"That was one hell of a game, man."
"Huh? Oh….Liohime."
Billy Milly faced the young man who wore an innocent smile. He had been replaying the events of the game that concluded only moments before when Liohime Kitagami had interrupted his thoughts.
"You…wanna sit next to me?" Billy asked, a bit surprised.
"Yeah."
"Oh…sure, I guess," he muttered while shifting his body to the right and making room for Liohime to relax next to him.
The latter reclined and exhaled a sigh.
"Hey, how the fuck are you so good at Laser Tag?" he quickly interrogated him. "You look no older than thirteen."
"I-I'm eleven, actually."
"You're lying."
"Do I seem older than eleven?"
"You seem like an oversized pumpkin."
"Where the fuck was the correlation for that!?"
Billy frowned while Liohime burst into laughter, but then a weak smile crept up from his lips.
"Do you…honestly believe that?"
"What, that you're fat-"
"Not that, asshole, and I'm not even close to looking fat! I mean…did you honestly believe that I was really good at Laser Tag?"
Liohime scoffed. "Are you kidding? There's no other kid out there in the entire world who was moving like you out there. I'm really impressed."
"But….I didn't win."
"Huh?"
Liohime peeked at Billy's disappointed expression through the corner of his eyes. The young boy leaned forward and rubbed his forehead in shame as he continued, "Playing good means nothing if you don't win. Hell, doing anything without being the best at what you do doesn't warrant praise. I let my friends down today."
Liohime's immediate need to discard those sentiments were caught in his throat, and he paused. At a time like this, he probably needed to hear him out and really listen.
Billy's friends were not around. Had he personally isolated himself from his group because of his troubling thoughts? If that were the case, then Liohime was the only person right now who he could relay his burdens to.
"As soon as the match ended," mentioned Billy, "I met back up with my friends and they could only apologize for me not winning my match. How the fuck does that even make sense?"
Finally, with deep breaths and a troubled expression that refused to go away, he fell into silence, waiting for Liohime to awkwardly laugh at the topic or discard his thoughts on the matter, but…
"That's kinda relatable. I was once like that too, in a sense."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah. While working under my boss, I was extremely loyal to him, and I still am, but when I first started to do my job for him, I was obsessed with being the best with what I do in order to please him. Nothing's wrong with striving to be the best, obviously, but…"
…Liohime exchanged glances with the kid, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.
"...Sometimes, when you keep your eyes too focused on the road in front of you, you will fail to relax and enjoy the beautiful things around you when you pass them by."
Billy's face relaxed as he heard those words, and Liohime continued, "The people in my workplace helped me to enjoy interactions with them and settle down at home to enjoy time to myself. Maybe your friends also love you just the way you are and want to enjoy interacting with you when you're not primarily aiming to be better than everyone else. So, take some time to also enjoy life with the people that you love, cause you're fucking eleven, man. You got your whole life ahead of you, so cherish every minute of it."
"....Huh."
Billy immediately thought of his friends.
Spend time with them. Enjoy life with them. They would stick with me regardless of if I excel or not, right? Because…
That's what true friends are.
He faced upwards and blinked repeatedly as well as quickly so as to stop the tears from flowing out of his watering eyes.
"...I understand, Liohime. Thank you."
***
"Not another word. Move even an inch, and the girl dies."
Shihon froze in place, and stared at the woman beside her as the new voice in the passenger's seat behind them grumbled.
The blade was held close to the other girl's neck, and as it slightly pressed down against her skin, a barely visible wound opened, causing blood to trickle.
Shihon's eyes watered while the pacing of her heart skyrocketed. Just what the hell had she gotten into?
Someone….help.
She couldn't scream, she couldn't fight, and she couldn't move. She behaved like a mannequin, without free will as the voice continued:
"Now, sit back properly and listen to my words very carefully from now on."
Without delay, Shihon turned to face the windshield in front of her and rested her back. She finally blinked, and tears instantly leaked from her eye sockets.
"Instead of us going to her in order to capture her in an isolated area, you actually managed to bring her to us, albeit accidentally. I'm thankful for that, Margaret."
The fear did not escape the face of the young woman named Margaret, who sat next to Shihon in the driver's seat. She opened her mouth and replied with a trembling voice: "P-Please remember….that you f-forced me to do this…."
"Aw, you're still stating that you didn't want to do this, huh? That's fine, though. In the end, you have now contributed to the future of the society that our leader will bring about."
H-Huh?
Both girls shared the same confusion, but the male voice did not give them much time to process what he had said.
"Ever since two days ago, I was lucky to run into poor little Margaret here who was kind enough to yap about what had happened in the alleyway as I was the first person who was close enough to be trusted. Still, I have a job to do, and thanks to her, we're one step closer to getting you back to where you belong."
It was clear that these words were directed at Shihon, and she gulped, refusing to take a peek at the internal rear-view mirror, ensuring that she did not do anything that could cause the death of Margaret.
One wrong move could spill innocent blood, so all she could do right now was listen to the unknown man's words and answer when instructed to.
"So, here's what's gonna happen, Magical Beast Girl," the man spoke, stunning her as the cold barrel of a pistol kissed the nape of her neck, "You're gonna comply and return to the Magical Beast Cornerstone Corporation, where we will continue the Heavenly Project….RIGHT NOW."