Cafe Heist: Part 2

Kimika, holding her breath, carefully tried to open the door, praying to everyone she knew that it would be unlocked. As she slowly turned the handle, her hopes were dashed — the door wouldn't budge. She nervously tried again and again, using all her strength, but that didn't help either. Quickly regaining her composure, Kimika began to consider what to do next. Suddenly, the thought of keys popped into her head. 

The keys were probably only with the guard or in his room. And now, with it impossible to turn back, and the fact that Toga would wait for her behind those doors for a long time until he suspected something and began to act to save her, Kimika was left alone and knew she couldn't afford to delay, for she had little time.

Gathering her courage, the girl quietly began to go through the unlocked rooms, searching for the guard's room. She needed to act quickly but carefully—too hasty a move could reveal her, and then the guard would call the police and heroes, which would mean the end for her. On the other hand, if she moved too slowly, he might return to the office and spot her on the cameras, again summoning the heroes.

Kimika continued through the rooms, one by one, until she came across a storage room where she immediately noticed ropes. "These will work," she thought, realizing she could use them so they could tie up the guard, sparing Toza from having to harm him.

After that, the girl kept going, passing a children's room, then a dressing room, and finally reaching the kitchen. There, noticing the knives, she grabbed one without hesitation, similar to the kind she used in her training with Toga. Although she hoped she wouldn't need it, her fear of the unknown urged her to keep it close, just in case.

Luckily for Kimika, the guard was still outside, trying to figure out who was throwing pebbles at the window, cursing at the world and checking the windows for scratches. This gave her a little more time.

On the second floor, she came across rooms with tables, a locked staff room, and finally, the guard's room. As she approached it, the girl paused, listening carefully. Was anyone else inside? Maybe another guard? Although this was unlikely since she had managed to pass by the cameras dozens of times, at that moment, anxiety filled her, and she wasn't thinking clearly.

Not hearing any sounds from the room, Kimika cautiously opened the door. Inside, she was greeted by multiple surveillance monitors — where she could even see the guard himself—a bed, a desk, and a cabinet lined with keys.

Hope ignited in her heart when she spotted the very key for the back door. Grabbing it, she exhaled deeply and headed toward the door with a surge of joy.

As Kimika approached the door, she felt adrenaline beginning to fill her body, as if facing an unseen threat. Suddenly, like thunder in a clear sky, she heard the rapid footsteps of the guard approaching the room. Panicking, she jumped into the cabinet, hoping it wouldn't creak. To her relief, the cabinet was new and made no sound. Holding her breath, Kimika waited, hoping that somehow luck would be on her side.

"Damn creatures! If there were cameras out there, I'd call the police right away…" the guard muttered quietly as he walked past the spot where Kimika was peeking through a crack. "Tch… that persons got lucky. But if they start throwing stones again... I'll call the police right away…"

"If I had any kind of decent quirk, I wouldn't be working as a guard! Tch... Just my luck to get incredibly weak telekinesis that only lifts candy-sized objects…" he grumbled to himself, sitting in front of the monitors.

Not noticing anything suspicious on them, he grabbed his phone to continue watching a series. Hidden in the cabinet, Kimika felt a slight sense of relief.

Thoughts began to whirl in her mind about his ridiculously weak quirk and the fact that he didn't seem physically strong either. The idea that, if he spotted her, she would have a good chance of handling him started to fill her mind more and more.

However, the thought of possibly hurting an innocent person gave her no peace. Even knowing that this should have been the last thing on her mind, Kimika still hoped for Toga's help or some miracle that would save her from having to harm the guard.

But just as she tried to calm herself, a disaster struck: her phone suddenly rang.

And it was on full volume, as she had forgotten to silence it. But that wasn't the worst part — the worst part was that the person calling at such an incredibly bad moment was none other than her mother. With trembling hands, she immediately turned it off, praying the guard hadn't heard. But her heart nearly stopped when the guard began quickly approaching the cabinet, trying to locate the source of the sound.

Ren, who was already standing in front of the cabinet, slowly reached for the handle like a character in a horror movie. But suddenly, the door flew open, and an unknown girl leaped out, scaring him half to death. Instinctively, he blurted out, "What are you…"

Before he could finish, Kimika struck him in the stomach with all her might, accelerating with incredible speed through her right eye. She didn't want to cause him serious harm; she simply couldn't afford to give up or try to escape since all the exits were locked. And if she let the guard call the heroes, it would be a disaster.

The guard, shocked by the blow, staggered back, clutching his stomach and groaning in pain, instinctively turning his back on her. But before he could recover from the first hit, he took another blow to his back. Kimika struck him with both hands clenched together as one fist, timing her hit as he turned from the previous strike.

Again and again, she landed blows until the guard, gathering his strength and desperate to save his life, charged at her like a battering ram. He slammed her into the wall behind, and she let out a piercing cry as saliva and a small amount of blood escaped from her mouth. Seizing what he thought were a few precious seconds while she lay on the ground, he pulled out his baton and started striking her with it, but now, fueled by adrenaline, he hit her wildly — her head, arms, legs, body — without giving her a single moment to recover.

As he continued his furious assault, he caught a glimpse of her gaze out of the corner of his eye. Her left eye, a piercing blue, began to glow, as if piercing him with an icy stare.

Frightened by her gaze, he felt his body becoming sluggish — not only due to fear but also because of the attacker's quirk. Kimika, who just a moment ago had been taking his blows, rose and seized the initiative, now striking him with all her might, accelerating each hit with her quirk, now able to use both effects simultaneously.

Realizing that his life was on the line, the guard let out a scream, but his voice only echoed within the cafe — thanks to good soundproofing, no one heard it from outside on the street.

The unexpected scream made Kimika recoil and cover her ears, breaking her concentration and causing her quirk to deactivate. Taking this chance, the guard scrambled toward the table where a stun gun lay, desperate to save himself.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Kimika, accelerating, managed to reach him first. She grabbed the knife she'd been carrying the whole time and struck him in the back, forcing him to fall. Leaving the knife in him, she continued hitting until she felt his body go limp.

As Kimika looked around, realizing the severity of her actions, she quickly spotted the rope lying nearby — the same one she'd found in the storage room. Tying up the guard without knowing if he was still alive, she bolted downstairs with the keys, trying to gather her thoughts and hoping Toga could help her. She hadn't wanted to kill or hurt anyone — all she wanted was to save the life of someone who mattered deeply to her!

Perhaps dozens of times, if not more, falling to the ground, Kimika ran downward, constantly tripping and unable to pull herself together. Although she didn't feel the pain due to the adrenaline, she realized that her movements were unnatural. 

Each step felt heavy, and each breath felt like the last, as if she was expending all her strength to keep moving. Eventually, her blurred vision and a heart racing hundreds of times a second prevented her from going on. But to her great relief, when she opened her eyes once more, she saw open doors and a smiling Toga in front of her.

Seeing her trembling friend with blood on her lips, a frightened gaze, and heavy breathing, Toga instantly stopped smiling. 

"What... what happened to you?" Toga asked, checking her friend from head to toe. But she didn't dare to remove the hood to examine her head, knowing there were cameras in the room. 

Ignoring her friend's concern, Kimika simply grabbed her hand, pointing to the second floor, and began to mumble incoherently: "There... he... I... let's go... help me…" After which tears began to stream from her eyes. 

These words prompted Toga to mentally run through all possible scenarios, but none of them seemed real to her. Seeing that her friend was already ahead, she followed after her. 

Running after Kimika, who was moving with her last ounce of strength, Toga quickly headed in the direction her friend was pointing. There, she discovered something she could never have imagined: on the floor in a pool of blood lay a bound guard, reaching for a table where a taser lay, and a knife protruded from his body.

Toga immediately understood what had happened: the guard had seen Kimika, and a fight had ensued between them. While the guard was trying to reach the taser, Kimika had stabbed him and escaped after binding him. 

Realizing that she couldn't leave this man to die for the sake of her friend, whom it would deeply affect and could potentially end her criminal activities, Toga understood that the chances of saving him on her own were slim, and he was likely to die. Her plan was simply to keep him alive a little longer until they completed their mission and the heroes and medics arrived. 

As she began to provide aid, she realized that the wound was not deep and not in a critical location. After stopping the bleeding and applying a bandage, she noticed many spots of impact throughout the room, indicating that the fight had been quite prolonged.

In Toga's mind, many thoughts of different natures arose: the happiness that this situation had happened and that her friend was able to fend for herself without her help, which would become an experience for future tasks and potential battles against heroes. It was good that this happened now and not during a fight with a hero, because the outcome would have been completely different. The fear of realizing that if she hadn't managed to overcome herself and stab with the knife, she didn't even want to think about what would have happened then.

Having saved the guard, Toga finally met the gaze of her frightened friend, who had been watching them the whole time with tears in her eyes, a pale face, and eyes filled with fear and anxiety.

"Let's go, let's finish the mission. The sooner we do this, the sooner the heroes will come and rescue him… SO, KIMIKA, PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!" — and no matter how difficult it was for her to do so, she slapped Kimika across the cheek to finally snap her out of it. 

"Okay… okay… let's hurry!" — replied Kimika, feeling a strength return to her from an unknown source, and something in her heart changed. 

After that, they began to destroy everything in their path. Luckily for them, the loud noise wasn't audible outside, where not a soul could notice what was happening inside. They smashed everything before them, determined to complete the mission as quickly as possible and rescue the guard.

While Toga was smashing everything around her, she decided to check the cash register, which turned out to be empty. In the staff room and the manager's office, she found nothing of value except for a small safe that she decided to take with her. 

After they had destroyed nearly everything, Toga sent Kimika to wreck one of the last rooms they hadn't been to yet — the bathroom — while she headed to the guard's room to check on his condition and quench her hunger by taking a drink of blood, not wanting to waste any "goodness." 

Upon entering, she noticed that the guard, fortunately for him, had not yet come to his senses. If he had awakened, Toga would have been ready to kill him in an incredibly horrific way for what he had done to Kimika.

Approaching closer and realizing he was alive, Toga took a small sip of his blood but immediately spat it out — the taste was unpleasant, something between sour and bitter, with a strong hint of alcohol. Feeling an incredible thirst for revenge for her friend, she made small cuts that would leave scars in a few visible places, but ensured he would remain alive. In the end, she wreaked havoc throughout the room, especially destroying everything related to the cameras. 

On the wall next to the guard, she left a signature of their team, which she had come up with while waiting a long time for Kimika. It consisted of two emojis: one with fangs showing, and the other with clocks for eyes, where the first face had a smile, and the second had a sorrowful expression with a tear. Below them, she wrote "Tsukima" and "Tokima," respectively. It was their little debut, and she wanted to show that this was just the beginning of their endeavors.

Taking one last look at the guard, Toga headed toward the exit, where Kimika was already waiting, tense and anxious. Without saying a word, she approached the door, and together they stepped outside. 

Grabbing a few of her knives, Toga threw them at the windows, which instantly shattered into fragments. After throwing the last knife at a nearby car, triggering its alarm, they quickly fled the scene. 

Toga knew that when this case was investigated, they would find various clues to catch them, such as surveillance cameras or Kimika's blood left in several places. Although she understood that she wasn't the best at destroying evidence, she did everything possible to make the police's job more difficult, turning the process into an incredibly challenging and lengthy one.

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A guard Ren, I think we'll see him again! The masked cat has already made plans for him, ha ha, and his unfortunate path. He definitely doesn't need to buy a lottery ticket, but it's likely to have a happy ending.

I also want to inform you that two chapters come out every day on my Patreon! Here, only one is released, but on my Patreon — there are two a day, hee-hee-hee. Come by so you don't miss new chapters and can read them faster than anyone else! patreon.com/Zoi4erom

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