Chapter 8: Unknown Force

…. When I woke up in the morning, I saw Remi who seemed to be busy,

"Remi?" I asked.

"Ahh! Uh... Good morning!" Remi was surprised by my words.

"What are you doing?" I asked again.

"Eh... hehe... nothing." Remi answered although she was hiding something behind her body. I ignored it.

"Okay." I said while getting up from the bed. But when I looked at Remi, she looked sad.

"Uh, Itaru?" Remi said.

"Yes?" I said

"I... just obstructing you on this journey, right?" Remi asked, I was just silent.

"Actually, I started thinking, if I'm just a burden maybe I should just go... so that...", "No, it's not like that. Even because you are here, I can be calm, besides you can trust me, right?" I interrupted her words and replied with a smile.

"... Yes, but..", "Besides, if you go alone in Japan, aren't you going to have a hard time? Like finding food and stuff." I interrupted her again.

".. Ah, yes… but if it's like that maybe I can...", "GRUUUUK" before Remi finished what she wanted to say, the sound of her very hungry stomach filled the room. Remi could only be embarrassed.

"Okay, let's talk about that later, how about we go eat first?" I asked with a smile.

"O-Okay" Remi answered, embarrassed. She looked cute when she was embarrassed, and I chuckled to see her.

We left the room and went to the hotel restaurant on the 10th floor or the top floor of the hotel.

When we entered the hotel restaurant, the atmosphere was very luxurious, the restaurant's walls were mostly made of glass so you could see the very classy view outside.

"Wow, this is the first time I've been to a fancy restaurant!" Remi said with interest.

We ordered a table near the glass because the view was great.

We sat at the table we ordered and were approached by one of the waiters to show us the menu.

"You can order anything, don't worry, let me pay." I said to Remi.

Remi responded to my words and started looking at the menu provided.

"Alright then, I'd like to order this." Remi said while pointing to the picture of the special Ramen on the menu.

I was a bit hesitant about her choice, but after seeing how interested she was in the picture, I figured there wouldn't be a problem.

"Okay, we'll order 1 of the special Ramen and 1 low-fat Beef Steak set." I told the waiter standing next to us.

"Would you like a drink too?" I asked Remi.

"Ah, I'd like this special mixed juice!" she answered eagerly.

"Okay, 1 special mixed juice as well." I told the waiter.

"Is that all?" the waiter asked.

"Yes, please." I replied in Japanese. The waiter was a little surprised, "Excuse us for a moment, your order will arrive soon." The waiter was polite and turned to go.

"Don't you want a drink, Itaru?" Remi asked.

"I've already ordered one last night, besides I brought my thermos." I replied, showing her the small thermos bottle in my pocket. Remi looked a bit disappointed for some reason.

Not long after, the waiter returned with our order and placed it on the table.

"Please enjoy." The waiter said politely and turned to leave.

"Wow!" Remi, who had been sad earlier, was enthusiastic again after seeing the food presented. She took out her phone and took a picture of the food. I wasn't that interested in it.

After we ate, we returned to our room. Remi seemed very happy after enjoying the Ramen earlier.

As we entered the room, Remi said with a sad face again, "Thank you for the food, even though I think I just a burden to you."

"Don't worry about it, you're not too much of a burden, didn't I already told you, you've helped me a lot?" I replied to Remi who was walking to the window.

"Yeah..." Remi replied, starting to gain confidence, but then she stopped for a moment, as if she remembered something.

"Hey Itaru..." Remi said softly.

"Hmm?" I responded.

But before Remi could finish what she was about to say, I saw a flash of light from the top of the building through the glass window behind Remi. Knowing that, I shouted, 'Watch out!' But it was too late, I heard the sound of glass being penetrated by a bullet, I became panicked.

Despite this, it seemed that the sniper's bullet missed Remi, without hesitation, I warned Remi.

'Remi! Stay away from that window! Find cover!' I stressed.

Remi, who had just finished panicking, heard my words, and took cover behind a large bed, I followed her.

'We have to get out of here!' Remi said, panicking.

I started thinking about how to get out of this room, the sniper who targeted us may be waiting for another opportunity to shoot. But what I know is that the weapon used by the sniper cannot be fired continuously.

Making a plan, I took the fallen pillow beside us, and took off the cover cloth, thankfully, most of the pillows have a color that is almost the same as human skin.

I started to extend the end of the pillow quickly upwards, it didn't take long to hear the sound of the bullet hitting the end of the pillow accurately.

The signal has been given, we quickly headed for the exit door and finally got out of the room.

But when we thought we were safe, we saw a man in black glasses with a large body approach us and start attacking me, the muscular man seized me and slammed me to the ground.

'Itaru!' said Remi, who was surprised, she started attacking the muscular man but failed and was eventually thrown against the wall.

Despite being hit with a strong attack, Remi appeared to still be able to stand up, while I was still lying on the ground in pain.

Remi prepare to attack again, but before she could, a needle hit Remi in the neck. Remi looked weak and finally fell to the floor.

"Remi..." I said while starting to stand up.

The burly man started attacking again, but this time I managed to dodge and deliver a hard counter to his stomach, causing him to be thrown back.

"That's enough, Fortress." A voice was heard from behind the burly man, and another person appeared wearing black sunglasses, but this time his body was not as large as the one in front.

"Sorry for the late introduction, my code name is Snake, and he is Fortress, we are members of the elite evil hunters." The newcomer said.

"What did you do to Remi?" I asked, annoyed.

"Don't worry, he's just sleeping thanks to my sleeping needle." He said with a sinister smile.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"We want you to come with us to the headquarters, we have many questions for you, don't worry, we won't hurt you... if you are obedient." Snake said.

"...Alright." I said after thinking.

"Good choice. Fortress! Take the woman!" Snake said, turning away.

Fortress picked up Remi and placed her on his shoulder, then he looked at me, "You go first." Fortress said with a cold tone.

I walked behind Snake, followed by Fortress from behind. We then descended the empty hotel staircase.

As we stepped out of the hotel, we were greeted by two people, one of whom was River. "Let me introduce you to our two top snipers, River and Eagle," Snake said. 'Two? But do they only have one weapon?' I thought to myself.

As I looked towards River, he avoided my gaze, as if he was trying to avoid my sight. "You succeeded, I thought I would get at least one of them." said the other woman, Eagle.

We got into their black car and were taken to an office building not far from the hotel. As we stepped out of the car, which was parked in front of the building, I wasn't sure if a building like this could be used as a secret base. However, when we got inside, there was an elevator that took us down to the basement, which was their headquarters and was quite large.

As we stepped out of the elevator, we were met by Alex who was waiting for us. "Ha! You finally got caught! This is what happens when you mess with us," Alex said with a sinister smile.

"Alex! Where's our boss?" Snake asked. "She's in there," Alex said, pointing to a heavy iron door at the end of the corridor left from the lift.

"Okay, tell the boss we got the target." Snake said to Alex. "You come with me to the interrogation room." Snake said to me.

"What about Remi?" I asked. "She'll be in another room. Don't worry, I told you, if you cooperate, we won't hurt her." Snake said.

I felt suspicious and started to have a bad feeling. I began to look around me, and found one person I could ask for help. I looked in their direction, but again they avoided my gaze. This time, they became aware of something and started looking at me in surprise. "I'm counting on you," I thought to myself.

I started to follow Snake, who had already started walking towards the Interrogation Room at the end of the right corridor from the lift. "Please go inside," Snake said, opening the door to the interrogation room. Inside was a large table with two chairs, and it seemed to be connected to a one-sided glass room on the other side.

"Wait inside, don't do anything strange." Snake said as he closed the door behind me. I sat down and waited while looking around the room. 'They're underestimating me.' I thought to myself.

….