Chapter 129: You look very handsome when you are pretending, but you look really embarrassed when you are so scared that you can’t move

"No, big brother, it's a serious penetrating wound." Vodka leaned in to check Miyano Akemi's condition, then shook his head. "Her lungs are damaged too..."

Gin frowned, bent down, and moved closer to Miyano Akemi's paling face to confirm again. His displeasure showed clearly. "...So troublesome."

Kazawa stood behind them with his arms crossed, not intending to approach. He held the long sniper rifle in his arms, removed the scope, and watched the blood pooling on the ground with a cold expression.

"It's too late to save her. Step back, seniors. The blood's about to reach your shoes."

Gin and Vodka both stepped back, looking down at the dark red pool spreading across the dusty ground.

"Tsk." The first to click his tongue was Kazawa. "If you knew you weren't going to make it, you could've died faster. Wasting my time like this—so boring."

Miyano Akemi's head leaned against the cold container wall. She coughed twice, blood spotting the corners of her lips. Her lung injury had flooded her airway with blood—she could no longer speak.

She tried her best, but could only move her eyes slightly, lifting them toward the three people looming above her like towering walls. She wanted to sneer, but the sharp pain and iron taste in her mouth kept her from moving even the smallest muscles of her face. All she could manage was a slight twitch of the corners of her mouth.

"Big brother, if she dies here, will there be any issue with the organization?"

"Let her die. Shirley's enough. Dying in a corner like this is fitting for a failed defector."

"Why didn't you say that earlier? One gunshot, and now this whole place is a mess. The police could be on the way."

"Hmm... where did she stash the money?"

"At the front desk of her hotel. I sent the address to—"

"...stay and clean up..."

"...police..."

Their conversation grew fainter and more fragmented in her ears. In the dim port, Miyano Akemi could barely distinguish their figures anymore. They seemed to blend into the thick, boundless sky—becoming part of the night that swallowed her whole.

The last thing her eyes captured was Kazawa staring directly at her. His golden eyes seemed to glow blood-red in the darkness.

Eyes like a hawk...

No, like a crow's.

Miyano Akemi stopped breathing.

The three of them stared silently at her unfocused pupils for a moment.

"She's gone... Let's move." With a sigh of resignation, Kazawa peeled off the gloves that had been frayed by the steel cable, pulled out a fresh pair from his coat, and walked toward her still body. "Gotta finish this quick. Tokyo's detectives are bloodhounds..."

Gin checked his phone, took one last glance at the lifeless woman, then tilted his head at Vodka to signal him to follow. He slipped his pistol back into its holster.

Drip, drip, drip...

"Who's there?" Gin immediately turned at the faint electronic beeping sound.

But it was just Kazawa, crouched down with his back to them, fiddling with some reagents.

"I'm calling the police. You left your headset connected." He blew on the mic near his cheek in annoyance. "A righteous high school detective has a duty to report. You'll go bald from being so paranoid, senior."

Under the moonlight, Vodka saw Gin roll his eyes.

"Let's go." Not wanting to deal with the increasingly annoying younger member, Gin unplugged his earpiece, cut the signal, and disappeared with Vodka around the corner.

Kazawa looked up toward the top of the container and silently counted seconds in his head.

Twenty seconds later, a brown-haired head cautiously peeked over the edge, panting as it clung to the side and looked down at Kazawa and Miyano Akemi's body.

"You scared the hell out of me just now!" Kazawa gritted his teeth. "Hurry up and come down!"

Xingchuan Hui shrank back, still shaken from Gin's sudden reaction. "I was scared to death too... He heard that tiny sound?"

"That's Gin. Face-blind and forgetful, but still the organization's top killer." Kazawa shrugged, a comment that was half-praise, half-insult.

"?" Xingchuan Hui was confused by the contradiction but didn't argue. He carefully climbed down the container.

Kazawa turned and held Miyano Akemi's cooling hand. In the blink of an eye, he had transformed back into his white-haired, black-clothed thief form.

He looked at the now-grayed-out name in the teammate list, opened the item menu, found the Returning Jade—about 30 left—and used one without hesitation.

He still had that resurrection potion he bought from Wu Jianmiao to make up the money, but since the Returning Jade had a chance to drop, it was better to save the rarer item.

Hoshikawa Teru brushed off his hands and walked over. He watched Miyano Akemi, who began twitching faintly, her eyes—previously lifeless—now flashing a sudden golden glow. In that instant, they lost all human warmth, as if they were some kind of artificial instruments made from molded metal. The sight made Hoshikawa Teru feel a chill crawl up his spine.

"...Was I like that too?" Xingchuan Hui traced his own eyes with a finger.

"Not as much." Kazawa was also watching the strange glow and nodded.

...It's really odd. Is there some strange rule in this world that you can only become a Mask user after dying in the cognitive world?

Why did both teammates he saved show the same strange symptom?

"Looks pretty creepy." Xingchuan Hui crossed his arms and watched for a moment, offering an honest comment.

Of course, he had no idea what his face had looked like after he flatlined. That had been real "death."

When he came to, the first thing he saw was Kazawa's sweat-soaked eyelashes and eyes glistening with the beginnings of tears.

Remembering that moment, Hoshikawa Teru leaned over and looked at Kazawa's face, then suddenly reached out and patted the hand Kazawa was using to hold Miyano Akemi's.

"What are you doing!" Kazawa jumped.

"Your hands are shaking." Xingchuan Hui pointed at his hands, pale from tension. "Are you okay?"

Watching someone collapse in front of you, losing blood, struggling, then finally falling silent—it couldn't have felt good.

"You hate this kind of thing, don't you?" He didn't finish the sentence, but Kazawa understood.

"...What else could I do? My ability doesn't work on normal people. Otherwise, I wouldn't have 'killed' you that time." Kazawa saw Miyano Akemi's name light up again on the list, her health bar slowly recovering, and exhaled deeply. He sat down in the blood-soaked dirt. "Something changed in the organization. I don't know why they altered the plan and wanted to capture her alive. I had to find a way to make Gin believe she really died in front of me..."

"But originally, you didn't plan to make her kill herself, did you?" Xingchuan Hui cut to the point.

Kazawa let out another breath and fell silent.

God knew how his hands and feet went ice cold the second he heard that shot.

He hadn't stayed still on purpose. He had frozen.

By the time he reacted, it was too late. All he could do was fake calm, chatter, and pretend it didn't get to him.

"It was too hasty..." Kazawa shook his head.

"All right, she's safe now. Relax... Joker." Sensing his guilt, Xingchuan Hui gave him a pat on the shoulder. Since they were still in the cognitive world, he didn't call Kazawa by his real name.

He didn't know the exact reason, but Kazawa had told him—code names only, in here.

"...Jo...ker?" A faint, hoarse voice called out.

Kazawa and Xingchuan Hui turned their heads. Miyano Akemi's golden light had faded, and her gaze slowly regained clarity.

Miyano Akemi's consciousness returned bit by bit from the darkness.

It felt like waking from a long, painful dream—or like being ripped from the warmth of amniotic fluid.

Colors flashed across her vision—dangerous red, deep blue—and then the cold moonlight returned.

The sharp scent of salt and blood rode in on the sea breeze.

The first voice she heard was distorted, unfamiliar:

"...Joker."

Seeing her awake, Kazawa quickly adjusted his posture—from slouching to sitting casually with one knee up, looking relaxed.

Xingchuan Hui noticed this and the corner of his mouth twitched.

...You're really out here trying to look cool right now, huh, Captain?

"Awake, Magical Girl?" Kazawa tilted his head. His red scarf trailed to the ground, soaking in her blood, as if it grew from the pool reflecting the moon. He caught her dazed gaze and smiled. "Your spell worked. What's it like to be resurrected by moonlight magic?"