Under the cover of moonlight and the seats in the front row, Kisho and Amos instantly switched places.
The family of four seated in the middle of the carriage trembled as they were forced out from behind the table at gunpoint.
Bringing up the rear was a little girl only three or four years old.
She opened her innocent eyes wide and looked toward her parents.
Even though she was too young to truly understand what was happening, she could feel an overwhelming terror emanating from her mother, whose hand was tightly gripping hers.
—Not only her mother, but her father as well, and everyone else on the train.
"Waaah—! Wuuu—!"
The little girl pouted, then burst into loud sobs.
Although her mother quickly covered her mouth, it was enough to draw the pitch-black gun barrels toward her.
One of the bandits cursed coldly, "Damn it, that noise is killing me! Control your brat!"
The bandit leader stared at the terrified mother, his voice thick with impatience:
"If she cries again, I'll blow her head off!"
The mother nodded frantically, pressing even harder over the little girl's mouth—and her eyes—trying to block the fear from reaching her daughter.
The little girl buried herself in her mother's arms, sobbing in broken hiccups.
Her father exchanged a glance with her mother, then shakily gathered all the family's valuables and stood up. Seeing that the bandit leader said nothing further, he slowly stepped forward.
Kisho let out a faint breath of relief.
While the thugs' attention was fixed on the family of three, the two boys swiftly vaulted over the seatbacks and each took position behind a table on either side.
And the broad-built Tasber, to their wide-eyed astonishment, moved with agility utterly at odds with his size and sat down in the last row.
Fast and steady, without a sound.
Amos silently gave Tasber a thumbs-up.
Tasber curled his lips briefly, then turned serious and pointed at the bandit standing farther back between the two. His gesture clearly meant: I'll take care of this one.
Amos nodded and signaled back with his eyes that the bandit leader was his.
Tasber's brows knit slightly, but under Amos's resolute gaze, he hesitated before finally nodding. He mouthed, "Be careful."
He could feel it too. These two boys were anything but ordinary.
On Tasber and Amos's side, the tables were empty—no passengers.
On Kisho's side, he made a "shh—" gesture toward the two passengers beside him, who looked terrified and had no idea where this kid had come from.
The two passengers: "..."
They had no idea where this kid had appeared from, nor why he seemed so intent on throwing his life away.
One of them, in speechless silence, quietly shifted inward to make room for Kisho.
Kisho smiled at him and sat down beside him openly.
Passenger: "..."
Time passed.
The passenger in the second-to-last row stood up reluctantly and returned a minute later.
Kisho glanced subtly at Amos, then stood up together with the other two passengers at the table.
Three of them—one in front, two behind—moved forward with difficulty.
Step by step…
The trio passed the bandit at the back, passed the leader by the carriage door, and were just about to reach the front—
Bang.
Tasber had suddenly stood up. The force of his movement knocked the table with a loud crash.
The next second, the bandit leader raised his gun toward him.
"Damn it, you wanna die—?"
The flesh on Tasber's face trembled. His narrowed eyes were filled with fear as he apologized repeatedly:
"S-Sorry…"
Lowering his head as if utterly terrified, he stammered, "Can my little brother and I join their group?"
The bandit leader sneered, narrowing his eyes.
"In a hurry to hit the road, huh?"
His words made every heart in the carriage skip a beat.
He no longer bothered to hide his killing intent.
"Fine. I'll grant your wish. Get your asses over here!"
Tasber responded with an "Eh," and shot Amos a look.
Amos paused.
While marveling inwardly—"Didn't expect this fat guy's acting to be this good!"—he followed him out from behind the table.
At the front of the carriage.
The two passengers beside Kisho began pulling out everything valuable from their large and small bags, placing it into the box before them.
When it was Kisho's turn, he took out the nearly maxed-out credit card from his pocket and tossed it into the box.
As he did, the card Amos had given him slipped out and fell to the ground.
"Ah!"
Kisho looked down at it and let out a startled cry, his tone panicked as if something extremely precious had fallen.
He hurriedly bent down to pick it up when the bandit on the right barked sharply:
"Don't move! Move again and I'll shoot you!"
Kisho froze.
A dark gun barrel was pointed at his head.
The bandit on the right cautiously approached him, gun raised.
One step.
Another step.
Another…
Kisho held his breath slightly, his face filled with fear as if he were about to cry.
Behind him, Amos and Tasber were also closing in on the two bandits in the center of the carriage.
"What is this thing?"
The bandit picked up the exquisitely crafted card from the ground. After examining it for a moment and realizing it was just an ordinary card, he exploded in anger:
"It's just a damn card! What the hell are you freaking out for?!"
"It's not just a card."
Kisho suddenly looked up at him, shouting indignantly as if insulted.
"It's a limited-edition SSR gold card—"
The bandit was about to respond, but was instantly blinded by a burst of golden light erupting from the card.
"Wha—"
Before he could finish, Kisho, who had been standing by the box, vanished without a trace.
Bang—!
The bandit pressed against the left side of the carriage was struck viciously in the face by the boy who had suddenly appeared before him.
His expression of utter shock remained frozen on his face as he collapsed unconscious, not even managing to utter half a word.
After the golden light faded, another "Kisho" identical to him appeared.
The moment he materialized, he clamped tightly onto the wrist of the bandit holding the card—whose face was filled with astonishment—and gave it a light twist—
With a crisp crack of bone, the bandit flailed wildly, trying to break free, screaming, "Aaahhh!"
"Believe now that I'm an SSR gold card?" the speaking "Kisho" smirked. "Scum."
With lightning speed, he grabbed the submachine gun that had slipped from the bandit's grasp due to the pain, braced it against his knee, and snapped it in two—
The submachine gun broke cleanly in half and fell to the ground.
The passengers on the train: "..."
Kisho looked at "Kisho" and let out a soft whistle.
He really was exactly like himself—even down to the love of snark and bad jokes.
On the other side.
Everything had happened too fast. In that flash of lightning, the two bandits near the back hadn't had time to react.
But they would never get the chance to react again.
The bandit closest to Tasber, caught in a brief lapse of attention, had his submachine gun snatched away in a movement too fast to see clearly and thrown out through the open window.
He himself was slammed to the ground in an instant by Tasber's overwhelming physical advantage, his hands twisted behind his back. In no time at all, he was tightly bound with wire that Tasber had no one knew where he'd pulled from.
The farther bandit was Amos's target. With only a slight step, Amos appeared at his side.
Marveling at the sudden boost in speed granted by the badge, Amos raised his hand and viciously locked it around the bandit's throat.
With a sharp crack, he stepped back expressionlessly.
The bandit with his cervical spine snapped collapsed to the ground, eyes wide open in death.
Amos withdrew his gaze calmly, brushed off his hands—though nothing had stained them—and then released his Nen pressure without reservation toward the bandit leader standing by the door.
Bandit leader: "..."
It was as if he had been instantly sealed inside a ten-meter-thick block of ice, or targeted by the most ferocious beast.
Though he still held a gun, that feeling made even the slightest movement of a finger impossibly difficult.
Cold sweat burst from every pore in his body.
No matter how he tried, he could not understand why, in less than five seconds, the situation inside the carriage had turned completely upside down.
The one who should be feeling despair now—
Was him.