Heart of the Infiltrators

by MordinofSolus

Senran Kagura x Male Insert - Amidst the turn of the modern era, a young man is forcibly contracted to cure twenty shinobi of a mental ailment known as distortion, caused by the corrupted blood of Yōma. As time goes on, the long hidden societies of the world are forced to come out into the public spotlight when they are pitted against one another.

28. Chapter 28: Heartfelt Revolt

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 28: Heartfelt Revolt

Around two hours after the young man and Yumi had exited the dining room, the remaining members of the Gessen Elite gathered themselves into their shinobi meeting area and awaited further instruction. None of them had even thought to contact the academy's teachers nor administration for advice, knowing for fact that doing so would mean having to expose the identity of their visitor. Thus, they simply waited in complete silence for Yumi to return, knowing her to be their decisive leader and the one with the most carefully laid plans.

Sipping on a bit of soda while clinging to her seat at the juice bar, Shiki took the occasional glance at her sisters and found her mood dipping further and further. Yozakura had taken to sitting on one of the armchairs, trying to maintain a sort of patience during their wait, before she kept awkwardly shifting positions. One moment, one of her legs were crossed over the other while she folded her arms; the next, she was sitting on her feet atop the chair cushion while sucking a breath of discontent into her nose and blowing it out of her mouth. Around the time the blue-haired girl was hugging her knees in anxiety, Minori had sat herself against one of the room's corners. Her face was despondent and her body remained unmoving, without even a hint that she desired to reach into her candy bucket. The only one who appeared to remain solid was Murakumo as she stood by the door, awaiting her fellow third-year's arrival. But Shiki could tell by the unsteady rise and fall in her shoulders that the masked girl was afraid just like the rest of them.

The blonde felt her frown deepen as she realized that their most stalwart sister was beginning to bend underneath the pressure. While trying to assure herself that she had to remain strong for them, Shiki reached over to her drink only to realize that her hand was slightly shaking. She compared it to the unmoving can and, just as she was about to try and calm herself, her arm suddenly began to quiver before it intensified into a spasm. At that moment, Shiki realized that she was in no position to try and act tough. She was just as afraid as everyone else.

Oda had made his first move against the young man, revealing that he'd somehow figured everything out or, more likely, had been watching the entire time. Without a doubt in anyone's mind, the menacing shinobi had to have also been aware of the girls' involvement with the boy. He knew that they knew everything: the young man was a terrorist who was actively seeking them out for correction, he was supposed to be pursued as a greater threat to all shinobi-kind, and working with him would likely constitute themselves as the very same kind of threat. All of that begged the question: what would Oda do to them after he dealt with the young man? Would they get lucky and get off with a warning since they were young? No, that was borderline impossible since they were well aware of their own actions. The most lenient punishment they could possibly receive would be imprisonment for a period of time, perhaps even life. They could also be demanded to partake in ritual seppuku to atone for their crimes. In addition to whatever else they were meted out, perhaps one of the direst things that could happen to the girls was getting stripped of their titles as shinobi. The very thing that they'd all been working towards was at threat of being taken away because of their involvement with the young man… To Shiki, that was the scariest thing of them all and there was no doubt in her mind that everyone else was fearing the same thing.

Then, slamming open the sliding doors and strutting in on an unexpected air of complete authority, Yumi made her way into the room and clapped her hands twice to rouse everyone's attention, "Come. Everyone to their chairs." As the rest of the girls took a moment to recover from the surprise and wondered how the sudden burst of energy came to be, their leader took her place at the shinobi meeting room's center, a small space with a couple of armchairs, a coffee table, and an empty space where their sofa should have been. Once she realized that everyone was lagging in the face of her summoning, Yumi clapped her hands again and barked, "Come! We need to act fast."

Forgetting their previous woes in the face of potentially earning the ice queen's ire, everyone double-timed it to their respective chairs. However, upon realizing that she'd moved Yumi's own chair out of the way so that there was more room for moving the sofa, Shiki offered, "Want me to slide over your seat?"

"I can stand."

"It won't take a minute-"

"I can stand."

Hearing the unbending tone in Yumi's voice, Shiki picked up on the fact that things were apparently more troubling than they initially came off as. She nodded her head and leveled her expression into seriousness, "Right."

Once she was sure that everyone was paying attention, Yumi stated frankly, "We all know what's going on. Oda's onto all of us and we have no idea how much time we have until he makes his next move. Thus, we'll need to be quick in our decision making." The girl took a short breath, closed her eyes, "However, before we can do anything," and opened them to look everyone straight in their faces. There was a brief moment of silence before Yumi stated, "I want- no. I need to know where all of you stand… Each of you are aware of the fact that you're all distorted?"

The rest of the girls exchanged a few confused glances before Murakumo commented, "Of course. You, Miyabi, and Homura were proof enough to the rest of us. Throw in the account of what happened to Asuka, it'd be hard to dispute it at this point."

"Exactly," Yumi said quietly as she nodded, her eyes falling to the floor, "The result of my before and after can't be denied… But that wasn't what I was asking." She locked her eyes onto everyone again, "When you were told that you were also distorted, did you believe it?"

The girls needed to take a moment of thought before their sister's message clicked with them. They were being asked whether or not they trusted the word of Hanzō, Jasmine, Rin, and Kiriya. But most of all, they were being asked if they trusted the word of the young man and the goal that he swore himself to. It took a bit longer along with some thinking before Minori responded, "Well… I do." Upon hearing that, Yumi let out an evident breath of relief as the girl kept going, "We know it happened to you… so… it can also happen to us. And we're also not supposed to be able to feel it or… something. But it'll still hurt us and everyone else at some point."

"You believe it then? In its entirety?" asked Yumi.

"Of course," Yozakura threw her voice into the ring, "We've all believed it since the start," before throwing her hand up, "Ah… If you don't mind me asking, what is this about? Shouldn't we be focusing on the issue with Oda?"

"I wanted to be sure you knew the stakes… and that you knew who was on your side this whole time," said Yumi, her voice calm but tinged with grimness.

Once the suggestion was rammed into their heads, the girls understood the implication in its entirety. There were two ways to dealing with the situation at hand. While one of them wasn't entirely figured out yet, that being the plan to go against Oda, there was an alternate route they could have taken: offering up the young man in hopes they'd be dealt leniency. Perhaps they could've plead that they were misled or were only dealing with him because they so feared the thought of distortion. While it wasn't a guarantee to safety, it certainly would have been a safe act of goodwill for their allegiance with the shinobi. Throw in the fact that Oda was rewarding to those who acted in earnest with him, which they could have very well convinced him of, the girls would still have been allowed to honorably keep their titles as shinobi without the threat of death.

While they went over the potential route they could take, the image of the young man, laying exhausted and wounded on a bed within the Hanzō Academy infirmary, ran through all of their heads. Then they remembered the harsh and cruel words that Yumi spouted before she was distorted, echoing the deliberate hurt that ran through their hearts and minds whenever she had demeaned them. All of those thoughts were topped off by the heartfelt apology that she offered them all, displaying the true love that she had for them as her sisters.

However tempting it was to take the easy route, rejecting the young man was as good as rejecting that apology. If not for him, they never would have been able to hear it. Without him, they never would have gotten their sister back.

Upon seeing the glints in everyone else's eye, Shiki turned her head to Yumi and declared, "Don't you ever think of something so silly ever again. We're together in this. All of us."

To that remark, Yumi slowly smiled and closed her eyes, "Thank you."

Everyone nodded their heads in affirmation, vowing to one another they'd stand beside the young man in the coming struggle. A round of smiles born from their united camaraderie fell upon all of their faces, save for Murakumo whose head was still hidden behind her mask. But, amidst the silent celebration, the masked girl then asked, "What is our plan to deal with Oda then?"

Just as quickly as they came, the smiles on everyone's faces slipped away and were replaced by mixed looks of fear, tension, and confusion. Fortunately, Yumi kept her back straight and declared, "There's already a plan in place."

To that remark, Shiki stood from her chair and kneeled up to the coffee table to lean on her hands in anticipation, "Already!? You were in that room for an hour- Ah! I get you, Yu – and – mi. You've been cooking one up since you heard about Oda, right? That's you. That's totally you."

But Yumi shook her head, "That's not the case at all. And it wasn't just me who thought of it."

Still sitting in her chair, Yozakura needed to rub her chin in before her thoughts went to the young man, who was reduced into a quivering mess the last time she saw him. With an evident tinge of disbelief, the blue-haired girl questioned, "You mean he helped plan it too? I-, Pardon me, this may sound mean, but is he… at all in a sound state of mind? Should he be planning something as serious this?"

"Even if he wasn't all there," Yumi retorted after taking a breath, "then I can only say that his plan is still very passable. Risky, sure… but passable. Aside from the suggestion I made that we involve the rest of the girls, which we'll be doing shortly, I couldn't find much else to improve the plan."

Murakumo's head straightened up, "We're involving everyone else?"

"Once we're done talking here, yes."

The masked girl crossed one of her arms while leaning her chin upon the other, "Not to say we don't need the help, which we very much so do… Wouldn't we be endangering everyone by involving them at this point?"

Yumi shook her head to that question, "We can only assume Oda's aware of their involvement at this point. He knows there's an infiltrator and that multiple adult members from varying academies are involved with him. Throw in the facts that we're sticking up for said infiltrator and that our friendship circle is rather tightly knit, he should already be onto everyone else too. No, it'd be better if we were all together in this."

Murakumo nodded her head and dropped her arms to the sides of her chair, "Right."

Feeling her thoughts drift on the state of the young man, Minori murmured his name before turning to Yumi, "Is he alright? Will he be taking part in the plan?"

"Yes… He's at the forefront of it," said Yumi as she tried to keep the worry off her face.

But Shiki locked her eyes onto the girl and asked, "But is he alright?"

There was an evident falter in her sister's response. Yumi slightly shifted from one foot to the other and replied, "He'll need some time… but he said he'll be ready by tomorrow… Ah… that'll be when we commence our plan."

Despite the doubtful looks that she felt being passed onto her, the ice queen of Gessen Academy didn't quite know how to describe the young man's state to the rest of the girls. At first, just as they all expected he would, the boy broke down and let out all of his sorrows while burying himself into Yumi's hold. Not long after, he fell silent and occasionally quivered while he was moved to the couch for the sake of his own comfort. For a while, the girl was content to just stroke his head and embrace him for as long as he wanted her to.

Then, much to her surprise, he suddenly spoke in a scarily clear voice, "We'll need to act…"

For a moment, Yumi wanted to offer continued assurance, fearing that he was acting willfully in an effort to break off from his internal strife. But, as she raised her hand to continue stroking his forehead, she caught a glimpse of the look in his puffy red eyes. He was staring straight up into the air, as if he was trying to look up to God, and reached a hand onto the couch to pull himself into a seated position beside Yumi. As she looked at him with tinges of worry, her face fell and her eyes widened a bit.

Keeping his eyes forward and completely averted from her, the young man's brow had fallen and his lips were pulled tightly into an unrelenting grimace. As he began to voice his plan on how to try and push Oda back from the advance, the only thing that Yumi could focus on was the face of the boy beside her. His lips curled into a snarl as he spoke, his nose was flared and all mucus had ceased its dribbling… and his eyes were like a nuclear explosive on the brink of detonation. From the one long look that she took, Yumi knew for an absolute fact that the young man was not going to break again in the same way he had earlier that day. Part of her was assured by his apparent air of confidence and ruthlessness… but the other was afraid, fearing the sudden change in his oftentimes soft demeanor.

Standing in the Hebijo practice room, Miyabi sucked in a breath of air before she sliced her katana forward. As metal rang, she exhaled and felt herself calm down just a bit more. Then, as she prepped herself for a different technique, her phone began to vibrate to the side of the training mat. Miyabi sheathed her weapon and adopted an irritated expression before strutting over to her phone as it vibrated a few times more. With a curious snort out of her nose, she reached down and swiped the screen to look at her text messages. Some of the texts were in a group chat, put on full display for everyone else to see. After a bit of reading, her eyes widened and all of her facial features tightened up.

However much her practice from a minute before was relaxing in the face of her prior frustrations, Miyabi's heart nearly stopped as she read the messages from the girls of Gessen Academy. She very nearly dropped the phone as she took a minute to process it all before clenching her eyes closed to murmur, "Shit… shit…" and rested a hand against her head. Then she saw the invite to a private chat between her, Yumi, Asuka, and Homura. Seeing the other members to the conversation, Miyabi already knew what the subject matter would be. Upon reading the first line, "Us four are already in a complicated situation but there is more you should know," she was on the verge of just pocketing the phone and saving the stress for a different day.

Then she read the message once, twice, and a third time. There were so many details to take in that Miyabi rested her sheathed katana to the floor and sat herself down. Despite being so calm a few minutes before and feeling mentally prepared for any other turmoil to come, her mood had pulled a one-eighty and invoked a headache of complete stress. Were it not for the situation with Oda, Miyabi would have acted on her urge to confront Yumi to confirm whether or not everything was true… but the situation was too serious to be a lie. Miyabi had to get the rest of the Hebijo elite ready.

Though she was initially in the middle of transitioning from one part-time job to another, Homura was dashing back to her home while growling into her phone, "I can't! There's a family emergency and I need to-," before she was cut off. Her employer roared at her as she pushed through everyone on the sidewalk, though she held no regard for what he had to say, "Just find someone to cover for- Don't interrupt- Do not interrupt me! I've already told you this is an emergency…! Employment or fam-, I don't give a rat's ass about whether or not I have a job with you tomorrow! Find someone else!" With a satisfying click, Homura ended her call and employment with that individual. She knew what was more important to her and moving furniture for some nag of a man didn't even make the list, especially since she could easily find a job that paid the same wages.

As she continued to run, Homura's heart thumped painfully against her chest as she went over the situation in her head. She cursed Oda under her breath, "Damn!" for his aggressive advance against the young man and for throwing a wrench into the overarching plan to woo him and Asuka. As much as Homura tried to avoid the thought of it, she knew very well that the old bastard's actions made the situation extremely delicate. Her mind didn't even dwell on why the young man couldn't date any of them, as explained by Yumi, seeing as the bigger picture decreed that one wrong move meant everyone would either be facing death or imprisonment.

Upon reaching the forest entrance, Homura realized that she was too panicked. It was more than likely that the rest of the renegades were also made aware of the situation and were fighting off their own bouts of stress. As their leader, she had to be steeled and ready for the plan that Yumi laid out. Even if her explanation about the young man's feelings were a bit out of nowhere, considering the other circumstances at hand, Homura couldn't deny the fact that the plan she laid out was as good as it would come on such short notice. Even if there was far too much openness to it, she certainly didn't feel as though she could come up with something better.

Setting her phone onto the table, Asuka held her hands together on her lap and felt her eyes fall as everything played out in her mind. With Oda on the advance, the young man faced off against heavy danger and the only thing that could protect him was one of the most reckless plans that the brunette had ever seen. He had two lines of defense, if Oda even allowed any of them the time: argumentative words and the girls' backup. Either the situation would be disarmed before a violence broke out or everyone would be facing extreme consequences.

Asuka could hear Katsuragi yelling out in distress from the other room, likely having also read the message in the group chat. The second-year closed her eyes and felt her thoughts linger on what was to come. She thought she'd be ready to face off against a dangerous force like Oda. It was one of the things she'd hyped herself up for since before she became a shinobi, since the time she first laid eyes on a Yōma, since the time she and Homura dueled from dawn to dusk in anticipation for such a day. But, in the face of such a fight where she had to be ready to use her words and, if needed, her weapons against a colossal foe, she could feel fretful goosebumps run up and down her arms.

Then Asuka reminded herself of the young man. He'd already gone up against Oda and lived to tell the tale, granted he only got away because Murakumo was there. Throw in the fact that he did so while under the extreme pressure of everyone's corrections and the weighty flirtations of his four admirers… Asuka decided she couldn't dwell on such things. She couldn't think about Oda nor the fact that she had a bunch of rivals for the young man's affection, a prize which apparently couldn't be reciprocated in the first place. When Ikaruga came into the dining room to check on her, Asuka had mentally prepared herself enough for the coming day. It was do or die.

With the deed done, Yumi rested her phone against the coffee table and looked to all of her sisters. With everyone else having been informed of the situation, all that remained was for them to wait for the next day. Whether or not everyone else would be ready wasn't known to them for a bit until all of the replies started to flood in. With wide and surprised eyes, Minori picked up her phone and read aloud, "Miyabi says her team will be there, Ryōna says she's in-"

"I'm surprised that pervert didn't leave a dirty comment," commented Murakumo as she looked at her own phone.

"-Ikaruga says she'll have everyone ready by eight tomorrow-, Murasaki sent a text! She says she'll get read- Haruka sent- Homura also- Asuka- Imu," as the replies continued on and on, Minori eventually threw her arms up and cheered, "Everyone's in! Everyone's in, everyone's in, everyone is in!"

Shiki joined her sister with a cheer, feeling uplifted by all of the shinobi coming together for the great task before them. Despite how simple their plan was and how risky it came off as, the support from everyone was absolute and final. On the coming day, they'd all be embarking forth into one of their biggest gambles. Even Murakumo and Yozakura joined in on the cheering, leaving Yumi to be the odd one out.

As happy and relieved as she was to have all of her friends on her side for what was to come, the girl still felt incredibly worried for the next day… No, it wasn't just that. The plan that she had participated in creating relied on the young man to call on them once he believed they were needed. Remembering his frightening face from earlier, one that held much more beyond mere determination, Yumi had to wonder whether or not he'd be willing to call for help at all. After all, he was someone that had been bottling up his frustration and sorrow all by his lonesome for a while and he would have contain a great stubbornness to go up against Oda despite the low chance of success. Would that kind of person be willing to admit that they can't save themselves on their own?

April 20 – "Do not falter when your right to exist is challenged."

Having spent the night at Gessen Academy, eating a small dinner and breakfast while remaining mostly reclusive in the room Yumi left him, the young man had finished calling into school as he left the train station a short way from his apartment. On that fateful Monday, he was going up against the man who needed only a second to kill him. After a night of lackluster sleep, rehearsing arguments with himself, and tiptoeing around the shinobi who were stepping up to help him, he knew that it would all come down to some odd minutes of conversation. As he continued down the sidewalk, wearing the same Sunday clothes from the day before, the young man sucked in a breath of morning air and felt his eyes stare onward.

Looking over all the cars in the apartment's parking lot, Oda watched grimly as the young man appeared around the sidewalk's corner on the opposite side of the street. Regardless of the fact that he couldn't reach Jasmine, Hanzō, nor either of their two lackeys, the large man was just happy to resolve the situation without needing to hunt the infiltrator. Yet, as he was about to head down the stairs to greet the boy, Oda couldn't help but take in the off-putting glare the boy offered him. He was expecting something a bit softer, something that was much more willing to try and talk things out, something that said the infiltrator was willing to bargain to save himself. But there were no such looks on the young man's face. His expression said clearly, "I'm coming with my demands. Hear them or get out of my house."

Still, Oda wouldn't be thrown off just because a teenager proved that he was willing to pitch a fit. While carefully eying the surrounding area, wondering if any of the girls would make an appearance, the veteran shinobi marched down the stairs and watched as the young man made his approach from across the street. Oda called over earnestly, "I admire the fact that you came back. You seemed to be the sort."

But the young man didn't seem to regard his comment. Instead, the boy's focus went to all of the cars in what was normally an empty parking lot. With a bit more confusion than what he cared to let on, the young man asked in a hoarse voice, "What's all this?" and waved his hand to all of the vehicles.

Oda clicked his tongue before shrugging his shoulders, "I made a number of calls yesterday to… Well, to everyone who had a stake in the matter at hand."

The young man repeated under his breath as he quirked a brow, "A stake in the-," before shaking his head and glaring up to the man, "I came to talk to you. Not a bunch of… officials or whoever else you may have in there."

"That's a shame then," murmured Oda before he stepped aside to gesture his arm toward the stairs, "because they're waiting for you. I ask that you don't be difficult."

Twisting his face scornfully, the young man spat, "What gall you have to ask that…" before marching up the stairs without a falter to his step, ready to take on whoever awaited him beyond the door. Ignoring Oda's roaring footsteps from behind him, the sound of a group of people talking within his apartment could be heard. The young man initially craned his head so that he could try and listen through the hole in his door but stopped once he could feel Oda's silver eyes burning into the back of his head. After shooting another glare at the shinobi, the young man slowly placed a hand on the door and pushed it open.

Waiting inside were seven other adults, all of whom were extremely varied in their appearance with small blades at sheathed at their sides. A tall and slender man in an extremely formal tuxedo was chatting casually beside a soft-looking woman with blooming pink hair. An elderly man wearing a suit vest was making awkward small talk with a stoic man, who wore his long white hair in a straight ponytail. Off in the corner, an equally dull-faced couple wearing spectacles were whispering in hushed voices to a man with jet black hair, who was the only one carrying a lengthy katana. The young man took all of them in stride, keeping his eyes locked on them warily as they all turned over to him. All of their conversations were cut off and silence took hold over all of them as Oda slipped in after the infiltrator.

As looks were exchanged between all of the adults, some mocking of their apparent target's appearance while there were a few murmurs about his age, the young man took a breath and parted his arms from his sides. He grasped and straightened his fingers as he took a long breath and continued to stare at all of the men and women before him. Then, as he stuck his nose up, the young man began to proclaim, "I don't know who you all think-" but was cut off when someone busted out of the bathroom.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" cried the woman as she tripped out and flopped onto her well-endowed chest. With a pained groan, she pulled herself up to her knees and began to mutter, "I was fixing myself up when I heard you all go silent. Sorry, again, if I'm too late."

While everyone put on a mix of faces that ranged from embarrassed smiles to ridiculing stares, the young man could only look at the woman with wide eyes. Without much thought, he whispered down to her, "Asuka…? What are you doing in here…? Aren't you…?"

The woman looked up to him with confusion before her face blew up in alarm. She stood onto her feet and pointed an accusing finger, "You're the infiltrator that Oda told us about!? The one after my daughter!?"

"Oh boy…" murmured the overdressed man as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

It took a moment for the young man to comprehend what was happening before it clicked in his head: the woman before him, who could've easily passed as the girl herself, was Asuka's mother. At that moment, he could easily see the slight difference in her height and facial features. But why was someone like her… The young man cut off his line of thought. He looked again to the people all around him and realized that they were all, save for the elderly man in the vest, certainly related to some of the girls in some way, shape, or form.

As a new air of discomfort settled on the boy, Oda stepped forward and announced the young man's name, "He is the infiltrator and the reason why I called yesterday."

With a deep breath and a few thoughts behind closed eyes, the man with jet black hair stepped forward and drew his katana, "Then let's get this over with."

Reacting quick to the taller man's imminent threat, the young man threw up his arms and adopted a combat stance as nearly everyone else in the room stood between the two. A few voices combated over one another for dominance, with the Asuka lookalike repeatedly spouting, "Put it away, Jirō!"

The man in question attempted to shove past them all, barking out, "You shit! You're the one, eh!? You're the brat!" While the dull-faced couple looked at one another nonchalantly before stepping back to watch the scene, Oda eventually took hold of Jirō's arm and began to crush it in his grip. The man's threatening words were quickly replaced by a groan followed by short yells as he tried to wrestle his arm free.

The pink-haired woman began to cry out, "Oda, that's enough! Oda…! Oda, you're going to break it!" as she tried to pry the man's gorilla-ish fingers off Jirō's arm.

"If I wanted to just kill him," growled Oda menacingly while pointing his free hand at the young man, "I could've done that myself. Get back and remember why I brought you here!"

When Jirō nodded his ahead amidst his squirming, his arm was released and his body crumpled to the floor. When the spectacled man called over with only a tinge of concern, "It's not broken, is it?" the Hebijo principal wordlessly picked himself up and glared at the infiltrator whom he desired to kill.

Though the young man steadily let his arms fall back to his sides, he needed to take a few heavy breaths before he could completely straighten himself. While he was still recovering, the overdressed man stated frankly, "It's interesting that you thought you could take Jirō on."

"What're you talking about?" grumbled the young man. With a bit of condescension, the man raised his arms a bit to mimic the combat stance the infiltrator took a moment before. In response, the young man waved a hand and grunted, "I know that I wouldn't have won."

"Yet, you were still ready to fight."

"No~, really?" sneered the young man.

"Interesting."

Ignoring that last comment, the boy turned over to Oda and barked, "What all this then? Are you going to kill me or arrest me?"

"Whichever you'd prefer," stated Oda before raising up a finger, "though I'd ask that you hear my proposition first."

"Proposition?" the young man repeated under his breath before shaking head and glowering, "Speak frankly. Are you going to kill me or arrest me?" When Oda moved to repeat his previous statement, the boy cut him off with an, "Ah!" and raised a finger, "Unless that proposition means you're going to be letting me go, which I know is unlikely, just get to the killing already so I can haunt the lot of you to your graves."

"Oda!" Jirō hissed, "The brat's asking for it! You know I've got something to settle with him. Just let me do it!"

The large man dismissed the principal with a wave before remarking toward the young man, "As a matter of fact, the proposition I have in mind would very well mean you get to live."

In response, the young man did a doubletake before his jaw went slack in surprise. Then he began to analyze Oda's words before tightening his features, "When you say alive, you mean you'll be letting me go? As in, you're going to leave me alone, let me do my thing, and we'll never need to see one another again?"

"I said I'd let you live," murmured Oda as he clasped his hands together, "but I won't be letting you go."

"Then shove it," growled the young man, "It's bad enough that I'm on one leash. I don't need some old bastard with nonsensical interpretations of his moral code trying to get his dirty fingers on me." He gestured to the other adults in the room, "Especially when he's already brought a whole posse who're dead set on killing me-"

"That's not why I brought them here," argued Oda.

The young man wouldn't let the older shinobi have his say. He pointed over to Jirō and countered, "Then what the hell is the deal with that mangy fucker there?"

The woman bearing Asuka's resemblance moved to cover her mouth as the elderly man stepped forward, "There's no need for such language. We can be civil."

"Yeah," spat the young man, "you guys, the lot of home invaders who outnumber me nine to one, can be civil. But, in case you lack a brain, I'm arguing for my life here. So, in other words, fuck yourself."

The pink-haired woman stepped beside the elder, who was rubbing his neck as he stared with contempt at the boy, and proceeded to explain, "We're not here to kill nor intimidate you. Please, if you'd just listen to Oda's proposition-"

"If he wanted me to listen," bellowed the young man, "he'd get you all right out of here! If he wasn't trying to intimidate me in the first place, he wouldn't have even brought you here in the first place!"

"None of them are here to intimidate you!" declared Oda, "I've only brought them in to give chase if you decided to flee and so that they could confirm the state of their children! Nothing more, nothing less!"

With all the hate he had in his heart, the young man snorted before stating, "I won't doubt those reasons, but don't treat me like I'm stupid."

Having been decisively called out, Oda sucked in his lower lip and bit down to keep his patience. After a moment of thought and reflection, he nodded his head and murmured, "Very well," and parted his hands from one another, "In addition to all of the things I said before, I've brought them here to intimidate you into accepting my proposition. In fact, I would have brought more if we had more time to spare."

The elderly man bowed his head with a smile in response. He placed a hand over his chest and cheerfully said, "You've no need to worry, sir. Master Tairō will always keep himself available for you, even with less than a second of warning."

Before Oda could blow off the obvious attempt to try and suck up, the young man asked, "Who the hell is Tairō?"

"Master Tairō, you spying trash," called the elder.

"Civil, indeed."

"Tai-rō," Oda emphasized, "Is the owner of… well, the Tairō Corporation."

"Ah…" blinked the young man, faltering once he realized a renowned name was involved, "That Tairō?" before something else clicked in his head, "No, wait. Why the hell is some bigwig involved in this?"

Before the elderly man could offer his frustrated correction, Oda explained, "He's Murakumo's adopted father."

The young man pointed to the elder, "Then who's this fart? How's he related?"

"He's Mister Kubu, Tairō's personal butler-"

The elderly man began to complain, "Sir, I've told you a thousand times to please call me Mitsuo-"

At the same time, the young man ordered, "Tell him to fuck off."

The room went silent for a moment before Mitsuo rose a finger into the air, "Would you care to repeat yourself?"

"You're not related to Murakumo? Personally?"

The old man blinked before answering, "I'm Master Tairō's personal butler-"

"Fuck off. You don't have any business here."

For a moment, Mitsuo stared blankly before a dull smile fell upon his face. He turned over to Jirō and asked politely, "If you would still care to end this brat, you'll get no argument from me." Though Miyabi's father seemed as though he was about to advance, a stern look from Oda kept his feet planted to the ground. Without further warning, Mitsuo roared back at the young man, "I AM HERE TO STAND IN FOR MASTER TAIRŌ-"

"IF HE CARES ENOUGH ABOUT HIS DAUGHTER," boomed the young man, "HE'D BE HERE IN PERSON! GET OUT!"

Pushed beyond what he was used to tolerating, Mitsuo began to advance on the boy before Oda's hand gripped his shoulder. The bulky man pointed to the door and ordered, "Leave for now and wait in your car. We'll call you in once we're done so that we can prepare a report for Tairō." At first, the elderly man looked like he was ready to argue. Then, figuring the young man wouldn't be in the realm of the living for long, nodded his head and strutted toward the door. Once Mitsuo was out, Oda asked annoyedly, "There… He's out and I've confessed to trying to intimidate you. Will you hear out my proposition?"

The immediate look on the young man's face was one of further rebellion and defiance. But, after thinking it through, he knew it would be best to hear the big man out so that he could say he's heard every option. The young man nodded, "Alright," and clapped his hands a few times before gesturing, "let's hear it."

Relieved that he seemed to finally be getting somewhere, Oda exhaled a breath and began to speak freely, "Now, you're aware of my beliefs on the infiltrators. They're invasive and unlawful," to that remark, the young man had crossed his arms and nodded. Feeling the growing resentment in the boy's demeanor, Oda changed the course of what he was aiming to say, "Ergo, I was hoping you'd be willing to accept a deal. One that would protect your… liberty, let's call it since you won't quite be free of our grasp."

"I'll stop you there," barked the young man. "Either I'm walking free after this is all done or you can skip to the part where you eviscerate me because I'm some loose end."

The man of the spectacled couple, whose glasses, posture, and forehead told the young man that he was the father of Imu, whispered to the woman who was doubtlessly his wife, "He's certainly forward…"

While the woman rolled her eyes and nodded at her husband's statement of the obvious, Oda retorted, "You're in no position to make demands of this deal. You're the infiltrator, the terrorist and criminal who's come into my jurisdiction." He pointed a massive finger down to the young man, "Here's the deal: you'll cease and desist all of your interactions with the girls at once. After everything on that end is settled, you'll share information on your brother, Tsao. His weapons, his skills and capabilities, who he walks with on a morning stroll, I want to know it all!" The rising tone in Oda's voice put his complete desperation on display, "After you've told me all that, you'll guide me to that baby killer and will assist in our efforts to end him! Do you accept!?"

The young man just stared, his expression empty and devoid of any feeling. His eyes locked onto Oda's, studying the larger man's features and anxiety for Tsao, before rubbing his chin and taking a breath. After a few seconds, he averted his gaze and asked quietly, "And the girls' distortion? I'm sure you must be aware that exists. What do you aim to do about that?"

Oda waved his hand dismissively, "Distortion does what time is constantly doing. It changes people, yes. I won't ever deny that. But that's the sacrifice we accept when we become shinobi. It'd be better to uphold that cost than to let some magic man mess around with our heads." Once the young man fell silent again, the large shinobi barked, "The deal! Do you accept it or don't you!? WILL YOU LEAD US TO TSAO!?"

Without much reaction to the giant exploding at him, the young man turned to the other adults and asked, "And the lot of you are content to see your daughters distorted? You are content to let diabolical forces mold them because it's a sacrifice that you think needs to be made? Is that it?"

The looks on everyone's faces varied. While Asuka's mother was biting her lip down in what appeared to be guilt and worry, the overdressed man and the pink-haired woman were ever slightly nodding their heads. They weren't at all proud nor indignant in the face of the young man's quiet accusation. Rather, they seemed to unhappily accept that distortion was simply a part of reality that couldn't be safely dealt with. The white-haired man remained absolutely unmoving and expressionless like he had been through the whole interaction, keeping his thoughts and beliefs on the situation entirely unreadable. On the other hand, Jiro was pulling his lips into a grimace and seemed ready to violently pounce the young man. It was evident that he either didn't believe that distortion existed or simply didn't care. Then there was the spectacled couple, who both just shrugged and meandered next to one another like everything around them wasn't really their business to know or decide.

Feeling his heart fall a bit, the young man sucked in a breath of air and marched to the sink. Oda started to protest, "Oi! I need an answer right… Ah…" but cut himself off once the boy reached for a glass and began to fill it up with water. Thinking the young man just needed a moment to think, the shinobi gestured, "Have a drink then…"

But the boy took the glass into his hand and only turned around as a glare steadily began to come upon his face. He blinked and wiped the sweat from his forehead before balling up his free hand. The glare turned fiery and only began to intensify as the young man looked between all of the adults. In the heat of his rising rage, he took in a large gulp of water before splashing what was left in his glass against the overdressed man and the pink-haired woman. The two bounced back but their clothes were still striped by the splash. After that, the young man turned to Jirō and spat all of the water in his mouth, spraying the principal's entire chest and face in the process. While the spectacled couple quickly moved to keep back the enraged man, who began to violently curse the boy, Oda felt his eyes widen in confusion.

Then the young man screeched loud enough for the entire block to hear, "A BUNCH OF WORTHLESS CRETINS! THE LOT OF YOU!" before spiking the empty glass towards Oda's feet, to which he nimbly dodged backward, "HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELVES THE LOVED ONES OF THOSE GIRLS!?"

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TALKING TO, YOU FUCKING BRAT!" roared Jirō as his two comrades continued to try and hold him back.

"NOBODIES AND BULLIES!" retorted the young man, "NOTHING MORE!"

Asuka's mother raised a hand to quell the boy's rage, "Please! There's no need for this-"

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT!" boomed the young man before he brought his arm to the counter and violently slid everything, from the utensils to a few stacked plates, down to the floor, "THERE IS NO NEED FOR ANY OF THIS! FINALLY! A WORD OF COMMON-SENSE THAT ISN'T COMING FROM MY OWN MOUTH FOR ONCE!"

While Jirō continued to curse the boy and pulled at the spectacled couple to land a hit, Oda quickly began to spout, "If you don't calm down, I'll kill you right here! Shut your mouth!"

The young man turned his snarling mouth on the large shinobi, "DO IT, YOU FAT FUCK!" He pounded his chest, "EITHER KILL ME OR GET OUT! I'LL DIE BEFORE I DARE TO BEND A KNEE TO A BUNCH OF HYPOCRITICAL BASTARDS LIKE THE LOT OF YOU!"

"Oda!" cried the spectacled man, "We're having trouble holding Jirō!"

Rather than intervene, the shinobi took a long and hard look at the young man. He saw past the anger and could see the fear etched into his features. Despite how genuinely enraged he was and all of his tough talk, the young man was still afraid. After everything he'd said and the pedestal that he'd tried to put himself on, the boy was still only just talking in the end. Believing that a bit of rough work would be enough to turn the young man back toward his proposition, Oda turned his head, "Shōwa, Tomoe… Let Jirō have at him a bit."

The two parents of Imu looked over in alarm before they shrugged and let the man out of their grip. At first, Jirō tripped forward before he managed to straighten himself onto his feet. While the young man looked up in complete alarm, though he anticipated that Oda would do something to rough him up, the principal turned his head to the larger shinobi and asked in a hoarse voice, "How far can I go?" He pointed to the boy and stated, "I have a lot to avenge on this brat, as a shinobi and as a father."

"Don't kill him," ordered Oda.

Without further hesitation, Jirō whirled around and threw himself forward to sock the boy right in the jaw. The blow threw the young man into his counter and down to the ground. Before he could take a moment to even grasp at his bruising face, Jirō took hold of him by the hair and pulled him up to ask, "What am I to you now? Speak honestly."

"A nobody and a bully," spat the young man, pushing back his fear, "and you're only proving me more and more right." Despite the fact that he knew a severe beating was on its way, his pride bade that he didn't betray his principles.

While Asuka's mother pleaded for the altercation to end and the overdressed man questioned Oda about the ethics of what was happening, the larger shinobi just sat back and stared. In the meantime, Jirō growled, "If I'm nothing then I'll just have to show you how you're worth less than any spec we could find on the ground."

"Feel free to try…" murmured the young man, doing his utmost to focus on his anger so that he wouldn't regret the words that led to the following moment.

As everything in the background became invisible to his awareness, Jirō snarled something incomprehensible and whirled his fist down into the side of the young man's head. There was a multitude of things that the man wanted to do to the infiltrator who so arrogantly insulted him: he wanted to bash his own skull against the young man's, to find a cord and strangle the boy until he was inch away from death, and then there was the desire to bring him to his knees only to deliver a solid kick to the side of his head. But there was such a bizarre satisfaction with just landing a single punch above the young man's eye. Even if the damage was comparably less to the alternate options and inevitable soreness would come to his knuckles, Jirō decided he was content to stick to the punching… if only for the wonderful sound it made.

He delivered another strike followed by another into the young man's head, forcing small grunts of pain through the boy's teeth. Though Asuka's mother yelled for him to stop, her voice fell on deaf ears and no one was willing to do anything about it. Jirō rounded another fist straight into the young man's eye, sick of the contemptuous look the boy continued to give him. Then he punched him right in the throat to keep him from breathing before grabbing the boy's shoulders to pull him up and slam the back of his head against the counter. While the young man struggled to find his breath and let out a noise, Jirō delivered another satisfying punch into the side of his head only to be followed by another.

Then he stopped for a moment and picked the boy up, "Am I still nothing to you? Choose your answer wisely lest I decide to kill you despite my orders."

The young man peeked his uninjured eye at Oda, who had only crossed his arms and was eying the individuals around him to keep them in line. Not without rage, pride, nor principle, the young man coughed at the large shinobi, "You look at what you're doing, coward…" When Oda turned his head over and quirked a brow, the boy further spouted, "You ordered this beating… now watch it… Don't look away while this," before he turned his head up to Jirō, "nobody beats me to a bloody-"

The Hebijo principal couldn't contain his fury. He unleashed another round of punches into the young man's purpling skin while letting out a roar of unbridled rage. Despite how tough his words were a few seconds before, the infiltrator was reduced to yelling out after every punch and was soon reduced to yelps and moans. As the beating intensified, Asuka's mother and the pink-haired woman were actively yelling for Oda to stop Jirō. In the meantime, the overdressed man reached out to the principal only to be shoved away. The spectacled couple and the white-haired man watched silently, though they all took no joy at all from it. Despite the varied reactions from everyone around him, Oda kept his eyes on the pummeling before him. It was the wish of the young man that he observed without averting his gaze. If Jirō went too far and did end up killing the boy, Oda was willing to uphold what he determined to be his final wish.

Thus, the raging shinobi continued unhindered. He repeatedly struck the young man's head, carved his nails into his scalp, and occasionally slammed his head into the countertop. As the seconds of his assault passed by and no help came, the boy was reduced to crying out from the pain and letting out the occasional moan when Jirō was reeling to slam him into the counter again and again. While tears ran down his face and he struggled to even lift his arms to do anything about his beating, the young man was completely helpless while the man towering over continued to beat him bloody. At one point, his eye went red and he thought he'd been blinded by the relentless assault. Even still, there was nothing he could do about it. The only thing his working eye could see was the angry face of a shinobi who was determined to kill him.

After his attack started to get repetitive, Jirō grabbed onto the young man's shoulder's again before swinging him around a few times. Both he and the young man could hear a ruckus in the background, clearly involving more than just the seven other shinobi who were left to their own devices. Despite the new additions, Jirō could only see red. He took the young man and slammed the back of the boy's head straight into the corner of the countertop and let him fall to the ground. Then, as images of his daughter accompanied by the infiltrator ran through his mind, Jirō knelt down and continued to throw his fist into the top of the young man's head.

Then, after he landed a few more solid punches, Jirō felt himself getting pulled back and roared out, "A FEW MORE! LET ME LAND A FEW MORE ON THAT ADULTEROUS SHIT!" and rounded his fist to punch whoever was trying to wrestle him away from his desired target. Before he could even hope to stop himself, his fist connected straight into Miyabi's nose with an audible crack. The man's yellow eyes went wide as all of his paternal instincts came forward. Miyabi fell back, though the furious look on her face didn't slip away. Even as Imu knelt down and wiped away the blood trickling from her nostril, Jirō's daughter eyed him in a way that was colder than every other one of their interactions combined.

The only thing that the young man processed was the painful throbbing in the side of his head. According to the rhythm that he'd gotten used to in those last few minutes, he thought he was about to get slammed to the floor or into the counter again. He meekly raised up his hands to wrestle away from the nonexistent hands gripping him and murmured, "Off… get off…" Then he felt a different pair of hands take hold of him and his fear spiked in the face of another potential attacker. He cried out, "Get off of me! Get off! GET OFF!" and pulled away, swinging his arms around madly until he felt one of them connect into someone.

He pulled and scurried away until he could bring himself to turn around to find Asuka's mother knelt down and holding her cheek, the place he'd struck. A look of horror came over his face when he realized he'd dared to deliberately strike the woman in spite of all of his training and discipline. Then he made the petrifying realization that the girl before him wasn't at all Asuka's mother. His eyes widened and he began to apologetically cover his mouth before stammering, "As-, Asu-, Asuka… I…" The second-year looked at him with a look of hurt before she nodded her head understandingly. While the young man sputtered on what to say, he wondered if there was anything that he could do to properly show how sorry he was for striking her… Then it ran through his mind again: he'd struck Asuka, the girl who undoubtably trusted him more than she ever should have by being able to willingly withstand a correction.

Then, as he began to stutter out apology after apology, the girl reached out and embraced him. While the young man felt his brain lag behind from what was happening, he heard Asuka whisper, "It's okay now… It's okay now…" as she cradled him in the same way that she did in the infirmary after Yumi's correction. Her hand stroked his head and suddenly the young man began to look around the room in awareness of what was happening.

While Jirō was busy beating him to a bloody pulp, the girls had taken notice to all of the nonargumentative yelling taking place and stormed inside. While he couldn't make out much of what was being said, the young man could tell there was a large exchange of yelling taking place between Oda and everyone else. Then, as Asuka continued to stroke his forehead comfortingly, the infiltrator realized he was completely encircled by his friends. Minus Jirō, who was still sitting on the floor in shock, all of the other adults were herded back in the face of their daughters raising weapons up against them.

While the white-haired man wordlessly found a corner of the room and stood in it, an action that pleased Yagyū immensely, Hibari was busy yelling at her mother, "GET AWAY! GET AWAY AND STAY AWAY!" Off to the side, Ikaruga appeared to exchanging knowing looks with the overdressed man, somehow silently communicating how he'd wanted nothing of what Jirō did. Then there was Imu's parents standing by the one window in the room, perching onto their tiptoes to see past the wall of girls in search of their daughter. Once they realized she was tending to Miyabi and caught sight of Murasaki threateningly preparing to unleash her Root of Calamity ninja art, they scurried off to where Yagyū's father remained.

As all of the girls continued to yell for him to back away, Oda repeatedly threatened, "I can attend to him! Just step aside already!"

In response, Yumi always screamed right back, "Your actions have done enough damage! BACK YOURSELF AWAY!" and was supported by the cries of everyone else standing beside her.

The exchange continued between the two and the young man couldn't believe his eyes and ears. He raised his hand up to the side of his head, clicking his fingers a few times to make sure he hadn't gone deaf and mad before he felt at his eyes. Then fear overtook him as he realized he still couldn't see from one eye. He felt at a bloody area beside his nose and wondered if the organ had been ruptured by the beating before he heard a few words from behind him, "Lean your head back." Though he resisted a bit, he eventually bent his head backward and watched as Homura dribbled some water from a glass cup into his blinded eye. Then, just as suddenly as he couldn't, the young man was able to see again after she carefully rubbed the dried blood blocking his vision away.

He wiped his eye a few times and sputtered with a stupid smile, "I thought I was blind…"

Asuka hugged him in response before Homura joined in from behind. Miyabi, who was busy staring down her father, eventually shook her head and walked to the young man's side to rub her fingers against the back of his head. For a moment, Jirō remained in shock in the face of his daughter's defiance. Then his rage came back to him as he boomed, "This one!? Of all people, this is the brat you're going for? He's an infiltrator! A terrorist!"

"Indeed, he is… Father," growled Miyabi, who drew her blade in response to the man's aggression.

Jirō visibly recoiled for a few seconds as his breaths turned heavy in a mix of confusion and anger. His daughter, his own flesh and blood, had dared to raised her weapon against him for the sake of some boy she liked. Though he knew he shouldn't have been terribly surprised, it was nearly impossible to keep the hurt from putting itself on his face. So he had no choice but to let his face fall. Despite seeing her father vulnerable in such a way for the first time since before her mother's death, Miyabi's steeled look only further tightened. After a few seconds, she looked down to the young man and asked, "Can you walk?"

Still locked in the embrace of the two girls from his front and behind, the young man murmured, "Ah… hold up," before using his arms to gently push away the two. Though he struggled for a moment, still very dizzied from the multiple blows to his head, he was eventually able to pull himself up and leaned onto the counter, visibly bloody from him having been repeatedly slammed into it. He sucked in a pained breath of air as he reached to the back of his head and found the fresh blood that still lingered.

Homura spoke frankly, "We should get that patched up," before looking over her shoulder to Oda, who continued to rage in the face of Yumi's defiance of his orders, "though…" After a moment she shook her head and ordered, "Head off to someplace and we'll meet you there…"

The young man faltered in his response, "Wha-, hold on. You want me to what? Where?"

Homura repeated herself, "Head off to some place and we'll meet you later!" She gestured to the brunette next to him, "Asuka, help him down the stairs outside," before she turned around to backup Yumi as Oda began to aggressively shout at the lot of them. Standing beside her, Miyabi also gave the young man a look of certainty before turning around to push her father out of the circle of girls.

Before the boy could process it, Asuka wrapped one of her arms around him and ordered, "Lean on me," as they began to make for the exit to the apartment. From outside the circle of young shinobi, her mother called after her but the brunette made herself ignore every word. Once they were outside with the young man hanging over Asuka's shoulder, she echoed Homura's order, "Just head off to someplace… Anyplace at all. We'll find you and we'll patch you up."

"What about Oda?" murmured the boy, "I doubt he's going to just let you all walk away."

"He can't just kill all twenty of us," stated Asuka, "Especially not with some of our parents being right there." As they traversed down the stairs, Asuka continued to mouth off, "We didn't anticipate them but, like Haruka said, we can use the situation to our advantage… Sure, Oda can threaten us and maybe he'll try something… But he won't do anything… final…"

Her words sounded far too unsure for the young man's liking. As much as she tried to proclaim that Oda wouldn't do anything to seriously hurt them, they both knew that Oda was a force that would overpower all of them. But, before he could voice any of his thoughts, a black car screeched from around the street corner and pulled onto the curb just off from the parking lot. As the two teenagers finished their trek down the stairs, Asuka was the first to cry out, "Grandma! Grandpa!"

Stepping out of the vehicle was Jasmine and Hanzō, both carrying alarmed looks on their faces as they looked at all of the parked cars in the lot and spotted the young man's brutalized state. Hanzō dashed up to him first, stammering, "What-, was this… this couldn't have been…" before a look of uncharacteristic rage overtook his face. Without further hesitation, he gently patted the young man's shoulder, "Find a safe place and get yourself fixed up," before stomping up the stairs as he bellowed the name, "ODA!" and joined his yells with everyone else in the apartment.

By the time her husband made it up the stairs, Jasmine had finally brought herself to approach the young man and looked his wounds up and down. She murmured a few things, "I… I heard the call yesterday-"

"Fuck off," grunted the young man, much to Asuka's surprise. Jasmine reeled her head back, guilt evidently painting her features as the young man stepped away from the brunette's shoulder and pointed one of his hands up to the apartment, "For once… after everything these last couple of days… do something useful and head upstairs… make sure that no one else gets bloodied up…"

A small look of indignance came over Jasmine, though it fell when she reminded herself of her and the young man's positions. She had wronged him and deserved whatever he decided to dish out. Once she was sure that she wouldn't try to defend herself, Jasmine began to murmur, "About your call yesterday… I panicked-, I'm sorry, I-" but was cut off again.

"I SAID FUCK OFF!" roared the young man as he pointed up the stairs, "GET UP THERE AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS MESS YOU ALLOWED!"

Another look of frustration came over Jasmine's face before she took a breath and nodded her head. Before she could be insulted again, the woman marched past the two teenagers and made her way up the stairs to join the fray. Once the young man took a breath to calm himself down, Asuka was about to comment on his remarks to her grandmother before deciding to save it for another time. Instead, she pointed off to the sidewalk, "You should get going… in case Oda or Jirō decide to… get violent with you again…"

As she turned to follow her grandmother, the young man caught a glimpse of something he couldn't ignore. He called after her, "Asuka… Hey," and walked up to her when she turned around. He looked down to her face and found the resulting bruise from his strike earlier. His mouth curled up in a mix of sorrow and distress before he stammered, "I'm sorry… Truly… I'm sorry." In response, Asuka stepped onto her toes and wrapped him into the biggest hug she could give without hurting him. Though he was a bit surprised, the young man hugged her back and didn't pull away. After a few seconds, he stated to her, "I'm sorry too… for not being able to uphold my part of the plan…"

Asuka nuzzled her head into his neck before whispering, "There's no need to be sorry about that. We all knew it could've failed. That's why Yumi planned for the rest of us to get involved. Plus," she pulled back from the hug and nodded her head, "Oda isn't really one who can be talked down… In all honesty, that was extremely reckless of you."

The young man averted his gaze, "I thought… I could argue him down… Maybe I could've gotten him to make some weird kind of exception… or something… To be honest, I lost myself in the heat of the moment up-""

There was a loud round of yelling from the apartment as Hanzō and Oda went back and forth with one another. Deciding to save her smart comment for a different day, Asuka pointed down the sidewalk and exclaimed, "Head off to someplace! We'll meet you as soon as this mess is fixed up!"

Nodding his head in response, the young man yelled out, "Thank you… Send my thanks to everyone! Good luck…" and began to make his strategic retreat down the sidewalk. After seeing him off for a few seconds, Asuka clambered up the stairs to add her voice into the barrage of yelling taking place at that moment, entirely unaware of the fact that a pair of eyes had been watching from afar. Once the brunette was out of sight and mind, Sato Hazuki began to head after the young man for what would be their first real confrontation.