Alright, I promised you a new story to replace Beyond dawn's horizon.
So, I give you this. Did you read the description already? Good, then you are well informed about how this will go.
It was with a jerk of a foot that he was startled awake. For a brief moment, the man wondered where he was at. With the widening of his eyes, he remembered that he was in the middle of a flight inside an airplane. He took several but subtle glances around, seeing the two seats beside him and the many rows of seats in front and behind him. The man blinked several more times just to get the haziness out from his eyes, falling asleep and waking up suddenly had always given him this kind of aftereffect.
He is currently in the middle of his flight, an airplane travelling on the air from Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Tokyo, Japan, the capital city of Japan itself. The atmosphere inside the plane was best described to be quiet, with people sleeping or dozing off in their MP3 players. The two people seated beside him are both asleep and thankfully, none of them were leaning towards him.
The man takes a moment to comb his wild golden mane with his hands backwards, he found the moment to be a perfect opportunity to stretch his back and aching limbs. He also stifled a small yawn that barely escaped his mouth and his eyes started to water but it was quickly erased with a smooth swipe of his sleeves.
The reflection of his azure blue eyes were available on the viewing mirror, he took a small glance from where he was at toward outside; even if he could not really lean due to the person sleeping next to it. He can see the blue ocean as well as the cloud covering it, hindering his view. The sky is sunny clear, no signs of bad weather happening at all.
A small but resounding ding filled the air, quickly grabbing his attention. Then the female voice of the flight attendant comes through the speakers. "We are two hours away from our destination; seatbelts are to remain buckled at all times." Then the voice ends.
For the man, he could only care less whether or not he used the seatbelts or not. Even if this whole plane was to crash or sink into the sea, he would still survive. Sighing, the blonde male slumped backwards into his seat and looked around the quiet scenery of the plane. It seemed so peaceful with all the people sleeping and dozing off. He had business in Tokyo and while it is private, it might not be as peaceful as this. The situation is so peaceful that he could fall asleep again, which what would have happened if it was not for this.
His closing eyes quickly snapped open. Then, a few milliseconds later, the cockpit of the plane exploded into flames; followed by the cabin and the whole plane entirely.
It happened so fast, so very fast. He could not even tell what hit them. But now, he felt his body falling from great heights and the flaming debris of airplane parts were cascading quickly alongside him and whatever chunk of burnt human flesh. Of course, he was not entirely in tact too. His body was covered in four degree burns and his business suit was completely burnt from the explosion and he was currently missing a leg and arm, both of them were his right ones.
"Tch…! What the hell…?!" he can worry about his limbs later, right now, he must try to not get hit by any falling debris or whatsoever. Even though his body parts may regenerate, it will still hurt like hell if were to get hit by a flaming debris. He make sharp of his body by keeping his straight so that he could increase his falling speed, it is better to hit water first than having to handle with whatever parts of the plane that made its way first.
After approximately half a minute later, he hits the ocean's surface. The sensation of water hitting his face hard wakes whatever instincts that were left in him. His first reaction was to resurface, because having to deal with water getting into his eyes was a troublesome thing to do. Now that all of his body had completely regenerated, he can swim up towards the surface perfectly fine. He breathed in air, even if there was no need to do so in the first due to his system converting water particles into oxygen with a little help of something called chakra. Sick thing is, chakra can be used to break down particles in an element. Something very, very neat.
"Aw man… Murphy's law just had to happen didn't it?!" he shouted angrily to no one in particular. "Just what the fuck did we hit anyway!?" the blonde looked around angrily, finding nothing on sight. He then touched the water with his hand as if it was a solid object. He lifted himself up to his feet, standing on the surface of the water with his entire body wet. He resumed his earlier activity to look around, unfortunately, he was unable to spot anything. However, after a few more seconds of vigilant watch; he saw something… more like things approaching towards his direction coming from the distant horizon.
Thanks to his enhanced field of view, he could make up the first thing he saw. It was… a giant, well not really that big, but giant metallic whale like thing with a set of broken teeth in the front. There was not just one, in fact, there were six of them. He did his first action, which was to hop onto a piece of floating debris to avoid anything seeing him standing on water like a needle in a pincushion. Those things are definitely not ships… so, what are they?
Whatever they are, it seems that they are not friendly in the slightest. His azure eyes narrowed themselves to a high level of danger and at the same moment, the clear skies changed into that of a grey and thundery one. Lighting cackles and the sound of thunder breaks through the strongest wind. The waves picked up, yet he was able to keep on his makeshift raft. Right now, it was safe to assume that those… monstrosities were the ones responsible for the sudden explosion of the plane he was on moments ago. He could summon the thunder God Himself and do some electric fishing by frying whatever live there is under this ocean along with the incoming group of six metal monsters.
But of course, he was not really going to do that. He was going to do this:
"Suiton: Uzumaki."
The sound of cackling thunderstorms was the accompanied by the picking up of wind, the water in front of the blonde and the incoming group of metal things began to spin; causing a small whirlpool to form. Said whirlpool kept on spinning, causing it to increase in diameter and speed. The sight was just like a scene from a standard apocalypse movie, it is too bad that they did not get to use to real thing when making those scenes. It was basically a sudden and deadly storm, the approaching metal like ship things got sucked into the whirpool; just like when someone were to press the flush handle on a toilet seat. The five hunks of metals were still spinning down the vortex, and it looks like they were not regular ships after all. The man was not sure if there were even people manning those things.
The man who was still on the piece of debris raised his hand, and then he closed his palm, turning it into a fist. At the same time, the whirlpool exploded unnaturally. It was as if the sea decided to explode on its own, using high water pressure to destroy those metal chunks to nothing but bits and pieces of smaller metals. The storm died down, followed by the wind and the spinning whirlpool itself. The grey clouds began to disappear seemingly so suddenly and the blonde man was still sitting on the piece of airplane material.
"Now that took a quite a lot of chakra than what I expected…" the man muttered to himself. He then released a huge bottled sigh, while laying his back on the floating piece of debris. "Whew… now how am I going to go and reach shore like this…" he could just walk and get to shore but the chances of people seeing him would be possible. Or he could teleport right into Tokyo, but he was currently not in the mood of doing anything right now just because he had just experienced one hell of a flight. All of his luggage is gone and he did not have any storage seals installed at the moment, just great… well, probably saying that he did not have at least one storage seal installed was a lie. He had one installed, but its content will not provide him with a passport, extra clothes and food.
He only placed his kunai, a handgun and three extra magazines just to go along with it. Why a handgun one might ask, when he could have just dealt with anyone on his own without even breaking a single sweat? By rights, since he is a person with a profession that requires him to travel to other countries often, he needed to at least have one item of self defense with him. At least that was what his agent told him; he got the papers and any form of legal documents about ownership regarding the weapon. As for the kunai… well, he had to stick with the original. The blonde wiped the wet surface of his face irately, mostly due to the fact that he found it very uncomfortable to lie here under the sun in the middle of the freaking ocean with the remains of a plane which had just exploded approximately twenty minutes earlier floating around him… not to mention, those metallic vessel like things… just what were they?
The blonde closed his eyes, guessing that a sleep will at least save him from all the thinking that he might do. Becoming an author of one of the world's most bestselling book requires him to think constantly even during moments when he was not writing or working on a draft. His editor is—excuse him… was a busybody, to both himself and others. It was no wonder that they sent him with him… probably just to get him off from the office or something, too bad he died though. Speaking of jobs… even if he did survive the explosion, he still will not be able to return back to the company who he was employed in. A chain heart attack in one day is something that people must want to avoid… imagine him entering the building while the others are watching the news of his unfortunate plane crash… on second thought, it would be a funny thing.
Regardless, it seemed that he will have to take a looong time away from writing; a good thing really because he was just getting bored on the stuff. While the job did give him a lot of money, it had always been a continuous pattern of writing and waiting. Really, who would want to get holed up in an apartment and eating restaurant food for the rest of their lives? Well, maybe a great majority would want to but not him. Nu uh. As he was lying down and trying to rest his eyes, he heard the sound of water splashing. No… splashing would not be the correct term to word it. What was it… it is the sound of when you spilt a water with your hand, the sound of something skating right on top of the surface of water, almost like a boat really if it were not for the fact that he was not hearing any engine noises. The more he tried to ignore the sound, he louder he could hear them.
Holy shit on a stick… it looks like someone made it in time just to the location.
"Hey! This is the crash right here. Chikuma-san, where are the Abyssal signatures you speak of before?"
"I… I don't understand… they disappeared and it appears that my sonar has given me a delayed response…"
"Delayed…? You mean to tell me that the Abyssals were already gone even before we got here?!"
"Yes, I'm afraid so…"
The man did not budge. He kept on hearing these women voices speaking amongst each other. Wait… women voices? He allowed himself to take a small peek of the situation, but found his vision covered due to something—or someone for that matter—coming right in front of his field of vision.
"Heeeeey~ there is someone over here! It looks like he's still alive!"
'Thank you miss surprisingly childlike voice, you finally noticed huh?' The man still refrained from moving or anything.
"What?! Impossible! No one should've survived that—Oh my… Oi Kongou! There is someone here!"
"WHAT?!" an English voice? Surprising, he had only been listening to Japanese from recently. "Let me see Zuikaku… Oh my God! It is a person!" Then, he felt a finger poking him right on his whiskered cheeks. "Ooooiii mister~ are you alive? Are you dead?"
'Hey now, that was not very polite—'
"That's not polite Kongou…"
'Yes, you say it miss strict in the group.' The man mentally agreed. While the man could have just easily spring himself on his feet, he was not cruel enough to give whoever these girls are an early heart attack. It looked like he will have to wait some more. The sound of water being parted can be hear again, it appeared that by that notice more and more people are coming in.
"Oh my, what do we have here… he's alive?"
"Oh Kitakami you're here! And Oii-chi too." The one known as 'Kongou' spoke.
"Don't call me that English, only Kitakami-san is allowed to call me that!" a grumpy female voice barked back, obviously not liking the way this Kongou person was referring her.
"…Eh… so he's still alive?" the voice of this 'Kitakami' girl asked.
"Apparently yes…" this time, it was back to miss strict in the group. "I can tell that he is still breathing… but I'm not sure if he's unconscious or not, but I'm leaning towards the former." Well girl, you just leaned on the wrong side. "Anyway, Kitakami, Kongou, you two check up on him."
Shortly after the order from the one who appeared to be leading this small group or something, he felt his body being touched by two pair of hands. Smooth hands. So that confirms the thought that all of these people are women. One of them poked his cheeks harder, definitely the one from before. Well, it looked like he had to cut the acting right here. Slowly but professionally done, the blonde began coughing and wheezing back to 'consciousness'. He took an extra more coughs, just to get the act going on.
"Cough cough cough! Wha – What the hell…?" damn he was a good actor, take that Nicholas Cage! Slowly, his eyes groggily opened, showing the world his azure blue eyes. His voice came out rough and gruff, he made it sounded like as if he had been consuming nothing but coffee these past few weeks. Not that he was trying to relate it to an experience or something. Slowly, the image of two girls—no make that six girls who are perfectly and nonchalantly standing on the top of the water's surface enters his vision.
"Yatta! He's still alive! Nee, Kongou-san, the mister is still alive!" there was this one… young looking girl. Who was he kidding with, this girl was young. So young. She might as well join grade school or something, because she would most definitely fit right in, in no time. She had these horn hair ornament attached to her hair like a pair of mouse ears, and a pair of binoculars hanging off from a string on her neck. She was dressed in a rather… dare he say it, absurd sailor uniform with obviously no skirt or pants at all. He was not going to get deeper than that in terms of clothing, but she had a huge smile on her face right now; a smile which was born from a mixture of relief, happiness and joy altogether poured into one big bowl and mixed before being baked into a cake.
"Ooooh! Hey mister, you're handsome!" the one who was currently next to him, one of the two girls—the English speaking one—, called out with a huge smile on her face. Now as for her, she looked older than the first but definitely not as him. She stands tall, he could tell despite her kneeling at the moment, and she was dressed in this modified shrine maiden like uniform; the white top, red short hakama and the detached sleeves as well as these pair of thigh length brown leather boots that was somehow had matched with her uniform regardless of the cultural diversities. Her hair was colored brown, reminded him of cinnamon to be honest and her hair was done in the manner that he would remember the classic and original Star Wars movie; with those twin doughnut like buns, who would not be reminded of princess Leia? But the ahoge sticking out from her head just killed it for some reason.
"Hmm… yeah, not bad at all." The other woman, the one who was currently definitely checking him out, was… normal looking, to say the least. However, she had this charm in her… like a… 'a rose in the middle of a weed patch' like feeling. Her face looked normal, if not for the smirk she was currently sporting while checking out his risqué form at the same time. She had a long black hair which was tied into twin single braided pigtails which went down the front of her shoulders perfectly. She was dressed in this olive colored sailor uniform and a matching skirt, she had a pair of black ankle length socks and also a set of good eyes. From a guy's perspective, she appeared to know where to look and when to look. Given the chance he was currently giving to her, she had a full meal of looking at him.
"Uwaaaaah!" a scream was released from a girl who… skated… right toward this braided girl. "Kitakami-san! Don't let yourself be swayed by this man's charm! He's…! He's…!" it seemed that she was currently struggling to find the right word.
And he, being a gentleman, had no excuse to not help her.
"Undesirable?"
"Yes! Undesirable for someone such as you!" then it kicked her. "HEY! WHO SAYS THAT YOU GOT A SAY IN THIS?!" this raging lesbian is a girl who stood tall as most of the other girls around her, with the exception of the English girl and the little rodent lookalike kid. She was wearing the exact same type of clothing that 'Kitakami' was wearing and the only difference is the… okay, so there was no difference at all. It was either they both matched in anything but attitude, or they both are like that. Well, he had no problems with the latter but maybe with the former. This girl had a long flowing brown hair, not as brown as the English girl and it is not tied to anything at all. The glare she was sending the man did little to no effect on him, not that she noticed anyway.
The sound of someone skating over toward him was heard again, this time; it appeared to be two people. One of them is another shrine maiden lookalike, the difference was that she was shorter and had twin tails. Her front chest area was covered by a muneate, those chest plates like things used in Japanese traditional archery. The bow and glove she had with her confirmed the fact that she was indeed a shrine maiden look alike, with all the stereotypical ones practicing Kyuudo. She had a darkish green hair that reminded him of seaweed for some reason, and the serious but alarmed look on her face practically just screamed out her distrust of him. Well, he cannot say that he blamed her.
The other one was expressing a more well composed and professional expression. She was taller than the twin tails, her uniform being one of the few that he had never seen before in his entire long and everlasting life. Her skin was fair, just like all the other females present right here, and her hair was probably the longest out of all the other girls. Her uniform was mainly green in color, with the brick colored bow tie and Chinese styled skirt or whatever you want to call them. Honestly speaking, he did not care in the slightest.
Now that he had gotten a good look at all of the water walking girls… he noticed one thing in common. They were all wearing these… unique gear tech stuffs like things. They all have something like an engine of some sort on their backs just like a back pack, Kitakami and the raging lesbian both have these torpedoes inside its launcher which were seemingly rigged on their thighs. Twin tails over there had an arrow and… was that a landing deck like thing she had on her shoulder? Yes, yes it was. The beauty with the long hair was none better. She had these small naval cannons on her shoulders as well as a torpedo launcher on her left thigh; on her right was a part of a ship with the bigger cannons showing. The rodent girl was not as overly… armed… as the rest, but there was no mistaking the torpedo like backpack and naval turret like satchel she was carrying with her. Kongou—the English girl—was… she was, out of all, the one with the biggest guns out of all. Are those really naval cannons on her back?
Twin tails approached him, as well as throwing him a scrutinizing look. "Who are you? Are you a survivor from the plane?" he had to at least give her a point of being direct. Her question remained unanswered, anymore, something told him that he will end up with a bruise or two.
He swept his hair back, getting water to sprinkle off from his golden hair. "As far as I know, I'm still alive right now. So, yeah." He said this with an uncaring shrug. Twin tails gaped at how nonchalant he was being, but she quickly shook it off. He guessed that she was going to fire him with another barrage of questions… pun not intended.
"How did you survive? How are you able to survive? Who are you?" she kept on pestering him with these questions when he have his own sets to begin with. He raised his hands, trying to get her a few feet… or steps away from him.
"Whoa, whoa… calm down, don't get your panties in a bunch." This remark caused Kongou and Kitakami to suddenly snicker, but embarrassment for twin tails over here who started to deepened her glare on him. "First of all, I didn't catch your name."
"…Zuikaku."
"Okay, miss Zuikaku. I will answer your questions if you promise that you will answer mine in return, deal?" he asked, trying to be as reasonable as he could. He got a feeling that they will be playing a long game of twenty questions… better be prepared on what to ask and not what to answer and ask.
The twin tails now known as Zuikaku did not lessen the glare she had on him. Instead, she gave him a curt but direct nod. The blonde man nodded in return. "Okay. Now, I'll answer your questions in the reverse order. I am Uzumaki Naruto; and yes despite my looks I am Japanese. I can't tell you how I was able to survive because I don't know myself and I survived by staying still on this…" he took a moment to figure out what the heck was he sitting on. "thing. Yeah, that's basically it. Now, would it be alright if I ask you my own sets of questions?"
"Sure."
"Okie dokie. First, how did you find me?"
Now this emitted a rather surprised reaction, not only from Zuikaku but also from the others. Except for the little rodent kid since, well, she was a kid; that or she was just not paying attention. Zuikaku gives him a calculating look, as if she was trying to figure out why did he suddenly asked a question that she least expect he would be asking. Regardless, she promised him that she will answer him. And answer him she will.
"Chikuma-san," she referred to the beauty with the nice pair of legs. "was able to get a signature of Abyssal vessels from this area, but we lost it. We were also informed by base that there was a recent and sudden plane explosion. This was later deduced to be the fault of those Abyssal vessels—Look, I don't even know if you understand what I'm saying but—"
"Shh! Go on, go on. Tell me."
Zuikaku grits her teeth, not liking the way this stranger spoke to her. "We concluded that the attack may be from the Abyssal vessels that we manage to detect from here, but as it turns out, there are no single Abyssal units here. Just the remains of the plane and, you." She finished her explanation with the crossing of both arms. Her eyes were still fixed on him, reading his expression poorly.
But for Naruto, he was able to deduce everything from the lengthy but held back information he gave her. These girls are definitely not human. Nope. These girls were probably… robots or something. One might ask how he could come up to such a ridiculous and seemingly impossible conclusion. The answer is simple and he could break it up in only two points.
Point number one, these girls are giving it away from the gears and riggings they were carrying. Really, if this is the way of the Japanese military or navy for that matter showing that they got too much time on their free time then he would not be surprised. Japan's Japan, what other absurd ideas that it could not produce? None. He, being someone who had been travelling to almost all of the most populated place on the planet, never heard of young girls being sent in the army to serve as a combat personnel, much less and noncombatant. Japan was also the most technologically improved country on the planet, so it was not strange that they made robots or something similar.
The next point, and the easiest to break off is the fact that these girls lack life forces. Well, they do have life forces, but it was not human or something that a human would have. Having being mastered the way of the Sage at the age of sixteen, he had honed it to a level where no other human or mortal beings have ever reached before. He could differentiate life forces between people, regardless if they were twins or not. Humans and animals they have different life forms, and these girls, they did not have both a human and an animal's. So, just what are they? Humans, no, at least only in appearance. But robots… maybe.
But he might have to contradict his own words… these girls they have life force, where usually, non-living things have none. So if they are robots, they should not have any life force in them but electrical charged energy which he could detect by the use of a small magnetic jutsu he had. They both have electrical charged energy in them as well as a form of life force… but what life force? Most curious… most curious indeed. It seemed that he had been missing a lot of things in Japan over the past few two hundred years or so.
He then snapped himself from his inner thoughts. "Okay, next question. Were you sent in here to get these 'Abyssal' things or to scout the plane crash?"
Again, yet another seemingly unordinary question coming from the man. Usually, in these kind of situations, people would ask questions like 'who are you' or even 'who sent you', but this person; he had been asking the passive questions.
"The first one. We were just informed about the crash just a few moments before we got here. We got to see the explosion from where we were before. Our priority is to identify and eliminate any Abyssal vessels on sight and perish them once and for all from the Japanese sea." She said the last part with pride.
Naruto gave her a small playful smirk. "And let me guess, you just got bummed because whatever it is you're searching for ain't here anymore?"
At that, Zuikaku hung her head low. She then raised it again, looking at the man and keeping her glare stationary at him. "Then, your last question?"
The man adopted a full thinking pose, with the holding of his chin and what not. Then, he broke to a stupid but sheepish grin.
"Eh… okay. Do you have any idea on how I could get to Tokyo? Because… eh, you see, my passport and all were destroyed along with the rest of my luggage and so… yeah."
Flagship Zuikaku blinked.
The next thing she knew, she was already in the admiral's office with the blonde stranger and finishing her report to Admiral Kotegawa.
"If that is all Zuikaku, you and your team may dock now. I will have a discussion with…"
"Uzumaki Naruto."
"…Uzumaki-san here."
Zuikaku and the rest of her team saluted formally toward their commanding officer. "Hai!" then they proceed to exit the office, leaving the admiral and the blonde stranger. As soon as the door which both leads inside and outside of the office was shut closed, Naruto could feel the admiral's staring on him. The people here were kind enough to lend him some sort of a grey military t-shirt, it is a grey military t-shirt. The shirt was a size or two smaller for him, hence why it was now sticking into his body like a second skin. The fact that the material was making his back itch is another problem altogether.
The officer in front of him was seated on her chair behind her desk. For someone having the rank of an admiral, she looked young; but appearance wise, she appeared to be the same age as him. Not his real age, his physical age. The admiral was dressed in a white naval officer uniform, the difference is that she was wearing a short sleeved top instead of the long sleeved ones he thought that the officers would wear. Her complexion was light, making a fine contrast to if compared his own tanned complexion. Her eyes were wide, color remembering him of the clear night sky. Her hair was kept on a ponytail, and most of them were kept from becoming messy by her hat which she currently had on with her. Overall, she did not look bad; just strange.
Naruto caught her eyes flickering as soon as she felt him landing his eyes on her. She was doing a very poor job of trying to get a read on him, but he was not feeling that cruel today so there was no need to tell that directly to her face. The little girl was just trying to get a read on this stranger, there was no helping it since it was technically a part of her job. She coughed to her fist with the intention of bringing his attention on her. The man humored her by acting startled and new.
"Please, take a seat Uzumaki-san."
This is how she wanted the scene to go. First, she will start to ask him directly about who he was.
"Who are you, Uzumaki-san?"
"Me? I'm Uzumaki Naruto, an author for a book that you probably kept hidden underneath your third drawer on the left side of your desk miss admiral." He introduced himself cheerfully with a two fingered salute as well as smirk. The answer to her question did little to surprise her, but there was no mistaking that brief flash of surprise that just came to life on the surface of her eyes.
"An author? I see. Then, was it true that you are a survivor of the plane that had just exploded earlier today?" she asked him again. Now she was doing more than just 'trying to make sure'. When a person asked what they already know twice, it did not simply meant that they want to simply 'make sure'. This person was trying to make him confirm things on his own, not easing her sense of cluelessness by making him answer, but she was simply trying to get him to confirm the answers that she had already know.
Again, he supposed that he will humor her by being the one who acts stupid. "Yes, you are right." His lips pursed, eyes flickering sideways for an extra effect. "It happened so suddenly, one moment I was enjoying a small nap, then this explosion suddenly happened and I found myself sinking into the sea. It was… not one of my memorable experience, to say the least." He faked out a forced smile, much more of a grimace really.
A look of understanding crossed the woman's face. However, it was then replaced by a calculating one yet again. "But don't you think that it's impossible to survive a mid-air plane explosion and survive with only… ripped clothing and minor scratches all around you?" now at this point, she was not holding back anymore. "Amuse me Uzumaki-san, please do."
The blonde hummed. He could just make this woman forget the few ten minutes of her life just by staring at her, but that will not prove to be the best solution at the moment. Why, because those girls from earlier knew about this too; so there was no other way that he was getting out from this without some further questioning if he will not do the same thing to those girls. Giving up is not just his thing, especially in an argument. So, he will, humor her again.
"Tell me, do you believe in luck?"
This made the admiral blink. "…Pardon?"
But he was not paying her any mind. "When I was twelve, I fell down a cliff that was probably as deep as a huge lake. I didn't know how I managed to end up in that kind of situation, but what I know is that I survived that fall. Of course, it was thanks to the rushing currents that were there to prevent me from really dying. Then, when I was sixteen, I made a bet. A bet that could both end and make my life miserable and horrible at the same time… I made that bet, and I was rich by the next ten minutes. And, when I was twenty five; I made the biggest choice in my life. Yes, as you might've guessed, I did make the right choice. Now, tell me, after hearing all of that, will you believe me that I survived that plane explosion through luck?"
"No."
Now, it was his turn to blink. He then sighed. "You just have to make this harder for the both of us didn't you?" he then stared right into her eyes, his own changing into that of red blood with black rings and nine commas intersecting in the middle of each lines. A second later, the admiral fell motionless onto her desk's surface, as if she had been shot right at the back of the head. The fall was pretty hard, Naruto bet that she will feel the sting the moment she woke up again.
What he just did was completely necessary. He tried to beat around the bush, but she would not allow him. So, he ditched the scissors for the chainsaw right away. Maybe using his eyes would be a tad too much on her, but hey, as long as he avoid from killing her entirely, sending her into a completely different dimension and burning her with the Eternal Flame itself, it will all be fine.
Just as his thoughts had end, the woman groaned and started to raise her head from her desk. She took a moment to look around her, getting the sense of dizziness out from her system by blinking constantly and rubbing her forehead. She then froze, her body akin to that of a string being stretched so suddenly. Her pupils dilated, before returning to their normal empathic state. Suddenly she smiled, extending her hand towards him.
"Ah, so that's how it is. Well, Naruto-san, I have to apologize for the miscommunication thus far, but I'm also sorry to say that we cannot let you off this easily." She then shook his hand before retracting it back. "The girls that were with you just a few moments ago, they are not like us. They are not humans, you can think of them as robots but they are designed and programmed to act like humans with the exception of a few things, such as fighting bizarre sea terrors and other things that any normal humans could not do."
Before anything else, so it was true that these girls are not human, but she still did not tell him anything about their life force… guess he will have to keep it for later. What he just did to this woman was some sort of… pseudo hypnotism. Or mind bending, if one could say. What he had just done was to cut her original thought and replacing it with what he wanted her to have, of course, this is not a simple technique since he cannot just do this instantly like most of the other ones he got hidden in his arsenal.
"I see… then, what will become of me?" he asked.
"We will have to force you to stay in the naval base until we are sure that you will not reveal about these girls' existence to anyone outside of military status or even unauthorized people who are not made aware of the girls. I am sorry, Naruto-san, but there is nothing else I can do." she flashed him an apologetic look.
To which he replied with his understanding nod. "No, it's fine. I understand… so, I will be in some sort of witness protection program like thing, the only difference is that you are protecting for what I might do?" he asked cheekily with a grin.
"You can think of it like that. Don't worry, a residence will be provided for you, as well as a few living accommodations." She told him. "There will be people arriving shortly to prepare your living quarters as well as to be your guide along the naval district." She tipped her hat, a smile forming on her face. "This may be a different start—a sudden one too at that, but please do try to cooperate, Naruto-san."
A while later, there was knocking on the door.
"Enter."
The door opened, revealing the person who knocked. The person was a girl of normal height, though she was not as tall as either Naruto or the admiral. The first thing he noticed about her was her lightly colored pink hair which was tied into some sort of a topknot style. She was wearing a short sleeved plain white collared shirt with a light grey vest over it, she had a string ribbon which was colored in red tied around her collar. Her lower wear consisted of a pair of matching grey skirt as well as a pair of spats underneath it, as an accessories, she had a pair of white gloves on. Her facial expression was best described to be… almost nonexistent, but it somehow suited the 'baby face' she was gifted with. Her icy blue eyes fixed themselves on him and even though it was just for a few milliseconds, he could tell that she was uneasy.
"Admiral? Is it a bad time, should Shiranui come at another time?" she asked. Her surprisingly soft spoken voice was presented in a monotone like manner, but regardless, she asked a question.
"Ah Shiranui, I'm afraid that we will have to speak later. As you can see, I'm having a guest right now. I will call you when I'm done."
The admiral reply was well received by the pink haired spats wearing girl called Shiranui. Naruto was not dumb, so he concluded that Shiranui was in fact one of these… Ship Girls. Besides, he had his sensory abilities to confirm it. She had the same exact energy type that he felt on the group of five girls who escorted him here. The more that he thought about these girls, the more curious he got.
"Shiranui understands. Then, pardon me." She then curtly and politely excused herself out from the room, but not while keeping her icy eyes on the only blonde in the room.
'What's with this girl… she's like the next Itachi…' now if she were to hear him saying it to her, would it be taken as a compliment or as an insult… of course, if she knew the man. Something tells him that it would be the latter.
After the door closed for the second time that day, Naruto returned to the admiral; or vice versa. She gave him a serene smile. "I'm sorry for the interruption Naruto-san, where were we?"
"We were just about to touch the topic about my living accommodation?" he helped her by reminding her as she requested.
She made an 'ooh' reaction. "Ah, yes. About your living accommodation, I will ask the dorm supervisor to prepare a room for you in the private sector of the district, and someone to give you a tour around the district." There was this small device on her desk, upon further inspection, Naruto concluded said device to be an intercom. Her gloved finger pressed on the small button fixed on the device. "Inazuma, could you please come to my office?"
Receiving no reply, it meant that the message was delivered and received. He remained in his seat while gazing out blankly at the window. Right now, as he was waiting for whoever this Inazuma person is, he was maintaining his mind technique which he had casted on the female admiral. Speaking of which, he had not gotten her name.
Naruto shifted on his seat. "I'm afraid that I didn't get your name yet, admiral-san."
A look of surprise crossed her face. "Really? My apologies, it was rude of me. My name is Yamazaki Naomi." She flashed him a polite smile, well she would not be smiling if he had not used a mind bending technique on her. Her name seemed normal, but her looks—when he took a closer and longer look—says otherwise. From a crowd, it may be easier to spot her if he looked at the right part of her face. Then again, he had always been good at identifying people.
"If I may ask, how long have you been an officer in this base? You look rather young… so… yeah."
"Ara, ara… I'm not that young myself. I'm thirty three and I've been a commanding officer ever since I was twenty six, so that makes it seven years now." She replied politely. "How about you Naruto-san, what do you do?"
"Me? As I've said before, I'm an author. I don't know if you ever heard of my books before but… it's called Icha Icha romance series." He revealed without a hint of shame. Jiraiya's books proved to be a good source of income for him, not to mention, with its sudden boom in popularity ever since the first time it got published in Japan, it has been one of the top reads in the entire world now that there are translated version of it.
"An author… Icha Icha roma—" she gasped, her eyes going wide. Her face suddenly becomes red, all the way from her forehead to her neck. She recoiled from her seat, her hands clasped on her mouth. "Y – You are the author for that series?" she asked in what seem to be complete shock. "Are you really the author for the Icha Icha romance series?!" instead of questioning him, it was more of a demand.
"Yes, I am. I said it didn't I?" Naruto answered with a small laugh. This reaction is normal to him when he had to reveal his occupation to some certain individuals. In the West, his series was known as Make Out Tactics series while here in Japan, it was Icha Icha. Seeing her reaction made it obvious that she herself was or probably is a reader herself.
"I – I don't know what to say…" she then forcibly grasped the man's hand into a quick paced handshake. Her smile was wider, there was a certain glint in her eyes; one that Naruto knew too well. "I'm your biggest fan, could you sign my book?" suddenly, there was an orange covered book on her free hand, again, something that the blonde knew too well. The book was none other than the very first installment to his Icha Icha romance series, Icha Icha: Paradise.
The blonde laughed before grabbing a pen from the desk, he took the book from the woman's hand and opened the hardcover. He signed his signature quickly and smoothly, and once he returned it to the woman, she quickly placed it inside her drawer; under a hidden compartment underneath. With a stupid smile plastered on her face, she bowed her head low enough to be called polite. "Thank you very much, Naruto-san."
The blonde smiled back in return. "Anything for a fan of mine." Then suddenly, at an almost ridiculously perfect timing, there was knocking on the office's door. Both of Naruto's and the admiral's attention were shifted to the door, and after a moment of silence, the door swung open; revealing Inazuma.
Again, he might be starting to question the preference of the people who built these Ship Girls. Inazuma, obviously, was also a Ship Girl. She stood short, about the height of a middle school girl; reaching only to his abdomen and no more. She wore a dark blue and white sailor uniform with the tie colored in red, aside from her almost childlike features, she had an aura of reliability and usefulness… if he could say it that way. Her hair was brown in color and her hair style being that of a raised ponytail gave her a certain charm and extra cuteness points. Her eyes were a pair of darker brown if compared to her hair, and her small petite frame did not help much in proving that she was a Ship Girl. Put her in the middle of a street in a Monday morning and people will see what he meant.
"A – Admiral, you called for me?" she had noticed him, yes, but that did not excuse her from not replying to her officer's summons. Naruto felt a hint of nostalgia hitting him at the moment for some reason. To him, it was as if she was trying to maintain a total focus of her commander instead of this stranger in the room with them.
"Ah Inazuma, right on time." Something tells him that she was really relieved… the admiral then gave a gesture towards him. "This is Uzumaki Naruto-san, and due to certain circumstances, he will be staying here as a guest."
"Yo." He gave the shorter girl a two fingered salute as well as a small smile.
Inazuma shyly responded by giving a hesitating nod. She directed her focus again towards her admiral, of course, the reason she was here cannot be just for the sake of introducing this stranger to her? "I want you to be his guide, give him a tour of the place and after you are done, please drop him off at the living quarters."
Inazuma, since she was technically trained as a military personnel, saluted. "Hai!" she approached the blonde by taking a few small steps forward. She took a deep and formal bow. "My name is Inazuma, I may be clumsy but please, take care of me Uzumaki-san."
Naruto smiled in response. This girl is really cute… was what he thought. "Mah, mah… you don't have to be so formal to me. Just call me Naruto, it's fine." He reassured her by widening his smile. When it comes to children, or robots looking like children in this matter, or just children in general really, he got his switch flipped into a different one. For once, he loved children due to their attitude; but sadly, some can be a little bit too noisy for him. Regardless, he still liked them.
"Then, Naruto-san..." Inazuma said shyly.
A while later, they were both excused from the office and Naruto's tour began.
"Zuikaku, you seem upset, what's wrong?"
To Shoukaku, her sister was everything. Followed by duty and herself as final. Since they were both constructed as sisters, their relationship was just like that of two sisters. Sitting on a chair in Mamiya's café, Shoukaku found that it was a good idea to treat herself and her sister some dessert. Mamiya's café was the only and the best café around, aside from Ship Girls as customer, Mamiya also has human regulars. In short, the place is personnel friendly and everyone could enjoy the fine treats that this place have to provide.
Which is why seeing her sister sigh melancholically while having a bowl of ice cream dessert in front of her was something new… and unnerving, if she could say.
"It's nothing Shoukaku-nee… it's just about this random stranger that we picked up during our sortie earlier." Zuikaku answered her sister while looking as gloom as a cloudy sky.
"Stranger…? You picked up a random stranger during your sortie?" She had all rights to be surprised. You do not pick up random strangers during sorties, ever. "What do you mean Shoukaku? Wasn't the mission's order to just patrol the surrounding sea area?"
"Yes." The twintailed carrier nodded. "Until we discovered a few Abyssal signatures from the distance. During the way on confirming the signatures that we picked up, we encounter the remaining rubbles and pieces of a civilian air plane on the sea. Supposedly, no one should be able survive that kind of thing, but as it turns out, we were wrong." Zuikaku leaned over the table, her face showing her thoughts about the matter. "No one should've been able to survive a plane explosion like that Shoukaku-nee, no one. But he… he did!"
Zuikaku blinked, she then noticed that she had gathered the attention of everyone in the café. Blushing, she quickly returned to her chair and covering her earlier outburst with a cough. "A – Anyway Shoukaku-nee, if you ever meet this person, just try to avoid him… something tells me that he's suspicious."
"Suspicious? Just what does this person looks like?"
"Well, for once, he's a man; a foreigner probably because he has blonde hair and not to mention, he has blue eyes. He's tall, probably as tall as Nagato-san and it isn't hard to notice him out. And he looks to be in his early thirties or something, I don't know, he just has this mature feeling about him." Zuikaku shrugged. "Just… try to be careful when you're near him, okay Shoukaku-nee?"
Shoukaku knew that her sister cares for her, probably even more than she cares for herself. However, the talk of this stranger appearing out of nowhere and being the survivor of a plane explosion seemed… unrealistic. Regardless, she knew that her sister will not lie to her and she could confirm it with the other Ship Girls who sortied earlier if she wanted too.
The white haired sister of Zuikaku nodded, giving her sister a reassuring smile. "Um. But we of the 5th Carrier Division must be polite Zuikaku, we cannot ignore someone just because he or she is a stranger."
Zuikaku knew that she cannot defeat her sister. "Yes Shoukaku-nee."
"Ufufu. Anyway, eat up now, or else your ice cream will melt."
The two sisters from the 5th Carrier Division happily enjoyed their time in the café, but that moment did not last forever. The door to Mamiya's slid open, revealing an unordinary pair. One was a man and the other one was a girl, the former taller than the latter being way shorter.
"This is Mamiya-san's café, she is a very good cook, nanodesu. The sweets in here are nice, and the best that anyone could find the entire naval district nanodesu."
"Ah really? I don't really like eating sweet things, so I'll take your word for it, Inazuma."
"Then what is your favorite food, Naruto-san?"
"Ramen."
Back over the 5th Carrier Div, Shoukaku was eating her ice cream alongside her sister who was closer on finishing it first. She was not paying attention but soon, she started to see that the other Ship Girls inside the café were all staring at the same direction. Curious, Shoukaku too twisted her head so that she could look and see what the commotion is about. Her eyes went wide when she saw a blonde stranger matching the description which Zuikaku has given her earlier, she found herself staring and not noticing it until her sister snapped her out from it.
"Shoukaku-nee, what's wro—it's you!" Zuikaku was going to ask her sister a question, until she too noticed what people had been staring at this whole entire time. She slammed her hands on the table, standing so suddenly that it caused the chair to fall and pointing rudely over to the point of interest. Her eyes are also wide, brimming with surprise at what she was currently seeing. The two people who had just entered Mamiya's café froze at being referred to so suddenly. Especially the male.
Said male blinked three times, quickly. An innocent and confused look crossed his face. "Me?" he pointed a finger to his chest, obviously confused.
"Wha- yes you! What are you doing here!" the twintailed carrier demanded with heat, approaching the taller stranger and giving him the eye. "Don't tell me that you did something to the admiral!" this sudden assumption brought out multiple gasps from the watching audience. Whispers started to emit, all of them obviously speaking about the blonde stranger.
Naruto looked around, confused. He then took a closer look at Zuikaku, before his eyes went wide in realization. "Oh! It's the miss twintails!" he pointed rudely at the fuming Zuikaku.
"Twin-hey!"
Inazuma, who was already panicking by seeing how the situation had become, desperately tried to interfere with the two to prevent unnecessary interactions. "Hawawawa! Z – Zuikaku-san, Naruto-san! Please don't fight!"
It was then when Zuikaku noticed the brown haired Destroyer. "Inazuma? You're here too?"
"Y – Yes nanodesu, so please don't fight!"
After a while, the commotion died down. Deciding that a conversation amongst themselves was necessary, the two group of duos now combined forming an uncommon group of quadruplets. Now sharing a table and cooled off—in Zuikaku's case—the four decided to have talk over some tea and sweets. Zuikaku was still giving the blonde man the look throughout the whole time, her hands crossed and looks saying that she found his presence disturbing in a way. God… just what is the deal with tsunderes?
'Just what's the deal with tsunderes…' Naruto shook himself off the mental thoughts. He then coughed to his fist, starting a conversation. "…We may have started off weirdly just now, so let me say this again. I am Uzumaki Naruto and starting from now on, I'll be staying here." He said politely. He knew when to be polite, so take that Iruka-sensei.
Zuikaku was there to say otherwise. "Pft, yeah please. Tell us the truth, just who are you anyway? And don't bother lying this time because I won't be allowing you to."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'A feisty tsundere… can it get any worse?' on second thought, he took it back. He might have jinxed himself back there. Shaking his head, Naruto simply shrugged. "I've told you the truth. I'm the guy who survived the plane explosion, I'm the guy who you rescued from the sea and I'm the guy who you're currently demanding questions from. No lies right there."
Zuikaku was not buying it. "That first one sounds sketchy no matter how you say it. Surviving a plane crash isn't just possible to begin with! Are you really human to begin with!?"
.
.
.
Silence.
"Heh, won't you like to know?" the man then laughed. "Yes, for your information, I am human and you can punch me in the face right now to figure it out yourse—Ugh!" she punched him. "…Okay, wasn't expecting that…"
"Z – Zuikaku!" Shoukaku, who has just witnessed her sister punching somebody right on the face, screamed out in surprise. "What was that for!? Apologize at once!"
"B – But Shoukaku-nee!"
Naruto raised his hand, he really needed to watch what he will say… "It's fine, it's fine. It hurts, but only for the first few minutes." Thank God she did not hit him right on the nose, otherwise it would have sucked real bad. After massaging the place where Zuikaku just punched him, he returned his hands by placing them on the table. He then gave the twintailed carrier a cheeky grin, or a mocking one at that. "Did it felt like flesh and bones?"
"Tch…!" Zuikaki clicks her tongue, regardless, she was still irked.
Shoukaku could only send her sister a mild glare. She then bowed politely toward the man, her forehead nearly touching the table. "I'm very sorry for my sister's behavior Uzumaki-san, she won't do it again."
"S – Shoukaku-nee, you don't have to!"
"It's fine really, nothing serious there." Naruto waved it off as if it was just a blunder made. "I'm used to getting my greetings like that, especially with women." He let out a few chuckles. He then forgot that they had a fourth member with them. "Oi, Inazuma, you okay there?" he asked the girl who appeared to be in trance this whole entire time.
His calling her caused her to be snapped out from whatever trance she was in. Embarrassed at being caught dozing off, Inazuma's cheeks turned slightly red. "N – No, it's nothing. I – It's just…" she pointed out a finger towards him, or his face to be exact. "Are those really whisker marks, nanodesu?"
"Eh? These?" Naruto touched his cheeks. "Nah, they're birthmarks. I've had them ever since I knew that I could think." Honestly speaking, he never thought where these came from but it probably had to do with something big and furry and red… and angry. "Why?"
"N – No, nanodesu… it's just like… a cat."
"Really? It's more like a fox to me though."
Shoukaku, who had been silent and tense at what her sister just did, could not but agree for some reason.
Seeing the scene in front of her made Zuikaku wanted to throw up, for some reason. "Hey! Don't get sidetracked here." She grabbed the man's attention forcibly. "Just what are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be locked up in the admiral's room being questioned and things?"
Naruto nodded, but still finding her tsundere antics to be cliché. "I did got questioned and locked up in a room. Long story short, I'm now in some sort of a witness protection program and was ordered to stay here until further notice. Right now, Inazuma is showing me around the district, your admiral's order."
Hearing this from him did not make Zuikaku calmer, not even the slightest. "But that still doesn't explain why the admiral let you out that easily though… right now, you should be locked up in a place somewhere and waiting until you got questioned again."
He had to admit, this girl is smart. "You thought so too? Heh. But honestly, I think that your admiral just want to play it safe. Let's see the situation in this way: right now, I am completely innocent and it was not my most sincere of intentions to get a plane being exploded in midflight nor did I want you to find me at sea—I still appreciate it by the way—but, now that I've known something I shouldn't in the first place, your admiral can't just let me out from the base just like that; it'd be weird. So tell me Zuikaku, what's a better option to do if you were the admiral? Would you let some completely random stranger who survived a plane accident out from the base after knowing important and possibly vital knowledge about things he shouldn't know just like that, or will you try to make him stay here and keep his mouth shut one way or another?"
Zuikaku did not answer directly. He was right, but she hated him for being right. Clenching her fist, she cannot say anything else. "…Fine. But if I ever see you doing… unnecessary things, I won't hesitate to report you." It was not a threat she was saying, it was a promise.
"Meh." Naruto shrugged. "It's not like I'll do anything soon anyway, I haven't even finished my tour. But you know what I've finished? My food." The bowl in front of him was empty, and it appeared that it had already been like that throughout the whole time they were having the conversation. "Come on, let's continue the tour Inazuma."
"Y – Yes!" surprisingly, the Destroyer had also finished her food.
Zuikaku looked back at the man's empty bowl and leaving form, a guffawed and baffled look on her face. "How did he—did you see him eating Shoukaku-nee?!"
"N – No, I… I didn't know what happened…"
After the talk, the duo of Destroyer and man left the cafe.
"...This is the final place."
Surrounding him are home like buildings, all of them having the same properties in size and even color. The buildings are made from brick walls, properly intended for decoration purposes; there were windows but they were all covered by curtains to prevent people outside from looking inside. The area was environment friendly, considering the small flower garden he was seeing every now and then near the properties and most importantly, this place seemed to be the least crowded out of all the places Inazuma had shown him.
"So this is the living quarters?" He asked, eyes still wandering around. He had to say, for a military base, this place looks more and more like a private housing estate. It got its own district and all of that, might as well built a mall in here. He approached a nearby tree and staring at it unblinkingly while in deep trance.
"A – Ah yes, this is the living quarters." Inazuma replied softly. "The admiral said to drop you off in here, but she didn't tell where you would be staying at." She said. "But... I – I think that I know where you will be staying."
Naruto took a moment off from the tree staring to look at the short Destroyer. "Um... really? Okay then, lead the way."
And lead the way she did. Inazuma brought him deeper into the housing section of the district where more and more houses were seen. She stopped at one particular building, a building similar like the others but somehow... different than the rest. Naruto could not make up what made this building feels different at first sight, but after a few minutes of analyzing the front; he noticed that this was the only building with no sign plate fixed on the door. Inazuma took the intiative of opening the door, which surprised him to found it unlocked in the first place. Upon entering, the interrior of the building seemed smaller than what he thought it would be. The house, if he could even call it that, was a three roomed building; with only a bedroom, small kitchen and a bathroom. It would be appropriate to call this room a studio styled one, seeing that the living room was in fact the bedroom in one place.
As for furnishing, it seemed that they got a standard or default furnishing of their own. The bedroom, the place where he and Inazuma was currently at—at the moment, was lightly furnished with a small sofa, a single bed to the side near the window and a small coffe table in the middle of it all. The kitchen was through the door on the left, he checked it and found it to be well furnished. There was a fridge, a stove, oven as well as a microwave. The cupboards are filled with cooking utensils too, which was mighty convenient. The bathroom was a surprise, he thought that it would be just a standard set of tub and shower; but no, there was a sink as well as washing machine too.
Overall for him, this place looked decent and comfortable.
"I guess that this is enough for the tour, nanodesu." Naruto noticed that Inazuma was already heading towards the door to excuse herself.
"Ah, I guess it is. Thank you for showing me around Inazuma." He flashed her a thankful smile. He was really thankful and Inazuma seemed like a nice girl, so thanking her nicely seemed to be the best and only choice there is.
"Um, you're welcome nanodesu."
Naruto then got a bright idea. "Say, next time, why don't you come and visit me here? Bring your friends too if you want." He brought his hand to the back of his head and began to scratch it sheepishly. "To be honest, I think that it's just tad too lonely being all the way here all alone, you know?"
Inazuma looked surprised. She had just met him, but he wanted her to visit? "I – Is that so? Then, if you have no problems with it, Naruto-san. Oh and have a nice day, nanodesu." She bowed formally for one last time.
"Yes, you too."
Inazuma left the building, leaving him all alone in his new living quarter.
"Heh..." it was funny, now that he thought about it. These Ship Girls act, behave and probably feel emotions just like a normal human being, where in reality, it was just impossible for it to happen. Technology had really advanced these days... if the other Ship Girls are like Inazuma, then he would have no problem in getting along with them, but as it turned out, there are some with... attitudes. A certain twintailed girl came to mind.
But in all seriousness, he had no idea how things work around here and that was a troubling thing for a shinobi such as him. Shinobis... they just could not handle not knowing things, such as the place they are living, the situation they are in and the such. Which is why, he made a couple of clones disguised as birds during the tour to scout the entire base out. Not knowing anything was much worse than knowing too much things, but this rule could also be taken in a vice versa manner. His disguised clones will dismissed themselves when they thought they have known enough, and from there he would receive the knowlege they gather once they dismissed. A nifty and useful trick from his arsenal.
The blonde legend approached the sofa and immediately plopped himself onto the cushion. He landed back first and proceeded to take a long and deep breath before releasing it in the dorm of a sigh.
"Today, let's just rest... tomorrow... a little bit of self exploring might be nice."
A/N: Well, here we go. Originally, another story was planned to replace Beyond Dawn's Horizon. But after a lot of thinking, I just had to stick with a more original and unique plot. This story was inspired through a lot of familiar stories out there in FF's archive, but none were copied I assure you. As for the plot... to be honest, I'm still working on that. I haven't found a solid path to take yet, because all that's been were muddy roads and slopes for me, but I plan to get things concrete in the end.
Hopefully, I could give my focus here and towards my other stories as well. I know that I haven't been writing much but I have no reasons to say why, I just don't have enough time to write these past few weeks; and probably in the future too.
But don't worry, I'll try my best.
There's no real solid pairing right now so don't even bother asking, and even if I'm accepting suggestions, I might have to lean away from the harem route. Why? I find it too mainstream, as simple as that. But I just might consider it. Might.
So that's all for today, hope you have a nice day/night!
