Haruki waits for the men to leave the bathroom and move out of earshot before removing his hand from Ayano's mouth. "W-What was that?!" The younger girl gasps in shock. "I don't know" He replies as he looks through the bullet holes on the door. "But I have a feeling it's not good." Haruki backs away from the girl and slowly peer out of the bathroom stall to see countless bullet marks all over the walls and shattered glass where the mirror once was. "I have to call Akari," Ayano says as she pulls out her phone but Haruki grabs it before she can type in the number. "What are you doing?!" He whispers yells to the younger girl. "If you call her now, you going to let them know that there are people still here!" He hands the phone back and looks moves to the door and slowly peeks outside. He can't see anything from the door but he can hear people shouting from inside the mall. "Dang it. They've already rounded up the rest of the people."
"What are we going to do?" Ayano asks while Haruki closes the door again. "We have no way out of here and we have no way to defend ourselves. We can't stand up to people with guns." Haruki puts a hand on his chest and feels the holes in his shirt and wet red stains surrounding them. 'Maybe you can't but I certainly can.' He turns to her and says in a low voice. He peers out the door again and after confirming that no one is around, turns back to Ayano. "Come on, the two of us have to make it to the surveillance room. From there we can decide our next move." "Are you insane!? You want us to go out there into the open!? We'd be taking down instantly before we get to do anything." Haruki stands up and lifts his sweater and shows her the holes in his shirt. "Don't worry, just stay behind me when we go out." The girl looked at the holes in his bloodied shirt and met Haruki's eyes with wonder. "How did you-" Haruki put a finger to his mouth and nodded his head out the door. "Let's get our sisters back first. You can ask Akari for answers afterward."
Akari and Koharu sat in the center of a circle of people with their hands over the back their heads. The other people around them looked terrified as a bunch of men with familiar clothes and standing over them with their devices out in the open. Akari looked around at the men, eyeing all of their weapons. "Who are these people?" Koharu whispers to Akari and one of the men stomps his foot on the ground, making everyone flinch at the sound. "HEY SHUT UP ALL OF YOU! I DON'T WANNA HEAR ANYTHING OUT OF ANYONE!" His voice echoed through the now empty mall and everyone promptly went quiet. Akari looks at the boy with indignation and quietly whispers back to Koharu. "These people are just nuisances. Don't worry, I can take care of them." Koharu nods her head but when she turned away, Akari looks down with a nervous expression. 'Haruki, Ayano, I hope the two of you are all right.' She silently prays. Suddenly, a loud bang rings out from behind her, and everyone looks at the mall doors as they burst open and a familiar face walks into the mall and as soon as Akari recognizes him, she scowls in disgust.
Haruki watches the entire scene unfold from the security cameras. He grits his teeth when he sees someone walk in from the main entrance. "That son of a-" He mumbles through clenched teeth when Ayano nudges his shoulder. "Who's that? Is that their leader?" Haruki bites back his anger and steps away from the screen. "Yeah, he is." Ayano leans forwards and watches the man talking to the rest of his men. "So, we just have to take him down and we're through." She says matter-of-factly and starts to move toward the door. Suddenly the two of them hear a loud ringing from behind them, making them spin around and fall into a fighting stance only to find no one with them. They frantically look around the room for anyone besides them, when Haruki suddenly stops and reaches into his back pocket and pulls out his ringing phone. Ayano looks back at him with a deadpan stare as he answers the phone. "Uhh... Hello?" [Mr. Genos? Is that you?] Haruki's eyes widen when he recognizes the voice on the other side of the phone. "Director? Is that you?" He says in surprise, making Ayano surprised as well.
"To be honest, I'm surprised that you answered the phone," Kuroha says as she types up a form on her computer. "I assumed that you were captured along with the others in the mall." Haruki scoffs when he hears her. [Well Ayano and I got lucky and we avoided being caught. So, does that mean you know about the situation right now?] He asks her and she closes her eyes stubs out her cigarette on a tray before answering. "Unfortunately, yes. The police have already surrounded the mall and while these aggressors have taken everyone in the mall hostage." She types more commands onto her computer and pictures of students in Hagun Academy uniforms, one of which makes she scowls. "I think we both know who's behind all of this." She can hear the disgust in Haruki's voice when he answers her. [Yes, but what are you going to do about it? You can't reach us from the school and Ayano and I can't do anything about them.] Kuroha chuckles and types out names onto another file. "That's not entirely true. I'm giving the four of you clearance to use your devices outside of school." She hits a button on her computer and several progress bars simultaneously appear and they fill up as the verification is completed. "I expect you to use this clearance wisely. Get out safe Mr. Genos." [We won't let you down Director.] Haruki says before ending the call. Kuroha looks out the window and a somber smile. 'I wonder how they will overcome this?'
Haruki put away his phone and looks down at Ayano. "Alright, now that we have clearance, we can-" Suddenly the two of them hear a loud shriek from outside followed by gunfire. They run out of the room and look over the edge of the floor to see a wall of lightning surrounding a group of people and Akari holding Nereus sideward in front of her while blocking a guy with glowing yellow ax. "Akari!" Ayano shouts in worry and Haruki's eyes start glowing red and he holds his hand out. "Manifest, my darkest desire! Lythronax!" Black tendrils come together and Haruki grips his sword and jumps down from the edge. "Get away from my partner!"