Shinichi stared at the message with tired eyes. He contemplated acting as if he hadn't seen it, but he was still wary of his Boss. He confirmed. Jodie had sent a string of messages afterward, which detailed the area he needed to look for.
Rolling tiredly out of his bed, the teen transformed into himself and dressed for the occasion. At this point, he had changed enough for his body to ignore the pain he felt during it.
It had only been around an hour since he had gone to bed, and he doubted the night-owl Haibara would be asleep. Because of this, he only opted to take his gun and a couple of bullets.
His assigned room was thankfully a single and without a roommate. On the downside, however, he had no windows. The assassin snuck quietly out of the room and systematically avoided all squeaky doors and floors. He commended himself as he had subconsciously taken note when walking through earlier today. The sneak out was relatively easy, and he had avoided alerting anyone. He may have to create an alibi for leaving, but he wouldn't be followed.
As he neared the clearing, Shinichi witnessed a fight. He recognized the agent as someone he had shadowed a few weeks ago. Agent Iris, was it? The man had been gifted his name much later than others, and he almost exclusively worked for shadows nowadays. Why was he here now?
The teen loaded his gun slowly and observed the enemy. The two fighters had been at it for a while; they were tired. The Black Organization's man was wearing dark blue, and he held a gun stowed by his side. He was bald with a weathered face, but it was not from age. He seemed to be equally matched with the FBI agent physically, but according to the undisturbed gun holster, he had not yet demonstrated his expertise there.
At that moment, Shinichi wished that he had a sniper with him. He had only been gifted a handgun, and it wasn't the best for distances.
At a lull in the fight, he decided that it was his best chance. The teen walked out into the clearing, hiding his gun just slightly out of view.
"Agent Iris, why were you sent here?" he spoke, clearly ignoring the other. Deciding to go that route, he hoped that he could create an air of confident intimidation.
"Valerian…did Boss send you? I can handle this!" the man replied. His speech wasn't persuasive, as he had to take dramatic gulps of air between his words.
The enemy gained his breath and pointed at Shinichi, "Who are you, kid?!" he yelled aggressively. The plan had effectively failed as the man obviously didn't view him as a threat.
The young assassin fell into his natural act, "Well, I'm here to help. Come on, ninja-wannabe, I see you got a gun. Let's dance." He dragged the flowered gun out from behind him and pointed it towards the bald man. Contrary to his words, he planned to kill the man as soon as he moved to grab his gun. He cocked the handgun.
The man was apparently privy to Shinichi's plan and refused to move. It became a stalemate with Agent Iris gasping behind them.
The teen grasped at his teacher's training. Had she mentioned something such as this? He decided to take the shot and hope to hit. The man, expecting it, ducked as soon as his finger moved. No!
The bald man ran towards him to force him into a physical altercation, one the assassin was nowhere near prepared for. He ran away from the enemy and dodged grabbing attempts. He was beginning to lose stamina, and the bald man was still on his heels.
Agent Valerian circled around and ran back towards the clearing at an angle, hoping that his fellow agent could assist him. He was too happy to be back at the edge of the clearing that he wasn't aware of the gun aimed at him. The man had been tired of running and had opted to take a shot instead.
A blunt force hit the teen's shoulder and pushed him forward. White-hot pain bombarded his body, and he fell before the second shot could land. Agent Iris gasped and pulled himself together. Shinichi could barely keep tabs on his thoughts through the constant agony, but he was reasonably aware of the organization's puppet following him.
He pushed himself up and against a tree to allow his companion a clear shot. A loud resonant shot rang out in the forest, and the bald man fell in front of him. The young assassin was unable to be disgusted or feel any other emotion at that moment.
Iris dashed towards him, forgetting any possible fatigue he had felt, "Valerian! Hold on, I've got materials."
The older man ran back towards his bag, and he brought back a box engraved with his flower. Shinichi held firm as the bullet was removed and he was patched up. He hoped desperately that the pain wouldn't be evident during the rest of his vacation. He couldn't afford for them to find out.
Iris assisted in Valerian's walking until they made it within 100 meters of the house. At that point, he couldn't allow himself to be seen. They exchanged quiet goodbyes, and Shinichi limped back to the front door. He hoped that he would be nimble enough to travel to his room without a sound. He flashed back to Haibara's earlier words. They could just as easily kill his family, and that was his reason for participating. He fell into a troubled and dreamless sleep.