187. Black Bullet : Civil Servant Meeting and Fighting the Antagonist. (1)

The next day, after the beginning of the story started, Kaito, along with Midori, went with Rentaro and Kisara to attend a meeting in one of the largest buildings in the city... like what happened in the original. Neither Rentaro nor Kisara knows the purpose of this meeting, but Kaito, who knows the plot, knows that this meeting is the beginning of Satomi Rentaro's vital role as the protagonist in this world.

What happens right now is that the main antagonist, Hiruko Kagetane, takes away the suitcase containing the dangerous object "Legacy of Seven Stars" by himself. The reason why it's so dangerous is that it can attract the attention of a level 5 Gastrea (Scorpion) if it is opened.... a literal city destroyer size Gastrea.. And to make it worse, level 5 Gastrea didn't get affected by the Varanium monolith, hence that monster could destroy the city without being affected by Tokyo Area Varanium magnetic properties at all.

Thus, all the high-level promoters in the city are invited here to be given the mission of retrieving the dangerous suitcase object by Seitenshi to prevent such a thing from happening. This initial plot point will be the beginning of Rentaro's career as he quickly rises in IP rank after defeating level 5 Gastrea using the Ladder of Heaven later on.

What makes it funny is that this entire plot is happening because Tendo Kikunojo, the commander of Tokyo Area, makes a deal with the antagonist, Hiruko Kagetane, to steal the suitcase for him to build more hatred toward cursed children in Tokyo Area. So, despite the danger, Kaito or the chat group members bother to prevent this event from happening or take it seriously, since in their opinion, they are doing it on themselves... and in the plot, Rentaro manages to defeat it just fine.

>>>>>

After walking for a while inside the building, the three of them finally arrived at a large room where all the elite promoters in the city were present, making Kisara and Rentaro wonder what the meeting they were about to attend was about. Midori, Kaito's partner, also looks confused about what's happening, but Kaito has told her that everything is going to be okay, and she has 100% trust in her master.

Seeing the name of her company on the table, Tendo Civil Security, Rentaro and Kisara now have an idea where to go next. However, as they were just about to reach their position, suddenly a man with jagged blonde hair, tan skin, and a muscular build blocked Rentaro on his path and headbutted him, making him fall to the floor.

*BAMM*

...!!

Receiving this treatment, Rentaro immediately took a position ready to take a gun from his back pocket-- but the man with his mouth covered in black cloth still blocked his way and asked rudely, "Hey, little boy, if you are a promoter, where is your tool?"

"Tool?"

"Like your friend, at least he brought his tool with him."

...!!??!!

While Rentaro was confused about what he meant, Kaito, who initially didn't want to interfere with this event, felt offended. Calling Fuse Midori, whom he had considered family, a 'tool', Kaito can't accept that statement. Even though he knew that this man was a good one, and just intimidating them because he didn't want to see teenagers throwing their lives away in this dangerous job... insulting Midori as a tool was a bit too much!

*Slash*

...!!!

In the blink of an eye, Kaito, who had been quiet, immediately drew his sword to the man's neck, making everyone who watched them anxious and surprised-- because no one could see or detect Kaito's movements at all!

"Kaito, you...." (Rentaro)

"Kaito-sama..." (Midori)

"Old man, can you step aside? Your words just pissed me off, you know?" (Kaito)

"..."

Hearing Kaito's threat, this jagged blonde man, Ikuma Shougen, who recognized Kaito, sharpened his eyes and praised, "So fast that I couldn't react, yellow hair, and this western-style varanium sword (resembling Est's shape form)..."

"I didn't expect the yellow-haired swordsman to be so young."

...!!

"He is the yellow-haired swordsman!?" (Promotor A)

"Strongest promoter and rising star in the city?!" (Promotor B)

"He is the top rising star among promoters with an IP rank of 417 within a month!" (Promotor C)

...

Hearing Ikuma Shougen's comment, the other promoters were shocked to hear it because Kaito's reputation among promoters has been popular lately. Because of Kaito's widely known mission success rate and his 'inhuman' sword mastery surpassing that Tendo style, he was nicknamed "Yellow Hair Swordman" by people. In addition, since Ikuma Shougen's ranking is around 1500 out of 700,000 promoters, yet considered top 1% in the world, Kaito, who is ranked around 400, is the top 0.1% in the world and is arguably one of the strongest people in Tokyo right now.

"Sigh, I hate my stupid title." 

Although it sounds cool, Kaito honestly hates the title he got from people around the Tokyo Area. This is because yellow hair is the same as the idiom of a Netori perpetrator who likes to steal other people's partners. Unfortunately, even though Kaito has asked people to change his title, people still call him by that name. Kaito can only blame his bad luck on this and decides to let it be.

As Kaito and Ikuma Shougen stared heatedly at each other, an unhappy government official immediately reminded them both loudly, "Ikuma Shougen, Yellow Hair Swordsman!"

"Stop your fight, or you two get out!"

"..."

"Hmmph!" (Ikuma Shougen)

"Yesss..." (Kaito)

Reminded by the official, both parties eventually decided to back off from each other, as they did not want to be kicked out of the meeting. Although Kaito did not care about this meeting, he was part of the protagonist group now, and Kaito did not want to embarrass them with his behavior.

>>>>>

After the brief exchange, the meeting finally began because the Tendo Civil Security representative was the last to arrive, and now all representatives were present. Just like in the original, the official then opened the meeting by activating the giant monitor in the meeting room, which showed the faces of Seitenshi and Tendo Kikunojo, as the highest government officials in the Tokyo area.

A girl with short white hair, and clear blue eyes, her skin was pale white, and she wore a gorgeous white dress-- showing her otherworldly beauty that giving impression the girl was a noble character.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

...!!

Realizing that Seitenshi was directly leading this meeting, the promoters present were shocked, including Rentaro and Kisara, immediately bowed their heads to the monitor to show respect and take this meeting more seriously. Only Kaito did not bow to her, because even though he knew Seitenshi was a good government official who supported the existence of the Cursed Children in this city, Kaito refused to respect her. In his opinion, she was more like a powerless puppet leader set up by Tendo Kikunojo and was very useless despite her position.

After that, like in the original, the beginning of the legacy of the stars arc-- Seitenshi then proceeds to issue a mission to all promoters in the meeting room to find a silver suitcase as quickly as possible who has currently got stolen. On top of that, she also offered a reward of 1 billion yen to anyone who managed to find it which make many promoters excited.

So far, nothing has changed from the plot Kaito knows, and right now, while everyone else is excited, only Kisara herself was suspicious about it and raised her hand to ask, "Seitenshi-sama, may I ask a question?"

"Of course, the leader of the Tendo Civil Security corporation."

"Is the mission only to retrieve a suitcase?" Kisara asked and added, "If it's just Gastrea level 1, any low-level promoter should be able to handle it.

"But why do you want to order all high-level promoters to do this mission?"

"Is there anything dangerous inside it, since you offered a large amount of cash for the reward for it?"

...!!??!!

Hearing Kisara's argument, many promoters who were previously excited immediately became solemn because they agreed with Kisara's words, as what she says does make sense. 1 billion yen was indeed a large amount as a prize, but they were all veteran promoters who understood that the bigger the reward, the more dangerous the job, they said.

Unfortunately, Seitenshi, who looked flat with her expression, refused to answer and said, "It is not something you need to know--"

"Hah!"

...!!!

At that moment, someone at the table immediately snorts at Seitenshi's words, making their attention riveted to the source of the voice. At the same time, everyone in the room finds the main antagonist also sitting with them, Hiruko Kagetane. Unlike Rentaro, the antagonist appears to be much more 'flashy', wearing a white mask with a mischievous smirk and a matching red hat, red suit, and red long pants set that looks luxurious.

'So he's finally here. Midori let them do whatever they want for now.' Kaito ordered her from his mind, using a little of the chat group points.

Kaito, who activated haki all the way, certainly knew Kagetane's dan, his partner's movements from the front door into the meeting room, but he just let it be since Kaito didn't want to catch or kill him anyway. He also told Midori to not disturb the event here, and just believe everything is going to be okay.

Even though this antagonist is crazy and wants to cause destruction, this guy is at least still needed in the plot and somewhat "good guy", especially later when Hiruko Kagetane even joins under Rentaro's orders to protect the Tokyo Area against Aldebaran.

Seeing him appear out of nowhere, everyone in the room immediately became alert, especially seeing Kagetane standing at the table without fear, even though surrounded by many people. Kagetane also looked at the screen with 'respect' while introducing himself.

"My name is Hiruko. Hiruko Kagetane. Former IP rank 143 and the one who stole the suitcase. It must be our first meeting, incompetent Tokyo Governor, Seitenshi-sama."

*Gasp*

...!!!

Hearing Kagetane's harsh words towards Seitenshi, Rentaro, who had fought this man yesterday and knew how strong he was, immediately shouted at him, "You, what are you doing here!?"

"How are you doing, Satomi-kun?"

Rentaro immediately aimed his gun at the masked man, "How do you get in?!"

"Of course, I come from the front door, although I did kill some fleas along the way with the help of my daughter." Hiruko confidently answered and then continued by calling his partner, "Come in, Kohina."

"Yes, papa!"

...!!!

Hearing her father's order, Hiruko Kohina, a little girl with dark blue hair and red eyes, immediately ran to Kagetane Hiruko's side quickly... with a cheerful smile, even though they were surrounded by enemies.

Following his father's example earlier, she then also bowed toward the screen where Seitenshi was and introduced herself, "Hiruko Kohina, 10 years old!"

After that, Kohina turned around and looked at Rentaro, who had been aiming his gun at them for a while, "Papa, he is aiming his gun at her."

Kohina looked at Rentaro with hostility, while raising knives in her right hand, "Can I cut him?"

...!!?!!

"Nope. Not the right time now, my daughter."

Hearing her papa's denial, Kohina pouted and complained, "Hmmph. Papa. You are annoying."

"Besides, if you try to attack him, his friend will not stay silent, Kohina~" 

Hiruko Kagetane shook his head and then stared at Kaito, who didn't even seem to take the situation around him seriously, "The blonde brother behind him was very strong and we don't want to fight him here."

...!!!

Hearing Hiruko's comment, everyone in the meeting room looked at Kaito, not expecting that someone in the 100s IP rank would acknowledge Kaito's strength and even wary of him. On the other hand, Kaito who realized his plan to let the plot run without interference failed because of Hiruko's words, made him depressed and could only blame his bad luck.