Vrrm.
A lone car rumbled through the tunnel.
"Oh dear… will you be okay? Those injuries look bad," Konomi's mom said softly, wrapping a bandage around Rion's left shoulder.
"Don't worry, don't worry — I've had worse," Rion chuckled, waving it off.
The wound came from the skewer that struck her when she yanked the steering wheel out of Uzuki's hands.
"I'm really sorry… I couldn't react in time," Uzuki muttered, his voice low.
"You were definitely slow," Rion smirked, slapping his back. "But hey — we're alive, so quit sulking and keep your eyes ahead. There's still one more assassin out there."
"What about your friends?" Konomi asked, her voice soft. "Aren't you worried about them?"
"Friends?" Rion scoffed. "Please. I don't even see that gorilla and Four-Eyes as humans in the first place. Hahaha."
"You three were already close before I even joined the assassination department," Nagumo chimed in, chewing on a Pocky stick.
"Yeah... we had a few others back then, but some died, and the rest dropped out. Eventually, it was just the three of us. Not many people stick around in that school It's boring."
"You're right," Nagumo nodded.
"So the four of you have always been best friends, huh?" Konomi said with a small smile.
"I wouldn't go that far," Rion replied, shrugging.
Nagumo reached over and tapped her shoulder. "Aw, come on. No need to act like a tsundere. I know you love us."
"Wanna die?" Rion snapped, cheeks flushed.
Kindaka turned his head toward Uzuki, noticing the distant look in his eyes. "What's up, kid? You've been gloomy ever since we left the rest stop. Still thinking about what happened to that van?"
Uzuki hesitated, then gave a weak shake of his head. "No… I'm fine."
BOOM!
An explosion rocked the tunnel, a deafening blast echoing through the enclosed space. In an instant, rubble came crashing down, sealing off their path ahead.
Skreesh !
The car came to a stop and everyone got out of the car
" Hmm? There more of them than expected ... higuchi and the princess aren't doing there job ... " a man said as stood on top of the rubble
" Oh it's the guy who uses poison! " nagumo said
" does he think he get beat us alone ? " rion said looking at him in confusion
"Careful, kids. This might be a trap," Kindaka warned, his voice low and steady.
Neither of them listened.
Both lunged forward, but Rion was faster, her eyes locked on the poison man. She wasn't interested in dragging this out — she wanted him dead now.
Seeing the blur coming straight for him, the poison man instinctively raised his arms to shield his neck.
Rion's blade slashed across his hand instead.
"Crap… missed" she hissed, skidding to a stop.
' She's fast' the poison man thought, a flicker of admiration in his gaze' But too naive… perfect'.
A faint hiss followed.
Rion's knife began to dissolve where his blood touched it, the metal melting like wax. She clutched her chest, staggering back.
"Cough—" Blood spilled from her lips
Nagumo, who was about to reach him, froze mid-step when he caught sight of Rion. His eyes narrowed.
"Poison gas," he muttered.
Kindaka, standing nearby, gave a grim nod. "Yeah. Poison gas."
The man grinned, his voice calm and casual. "My entire body's laced with poison. I can even generate my own special blend of poison gas — scentless, colorless, and very, very lethal. And you know what happens when poison fills an enclosed space."
He spread his arms, that smug grin never leaving his face. "In short… you're already dead."
" is everyone okay !? " konomi mom exclaimed ready to rush to them but Uzuki stopped her
" don't move " he ordered her
"Konomi and her mom and uzuki are all fine so the poison works differently on different people " rion said spitting blood
" it's requires a certain condition to activate " nagumo said analysing the poison man
' he's right but what could it be ? The distance to the enemy ? Probably not they both are coughing blood even though nagumo is farther from him , the heart rate maybe ? Or could it be the body size ' Kindaka squinted his eyes going from a place to another
"Once the poison gets in your system, you won't last ten minutes… for some it's less than a minute," the poison man grinned, pulling a rifle from his waistband. He loaded it with a click and pointed it straight at Rion.
The moment she saw the barrel swing her way, Rion darted aside, bouncing off the tunnel wall and diving behind the car. Nagumo followed her dropping behindthe car to cover. Kindaka bolted for a corner.
Blrf—!
Both Rion and Nagumo coughed blood violently
"Akao!" Uzuki called out in panic.
"Big sis!" Konomi cried, trying to run toward her, but her mother grabbed her arm and held her back.
Nagumo looked at Kindaka, who had been the farthest from the source of the gas, doubled over and started coughing up blood too.
"You are supposed to capture the wife and kid alive, right?" Nagumo called out, raising his voice just enough for the poison man to hear.
"Oh, that doesn't matter," the man snorted. "As long as the rube thinks they're alive, I dont care about anything else. You can all die here for all I care."
Rion glared at him, her chest heaving.
' We all inhaled it at the same time… so why's it hitting me and Rion harder than the others? Nagumo's mind raced. We were fighting, sure—but neither of us took a direct hit. Kindaka was farther away and he's coughing too. So it's not distance… not weight, gender, or our clothes. Physical fitness? No, we should be more poison-resistant than civilians. Then what—
Squeak. Squeak.
The sound snapped him out of his thoughts. A group of mice scurried at the side of the tunnel. A few stopped to nibble at scraps, while two of them headed toward a pile farther down. Midway, they convulsed and vomited blood before collapsing.
Nagumo's eyes narrowed. Could it be…?
"Kindaka, I'm taking him out — back me up," Rion said lunging forward.
But before she could move, Nagumo grabbed her collar, yanking her back.
"Nobody move!" he barked.
"Hrkk—" Rion choked as the collar dug into her throat, glaring back at him in anger" what now ? "
"It seems the more you move, the faster the poison spreads," Nagumo explained, making everyone stare at him in stunned silence.
"He's right," Kindaka muttered, grimacing.
"It's not as bad when I stay still," Rion added between shallow breaths.
Kindaka exhaled sharply. "So we have to kill him without moving too much, huh?"
Across from them, the poison man's smug grin faltered, wariness creeping into his eyes. Damn it… they figured it out so fast. These guys are a hundred times sharper than Higuchi.
Uzuki's heart started pounding in his chest.' Now… right now… this is my chance. If I screw this up again, he'll kill someone back at Al Kamar… ' His brother's cold words echoed in his head.
' Should I kill Kindaka now? But what would happen after that?' His pulse raced faster and faster until—
Blergh!
He vomited a thick splash of blood.
"You okay, mister?!" Konomi called out, alarmed.
Nagumo's eyes narrowed. "Wait… you didn't move, Uzuki. How come you're—?"
No… no way, Uzuki thought, panic tightening in his chest. In a swift motion, he struck the back of Konomi's neck, then her mother's, catching them both as they collapsed unconscious in his arms.
"Uzuki, what the hell are you doing?!" Rion shouted.
"Heart rate can accelerate the poison too," Uzuki muttered, his focus steady.
"Tch… so no panicking and no moving, huh," Kindaka growled, gritting his teeth.
"Let's just blast him already," Rion snapped, gripping her weapon.
"Don't get worked up either, Rion," Nagumo warned with a glance.
The poison man kept firing at the car, his voice smug. "Figuring it out won't help you much."
Both Rion and Nagumo popped open the car trunk. Inside sat a bag of candies, three grenades, and a wheelchair.
Rion pointed at the candy bag, frowning. "Who the hell bought that?"
"Aha… saw Kasumi pick it up. Probably a goodbye gift for Konomi," Nagumo said, swiping a handful of candies and stuffing them in his pocket.
"Huh!!!? He probably bought it to bulk up? And hey—leave some for me, you greedy bastard" Rion snapped, snatching the bag from his hands.
"Kids… focus," Kindaka said, a vein twitching in his forehead.
Rion grabbed the wheel and glanced at Nagumo. "You know what to do."
Nagumo gave a quick nod.
Without hesitation, she ripped the car door off its hinges and sat down in the wheelchair, propping the door in front of her like a makeshift shield.
Nagumo pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it at the door in her hands.
BOOM.
The explosion's force sent the wheelchair spinning wildly down the tunnel. Rion held steady as it rocketed forward, spiraling in circles. The moment she reached the top of the poison assassin, she launched herself from the chair, descending with her knife aimed straight for his skull.
He quickly raised his rifle to block the strike. "Nice try — you can't muster enough power with that little speed."
She didn't answer.
Instead, she pressed the back of her gun against the knife's hilt and pulled the trigger.
BANG!
The recoil snapped his rifle clean in half, and her blade drove deep into his stomach.
"OOF—!" His eyes went wide. What the hell?!
He was staggeredback.
'She used the recoil to amplify her strike…!'
Rion started slashing her knife at him.
He leapt back, keeping his distance. 'That's fine… I just need to buy time. Let the poison do the work.'
Without hesitation, Rion hurled her knife at him.
He deflected it with ease, knocking it aside with a flick of his own blade
Rion quickly raised her gun
Then She fired, the shot striking the airborne knife and sending it spinning back toward him like a boomerang.
His reflexes kicked in, and he narrowly evaded it.
"It's over" Rion said coldly, raising her gun at him.
Click.
Empty.
Nagumo didn't hesitate — he pulled his own gun and fired, but the poison man leapt back, dodging the shots with ease.
Seeing that nothing worked, Rion sighed and casually pulled a cigarette from her pocket, placing it between her lips.
"Not bad," the poison man chuckled. "You're the first ones to survive my poison this long. Got any last words?"
She didn't answer — just struck a match and lit the cigarette, her hand steady, her pulse calm.
'How the hell isn't her pulse spiking in a situation like this?' he wondered, a flicker of unease in his gut.
Crack.
Something latched onto his leg from below.
"Took you long enough, asshole," Rion muttered with a smirk, glancing down.
Without a word, Sakamoto dropped in behind her and violently slammed the poison man into the floor of the lower tunnel.
'Where the hell did he come from?!' the poison user thought, dazed as he looked up at Sakamoto.
"yo is the air bad here ?" Sakamoto asked
"Yup. Poison gas," Rion replied looking down at them
" rion...this guy doesn't look so tough why are you all guys beat up " he asked
"His poison's a pain in the ass," Rion muttered, her voice low. "The faster you move, the quicker it spreads. You run around, you die faster."
"I don't get it," Sakamoto replied flatly.
Before they could continue, the poison user flicked three knives from his hand, sending them straight at Sakamoto. He dodged with ease, closing the distance in a blur — but the moment his feet hit the ground, a cough rattled his chest, blood spilling from his lips.
"See?" the poison man sneered. "The second you entered this tunnel, it started eating away at you. You jump around, you bleed out. Play to my strengths all you want."
Nagumo clenched his teeth, stealing a glance at Rion. 'There's no time to figure this out… the poison already wrecked Akao. We need to move.'
The poison man laughed. "Assassins are so fragile when you take their speed away. You're already dead and you don't even know it."
Sakamoto straightened, wiping blood from his mouth. "Then I'll just kill you slowly" His voice was calm, steady. "And I'd hurry if I were you… my friend will be here in two minutes. You're about to get surrounded. Think you'll leave this place alive?"
The poison man's grin twitched, faltering for the first time. "Trying to bluff your way out of this, huh? He's fighting the Thorn Princess right now, and you actually think he'll walk out alive?" He let out a dry, mocking laugh. "Just go to sleep, kids… save yourselves from the pain of poison rotting your insides—"
Ring ring ring
A phone rang.
Everyone froze. Sakamoto casually pulled out his phone.
"Can I?" he asked, glancing at the poison man.
The veins in the poison man's neck bulged from frustration, but he said nothing.
Sakamoto answered, completely unfazed. "Oh hey, Aoi. Yeah, I'm kinda in the middle of a mission. I'll call you back later. No, no, we're still going on that date tonight… Alright, muwah~"
He blew a kiss into the phone.
Rion immediately choked on her own blood. "Cough! Cough! Who the fuck was that, four-eyes?! Don't tell me—!"
Nagumo patted her back, grinning. "Calm down, Rion. Everyone's got their secrets."
"You should've told whoever was on the phone the truth" the poison man muttered while blushing
"Tsk, shut up," Sakamoto growled, a vein twitching at his temple. His glare shifted to the poison user. "You should watch your back."
The man let out a weary sigh. "you think I'd fall for that ? Try har—"
CRASH!
Before he could finish, something massive dropped from the ceiling of the tunnel, slamming into him with bone-crushing force. His head shattered on impact, blood and fragments splattering the nearby wall.
Silence followed
It was Kasumi — his punch left a deep crater, the poison man's head caved in beneath his fist.
"Pfft… who the hell's this washed-up pimp?" Rion snorted, eyeing the man's tacky purple suit and jeans.
"I just saved your ass, and that's the thanks I get?" Kasumi muttered, brushing dust off his shoulders
"You look like shit," Sakamoto said bluntly, taking in the state of him.
Kasumi scoffed. "Well, that woman was strong Four Eyes. Hey, Nagumo — you got something smart to say too?"
Nagumo just raised his hands in surrender
"Hurry up and check the antidote, you idiots! Kasumi, if it's broken, I swear I'm going to kill you!" Kindaka barked.
'Not a single person asked if I'm okay… seriously, fuck these guys ' Kasumi sighed, dragging a hand down his face.
_____
Outside of the tunnel
Nagumo scrolled through his phone. "Oh — found them," he said, tilting the screen toward Rion. "They're on the JAA bounty site. Higuchi's sitting at 400 million, Kobayashi's got 600 million on his head."
"What about the Throne Princess?" Kasumi asked
"Hmm? You mean thorn princess? Lemme check… Oh, here we go — no photo though." He turned the phone so Kasumi could see. "900 million."
"Damn! You're a lucky man, huh?" Rion grinned, slapping Kasumi on the back.
"..." Kasumi didn't say a word, his expression unreadable.
"Well, looks like the mission's done" Sakamoto said, cracking his neck. "Guess we can finally head back to school."
"Yeah… about that," Kasumi muttered, scratching the back of his head. "I'm dropping out."
Everyone froze, staring at him like he'd just announced the sky was falling.
"Huh?!" they all blurted at once.
"So you went through all this for nothing? Or are you planning to join Kindaka's organization?" Rion asked, a flicker of concern breaking through her usual sharp tone.
"You do realize you can stay in the Order and still go to school, right?" Sakamoto added, adjusting his glasses.
Kasumi shot him a glare. "I'm not an idiot, Four Eyes — I know."
"Then what—"
Before Rion could finish, a hand landed gently on her shoulder. She turned to see Sakamoto shaking his head. "Calm down, Rion. I'm sure he's got his reasons."
Rion clenched her jaw but stayed quiet for a moment. "Then what? After you drop out, what's the grand plan?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "Don't tell me you're aiming for some boring 9-to-5."
Kasumi let out a dramatic sigh, glancing up at the sky. "I'll chase my dreams."
Rion snorted. "Yeah, your so-called dreams… you mean blowing all your cash at the tables again, don't you?" she teased with a crooked grin.
Kasumi glared at her. "This bitch… and here I thought we could have a civilized goodbye." He stood, cracking his neck. "If that's the send-off you want, stand up and raise your hand — or a gun, or a knife, or whatever garbage you've got, bitch."
"Okay, okay — how about we cool it for a second?" Nagumo cut in, grabbing Rion's shoulder to stop her from lunging at him. "Since this might be goodbye, why don't we play a little game? Everyone shares a secret of their own."
Everyone turned to look at Nagumo with varying degrees of irritation — except Kasumi, who just stared at him, puzzled.
"I'll go first," Nagumo grinned. "I'm actually dating someone from school. Her name's Naki."
"Huh? No way — that nerd?!" Rion exclaimed.
Sakamoto sighed and relented. "Well… as some of you saw, the one who called me down there was my girlfriend. We've been together for two months. Kasumi knew, but guess the rest of you didn't. So yeah… that's my secret."
Rion groaned. "What the hell? Is everyone in a relationship now? That's not fair."
Nagumo leaned in close, whispering in Rion's ear, "Well… here's your chance." He gestured subtly at Kasumi, who noticed and raised an eyebrow, confused.
Rion's face turned bright red. "I… huh? No, I'm not rea—ah…"
She stammered, blushing even harder when Kasumi's gaze landed on her.
"I… I'm… ah—"
Everyone went silent for a beat.
"Oh my god, you're taking forever," Kasumi cut in dryly. "If you don't wanna spill your secret, then just fuck off. Me? Personally… my secret is I get turned on by plastic water bottles."
The place fell dead silent.
Sakamoto dragged a hand down his face. "what an idiot."
"Pffft… sorry—pffft—BWHAHAHA!" Nagumo exploded with laughter, clutching his stomach.
Rion froze mid-sentence, her words catching in her throat as Kasumi cut in, completely derailing her attempt to confess.
"Gah, this is bad — there might not be enough antidote for Kasumi and Uzuki," Kindaka exclaimed
"Maybe the poison guy's carrying more. Uzuki, did you check him properly?" Kasumi asked, trying to change the previous subject
Uzuki, looking like he'd been lost in thought, blinked and suddenly stood up. He tore off a sleeve and wrapped it around his face. "I'll go look."
"Jeez, man — I just asked if you checked him. No one told you to go play hero," Kasumi said, scratching his head.
"I… I'm faster than you. I'll be back quick."
Kasumi sighed. "Dude, you've been breathing in more of the poison than me. Stop trying to be a hero and sit your ass down."
However, Uzuki ignored him and slipped back into the tunnel without a word.
Kasumi let out another long sigh. ' What's with this guy?' he thought then turned toward Rion who was still frozen in her place
WHAP!
He smacked her on the back.
"Gah! What the hell?!" she shouted, snapping out of it.