Heroes to Hunted

While most would've panicked at the sudden attack, I smiled.

Raising my left leg, I brought it down with the force of a hammer to an anvil and smashed the stick to bits. It crackled and snapped, symbolizing any hope my assailant had of winning the fight.

'I hope you're ready,' I smirked. After annihilating the weapon, it was the wielder's turn. So I snarled and leaped around the alley's corner, bracing myself to confront a squad of knights.

That's why you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when I was met with the fearful glares of two cowering girls and that plain guy from earlier.

The guy hid away behind the taller of the two girls.

"That collar…are you one of us? Are you going to hurt us?" the taller one asked, still wielding the broken remains of the stick she'd tried to strike me with.

The second question I wasn't sure I had the answer to. I promised I'd beat anyone who left us senseless to the point of unconsciousness. I promised I'd make them pay for achieving safety while we suffered.

These three, though? They were far from any semblance of relief and safety. On the contrary, their expressions shivered with dread, nearly to the point of tears. If I throttled them now, I'd probably lose some of my respect for myself.

'I'll postpone it,' I sighed. 'Besides, it's no fun if they've nothing to fight back with...'

My mind was made, so I finally answered them. "I won't hurt you, but that's only if you stop waving that damn stick in my face!"

They whimpered in fear at my demand. Although the taller woman still appeared panicky and slightly defiant, she eventually lowered her shattered beat stick.

As the taller girl conceded, the smaller one panicked even more. "No, sister, don't!" she pleaded, hiding behind her sibling and shaking.

'Sister?' I questioned.

It was then that I noticed the striking similarities between them. The piercing blue eyes, refined facial features, and ashen black hair all pointed to a clear familial connection. Yet, despite the resemblance, it was obvious that the taller girl was the elder of the two. She exuded an aura of maturity, while her younger sister seemed fragile and vulnerable, akin to a scared, small animal.

"I don't have a choice, Hikari!" the older sister snapped, pushing her sister away. She then turned to me pleadingly and said, "Please... Just don't hurt us."

"You're pretty slow, aren't you?" I clicked my tongue in annoyance and locked my arms behind my head. "I already told you that I wouldn't."

Upon hearing my guarantee, the older sister's hostility began to subside. Although she remained visibly tense and wary, her twitchy demeanor and furrowed brow hinted at a glimmer of trust. At least, it seemed we had reached a point where a discussion was possible.

"You're the guy that screamed at everyone and kicked the door... What was your name again?" the older one asked in an unsteady voice.

"You first," I smirked.

She hesitated, her hands still slick with cold sweat and trembling with trepidation. After a moment, she locked eyes with the younger sister, and the two shared a nod before stepping forward together.

The eldest took the lead. "I'm Hagiwara Ayame, and this is my little sister, Hikari," she took hold of the smaller one's hand. "I'm in college, and she's a second year in high school. Call me Ayame. Now you," she pointed at me, expectedly, "what's your name?"

I cackled and slapped my knee to mock her. "I'm not telling you my name!"

Though the older sister became red with fury, Agawa was the one who'd jabbed my gut with her elbow. "The idiot is Takagi, don't mind him…." She leaned in, whispering something into Ayame's ear before backing away again. "And that's why you shouldn't be bothered, so don't worry!"

Upon the ending of Agawa's gossiping, Ayame looked at me with a blank stare before barely containing a quiet outburst of laughter. Holding her sides, she hunched over, finding comfort in leaning on the side of a wooden crate beside her.

"I remember it now!" she smiled mockingly.

"Huh? What the hell did you say about me?!" I demanded, almost threatening Agawa.

But she only smiled coyly and turned away from me before replying, "nothing much... Door Slayer."

I growled and felt anger writhing beneath my skin. But I was too tired from my current burden to act on it. It was a burden that would give me back pain if it didn't wake the hell up already!

"Tsk, whatever," I sighed and turned away.

After that, the ice was broken between our two groups thanks to whatever Agawa had said about me. Then, one by one, everyone introduced themselves. At least until the one person who couldn't came up in the discussion.

"Hey," Ayame nodded towards Sato, "isn't that the famed 'soldier' from the tower? What happened to him?"

Agawa tensed up, still obviously uneasy about Sato's name. She awkwardly smiled at the sisters before replying. "He was caught fighting within the man-" but she was cut off by a sincere Kamida.

"He saved our lives!" he exclaimed, clutching his chest. "We owe our lives to this man, so we're repaying him with interest! We're getting him out of here!"

"Is that so?" Ayame asked rhetorically. "I'm just glad he didn't bail on us the way I thought he was going to."

"Sa-" Agawa paused, "Sato wouldn't do that!" hers were the eyes of honest anger. Despite her whispering, her words seemed louder than a shout as she defended Sato's honor.

'When the hell did they get so close?' I asked myself, confused since I'd initially assumed that Agawa hated him.

Performing an easing gesture, Ayame awkwardly chuckled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any harm by it, honest. It's just...after his reaction in the tower, and after he almost left us in the mansion, it's just how I feel now."

Agawa had been about to retort in anger when Kamida stepped between them. "Now, now, look. There are more important things to do now, right? Like survival, for example?"

Though still frustrated at Ayame's comment, Kamida saved the day again. Agawa and Ayame returned to normal, and we continued toward the final introduction. The plain guy's…the lemming's introduction.

"So," I leaned in, "who're you, lemming?" I presented him with my best, most wildly intimidating grin.

Backing away in fear, he staggered over himself and tripped to the floor. "I-I-I am…"

"Huh?!" I snarled at him, not unlike what I'd done back in the manor.

"I'm sorry!" he frantically prostrated himself. "I'm T-Takahashi Hirosh-shi."

I grunted at him and left him in a puddle of his own fear. Now that I'd achieved revenge on one coward, albeit not a beating, I was able to derive a bit of satisfaction. 'Good, now I can sleep tonight, or morning, or whenever I'll be able to sleep again...'

"Alright," Ayame said, "did you guys want to help us with our plan?"

"Plan?" Agawa quizzically inquired.

"Yeah, the shaky guy over there?" she pointed to the lemming. "He said he saw one of those armored carriages they took us here with." Then, eyeing him down, she urged him to finish the briefing.

"Uh…yeah I…"

"HUH?!" I snarled again; it was actually fun for me to tease the guy. But Agawa nudged me harshly.

"Knock it off!" she snarled. "This is serious!"

"Tsk," I pouted, "you're no fun."

Takahashi struggled to recover, but he eventually stumbled to his feet. Nearly in tears, he continued to speak. "L-like she said, I saw…uh…one of the wagons that we were brought here in. There were only a few guards near it, so I thought we could take it to ride out of the city."

"That's it?!" I jeered. "Don't you idiots even know the gates are blocked by a bunch of guards?!"

Ayame looked at me matter-of-factly. "No, we didn't, but we figured it would be since that's the obvious thing for them to do," she shrugged, unknowingly stinging my psyche since we didn't think of the possibility ourselves.

'Oh, whatever...shut up, know-it-all,' I thought with wounded pride.

"I'm confused," Agawa replied, "if you know that the exit is barricaded, then why do you want to steal the wagon?"

"Didn't you guys notice it when we were being attacked by those bandits? Ayame asked. "That weird barrier? We can use that to protect ourselves!"

'Barrier? Oh yeah, that barrier.' Reflecting back, I did remember. I remembered when Sato threw me to the ground...it pissed me off just thinking about it. However, beyond that, I recalled seeing an arrow suspended in the air by nothing more than a sheet of blue-green particles.

"Do you have the knowledge of how it works?" Nakamura questioned.

"Yeah!" Ayame replied enthusiastically. "Takahashi said they activate whenever it detects a threat or something," she pointed to Takahashi.

"Would you mind elaborating on how he figured it out?" Kamida inquired.

"I..." Takahashi murmured. "I threw rocks at it."

"ROCKS?!" I lost my cool and nearly shouted, but the rest of the group shushed me.

I was dumbfounded. This guy wanted to bowl through an army of armed guards with just the confidence inspired by tossing rocks?

My eyes twitching, I just stared at him. "Rocks? You threw…rocks? How're rocks, anything like spears and arrows?"

"Uh-" he'd begun to reply when Ayame spoke for him.

"The barrier will deflect anything! We've already seen that it works on arrows…or have you already forgotten, Doorslayer?"

'Oh god, do I have to deal with two of her now?' Ayame's snark reminded me too much of Agawa, so much so that I'd wanted to leave them here and try to escape through some other means.

"Do you remember where this wagon is?" Nakamura asked, interrupting me from thought.

"Yeah," she replied, "follow us. We were actually heading to it when you stopped us," she chuckled.

"This better work…." I griped, preparing for a full march to wherever they would lead us.

Hearing my words, Ayame turned to me with an expression of absolute confidence. Surprisingly, she took hold of my shoulder and locked me in place, forcing an exchange of eye contact.

"It will work," she affirmed, "it has to."

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