The Raven Dark Hero 35

Chapter 35 : Skull and Joker

TL:SummerPeanut

Equipping the repaired jet-black birdman gears, Bright sat on the bench in front of Cid's, sinking into a slump.

(This time the repair cost is 9 million.... Although my debt increased, if I keep doing missions like this one... but they're called special missions for a reason, so I doubt they’ll come that often…)

If he used all the reward money from his previous mission to pay off his debt, he can probably clear them, but missions like that one won't happen often.

Even if he continues to work at the usual mission reward, the debt will not decrease much. In fact, there is even a possibility that it will increase.

It is inevitable that the repair cost will be high because the equipment is too costly to begin with.

However, he can't complain because he knows that without this equipment, he would not have been able to overcome Kiryu's intense training and that fight with Saejima.

(...but I've never done a single normal mission before. I wonder what’s the average reward price is?)

When he thinks about it, he doesn’t know what’s the average mission reward. He then realized that he hasn't done a single normal mission yet.

(I'll ask Teaser about that later.)

-And a few minutes later.

"Hey! Long time no see! Bright-kun! How have you been?”

Then Teaser, with her face hidden under the goggles, came to the front of Cid's store, their meeting place. She has beautiful blonde hair.

“...It's been a while.”

“Yeah! We've been texting each other though!”

Teaser’s cheeks were blushing, probably because she had been running.

(How do I say, Rumi gives off the big sister impression, but today she feels somewhat youthful... She’s fine both ways though.)

"Well then, what are we going to do today?

"I'll leave it to you.”

“So...are you fine with a simple mission? Like phenoms subjugation?”

When he heard ‘phenom subjugation’, it reminded him of the hell-like mission he went on with Kiryu. But that was a special situation, and there aren't many missions that are as tough as that one when they talk about phenoms subjugation.

"...a light one is fine.”

"A light one? ...Okay, it's decided! Then let's go to the information floor!”

Teaser twined her arms around him as she said that. As extra information, her nice bust figure was pressed onto him.

(H-her breasts?! Even though she usually looks skinny in her uniform, but she’s wearing body tight clothes now, so her nice breasts are more emphasized today!

On the information floor, various missions and requests were displayed on a monitor. All of them could be operated with a touch panel.

(I've been on two missions already, but this is the first time I've been here.)

Teaser operated the touch panel with much familiarity.

"Ah! How about this? Exterminating Almirage! They are easy to handle!”

An almirage is a rabbit-like magical beast with horns. It's so weak that even an average person can defeat it as long as he/she has a weapon.

(Isn’t it too easy no matter how you look at it? The reward for this mission is too small and my debt won’t even budge.)

"...What are you thinking?”

Because the mission was too easy, he tried to find out if Teaser had another purpose. Then...

"...Did you find out? Actually, I made my lunch today. I wanted to finish the mission quickly and have a picnic. ......can’t I?"

Teaser gives off a sweet vibe that he wouldn't ever expect from Rumi.

"...I don't mind."

"Really? Yay! Then it's decided!"

Bright nodded in agreement.

(Somehow I feel a little out of sorts. She’s much more independent and mature when she is acting as Rumi.)

"Oi, you’re Bright?"

A voice called out from behind him, and he turned around to see two roughly twenty-year-old young men together.

"...so what?"

"I heard that you beat that Saejima, so I was expecting to see what kind of bastard you are, but you rejected all our invitations, and then you going to hunt rabbits with a girl like this. Aren’t you just a perverted dude? I'm disappointed in you. Right, ‘Joker’?"

"How enviou...mm? No, what was it again? ‘Skull’."

Skull, a tall, slender, skinhead guy with tattoos on every exposed part of his body. Joker, whose face is hidden by a symmetrical black-and-white mask. They are said to be one of the most vicious tag teams in Kuroyume. They were also known as the "Dangerous".

(Who are these Skull and Joker? I don't remember because I haven't read any of other emails except Teaser’s.)

"What the hell! It's none of your business if we are doing missions together or not. That's for Bright-kun to decide!!"

For some reason, Teaser came to the front and opposed Skull and Joker first which caused Bright to be unable to say his pieces.

"Haah? Oh right...even though your usual comrades died, are you going straight to a new guy now? Aren’t you a cheap woman oi? Right, Joker!”

"...nice body...beautiful...mm? That's right, Skull."

Teaser went silent. Thanks to her interaction with Kouki, she was able to somehow manage to stand up again. Of course, there was no way she would forget about Yoger and Mist after just a week.

...Nevertheless. It was true that what Skull had said had been a bull’s eye for Teaser.

"Heh! Bull’s eye right? What a shamef...whoa!?"

In an instant that Skull couldn't even notice, Bright had grabbed him by the chest.

"...take back what you just said."

Bright was angry. He knew that Teaser...that Rumi is suffering, and he had felt it all the time he had been with her as Kouki. And because he himself had not yet completely accepted the deaths of those two.

"Ugh... let go!"

"Hey, let go of...skull!"

"What? Guh buragh?!"

Joker swung a sharp fist from beside him, but Bright dodged it and with that momentum, his fist met Skull's face.

"Ah~! Skull?! ...You... how dare you to do that to Skull?"

Joker picked up Skull who was completely unconscious and directed his anger at Bright.

(...eh? That’s my fault?)

"Wait! Members are not allowed to fight YO?"

Line who was responsible for Kuroyume’s affairs intervened in the conflict.

"...it’s you two again? Skull, Joker."

"No, we're not..."

"No need for excuses. I’ve been watching everything on the monitor. And you, Bright-kun. I don't care how furious you are, your hand moves a little too fast YO?"

"...It's their fault."

He really wanted to complain more, but he hadn't forgotten his character, so he had no choice but to hold back a few more words.

"Oh? Bright, you're more stubborn than I thought, aren't you? I didn't expect that, YO."

Then, Skull, who had been knocked unconscious by the Joker, regained his consciousness.

"What? Where am I? Who am I!? What happened to me?!"

"Calm down, Skull. This is the headquarters of Kuroyume and you are Skull. You've been beaten up by me."

"What? ......That's right! You bastard, Joker! Why are you always doing this...it’s on purpose, isn’t it!?"

"On purpose? That's a stupid question. It’s pure coincidence. Coincidence."

Bright regained his composure a little after watching the exchange between Skull (the straight-man retorter) and Joker (the funny man) from the sidelines.

(There's nothing to be gained by getting into trouble with these guys, and I don't want to let Teaser feel any more pain than she already has.)

"...Let's go, Taser."

"Eh? Uh... yeah."

With no more interest in Skull and Joker, Bright took Teaser with him and accepted the mission from the panel.

"Hey, can we really just leave them alone?"

"It's too much trouble otherwise. And for all the grief they’ve caused you, I'll count it paid with that one hit he got."

"...I suppose that’s fine. Yeah! They're so troublesome after all!"

(Well, if they try anything else, I have reason to hit them back.)

"....Wait, wait, wait you bastards!"

(...coming, aren't you?)

"What were you thinking of ignoring me and going...?!"

Bright activated Invisible Slash at Skull's feet. The floor cracked with the slash.

Skull was stunned by its power.

"...the next one will not miss, you know?"

Skull was told that the next attack would hit, and he could not move. He couldn't see when the ability was triggered, and he knew that if that hit, he'd be in more than just simple trouble.

"Come on, let's go."

"Yeah!"

Finally, after sending one last glance at Joker, Bright and Teaser left the place.

Line, who was watching over such drama, had a bitter smile.

"Darkflash Bright eh... The boss seems to like him, but I don't really want him to stir too many internal troubles. Oh, Skull and Joker. You guys pay for the repair of this floor YO."

"What?! Why us?!"

"Skull, you can't go against Line-san. You won't be able to do missions and you will get paid less."

"As long as you know. Thanks~."

With that, Line returned to his normal duties.

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