A human-hating man said to a drill-haired girl walking next to him.

Narino was in deep thought and just looked ahead whilst thinking, Kanton continued

"I get his general message, but he had a bit of a superiority complex funnily enough when he said it. Still, it kind of felt insensitive at that moment, I don't really know why it did though..."

Narino shrugged lightly and said

"I agree, for some reason, it felt so insensitive. Perhaps because we were concerned for his health and he outright blew us off. We'll have to ask him tomorrow, I guess."

The both continued walking at the same pace as before, but Kanton kept thinking about the words that were uttered in that room, the words echoed in his head as he tried to empathize and understand how Kenjiro thought and felt in that moment.

Their shoes crunched against the stone ground as the silent town spoke gently to them.

All of a sudden, he stopped and said

"That won't do, I have to ask him now.

I don't think Kenjiro meant anything bad with what he said, he didn't have any ill intentions. I must talk to him about it, I need to know his side of the story before I start judging him in my head without knowing the feelings behind those words."

Narino turned around with a quickness signaling interest, she said

"What, can't you wait until tomorrow? It's already so late. We should let him rest a bit, he's been through a lot today."

Kanton shook his head like a 5-year old would, and imitated the same stubbornness of a boy that age by saying

"No, I must know! I don't want to have this unsettling feeling while I sleep tonight if I even was able to do that. I know Kenjiro must care about us somewhat, he risked a lot to save me multiple times during the fight today.

That's why…

I'm going!"

Narino caved into her own curiosity and interest and said

"Interesting words from a person who believes the human race should be erased from existence."

Kanton pouted, like a 5-year old would, and said

"Shut up! I may have that ideology, but I for some reason still have hope in a couple of people. But yeah, all humans should probably die."

Kanton then turned around and started sprinting towards school with the remaining powers he had.

When Narino comprehended that Kanton started running, she smiled quickly and followed after him. She yelled out

"Wait, you idiot. Don't ever say that humans should die again!"

…

The speed the two were traveling in a speed that would amaze any P.E teacher, who would probably grade them well when it came to track and field.

Suddenly, the blue-haired girl struggled a bit and yelled

"Where are you taking me. Why are you taking me? Who is taking me?"

The older person struggled a bit in return to calm the girl's struggling. But he managed to quell the rebellion and said

"As I said, we're not here to hurt you. In fact, my partner on this mission seems to like you a bit, I would suggest talking to him a bit later. He is younger and a bit weird, but I suppose he has a good soul."

Sora struggled even more and said

"You didn't answer any of my questions! Instead, you just acted like a bad wing-man for your friend. Do you even like him? You gave him like the worst compliment.

Answer my questions!"

The older man looked forward with a tired expression like he had gotten enough of everything.

He muttered to himself

"This is why I'll never get a kid. They just whine and then when they grow up a bit, they hate you just because you disciplined and raised them."

He then shot a quick glance at Sora and said

"What are you saying!? Don't make me sound like an old guy. My age might be a bit high, but I'm still young at heart."

Sora looked at Takuchu disapprovingly, but then just yelled

"Answer me!"

Takuchu sighed heavily and said

"Fine! We're kidnapping you to take out that Kanjiru, or whatever his name is."

Sora looked a bit petrified and said

"Take out Kenjiro…?

What do you mean by 'take out'?"

Takuchu scratched his chin cautiously while he thought through his following words carefully.

He then slowly tilted his head down and to right until he was looking at Sora's eyes, he then said

"All I can say is that it does not mean death. That's all I'm allowed to tell you."

Sora looked at Takuchu with a slightly more relaxed face, slightly that is. The two were now nearing a group of residential houses that bordered the usually busy port. Although it was still relatively quiet in this part of the port.

While the two were approaching their appointed destination, a red-haired boy was still far away from there. He was making a rapid approach though, outpacing the older man and nearing them at a speed that could impress anyone who witnessed it. But no one was there to witness him running, most people were sleeping at this time. Those who were awake weren't in this district, where there mostly existed houses and small shops. They were away in the central city doing their own business.

The red-haired boy ran with all his might, but the distance was still noticeable; A fact that he was not aware of, instead, he just ran with the blind hope of making it to them in time.

But would that blind hope and hard work be enough to achieve his goal?

…

The late 20-something man took some steps back before he started his explanation, he then said

"So, you two are from The Pride Group?"

Biharu stared at the man and was about to say something but Kori managed to talk before him and said

"Yeah, who are you and where are we?"

The man laughed a bit and placed himself onto a chair that was to his right arrogantly, he said

"Heh, I have to say. You guys woke up earlier than expected. It's barely been 2 hours since we 'invited' you two to this place."

The reaction remained unchanged between the two young men. The man coughed slightly in the awkward silence that had followed his remark, he continued

"I have to welcome you to our lair, I hope you're comfortable. Although be careful there might be some spiders around here."

The reaction changed as Kori looked around him frantically, he said

"No way, clean your place dude! If I see a spider here, I will crush it."

Biharu stared at the man suspiciously as he started understanding the underlying message through what he was saying.

The man sighed awkwardly, he decided to hint at it once more

"If I remember correctly, the spiders around here really like funnels. Interesting, isn't it? Also, I think they're primarily black."

The silence prevailed and the man was about to have a mental breakdown, he wanted to make a threatening entrance where the captives figured out what was going on from his subtle hints like they usually did in the movies. That was the reason the man lit up when Biharu looked like he had figured out something.

Biharu smiled smugly at Kori before revealing his discovery, he said proudly

"I know it can be hard sometimes, dude. But please think of yourself more than a spider, you're worth more. Also, liking funnels is a completely legitimate hobby. n.o.body's going to bash you for liking it."

Kori sighed deeply and whispered

"I don't think that's it, dude..."

Biharu looked at Kori with a confused face before he noticed steam to his left, looking like a steam train from the 19th-century trucking along the tracks.

This specific train was rather angry at the remarks from the blonde 20-year old.

The man burst out and said

"How stupid can you be!? You look like 25, have you really finished school!? I made such obvious remarks and yet you don't understand it? We're the 'Funnel-web spiders' gang: Small yet extremely powerful!"

Kori, who had clowned on Biharu, went through an 'aha moment'. Biharu also went through a similar moment, but a more extreme version known as 'd.a.m.n, I need to reevaluate my intelligence level moment'.

But that realization also came with another realization, that they were trapped by the organization they were supposed to make a 'deal' with.

Kori cursed at himself quickly and said

"c.r.a.p, I don't have the suitcase with me! Why would I have it, though? We were literally kidnapped. Wait, does that mean that Kurohi- Sorry I mean Boss is also here?"

Biharu lashed out and said

"Idiot, this is a clear situation where you're not supposed to call him that!"

The man laughed and said

"You mean that old geezer you were with? That's the legendary Boss? I guess we missed out, 'cause we let him go."

Biharu got a bit angry and said

"Don't insult Boss like that!"

He then concentrated and tried activating one of his abilities. He said

"Bubble crisis version 1!"

But to his surprise, nothing came from his activation shout. The silence left him and Kori dumbfounded as they stared at his right hand in confusion. The man chuckled a bit, drawing their attention towards him instead. Suddenly, a mysterious and suspenseful aura exerted from the man that had seemed so casual until now. For some reason, the two captives that had been relatively confident until now suddenly grew nervous and insecure as they awaited an answer.

The man smiled after his light chuckle and said

"Jokes on you guys, 'cause we have access to technology that prevents you guys from using powers."

Biharu had a bit of problem accepting what he heard so suddenly, the powers he had worked hard to attain could be nullified so easily by a soft blue piece of metal. He was aware of a power that was similar to this that one of his teammates had, but the effects weren't as instantaneous.

Biharu thought of strategies out of this situation because the thought that this whole thing was quite serious started popping up. It was no longer a light-hearted scenario, now it was a serious kidnapping with the risk that anything could happen.

Meanwhile, Biharu was stressing over the scenario, Kori started laughing a bit.

Now when the attention was all over Kori, he laughed a bit more and then said

"You guys think you're clever, but you're too tunnel-visioned."

The man activated an ability of his that strengthened the aura and allowed him to act fast, just in case.

He said

"What are you saying? There's nothing you can do with those chains on you."

Kori nodded slowly in approval, which intrigued Biharu but kind of scared the man a bit. He said

"No, I can't. Not with powers at least. But I have something else I can use. It's called--"

Kori suddenly stood up and used a drastic and quick move to break free the chain from the wall. He then used all of his strength to bash his hand against the wall, which opened up the piece of metal. The metal hit the floor with an empty *DING* sound, a sound that Kori somewhat recognized from his previous encounter.

"Brute force!"

Kori rubbed his hand where the chain had been put on, which had now turned red. He continued

"There's no way that I would've been able to break normal metal with my strength alone. But, this was some weird metal-hybrid that I was able to break by the powerful force known as 'momentum' and with the a.s.sist of my extrordinary strength.

Level 3.0!"

The aura that the man was exerting was suddenly challenged and subsequently toppled, by the new aura that came from Kori. In seconds, Kori suddenly arrived at the nose of the man, who said

"That was kinda stupid, we should've strength-proofed it someho---"

But Kori wasn't nice enough to let the gentleman finish his sentence. Instead, he landed a clean hit on the man's face after yelling

"Harsh Reconquista!"

The man flew a few meters back until he hit a desk that was filled with a bunch of files. The hit was strong enough to make a dent in the desk, causing the papers that were contained to spread out over the room and land calmly on the man's unconscious body.

Kori turned around to Biharu and said casually

"Let's go and finish this mission quickly, then"

Biharu laughed wryly in shock and stuttered

"Y-Yeah, let's..."