But in the End

Eacape

Thanks to Yosano's 'Thou Shall Not Die' ability, we were able to come up with a solid strategy. Though it wasn't one I was keen on.

I snapped my eyes open and stood up with the others, staring down the military men in front of us. Rolling my neck as I grimaced at the stiffness, I rose a hand up, mumbling under my breath. "This will only be a one time thing, right?"

Not expecting a reply, I began stealing the men's energy until they all collapsed on the ground. Closing my eyes, I turned to the others, still holding a hand out.

Thinking back on the training with Dazai and Kunikida a few days ago, I began focusing on the energy flowing through me. Just like before, I could feel the energy flowing through my outstretched arm, and through the tendrils that made contact with the others.

After a few moments, I lowered my arm, opening my eyes back up. "Well?"

Yosano let out a hum. "I'm surprised." She rolled an arm, flexing its motion. "I feel completely energized again."

Kyouka nodded. "I feel the same."

"That's truly an amazing gift, (Y/N)." Jun'ichirō exclaimed.

"Alright, let's get moving." Kunikida spoke up, pushing his glasses up. "We'll take their gear."

Not wasting a second, we began doing as planned. I took the jacket from one of the men, throwing it on and zipping it up. I glanced over to the others and nodded, signaling I was ready.

I heard a groan come from behind us, looking to see one of the men was slipping in and out of consciousness. Impressive. He must've had more strength than I originally thought.

"To think you'd all die just to avoid inhaling gas... there's no way you could've done it without knowing our plan of attack. How'd you know?" The man asked us.

"Anything I've seen once, I can reproduce with my notebook." Kunikida replied, holding up the walker he produced earlier. "We've used your encryption devices several times in our joint operations. Now use that to call for help. With prompt treatment you'll survive, but I wouldn't wait too long to do it if I were you."

Not wasting a second, we began making our way through the building. I let out a chuckle as I ran with the others. "What's so funny?" Jun'ichirō looked at me in confusion.

I turned to him for a moment, smirking. "Oh nothing. I just find this situation kind of ironic."

"Why do you say that?" Kunikida asked as he caught up with us.

"Think about it. We really killed ourselves just so we wouldn't be knocked out by the gas." I turned to look at the blonde man. "Guess we're all suicidal maniacs now."

The man let out a sigh. "Don't lump me in with that idiot." I let out a snort at his reply as we ran out of the building and into the woods.

Coming up to a creek, all of us stopped to catch our breaths. "Have we gained some distance on them?"

Jun'ichirō opened the phone in his hand, staring at it before shaking his head. "My phone isn't working out here."

"Radio jamming. They'll try to stop us physically next." Kunikida replied. "Surveillance satellites, search dogs, road blocks, military drones. There's nothing the six of us can do with our abilities."

"What about (Y/N)'s technique she used earlier?" Kyouka asked, tilting her head to look at me.

I shook my head. "I'm still getting used to it and there's a huge risk if I can't control it. So I'm afraid right now it's just a one time thing."

"It doesn't look good." Yosano spoke up. "After all, the sheer numbers in fire power of organized militaries are unbeatable in the modern world."

"Damn!" Jun'ichirō cried out, slamming a fist against the tree he leaned against. "We can't be stuck here, right now they may be treating Naomi like a common criminal!"

"Common criminals..." Kunikida trailed off, furrowing his eyebrows together in thought. "Huh..."

Kenji clapped his hands together, gaining our attention. "Listen everyone! This is just like the ten year orchard. When I was in the village, we spent ten whole years raising an orchard and then, just like that, it got wiped out overnight in a big storm. We never got to harvest that orchard even once."

"Well, that's an awful story." Yosano said, not sure of the point he was getting at.

"What do you think our village did then?" He asked rhetorically. "At first, we were dumbfounded. We laughed about it for a little while, and then we planted new seedlings. We decided to rebuild over the next ten years. A storm has done really bad things to the Detective Agency, but it's okay. In the end, a calamity storm and blessed rain are exactly the same thing. Let's keep living. Let's make it through the storm. One thing we can't do, is decide we don't want to live here anymore. We gotta stay on the spinning rock we call Earth."

"Kenji is right." Kunikida spoke up. "Let's weather the storm and rebuild the Detective Agency. And to do that, we all need to come out of this storm alive."

All of us nodding in agreement, Kunikida pulled out a map of the area. Little did we know, another group was doing the exact same thing. All to hunt us down.

———

It was decided we will try to escape by car versus the train in order to have as few casualties as possible to civilians.

I watched as Kunikida and Kenji flagged down a car approaching the two on the road. Kunikida approached the passenger window, talking for a moment before pointing a gun at the poor driver.

Said man got out and began running away. Kunikida signals to the rest of us to get in. Coming out of the woods, we approached the car, piling in, before quickly driving off.

"I know time is of the essence... but couldn't we have tried to get a bigger vehicle?" I muttered, not liking how cramped we were in the car.

"We really don't have the luxury of car shopping. Who knows how long it would've been before another car showed up." Kunikida replied.

"So now what do we do?" Jun'ichirō asked.

"Next step is to hide out and gather information." Kunikida told him, focusing on the road ahead. "That is, if we can find someone who will provide shelter to fugitives from the Detective Agency."

"I know a hideout we can go to." Yosano offered, glancing out the window. "Somewhere that'll be safe for us. But I'll loath being there."

"Really?!" Jun'ichirō exclaimed, surprised.

"Where's that?" Kenji asked her.

"I'm interested too." I stiffened up as I felt a presence beside me. "Please, do tell us about this safe hiding place you're going to." Turning, we all saw a man in a red uniform, with a closed eyed smile. "You're missing someone, though. Where's the girl in the Kimono?"

"What?!" Kunikida gasped out in shock as Kenji went to punch the man.

The man was quick to block the oncoming attack, grabbing hold of his fist. No way... I stared at the man, cautious as he kicked Kenji out the car, the door going with him.

"Asshole!" Jun'ichirō seethed out. "Light Snow!" Jun'ichirō activated his ability before opening his car door, reaching over me and grabbing the man as he jumped out the car.

"Kunikida, we can't leave them with him." I spoke up, looking at him. "That man..." I trailed off, putting a hand to my chin. "That uniform he was wearing, I know it from somewhere."

"Damn it all!" Kunikida turned around, hitting another guy that was also wearing a red uniform. "Catch them! No time to slow down, grab on!" Kunikida shouted to Kenji.

———
Published: 06/29/2024