The sniper, Sunazara Chimitsu, had set up his magnetic sniping rifle.
He was in a certain hotel room. Which he intruded into without doing any check-in, releasing the electronic lock at will. After he defeated the window glass security, he cut out a square hole, then put out the magnetic sniping rifle's muzzle.
It was called a magnetic sniping rifle — but its form was quite different from existing rifles; it looked like steel boxes bolted onto a steel tube that was as fat as a human ankle. The barrel, supported by a tripod, was one strong solenoid coil.
Near Sunazara was a suitcase. First, it served as storage for the disassembled magnetic sniping rifle; second, it was a gigantic battery for the same rifle.
"..."
The range was about 700 meters.
All of the obstructing Wind Defense equipment had already been destroyed.
Oyafune Monaka, far-off and onstage, felt so close that he could hold her when he looked through the scope.
Right through her,
Sunazara Chimitsu naturally thought, and then relaxingly pulled the trigger.
At that instant.
*BOOOM!!*
Suddenly, a corner of the concert hall front plaza exploded, and flames with black smoke rose from there.
The target, having taken the blast wave, reflexively flinched her body. Thanks to her irregular action, Sunazara's bullet didn't strike Oyafune Monaka.
"What the...?"
Sunazara frowned at the all-too-good timing. Even during that time, the gorilla-sized bodyguards surrounded Oyafune and took her downstage.
Sunazara had work to do.
He continued to pull the trigger, but the steel bullet struck one of the guards sticking to Oyafune. The guard's body was noisily knocked off, but upon looking at places where there was no bleeding, there was probably bulletproof equipment inserted to serve as a shield.
The remaining guards' arrangement changed. Oyafune's body was completely hidden behind the brawny men.
"For now it's not the right time."
Long-range sniping was delicate. If, for example, he used bullets that could go at the speed of sound and fired from 700 meters, the bullets would take close to two seconds from leaving the barrel until they struck the target. It was not so bad for clueless and standstill targets; but accurately shooting target's vitals that was running away while being defended by multiple guards was difficult.
Sunazara Chimitsu thought for a moment, then decided this time to simply retreat.
"Even so, what blew up?"
Confirming with his scope, the black smoke was coming from the special car with its Wind Defense. Sunazara's expression changed into that of increasing suspicion. He had rained them with bullets to stop their functions, but he had no intention of hitting them to blow them up.
"..."
At that time, Sunazara's held his breath for a moment.
He was very near the ablaze special car. A white-haired person, on-site and merging casually into the scenery, stared right at him. He was supported by a cane, and flames and black smoke were behind him.
"I see."
Sunazara took his eyes off the scope, and immediately got into disassembling his magnetic sniping rifle. As the pieces were stored one by one into the suitcase, he silently muttered,
"I'll remember that face."