After nightfall, rows of street lamps cast a stark white glow, illuminating the roads on either side of the apartment complex.
In the car park, Kirika Tachibana leaned against a small truck, a cigarette between her fingers, having just resealed the Kusanagi Sword in the freezer. Her gaze fixed on the brightly lit apartment building under the searchlights as she remarked:
"Sounded like gunfire just now. Still putting up a fight, is she? That Sharon."
"Seems so," Chisato Nishikigi replied, slurping a mouthful of instant noodles from a Cup Noodles container with a noisy 'slurp'. "Dragging that battered body around without any protection, yet holding out this long against a whole tactical squad. Quite tenacious, that Miss Sharon."
Takina Inoue immediately corrected her:
"That's only because Squad A, who breached the front, got wiped out. Only the encircling Squad B and sniper Squad C are still operational. That's why she's lasted this long."
Takina glanced at the support vehicle parked across the street, where the retreated Squad A members were already reorganising their gear, and added flatly:
"With Squad A rested and rearmed—without the advantage of first-engagement intel, and with Sharon injured—she shouldn't last much longer."
"True enough," Chisato agreed before noisily slurping another mouthful.
This drew an irritated curse from Mizuki Nakahara inside the van: "Chisato, I told you not to eat such fragrant stuff at the scene! The smell's leaking in here."
"But I'm starving!" Chisato protested. "I just got back from the frontlines, you know? Burned through loads of energy!"
"Then at least don't eat it right in the wind current. The aroma's drifting straight inside."
Ignoring the squabble between Chisato and Mizuki, Takina approached Kirika and asked:
"Chief. Are we just staying on standby like this?"
"Having others do the work for us—what's not to like?"
Kirika reclined against the van, her tone casual, devoid of the earlier sarcasm she'd used against Ryōko Yakushiji:
"Ultimately, while Sharon ambushed us first, the reason things escalated like this is because our SDS currently lacks deterrence. We need a high-profile target to make an example of."
"Think about it—if every oddball organisation starts interfering whenever we recover Abyss Artefacts, we'll never get anything done. That's why I went for the kill."
Here, Kirika raised her cigarette, took a drag, and exhaled slowly:
"Originally, I planned to eliminate Sharon while the Kusanagi Sword was still active. But honestly? Facing her last-ditch counterattack, I can't guarantee we'd emerge without casualties."
"So if Yakushiji wants to silence her, let her. As long as our people stay safe. And if the assault teams take losses? That's on Yakushiji's record..."
"As for post-op deterrence—Ryōko Yakushiji's crazy, but she knows she's in the wrong here. Her forcing this confrontation probably means her family is entangled in something. She's desperate to tie up loose ends."
"Heh, that guy's just cleaning up after her elders, so she definitely won't want the reputation of ambushing a Demon Hunter executive. In the end, the credit will still fall to us."
Kirika Tachibana's expression turned playful as she glanced around at everyone present:
"And Takina, why do you think I had you all stand by here?"
"Once Sharon dies, who do you think will get their hands on her treasures - Ryōko Yakushiji at the police box, or us?"
Hearing this, Takina Inoue froze. So their purpose in staying here was actually to intercept Yakushiji? To take the Abyss Artefact after Sharon was killed?
"Wow!! As expected of Big Sister, always playing dirty!" Chisato Nishikigi, who'd been eating noodles while listening, immediately gave Tachibana a thumbs-up.
"Just eat your damn noodles." Tachibana rolled her eyes at Chisato before pressing the earpiece against her ear: "Kurumi, have you linked to Yakushiji's comms channel yet?"
'Link established. Want me to patch it through?' Kurumi's lazy voice came through the earpiece.
Hearing this, Takina, Chisato and Mizuki Nakahara all pressed their own earpieces.
"Patch it through," Tachibana said coolly, narrowing her eyes as she looked towards the distant apartment building.
At that moment, Ryōko Yakushiji's icy voice came through the earpieces:
"Team A rest and rearm. Squads 1 and 2 equip Type 20 assault rifles and establish crossfire positions at points A and B in the lobby. Empty your magazines the moment the target appears on the ground floor."
"Roger!"
"Remaining Squads 3 and 4 of Team A, equip FN machine guns to support Squads 1 and 2. Squad 5 stands by with M203 grenade launchers."
"Team B split into two groups and fortify positions at the building's rear exits with mounted machine guns. Team C's remaining twelve members cover the front entrance."
"Mortar team on standby. If Teams A, B and C fail again, commence saturation bombardment immediately."
"Surveillance sniper team, report target movements every five seconds."
Hearing these arrangements, Chisato exchanged glances with Takina, both seeing the same odd expression on each other's faces.
After a long pause, Chisato said in a peculiar tone:
"Isn't this firepower... excessive for dealing with a wounded target?"
Beside them, Tachibana couldn't help muttering:
"Using mortars in the city centre... that crazy woman's as reckless as ever. The cops handling roadblocks and the media are going to have their hands full."
After this muttered complaint, Tachibana watched as Team A moved into position, surrounding the apartment lobby and setting up firing positions. At the same time, Team B hurriedly built temporary fortifications with sandbags on both sides of the road.
A tense, murderous atmosphere filled the air.
Time passed minute by minute until, about two minutes later, a gunshot rang out.
Takina looked up at the sound, frowning as she identified it: "That's an M24 sniper rifle?"
One second after the gunshot, the first status report came through:
"Target sighted at first-floor stairwell landing. C1 sniper failed, rifle destroyed. Target proceeding to ground floor. Repeat, target proceeding to ground floor."
"Huh?" Chisato Nishikigi froze upon hearing the report. Drawing from experience, she hesitated before saying:
"That gunshot just now... it was fired from about 450 metres away, right? Not only did the sniper fail, but Sharon also counterattacked and destroyed the sniper rifle from 450 metres away? This..."
In that instant, not just Chisato, but everyone present sensed something amiss, a peculiar thought surfacing in their minds.
Was the one currently surrounded really Sharon?