DECEPTION (Female Reader) [SAKAMOTO DAYS]

13: "Poison Gas"

"Hey! Where's Sakamoto!?" Nagumo shouted, appearing suddenly on top of the car as if he'd dropped from the sky.

"When did you get across?" Rion asked, her face scrunched up in confusion.

I narrowed my eyes, glancing back at the wreckage of the collapsed bridge. There, in the distance, I spotted Sakamoto speeding towards us on his bike. "Ooh~ another stunt?" I grinned, eyes gleaming with excitement.

Sakamoto fired his gun, aiming at the remains of the bridge's ropes. In an instant, he used the tension to swing himself like a spider in its web, bike and all. With unreal strength, he held on, twisting mid-air while keeping his balance on the motorcycle. He crashed onto a nearby ship's deck, revved the engine, and drove up the side of the bridge's wall, launching himself off the edge. With one last flourish, he let go of the rope and landed smoothly, drifting across the ground before pulling up beside us as if nothing had happened.

"Pfft! Should've called it the Flying Thunder God technique." I muttered, keeping my calm as if this insane spectacle was just another day at the office.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Sakamoto said, his face completely straight as if he hadn't just pulled off a near-impossible stunt.

Rion lit her cigarette. "You could've taken more time."

--

Leaving Sakamoto behind to handle that one enemy, we sped off to complete the assignment so I could finally collect my damn payment.

As we drove through the tunnel, I kept a sharp eye on Uzuki. He knew I was onto him, so I couldn't let my guard down in case he tried something sneaky.

"Is that boy going to be okay? The one we left behind?" Konomi's mother asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Oh, I'm sure he's fine!" Rion replied casually, not even considering Sakamoto might be in trouble.

"But you're friends! Aren't you worried?" Konomi chimed in, making Rion twitch a little at the question.

"Friends? Me and Sakamoto?" she asked, clearly bewildered.

"You and Sakamoto were buddies before I even joined the assassin department, Akao." Nagumo said, munching on a snack.

"Yeah, well, there were a bunch of us who were friends back then!" Rion explained, talking about her school days. Apparently, their old friend group had gradually drifted apart before Nagumo even got involved.

'Interesting... Nagumo had originally been from the spy department, which explained a few things.'

I wasn't sure why I kept listening in, but as Rion went on, it was clear making genuine friends inside the JCC wasn't exactly easy. That life seemed awfully dull.

"So, the three of you have always been best friends!" Konomi said, beaming with innocent cheer.

Rion looked away. "Hmm. I'm not so sure about that..."

Nagumo, ever the joker, placed his hand on Rion's shoulder. "Aww, no need to be bashful! Are you embarrassed?"

"Sometimes I want to kill you, so I don't consider us friends. Don't touch me." She gave him a light punch, her tone flat.

Kindaka glanced at Uzuki, noticing how quiet he'd been. "What's wrong, Uzuki? You've been gloomy ever since we left the rest area."

I smirked, catching Uzuki's reflection in the rearview mirror. "Probably thinking about how to take me out before I expose his little secret."

Most of the group glanced at me, except for Uzuki, who responded in a low voice, "Nah... I'm fine..." causing me to roll my eyes.

As we drove through the tunnel, a sudden, deafening crack echoed through the space, followed by a section of the ceiling crashing down. Rocks tumbled onto the road, blocking our path. The vehicle skidded to a stop, nearly colliding with the fallen debris. An ambush.