Like A Lycoris [Takina Inoue X OC]

Chapter 5: Less talk, more fight (Part 2)

When Takina finished, I made the move to get her attention. I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "Takina?" I spoke to her. She turns to face me, and she notices I was there. "Ah, Seiji." She says to me. "Could I talk with you for a moment?" I asked her. "Sure. What is it?" She asked.

"There's a few things that I want to hear about from you. Is that alright?" I asked her. "Yeah, sure. Go on." She let me proceed.

"It's about your position in Direct Attack. I'm sure you overheard some Lycoris agents gossipping about you getting fired." I started with her. "Yeah, I heard them." She acknowledged.

"You know, when Kido-aniki and I were coming in on our first day in Asakusa, we were en route to the cafe at Mika-san's request, when out of nowhere, we witnessed glass falling out of the sky. We looked up to our left, and saw windows shattered from a building up by the sixth floor. Takina, were you involved in any way with all that?" I said to her.

"Hold on. Seiji, are you saying that you and Kido were there when that operation took place?" Takina inquired. "Operation? We were on ground level when we saw the broken glass falling. That's all we saw." I told her.

"So, you were there during that operation." Takina deduced. "Yeah, but I never knew what was going on up there when it occurred. It's been on my mind ever since. Please, Takina. Go more into that. Give me the details on what happened." I urged her.

She closed her eyes as she reminisced on what went down that day. "There was an arms deal that was taking place. My squad and I were in a deadlock, as the dealer had taken one of our members hostage, and held her at gunpoint. It was an undercover operation, so we didn't have any back up. At one point, the dealer had enough, and was threatening to kill her in the next ten seconds. It was there I believed, that drastic measures had to be taken. So I picked up the light machine gun standing near by, and fired away at all of them." She remembered.

"They were all put down. Is that what you're saying?" I inquired. "Yes. Permanently." She confirmed. "And what about your hostage squadmate? Is she okay?" I questioned. "She's alive." Takina answered.

"Do you remember what she looks like?" I further questioned. "Her hair was short, had a light-orange color to it. She had freckles on her cheek. She's a second-class agent like me." She described.

"Ever catch her name?" I asked once more. "I believe her name was Erika Janome." Takina guessed. I think back to earlier. 'So that girl I saw at the front entrance... She was the hostage in the arms deal. That's why she remembered Takina.' I concluded in my head.

I took a deep breath, as I reflected on all that information. "If you're done talking with me, may I continue with target practice?" She then asked me. I nodded in silence.