I become a Living Cheat.

Chapter 44: Counterattack

Taiyou turned around and loses the smile on his face. What he saw in front of him was a man, with a swollen face, and Kohaku who was being restrained by the man. Out of the subordinates that were brought along by Kaizen, this man was tall and solidly built, he could easily be classified as a "big grunt" type of person. On the other hand, Kohaku had the average constitution of a ten year old girl.

They had such a huge difference in their physique, the man had his arms around Kohaku's neck, and it seemed like he was in a position to snap off her neck at any moment. To put it quite simply, they were in a pinch—

「Don- don't move!」

The man's voice was shaking. Even though he was supposed to be in a dominant position, it could not be helped that he was scared out of his wits, as just moments before, the person he was threatening wiped out dozens of his comrades with unparalleled strength.

Even if he had a hostage with him, it was quite visible that the fear of Taiyou still remained firmly embedded within his eyes. Taiyou slowly turned around his body to face him.

「I told you not to movee!」

「Uuu......」

The shrill and nervous voice of the man, was followed by Kohaku's anguished voice. The man strengthened the force of his grip, the pressure on her throat increased and Kohaku looked like she was in a lot of pain.

「If you move any further, I don't know what I might do!」

「........」

「You've done well Oshita. Now then, bring the girl and come over here」

「Yes sir」

The man called Oshita was restraining Kohaku as he moved around Taiyou in a big circle whilst never taking his sight off him. The man slowly headed towards Kaizen in this manner.

「.......To take such a young girl as a hostage, don't you feel embarrassed?」

「That kind of provocation won't work」

Compared with Oshita's manner of speaking, Kaizen had regained a lot of composure to his tone of voice. He was so flustered just moments ago, and it seemed as if it was all just a lie.

「I already know that as part of the Eternally Little, her appearance doesn't match her age. Azumaya Kohaku, she is one of the oldest people taking part in this project, and she is 87 years of age. She is most definitely not the "young" person you claim her to be」

「In that case, I will paraphrase it, don't you respect your elders?」

「I already told you that such cheap provocations won't work against me.....Oshita」

「Yes!」

「So that she has no chance of escaping. Use something to bind her」

「Roger that!」

Kaizen had a gloating smile on his face after hearing Oshita's acknowledgement.

Meanwhile, Taiyou's eyes met Kohaku's. Perhaps it was because she had already lived for 87 years....and the fact that she lived in the most turbulent period in this country's history. Although she had her neck completely restrained by a big and brawny arm, and whilst she did have a look of discomfort on her face, her eyes showed no fear.

On the contrary, her eyes were looking straight at Taiyou as if she was trying to urge him to do something. What she wanted to tell him, was something Taiyou could not figure out. The amount of time he has known Kohaku did not pass a period of three hours, being able to communicate with tacit understanding or by using eye contact was not something he could do with her at this point in time.