Like any other school life, things at Hanzo settled into a familiar routine, just like any other. Even though it was a ninja school. You just get used to whatever's going on. Tris and I had really started getting along well with the girls in that school... as well as practicing fighting them. I got used to their attacks as well as their personality quirks. And I got used to my battle outfits tearing, and my classmates knowing what kind of panties I wore. My uniform top button was still always straining, threatening to pop, but I didn't care anymore. We'd all seen... a lot more of each other than normal classmates ought to.

I liked all my classmates pretty well, too. There was Asuka, the girl who wore a kerchief around her neck every day, who was outgoing and friendly to everyone. There was Ikaruga, the class representative, who kind of had a stick up her butt about some things, but was okay otherwise. There was Hibari, the ditzy one, who was growing on me the most. Then Yagyuu, who still didn't like me, for whatever reason. And Kat, who really did like me, and by that I meant she liked feeling me up. I mean, she liked feeling everyone up, but if you went by frequency, then I was her favorite.

"You're just so cute with your heart panties and your pigtails and your big blue eyes, and you look like a little cherub angel but then you have such awesome tits. And you make a cute squeal when I grab them."

"Hmmmmmph."

"Really, you're so cute, I bet you could gather up your own little harem if you wanted to," she said. Which was a weird thought, because... if I thought about those weird dreams again, where I was a guy... said guy version of me always seemed to get a lot of female attention. Even when he was just a little kid, the girls he was friends with got all blushy and stupid around him. When he was older, he definitely had a lot more attention from girls his age, as well as some kinda creepy older women, and some creepy older men too...

So, fine, the dream version of me was a chick magnet, but did I have to be? I mean, at least so far I was only a Kat magnet...

Aaaanyway. One day in particular was pretty interesting. The day Mr. Kiryu decided to see if I knew how to use my secret ninja art. Every ninja with a scroll had an art that was unique to themselves, and knowing how to use that in battle was of utmost importance. Tris had gotten hers to work a few times in sparring matches against the other students. If she focused all her energy through her ninja scroll, she'd summon a bunch of weird mouse shaped remote bombs that she could then detonate with her mind. And somehow the bomb would know how to do the right level of damage to the enemy, and not destroy anything it wasn't meant to destroy. Such was the magic of these scrolls, I guess.

I never seemed to use mine though. Partially because... I didn't know what it was, and what if it was embarrassing? I mean, Hibari's was a giant bunny that propelled itself with farts. But everyone already knew and loved her, so they wouldn't laugh at her. What if mine was stupid?

"You need to learn how to use it," Mr. Kiryu said to me, for what had to be the tenth time so far. "True combat is no laughing matter. Linkle... Ikaruga. You two will fight, and during this fight, you both have to use your secret ninja arts. Failure to do so will mean after school detention cleaning the ninja room."

"Yes, sir," Ikaruga said, standing up and giving the teacher an obedient nod.

I pouted but got up anyway.

We focused our power on our ninja scrolls, transforming into battle outfits, materializing weapons, and being surrounded by the dark chains of shadow that walled off anyone else from interfering in the fight. I got my sword ready, knowing that I'd have to build up the energy before I could use the secret ninja art. I mean, I wanted to use it first to get it out of the way, but...

Ikaruga came at me with a sword of her own, one that she wielded with great speed and accuracy. I blocked the first few swings with my shield, but after that... well, it became Kat's favorite time of the day. The looking at what bra and panties I have on because someone just sliced my tunic open time of the day. You know, the usual.

It didn't even faze me anymore at that point. I tucked myself into a quick somersault on the ground to end up behind Ikaruga, able to get her while her guard was down and, well, show Kat someone else's panties for once. I kept striking at Ikaruga, a bunch of quick rapid swipes, building up the energy so I could focus it into my scroll next, to find out what my personal secret ninja power was.

Here goes nothing, I thought, before focusing that energy, and finally allowing it to release, with a cathartic yell.

"HYAAAAAAH!"

And then it happened.

The rumbling. The feathers. The angry clucking.

They materialized out of nowhere, from every corner of the room, and they rushed in with frantic rage. It was like someone somehow managed to go to a huge poultry farm and do something that pissed off every single chicken in the whole coop. How do you even piss off a chicken? I don't know. But that was my secret ninja art.

Ikaruga was completely beset by them. They swarmed her, biting and plucking and scratching with their claws. They pulled buttons off her battle uniform, causing her chest to come spilling out. They yanked hair out of her head. One of them managed to bite the front of her bra open. If she was spilling out before that... well. She clutched her hands to her completely bared breasts. I turned my head away out of basic respect. (Kat, of course, was leering.) And even as her outfit was down to its barest threads, the chickens kept ripping at her. It was only due to her own ninja scroll power that she wasn't bleeding everywhere. If she had been a regular person attacked by all those chickens, she'd be full of scratches oozing blood. As it stood, she was whimpering in pain.

"Y-you did it," she called out to me. "You used your secret ninja art. You... you beat me this time... but only because I had no idea what to expect."

As the shadowy chains dissipated and our clothing returned to normal, I noticed that everyone watching was squealing and clapping for me. Like they were proud I'd finally used my power after putting it off for so long. I didn't know why the chickenpocalypse was a power worth being proud of, but... I mean, I guessed it was. The way it completely wrecked Ikaruga when she hadn't been expecting it. Even she looked proud of me now though, now that her school uniform had reappeared and she wasn't topless in front of the class.

"That's such a cute power, you need to give it a name!" Hibari said, bouncing excitedly enough that other parts of her bounced. "Like how Haruka calls her secret power Death Kiss!" Yagyuu visibly scowled at this, the mention of some Haruka girl. With that singular red eye, and the other hidden behind an eye patch, she looked freaky as hell getting that mad. But something told me it was something related to her crush on Hibari. Maybe they fought over her...?

I wasn't sure how or why I would give my secret ninja art a name. I mean, it seemed like some of the girls called their power out when they used it, but I didn't say much. I was more likely to give a generic yell when exerting myself in battle. So I shook my head and shrugged.

Yagyuu gave me a half smile. "Yeah, that's... simultaneously funny and lethal. I like it." Her sudden approval made me shuffle my feet sheepishly. "If you do decide to call it something, you could call it... The Cluckening."

I giggled at that.

But our moment of joy was cut short by Mr. Kiryu.

"Miss Ikaruga, what did I say about that sparring match?"

"T-that... we have to use our secret ninja arts?"
"And did you?"

"...No, sir."

"And what was the consequence of that, miss Ikaruga?"

"...Detention after school to clean the classroom, sir..."

Okay, wait, what? I turned around in a huff, unable to keep my scowl away from Mr. Kiryu. How was that fair at all? The purpose of the fight was to get me to use my ninja art. Ikaruga was the one who already knew what she was doing. She was the one teaching me. It was up to me to pass or fail. She shouldn't have to get a punishment because of me.

"Yes, miss Ik—ah, is there a problem, miss Linkle?"

"AAAAAA." I couldn't exactly get out all the words, but I did have a specific thought in mind. Ikaruga shouldn't have to stay after and clean the classroom. I should do it for her. I raised my hand, as though volunteering. Mr. Kiryu looked perplexed. I bounced up and down on my feet as thought that'd further help me communicate my idea. He still looked perplexed. Tris came to the rescue.

"Are you trying to say you want to do Ikaruga's detention for her?"

"Mmm-hmm!" I nodded yes.

"Why would you want to do that?" Mr. Kiryu asked.

Unable to explain verbally, I just put my hands on my hips and gave him a grumpy look, before storming over to the closet where the cleaning supplies were kept, opening it up, and grabbing a broom. I held it like it was a weapon, like, I'm going to do her detention for her whether anyone else likes it or not, and don't you dare challenge me about it.

Mr. Kiryu shook his head.

"How do you feel about this, miss Ikaruga?"

"I'm not sure I like the idea of it. I'm the class representative, so I should be responsible for my own mistakes. I don't want others taking responsibility for me. I'd prefer to serve my own detention."

Well, too bad, because I was going to whether she liked it or not. She didn't deserve it, and I didn't care if she thought she did.

"See, miss Linkle, she would prefer—"

"Uh-uh, NO." I stomped my foot. I was going to stay late and clean the classroom whether they liked it or not. If they wanted me to leave any time between class ending and before the room was clean, they'd have to remove me by force. I went to sit down in my place again, but clung to the broom for the rest of the class, as a stubborn reminder that I refused to relent.

"You have to stop doing things for other people," Tris said, whispering to me. "I mean, you know what they say. You can't pour from an empty cup. And she doesn't even want you to do it for her."

I jabbed Tris in the shoulder with the broom.

At the end of the day, exactly what you'd expect would happen, happened. Both Ikaruga and I stayed in the room to clean it, each stubbornly refusing to leave on behalf of the other. If anyone else tried to stay in the classroom, I'd sweep at them with the soft bristles of the broom, trying to get them to leave like they were dust. I only let Tris stay in the corner because she was going to walk home with me. So now it was just me, Tris, and Ikaruga in the room.

Ikaruga shook her head at me.

"It's nice of you to volunteer to take my detention for me, Linkle, but it wasn't necessary."

I gave her a look, like, I don't care, I'm helping. Besides, since we were both doing it, the room would be clean in half the time.

"I get the feeling you do things like this a lot?" she asked.

"Now where would you get that idea?" Tris said, a laugh in her voice. "Yeah, she always wants to help people. She's a good egg like that. Needs to watch out for herself a bit more often if she's gonna succeed as a shinobi, don't you think? I mean, there are times when you have to work together as a team, but sometimes you have to just protect yourself, and it's important to know the difference."

Ikaruga nodded. "What was it you told her earlier? You can't pour from an empty cup? I like that. That's a good one."

We worked in silence for a little while after that. Well, mostly silence, because I started humming a weird tune that was in my head for some reason. Something that reminded me of horses in particular, though I wasn't sure why.

Then...

"What do you know about Gessen?" Tris asked, out of nowhere. Well, out of somewhere, but...

Ikaruga looked up. "They're a shinobi school like we are. They train good shinobi. I know some of them. Why?"

"We met a girl from there in a cafe. Apparently they have a new student too, just around the same time we were new here. Weird, right?"

"That is weird, since it is the middle of the year," Ikaruga said. "I mean, we do know them... not too long ago, we had an incident where they challenged our school to a battle, and whoever lost was supposed to have their school burnt down... yeah, I know, it sounds harsh. But it's a thing. Anyway, it turned out to be a misunderstanding, and we fought, but... both schools are still standing, obviously. We get along now."

They wanted to burn down our school?! But it was a misunderstanding? How do you have a misunderstanding that big?

I felt like it would be rude to keep asking questions. Tris didn't waste any time though.

"How about Hebijo? What do you know about them?"

"Oh... them." Ikaruga made a face. "They're bad news. They're a shinobi school too, but they train to do evil instead of good. They attacked our school too. We had to fight them off."

"Oh, shit." Tris made a face too. "Well, this is gonna sound weird, but... if they got a transfer student sometime recently, how would we find out about that?"

"I mean, I'd stay away from them if I were you. But, if you really want to know what they're up to, they usually hang out in the same downtown area the delinquents hang out in. You know, past that one park? ...But I wouldn't go there, not if I were you."

"Yeah, we're gonna have to think about it..."

But I could tell where Tris and I were going to hang out after school tomorrow. I mean, if I had anything to do with it.