked up as he replied.
“Oh shut up! If you don’t want the boss to get angry, then you better take this training seriously!! If you don’t take the training seriously although I and Alicia went out of our way to ask Akira-san, this time for sure Sheryl and Akira-san would get angry at you!”
“Y-you’re right.”
Erio got a bit worked up because of his nervousness and lashed out, which caused the young boy to wince back.
Erio did realize it himself that he was a bit more strung up than usual. He had made his resolve in all kinds of meaning, so it was understandable that he was not in his usual state.
When Alicia and Erio explained the situation to Sheryl, she seemed to be thinking about something with a serious face. Erio thought it was great that Akira accepted their request without any trouble, but if that was not the case, they would have been in deep trouble.
Erio had no idea what was Sheryl thought about the training. But at least for the time being, Sheryl was smiling like usual, and he hoped that it was a good smile.
Akira came with his vehicle right before the meeting time, he was also dragging a cart behind his vehicle. He then pointed at the cart.
“Get on.”
Erio seemed scared as he asked Akira.
“W-where are we going?”
Akira came with a vehicle, so it must be somewhere quite far away. It might be the Higaraka residence city, or it might be a big opening somewhere in the wasteland. When they thought so, Erio and the other children got a little nervous. It might be not that much of a danger for a Hunter like Akira, but it was a matter of life and death for the other children.
But Akira only gave a vague answer to Erio’s question.
“Well, it’s just somewhere around.”
It seemed that Akira wanted them to quickly get on the cart, so the children immediately started climbing onto the cart although they were still nervous. No matter where they were going, they had no other choice but to get on.
Akira stopped his vehicle not too far away from the city. The area was filled with stones, rubbles, crumbled down walls, and wreckages. He then stepped off the vehicle followed by Erio and the other children.
Akira pulled out a big heavy box from his luggage and put it down in front of Erio and the other children who were lining up in front of him. The box was filled with rifles for training and something that looked like goggles. Akira bought all of these from Katsuragi.
He then said to them.
“Put all of your rifles that you have right now in the box and take a goggle and a rifle each. 1 person will get 1 rifle and 2 magazines, the goggles might be a bit too big but make sure to use them too. I’ll tell you the details later.”
The children did as they were told. One of the boys noticed that the magazine he took was empty, so he reached for another magazine, but it was also empty. He realized that all of those magazines were empty.
He then cautiously asked Akira.
“Uhmm… The magazines are empty…”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to be empty. Don’t worry about it, just take 2 of them each.”
Since Akira said so, the other children obediently did so although they found it weird.
After they finished their preparations and lined up, Akira wearing the same goggle and rifle stood in front of them and started explaining.
“The training is simple, you guys just need to fight me. These rifles are modified AAH rifles and the magazines are empty, so it should be no problem. If you pull the trigger, it’ll calculate a trajectory line as if you really shot a bullet, then you’ll be able to see whether your shot hit or not. You can try pointing it at each other and pull the trigger.”
They looked a bit troubled but they did try to point their empty rifles at each other and pulled the trigger. Then the children that got shot according to the calculation were blanketed in red, and those who were got shot had their goggles that were originally transparent also filled in red. Erio and the other children were surprised and raised their voices.
Akira then continued his explanation.
“Once you get shot, quickly leave this place. Once I get killed, or if all of you get killed, we’ll return to our starting position and restart again… After that… Well, let’s give it a go first.”
After he said that, Akira repositioned himself away from Erio and the other children, so they fl.u.s.teredly asked him.
“That’s it?! How about the strategy and other things too?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Akira then left and vanished behind a wreckage.
Erio and the other children looked confusedly at each other when suddenly something came up on their display. It said that the training would start in 10 seconds, it was written in big letters.
Although they were surprised by that, the countdown did not slow down at all.
Akira was hiding behind a wreckage, Alpha was standing next to him just like usual.
Alpha was wearing an old-world battle suit. It had an extreme design for those people who were not used to that kind of design, it had a lot of openings that showed Alpha’s skin which would make anyone question its usefulness. If we focused on the colourful and complicated combination of materials that made that bodysuit, it looked like a very revealing swimsuit. The belt-like decoration was put in a certain place as if its main function was to make some of Alpha’s body part look more p.r.o.nounced. It could be said that it was intentionally designed to gather people’s attention, or to be more sensual than being naked.
Of course, Akira had gotten too used to it that he did not feel anything, but something caught his attention as he asked Alpha a question.
“By the way, Alpha, you use that kind of suit since you want to stand out in case if someone can actually see you, right? So like, is there any need for you to do that right now?”
Alpha smiled and said.
“Oh, about that, I haven’t been doing that lately. It was basically to realign my wavelength with you, it’s also to narrow down the connection, so no one should be able to see me unless they have a similar wavelength with you. That’s why you’re the only one who can see me right now, you know?”
After hearing that answer, Akira curiously asked.
“…Then why are you still using that kind of suit?”
“No reason in particular.”
“Then change to something else.”
“No!”
Alpha was smiling as if she was teasing Akira. Akira looked at her with a troubled face, but she just ignored that and said.
“I’ll think about it if you’re so used to it to the point that you won’t lose your focus in the middle of the fight no matter how your opponent looks. Even a short pause could be fatal, you see. It’s indeed just training, but it’s still a fight, so focus on the fight and don’t let your guard down. Just imagine what would you do if a beautiful naked humanoid weapon suddenly attacks you while you’re in the middle of exploring an old-world ruin. Do you really think that it would change its appearance just because you ask it to? Or you’ll just continue fighting while still getting bothered by its appearance?”
Akira made a conflicted face, Alpha’s argument did not sound fully convincing. It was true that it was important for him to be able to keep functioning like usual no matter what he was facing. It was true that when he met Alpha, he was dumbfounded in the middle of the dangerous ruin where he could have gotten killed multiple times while he was dumbfounded. But if he was asked if Alpha’s argument was correct, he could not honestly say yes.
Akira sighed as he changed his focus. After all, he knew that he could not win in the argument no matter what, so he decided to ask something else that was bugging him.
“I did prepare all of those stuff following your instruction, but as I thought, I don’t feel like fighting these guys will provide me much training though. I’m indeed using a weaker mode for my augmented suit and it’s slowing me down a bit. I know I might sound arrogant by saying this, but I’m pretty sure I can quickly defeat them without much trouble, will this really give me some training?”
Akira was a trained Hunter, so he had the confidence to win against Erio and the other children no matter how many times they tried.
Alpha smiled and said.
“This is where you’ll see how great my support is.”
“No, I think I can win even without your support.”
Akira looked confused, Alpha shook her head and smiled smugly.
“That’s not what I meant.”
At the next moment, Akira heard a bullet land right next to him. He was flabbergasted since he kept his eyes on his surroundings and did not find any enemies in the positions where he might get shot.
Akira immediately crouched and repositioned himself while checking his surroundings one more time.
“Gunshot?! Real bullet?! But from where?”
“It’s alright, it’s not a real bullet and that sound was also not real. I produced that sound by calculating where the bullet would land to make this training feel more real.”
After hearing Alpha’s explanation, Akira glanced at where the sound came from. He could not see the scorch mark that should have been there if it was a real bullet. It was indeed as Alpha explained, that sound came from Akira’s augmented reality due to Alpha.
Akira sighed in relief after confirming Alpha’s explanation, but his expression immediately turned grim.
“I see, thank goodness… Wait, no! Where did it come from!? How did I get surrounded!? My information-gathering device didn’t pick up anything though!?”
“If you’re talking about that, there was actually a faint signal, you know? Although, since you don’t have my support, it’s really hard to notice that signal. Moreover, if they hide in locations where it’s hard for your information-gathering device to reach them, it would be even harder for you to detect them.”
When Alpha was giving that explanation to Akira, another bullet flew by next to him and landed not too far from him, making a banging sound. Akira was sticking close to the ground while moving and looking for enemies, he spotted a boy aiming for him from behind a wreckage.
Akira immediately aimed his rifle at that boy, but before he could pull the trigger, that boy quickly took cover behind the wreckage.
Akira himself understood that his shot did not hit.
“He noticed me!? Did he evade that!? How? His response time is just too fast no matter how you look at it!!”
Alpha smiled amusedly.
“That’s because I told them beforehand to quickly hide after they take a shot.”
Akira frowned and looked at Alpha, he finally understood why she said that it would not be an easy win for him. So basically, his situation was reversed compared to the usual.
“So, as you can see, they’re the ones who have my support.”
Akira was fighting without Alpha’s support while his opponents had her support.
“Enjoy the training!”
Alpha only said that and smiled mischievously at Akira.
Akira thought that he was already surrounded, so he decided to quickly reposition himself.
[Alpha is supporting Erio and the other children, so basically they know my location all the time. I bet they also can see the trajectory line of the bullet in their goggles. I guess I have no other choice but to keep moving while taking cover at the same time. If I stop even for a bit, it’ll be game over for me.]
Suddenly a barrage of bullets came from Akira’s flank as if to confirm his guess. Judging from the sound, the barrage landed close to him. It seemed that the opponents were aiming properly at him.
Akira scanned through all the positions around him where someone could shoot at him, checked for any signals in his information-gathering device, and checked the area where he found signals. He kept moving to avoid getting shot, due to that, anyone who tried to shoot at him, whether it was only a haphazard barrage or an accurate aiming, would need to stay out from hiding longer to take a good aim at him. He also made sure not to move too much on a straight line so that they could not get a good aim on him.
Akira s.h.i.+fted his gaze from the wreckage to the young boy jumping out from behind it. He quickly aimed his rifle at that young boy and pulled the trigger more or less at the same time as the other boy.
Judging from the sound, the bullet landed behind Akira. Akira was able to evade that shot, but he did not know if his shot got a hit or not. Since it was not like he shot a real bullet, it would not be obvious if his shot really hit. He could not tell if that boy was lying down on the ground because he got shot or because he tried to hide.
He quickly changed his direction to that boy. If his shot did not hit, he wanted to use that chance to close the distance with the enemy, whose position he knew. He needed to finish that boy for good this time.
Akira moved to a position where he could get a good shot at the boy from before. When he peeked out, he could see that boy lying flat on the ground, he thought that it meant his shot hit him as he ran past that boy.
Right at the next moment, Akira could feel someone’s presence from behind him. Akira spun around and readied his rifle, that boy from before was already standing back up and aiming at Akira, he was only faking death.
Akira pulled the trigger even quicker than that boy. That boy was surprised as he fl.u.s.teredly laid back on the ground again. He confirmed that his goggle was filled with red colour as he did what they had agreed to beforehand.
Akira protested to Alpha.
“Alpha!! Is that really okay?!”
“Of course! No one said that they can’t lie on the ground unless they get shot, right? It’s too naive of you to think that the enemies won’t fake death. If this was a real fight, there’s also a chance that you only temporarily knocked them unconscious. So don’t take your chance and make sure to shoot their head at least once.”
“Alright, alright!”
Akira agreed with what Alpha said, but it still rubbed him the wrong way.
Two boys suddenly jumped out behind Akira, not giving him any chance to relax. Akira quickly reacted to it as he made a 180-degree turn and jumped sideways while at the same time returning shots at those 2 boys. But that action threw Akira off balance.
Akira cut through the air and landed on one leg, that was when 4 other boys appeared and aimed at him.
Akira knew that he was in a pinch, his brain automatically kicked to high gear as it boosted his consciousness. Inside that slowed down world, Akira fixed his posture to evade the bullets coming from those boys and made a full circle spin with his right hand still pulling down on the trigger.
He was able to evade the shots coming from 4 different directions while shooting back at the same time. He confirmed that his shots did hit, so he sighed in relief as he landed with his left hand on the ground, preventing him from falling over.
But the moment his left hand touched the ground, his vision suddenly turned red. Someone had shot him, it was a properly aimed shot. Although it caught him off guard, Akira immediately lied down on the ground.
Akira’s vision turned back to normal. He could see Alpha pointing somewhere. Akira traced where she was pointing and saw Erio aiming at him. Erio was the one who shot him.
Alpha looked at Akira and smiled.
“It’s my win, you still have a long way to go.”
“…How much of that was your plan?”
“Of course, everything from the start to the end, all of it.”
“…I see.”
Akira pouted a bit when he said that.
He then stood up. Alpha pointed to where he was just before. Akira looked in that direction and frowned.
Akira could see his corpse lying there. Of course, it was nothing more than an image reproduced by Alpha. Akira’s corpse had holes on its head, neck, body and limbs as it was bleeding very badly. Some of its body parts were drowned in blood or just simply shredded to pieces. It was the result if they were using real bullets.
During his training in the past, Akira had seen what would happen if he could not fight back a monster, and at that time, the place ended up being filled with the images of his corpse.
Akira mumbled.
“It has been quite a while since the last time I saw this. So basically this is what would happen if it was real bullets, huh?”
Although, to be more precise, in order for that to happen, they would need to use a pretty powerful bullet since his augmented suit also provided a level of protection for Akira, excluding his head. So it was still pretty accurate to say that a normal bullet would kill Akira like that if he got hit on his head.
Alpha smiled teasingly at Akira and said.
“So there you have it. Aren’t you glad that it wasn’t real bullets?”
“I can’t agree more.”
Akira smiled bitterly as he said that.