Black Bullet - Volume 2 - Chapter 3.5

5

Surprised, Tina jumped out of bed.

Reflected in her eyes were scattered junk food wrappers and foam food trays. Turning her head, she saw the bluish-white light of the moon shining into her room in her temporary residence. Water dripped from the faucet, falling with a splashing sound into a bowl, and the sound of the ticking secondhand of the clock on the wall slowly grew louder in her ears. It was three a.m.

Her underwear was drenched with sweat, and the back of her eyelids throbbed as she shook her head and pressed her hand to her temple.

As if it had been waiting for Tina to wake up, the cell phone next to her rang. “It’s me,” she said.

“What are you doing? How many times do you think I called you?”

“I’m sorry, Master…… I was taking a nap.”

“I have the guard plan for the third conference. I’ll send it to your device now.”

The guard plan arrived on her PDA. She changed it to holodisplay mode, and it projected the images in the air. She looked over them quickly.

Tina frowned. What was this…?

“Those foolish people… How many times are they planning on repeating the same mistake? Well, it gives us the chance for our third assassination, though.”

“But Master… Isn’t there something strange about this?”

“What is?”

“Why are they using such a roundabout guard route? And this route contains a perfect sniping spot. It’s as if they are asking for it.” Tina continued inwardly. On top of that, the sniping spot was in District 39, where she had gone once with Rentaro before they discovered each other’s identities. Tina had a slight familiarity with the terrain.

“In other words, what are you trying to say?”

“Could it be a trap?”

Rand contemplated on the other side of the phone. “There is still no sign that our spy inside the Seitenshi’s palace has been discovered.”

“Master, I have a bad feeling about this. I think we should wait and see just this once.”

“No! You’ve already wasted two perfect chances, and our client is angry. We cannot fail!”

Then, as if he remembered something, her master’s voice dropped, and he asked, “Hey…Tina—Tina Sprout.”

“Yes?”

“I got information that the police officer and Initiator I ordered you to kill are still alive.”

Suddenly, an uncomfortable silence fell.

“I thought I delivered a killing blow,” Tina said, exaggerating her surprise a little. Immediately after, she reproached herself for being too obvious.

“Tina…my precious work of art. Surely you are not disobeying my orders?”

“Of course not, Master.” Her master stayed uncannily silent. Tina wiped the sweat on the palms of her hands on her skirt without letting him notice it.

“Tina, who is your master? Let me hear it.”

“You are, Master…I mean, Professor Rand.”

“To whom do you owe your life?”

“I owe everything to you, Professor Rand.”

“What are you?”

“I am your tool, Professor Rand.”

He paused on the other end. “Fine. There is no change to what you must do. However, I’m sure you understand this, but you cannot fail.”

“What if it is a trap?”

“Break through it by yourself. You should have enough strength for that, at least. However, if you are somehow about to be defeated”—Rand stopped before continuing—“Die.”

Tina clutched the hem of her skirt in her hands.

“Kill yourself.”

Tina calmed her breath and put her hands to her heart, closing her eyes. “I understand, Master.”

Once he heard that, Rand hung up without another word.

Tina turned her head and looked around her apartment. She would leave here soon, too. Opening the lid of the plastic container next to the bed, she poured the gasoline inside over everything in the room. Her head hurting from the gasoline vapors, Tina backed up to the door, then flicked the lighter and threw it inside. Snakes of flames reached all the way into the center of the room, and the whole room was enveloped in crimson flames.

Checking to make sure the fire alarm was working, she left the apartment. The fire truck appeared soon after, and shouts from curious onlookers started.

From a slight distance away, Tina watched the burning apartment as the flames pierced into the night sky. When a pillar burned down, the apartment building collapsed in the cloud of ashes.

Even if Rand was a scientist, he was now taking orders from someone above him. There was no way he would change his mind just because she voiced her dissatisfaction to him. If that was the case, then all Tina could do was what she was ordered to do.

And even if the guard plan was a trap, what of it? Her own combat history as an Initiator was currently at a hundred straight wins. There was no one who could reach her.

However, when she fought the boy dressed in black, Tina had once thought that if there was someone who could defeat her, then it could possibly be—

Just recalling his face made her chest hurt with emotion. Even though the waves of heat on her skin were hot enough to burn, Tina hugged herself, shivering with cold, looking down.

“Please, don’t come…Rentaro…”