ღ ℌ𝔢𝔩𝔩 | ᴋᴀᴋᴜᴄʜᴏ | ʙᴏɴᴛᴇɴ ღ

ᖴIᐯE

Continuation to the last chapter

It's morning already, and I'm assuming Naoto and the others completed their task of apprehending Bonten the day before yesterday.

I'm already seated at the restaurant that Naoto has chosen for me. He texted me before they left for their mission that if I were the first one in here, he'd be a bit late because he's still exhausted from the mission. I convinced him to shift his congratulatory gift until the afternoon or the next day, but he insistent. He said that he still wants to go somewhere after this meal, specifically the park in the afternoon.

I've been waiting for almost 25 minutes now. I just ordered a drink to make it less humiliating that I've been here for so long without ordering anything. I didn't bother to order anything right away, it might get cold.

I texted him several times to let him know I was already here, but he already had 3 missed calls from me.

Did he oversleep? It's so rare for him to be late.

Or maybe he attended something more important? But he could have just texted me that.

I waited a little longer. Few minutes later, I felt the vibration of my phone. Someone is calling, and even before I read the name of the person calling, I expected it to be Naoto.

It was my boss.

Shit, I hate it when someone called me, but I think this is important.

"Hello? Yamada-san?" I pick up the phone.

"Hello? Kisaragi? Where are you?"

"Uhm...I'm in a restaurant right now. What's the matter, sir? Is something wrong?" I frowned. He doesn't usually call me unless it's urgent.

"It's about your troop's mission involving Bonten," he says seriously.

"What about it? How are they?" I asked.

"..."

"Sir? Are you still there?"

"Yes, yes... sorry about that," he replied, I just waited for him to continue his sentence "I'm sorry to say this but... it wasn't a success."

"What?! How?!" I half yelled on my phone, my eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

It failed? But...how? We've been planning this for almost a month and it still fails?

"That's the reason why I called you because we're already starting to investigate what happened,"

Maybe this is the reason why Naoto's late. He consulted with Yamada-san about what happened first. If I were him, I would have done the same thing so his nonappearance for today's treat is understandable.

"Oh, I understand. We'll plan again, but this time we'll make sure we'll get them," it's okay to fail but it's still unbelievable that Bonten managed to slip away from our plan. "By the way, how are the others? Is Naoto in there already sir? He didn't show up here." I asked.

Yamada-san didn't answer.

"Sir?"

"I think... you should slow down a little bit,"

"But sir, if we didn't take action immediately, Bonten might cause even more damage,"

"Yes, I'm aware but we need to pay our respect first," there's a tone of worriedness in his voice. That's weird.

Pay respect? Did someone died?

"What do you mean? Did someone from the citizens got injured while they're ongoing with their mission?"

"No... No, that's not what I meant," his voice is shaking. This is so rare for him to be nervous.

Shit. Something's wrong.

"If not, then what is it, sir?"

He didn't respond.

"Sir please, tell me what happened," I begged, my heart's beating rapidly.

"..."

"Is it about my troop? Did they got injured? Is Naoto all right?"

"Jun ..." he said silently, I didn't bother to interrupt what he was saying because of my curiousness, "The plan didn't just fail, your troop didn't make it...Tachibana didn't make it."

My hand almost dropped my phone. Hearing such words caused my heart to sink and break into pieces. But I still didn't believe him. He must have been lying.

"Didn't make it?" I asked, clarifying him by his statement. "What do you mean 'didn't make it?'"

"They died."

"But that's... That's impossible," I countered, "I'll accept the mission failed, but..." my lower lip was already trembling unconsciously.

Please tell me he's joking.

Please tell me they did make it.

Please tell me they're alive.

"You're joking, right sir?" I half-laughed while replying to the phone. I didn't realize tears were already streaming down my face. "Please tell me you're joking," I said again, but my voice had become hoarse. I felt a light throb in my head for fighting back my tears,

Please tell me he's joking.

Please tell me he's joking.

Please tell me he's joking.

"I'll never joke around a death of a person, especially our comrade,"

The colors drained out of my face. My world suddenly stopped. I feel like I've been hit by a truck. I didn't care if I'm at the restaurant as my eyes are flooded with more tears and my breathe quickened.

Yamada-san became quiet for a little considering I'm already mourning, but he advised me.

"Why don't you come here to the station so we can talk about it. I know you're devastated by the news."

No words came out of my mouth.

"Kid?"

I struggled to fight back my tears and calmed my voice despite the whole shivering my body's experiencing both internally and externally. "I'm on my way, sir."

I immediately left the restaurant without paying for my drink.

Ashes.

This high hope of winning turns out to be the worst disaster.

The plan failed...

There's an explosion.

They died.

Naoto died.

𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 :)