強い人と弱い人
The Strong and The Weak

Chapter 23 : Mission Failureー

According to Munakata, this operation wasn't instigated by Yashiro Isana's request. Rather, it was because of the captain's previous suspicions of the airship's behavior in the sky.

'"Isn't the silver king an urban myth? A man who lives on an airship and floats in the sky. How could he be related to the murder?"

The captain turned on his holographic monitor and went on with his explanation,"Allow me to explain the timeline."

Saruhiko narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue. He was getting tired of his lecturing. Could he get to the point already? The king covered the airship's flight patterns, and how it maintained routine flight paths for decades. The electronic display flickered with colors representing its yearly courses.

"After a certain incident, it changed its route immediately and last night it approached the stadium as well."

This comment caught Saruhiko's attention. That certain incident couldn't have been the one. As if on cue, the lines began to disappear one by one on the monitor until one lone streak remained. His hand that laid on the surface of the table balled up into a tight fist. There were no more questions to be asked.

"Scepter 4 will now commence an operation to apprehend the first and silver king, Adolf K. Weismann," The man who now wore a grave expression declared to his clansmen,"A person of interest in the murder of Tatara Totsuka!"

Munakata and Haruna remained sitting at the back of the vehicle. The door was open, drawing the winter air into the compartment. Haruna's hands were sweating profusely at the thought of boarding a helicopter.

"I'm sorry I can't fly, captain." Haruna admitted to the king before Fushimi was preparing the men to board the helicopter,"I-I'm terrified of being so high up."

She was silently begging him to allow her to stay on the ground for the last half of this operation. If he was going to make her go, she had to be double strapped onto a seat with a bottle of motion sickness pills.

"We already have a good amount of men in our unit who can handle it. I won't make you go, but please remain by our side and aid us if we run into any trouble on the surface."

"Understood, thank you Munakata."

Her superior smiled at her address to him and Haruna stared up at the flying helicopters in return, hoping to hide the embarassment that was rising to her cheeks.

"It's all right, being called something other than captain or sir is a good change." He chuckled deeply at her sheepishness,"Being addressed a little more casually at work is always refreshing. Especially by a cute girl like yourself, Aigasa-kun."

"H-Hey...!" That was all she managed to get out before Awashima came running towards them. She stepped back into the vehicle and reported with labored breaths,

"The operation has failed. The Himmelreich has exploded and is plumetting down towards the city."

"An explosion?!' Haruna's thoughts weren't occupied by the failed mission,"Was the rest of the special division affected? Did Fushimi report any casualities?"

Awashima shook her head nervously and thumbed through her tablet,"No casualties reported, but Fushimi did note that one of our helicopters deviated from formation and recklessly flew towards the side of the airship. The status of the those on board are unknown; actually, we are unsure who was on that craft..."

"I believe we'll find out tomorrow." Munakata answered, hardly looked concerned in comparison to Awashima and Haruna,"By the time we make it to the crash point, the rabbits will have already started their investigation and collected the bodies... and I prefer not to deal with that tonight."

Haruna pictured fluffy little bunnies hopping around the perimeter, giving Munakata a difficult time. She shook her head at the foolish thought. Of course it wasn't.

"The Himmelreich has now made contact with the city." The lieutenant bit her lip,"What are your orders, Captain?"

"Tell Fushimi and the others that we will head back to headquarters tonight." Munakata told Awashima as she proceeded to contact the others,"We will investigate the crash site tomorrow at 0700 hours."

"What should I do, Munakata?"

"You are to head back to headquarters, along with Awashima-kun and I, of course."

"In the end, I've done nothing to be of service..." Haruna said under her breath.

Maybe she wasn't cut out for this, but she had just started today. There was a lot going on, and she wasn't used to so much action. All she's ever known was paperwork, after all. Haruna also hoped that in time, she would get to understand Munakata even more. Munakata was methodical, and planned his thoughts thoroughly. He also had a terrible sense of humor and she could never tell if he was joking or not at times. She was well aquainted with the man, Reisi Munakata.

What was left to understand was who he was as the blue king and the power he bestowed on her.

A/N : A really short chapter because the next one will be the longest. I actually promise this because you know what happens next? This was also a filler if you didn't notice. I hated writing this chapter, to be honest.

MIKOTO MIKOTO MIKOTO MIKOTO MIKOTO MIKOTO.

See? I got so excited about the thought of more Mikoto I've actually started writing the next chapter two days ago lololol-

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AlexandriaSummer: AHHHHH I'M SO SORRY I'VE DISAPPOINTED YOU. Therefore, next chapter will be dedicated to you because I be thinking about Mikoto as I'm writing it, ohohoho- All three characters are my favorite characters in the series! I will help satisfy our love for Mikoto with more Mikoto then! Fushimi is definetely a cutie when he's pissed. :D

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