"Who is there!"
Chianti cried out in alarm, instinctively bending her right arm and lashing out with her elbow at the woman standing behind her.
Yet her attack was blocked, and her arm was seized in a firm grip. The next second, an agonizing wave of pain tore through her right shoulder. With a harrowing shriek, Chianti collapsed to the ground, clutching her completely paralyzed arm.
Struggling fiercely, she twisted her neck to look behind her. There, standing right before her, was the very woman from the photograph—the one she had just shot with her dart.
"S... Scarlet! Why?! Why are you here?!"
Chianti's eyes widened in sheer terror. She and Korn had been keeping Scarlet under constant surveillance; how on earth had she slipped past them?
"Why aren't you answering my question?" The blonde-haired woman tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled. She stared for a long moment at Chianti, who was struggling desperately to push herself up, before a look of sudden realization dawned on her face. "Oh, wait. Is it one question in exchange for another? Fine. Simple: because that was a trap to lure you in."
She had been played!
How dare she trick them!
Consumed by fury, Chianti glared at Mao Akai. Her rage completely eclipsed the pain, making her oblivious to Korn's calls echoing through her earpiece.
"Damn you, bint!" Lashing her waist, she sprang off the ground and brought her uninjured hand down in a vicious chop toward the face right in front of her.
"Why are you attacking me? I already answered your question, didn't I?" Mao Akai ducked smoothly beneath Chianti's strike, her expression laced with bafflement.
Seeing that innocent look on her face, Chianti felt a blazing inferno ignite in her chest. "Ha? Answered me? I'll answer you when you're burning in hell!"
With that, she snapped her leg out in a kick toward the woman's abdomen. But the very next instant, her leg was caught in a tight grip. Unendurable pain flared from her limb, and sensation vanished from her leg in a flash.
Losing her balance, Chianti crashed back down to the ground. Veins bulged violently on her neck from the excruciating agony, and cold sweat drenched her entire body. She lay there, panting heavily like a fish stranded out of water.
Mao Akai squatted down beside her and repeated her question, "Can you answer my question now? Wh.y. di.d. y.o.u. f.o.ll.o.w. m.e.?"
Yet Chianti completely ignored Scarlet's question.
"Damn you! I'll kill you, I swear I'll kill you!" Tears and snot streamed down Chianti's face as she glared at Scarlet, wishing she could tear her limb from limb.
"Chianti, what's going on?! I'm coming right now!" Korn's voice blared through her earpiece.
Seeing that Chianti had no intention of answering, Mao Akai reached over, snatched the earpiece from Chianti's ear, and wedged it into her own. A staccato of frantic noises filtered through.
Chianti was still thrashing around in a futile attempt to fight back, but Mao Akai merely found the woman beneath her profoundly annoying. She drew a dagger from her belt.
"Agh!" Chianti let out a shrill scream as the blade plunged straight into her thigh.
"Your name is Chianti?" Mao Akai listened for a moment. The smile on her lips grew wider and wider, and a brilliant light seemed to dance in her green eyes.
"Finally found you guys," she muttered inwardly.
On the other end of the comms, Korn sensed something was terribly wrong. "Chianti, hang on! I'm coming to save you right now!"
He leaped down the stairwell, sprinting at full speed toward Chianti's location.
At the exact same time, a black Porsche and a white Mazda were speeding toward the scene.
Up on the rooftop, Mao Akai squatted beside Chianti and pressed a finger right into her wound, crimson blood instantly soaking through the fabric of Chianti's trousers.
Pulling a face of utter disgust, Mao Akai wiped the blood from her finger straight across Chianti's cheek.
"Chianti, I just heard you mention a name. Does that person have blonde hair too?"
Panting heavily, Chianti glared daggers at Mao Akai. "When Big Brother Gin gets here, you're a dead woman."
"Bourbon—you called that person Bourbon. Is that his real name? Or a codename?"
"I'll never let you go! I'm going to blow you away, bullet by bullet! I'll make your..." *Mmh! Mmh! Mmh!*
Scarlet shoved her sniper rifle straight into Chianti's mouth. "You talk too much."
With a malicious twist, she shoved the barrel even deeper.
"*Mmh! Mmh! Mmh!*"
Chianti was forced to keep her mouth wide open as saliva drooled down the barrel. She was practically driven insane with rage; no one had ever dared treat her this way before. If looks could kill, she would have sliced Mao Akai into a thousand pieces a long time ago.
"So slow. When are your friends getting here?"
Mao Akai pulled the muzzle back just enough for Chianti to speak.
"Bastard! You m—*mmh!*"
Before Chianti could finish her sentence, her mouth was blocked once again.
"They're here." Catching a faint rustle of movement with her ears, Mao Akai knocked Chianti unconscious with a single blow, stood up, and planted her foot squarely on Chianti's back.
A gaunt-faced man with a chilling expression stood at the rooftop entrance.
"Chianti!" he called out in a low voice. Receiving no response from his partner, he drew his gun and aimed straight at Mao Akai.
"Korn? You must be Korn. I just heard your voice through the earpiece." Mao Akai pointed at her ear, where Chianti's earpiece was still hooked.
Korn gripped his pistol tighter, advancing on Mao Akai step by step.
"Don't worry, she's not dead." Mao Akai gave Chianti a casual kick, eliciting a muffled groan from the red-haired woman.
"Let her go!" Korn barked, closing the distance between them.
"I honestly don't get it. Why can't you people just communicate like civilized human beings? I don't recall having any conflict with you." Mao Akai's face slowly darkened as well.
"Shoot her, Korn," Gin's cold, detached voice suddenly cut through the earpiece.
The next second, two gunshots rang out simultaneously. Korn's weapon slipped from his hand and clattered to the ground as he staggered back a few steps, clutching his wounded arm.
When?! When did this woman draw her gun?!
Watching the shock plastered across Korn's face, Mao Akai let out a wicked, amused chuckle.
"Did you really think I'd just stand here like an idiot waiting for you to shoot me?"
With a swift kick, she sent Chianti flying aside and strode straight toward Korn. "Now, what about the rest of you? That Gin guy—when is he getting here?"
Seeing Mao Akai close in, Korn lunged forward with a sudden burst of speed, attempting a surprise attack to take her hostage.
Unfortunately, imagination is one thing, reality another. Before he could even lay a finger on Mao Akai, he was flipped over her shoulder and slammed hard onto the ground, and the hidden blade in his hand was snatched away in an instant.
"You guys really never learn, do you?" Mao Akai mocked.
Lying on the floor with his teeth clenched, Korn could already hear the screech of car tires echoing from down below.
Rei Furuya and Gin arrived at the exact same time.
"Gin, long time no see." Rei Furuya greeted him with a beaming smile, but the only response he got was the pitch-black barrel of a gun pointed right at his face.