The movements of the police officers who understood the situation slowed down. Then, an elderly man with a high position stepped forward from behind the police officers. He gave off an impression of severity.
He spoke in a clear voice without tension, “Let me talk to your leader. In the meantime, if anything happens to the hostages, we will kill them all. We are prepared for that.”
At that voice, the comrades who were struggling to prevent the police officers’ invasion exchanged glances. They seemed anxious and unable to decide what to do.
From behind them, Cassini slowly stepped forward. Despite wearing tattered clothes, he exuded an atmosphere as if he held a government position. Not only me, but everyone’s eyes were focused on him.
“I am the leader.”
“Oh, it’s you…”
The elderly man narrowed his eyes coldly and looked at Cassini as if appraising him. After confirming his appearance and features for a while, the man spoke.
“I won’t say anything bad. Stop resisting and release the hostages right away.”
“What if I refuse?”
“As I said earlier, we will judge that some sacrifices are unavoidable.”
In other words, they would resolve the situation even if it meant killing someone. I felt contempt mixed in the man’s voice.
I looked at Cassini. Then, his hand seemed to tremble slightly.
“Huh, you big shot still don’t understand what we’re asking for? Or what’s happening in this country?”
“What do you know? You are criminals. Who will listen to what a criminal has to say about the future of our country?
Even if it’s true?
When Cassini asked in a firm voice, the older man shook his head from side to side.
“Even if it’s true or false, do you think there are people who seriously listen to your words? You made a fuss and thought you could be in the newspaper, but your playtime is over.”
“Playtime? This is not a game. We took action for ourselves and for the future of our country. You should be grateful. Otherwise, someday this country will be invaded by another country, and you, the prince over there, and your precious things might be taken away. It will be too late to regret then.”
“Worker ants have quite a mouth.”
The man’s words mixed with sarcasm, and the comrades present there changed their expressions. Everyone showed anger and glared at the man.
“Do you really have that much value? Your memory of being active in a foreign country is probably very excellent, but committing a crime makes it hardly worth mentioning.”
After the man’s words, the knife that had been pointed at me shook. I immediately understood that it was due to anger.
The arm that was caught hurts.
I can hear his frustrated and pained breathing.
Even though I should be in a situation where I might be stabbed, I understood his feelings well.
I understood it all too well.
That’s why I couldn’t stop.
“Who made you think that?”
The voice was clearer than I expected and echoed through the area.
I was a little surprised and scared, but I didn’t want to stop. I just wanted to let out the feelings that had built up in my chest.
The gaze of everyone in the area was focused painfully on me.
It was more intense than at the party.
It felt like it was piercing me even more deeply.
“I’m asking who are you!”
“M-Me?”
“Who else is there? You’re the representative!”
The middle-aged man, who was probably in a fairly high position in the police organization, seemed confused by the angry voice that had come from an unexpected direction.
Well, he probably didn’t expect to hear anything other than “help me” from a hostage, but that didn’t matter.
“Everyone here isn’t doing this because they like it. We just want our abilities to be evaluated correctly. It’s just that you guys cut us off with things like rank, so we had no choice but to take this route.”
“Aren’t you a hostage and a victim? Are you one of their comrades?”
The man’s sharp eyes caught me.
Feeling intimidated by his condemning gaze, I looked at Cassini and his comrades in surprise and said:
“Comrades? No, I think what they did was wrong too. But there are people here who were forcibly brought here. There are people who just wanted to escape from a painful life or who were genuinely worried about this country and gave up their lives to participate. But everyone had no choice but to take this route because they couldn’t even get their voices heard due to their low rank.”
I didn’t raise my voice that much, but since the area was so quiet, my voice echoed clearly.
“So what? You committed a crime.”
“So what? Our lives are at stake here!”
I retorted directly.
Even the man seemed to have lost his voice and didn’t respond immediately. Then, a stifled laughter came from behind.
All eyes, including mine, turned in that direction.
The one laughing was the prince. He laughed heartily with his hand over his mouth and then walked towards us.
No one else could move.
Jeremiah also seemed surprised by the prince’s sudden action.
As for me, I wondered why the prince was coming over here, but I couldn’t move as if I were fixed in place.
My heart beat loudly in sync with the sound of his footsteps.
What does he want to say? I became scared just imagining it, and my mind went blank.
Now I regretted it and thought that maybe I should have stopped, but it was too late.
After a while, voices of restraint such as “Please stop” or “It’s dangerous” were heard, but the prince ignored them and continued to approach until he stopped near the middle-aged man.
Then he looked straight at me and smiled.
The movements of the police officers who understood the situation slowed down. Then, an elderly man with a high position stepped forward from behind the police officers. He gave off an impression of severity.
He spoke in a clear voice without tension, “Let me talk to your leader. In the meantime, if anything happens to the hostages, we will kill them all. We are prepared for that.”
At that voice, the comrades who were struggling to prevent the police officers’ invasion exchanged glances. They seemed anxious and unable to decide what to do.
From behind them, Cassini slowly stepped forward. Despite wearing tattered clothes, he exuded an atmosphere as if he held a government position. Not only me, but everyone’s eyes were focused on him.
“I am the leader.”
“Oh, it’s you…”
The elderly man narrowed his eyes coldly and looked at Cassini as if appraising him. After confirming his appearance and features for a while, the man spoke.
“I won’t say anything bad. Stop resisting and release the hostages right away.”
“What if I refuse?”
“As I said earlier, we will judge that some sacrifices are unavoidable.”
In other words, they would resolve the situation even if it meant killing someone. I felt contempt mixed in the man’s voice.
I looked at Cassini. Then, his hand seemed to tremble slightly.
“Huh, you big shot still don’t understand what we’re asking for? Or what’s happening in this country?”
“What do you know? You are criminals. Who will listen to what a criminal has to say about the future of our country?
Even if it’s true?
When Cassini asked in a firm voice, the older man shook his head from side to side.
“Even if it’s true or false, do you think there are people who seriously listen to your words? You made a fuss and thought you could be in the newspaper, but your playtime is over.”
“Playtime? This is not a game. We took action for ourselves and for the future of our country. You should be grateful. Otherwise, someday this country will be invaded by another country, and you, the prince over there, and your precious things might be taken away. It will be too late to regret then.”
“Worker ants have quite a mouth.”
The man’s words mixed with sarcasm, and the comrades present there changed their expressions. Everyone showed anger and glared at the man.
“Do you really have that much value? Your memory of being active in a foreign country is probably very excellent, but committing a crime makes it hardly worth mentioning.”
After the man’s words, the knife that had been pointed at me shook. I immediately understood that it was due to anger.
The arm that was caught hurts.
I can hear his frustrated and pained breathing.
Even though I should be in a situation where I might be stabbed, I understood his feelings well.
I understood it all too well.
That’s why I couldn’t stop.
“Who made you think that?”
The voice was clearer than I expected and echoed through the area.
I was a little surprised and scared, but I didn’t want to stop. I just wanted to let out the feelings that had built up in my chest.
The gaze of everyone in the area was focused painfully on me.
It was more intense than at the party.
It felt like it was piercing me even more deeply.
“I’m asking who are you!”
“M-Me?”
“Who else is there? You’re the representative!”
The middle-aged man, who was probably in a fairly high position in the police organization, seemed confused by the angry voice that had come from an unexpected direction.
Well, he probably didn’t expect to hear anything other than “help me” from a hostage, but that didn’t matter.
“Everyone here isn’t doing this because they like it. We just want our abilities to be evaluated correctly. It’s just that you guys cut us off with things like rank, so we had no choice but to take this route.”
“Aren’t you a hostage and a victim? Are you one of their comrades?”
The man’s sharp eyes caught me.
Feeling intimidated by his condemning gaze, I looked at Cassini and his comrades in surprise and said:
“Comrades? No, I think what they did was wrong too. But there are people here who were forcibly brought here. There are people who just wanted to escape from a painful life or who were genuinely worried about this country and gave up their lives to participate. But everyone had no choice but to take this route because they couldn’t even get their voices heard due to their low rank.”
I didn’t raise my voice that much, but since the area was so quiet, my voice echoed clearly.
“So what? You committed a crime.”
“So what? Our lives are at stake here!”
I retorted directly.
Even the man seemed to have lost his voice and didn’t respond immediately. Then, a stifled laughter came from behind.
All eyes, including mine, turned in that direction.
The one laughing was the prince. He laughed heartily with his hand over his mouth and then walked towards us.
No one else could move.
Jeremiah also seemed surprised by the prince’s sudden action.
As for me, I wondered why the prince was coming over here, but I couldn’t move as if I were fixed in place.
My heart beat loudly in sync with the sound of his footsteps.
What does he want to say? I became scared just imagining it, and my mind went blank.
Now I regretted it and thought that maybe I should have stopped, but it was too late.
After a while, voices of restraint such as “Please stop” or “It’s dangerous” were heard, but the prince ignored them and continued to approach until he stopped near the middle-aged man.
Then he looked straight at me and smiled.
