Disclaimer: I do not own Oregairu or any brands mentioned.
Previously on Match Point: Hikigaya and Rorona agree to work together to save Komachi after she is captured by 8man's employer. The two of them find themselves at a bar, which Komanda's assistant frequents.
Sunday - Hatake Bar – 09:31
Hikigaya opens the front door and walks into the bar. Rorona enters in behind him and they're both greeted by the smell of tobacco and beer. The song "American Girls" by One Ok Rock is playing softly in the background.
Several men are seated at the tables around the bar, most of the guys are quite large and have shaved heads. Behind the counter is a barman who has his arms crossed. He has a white apron on, as well as a sleeve of tattoos running from both his wrists up to his neck. To his side is a long shelf, which has a seemingly infinite collection of alcohols placed on top. The tinted windows block out the sunlight, giving the interior a dim orange atmosphere.
The assassin scans the area and spots the man he's looking for sitting by himself near the wall. His left arm is rested on the counter while he sips on his drink using his right hand. Hikigaya strolls towards him, then sits down on the stool next to the assistant, while Rorona stands at the door watching. The man is dressed in a dark blue suit and has his hair slicked back. His glasses are folded up, and hanging from his white dress shirt, which has the top buttons undone.
"Hachiman. I've been expecting you." He says, whilst looking ahead at the shelves of alcohol.
"Where is she?" Hikigaya asks, cutting straight to the chase.
"As I'm sure your handler told you: We took your sister for insurance. Complete your mission and we'll be happy to return her. You're a professional so I'm sure you understand."
There is a tense silence.
"Let's not play any games. I know you're scared of me, so just tell me where she is."
The assistant chuckles and takes a large sip from his drink.
"And why do you think that?"
"Well for one, you're sitting in a bar surrounded by armed men. I can tell with just a glance half these guys would be happy to do some muscle work, so they no doubt work for Komanda, just like you. Except you can't do the things they do. You're corporate. Organised crime is your speciality. We both know what my speciality is, so I can say for certain that neither the bartender with a scattershot under the counter, the men guarding you or the CZ 75 semi-automatic pistol you've got on your leg will be enough to stop me."
Some of the guys by the booths look over at them.
"That's nice, but tracking me to a bar and listing some guns is a pretty weak intimidation tactic. My boss and I have a lot of enemies, so it'd be weird if I wasn't surrounded by my own men."
The song in the background begins to ramp up as Hikigaya raises his arms to do stretches.
"Where is my sister?"
"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?" The man asks, finishing his drink.
"Not a chance."
As the chorus hits, the assistant takes his empty glass and attempts to smash it against Hachiman's head. Reacting quickly, the assassin grabs his arm and twists it. The bartender sees this and quickly bends down under the counter, grabbing a shotgun. With it in hand he stands up and pumps the gun aiming it Hikigaya. Before he can shoot, the assistant is pulled off of the stool and used as a human shield. The bartender hesitates and Hikigaya grabs the CZ 75 holstered on the assistants leg, then shoots the armed man in the hand.
He falls back and knocks over some glasses and bottles. Some men around the bar stand up and take out their guns, whilst the civilians run out. Hachiman - with the assistant still being used as a shield - turns around and begins to fire off shots, hitting the men in their legs and shoulders. Rorona watches as this plays out with his eyes wide.
A few moments later the assassin's magazine empties and he drops the gun to the ground. About six of the unarmed men see this and run over to Hikigaya in an attempt to restrain him. He throws the assistant to the side and punches one of the men in the throat. The next man meets a similar fate as he gets kicked in the liver. Rorona continues to stand awkwardly as the men who got shot moments ago stumble past him towards the exit clutching their wounds.
Eventually one of the brutes still inside sees Rorona and heads towards him, getting into a fighting stance. Rorona takes a second to realize the man wants to fight and hastily throws a punch. When he misses the man jabs him in the face and some blood begins to drip from his nose. He feels some adrenaline and throws another punch, this time connecting.
The two of them continue trading blows while Hikigaya beats down on several of the assistants other men. As the song in the background begins to subside Rorona gets one more lick in knocking his opponent out.
He looks over at Hikigaya who is surrounded by bloody men rolling around on the floor.
"Hey, I got this guy for you." Rorona says, pointing at his opponent.
Hachiman gives him a thumbs up and walks over to the assistant, who seems to have hit his head on the wall when he was thrown to the side and been knocked out. He pats the man down and finds a cell phone in his blazer pocket. The assassin goes through the contents for a minute before dropping it to the ground.
"Got the location." He says, walking past Rorona as a drop of sweat drips down his face. "Let's go."
"Hold on."
He stops walking and looks at the older man with a raised eyebrow.
"Let's make a quick pitstop first."
1 Year Earlier
After about an hour of walking Hikigaya and Yuri arrive at the checkpoint: A bridge situated over a frozen lake. They stand in the middle, looking over the railing at the ice while people stroll past. Hachiman still has the gun to the Russian's back, although it is hidden under his coat so as to not alarm bystanders.
Over at one end of the bridge, the two of them notice a man wearing a black suit and sunglasses.
"There's the agent. Go speak to him and get the location of the next checkpoint. Then come back."
Yuri nods and starts to walk away from the assassin and towards the FSS agent. Hikigaya watches as the two Russian men initiate contact. It is very subtle, and you wouldn't notice if you weren't looking. One of them leans against the railings while the other looks off down the bridge. He continues to watch as a note is exchanged between them. After that Yuri begins to walk back. As he arrives he hands the small piece of paper to Hikigaya.
It has a location written in Chinese characters on it, prompting Hachiman looks at Yuri with a raised eyebrow.
"Russian thugs usually speak only Russian and maybe some English. We write locations down in Chinese to make sure that even if the information is intercepted, that they can't read it."
"What about Google Translate?" Hikigaya asks as he puts the note in his pocket.
"What?"
"Never mind."
The two of them begin walking to the other end of the bridge.
"Did the agent say anything to you?"
"He asked me where my partner was." Yuri answers as he looks around at the civilians.
"And what did you say?"
"That we got attacked and he was wounded, but the attacker was disposed of."
"Did he believe you?"
"If he didn't, I would not have been given the location."
"Good."
They walk in silence for a few minutes before Yuri begins speaking again.
"When this is all over, are you going to kill me?"
Hachiman sighs.
"We'll see."
"You might as well: For helping you I'll be charged with treason."
"Don't think about that right now. Let's just focus on the task at hand."
Yuri nods and they continue their trek to the next checkpoint.
Present Day - Chiba Streets – 09:46
Rorona drives his car up to an old-looking building with Hikigaya in the passenger seat. After parking the car, they get out and walk over to the back of the building, where they find a door. The older of the two inserts a key into a padlock and unlocks it.
"What is this place?" The assassin asks as the door opens revealing a staircase going down.
"If the location your sister is being held is as dangerous as you say, then we're going to need some firepower to match."
Rorona walks ahead and begins descending down the steps. Hikigaya watches him with a bored expression before following suit. Once they reach the bottom, Rorona opens another door leading to a wide-open basement.
Hachiman looks around as he walks in, seeing a bed along with a few desks and crates placed on a smooth concrete floor.
"Where are we?"
"There used to be a mall above here along time ago. It was torn down and replaced with an apartment block. I guess they thought it'd be cheaper to ignore the basement than to fill it in."
Rorona flips a switch and several long rectangle ceiling lights come on, illuminating the large area.
"How'd you find out about it?"
"A couple years ago I got a job as a construction worker. Me and some other guys cleaned this place out."
"You were a construction worker?"
"Well, I wasn't very good at it. I had a lot of jobs before getting into the business of being a mercenary."
Hachiman continues to look around the basement.
"How do you go from construction worker to being mercenary?"
"My partner set it up."
"The one I killed?"
Rorona sighs.
"Yeah."
"You don't seem to hold much of a grudge about that."
"Truth be told? He was an asshole and got what's coming to him."
Hikigaya finds a pile of guns, next to a box.
"I thought I told you to sell these."
"I tried but it's not like I can just go up to someone and say 'Here have an assault rifle, that'll be fifty-thousand yen' you know?"
"Doesn't matter. They'll be good enough to use when we get my sister." He says as he kneels down and examines an M16. "We'll need some kind of body armour as well though."
"Yeah I've got a couple in one of the boxes over there." Rorona responds pointing over to the left.
"Alright, we have guns, we have armour. Looks like we're set."
The two of them grab what they need and walk over to the stairs, before quickly exiting the building. Rorona puts the padlock back on as they leave. They throw some of the guns into the backseat of his car and put on their flak jackets. A few moments later they get into the vehicle and begin their drive towards the address on the assistants phone.
1 Year Earlier
As the sun begins to set, Hikigaya and his Russian asset come upon the next checkpoint: A barbershop in the shopping district. Like most of the other places they've been today, hundreds of people are walking around, completely unaware of what's going on.
To the right of the salon is a market selling fresh fruits and vegetables, while to the left is the next street. The assassin backs away while Yuri walks up to the glass door and knocks. A slightly overweight man exits the store and the two of them exchange a few words in Russian, before the man walks back in. Yuri follows behind him and enters the barbershop. It is narrow, with several chairs squeezed in and - as expected - the smell of hair and shaving cream dominate the area. The store is lit up by white lights on the roof and on the mirrors there are a few LEDs that have constantly changing hues.
The man opens up another door which leads to a secret room in the back. Both agents enter. Inside the room is a man lying on the floor with a black bag over his and zip ties around his wrists.
"Это тот парень. У нас есть автомобиль снаружи." The chubby operative says as he puts a cigarette in his mouth and walks back up the stairs.
Yuri grabs the prisoner by the arm and pulls him up. The man is average height and dressed in torn up clothes that are stained with blood. He struggles a bit as he is guided from the back room and out the barbershop. Few civilians pay attention to Yuri and the tied up man as they make their way to the Toyota Prius waiting for them next to the store.
Seeing them back on the street Hikigaya jogs over to the car, as the prisoner is thrown in the back. Yuri looks over at the assassin as the distance between them closes.
"This is guy, right?"
The Russian nods as Hachiman gets into the backseat next to the man. He quickly pulls off the black bag, causing the prisoner to look around in surprise.
"Hi." He says with a smile.
The prisoner is Caucasian with dirty blonde hair and looks at Hikigaya with wide-eyes as he pants softly.
"W-Who are you?"
Present Day – Old School - 19:27
As night time comes Rorona and Hikigaya sit parked outside an old school that's been scheduled for demolition next year. There are several men patrolling the building all heavily armed. Throughout the day the two of them watched as even more men arrived. Needless to say, after the fight at the bar, the guards are no doubt expecting them.
The assassin studies their movements and uses a detached sniper scope to get an even better look. Most of the open windows have a guard standing with an assault rifle, looking out at the streets below. On the roof of the building are four men who walk around the perimeter in circles. At the halfway point on each side two men will cross each other.
By the street are guards who walk in a similar patrol, however instead of four there are twelve. Half of them have assault rifles while the other half are armed with handguns. Each guard has a walkie-talkie and they check in with each other every thirty minutes. An hour or two ago Hikigaya intercepted their frequency and began listening to their transmissions.
It's about as standard as you'd think and gives him the opportunity to gauge guard reactions. The men have been stationed out here for a full day now and have begun to pay less attention to people. Despite knowing someone could attack at any moment they are extremely lax. For instance, none have noticed Rorona's car parked a street over from the the school.
After about thirty more minutes of watching them, Hikigaya takes out his handgun and checks to see if everything is in order. Once he's done, he holsters it and checks his karambit, before holstering that as well.
"It's time." He says, breaking the silence.
"Do you have a plan?" Rorona asks, looking over at the assassin.
"Yes."
"You mind sharing it with me?"
Hachiman looks at him, before opening the car door.
"Take out the patrolling guards, then brute force our way to the middle of the building and get my sister."
Rorona nods and gets out the car.
"Anything else?"
Hikigaya gets out as well and shuts the door behind him.
"They all die. No survivors."
Authors Notes: Chapter 27 will be up next week!
