Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 65: Carry On

May 10 – "The rest was good but the world has no reservations about throwing surprises."

At one point in the middle of the night, Mirai found herself unable to sleep and lumbered her way to the kitchen within the renegades' cave. Barely keeping her eyes open as she let out a low groan and mumbled incoherently, she opened the fridge and found that the inside light was off. She blinked and a bit of panic would have set in if it hadn't been a recurring situation over the last few weeks. Mirai proceeded to extend her hand into the fridge to check its temperature, letting out a satisfied, "Hm," when she found it was still cold, and then turned her head to the side to make sure it was still plugged into the portable battery, which it was.

Knowing that the issue was the bulb, Mirai shrugged it off and decided to leave it for someone else to fix, just as everyone else had been doing since the issue had come to notice. She reached for a juice can, cracked it open despite anticipating the loud noise, and proceeded to chug it down. When she closed the fridge and was about to saunter off to relax for a while, she found that Haruka had been standing right behind her that whole time. Ceasing all movement in fear that she was about to walk into a horrid scheme, Mirai did her utmost to maintain all physical forms of composure as she tried to think of what her comrade would want.

Sensing that it would be on her to break the silence, Haruka smiled deviously and asked, "You must have come to the same conclusion that I have?"

Mirai was taking slow breaths and could only respond after a short pause, "That the fridge bulb needs fixing? Yeah, you should get on that. Good night."

As the short girl prepared to make her escape, Haruka raised a hand and brushed it up the side of the girl's neck. After taking in the sight of the long shiver that followed, she retorted, "No, there's no need to dance around it."

Calming down her body, Mirai stared blankly for a second before chugging down her can of juice. When it was finished, she popped her head away dramatically and quietly exclaimed, "You're right, I should fix it. Go back to bed while the sugar wakes me up."

"I'm not talking about the fridge."

Before Mirai could possibly counter her, Haruka shot her hands forward and gripped the girl's wrists and locked her in place. From there, the older shinobi began to crane her body overhead as a horrifying smile began to spread across her face. Mirai, like anyone at that point, assumed the worst was about to happen and began to push and pull, "NO! OFF! OFF, OFF, OFF!"

As the girl began to wildly try and rip herself away while letting out mindless yaps of terror, Haruka then exclaimed cheerfully, "You must be curious about what Homura has been up to~!" and closed her eyes sweetly.

Mirai faltered in the middle of a struggle and blinked, "What-, No. Absolutely not."

"You've woken up in the dead of night… on this night of all nights," goaded Haruka as she began to drag the girl across the cave floor, "No, there's no use denying it. I'll be happy to explain all of the likelihoods with great detail."

"No!" cried Mirai, "I honestly don't want to know! And your argument makes no sense! I wake up in the middle of the night all the time! YOU KNOW THIS!"

"Oh, do I?" came a sharp rebuttal from Haruka, which quickly helped the smaller girl realize that she was just looking for an excuse to gush about Homura's sexual activities. As Mirai's screams and lewd descriptions began to fill the air, Yomi was covering her head with a pillow and found herself jealously glancing at Hikage, who was still deep in sleep.

At the same time, Minori was also skipping down the hallways of Gessen Academy with the intent of tracking down a late-night snack. She wobbled herself back in forth as she hummed about the many different options that she had to choose from. Ultimately, since Yumi wouldn't be around to possibly scold her, she decided to adopt an ambitious aim and salivated at the thought of knabbing several strudels and taking her time to toast each one to perfection. But upon opening the door into the kitchen, she found that Murakumo and Yozakura were sitting across from Shiki at the counter. All of their expressions were darkly blank and their gazes were lost out in some great void as their minds processed whatever it was that they were processing.

Thinking at first that it was another intervention against her night raids on the pantry, Minori adopted a defensive stance and waited for the coming order for her to take a seat. But when no one said anything, she found her head rising into the air with curiosity and said with immense caution, "Are you… all okay? It's pretty late."

Shiki could only barely be heard muttering, "I made the mistake of prying… I shouldn't have pried…"

Minori tilted her head in confusion but then realized that they had no intent to stop her at that moment. In fact, based on how spaced out they all were, she could still maintain her ambitious plan to capture and toast as many strudels as she could. So, with an exaggerated yawn, she took large steps toward the pantry, "Hoo, I'm tired," and swung the door open to pull out the box, "I don't know what's wrong with me. I ate well last night and I did lots and lots of exercise. I should be as burnt-out as a… burnt-out bulb." She continued aimlessly as she ripped open the box and advanced to the toaster, "You know what, I'll just eat a few-, just a few to get rid of my tummy rumblies." She then proceeded to empty out the entirety of the box's contents onto a paper plate that was conveniently nearby and said as she threw a few strudels into the toaster, "I'll be quick, no worries. I like these lightly toasted and each one shouldn't take long-, you guys want a bite? Is it alright if I finish these? I wouldn't definitely wouldn't think about finishing them off without permission-, thank you. I know you didn't say anything but I'll definitely share some sweets tomorrow or the day after unless I forget. You guys can have first pick when that happens."

Not saying anything at all throughout all of the rambling, the only thing that the three girls at the table could think about was how Minori could not be allowed to know what Yumi was up to. Such knowledge could very well corrupt the sweet innocence of a girl who was precious to all of them… and they wouldn't be able to handle another major shift as they were far too caught up on trying to imagine their sister, the same one who'd always say, "Cuteness is justice!" with her hands raised up like cat paws, eagerly getting freaky in bed.

In the meantime, Ikaruga was much like the girls of Gessen as her many thoughts prevented her from getting sleep. Aside from the fact that Katsuragi showily announced a sleepover with the young man that would involve several women, there wasn't much for the shinobi to be caught up on… but when her three missing teammates' behavior over the last few days was considered, she knew that something was up.

In the hours before they left, Ayame and Katsuragi's jokes were starting to pick up in frequency and the sexual nature behind them was beginning to intensify. At one point during an exercise in class, Ikaruga was finally going to give them a loud scolding for being so inappropriate before a joke involving a whip and several items of a phallus nature were brought up. Unable to wrap her mind around the ideas that they were throwing out, the woman had to make a retreat and maintained her silence as the much more hardcore jokes kept coming.

Ikaruga rolled around in her bed and proceeded to bury her face into the pillow while letting out a loud groan. She had an idea about what the girls were up to but she didn't want those pictures in her head. If it were something involving a disgusting or snarling Yōma, she'd confront it head-on but, if it involved the amount of nudity and moaning that she thought it did, Ikaruga had no interest at that moment in picturing the girls who were like her sisters in such a way. Instead, she wanted to sleep and gather her strength for the confrontation she wanted to dole out… but there was no sleeping if she had to consciously guard against those images. Really and truly, it was an accursed paradox that was plaguing her that night.

As that was happening, Imu was practicing her kicks on a training dummy in one of the gyms at Hebijo Academy. Though she'd managed to remain strong and consistent for the hours leading up to that point, she was finally beginning to falter as Murasaki's sharp words from the other day began to eat at her. Her kicks, once swift and hitting with great force behind them, were as slow and sloppy as a four-year-old's. Eventually, when she was unable to summon the strength for another, Imu approached the training dummy and gave it a shove. She then toweled the sweat that'd been building on her head for hours at that point and proceeded to the exit so that she could go to bed.

Making sure to maintain the silence of the hallways by keeping her footsteps light, Imu walked along and tried to suppress the concerns that were weighing on her. But having exhausted herself by training too far into the night, the thoughts began to come in without reservation and her eyes fell to the floor. Miyabi and Murasaki, her first love and her dear sister, were both sharing their first times with the same man. Worst yet, the latter of the two was still so bitter about their recent butting of the heads that she felt the need to make it known.

Imu didn't take Murasaki's words too personally. After all, the girl was one who was more spiteful in the heat of the moment and, by all technicalities, the argument that they were having did leave the older sister in the wrong. Of course, it still hurt but it did serve a lesson that Imu had been neglecting. She didn't recognize what was wrong in her own actions quick enough and she had also failed to enact the advice that she received from Katsuragi sometime before, that was to make her feelings known to Miyabi, and now she was stuck being hurt in the background. Even if she was doomed to eventually be rejected, Imu would have liked to have the closure she needed before being hit with what she knew. So, after slowly balling up a soft fist of resolve, the girl decided that she would need to correct her error. When the timing was right, she would say whatever she felt needed to be said regarding her feelings to Miyabi… and, however reluctant she was, a true apology would need to be given to Murasaki.

As though there was some kind of connection between everyone's sleeplessness, the young man drowsily opened his own eyes and he immediately took notice of how warm he was. When he tried to lift his head to check how hard he was sweating on the bed, he also found that there was weight on his abdomen and several constrictions around his body. It took a few blinks to focus his eyes on the obstacles but he found that there were three bodies silently battling for dominance on top of him, two bodies that were settled peacefully beside him, and two bodies on each side of the pile that were grabbing at whatever could be grabbed.

Breathing softly into his ears as they slept, Miyabi and Murasaki were settled beneath the young man on both sides and were wrapping their arms around him. While the former kept hers latched around his chest and torso, the younger shinobi had the boy's neck locked in place as she unconsciously and repeatedly nuzzled the side of her head into his. Then there was Katsuragi and Ayame, who could have been awake, on each side as they grazed their hands over the two girls and onto the young man. Whenever their fingers rest onto his forehead, their fingers would stop and dance with his locks for a few moments before moving on to cop a feel elsewhere.

Then there was the surprisingly cute battle taking place right on top of the young man with the three contenders being Asuka, Homura, and Yumi. The current king of the hill was the last girl, who'd settled her body and locked her knees into place as she was sleepily resting her head onto the young man's chest. Unknowingly locked into a hug with one another, Asuka and Homura were inching themselves to try and bump the girl off as both of their bodies were resting off to the side of the boy's leg. Whether they were all conscious through the unknown number of bouts that took place would be left to mystery but the sight of it was wonderful.

Unwilling to observe and think any longer, the young man took a long breath and tried to settle back into sleep. Of course, due to how early he went down the previous night, he wasn't able to fully go under again. Instead, he would simply take turns rubbing everyone's heads gently or, in the case of Miyabi and Murasaki since they were behind him, resting his fingers onto theirs. He would continue doing that until the sun finally began to make itself known over the horizon.

Just as his eyes began to settle and another wave of sleep began to etch into the young man's features, his hand grazed over the head of Ayame and a pleased hum was let out. Blinking a few times as he pulled away from his drowsiness and arced his head to look at the girl. After scrunching up her face and stretching her body out with a yawn, Ayame sat herself up and rubbed at her eyes. She then leaned back down and pointed to her back while softly requesting, "Head rubs are nice but could you scratch my back by chance? I have an itch and I'm too tired to reach for it."

Seeing no reason to object, the young man attempted to obey and reached but was unable to move himself any closer while he was still in the grip of the several women surrounding him. He then tiredly asked, "Could you slide over? I can't reach."

"Whoop. That's right," murmured Ayame as she scooched over and arced her back. Just as she was about to ask if she was close enough, the young man found her back and began to offer a very pleasant scratch. The girl shook pleasantly for a moment before ordering, "Up, up," and let out a long sigh of relief as the source of her itch was scratch. She leaned herself forward and sputtered, "Right… there…" as she held her position for a while. Once the pleasure became too much to handle, she fell to her side and landed right on top of Miyabi's head. The woman let out a muffled yell of confusion as Ayame began to drift back into sleep.

After remembering her strength, Miyabi then proceeded to lift herself and broke one arm away from the young man to shove the first-year off with a defensive growl, "What the hell are you doing…!?"

Sprawled out and teetering just on the side of the bed, Ayame cheekily responded, "I had an itch and got it scratched."

Miyabi was not at all amused by the answer but, noticing how close the girl was to falling over, she still extended a hand and grumbled, "C'mon. Before you crack your head on the floor." When Ayame was pulled closer toward the center of the bed, the young man then realized the very crucial fact that everyone was still naked. Puffing out his cheeks and doing his utmost to keep his gaze fixed on Miyabi's face as she turned toward him, the woman blinked in surprise before a smile found her lips. After a brief realization of how early it still was, she laid herself back down and shuffled her shoulders comfortably before resting her free hand onto the young man's face. From there, she said nothing and simply moved her head to press her lips into his.

As the small exchange took place, Ayame shrugged to herself and muttered, "Well, I became a third wheel pretty quickly…" before her eyes turned toward the entangled Asuka and Homura right beside her. Mischievousness flashed over her eyes before she grinned brightly. She then grasped her hand into the air, pulled back a nonexistent sleeve, and began to boldly reach for her intended target.

Just as Miyabi was beginning to press herself down into her kiss with a greater passion, Asuka let out a long and tired, "No~…" as she rolled over and drowsily flapped her hands in a token defense of herself.

Ayame, copping one of the brunette's rear cheeks in her hand, stared with evident disappointment, "She usually gives a much livelier reaction…" as one of the tired girl's hands accidentally thwapped Yumi on the back of the head.

Completely undisturbed by the strike, Yumi raised herself slightly as she tried to blink in some focus. Then, using her memory to try and track the young man's location, she exhaustedly whispered in a voice that was supposed to sound sultry, "C'mere…" and leaned her head down for a kiss. When she instead found herself kissing the back of Miyabi's head and getting a ton of hair in her mouth, Yumi was made completely awake and alert as she froze herself in place and took in her environment.

At the same time, having been disturbed by the sudden wet spot on the back of her head, the woman pulled herself away from the young man and turned with a wide-eyed look, "I don't think I was your intended target…"

Just as Yumi began to pull out the hair that was stuck in her mouth, Katsuragi suddenly shot herself up and cried, "Good morning, everyone!"

While Murasaki, more than used to ignoring wakeup calls, nuzzled herself closer to the young man, Homura could be heard grumbling, "Shush… I'm still tired…"

Giving a feint of sympathy, Katsuragi covered her mouth, "Oops. I'm so sorry, I didn't realize…" before she slid her hands together and teasingly jabbed, "…though I shouldn't be too surprised, considering the fact that you and Asuka were still going when Ayame and I went down."

Finally sitting herself up, Homura waved her hand in the air dismissively, "Alright… I'm up, I'm up…"

Regardless of the silent plea for her silence, Katsuragi kept going, "In fact, you two were pretty intense," as she reached over and patted the young man, "But, from what I can guess, you two probably didn't feel any need to hold back when lover-boy, here, took a sleepy nosedive… Oh, he and that good ol' oxytok-, no. Oxytob-, oxytab-, that one chemical and the other one I can't remember."

"Hush your face," ordered Homura with bags under her eyes before she became wary of her surroundings. Very quickly after, she realized that Ayame had been groping Asuka's butt throughout the entire exchange and asked, "What're you doing?"

"What any woman with a sound mind would do," returned the girl with a straight face.

"She's right, you know," added Katsuragi.

"So says the two molesters," grumbled Homura before she looked down to Asuka, "Are you awake?"

Since the brunette had her eyes closed, she sighed, "Me?"

"Yes."

There was only silence before Asuka rolled onto her face and answered, "No."

Homura pressed on, "Are you okay with Ayame grabbing you?"

"No."

Immediately, the tanned shinobi wrenched her hand onto Ayame's and slowly pulled it off. At the same time, Katsuragi crawled around Murasaki's head and poked at the young man's, "How was your sleep, tired-eyes? Did you enjoy your night?"

"I can scarcely remember it," said the young man as he rested himself back, believing himself ready for whatever the blonde was about to throw at him. Unfortunately, it was his own thoughts that caught up to him first to weigh on his mind before he asked with some embarrassment, "How long-, if you don't mind me asking, what all happened after I… you know, went down?"

Katsuragi flaunted a hand and brushed it over his forehead before mockingly repeating, "Do I mind you asking~?" She proceeded to let out a loud chuckle and stated, "First, no. Why would I, of all the shameless people you've met, mind? Second… hoo-wee, the details. Where to begin?"

Ayame quickly piped in, "Tell him about what happened with his hands!"

Immediately after that sentence was finished, Homura's face went red while Murasaki's once-sleeping body went completely stiff against the young man. Letting out a loud, "Ha!" before anything else, Katsuragi cried, "Holy Hell, you should have seen it!" She then clasped her hands together and said, "A whole lot happened at the same time." She pointed to Asuka, who was still too tired to take part in the conversation, "When she finished you off, she let out this loud scream and fell backwards," and rounded her hand toward the young man's wrist, "and your hands started to do this wild spasming that completely obliterated Homura and-," before she was cut off by a horrified scream

"DON'T TELL HIM!" went Murasaki as she shot herself up from her resting position and extended her hands towards Katsuragi to strangle the source of her embarrassment.

Katsuragi cockily weaved her neck away a few times while taunting evilly, "What, you don't want him to know how well he did with you? How your voice broke as you cried his name?" Unfortunately for her, the blonde stuck her neck out too far during one dodge and Murasaki finally got a hold. After making a choking sound, Katsuragi was violently shaken back and forth while the purple-haired girl cried aloud from the divulged information.

Disturbed by the choking sounds that were echoing through the room, the young man extended a hand toward Murasaki to intervene, "I think you got her-," before Homura reached over and rested a hand onto his shoulder.

"Let it happen."

The boy blinked, "Katsuragi can't breathe."

"She won't die. Let it happen."

At the same time, Katsuragi was pulling at Murasaki's grip and hissing out, "Do you want him to think he was a bad partner…!? That's why I'm-, ack…!" She struggled a bit more and managed to grip the younger girl's shoulders as she continued, "…Telling him-, that's why I'm telling him…! Do you want him to be self-conscious…!?"

Finally releasing Katsuragi, Murasaki wrenched her hands down to a blanket and proceeded to heave it straight over her head. She then balled up into a fetal position and let out a low moan, "Ngghhhhh-uuuuuuu…"

Rubbing her throat and keeping her eyes closed to make sure that nothing was popping out of her skull, Katsuragi turned to where she remembered the young man to be and uttered, "You were extremely effective with her, you see…"

Offering a few pats to the girl's back, Ayame then nodded her head and continued the story in a hushed voice, "After that, you were out like a light." She then turned toward Yumi and Miyabi, "They spent a bit of time trying to wake you but there wasn't any luck."

"Well," said Katsuragi as she found her ability to speak properly again, "if we're going to be more specific…" She then pointed a hand into the air, "First they tried to get you up," and then pointed it downward with a suggestive grin, "but then they tried to get you up."

"We don't need to go into detail," stated Miyabi as she covered her face. At the same time, Yumi looked slightly pleased with herself and showed no sign of either remorse or shame.

"No, no," murmured Katsuragi with a nod, "I think we need to go into detail. He was asleep and, at that point, it would be something akin to assault, eh? He has a right to know."

"I'd disagree on the assault part," retorted Yumi as her innocent face showed some cheer, "We were already in the middle of the act before-," but was immediately cut off.

"Can we drop the subject?" came a quiet yell from Miyabi and she rubbed her temples, "Never mind the complexity, I don't want to be embarrassed about… what I did."

There was a brief moment of silence and an exchange of looks between Ayame and Katsuragi before they smirked knowingly at one another. Even as Miyabi threw a harsh glance and even jutted her finger forward in warning a few times, they quickly said simultaneously, "Her hands."

The woman let out a noise, "NGH!" before letting her head fall. Quickly after, she pulled at the blanket that Murasaki was using to cover herself and asked, "Is there room for another under there…?"

"No."

"You shouldn't be ashamed," said Yumi with a simple shrug, "You were only trying to wake him up in a pleasurable fashion."

Miyabi shot her head back to the girl, "How can you say that in casual conversation!?"

"By saying it," fired back Yumi with a serious voice.

"If anything," said Katsuragi as she prepared herself mentally for a physical attack, "you should be more embarrassed about what you were sputtering in the process."

Prepared to kill the blonde at that very moment, Miyabi ordered in a low and threatening voice, "Don't – you – dare…"

Ayame was the one who decided to press the attack. She clasped her hand into the air and began to make an up-and-down motion while feigning desperation, "Please~! Plea-ea-ease… I didn't get a turn~!"

In response, Miyabi proceeded to try and murder Ayame by tackling her and aiming several punches straight for the girl's face. Fortunately, due mostly to her lack of focus and the embarrassment weighing back her body, every single strike was entirely painless but, after a bit, the older woman's lack of strength was concerning. So, even as she was mindlessly thwapped on the side of the head, Ayame calmly and coolly began to pet Miyabi's hair soothingly, "It's okay, it's okay…"

While the theatric spectacle was taking place right in front of him, the young man struggled to come up with a reasonable reaction to all that was going on. But, once he easily settled into the fact that shinobi tended to try and kill one another in nonserious situations without much success, he then turned to Katsuragi and asked, "So… two rounds and that was it for me?" As that thought weighed on him, he shrunk his head with some shame and said, "Well… I wasn't much of a partner."

The blonde actively laughed at his self-resenting remark and fired her cannon of a mouth, "What, do you mean to say that you expected to get through all of us!?" She hugged her stomach and began to hoot and howl into the air while jabbing further, "You, an inexperienced virgin, with seven different beauties!?"

Steadily becoming more annoyed than embarrassed, the young man glared at her and muttered, "Alright, point taken. I had unrealistic expectations."

Regardless, Katsuragi didn't stop, "Maybe if your testes were half-geyser and you named your rod Ol' Faithful, but even that would be a longshot!"

Leaning back into the bed with irritation written clear across his face, the young man took a long breath and crossed his arms as his eyes centered on the girl, "I get it." Then, after realizing how much he knew about her, he then sat himself back up with a shake of his head and raised one hand into the air just as Katsuragi was about to continue her teasing, "Oi," and watched her face fall as she realized how serious he was, "if you don't stop it, I'm grabbing your nose and pulling up with everything that I have."

Having suffered a painful experience of the same nature with Ikaruga when they first met a few years before, the blonde quickly blinked and nodded her head, "Right, right. You have my word that I'll leave it at that."

"Thank you."

Katsuragi then shook her head and dismissively shrugged her shoulders, "Still," before she said with a smile, "you couldn't have actually expected yourself to get through all of us? Especially not after how rattled you looked during your first splooge."

The young man scratched his cheek, "Well, I didn't expect to… you know, finish each of us during sex," before he parted his hand from his face, "but… there were other ways…"

Katsuragi raised her head, "Oh~," before bobbing up and down, "you're speaking generally." She then thought to herself for a second before offering, "Well, again, I think it'd be too much for anyone to expect you to get through all of us. Not when you had no idea what you were doing, at least."

Letting out a low groan, the young man murmured, "Still… with all the preparation I tried to put into it…"

"Hey," exclaimed Katsuragi, "you got four of us." She then pointed to Yumi, "He did good with you, right?"

The girl nodded brightly, "Yes."

The blonde then patted the still sleepy Asuka, "And he got you through the sex alone, right?"

"Mm…" came a groggy bit of acknowledgement as the girl tried to get back to sleep.

Homura then chose that moment to add in, "And… speaking honestly…" before sheepishly turning her head away, "…you can safely add Murasaki and I onto that count too…" There came a brief cry and a mumbling of words from beneath the covers that, somehow and someway, communicated a shy agreement.

Katsuragi then cheered with beaming grin, "Which means you'll just have to make it up to Ayame, Miyabi, and I next time!" before it morphed into something much more seductive, "In fact, if you can get started right now~…"

Immediately, the young man's eyes widened and he repeated in a choked voice, "…Right now…!?" before shaking his head and raising a finger, "Can we take a week? I don't think I can take another eightsome any sooner…"

With a purse of her lips, Katsuragi tilted her head, "Eight-, oh," before smiling merrily, "Who said anything about us all getting together again so soon? We can all go wild on our own time now, right?" Once that sentence finished, Yumi froze up and her eyes glistened in a frightening way before she started to skulk toward Miyabi. While she did that, Katsuragi was facing Homura, "Right? We all had our first time together and that was all you wanted to share?"

Caught up thinking about it for a second, Homura took a short bit of time before finally nodding, "Yeah, that was all. If anyone wants to… do it on their own time going forward, they can."

Yumi could barely suppress the smile on her face before she poked Miyabi on the back, who was still tossing several blows at Ayame. When her attention was drawn away, the woman hissed, "What…!?" before she was gestured to come closer. From there, Yumi whispered something into her ear and the young man, who spectated the exchange from a distance, felt as though he needed to protect himself. This feeling was only greatly amplified when Miyabi recoiled and quietly screeched, "WHAT!?"

His attention was then pulled away when Katsuragi then gripped his shoulders and said, "Well, give a call anytime you'd like to arrange a date. We'll get freakier than Halloween and we can start to build Old Faithful's stamina up."

Before the young man could respond, the window suddenly slid open and a deep voice suddenly called inside, "Hey! I've got news!" Were it not for the fact that the girls immediately broke out into protesting yells and threats, Oda would have walked himself into sure death and dismemberment, regardless of how much more skilled a fighter he was.

Chaos reigned over the room for a solid minute, with every occupant scrambling to cover or dress themselves as quickly as possible. In the end, the young man managed to dress himself in pajama pants and was forced to watch as everyone else's attention fell upon his dresser instead of their own clothes. The only two who didn't go scavenging for his clothes were Miyabi and Yumi, who had instead opted to wrap themselves up into the same blanket. The young man uttered a silent thanks to them as he watched his clothes get pulled over the heads of everyone else. Of course, it wasn't that he was dissatisfied with the thought of anyone else wearing his shirts and pants. It was just the fact that, after the last time his clothes were raided, the chest areas of his hoods and the rears of his pajamas were extraordinarily stretched out. Still, it could have been worse for the young man. He could have been Oda, who was forced to dangle just below the window and wait for the girls' dresser raid to end.

Once everyone was finally dressed or covered, the young man called toward the window, "You're clear."

Oda, with a face that was as straight and solid as stone, came in and uttered under his breath, "Sorry for the intrusion…"

"Why did you come through the window?" asked Homura, who was covering her bare legs with a pillow as she tried to straighten the hood that she stole. Before an answer could be given, she pulled a little too hard and a thread snapped somewhere. When she turned to find the young man staring at her with a blank face, she whispered, "Sorry."

"To answer your question…" started Oda as he folded his hands. His voice then quickly turned sheepish, "…everyone else comes through the window."

"They don't have keys," stated the young man before he gestured to the giant, "You do."

"Well," started Oda as he shrugged up his shoulders, "maybe I wanted to be part of the group too."

Sighing and covering his face for a moment, the young man took a breath and gave a quiet announcement, "New rule. Window access is for lady friends only."

Katsuragi, who'd made a makeshift toga of the young man's shirts by tying the arms together, quickly poked him on the shoulder and asked, "By lady friends, do you mean romantic partners or just friends who are ladies?"

"Ah…" went the young man, who didn't think his rule through beyond barring Oda from the window, "…let's go with both for now."

Asuka, dressed in a t-shirt and pajama pants, quickly patted him on his other shoulder and asked, "But what if there's an emergency and Oda needs to get up here quickly?"

Hanging his head for a moment, the young man blew some air out of his mouth before putting on some confidence and staring at Oda, "Just knock from now on."

"Will do," rumbled the man.

Having finally gotten her hair straightened after it got ruffled in the process of throwing on a shirt for herself, Ayame took the opportunity to say, "In all seriousness, you'll want to knock from now on."

"I know."

Murasaki, dressed in robe with eyes full of silent pleading, folded her hands over her chest and mumbled, "Please…"

"I'll knock, I'll knock!"

There was a moment of silence before Yumi blatantly announced, "Because we could be having sex."

"I've noticed! I'll knock!"

"Thank you," said the young man as he was still processing Yumi's brazenness. At that point, he knew that he should have been used to it but she always had a way to shock him into silence. When the girl noticed his gaze, her lower lids arced up as she smiled and turned back to Miyabi where she would occasionally continue her whispering from earlier. As suspicious as he was of the two, the young man decided to focus on Oda and asked, "So, you mentioned something about news?"

"Right," responded the man as he held up a finger, "First thing, there's some… bad news with a solution being handled."

"I'm scared," said the young man with a blank face that betrayed his fear.

"Don't worry," assured Oda with a wave of his hand, "you and everyone else won't be doing any of the fighting this time."

"I'm less scared."

Oda dropped his hand and rested it to his side as he announced, "We've been keeping a steady out for dignitaries… and, fortunately, we've learned what they're up to." He took a breath, thought out his words, and continued, "Over the last week, an American intelligence team has spotted people moving equipment through alleyways and into safehouses, which are either houses that were damaged during the Yōma attack or already vacant locations." After a brief pause, Oda said plainly, "Most of it was deduced to be parts required for building explosive devices."

A wave of silence ran throughout the room before Homura quickly asked, "And… has anyone raided these safehouses… or…?"

Oda gave a hard nod and said, "SAT teams have raided several, with some results, while shinobi have been hitting the more fortified locations… also with only some results." He took a breath and said, "The problem, beyond all the annoying paperwork after a raid, is that these guys are fast movers. By the time we get to one safehouse where some stragglers are cleaning up shop, most of the explosives are already moved." When everyone else's faces reflected the seriousness of the situation, Oda held up a finger, "Fortunately, we've been warned of an oncoming attack that's taking place tomorrow."

"Warned?" asked the young man.

Oda locked onto the boy's eyes and announced just as a knowing look came over him, "Miki managed to slip me a call."

A small wave of relief and guilt came over the young man as he heard his friend's name. He was glad to know that his friend was still safe and, by the impression of the warning sent out, still willing to help out if he came by news of danger. Yet, considering the much more lighthearted conflict that the young man had gotten wrapped into over the last couple of weeks, he did feel guilty about not letting Miki wander into his thoughts more. So, with a heavy heart, the boy nodded and asked, "He's safe?"

Oda nodded his head and said, "As much as the circumstances allow," before he took a long breath, "though, when I had the opportunity to ask again, he's still refusing to dig for any more information beyond the surface level." Then, with a quick wave of his hand, the shinobi said, "Regardless, he finally reached out and let us know that he's okay. More importantly, the assault tomorrow will be taking place against the relief camp near the Yōma attack site and it will be led by a man who's been addressed himself as Cleaner in the past."

As the details came out, everyone was staring at Oda with complete alarm. Remembering how close their last encounter was, they dreaded the thought of another major fight breaking out so soon. Yet, even still, Miyabi slowly asked, "Would you like our help in this?"

"No," said Oda before he pointed a thumb out the window and then into himself, "This is for the rest of the adults and I to handle. The lot of you have fought enough to last until Shin's return." Asuka, Murasaki, and the young man, having completely let their minds wander away from the fact that the leading Yōma was on its way, quickly clasped their hands onto the sides of their heads and took a joint breath. In the meantime, Oda was saying, "I'm only telling you all of this so that you all keep clear and aren't as surprised when you hear about it."

"Well…" murmured the young man as the stress of the surrounding situation came back into mind, "…thanks for the heads-up."

Much to everyone's worry, Oda scratched the back of his head and slowly said, "Don't thank me yet. Unfortunately… I do have something to ask of you… There's been another development and you, specifically, will need to take part."

A low moan echoed in the young man's throat while Yumi quickly jumped in, "He's not going to be fighting, right? This won't be anything dangerous?"

"No fighting," said Oda with a nod before he reluctantly added, "As for whether or not it's dangerous… I have no idea."

"No suspense," said the young man as he waved a hand around in a circle, "C'mon, let's hear it."

In response, Oda nodded and closed his eyes as all of the words came back into mind. He then spoke frankly, "While the intelligence groups and I have been watching the dignitaries, Hanzō has been monitoring Renka and her condition." When several curious looks fell on him, he quickly announced, "She's just fine and her condition is unchanged," before his voice turned low, "but she is still suffering from whatever Haruo did to her."

"I… think I see where this is going…" murmured the young man, his eyes straight and serious as he nodded for the shinobi to continue.

"So, without many options left," started Oda slowly, "they brought Renka to your grandfather." Feeling his jaw slacken ever so slightly, the young man leaned his head back for a second before straightening himself again. Still, despite what came off as a demeanor of understanding, his eyes held several evident questions that Oda quickly picked up on, "Considering the man's expertise on… less harmful infiltrator practices and his history with Hanzō and Jasmine, he seemed like a viable option."

"But he's old," said the young man quickly and with some alarm. His hands danced around in the air and he quickly explained, "If he goes through a correction or… whatever would be necessary for Renka, the strain on his body could kill him."

"Which is exactly what he said and why no one made him do anything," assured Oda with an easing palm in the air, "Hanzō and Kiriya only asked him to give us a diagnosis and some potential solutions… In fact, I think we'd all just be satisfied to know if Renka would recover over time." At the end of his last sentence, Oda bobbed his head up and down and stated, "Unfortunately, your grandfather said that a natural recovery is impossible and that a disentanglement needs to be performed."

"Disentanglement?" muttered Homura under her breath as the rest of the girls exchanged several looks of confusion.

In the meantime, the young man took a second to think before his eyes went wide and he nearly stood himself up as he yelled, "Hold up, I don't know how to do one of those! Even if I did, that's still supposed to be a hellish process!"

Quickly coming over to ease him down before anyone else could react, Katsuragi latched her arms onto his shoulders and held him in place, "Easy, easy!" before she said, "Let's take things one step at a time so that no one is left behind," and asked, "Now, can someone explain what a disentanglement is?"

Before Oda could answer, the young man turned to her and let out a heavy breath. His eyes danced around and he finally spoke, "It's… the equivalent of a correction that's for people with damaged minds. They're rarely needed, seeing as they're only warranted when a shinobi suffers a deathly psychic attack… usually from a Yōma, I'd imagine." He then hung his head a bit and moped quietly, "Which means that Haruo is either so terrible at corrections that he detonated the equivalent of a nuke in Renka's head… or he was deliberately screwing around with her at that point…" Before anyone could offer a comment, he clapped his hands together and said, "Either way, the disentanglement can fix those things but-, oh-ho, but… it has been said to be a process that carries the most potential for excruciating pain."

"If you don't mind me asking," went Ayame from the side with an expression of reluctant curiosity, "but… what kind of-, is it like a bad, bad, bad headache or… like genuine physical pain."

"In addition to the mind," responded the young man, "it also involves working with the body's nerves. If there's even the tiniest slip up, however minor, in the middle of the process then… well, both the infiltrator and shinobi-, you know what, to answer your question simply, both. Bad, bad, bad Headache and very genuine physical pain for both participants." He then looked toward Oda and said, "Which, as much as I'm a masochist who loves getting the hell beaten out of me… I can't help you with this. I have no idea how to do a disentanglement."

"Which…" started Oda slowly with a heavy heart pulsing into his breath, "…is why I'm asking you to learn…" before he reached around to his back and produced what looked to be a very thin notebook.

Staring at the shinobi incredulously, the young man had to take moment of pause before he could say, "For most people, it takes years to learn this kind of thing."

Oda closed his eyes hard for a few seconds before he pressed, "Please, learn this in just under two weeks."

The young man and everyone else's eyes went wide as the bomb was dropped. As the surprise shook him, the young man felt himself go limp for a brief second in Katsuragi's hold before a familiar pain began to thump in his head. He raised up his hand, held it just above his eyes, and let out, "Ow…"

Fearing that he would faint, Asuka and Yumi were beside the boy in a second and offering words like, "Are you alright? Are you alright!?" and, "Stay awake if you can? Are you still with us?"

Clenching his eyes closed for a second, the young man took a hard breath and nodded to them and everyone else who was approaching, "I'm fine… Well, fine as can be considering…" before he looked to Oda and threw an arm into the air, "Why so soon?"

"Two reasons," responded the bigger man before he scratched his cheek, "One, Renka's been stuck in her current state for months at this point… and we don't want her suffering any longer than need be…"

The young man would have roared if his head didn't hurt so bad, "Which is why you're going to throw the most inexperienced person possible at a process that is extremely painful for both parties on a level that is proportional to how many mistakes that are made… which I should say, me being a newbie to this, I'm going to make a whole lot of mistakes with so little preparation…"

"Which brings me to reason number two," said Oda, nodding along in understanding of the young man's grievances, "which is that your grandfather assured us that you'd be able to power through it and succeed without any lasting damage." As a look caught between both surprise and a bit of betrayal settled on the young man's features, Oda took in the harsher gazes of the girls in the room before he continued, "In his words, he promised that you'd be willing after you learned some of the material… and that both you and Renka would be able to handle the pain while going through the process…"

The young man kept his head low as he tried to put on a front of strength by muttering, "Well… life sucks sometimes… so… fine." Unfortunately, he let out far more resignation and defeat in his tone that he would have liked.

Walking off to the side to rest the notebook onto a side table, Oda gave his hands a clap and said, "I'll make arrangements with your principal so that you'll have next Friday and Saturday off… I know he's a stubborn ass that makes trouble for people at times but he won't make any for you. I think I told you at some point in the past but he's my brother."

"You did tell me once," stated the young man as he looked up tiredly, "Way back when we first met in Hanzō's restaurant."

"Ah, that's when it was…" murmured Oda as he contemplated how long it felt since their journeys first joined together. After remembering back to how hostile they were with each other, which was admittedly due to the shinobi qualms against the boy's brothers, the bigger man decided on the spot that he would try to be as just with the coming situation as possible. Caught in the heat of the moment, he suddenly turned to the young man and said with only the slightest bit of uncertainty, "I almost didn't mention it but I'd like to reward you for this. If there's anything you want before or after that I can provide, name it."

The young man, deciding to lighten his own mood, perked up his head and asked, "Could I get an end to this bullshit?" When Oda froze and tightened his lips, the boy sighed and waved his hand, "I'll think it through and cash in on that promise at some point," before asking, "Was there anything else?"

"Nothing," answered Oda before he turned to the window, "I imagine you're furious with me right now so I'll just take my leave. If you'd like to give a call and swear at me at some point, I'll be happy to provide."

The young man waved his goodbye, "I might cash in on that too," and watched as the shinobi disappeared out the window. He then let himself go limp and fell backwards onto the bed with his head landing perfectly in Katsuragi's lap, "I'm exhausted already and it isn't even noon…"

Katsuragi, rolling with the sudden weight on her thighs, quickly began to rub a hand through his hair and said, "There, there… It may not even be nine yet-," before she was cut off.

"C'mon, it's not even nine?" whined the young man. Then, as he was still struggling to bring himself into line, he turned his head slightly to get a view of the notebook on the side table. It couldn't have been any longer than a hundred pages, which was extremely light for infiltrator learning material, but it still gave off an air of containing the most accursed secrets that the world had to offer. Feeling combative and defensive against the notebook, the young man pulled himself up and clapped his hands, "Well… to Hell with it all, time to get cracking."

Asuka quickly called over to him, "Don't you want to take some time and relax first? You only just found out about it and, again, it's really early in the morning."

"Nah," murmured the young man as he stood up, "I'd like to give this a skim and see if I'm battling a terrifying monster or if this book is as assuring as my grandfather apparently believes it to be." He reluctantly approached the table and, as though he were about to poke a bomb, uneasily reached toward the notebook as he said, "If you guys are hungry or want to do anything, the apartment is all yours. I'll join you in about an hour or so."

Homura stood up and took a few paces after him before some understanding settled into her and she stopped. The young man wanted to see how mentally prepared he would have to be when the time came and she could respect that. So, as much as she wanted to be a comfort to him after all of the revelations that'd been unleashed on them all, she nodded, "We'll have some breakfast prepared by that time," and looked to everyone else, "Let's give some space."

Katsuragi and Ayame were quick to understand and moved off of the bed while Asuka and Murasaki looked like they were about to protest. But after a quiet exchange of remarks, they soon went on their way as well. On the other hand, Miyabi and Yumi didn't move from the bed at all and each gave Homura a hard-eyed expression that was hard to discern. But as the other girls left the room and turned to see if the remaining three would be following, a silent message was passed through the air. Somehow, without a word being voiced, Homura knew that the young man's current anxiety would be handled in a much more different fashion. So, she gathered all of the clothes belonging to the girls and left the room. Once she was certainly out of the range of the young man's sharp ears, she announced that everyone who'd left the room would be getting dressed and leaving. There was some protest but, when promises were made that the boy would be going through the rest of the day without any semblance of stress, everyone reluctantly surrendered to the suggestion.

In the meantime, the young man had finally picked up the notebook and was skimming through the first few pages with relative ease and understanding. Though the coming situation was stressful, he was extremely fortunate in that his grandfather could speak and write in such a way that was extremely easy to understand… provided the listener or reader could get past all of the swearing and slang. Once he flipped to a few pages that described the core aspects of the process, he even found himself murmuring, "Huh… this'll suck but it isn't… as bad…"

Unbeknownst to him, Miyabi and Yumi were still in the room after the door closed and they were slowly approaching from behind as the blanket that covered them both was quietly dragged across the floor. It was only when the fabric slid off that the young man realized he still wasn't alone. He turned around and, with great effort, kept his face straight as he took in the girls' bodies and their expressions. Yumi was smiling confidently and looked like she was about to get a massive blessing from the heavens while Miyabi, shaking with unease, had a more forced smile as she tried to anticipate the experience that she missed out on the night before. After a long and awkward silence remained for a solid thirty seconds, Yumi finally asked frankly, "Now that you know the material isn't as stressful as you'd think… maybe you'd like a distraction?"

Many things surged through the young man at once. The focused part of him said that he had to learn the material while the more wanting area demanded that he accept the invitation. He argued with himself that he still felt fatigued from the night before while a certain physical part of himself proved otherwise. Ultimately, the deciding factors for the young man was the fact that, one, he had learned that a disentanglement, indeed, wasn't as stressful as he originally thought. Two, and most importantly, the amount of desire that he had for the two girls was much greater than his will to read a book that described how much pain the near-future would bring. So, with hormones raging up another wind, the offer was accepted.

The only unanticipated downside for the young man was the fact that it would be an encounter that would last throughout the day… and there wasn't any school or any anxious thoughts of losing his virginity to tire him down… so there wouldn't be any falling asleep or any real breaks that time around. Whether it was one part or the other, he would be working throughout the day without any breaks.

At some point on her walk home with everyone else at her sides, Murasaki found herself sniffing the air and shuddering, "…Really and truly… their lust combined is beaten only by Haruka…"