A.N) Welcome to the tenth installment of the story. Character development and plot progression in this chapter. I'd like to apologize for the gap in between updates, but since their are characters that we have yet to see their kagune; Big Madam in particular, I don't want to rush into the Auction just yet.
Though, through this gap of time I was able to ponder on the direction of the story and I have settled on a more darker route then I had previously thought up. Meaning more death, emotional trauma, torture (yep that too) and all the good stuff I know you secretly want. That being said, this particular route will stretch the story's length out considerably. I'm talking like hundreds of thousands of words. Easily passing 200K+ if I keep up with all the descriptive language and multiple viewpoints. I don't think that it's a problem with anyone, just letting guys know what you are getting into. Also, when I said eventual ToukaxKen, I mean eventual. Sorry!
Let me just go on a tangent here. OVER THIRTY REVIEWS! My heart soars with gratitude to those who review this story of mine. You guys really motivate me to write. So thank you! Moving on...
*Review Feedback*
Demons Anarchy of Pride: Thanks! Carry on I shall!
Scarease: You don't know the half of it!
xxxDreamingflowerxxx: Ahaha. Thanks for (:re)following! You are correct on the symbolism, and Sasaki is still in that tug-of-war state with himself. Kaneki will show up eventually. Otaku girl ftw! Thanks again for reviewing! (Did I mention how much I like your reviews? Oh, I did? Well...I still do! :P)
A wanderer: I've been found out! Well, partially found out. Sometimes I do, because reading the newest chapter inspires me to crank out these chapters. I'm glad you enjoy Bushidō, as well as the story. I'm always hesitant about my Ocs because they really don''t belong in a cannon sense, but this fanfiction for a reason... Just me being overly worried., I guess.
Ettore: Ahaha. You shall wait no more! Though I am sorry to say that there is no next button on this page, at least not yet. :P
If you could kindly review that would make my life. Thanks.
Bushidō easily dodged the dark-skinned fist that was aimed for his face, and brought a knee up into his assailant's stomach. Tooru felt the air leave his lungs as he was launched backwards, landing hard on the wood floor, coughing and sputtering.
The ghoul sidestepped in time to dodge Shirazu's strike from behind, and turning, he brought a hand up to clamp down on the investigator's neck as he lifted him off his feet. Choking; Shirazu let go of his weapon and brought both hands to his neck in an attempt to break free. Bushidō watched as the wooden sword clattered on the ground, then he stared hard at his opponent.
"Don't let go of weapon. Ever. Understand?" Bushidō said disapprovingly, narrowing his eyes at his sparring partner's blue face. Shirazu nodded frantically, in hopes he would be released as quick as possible, which he was when the ghoul let go of him causing Shirazu to collapse in a heap at Bushidō's feet, gasping for air.
"Clench your abs." Bushidō ordered as he brought his leg back and Sasaki knew what was coming. He watched from his position, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, while the morning sun's light filtered through the windows of the training room. Sasaki inwardly winced as he saw Bushidō's bare foot connected with his opponent's gut. Shirazu sailed through the air and crashed into the wall, only to slide down onto the wood floor in a quivering mound of pain. No doubt trying to not puke.
Had the upcoming auction not be such a deadly operation, Sasaki would have protested against such harsh training but he realized that all three young quinxs needed this wake-up call; Saiko in particular. Sasaki glanced over at the young girl who was sprawled out on the floor in the farthest corner away from the sparring group. She hadn't even come at Bushidō once. Mentally sighing, the half-ghoul looked back at Bushidō, whom had began speaking.
"Although you have your kagune to fall back on, you'll need to be proficient in basic combat to even think about eluding death." Bushidō told them, his face showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever, and his white hair was slicked back out of the his face. The ghoul was dressed in a pair of black shorts and a black t-shirt courtesy of Sasaki.
"I may be forgiving but the other ghouls won't be." He stated. Then looking over his right shoulder, Bushidō stared at Saiko, who was still laid out on the floor.
"Saiko, you didn't even come at me once." He said, askance about her lack of involvement. In response she lifted her arm and pointed to the ceiling before saying; "I'm dead~~."
Both Sasaki and Bushidō, unknowingly narrowed their eyes in the same expression of annoyance. Her laid back and lazy disposition would only be tolerated for so long...
Bushidō slowly walked over to her corner of the room and knelt down on the balls of his feet next to her. "Hey." he barked and flicked her nose.
"Oww.." she protested, bringing both her hands over her face to ward of any further nose flicks. "This isn't the time to be laying around. You've got to train as well." The ghoul said as he swatted her hands away and tugged on her face.
"Fine, jeez~" she slurred, her voice distorted from her forcefully extended cheek.
Shirazu looked out the window to the complex across the street as he stood up on wobbly legs, his stomach convulsing in pain as he did so, and saw Urie in the upper levels of the building. He wondered why the purple-haired investigator was all alone. Granted Urie wasn't the most sociable person, but he didn't even come by to say he was okay after getting out of the hospital...
The sharp-toothed teenager looked back at the scene in front of him and watching both Saiko and Bushidō. There was an inkling in the back of his mind of something... Something he wanted to ask but forgot...
'Bushidō...Saiko...' Shirazu thought, racking his brain in thought. He then saw Bushidō flick her nose again when Saiko complained under her breath after he was done lecturing her and then it hit him.
"Oi! Your finger!" Shirazu shouted, pointing an, ironically, accusing finger in Bushidō's direction. A full five seconds of full silence went by as everyone in the room turned to stare bewilderingly at Shirazu. Bushidō raised an eyebrow at his squad leader's sudden outburst, then he glanced back and forth between Shirazu and his finger that had flicked Saiko's nose.
"...Yes, this is my finger." Bushidō stated slowly, still looking quite puzzled as to why Shirazu was so adamant about his appendage.
Shirazu shook his head swiftly side to side, his light-orange hair swaying in the process. "No no no... Your finger...that thing you did with your finger!" he said trying to get his point across. Due to his poor explanation, the rest of them had no idea what he was talking about and they continued to stare at him in bewilderment.
After a moment, Bushidō asked, tentatively; "...You mean this?" He then moved his hand and flicked Saiko on the nose again without needing to even look back at the unmotivated pig-tailed investigator.
"Oww! Quit it!" Saiko hollered at him, as she brought up her hands to rub her nose.
Shirazu grinded his teeth together in frustration, his mouth turning into a deep frown and he glowered at the ghoul across the room.
"No you dumbass, the other other thing! Ya'know when you woke Saiko up that one time!" He explained, making a gesture with his index finger, to explain further.
Realization dawned on the rest of them and both Tooru and Sasaki turned to look questioningly at the crouching ghoul.
"Yeah, how did you do that?" Tooru asked, perplexed how Bushidō was able to wake Saiko up that time in the interrogation room.
"Well..." the white-haired droned as he glanced between the three standing investigators. "I think a demonstration is in order, explaining it with words would be rather...difficult."
Bushidō then stood to his full height, and walked back into the center of the room. "Alright, I want both of you to come at me again." he said, gesturing for both squadmates to come at him. "This time I'll only fight with one finger." He stated, and showed them his index finger to further exemplify his point.
"Oi!, Don't look down on us, you bastard!" Shirazu said through gritted teeth, he knew both himself and Tooru were no match for the white-haired ghoul in sparring much less an actual fight, but even so, Shirazu still had his pride as a CCG investigator and as squad leader. He looked across the room at Tooru, who wore an expression that was hesitant yet determined and Shirazu thought that Tooru must be thinking something similar.
"Lets kick his ass, eh Tooru?" Shirazu said with a somewhat pained lopsided grin. Tooru made eye contact with him and after a moment of hesitation, nodded; silently grateful for the boost of confidence however small it might have been.
Sasaki smiled a small smile. He was proud of Shirazu, the young investigator continued to grow as a leader little by little. He watched from his spot leaning on the wall as Shirazu and Tooru got into their respective battle stances. He saw Bushidō swiftly kick Shirazu's weapon back to over to him, and Shirazu fumbled awkwardly to catch the speeding object before it collided with him.
Sasaki inwardly sighed, he still had a long way to go...
After Shirazu had a firm grip on his weapon, he stared hard at his opponent before he started to circle around him, trying to find an opening. Following his squad leader's example Tooru also began to circle Bushidō in sync with Shirazu, like wolves circling their prey ready to pounce at the slightest inclination of weakness. All the while the white-haired ghoul was unmoving from his spot on the wooden floor.
Then Sasaki felt it. Like a heavy gust of imaginary wind, Bushidō's presence suddenly made the atmosphere in the room thicken and swirl and Sasaki's senses heightened. The sunlight that came through the windows fell upon Bushidō's frame and casted a long dark shadow behind him. Although Bushidō's face was turned away from Sasaki, he could still feel an intense aura that the ghoul's stature was giving off, almost as if he was going to spring into combat at any second and rip them asunder.
This change went unnoticed by both young investigators, although they did stop their circling and for a singular second no one in the room moved nor breathed, like the calm before the storm. Sasaki wanted to shout out for them to stop, but he restrained himself from doing so. He had to put his trust in Bushidō, he only hoped the ghoul was doing the right thing.
Shirazu felt something in the back of his mind telling him to run, to flee, to do anything other than attack the ghoul in front of him but he dashed the voice's concerns, instead gripping his weapon until his knuckles were white, Shirazu gritted his teeth in determination. He would show Sas-san and the rest of them that he was worthy of being the leader of Quinx squad. He wouldn't belittle the trust that they placed in him.
With a shout of resolve, Shirazu raised his weapon and took a step forward to charge his opponent...or he would have if not for startling grotesque image of a finger going through his eye socket and into his brain. Shirazu yelped in shock, his mind almost believing that it had actually happened and he backpedaled all the way up against the wall.
"What the fuck was that?..." Shirazu thought between labored gasps, It was almost as if he had seen his own death... He wasn't even aware that he was gripping his wooden weapon so hard that it fractured in his grasp.
Tooru, who was cloaked in Bushidō's shadow could not see what had happened, but he heard Shirazu yell and thought it was to draw attention to Shirazu himself, so Tooru took the opportunity to rush forward and aim a punch towards the ghoul's exposed side. Tooru made it one step before he saw a blur of movement and a vision of a finger going into his neck and ripping out his carotid artery, blood gushing out like a geyser.
Tooru let out a gasp of shock and immediately brought up a trembling dark-skinned hand to touch his neck to feel the wound but there was nothing. No puncture. No blood. "...And yet, it felt so real..." He thought. Tooru was so shocked about what he had seen that he didn't even register that his legs were shaking uncontrollably.
"What's wrong?" Bushidō said, cocking his head slightly to the side. "You both had such confidence a moment ago." the ghoul stated, almost menacingly as he started down at Tooru, his reddish-white eyes burning holes through Tooru's skull and cooking his brain into a pile of charred mush. The young investigator swallowed the fear that was rising in his throat, and looked down at the finger that was pointed directly at his neck.
'If I had moved one step closer...' Tooru thought slowly, his mind unable to work properly, because it was muddled by fear. But even through the fear, he knew this was different from all the battles and training he had undergone, this time he had actually been inches away from death.
"You bastard!" Shirazu yelled, throwing his now useless weapon at Bushidō. The ghoul easily caught the broken wooden sword as he turned to look at the enraged squad leader. "You almost fucking killed us!"
"Hardly. I don't see any wounds on you." Bushidō said nonchalantly, his previous serious demeanor seemingly evaporated. "Besides, you took the correct course of action. Well done."
"That's not- I mean you- You know what? Fuck it! I'm done!" Shirazu angrily spat, and he stormed out of the room, glowering all the way. Tooru also excused himself quietly, and walked out on shaky legs. Bushidō casted a glance over to the unusually quiet Sasaki, and found the squad mentor narrowing his eyes at him.
"What? I only did what they asked."
"The last thing they need right now is to experience fear." Sasaki told him, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as Saiko scuttled out of the room. He mentally sighed, the first day and they had gotten seemingly nowhere.
"On the contrary, I believe fear is one of the most important emotions for someone to master."
"On the first day of training?" Sasaki questioned, slightly gritting his teeth in annoyance. "Look how well it turned out."
"They'll be fine, you underestimate your squad Sasaki-senpai, besides we have two weeks left." Sasaki opened his mouth to protest Bushidō's dismissive manner, but Bushidō cut him off. "Now shall we test how good Quinx Squad's superior really is?"
Sasaki closed his mouth into a hard line, he knew Bushidō was goading him into a fight, and even though he knew this; Sasaki still accepted by pushing off the wall with his back and walking out into the middle of the room. He hated the feeling off playing into the hands of this ghoul, but it was high time that Sasaki asserted himself as Quinx Squad's mentor and superior.
Bushidō backed away as Sasaki approached, and they both got into their respective battle stances. Well Sasaki did, Bushidō just stood across from the half-ghoul not even bothering to put up a guard.
While some might take it as a provocation and brazenly attack, Sasaki kept a level head and quickly assessed his opponent. The white-haired ghoul seemed too relaxed, even for a sparring match and his reddish-white eyes bore into Sasaki's own, taunting him to make the first move.
'He wants me to strike first which means...!' Sasaki thought, as he dug his heels into the floor and took off in a burst of speed. He closed the gap in an instant and fired of a flurry of tight punches, driving a dodging Bushidō back. 'He must be good at counterattacks, so I have to make sure he doesn't get that chance!'
Not letting up in the slightest, Sasaki kept the pressure on with a series of low kicks coupled with body blows aimed at the internal organs. Moving his body fluidly while utilizing his limbs in various different combinations, Sasaki was able to keep on the offensive constantly. There was some strikes that Bushidō had to block, but the majority he ducked and weaved out of the way, Sasaki's blows just millimeters away from making contact. They moved in a sort of intricate dance, neither of them stopping as they dashed and darted around the room, their shadows clashing against one another under the rays of sunlight.
Several minutes passed as they continued, beads of sweat traveling down both their faces and necks only to be soaked up in seams of their shirts. Then after what felt like hours Sasaki, feinting a high kick, managed to land a hard punch into Bushidō's side, hitting his liver in the process. He heard a grunt, and believing that he had cornered him, spun and brought his leg up to deliver a quick, but powerful roundhouse kick. He was mildly surprised when his foot actually connected, and Sasaki quickly recovered into his stance as he heard the sound of Bushidō hitting the ground.
He found Bushidō sprawled out on the wooden floor, though he looked to be in relatively good shape. He heard an audible "Whoa..." from behind him and found all three of his subordinates in the doorway, with varying degrees of shock on their faces. Shirazu's jaw was hanging wide open, obviously not believing what he was seeing. Saiko had the exact same expression, though the latter comically rubbed her eyes with her fists and looked again just to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
"H-How long where you three watching for?" Sasaki asked, astonished that he hadn't even noticed them.
"They showed up around halfway through, though I'm afraid Squad Leader Shirazu-san might have gone into shock, he hasn't moved a muscle in the last couple of minutes." Bushidō said from his now standing position. Sasaki looked back, and saw the ghoul was rubbing his jaw where his kick had landed, but other than that seemed to have taken zero damage.
'Did he just...intentionally lose to make me look better in front of them?' Sasaki wondered, but Bushidō spoke up before he could think about it any further; "Your hand-to-hand combat skills are extremely impressive, you didn't give me any chance to counterattack at all." Bushidō was genuinely impressed, if Kaneki had this level of combat prowess without even using his kagune...then he was truly a force to be reckoned with.
"Thanks.." Sasaki said, although he wasn't sure if the white-haired ghoul was mocking him or not.
"That...was...AWESOME!" Saiko yelled in awe, shocking Shirazu out of his stupor as he fliched at her increase in volume. "You were like this..and then you did that...and you finished with a HI-YAAH!" Saiko said, as she tried to replicate Sasaki's moves and failing miserably. She looked more like a flailing fish than an experienced martial artist, and Shirazu deadpanned at her before grumbling under his breath at her idiocy.
Sasaki, who inwardly smiled at her enthusiasm, felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned his head back to see the taller ghoul nod his head towards the doorway before winking and walking away to lean against the wall in a similar fashion that Sasaki had done.
Understanding the silent gesture, Sasaki called out to his squad; "Alright you guys, lets start up again. This time I'll be your opponent." He watched them as they all shot a wary glance over at the ghoul, whom met their gaze with a raised eyebrow. Sasaki cleared his throat, garnering his subordinate's attention again.
"And this time Saiko...if you don't come at me, I'll come at you understand?"
The pig-tailed neet mumbled an incoherent response as she avoided eye contact, but nevertheless nodded after a few seconds.
As Bushidō watched the sparring match between the four investigators with waning interest, he mind began to wander, as it always did when the present became dull. His reddish-white eyes followed the form of Ken Kaneki as he fought all three of his underlings at the same time, and Bushidō wondered how he exactly was going to go about having him remember his past.
As much as he wanted to tell the one-eyed ghoul about his past self, it wasn't that simple.
'Nothing is ever that simple.' Bushidō mused, his expression turning stony.
He couldn't tell him before the auction, the CCG's success hinged substantially on him and his team being present. Bushidō knew there would be deep psychological stress when Kaneki recalls his memories.
'...And it will make him extremely unpredictable and very dangerous.' Bushidō thought, as he saw the grey-haired half ghoul deliver a spinning mid-air heel kick to Shirazu's face, sending the orange-haired nineteen year old sprawling on to the floor.
Bushidō also couldn't shake the subtle sense of urgency, like something was creeping up on him for an unviewable angle, wanting to get him in its clutches.
'This feeling... It's almost as if...as if I'm on borrowed time.'
[One Week Later: One Week Before the Auction]
Sasaki sat in one of the two leather chairs that where positioned towards Akira Mado's polished oak desk. He watched with worried eyes as Akira furiously shuffled through the mess of papers on her desk; various folders and documents were sprawled haphazardly across the desk. She looked high-strung, and Sasaki inwardly cringed when he saw her eyebrows furrow and her hands tighten around the papers in her grasp.
"..Mado-san-"
"I told you not to call- ...Oh. Hello, Sasaki... My apologies, I thought you were someone else for a moment..." Akira said as she looked at her partner with tired eyes.
"A-Are you alright? You seem...out of it." Sasaki asked, concern evident in his voice. Akira gently placed down the now-crumpled papers then rubbed her brow. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she answered; "Yes, I'm alright... It's just the upcoming operation is going to be a problem with that person accompanying the CCG."
Sasaki saw the disdain in her expression and in her words, with the out right refusal to utter his name. He wondered what the white-haired ghoul had done. It couldn't have been anything recent since the past week Bushidō had been training with Quinx squad.
"How is your squad doing?" Akira asked, hoping to drive the conversation into a friendlier direction. "They are doing better, especially combat wise." And they were. Saiko had started to take the training seriously. (As serious as she could get anyways) Tooru had become a bit more daring and fearless, with him trying new and unfamiliar techniques and strategies. Shirazu had improved the most though, becoming more aware of his opponents and even managing to trade a few blows with both teacher and mentor. Although his hot-headed nature was usually his downfall.
"Both me and Bushidō have been sparring with them everyday." Sasaki said, he noticed that her expression sour at the mention of the ghoul's name. Akira wanted to let her head fall onto her desk in exasperation.
'It seems whatever I do, it always comes back to him.' She thought.
Over the past week, Akira had done quite a lot of thinking, as well as research. She did a full background check on Bushidō's human alias, Isao Kurosawa. No next of kin, and no birth records. The Japanese government had very little information, but it turns out that he had won several awards for academic excellence, being at the top of his class and graduating at one of the best universities in Japan: Kamii. It was very frustrating for her that such a dangerous ghoul who had been active in the community for over a decade, and it made her think of all the other ghouls in hiding.
But for Akira, the most troubling thing for her was the ghoul himself. He was able to finagle his way into the infrastructure of the CCG, not only that but he was able to do it with such ease. A testament to his intelligence, and she hated it. The felling of being manipulated, strung along on the whim of some ghoul...and yet for some reason she couldn't find it in herself to actually hate him. Out of all the ghouls she had met in her life, with the exception of Sasaki and his group, Akira had never seen such human-like qualities... Although that didn't stop Akira from being distrustful and wary, after all she still really really disliked him.
Then there was the argument between them one week ago, where he had told her his philosophy on the world and corrected her own interpretation on loss. She had been slowly digesting his words, but she couldn't come up with a counter argument...yet.
For the sake of her declining mood, Akira decided to ask Sasaki the question she had him come out here in the first place for.
"Has...Bushidō-" She said the name with venom; "said or asked you anything strange?"
Sasaki thought back to the conversation he and the white-haired ghoul had...
"When you're done lying to yourself, come find me and we'll talk about it."
His left hand twitched, wanting to touch his chin as he said. "...No. Nothing out of the ordinary..."
Akira narrowed her eyes at him. "There is nothing ordinary about him..." In response, Sasaki just chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand to calm the impulse to touch his chin. "I guess you're right about that. He is kind of odd."
Realizing she wasn't going to get a straight answer Akira just sighed. This whole mess was just getting worse and worse. If what Bushidō said was true than Sasaki was just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.
An uncertain time limit, another unknown to Akira, but this one she didn't hate. She feared it.
XxXxX
"What do you mean you can't cook?!"
"It means just that. I. Can't. Cook." Bushidō said, his face expressionless as he popped his head out from behind the opened fridge door to look over at Shirazu. Saiko then complained that they were the only three people in the house, and apparently none of them could cook a single meal.
"But aren't you, ya know... old? You should know how to do these things." Shirazu argued, and Saiko chortled at the insult from her place at the dinner table.
"Quite rude aren't you?" Bushidō quipped, from his crouched position as he looked in the lower drawers of the fridge. "I'm more surprised you let your superior cook, does Sasaki wipe your ass too?"
"Hey! That's-" Shirazu angrily yelled, but was interrupted by a fit of giggles that bubbled from Saiko and she almost fell of her chair in her laughter.
"Oi! You're supposed to be on my side damn it!" Shirazu yelled, as he turned to face Saiko.
The doorbell ringing dashed all would-be conversation, and Bushidō stood up from his crouched position. Shutting the fridge door, he converged with the two quinxs in the hallway, and Saiko said that she thought it might be Shirazu's girl, which the one-eyed ghoul retorted with some colorful curses.
Shirazu walked up to the peephole and looked through it to find Hanbee Abara, dressed rather fashionably, waiting patiently for someone to open the door. Shirazu furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
'Who is this guy again?' He thought. He knew that the tall man was part of Suzuya's squad, but he couldn't place the name...
"Are you going to open the door?"
Shirazu glared back at Saiko before opening the stylish door to greet Hanbee. "Umm...you're Suzuya's..." he said, making it obvious to everyone that he forgot Hanbee's name.
"Yes, his right hand. I'm Rank Two investigator Hanbee Abara." Hanbee said, formally introducing himself.
As Hanbee stepped inside and greeted them, Bushidō watched with a raised eyebrow. He wondered what the slender investigator was doing here of all places. It was a perfectly good afternoon, surely he had better things to do...
"If you're here for Sas-san, he's in a meeting..." Shirazu told him, and Hanbee held up a hand; "Ah, no. Though if you would like..."
Hanbee stopped mid-sentence when he recognized the white-haired man and his mouth turned into the tiniest of frowns.
"Something wrong Hanbee-san?" Bushidō asked pleasantly, knowing full well that the Rank Two investigator was suspicious of him. Hanbee glanced over the man's figure; slicked back white hair, borderline-smug grin, and a crisp black suit. '...Suit?' Hanbee thought, confused. He found it odd that Bushidō was wearing a suit in the middle of the day for seemingly no reason.
"No, not quite. Though I am wondering why you are wearing a suit. In the middle of the day. Around the house."
Both Saiko and Shirazu gave each other a quick look, they too had asked about the suit to which the ghoul had replied; "Force of habit."
"Oh, this?" Bushidō asked, his white hair swaying as he looked down at and gestured to his attire as if seeing it for the first time. "Well, It's a bit of a habit of mine. Does it bother you?"
"No, but...nevermind." Hanbee said, shaking his head and dropping the subject. He let himself get sidetracked because of his skepticism...although there was a foolproof way to confirm or bust his suspicions...
"If I may be so bold, Hanbee-san." Bushidō started, grasping the long black-haired man's attention. "May I ask what you are doing here? You seem to be overdressed to simply come for a visit."
"Well, you may be right but I came here today to ask the Quinx squad out for lunch. Would you all like to go out to eat?" He asked and looked at each of the younger investigators, who nodded eagerly. Or in Saiko's case, nodding her head vigorously as tears of gratitude welled up in her eyes.
Hanbee looked away from the almost crying nineteen year-old, to stare hard at Bushidō. The white-haired man only smiled and nodded, saying; "An investigator's luncheon? Sounds great."
Both Hanbee and Bushidō had a staredown that lasted a few moments, while Shirazu and Saiko looked between the two. Hanbee nodded, seemingly complacent with Bushidō's answer.
'We'll find out soon enough what you really are...' Hanbee thought as he placed his hat back on. Turning around, his scarf swaying with the motion, Hanbee lead Quinx Squad out into the busy sunlit Tokyo streets...
A.N) Whew, this chapter was a pain in the ass to write. More foreshadowing this chapter and more character growth in the Quinxs. Akira gets some love as well this chapter.
Also, I don't know if you haven't noticed but Sharkbro is my favorite out of the bunch so I like to give him a little extra development.
Spar between Sasaki and Bushidō! Hope you liked that. (You asked me about it. Yea, I'm talking to you! You know who you are.) Hanbee getting mad suspicious about Bushidō. I wonder how he will handle eating human food at a restaurant hmmm?
Make sure to review to have your name mentioned in the shoutout section of the next chapter!
P.S. This is the tenth chapter. The tenth tarot card is the Wheel of Fortune, which can mean speed or movement. This is the farthest the plot as moved yet! Man, I feel like SUI Ishida!