Gifted

XII

"Yukine?  What's wrong?"

I opened my eyes and the restaurant was still intact. Lux and Asuna were giving me strange looks. Rafe had the same reaction I had. He opened his eyes and quickly scanned the restaurant. I had said he-who-shall-not-be-named name but nothing appeared. I guess he was generally pissed at me. I just hope he would come through when I actually needed him.

"Why'd you guys freak out like that?" Lux asked, concern in her voice.

"Long story." I said.

Our food came and apparently I was starving. I devoured my steak so fast I barely had time to digest it. Asuna ended up not ordering the salmon due to my reaction, even though I insisted she did. Rafe ordered a steak as well and Lux had a salad. Those two were getting a little too friendly at the dinner table. They weren't even dating but made Asuna and I look like best friends. After we ordered dessert and had our fill, we decided it was best to go back to the hotel before we passed out in the restaurant. As we were leaving I glanced at the time on my phone:

12:33

We were in there for 2 hours. I'm sure Ebi was worried about us. I slipped my phone back in my pocket and walked out of the front door to catch up with my friends. Rafe and Lux were holding hands and laughing. Just now, in this very moment, it didn't feel like we were on a mission. It felt like a group of friends just having fun on a special night together. As we were walking, we passed by the place where we stopped the super fast dude. Him and the barrier were missing, with no sign of anyone of being there. The group didn't seem to notice this, as they were too busy talking and laughing. Could it have been the police? I didn't hear any sirens while we were eating, but maybe I just missed it. HH? I scanned the street and above us. The sky was pitch black with no stars in sight due to light pollution. I didn't see any helicopters either. Could he have escaped? I doubt it, Rafe's barriers won't be broken that easily, and the guy could barely move anyway. So where did he go?

We got our answer when we approached the Bellagio's front door. The unmistakable green insignia of the HH was imprinted on a van in the front of the building. Rafe dropped his left overs from the Sinatra onto the concrete. I grabbed Asuna's hand and we ran into an alleyway next to the hotel.

"What the hell is HH doing here?" Rafe hissed. I peered around the corner and inspected the entrance. There was only one van, so at least there could be 2 people. But if there were officers lined up in the back...

"Ebi is in there by himself. We gotta do something." I stepped out of the alley and someone grabbed my shoulder.

"What good would it do if you were caught too? Then we'd be screwed. We need you Yuki, and Ebi needs us." I turned around and Asuna had a stern look on her face. No arguing with her right now.

"Fine. What do we do then?"

"Considering there's only one van, there's not a lot of them. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't be cautious. Worst case scenario is that they're looking for us right now." Rafe said.

"But if they were looking for us, why would they go to our rooms? Assuming they asked the receptionist of our whereabouts, wouldn't they have came to the restaurant?" Lux asked.

"Maybe they took advantage of that to capture Ebi. We gotta hurry." Rafe replied.

"What's the plan?" I said urgently.

"Easy now, they most likely have all the exits guarded. We need to either find another way in or..." Everyone looked at me.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? You're the one with the toolbelt of Gift's at your disposal." Asuna exclaimed. Well excuse me.

"So, what, I teleport to the room he's in?"