“O-oooh…! This is the mugger! Get him!!”
Despite being shaken by the suddenness of the situation, Rommelo remembered his duty as a guard, and gave his subordinates orders.
Everyone grabbed their weapons, and moved to subdue Cross after he revealed his true colors. But Cross clicked his tongue a little, and mumbled like he thought this was annoying, before swinging his blade.
“This place is too cramped for me to fight properly. I’ll cut you all down, so let’s fight outside.”
“Uooooooh!?”
Cross swung his arm, and a dark red slash flew from his blade.
The magic energy slash that looked like it was stained with the color of Delta’s blood destroyed the cafe’s window, and Cross swiftly jumped outside.
“D-don’t let him escape! Catch him!”
Rommelo’s subordinates ran out of the store after Cross, who waited for them outside, and a fierce battle began.
Ehn was dumbfounded by this situation, but… Once she heard the pained groans of Delta, she called out to him as if clinging to him, while he was healed by Melt.
“Delta, hang on! Don’t die!”
“Get away, Ehn!! Don’t get in the way of Melt’s healing!”
“Hey, hang on! You didn’t lose that much blood! You’ll make it! So stay with us!”
The owner held the crying Ehn back, so she would not get in the way of Melt’s healing, while Yuugo desperately called out to Delta.
Jinba stayed there on behalf of the guards, and after Delta’s wound was healed to a certain extent, he opened his eyes.
“Delta! Thank goodness…!”
“He was stabbed in the flank, so it doesn’t seem to be very serious. But all I did was emergency healing, so he still needs to get proper treatment.”
“But we can’t take him outside like this. We need to do something about Cross…!”
Ehn was relieved to see Delta was conscious, but Melt alerted that the situation was still dangerous.
After hearing that, Jinba turned and saw Cross easily dealing with the guards, and groaned.
They got over this hill, but the situation was far from resolved.
And as if speaking on behalf of everyone who did not know what was going on, Ehn, who was the suspect all this time, turned to Delta with questions.
“Delta, what happened? Why did you mug people…? Was it payback because I cut ties with you?”
“No, no Ehn…! I didn’t resent you. And neither did Cross. You might not believe it, but we were rooting for you. But then Cross got weird and then… I’m really sorry…!”
“Rooting for Ehn? What do you mean?”
“…It sounds like we’ll need to hear more about this. I know it might be tough, but tell us what you know from the start.”
Jinba wanted more information from Delta, to unravel this case.
Delta nodded, and spoke about what happened after she left.
“Ehn… I was shocked when I heard you were giving up on crime and going straight. But both Cross and I knew deep down we couldn’t go on like that.
We were happy when the three of us were together, but we couldn’t go on being criminals… When you cut ties with us, I thought the day had finally come.
I was sad, but Cross and I decided to accept it and root for you.”
“No way…! I thought for sure you resented me…!”
“I wouldn’t do that to a friend. You might not believe me, but we really did root for you. And if you could change, maybe we could too, I thought.
We decided to watch over you, and I talked to Cross about saying goodbye to that past like you did. But… But…”
Delta looked outside with a pained expression.
He could not see from the floor, but he could imagine his other friend facing the guards, and that pain that hurt more than being stabbed made him stammer.
“That blade twisted everything. Cross got weirder and weirder ever since he got that. That’s why…!”
“The blade twisted everything? Is that a magic sword!? Hey! Where did he get that!?
“I dunno. He just said someone gave it to him.”
“Who gave it to him!?”
Jinba turned pale as he questioned Delta.
And as Yuugo and the others were surprised by this turn of events, Delta responded.
“I don’t know their name. Delta just said… It was someone wearing a black hood.”
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Did the hooded figure offer only a magic sword? Maybe he was selling USBs or perhaps offered him a button thingie