"No more, seriously! My pockets can't hold any more loot!"
Riku grumbled as he yanked out gita (cybernetic) eyes and chips from the fallen enemies, then set their bodies ablaze with his old trick, like a shōnen hero cleaning up after a battle.
He felt like a tiger waiting for humans to slide-tackle him—Mou konai de, hontō ni! (Stop coming, I'm stuffed!) The staircase was shrouded in smoke, wafting with a nostalgic yakiniku (grilled meat) aroma that made Riku's mouth water.
"Damn, that smells too good!"
Riku grabbed Sasha and bolted before he started drooling all over the floor. Sure, those guys probably had more sweet gear, but time was tight, so he settled for snagging two guns, tossing one to Sasha.
"How many of these yatsu (jerks) are there?!"
Riku and Sasha sprinted through the apāto (apartment) building, hunting for an escape route while Biotech Company's tokō (agents) kept pouring in like relentless akuma (demons) from a shōnen arc. The flames at the staircase didn't slow them down—those tokō didn't even glance at their fallen comrades, charging straight for Riku and Sasha. To them, a dead colleague was just one less rival. More glory for the survivor, as long as it wasn't them biting the dust.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire echoed through the apāto, a chaotic battle theme straight out of a mecha anime. Residents who hadn't fled cowered in their rooms, praying they wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. Lucky for most, it was daytime, so the building wasn't packed. Unlucky for the few stuck at home, though—they were in for a rough day.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Riku swung his netsu-bushidō (thermal katana), deflecting bullets with dan-han (bullet parry) moves, sending rounds ricocheting back to slow the tokō's advance, like a samurai in a high-tech jidaigeki.
Zzt! Zzt!
Sasha's eyes glowed like a hakkā (hacker) in full netto (net) mode, triggering a grenade on one of the tokō. The guy noticed something was up but had no time to react.
BOOM!
The hallway erupted, limbs and blood spraying like a gory anime explosion. The nearby tokō got caught in the blast, mangled like fodder villains.
BOOM!
Riku seized the moment, slamming through a door into a room, Sasha hot on his heels.
"Now! Jump out the window!" he shouted. The tokō were in disarray, unable to relay info to their backup outside. Perfect chance to escape.
The sniper out there had probably repositioned by now—nobody's dumb enough to keep aiming at the front door when the targets aren't using it, right? With so many rooms and windows in the apāto, no single sniper could cover them all, not unless they had kage bunshin no jutsu (shadow clone technique). They'd need signals from inside to track them, and right now, those signals were zero.
Riku figured picking a random "lucky" room wouldn't land them straight in a sniper's crosshairs. Un ga ii, ne? (Good luck, right?)
Voom!
Riku scooped up Sasha, activated his Suanwisutan (Sandevistan), and leapt out the window in one fluid shōnen jump, landing smoothly on the ground.
Both let out a sigh of relief. The enemy hadn't posted a ton of snipers—probably didn't expect them to be this tough.
The tokō in the hallway shouted, but by the time they pushed through the blast zone, their targets were gone.
Riku didn't hesitate. The second they hit the ground, he sprinted with Sasha in tow. Drones had already spotted them—two rugged Zetatech Happun-gi (Octant) drones, like flying kōjō (fortresses), roared in, forming a deadly kajū (firepower) net.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bullets chased Riku's steps, carving wild trails into the ground like an action anime chase scene.
Zzt! Zzt!
Sasha's eyes flared again, hacking the drones. They wobbled in the air, their gunfire pausing, but someone was clearly piloting them, fighting her hakkingu (hacking) with all they had.
Riku, still holding Sasha, launched himself toward the Happun-gi with a burst of speed. His netsu-bushidō flashed, slicing through the drones with precise zangetsu (slashing moon) strikes.
Zzt! Zzt!
BOOM!
The drones exploded midair, and Riku landed with Sasha, booking it away from the wreckage.
By now, the Biotech tokō were leaping out of windows, and the ones posted outside closed in like a pack of yōkai (monsters).
Riku kept his Suanwisutan on overdrive, never slowing, his figure flickering like a ninja as he covered ground fast. His cells screamed in protest, and the Suanwisutan itself was practically begging for a break. Who uses it like this?! Give me a breather, man!
But Riku's insane recovery kept him going. The pain of overloading Suanwisutan only sharpened his focus, like a shōnen hero pushing past their limits.
His netsu-bushidō cut through anyone in his way—hito o kiru, butsu o kiru (slay men, slay gods). Two tokō tried to block him, only to lose their heads in a flash.
Under the stunned gazes of the remaining tokō, Riku and Sasha vanished from the apāto, their figures fading into the distance like kaze no tami (people of the wind).
After sprinting a safe distance, Riku ducked into an alley and set Sasha down. Her legs wobbled—she was clearly not used to that kind of supīdo (speed), her insides churning like she'd just ridden a mecha rollercoaster.
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"Sorry, Devil. I dragged you into danger again," Sasha said, her voice full of guilt now that they were safer. She'd been laser-focused on her hakkingu earlier, nerves on edge.
"Don't say that. When have I ever not jumped in myself?" Riku said with a grin, shaking his head. This was just another thrilling episōdo to him.
"But using Suanwisutan like that… is your body okay? We should see a isha (doctor)," Sasha said, her face full of worry. As a veteran hakkā, she knew exactly what powered their escape.
Suanwisutan's toll on the body was no joke, even if she'd never used it herself. Nobody used it like Riku did—she'd never even heard of it.
"No worries. You forgetting my kaifuku-ryoku (recovery ability)? This is nothing," Riku said, reassuring her. Sasha had seen him take bullets; she knew how freakishly fast he healed.
"Still…" Sasha wasn't convinced. Bullet wounds and Suanwisutan overload damage weren't the same thing.
"You good to get back on your own?" Riku cut her off. He had to head back—his Seresu (car) was still there!
That was secondary, though. The real reason? He'd left a nikutai-ka (flesh-ified) cybernetic eye on the first floor. He needed to check if he could grab it.
Through the eye's vision, he could tell it hadn't been found, but it was a loose end. Better to retrieve it if possible. When he'd planted it, he was just thinking of setting up a me (eye) for intel, forgetting it wasn't a temporary nise-me (fake eye) that'd vanish. This nikutai-ka eye wasn't sprouting wings to fly back like a dorōn (drone). He had to go get it himself.
"I'm fine, but what are you up to?" Sasha asked, hesitating. She could make it back alone, but what was Riku planning?
"Just got some business. You head back," Riku said, keeping it vague to avoid worrying her. With that, he fired up Suanwisutan and vanished.
"…" Sasha opened her mouth, but he was already gone before she could say more.
Going back wasn't that risky. The Biotech tokō hadn't lingered at the apāto. They'd spread out to hunt for them, assuming Riku and Sasha couldn't have gotten far.
After all, who could keep using Suanwisutan like that without collapsing? Most would be puking blood by now. To the tokō, finding Riku was like picking up free kōrō (merit) if he was down for the count.
"Joke's on you. I'm not like you yatsu," Riku muttered with a smirk. He circled around, dodging the tokō, and slipped back into the apāto through a window, like a ninja on a stealth mission.
(End of Chapter)