Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

"What was the result?" Hirozaki slightly adjusted the angle of his weapon, which was no different from before. "Even I'm starting to lose patience."

“I don’t entirely agree with everything you say. For example… didn’t you say that deceiving the enemy is a matter of course, a kind of strategy, and that it’s the deceived who are at fault?” Yuri briefly recalled, “Something like that, right?”

"So what?" Hirozaki's face darkened.

"I mean--"

Yuri activated one of the spells he had prepared earlier, slightly focusing his attention on the opponent's gun, attempting to continue jamming the trigger using the old method.

—It was as if the spell had hit a thin film and bounced back.

170. Its speed is like the wind.

"You—" Hirosaki asked in shock and anger, but his hands didn't slow down at all. When Yuri pulled the trigger, he did the same thing, almost without any delay.

Of course, Yuri was always aiming at his opponent's legs—at least that's how Yuri felt—while Hirozaki also made an extra move by aiming the gun at Yuri's chest.

Logically speaking, even if he had prepared all of these actions in advance, and they were launched simultaneously with Yuri, he would have had to perform more actions—so Yuri's actions should have been faster.

However, Yuri wasn't sure if the weapon would incapacitate the target instantly upon impact, as depicted on television—especially since he had specifically aimed for a non-vital area like the leg—the target might still be able to fire after being hit. Therefore, Yuri routinely activated his shield as he took action.

Since it can attack spirits, it must penetrate the spirit's protection at that angle, which is a weakness... Since Hirozaki entered the house, he hasn't changed the structure of the gun, so it's unlikely that he replaced it with normal bullets.

Yuri was the same way. He was certain that the weapon was in the same condition as when Nakamichi fired at him, and there was no situation where something that had to be turned on before firing had been accidentally turned off by him.

In this way, Yuri felt he had a significant advantage. Although a victory without taking any damage was unlikely, winning should still be no problem.

—A short gunshot rang out, then stopped abruptly.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yuri quickly sorted out the situation before him.

Just now, Yuri was hit by two shots—the enemy fired three bullets, but one of them flew past Yuri's side, shattering the window glass and flying off somewhere unknown—the shield's bullet-depleting effect worked, but just like before, effective doesn't mean completely effective.

Although it was impossible to determine the exact power of the bullets, judging from the distance I was knocked back, there was not much difference between each bullet.

The enemy was not hit by a single shot—not because Yuri missed, nor because the thing on the enemy that was blocking Yuri's spells took effect again, but because the weapon Yuri was holding did not fire a single bullet.

"Sigh, looks like the talks have fallen apart. You self-proclaimed powerful guys are always so arrogant." Hirosaki revealed a sinister smile. "You don't actually think that humanity is completely unaware of what an enemy might do, do you?"

"To be honest, your expression is much more pleasing to the eye now." Yuri's words carried a degree of sincerity. "Just now, it looked like an act, and a very forceful one at that—"

Before Hirozaki could pull the trigger again, a dark shadow appeared in front of him.

One of Yuri's backup spells was to forcibly pull the surrounding shadows over the opponent, blocking their vision and thus concealing his position.

The previous spell was cast directly on the object in Hirozaki's hand, but this time it wasn't, so it didn't encounter much resistance. The shadow couldn't stop the bullets, but it could prevent Hirozaki from pinpointing his exact location, making him hesitant to fire indiscriminately.

Hirozaki immediately retreated, trying to shake off the shadows, but he failed. The other person hiding outside the door was also helpless and could only increase the distance—Yuri had heard the person's hurried footsteps, so he must be right.

Although he really wanted to rush over and engage in close combat, it would be very disadvantageous to fight his opponents while Yuri was unable to inflict effective damage on his own. It would be even more troublesome if these traitors, who were confident in their marksmanship, dared to fire at close range.

Yuri retreated again, passing the fallen Yamanaka Yuka, and suddenly delivered a back kick, stomping on Nakamichi's face as he accelerated his climb.

Take this guy for example. He was clearly knocked unconscious just now, but after getting up, he was able to continue fighting.

Humans are truly creatures of strong will.

Suddenly, Yuri sensed that someone was doing something to the shadow he had released—intuitively, it seemed to be trying to eliminate the shadow directly with energy.

It had almost no effect, but it did show that the other person had taken a few seconds to recover from the panic and was actively trying to save themselves.

The moment of choice has arrived: to fight or to flee?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Yuri carried Yuka Yamanaka out of the window—Nakamichi struggled to stop them, but lost consciousness after Yuri kicked him twice more.

In the end, Yuri decided to run away, a conclusion he reached in a short time... He had a premonition that he might regret it in the future, but there wasn't much time to carefully consider every detail right now.

It's not impossible to continue fighting. For example, if he conjures up the Shadow Dagger and goes in to stab, given that he's not so easily killed even if he gets shot, it's still possible that he could stab the two people (or more?) outside the door until they bleed profusely before he gets killed.

Even so, he might still lose. The three bullet wounds had healed on the surface, but Yuri knew that the bullets had indeed had a negative impact on his body—it's just that the spirit body wasn't so easily rendered incapacitated by these negative effects—but if they accumulated, the outcome wouldn't be so optimistic.

If Hirosaki hadn't tried to solve the problem by intimidation after seeing Yuri's lack of reaction after being shot—instead, he had simply pulled the trigger and unleashed a barrage of bullets, dozens of times—Yuri would have been crippled if not killed.

Perhaps rushing forward and engaging in close combat might force the opponent to hesitate, but after Yuri stabbed the opponent repeatedly with his daggers, making it seem like the opponent was doomed, the others might just start shooting at Yuri and his teammates as well.

Furthermore, Yuri looked at Yamanaka Yuka, who was weakly looking at him in his arms... Although he couldn't tell this little girl, what if Hirosaki Katsuya was right?

Yuri didn't believe Hirosaki Katsuya's words, especially his claim that he was acting for justice... but what else? Did he really deserve to die for attacking the Sin Eaters?

—If Yuri starts a fight, then it's either kill them or lose. And Yuri can't accept either of those options.

It must be admitted that Hirozaki's words did have some effect.

Before landing, they slowed down along the wall to reduce the jolt of the landing. Yuka Yamanaka, who was being held horizontally, didn't say anything, she just looked at Yuri's face.

Her complexion was still bad, but not worse than before... Yuri felt it wasn't a result of his carrying her out the window, but it probably didn't have any positive effect anyway...

In other words, since the Sin Eater girl doesn't have a status bar above her head, Yuri has no way of judging whether her situation is good or bad.

"If you feel uncomfortable anywhere, just bear with it, little girl—we need to get out of their sight as soon as possible, and we can talk about it later."

Yuka Yamanaka's complexion was still terrible. She looked like she was trying to nod, but it was also possible that she was being swayed by Yuri's running pace—Yuri decided to just take it as her nodding.

Staying in the hospital is definitely not an option, as there are too few areas around the hospital to hide in, and the large number of ghosts inside the hospital could act as spies for the enemy—but the enemy cannot ignore this possibility, and since searching the area around the hospital is the easiest for them, they will most likely prioritize this search.

Probably, Yuri wasn't sure if the other party would think that way... If the other party figured out Yuri's idea and completely ignored the inside of the hospital, and chased after her ahead of time, then the most dangerous place would become the safest, and they should have stayed in the hospital.

In any case, unless the healing spirit is willing to help, staying in the hospital is a dead end—so what Yuri needs to do is leave the hospital as quickly as possible.

The gate was quite far from them, and although it was unknown how long it would take the guy behind them to run to the window and look out, it was unlikely to take long... So Yuri once again resorted to his old trick and chose to jump over the wall to escape.

As Yuri reached the highest point of the wall, he glanced back at the hospital—there was only one figure looking out of the window.

On the first floor, a healing spirit emitting white light watched him flee in disarray.

This was truly embarrassing, and Yuri knew it perfectly well.

Anyway, it's not the first time, Yuri is almost used to it.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Ten minutes later, the two were walking on the street, still in the same posture.

Shortly after leaving the hospital, Yuri felt his shadow spell dissipate. Judging from the duration, it didn't disappear naturally, but was forcibly broken in some inefficient way.

On the bright side, the spell has already bought them several minutes; we can't ask for more.

"Ugh..." Yuka Yamanaka seemed to be feeling better; she hadn't even had the strength to moan before. "I..."

“Although you seem to want to say something, my suggestion is to wait until you can finish a sentence before we start talking.” Yuri looked down at the sin-eater girl. “Of course, if it’s something particularly important, you should tell me sooner rather than later.”

"It hurts." Yuka Yamanaka uttered just one word.

"Ah, there's nothing we can do about it. Even though we can't use it well, it's still a trophy. We can't just throw it away so easily, right?" Yuri explained.

Before he jumped out of the window to escape, he casually stuffed the captured weapon into his breast pocket, and now it was firmly lodged between Yuri's chest and abdomen and the sin-eating girl—Yuri's own spirit body was not exactly soft, but this metal object was certainly harder.

"..." Yamanaka Yuka returned to silence. In Yuri's view, her complexion was much better than it had been at its worst.

After a while, as Yuri kept changing routes and entering alleys, Yuka Yamanaka spoke again.

"Where...are we going?" The voice was a little soft, but Yuri guessed the whole sentence was, "Where are we going?"

“I don’t know, in the mountains… First of all, we can’t go to your house because they definitely know where you live. You told them, didn’t you?” It can’t be said that it was a wrong decision, although it was clearly creating an obstacle at the moment.

Without waiting for Yuka Yamanaka's response, Yuri continued, "Then, of course, I do know of two other residences, and I think they would be willing to let you hide there for a while... but I don't like that."

The sin-eater girl simply continued to listen without saying a word.

“It’s not that I’d like to put you in danger… but those two accommodations aren’t particularly good either, they just make us more comfortable… and they’ll draw danger to them. Would you want that to happen?” Yuri quickly ducked into the shadows, dodging a patrolling police car. It wasn’t that he thought the police and Hirozaki’s gang were in cahoots, but he looked rather suspicious right now.

A man in a trench coat with medium-length hair, wearing a mask and sunglasses, was carrying a helpless girl and running around the streets in the early morning... If Yuri saw this, he would probably already be imagining what kind of reward he would get for reporting the kidnapper.

Oh, by the way, Yuri still has a standard private stash of firearms.

"Of course not, but where are we going?" Yuka Yamanaka's recovery was progressing much faster than Yuri had expected. This was definitely not a natural recovery, just like her previous collapse wasn't natural either. —There's a high probability that the distance between her and Nakamichi had increased.

“I don’t know. I think we’re quite a distance from the hospital. We’ve run all the way here, and there’s not even a footprint. They can’t possibly find us by following the tracks we left behind.” Yuri had been thinking about this the whole time he was on the run. “But besides leaving tracks, is there any other way?”

The two most obvious possibilities are either tracking Yuka Yamanaka through the existing contact they established, or tracking the firearm through some device on it. Yuri had already conducted a cursory inspection of the firearm and found no such device, but he couldn't guarantee he knew every detail.

"I don't know either. I just tried to mobilize my power..." Yuka Yamanaka sighed.

Trying to mobilize his power? Yuri didn't sense anything at all. "And the result?"

"I can't mobilize it at all, it's like I've used up all my power." The sin-eater girl sighed incessantly. "I could use it before, but now..."

"Where is your spirit?" This is another major concern; if they could make contact with the spirit...

“I know what happened to him, but… it’s hard to explain. Can we wait until we find a place with cover before we talk?” Yamanaka Yuka shifted uncomfortably. “In this state…”

“A little awkward? I understand.” Yuri nodded in agreement. “You can tell me more after we find a place to settle down—but there’s a lot more to tell me than just this.”

“Okay…so where are you planning to go?” Yuka Yamanaka answered with her eyes closed.

"Not decided yet—well, found it."

"Found it?" Yuka Yamanaka looked blankly at the half-circle ahead. "I didn't see anything that looked like temporary shelter."

"Yes, we found it, the phone booth."

Yuri tried to help Shan Zhong up inside the phone booth, but failed. He then asked for her permission to sit on a patch of ground outside the booth—the ground wasn't very clean, but now wasn't the time to be picky.

Reaching into the phone booth, Yuri mentally activated an internal mechanism and began dialing Akemi's number.

171. The issue of the Tokyo Police Department's competence.

"Who are you? State your name and background in three seconds, or I'll hang up." A chilling voice came from the other end of the phone.

“It’s me, Yuri. I’m talking to you from a phone booth on the street—keep your voice down.”

"Huh? Yuri... why are you calling me from a phone booth? What happened?" Akemi lowered her voice as Yuri had instructed. "Who's with you? Yuka Yamanaka? What happened to her?"

Yuri glanced at the sin-eater girl sitting on the ground outside, her arms wrapped around her knees.

"Yes, something has indeed happened. Right now, Yuka Yamanaka and I are fleeing from the enemy's pursuit, and she may still have a listening device on her... Although my examination didn't find anything, who knows if she does."

The pistol is currently on Yuka Yamanaka's person, separated from Yuri in the phone booth by a wall. Logically, she shouldn't be able to hear it... but who knows? What if she can hear it?

"Have you messed with some mysterious organization? They've even brought out listening devices—never mind." Yuri could picture Akemi shaking her head on the other end. "Tell me your location, and I'll come find you right now."

“No, Minmei, not this time—” Although the situation was very inappropriate, Yuri almost laughed out loud, “They have guns.”

"gun?"

"A gun—you know, the kind that fires bullets, like the ones we've seen on TV."

Yuri's attention shifted outside. Yamanaka Yuka's clothes weren't suitable for hiding that weapon. Even though she was sitting there, anyone who knew beforehand that she was hiding something could vaguely see the marks under her clothes... It might also be related to her body type; she's rather thin.

"You went to rob a bank?" Mingmei's voice was very conflicted. "How did you get involved with guys who have guns—am I going to see you on the news soon?"

“I saw two types, one is for one-handed use, one shot at a time, and the other is for two-handed use, which can fire in bursts—I don’t know if there were any bigger ones.” Yuri recalled the scene at the time, “Oh right, we didn’t rob a bank, and the people who attacked us weren’t the police, at least they didn’t claim to be the police or anything—they did call themselves hunters, and they were messing with the sin eaters.”

"Hunter..." Akemi's voice seemed filled with confusion, "Which hunter?"

"I don't know either. The hunters in my mind hunt wild beasts, but these guys at least claim to hunt monsters—unfortunately, Miss Yamanaka and I both belong to the monster category—they should be killed." Yu, who declined to give his name, also felt wronged.

"Do they have any special abilities—not in the sense of using guns—I mean the supernatural kind?" the high school girl on the other end of the phone pressed. "Like, drinking strange potions, using mysterious equipment that looks scientific but somehow works against supernatural forces, or using all sorts of strange religious symbols like religious people, or something like that?"

"Their guns are loaded with bullets that can hit spirits, does that count?" Of course it does. "And they can steal the power of the Sin Eaters through some unknown means. We don't yet know how much of the Sin Eaters' power they have, but we're certain they can use it themselves. — She was hit by it in the mountains and is very weak now."

“If you only mention the first part, I can make a guess, but if you combine the two, I really don’t know which hunter it is—anyway, how critical is the situation? How much longer can we talk like this? Do you—do you have enough spare change on you?” Akemi asked in rapid succession.

“We’ve temporarily shaken off their pursuit, or rather, they haven’t caught up yet… but the situation in the mountains is bad, so we shouldn’t stay here for too long.” Yuri looked at the Sin Eater girl outside. “Change? If it’s just for making a phone call, no problem, but we still can’t linger too long, for the reasons I just gave.”

"That's good. Did you call me with a plan?" The high school girl blew on the microphone. "What are you planning to do?"

“There are two things. First, I want to let you know that we didn’t leave without saying goodbye, nor did we die out there. You don’t need to come looking for me—” The topic returned to what Yuri had wanted to say from the beginning.

Akemi on the other end of the microphone didn't speak, so Yuri continued, "Secondly, please recommend a route that can help people escape."

“…What?” Akemi’s voice came through.

“The first is—” Yuri began again.

“Just tell me the second one. What is the second one?” Mingmei interrupted Yuri’s retelling.

“You’re more concerned about Tokyo’s traffic, so you should know how to easily get people out of Tokyo.” Yuri began to explain his ideas in detail to Akemi, who hadn’t quite heard what he was saying. “Actually, there’s no need to go anywhere else. I think leaving the city should be enough.”

"Was this suggested by her?" Akemi's voice sounded a little sharp.

"No, this is purely my personal opinion, but I believe that as long as we run a certain distance with her, these people will never be able to catch her again, however—"

Yuri was interrupted again before he could say that he could sneak back later.