LOST TIME MEMORY Vol. 1

Chapter 3.4

First things first, he had to check what was happening upstairs. Leaning his body beyond the rails, he carefully tried to spot the rest of the gunmen. There had been two different voices from downstairs, but he saw nothing. They weren't there. Did they hide? Are they waiting to ambush them? It nagged at him, but he put the thoughts in the back of his mind for now and rushed upstairs while taking some measures to avoid being seen from time to time. When he got upstairs, he could see four men impatiently continuing their search. You could feel their frustration steaming out of their ears.

There were hostages, a crowd consisting of a few children, but most were men and women. None of them were a part of Momo's group from before. They hadn't been spotted yet, wherever they were hiding. Only seven minutes at the most had passed since the shooting started. Considering the size of the electronics store, if they still weren't found at this point then they likely wouldn't be for a while longer. An anxious itch to stay was persistently trying to root him in place. As if him just sitting there waiting would get some results. But Shintaro opted to go for a more rational set of moves. He had to get downstairs and wait for Konoha and Ene, then move out and allow the police to get inside. They were likely on their way, even on such short notice. As he was planning out his next move, a loud roar traveled all the way from the first floor up.

"COME OUT NOW! WE'LL SHOOT HER IF YOU DON'T!"

Shintaro could hear someone's loud, struggling whimper, from where he was crouched down against the walls of the stairs. He peeked out and saw a square-headed man with a black, roughly shaped beard holding a young woman. It was the store clerk from the first-floor small electronics. The other one was nowhere to be seen; there was no doubt he was hiding and waiting for an opportunity to strike. His mind panicked a bit as he thought of what to do, but as he did, his eyes accidentally met the eyes of the bearded man. With no words spoken, the man shoved the girl aside, held his rifle with both hands, and aimed it at Shintaro. His eyes widened. Dust and rubble flit all around as he took cover behind the wall. The loud bangs consumed his hearing. His mind was in disarray. And then, as he couldn't control his own fear anymore, the lights turned on. The emergency lights. Soon after, the sound of metal bars pulling upwards was reverberating wonderfully throughout the now visibly vibrant mall. The speakers sounded off, and a familiar, artificial voice rang out:

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!"

Then there was silence. And out of nowhere, Shintaro could hear it. A clear voice that hadn't come from any real direction, yet he could still make it out as if she was standing right there, in front of him. Just like she had a long time ago.

"Yell out 'Kano, now' as powerfully as you can. Quickly," and for some mysterious reason, he unquestioningly did just that.

"KANO, NOW!!"

Another shout came from ahead of Shintaro, but it was one of the gunmen. "Why the hell is the power back-

And then a series of deafeningly loud bullets burst through what sounded like multiple patches of meat.

"Suda, what the fuck are you doing!?" was the last thing any of the gunmen managed to say before the shooting stopped. Shintaro didn't even bother to look. Something had obviously happened to them. But still, despite his overwhelming angst, there was one last thing left to do. Breathing in as much air as he could muster, he shouted at the top of his lungs:

"KONOHA, THERE'S TWO MORE DOWNSTAIRS!! GET THEM!!" And almost instantly, gunshots blasted across the downstairs area. Konoha was likely engaging them now. With one final effort, taking up all of his remaining courage and recklessness, Shintaro stood up from the wall and let his voice explode even louder than before:

"UP HERE ASSHOLE!!!" But only one of the gunmen, the one with the beard, aimed at him again. Shintaro took cover and fell awkwardly down the stairs with no power left to stop himself. The wall he'd used for cover crumbled down from the excessive spray of bullets. It ceased soon after. Konoha had gotten them; he must have.

All the energy inside Shintaro had left him. He could only lean his head against the hard wall with his body sprawled across the floor at the bottom of the stairs. It had been a tremendous effort, especially for a shut-in of two years. He wasn't a superhuman like Konoha, and he needed to ask him more about that later now that it was over. But nothing more than this could be expected of Shintaro. He'd done all he could.

Steps resounded off the third floor, stomping loudly down the stairs. If it was them, if just one of them was still up and about; Shintaro would die within the next few moments. But instead of an overbearing grown man came forth a clumsy girl with short, light-orange hair, a pink hoodie, and shorts.

"Onii-chan!" It was his sister.