In the desert.
A truck sped down the highway under the cover of night.
Inside the cargo hold.
Having been struck head-on by an 88 mm shell, Serika, who had lost consciousness, slowly ca to in the pitch darkness.
"Where… is this…?"
Her head was still hazy, and the constant jolting of the truck made it even harder to think.
It took a long while before Serika finally got a vague sense of her situation.
"So this is… the back of a truck? Where are those Helt Gang guys taking ?"
She shifted her body, hands and feet still bound, inching closer to the locked door. Using the faint glow of the truck's tail lights seeping through the cracks, she peered outside.
Under the moonlight, the vast desert stretched pale and endless. Amid collapsed ruins of buildings, she glimpsed railroad tracks glinting with a cold, tallic sheen, stretching far into the distance.
"A desert… with railroads? Don't tell … this is the outskirts of Abydos?"
Confusion and fear surged through her all at once.
In such an uninhabited wasteland with no signal, even if she sohow managed to escape, she would have no way to contact the Foreclosure Task Force.
And on her own, there was no way she could cross this desert.
So what did the Helt Gang intend to do with her?
Would they just find so place to bury her alive?
The Halo could withstand bullets and explosions, but suffocation would still kill her.
Serika couldn't accept such an ending.
The thought of dying alone filled her with dread and sorrow.
But at the very least, Sensei had escaped.
Sensei would tell the others at Abydos that Serika had been taken by the Helt Gang, that she hadn't abandoned the school like those who had vanished before.
At least she wouldn't be branded a traitor.
Still, to die out here without even saying a proper goodbye…
"I don't… want that…"
Without realizing, tears were streaming down her face.
Through the blurred vision of her tear-filled eyes, she gazed longingly at the far end of the road, wishing with all her heart that soone might appear and save her.
"…Eh?"
Her tears stopped.
She froze, staring. Out there in the desert, a shadow flickered faintly. At first she thought it was just a mirage.
But then, for an instant, she clearly caught sight of a familiar face. That was when she knew, soone really had co to rescue her.
"Sen… sei…?"
---
At last, I caught up to the truck.
I veered off the road and rode across the desert, keeping behind it at a distance so I wouldn't be noticed too soon.
Thanks to White Wolf's terrain resistance, speed wasn't much of an issue.
But that didn't an there weren't drawbacks.
Riding through the desert ant eating mouthfuls of sand.
I spat out the grit, wrapped my jacket around my mouth and nose to block the wind and dust.
The good news: with the transmitter at work, the Foreclosure Task Force would be able to find us.
The bad news: without any way to communicate, I had no idea when they'd arrive.
The good news: the helicopter was fast, so they shouldn't be long.
The bad news: the helicopter didn't have much fuel, so they shouldn't be long.
The good news: the truck was still following its expected route, so even if sothing went wrong, the others could track it.
The bad news: sothing really did go wrong.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw sothing thrown from the truck's cab.
It landed just a short distance ahead.
Alarm shot through . I gripped the handlebars tight, swung the bike around in a perfect U-turn drift, and sped back the way I ca.
The next mont, it exploded.
The blast was smaller than I expected. I glanced back from a hundred ters away and realized... it was just a regular grenade.
One with a kill radius of maybe ten ters.
Clearly, they'd spotted .
The truck stopped at the roadside. Two Helt Gang delinquents jumped down, aiming their guns at .
…Only two?
I felt a rush of excitent.
I thought the cargo hold was packed with them, but maybe it only had Serika inside.
I quickly checked Shittim Chest's remaining power, then charged forward without hesitation.
White Wolf leapt over the guardrail, cutting across the asphalt in a wide arc.
Most of the bullets missed, the few that struck were deflected by Arona, or hit White Wolf without leaving so much as a scratch.
Maybe because it was already white.
Either way, I roared, White Wolf roared, and together we beca one, hurtling forward with unstoppable force straight into one of the Helt Gang mbers.
She was launched more than ten ters, not injured too badly, but his gun flew from her hands.
I snatched it up imdiately.
Now, with only one ard enemy left, the threat was gone.
I pulled up behind the truck, raised the gun, and aid at the lock on the cargo hold.
I pulled the trigger.
My shot went wide, thrown off by the recoil, embedding in the side of the truck.
At the sa ti, the remaining delinquent fired at , and thanks to Arona's interference, his bullet hit the lock dead on, breaking it.
I was speechless.
Ignoring his continued gunfire, I yanked the door open. A warm, fragile body collapsed into my arms.
Serika weakly lifted her head, staring at in a daze.
"Sensei…? How could it be you?"
I grinned and teased,
"Because I couldn't wait to save my princess, so after letting the others know, I rushed ahead on my own."
"Id… idiot! Who are you calling a princess?! Are you out of your mind?!"
Her face burned red. Her angry words didn't carry much force.
If anything, she only looked more adorable.
The gunman wasted a full magazine before realizing it was hopeless and tried to flee with his partner.
"My, my, Serika-chan hugging Sensei like that, in front of everyone no less~"
That familiar voice.... it was Nonomi. At her side stood Shiroko and Hoshino.
Hearing this, Serika forgot she was still bound and tried to back away in a panic, nearly tripping.
I only held her tighter.
"Let go of ! And hurry up and untie already, or I'll kill you!"
As I worked to undo her bindings, Nonomi was pinning down the remaining delinquent.
She was a skilled marksman, clearly elite-level, but against Nonomi she was quickly overpowered and knocked out.
Shiroko rushed over to check on us.
"Sorry, Sensei, Serika. We kept you waiting. The helicopter ran out of fuel halfway, so we had to run the rest of the way."
Watching Shiroko, drenched in sweat, I felt desire rise up inside .
anwhile, on the other side.
Nonomi put away her weapon and walked over to Hoshino, who was crouched and fiddling with sothing.
"Hoshino-chan, what are you doing?"
"Ah, just tired, oji-san needed a little break~"
Hoshino lifted her gaze from the bullet holes and looked far off into the distance.
She watched , laughing and chatting with Serika and Shiroko.
"Nothing at all."
Hoshino's expression was serene as she spoke.
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