Cross Swords: Tri-Edge
Prologue
/I still recall the first time we all met.
Kirigaya Kazuto took off his protective helmet as his sparring session had finally ended for today. He grabbed the towel that hanged by the wooden bench and used it to wipe off the stream of sweat on his face. It was a tough day facing the seniors of the club, mostly because it was almost finals for the male and female Kendo tournament. His upperclassmen were probably pumped up for it and forgot to held back on them. He looked over the other side of the dojo where most of the club members were resting. Everyone looked completely exhausted as they slumped their body on the ground with a dead tired face.
"Man, finals is almost here and I haven't seen our Vice Captain yet," one of the seniors said. This caught Kazuto's attention a little bit because when he joined the club, he heard a lot of rumours about the Vice Captain of the Kendo Club. It was mostly about how people were terrified of this person and was respected by many. Kazuto looked at the group of seniors that were talking; but when he made eye contact with someone, he immediately looked at the other way. He didn't want to get too much attention so he didn't have to stay back so Kazuto pretended he wasn't interested about their topic and continued to removed the remaining armour. Although that might be so, his ears were completely focused and open to their conversation.
He heard someone click the tip of their tongue and sighed. "I told you that you should've picked someone else to be the leader of the female group. While she's slacking off somewhere, the rest of us are putting our best to get towards the finals for the Female Kendo Group Competition," a female senior said. "She hasn't been here for 5 months straight already. I'm always here for our team! I should be the leader, not her."
Kazuto walked towards the locker area to change clothes. He was still listening to their conversation.
"You know the rules, Kasami. Only the strongest ones are allowed to be head of each group. You challenged Muriko 21 times already for the title, and she defeated you in every single one," the Captain of the Kendo Club said to her. "Everyone appreciates your efforts over these past 5 months but you have to remember that, Muriko built the foundation of the Female Kendo Group over these years. Our school won every single year during the times she's here. You have to appreciate what she has done as well."
Another senior spoke, "Even if we put you as the leader, most of the seniors and juniors won't agree to it. People still respects the Vice Captain even if she's gone for 5 months, you know."
After a few minutes of changing and fixing up his things. Kazuto was finally ready to go home. He exited the locker room and walked towards the exit of the dojo. He gazed over the group of seniors who were still discussing about the missing Vice Captain and the club itself.
He awkwardly waved at his seniors, afraid to disturb their conversation. "Senpai-tachi, I'll be going now. Thank you for today!" He was quite an introvert so actually talking to a crowd of people was a difficult task for him. But it was a necessary act to show respect to his upperclassmen.
"See ya tomorrow, Kirigaya. Take care on your way home," the Captain spoke out loud and waved back at him. Most of the seniors followed and then they all went back to their conversation, their faces became more serious as time went on.
Kazuto walked out of the dojo with a thought in mind. He wondered what kind of person was their Vice Captain.
"Muriko-san, was it?"
The operation was near success as they have surrounded the vicinity on where the suspect currently was. The Cyber Crime Police (CCP) agents went off to their respective positions. One agent was located at a near by building that had an overview of their target location and held a sniping rifle in case of any violent response from the target. The other was inside their communication and satellite vehicle that have most of their gears and supporting equipment they would need for the raid. The last agent was carefully scouting the area, trying to see if no other civilians were on site.
The CCP had already sealed off the streets around the vicinity. Everything seemed to be in order, and the target—according to the agents, seemed to be unaware that they have already surrounded him. The time to raid in was nigh. The agents had their final conversation before resuming the final part of operation.
The agent scouting the area had received a message over the intercom from the agent inside the vehicle. "We're lucky to catch the fucker off guard. All of his proxy servers have been found, he probably only has the main server left now. The damned fucker kept the case going for 5 months straight already. I haven't gotten any day offs because of this prick. My girlfriend hates me already man," the guy over the intercom complained and sighed before continuing, "Anyway, off to strategy. I'll give the signal when I disabled all of the cameras and security systems . When I do, it's your turn to go in and get the fucker. Mitsuki will back you up from the top since she has the keenest eye and good aim out of the three of us."
"Roger that," the scout said. "Dai, I'm saying this right now, but if I get shot. The bullet would be most likely be from the rifle Mitsuki is using," the scout joked a bit. "You know how much she hates me."
The agent inside the vehicle, Dai, laughed at his colleague. "Ren, you know the saying. The more you hate, the more you love. She's just a tsundere, you know."
The agent holding the rifle, Mitsuki, grunted and seemed to be a bit pissed. "If you guys don't hurry up, I just might have to shoot the two of you and call it a day."
With that, the final part of the operation resumed. Ren, the one scouting the area before, had prepared himself to enter the place where the target was. He maintained his position until he was given the signal. The agent inside the vehicle, Dai, pushed the buttons of the keyboard in lightning speed as he typed in codes that enable him to hack through the security system of the building and shut it down including the cameras. As soon as Dai shut down everything, he gave Ren the signal to go in.
"Go! Go!"
Ren used his grapling hook to climb over the wall and jumped over it. As soon as he got over the wall, he was already inside the area. All he had to do now was to get inside the near by structure where Dai would guide him in. "I'm in, the coast is clear."
"Alright, good. No casualties so far, keep that up. The signal is coming from inside the house. It's the strongest at the top left, so you better get in there but be careful. Try to be near the windows so Mitsuki can see where you are," Dai informed Ren.
"Copy that," Ren replied. He went in without any hesitation as he took advantage of the darkness. Ren slowly took our his pistol and held it carefully as he entered the house.
"Tonight's the night that the hacker Daisy goes down."
The cold beats of sweat streamed down on her face as butterflies entered her stomach. Was this the feeling when you know you're in deep, deep trouble? Furiin Muriko braced herself as she stood up with her fist tightly rolled up into a ball as she stared at the multiple screens in front of her. All of them suddenly went static and a second later, had the logo of the CCP on for stand by. "Shit," was all she could say as a response to what occurred.
It was a miscalculation that they had found her. She thought she still had a couple of proxy servers on to protect her location. But they were persistent and didn't gave her enough time to ease down. For 5 months straight she had been cautious and had kept putting on proxy servers on different location, but she just had to rest for one day. Well, that rest certainly did her no good.
Muriko quickly shook her and slapped her cheeks with both of her hands. She had to clear away all of the unnecessary thoughts for now. She had no time to waste on recollection and regret because she might get caught if she doesn't move. Muriko needed to get away from the house immediately before they find her.
She quickly grabbed a black hoodie and put it on, hiding most of her hair and covering half of her face. Muriko also grabbed a bamboo sword for protection in case things would start to get rough with the police. Before she went out of the room, she opened the fuse box and quickly shut the power down inside the house. It would give her the some advantage since the police don't know the floor plan of the house.
Jumping from the third floor would leave her limping with broken bones, she didn't want to take the chance so it was a no-no. She had make her way towards the stairs then down floor. There were two exits, the front and the back. She wanted to avoid the windows in case someone was assigned to watch those.
"Shit, I have to hurry," Muriko whispered to herself as she gripped the hilt of the bamboo sword tightly as she ventured towards the stairs.
As she carefully made her way towards the second floor using the staircase, she heard the wooden floor creak nearby. At that moment, Muriko knew that she wasn't alone. It was hard to see in the dark and assuming that it was the police, he was most likely trained for this kind of situation. She had to think of a way to distract him since her walking would make the floor creak as well.
Thankfully, her mother was the type to buy indoor plants placed on a clay pot. She slowly walked over to a nearby plant and pulled it out with only the pot remaining so it would be easier to throw. Muriko heard another creak that was slowly getting closer and closer towards her. She immediately threw the pot to a spot faraway from her. As soon as the pot landed on the floor and broke, she waited for the other person to move.
Ren, who was the police in the situation, immediately stood up from his crouching position and quickly ran to where the noise came from. Muriko heard Ren's footsteps and immediately ran downstairs. She made a lot of noise, and let Ren notice that the former noise he heard was a distraction.
"Fuck," both of them exclaimed simultaneously.
Ren went after Muriko who was quickly making her way out using the back exit of the house.
Muriko used the furnitures to try and slow down Ren while she ran away towards the exit. But unfortunately for her, Ren was used to jumping off on hurdles. Thankfully, she was still ahead of him. She got to the back exit just as she planned but much to her dismay, the door wouldn't move. She immediately found herself trapped between him and door that was supposed to be her escape exit. Muriko pulled and twisted the knob on the door but it wont budge. "Of all times, why do they have to padlock the back door!" She exclaimed as she desperately tried to open the door.
Ren had finally caught up to her. He pointed the gun at her and said, "You're cornered now. You have nowhere to go. Slowly turn around and put your hands up!" His voice was forceful and demanding. "Do it now, or I'll have to shoot you!"
Muriko had no choice but to obey, so she slowly turned around and put her hands up with the bamboo sword still on her right hand. She didn't bother to say anything since she was nervous because he was holding a gun.
"Now, slowly drop your weapon on the floor."
She slowly crouched down while she debated what to do inside her head. The moment she let go of her only weapon, she was fucked—and it would be the end for her. Muriko gripped the hilt even tighter, the adrenaline pumped in even more. No! It wasn't over for her. She quickly dashed towards Ren with the sword at hand.
Ren had no choice to but to shoot, but it missed her. Muriko used an upper slash and aimed for Ren's wrist to disarm him. He immediately yelp as he was hit. She quickly slide down at kicked his leg to which he had fell down afterwards. She didn't waste time and started to run towards the only remaining exit which was the front door.
"Dai, Mitsuki, watch out for the front door! He's armed with a bamboo sword." Ren exclaimed.
"Shit!" Dai said as he banged the keys and took a pistol out as he left the vehicle. "I'm leaving the fort for the gate. Ren, if you're not hurt trying to catch up to her. Mitsuki, as soon as you see the target. Shoot!" He said over the intercom while he ran towards the front gate and waited for their target to come out.
Both Ren and Mitsuki replied, "Roger that."
Muriko got out of the house and immediately ran towards the front gate. It was impossible to jump over that high wall which lead her no choice but to go for the gate. She gripped the bamboo sword in preparation to unleash hell to anyone who plans to ambush her as soon as she opens the gate.
Mitsuki, who was eyeing on her target, had finally caught a good angle and pulled the trigger. She was aiming for Muriko's foot but she had shot her arm instead. Muriko was down for a while as she held her bleeding arm. She had dropped the bamboo sword for a moment but then she picked it up with her left hand and immediately ran for it.
Her arm slowly felt numb and the feeling of numbness slowly crept up to her shoulder. She was losing blood fast. "Shit, shit!" She exclaimed as she opened the gate and made the run for it.
Dai, who was at the front gate, pointed the gun at Muriko. But before he could pull the trigger, she immediately swung her bamboo sword at him which aimed for his wrist and disarmed him. Afterwards she twisted her body and moved her left arm, Muriko swung her sword at Dai and hit him on the temple. When he dropped down, she ran away towards the trees and off the road so the sniper wouldn't have sight on her.
Kazuto took his usual route home. The inclined road on the hill was the shortcut that goes straight near his house. But much to his surprise, it was currently blocked off with yellow tapes. A white vehicle was parked near by. He looked around the area to see if someone was around and if he could have some information about why the road was closed but no one was there.
He suddenly heard gun shots that echoed from nearby. He grew alert and his head twisted to where the sound came from. Kazuto immediately walked down and tried to get out but as soon as he faced the closed and empty road once more to check. He saw a person wearing a black hoodie with a bleeding arm jump over the hurdle.
The person didn't seem to see nor planned to stop running when Kazuto was right in front of him. The person had crashed into him and they rolled down the road, revealing the hooded person's appearance. Kazuto was underneath this stranger in front of him. The person had a long red hair and blue eyes, and she looked exhausted.
Muriko started back at him and breathed heavily as the gunshot had finally sapped all of her energy. The pain was slowly emerging. Before she or Kazuto could do anything, Muriko felt something at the back of her head.
Kazuto saw a black haired man wearing a black suit and an earpiece said as he pointed a gun at the girl's head. He seemed exhausted as well and his wrist seemed to swell.
"Don't move," Ren said as he slowly panted.
/At that moment, the three of us met each other.
/Our fates intertwined.