Chapter 25:shéng biāo
Contractors dead: Surge, Cyber
Contractors alive: Principal, Unix
Previously: "Please don't tell anyone, I beg you." He said quietly, praying that his cover wouldn't get blown.
"Don't sweat it. I won't say a word, they'll discover it soon enough."
(The same night, 13th Feb)
"Man! So much happened! I'm just gonna hit the bed!" Rito announced as his 'family' stepped inside the house. The princesses, Haruna and Rito just returned home shortly after the whole ordeal in the old school building.
"You guys should get some rest too, school's tomorrow." Rito said as he calmly made his to his bedroom.
"I hope Oshizu will do ok with Mikado-sensei….."
"Say, tomorrow's Valentine's day right?" Haruna asked as the Devilukeans looked at her with strange eyes.
"Valentine's day? What's that?" Momo wondered.
"In our culture, it's a day of romance, the female lover offer the male chocolate as a sign of love."
"Ehhhh? But we don't have one to give to Rito! What are we gonna do?" Lala panicked.
(Rito's bedroom)
The assassin was lying half-naked on the bed, his mind occupied with the events that happened today. He suddenly remembered the letter of Pikari's the note from Mikado. He took them out and read the one from the Pikari first.
Cyber,
Under the director order of your master Azenda, you are to travel to Earth, Sainan City, to begin your search for the apple as well as wielders of the famed eagle vision. The reason being is that we are not sure that if this Yuuki girl we apprehended can indeed activate her eagle vision.
Upon arriving on Earth to your predetermined destination, you will be greeted by an earthling by the name of Saruyama, he will be able to assist you in any way.
Once the apple is obtained, you will them deliver it to Unix. He will be waiting at the southern part of Sainan City.
Do not fail me.
Azenda the tyrant.
Rito was awestruck at the new piece of information. "So I just took down Cyber I guess…. I need to talk to Sam soon, have him read this for himself."
The orange haired boy then diverted his attention to the other letter from Mikado.
Disciple,
Mikado is friend, don't hesitate to go to her for help.
Under your bed. It's a small gift for eliminating yet another contractor.
We'll talk later.
Get familiar with it.
Your Mentor, The Old Hound.
"That's odd…." Rito said aloud. "Under your bed, could it be that there is something there it?" Deciding to check his theory, he got off the bed and looked under his futon, then he saw something.
"What's this?" He asked as he pulled the object out with his hand and examined it carefully.
It was a peculiar item. It was a long thin and tough rope, but tied together in a knot, and attached to one end of the rope was a small spear headed blade the size of a hand. By itself, it looked menacing and one would automatically assume that it is a weapon. Rito untied the rope and began to get a feel for it. He held the rope with two hands and tried swinging it around, but accidentally let go of one of the hand as the blade shoot off to the far wall of his room, and smashed through the bedroom window, shrapnel of glass could be seen on falling onto the bed and onto the grass below.
"Uh oh….." He said in his mind as he jerked the rope and pulled the blade up. "Just like uncle said, long range… I'll have to get use to it."
Suddenly the bedroom door flung opened as Lala, Momo, Nana and Haruna stormed in, fearing for the life of Rito.
"Rito! What happened?!" Lala exclaimed worriedly.
"Are you alright?" Momo added.
"Why is the window shattered?!" Nana asked.
"What's that you're holding?" Haruna question curiously as she pointed to the rope dart that was neatly tied up in his left hand.
"Oh that! It's nothing, I experimented on a long-range weapon and smashed a window, no biggie….." Rito said sheepishly as he began cleaning up.
"You'll have to sleep somewhere else until the window's fixed." Nana said as she went over and help Rito sweep the shrapnel.
"You're always invited to sleep with me, Rito…." Momo began provocatively as she began fantasizing about all the ecchi things they could do alone.
"Ehhhh! No fair! He can sleep with me and Haruna anytime, right Haruna?" Lala offered as she wrapped an arm around Haruna, who was now beating red, having misinterpreted the sentence completely.
"Sleeping w-with Y-Yukki-kun…."
"OR you could sleep with me….show me your real hidden blade and give me all the training you want…." Nana whispered naughtily in the poor boy's ear.
The boy could only blush in response as the girls offered themselves to him. "What do I do now?"
"I-I'm g-g-gonna sl-leep on the sofa t-thank y-y-you!" He stuttered out as he grabbed a blanket and rushed downstairs as all the girls giggled.
"He's so cute when he blushes…"
(Azenda's Hideout)
"Ma'am, most recently, two of your search party captains, Surge and Cyber, have fallen under an unknown entity who's nicknamed the 'Lone Eagle' by the general public. These recent attacks seems to be targeting specifically to slow down our efforts in obtaining the apple. What are your orders?"
"Hm….. This 'Lone Eagle'… Taizou Motemitsu! Identify this 'Lone Eagle' and report back to me! In the meantime, if one more contractor get eliminated, then I'll have no choice but to intervene myself. The search time has already been delayed as it is. GO!" Azenda barked as she brought out her whip and slashed it at the Spyglass's feet dangerously, making the man scrambling away to Earth.
"Hai! Master Azenda!" Taizou replied. "Mission objective, identify Lone Eagle in Sainan City."
"'Lone Eagle', whoever you are, you will pay for interfering with my plans. I WANT THAT APPLE! I WILL OVERTHROW GID LUCION DEVILUKE AND RULE THE UNIVERSE!"
(Morning, Valentine's Day)
Rito was woken up by the aroma of bacon beside him. He opened his eyes and looked to the coffee table and saw a plate with bacon and eggs alongside with a written note.
Rito,
We're going to school early.
Don't be late!
Love, Lala
'We'll it looks like I'll be late if I don't get a move on." Rito muttered to himself as he read his watch, which read 8:15 am. He then got up and did his usual morning routines, strapped on his hidden blades, grabbed his bag, and left the house through the front door.
The orange haired boy calmly walked along the road when he heard queer noises that resembled a girl in distress around a corner. Silently he went up and leaned and peeked around the corner. His eyes became surprised at what he saw.
"Come on Yui, just imagine all the shameless things we could do together afterwards…." Motemitsu flirted boldly. Taizou was posing as a student the same age as Rito, but with grey eyes and short spiky dark yellow hair.
"You shameless beast! No means no!" Yui shouted as she tried to push him away, but only to find that Taizou had his hand grabbing hers as he pinned her towards a wall. He then grabbed out a small pocket knife from his school pant pocket waved it dangerously around.
"W-what do you think you're doing! You shameless pervert!" the curvaceous girl muttered, now slightly frightened. 'Yuuki-kun, if you're listening to this, please save me!'
"Why don't I show you a good time?" The pervert boasted and brought the knife closer and closer to her.
Having heard enough, Rito silently and coolly walked his way behind the man without him noticing anything. "Please unhand Kotegawa, Taizou Motemitsu."
Both students jumped in surprised at the presence of Rito.
"Yuuki-kun…." Yui thought as she gave an inward sigh of relief.
"So the orphan boy speaks, this has nothing to do with you! Go away!" Taizou rudely replied as he shoved Yui aside and threw the pocket knife at Rito with pin point accuracy. But the assassin caught the incoming blade with two fingers with ease and glared at him.
"His accuracy with the blade is beyond human capabilities, I'll have to be careful around him." Rito analyzed as he threw the knife back at him at blinding speed, giving the man a small cut in the arm.
"Leave!" the Lone Eagle then bellowed in absolute authority, making the playboy flinch as he ran out of sight.
Rito then ran up to Kotegawa, who was on the floor, frightened and disgusted.
"It's alright now, he's gone." He said comfortingly in her ear as he brought his arms around her in a protective hug, to which Yui clung on to like a koala on a eucalyptus tree.
"Y-yuuki-kun, arigato….."
"Tell me, what happened?" Rito asked seriously as he looked at her with eyes that reflected with pure love and concern.
"I was walking to school when that fiend went up to me and started to flirt with me. That persistent shameless basta- " Kotegawa explained.
"He won't be troubling you anymore. I…. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you earlier….it's my fault that y-" Rito told her, but was then cut off by the soft beckoning lips of Yui.
"Don't be silly, it's not your fault. You are the only one who can do shameless things to me Yuuki-kun….." Kotegawa whispered shyly as she got up along with Rito and together they ran to school before it's too late. But unbeknownst to the pair of love birds, Taizou was around a corner, glaring daggers at Rito who had just humiliated him in front of the Yui Kotegawa, his love interest.
"Yuuki Rito's speed with my knife was a bit too fast and accurate for a mere earthling, I've gotta keep an eye on him, from now on, I'll consider him as one of my suspects as the Lone Eagle….. But that's preposterous." Taizou analyzed as he stared at RIto with critical eyes. "Even so…. I just can't take my eyes off the beautiful Yui Kotegawa…..That figure, not even Lala has those curves…."
(School lunch break, classroom)
Rito was quietly relaxing in his seat like any other day when he overheard a conversation of two nameless male students behind him.
"Hey, today's the day right?"
"Of course, how can any man forget?! It's Valentine's day!"
"Do you reckon you'll get any chocolate from any girls at all?"
"I dunno…but Rito over there is sure to get some from Lala and her sisters… god, I'm so jealous of the guy!"
"But we can't do anything about it. Have you even seen what he's capable of? I was there when he destroyed over forty lust driven boys in the school yard. Apparently all of them had serious and severe injuries. I heard some even went mad…"
"Damn….. Sure don't wanna mess with him….."
Having listening to them jibber jabber long enough, he decided to head down to the vending machine to get a soft drink. He got up from his seat silently and headed downstairs. But was caught in the hallway by the Devilukean princesses along with Haruna and Yami.
"Yuuki Rito, we meet again." Yami began stoically as everyone sweat dropped from the awkward response.
"Hello to you too, Yami…."
"Oh Rito, just in time!" Lala cheered as she ran up to him and pulled out a small pink torch form her pocket and placed it in his hands. Rito stared at the object with wondrous eyes.
"W-what is it?" the boy asked hesitantly. "If there's one thing that I know, it's that her inventions usually end in a disaster….."
"Introducing animal change-kun!" Lala exclaimed excitedly as she jumped up and down.
"Thank you Lala… but why are you giving me this?" Rito asked worriedly. "I know it's Valentine's Day, but…."
"Well you see hehe….." Lala explained as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment "I just learnt what Valentine's Day was and I had no chocolate to give you, so I'd figured that I would design something fun for you, It was Nana's idea!"
"It's an invention that lets you change into any animal which the torch shines on, keeping in mind that the transformation does have a time limit." Nana added happily whilst giving off a light blush.
Rito stared at the torch with eyes that resembled a child who just got his got his first toy. "Awesome! Thank you girls! I can't wait to try it out!" He then opened his arms as Lala and Nana both joyously leaped into them, causing many male students around them glaring at Rito with eyes filled with contempt.
"Haruna and I also have something for you Rito." Momo said eagerly, now a little envious of her sisters who were still in his arms.
Sairenji then took something out of a bag and gave it to Rito. He gratefully accepted it and was amazed and touched at what it was.
It was a jet black hoodie jacket with a triangular top at the tip of the hood itself (Think a black Desmond's hoodie from AC3, but with Altair's hood hook design). He held it out in front of everyone, admiring every inch of the cloth with sparkling eyes. The male assassin was completely rendered speechless at the gift.
"Ano….. Back at the old school building….. Your hoodie was ripped in order to protect us….. So we decided to sew you a new one…. Do you like it?" Haruna said shyly. "I hope he likes it….."
Finally recovering from his state of bliss, Rito looked the blue haired girl in the eyes and gave her a genuine soft smile that melted her heart. "Hai. I love it! Thank you both so much, you don't know how much this means to me!" He said as he tried it on him, pulling the hood over his head with one hand and moving around, attempting to get a feel for it. He found out that it the material was quite strange. It had a strange softness to it, but when you run your hands over it, it sorta… becomes rougher. And to top it off, it was virtually weightless. He almost felt lighter running around with it.
Around the corner of all the commotion hid the beautiful class president, Yui Kotegawa. In her hands clutched a cat shaped chocolate wrapped in poker dotted wrappings with a cute ribbon on it. She had a worried and disappointed look in her eyes. "All the other girls are giving him things that are better than chocolate. Will he really appreciated this? Time to find out…."
(Later on)
Rito was currently in the school library, choosing a book to read on one of the cabinets when Yui approached him nervously.
"Y-yuuki-kun." She called out to him. "It's now or never." She said in her mind.
"Kotegawa? What brings you here?" Rito asked as he approached her casually.
"Uh….um….ah….eh…..here!" She stuttered as she held out her cute cat chocolate in front of her with one hand and looked away shyly.
Rito was blushing beet red and slowly he accepted the chocolate, taking it off her hands like it was the most precious thing in the world. "T-thank you Kotegawa. To be honest…. You're the first person to have ever given me chocolate for Valentine's Day…..." he said as he gently hugged her tightly. Yui reddened and gasped in surprise at the gesture.
"So….s-so it's good e-enough?" the black-haired teen asked fearfully.
"What do you mean?" Rito inquired as he looked her in the eye.
"The others… they gave yo-"
"I'm gonna stop you here, " Rito said and placed a finger on her lips, effectively silencing her. "Yui Kotegawa, I love you with all my heart, do you truly love me?"
"H-hai! With all my being-"
"Then that's all there is to it. Love is not measured by the value of the gift the girls gives the boys on Valentine's Day. As long as I love you, and you me, it doesn't matter what you get me on Valentine's Day, I'll always be happy." Rito finished and leaned in for a passionate kiss.
Little did they know that a curious Konjiki no Yami was listening to everything on the other side of the book cabinet. She bore a stoic but slightly confused look on her face.
"What is this love that so many earthlings strive for? I still have insufficient data…"
(Yuuki Residence, 1:00 am)
A certain young man was at his backyard, currently training himself to proficiently use the rope dart. He started by placing human sized mannequins in front of him and tried to strike them at a distance. This proved to be difficult at first, but at the end he was able to haul the small spear head into the dummies' neck accurately one hundred percent of the time. He would then start developing attack patterns for himself when wielding it in open fight. For many hours he would try to heave the blade into the enemy's neck in a combat situation and performing creative yet violent and devastating counter kills with it.
After that he would try a different approach with it, by using it as a silent assassination weapon from up top. He experimented on the idea by positioning a training straw dummy under the big tree on his backyard, then climbed up the tree until he was sitting on a branch directly above it. Silently he swing the rope dart downwards at neck breaking speed, penetrating the dummy's neck completely. And with the small blade stuck inside the neck region of the mannequin, he let himself drop onto the ground, still holding to the end of the rope and using the branch as a pulley. By doing so he was able to successfully hang a person from above as well as descending downwards at the same time.
"I'll have to make multiple of these for myself… oh! Someone's calling me!" Rito thought as he tied up his new weapon and answer the call.
"Rito."
"Uncle Sam?"
"Check your E-mail again, this target has a huge bounty on his head. He might have some useful info on him, so I'd keep alive for a while before I end him. Good luck."
"Wait Sam! Why didn't you tell me about Mikado-sensei?" Rito asked.
"Yeah….. I am old, so…. Well gotta go, call me when you're done."
"One more thing, Mentor."
"Yes my boy."
"Can you drop by tomorrow after school?"
"This is new, what's up?"
"I found a letter on Cyber's body that was addressed to Cyber from Azenda the tyrant herself. You have to read this for yourself."
"Yeah, sure… I'll stop by tomorrow let's say, 6:00 pm?"
"Sure."
"Good hunting."
-To Chapter 26-
AUTHOR'S NOTES: I'M SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING SOONER, I WENT TO CAMP.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW HOW I'M GOING WITH THE STORY.
AS ALWAYS, MORE CHAPTERS STILL TO COME.
REVIEW ARE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.
CRITICISMS ARE ALSO ACCEPTED.