CHAPTER TWELVE

After we defeated the demon frog giant, our mentor tapped into our com units and ordered us to meet at the rendezvous point. Somewhere quiet enough for privacy, and distant enough that the lingering stench of frog flesh wouldn’t follow us. It wasn’t easy getting there, because we had to dodge civilians asking us a shit ton of favors. From trying to snap pictures of us to groveling for autographs, escaping was just as taxing as the goddamn fight.

I thought Miss Popularity would have gotten a kick out of it, but I could tell on her face that she was rattled from being so close to a shadow-walker. Given her very sheltered lifestyle, she actually did pretty decent in my opinion.

It took guts to do what she did.

After multiple bouts of dodging and weaving fans, we reached our destination. The rendezvous point was an old, abandoned cannery about a mile away from the bakery. This place was huge, and had a few uncharacteristic features. Its steel-reinforced walls and solid metallic floor made it feel more like some type of military bunker than a former processing plant.

My boots clanged against the cold metal as I entered, my team following suit behind me. There was a twisted look on Reina’s face the deeper she caved in, and then she pinched her nose and commented on the horrendous smell. “I am getting quite tired of foulness being a theme in our endeavors!”

I looked around, noticing that our mentor was nowhere to be seen. I continued to scan the area trying to spot him among the tangle of old machinery and other high-tech contraptions I couldn’t even name if I wanted to, when suddenly a light flickered behind Reina, where she was standing in front of a conveyor belt.

She screamed, Hayashi startling her. When she bumped into the conveyor belt, I caught the look on our sensei’s face, and he wasn’t pleased one bit.

“Horrendous performance,” he started, his furrowed eyes glued to Reina. “What went through your mind when you thought it was a good idea to out a monster in public?”

“I was thinking it is a good idea to get the girl out of harm’s way!” Reina hissed back.

“One girl, compared to a community of people in the vicinity? You’d be lucky if no one got hurt.”

Reina gasped. “Are you seriously weighing the life of one person to others?”

“You could have played that differently.”

“Oh, you mean let the monster go off with her so she could be the next body we find tossed in the dumpster? Was that the play you had in mind?”

“You’re missing the point. Part of being a hunter is blending in with the background. Being inconspicuous, learning when to sit by and observe, and when to size up and attack. There needs to be a balance between saving life and preserving order. Being impulsive or reckless puts all of that in jeopardy. At some point, you forgot that this was a covert mission, as most contracts are. If you’d rather have your emotions overcome your better judgment, you will fail every time.”

“It wasn’t my emotions that made the right play,” Reina argued as she brushed herself off. “If I didn’t step in when I did, there’s no telling where that monster would have ended up! Why risk losing him when we could interfere immediately?”

“What part of inconspicuous don’t you understand? You tail, you shadow. You didn’t see me, did you? I was around, witnessed every part of that encounter. So quit using your sorry excuses and accept that you jumped in without thinking about the consequences.”

Hayashi’s deepened voice echoed in the hollow industrial space, his frustration making my palms sweaty. The growing elevation in his voice didn’t make Reina shut up, though. She stood firm behind her choice, taking two steps in his space to argue. Reina regained her composure, her fiery anger now simmering into outright defiance. Her jaw clenched tight, and then she said, “I know what it means to be a hunter,” she said confidently. “And I also know what it means to be human. Clearly, you have lost touch with that.”

Oh no, Reina. You don’t square up with the guy who holds your hunting future in the palm of his hands!

Reina sure as hell didn’t know when to pick her battles. Hayashi’s eyes narrowed at Reina’s words—he was getting irked at her persistent rebellious attitude. He took a moment to take in the sight of her, hair tousled, dirt smeared on her cheeks with the faint gloss of perspiration on her forehead. She went through it, and she was about to go through a lot more if she kept talking back to sensei.

“I didn’t become a hunter to lose my humanity,” Reina continued. “I became one to protect it. If that means jumping into the fray instead of skulking in the shadows, then so be it. Humanity is not just about staying alive; it’s about living.”

“You’re pretty good at talking bullshit,” he said flatly. “This fake righteousness crap, I could see right through it.”

Reina gasped, the girl clearly offended.

“What I’m hearing is I want to do what I want, and I don’t care if it’s right or wrong, because I’m always right. Even if your actions do more harm than good, you’ll find a way to validate it. Just as long as you get to sleep well at night, no guilt, no remorse. But frankly, I don’t have time to hear an earful of your petty squabbles.” Hayashi challenged as he squared off against her, leaving Reina speechless.

Reina staggered back, as if physically hit. An uncomfortable silence grew between the two of them, allowing the echo of Hayashi’s words to bounce around in the barren space. Reina's lips pressed tight in a thin line, her eyes bright with determination as she raised her chin and met Hayashi’s icy gaze. Her face churned, halfway looking defeated, before she softly admitted, “I did what I thought was right. That monster would have killed her or—”

“That’s right, what you thought. I mentioned this to you before, and I will say it one more time. Forget everything you knew about Hunter Corp. This is the last and final time I will say this. If you don’t, I will deem you untrainable, and I will have no problem failing your evaluation. You need to start thinking like a flesh eater. Weighing a life by pound. As cruel as it sounds, that is the cold hard truth of it. So what if you saved that girl? You’d save plenty more if you had approached that monster privately. You’d save his future victims, and the innocent bystanders from the mess caused by a public discovery. If Nero hadn’t stopped him from unleashing another Cosmic Roar, those people fleeing those nearing buildings would have been dead.”

Reina sulked.

“We limit casualties. We save lives by the masses. And most importantly, we act before we strike.”

She finally bowed and accepted his criticism. “Yes, master Hayashi….”

“And you,” he said, turning his head to Naomi. “What the hell was that all about?”

Naomi’s face remained stoic as she asked, “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you know how to pull back your punches? You were doing fine at the beginning. What triggered you to overreact?”

“I don’t see how that is an issue,” Naomi fought back. “The monster’s dead. My powers were very much in my control, and I didn’t put anyone in immediate danger.”

Hayashi’s stare rolled my way, as if he wanted my personal feedback. I was terrible at picking sides! Honestly, I didn’t think either girl was in the wrong here. Not Reina, and not Naomi. Sure, there was a better way to approach the demon, and Naomi didn’t have to go all chainsaw massacre on him. But we worked like a team to not only keep everyone alive, but to come out of that shit in one piece, too.

But the longer his stare lingered on me, the more I was beginning to think he was making an observation….

“You will still get your fame points for completing the mission, but as far as my grade, this is a failed exposure.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

I tensed.

“Make arrangements to head back to the dojo. I will be supervising the second team shortly.”

++++

The first test of our evaluations, and we flunked?

Holy shit…. I didn’t know where to put myself right now….

If we failed, then I wondered what actual failure looked like through the eyes of Hayashi? The guy didn’t even have to step in to save our asses. The monster was dead, everyone was saved, and we came out of it in one piece. I was trying to wrap my brain around this while in the reception area that Hayashi had modified into a meeting room, sitting at the table with my finger stroking my chin. Reina however, was more expressive with her frustration, the heated girl pacing back and forth relentlessly. She was practically erupting, her fists clenched and face red with anger. She moved like a wild animal trapped in a cage, her high heels echoing loudly along the floor. From her muttering, I could tell she was politely cursing out Hayashi, something about a waddling wanker or another. I wanted to say something comforting, but my own thoughts were still scrambled. I doubted anything I could say would help.

On the other hand, Naomi seemed unfazed by our mentor’s harsh grading, sitting at the table adjacent to me, reading her favorite untitled black leather book between her fingers.

“Who does he think he is to make such outlandish judgements?!” she hissed. “So we messed up, according to him. Even so, we didn’t fail the mission!”

“Clearly, it’s not just about getting the job done,” I mused out loud. “It’s about how we got the job done.”

“Somehow I can’t help but feel that we are competing against the other team here,” Reina said, concerned. “What if they pass? He’d have every reason to toss us aside! He’d have his perfect team.”

“You’re forgetting that hunters are in high demand,” I reminded her. “Even though he’s being hard on us, it’s not like we are completely expendable.”

At the end of the room, Reina stopped pacing for a moment, her hands hanging by her side as she took in a long breath before releasing it slowly. She turned to face us, still contemplating. “He expects perfection from us,” she said in a low voice. “But he forgets we are not him.”

Her words reverberated through the silent room. I wanted to throw out an agreeable response, but I had no words. My mind was busy thinking of my own case. I couldn’t fail. It just wasn’t an option….

Naomi flipped a page to her book, the simple gesture making the silence between us grow louder. Somehow that infuriated Reina and her misplaced anger, the sassy girl marching right up to her and snatching her book away. “I love how you don’t seem to care one bit about our dilemma!” she hissed. “Always with this book! I see you around the school halls with it every day! What is so interesting that you absolutely must reread these pages every single chance y—” Reina paused, her eyes gaping at the pages, the both of us noticing that they were… blank? “What is this?”

Naomi snatched her book off the table and glared down at Reina. “You touch my book again, and I will break more than just the nails off those pretty little fingers.”

“I beg your pardon?!” Reina cried, holding the hand Naomi almost scratched at when snatching her book. Then Reina glared back. “You know, I’m getting awfully tired of your I’m better than you attitude! Don’t think I didn’t hear what you said to Nero earlier, about cutting me off of the team? Before you suggest such foolishness, you ought to remember who got you this career in the first place! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t even be here!”

“You mean, if it wasn’t for your daddy,” Naomi fired back.

“It wasn’t my father who was on campus when you got a free ride to Utoro!” Reina retorted.

“I think I would have preferred him than you, seeing as all you do around here is complain and be loud.”

I butted in, “Hey, I don’t want us figh—”

“And you do any better? So you can fling things around with your mind. Big deal. At least I took initiative and saved that girl. All you did was feed him a creepy stare. Very intimidating,” Reina mocked.

I chuckled nervously, getting off my seat, trying to stop a catfight from breaking out. “Girls, I understand that tension is high right now, but we need to remember that we are a t—”

“And I wouldn’t consider your finisher something to be proud about either.” Reina smirked. “The way you killed that monster made you look downright monstrous yourself.”

Naomi snapped, flinging Reina across the room. She tossed her so quickly that I didn’t get a second to react. Reina crashed into the wall with a loud thud, her body sliding down to the floor in a heap. Groaning in pain, she struggled to her feet. Her eyes were wide with shock and surprise, taken aback by the gall of Naomi.

“Reina!” I cried, rushing over to her. But when I reached out to help her up, she swatted my hand away, stubborn pride flashing in her amber eyes.

“Stand back,” she spat bitterly, using the wall to push herself up. I could tell that she was hurting, but all of that adrenaline pumping in her veins was masking the pain. She steadied herself for a moment, brushing off the dust from her clothes. But she wasn’t looking at me anymore. Her gaze was locked like a hawk on the ivory haired girl across the table.

“All right, that’s enough!” I stepped between them, holding my hands out in an attempt to keep the peace. “This is not what we’re here for. We need to get our act together and remember why we’re even a team in the first place.”

Both girls ignored me completely, Naomi even showing me that her telekinetic powers weren’t biased. She flung me, too, right back in my seat, where I fell over like a sorry stack of cards.

“So that’s how you want to play?” she hissed at Naomi, reaching her arm out as static began to form in her palm. I flew my head back in awe, never having witnessed Reina use her powers before. A huge rod of electricity zapped in her hand before it took on the form of a huge scythe about a foot taller than her height. She launched at Naomi full speed, the scythe humming with energy. Naomi wasn’t thrown off guard, quickly answering to Reina. With a flick of her wrist, the table and chairs between them were sent flying Reina’s way, but Reina was ready to defend! She swung her scythe over her head and landed a diagonal slash, cutting the table in two. The blade of her weapon beamed out a powerful wave of deep red light, like a crescent ki blast at the end of her strike. It went right for Naomi, but because the blast was so slow, Naomi had enough time to step dodge out of the way.

Splinters of wood exploded in the air. I panicked as I watched that crescent energy blade sliced the wall of the meeting room, ripping it right down to its bones. The eruption forced me to move back, the trail of Reina’s powers still radiating in the air. She was reckless with it too, having no real aim as the fight stretched outside. From within the dojo, Reina had the upper hand, a confined space with a meta that could sweep pretty much instantly.

I didn’t care what the rumors in school said—Reina’s powers weren’t ass. She had no real weapon’s training and her aim was trash, but it didn’t matter when you had something as badass as a huge scythe. Even Naomi knew to stand back, the girl bobbing and weaving her swings, trying not to get hit with the blade and the chaser energy beams. She played it smart, letting Reina expend her stamina and overexert herself, Reina creating a mess in our sensei’s yard instead. “You wretched little harlot!” Reina growled. “Quit running off and fight me!”

“Cut it out!” I cried. “The both of you are going to get us kicked out!” My orders fell on deaf ears. Naomi didn’t stop making a fool out of Reina. She started to act more offensively when Reina was cutting it too close for comfort with those energy beams popping off her scythe. Reina nearly nipped Naomi across her forehead—a lucky shot from the looks of it. Even though Reina was tired, she didn’t stop swinging, no matter how sluggish and telegraphed her moves were starting to become.

The impatience pouring off of Naomi was enough to make my stomach sink. She did something even I didn’t expect her to do, using her powers to reel Reina into her. She must have expected Reina to drop her weapon when she scooped her up, and sure enough, she did. Caught off guard, Reina flew over to Naomi with crazy speed and force, Naomi cocking a punch back and letting Reina have it.

Quick thinking saved Reina’s pretty face, the girl crossing her arms like an X to protect herself. Fortunately for Reina, Naomi’s melee attacks weren’t as strong as her telekinetic ones, and all Naomi managed to do was send Reina to the ground with that punch. Except, the punch was just to get her down. The follow up was what was dangerous.

“Naomi, no!” I shouted, rushing to Reina’s aid. Just as Naomi picked up one of the shattered pieces of a stone hedge, over Reina’s body, I leaped in to defend her. “That’s enough!” I cried with my arms spread out, protecting Reina on the ground. “We aren’t here to kill each other!”

She glared at me. “When will you quit protecting her and her reckless mouth?!”

“God, you’re really as heartless as you look!” Reina retorted. “Trying to kill me with a stone! Psychopath!”

“You’re clearly stronger than her, Naomi. This isn’t a fair fight. We shouldn’t even be fighting each other, anyway. What are we really breaking shit here for? Risking our careers over a book? Look at the mess we made. Hayashi is going to bust our heads for this, and we have no good reason for it!”

“You’re picking favorites,” Naomi retorted. “You didn’t try to stop her when she came after me.” She lowered her weapon and her controlling hand, the stone falling between our feet. “I don’t care how poorly trained she is, she had intent to kill. If she comes at me again, I will kill her. Make no mistake. And this time, you won’t be there to save her, Nero.”

“Care to explain how the three of you managed to turn my home into a play pen?” I heard Hayashi say, my head snapping toward the direction of his voice. When I saw him standing there with the other team, I nearly had a god damn heart attack. He was back early, with a face as cold as stone. I couldn’t gauge his emotions right now, but I was still terrified to answer. The man was notably a neat freak, and we’d finished demoing his home.

We were boned for sure…