Chapter 15: New Home???

The bandits surrounded the badly beaten assistant. The assistant, despite his injuries, managed to gather his resolve and faced them defiantly.

"You think you can just beat me and get away with it?" he spat, his voice strained but determined.

The short bandit called Toma chuckled, twirling one of his tonfas in his hand. "Looks like you're in no position to be making threats."

The wild bulky bandit called Mousa nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're lucky we're even letting you live."

The assistant's expression remained stoic as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device. "You bandits may have won this battle, but you won't win the war."

With a swift motion, he activated the device, and in an instant, he vanished into thin air, leaving the bandits stunned and bewildered.

Toma cursed under his breath. "What the hell just happened?"

Mousa shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Let's get out of here before he comes back with reinforcements."

With wary glances around, the bandits quickly retreated, leaving behind the aftermath of their confrontation with the assistant.

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As Kazuya slowly regained consciousness, he found himself in the backseat of a moving car. Confusion clouded his mind as he tried to piece together what had happened. When he glanced around, his eyes widened in shock as he realized he was surrounded by the bandits who had invaded the Chorno Reapers facility.

Sitting next to him was a large, bulky male bandit who noticed his stirring. With a grunt, the man leaned closer to Kazuya, checking to see if he was alright. Kazuya recoiled slightly, unsure of what to make of the situation.

The bulky bandit then began to make hand signs, his movements fluid yet purposeful. Kazuya watched in bewilderment, unable to understand the silent communication.

Seeing Kazuya's confusion, the female bandit sitting on the front seat turned around and spoke up. "Don't worry, he's mute," she explained, her voice surprisingly gentle. "He's just checking to see if you're okay."

Kazuya blinked in surprise, his mind still reeling from the sudden turn of events. He looked at the mute bandit with newfound understanding, realizing that he was simply trying to communicate to him

"Wait! Who are you guys!? Where are you taking me?!"

All the bandits then looked at Kazuya, their expression was motionless. Which even scared Kazuya more.

"....Please don't hurt me!"

But then the bandits just started laughing, Kazuya looked at them confused.

Mousa, the one who's driving, had a smile on his face "Don't worry my boy, we're not like those scums, we're vigilantes!"

They all nodded at Mousa's words, except for Kazuya who very was confused.

After some time they appeared to reach their destination.

As they all got out of the car, Kazuya's curiosity perked as he looked at where they were.

They headed towards an alleyway where to took alot turns which took several minutes but then they reached an even more wider alleyway, were there looks to be a campfire, abandoned shops that surround the alleyway seemed to be empty.

"Welcome to our base kid! This is our home" Mousa said with enthusiasm.

Kazuya looked around, he didn't know why but the place was giving him a cozy feeling.

"Now since you're new here, we should probably introduce ourselves to you, My name is Mousa and I'm the leader of this gang"

Kazuya looked at Mousa, He was a towering figure, broad and imposing, with muscles rippling beneath his dark clothing. A thick, bushy beard adorned his rugged face along with his wild hair, adding to his intimidating presence. His eyes, sharp and alert, hinting at the experience of a seasoned warrior. Despite his rough exterior, there was a sense of strength and determination in his stance, a silent assurance that he shouldn't be messed with.

Then the short bandit came closer to Kazuya and gave him a hand. "My name is Toma and I'm 13 years old! I hope we can be friends"

Toma was short, even shorter than Kazuya who was 10 years old. But despite his diminutive stature, the boy commanded attention with his unique appearance. his hair, a striking mix of blue and pearl white, his framed his face in unruly tufts, lending him an air of youthful energy and unpredictability. His eyes sparkled with mischief, hinting at a mischievous spirit that belied his size.

After that, the mute bandit came to Kazuya and communicated with him by using sign language.

"He says his name is Shota, and he hopes that you feel at home!" Toma says as he speaks for Shota.

Shota was also as muscular as Mousa but a little shorter than him, his beard was trimmed unlike Mousa and he weared a black hoodie. Right now he had a quite welcoming aura and he looked innocent and friendly.

Kazuya didn't know what to say, these people were being nice towards him, even though they didn't know him. Which made him even more cautious.

But then he stared at a particular direction where the teenage girl that saved him was doing her own stuff.

When the others saw who Kazuya was staring at, they all sighed.

"Jun! Come over here and introduce yourself!" Mousa said angrily.

"Why should I? You already called out my name" Jun said while She continued ravaging the pile of junk that consisted electronics.

Mousa looked towards the others hoping they would help him but Shota just shrugged his shoulders and Toma was focusing on Kazuya.

Mousa just sighed and gave up.

"Don't mind her, she can be a jerk sometimes but Jun is a nice and caring person" Toma said.

When Kazuya turned his gaze to Jun again, he could see that she was impatiently ravaging the pile of electronics in a reckless manner to the point that one of the pieces of junk hit Mousa on his head.

Kazuya then returned his attention to Toma who continued talking. "So you're name is Kazuya, right?"

Kazuya's was suprised. "How.... how do you know my name?"

Toma points at Kazuya's shirt with a cheeky grin. When Kazuya took a look at his shirt he saw that there was a name tag that was positioned on the top right side of his shirt.

Kazuya didn't even notice that he had a name tag imprinted on his shirt

'Wait, then how did those people know my name???' He thought

Toma looked at Kazuya with concern. "What's wrong? Is there something on your mind?"

Kazuya looked at Toma intently "....Why did you guys.... save me?"

As Kazuya said those words, he caught the attention of others, who were silently listening to their conversation.

They all stopped what they were doing and looked at Kazuya.

Toma looked at Kazuya with a confused expression. "I don't understand... Did you not want to get saved?"

Kazuya continued to look at all of them again with intensity. "Why... did you guys save me!?!?"

Toma and Shota looked at each with concern, while Jun was just idly listening to the conversation.

"That's because we wanted to do so.... those scumbags have been kidnapping and torturing individuals for decades.

"The Chrono Reapers are trying to create a super army so that they can have the chance to eradicate the Temporal Order"

"We are against them, that's why we attacked their base to weaken their forces while most of them were away, but to our surprise. They left you behind unprotected."

Toma then looked at Kazuya, "I wonder why they left you behind?"

"Maybe because the kid is useless and a waste of time, that's why they probably gave up on him" Jun added.

Shota glared at Jun who just scoffed and mumbled "I'm just saying"

"I don't think so, look at his name tag" Mousa said.

All of them looked at Kazuya's name tag, which prompted Kazuya to look at it again.

"Ah yes, right beside his name there's number 103! What does that mean?" Toma asked.

Mousa thinks for a second before speaking. "Usually children like Kazuya who are identified as subjects in the Chrono Reapers are mostly given 1 or 2 digits numbers.... but Kazuya's subject number has 3 digits..."

"Every year, The Chorno Reapers organization, get a batch of 50 new subjects and the previous ones are no longer deemed subjects so they are not given their subject numbers anymore in order to avoid mistakes."

"The 50 subjects are given random numbers, but those who have single digit numbers are deemed weaker than those who have 2 digit numbers."

"But every so unlikely does a subject get a 3 digit number, with my current knowledge, I don't know why a subject would get 3 digit number since the number of subjects don't even reach a hundred. But it must have something to do with your ability"

"That brings the question what is your ability?"

They all look at Kazuya waiting for his answer.