After the mission, Vash rode his big motor bike with Hayden on the backseat on their way back to HQ—the coffee shop.
They made it back in a couple hours, and upon entering through the front entrance, the bell hanging by the door chimes as it swung open. Instantly, they were surprised by what they found inside.
It was an occurrence that happens once in a blue moon.
The entire Headhunter squad has gathered. They were assembled by the boss, Franklin, and were all settled on the lounge with Franklin standing behind the counter. Eagle was on her usual spot, the stool. Her real name was Euna Collin, the only female agent in the gang. She's an expert at archery and harbors the sharp eye of an eagle. She's the source of the squad's intelligence, making her indispensable.
[Eagle's bounty: 8 billion USD]
There's also someone sitting on the stool next to her, and he's playing with a black cat. He's Agent Cat. He doesn't have a name, so everyone who knows him refers to him as 'Cat guy' or just 'Cat'. As his name suggests, he's fond of cats and, quite literally, he's a 'Cat magnet'. There's never been an instance where you saw him without a cat, and whenever he strolls down the street, stray kittens will come crawling towards him.
Even at this very moment, the black cat on the table ledge was being outright flirty with him. It was bunting its back on Cat's forearm while Cat giggled in delight, petting the black cat's head.
Cat is actually the kindest and the most sociable among his peers, but he could also be a psycho. He enjoys filming his missions and posting them on the dark web, unaliving people. He's also shorter than Euna when it comes to height.
[Cat's bounty: 19 billion USD]
Next is the loner sitting alone at a customer's table. Meet Kayne, also known as Bear, an aloof, apathetic, and depressed agent. Despite his 19 years of age, he is tall and rather thin. While he might appear stoic at first glance, that couldn't be further from the truth—though, he's much more complex than that. The reality is that Bear accidentally took the life of someone he cared deeply about, triggering overwhelming remorse within him. To cope with this unbearable pain, he has turned to killing others. Bear believes that by desensitizing himself to taking lives, the intense pain he feels at his core might eventually fade away.
Also, his mask is actually a polar bear, but the gang refers to him as Bear as it's shorter.
[Bear's bounty: 28 billion USD]
Standing beside Hayden was Kangaroo, also known as Vash Ray, Hayden's closest friend. Vash is a regular at the gym, boasting a physique almost as impressive as Franklin's, though Franklin still has a slightly larger build. Standing at 6'2 feet tall, Vash's height towered over Hayden, yet it was his muscular frame that made him seem taller. Despite his imposing appearance, Vash carries himself with a punk-like attitude, and the only person he gets along with is Hayden and the Boss. Other than those two, he tends to pick fights with almost everyone, a trait he inherited from Hayden's short-temperedness.
[Kangaroo's bounty: 15 billion USD]
Of course, there's also agent Wolf, having the staggering bounty of 45 billion USD. That completes the five agents of the Headhunter, Wolf, Kangaroo, Bear, Cat, Eagle, and the boss, Franklin.
"I'm not FUCKING doing teacher's duty!" Wolf bellowed, stomping towards the counter.
He sat at the stool and Vash took the seat next to him, and they were promptly greeted by Cat, "Howdy, Wolfy and Kang-gy!"
Not a single person regarded Cat's greetings, yet he didn't care and just kept playing with the black cat, utterly amused.
"This GODDAMN place was peaceful until you FUCKING barged in through that door," Franklin yelled back at Hayden.
As expected, when these two exchanged conversation, chaos is present.
Vash laid his right elbow on the ledge and looked Hayden in the eyes, "What's wrong with being a teacher? That shit was fucking awesome," he commented.
Vash has a little background when it comes to instructing a student as he's the person that taught Hayden close combat skills. He enjoys toying with Hayden that time, ordering him around and pretending it was part of the training. So, when he heard the next mission is becoming a real life teacher, he couldn't get enough by the thought of ruling an entire class of students.
"Everything about it is wrong," Hayden yapped. "It's boring, time-consuming, and most importantly, it's fucking boring. In my two days experience of being a student, I felt depressed like that fucking guy on the corner," he pointed at Bear who looks miserable in his seat. "And what even the fuck is the occasion?" he added. "Why is everyone gathered as if there's a ritual?"
"Can you shut the hell up for a moment?" Franklin replied, beginning to brew coffees for Hayden and Vash. "Euna, explain the mission to them."
Euna pulled out printed images of the mission, with the picture of the school and its entire landscape. She handed the images to Cat and said, "This is the biggest mission thus far, requiring the full capacity of our team. Basically, the next generation of Demon Hunters are at stake here."
Cat didn't bother at the images as he's busy flirting with the black cat. He just slid it down the table, passing it to Hayden.
Hayden only took a glance at it before yapping once again. "Are you fucking certain that this intel is a 100% legit after her fucking inconsistency?" he complained to Franklin.
"Talk more and you don't get a coffee," Franklin threatened.
A perfect manipulation technique that utilizes Hayden's desires to command him in his best behavior. Hayden was no match for that, putting him in silence once and for all.
Euna then continued, "As you can see in the images, the setting will be Haven Academy, located in Manila—the country's capital. Haven Academy produces 80% of the Demon Hunter population, so you can probably imagine the consequences if the academy's students were to be wiped out."
"The country will go 'Boom'," Cat said, picturing the outcome.
"No, dumbass!" Wolf commented. "It's supply and demand; the fewer DHs there are, the higher the salary, and that's a good thing."
Franklin sighed, disappointed with how his two agents processed the situation like toddlers. "It's not fucking rocket science, smartasses." Franklin just finished brewing the coffee and heavily laid it on the counter table in front of Hayden, expressing his frustration. "When 80% of next generation DHs were to disappear, the country would suffer that loss and there won't be enough DHs to fend off gate openings."
"But Haven Academy is a demon hunting academy—it's literally full of DHs. No human could overwhelm that amount even if they happen to be S-rank," Hayden remarked.
"Have I said we're dealing with a human?" Euna replied.
"Yo, Euna, one question," Vash chimed in after scrutinizing the images.
Irritated, Euna gave him a surly look, waiting for the question.
"May I…" He paused for a second, thinking it would heighten the joke he was about to make. "...go out on a date with you?" He added, giving her a confident, teasing look.
"Absolutely not," she coldly rejected.
"Just kidding," Vash quickly interjected to cut the awkwardness in the air. He laughed it off and continued, "Actually, what I wanted to ask is…" he held one image out for everyone to behold, "...what on shit-earth is Froilan Esperanza's portrait doing among these photos?"