Heart of the Infiltrators
(Male Reader x Senran Kagura)
Chapter 40: Determined Assembly
"Sato," came the unfeeling voice of Minagawa Sakae, hoping to get some kind answers from the girl placed under his observation. Sitting on a chair in her lonely corner of the warehouse a mere hour before the young man fainted, she only let out a tired and defeated grunt to acknowledge the man beside her. Not enjoying the prospect of being labeled some heartless jailor, Sakae asked quietly and simply, "Why won't you just tell someone this infiltrator's name?" When she only grunted again, the college student continued, "I'd like to advocate for you here."
Recalling the eerily similar words that she heard from Miki, who promised he'd do his utmost to save for her, she could only mutter, "Pardon me if I'm doubtful."
Huffing out a noise of frustration, Sakae asked, "Well, if nothing else, do you really have any reason to protect this infiltrator?" before leaning closer with a hint of unintended aggression, "Or is there something else? Have you guys got some kind of respect for one another?"
"He's called for my death repeatedly and holds no sympathy for me," Sato declared quietly, locking her eyes defiantly onto Sakae's, "While I don't particularly want to kill him, I certainly don't feel any personal connection either."
"Then why hold back?" asked the man, doing his utmost to understand the girl's position.
"It won't do me any good," replied Sato as she turned her head away, watching the convening strategists from afar as they thought up what teams to send in and when, "Since they want me dead anyway, they can figure out the what and when before I give them the where…" Standing among the group was Miki, inserting his own seemingly focused ideas while his father looked on proudly to his maturing son. Somewhere out of sight and mind was Sato's parents, who were likely feeling sorry for themselves.
"In case you don't recall," Sakae started in a stern voice, "you still stand a chance." As if he were accurately explaining his point, he held up one finger and guided it off to the side, "You'll need to be careful and less… loud, like you were before… sure," before mindlessly lifting it into the air and whirling it around like spaz, "but, if you get out alive, then you'll be good to go."
Watching the grown man swinging his finger around, Sato narrowed her eyes and audibly mumbled, "Certainly, you're a celebrity in whatever place you come from."
Offering a shrug, Sakae simply planted his finger against his forehead and murmured, "Strange… My fiancé says the same thing…"
Shaking her head and lowering it to face her legs, Sato could only say, "Well, pardon me when I say that I'm not like that Saturday morning superhero… what's his name-, Abyss-Seeker of the Triple Seven Order, that's the one. Unlike that wonderful fool, I don't have any want or desire to get into a situation where I'm likely going to die," before looking up and looking at the strategists from afar again, "and I'll feel no sympathy for those who are trying to get me killed." She finished her statement off by looking to Sakae, "If I can be spiteful for a couple more hours so that there's no temptation to go on an early assault, I'm going to be spiteful."
"What, you want some kind of last sleep or something?" asked the man.
"No, no," murmured Sato, remembering fully well that Miki would be giving every last detail of the battleplan to the shinobi, "I just want to go to wherever I'll go when I die and be able to say I was screwing the right people…"
Sometime later in the young man's apartment, he was waking up on his futon with an instinct of imminent danger. He heard the quietly seductive and predacious words, "…and a kiss will wake the sleeping prince…" while there were some yells in the background.
Despite the pain in his head coming back with great force, the young man's reflexes kicked in as he grunted under his breath, "MENACE…!" and mindlessly rolled away from the still unseen threat. As a result, he crashed straight into Homura and Asuka and unintentionally landed on top of them. Sitting up with wide open eyes and being careful to not inadvertently hurt the two girls anymore than he just did, the young man looked to where he once was and found Haruka sinking her lips into his pillow while Yumi and Miyabi were trying to pull her back. In the background was Murasaki, who was just too startled for words.
After a long ten seconds of complete silence and exchanging glances, Haruka finally commented, "I just knew that would work," before sighing, "though, I don't care for being called a menace…"
Drawing a cross on his chest with a finger, the young man growled, "Begone, she-devil...!"
"Simmer down your antics," cried a new voice from the side, "we've got a lot to go over without the lot of you screwing around."
Turning his head to find a stern-faced Jasmine standing just off from the side of the bed, the young man quietly commented, "I accept no responsibility for the antics you're accusing me of."
Looking to him while shaking her head, the woman stated, "Well, never mind whatever flirtations the lot of you have going," before looking him in the eye, "did you collapse again?"
Blinking for a moment as he remembered what had happened earlier that day, the young man sucked in a breath and gave a nod. As he did so, Asuka looked up to her grandmother and began to spout, "None of us think it's normal," while wildly gesturing her hands as she annunciated each point, "I mean, we remember how it was after each of our corrections and, yes, he certainly did seem extremely exhausted after those. But now his head's hurting a lot! And he was bleeding yesterday-," but was cut off by Jasmine's palm.
The woman locked her eyes onto the young man and sternly asked, "They don't know?"
"Know what?" came Miyabi and Yumi's synchronized question.
Tensing up and feeling the pressure begin to lay down on him, the young man scooted Haruka away from his pillow as he shyly climbed back onto his bed to quietly mumbled, "Nope."
"What're we supposed to know?" called the voice of Ikaruga as she, Murakumo, and Yomi made their way into the room amidst the ruckus.
"Will you tell them or should I?" asked Jasmine, her voice a strange mix of sympathetic and scolding.
Lifting up her hands with palms to the air, Homura raised her voice, "Okay, the vague-game is cool and all but let's not play it right now."
Feeling more and more pressed by the surrounding noises as a bit of pain struck into the front of his head, the young man commented while waving his hand dismissively, "I might have broken something," muttering, "of mine," before leveling his voice back to standard volume, "while correcting Murakumo…"
Murakumo tilted her head curiously and began to ask, "You're… referring to my conformity… I think…?"
But Ikaruga shook her head and pointed a finger at the young man, "Hold on, you mumbled something there." Her eyes narrowed in a dangerous way, "What'd you say?"
Straightening up as the girl came in full force, the boy tried to avert his gaze to the side but only found Asuka and Homura staring at him with evident concern. Turning his head back around, he found Haruka, Miyabi, Murasaki, and Yumi also staring him with more intense eyes. Realizing he had no escape, the young man puffed out his cheeks in resignation and looked to Ikaruga, "I said that I may have broken something of mine."
"What was it?" came the girl's stalwart voice.
Unsure of how Murakumo would react if she found out that he'd taken some kind damage while fixing her head, the young man anxiously shifted his shoulders back and forth. After a moment, Murasaki commented, "Whatever it is, we promise not to be angry with you over it."
"Famous words of deception…" muttered the young man as he recalled an experience with his mother. Still, he knew that there wouldn't be any benefit to skirting the issue to the side for the long-term. If nothing else, it would be better that everyone found out sooner than later, "The tethering process collapsed towards the end and… while Sato made it out okay, since she was the original base connection," and turned his gaze to the ceiling, "I… had my head tangled with like a kitten in a ball of yarn…"
After a few seconds of silence, Homura commented, "I feel like that cute imagery doesn't fit the implications of what you're saying…"
"Indeed, it doesn't," affirmed the young man as he tried to not look anybody in the eye. He sucked in a breath and shamefully admitted, "All in all, it pretty much means that I've got some lingering… problems to deal with because of it…"
Yumi pressed her face close like a protective mother hen, "And what problems would those be?"
Recoiling in the face of their persistence, the young man leaned away from her and mumbled just a bit louder than a whisper, "…painful headaches-, migraines-, whatever the term is, in the middle of high stress situations… and nosebleeds too, though that hasn't happened again so that could have been the correction-," but was cut off as Asuka pulled him into a tight hug.
"YOU PO-O-OR THING!" she cried as her arms tightened around the young man's neck, unintentionally strangling him all the while. Though, painful and excruciating as it was, the boy was happy to find that she wasn't angry with him for keeping his new handicap on the downlow. For a brief moment, he believed the others would feel the same way. Then he looked over and found that everyone was giving him a stare which beheld their mixes of confusion and frustration, invoking a feeling of shame despite the tight embrace he was in.
Grabbing Asuka by the back of her collar, Homura pulled the girl away for a moment and set her down beside the futon again. She then turned her head to the young man and asked, "And… when were you initially planning to tell us that?"
Making a small sound to clear his throat, the boy answered frankly, "Whenever it came up…"
Miyabi extended her hand over grab his cheeks and turned his head over to face her, doing her utmost to seem as though she were trying to scold the young man, "Why didn't you mention it last night?"
"I received a tender hand massage while recovering from a painful headache," responded the young man in a quiet voice.
Miyabi gave a brief nod, trying to come off as satisfied while she was actually doing her utmost to not react to the cute way his cheeks were smooshing together in her grip. Murasaki was not so quick to let off as she peered over her leader's shoulder, staring into the young man's eyes and sending a shiver down his back as she asked, "Why not this morning…?"
He spoke through his smooshed cheeks, "I wan'd 'o kee' bu'y and fo'us on some'ing less s'ressful," he nodded his head over to Ikaruga, "I o'erhear' her men'io'ing 'hat 'e shou' 'isman'le 'he 'ents 'ile 'e wai'ed 'or 'he 'igni'aries' 'ex' mo'e…" After a moment, he shrugged and pulled away from Miyabi's grip, "Thus, I got to work."
Murasaki stared for a moment longer before nodding with a small smile, "Satisfactory."
Expecting the need to explain himself for some other thing, the young man already began to turn Yumi's way with a resigned look. Yet, once he was fully looking her way, she nearly mimicked Asuka and extended her arms to wrap him in an embrace, "It's okay! It's okay! We'll work this through with you!" while Murakumo suddenly zipped behind and grabbed her sister's shoulder to keep her in place.
As Yumi was struggling to break free to hold him, Murakumo just stared through her mask down to the young man. Unable to read her face, the boy sucked in an uneasy breath of air while he wondered what she was thinking. Was she still frustrated with him after everything? Maybe she felt bad since he sustained the handicap while trying to fix her? Perhaps she felt a bit cooled since the young man didn't try to play the blame game with her, not that he had much ground to stand on since the tethering process was his idea and choice. Regardless of whatever he could guess for the moment, it was fruitless since he couldn't read her expression. She stood as tall as she did before and her body language left nothing to be implied.
Though, if he stretched his imagination a bit, the young man thought he saw her mask briefly dip a bit low.
Letting out a sigh from beside him, Homura mumbled to herself, "Try to be a bit more forward about whatever's going on-, who am I kidding, you'd have told us eventually anyway," before she released Asuka to resume her cuddling, which the young man successfully braced himself for by taking in a quick breath. As the brunette proceeded to wrap her arms around his neck again while squeezing the life from him, Homura commented, "It's strange how much of a beating you've been taking these last few weeks…"
The young man choked out the words, "You don't say-," but let out a squeak as Yumi was also released by Murakumo, flanking him and slinking her arms around his head to hold him close while unintentionally blocking his nose and mouth. Around the same time, Miyabi and Murasaki looked to the boy's hands as they began to flail. Both girls reached over anxiously to grab ahold, though their shyness got the better of them and forced a retreat.
Before the young man was about to die of the best kind of asphyxiation, which was still a bit painful, the door to the apartment popped open and Oda came on through. He was going to say something but froze at the apparent sight. Asuka and Yumi were clinging to the young man, whose skin was steadily turning blue, while Miyabi and Murasaki were beet red and trying to muster the courage that they had the night before. Homura was pinching her chin in thought, Haruka was reclined back as though she were victorious in some endeavor, Ikaruga and Yomi were sucking in their cheeks trying to not say anything, and Jasmine had just sat herself against the corner with a look of mild satisfactory and resignation.
There was a quiet couple seconds of pause before Oda pointed over to the young man, who'd since stopped struggling, and cried, "STOP! HE'S GOING TO DIE!"
After thirty seconds of the chaos that ensued, which contained much panic on the girls' part and a few snarky remarks from Jasmine, the young man came to just as someone mentioned CPR. Once everything was settled and Oda was standing at the foot of the young man's futon, the boy murmured, "I saw and felt death… and it was strangely wonderful…"
Under his breath, Oda uttered, "Like succubi, these women would have killed him by pleasure…" and shuttered before getting his head back on track. After clearing his throat, he announced, "We're still waiting on Miki to send us further details regarding the plan," and then gestured to the door, "so I thought I'd make some introductions while we wait." After a few seconds of silence, Oda called, "Onoda, you can come in." Despite his summons, no one came through the door. Having a faint idea of what happened to one of the topmost elite shinobi of the modern era, Oda huffed a breath and raised a finger to everyone else, "A moment," before he made his way to the door and peeked outside. Everyone could hear him as he grumbled, "You're kidding me…"
"I'm not," came a woman's expressionless voice, though there was a slight pitch of joy.
"Don't look at me," came a more serious-sounding woman, "She pulled rank on me."
"Rightfully so."
Oda could be heard sighing before asking, "Would you just come in?"
"Does anyone have an allergy?" came the expressionless voice again.
"Not that I'm aware of-, Please, could you act like you're taking this seriously?" cried Oda, "We're on the eve of an engagement."
"I am taking this seriously."
After a few more seconds of silence, the larger shinobi just uttered, "Please… just come in…"
"Alright."
Oda stepped back into the apartment, straightened his clothes out, and ran a hand over his head before irritably stating, "Ladies and gentleman…" before gesturing to the door, "Shinobi Captain Onoda… Our, somehow, strongest agent after Daidōji… and then there's her second-in-command, the more reasonably-minded Shiori…" and then looked up to the ceiling, "Heavens, I feel as though I've made a mistake…"
Walking in with a slender black cat in her arms was a raven-haired woman with equally dark eyes and no visible emotion. Were it not for the stray feline she was gently caressing, the young man would have been fiercely intimidated. Right behind her walked a red-haired woman with green eyes that reflected a mix of shame and resignation. Repeatedly glancing at her leader and reminding herself of all the ridiculous antics they've gotten into over the years, she could only wonder why she hadn't snapped and murdered her commanding officer yet.
The girls were extremely excited by the sight of them, with Asuka, Homura, Ikaruga, Yomi, and Yumi straightening themselves to offer courteous bows while Jasmine, Miyabi, and Murakumo offered nods of approval. On the other hand, the young man kept in mind his current plight and remarked under his breath, "This has to be a poor first impression… surely, my life is being trusted to competent people…"
Straightening herself while still giving loving pats to the cat in her arms, Onoda stated frankly and without much emotion, "Do you happen to have any fish?" before giving the feline a bounce, "This one has a case of the rumbly-tummy."
The young man made a quiet sound of confusion.
Shiori pinched the bridge of her nose and mumbled under her breath, "God, give me strength," before facing her 'best friend' of many years, "Could you please, I'm begging you here, do something that isn't so… animated? It's bad enough that you singlehandedly delayed our flight in…"
Straining to not let his face show any alarm, the young man blew a long breath out of his nose.
"That dog-o needed a home, not a trip to the pound," came the casual reply before Onoda's head slumped, "…and it's not my fault that I couldn't afford a cage…"
"That's why you don't spend all your cash on a bunch of sausages, you irresponsible dimwit!" cried Shiori, making everyone but the young man jump in surprise to her loud volume.
Rather, the young man's eyes were narrowing as his face tensed up, letting out a squeak of alarm as he realized whose hands his life was being carried in.
Onoda adopted a more serious looking expression, letting her eyes fall low as she puffed her nose and retorted, "The owls weren't going to feed themselves."
"Two things…" grumbled Shiori before raising a finger, "One, yes they would have," then another, "Two…" and bellowed, "YOU DON'T NEED TO FEED OWLS IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!"
Sucking in his lips for a brief moment to hold his tongue, the young man fell backwards onto his bed and audibly mumbled, "I'm going to fucking die…"
Still in her corner, Jasmine quietly whispered in return, "Oh~, the amount of times I've thought that with these two…"
Turning to the young man with equally offended looks, Onoda and Shiori briefly gave him a judgmental gaze before simultaneously asking Oda, "Who's he? A shinobi?"
The large man replied, "An ally. He's an infiltrator."
Onoda nodded before stating, "Alright, I'm-a kill him," before drawing a rapier from her side, startling the cat in her other arm before it yowled. At the same time, Shiori pulled a pistol from a holster resting on her back.
As the young man jumped and pushed himself further back against the wall behind his futon, Oda immediately raised his hands to the two, "No! No, no, no! Ally, he's an ally!" and then gestured to the boy, "He's the one who gave us the information on Tsao. He's an informant."
"Oh," replied Onoda as she and Shiori put their weapons away. After a moment, the girl tilted her head, "Right, you mentioned that," before asking curiously, "You never mentioned how he knew Tsao, though. Is he a former teammate?"
Tightening his face as the young man bit his teeth together, Oda slowly replied, "Actually… his brother…"
"I'll kill him," mumbled Shiori as she drew her gun again, only to be tackled by all of the girls in the room. Still standing up and trying to get a proper shot on the boy's head, she kept saying, "Just let me kill him," eventually shouting, "Let me shoot him right in the face!"
Again, Oda proceeded to assure Shiori, "HE'S AN ALLY! FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING BEAUTIFUL ON THIS EARTH, JUST STOP!" while keeping a wary eye on Onoda, who hadn't moved. Then, just as the former was beginning to calm down, the large shinobi felt a stare full of judgement and frustration burning into the side of his head and turned to find the young man staring without visible expression.
"Oda…" he grunted under his breath before quietly stating, "If you wanted to kill me this whole time, you could have been a bit more straightforward about it…" It was plain and obvious that he was approaching the end of his patience.
Clenching his eyes closed, Oda scratched the back of his head and stated, "I know what you're saying-, I'm sorry…" before giving a slow shrug, "Look, I know how this looks but these two and the others are the best of the best. If there were ten people throughout the world that I'd take up against dignitaries or Tsao, they'd be my first choice-, they are my first choice."
"Don't get me wrong," grumbled the young man, keeping his voice low and agitated, "their abilities aren't going to be denied by me. I can tell they're skilled," before pointing at the two women and started to speak in a softer voice, "But if we're going to be getting help from these people," before proceeding to shout, "it'd be better to tell them my relation to Tsao when they're not within two meters of me!"
Oda began to say while shamefully averting his eyes, "Admittedly, I didn't think that one through-," but was cut off by the young man's yells.
"Yeah, you do that! A lot! Like, a whole lot more than someone in your position should be doing!"
Feeling a bit more sting with that particular jab, Oda just lowered his head while waiting for the young man to continue. But, when the room remained silent, the shinobi just mumbled, "I understand that this situation has been progressively more and more frustrating for you…"
Narrowing his eyes for a moment, the young man grumbled, "Yeah, it's frustrating as hell…" before whipping his head back to Oda, "But there's a fact more frustrating than everything else combined buried in all this." Swaying back and forth in thought, the young man started by speaking calmly, "Now, I've been in a ton of near-death situations in the last few weeks. I've gotten my ass kicked, got punched by an angry chihuahua of a shinobi-, that is your father, Miyabi. Sorry."
"No offense taken," replied the woman, keeping her voice quiet to not provoke or agitate the young man's souring mood.
Continuing his rant, the boy continued, "I've gotten threatened, I've had literal bones broken, I almost got shot, I sustained a head crippling injury…"
"You're going through a very tough time-," started Oda before the young man interrupted again.
"But the worst part," he cried, "is the fact that I seem to be making all the right decisions!" He looked to the girls, "I've been trusting in you guys since we settled that matter with Yumi," which prompted the mentioned girl to murmur off to the side.
"Would everyone please quit reminding me of that time…?"
The young man turned to Oda, "I evaded you when you were dangerous, put my trust in you once we made our deal, did my utmost to plan around Sato, I've taken whatever measures necessary to do a correction!" and began to slap a hand against his knee repeatedly, "Yet, despite everything, it seems as though my situation has been steadily worsening!" Huffing long angry breaths by the end of his rant, the young man lifted a hand to his forehead and quietly let out an, "Ow…"
Blinking awkwardly down to the boy, Oda just quietly asked, "Is it… all out of your system?"
"Yup…" mumbled the young man before quietly adding, "Felt good to talk about before the headache kicked in…"
"It's been a rough time for you," came Onoda's expressionless voice.
"If you're still planning to kill me," mumbled the boy before looking up, "could you at least do it by giving me a pair of roller-skates and a blindfold before running me down with a buffalo herd?"
"That was awfully particular," commented the woman while everyone else questioned if they heard him right.
The young man shrugged, "If I'm going to die, I might as well give one final act of defiance… and there's a song my grandfather sang-," but was interrupted by Onoda.
"Regardless, we're not going to kill you." Upon hearing the straightforward comment, the boy visibly relaxed and let out a sigh of relief. Yet, just as he began to think he was at the turning point of his struggles, Onoda added, "Well, Shiori might."
"Oh, go blow a donkey," cried the other woman.
Raising his head up to look at Onoda, who had a voice as expressionless as Hikage's, the young man tried to understand. One moment, she was ready to kill him. The next, she was straightforwardly assuring him. Just as he began to dwell on her last comment, the woman stated, "That was a joke."
"I figured," commented the young man, who had officially decided that every shinobi, from the girls to Oda to the new arrivals, were capable of swings in attitude and trust of the like that shouldn't have even been capable for a healthy human being.
Breaking up his train of thought, Haruka stood from her seated position on the floor and mumbled, "I'm going to use the ladies' room while you all… do your whole discussing thing…" and strode away without waiting for a comment. The young man would have made a sarcastic remark, but decided to settle for just being glad that the woman who made him so uncomfortable was finally gone.
"Well," mumbled Oda while clapping his hands together, "We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow… So, we'd better get to strategizing-," but was cut off.
"Does he know about Yōma?" asked Onoda. Recoiling a bit from having been interrupted, Oda blinked his eyes and made a confused sound. Again, the woman asked, "Does he know about Yōma? There's a possibility that one could show up when we're all fighting tomorrow."
While the girls started to exchange knowing glances between one another, Oda sucked in a breath and quietly stated, "To be frank… it's bad enough that some of our more junior shinobi already know. If someone who isn't in our circle knows about Yōma, there could be some… panic," while glancing at the boy.
"Keeping secrets, Oda?" commented the young man before shaking his head, "You know what? Don't answer that," before facing Onoda, "I'm going to take a slight shot in the dark and say that Yōma are those mean-ass creatures you guys go out and fight on occasion?" Suddenly, everyone in the room was looking at the young man. From the girls to Jasmine to Oda and his two subordinates, they were all looking at him as though he'd become some kind of fire-breathing chicken. Unsure of how to respond to their scrutiny, the young man just asked, "What?"
Yomi slowly poked her head toward the boy, "How… do you know about Yōma?"
"Grandad-, pa… Grandpa told me," came the reply before the young man scratched at his cheeks, "Plus, I think Tsao spoke of a few encounters…"
Blinking her eyes a few times, Onoda remained in stoic silence for a few minutes before asking, "Why does a big secret tend to not always be so secretive?"
"Hold on, hold on," started Homura as she held up a hand, "Let's test his knowledge to make sure he knows what we're talking about," before pointing a finger to the young man, "How is a Yōma born?"
The boy blinked before answering, "When a mommy Yōma and a daddy Yōma hump each other?"
Asuka, Miyabi, Murasaki let little puffs of steam blow out their nostrils as their faces flushed up, all while Homura muttered, "Wrong…" and cooled down her heated cheeks with a breath. While Yumi was simply averting her eyes to Ikaruga in the background, who gave shrug to the young man's answer, the tanned shinobi then pointed a second finger at the boy, "How big do Yōma tend to be?"
Ignoring everyone's reactions to the previous comment, the next answer came, "I've heard that they can be anywhere in-between that of a dog to a rhinoceros."
Sucking an anxious breath through her teeth as she relived some memories of Dōgen and Orochi, Homura shook her head, "Also wrong. Yōma can be absolutely massive." While taking a glance back, she found that Miyabi had also managed to put on a more serious expression. Finally, Homura extended a third finger and asked, "What is the first, most powerful, and the creator of all other Yōma?"
The young man blew out a breath of air and lifted his hands for a moment, "I don't-, Whoever created the platypus-," before shaking his head and gesturing to Homura, "I think we've established that I don't know much."
"I'd say that it'd be better that way," mumbled Oda before shaking his head, "Provided that everything goes alright tomorrow, we won't need to worry about it."
"Well, considering how big this thing is being hyped up by you guys," commented the young man, "I'd argue that it would be better for me to be in the know, in case an off-chance scenario becomes reality."
Conflicted with sharing one of the greater shinobi secrets, the girls looked between one another, to Jasmine, to Onoda and Shiori, and then to Oda for some kind of approval. The large man had closed his eyes and was ever so slightly lifting up his hand to scratch at his side while he mulled over the topic. Certainly, it would be better to share the information for the sake of the long-term, especially if there would be other encounters with dignitaries in the future. Yet, there was also the fact of how immense the matter was. In the worst-case scenario, the Yōma meant the world's coming end and that kind of information could spark great dread and panic in the young man, two things that would hamper him in the coming battle.
Fortunately, Oda caught a look that Jasmine passed to him, one that said she could offer a reasonable compromise. Thus, after receiving a nod from the larger shinobi, she started by saying, "To give you the essential information…" before clicking her tongue a few times in thoughts. After a few moments, she began again, "To give you the essential information, Yōma are drawn out by shinobi bloodshed." Jasmine paused to peruse all of the information in her head before continuing with, "While we can only theorize where they're drawn out from, we know that they're extremely unpredictable when they come. They can be any size, any shape, any form." After another dramatic pause, which had the young man gesturing for her to continue, she finished by stating, "The only commonality between them is their violent 'births' or arrivals-, there's really no good word for it-, and their tendency to slaughter anything living."
Taking the information in stride, the young man nodded his head while trying to imagine the horrific scene that put everyone on edge. Still struggling to picture it, he asked plainly, "When you say anything living, do you mean humans or…"
"Particularly shinobi, but humans," affirmed Jasmine before she began to circle her fingers around, "dogs, cats, fish, cattle, plants-, if it lives in some way on this Earth, the Yōma have an instinct to kill it."
While the young man began to connect the dots on such a creature that he thought he understood, Oda suddenly gave the back of his foot a light stomp as he interjected, "Regardless, if we manage to avoid getting wounded tomorrow, then we'll be fine and there'll be no need to worry." Seeing that his words, which were intended to calm down everyone, only seemed to increase the uncomfortable atmosphere's intensity, Oda added, "We've got a team of ten of the best shinobi, who're all just a hair short of becoming kaguras." While the young man pondered the new word that he hadn't heard before, the large shinobi continued, "Beyond them, we've got twenty younger shinobi who're all on the road to becoming this generation's best."
When Oda looked to her curiously, Jasmine shook her head and commented, "Don't add Hanzō or I into this roster. We're moving around but still in recovery mode at the moment… and our good doctor has strictly advised against moving around." Feeling a bit guilty for her lack of participation, she also added, "Perhaps you could call the girls' parents-," but was immediately cut off.
"Nope," came Oda's quick reply, "We're not involving them in anything until there's a discussion regarding our new…" before he paused awkwardly and looked to the young man, "relations with our friendly neighborhood infiltrator." As the regarded boy did an awkward shuffle as the parents' confrontation came back to mind, Oda continued, "Plus, I haven't been able to reach Jirō. Not since Miyabi and everyone else went on emergency leave."
"Emergency leave?" questioned the young man before looking at the girls, "What'd you go on emergency leave for?"
Asuka, Miyabi, and Yumi replied simultaneously, "To make sure that Sato didn't beat your head in again…"
Off to the side, Homura did a slight jump when the young man looked to her and simply stated, "Renegades don't go to school so we've just been hanging out… for the same reason."
"Ah," came the boy's reply before awkwardly mumbling, "Well, I owe you all more than one…" After a moment, he looked to Oda and clapped his palms to his knees, "So… thirty shinobi and one infiltrator against forty-eight dignitaries… I'm still not sure if I like those odds."
Seeking to lighten the mood and dreary air, Oda jabbed his thumb into himself and said, "Thirty-one shinobi, sir," and lifted his other arm into the air to give it a flex, "and these babies are worth ten shinobi each! By that math, we've got fifty-one shinobi and one infiltrator against forty-eight!" He looked back and forth, hoping that someone would at least snicker or smile at his display. There was only embarrassed horror when Oda realized that the only smiles were from those who were straining themselves to not cringe at all.
Breaking the silence, the young man commented, "Let's roll back to that comment I made about dying… because I'm going to die and hard."
"Oda's not good at humor," said Onoda frankly, making the large shinobi mumble under his breath about how his daughter would've laughed, before stating, "But my team and I have faced dignitaries before. We've won against worse odds with no casualties. Once we formulate a plan and if everyone follows it or reacts accordingly to new circumstances, we'll be fine." After a moment, she lifted the cat in her arms and said, "I'm going to play with Chomubach, here. Call me once we have enough info to get a plan together," before casually sauntering off with a stone-faced Shiori in tow.
Left by himself with a thoroughly amused Jasmine and a bunch of teenagers, Oda awkwardly glanced down at the young man and said, "I'll be waiting for a text from Miki if you need me…" before he proceeded after Onoda. He wouldn't mention the fact that he would be sending a text to his wife to subtly ask their daughter whether or not she thought her daddy was funny.
Before the larger man was out of the room, Murakumo suddenly approached the end of the young man's futon and proceeded to murmur, "Now that… everything else is out of the way, I'd like to talk to you about something." She paused for a moment before correcting herself, "…Well, somethings actually."
Turning his head from the retreating Oda to the masked shinobi, the young man blinked and tilted his head before saying, "Alright. Let's talk then."
Doing her ultimate to keep her voice level, Murakumo turned to the boy's admirers and asked, "Could I please speak to him with Yomi and Ikaruga?"
Murasaki was about to object to the statement as a feeling of defensiveness overtook her, though she was quickly cut off by the rest of the group. Though it was unknown about whether their action was out of levelheadedness or a desire to see peace between Murakumo and the young man, the other four quickly dragged the whimpering purple-haired shinobi to the door with Jasmine in tow. As the apartment door began to close, Jasmine flashed an encouraging smile to the young man, who was just thankful that the door was replaced when it was. Once everything was settled and he was all alone with the three remaining shinobi, the boy spoke frankly, "Is this regarding our… talk from earlier? Or is this more to do with what winded up happening to me?"
At the moment, the young man urgently wished to see Murakumo's face since he still only had her body language to go off of. With how rigid she was standing, the only thing that he could read from her was the fact that she was evidently uncomfortable. Whether or not she was frustrated or guilty could only be determined by the sound of her voice. To his surprise, it was both. "Originally, it was just the latter and… something regarding Sato…" came Murakumo's voice, coming out heatedly with a few cracks, "but… I suppose I can't ignore what happened to you either."
"I'd actually encourage you to forget about it," replied the young man without showing any of his conflicted feelings, "It was my choice to use the method that I did. I knew the risk and the potential consequences. Just because I did wind up having to pay for it doesn't mean I'm any less responsible."
"Your head was screwed up while trying to save mine," remarked Murakumo in a quiet voice while gesturing to the boy, "How can you expect me to not feel some kind of guilt?"
"Well, guilt is just an irrational thing," retorted the young man before he broke his gaze away, "I'm not going to expect it to just go away because I said so. I just want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened."
There was a small pause before Murakumo finally admitted, "I don't want to owe you anything," which brought the young man's gaze back to her face. After another moment of quiet, she added, "I… don't want this hanging over my head. Not while I'm still trying to sort everything out with your apology…"
"Then don't let it hang over your head," replied the young man, "You owe me nothing," before he closed his eyes and took a heavy breath, "In the end, I'll be free from this infiltrator and shinobi bullshit. I'll be able to live a boring life full of peace and I'd have it no other way." Murakumo was about to interject before he held up a hand to cut her off. After another moment of thought, the young man stated, "It's like I said in the beginning… It's like you said during our argument… I'm a selfish piece of shit who just wants to be done with this kind of stuff."
"All of it?" asked Murakumo.
"All of it," affirmed the young man without much thought.
Murakumo paused for a moment, "What about Yumi?" and quietly pressed on, "What about Asuka, Homura, Miyabi, and Murasaki? What about everyone who would still be in that world you're leaving behind?"
"I think I know what you're getting at," mumbled the young man before shaking his head, "I won't just go and ghost all of you. I imagine that we'll have all bonded well enough that I'll want to keep you all as friends," before raising a finger, "Though, I won't hear any talk about shinobi business. I don't want any further involvement in any… I don't know-, assassinations, Yōma slaying…" Waving his finger around, the young man just shrugged and dropped it into his lap after a moment, "Whatever business you guys will be getting involved in, I don't want hear about. But friendships? Get-togethers? I'm down."
Murakumo's mask bobbed up and down a few times before she asked curiously, "What about with everyone who's confessed to you thus far?"
The young man blinked before narrowing his eyes, "You're asking if I'll take someone as a girlfriend?"
Once he finished his remark, Ikaruga and Yomi couldn't restrain themselves to the back any longer. Without warning, the former flanked around the side of the futon and approached the young man with a stern look on her face, "Please, make a choice. It'd be better if you didn't drag this on any longer than it already has."
At the same time, Yomi appeared on the opposite side and asked, "Do you think you'll be dating both Homura and Asuka? I know it's a weird thing to even suggest but-, Well, I know that you know Homura likes Asuka too, so… I mean, I'm a little out of the loop. Has she confessed to her too?" By the time the blonde was done talking, the other three teenagers were just staring at her in bewilderment.
As if on cue, Haruka popped out of the young man's bathroom and haughtily declared, "I think I can answer both questions at hand!" while raising her arms in an extremely showy way.
"Oh, lords above…" muttered the young man while Yomi gestured for Haruka to continue, much to Murakumo's chagrin.
"To answer I-ka-ru-ga~…" sang Haruka before tapping her forehead, "there's been a lot of stress these last few days and there is likely to be more to come."
The woman gestured to the young man after a moment, which prompted him to say, "Don't come any closer she-devil," as he clapped his hands together in prayer.
Continuing like she hadn't heard anything, Haruka sang, "Since he's such a busybody, it's likely that he hasn't even begun to seriously consider who to pick from the lineup. Especially if his standards for a lover only require both acceptance and some hugs…"
"Knowing how dangerous you are, I shouldn't be surprised you remember that conversation," grumbled the young man.
Flexing her fingers in his direction, Haruka chimed, "I'm still happy to give you that hug, you know…"
"Back off, she-devil."
The woman's face fell neutral for a moment as she stared at the young man and dropped her fingers. After a moment, Haruka commented, "You know, hearing that enough times starts to hurt."
Offering an awkward shrug, the boy retorted, "Sorry but, to be frank, you are a dangerous element," and hugged his elbows, "Specifically to my purity, I feel as though you are an extremely dangerous element…"
With a quick and challenging snort out of her nose, Haruka suddenly smiled and purred, "Your purity is what has you worried?" before looking over to Yomi, "To answer your question, I think he'll certainly be with Homura and Asuka…"
"Oh, I… think I see," came the blonde's quiet voice before she faced off to the side, "though, I wonder how you'd know that…"
"But it doesn't stop there!" declared Haruka before whirling her finger to the young man, completely ignoring Yomi, "Rather, his little harem will grow to five in population not long after our coming battle!" Adopting a more sinister expression, the woman turned her green eyes onto the boy as he leaned back further and further into his futon, "As for his purity…?" before licking her lips, "That will be history…"
Before the young man could even think to offer some kind of rebuttal, Ikaruga raised her hands into the air, "I DON'T THINK SO!" and then wildly waved her hands around Haruka's face, "INAPPROPRIATE! INAPPROPRIATE! INAPPROPRIATE! NO! I WILL NOT ALLOW THAT KIND OF SCANDALOUS BEHAVIOR AND I FORBID YOU TO EVEN THEORIZE ABOUT IT!"
As the two women began to aggressively exchange their thoughts on the matter while Yomi looked on in shock from the side, Murakumo slinked around to the other side of the young man's futon and asked, "Are you following whatever the hell is going on here?"
Keeping his eyes narrowed on the two arguing women, the young man mumbled, "The two extremes of the sexual spectrum have decided to end their great and mighty conflict with one final battle…" After a moment, he turned to Murakumo and asked, "Could you explain why you brought Ikaruga and Yomi in here? I don't really feel as though their questions are relevant to what you were saying before… doubly so if you meant to say something about Sato."
The masked girl hung her head as she mumbled, "They said they'd come to offer me some support, assuring me that they'd keep silent." Murakumo then raised her head and added, "Considering how much gossip we've had about you and your… lovers, if that's the word… I should have suspected that they would roll that subject overboard…"
"Good to know you guys talk behind our backs," remarked the young man with a tired smile as he watched Ikaruga list a whole bunch of reasons on why polygamy wasn't an appropriate relationship for a bunch of teenagers. He wondered about whether or not his confessors had spread word about his own views on relationships…
Lowering her head for a moment, Murakumo just shook her head and stated, "Look, what you, my sister, and everyone else does is of no concern of mine… you guys… just do you," before assuring, "If I can just ask something in regards to tomorrow, I'll be out of your hair and will drag the three stooges off with me so that you can get pampered by your lovers again…"
At first, the young man just mumbled, "You keep saying lovers but I don't think that's the right word…" before giving his head a shake and nodding firmly, "Sorry. Go ahead."
Murakumo had to take a moment to keep herself calm, minding her temper and keeping all of the surrounding circumstances in mind. It didn't help that Haruka was chasing around Ikaruga and Yomi, certainly hoping to make a point by doing something extreme. Finally, once the young man began to lean forward with curiosity, Murakumo asked, "What're you planning to do when we're battling tomorrow?"
Straightening up a bit, the boy remained silent in thought before giving a shrug, "I suppose I'll be out there fighting with you guys."
Murakumo immediately shook her head, "No," before gesturing to him, "Between not being much of a fighter and being a pacifist, you won't do us much good out there."
"I can hold my own well enough," stated the young man before shrugging, "Granted, I won't be as good as you guys, but I'm good enough to fight."
"You had your head beaten in by Sato before," cried Murakumo as she tried to restrain her voice.
"Not long before some dickhead softened up my cranium for her," retorted the young man.
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Murakumo raised her hands, "Alright, alright," before asking, "but what about your pacifism? What about all that spiel about you not killing someone to achieve your goals?"
"Who said anything about me killing anyone?" asked the young man with an alarmed tone, "There's more to a fight like this than just picking up a pair of swords and going swingity-dingity." He paused for a moment before remarking, "Though, I'm pretty sure I don't qualify as a full-blown pacifist, considering the fact that I'm still taking part in this…"
"Uh-huh," grunted Murakumo, "so what will you be doing while we're all going swingity-dingity with some swords?"
"Flying around, taking information, reporting in…" started the young man before shrugging with some uncertainty, "Probably. Truth be told, I won't know until Oda has a plan together." Before Murakumo could press further, he raised a finger, "But, even if I'm made a frontline fighter, I know enough in the way of defensive techniques to disarm someone."
The masked shinobi sighed as Ikaruga briefly bounced onto the futon, extremely close to where she and the young man were, before leaping out of Haruka's way. As the boy began to mutter about the ruckus on the other side of the room, Murakumo dropped her head with a sigh, "By the sound of it, you're determined to take part…?"
"Yup."
"No way to talk you down?"
"Nope."
"In that case," Murakumo trailed off and turned her head away just as the other three shinobi in the room collapsed together with Haruka on top, cackling victoriously. Finally, just as the young man was getting sucked into the comical antics, the woman beside him asked, "What'll you do if Miki is there?"
The young man made a sound and remained silent for a few seconds as he processed the thought of him and Miki on opposite sides. Then he asked, "How do you mean? Give me some specifics."
Murakumo sighed and stated, "If Miki is in the know of the battleplans, he'll probably be taking part in some way. Unless he successfully feigns sickness, there's no avoiding that." She pressed her head closer and asked, "If you and Miki wind up standing before one another in the heat of battle, what'll you do?"
Exhaling as he fully understood the woman's explanation, the young man closed his eyes and pictured the scenario vividly. He could see it happening before his very eyes, as though he were already facing down Miki with their swords drawn and combat stances adopted. Yet, when he tried to picture Miki's face, he could only see the goofy smile that could ramble on for minutes at a time about any inane subject. With newfound confidence, the young man snorted, "I'd say that it would be a case of live and let live. Maybe a few potshots or swings at one another to put on a convincing show… but I don't distrust Miki."
"What if he came at you with the full intent to attack?" asked Murakumo before raising one of her palms to stop the young man's coming retort, "Just let this be a hypothetical and tell me what you would do."
Letting out a sigh and still not taking the question so seriously, the young man sucked in his lips before stating, "He'll get what he gives." He gestured to his arms, "A cut to my hand; a cut to his," then to his stomach, "A stab to mine and a stab to his," and rested on his neck, "A cut to my throat and-, well, I'll be too dead to do anything about it."
Murakumo lowered her head and nodded before quietly mumbling, "That's… reasonable, I suppose." After a few seconds she asked, "Could you extend that same kind of mercy to Sato then?"
Hearing the girl's name, the young man looked away and uncomfortably shuffled in place. After letting out an exhale, he promptly asked, "What makes you think she'll be on the battlefield? Miki already said that she'll probably be killed."
Murakumo shook her head, "And I'm sure that she'll find a way to get another chance with the dignitaries. Whether by cunning or with Miki's help, I don't think Sato will just lay down and die after everything." She shook her head, "After hearing all that I've heard, there's no way she'd just follow after Miki to her death. There had to be some kind of plan."
"What?" questioned the young man, "Pardon me for being frank, but I don't think we saw the same person." He pointed to Murakumo, "By the sound of it, you saw a girl determined to see a cause through to the end," and then to himself, "while I saw someone who had resigned themselves to whatever comes next."
"Then we'll agree to disagree," stated Murakumo before straightening herself and pulling further away from the young man, "Could you just tell me what you would do if you," as her voice became quieter and quieter, "met Sato in battle."
Sucking in a frustrated breath and rubbing at his forehead, the young man grunted, "Ow…" before turning his focus away from the pain. Instead, he resolved himself to look away from Murakumo and asked at level volume, "What do you want me to do?"
Jerking her head back to him, the masked shinobi made a confused sound, "Huh?"
"You're trying to convince me to do something else instead of just fighting her, right?" mumbled the young man as he waved his hand for her to continue, "Just say what you want to say and I'll listen."
Since he wasn't looking at her when those words came out, Murakumo wasn't sure about whether or not to take the boy seriously. But, knowing an argument would bring a spike of pain to his head, she instead explained her feelings openly, "Give her the same chance that we gave you and help her escape from this mess."
Letting a hot breath of air blow out his nose, the young man mumbled, "Oh boy…" and clenched his eyes closed.
"I know what she did to you," stated Murakumo, "and I know that she doesn't deserve it. I also know that she violated core principles of yours when she tried to kill you and screwed my brain up." As she continued speaking, the wrestling match between Haruka, Ikaruga, and Yomi froze as they realized a serious conversation was taking place. As they picked themselves up, Murakumo continued to practically beg, "But you can't deny that she's like you… She wants to be free from the dignitaries like you want to be free from the infiltrators… Please… Help her…"
The young man remained completely silent as he turned his head to face the girl, unwilling to voice some of the more cruel feelings he had bouncing around in his brain. Yet, while his hate for Sato didn't end, he couldn't help but feel like Murakumo's face was twisting with sorrowful desperation beneath her mask. He let out a sigh and considered the prospect, sucking and blowing his lips out of his mouth repeatedly in thought. He couldn't picture saving Sato, though fighting her was starting to become an uncomfortable image in his head. Regardless of whatever answer he gave Murakumo then and there, he wasn't sure if he would have an honest answer until the time came.
Meanwhile, still cramped up in the abandoned distribution center, Sato had a terrible feeling run through her gut as she prayed for some kind of end to her troubles. Whether she was to be released from the life she never asked for or was to die in the coming battle, it didn't matter too much to her. She just wanted all of the hardship to end.
Having sent all of the essential details from the dignitaries' battle plan to Oda for the coming engagement, Miki glanced at Sato from afar and hoped that everything would turn out alright for her. As far as he was concerned, he'd done his ultimate and had gotten the best possible option to save her life. The plan had her propped out in the open, which left her fate to be completely determined by the shinobi. Whatever happened next, he would be there to see it all go down… he could only hope that things didn't turn too gruesome.
