I knew I hadn't, but my trust in myself was at an all-time low. I thought I was worthless, but it turned out that I was absolute garbage. I fought so hard to get here and do some good, but all I managed to do was to complicate the situation even further. The alternative was to just not show up, which would've gotten worse consequences than this so I was glad for that at least. The only person this affected was me, and the thought gave me bliss and relief. I just had to do what I always did, and I'd saved her. That was what I hoped, even though the old man in a suit had expressed doubts about the possibilities of it.

I smiled lightly as I raised my head and said slowly

"Do what you want"

Sora turned her head quickly towards me and said

"Kenjiro…!? What are you saying?"

I turned my smile towards Sora and said

"This is for the best, I fulfilled your first favor and tried my best.

You'll be fine, I'm sure of it! As long as I do my part in this."

Sora felt the empty guilt partially hoovering over her head as she thought about it and quietly said, against her explicit will

"Kenjiro… I..."

My smile wore off a bit, the fear had caught up to me. It was only natural, even horrible people have feelings. I could always a.s.sure myself in my goal of not becoming a worse human, but it was hard to keep firm even in a situation like this. That was because of the aspect of hope being thrown out of the window, pain was certain and running towards my mind. My mind tried to dodge it, but it was like a tracking missile, it was certain. I strained my face to keep a superficial smile on and said calmly to Sora

"Sora… I haven't become a worse person, have I?

I don't want to seem full of myself, but I'm doing this to keep you out of harm.

This doesn't make me a worse person, right? I'm doing the right thing, right?"

Panic ensued as the two closed in towards me, and my desperate attempts to rea.s.sure myself led me to a weird line of questioning. It wasn't like me, but it was very much like me at the same time.

Sora got a complicated expression plastered on her face. She was immediately reminded of her past with mistrust, the scheming people using her position to further their self-interests. At first, she didn't see anything ulterior to the people approaching her. She was instead happy to be so popular with many acquaintances. But with time, she was left more and more alone as the acquaintances disappeared. Sora learned that not everything always was like it seemed. She learned that a person's true intentions could be judged on how they acted in certain situations and with that revelation, she felt more alone than ever before despite being surrounded by people.

Sora built a wall around her mentally, and never connected with anyone on a personal level out of fear. Fear of isolation; A fear of having one's trust betrayed.

As Sora looked at Kenjiro in that situation: She came to a sudden realization.

Kenjiro was in one of those extreme situations where one's character could be easily judged and the truth could be revealed. She looked at Kenjiro with new eyes as she realized;

Kenjiro was honest.

Too honest, honest to a fault.

Even in a dangerous situation like this, he seemed to discard his well-being in exchange for concern for another person's. He wasn't lying about anything he said, he talked straight out of his heart, whether that'd be for the good or bad. It was the exact opposite of those people Sora grew up around.

There was a weird pulse beating through Sora, something she had never felt before. It tightened her heart as she stared at her side.

As Takachu and Satos.h.i.+ neared Kenjiro, Sora reacted and said

"Kenjiro…!"

Kori Hanesawa stared at the pathetic Kenjiro Asukara with a blank face and thought

-So this is where he's taken out, huh? What a shame, he had the potential to be a really amazing fighter. The fight we had today was already pretty great, so I was looking forward to meeting him in the future… What a shame.-

Biharu looked over briefly to Kori as he said

"What are you standing around for? Let's join, the mission will be over faster."

Kori looked over at Biharu to answer, but he was interrupted by an opened door.

In stormed 4 people who quickly stopped and a.s.sessed the situation.

They looked to be slightly out of breath and cautious of what they stumbled upon.

Biharu briefly commented

"These guys again, I figured they were here for this."

Narino yelled out

"Sora, Kenjiro!"

As they realized where Kenjiro was, they froze a bit. He laid there on the ground, beaten up and was right about to get crushed by the two company employees. The two employees stopped to see what was happening.

They realized the new threat and put themselves on the edge.

Biharu said

"4 v 4, is it? Let's do this."

Kori paused for a bit as he looked over to the lying Kenjiro. He thought for a bit, and realized something. He then turned to Biharu and very shortly said

"No, I'm tired. I'm going home."

The shock stuck the room like thunder, as Satos.h.i.+ quickly tried to overturn his decision

"What are you saying!? Don't be selfish, this is a company-issued mission. You need to help us!"

Biharu quickly thought to himself

- Kori refusing a fight!? There must be something to it, otherwise, Kori would never say no to a fight. -

Kori kept a stale and serious look as he walked towards the door and said

"You're wrong. This was indeed a company-issued mission, for YOU guys. This is your mission and you need to take care of your s.h.i.+t. If you come across trouble, you need to come up with a solution for yourselves, that's how you learn. Take that as advice from a senior."

Kori started moving to the door, where the 4 people carefully stepped out of the way.

Biharu followed his comment by saying

"He kind of has a point, I guess I'll be tagging with him too. Good luck, see you in the office or something!"

Satos.h.i.+ clenched his fists and half yelled

"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! And what "senior"!? You're only like 2 years older than me! Don't get ahead of yourself! You'll pay with Karma for this."

Kori made his last leave with a lazy shrug as he disappeared into the darkness of the night. Biharu followed him after waving with a smile to the frozen-in-place people in the warehouse.

As they left the warehouse and went out to the cold and traitorous autumn night, Biharu left his stare pointing at Kori for a second as he thought about his departure from the fight. He was originally planning on keeping it quiet, as he didn't want to disturb Kori with his curiosity right then. But he opened his mouth and said

"Why'd you leave? I thought you loved fighting. Like, really loved, to the point where you barely care about anything else."

Kori stopped as he looked up into the cloud-free sky, unlike it was before. The stars glistened as he said

"I may not be that smart, but I do at least spare a thought for the future. Kenjiro has the potential of growing into quite a strong guy, I think. I want to meet that guy, not this fight-wise inferior guy. Besides, I've had plenty of fights today, including one with Kenjiro himself."

Biharu smiled as he stepped forward, he thought to himself

- Maybe this guy actually can care for someone else. Maybe I'm overthinking his statement.

No matter, I want to go home now. I'm tired after this long mission.-

…

"Alright, what are you guys' intentions?"

Takachu said whilst holding his foot over Kenjiro's right shoulder. Satos.h.i.+ gritted his teeth in frustration, a sign that his moves would be fiercer.

Anami took a couple of steps forward, and smiled slightly. She said

"The original objective was to save our friend Sora. But now when I see that our junior Kenjiro is in trouble, another objective has to be added. Although it would delight me to let him suffer a bit more, I think we're gonna have to save him as well."

Satos.h.i.+ stared at Anami with violent intentions, which carried his eyes up to Anami's eyes. They met, with a smile radiating from Satos.h.i.+. He prepared to execute his primary combo, with his right leg pointing forward.

Kenjiro, with experience of what was to come, quickly said

"Anami, his eyes c--"

But he'd already set off with a dash towards Anami.

"Eye-check: Eye procedure!"

Anami immediately took a couple of steps back due to the shock, she mentally panicked for a bit while Satos.h.i.+ continued his sprint towards her.

The three standing behind Anami realized that something happened, and started moving forward but they wouldn't be able to make it there in time thanks to Satos.h.i.+'s speed.

Anami shook her head really quickly to regain stability. Satos.h.i.+ quickly looked over to Takachu, who shrugged at Satos.h.i.+'s non-verbal request.

He continued das.h.i.+ng and jumped into the air when he heard a very quiet whisper from Anami.

She stood composed and whispered

"Ultimate Skill 1: A tree's mannerisms"

Satos.h.i.+ threw his punch aimed at Anami's head, and yelled out

"Reality…!"

He realized something in the middle of his punch, Anami was standing completely relaxed-looking straight at Satos.h.i.+. The unsettling image triggered an unsettling feeling as he wanted to withdraw quickly. But his body wouldn't let him, the momentum was too strong.

Anami said one thing as the punch neared itself.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"There"

She then quickly twisted her body to avoid the punch, which she did as Satos.h.i.+ finished his call-out in confusion

"Punch…?"

Anami prepared her left leg and yelled out

"Comfortable Ma.s.sage Machine!"

Her leg reached out and hit Satos.h.i.+'s right part of the torso as he flew across the room.

He could feel his whole body vibrating, but not in a comfortable way at all. More in a way that felt like something was about to break through bursting. He landed on the floor with regret.

Takachu immediately drew his head back as he was shocked, thinking to himself

-She's strong!

Probably even stronger than this guy.

I could do my second Ultimate skill, but there's a chance someone here blocks it since I don't know their powers. The safest bet is to just withdraw, although the boss will be somewhat disappointed. But we have fulfilled our mission somewhat, This guy probably won't be able to fight for some time after this.

I can't grab the girl either and run, they would catch me immediately. I'm out of energy. This really is the end, time to run!

I'll use the last ball I'm capable of until I'm exhausted-

Takachu lifted his leg slowly as he said

"Well, it was nice meeting you. We shall meet again if fate dictates us to."

He dramatically opened his uniform and pulled out a single ball. Before a reaction could happen, he quickly threw it to the ground beneath him.

Smoke quickly poured out across the room as shuffling was heard. Anami could have done something, but she decided to leave it alone. She could hear that all he did was run and get his friend to run away.

As the smoke dispersed, a lying Kenjiro was left on the floor looking beat up and hurt.

Anami walked up to him, who looked up at her, and said

"Maybe I do prefer to see you in this state."

…