The two men arrived at the meeting place, but Hal got there earlier than Sir Jack.
The Gate had spawned in the middle of the road pretty close to residential areas, so the police officers called in to control the access to the location.
However, there were only a few onlookers present.
The majority of Gates the Organization took on were those dangerous ones that had been left alone for too long after their initial discovery.
It was only a couple of curious, naughty kids, that loitered around, who got chased away by the officer every now and then.
"Please show me your IDs."
Sir Jack pulled out his wallet and displayed his ID.
"I'm Jack Spencer, a B-rank Hunter, and this young man here is ....well, a colleague." He said while looking away from Hal.
The cops checked the face on the ID to see if it matched the face of Sir Jack and, after confirmation, returned the card to him.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, sir; you are good to go."
"Yh, yh," Jack replied hurriedly and briskly walked forward with Hal just behind him.
Hal was wondering why Sir Jack had said he was his colleague and saved him from the stress of showing his ID. He could have done it himself.
"If I may ask, sir, back there, you said I was your colleague, Does that mean we're good now? I'm free of any suspicion from you?"
Sir Jack turned his head and spoke in a bewildered manner but didn't stop his brisk walk.
"Of course not! I'm still suspicious of you, and I won't stop till I get my satisfied answers. Ok?"
"Then why the help? I didn't need it; I could have done the same thing you did and passed through with no stress, so why?" Hal kept probing him.
"What do you mean, can't one do a little bit of good deed now and then? heck!" Sir Jack a
asked slightly fluttered.
"Ok, then sir, if that's it, I'll leave you be."
Hal decided to drop the matter as they had now gotten to where the rest of the Hunters were waiting.
The employee from the Organization was waiting in front of the gate. It was a young woman wearing a round-rimmed pair of glasses.
She approached the two men after spotting them from a distance.
"Sir Jack, Mr Hal." She officially greeted them. Then, she tilted her head sideways, like she found something strange.
"How come the both of you arrived at the same time? Do you two know each other well?"
Sir Jack immediately replied.
"No, we don't. We simply were at the same location when we received the distress call, and so came down together."
"Oh, is that so? But are you sure you don't know each other all too well?"
"No, only participated in a raid with him, once....." He said, then continued in a whisper.
"....And got into a tuffle with him."
"Sorry, I couldn't quite catch what you said?" The lady in Harry Potter glasses asked.
"Nothing, nothing." Sir Jack replied while making a noise with his throat.
"Oh, right. Other Hunters are waiting for you. Why don't you two head over there and greet them."
Other Hunters had arrived earlier where the Organization employee was pointing at.
Well, there were only two Hunters there, however. The number of Hunters willing to participate in raids has been decreasing lately due to the occurrence of malfunctions in the gates gradually becoming a norm.
Even after measuring the Gate's energy level, one couldn't be sure it would truly be that way. The MHO were coming up with a strategy to deal with the matter, but till then some Hunters decided not to participate in raids.
Hal was surprised to see the healer-type Hunter who had always taken care of him during his weak days as a Hunter.
'Freya.'
Hal and Sir Jack approached closer to the other two Hunters, and when they got close, the other male Hunter with Freya, awkwardly averted his gaze.
Hal's eyes formed into slits.
"Hmmm."
It happened to me, Mister Heights, who he had met recently.
The reason he was trying to avoid him, must have been because of the weird incident that happened between them the last time they saw.
Mr. Heights was probably feeling weird - shamed, maybe, that both he and another B-rank Hunter couldn't put an E-rank Hunter in his place.
But that was that, and Hal didn't bear grudges, so when he got close enough to hear, he greeted him.
"Good day, Mr. Heights."
"Ahh! It-it's nice to see you to Hal." He replied nervously.
'Is he the Hal that I know? I mean, his eyes are as fierce as a monster, man. Like a real monster....'
Mister Heights shuddered deeply. As he thought, his hands were covered in goosebumps.
Hal withdrew his glare filled with hostility, shifted his gaze to another direction, and smiled gently, but before he had the chance to completely turn around to look...
"Hal? Is that you!"
Something rather soft suddenly hugged him tightly.
"Freya? ?"
While Hal was getting flustered, Freya was too busy making sure he was fine with a tearful face.
"Are you alright? You are not hurt anywhere, right? Oh, Hal, it's so good to see you!" She said with a genuine smile and kept her gaze fixed on his face.
The wind blew a strand of her hair, and she gently tucked it back in place, the cute smile never leaving her face.
'Hmm, now that I think about it, our lady Freya is a real beauty, isn't she? how come I never noticed?' Hal thought to himself.
His eyes went extra round and his cheeks slowly began to turn red.
As Hal was still letting his emotions take the better part of him, a helmet suddenly hit his head, followed by an annoyed voice.
"Youths of nowadays! Can't even be in close contact with a lady and their whole brain wiring comes undone!"
Sir Jack...Sir Jack couldn't stand the youth's behavior.
"Acting so coylish, heck!"