Chapter 129: Reinforcement Squad (1/2)

Akira was still pouting after Alpha poked fun at him, but then Kanae suddenly spoke to him as if she could not read the mood.

“Akira! We meet again!!”

“…Yeah.”

Akira replied as if he was not interested in talking with Kanae at the moment, but she ignored that.

“But still, what a coincidence to meet you in this place. If you’re going to come here, you should have come with us right from the start, you know?”

“I’m here not because I planned to come here right from the start and it’s not like I came to this building to rescue you in the first place. You should ask Shikarabe for the details.”

“Is that so? Well, whichever the case, thanks for saving us.”

For some reason, Kanae was looking at Akira with interest. In contrast to that, Akira looked at Kanae with a little suspicion. It was because he had no idea why Kanae was so interested in talking to him.

To be more precise, it was just that Kanae had no reservation when it came to approaching someone else, while on the other hand, Akira was being careful to anyone who approached him without any good reasons. Both of them simply did not suit each other.

Kanae was interested in Akira’s strength, a part of it was because she could not figure out how strong Akira was.

From the story that she heard, she knew that Akira could fight evenly against Shiori when she was using her trump card in the underground city of Kuzusuhara ruin. Shiori’s trump card was a special accelerator drug that increased concentration, sharpened sense, and slowed down time perception. The price of using that drug was putting one’s brain under immense stress that might render its user paralyzed for a few days, but in exchange for that, it could completely transform its user into a superhuman while that drug was still in effect. So, the only people who could fight Shiori in that state must be powerful people.

But when Akira faced Katsuya during that incident with a pickpocket girl, even after Akira released an excessive level of killing intent, he ended up slowly retreating back. In reality, since Kanae left that place with Reina and Shiori early, she could only hear what happened after they left from the other people. But from what she heard, it seemed that in the end Katsuya did not hand over that girl to Akira, and Akira just silently left.

It was true that Katsuya was a powerful Hunter, but compared to Shiori with her accelerator drug, he was obviously weaker. So, since Akira retreated back from Katsuya, then it would mean Akira was not that strong.

While on the other hand, Shikarabe and Akira got pretty close to the room where Kanae was hiding with Reina and Shiori. When she was about to go down the stairs, Kanae glanced around to check the situation, and judging from what she could see, they would have fought their way through the monsters to get that close to that room, which meant that Akira must be pretty strong.

And that Akira was now right in front of her. Kanae was pretty confident in her ability to evaluate someone with her eyes. And from what she could see, Akira was indeed pretty strong for a Hunter of his age, that was all there was to it, nothing more. So in short, Akira did not seem that particularly strong. She could not feel a trace of vigour, pressure, or aura that strong people usually had. He seemed to be just a common Hunter like all the other Hunters in the eastern district.

Kanae had enough reason to think that Akira was not that strong, while at the same time, she also had enough evidence to believe that Akira was pretty strong. Because of that, Kanae could not say for sure how strong he really was.

She was smiling while guessing Akira’s real strength.

[Yup, no idea at all. I can’t really tell if Akira is strong or not. Honestly speaking, I want to poke at him to see how strong he really is, but as expected, I shouldn’t do that in this situation.]

Kanae’s impression of Akira was simply someone whose strength was unknown to her.

Even for someone like Kanae, she knew that she had to prioritize her current duty at the moment. So in short, if they were in a different situation, she might have already poked at Akira right now. Kanae honestly felt a bit bummed by that.

Togami and Reina were really stressed out as they were trying to catch their breath, but after staying in that safe place for some time, both of them eventually were able to calm down. Once they had calmed down and had enough leeway to put some of their attention to the current situation, both of them immediately directed their gaze to things that bothered them the most.

For Reina, it was Carol. While for Togami, it was Kanae and Shiori. But technically speaking, both of them were bothered by the same thing, their appearances.

Reina looked at Carol and thought.

[…What is with that augmented suit? It’s really something… Or more like, no matter how you look at it, it’s designed for seducing men, right? Although I heard that some old-world augmented suits have that kind of design, it’s the first time for me to see someone actually using it. Is it just an augmented suit from the current era but with an old-world design? Or is it an old-world relic? Whichever the case, I’m impressed that she’s actually using it. Is it a matter of getting used to that design? The curve is pretty intense too… Is it just that it looks intense simply because of the design?]

Reina looked really bothered as she was staring at Carol’s augmented suit.

At the same time, Togami looked at Kanae and Shiori’s maid outfit and thought.

[…That thing is a maid outfit, right? And maids are those people who serve in a big mansion for rich people, right? So why are there maids in this old-world ruin? Are those maid outfits actually old-world relics with strong defensive power and they’re using it in place of normal armour? But for some reason, they look pretty much used to it though, it doesn’t feel like they’re Hunters. But Shikarabe said that our rescue targets are Drankam Hunters, right…? Wait, he might be talking about Reina and those two might be Reina’s maid… But again, why would a Hunter have maids?]

Togami seemed so confused as he was staring at Shiori and Kanae.

Shiori was standing next to Reina, offering her a stamina drink. Reina thanked Shiori and drank it.

Shiori noticed that Togami was looking in her direction, but she did not pay much attention to it. She herself understood that her maid outfit would attract some attention. And as long as she was there as Reina’s maid, there was no need to put too much attention to what other people thought or said.

After Carol finished her preparation, she nibbled on a ration that looked like grilled rice dumplings. Although it looked like a simple snack from the outside, it was actually infused with restorative and healing properties. It also replenished the nanomachines that she used during the last fight. For Carol, consuming that food was equally important as replenishing her reserve ammo.

Carol also noticed that Reina was looking at her, but she just ignored that. Although the design of her augmented suit was made to seduce men, it sometimes also attracted attention from the other women. Some women who were not used to seeing old-world design often threw glances at her out of pure curiosity without any ill will. There were also girls who did not like having a Hunter in that appearance near them. Even Carol herself knew that much. She thought as long as Reina did not complain or say anything about her appearance, then there was no reason to be bothered by that.

Kanae then turned to Togami who was looking at Shiori, so she then looked at Shiori before shifting to Reina, who was next to Shiori. Since Reina was looking at Carol, Kanae’s eyes soon ended up on Carol.

Kanae was somehow smiling amusedly, she then threw a smile at Carol.

“Whoah! That augmented suit is really something!!”

Akira was caught by surprise, he did not expect that Kanae would go and ask that question. Akira looked around and noticed that most of the Hunters there had the same impression as him.

Carol was lightly surprised as she turned to Kanae. After all, to her, it did not seem like Kanae was someone who paid attention to appearances.

Carol smiled confidently as she replied to Kanae’s remark.

“I won’t deny that, but I don’t want someone in a maid outfit to say that to me.”

Akira unconsciously nodded lightly. What Carol said did make sense and Akira could feel that the other Hunters there would agree with him.

Kanae smiled back and said.

“This is a maid outfit. It would be great if you don’t treat it the same as that augmented suit with a design that is obviously for seducing men. No matter how you look at it, your design sticks out far more than this. Or is that you’re already used to that design?”

Carol smiled and replied.

“That’s weird for you to say that when you voluntarily use that maid outfit and come all the way here to an old-world ruin when there are many armours out there with the same fighting capability. I don’t know whose maid you are, but I wonder if that person doesn’t think that it’ll be sticking out. Or is it out of fetish or something?”

Kanae and Carol were smiling at each other. Although it was not exactly a friendly exchange, it was not a hostile exchange either. It did not feel like they were challenging each other and picking a fight.

As Akira was looking at both of them with a slightly troubled face, Kanae suddenly turned to him and threw a question.

“Akira, which one do you think is weirder?”

Akira obviously looked troubled when Kanae suddenly threw that question at him, but then Carol asked a similar question to him too.

“Oh, good idea. Akira, which one do you think is the weird one? Which one do you think sticking out the most?”

Instead of answering their questions, Akira asked a question to both of them.

“…Why are you both asking me?”

Kanae and Carol replied with similar answers as if they had already decided to do that beforehand.

“Isn’t it fine? It’s just out of curiosity.”

“Isn’t it fine? It’s just out of a whim.”

Akira looked around, Elena and Sara were holding back their laughter. Shikarabe looked like he did not care at all, Reina and Togami looked at Akira as if they were waiting for Akira’s answer, and Shiori was just standing next to Reina with a neutral face.

Akira could feel an awkward mood drifting in the room, he then answered back honestly.

“Personally speaking, if it’s on the first sight, I think the maid outfit sticks out more. For Carol’s augmented suit, it’s just a normal augmented suit with an old-world design after all… And I bet that it’s not normal to see maids whether it’s only an outfit or a real maid in the old-world ruin.”

Akira’s response was extremely biased since he had already become used to seeing old-world design because of Alpha. His opinion might be very uncommon for people around his age. As in matter of fact, Reina and Togami were obviously surprised by Akira’s answer.

After listening to Akira’s answer, Carol sported a winning smile. While on the other hand, Kanae lightly waved her hand left and right while shaking her head too. She then spoke to Akira like a veteran talking to a complete beginner.

“Akira, it seems that you still don’t understand how wide this world is.”

Akira casually replied.

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty much living in a narrow world until now after all. Sorry about that.”

Elena lightly giggled as she joined in.

“We should go soon, if you have the time for silly talk like that, I trust that you’ve finished your preparation, yes?”

Akira’s expression turned serious.

“Yeah, I can go anytime.”

“Ready when you are.”

Kanae sounded like she was in a good mood as she said that and returned back to Reina.

Carol still kept her eyes on Kanae when she answered Elena’s question.

“Yeah, no problem here.”

Carol was looking at Kanae as if she had a question in her head.

[…I feel like she asked me that because she was probing for something though, is it only my imagination? Is that simply out of habit? It doesn’t seem her companions are bothered by that either…]

Carol just concluded that Kanae did that simply out of habit and decided to stop thinking about it.

Once Kanae returned to Reina and Shiori, Shiori whispered to Kanae.