Chapter 39

After a roughly twenty-minute drive, they arrived at the hall marked by Celeste. During the journey, neither of them said a word. Both were very tense. Mamoru drove past the building and eventually stopped a little further down a side street. Just as he turned off the engine, a brunette man knocked on his window. Mamoru nodded briefly at him and got out of the car. Seiya didn't hesitate for a second and followed suit. The brunette unrolled a sketch.

"These are rough blueprints of the hall. We suspect he's holding them here or here," he began, pointing to two areas. "Shin is likely in the office here, as he hasn't left the building. There are 16 men around the building and at least 20 inside."

Mamoru rubbed his eyebrows strainedly with his index finger and thumb. There were significantly more men than he had anticipated.

"Cameras?" he asked curtly.

"Yes, but we're in the process of disabling them. Once we have them offline, Saphir will receive the signal."

Mamoru leaned in closer over the plan, thinking hard.

"How many of our people are here?"

"I have a team of eight, and then your elite squad." Mamoru began calculating. So, there were at least 38 against 12, not counting Seiya.

"It could be tight. Do you have any reinforcements nearby?" Mamoru grumbled in annoyance. Shin, that bastard, would be held accountable today.

"I could request five more, but it'll be tight. They could be here in a good half hour."

"Then do that. Angel is waiting at the back exit, send her half the team. The others will come from the front."

Mamoru was concerned about his responsibility for his men, but the fear for Bunny outweighed everything else. It wasn't the first time he had been in such a situation, but each time was different. Every fight had its own challenges and difficulties. However, the biggest challenge now was obviously Shin. He knew that only one of them would leave this hall alive.

Seiya examined the spots where Bunny was likely being held once again. He needed to memorize them precisely. He knew he would find her. He had to find her. He glanced at his watch. Yaten and Taiki were on their way. If Taiki's latest information was correct, they would be here in about an hour.

Mamoru patted Seiya on the shoulder and nodded toward the hall. They all took their positions. The tension in the air was palpable. They were only waiting for the signal.

As soon as the cameras were offline, Saphir would start taking out the first guards from his vantage point. Seiya and Mamoru stood close together, their pulses noticeably racing. Then they saw the first guard go down, shortly followed by the second. That was the signal. Saphir had opened fire. When the third guard was hit, they sprinted forward. The group sprinted toward the building, bullets flying around them, and some men screamed as they were hit. Mamoru gave instructions to his men over the radio while Seiya headed for the hall's door. He ran as fast as he could. He had finally reached the door without getting hit. Saphir seemed to be doing a good job as a sniper.

The walls of the hall were covered with dented metal plates, and the only light came from the sparse neon tubes hanging from the ceiling. The room was full of dust and dirt, and the smell of machine oil, cold smoke, and sweat hung heavily in the air. Just seconds after him, Mamoru jumped out followed by two men behind him. "Keep running!" Mamoru shouted at him. In his mind's eye, Seiya recalled the plan: straight ahead, then the next left.

Mamoru saw a group approaching them and swiftly drew his weapon. Before his opponent could even realize what was happening, a shot had already taken him down. Seiya continued running through the dark corridors of the hall, sticking to the path he had memorized earlier. He ignored the shots fired around him and focused on finding Bunny.

Bunny heard loud noises in the distance, causing her to flinch. She was disoriented and still felt excruciating pain throughout her body. She tried to open her eyes, but she couldn't. Then she drifted back into darkness.

Meanwhile, Seiya kept running. As he reached the first room where Bunny was suspected to be held, he grimly realized it was empty. There was only a rickety table and two chairs, and a lone light bulb dangled from above. Seiya briefly leaned against a wall, catching his breath. He had to keep going; there was no time to rest. The other room was exactly at the opposite end. Seiya prayed that Bunny was truly there. He counted slowly to three and then sprinted again, heading towards the gunfire. His focus was solely on reaching Bunny quickly and safely. He reached the opposite corridor, but he didn't notice he was being followed. Before he could react, he was bumped from behind and pressed against the wall. A muscular arm wrapped around his neck, cutting off his air supply. Seiya tried to break free, but the man's grip was too tight. He felt his strength fading, and panicked thoughts raced through his mind. This couldn't be the end; he couldn't abandon Bunny. Suddenly, the arm around his neck went limp, and his assailant fell to the ground. Dazedly, Seiya turned around and saw Angel, who nodded at him. The large muscular man lay on the ground, two knives sticking out of his back. "Use your weapons! They're not just decorations!" Angel shouted and disappeared again in the next moment. Seiya firmly gripped the pistol and continued on. The closer he got to the potential hiding spot, the more nervous he became. If she wasn't here, he would have to improvise to find her. As he turned the next corner, he saw two men standing in front of a door. She had to be in there. Seiya heard a shot go off, and he realized he was being pulled to the ground, followed closely by another shot. It all happened within seconds. Mamoru had pulled him out of the line of fire and taken down the first attacker. Seiya took a moment to orient himself. Mamoru stood behind him, already aiming at the next enemy. His expression was stern and tense; he knew he couldn't afford to make mistakes. "Get up and keep searching, quickly!" he yelled at Seiya.

Seiya struggled to his feet, leaped over the two lifeless bodies of the men, and reached the door where he suspected Bunny to be. His hands trembled as he forced the door lock open. At first glance, this room seemed barren too. He was about to turn to leave, but then he noticed a pair of feet behind the door. Bunny was crouched on the cold stone floor, and her appearance was gruesome. She was covered in cuts, bruises, and other injuries. Her clothes were soaked in blood. Shocked, Seiya looked down at her, and then he panickedly pulled her into his arms. "Oh, darling. What have they done to you?" he sobbed. Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face at the sight. Seiya held her tightly, relieved to find that she was still breathing, albeit very shallowly.

Bunny sensed that she was being lifted. In the first moment, she expected her captor to have reentered the room. She was too weak to open her eyes. She hoped for a swift release from her suffering. But then a familiar and comforting scent reached her nose. This wasn't Shin; this was her rescue.

Seiya stood up and lifted Bunny into his arms. Suddenly, a massive guy stood in front of him. "Put her back, she belongs to the boss. He wasn't done with her yet!" he whispered to Seiya. "Give me a break. If this woman belongs to anyone, it's only me, and you'll pay for what you've done to her," Seiya hissed back. However, with Bunny in his arms, he couldn't fight, and he didn't want to put her down either. His opponent stood there, grinning maliciously down at Seiya. He was at least a head taller and very muscular. Just as Seiya was pondering his next move, the facade wall suddenly exploded.

Seiya threw himself to the ground, protecting Bunny with his own body. Small stones flew through the air like projectiles, and the swirling dust obscured their vision. "Sailor Star, paralyze them!" a voice he recognized called out through the debris. That was Yaten. An immense relief flooded Seiya. The dust irritated his airways, forcing him to cough.

"We're back here!" he wheezed, struggling to regain his footing, Bunny still tightly clutched in his arms.

Taiki placed his hand on Seiya's shoulder. "Come on, give her to me. You can hardly stand yourself."

"If you had arrived a bit faster, I'd be in better shape too," Seiya tried to joke and handed Bunny over to his brother.

"Are you kidding me?! First you send us to Osaka to save you, and then we're still too late?" Yaten snorted.

"No, it's all good. You arrived at just the right moment." Yaten and Taiki were almost rushing to freedom through the hole when they noticed Seiya still rooted to the spot.

"Seiya?! What's going on now? Are you coming?" Yaten called out to him. Seiya contemplated whether he should check on Mamoru again. After all, he had also helped him. However, Bunny would never have ended up in this dangerous situation without him. It was his fight. Seiya shook his head and ran after the other two. Bunny's well-being was now the top priority. As they ran to the car, Taiki noticed Bunny growing paler and her breathing becoming more irregular. Seiya moved to the back seat and cradled Bunny in his arms. He felt a wave of panic rise within him. He had never been so afraid for someone's life as in this moment. Yaten parked right in front of the emergency room. As soon as the car stopped, Seiya leaped out and rushed in with Bunny in his arms.

"We need help here! Quickly!" he screamed as soon as he crossed the threshold. It didn't take long for Bunny to be surrounded by doctors and nurses. Seiya could only watch helplessly as they put her on a stretcher and took her into one of the adjacent rooms. The door was labeled "Emergency Room" in big letters. Seiya felt his knees go weak, and he would have collapsed if Yaten hadn't already been supporting him.

"I think you should get checked out as well. After all, you were held captive for several days," Taiki said calmly, waiting for a reaction from Seiya.

"No, I need to know how she's doing first."