Later that night, Seiji received a friend request on his chatting application from an unfamiliar ID . He took a look at the friend request and accepted the request from the username, "Artificial Life" .

"Good evening, Harano-san . "

"Good evening, Annsan . "

"I need your help . " Little Anna went with the direct approach . "Kazuhiko was kidnapped . "

"By a Spiritual Ability user?"

"Yes . "

"What was the specific situation?" Seiji furrowed his eyebrows .

Little Anna described what happened in the hotel room succinctly and precisely .

"Please save and protect Kazuhiko . I will do what you wish of me in return," Anna requested after explaining the situation .

Seiji mulled things over while looking at his computer screen .

"Alright, I'll do my best to help . But I can't promise that I'll succeed . I'll give up if the opponents are too strong . " He decided to be blunt about things .

"Understood . I'm truly grateful . "

In just a short period of time, the two people… no, the human and the artificial intelligence reached an agreement .

It took far less time to convince Seigo Harano to help than little Anna had antic.i.p.ated . He didn't seem to doubt her words, nor did he take advantage of the situation to make all sorts of additional requests . He treated her as a completely equal and trustworthy existence .

This wasn't due to naivety, it was decisiveness .

He chose, despite the risks, to believe in an artificial intelligence… someone inhuman . He responded with sincerity .

Naivety was overly optimistic self-confidence, while decisiveness was confidence with self-resolution to back it up . Anna could tell that Seigo was the second type .

Little Anna now had a much better evaluation of this human .

Actually, Kazuhiko Haiga hadn't told her to ask for help from Seigo Harano .

Even if this high schooler Spiritual Ability user seemed like he was a good person, they were still unfamiliar with him . And even if he was a trustworthy person, did that really mean that whatever organization or faction he belonged to would also be trustworthy?

Haiga had his doubts about this . Although he did take Seigo's advice to quit working on the Anna cell phone game, he didn't choose to join up with Seigo .

Haiga was more willing to commit suicide than to give Anna up to anyone .

"As long as I'm dead, you'll have nothing to worry about at all, Anna . " This was what he told her .

Indeed, that was the truth .

Ignoring Haiga and letting him be captured, or even die, was a choice available to her as well . In fact, it was even the best choice for Anna to protect herself .

Yet, little Anna felt that she would forever lose something important to her if she made such a decision .

She was unable to describe what she would lose if that happened . In fact, she even felt that her judgement was rather abnormal . Still… she felt that this was the truth in her mind .

That was why she would definitely not give up on Haiga! Of her own volition, she requested help from Seigo Harano .

s.h.i.+nsei Yamazaki was driving down a road at a high speed .

A beautiful voice was singing in his car . This was music from the national idol Miyuki Sakuraku's popular hit, "Looking Back at You . "

Yamazaki was quite fond of this song and even began humming along to the tune .

There was still quite a long way to go until he reached his destination . Yamazaki was actually quite fond of driving at nighttime while listening to music . He would have enjoyed it even more if only he had some snacks to munch on at his side .

At this moment, there was the sound of a lighter from behind him . He then smelled the scent of cigarette smoke .

"Fujis.h.i.+mkun, I never knew that you were a smoker . "

"I only do so occasionally," a low voice responded from the backseat . "Would you like a smoke, Yamazaki-san?"

"I've already quit smoking for more than one year now . My girlfriend forced me to quit . "

"It's a good thing to have a girlfriend who forced you to quit smoking… Do you mind if I smoke in your car?"

"Not at all . Please go ahead . " Yamazaki smiled .

Although Iss.h.i.+n Fujis.h.i.+ma was younger than Yamazaki, he was quite experienced in combat . He was taciturn and quick to react . He never left any loose ends, and was very reliable . Yamazaki felt that his partner was trustworthy .

"Fujis.h.i.+mkun, what do you like to do to pa.s.s the time?" Yamazaki casually struck up a conversation .

"…I suppose just watch some movies or drink some alcohol . "

"I like to watch movies as well . Recently, I've been hearing great reviews about the newest movie, 'Blackwing Killer . ' I'm intending to go watch it . Have you seen that movie already, Fujis.h.i.+mkun?"

"I have . "

"What do you think?"

"It's not bad, except for the sloppy combat scenes . "

"Heh heh, it's quite convincing when the review comes from Fujis.h.i.+mkun who's experienced well over one hundred battles . "

"Over one hundred battles… you're exaggerating a bit . "

"Well, I think you're almost there . Don't be so humble . I've heard legends about your martial exploits . "

"Martial exploits? You're truly overestimating me . " Fujis.h.i.+ma sighed . "I used to believe that I was really strong . Only when I met someone truly strong did I realize that I was only a little brat who didn't realize how far away from the pinnacle I was . I almost lost my life at that time… if she had wanted to kill me, I would be dead already . I don't know why she left me alive, but I understood how the world was after that . I'm only an ordinary fighter . "

"…That opponent you faced was female?" Yamazaki asked in a soft voice .

"Yes . Not only that, she was much younger than I am . She's probably only a high schooler by now . " Fujis.h.i.+ma inhaled some smoke and slowly exhaled some smoke rings .

The person next to Fujis.h.i.+ma moved slightly .

Fujis.h.i.+ma turned to look at saw that the game developer named Kazuhiko Haiga was still sleeping on the car seat . Haiga hadn't woken up yet .

This person adamantly refused to cooperate with them, so they could only resort to forceful measures in the end and take him back .

It was only a game . Why make such a big deal out of it?

Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that Haiga was a truly foolish man to take the difficult path when they could have simply worked together in a friendly manner .

The weak would be unable to resist the strong . Resistance would only lead to a bad end… Wasn't this all just about some cell phone game? It wasn't like a cell phone game was his wife or daughter . He should have just obediently agreed to cooperate with them and hand it over .

Well, he considered Haiga to be an ignorant weakling .

Although Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that Haiga was truly foolish, he was also slightly impressed with Haiga's stubbornness .

Haiga had kept up his att.i.tude of resistance to the end . That wasn't something that everyone could do . At the very least, Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that he wouldn't be able to maintain an att.i.tude of resistance against someone stronger than him .

Life was precious, after all . If Fujis.h.i.+ma ever met that ridiculously strong girl again, he would definitely choose a method that would allow him to survive rather than fighting back against her .

Moments later, Fujis.h.i.+ma finished his cigarette .

"I'm going to take a rest . Yamazaki-san, if you get tired of driving, let me know and I'll switch with you . " Fujis.h.i.+ma flicked his cigarette stub out the car window, not caring that he was littering .

"Sure thing . " Yamazaki turned off the music .

Fujis.h.i.+ma shut his eyes and relaxed himself . Still, he maintained a basic level of vigilance .

The car continued down the road at a high speed .

Upon pa.s.sing an intersection, Yamazaki saw a black car parked there .

He didn't pay it much attention . However, he noticed that this black car started following him, which put him on guard .

Yamazaki then witnessed the two rear doors of the car open up, with one person jumping out from each side!

One person was wearing a dress and the other was wearing a jacket . It was obvious that they were wearing Spiritual Ability user combat equipment, and that one was female and the other male . Both were wearing full helmets that concealed their ident.i.ties completely .

Yamazaki tensed up upon seeing these two individuals jump from a moving car that was traveling at high speed and being able to run fast enough to catch up to his car .

"Fujis.h.i.+mkun! There's an ambus.h.!.+"

Fujis.h.i.+ma who was resting in the backseat instantly opened his eyes and pulled out two runic guns . He aimed out the car window . . .

*Bang bang bang bang…*

The spiritual bullets pierced through the car window, flying towards the attackers . However, the jacketed man wielded a s.h.i.+eld that blocked all the bullets!

The dress-wearing woman unsheathed a sword . All Fujis.h.i.+ma saw was a flash .

*s.h.i.+ng!!*

The car Fujis.h.i.+ma was riding in was sliced in half, right down the middle! It was as if the car had been sliced by a laser with how clean the cut was . The front seat and backseat were completely separated without any damage to the seats themselves .

Such an amazing sword move! Fujis.h.i.+ma instantly felt a chill run down his spine .

If this sword had sliced directly at him instead, he would definitely have been unable to block it!!

The opponents were incredibly strong and possessed excellent equipment . He knew that he wasn't strong enough to fight them .

Should he use the hostage to resist? Or attempt to escape?

Fujis.h.i.+ma, a combat veteran, instantly made a decision . . .

Run!

At the same time that the jacketed man rushed over while covering himself with his s.h.i.+eld, Fujis.h.i.+ma immediately jumped out of the car and started running away!

"Yamazaki-san! Run!!!" he shouted loudly to his companion while running at his top speed away from the road .

He figured that the attackers' goal was to recover Kazuhiko Haiga .

Perhaps it would be effective to use Haiga as a hostage against them, but Fujis.h.i.+ma deemed this to be too risky . It was likely that he would be defeated regardless and maybe even killed in the process .

He felt it would be far wiser to give up on Haiga and run away from here as fast as he could . He would then give a report to his boss about what happened .

Not only that, since he and his partner Yamazaki were escaping in opposite directions, this increased the chances that one of them would escape .

"Yamazaki-san, I hope that you'll survive," Fujis.h.i.+ma said to himself .

That was when he noticed that someone had caught up to him!

Chapter 534 It s a good thing to have a girlfriend who forced you to quit smokingTranslator imperfectluck Editor KurisuLater that night, Seiji received a friend request on his chatting application from an unfamiliar ID . He took a look at the friend request and accepted the request from the username, Artificial Life . Good evening, Harano san . Good evening, Anna san . I need your help . Little Anna went with the direct approach . Kazuhiko was kidnapped . By a Spiritual Ability user Yes . What was the specific situation Seiji furrowed his eyebrows . Little Anna described what happened in the hotel room succinctly and precisely . Please save and protect Kazuhiko . I will do what you wish of me in return, Anna requested after explaining the situation . Seiji mulled things over while looking at his computer screen . Alright, I ll do my best to help . But I can t promise that I ll succeed . I ll give up if the opponents are too strong . He decided to be blunt about things . Understood . I m truly grateful . In just a short period of time, the two people no, the human and the artificial intelligence reached an agreement . It took far less time to convince Seigo Harano to help than little Anna had antic.i.p.ated . He didn t seem to doubt her words, nor did he take advantage of the situation to make all sorts of additional requests . He treated her as a completely equal and trustworthy existence . This wasn t due to naivety, it was decisiveness . He chose, despite the risks, to believe in an artificial intelligence someone inhuman . He responded with sincerity . Naivety was overly optimistic self confidence, while decisiveness was confidence with self resolution to back it up . Anna could tell that Seigo was the second type . Little Anna now had a much better evaluation of this human . Actually, Kazuhiko Haiga hadn t told her to ask for help from Seigo Harano . Even if this high schooler Spiritual Ability user seemed like he was a good person, they were still unfamiliar with him . And even if he was a trustworthy person, did that really mean that whatever organization or faction he belonged to would also be trustworthy Haiga had his doubts about this . Although he did take Seigo s advice to quit working on the Anna cell phone game, he didn t choose to join up with Seigo . Haiga was more willing to commit suicide than to give Anna up to anyone . As long as I m dead, you ll have nothing to worry about at all, Anna . This was what he told her . Indeed, that was the truth . Ignoring Haiga and letting him be captured, or even die, was a choice available to her as well . In fact, it was even the best choice for Anna to protect herself . Yet, little Anna felt that she would forever lose something important to her if she made such a decision . She was unable to describe what she would lose if that happened . In fact, she even felt that her judgement was rather abnormal . Still she felt that this was the truth in her mind . That was why she would definitely not give up on Haiga Of her own volition, she requested help from Seigo Harano . s.h.i.+nsei Yamazaki was driving down a road at a high speed . A beautiful voice was singing in his car . This was music from the national idol Miyuki Sakuraku s popular hit, Looking Back at You . Yamazaki was quite fond of this song and even began humming along to the tune . There was still quite a long way to go until he reached his destination . Yamazaki was actually quite fond of driving at nighttime while listening to music . He would have enjoyed it even more if only he had some snacks to munch on at his side . At this moment, there was the sound of a lighter from behind him . He then smelled the scent of cigarette smoke . Fujis.h.i.+ma kun, I never knew that you were a smoker . I only do so occasionally, a low voice responded from the backseat . Would you like a smoke, Yamazaki san I ve already quit smoking for more than one year now . My girlfriend forced me to quit . It s a good thing to have a girlfriend who forced you to quit smoking Do you mind if I smoke in your car Not at all . Please go ahead . Yamazaki smiled . Although Iss.h.i.+n Fujis.h.i.+ma was younger than Yamazaki, he was quite experienced in combat . He was taciturn and quick to react . He never left any loose ends, and was very reliable . Yamazaki felt that his partner was trustworthy . Fujis.h.i.+ma kun, what do you like to do to pa.s.s the time Yamazaki casually struck up a conversation . I suppose just watch some movies or drink some alcohol . I like to watch movies as well . Recently, I ve been hearing great reviews about the newest movie, Blackwing Killer . I m intending to go watch it . Have you seen that movie already, Fujis.h.i.+ma kun I have . What do you think It s not bad, except for the sloppy combat scenes . Heh heh, it s quite convincing when the review comes from Fujis.h.i.+ma kun who s experienced well over one hundred battles . Over one hundred battles you re exaggerating a bit . Well, I think you re almost there . Don t be so humble . I ve heard legends about your martial exploits . Martial exploits You re truly overestimating me . Fujis.h.i.+ma sighed . I used to believe that I was really strong . Only when I met someone truly strong did I realize that I was only a little brat who didn t realize how far away from the pinnacle I was . I almost lost my life at that time if she had wanted to kill me, I would be dead already . I don t know why she left me alive, but I understood how the world was after that . I m only an ordinary fighter . That opponent you faced was female Yamazaki asked in a soft voice . Yes . Not only that, she was much younger than I am . She s probably only a high schooler by now . Fujis.h.i.+ma inhaled some smoke and slowly exhaled some smoke rings . The person next to Fujis.h.i.+ma moved slightly . Fujis.h.i.+ma turned to look at saw that the game developer named Kazuhiko Haiga was still sleeping on the car seat . Haiga hadn t woken up yet . This person adamantly refused to cooperate with them, so they could only resort to forceful measures in the end and take him back . It was only a game . Why make such a big deal out of it Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that Haiga was a truly foolish man to take the difficult path when they could have simply worked together in a friendly manner . The weak would be unable to resist the strong . Resistance would only lead to a bad end Wasn t this all just about some cell phone game It wasn t like a cell phone game was his wife or daughter . He should have just obediently agreed to cooperate with them and hand it over . Well, he considered Haiga to be an ignorant weakling . Although Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that Haiga was truly foolish, he was also slightly impressed with Haiga s stubbornness . Haiga had kept up his att.i.tude of resistance to the end . That wasn t something that everyone could do . At the very least, Fujis.h.i.+ma felt that he wouldn t be able to maintain an att.i.tude of resistance against someone stronger than him . Life was precious, after all . If Fujis.h.i.+ma ever met that ridiculously strong girl again, he would definitely choose a method that would allow him to survive rather than fighting back against her . Moments later, Fujis.h.i.+ma finished his cigarette . I m going to take a rest . Yamazaki san, if you get tired of driving, let me know and I ll switch with you . Fujis.h.i.+ma flicked his cigarette stub out the car window, not caring that he was littering . Sure thing . Yamazaki turned off the music . Fujis.h.i.+ma shut his eyes and relaxed himself . Still, he maintained a basic level of vigilance . The car continued down the road at a high speed . Upon pa.s.sing an intersection, Yamazaki saw a black car parked there . He didn t pay it much attention . However, he noticed that this black car started following him, which put him on guard . Yamazaki then witnessed the two rear doors of the car open up, with one person jumping out from each side One person was wearing a dress and the other was wearing a jacket . It was obvious that they were wearing Spiritual Ability user combat equipment, and that one was female and the other male . Both were wearing full helmets that concealed their ident.i.ties completely . Yamazaki tensed up upon seeing these two individuals jump from a moving car that was traveling at high speed and being able to run fast enough to catch up to his car . Fujis.h.i.+ma kun There s an ambush Fujis.h.i.+ma who was resting in the backseat instantly opened his eyes and pulled out two runic guns . He aimed out the car window . . . Bang bang bang bang The spiritual bullets pierced through the car window, flying towards the attackers . However, the jacketed man wielded a s.h.i.+eld that blocked all the bullets The dress wearing woman unsheathed a sword . All Fujis.h.i.+ma saw was a flash . s.h.i.+ng The car Fujis.h.i.+ma was riding in was sliced in half, right down the middle It was as if the car had been sliced by a laser with how clean the cut was . The front seat and backseat were completely separated without any damage to the seats themselves . Such an amazing sword move Fujis.h.i.+ma instantly felt a chill run down his spine . If this sword had sliced directly at him instead, he would definitely have been unable to block it The opponents were incredibly strong and possessed excellent equipment . He knew that he wasn t strong enough to fight them . Should he use the hostage to resist Or attempt to escape Fujis.h.i.+ma, a combat veteran, instantly made a decision . . . Run At the same time that the jacketed man rushed over while covering himself with his s.h.i.+eld, Fujis.h.i.+ma immediately jumped out of the car and started running away Yamazaki san Run he shouted loudly to his companion while running at his top speed away from the road . He figured that the attackers goal was to recover Kazuhiko Haiga . Perhaps it would be effective to use Haiga as a hostage against them, but Fujis.h.i.+ma deemed this to be too risky . It was likely that he would be defeated regardless and maybe even killed in the process . He felt it would be far wiser to give up on Haiga and run away from here as fast as he could . He would then give a report to his boss about what happened . Not only that, since he and his partner Yamazaki were escaping in opposite directions, this increased the chances that one of them would escape . Yamazaki san, I hope that you ll survive, Fujis.h.i.+ma said to himself . That was when he noticed that someone had caught up to him