Burning Bright

War

The crescent moon glowed in the dark sky.

"The sun has set, huh... Soon, they're going to move out as well," Nishikiori said with his face cast partially in shadow. "Hurry up and come! Sengoku Akira!"

"Nishikiori-san... they have over thirty people, right...?" an older man with glasses asked, starting to get nervous.

"Yeah, but it seems the majority are women," Nishikiori said. "Listen, there's no need to fight with the men. Aim solely for the women! After the men are disposed of... you can do as you please with the women..." Again, dangerous and lecherous expressions appeared on the other men's faces.

Meanwhile, all the middle school kids and their allies were watching the camp from a safe distance. It was lit with torches burning here and there, so they could see it clearly, but they couldn't hear what was being said.

"..." Akira and Mariya had furrowed brows and frowns. Everyone looked tense.

"There he is! It's Nishikiori!" Akira said when he spotted him standing in a the center of a circle of armed men. His jacket was distinctive.

"He's quite at ease, surrounded by his subordinates, huh!" Kokonoe-sensei said.

"Hmph... Laugh while you can! We're going to make you cry!" Suzuki said.

"Listen up... our opponent has numbers," Akira said. "So capture Nishikiori first! He's the one at the top of this pyramid. Only by capturing Nishikiori can the command system be disrupted. In other words, they know as well as we do that we can't kill Nishikiori. They'll probably fight to get him back. Then it just becomes a cleanup operation. Don't leave a single person standing!" Everyone nodded to show they understood.

"... All right! Then let's review the specifics of our strategy," Mariya said. "First, my team and Sengoku's will make a pincer attack. We'll draw away our respective opponents and try our best to make a big show of it. Then, in the chaos of the battle... when openings start to appear around Nishikiori and the others..." Mariya looked at Yarai's group.

"We, the strongest—Yarai's team, are up!" Segawa said. "When Nishikiori's bodyguards are getting knocked around, we'll capture him in one fell swoop!"

"Leave it to me..." Yarai said. "I definitely won't let him get away."

"Ah... um... you say to crush them, but it's fine not to kill anyone, right?" Yuki asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Akira said. "After all, our ultimate goal is to save Kurusu-sensei... to make Nishikiori perform her surgery...!" He looked at everyone. He could see they were determined to save Kurusu-sensei. "All right! Let's move out. Move to your respective positions."

"Yeah... Don't mess up, Sengoku!" Yarai said as his group and Mariya's moved away.

"Let's go, as well," Akira told his group.

"Yeah, we're to the west of them!" Rion said. They crept along carefully as they moved into position, passing one of the chipmunk-like creatures with prehensile tails, which was hanging upside down from a tree branch, eating a berry as it watched them go by.

"Huh?" Rion said when she saw something fall on the ground. "Akira-kun, something dropped from your pocket." She leaned down to pick it up.

"Eh? Yeah, thanks, Rion," Akira said.

"... What is this...?" Rion asked, looking at the item in her hand as she handed it to him. It was small bundle that was sort of shaped like an omamori, and it had 'safe passage of the great divine Minna' written on it.

"It's a charm," Akira said as he took it back. "I got it from Miina."

"From Miina-chan...?" Rion asked.