After school, the CCG branch had already analyzed the shoe Byakuya Uchiha retrieved from the crime scene.
And they confirmed; out of everyone in Seishin High, the only match was Minami Uruka.
However, the CCG wasn't so quick to conclude that Minami was "Lantern."
They simply relayed the intel to Byakuya and Arima Kishou.
The rest of the investigation?
That was up to them.
"She might be 'Lantern'... but we can't jump to conclusions."
While eating dinner, Arima casually spoke.
"Yeah. We'll keep observing her for now."
Byakuya nodded slightly.
He wasn't in a hurry to expose Minami's identity to Arima.
At that moment; a loud, modified motorcycle engine roared past the restaurant.
Two bikes, speeding recklessly.
Byakuya immediately knew it had to be Aki Sasada and Ryou.
"I'll be back in a bit, Arima-san."
Byakuya casually slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked off.
"Check, please!"
He didn't forget to pay the bill before leaving.
But Arima wordlessly stood up and followed him.
"Byakuya, we're partners."
Arima reminded him.
CCG protocol dictated that partners should stick together during operations.
Somewhere on the streets of the 13th Ward-
Aki Sasada and Ryou were riding one motorcycle together.
Two other delinquents-one with a slicked-back rooster cut, the other with a buzz cut-were on another bike.
At this moment Aki looked completely different from how she was at school.
She had flip-flops on, her uniform was gone.
And her hair was now styled just like a stereotypical delinquent girl.
Sasada Aki and Ryou glanced behind each other.
"Pull over immediately!"
Several police cars were chasing after them.
But instead of stopping; they laughed.
They sped up.
And they mocked the cops.
Completely unaware that they had just attracted the attention of someone far more dangerous.
Minami Uruka had been walking down the street when she heard the deafening noise.
It irritated her.
And as she watched the two motorcycles speed away; her eyes turned cold.
A murderous chill filled the air.
"These idiots…"
She hated people like this.
People who had everything handed to them-
And still acted like reckless morons.
She hated their smug, entitled expressions.
Like they could do whatever they wanted.
People like that deserved to die.
They were trash.
Useless to society.
Their deaths wouldn't matter.
Meanwhile-Aki, Ryou, and the others had finally shaken off the cops.
They swerved into a narrow alleyway and stopped.
"Hahahaha! That was sick! Those pigs never stood a chance!"
The rooster-head delinquent laughed.
"Let's go mess with them again later!"
The buzz-cut guy grinned.
What a coincidence.
Fura Taishi just so happened to be passing by.
And the moment he saw the parked motorcycles, he knew.
Aki and the others… went racing again.
"You guys were out doing that dangerous crap again..."
Fura Taishi let out a deep sigh.
"Taishi, what's been up with you lately?"
The rooster-head delinquent squinted at him.
"I heard you've been going to school like a good little student?"
"Yeah, man, what's going on? You hit your head or something?"
The buzz-cut guy sounded concerned.
"Taishi's gotten so freaking boring lately..."
Sasada Aki muttered, pouting.
But she didn't bring up her real suspicion;
Her gut feeling that Fura had a thing for Minami Uruka.
"Taishi, if something happened, you know we got your back, right?"
Ryou's voice was genuine.
Hearing that; Taishi felt touched.
Even though he disapproved of their reckless stunts, he couldn't bring himself to lecture them.
But...
When it came to Uruka Minami, there was no way he could say anything.
Just as he was about to come up with an excuse-
His eyes widened.
Something; Someone had appeared right behind Akira and the others.
A small figure draped in a loose white cloak.
A pumpkin mask covering their face-like something straight out of Halloween.
Lantern; Minami Uruka.
"Who the hell are you?!"
Fura's body tensed up.
Akira and the others turned around.
The pumpkin-headed figure didn't answer.
They just stepped forward.
One step.
Two steps.
Slowly closing the distance.
"Oh? You tryna pick a fight, freak?"
The rooster-head punk grabbed a metal pipe from the ground and swung it.
CLANG!
In an instant the pipe snapped in half.
A pinkish-red tail-like appendage had lashed out from the figure's lower back.
A bikaku kagune.
Among kagune types, the bikaku was known for its balanced capabilities.
It had decent attack power, defense, speed, and endurance yet had no specialties and also lacked decisive lethality.
But against an ordinary human?
More than enough.
The rooster-head delinquent froze.
His face drained of color.
"M-Monster..."
His voice quivered.
"RUN!"
Fura snapped back to his senses.
"NOW!"
Ryou, Aki, and the buzz-cut thug were stunned-
But only for a moment.
Then they bolted.
Unfortunately the rooster-head guy was still on the ground.
Fura couldn't leave him.
He rushed forward yet was simply too late.
He was too slow.
The Rinkaku kagune quickly shot toward the fallen delinquent.
But with a blur came a sudden grip on his arm.
"Made it in time..."
Uchiha Byakuya.
He grabbed the delinquent's arm and yanked him away from the Rinkaku's strike.
At the same time, Arima kishou landed behind the masked figure.
Sensing danger, the kagune whipped around to strike Arima.
But he effortlessly dodged.
Time and time again, with perfect precision.
Seeing this; the masked figure realized; This wasn't good!
Without hesitation; they turned and fled.
Arima was about to unsheath his weapon but by the time he moved, the masked figure had already vanished onto the rooftops.
"Lost them."
Arima stepped next to Byakuya.
"No need to chase."
Byakuya said calmly.
"The puzzle's coming together."
[Ding!]
[Host has successfully completed "Mission 2: Protect Fura Taishi's Delinquent Crew from Minami Uruka's Attack."]
[Reward: 10 Attribute Points!]
[Mission 2 complete. Activating Mission 3...]