The Promise of Tomorrow

Chapter 10

"Be on alert! If you see any sign of AST approaching, be prepared to rip off the puppet!" a girl said in the warehouse. On top of the box, Hirano was playing with her weapons as she awaited Y/n who, in her mind, would arrive at any minute now. "We should be able to ambush him if he gets here." she muttered as she was waiting for the day to put him to his place.

Hirano Kaede, the brown haired girl with face full of scars from infighting with many other delinquents and Spirits alike as the gaze of her brown eyes and her large body frame strike fear due to her ferocity like a tiger. Due to this, she has been branded as 'The Scratch' or 'Jolt' by many. She is a feared gang leader, wielding a wooden katana when leading a group of ne'er do wells or two blades when she works at AST. When she has her CR-Unit equipped, her skills are crude, but it was ferocious enough to gain the attention of Tobiichi Origami. 

Hirano then waited, and waited, but no one came as she got irritated and kicked a box that "Goddammit! Where the hell is he? Is he toying with me, that pansy elite?!" she frustratingly asked as she was getting angry over the fact she was not being taken seriously. "Calm down now, I'm sure he will be here. Besides, what you have is his friend's prized belonging! With how he values that Spirit, that traitor will be here soon!" a member of her delinquent group reassured as Kaede believed her words.

"You're right... I should calm down... I'm just REALLY excited to drive my blades into him as he begs for mercy." she sadistically said as suddenly, the room temperature of the warehouse then became cold. "What the? Why is it suddenly so cold- Ah!" a member realized what it may have meant. 

"Hirano-san! Tell everyone to man their positions! Hermit may be approaching us!" one of the delinquents said as she positioned to fire the rifle at any moment the intruder comes. As they braced themselves for the intruder, the winds became colder, and from thin air, icicle spikes came raining from above which made them panic. Due to this, gunfire could be heard as well as explosions as they try to quell the hailstorm.

After 30 seconds, the storm had then stopped instantly, and all of them looked around as they then saw a hole in the wall. Almost everyone dreaded as soon as they knew what was next to come. 

Meanwhile, Shido was mentally exhausted after a long day's work. Successfully sealing Tohka, he sat on the couch as Kotori rested her chin on top of it. "So, how does it feel seducing a Spirit?" she asked as his brother grumbled. "Hectic. Someone almost died even. If Tohka didn't trust me enough, she would've killed me and those two." he replied as he sighed. "Speaking of Y/n, he is supposed to report to Reine now, should he?" she remembered as she heard Shido's phone buzz. The sender of the message was named 'Professional Idiot' which Shido put in as Y/n's contact name. 

His eyes widening, Shido stood up with concern in his face. "What's wrong? Something happened?" Kotori asked as Shido looked at her as his face was signalling her to hurry. "Tell everyone at Fraxinus to prepare themselves. Y/n is in big trouble!" he answered as he wanted to take action as soon as possible. 

"Why? Did he get into a fight?" Kotori asked as Shido nodded. "Why does he have to cause trouble specifically when the job's over...." the tiny redhead complained as she then called in Reine. "Yes, it's me, Kotori. We have an emergency at hand." Kotori told her accomplice as the former was then shocked from what she had heard.

"What?! A heavy concentration of Reiryoku at Tengu's abandoned warehouse?! Are you serious?! Take us to Fraxinus, now!" Kotori ordered in a loud voice as she dragged Shido out of the house. "I don't like it, but we have to use Tohka or the contingency plan in case everything goes south. Shido, we're working overtime." she declared as Shido was not listening, worried about Y/n.