"Uohh!!!!!!!"
"Quiet, Atsushi!"
I yelled at the kittyboy in discomfort, as the boy started screaming in distress while Kyouka just kept quiet all the way down. Lucky for him, the rooftop of another hotel then showed up right below us as we landed safely on it, as the Demon Snow manifested and saved us in the nick of time.
Originally, if those two didn't come for me, I might have to risk it and jump to this roof without any protection, and considering that this rooftop is 3 whole floors below our jumping point, that was a dangerous bet nonetheless.
Thankfully we have the Demon Snow to reduce the impact, or else I might have to crawl away as of now…
"You okay, Kyouka?"
"… I'm fine."
I swiftly stand up again and hold the little girl to stand up, which she responds with a rather emotionless expression and avoids my gaze. I then look back at the kittyboy, now slowly standing up shivering all over the place.
"… You know, you could've at least warned me about that…!!"
"My apology for not planning it all out beforehand, I was kinda busy buying time for you guys to break in. But still, what's the quote-unquote plan you were saying, may I ask?"
"…"
Atsushi, seemingly having realized his mistake, now looked away with a complicated look. But as I started to look away from the guy, a glimpse of something soon fell upon my exact position.
"You gotta be kidding me…?!"
Without any time to even look up, I instinctively hug Kyouka in my arms and jump on the side, as the wooden table then falls on my previous spot and crack into pieces.
"W-What th—?"
Just as Atsushi started to express his surprise, something else then fell on top of the guy, making a big hole on the roof.
"… For real, Fitzgerald?"
Let out a distress sigh, I scream toward the dust smoke. A moment later, the figure of a young blond man slowly showed up before me adjusting the tie, which isn't that impressive in all honesty, with the kittyboy now unconscious by his legs.
The only thing that caught my interest is a bunch of black lines running all over his body, signifying his usage of the ability.
"My my, you are truly something else, Mr.Jouno."
With a warm smile, Fitzgerald looked straight into my eyes, although his eyes aren't that hospitality in the slightest.
"I should be the one saying that, Fitzgerald-san. To act that fast, you truly live up to your title."
"Oh my, thanks for the compliment Mr. Jouno… But could you and your friends stay here for a bit longer?"
"My deepest apology, Fitzgerald-san, but I have to decline your invitation."
"Well—"
In less than a blink of an eye, the figure that was supposed to be at least a few meters from us, now standing right in front of me, ready to punch in my precious face with all of his power.
"—That wasn't a question?"
"Is that so?"
But instead of panicking or trying to block it, which is useless anyway, I let out a faint smile as his fist missed my face by an inch, destroying another section of the rooftop. As it turns out, a blade that belongs to a white figure has already redirected his punch at the very last second.
The figure then slashed Fitzgerald at the stomach, intending to divide him in half, but he had already avoided the blade without a hint of stress whatsoever.
Not stopping with that, Demon Snow proceeds to strike him with countless decisive yet accurate slash, which isn't connected as the guy keeps dodging them with an incredible reflex.
"That'll buy us sometime."
"Um… could you let me down?"
"Oh right, my bad."
I then quickly let her go, as Kyouka now let out a huff and immediately separated from me, seemingly dissatisfied with how I act.
Damn, that's hurt… If not for being a heartless bastard, I might bury myself out of shame right now.
"Well, let's carry the kittyboy out of here."
With that, I quickly approached the unconscious white hair and carried him on my back, while Kyouka carefully looked at the battle between Demon Snow and Fitzgerald.
The guy seemingly desperate tried to toss Demon Snow aside, but the figure became intangible the moment he almost grabbed her which deemed his attack all useless. But Demon Snow also couldn't deal any damage back at the tycoon, as the guy effortlessly repelled all her slashes.
From the look of it, Demon Snow somehow managed to make this battle a stalemate… No lie, this ability is pretty useful though, maybe this is the reason why the author didn't let her fight much.
Hm… maybe I could help her a bit with this…
"Let's go Kyouka!"
I call out for the girl, as she then immediately turns around and goes to my side, looking at the unconscious boy with a concerned look. Due to Demon Snow's interfiere, Fitzgerald now has subconsciously strayed away from the kittyboy.
"He'll be fine… probably."
"…"
Kyouka's gaze becomes more intensified with my uncertainty, but I ignore her and look for the thing I saw earlier. Luckily, I quickly spotted the glass washing lift hanging around with no one on it… which is kinda weird if you asked me…
Nevertheless, I held Kyouka's hand and jumped on the lift, as the Demon Snow figure behind us stopped attacking Fitzgerald and instead moved to the lift cable. With one single swipe, the cable handling is destroyed, dropping us down below with a crazy speed.
And as quickly as it started, the whole thing comes to a halt as the Demon Snow then uses her blade to jam the cable, just a millimeter from crashing the ground.
"That was easy…"
Let out a relieved sigh, I dragged a bewildered Kyouka into the shocking crowd now gathering due to the lift thing, heading toward the agency…
Now, standing on the rooftop looking at the trio escape from his grasp, Fitzgerald slowly makes a smile.
"Truly interesting… Jouno, you are truly special…"
The man then started to laugh uncontrollably, aroused by how 3 kids can escape the most elite ability organization in all of North America, especially when he's at the same place as them. Originally, if not for their glass shattering act, not even he could realize that they have managed to slip away from his team.
In all of his life, he never faced such daring foes, one that willing to go for this length risking their life without a shred of hesitation…
"Well then, I'll leave with this victory, Jouno… But what will you do about our next course of action?"
Leaving such vague words with no one, the man turns around walking away… until he realizes that he's on a totally different rooftop right now…
[So… the boy escaped?]
Standing among the curious crowd watching the lift, a figure shrouded in a dark coat listens to the phone, eyes gluing on the thing that attracted everyone's attention, or what it seems like…
Originally, he's just wandering around here doing personal stuff outside of work, until something captured his eyes and made him report back to the boss.
"Affirmative sir… the boy escaped."
[Interesting… to actually make a way out of their grasp like that…]
[You say that the boy's running with our former target right?]
"Affirmative."
Remembering the familiar yet distant figure running away with the white tiger and the traitor, he coldly confirms back his boss' question.
[How interesting, to escape our trump card and even get away from the Guild… The kid seems like having more than he looks.]
"…"
[Well then, Akutagawa, I give you a personal mission of mine. Spying on the boy carefully, reporting back to me everything weird with him.]
"Affirmative."
After confirming his boss' order, he canceled the call and took one last emotionless glance at the lift before totally disappearing into the crowd…
"… I'm sorry."
"?"
While walking back to the Agency with the kittyboy on the back, Kyouka suddenly whispered such words to me while lagging behind.
… I see…
"Why sorry? The whole thing was my fault…"
"But…"
With a discreet yet regretful voice, Kyouka looked down on the ground, hiding her frown from me…
"Don't make such a long face, after all we're all safe now… And beside, the whole thing isn't your fault at all, so don't pressure yourself on the whole thing…"
"…"
After such an encouraging speech (which sounds so horrible.), Kyouka then slowly picks up her pace and now walks over me as if leading the group. Although I can't see her face right now, I have some feeling that she's still not getting over the guilt for now…
Gotta dealt with this girl for real, I thought to myself as I walked right behind the little girl under the starry night…