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—Akira’s Perspective.

Two and a half hours have passed since the search started. Within this time frame, we only located her three times. And each time, we failed to catch her. I never imagined that her accomplices’ interference would be so troublesome. And the fact that they’d go above and beyond our plans against them is absolutely annoying.

「This is impossible.」
「The one taking command is likely Kotone, but her full power really surpassed our expectations too much.」

In the beginning, we were so fired up for this operation but now everyone in the search has low morale. The reason is that the other party is so overwhelming, most are convinced that all of their efforts will be for nothing.

「I finally understood what the chief told us about. Even with us not holding back, it’s too difficult for us to deal with.」
「The full power of a member of the twelve families is crazy.」

It’s beyond crazy. Still, we’re lucky that we’re not at the point where Kotone won’t choose her methods. If she starts using her authority and influence, we’d seriously have no choice but to give up. Either that, or we’ll have to challenge her with the resolve to destroy our own company.

「Let’s do everything we can. If we let it end like this, it’s not only our reputation that’ll be scarred but the company’s as well.」
「I feel like we’ve already done everything, though.」

We’ve tackled this situation with full force, no holding back. Even so, all we can do is chase after Kotone’s back. No matter how firmly we surround her, she escapes the encirclement and when we think we’ve caught up, she’d leave us in the dust. Of course that would lead to low morale.

「Now that we’re back to the drawing board, time for some predictions.」
「I wonder how many times that makes it.」

I wouldn’t know, I didn’t even count. Even if we try to be on the lookout at anticipated locations, we know that it’ll be wrong with the selfie Kotone sends. And even if we luckily locate her, she’ll gain distance in an instant.

「She already passed by here and here, right?」
「Then there’s only 5 spots left. Judging from her selfies, I feel like she’s mainly going for souvenirs, so I guess this could be a candidate?」

I don’t know what she wants to do, but we at least identified her current objective. She’s even asking us to choose between towels to buy through the pictures. I know she’s definitely messing with us, but we still rushed there, and she was already gone.

「Being outdone like this, we can only give up.」
「Even if we guess her move, she’ll just plan ahead of us. Reading her mind is impossible.」
「And now she’ll move even further ahead of that plan.」
「Stop that. How are we even supposed to find her then?」

I reflexively replied to the familiar voice, but because of the abnormality of the situation, my brain was on pause. It’s probably the same with Kyousuke. Why is the one we’re supposed to be looking for right beside us? Who could have anticipated that?

「Why did you come back? Rather, how did you know our location?」
「I might get late for the gathering time if I don’t get caught soon, you see. I properly informed the chief about the time limit. Besides, wouldn’t it be boring if I just got caught normally?」

So she’s actually acting with consideration. Still, curse that chief, he knew that but didn’t inform us. He probably thought of this situation as nothing more than a training opportunity. Even though the company as a whole would be affected if something ever bad happened.

「As for your location, I just guessed. I made some predictions, confirmed the positions, and thought where would I go if I was in your shoes. Also, I asked Ruru to scout out, arriving here.」

That’s only possible because your capabilities aren’t normal. It’s not like Kyousuke and I stay at one location. We’ve repeatedly moved around to look for Kotone, so there’s no way would be found so easily.

「Lastly, it’s just for safe measure. If things end with me outrunning everyone, it could reflect badly for everyone. I’ve been successfully captured. Isn’t that great?」
「Like hell it is!」

This is clearly a pity win. Getting pity from the person I’m chasing after, my pride won’t allow it. It’s true that it’s good that we’ll get to capture Kotone, but I can’t call this our victory when she came to get caught.

「I’ve bought a lot of souvenirs, so I’m quite satisfied.」
「For us, it’s been the worst day ever.」

Just to be safe, we surrounded Kotone so she couldn’t escape. It’s probably useless, though. Kotone’s clothes haven’t changed since we first located her. However, her hairstyle changed every time. This time, it’s a side ponytail, huh. It really changes the impression she gives off.

「You’re being pointlessly thorough with that.」
「It’s best to be thorough when doing something.」
「Which ended up being stressful for us.」

It’s just a minor change, but the Kotone we’re familiar with constantly had a ponytail. Because of the strong impression it leaves, you would think that it’s not her when you first see her without it and take your sight off of her. Then she slips away. The changing of appearance is annoying, but the most annoying thing is that high-level detection capability.

「Just who are those acquaintances of yours?」
「Just a normal author and her editor.」
「Normal people don’t have that kind of inhuman detection and stealth capabilities, nor are they specialized in close quarters combat!」

This is what I wanted to complain about the most. Kotone alone is already trouble, but with her acquaintances in the fray, it’s beyond trouble. If she had more people, this could have been even more impossible.

「I was prepared to do this even by myself, though.」
「Don’t tell me you planned this before the field trip?」
「No, I got the idea when I was discharged.」

If she can do this much without prior planning, then how would it have gone if she was fully prepared? All I can say for sure is that it’s something I don’t want to imagine. If that’s true, then while Kotone may have been serious, she didn’t perform at her full potential.

「And we were toyed around with that?」
「Just consider yourselves plain unlucky. It was a coincidence that both Ruru and Nako were available.」

No, even if it was Kotone alone, we likely would have taken a lot of time. As long as we can locate her, the capture will be easy. However, I imagine finding her to be extremely tough. Besides, she probably wouldn’t give information in that situation either.

「You two, care to consider working with us? You’ll be an immediate asset.」
「「No.」」
「Not possible. The chief seemed to have personally invited them before, but they also refused.」

Sounds like something he’d do. Still, they instantly refused without giving any thought to it. Well, I’d hate it if we get booted out of Kotone duty, though. If these two were assigned to Kotone, we’d probably suffer for it.

「Alright, we’ll arrive too late if we don’t leave soon. Kyousuke, take charge of the other side.」
「Obviously.」

Kyousuke and I firmly grabbed Kotone’s left and right arms respectively and led her to the car. She might escape again if we don’t do this. Even if she doesn’t have the intention to do so, it’s still giving us unease.

「I won’t run anymore.」
「Even so, after doing such a thing, you should have expected us to be this cautious.」