Heart of the Infiltrators
(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)
Chapter 33: Sucker Punch
Waking up just past noon, Murasaki drowsily lifted her head from her sleeping bag and mumbled in her half-asleep state, "I miss my bed…" Stretching herself out like a cat, she was about to lay back down before the memory of her conversation with the young man flared in her head. Then, after Murasaki recalled the fact that she was supposed to meet him after school with her four rivals, she stood up on quaky knees and scratched at her scalp as her eyes began to widen with anxiety. Just as the girl's lips were beginning to quiver, Imu called from the stairs leading up to the young man's apartment, "Murasaki! Come get lunch."
Just like that, she had an opening to put the issue off. Even if Murasaki only had a few hours before her meeting, she needed time to properly prepare herself… though, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she checked her phone and found that it was a little bit past two. Without any hesitation, she made straight for the stairs to eat a quick meal before her departure to go meet the young man. She panickily scampered up the steps and rushed to the door of his apartment, only to find Haruka sitting just beside the entrance with her head hanging in a depressed manner. Murasaki was about to question it until Imu grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her into the apartment.
"Yozakura and Yomi did what they could with the fridge's contents," stated Imu with her eyes emotionlessly looking toward a platter covered by paper towels as it rested on the counter, "It may not suit your tastes but just eat it… it's still warm."
Murasaki's face was immediately filled with suspicion. But, when her sister gave her the nod, she began to slowly trek forward. As though she were an urban explorer about to uncover a dusty chest full of treasures from the last age, Murasaki approached the counter and reached out an unsteady hand to remove the paper towels. She grasped the soft material and rubbed it between the ends of her two fingers before swiftly removing it. Awaiting her underneath was a stack of egg sandwiches smothered in chili sauce. Murasaki immediately covered them up again and made to retreat before Imu knabbed her arm again, "Where do you think you're going?"
Murasaki said in a low and level tone that conflicted with her usually soft and timid voice, "Out for pizza… I'll be fine without… those…"
"Don't be silly," threatened Imu in an equally low voice, "Sit down and eat."
"Sister… you are precious to me," groaned Murasaki before she turned her head around with a disgusted face, "but you're going to make me do something that we're both going to regret…"
Without blinking, Imu released her sister. Before any more words could possibly be exchanged, she proceeded to crack her knuckles. Imu took a single thundery stomp toward Murasaki before growling, "Then I'll make you sit down."
Outside by the tents, Hikage was taking a bit of time to relax and ponder how the day would go. She thought about whether things would be peaceful or explosive and, when she tried to dwell on the details, found herself getting exhausted by the whole process. With little consideration, the green-haired girl decided to take a nap to relax her head. At the same time, Mirai approached her lying form and gave a soft kick to her side, "How long are you going to be sleeping for?"
"Too much time thinking," murmured Hikage in her monotone voice.
"What about?" asked Mirai, who bent her knees and lowered herself down to listen. For her, it was a rare occasion to find Hikage dwelling on an 'exhausting' situation all by herself.
Yet, just as the answer was coming off the green-haired girl's tongue, the earth suddenly began to buckle and shake with the sounds of Murasaki and Imu's yells echoing from the apartment. Completely caught off guard by the abrupt explosion of violent energy, Mirai was thrown forward with her face landing straight into Hikage's gut. Then, just as quickly as they came, the sounds from the apartment deescalated into Murasaki crying for mercy. Utterly confused and baffled, Mirai picked herself up and began to murmur, "Wh-, What the hell was that…?" before she realized where she landed. She quickly turned to face Hikage, "Are you alright?"
On the other hand, after having the wind blown out of her, the woman's eyes were staring forward without a hint of focus. She breathlessly muttered, "…explosive…" and then closed her eyes before falling onto her side.
Mirai began to panic, "Eh!? Are you alright? Are you alright!?" before her face fell into irritation as Hikage began to gently snore. Having had her daily quota for excitement fulfilled, Mirai stood up, threw her hands into the air, and muttered, "I need to go finish my chapter…" before stomping off in search of a computer store nearby.
Back in the apartment, Murasaki was being sat against the counter while Imu was trying to force-feed her an egg sandwich. The spectacled girl said through grinding teeth, "There's no other food in the fridge! This is all we have for now! Eat!"
The younger sister began to whimper as she tried to push away Imu's arm. But, once her strength began to give out, she quickly shouted, "Chili sauce doesn't belong on there! I would sooner eat a raw egg or drink a bottle of the hottest sauce in the world! But they can't be mixed! No! No, no! Let me be!"
Before the fight could go on any longer, Asuka suddenly appeared beside the two with a bashfully forced smile. The two sisters stopped their quarreling in a mix of confusion before a thought occurred to them. They both looked down and found that a familiar frying pan was resting in the brunette's hand. Without need for further warning, Imu flinched and pulled away before resting the egg sandwich back onto its platter. A few seconds afterward, Murasaki reluctantly stood up, retrieved said sandwich, and moved over to the sink to scrape off some of the sauce with her finger. Asuka smiled innocently and asked, "You two are having a good afternoon?"
Simultaneously, both sisters said, "It's alright."
At that moment, Miyabi and Yumi sluggishly walked in while pressing ice packs onto their heads. The brunette cheerfully turned around to greet them, "Ah! You two are having a good afternoon as well?"
The pair of third-years were about to offer fatigued answers before their eyes landed on the frying pan in Asuka's hand. In seconds, Yumi quietly stammered with a grim look on her face, "It's fine…" while Miyabi remained completely silent and shuffled toward the refrigerator to switch out her ice pack.
"What the hell happened between the lot of you?" came Jasmine's voice from the bed on the far side of the room.
All of the girls present turned their heads to the woman, who was calmly relaxing with her hands behind her head. Beside her, Hanzō was stretching out lazily with his face down into the pillow with the occasional attempt to scratch at his back before he sighed with failure. Taking notice to her husband's plight, Jasmine reached over and began to scratch his shoulder blades as Miyabi grumbled, "Yumi and I had a duel yesterday… that's all…"
"An' 'ow'd 'at 'o?" came Hanzō's purring voice while he took in the pleasure running across his spine.
Miyabi and Yumi both glanced at the frying pan in Asuka's hand before glancing away to murmur at the same time, "It was a draw." After a few seconds of silence, the former turned her head back up to the freezer drawer and switched out her ice pack.
Jasmine snorted, smirked, and leaned her head onto her free hand. While the girls were thrown off by her haughty mannerisms, the woman closed her eyes and thought for a moment before asking, "I'm going to assume it had something to do with that confession?"
Miyabi blinked before her face began to burn up. Just as everyone turned to her, steam suddenly began to whistle out of her ears as the ice pack on her head began to sizzle. After a few seconds, the building pressure within the plastic material became too much and the pack loudly popped. With nothing cooling her down, Miyabi turned around to face Jasmine and stuttered, "You'll not-, you will not-, I'll not be judged! If I want to take someone as a lawyer-, a glover-, a shover-, a lover-, SHUT UP! If I want to take someone-, him-, as a lover, I am within my rights! AM I NOT!?"
Jasmine continued to smile conceitedly before clapping her hands together, "So, after all that tongue-tying, I think it's safe to assume you were the source of all that yelling?" While Hanzō groaned due to the fact that his back wasn't being scratched anymore, Miyabi puffed up her cheeks and turned away. Imu was about to comfort the woman, despite the jealousy silently welling up within her, before Jasmine commented to Yumi, "And I suppose you must have taken issue with that?"
The third-year also turned her head away before murmuring, "Why wouldn't I?"
Asuka found herself straightening up when her grandmother's eyes turned over to her, "And where do you and Homura fit into this? I saw her rush in and grab a pan as a scuffle started to sound up… Actually, by the look of it, I can put two and two together…"
Looking down to the frying pan that was still in her hands, Asuka recalled how it was Homura who equipped her with the makeshift weapon in the first place. After a bit of silence, the brunette awkwardly tossed the frying pan toward the sink, crashing straight into the sandwich that Murasaki was scrapping off, and quietly mumbled, "I-, I dunno what you're talking about…" and turned her eyes to the apartment's one window as the purple-haired girl let out an alarmed whimper.
Unable to restrain herself, Jasmine let out a loud, "HA!" and began to click her tongue with all of the sarcasm in the world. Though she moved to reach for the pipe she had stashed underneath the bed, the woman reconsidered since she was still in the young man's apartment. Taking a moment to think, Jasmine eventually spouted, "So~, you all think you're going to win his heart like that? Guns blazing, lots of flexing, and then carrying him off like he's some kind of princess? One warrior princess amongst some odd rival dragons? Is that how it's supposed to be?"
"I believe it makes sense," stated Homura as she confidently swaggered into the doorway with Haruka in tow. After gesturing the latter toward the sandwiches, the girl quickly added, "If warlords were going at each other because they're after the same land, they either fought over it or one paid the other off." She raised a hand toward Yumi and Miyabi, "Now, pardon me if I'm coming off a bit aggressively here," before dropping it and smirking, "but I don't see any of us backing down or paying one another off."
"Yeah, your logic makes some sense," said Jasmine with a shrug before she pointed a stern finger toward Homura, "but it's missing a key element."
Not waiting for anyone to question her, Jasmine rolled the blanket off of her and stood up from the bed. Immediately, Hanzō began to protest, "Hey, hey! Takemi told you to relax before you get up and about!"
"She, herself, said there wasn't any nerve damage, gramps," laughed Jasmine as she began to stretch. However, once her back cracked, she immediately flopped face first into the wooden floor. Immediately afterward, the room exploded into an uproar of people calling her name and rushing to pick her up.
After having her head bandaged and being laid back down onto the bed, the woman continued to explain in a frustrated murmur, "As I was saying…" and turned back to Homura, "You're missing a vital piece of information with that analogy of yours, that being the people on the land that the warlords are fighting over."
Th girl tilted her head, "What do you mean?"
"Well," snickered Jasmine, "in case you haven't noticed, the target you're going for is a practiced pacifist who isn't much a fan for fighting."
From the back, Miyabi gave a bit of shrug, "Though he may not like fighting, I don't believe he'd condemn us for it."
Yumi, after taking a moment to think, crossed her arms and gave her central rival a slight nod of agreement, "To be fair, he and I did fight in the past. Plus, he punched Jirō yesterd-, Miyabi's father yesterday… Apologies."
"Jirō," affirmed the white-haired girl.
Remembering the bruise that the young man left on principal's face, Jasmine took a long breath and murmured, "Indeed, he did strike Jirō. Not only that, he did so with a practiced form and with serious intent to do harm… But why do you think he did so?" The girls remained silent as Jasmine waited a few seconds and barked, "Well? Does someone want to fit the pieces together for me? He wakes up from what seemed to be an intense dream, immediately starts getting up, starts to scream like an angry Scot, and, only after all that, his eyes lock onto Jirō."
After a bit more silence, Asuka willed herself to suggest, "He wasn't fully conscious of it then…? Or was it by instinct?" and moved her hand up to cup her cheeks, gently rubbing a thumb over the spot that the young man had mistakenly struck the other day.
Jasmine turned to Yumi, "When you fought with him, did he ever deliberately inflict any damage onto you? Punches, kicks, anything?" and then looked to Miyabi, "Or what about when he was provoking the lot of you at Hebijo Academy? Nothing on that end, right?"
Neither of the girls needed to give an answer to know what Jasmine was going for. While Miyabi gave a firm shake of her head, Yumi reached up to her forehead and mumbled, "We did scuffle a bit and I hit my head on the ground, though I don't think he meant to… He actually apologized for it during my correction."
"I think the lot of you understand my point," remarked Jasmine before she crossed her arms, "He doesn't like to inflict physical damage. Maybe he'll fall to the heat of the moment but I think we can all agree that he won't go into a conflict with the intent to hurt someone… minus whoever or whatever he was lashing out at in his dream." After a moment, she pointed to the four girls, "So, what will fighting-, physically fighting prove to him?"
Homura slowly raised her hand before awkwardly stating, "That we… are willing to… physically fight for him…?"
"Congratulations for suggesting the obvious," retorted Jasmine as she lowered her head into her hands. After taking a long breath, she quickly stated, "Look, you're doing this wrong." She pointed a finger at each of the girls, "If you're gonna fight for him, doing so physically will only smother your chances for a long-term relationship…" Her eyes looked up, "That's what you're after, right? Or, perhaps, you're all just after a quick fling? Trying out the goods?"
In response, the girls began to violently shake their heads back and forth. Even in the background, Murasaki gave a subtle shake of her head. Unfortunately for her, Imu caught wind of it and quietly asked, "What're you shaking for?"
The purple-haired girl straightened her back in alarm before pressing a finger to her lips and mouthing, "I'm listening…"
While Imu dwelled and reeled her head back in alarm from the implications her sister left while also remembering something she'd heard from the night before, Jasmine continued, "If you want his heart-," but quickly straightened herself, "For the long-term! I'm going to emphasize this!" before resting back down, "If you want his heart, there's only a few ways to properly claim it while simultaneously nuking your rivals!" She stuck up one finger into the air, "Mind, that being your mental connection with one another, how well you click, and get along in general," before extending another, "Stomach… I'm not sure how much detail you need, seeing as food is something that everyone loves in some way or another," followed by a third, "And, what worked for me, body."
"Tried that already…" grumbled Miyabi as she unknowingly began to cross her arms over her breasts, "It didn't work…"
Yumi and Homura eyed the girl suspiciously while Asuka, who heard the events from Yagyū, felt her face flush with heat and began to admire the small indentations on the wooden floor. Amidst all of that, Jasmine just shook her head, "Probably because you were doing it wrong."
Hanzō started to quip, "Now, I'm obviously one for this kind of subject… and I'm also, quite obviously, one who's all about looking…" before he raised a finger, "But… are you sure we should encourage this? Shouldn't we, at least, talk with the boy first? Make sure that he would respect this kind of thing? Maybe everyone still needs to get… THAT talk?"
Without hesitating, Jasmine gave a snarky pat to Hanzō's head, "In case you and your old bones haven't noticed, we're in the age of the internet. The only thing a kid needs is to accidentally mistype something in a search bar and then, BOOM, they're already looking at two people doing one another." She gestured to the girls, whose faces were reddening more and more as the situation carried on, "If they don't know how sex works, they're either more sheltered than either of us have realized or they've got something wrong in the heads. Either way, they shouldn't be afraid of it. As for the boy potentially not respecting sex…" Jasmine gave a sarcastic wave of her fingers before asking quietly, "Have you met the boy or have you been sleepwalking this whole time?"
"Okay, okay," stuttered Homura, whose face was slightly shaking as the awkward subject carried on, "Just get to the point! What were you saying before and what does it have to do with…?" She paused for a moment before throwing the word out, "Sex! What does any of this have to do with sex!?"
"Glad you asked," said Jasmine with a smirk before she declared, "As I was saying, the final way to take on your rivals is with your bodies." Before the protests could break out, she defensively held up her hands, "Now, I'm not saying strip yourselves, bend over, and ask him to ram you! Not only will that probably not work, especially with who we're talking about, it would mostly just imply that you're down for a swinger-kind of relationship."
"Swinger?" asked an innocent red-faced Asuka before anyone could stop her.
"Having sex for the sake of having sex," answered Jasmine.
Not even a second after the sentence was finished, a bulb in Murasaki's head popped and the girl collapsed to the floor. Upon hearing the resulting thump, everyone turned over to her and Imu, who was staring with an increasingly frustrated face. Miyabi quickly asked, "Is… Murasaki alright?"
"She looks a bit pale," noted Homura. Once a few pairs of sarcastic eyes fell on her, she added, "Well… paler than usual…"
Imu, without thinking, quickly grumbled, "Her fantasies with your boy-toy were a bit much," before she realized what she'd said and clenched her eyes closed.
While the four girls who'd confessed to the young man processed the new information, Jasmine tried to break up the forming crisis, "So, anyways, as I was saying, using your body comes after mind! All you need to do is look sexy, be confident, and… ah… crap…" But, despite her attempts, the girls were already hovering above Murasaki's unconscious form with narrowed eyes. Beside Jasmine, Hanzō dragged a long breath into his nostrils and watched with one eye partially closed.
"So~," Asuka started before scratching at her cheek, "Murasaki also has feelings for him then? Is that right?"
"I suppose…" mumbled Imu as the guilt of her running her mouth began to get the best of her.
"You sounded pretty sure a moment ago," replied Yumi, who was pressing her face uncomfortably close.
"Look," started Imu before she lowered her glasses and covered her eyes with one hand, "look, look… she didn't confess, I know that much." She began to nervously wave her hand around, "She… met him last night, said some things, left some implications, pretty much said that Haruka and some others wanted to bang him, and then went back to bed after saying she'd meet him after school today."
While Haruka, who'd been silently watching the show while eating a sandwich, perked her head up once she heard her name, Miyabi did a doubletake, "She was going to meet him after school? What about us!? We were supposed to meet him to talk about our-, what was that about Haruka and others?"
"I suppose she wanted to join you," retorted Imu, who deliberately ignored Miyabi's last question for the sake of peace and kept her eyes averted.
While argumentative words kept getting exchanged back and forth, Haruka finished her sandwich and pursed her lips in thought as she recalled her encounter with the young man from that morning. After a few seconds and a click of her fingers, she extended her palms to the aggressing girls just as Yumi began to yap about something, "It might be best if everyone calms down. If he finds us in such a hostile state, won't each of our prospects for a relationship be damaged?"
From where she stood, Miyabi snapped to Haruka, "Our!? So, you are in on this too!? The yard's full! Back off!" and received a mischievous smirk in response
Having pushed her face a bit too close to Imu's, Yumi pulled back and held her tongue as Homura began to rub her chin in thought. After a moment, the latter spoke to her friend with a hint of suspicion, "Well, your concern's certainly not wrong… but why do I get the feeling there's more to this than you're letting on."
"Simple: because there is," replied Haruka with a smile. Once Miyabi and Yumi both began to wave their hands for her to go on, she proceeded to explain, "I believe that our little cutie pie-"
Asuka lowered her head and mumbled, "Not the term I'd use," while shuffling her shoulders back and forth, thinking of the young man's more handsome features.
"I disagree," stated Miyabi without a hint of shame.
"-may be in a bit of a volatile state with everything going on."
Yumi slightly raised her hand to question, "You mean with Oda and Sato…? Or perhaps our corrections?"
Haruka waggled a finger back and forth as her smile continued to glint with mischief, "Those are, no doubt, factors in it… But I'd dare say that we've each been applying our own bit of pressure to him." Again, everyone looked at her with a confused expression before she decided to continue, "For example… he took a shower this morning, seemed to still be under a bit of stress, and I offered to help him… relax."
Yumi uttered to Imu in a dangerous tone, "I don't think Murasaki was lying about Haruka…" which prompted the spectacled girl to take a step toward Miyabi.
Asuka, frustrated by the prospect of someone attempting to seduce the young man in the bathroom, asked with lowered brows, "And how did he respond to your proposition?"
The despondent expression that Haruka had earlier returned as she hung her head and answered, "He called me a she-devil and left for school a couple hours early… I think I scared him…"
"You think?" retorted Jasmine from the bed while Hanzō, having been a witness to said incident, had to hold back his wheezing laughter.
Reaching into her pocket, Haruka produced a familiar device as she mumbled in a quiet voice, "He was in such a rush that he dropped his phone whilst scrambling for his backpack…"
"Well, I can see how that might apply some pressure… Still…" murmured Homura as her eyes fell to the floor in thought. After a few seconds she turned back to Haruka, "That's just you. And, minus the talk that you gave him in the cave, you haven't really offered any hints or buildup to your interest…" and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "If you're genuinely interested…?"
Haruka brought her head back up and offered a slight nod, "Interested? Certainly, since his cuteness is a different flavor than Hibari's. Serious…?" She scratched a finger at her lower lip before shrugging, "Probably not. He's more or less someone I find rather endearing, but there's many other flavors of cuteness out there."
After sniffing a few times, Murasaki's unconscious form curled up in fear.
"Well…" Homura mumbled before crossing her arms, "again, that's just you. Beyond our confessions," and then gestured to herself and the other girls, "I don't really see how we've really been applying much pressure… Well, aside from my confrontation with him yesterday…"
"It may or may not be relevant," started Yumi as she proceeded to cover her mouth in embarrassment, "but, when he was brought to Gessen Academy the other day, I did have everything arranged in a way that was meant to…" and clenched her eyes closed, "charm him… That probably applied a bit of pressure…"
While everyone else blinked a few times in wonder of what she meant, Miyabi cleared her throat and said with a heap of embarrassment, "If I'm being honest, Ryōna did expose my… chest to him…"
"What!?" Homura visibly flinched in response before she narrowed her eyes and asked, "Wait… do you mean he saw you in a bra or-"
"Fully exposed…" muttered Miyabi before she turned her eyes toward the far side of the room, "…not proud of it…" before letting a confident smirk curl up on her lips, "I did get his tank top out of it, though…" Her comment drew a tired stare from Imu.
Needing to take a moment to process just how far the others had taken their attempts to woo the young man, Homura took a step back and began to pinch the bridge of her nose. Yet, just as she was beginning to calm down, Asuka suddenly stammered in a loud and squeaky voice, "If we're all coming clean here, I need to admit that I kissed him!"
Suddenly, the room was overshadowed by multiple malevolent auras. Homura, who'd been hoping to trade her first kisses with both the young man and Asuka at the same time, stared off into space and felt her mind reduce itself into a bluescreen. At the same time, Yumi and Miyabi stared at the poor girl with glowing eyes brimming with evil intent. Even Murasaki, who'd been lying on the ground completely unconscious until that point in time, began rise up like an undead fiend crawling from its grave. In response to the feelings of certain death and fear that flooded through her in that moment, Asuka's jaw could only quiver as she tripped backward onto the floor.
Toward the back of the group, Imu was also a bit thrown off by the horrific scene before her. Then, a sudden wave of celebration flowed through her as she believed that Asuka had actually won the race for the young man's heart and Miyabi would remain available. Straightening her glasses back over her eyes, Imu couldn't help but ask in a flaunting manner, "The taste of his lips were fine?"
At that moment, Asuka realized that she needed to clarify, "It was the back of his head! I've only tasted his hair! The moment wasn't at all soft or sweet!"
Upon hearing those words, the room immediately calmed down and the malevolent aura was cleared away. Miyabi and Yumi blinked a few times before they began to visibly shake from how violent they turned in a mere split second while Murasaki went back to lying on the floor. After rebooting her head and realizing that she still had a chance to share a first kiss with the two people that she loved, Homura let out a sigh of relief. To the side of the room, Jasmine and Hanzō watched with wide and perplexed eyes that wondered how the mood had gone so haywire in the first place while Imu silently desired to smack herself in the face for uprooting her own victory.
Between the rapid mood shift and her last statement, Asuka had visibly relaxed herself and let out a breath of air. Then, once she fully recalled her embrace with the young man, she started to ponder aloud, "Actually, now that I think about it, I can't really say that it wasn't soft or sweet." As the memory replayed in her mind, she brought up both of her hands to cup her burning cheeks, "The way I held him and was playing with his hair, I'd believe it to be a sweet moment… Plus, his hair was actually rather soft to the touch… to both my fingers and lips…"
The moment of recovery that everyone was trying to bask themselves into was quickly lost. Seconds after her vocalized thoughts had finished, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi were chasing Asuka around the room while Homura shook her head at her friend's empty-headedness. Imu, seeking a moment of peace, took shelter by the bed Hanzō and Jasmine were lying on. As yells and pleads were exchanged before her, the spectacled girl quietly asked, "You wouldn't happen to have anything to break up this madness, would you?"
"We could hit them on the heads," Jasmine snidely remarked before taking an exhausted breath. She thumped a finger against the side of her cheek while she tried to ponder a serious idea to try and silence the commotion. Then, remembering the news she tried to share with the young man the night before, she loudly proclaimed, "Oi! I've got a request for when you're done killing one another."
The three girls who'd backed Asuka into a corner, like a pack of wolves to a deer on a cliff, turned their heads over in curiosity. Seeing an opening, the brunette quickly crawled toward Homura while whimpering for mercy. After passing one more deathly glare at the girl who'd enjoyed coping a feel of the young man, Yumi quickly asked, "What sort of request did you have in mind?"
Ignoring the glance that the girl took, Jasmine answered, "I've got some good news for you to pass onto our boy-o. While you guys were just finishing up your meetup yesterday, Kiriya was tailing some dignitary higherups in the factory district. He went, spied on them, got some redundant information about the bastards' next game of softball, and got out…" She held up a finger, "But he managed to fully identify one of them and discovered something… useful… Something alarming, to be sure, but also useful." After giving a devilish smirk, Jasmine further elaborated, "Now, said bigwig is pretty much a second-in-command for, we suppose, the local region… though, we don't really have much knowledge on how dignitaries draw their borders. Either way, we know who he is… and that he has a son who goes to Wakariyasui too."
Having forgotten their previous fracas with one another, all of the girls turned toward Jasmine with clenched jaws and wide eyes. After a bit of silence, Miyabi stammered in a low voice, "Th-, that's good news?" and growled out, "What's good about that!?" before sputtering the young man's name, "He's outnumbered two to one over there, provided there aren't anymore dignitaries in hiding."
Even Asuka, who was chattering her teeth on the floor next to Homura a couple seconds before, immediately stood up and shouted the young man's name before declaring, "We need to tell him now! Sato may get the other dignitary involved and may make a move soon- today, even!" She reached for her phone to text the boy before Haruka patted her shoulder. After a moment, the taller woman awkwardly unveiled the young man's phone again. In response, Asuka began to chitter and panic before proclaiming, "Time to move!"
"Would the lot of you zip it!" ordered Jasmine as she pointed a commanding finger to the two. Once the racket quieted, she spoke frankly, "Yes, Sato could be keeping this other dignitary in the know. But, with the information we have, getting the jump on them both will be easy." She thumped her hand against the bed, "Now, keeping in mind that neither know what we know, I'd bet that they'll cautious hold their next for a few more days. Hell, by the time they get active, we'll have enough time to make our move and come out flawlessly."
Though everyone was a bit shaky, panicked by the thought that another dignitary had been hiding under their noses, they quickly calmed down and steeled themselves for whatever Jasmine had planned. Pressing her lips together and looking on with a hardened stare, Homura looked to the woman on the bed and asked, "Who's the dignitary then? Starting tomorrow, we can keep an eye on him and look for a chance to apprehend him."
"From what Kiriya's overheard from the boy's father," started Jasmine with a seemingly knowing smirk, "we've gotten only a few details and his family name. We're looking for an awkward boy, not very sociable with others… Though, don't let that lower your guard. Based on test scores Kiriya pulled up on a background check, the kid's smarter than he comes off as. Top five of his class…"
After the final bell for the school day, Miki leaned off the side of his desk and murmured, "Thanks again for yesterday, Sugiyama."
The large boy barely turned to him and grunted with narrowed eyes, "It was just for the yen," before stuffing a graded test into his backpack and making straight for the classroom's exit. Miki was about to say something to stop him, hoping to treat his partner in crime to a meal since the young man had other errands to run for the day, but Takatsukasa had already left. In turn, the brunette faced forward to his friend and muttered, "Do you think he just doesn't like me or do you get the same treatment?"
"I just don't think him to be much of a talker," responded the young man with narrowed eyes before he turned to the door, "Still, he helped out yesterday… so I can't object if he wants to be left alone."
"I know…" grumbled a disappointed Miki before he turned back to the door, "Still…"
"C'mon," ordered the young man as he stood up from his desk, "the day's done and I need to go clean up an issue…"
The boy nodded his head and asked, "With those girls again?"
"With those girls again."
The two walked out of the classroom and left for their shoe lockers toward the school's entrance, doing their best to not make eye contact with the shattered trophy case. In particular, the young man and Miki had to push the issue out of their minds because they would have started to snicker at the thought that Sugiyama had done such damage for a mere thousand yen. Even the sight of the stoic vandal as he traded in his school loafers and pulled on his outdoor shoes made both boys want to grin. As for the bulky student in question, he was so focused on his phone that he didn't notice the puckered smiles on the boys' faces. He was busy texting something to someone while seeming to force a smile off his own face before sighing, putting his phone away, and making for the door.
"He's done that a few times, now that a think about it," mumbled Miki, who managed to wipe the giddy look off his face.
The young man, readopting his plain-faced expression, turned to his friend, "You're referring to those small smiles he gives his phone every now and then?"
"Yeah." Tapping a finger against his forehead to think, Miki swayed his body back and forth before spouting, "I know it's none of my business…" before growling, "but I want to know! Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe a pen or text pal- no, a number neighbor? Perhaps he donates blood, gets notifications whenever it gets used, and he's just so happy to be helping out the poor crippled children who probably need glasses?"
The young man blinked, "Are those serious suggestions?"
Miki pulled his head back and grumbled, "No~… but I don't have any other ideas and trying to think up more just hurts my brain."
"Well, think about what you want to do tomorrow then," replied the young man as he gave his friend a pat on the back.
The brunette turned to him, "Something about tomorrow? What?"
Beginning to make his way to the exit, the young man started, "Well, if all goes well tonight," before raising a finger into the air and turning to Miki with a serious expression, "which, I'll be honest, there's like a fifty-fifty chance that something's going to go wrong."
The boy tilted his head, "Really?"
"With my luck, probably," answered the young man before he turned back to the door, "But, if all goes well, let's head out and do something tomorrow. I don't think we've done anything by ourselves since before that karaoke night." He snapped his fingers, "So get plotting," and turned around with a small smile, "It'll be my treat too. Don't hold back."
"My, my," mumbled Miki with a smirk, "you speak as though you can afford me."
The young man smirked right back for a moment more before his eyes narrowed and his face fell. Just as his friend was about to ask what was wrong, the boy quickly stated, "Actually… if I'm being honest, I was just offering that in the heat of the moment… In reality, I need to get a job because I'm a poor peasant right now."
A loud snort blew out of Miki's nose before he gave a thumbs up, "Thanks for being honest. We'll call your offer an IOU for after you get whatever job.' He pumped his fist toward the young man, "In the meantime, you can just be a dirty mooch to me until I'm a poor peasant like you too."
"It's much appreciated," said the taller boy as he clashed his fist into Miki's.
The pair walked out of school and onto the sidewalk, chatting idly about the previous day's events. At one point, the young man asked, "So, do you know what Sugiyama did to keep everyone quiet about the trophy case?"
"No idea," replied Miki as his face slowly fell into bewilderment, "Speaking honestly, I didn't think he'd be so… straightforward about it. I was expecting, I dunno, something a bit more… stealthy, maybe? I mean, the rock was actually thin enough on one side that I thought it could be used like a screw driver and could separate the case from the wall… though, now that I think about that, I don't know what kind of screws the school uses."
"Well, never mind his use of the damn thing," spouted the young man, "how did he keep everyone quiet? There had to have been- no, we know there were witnesses."
"Indeed, there were," retorted Miki. "But," he lifted a finger, "this is big, scary, silent, spooky Sugiyama we're talking about. His fists are so big, he could rupture my skull by pressing them together."
"But would giant fists and an imposing demeanor really be enough to keep people quiet?" grumbled the young man, "Even people like Ebi?"
"Well, not many people really care about those old trophies to begin with," replied Miki, "They're all from before Shinohara took over as principal some years back and the students who earned them have been long gone. At this point, all that's left is a bunch of poor clubs without much funding… aside from sports, but those guys haven't been winning jack shit. Hell, if it's the same as last year, clubs will probably be scrambling to accumulate new members to avoid a shutdown." After thinking for a moment, the brunette smirked and said, "Actually, if you think about it, this might be good leverage for them. Either the school could pay thousands to restore the old trophies or they could store those away and invest in the clubs to earn some new ones while restoring some old pre-Shinohara popularity."
The young man blinked and muttered, "You presumed so many things in that last statement, I don't even know where to begin the breakdown…"
"Ah…" Miki's face fell, "Yeah, some of that was a bit farfetched…"
Smiling to his friend, the young man could only bring himself to reply, "Well, your imagination can't be denied." After taking a tired breath and thinking ahead to his meeting with the girls, he waved his hand into the air and quietly cheered, "Here's to the clubs then. May your vision for them be realized."
"I'm a dignitary."
The young man turned over to him with a smirk still on his face, "What? Where'd that so suddenly-" before his head caught up to his mouth, "Wha-, huh?" The comical expression slipped away from his face. Before he fully understood what his friend just said, the young man's eyes had narrowed and his teeth were clenched together while his tight lips were curling down. He stopped walking and Miki stepped toward the edge of the sidewalk to let some chattering students pass by. Both boys stood off from one another for a few quiet seconds, neither daring to utter a word, until the young man eventually questioned, "What…?" A bit of desperation blinked into his eyes before he stated, "You're referring to your financial status, right? Your father is probably some public official and, being his son, that makes you a dignitary… right?" He held up his hand, "Listen, regardless of how well-known you are by the upper-class, watch what words you use when you flaunt yourself… I could misunderstand something…"
"I'm not that kind of dignitary," replied Miki with sad grimace. His hands shook a bit as he explained, "I mean that I'm the kind of dignitary that goes after distortion. The kind who, ergo, goes after shinobi… I'm… supposed to be some kind of trainer to Sato-, that's why she was transferred here, you see… But… she seems to have a handle on that and I've been slacking… with you…" After a few nervous twitches from his head, he raised his hand into the air and caused the young man to flinch. However, once he began to uncontrollably scratch at the back of his neck, he continued, "And… I know you're an infiltrator… and that those girls are shinobi as well…"
Blinking for the first time since the conversation so suddenly turned, the young man tried to ask something but couldn't bring himself to say anything more than, "So…what…? Why're you…"
Scared and frustrated, Miki brought up his other hand to grasp at his own neck before stammering, "This isn't how I wanted to tell you! I was hoping-, Oh my-, no, no, no… I've gotta calm down…" and faced the young man again, "I was going to… I don't know… redirect the conversation towards the girls… but, when you mentioned them, we were in school, it was crowded, and the timing was just… ah… damn it, this sucks…" He clenched his eyes closed and said, "I don't know why I blurted it out like that but… what I have to say can't wait until tomorrow. Sato's going to make a move-, eh?"
The young man took a large step toward Miki and grabbed ahold of his shoulder before dragging him down the sidewalk. Under his breath, he growled, "C'mon… We need somewhere a bit more private for this…"
The brunette in his grip was sputtering with eyes akin to a deer facing down headlights, "What? Where're we going? Hey. Hey! What're you going to do!? Listen, I don't want-"
"Shut up for a moment," ordered the young man as he practically dragged Miki toward an alleyway, "We're just going somewhere a bit more quiet. That's all, nothing to be so jumpy about-"
"There's so much to be jumpy about!" cried Miki as he pulled a bit, "Please, I don't want to be your enemy!"
Once they were just past the alleyway's entrance, the young man threw Miki forward and stopped as the boy regained his balance. Then, once the dignitary turned back to face his friend, the taller boy grabbed Miki by both shoulders and pushed him back into one of the walls, "Start! Right now!"
"I-, I don't want to be your enemy!" sputtered Miki with watering eyes, "I swear to everything holy and beautiful in this world, I don't want to be your enemy! I'm not your enemy!"
"Pardon me when I'm a bit cold to that statement," growled the young man as he clenched his fingers deeper into Miki's shoulders and demanded, "C'mon! I want to hear it from you then! You're a dignitary, right!? Start talking!"
"What do you want to know!?" cried Miki as his voice broke, "Ask me and I'll talk! Just-, please! Calm down! I want to help!"
"When did you find out I was an infiltrator!?" thundered the young man before his train of thought shifted and beckoned him to raise one finger and point it at Miki, "But, for the record, you've got the wrong assumption about those girls! They're not shinobi!"
"I saw that girl… Asuka… and her pink-haired friend in class that day…" breathed Miki as the young man's grip continued to painfully dig into his shoulders, "I just… kept quiet and let Sato take the attent-, Ah! Please… it hurts…!"
Realizing just how far he'd dug his fingers into Miki's shoulders, the young man released his hold and backed off a bit. But, before the brunette could be sure his friend had calmed down, the boy raised up both his fists combatively and stated, "Don't move from that spot… I don't want to hurt you… Even now, I hate the thought of it…" The young man lowered his head darkly and stared into Miki's frightened eyes, "But I'll do it…"
"Then I'll just talk," whispered Miki, who weakly lifted up his hands to try and calm down the infiltrator before him, "I want to warn you of something that Sato has planned… that's all… I swear to Heaven above, that's all! After that, you can decide what you want to do…"
"Then let's hear it," grumbled the young man, "Talk and let me hear your warning…"
Flinching his head back in response to the threatening tone in the taller boy's words, Miki let out a shaky breath and struggled to recollect the words he'd practiced so many times, "Sato's told the hierarchy-, she told our leaders that she killed an infiltrator on Monday… I…" After clenching his eyes again and refocusing his mind, the dignitary stammered, "I already suspected you… I mean, you were hanging out with shinobi so casually… Just-, listen, I already suspected you were an infiltrator… but the looks she gave you yesterday and today pretty much confirmed it… never mind those girls when they were stalking you…"
"What has Sato told your hierarchy?" growled the young man as he took an aggressive step forward, "You said you wanted to warn me about something Sato has planned, right?" before shouting, "Let's hear it!"
Miki pressed his back into the wall, "She's planning to go after you again tomorrow!" His breaths were heavy and his eyes were still absolutely filled with fright, but he still held as strong as he could possibly muster, "She was going to be reprimanded for… letting you get away or something… Father… my father mentioned that she wanted another opportunity to kill you because you're just holding your ground… Not running, not fleeing, nothing…" After a few seconds, Miki's eyes lit up and he stammered, "But there's good news! There is! She hasn't given up your details! The way I see it, she's trying to take you on alone so that she can get a bounty all to herself-"
"There's a bounty on my head!?" shouted the young man who pressed his face closer towards Miki, "Are you kidding me!?"
The brunette put up his hands defensively, "In general! There's a bounty on infiltrators in general! Nobody knows your name, your details-, Sato hasn't even told them that you go to the same school as us!" While nodding his head, as if to assure the young man, "All they know is that Sato has a lead on an infiltrator… They've been prying for that lead, trying to interrogate her and such, but she hasn't told them anything…"
The young man was about to question Miki further, hoping to get additional details on what Sato had planned, before a blur of purple suddenly rushed past his eyes. Over the course of a second, the smudge in his vision dove straight into the dignitary and pulled him from the wall before slamming his head straight into the ground. Just as Miki was about to recover, the sharp edge of shuriken was pressed up against the back of his neck.
The young man was the first to shout, "Murasaki-!" just as the girl was turning her head over to him.
"Stand back!"
Before the young man could object, two pairs of strong hands grabbed him by the arms and ushered him to the alley's exit. A voice that he recognized as Asuka's began to sputter from one side, "Grandma just passed the news onto us! Oh," before he was wrapped into a quick hug and spun around to face the girl, "you aren't hurt, right!?"
"He's fine," stated Homura from the young man's other side as she gave him a quick pat down. After a moment, she started, "I don't know how you found out," before she gave a resolute nod, "but good job holding him off!" She turned her head back toward Miki, who had finally realized what was happening and was trying to yell out while Miyabi was trying to gag him with a cloth as Yumi held his body down with Murasaki, before facing the young man again, "Head home. Haruka's waiting for you at the train station-, just head home. I'm sorry about… all this… I know it must hurt but we'll handle it from here…"
Using his tongue and twisting his mouth around, Miki managed to keep away Miyabi's cloth long enough to shout the young man's name. While tears actively waterfalled from his eyes, he turned his head into Murasaki's shuriken, ignored the pain running against the back of his skull, and desperately shouted, "DON'T LET THEM KILL ME! PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU! HELP ME! HELP ME…! PLEASE…!"
Knowing all that he did about the dignitaries along with their long history of terrorist acts, the young man was initially inclined to go with the flow and let himself be led away. Then he remembered two crucial things: he was an infiltrator and had no desire to be one… and Miki willingly exposed his identity to him. For those two reasons alone, he resisted against Asuka and Homura's grip and tried to push his way back into the alley. But, once their strength held him back and they began to move their mouths to question him, the young man commanded, "Let me over there!"
Surprised by the aggressive tone of his voice, Homura and Asuka released their grips and stepped back to watch as the young man powered forward. Taking heavy breaths in and out of his nose, he approached the three girls holding down Miki and was about to say something as Yumi turned her head up and asked, "What're you doing-," before pointing her finger to the alley's exit, "We'll join you later! For now, just go!"
As Miyabi finally forced the gag into his mouth, Miki turned to the young man and gave one look of complete terror. Tears that could only be born from the fear of death continued to rain down from his reddening eyes while he struggled to breath through his dribbling nose. Not needing anything else to prompt him, the young man clenched his eyes closed and spoke in a husky voice, "…off of him…"
Murasaki turned her head over as she angled her shuriken towards Miki's throat, "He's a dignitary! Please, just go!"
"I SAID OFF!" bellowed the young man as he gripped Yumi and Miyabi's shoulders to try and pull them away. Out of trust for his judgement alone, the two reluctantly gave way and stood away from Miki's body. Murasaki still seemed resistant for a moment, keeping herself firmly planted on Miki while preparing to offer some verbal protest. In response, the young man looked her in the eye and ordered in a low and dangerous voice, "Get off of him right now…!"
Letting out a quiet squeak, Murasaki stood up and tripped back a few steps. Not even waiting for a second to pass, Miki scrambled onto his feet and pulled the cloth out of his mouth. Every breath that came out of his breath was unsteady and topped off with a quiet sob. Then his still red eyes fell on the young man and he reached out to him, "Thank you-"
"Head home."
Miki faltered and retracted his extended arms, "What?"
"Head home!" boomed the young man, letting out the welling confusion and frustration within him, "Scram! Get! Fuckin' swine! This atop all the other shite!? Really!? Fuckin' truly!?"
Just as the young man was letting out a loud and pained groan, throwing his head into his hands while doing so, Miki began to stammer, "I don't know what you're saying there… but…" and began to eye the girls warily, "If I can… I'll leave…"
Yumi took a step forward and asked in a low voice, "You know he's a dignitary, right? The same sort you were just telling us about yesterday? The same ones who cause deliberate brain damage to shinobi?" before she grabbed and spun around the young man to ask with evident alarm, "Do you know what you're doing!?"
The boy only gave her a sure nod before he pulled from her grip and turned back to Miki, "Head home…" Yet, before the brunette could flee the scene, the young man took a few thundery steps forward and snatched the dignitary's arm. The two of them looked one another in the eye, one mixed with fury and conflicting emotions while the other was frightened and meek, before a string of silent messages were exchanged between the two. Miki's eyes only teared up further and the young man's eyes had softened before he uttered, "We'll talk tomorrow… Regardless of what happens…"
The shorter boy nodded, "Of course. That-, that's expected… Just-, be careful of Sato…"
"Go home…"
"Thank you."
Turning around, Miki offered the girls a few wide-eyed looks before bowing his head and silently scampering out of the alley. Despite the urgent desire to watch their perceived enemy and make sure that he didn't try anything, the girls couldn't break their shocked eyes away from the young man as the many unasked questions began to assault him. He dragged a long breath into his nose and mumbled, "…this shit…"
As the stress began to eat away at him, Homura quickly stated, "We trust you." Feeling himself jump from the proclamation, the young man looked over to her and stared with a perplexed look as she continued, "We just want to know why…"
Turning to face the other girls, the boy got a sense of the same sentiment from everyone else. Asuka and Yumi were staring at him with their concerned eyes while Miyabi held her chin up like a protective mother bird. To the side, Murasaki kept switching the focus of her gaze while only taking small and nervous glances at the young man. Feeling a conflicted wave of relief run through him, he could only bring himself to murmur, "He's like me… that's all…" before beginning to walk toward the alley's exit. Just as the shinobi were about to grip his arms and shoulders to ask more questions, he ordered, "C'mon… we need to find a place to sit down and talk… there's a lot to cover…"
