Chapter 5 - The observers

James had been in his room a while when his sister came walking hurriedly into the room as well. "Bro, do you think?" Before she could finish her question, James raised his finger to his lips to indicate for her to be quiet. She remembered her brother telling her to not bring it up again, but she did not think it would be a problem if they were in the house. That aside, what she was worried about was her father. If what she felt and what her brother said was true, then wouldn't their father be in danger?

As if he could read her mind, James walked to her and ruffled her hair, although she hated when he did that, she was too worried now to care. "Don't worry. Dad will be fine. Trust me." Seeing the warm and reassuring smile on her brother's face, the young girl calmed down a little.

"Are you going out?" Seeing James about to get ready, she couldn't help but ask. James nodded before answering, "I need to go see someone." James tapped his feet twice before continuing, "Remember, no matter what, don't say a word about what you felt that day. Even if you feel it again, just pretend not to." Janet looked down, but James gave her sister a quick hug. "I promise, soon you won't have to hide who you are anymore." He finished and quickly put on his shirt before walking out the room.

…

Two people, a man and a woman stood next to each other as they watched their target leave his house. The man had a smaller build compared to the woman beside him. It was not that he was smallish, it was mor like the woman was much larger. Although the man was slightly over 6feet with lean muscles, the woman stood impressively over 7feet tall with large muscles and large D cup breasts and a serious face as she stared at her leaving target.

"Say, Hachi? How long are we going to tag along with this fellow?" The male questioned his partner. His look contained a mixture of boredom and tiredness. The woman called Hachi who stood beside him did not tear her face from her target but spoke in reply, "Until we are called back. This is our mission, and we will complete it to the utmost. So, stop lazing, Nana." He voice was only slightly high pitched compared to her massive size, yet her partner did not laugh. Not only because he was already used to it, having been together for so long and all, but because all those who made fun of her because of that were already dead. Through ripped out. She was ranked 8th among the shadows and rank eight was nothing to scoff at. Although he was ranked 9th among the shadows, the difference between their strengths were immense. It was even more so with Hachi naturally blessed with terrifying physical strength.

"I know, but this is too boring. He is just another mortal. You know how they are. They like to tell tales." Nana continued to complain but Hachi ignored him, completely remaining silent, watching her target get aboard a bus to leave their house. It was not that she had not thought about it. No matter how she looked at him, he was nothing but a civilian. Then what was it? What was the weird feeling she was getting when she looked at the young civilian? It was something she had only ever felt on the battlefield. But it was impossible no matter how she looked at it.

"Hey, do you think he is in love with the princess?" Nana suddenly spoke which slightly got the attention of Hachi by his side. "I bet he is. I bet he has fallen hard for our princess. I almost feel pity for him. Knowing he will struggle so much only to be crushed hard." His face was a vast contrast to his words as he looked to be relishing in the thought of the young mortal being rejected, and probably beaten for even thinking it.

Hachi turned to look at Nana who had an almost euphoric grin on his face before looking away once more. She had decided to continue to ignore him. "I'm gonna go tell him." Before he could move from his spot, he felt a chill down his spine. He turned to see a cold glare from the big woman by him. "Are you trying to ruin the mission?" Her voice grew as cold as her glare.

Everyone on the shadow team knew how seriously Hachi took missions. It made it seem like she was too devoted to the sect. However, those who knew her knew that was not entirely the case. They knew her circumstances were different and had family to take care of. Aside the monthly stipends they received, the higher the mission completion rate, the higher the resource and gold received. From the looks of it Hachi required a large amount of gold and resources and as such took the missions, they received much more serious than the rest.

There was also a rumor flying around about Hachi hiding her true strength. About how she could actually give the 1st rank, or 2nd rank a run for their money, but Nana refused to believe that. After all, the disparity between each rank were extremely massive, let alone between number 8 and number 2, what more number 1. There was no way; That monster was terrifying. That did not mean Nana would intentionally piss her off or try to fight her. Like stated earlier, the gap between his 9th rank and her 8th rank was much too great and he was confident enough to take her on. Yet.

"Our mission was to observe, but the exact details were not stated. We were not asked to not make contact. As long as we observe him that should be fine even if I decide to do so up-close right?" Nana spoke with a displeased expression. No matter what, he was still part of the shadows, even if he was ranked 9th. He had his pride, and he was very angry at how he had just been treated, even though he did not really show it. Hachi's glare continued for a few more seconds before the cold and suffocation feeling he felt slowly disappeared. Hachi nodded slightly before turning back to continue to look at the bus that had left. Seeing she no longer cared about his plan, he looked down towards the bus and disappeared from his position. Turned out they were both standing miles up in the air while they were observing James.

Hachi felt there was some logic in that argument. They had not been given a specific time to report back, but if they made contact with him and judged him up close, they could not only find out more about the young mortal that made the elder feel unease, but they could finish the mission quicker. With that though in mind she disappeared from mid-air as well.

In the bus, James who sat at the very back of the bus had his eyes closed the entire time but slowly opened his eyes and stared in the direction of three seats to the right of him. He let out a low chuckle before closing his eye once more. The bus moved without problems to James' destination. Before getting off, James subtly looked through the corner of his eye at the people who sat at the third seat from the back, before quickly getting off the bus.