The Drowned Dragon

Moe-chan and I walked up the stairs to the third floor. The hallway was long and there were many apartments. There were waiters pushing trays across the hallway. Each one of them was filled with many types of food.

"Hmm... This is the door."

I stood in front of the door of the apartment numbered 13. "Go on... Knock on the door." Moe-chan urged me.

She was getting excited. It was nice to see that kind of an expression on Moe-chan's face once in a while.

Knock! Knock! I knocked twice on the door.

I heard footsteps approaching. Moe-chan was tapping her feet with excitement. The door automatically slid open.

It was the wife...

"Oh... Um... I don't know if you can remember me but I'm Jason, the cop from the other day? Can you recall?"

I was more hesitant to talk to the wife than I was to Tsujii. She had such a charming face I've never seen before.

She thought for a second and looked at me and Moe-chan both. "Oh, I remember you! The... Guy who cursed in front of my daughter?"

I winced at that one. I could feel Moe-chan's hand on my shoulder... Patting me.

"Umm... Yep! That guy!"

"So... What are you here for? Is something wrong?"

She was getting a little worried. I didn't know why but it kinda increased my suspicion.

"Is there?"

I shook my head. Then, I answered her.

"We just wanted to talk to Tsujii. He was right under a tank that was carrying a source very important for the Government. We got ambushed on that top-secret mission. Can I talk to Tsujii?"

"Oh yes... But apparently, he's not home at the moment. He went out of the house and didn't return. I don't think he'll be late... But if you don't mind about waiting for a while... You can come in."

I looked at Moe-chan. I don't think she even wanted to focus on the mission at that moment. She was clearly counting fingers until she met Tsujii.

"...."

I wanted to laugh but I couldn't do it in front of her. If I did... A whack would land in my head.

I have seen her scrolling on her phone, reading that book for hours. But... I do that too, so...

We went into the apartment. There was a couch and Tsujii's daughter was sitting on it. It was weird to come into a hotel room and sit on the couch but... It was an important mission.

"Would you like some tea?" The wife asked from us. I turned to Moe-chan and she shrugged.

"Wouldn't mind if we have a cup of tea..." I said to her.

-

-

The little girl glanced at us. She was utterly cute. She was dressed in a long-sleeved mini-sized pink sweatshirt and she was just a wonderful little princess... As beautiful as her mother.

"Have you seen Papa?" She asked.

Moe-chan looked at me and I did the same.

Then, I looked at the little girl. "Umm... Nope. We are looking for him though."

She looked down and hugged the manga in her hand tightly. Then, she jumped down from the couch and left the room.

'Hmm... I think she really likes him,' I thought.

Suddenly, Akira entered the room and sat in the chair in front of her. She sat there cross-legged.

"Umm... I can't make tea here... Haha! I ordered."

Well... It was a hotel room. Then, I looked around the room and saw that half of it was empty. They must've lost everything from that attack.

"I'm...really sorry. We can't even guess how much you guys lost from that attack," I told her.

It was a horrible scene. I could remember that beautiful apartment on fire. Everything burning.

I never imagined a guy like Tsujii would have a life like this. A world-famous author... Suffering like this.

"It's ok... Tsujii takes care of it. I—"

"Reminds me! Didn't he tell you anything about what happened during the time I went to save you and your daughter? I need to know what he witnessed during that time."

She thought for a moment.

"Umm... He did seem awfully disturbed about something. He seemed down too... He usually is very happy and always acts weird. I love that! But... Strangely, he didn't act that way today."

From the woman's words, I can tell that Tsujii witnessed something.

"Okay then... We can ask him. He'll tell us for sure," I said. She nodded.

I took a sip from my tea. Suddenly—

ALERT! ALERT!

An alarm went off. I was still wearing my helmet. An image came to the screen in my helmet along with a voice.

[ Every Ring in Akinoshita district! We got a scene in the Blue Lotus! Please! Every unit in Akinoshita! Gather around in the Blue Lotus! ]

The announcement said. There was a live video taken from a drone. And... There was some kind of a mutant blasting the crowd with some kind of a weapon.

"Wha— the crowd! He killed everyone in the crowd!" I yelled.

"Huh?" The wife was confused.

"Umm... Sorry, Miss Tameoshi! We have a mission to attend to! Come on Jason!" Moe-chan stood up.

I looked at the wife when I said "He killed everyone.." She was like depressed when she heard it.

"Don't worry... Miss. Your husband is a good person! And we are his fans! Tell him to give us his sign when he comes back home!" I stood up and turned around.

She was so relieved when she heard that. "Thank you...." she whispered under her breath.

"Let's go, Jason! We need to hurry!"

"Yes! Wait a minute..."

Both of us started to walk towards the balcony. It was the best place to take off. We didn't have enough time to run to the exit of the building.

Moe-chan opened the window and said; "We need a Hoverboard!"

We didn't carry hoverboards everywhere we go. Many hoverboards hovered freely in the air, right above every single city.

When we need one, we just have to say, "Deploy hoverboard", or anything for the AI to understand.

I said the same as Moe-chan and two hoverboards floated down to the balcony we were standing on.

"See you later Miss..." I told the wife and jumped off the balcony, landing on the hoverboard.

"Let's kick some ass!"

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