Chapter 168: Restarting Hunter Activities (1/2)

Shizuka was waiting at her shop just like usual when she spotted Akira. As she was about to call him, she stopped when she realized that he was acting weird.

Akira looked a bit scared as he carefully entered the shop, he looked around as if he was searching for someone. After he confirmed that the person he was looking for was not there, he sighed in relief but with a rather conflicted face.

“Welcome!”

Shizuka smiled and welcomed him, Akira twitched and awkwardly smiled back. Shizuka found it weird, but for now, she was relieved to see his smile. Akira no longer gave off that tense mood which he exuded when he was talking to Elena and Sara last time.

Even after Akira came to the counter, he seemed to be wanting to say something but hesitating to do so. Shizuka was curious about that, but for now, she decided to just smile and gave her usual business-like service.

“So, what do you need today? Though I feel like it’s rather too soon for you to come here for ammo, after all, it hasn’t been that long since the last time you came. Ah, or is it that you’re here just for a chit-chat? If that’s the case, I don’t mind at all, you know.”

“Ah, no, uhh, I’m here for ammo.”

“Is that so? I thought you bought enough ammo the last time you came here for your new equipment. Did you go on a monster curbing request to get yourself familiar with your new augmented suit or something and used a lot of your ammo there?”

“Eh, ah, well, uhhh, things happened, you see.”

“Is that so? Then, is the usual okay?”

“No, uhh, I might need other things too…”

Akira sounded a little bit scared as he placed his order. Shizuka was listening to him calmly, but inside, she was actually pretty surprised. She did not think that he would need a new repair cartridge for his augmented suit, a replacement for the anti-forcefield armour-piercing bullet that he bought as a lucky charm, and bullets plus energy cartridge enough for a normal battle this quickly.

Shizuka slightly frowned and said.

“I’m sorry but I can’t give you the repair cartridge right away. That thing is pretty expensive after all, so I don’t have that ready in my shop. But if you need it immediately, I’ll place an express order for that…”

Akira shook his head flusteredly.

“Ah, it’s fine! I don’t need it that badly. I just thought that I need to buy some while I have the money and the chance while I still remember it.”

“Okay then. In that case, I’ll put a normal order for the repair cartridge. You can get the rest just fine. You’re buying quite a lot this time, so if you’re here with your vehicle, can you bring it to the back of the shop?”

Shizuka smiled and said so, to which Akira flusteredly replied.

“Ah, uhmm, uhh… Alright.”

Akira slightly slumped as if he had given up and went out to bring his vehicle to the back of the shop.

Akira was loading ammo and other stuff into his vehicle. Shizuka who was looking at him then casually asked him.

“Say, Akira, that vehicle is a rental vehicle, right? How about the one that you got from me? Did you send it for repair or something?”

Akira stopped, he avoided looking straight at Shizuka as he replied.

“No, actually, uhhh… I’m sorry, I no longer can use that one…”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“Uhhh, things happened.”

Akira was not lying, the vehicle that he bought from Shizuka was no longer available for him to use. But that already happened a few battles ago, to be more precise, that vehicle was broken when Akira fought that bounty monster. He was thinking of buying a similar vehicle sometime soon or buying a better one so he could use that as an excuse to replace the vehicle that he received from Shizuka, but before that happened, even his new vehicle got wrecked right afterwards, taking away all the ammo and medicine that he had in that vehicle with it. That was why he was buying new supplies today.

Judging from Akira’s reaction, Shizuka thought that he looked like a small boy who was scared of telling the truth. And when she made a guess as to the reason why, she said to Akira as if to calm him down.

“Say Akira, about last time. Do you hate Elena and Sara now after what happened? If that’s the case, I won’t force you to reconcile with them, but I hope you would understand Elena and Sara did not do that because of any ill-will. They were just worried about you, though you might not like it.”

Akira thought that he would get scolded for losing his vehicle. That was why he was slightly surprised when Shizuka brought that up, he then flusteredly shook his head and said.

“Not at all. To be honest, I’m actually a bit worried that Sara-san and Elena-san hate me now since I thought I did something rather rude when they only tried to stop me since they’re worried about me. And it’s as they said, it really was not worth the trouble… I might have really gotten a bit too emotional back then. I know I can be a bit stubborn sometimes, though it may be too late to say that now…”

Akira looked a bit down and seemed to feel bad for what he did. Shizuka who saw that smiled at him to cheer him up.

“I don’t know what happened for you to lose your vehicle, but I’m glad that you’re fine. Are you injured?”

“Ah, not at all, I’m alright.”

“Then that’s all that matters. Make sure to take care of your body. I’ll at least tell Elena and Sara that you’re not that bothered by last time too. You did look a bit scared coming in after all, so I bet you feel awkward coming to my shop now.”

Shizuka smiled bitterly as she said so, Akira replied back also with a bitter smile.

“I’m sorry and thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, I’ll make sure to let them know. Don’t worry, it’s not like they are angry at you. So it’ll be fine.”

Akira looked obviously relieved there. Seeing that, Shizuka happily smiled and said.

“But still, I’m really glad that your friendship with Elena and Sara didn’t break up. If you guys are on bad terms, it would be awkward for both of you to come to this shop and it would hurt my revenue.”

Shizuka smiled when she said that, so Akira smiled back at her.

After Akira loaded all his new ammo and other supplies into his vehicle, he then went straight back home. Shizuka saw him off with a smile, when Akira was no longer in her view, her smile slightly turned cloudy.

“Wasn’t worth the trouble, huh…”

Shizuka noticed that Akira had killed Alna.

Akira sounded a bit regretful when he said that it was not worth the trouble. Shizuka bet that it must be the reason why Akira lost his vehicle and came there today to buy supplies. Elena and Sara did try to stop him and Shizuka herself also had told him to put a serious thought about it first, but even so, he still went and killed that pickpocket. Judging from his reaction last time, Shizuka thought that it was unlikely for them to find a peaceful solution to that matter. This time, he had regained his calm to the point that he could say he might have gotten a bit stubborn back then. Which made it likely that he had regained his calm after killing that pickpocket.

If that was really the case, that would explain why Akira looked a bit scared when he entered the shop. He ignored the warnings from the people close to him and went to kill that pickpocket, so it must be awkward for him to meet them now. Or at least, that was what Shizuka’s intuition was telling her.

From that guess, Shizuka then thought. Although she did not feel any sympathy for the pickpocket that Akira killed, she felt sad for Akira, who killed that pickpocket. Akira had become strong enough to buy 400 million Aurum equipment, and even after acquiring that much power, the possible danger and loss from killing that pickpocket could not stop him from doing so.

Power would normally provide leeway and tolerance. But the power that Akira had gained was not enough to provide him with enough leeway and tolerance to let matters with pickpocket go. Akira’s mind was still stuck as if he was still living in the slum.

Shizuka felt sad when she thought how much strength Akira needed to be able to just laugh it off when something like that happened, and how many times he had been reminded of his weakness to the point that he unconsciously craved for more power.

“…I guess, for now, I need to let Sara and Elena know as soon as possible, huh.”

Moping would not change anything. In order to move on from that matter for her own sake as well as Elena’s and Sara’s, Shizuka decided that she should let Sara and Elena know with a smile that their last conversation with Akira was nothing to worry about. Shizuka thought so as she went back to her shop with a light smile.

—*—*—*—

Yatsubayashi had both an experiment room and a treatment room in his clinic. He treated people who came to his clinic either in the experiment room or in the other room depending on how much money those people could pay him. And since his clinic was in the slum, most of the people who came there got sent to the experiment room.

There was also another room in his clinic, it was a special room where people could not just casually come in. It was a room neither for experiment nor for treatment. Inside that big room, there were all kinds of mysterious devices lined up. In the middle of that room, there was a bed, and Tiol was sitting on that bed.

Tiol was only looking forward with an empty stare as if he was daydreaming. Although his hand and legs were secured with some thick steel, he did not seem to be bothered by that at all. He was just sitting there with an absent mind.

There was no window in that room. The walls were sound-proof, so no sound could come in, and since Tiol was only sitting there in silence, the room was incredibly silent. In that isolated room, Tiol suddenly looked at the door. That was when the door opened and Yatsubayashi came in.

“I’m here with your food.”

When Yatsubayashi came inside that room with the food, Tiol had already returned back to looking forward with an empty look.

Yatsubayashi sat in front of Tiol and used the metallic fork to feed Tiol. When he did that, Tiol opened his mouth and chomped the food down, together with the metallic fork.

Yatsubayashi looked at the fork that had lost its head and mumbled.

“I guess this means that it’s another failure, huh.”

When Yatsubayashi extended the fork that had lost its head back to Tiol, he started to eat that fork too. After that, he also ate the food that Yatsubayashi brought in as well as the metallic plate that he had used to carry that food. Yatsubayashi carefully held the plate so as not to get his hand eaten too and quickly pulled his hand back when Tiol finished the plate too.

Once he was done eating, Tiol stared at Yatsubayashi. Though he was properly looking at Yatsubayashi, there was no emotion in his gaze, it was as if he was simply looking at something near him. Even when Yatsubayashi wiped Tiol’s mouth, Tiol showed no reaction at all.

Yatsubayashi frowned and looked rather disappointed.

“Well, this is another failure for sure. I was sure that it would be a success though. His wounds are perfectly healed and it doesn’t seem like there are any bad physical side effects. But I guess the drug affected his brain, huh? I guess it means I should recalculate everything starting from its effect on the brain. Or is it that I didn’t fully clear the nanomachines that it’s now affecting him? I have no answer at all, I guess I’ll keep observing him for now.”

Yatsubayashi sighed. He then stood up and went towards the door. Before he reached for the door’s handle, he looked back at Tiol.

“Tiol-kun, you were the one who told me that you don’t mind participating in my experiment as long as I healed you. I did my best there, so don’t blame me, okay? See you tomorrow then.”

Yatsubayashi only said so and left the room with a smile. The patient beds in his clinic were filled with patients after all the ruckus yesterday. He could not just ignore them for the sake of collecting money for his own experiment, so he was busy that day. Because of that, he could not spend his time observing Tiol.

Tiol was once again left alone inside the room. The room had returned to the previous silence, Tiol once again was only looking forward with an empty gaze without saying anything. He suddenly looked at the cuffs on his hands, opened his mouth wide, and bit off those cuffs.

—*—*—*—

Tomejima was ripping his hairs out, of course figuratively, in his office in the lower district. That was when Colbert came in, Tomejima immediately looked at him and said.

“How was it?!”

Colbert looked at Tomejima’s desperate face and lightly shook his head.

“I did some investigation, but nothing comes out. I couldn’t find them nor reach them. They might as well be already dead.”

“Dammit, again, huh!!

Tomejima hung his head down again, there was slight desperation mixed in his extremely distressed face.

“Calm down, is it really that bad?”

“It’s already 10 people, you know? We basically lost 10 credits worth of people!! Just how much money do you think we’re losing right now?!”

Colbert received a job from Tomejima to collect some debts. His targets were Hunters and some ex-Hunters. Since people like them tend to cause trouble, Tomejima asked Colbert, who was also a Hunter, to collect their debts.

But those people went missing now. Although to be more precise, Tomejima and Colbert had a good guess of where they went to. They most probably got killed in that battle between the Ezont family and Haurias the other day. Their bodies might as well be mixed in one of those countless dead bodies scattered in Ezont Family’s base.

Colbert lightly summed all the debts that those people had and frowned.

“Their debts don’t even reach 1 billion though. You don’t usually take in this kind of credits, you know.”

“I really need money right now, no matter how small it is…”

“Hmm? I don’t remember your company was in such a bad situation though.”