Chapter 1, Part 3 / Intertwining Fates Sealed Within Interchangeable Motions
|-|/ 7 \|-|
He had to look under his bed, just in case.
One could never be too sure, considering what happened.
Murasame looked all over the room to see if the kid from last night had been hiding anywhere, but after giving a few minutes of quick searches, he came to the conclusion that Isayuki must have properly listened to him. With a sigh of relief, he started to get on with his morning.
After freshening himself up a little, he changed into his usual attire of the navy blue dress shirt with a formal white suit. They were straightened and prepared for himself every morning by the maids and butlers and while their job description did include the entire package, Murasame declined anything further than that. He was able to get his hair into his preferred image and even wear his clothes in a way the manor's servants wouldn't be allowed to adjust for. He always liked to keep a few buttons undone at the top of his vest to make the formal wear less stiff.
Murasame knew he was likely doing everyone a favor by getting ready for himself.
He came down to the dining room to see that Ikaruga had already started on her breakfast. Considering the lackluster way she was holding her utensils above the light meal of mixed rice, grilled fish and miso soup, he could already assume how the search for the supposed culprit last night went.
Mostly because he himself collaborated in that problem.
"You didn't find him?"
"Hmm? Do you mean the trespasser?"
"Who else would I be talking about?"
"You referred to the trespasser as male."
Murasame slipped up slightly, but didn't let it show on his face. He rolled his neck, leaving only a shrug and a grunt to add to his cover-up. "You think I care enough to know who the hell the trespasser is? Him? Her? Who cares? You shouldn't even have lifted up Hein for something that small, since the security team could handle it."
"If it was someone that could trigger our traps easily and escape from them just the same, I think my concern was warranted. The only question remaining is to discover the reason for her intrusion. Not even the security team could figure it out and we've sent the video files to the police to see if they could get some identification on her. I'm not very optimistic about the results though."
"Did she do anything else other than making our hallways look like a kid's obstacle course?"
Ikaruga shook her head. "I've made checks throughout the house multiple times last night and not a single thing was out of place. It was clear that she wasn't here to be a burglar, but if there's nothing else to show for her presence other than the traps and security footage, I'm unsure what else to make of it."
"Wait, how long were you up for?"
"Don't worry about myself, Murasame. I've gotten enough sleep for the charity event today. I'd ask you to not underestimate the perseverance of a university student. It's important for our kind to move forwards on whatever sleep we can get."
"Oh? Was that a joke coming my dear sister?" Murasame smirked.
"Perhaps," Ikaruga smiled back.
The chefs rolled out the same breakfast as they provided to Ikaruga, neatly laying the bowls and utensils for Murasame in the seat before him. Before the chefs could even pull out a chair for him, he was already grabbing onto the backframe and doing so for himself, collapsing onto the seat with no further assistance. With a quick gesture of thanks, he started to eat at a brisk rate.
His mind was focused on the meeting later this afternoon, but it was as if his sister could read his mind. After a few minutes to confirm, she cleared her throat to get her brother's attention, noticing that he was deathly quiet the entire time.
"Murasame, I have a question about the meeting you're heading to today."
"What about it? It's going to be an easy run for me."
"Even though you've never taken the place of Father in these sort of dealings?" Ikaruga wryly answered back, but wasn't very forceful in her tone. "Considering what you two spoke of last night at dinner, I'm wondering if it's really a good idea to meet up with them as they request."
"I said it already. You're wasting your concerns on me."
He dramatically picked up a clump of rice and threw it into his mouth, then contrastingly lifted the miso soup bowl and quietly sipped it without a sense of slurping.
"I feel like the Tengu Foundation is suspicious. If they're being vague, there has to be a reason for it, especially if they're considered to be a smaller company in comparison to those that Father usually works with. I don't need to have your talent in that field to be able to sense that. In fact, I think it's my sense as a shinobi that's telling me that there may be a problem that awaits you once you arrive."
"And I'm telling you that there's no need to worry for Murasame Houou." Murasame narrowed his eyes at Ikaruga with the miso soup still in hand. "Who knows when another opportunity to prove that I can be capable of leading the Phoenix Conglomerate from the shadows? I need these small steps before I can start working on the bigger investments."
"Father already knows that you're capable, Murasame. I don't think he will have any troubles when it's time for you to—"
"You think I'm trying to prove it to him? Oh, what do you know?" A loud slam on the table from the bowl echoed in the room. "You didn't need to prove anything for yourself, considering—"
Murasame bit his lips, stopping himself. Ikaruga was taken back a bit, but as Murasame made an uncomfortable frown, he realized what had happened and sighed.
He thought he had already moved past this phase of this life already, but it still slipped out.
"Forget it. I lost my train of thought anyways." Murasame stood up from his seat, downing the rest of his rice quickly before leaving his empty bowls. "I'm heading out first. I still have work to finish up before my meeting with the Tengu Foundation."
"Understood. I wish you good luck, Brother."
"... Yeah. Good luck on your charity event too, Sister."
As the maids and butlers got Murasame sorted to the car with his briefcase, Ikaruga finished her meal quietly. It might have been a year ago that they've reconciled to have a true sibling bond, but even a timeframe like that can still permit mistakes to slip up once in a while. It might have been her fault for not noticing that Murasame was working on this project for his own self-worth.
"I should have realized it was a sensitive topic before I said it out loud…"
If she thought of his self-confidence, it was probably through the roof, but that didn't exactly equate to how Murasame would experience that for himself. If Ikaruga had to be honest with herself, she probably didn't know Murasame as much as she could have.
However, she can't let that thought bring her mood down for today. Ikaruga continued her breakfast, wrapping up shortly after Murasame did and went over to check on the manor's traps for a bit. She had some spare time before heading over to the slums and while she was planning on using it for assignments, it wouldn't be bad to check if the system had been working properly.
There was one trap that had her attention when she told about it, that being a pitfall on the first floor. She triggered it manually and it opened up in front of her and in the depths of the darkness, she could certainly see the spikes. There was a room to the side to allow the maintenance and cleaning of the spikes, but there was something in the report that caused her to scratch her head.
"Reports of blood, fully staining the spikes that they most certainly fell on, if the footage is to be believed. Who could simply shake that off so easily and escape? And yet, the security footage doesn't show any lasting wounds on the trespasser." Ikaruga grimaced. "What could be going on?"
|-|/ 8 \|-|
"Is there something on your mind, Lord Murasame?"
His chauffeur asked the question on the way to the Phoenix Conglomerate's main building. The traffic was stopped at a red light and decided to pop the question, considering that the man he drove had been eerily quiet the entire ride.
Usually, the son of the Houou Family would monologue to himself in a nonsensical manner, but it wasn't harmful to anyone. In fact, the chauffeur learned to understand Murasame a bit through his personal spiels. There hadn't been other options for the old man though, considering the drive was thirty minutes long with nothing else to listen to.
"Does it look like there's something on my mind?"
"Your eyes have been drawing away to the outside as we drive."
"Is that something weird?"
"Usually, I hear that those who sightsee in such a solemn way aren't truly looking out the window. They simply have nowhere else to stare while they think." The chauffeur glanced up in the rear-view mirror. "I heard about the trespasser incident at the manor. I would believe it would be that as your concern, but I recall that your first investor meeting as a lead is today. Perhaps you're even keeping Lady Ikaruga in your thoughts for the charity to go well?"
The chauffeur slightly adjusted his mirror.
"Maybe the combination of both situations have needed you to take a moment to breathe. There's nothing wrong with needing a break once in a while. You work a lot, after all."
"... It's neither of those things." Murasame scowled, keeping his eyes away from the chauffeur. "Hey, you get paid to drive me places, not to meddle in my life. I'd suggest for you to stop looking into places you're not supposed to."
"Of course, Lord Murasame. Forgive this old man's ramblings."
The chauffeur noticed the traffic turning green and he gently pressed against the acceleration.
"You are far kinder than the people believe you are."
"Did you say something?"
"Just talking to myself," the chauffeur chuckled, "that's all."
"You can talk to yourself inside your own head. It's distracting otherwise."
It didn't take much longer for Murasame to arrive at his workplace. He walked in with the same confidence as always and headed up to one of the higher floors through the elevator. The security team was more active on these floors, considering that this area was also where his father worked, but for the next few weeks, Murasame would be the only person doing work here regarding their business.
Off to the side, he unlocked his office and went in.
There was a perfect view of the city along the backwalls of the office, consisting entirely of windows. In front of the perfect lightning, his desk sat diligently with piles of paperwork next to his personal computer. Murasame walked around the couches and table where visitors would use when coming in to have a small meeting with him, but they've barely touched the past year.
Dropping his briefcase on the side of the table, he would keep in mind to stash what he needed for the later meeting there. For now, there were other businesses to take care of.
He started going through the documents, listing the current finances and investments that had on a few companies that his father already closed deals with. This part, for Murasame, was extremely easy, but boring at the same time. All he really had to do was make sure everything was in line as the reports were claiming, filing their statistics into programs and adjusting changes towards the companies for future projections as he saw fit. After all, profit is the whole reason why they invested in these companies.
Although Murasame lives by the mantra that work should stay at work, he wasn't a slacker by any means when it came time to work. In fact, it was the complete opposite.
"Alright, let's just get this over with…"
University was probably tougher than this and considering how he aced most of his classes regarding business, this was child's play to him.
While he was in the middle of noting potential changes from the data implemented into his computer, the phone started to ring. Most employees in the building weren't allowed on this floor without a direct invitation from either members of the Houou Family, so the easiest form of contact to them was through the phone. Murasame reached out and answered it as he was still typing things out.
"Murasame Houou. Make it quick."
"There's a partner company that wishes to speak about rearrangements made concerning their investments. They are displeased about their situation and wish to discuss it further."
"Go ahead, connect me with them. This sort of dealing is better in the hands of Murasame Houou, after all. I'll make sure that they understand their place."
"Yes, of… Of course…"
He heard an exasperated sigh barely making through the line, but he chose to ignore that to clear his throat for the incoming caller. If they could at least hold a professional attitude around him most of the time, he didn't care what type of thoughts they kept to themselves.
It's not like he didn't know what they were, nor was it anything he didn't hear already.
From the perspective of seeing the Phoenix Conglomerate's future, Murasame was held on a pedestal. Efficiency and profits easily broke records the moment Murasame took up a full-time position in his father's company and while the other employees certainly recognized his talent, they frankly didn't want to be dealing with the man's poor attitude if they didn't need to.
Most of them were commoners not worth remembering to begin with. He didn't care about what they thought about his image. It didn't bother Murasame then, and it most certainly didn't bother him now. All Murasame had to do was put his best foot forward in his father's company in his father's name, even if all of it is simply to make Ikaruga look better once she takes up the mantle in being the successor.
Working a business doesn't require everyone to get along.
Working a business simply means everyone involved has to cooperate with each other.
—A few hours passed and the time of the meeting was quickly approaching.
He sorted out the paperwork he prepared for reference and tucked them into his briefcase, as well as a laptop for any needed data-crunching on the spot. After cleaning up his desk and filing all documents into their appreciated locations, he headed off without a second thought.
Any hesitation was a demerit. Confidence was key. To be showing himself to even be slightly frightened of how he would handle the meeting was a stain on his father's name, as the representative that his father allowed to come in his place.
"Heading off, Lord Murasame?" his chauffeur asked as Murasame stepped into the car. A few bodyguards followed Murasame in their own car behind him. "The ride will take around thirty minutes. The company's building is along the outskirts of the city, so it may take some time to get there."
"Yeah, and that's why I'm leaving now. Any other obvious remarks you've got?"
"None further than that."
"Good to hear."
The car pulled away from the Phoenix Conglomerate and headed down the highway.
|-|/ 9 \|-|
"Hmm? Are you sure we've got the right place?" Murasame squinted as he stepped out of the car from the chauffeur opening the door for him. He double-checked on his phone's map out of skepticism. "Considering what loose documents they provided, I was expecting something more shitty."
"This is indeed the address, Lord Murasame."
"It's still in an odd location…"
On the outskirts of the city, there was a decently-sized building covering a rectangular surface area. The walls themselves made it look clean, almost like he was looking at a hospital. Come to think of it, Murasame didn't realize there were buildings like these one on the outskirts of Tokyo, but fretting over such trivial details wouldn't do him much good.
The bodyguards parked their cars and headed off to meet up with Murasame. Usually, he didn't think he required bodyguards, considering he was already skilled in combat (as he personally believed), but if even Ikaruga was provided with bodyguards, it's not as if he would be doing any favors by refusing them. They get paid regardless, so they should at least do what they're paid for.
Murasame noticed there was already someone standing at the entrance, waiting for his arrival.
"Welcome! I take it that you are Murasame Houou?"
Murasame smirked. "Need that to be even any doubt in your question? There's only one person that could be as brilliant as me and that's myself." He handed his briefcase for one of his bodyguards to hold before rolling his wrist. "Now that's enough pleasantries. The documents you provided are frankly regarded as vague and unclear, so before we sit down and talk about numbers, I need you to actually tell me what the hell is going on with your company."
"We will," the man nodded. "We deeply apologize for the lack of information that we've provided, but it is for a good reason. We deal with things that are better suited to be spoken about than to be recorded on documentation. Considering that we are a small company, the privacy of our products is of the utmost importance such that we'll be ahead of the market when we do launch it."
Murasame got that much from the paperwork, but that still didn't explain anything to him.
"Whatever. Just go ahead on doing your little pitch and hope it's not a waste of my time."
The man stammered, looking as if he had more to say than whatever formalities he was providing. "Right, we'll keep that in mind…"
Murasame gestured to his bodyguards to advance with him as he walked into the building, guided by the Tengu Foundation's representative. He introduced himself as Haruto, but as always, Murasame didn't actually learn what his name was. It simply went through one ear and out the other.
He asked for Murasame to head down to the lower floors in order for him to show Murasame about what they have in stock. The hallways looked very rough, being a stark comparison to the clean exterior they kept outside. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought this place was abandoned, but as they went deeper, the cleaner it became.
"What exactly is this place?"
"You can consider it to be the facility where we conduct experiments. If it's not obvious already, we're simply a sister company of a larger corporation that conducts experiments similar to this one, but on different scales. Right now, we're only in charge of a handful of projects that we've been entrusted with. You know how it goes, with starting out small before working our way to bigger projects."
"Yeah, I guess so."
None of the doors had windows to peek through and they were mostly locked behind keycards.
"We're skipping past a lot of doors."
"Because there's a particular project we wish to collaborate with the Phoenix Conglomerate that's just a bit deeper in."
"And that is…?"
"You'll see."
Murasame scoffed, refusing to take another step.
"I'm already inside of your building. What is your game here hiding this little project of yours more than what you've have already?"
"It's not my intention, Mister Houou. Unfortunately, the project is difficult to explain without seeing it for yourself first and foremost. If I explained it right now, you would likely see me as a lunatic."
"That would probably be an upgrade of what I'm seeing you as now."
"... I'm not sure how to respond to that."
"You could do so by answering my question. What is this project of yours that the Tengu Foundation is working on?"
Haruto pointed down the hall. "It's just a little bit further. I'll explain once we're there."
Murasame clicked his tongue. "You're not making a good impression on me, just so you know."
"We're certain you'll change your mind once you see what's in store," Haruto said, clapping his hands together as if to beg for another chance. "Please, just right this way."
"Hmmph."
Murasame walked onwards, as if almost leaving the guide behind him. Haruto panicked a bit and tried to catch up, gesturing over to the end of the hall while trying to wiggle his way past the bodyguards. He pressed up against almost all of them before he could make it to the front again.
"That door, right here."
Haruto quickly arrived at the keycard reader and unlocked the door's access for the waiting Murasame. Sliding it open, Murasame was the first to take a step inside and he immediately saw something strapped down within a glass barrier filled with formaldehyde. There hadn't been anyone else other than them in the room, which is strange since this looked like it needed supervision at all times.
Usually, these types of scenes had some type of test subject inside, but Murasame was surprised to see that all this effort was for a mere weapon. It was a scythe with intricate details with a silver blade that looked like a lunar moon. He couldn't stop himself from mumbling his thoughts.
"What the hell is that…?"
"It's called the Tsukiyomi. It's a weapon that is said to be able to control the Yoma."
"What…!? Control the Yoma!?"
Murasame knew about those demons.
Kept as a secret from the average folk, the Yoma were parasitic demons that emerged from bloodshed. Although under normal circumstances, this would not allow Yoma to form, there was an arte called a Shinobi Barrier that is used by shinobis to keep civilians away from an area of combat. Although useful, when enough bloodshed is absorbed by the arte, the Yoma can be created and detach itself to form its own entity. Honestly, Murasame never bothered to learn about the details itself, but it was simple enough that even he could make one.
… One that could be easily broken by intruders, but it still stands.
Murasame, although hasn't fought one, has been able to come across one during his brief stay in Kyoto last year. There was a major Yoma incident that occurred in its heart, involving Ikaruga and her fellow shinobi classmates at the time, and from reports that he glanced at, the amount of destruction had been significant. They were able to slide everything underneath the rug with the help of government officials, but that merely made the shinobis clans more wary of the possible Yoma.
"Indeed. We've kept this a secret for a while. Though, this wasn't what we would have liked to show you. We actually had another project that was meant to be a safer alternative, but a month ago, there was an accident and we've lost access to that. This is a bit of a back-up plan, but we lack the funding to proceed because of how much we've invested in the previous project."
However, that would mean that this company is aware of the problem to begin with.
"Where did you learn about this? You're not a shinobi, nor would you be related to one."
"That's right. We do have knowledge of shinobis, but our project is unrelated to them. We seek to control Yoma in order to repurpose them as weapons. That was our original intention."
"You mean to say that you're planning to use those dastardly demons as personal tools?"
"To an extent, that is correct. That is not to say that we aren't wary about possible consequences. There was an incident where one of our directors sought to overtake the objective and control Yoma for himself in order to take their power for his own greed, but he died during his attempt. We won't be short-sighted like that, seeking to make a better world with Yoma under our control."
"You're planning to use these monsters in the same vein as a nodachi or a kusarigama?"
"They are powerful, Mister Houou. With enough control and discipline, they could even fight in the place of shinobis, rather than have those people lay down their lives for whatever we request of them."
"That's insane! You think I could believe that the scythe can control Yoma just like that!?"
"As it is right now, it cannot. It is currently dormant. There's still some preparations to be made, especially considering we've only recently gotten our hands on the Tsukiyomi. All that is left is the appropriate funding."
Still though, something didn't add up.
If this had been a branching part of any shinobi clans, his father would have at least heard about it, but the way he casted suspicion on the Tengu Foundation made it sound like they were an unrelated third-party that somehow knew about this secret. Even shinobis-in-training weren't allowed to know about this fact until they graduated, leaving unintended situations that make them come across one.
Despite what changes this could make, he was concerned that his father didn't have a single clue that it was happening. He worked closely with Hanzo, the most well-known and a legendary shinobi, when it came to these finer details, so if they should have approached his father with their plan to use the Yoma as their own puppets.
There should have been an insistence to meet with his father, rather than quietly accepting that the son will be the one to meet up with them instead. This was not a project meant for a small business partnership as Murasame originally assumed it to be, but he could figure out why they didn't act like that.
"My father wouldn't like this."
"We know that the head of the Phoenix Conglomerate would not even provide us with a moment to explain ourselves before hastily shutting us down, through force or otherwise. We'll be glad that you were the one to come to us instead, because we know that you would at least hear us out."
"You're wrong about that."
"Are we now?" Haruto extended his hand to Murasame. "Don't you want to be a part of a landscape that will change the shinobi world? Giving your name into the Tsukiyomi Project will mark you into history when we transition this plan into our reality and when that happens—"
"I've heard enough. The meeting's off."
Murasame turned around, having his bodyguards surround him.
"No one gets to tell Murasame Houou what he should do or not. Only I get to decide that for myself. I don't need to hear a second opinion from commoners and fools. And when I smell something suspicious about your entire gimmick, it's not a scent you can wash away with sweet words."
"Oh my…"
Haruto started laughing haughtily.
"This is quite the surprise, but you'll find that we'll be taking our funding one way or another. If not through your generous investment, we can find other methods, such as…"
"What!?"
From the shadows, figures leapt out and attacked Murasame's bodyguards. Considering their speed, Murasame could only assume them to be evil shinobi. The bodyguards tried to retaliate, shouting for Murasame to escape, but the surprise froze him at his feet. Only when a few of them dropped to the ground, Murasame could find the energy to run off, but he noticed that the door was locked. Access with a cardkey is required on both sides, something he didn't have.
Haruto narrowed his eyes with a devious smile.
"Let us say, extortion using a hostage?"
His bodyguards were doing decently well in holding off the sudden attacks, but without a way to escape, their efforts would be for naught. The path between the mastermind of this meeting and the targeted prisoner was clear of people and knowing that Haruto had a keycard of his own, Murasame took matters into his own hands.
He pulled out his scroll from his belt and opened it up, activating its weapon storage feature. The paper disappeared into thin smoke and dropped into his hands as his trusty kusarigama. There hadn't been any time to get the kusarigama's chains wrapped around his arms, not that it should to begin with. It was just because Murasame overdid it with how long the chain should have been, but he didn't care.
"Damn it, I can't back down now! I'm going to have to just do it!"
From his own belt, Haruto pulled out a weapon in preparation, a baton that extended out. Murasame could even hear the crackling caused by its taser properties.
Even still, Murasame started running towards Haruto without any hesitation—
"Heh…?"
—only for the aforementioned long chains to trip him, causing him to fall over without much resistance. An audible slam echoed throughout the room. The bodyguards glanced back at the person they were supposed to protect, seeing that he was his own undoing. And through some unholy turn of events, Murasame ended up being tied up by his own chains through his spin downwards.
"You can't be serious." Even the enemy had a hard time believing it, slowly putting away his baton. "Is this for real?"
The evil shinobis were able to take down the rest of the bodyguards who sustained heavy injuries, but all Murasame could do was watch as Haruto approached him with an eyebrow being raised.
"So you captured yourself in our steed…" Haruto was skeptical, but for the wrong reasons. "Honestly, I've seen weirder. Just this early morning, in fact."
Haruto turned to the evil shinobis and gestured to the self-tied Murasame.
"Take him over to the cells. We'll show him what the procedure of awakening Tsukiyomi will be soon enough and perhaps he might have a change of heart. Of course, we'll have to wait for Lady Kasuga to arrive for us to begin." Haruto looked down at his watch. "It should be within the hour, so make sure you prepare the sacrifice."
"Sacrifice!? What!? Hey! Wait a minute! Let's talk about this! You wanted money, right!? How much do you want!? I'll give it to you with whatever you want, but you have to let me go first!"
Murasame was lying through his chattering teeth, having zero intention to follow through.
The moment that he would be freed with an opportunity to run, he was going to book it out of here faster than a lightning bolt. There was the problem with the elevator that they used to get down here, but there must certainly be a flight of stairs he could use as his alternative path.
There were many holes in that straight-forward plan though. He'll think about the rest of the problem as he comes across it, but Haruto wasn't so hasty in the transaction. His foot stepped up against Murasame, rolling him over.
"What's the rush?" Haruto chuckled. "Shouldn't a good investor understand what exactly our proposal entails? We'll give you a small presentation of the lengths we will go in order to tame these Yoma and use their power for humanity."
"Don't tell me how to do my job!"
"You're doing our job just fine here. You even captured yourself for our sake."
"No, that's…!" Murasame bit down on his teeth. "Yes, as a matter of fact. Considering how I wasn't leaving this room otherwise, I might as well lend a hand here to make things smoother. Even a powerful shinobi like Murasame Houou can understand that there are situations far too troublesome to deal with in direct manners."
"... Is that so?"
Haruto couldn't figure out if he should laugh or not, but ended up simply deadpanning. Considering Murasame and what information they had on him, he couldn't be entirely sure if the man was lying or not, but for simplicity's sake, he played along.
After all, it would only be for an hour.
What could he possibly do in an hour within tied up like that?
"Then I'll see you again in a bit, Murasame Houou."
The evil shinobi left the fallen bodyguards, injured and bleeding on the ground. Murasame wasn't even sure if they were still alive or not from how deep their wounds were, but he didn't get a second chance to think about it. The shinobis knocked him out and carried him deeper into the facility.
|-|/ 10 \|-|
"Ugh, shit… Just my rotten luck…"
The force they used wasn't all too strong. After about ten or so minutes, Murasame found himself waking up in what was promised to him. Being behind bars hadn't been a fun experience, especially when they didn't even bother to untie him from his own chains. In fact, they even added in an additional restraint of rope against his wrist to ensure that he was stuck there.
"Guess I'm so important that I could be taken as a hostage…" Murasame muttered to himself before sighing heavily. "No, but seriously, you've got to be kidding me…"
There was only fifty minutes left until he was brought out of his prison and shown whatever this Tsukiyomi could do. While morbid curiosity did tell him to stay put, his survival instincts were telling him to get the hell out of there, but it was far easier said than done.
While it looked like the restraints were done tightly, this honestly wasn't anything new to Murasame. He could probably take five minutes to himself and he could get out of this chained state, even considering the knot on his hands. Murasame would have to thank his practice for that, but he needed to get started sooner rather than later. As he wiggled himself into familiar techniques, he glanced up from his cell to pause for a moment.
Was he… seeing things…?
From across his cell, there was another one.
A boy with long, white hair and an androgynous face was lying on the ground, looking as if he was sleeping. For all the places that he would come across Isayuki again, this was not one of those situations he could ever expect.
"Kid…?"
"Hmm…?"
Responding groggily, Isayuki yawned and glanced over to see who called for him. When their eyes met, Isayuki immediately pulled himself up from his sleep. His body was restrained in a similar manner and considering the rope wrapped around him, they would have done something similar to Murasame if he hadn't already done it to himself.
"Mister Murasame! You're here too!?"
"I-I… Uhm…" He shook his head, trying to get the surprise out. "I could, uhm, ask you the same question! What the hell are you doing here!?"
"I got captured!"
"Don't say that so enthusiastically."
"Did you get captured too, Mister Murasame."
"What!? Nonsense! Murasame Houou doesn't get captured!"
"Then what are you doing here?"
"I'm… on a special mission! Yeah! In order to complete it, I have to pretend to get captured!"
"Really!? That's so cool!"
"Yep! The fastest way to find an enemy's base is to let them take you there themselves! And once they take their eyes off me, I'll be breaking out of here quickly and leave with my objective in mind! They'll never see it coming! This is the most direct way of getting my job done!"
Isayuki's eyes sparkled as his hair antenna wagged like a dog's tail.
"Could I ask for a favor? These ropes are a bit uncomfortable, so I need help adjusting them."
"Adjusting…? Don't you need to take them off…?"
"Am I allowed to take them off?"
Murasame's brain short-circuited. If he could facepalm himself, he would have. It was healthier for him to pretend that he didn't hear what Isayuki just said.
"I'm taking a wild guess that you've been taken as a prisoner or to be more precise, you're going to be the sacrifice for their little experiment here." If he could put what Haruto said together with Isayuki's sudden appearance here, this was the only logical conclusion. After all, he spoke as if Murasame would be part of the audience, not the sacrifice itself, so someone else had to take that role. "Whether I want to or not, I don't think it's a good idea for you to stay here."
Murasame started wiggling once again, looking as if he was rolling around like a child. However, this patent technique of Murasame Houou was guaranteed to work seventy-five percent of the time. Since Isayuki figured that was how he was undoing the knots, Isayuki blindly copied the man.
After a few minutes, Murasame managed to undo his own mistake, but the knot on his wrist was too tight for him to undo. It was a good thing that through their confusion of his self-capture they've completely overlooked his sickle tucked underneath the chains. With the sharp edge, he slowly got his hands freed, but there was another problem he had to face.
There was the matter of the locked door of the cell.
He spun his sickle and hacked away at the iron bars, but he wasn't making a big dent. He needed a traditional key to escape and lockpicking wasn't his strong suit. Brute force was all he had and that wasn't working for him,so he tried looking around for other strategies.
In the background, Isayuki was still rolling around.
"Mister Murasame, this isn't working."
"It's because you're not skilled enough like me to know how it works."
Isayuki pouted, stopping his movements to watch Murasame carefully. All he managed to do in the last few minutes was ruffle up his hair.
If he couldn't get a way to open the door, he would simply have to find a way to have a key come to him. There was plenty of risk involved, but there wasn't anything else he could think of. Approximately forty-five minutes were on the clock and he couldn't waste any of it.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Murasame screamed out into the hallway, trying to pull attention to himself and his undone restraints, but Isayuki ended up screaming along with him.
"Why the hell are you screaming for!?"
"You were screaming too, Mister Murasame. I thought it might help."
"I… Ugh, never mind. That actually might be good."
A few seconds is all it took for a guard to come see what was happening. Murasame positioned himself on the ground, acting as if he passed out, when the guard arrived at the scene. He looked over to Isayuki, who he assumed made the scream, before he noticed that Murasame wasn't chained up.
"Huh? That's weird. Could have sworn that the guy was wrapped up already."
The guard used his keys to open up the cell and rushed in to check. He was about to take out his own rope and wrap him up again. As Murasame pretended that the rope on his hands were still there, the guard was taken by surprise when Murasame leapt up at him.
"I'll be taking that!"
He snagged the keys from the guard, smirking that his plan was a success.
(It should be mentioned that the door was unlocked at this time.)
However, the guard wasn't going to make it easy. He recovered quickly from the confusion and tried to take Murasame down with a body slam. He dodged unintentionally through a panicked trip, having him crash into the wall. Murasame shook himself off and tightened his grip on his sickle, spinning it around. It wasn't being mindful of the limited space around him, so the weapon prematurely stuttered in its cycle, hitting the walls.
He was able to make do with the limited radius though and spun himself to launch the attack.
The guard easily dodged the telegraphed attack and struck Murasame in the stomach with a baton. Luckily, he didn't have a taser function inside, so Murasame only suffered the blunt strike, but as he stumbled around, his chains were still spinning with the sickle.
Through some miracle, the guard didn't notice and his hands got caught in a single wrap around. It wasn't enough to lock him down, but Murasame pulled on his chains and caused the guard to stumble forwards. He lifted his foot and sunk a kick right into the guard, causing him to fall from his feet.
Murasame fell flat on his ass from the recoil as well, but it did put the guard out of commission for now. With heavy breaths, Murasame was wondering if that fight was rigged for him, but he was going to take whatever he could get. He wasn't sure he could pull off another stunt like that again, despite the fight not taking even twenty seconds.
"Alright... Let's…"
"Mister Murasame…?"
Isayuki looked up at the freed Murasame with puppy eyes and while that wasn't going to work on him, Murasame did admit that if Isayuki was the sacrifice, then it would throw a wrench into Haruto's plan if the boy was freed from his imprisonment.
"Give me… a moment… to catch my breath…"
After stumbling over to Isayuki's cell, he unlocked the door with the key and used his sickle to cut the ropes. Looking extremely thankful, Isayuki rolled his shoulders with a smile.
"This is the second time you've helped me, Mister Murasame. I can't express how grateful I am."
"Don't get started here though." Murasame started wrapping the chains of his kusarigama around his shoulders, preparing for any further fights he would have to take. "We're still in enemy territory, so we need to get out as soon as possible."
"Didn't you say that you had an objective to do?"
"It's… It's to figure out where their base is! And obviously speaking, I already have that information! Murasame Houou doesn't waste time at his jobs!"
"That's incredible, Mister Murasame!"
Murasame smirked, feeling good about being praised so innocently like this.
"That's simply the natural order of things, but…"
Regardless, he needed to keep in mind that this wasn't any practice round. If he messed up anything from this point onwards during their escape, it would mean that he was as good as done. He still has a good life to live, so he needs to do what it takes in order to get it.
"Come with me, kid. We're getting out of here."
"Alright, Mister Murasame. I'll follow your lead."
Murasame and Isayuki glanced out into the hallway to see that it was empty. They had to move immediately, considering that the guard was starting to return with his consciousness, so they headed down the path where the guard came from.
They tried to be as quiet and quick as they could be, but Murasame stopped in his sudden realization.
"Wait a minute! They didn't take that off me!"
"Didn't take what?"
Murasame reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Although he was underground, he could still get something of a weak signal here. It should be enough to get a call out to someone with two taps of a shortcut, he started calling the first person he could think of.
"C'mon, go through…!"
"What are you holding?"
"What? This? It's a phone. Haven't you seen one before?"
"They look somewhat familiar, but I don't remember seeing one up close before."
"You lost your memories. What would you know about that?
"Oh, I guess you're right! You're so smart, Mister Murasame."
"Tell me something I don't know."
"What don't you know?"
"..."
Murasame ignored the question as the call was still ringing. Being only on one bar was rough, but even if he could get a few words out in a panicked tone, it could be enough to make sure that the message was sent of something going wrong on his end. He didn't want to resort to this, but considering the circumstances, he wanted to play all the cards he could get.
The ringing stopped and on the other end of the line, a girl's voice emerged.
"Brother?"
"Ikaruga! Quickly, you've got to—!"
Something came flying through the air came down the hallway and when Murasame noticed, it was too late. A kunai slammed right into his phone, shattering its internal pieces. If he didn't pull the phone away just in case, his face would have met the same fate. He dropped the phone instinctively and glanced up, seeing that a few evil shinobis were coming down the hall to deal with him.
The guard from before recovered from Murasame's attack and approached from behind. He must have requested for back-up upon realizing what happened and the pincer maneuver effectively trapped the two targets in between. Murasame made the mistake of not checking his body for any method for contact, ironically enough.
"Uh, Mister Murasame? What do we do here?"
"Don't worry so much. I've… I've got this under control!" Murasame glanced back at Isayuki. "Just to be sure, can you fight? If you can, you can at least lend me a hand here to return the favor of helping you out!"
"Fight? What do you mean by that? Like, do you want me to throw my hands and feet at them? I'm not sure what you want me to do in terms of fighting."
"... Kid? Have you ever been in a fight before? Have you ever even thrown a punch in your life?"
Isayuki smiled blissfully.
"Nope. I don't think so. At least, it doesn't feel natural to punch."
Murasame gulped, slowing glancing back to the evil shinobis.
There was about forty minutes left until this supposed "Lady Kasuga" arrives and from some guesswork, he wasn't looking forward to see what will happen once she does. If she sounded strong as much as she sounded important, it was game over for them once their time limit was up. With their backs on the wall with pressure coming everywhere else, Murasame grimaced.
"Holy shit, I am so fucked."