Chapter 118: Bad Girl (1/2)
Carol was keeping her eyes on Akira as he was talking with Elena and Sara.
Carol was, objectively and subjectively speaking, a beautiful girl. And even when they were compared to her, both Sara and Elena were pretty beautiful too. So, looking from the outlook alone, Sara and Elena were not that much different from Carol.
But even so, Akira reacted very differently when he was with Elena or Sara compared to when he was with her. Carol thought that Akira had no interest in girls at all, but now she had to change her opinion after seeing that.
[I wonder where this difference comes from? Is it just because he has known both of them for longer? Is it just that he’s bad at dealing with people that he doesn’t know very well…? No, I don’t think that’s the case.]
Carol immediately rejected the guess that came up in her mind. Thanks to her long experience dealing with a lot of people, she at least knew that she was heading in the right direction and that might give her a hint on how to seduce Akira.
If it was only because Akira had never experienced the allure of the opposite sex, then she might need to find another way to approach him. As Carol thought so, she decided to keep that in mind, at least for now.
[Well, there’s no need to rush myself. It has only been 2 days since we met. I’ll just slowly and carefully approach him to make sure that he won’t cut his relation with me.]
Shikarabe arrived right on time. The other Hunters there looked a bit surprised when they saw him step out from his APC with an irritated look.
Shikarabe then said.
“Sorry, am I late?”
Elena replied.
“Don’t worry, you’re not late, you came just on time. So then, you look pretty annoyed though, what happened?”
“Nah, it’s nothing.”
“If it’s really nothing, as the team leader, I at least want to know the reason, alright?”
Shikarabe frowned and looked at Elena. Elena looked back at Shikarabe without changing her expression. After a few seconds of silence, Shikarabe sighed and said.
“…Since I’m here in Mihazono ruin right now, the people in Drankam are telling me to at least join the Drankam team even if it’s on name only, and it was not easy refusing them. That’s all.”
It seemed that Shikarabe really did not want to work under Katsuya even if it was only on paper to the point that he even hated the idea of explaining it to other people.
Elena and Sara smiled bitterly. Both of them understood Shikarabe’s hatred toward Katsuya and they knew well that he really hated Katsuya’s gut. As in matter of fact, there might be a part of them that sympathized with Shikarabe.
Carol smiled smugly, she knew very well that Shikarabe was a man who would not allow his personal feelings to get in the way of his job. Getting himself in a Drankam team in name only, would not cause him any loss, thus, it was only to be expected if Shikarabe accepted that demand. So, the fact that he did not do that showed that he was prioritizing his personal feeling, which was indeed a very rare thing for him. Carol thought that it was indeed strange and made her wonder who was this Katsuya who caused Shikarabe to even go that far.
Akira himself did not show any particular reaction. After all, for him, the in-fighting in the Drankam was none of his business as long as it did not cause any trouble for him or the other people that he cared for.
After they finished a short briefing of their next request, they then headed back into Mihazono ruin.
They did not find any particular trouble from there. Since they decided to lower the difficulty of the rescue requests that they accepted, they did not have to fight a swarm of monsters in narrow places nor they got to encounter any relatively powerful monsters. They just went back and forth from the Hunter Office branch to the Mihazono ruin to escort the Hunters that they rescued without any trouble.
Since they took easier requests, the reward that they received from each request was lowered too. But it was compensated by the number of requests that they took. So, looking at the total rewards that they got that day, considering the difficulty of the request, it could be said that they were making a killing here. There might be some Hunters who had to suffer because they started taking easier requests instead, but that was not their fault since being able to effectively convert risks into profit was one of the essential skills for Hunters.
As they kept the cycle of taking rescue requests and small breaks, the sun eventually set, and Mihazono ruin was once again veiled in by the darkness of night.
Elena and her team returned and parked their vehicles somewhere near the Hunter Office branch, they then stepped off from the vehicles and discussed what to do next.
Everyone there looked tired. Especially Elena, Sara, and Shikarabe who had been rescuing Hunters since the previous day, they needed to take a proper rest soon.
Elena looked obviously tired as she said.
“So then, let’s break up here and meet up again tomorrow to work together with the same members again. Make sure to let others know if anything comes up.”
Shikarabe then said.
“I have some stuff that I need to do for Drankam, so I won’t be returning back to the city, instead, I’ll stay here in Mihazono ruin tonight. I’ll still stay inside the connection range, so there shouldn’t be any problem contacting me. Akira, you should really change your connection service from that cheap line soon.”
Akira thought of something and said.
“Wait, you’ll stay here? Are you still planning to go to the ruin again?”
“Even for me, I have no plans to go to the ruin again for the rest of the day. I’ll be staying in a Drankam facility nearby. Drankam actually built a temporary base nearby so their Hunters don’t have to go back and forth from the city. After all, it’ll take quite a lot of time to go on a round trip from the city. Well, it’s true that I can just sleep inside the APC, but since there’s a bed in that facility, it would be a waste not to use it.”
Sara then said.
“We’ll also stay somewhere nearby, to be more precise, in one of those trailer houses. Which means… The ones heading back to the city are only Akira and Carol, huh…”
Elena, Sara, and Shikarabe turned to Akira and Carol.
Elena looked at Akira and thought.
[If he was alone, I wouldn’t mind inviting Akira too, and I’m sure that Sara isn’t against it either, but…]
Sara looked at Carol and thought.
[…Of course, there’s no way I can invite Carol too since I don’t know her that well, and I’m sure that Elena would not want that too.]
Elena and Sara glanced at each other, both of them knew each other and had been together for a long time. It did not take much for them to understand what the other person was thinking.
Akira suddenly turned to Carol and asked her a question.
“I’m heading back to the city though, how about you, Carol?”
“Let’s see…”
Carol glanced at Shikarabe, Shikarabe obviously looked alerted and slightly frowned. She then smiled and said.
“I’ll head back to the city too. Akira, can you give me a ride?”
“…? Sure.”
Akira was a bit bothered by Shikarabe’s reaction. Although he was sure that there must be a reason for that, he simply decided to just forget about it. He then lightly bowed to Elena and Sara.
“Well then, I’ll be heading back now. I’ll be in your care again tomorrow.”
Elena lightly smiled.
“Be careful on your way back home, and make sure to get a good rest when you get home.”
Sara also smiled lightly and said.
“Don’t drop your guard yet until you reach the city, okay?”
Akira and Carol returned back to Akira’s vehicle. They then waved at the other Hunters who would stay behind and left that place.
After Akira and Carol left, Elena turned to Shikarabe and asked.
“Shikarabe, do you have some free time after this?”
Shikarabe guessed the meaning behind that question as he frowned and said.
“It depends. I’m really tired so I want to get a good rest as soon as possible.”
“It’s about Carol, I want to know more about her. You’re acquainted with her, right?”
Shikarabe’s face turned stern, his guess was correct. Elena and Sara who saw that were a bit surprised.
Shikarabe thought to himself without saying anything, some of what he was thinking got leaked on his face. He then carefully chose his words as he said.
“Well, it’s true that it might cause trouble if I try to evade your question about her without giving any good excuse or explanation, but I feel like it’ll also cause trouble if I explain everything about her. So I’ll only answer questions that won’t cause any trouble among us while we’re still taking the SOS rescue requests together. To put it simply, she’s not a good girl, but it’s highly unlikely that her bad personality and habit would cause any bad effects on the current SOS rescue requests that we’re taking. Her ability as a Hunter is also not something to scoff at, so I don’t think she would slow us down either.”
After hearing that answer, Elena and Sara made a troubled face. Elena then asked Shikarabe a question.
“Uhhh, she sounds like nothing but trouble though?”
“I leave it to you how you want to interpret it. And even if it’s true that she’s a problematic person, that doesn’t mean that her problem might cause us any trouble in this short time span when we’re working together. It’s true that I won’t invite her to my own team, but if someone else is bringing her along, I won’t kick her out since she’s pretty strong herself. That’s all that I can say as a team member. If you want to know more about her, I’ll tell you but only after we finish this request. See you tomorrow then.”
Shikarabe then left Elena and Sara.
Elena and Sara looked at each other. It was obvious looking from their face that they had no idea how to treat Carol now. At first, they thought that Carol was someone who would not cause any trouble, but that did not sound to be the case now.
Akira gave Carol a ride all the way to where they met up before going to the Mihazono ruin. Carol stepped off the vehicle and stretched her body while facing away from Akira. She then spun around and smiled at him.
“So then, see you again tomorrow… If you still have some time, you can visit my home, you know? I don’t mind even if you want to sleepover too. I can also serve you some simple food while you’re at it. That way, we won’t have to meet up first before going to the wasteland tomorrow.”
They were planning to go to Mihazono ruin again tomorrow and they planned to meet up in the same place as before.
Akira shook his head.
“No thanks, I’ll go back home. I can’t really relax unless I’m in my own home, you see.”
“I see, that’s just too bad… Seriously though, you refused even when a beauty like me is inviting you, you’re no fun at all.”
Carol smiled confidently at Akira, which Akira returned back with the same smile, filled with confidence.
“Sorry, I hope you get a good rest today.”
Carol saw Akira off and mumbled.
“No reaction at all even now, huh. Well, let’s be patient here.”
Carol thought it had been quite a while since the last time she felt pleasure in trying to seduce someone as she smiled amusedly.
Akira went straight for the bath when he got back home. He enjoyed the warm water as he dipped his body up to his neck inside the bath while letting the warm water heal his tired body. He had already finished cleaning up and taking care of his equipment before taking a bath. So he could just dive into his bed and sleep after the bath. Thus, fully recovering both his body and mind to face tomorrow.
Akira was more or less in a daze, or it could even be said that he was in a trance. Although there was a beautiful girl with a body that was adjusted to his preference taking a bath together with him without even a slip of cloth on her body, he barely paid any attention to her. This in itself could be said to be a not healthy situation.
Alpha, who dipped her body up until around the cleavage of her chest, suddenly stood up without showing any embarrassment and sat on the edge of the bathtub. Her beautiful figure that was blurred by the shaking of the water surface was in full view right now. The only thing that hid her body above her knees was the steam from the warm water and the water droplets sliding down her skin.
Since Alpha suddenly moved, Akira reacted to that and turned to her direction. He locked his gaze on Alpha’s extremely enticing body for a few seconds before returning his gaze forward as if he just lost his interest.
Alpha, who saw that, smiled at Akira and said.
“That reaction even when you’re in front of this beautiful body. It seems that it’ll take some time until the priority between girls and food in your brain switch places, huh.”
Akira was still half-dazed as he jabbed back.
“…Save that for later, will you?”
Akira was in the middle of enjoying his bath, he let the warm water take over his body while relaxing back. Thus, he had no time to react to Alpha’s teasing, he seemed pretty irritated to even only tell her to stop.
As Alpha thought that Akira might have gotten too used to naked girl’s body, she thought to herself that it was a necessary sacrifice. It might have rendered her beauty ineffective, but it was way better than having Akira seduced by someone else. So in order to compensate for that, she decided to improve her support for him.