Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Goodbye

“...ey! Hey! W… up!”

Hiro felt his body being shaken around violently.

“Hey! Hellooooo?”

Opening his eyes slightly, he saw a blurry mix of blue and red above him.

“Mngh…”

“Wake up already!”

Suddenly, he felt an intensely sharp pain on his right cheek. With great struggle, he opened his eyes. Maki was sitting on top of him, her hand raised up in the air.

“Okay, okay!” he yelled. “I’m awa—”

She slapped him across the other cheek, leaving behind a large, red imprint of her hand. “You awake now? Or do you need another one?”

“YES!”

“Yes to what? Another slap?”

She raised her hand again; he flinched back in response.

“No! Stop!”

“You suuuure?”

“...You just wanna slap me again, don’t you?”

“Was I too obvious?”

Hiro sat up on his bed, causing Maki to topple backward and hit her head on the floor.

“Ouch! What’d you do that for?!”

“Ugh, my head…” He let out a huge, prolonged yawn. “What do you want, Maki?”

“Oh YEAH! We gotta leave! Like, now!”

“Wait, what?!”

“There are police cars outside!”

“...WHAT?”

They both hurried to the living room. There, Haruka was drying her hair with a towel.

She turned to them. “Morning. Sorry. Used your shower.”

Hiro stopped in his tracks. “Oh, uh… Don’t worry about it.”

Maki slung her bag over her shoulder. “You done yet, Haruka? We’re in a hurry here!”

“I’m already hurrying.”

“Why’d you even take a shower anyway? Can’t you just do that back at the base?”

“I don’t want to be stinky like you.”

Maki pouted. “Hmph! Shut up!”

Haruka stuck out her tongue in response.

“Wait…” Maki pointed at Haruka’s face. “I know why! It’s ‘cause we’re bringin’ a boy with us!”

Haruka turned away. “No.”

“Ha! I knew it!”

Hiro covered his mouth to hold his laughter, but quickly stopped himself when he remembered their situation. He went to the window and peeked through the curtains. Two police cars were parked in front of Granny Jay’s house. An officer was sitting on its hood, talking to his receiver.

“They’re right outside,” he said. “What do we do?”

“Hmm…” Maki rubbed her chin. “We have to get to the main entrance of the village somehow. That’s where I parked my baby.”

“Wait, you parked right by the gate?! Then the police probably already found it!”

“Nah, nah! They can search a million years. They’ll never find it! All we gotta do is get there.”

“Alright, well, even if that’s the case, we still need to somehow get past the police outside.”

As they were talking, the phone rang in the kitchen.

“Who would be calling here in the morning?” Hiro walked over to it and answered the phone. “Hello?”

An old, trembling voice answered. “Hiro! Hiro, is that you?”

“Granny Jay?!”

“Hiro! Thank goodness! I’m glad you’re safe! Are you alright?”

“Y-Yes, but—”

“There’s policemen at our door! They’re asking about a massacre. Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m alr—”

“The killers are still on the loose! Stay here with the police.”

“Mom, who are you talking to?” Hiro heard Johnny say from the phone.

Rapid footsteps could be heard, getting louder and louder. It couldn’t have come from just one person.

“H-Hey! What are you doing?” Granny Jay yelled. “Give it back!”

“We can’t let you do that, ma’am,” a different voice said. It was a slightly higher pitch than Johnny’s. “Now, come with us, we have some ques—”

The call was cut off.

Maki placed her hands on her hips. “So? Who was it?”

Hiro slowly placed the phone down. He was sweating. “Guys… They found out about Bandito. We need to go. Now.”

“Psh! I already knew that, idiot! You’re gettin’ too stressed about this. You don’t want your hair to grow white early.”

“No, you’re the one who’s way too calm about this! The gate’s like half an hour by foot. How’re we supposed to outrun the police?”

A wide smirk ran across her face. “Who says we have to outrun them? Heck, who says we have to run at all? We just take one of their cars and go.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Hiro shook his head. “We’re stealing a police car?!”

“Yes, sir! What, you chickenin’ out?”

“Can I at least think about it?”

“Nope! You’re way past that! If you decide to stay here after seein’ and knowin’ about us, well… Have fun in jail, I guess.”

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“No,” Haruka said. “If he stays, we have to kill him.”

A point of no return, rather.

“Okay, okay!” he said. “What do I have to do?”

“Nothin’ for now. Leave this to us!” Maki opened her bag; her hornets flew into the air. They made their way out of the window and toward the police car. She put on her goggles and turned them on, completely focused.

Haruka waited in front of the door. “Just tell me when.”

“Gimme a sec… Alright! I disabled the dashboard camera. Hiro, give her your cloak!”

“Huh? Why?” he asked.

“‘Cause mine reeks of booze! Though, I mean, if you want her to kill the witness in the other house…”

He tossed his cloak at Haruka. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Go wild, girl!”

Hiro watched on from the window. Like an elegant dance, Haruka swiftly decapitated the two policemen outside. She then entered Granny Jay’s home. Johnny’s loud squeal could clearly be heard from Hiro’s house. In a short amount of time, Haruka returned with two more headless bodies. She tossed them into a pile with the other corpses, and she stabbed them all at once. Just like before, their bodies quickly withered. Even though he’d seen it several times the night before, the scene was still just as harrowing.

“That’s our cue!” Maki readied her bag. Anything you wanna take before we go?”

“It’s too late to pack clothes now, huh?”

“Eh, all I saw in your room were borin’ white shirts anyway. I’m sure we got some clothes to spare.”

“Hey! Yeah, you guys went inside my room!”

“You were takin’ too long. Got bored. Anyways, you ready or nah?”

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He took one last look at his room. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

“Then let’s go!”

The three entered the car, with Maki in the driver’s seat. They sped away toward the village square.

“Say, what did you do with the old woman and the hairy guy?” Hiro asked Haruka.

“I told them that if they leave the house, I’ll kill them.”

“I see… At least they’re safe.”

When they were nearing their destination, they heard a crackling sound coming from the transceiver. Soon after, A female voice spoke.

“Officer Saito, what’s the situation in the Walker residence? No one in the other car is answering. Over.”

They stayed silent.

“Officer Saito? Is anyone there? We’re sending another unit your way. They’ll be there soon. Over.”

The crackling sound ended.

Maki slammed on the brakes. “Alright, change of plans. They probably got other policemen in the village. How in the world did they find out so fast? Someone must’ve reported it.”

Hiro looked down. He recalled his conversation with Johnny the night before.

“Well, whatever. Dunno how many of them are there, so it’s better to not get our faces recorded. We’ll sneak our way to the gate.”

They traveled the rest of the way on foot. They hid behind the trees when a police car passed by them. When they were just outside the square, Maki put on her goggles and scanned the area.

“Gosh, they have a whole squadron along the perimeter,” she said. “Sneakin’ around would be impossible. Unless…” She turned to Hiro.

“W-What?”

“Haruka and I can’t show our faces around them, but technically… you can show your face as much as you want. I mean, you did have pictures of yourself lyin’ around your house.”

“What are you making him do?” Haruka said.

“We need a distraction! Plus, they probably already suspect him!”

“Are you telling me to turn myself in?” Hiro asked. “You’re insane!”

“We’ll come to your rescue once we get to my baby!”

“Or you could just run off and get me arrested after using me as bait!”

“Yeesh, don’t be such a damsel in distress! You’re already a part of Lionheart, and we don’t leave anyone behind!”

“Easy for you to say. I don’t know anything about you or your team. Tell her this is a stupid idea, Haruka.”

“Hm.” She tilted her head to the side. “Killing everyone is risky. We might need your help.”

“You worry too much!” Maki smacked his back. “If things turn south, we got your back! You have my precious guarantee!”

Hiro turned to Haruka. She nodded at him.

After mulling over it for a few seconds, he heaved an exasperated sigh. “Okay. But only ‘cause I trust Haruka, not Maki.”

“Rude, buuut I’ll take it!” Maki took out the nanobarrier from her bag, as well as a handful of hamster-shaped bombs. She placed them in his hand. “Get as near as you can to the gate; then, use the bombs to get everyone’s attention. We want as huge of an explosion as we can get!”

“That’s… That’s a suicide mission!”

“No, no! This is one hundred percent full-proof! Once the coast is clear, Haruka and I will sneak around and come get you. In the meantime, use the nanobarrier for protection. I doubt any of those low-class chumps have the means of breaking it.”

“Hold on, this is a lot to take in…”

“Can you do it?” Haruka asked.

He didn’t answer.

“Come ooon!” Maki gave him two thumbs up. “You’ll be goin’ through way worse than this! You got this!”

Even though Hiro hated admitting it, she was right. It wasn’t like he could chicken out and go back. He made this decision; the consequences were his to bear. Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself for the task at hand. After all, there was no turning back.

“Wish me luck, guys.”

Hiro snuck around from alley to alley, being extra careful to avoid any policemen he could see. With how cramped Ushiro was, it wasn’t too difficult for him to get near his destination. Standing between him and the gate, however, was a large, open road packed with police cars.

He placed his hood over his head. Clutching the nanobarrier in his pocket, he casually headed for the gate.

“Hey, you there!” he heard one of the policemen say. “Where are you going? We can’t let people leave Ushiro yet. There’s an investigation going on.”

All of a sudden, Hiro sprinted forward as fast as he could.

“Hey! Did you hear me? Come back here!”

Nearby police officers joined in. “Stop right there!”

He ignored them and continued to run.

They took their guns out. “Freeze!”

Hiro leaped toward the village fence. He put up the nanobarrier and crouched behind it. As the policemen approached him, he tossed the hamster bombs at the street, causing a large explosion.

Sirens came from all directions. The smoke cleared; he was surrounded by the police left and right.

“Fire!”

Hiro closed his eyes. The sounds of bullets ricocheting rang in his ears. When he opened his eyes, not a single scratch could be found on either him or the nanobarrier.

One of them spoke through a megaphone. “This is the police! We have you surrounded! Put your hands in the air and surrender!”

“I-I have more bombs!” Hiro yelled out. “Don’t come any closer!”

“We don’t want this to be any uglier than it has to be! Lower your shield and put your hands up!”

“How will I know you won’t shoot? I should just blow everyone up!”

The police looked at each other. One of them—a much older fellow with a long goatee—took the megaphone and leaned against a police car. “Men, point your guns down.”

They did as they were told.

“This is Officer Eichi, chief of police,” the man with the goatee said. “We wanna solve things as peacefully as possible. Now, the rest is up to you. Do you wanna do things the easy way, or the hard way?”

“How can I trust you? Bandito was here for years and you just ignored them!”

“So you admit to killing them?”

Hiro gulped nervously. “I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Listen, if you come with us, we can have a nice, long chat. Our investigation team will look into it.”

“Only if you let me go after!”

“We’ll do our best, but mass murder ain’t exactly an easy thing to get out of. If you want even a chance to get out without a scratch, you need to surrender now!”

Hiro ran out of things to say.

“Time’s running out! We want to help, but you gotta let us help you first!”

Another police car arrived. Two officers came out, together with Johnny.

“Is this the man?” they asked him.

Johnny pointed at Hiro. “That’s him, alright! He’s guilty, officers! Guilty!”

“This ugly bastard…” Hiro whispered to himself.

“Hiro? Is he here?” Granny Jay stepped out of the car. In her hurry, she tripped and fell. The policemen helped her back to her feet.

Hiro’s eyes were locked on to her.

“Hiro!” she continued. “Stop it right now! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“Listen to her, young man!” Officer Eichi said. “Take your shield down and raise your hands in the air.”

“What’re you guys waiting for? Get him already!” Johnny tried to take the megaphone away, but was tackled by three officers.

Hiro stood up. Suddenly, all the policemen were on their toes and stepped back. They raised their weapons.

“Do you surrender?” the officer asked him.

“No.” He looked at Granny Jay. “I’m sorry. This is Goodb—”

A red whip suddenly came from behind the fence and wrapped itself around Hiro’s leg. Before the police could react, it lifted Hiro into the air and pulled him out of sight.

The police hopped into their cars and rushed out of the entrance, sirens blazing. To their surprise, however, there was no sign of Hiro whatsoever—he had vanished without a trace.

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