A/N: For a bit of trivia, the titles of the first ten chapters and a few in the other arcs are named after soundtracks of the VN Katawa Shoujo, which was one of my inspirations when writing this story.
Dressed in the school's P.E uniform with his long, curly hair tied into a ponytail so it wouldn't get in the way, Takuya peeked at the small crowd that had gathered in the auditorium from the edge of the stage curtains and smiled at how many people that had arrived today. It was more than usual, in fact. Holding a well-crafted wooden bow and a small microphone, Takuya excitedly ran out onto the stage to greet his audience in his energetic, loud voice, "Students of Mitakihara, thank you for coming here and welcome to another one of my Archery Shows!"
The crowd did not clap, but Takuya did not lose his smile or spirit. He never really got any applause whenever he did these anyway.
"Welcome! Welcome!" Takuya continued his opening speech, "Thank you for using your spare time and coming here to-"
"Get on with the show, already!" one of the students in the crowd had got up and shouted with his hands shaped around his mouth to boost his voice. But again, Takuya's energetic tone and smile did not waver; he remained enthusiastic in front of a crowd that paid little-to-attention and went on as if he had not been interrupted.
Takuya tapped the microphone on his ear and spoke into it, "Tateyama, please turn on the other lights," the spotlights except for the one he stood under did not flash open, leaving only a circle of light on the stage as the students began losing even more interest in the show. Some had took off to go do something else and exited the doors with their friends chatting beside them on the way out. Takuya scratched his brown hair and reached for his microphone, tapping it lightly again, "Pretty please? I'll give you my share of lunch, later."
The spotlights activated and shined on the entire stage where the lights revealed metal contraptions that surrounded Takuya in a circular formation. 8 small, metal mangonels - catapults that were designed to throw heavy projectiles from a bowl-shaped bucket at the end of their arms - were placed in all 8 directions with Takuya right in the middle. The inside of the mangonels' buckets were painted in the red-and-white color of a bulls-eye and stored heavy-looking metal balls that should weigh a ton or two. The buckets also had string that attached them to the stage-floor, making them ready to fire.
A large, unbreakable and transparent cage was lowered onto the stage, surrounding Takuya and the catapults and taking up most of the space on the stage. Takuya picked up a small quiver from the floor that had 8 arrows in it and counted them all before equipping it. All of the arrows were metal-tipped and it took an hour for Takuya - or rather - his friend, Mamoru - to get permission to use them.
"Thank you," he said and turned off the device. Opening his eyes and looking confidently towards the crowd, gaining (some of) their attention, he raised a fist and held it to shoulder level. Low background music began to play behind him from the speakers as he pumped his fist into the air and announced, "The show will now begin!"
It had been a few minutes since Homura and Yuri had entered the auditorium. Yuri and Homura sat in a few chairs located in the middle of the mostly-empty crowd as Sanbey straddled lazily on Homura's armrest like a crab resting on a pipe. His three tails brushing against the seat, the small creature used its three prehensile tails to grab a hunk of popcorn from a sleeping student on a neighboring seat beside Homura. He brought the popcorn to his mouth and ate them all in one bite with only Homura noticing this. She just shook her head.
"Well, we get to see what this boy can do," Sanbey said with a mouthful of popcorn. Homura could barely make out what he was saying, "How well do you think he's going to do?"
Homura saw the archer tying a blindfold around his eyes and taking position in the middle of the cage. She brushed a finger on her chin and replied, "Enough to meet our expectations. If anything, this should be impressive. Despite his personality, only an expert would actually carry this sort of show out," Homura folded her legs and leaned her head on a hand as the show finally started.
The large, metal slugs inside the catapults looked heavy enough to break a man's rib-cage and severely injure a man, but the archer showed no fear and smiled confidently as he pulled out an arrow from his quiver. It was almost a blur as it was one quick motion that Homura could tell was the result of hundreds of practice. Gripping his bow and taking in a deep breath, Takuya gave the signal to the stage handlers and pulled back the arrow on the bowstring. Most of the audience was watching by now, "Let's do this!"
The first shot came from behind as the string attaching the bucket to the floor snapped free and the rotating arm launched the metal slug at the archer. It flew through the air and began to close the distance between them at an alarming rate.
Takuya then crouched, dodged the shot, and in one quick reflex, turned around and fired at the target bucket. The metal-tipped arrow sung through the air and jammed itself into its target with a loud crack. The satisfying sound made Takuya smile. Meanwhile, the launched slug had harmlessly crashed into the transparent cage and lodged itself in it. Both Homura and Sanbey were impressed by Takuya's reflexes and a few of the crowd members even clapped.
"He's good," Sanbey's tails flickered as he sat up to get a better look.
Two shots, this time, from the east and north directions. Takuya back-flipped through the air and evaded the shots as one grazed him by the hair. He connected his landing into a roll as he took out two arrows and fired them both at the directions of his targets. The separate shots were strong enough this time to send the buckets back to their previous bottom positions and slam onto the stage, denting the wooden stage floor.
As the show went on, Takuya dodged the iron payloads effortlessly with moves akin to a skilled circus acrobatic. He slipped pass shots and vaulted over them despite being blindfolded and Homura assumed he was using his instinct and hearing to perform this. He looked like he was a completely different person when doing this. The empty-headed expression on his face had changed into something else as Homura examined him closely during the show. The crowd was actually even entertained and started cheering at him from each successful evasion. Yuri was watching as well, eyes wide like a kid at a circus performance.
"He's definitely joining the group," Sanbey remarked enthusiastically, "His skills are near perfect for the job."
"I wonder about that," Homura said, a tiny hint of doubt in her face that Sanbey noticed. Hands on her lap, she explained, "His reflexes and instincts are good. But, he seems to be relying on them alone. While a Witch almost never shows intelligence, any distraction tactic could be used to take him down. Also, he never seems to regard for his surroundings. Nevertheless, he is impressive, albeit flawed."
Finally, one catapult was left and the crowd were now at the tip of their toes. Metals slugs were lodged in the transparent cage which had began to crack apart from all the impacts on its surface and Takuya had a cocky smile on his face as he pulled back the bowstring and gripped the back of the arrow tightly. His breathing had not changed in the slightest and he was ready to fire his last shot. But, like Homura said, he was relying on instinct and reflexes alone, and what Takuya had not notice was the small crack on the floor near his feet.
The catapult launched the metal slug and the metal slug came at him with a high-pitched whine. The archer spun around to evade, and when he did so, Takuya accidentally lodged his foot in the small crack on the stage and yelped as he lost balance. His aim now ruined, he fired his last arrow at the ceiling and hit at one of the fire sprinklers. The arrow ricochet off the sprinkler and lodged itself in the auditorium wall.
The impact had caused the fire sprinklers to spark open as water then poured onto the now-panicking crowd who were now desperately getting out of their seats and heading to the auditorium entrances. A few pushed of the students pushed each other out of the way on their way out and in still in her seat, Homura rubbed her temples with a sigh escaping her lips. She zipped her bag to protect her files, Sanbey was sitting speechlessly on the armrest and Yuri was covering her head with her hands to shield herself from the pouring water.
"Ok. That went well," Sanbey said in a dry tone.
Elsewhere, back in the long hallway and on his way back to the auditorium again, Tomura let out a sigh as he turned the pages of the story book he had on his lap, "Jeez, I wonder how can Miss Ikezawa even get out of her own house if she can't even navigate through this school? Good lord. Oh well, might as well see how Big Brother is doing in his show. I pray he doesn't cause any accidents again."
Opening the double-doors to the auditorium and wheeling inside, Tomura sat dumbfounded in his wheelchair and ran a hand through his neatly-combed hair, "Oh dear," the place was drenched in water, the seats were soaked, the floors were wet with puddles gathering everywhere, and Takuya was sitting on the stage with a cracked smile, unsure of what to do. He had undone the ponytail he had tied his hair into and scratched his cheeks in embarrassment. The fire sprinklers had only stopped after Homura had turned them off and Tomura gave an apologetic smile towards her when he noticed her and Yuri in the crowd, soaking wet.
After a while, and some time to dry up in the backstage, Homura was ruffling Yuri's wet hair with a towel as the girl was constantly sneezing from a cold, shivering and sniffing from a growing cold.
"Sorry about my brother, he's quite... clumsy, " Tomura apologized, wheeling up towards her with another towel in hand, "It could have been worst, actually. Much, much worst," the tone of his voice implied things Homura rather not hear of and she took the towel with a appreciative nod.
"It's alright. I have been through worst," Homura remarked, wrapping the towel around her neck.
Tomura chuckled a bit, a hand on his mouth again, "I'm sure you want to talk to my brother for this, but you may want to head somewhere else instead. You don't want to be here when President Minami and her council arrive to see this. It's never really pretty when she finds out my brother caused another accident."
Homura gave back both towels after drying herself and Yuri and excused them both with a small bow. Although she felt a little frustrated that she again had lost a chance to speak to one of her targets, the fact that she still had more to go find was at least slightly comforting, "Noted. Thank you for the help, Fujimaki."
The two girls stepped out of the backstage and they spotted Takuya sitting on the stage, panicking - not because of what just happened - but because he had realized he had broken his bow into two pieces from his sudden fall and now held the broken weapon in his hands with teary eyes, "Come on, stick already," he groaned and tried fixing the weapon by merely pressing them against each other with glue. Scratching his neck, he put the bow pieces down on the stage and sighed, "Ah... not again..."
The two chose to ignore his dilemma. Target or not, Homura heeded Tomura's advice, grabbed Yuri's hand and quickly strolled out of the wet auditorium before the Student Council would arrive to see this mess. They had no intention of being involved with whatever was going to happen next and Sanbey did not oppose that idea as he hopped back into Homura's after drying himself and the three quickly left the place.
Back in the empty hallways of the school, Yuri's sneezes echoed through the corridor as they walked back to the Student Council office. They would continue later and wanted to rest somewhere in the meantime since lunchtime was coming soon. Their shoes, shirts and skirts had already dried from being underneath some sunlight that poured through the windows and Homura made sure all her files were safe and dry. Now standing outside the door to the office, Homura reached for the doorknob when she heard two distinct voices talking inside.
Homura's hand stopped and her hears focused on the voices. She recognized one voice being Minami's and she sounded really, really angry. Her voice practically boomed from the other side of the door.
"Hacking of the school system, illegal documents, drenching the auditorium with water... do you even know how much trouble your club has already given this school? I mean, it's been only a few months since we made you form the Freelancer club and you guys have caused so much goddamn damage to the school! I don't care if you're gonna cover the damages with your cash if you keep causing these damages in the first place! I've already got the other clubs to trying to piss me off, already!"
A smug, passive voiced replied, sounding indifferent and calm despite the tone Minami had, "I know we've been causing problems, Morikawa, but I can assure you that earlier's problem was an accident. Like many of the other ones my friends and I have caused. And just like those I will cover up the damage as you said and I deeply apologize for whatever other problems my friends and I are directly or indirectly responsible for."
Homura recognized this voice. From the tone of it and its accent was, it was her fourth target candidate: Tezuka Mamoru. Knowing she had to enter, Homura opened up the door and felt the tense atmosphere of the student council room greet her.
