I felt terrible. Luckily, Naomi was understanding. It was a good thing she got to me when she did, because I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself knowing I’d killed her.

I helped her get back up on her feet, my eyes softening on her. Feeling embarrassed from getting caught off guard like that was unavoidable, but Naomi tried to make me feel better about it with her sarcastic remarks. The thought of a dirty comeback for her choking comment crossed my mind, but I kept my mouth shut. It was too soon, and frankly, really something Gun would say.

When we headed back to the ballroom, I heard the sound of Reina cheering. I let out a sigh of relief, and I dashed inside the messy hall to see Reina standing there right next to Hayashi. She was jumping up and down like she’d score a win, the girl basking in the spotlight.

“I beat the nasty fish man!” she tweeted, and then I immediately turned to the decapitated fish man slumped over a slanted round table.

“No way,” Naomi said, her face as firm as stone, her eyes huge. “You actually did some honest hunter work?”

“You shouldn’t be congratulating,” Hayashi said. “Your mission is incomplete. You let Keiko walk away.”

“Keiko escaped?!” I cried.

“Well, what did you expect? While you two took your dance to another room, she fled.”

“Upon seeing you, I am sure,” Naomi said to Hayashi before turning back to Reina. “Because I doubt the sight of the fox girl over there would get her panties soaked with piss.”

“That’s an awfully crass thing for you to say!” Reina retorted, and then she shrugged. “But at least I dealt with my target.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” one of the survivors bawled, crawling up to Hayashi and Reina on his hands and knees. “You saved us! Bless your hearts!”

“Yes, thank you!”

“You’re heroes!”

“Please, sign my shin!”

More of them came up to all four of us, thankful that we’d gotten rid of the monsters. In no time, sensei called in local enforcement and medics to come assess them. Soon after the Extraction Team came. We made our report, and then left for the dojo.

This would mark my first portal ride anywhere, Hayashi taking us back home in style. Inside the meeting room we went, where we were debriefed. Reina did all the talking, which I was sure she enjoyed, feeling quite proud of herself. And she had every right to be. Reina redeemed herself tonight, having not only gotten the intel we were looking for, but also helping in killing the bastard.

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“So tell me, should I give the three of you a passing grade?”

I looked around the table before I turned back to our mentor again, then asked, “Are you asking us to evaluate ourselves, sensei?”

There was a brief silence in the air until Reina broke it first. Her chest puffed out, her shoulders squared, she met Hayashi’s gaze with determination. “I think we deserve an 'A'. The mission was a success!”

“Was it?”

“At least a 'C', sensei,” I said. “‘B’, if you want to be generous. We got the job done but there’s clearly room for improvement.”

“Right, Keiko got away.”

“Keiko wasn’t our concern,” Naomi commented, her stern gaze on our mentor as she sat there with her arms and legs crossed. “I’m sure you haven’t forgotten our objective, as it stated in the folder you gave us. We were to terminate Katsuro and his associates. Keiko wasn’t one of his associates.”

“Then what was she?”

“Someone sucking on his teat, profiting from his scheme. He was her daddy.”

“A regular daddy, not a sugar daddy,” I clarified.

“Doesn’t matter. She is in fact associated with him.”

“Then you should have mentioned it in the file,” Naomi struck back.

“As much as I hate to say it, I’m with Naomi on this one,” Reina co-signed. “We were thrown off guard by her involvement in the matter.”

“That’s part of being a hunter, being able to adapt as the situation changes. So quit using it as an excuse. You were to neutralize his associates, every last one of them. Now, we don’t know where Keiko is.”

“But once we tear down his operation, we will,” Naomi added.

“No. Another team is going to use the intel you provided to finish his operation off.”

“Why?” Naomi countered. “We started the job, so we ought to finish it. Unless that’s your way of saying that you don’t trust us?”

“Take it however you want. You were supposed to do the initial leg work. I never planned on reintroducing you to Katsuro’s operation.”

“So what’s the verdict here?” I asked anxiously. “Did we pass or fail?”

“The three of you failed.”

My breath hitched.

“Think of this as a learning opportunity to better work as a team.”

“What?!” Reina hissed, slamming her hand on the table and jumping right up. “I didn’t get groped by that slimy fish demon for nothing! I gave it my all out there!”

“And you will continue with your efforts, but that wasn’t your all. What I saw out there was potential to be better.”

“I don’t get it! We did the best we could given the circumstances! Nero was trying to murder Naomi!” My chest sank at Reina’s words. “Both of them were preoccupied, and I was left alone to fight two elite monsters! I was lucky Keiko preferred to watch me fight her father one on one, but she only insisted because she thought he’d kill me! Not to mention I sliced the flesh off his thumb and stole his phone like you told me to!”

“And if he hadn’t held back his punches in the beginning, you would have been dead. You knew that, and yet, you felt like you had something to prove by being offensive rather than defensive.”

“Something to prove? I stayed because I had to fight to protect those people!” she cried, sensei giving her a short smirk.

“Look at that, improvement. As I’ve mentioned before, don’t take this as a loss. Part of that mission was a success. That being said, focus on what you could have done better. The three of you are dismissed.”