Heart of the Infiltrators

by MordinofSolus

Senran Kagura x Male Insert - Amidst a turn in the modern era, a young man is forcibly contracted to cure twenty shinobi of a mental ailment known as distortion, caused by the corrupted blood of Yōma. As time goes on, the long hidden societies of the world are forced to come out into the public spotlight when they are pitted against one another. Bi-Weekly - 4/02/2021

72. Chapter 72: Curbed Learning

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 72: Curbed Learning

May 14 – "Even if it's the most ridiculous thing to do, helping a true friend in need of even the most trivial of help is often the first thing to come to mind."

The overhead lights in the Hanzō Academy gym powered on and an intimidating shine lit up both Hibari and Yagyū, who sat on foldable chairs at the center of the large room with a plastic table right in front of them. Off to the side and sitting on bleachers in the shadows where the light did not reach, just about every single one of their friends were waiting for what they expected to be a grand show. Glancing back and forth from her own front row seat, Asuka craned her head toward Homura next to her and whispered, "How did word of this spread so quickly?"

Homura turned her head and answered plainly, "One of the more sensible people and the only guy in our circle is about to give a lesson in romance to Hibari-, I repeat, Hibari-, and Yagyū, whom you'd never imagine seeing in such a situation. I'd be more surprised if word didn't get out and spread like wildfire."

Sitting right behind her, Shiki leaned her head down in-between the two and giddily whispered, "Seriously, this is one of those scenarios where it just sounds too ridiculous to be anything but a fever dream. Since it's actually happening, we all totally had to be here."

"Not to mention," came Yozakura's more level voice, "it's a learning experience for anyone who watches as well…" When the three girls and few others around her turned with confused looks, she continued, "We'll, hopefully, be getting some insight on maneuvering through a relationship… that or we'll be getting a deeper look into the teacher and either laughing or lamenting the result."

Just as she finished that sentence, Haruka stood from her place in one of the upper rows and leaned as far down as she could to rest her mouth just next to Yozakura's ear, "Or perhaps you have a different thought process in mind?" After the blue-haired girl let out a yelp and slid away in a panic, Haruka haughtily covered her mouth and jeered further, "Perhaps seeing a boy as a teacher, as a superior, is just what gets you-," but was cut off.

Having found herself placed by Haruka, Mirai found herself in the uncomfortable position of being forced to look at the girl's rear while she was leaning forward to do her teasing act. Unwilling to have any of it and also wanting a bit of revenge for all of the dirty talk that been building up in for the last few days, the smaller girl thwapped the back of her knee and hissed, "Shut up!"

As her leg reflexively buckled from the strike, Haruka's eyes peeled open as she fell forward and onto Yozakura, who let out a scream and whimpered after the crash, "Why me…!?"

Once it was sure that no one suffered any injuries beyond their pride and they were sat back into their seats, Homura turned her head to her other side and found Miyabi and Yumi grinning expectantly while Murasaki was covering her nose on the far end of the bleachers. After narrowing her eyes and sensing that some kind of plot was up, the tanned shinobi couldn't help but ask, "What did you two do?"

"What did a fair few of us do, would be the fairer question," stated Yumi as her grin widened, remembering the great team effort that would soon be unveiled.

Homura reeled back, "Wait, who all contributed to this?"

Miyabi and Yumi raised their hands before the latter pointed up further into the bleachers, revealing to the girl that Katsuragi, Haruka, Hikage, Murakumo, Ryōbi, and Shiki were mimicking the gesture. Then Miyabi then gestured for Homura to turn around and, after she obeyed, revealed that Asuka was also meekly raising her hand. The tanned brunette couldn't help but frightfully ask, "What exactly was this team effort?"

Yumi answered, "Pooling about thirty-thousand yen to buy a little something-something from Ayame's store."

First, there was a bit of silence. Then Homura asked, "What exactly was it?" and was met with several vague answers.

"Something hot."

"Something cute."

"I second the hot thing."

"And I second the cute thing."

"I dunno. They just told me to contribute."

"Something that I never thought I'd see outside of a convention."

"It was embarrassing enough for him that I had to invest for this little laugh."

"I have to second that this is def gonna be hot."

The conga line was finished by Asuka scrunching her head down and murmuring, "Yeah… what the last one said…"

Before Homura could pry anymore about the expensive scheme that all of the girl's got into, a set of doors on the opposite side of the gym slammed open. Though nothing could be seen, save for Ayame skittering off to take a seat in the bleachers with a look of smug satisfaction on her face, the sound of regal shoe-taps against the floor could be heard marching against the floor. As brown loafers and tight black pants were unveiled from the dark by stepping into the light, Hibari and Yagyū felt shivers of fright as a stern-looking figure approached them. On the other hand, Miyabi and Yumi were shivering for different reasons. Then the pants were complemented by a reserved but finely made belt and tightly fitted white shirt that did well to pronounce the wearer's abdomen, however average it was in reality. Dangling like a cape from his shoulders, a long and formal black coat that almost reached down to the floor was fluttering in the air, due mostly to some calculated maneuvering that Ayame and Katsuragi handled with the school's air-conditioning and vents. Finally, revealing his stern face as he brought up his glasses to shine elegantly in the light, the young man stood before Hibari and Yagyū with his posture as straight as could be with a suitcase in one of his hands.

Homura stared for a moment, blinked, and then turned to Miyabi and Yumi, "Why wasn't I told about this and why didn't you take my money?"

The former answered, "We already had enough before we could find you."

On the other hand, steam came from Yumi's mouth before she turned up to the bleachers and pointed proudly, "That's my man."

Homura and Miyabi corrected her at the same time, "Our man."

"Our man."

Keeping his face straight, the young man held his breath for a moment to lament the gathered crowd before he let it out and approached the table, forced to add a bit of swagger to his shoulders due to how tight the undershirt was. But, after heaving an already heavy suitcase onto the plastic table in front of Hibari and Yagyū, he decided that, if nothing else, he was sick of the ridiculously heavy black coat that he was made to wear. Little did he know as he was about to shake it off, Ayame had a remote in her pocket that remained linked to the tampered air-conditioning and pressed the necessary button right on cue. So, rather than the coat casually flopping onto the floor, a great wind blew from beneath the bleachers and toward the center of the room with a lovely updraft. As Hibari and Yagyū remained in place, though they were alarmed by the resulting wind, and the table skirted just a bit despite the suitcase on top, the young man took a few steps back before his already partially taken off coat flew away in a ridiculously grand fashion.

In response to the particular way that the young man adjusted his glasses after the fact while his lips parted in alarm, Miyabi led the cheer of a few others, that surprisingly included Yozakura, as they all pumped theirs fists, whooped, and pointed excitedly. On the more extreme end of the spectrum, Yomi and Yumi were both holding their heads and arcing themselves back at impossible angles. The only ones who didn't have such extreme reactions were Hikage and Murasaki, who both simply stuck their thumbs into the air, Ikaruga, who kept both composed and silent, and finally Ryōbi and Imu with neither looking particularly impressed. Then there was Minori, who had no idea what all the excitement was about. Through it all, the young man found himself steadily shriveling up beneath the pressure of all the attention even though he was doing his utmost to look as cool as he was ordered to be.

Homura leaned over to Asuka once the noise died down and asked, "How did he agree to this exactly? Even though this is happening before my very eyes, I can't see him going with this easily…or willingly."

Asuka shamefully lowered her head in spite of the smile on her face, "From what I understand, we bought the suit first and then Yumi used the guilt-trip method by noting how much it costed us."

Still clutching her head and looking upward, the aforementioned girl wheezed, "Heaven have mercy on my soul, I should feel guilty but I don't at all right now."

In the meantime, the young man was just thankful that he emphasized quite plainly that he would never abide by the guilting tactic ever again and made sure that everyone involved knew as such… Even still, he nodded his head to the theatrics that Ayame and Katsuragi strenuously put themselves through and felt just a little bit better about himself. Once he managed to push the issue of his attire out of mind, he leaned forward to unclip the suitcase on the table and revealed its contents: a couple of movie cases with ripped pieces of paper that read 'Example' taped on top, a pair of wine glasses, a fast-food box with plastic food toys beside it, and a flashy D-twenty die.

Once Hibari and Yagyū were finished with looking the items over and exchanging confused expressions, they turned to the young man as he finally said, "The scenario will be a chance encounter on the street." He gave his wrist a spin before then gesturing to himself, "For the time being, imagine that I am the epitome of your type." After another few seconds, mostly filled with Yagyū looking between the young man and Hibari and dismissing the possibility that she could imagine such a thing, the boy then turned around and took a few steps away, "First, show me exactly what you know for the moment. Once we establish where we're at, we'll continue the lesson from there." Having taken ten paces from the table, he whipped himself around on the back of his heel and ordered, "One of you two, begin."

Hibari looked to Yagyū, who was still struggling to picture the young man as her type, before she scratched at her chin and asked, "We're going to start now? No lesson, no guidance, no nothing?"

"I need to know where you are at," came the boy's stern voice before he ordered again, "Begin."

Seeing the distant expression on Yagyū's face and remembering that requesting help was her idea in the first place, Hibari stood up from her seat and awkwardly stepped over to him while prodding her fingers together. Then, in remembering several romcoms, she modeled herself after the stereotypical men of seduction that were seen on American television and jutted out her shoulder as she swaggered her arms back and forth. Why she didn't choose to model herself after the women would forever remain a mystery. She then clicked her fingers and pointed to the young man and said, "Hey-a… How you doin'… good-looking…?"

The young man's eyes widened and adopted a more sunken appearance, begging reality that Hibari was not being serious with her performance. Yet, from the strained way she held her expression and by how much she was trying to hold her body's posture, he could tell that she was being completely serious. Once his mind established that fact, the amount of work that was to be done truly sank in. Not willing to let either of them suffer anymore, the young man simply waved his hand, "Ignoring the awkwardness of your execution, because this admittedly an awkward thing to ask, those are not the kind of words you want to use unless you're trying to incite a laugh in the first place."

Hibari broken from her stance and sighed before asking, "Well, what would you recommend?"

The young man spoke almost instinctively, "If you're trying to seduce someone, you want to be casual. Put them at ease."

Hibari's expression went blank for a few second before her face went red. The young man was curious with that alone but he grew even more suspicious when Yagyū locked her wide-eyes on him and stared with a strange mix of thankfulness and murderess intent. But as he began to wonder about what he said, Hibari then let out a deflated moan and began to unbutton her shirt. At first, the young man thought that she was innocently just trying to cool off or trying to take a breath from the stiffness of her uniform. Then her cleavage became more prevalent and her hands moved to keep going and he knew that she was about to go way too far. His eyes bounced between everyone in the crowd, who looked just as confused as he did, and Hibari a few times before he then unleashed his emergency tactic, one which he reserved for only the most cataclysmic of failures. In a single swift movement, the young man drew a long newspaper that he had stored in the back of his shirt thwapped it hard into the ground to make a loud popping noise before asking aggressively, "What in the soot-smoke, coal-spiked, stripper-laden hell are you doing!?"

Hibari let out a surprised cry just as she was about to undo the button that would be the point of no return before she cried, "You told me to act casually!"

"What part of any of that was casual!?" roared the young man.

By that point, Hibari was already lowering her head while whacking her arms around to stave off what she perceived as a potential physical threat, "IT'S WHAT THE PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET TOLD ME TO DO! THEY SAID IT WAS A SLANG TERM FOR GETTING NAKED!"

Again, the young man slammed his newspaper into the ground again, ripping it apart on impact against the nature of physics itself and rendering it completely useless, "YOU NEVER TRUST PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET! THAT'S THE FIRST RULE OF THE INTERNET!"

Off in the bleachers, Mirai uttered under her breath, "I though the first rule of the internet was to not talk about some online board…"

In response, Katsuragi found herself murmuring aimlessly, "Bring it up thirty-three rules and I'll actually care about whatever you guys are saying…"

In the meantime, Hibari had abandoned her defensive posture and was exasperatedly lifting her hands into the air, "But don't men like this kind of thing!? Everywhere I went, no matter how much I wanted to see otherwise, the only answer I ever got when I asked how to get boyfriend always boiled down to some kind of bodily exposure!"

"You're looking for a partner! Your other half!" cried the young man before he gestured around them, "Here we are in this scenario, out on the streets and you see someone whom you somehow know to be your dream guy! And then you start to strip!?" Tossing what little that remained of the newspaper aside, he flapped his hand first to Hibari, "Is your type the sort of sleazebag who'd love only the thought of getting his hands on your body!?" and then to himself when she showed the first sign of shaking her head, "No! I didn't think so! He's your ideal man! He's the one who will look at you acting how you normally are and will note just about every detail in his mind!" After another exaggerated flap to himself, he turned his hand back toward Hibari, "WILL THE MAN WHO LOVES YOU FOR WHO YOU ARE SETTLE FOR A FAKE!? I THINK NOT!"

Hibari's lips were parted for a second before something seemed to click in her eyes and a newfound understanding was founded, however fledgling it was. As she seemed to recoil from the reality, the young man repressed his desire to sigh and rest his throat. While he didn't want to be nearly as dramatic as he was making the whole matter out to be, even if he would have probably started yelling at the moment Hibari started to strip anyway, his actions were also a deliberate tactic to stave off an unintentional romance that he'd noted to himself the other day. A few questions were raised to him the night before by a few of the women he was intimate with and, while they weren't so much concerned as they were curious, he proclaimed that his method of teaching would leave him far from being ideal to Hibari… which, considering his rant to the girl about being true to herself just seconds before, made him a slight hypocrite with his act… but, at the same time, it was a necessary stratagem to avoid his lack of skill in maneuvering unestablished relationships with women.

Bringing himself out of his thoughtful state, the young man pointed to Yagyū and ordered, "Your turn."

"I can't imagine you as my ideal type," was the girl's simple response.

Having long since surpassed basic observational skills, the young man put two and two together before gesturing to Hibari, "If it makes it easier, feel free to imagine-, however much imagining isn't needed-, that she is your ideal partner."

Hibari turned her head, "Wait. You stopped to say something midsentence. What'd you say?"

As she said that, Yagyū nodded her head, "I'm just meeting her for the first time on the streets? That's the scenario?"

The young man nodded his head blankly, "If it makes it easier for you, you're free to… pretend… that you know each other."

"Why are you speaking weirdly all of a sudden?"

Without missing a beat, Yagyū didn't allow the young man to give an answer to Hibari and stood from her chair. With long strides, she rounded the table and advanced toward her best friend with a glow in her eye. In fact, if the young man were not putting on a show as some sort of angry teacher of romance, he would have taken several paces back based on the dangerous intent behind the girl's struts. But he remained nearby and watched as Yagyū stood face-to-face with Hibari before saying, "Bai-, no," and breaking off into a few stutters, "It was belle. Belle feminine? Femine? Femme-, femme, that's what it was." Readopting her intense expression, she grabbed Hibari and tilted her back into her arms while speaking with a butchered French accent, "Belle femme~!" They then held their posture for a second, with Hibari looking back and forth in confusion while Yagyū was praying that the auto-translate results that she got online were given with the proper grammar.

After too much time passed, the young man asked, "Whatcha doing there…?"

"French is the language of romance," stated Yagyū plainly, hoping to the heavens that was actually true.

"Where'd you hear that…?"

Knowing the judgment that was about to come her way, the girl's face scrunched up, "The internet."

As the young man slowly covered his face and let out a long high-pitched breath or squeal, no one could really tell, Hibari took the opportunity to ask, "What if I don't speak French?"

Realizing just how much work was about to weigh in over the course of the next couple of days, the young man took a breath and looked up to the ceiling in horror. Still, knowing that he couldn't leave the two to the mercy of their other learning methods, he pumped his fist and proclaimed to himself, "I will reach these two… Somehow and someway… they will learn the art of romance…!" Upon hearing those words coming from the boy's mouth, the two students pulled themselves up into standing positions and nodded their heads, ready and willing to learn all that they possibly could. The young man turned his head to look at them both and tightened his jaw, "Today… will be all about the basics…" In that one moment, the energy of courage and motivation could have made the entire scene around them worthy of being made into artwork with a flag flying somewhere in the background.

Unfortunately for Hibari and Yagyū, learning the basics included several hours' worth of 'What Not to Do' lessons. The young man retrieved a marker and a massive whiteboard from the gym storeroom and proceeded to go over every possible scenario that the internet could possibly suggest and went into extreme detail on why every such situation was one to be avoided in both an ideal world and reality. While some lessons on personal space and not talking needlessly seductive were needed, Hibari and Yagyū had no need to be told about how they shouldn't act brazenly sexual with strangers, flex random and useless skills in front of children with police officers nearby, and trying to organize a flash mob. In regards to that last point, the young man also made sure to specifically define what the word 'flash' meant in that context. Haruka and Katsuragi, in particular, were spectacularly entertained by that explanation.

Then their first day of training was over and the rest would follow.

May 15 – "When trying to woo someone, remember both your manners and who you are."

"It's always strange to see how the first true lesson begins," said Ikaruga as she rubbed her chin in thought.

Beside her, Yomi stared between her friend and the bottom of the bleachers a few times in confusion before she slowly nodded, "To that, we can agree on…" before she slowly raised a finger and pointed, "…but are we just going to ignore the additional observers?"

In the front row with their arms crossed in amusement, there sat Hanzō, Jasmine, Daidōji, Rin, and Kiriya. Upon hearing the confusion coming from the blonde seated above them, the lattermost of the group turned around and said, "I've every right to be here as much as any of you. I teach at this school and those two in the middle of the gym are my students. I need to make sure they're being taught properly."

Hanzō raised his hand casually, "The school is named after me so I don't need to notify anyone if I drop in."

After that Daidōji took the opportunity to say, "I don't really know the boy yet… so I'm taking the chance to get a first impression… Also, I graduated from here so I have an excuse to stop by."

Beside her, Rin stated calmly, "I came at Daidōji's invitation."

The super-shinobi turned her head with narrowed eyes, "When you heard about what was being taught, you said that you wanted to come along to take notes."

Rin straightened her glasses but her voice hitched ever so slightly as she spoke, "That's a lie."

"There's a pen and paper on the other side of your legs."

Making sure that she didn't make eye contact with Kiriya, the woman hunched her head down and mumbled, "…Ignore both of those…"

The older man sighed and leaned forward in his seat, "Rin, I would sooner see you wind up with that boy out there than have you exercise whatever notes you're taking on me."

As the younger teacher froze in her spot and noticeably deflated, Jasmine leaned back and grinned at Kiriya, "That was a rather specific point, using that boy in your statement."

"By my knowledge, he's already involved with seven of the girls… and he's likely going to be adding two more to that count soon, if this plays out like I imagine." With a final shrug, Kiriya stated, "Honestly, better him than me. He's significantly closer to Rin's age than I am."

Hanzō clutched his fist and raised his head up high as a few tears trailed down his cheek, "The saddest thing is that I can see that happening… That young and lucky bastard…"

Ignoring her husband, Jasmine simply asked, "It sounds like you're sure Hibari and Yagyū will end up with him," before she grinned evilly and pulled out her own pad of paper, "Would you care to take part in a pool then?"

"One hundred thousand yen on him getting together with them before we leave for his grandfather's next week."

Daidōji blinked and visibly recoiled in the face of both how quick Kiriya was to jump on the opportunity and at how much money he dared to bet, "Excuse me!?"

Kiriya crossed his arms after having scribbled his name and amount on Jasmine's list, "I've seen how this scenario has played out in the past. Though the boy seems to be trying out a stern approach to daft off whatever romance would arise… I've seen how that only amplifies the danger of a student-to-teacher crush."

Rin sneezed while Jasmine noted, "Anybody else want in? I'm matching that one hundred thousand yen and betting he'll also wind up with them."

Daidōji stared for a moment before commenting, "You're both putting way too much confidence into that boy," and fell silent. Moments after, she looked to the side and extended her hand outward, "Ten thousand on them not ending up together."

"Are you not as confident in your stance as we are?" jeered Jasmine.

"Fifty thousand. I'll go no higher."

Unable to believe the antics of the adults right before her eyes, Ryōbi reeled back in her seat and her face scrunched up in disgust. But as she was about to make some sort of jabbing comment, Ryōna let out a squeal and pointed to the center of the gym, "Can I go out there next!? I want to be subjugated to this kind of play too!" After a moment of contemplation, Ryōbi decided that she hated everyone and covered her face.

In the meantime, the young man was seated in one of the chairs in front of the table at the center of the gym with a pair of wine glasses in front of him. His fingers were crossed and folded just above his nose as his eyes stared at his approaching student. Though his efforts in staving off the internet's influence had been successful, he found himself caught in a deadlock as he tried to get Hibari to do the one thing that she seemed incapable of doing at the moment: acting natural.

Approaching from the side with the fast-food box with several plastic toys inside, the pink-haired did a cutesy spin that seemed to sparkle with joy. Then with a melodic hum, she then spoke in a voice befitting the scenario that was being played out, "I decided to surprise you and stopped to get you food on the way home." With another spin, she placed it on the table with a "Ta-da…!" and posed with her hands forming a heart.

The young man stared at her for a second before asking, "Did you happen to pick anything for yourself up?"

"Nope," came a stalwart cheer.

"Did you have a late lunch?"

Hibari's next response was slower, "No."

"Is this how you would act with any of your friends?"

Sucking in her lips for a second, the girl turned her eyes off to the side and stumbled, "…Of course…"

With light flashing over his glasses, the young man stood and declared, "I declare a cross-reference!" and then pointed over to the bleachers, "Has Hibari ever presented food to any of you in the same way she did to me just now!?"

Asuka flatly replied, "She's cooked dinner excitedly before but she always eats some for herself and has never posed for any of it."

Hibari's jaw tightened as she thought to herself, "How could you betray me…?"

With one swift movement of his arms, the young man smacked away the box and the plastic food toys from the table while declaring loudly as they clattered onto the ground, "TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT! FAILURE!" before reaching for one of the empty wine glasses and pretending to take a sip from it, if only to make some kind of entertaining use for it.

Grabbing her face and then her hair before giving a long and frustrated pull, Hibari let out a long cry, "But why!? Isn't this the ideal for any guy!? Here I am, acting all cutesy and trying to be a model of a desirable woman, and that's still a failure!?"

"You only got the points that you got because you tried to match that ideal," started the young man before he turned his gaze to the side, "even then, it's only because Asuka vouched for your excitement that you got any at all." He then stood up and explained further, "But you lost several points because, as with the seven other examples earlier, you're not acting like yourself."

Shaking her fists around, Hibari complained further, "But I at least got seventy points with each of those! Why the failure here!?"

The young man cleared his throat before gesturing to the food box, "Here's what you did: you brought food exclusively for me. While that would be fine if you were already provided for in some way-, actually, you would have at least saved yourself some points if you said something along the lines of you eating later or that you aren't hungry… but, instead, you set yourself aside and gave no indication of feeding yourself. For decent people, that is an incredibly awkward scenario!"

Hibari slowly nodded her head thoughtfully, "So… I need to make sure I'm provided for…" before breaking away to more confusedly ask, "…Is that to keep my strength up…?"

"In general?"

"To further get my romance on."

The young man made an X with his arms, "False," and pointed, "You eat because you need to eat. If you want to do a nice gesture, fine, but make sure you're provided for also." He then set his arms to his sides and said, "Also, while posing for some kind of special occasion isn't wrong, the goal right now is to act naturally. You're more liable to chase off anyone normal or, worse, attract a very bad sort of person if you do it when you're just seeing each other in a casual setting toward the beginning." After a second, he took a breath and sat himself at the table before he called, "Yagyū, you're up."

While Hibari stood herself off to the side, trying to balance out everything that she'd seen in cartoons and movies growing up with the words that the young man was saying, her best friend came out from the side with a food box of her own. She then stopped just short of the table and stood idly for a second of contemplation. Without further warning, she then proceeded to chuck the box straight into the young man's composed face and growled, "Don't scold Hibari! She's trying her best!"

Having already gotten used to her retaliation after all of their other scenarios, the young man stood up to reprepare both boxes again and ordered Yagyū, "Let's give it another try." When the girl gave a serious attempt at the matter, simply presenting the box as her own and offering to share it, the young man gave her a thumbs up and a passing grade.

May 16 – "The application of basic skills in impressive fashion does you credit, provided you use it as a means of expression."

"Are you sure~?" came a long note from Jasmine before she tilted her head to the side, "Just about everyone else has made a bet. Depending on the odds that you choose, you could stand to make a killing."

Sitting beside her with a baffled expression on his face, Oda could only bring himself to reply, "I only came in on a Saturday in the first place because I heard that something really entertaining was happening here. If you're going to make me bet on these random happen-chance-things, I'd sooner just go out and get some fish." Suddenly, a tiny leg that was slung over his neck gave him a kick and the man couldn't help but raise his eyes in desperation, "Milady, please stop that."

Sitting on his shoulders for the view, Kagura declared, "C'mon, you can't turn down the sort of odds that I brought to the table, can you? One million and fifty thousand yen against him versus the three hundred thousand for? C'mon, you'd have to be some kind of doofus to not take part, like Rin over there."

The woman was hugging her knees and declared in a low voice, "After Kiriya's comment the other day, I refuse to put stakes on the kid's romance abilities."

Off to the side, Naraku was too busy trying to do the budgeting that they had for the month on a piece of paper. Once she realized what would happen if their odds went awry, she looked up to the girl on Oda's shoulders and stated, "Lady Kagura."

"Just Kagura."

"If we lose this bet, the budget we've been given through the end of June will be completely expended… Not to mention, we'd have to give up on food shopping for a while and would have to beg or starve."

"If I may," came a different voice from her side, to which Naraku looked over, "If you just ask Oda, he'll provide if you're in dire straits."

Keeping a wary eye on the ex-dignitary, Sato, the shinobi scratched her ears before nodding, "This information is useful. Thank you."

Having heard the exchange, Oda looked over and peered at Sato with narrow eyes, "Excuse me but what offers are you making in my name? While I'm able to use the budgeting that I have at my disposal to keep you and the boy fed, too much money being moved will arouse suspicion. In case you've forgotten, we don't have many people crosschecking you as an informant to begin with because of the low attention on the building in the first place. If money starts getting moved in mass, higherups will start asking questions."

Sato was about to retort but found Murakumo's finger prodding at her and turned to her instead. With her mask not revealing any sign of her expression, the girl stated, "No need to worry about whatever he's talking about. He's a got a way with maneuvering around politicians so his worries are mostly just paranoia." After then pointing out to the center of the gym, she then declared, "If nothing else, just be thankful that you convinced Oda to let you come along and get out of that apartment after all of this time."

Casting her eyes forward, Sato nodded her head, "Yeah… I'll just settle for being thankful."

Murakumo watched her for a moment longer before turning her eyes forward, "Plus, if circumstances work in your favor, you may just be able to take the first steps to get him to forgive you."

Sato watched the young man, who was observing as Hibari played a game on her phone with great intensity, before she let her face shrivel up, "He'd never forgive me."

"He's a good enough person that I think he might, if you go through the proper steps," retorted Murakumo, "First, you need to find a way to put yourself on the same ground as him in the same way shinobi do when they fight and, after the fact, you need to find a time to rightly and properly apologize in such a way that communicates how truly sorry you are. If that can be done, you won't need to worry about hostilities anymore."

"I wish I could be as optimistic as you," mumbled Sato.

"You just need the right opportunity."

As their banter came to an end, Hibari let out a long cheer and whooped for herself, "VIC-TO-RY~!" while accidentally throwing her phone out of her hands in the process. It was extremely fortunate that Yagyū was nearby to catch it, even if she was mostly distracted by the silent cheer within that loved to see her best friend so happy.

Giving a firm nod with his arms crossed, the young man said, "Very good," and proceeded to rub at his chin, "Though I'd need to deduct points for almost breaking your phone, we'll give this a ninety percent."

Despite the high grade, especially when it came to the young man's high standards, Hibari was not pleased to have missed a perfect score. Her body deflated with an exhale and she found herself asking meekly, "Where'd I lose the last ten percent…?"

"The part where you almost broke your phone," came from the young man as he shrugged.

"I lost ten percent for that!?"

"Breaking expensive items unintentionally often results in awkward situations," stated the boy before he turned his eyes off to the side and murmured, "though I wouldn't recommend intentionally breaking expensive objects either." Deciding to smother the girl's concerns with praise, he faced her again and stated, "But you showed immense enthusiasm for your hobby and vented out that passion for it."

Hibari didn't seem uplifted at all, "But this was only on my phone though… I mostly just like to play on consoles…"

"Then that only means you'll better communicate your passion for those if it ever comes down to that." After sensing the doubt that still radiated from the girl, the young man thought to himself for a second before nodding and asking, "What is the objective of this lesson?"

Hibari perked her head up and brought a finger to the corner of her mouth, "To… show my hobbies, right?"

"Yes," nodded the young man, "but you're also communicating an honest passion, something that partly defines who you are as a person, and keeping it interesting while doing so." He pumped a fist in front of his chest, "While certain things will be difficult to naturally show off without coming off as flat or pushy and it's certainly not a move you want to make on the first couple of dates, how you spend your time together in a casual setting with whatever means you have at your disposal is the key to success."

Hibari stared for a second before asking, "Would someone really care to watch me play video games?"

Dropping his arms, the young man offered more stoically, "Granted, some people won't be into that. But it's not as there's an empty market for that kind of thing. Heck, there communities numbering in the millions online who do that exact thing with people they don't even know. Your only disadvantage will be that you won't have any of the effects or cuts that some of those videos have… though your key advantage is that some video games are cooperative. You can do that too."

Feeling a drive of energy bolt through her, Hibari felt her mouth make a massive O of realization before she closed it and nodded eagerly, "I see, I see!"

The young man smiled, "Good, good," before he turned his head, "Alright, next batter up." When Yagyū stepped up from the side and stared blankly, the boy then gestured to her, "Now, before we start, what is your favorite hobby?"

Keeping her mouth shut, the girl proceeded to curl herself downward and laid down onto her side. After a few seconds of silence, she answered in a manner-of-fact tone, "When I am not watching over Hibari, I sleep."

The young man stared blankly before asking, "You don't do anything else?"

"If I do anything else, it is with Hibari."

"Nothing else on your own?"

"Nothing at all."

"And… you want to find someone to date?"

"I go where Hibari goes. If she wants someone to date, I will go with her by any means… Even if it means I must initiate a double-date."

The young man continued to stare, making sure to put an extra dosage of judgment into his irises, before he eventually shrugged, "Well, you've gotten a string of mostly perfect scores so far… we all come to-," before he stopped in his tracks and wondered something. He then slowly turned his head to Hibari and asked plainly, "Wait, are you into men or women?"

The girl recoiled backwards and was forced to take a few steps back before she fell, "What kind of question is that?"

While everyone else in the bleachers wondered if he was really going to be the one to break the ice that'd been in place since the pair of girls first met, the boy said blatantly, "A necessary one."

Hibari stared at him, unable to fathom the reasoning that was going on in his mind, before she rubbed at her head and answered, "Well… I've stuck to the market of men because that's the most populated one… at least, in regards to finding someone to date in general. In this city, there's a very high population of women for some reason… But, when I actually think about it, I don't have any problem with dating a woman either."

The young man didn't say it aloud but his eyes practically screamed, "Why don't you date each other then…!?" with how wide and frustrated they were. But then a few different factors came to mind and he quieted himself down. After trying to think of a way to delicately ask his next question, he slowly explained, "What do you think of someone like Yagyū? Would you consider her dating material?"

The aforementioned girl's eye exploded open and her cheeks proceeded to burn red. Having still been in her position on the floor, she then stood onto her feet and patted any potential dust from her hair. Her eyes then kept flicking between Hibari and the young man, offering a variety of emotions that included eagerness, disbelief, wanting, distrust, desperation, hopefulness, fright, gratitude, and so on and so forth. In the meantime, the pink-haired girl answered plainly without the dots clicking in her head, "Of course. She's a wonderful mix of beauty, cuteness, and fun. Actually, I can't imagine having fun for an extended period of time without her." The young man's eyes stared harder at Hibari, silently encouraging her to make the final connection, before she finished by saying, "Whoever winds up with her would be extremely lucky!"

"YOU – DENSE – LITTLE…!" cried the young man inside his head as he had to put his hands onto his own throat, lest he find himself reaching out threateningly to the girl. Once the heat was vented away, he composed himself and started to ask, "Well, perhaps you could consider dating-," before he was cut off.

"Actually, random question that's been bugging me since we started our lesson today," went Hibari with her finger rising up to pop the bubble of their previous conversation.

While everyone else in the bleachers seemed to expect it to turn out that way and Yagyū was already flopped onto the floor in resignation, the young man refused to let the matter go, "No, don't you-," but was interrupted again.

"What are your hobbies?" asked Hibari as she continued to unknowingly brush the boy's meddling away.

"I'll answer that question once you hear me out," stated the young man.

"No, I want to ask a question this time!" whined Hibari before she balled her hands up into fists and thrusted them into the air, "We've been working hard under your lessons these last few days and I've answered every question you've ever asked me! Now it's my turn! I want to know what you do in your free time!"

"You're the one who asked me to give you these lessons in the first place!" roared the young man as he pointed at her accusingly.

In response, Hibari dropped her arms and sniffed as tears began to bud in the corners of her eyes, "Please… just this one question…?" and added one more calculated sniffle for effect.

"Don't be a sucker, don't be a sucker…" ordered the young man to himself, "She's doing this deliberately. Get back on topic and get these two together-, or at least propose getting them together-, once and for all!" Then, despite having apparently found his strength, the young man said, "I like to talk with people, hang out with them, and… most things related to music. Otherwise, I'm okay with just about whatever hobby you could name, though I don't care for being alone for extended periods of time." After a few seconds, the young man cursed himself, "Damn."

In the meantime, Hibari was hooked on one particular mention of his, "…Music…?" before she clapped her hands together, "Right, Asuka and Homura mentioned that you went out for karaoke and you got really into it!"

"There was also that one time you guys broke into my old apartment and we found ourselves singing and dancing for a good portion of the night."

"We did that?" asked Hibari with visible confusion.

"Last month? Around the time we officially first met each other? A couple of days after"

Oda raised his hand in the bleachers, "I remember."

Nearby, Katsuragi looked at him pointedly, "You weren't even there!"

"I was spying on you guys at the time, back when I was still suspicious of him for being an infiltrator," retorted Oda.

"Creep."

In the meantime, Hibari was rubbing her fingers against her temples, "I'm trying to remember that… but I just can't picture it…" before a different memory flashed in her eyes and she started to giggle loudly. When she saw the young man's curious eyes, she had to hold her hands over her mouth to stifle complete laughter before she managed to squeak out, "I remembered that time when we were chasing you and you were dancing on a semi-truck…" Hibari was then unable to contain herself and fell onto her back as she cried with her laughter, "YOU DANCED LIKE A COMPLETE GOOFBALL!"

Remembering that time with mixed feelings, the young man shrugged, "Well, when you're in a crappy situation that looks like you're going to lose anyway… you might as well make it as fun and memorable as possible," before he looked down to the laughing girl. As he heard a mix of laughter from the bleachers, the boy sheepishly nodded along for a moment, "Yup, it was funny. Good time. Ha-ha." When the laughter only continued to get louder and louder, he closed his eyes in resignation and muttered, "…As much as I'd like to think this is laughing with me… I am, most certainly, being laughed at…" He then looked over at Yagyū, whose face remained expressionless but her shoulders were bouncing, "What, you too?"

"Well…" wheezed Hibari before she pointed at him, "…do you expect us to keep quiet…? Watching someone who can't dance is hilarious…"

As though there was a record scratch somewhere in those last few seconds, the young man froze and looked at her with one fiery eye, "You're saying that I can't dance?"

Though the few others who recalled the jig in the young man's apartment were about to offer support to him, Hibari pointed at him, "You, with that stoic face and bookish atmosphere? No way."

Without hesitating for even a moment, the young man cracked his knuckles and proceeded to stretch out his legs while repeating with a darkened expression, "No way…?" He pulled up his arms and gave his shoulders a crack by twisting his spine around, "No way?" Finally, he reached down to the phone that he had in his pocket and slipped it out ever so slightly and initiated the one particular plan that he had saved for just such an occasion as the one that he found himself in at that moment, "No way!?"

Feeling a change in atmosphere, Hibari and everyone else's laughter came to a swift end before she raised her hands, "Wait… maybe if I squint, I could see…"

"NO WAY!?" boomed the young man as he went to the saved tab on his phone and hit the play button. With one final look that emanated the fire of his very soul, the young man let out a guttural whisper, "Watch and learn, missy…"

SECRET STEP-GRANDSON OF A SCOT ART: THE WAY OF DANCE

As a metallic mix of jazz and rock started to play, the young man's body seemed to darken into a silhouette of its former self in spite of all the lights in the gym. Once the music's volume reached full blast and the rhythm came to an early climax, his eyes met Hibari's one last time before he was twisting and swirling all over the place. Whether it was doing a moonwalk-like run from one side of the arena to another, giving his entire body a speedy spiral that hinged entirely on the balance of a single toe, or his wild but controlled limbs as they flailed and seizured from one place to another, no one could be convinced that a malevolent extradimensional being of music hadn't possessed the young man at some point.

At one particular crescendo, when the speed of the young man's limbs only got more and more intense, he threw the D-twenty die that he had in his pocket into the air while Murakumo found herself the first to break away from her trance before she turned to look at Sato and cried, "THIS IS IT!"

The spectacled girl turned over in alarm and yelled back, "This is what!?"

"RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! CLAIM YOUR PLACE IN THE ARENA! PUT YOUR SELF ON EVEN FOOTING WITH HIM! DANCE!"

With Murakumo pushing her frightening mask closer and closer, Sato stammered and stuttered incoherently before she finally managed to get out, "It's true, I can… kind of dance… but I'd be no match for this power!"

"YOU MUST!" cried the shinobi as she grasped the girl's shoulders, "YOU MIGHT NOT FIND YOURSELF WITH ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY LIKE THIS FOR A LONG TIME! GO! GO, GO, GO! FIGHT-, I mean-, DANCE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!"

After a second of staring blankly, the rush of energy hit Sato and she nodded her head, "RIGHT!" before she stood up from her seat. But just as she was going to take a step out onto the floor, the die that the young man threw into the air landed and the number that faced upward was a natural twenty.

CRITICAL!

Suddenly upgrading himself onto a higher plane of existence for a short period of time, the young man's eyes flashed red and his entire body became a dark shadow as his dance bounced him from one place to another. While the hurricane-like twists and the backbreaking turns would have killed the average person, the young man had become one with the very act of musical activity. After several seconds of conquering the three-dimensional plane that was the Hanzō Academy gym, the boy skidded to a stop onto the floor that would have left a trail of fire with its force, his shadow dissipating as he reassumed his worldly form. After a final spin and crossing a single arm over his chest, the young man faced Hibari and Yagyū before he stated blandly, "You two might make a good match for one another," and brought up his glasses with his free hand at the speed of a whipcrack as his eyes glowed red for a second more.

Just like that, the song came to an end and the boy stood there in a pose. Then, as the weight of realizing just how many people he performed that in front of fell on him, his face scrunched up and his neck pulled back slightly. Even still, he had no regrets. At the same time, Daidōji was the one who broke the silence by commenting, "I think I just witnessed something phenomenal… I don't know what category of phenomenal it falls into, whether it was amazing or too strange to comment on… but it was phenomenal, nonetheless."

Unsure of how to follow up, Yagyū continued to stare at the young man before her mind registered the words he'd said. Taking in the direct encouragement that the suggestion offered, she nodded her head thankfully to him before she faced Hibari and said, "I wouldn't mind dating you… at all-, ever… I want to date you… Ngh…"

Then the gym remained silent for a completely different reason and everyone's eyes went from the young man to Yagyū in shock. A few seconds after, Hibari became the center of attention as she continued to stare silently while an answer remained to be given. Then her mouth opened wide as she processed the request and her hands went up to smack her own cheeks. Never had Hibari ever registered that Yagyū was a considerable option of romance and she found herself considering every possible prospect that would come with it, from all of the times that they could share to every possible memory. So, once the shock wore off and she could use her mouth again, the girl nodded and cried, "I'D LOVE THAT, YAGYŪ!" before diving herself into the girl to give a wide-armed hug. The gym broke out into hurrahs and cheers and the resulting celebration followed for hours after the fact.