Gun Princess Royale - Book 3 - Princess of the City (web version)

Chapter 6 - Part II

– II –

One young man with a long sandy hair, a tall build, and fine facial features stood apart from the other security personnel, and it wasn't because he was nearest to Erina.

Nor was it the easy manner in which he conversed with her, standing casually as though he was chatting to an old friend...an old friend that looked less than pleased to see him.

It certainly wasn't his appearance or his clothes because unlike the other security people he wore a long trench coat over his black suit – entirely unbecoming in the summer heat that was warming up the morning air.

No. Despite all this, he stood apart because I sensed something different in him – something I felt deep in my gut, in my bones, in the muscles wrapped around them, and in the faint hairs along the nape of my neck.

It was the impression that we had met before, but I couldn't call it déjà vu.

Rather, it was a sense of knowing him on a deeper level than just a passing glance or brief encounter, as though my body recalled an unpleasant experience at his hands.

I came to a stop several feet away from him, with Straus a couple of feet off to my right.

Erina, standing about two meters away from the young man, stared at me in disbelief that quickly turned to anger. But before she could chastise or berate me for disobeying her instruction, the young man reached up, removed his sunglasses, and met my eyes.

At that moment, as our gazes touched upon each other, something inside of me was unlocked, and invisible shackles I'd been unaware of suddenly fell away. However, the deep unease I'd been feeling all the way down to my bones now jumped up a rung, and a chill slithered its way down my back.

The impression that I knew this young man, that there was history between us, grew stronger.

A faint smile curved his lips as he cocked his head slightly and regarded me for a silent moment.

"So you're Isabel. Nice to see you up and about."

His voice was quiet and yet it carried, tickling my senses with that damnable feeling that I somehow knew him despite having no memories of him.

He turned his body toward me, pocketing his sunglasses into his shirt's breast pocket.

"But if you're Isabel...then where's Mirai?"

It was extraordinary how swiftly he moved.

The moment the words slipped past his lips, his right hand dove in and out of his jacket with no noticeable acceleration.

Normally when someone moves, no matter how quickly, their limbs will visibly accelerate. But with him it was as though his arm had already gone past the accelerate stage and straight into maximum velocity. It was one of those 'blink' and you'll miss it moments, or rather, it was as though that moment had been cut out from the flow of time, causing the scene to jump as though a dozen or more frames were missing.

Regardless, this lack of discernible acceleration threw me off and was the primary reason why my reaction trailed behind his by a wide margin.

However, even if I reacted late, I wasn't going to stand still and do nothing because despite his incredible speed, he had yet to aim his weapon at me, and that gave me a narrow window of time within which to counter him.

From a standing start, I bolted forward like lightning toward him.

I felt as light as a feather as my right foot touched the ground, a millisecond before I kicked upwards with my left foot.