Well, given that the whole mission to spy on Hebijo went to crap, it was time to move to the next phase of the plan of grasping around in the dark like a bunch of complete idiots. Which was...? I still wasn't sure. I just knew I felt uncomfortable asking everyone else to help me out all the time. This felt like something I should be doing on my own. The fact that Yomi and Haruka were risking their lives to do something that ended up not meaning anything at all... it still didn't sit right with me.

"They agreed to it of their own volition, though. If it really wasn't worth it to them, they would have said no. So you don't need to feel bad."

Thanks, Zelda, but I feel bad anyway, so there. Like, were they really doing that just because they were interested in me? That seemed like too small of a reason to do something so big.

"I think so. Besides, you don't exactly have room to talk. You have a long history of doing anything you're asked to do, for anyone who asks, regardless of the risk involved or whether or not there even is a meaningful reward."

I do? ...I mean, I guess I kinda do. I mean, the time Murasaki texted me in the middle of the night saying she needed help, I did just rush right out there determined to help her, walked right into a trap, and still was determined not to back down.

"Sometimes I marvel at your altruism, but sometimes I wonder if you get some kind of high from doing stupid things."

Hmph. I do not.

"Yes, you do. Sometimes it seems like, the stupider the thing is, the more you like it." There was a pause, a moment of blissful silence in my head. And then? "You know, like the way you feel when you get physically and verbally abused by Haruka."

Shut up. I mean, please, shut up. That was one time she called me a bad girl and I was just a little bit turned on. I wasn't even sure if I liked Haruka like that. She seemed a little bit overbearing and not the kind of person I'd really like to be with. And maybe I was a bit too traditional, but I felt like I should at least be in a relationship with someone before doing that kind of stuff with them? In any case, I somehow didn't feel like I was as pissed off at Zelda for making fun of me as I should have been.

"That's because we love each other like soul mates, even if only in a platonic sense. Well, sometimes in a platonic sense. There have definitely been times I've had romantic interest in you, but this time isn't one of them, I don't think. And that's probably a good thing. I can think of at least three girls off the top of my head who would probably slaughter me if I dated you."

Why did I feel myself blushing again? Still, it was whatever. We needed to be coming up with ideas on how to prevent little miss schoolgirl Ganondorf from getting all three pieces of the Triforce, rather than speculating on my love life. Ugh.

"Yes, that is true. I was thinking I could have some of my classmates help out this time. Yumi had a good idea earlier, that perhaps we try to lure her out, like cheese in a mouse trap. Perhaps what we ought to do, is set up a sparring match between you and some of my classmates, and try to make it look like you're losing. Like you'd be an easy target, if she could swipe in at that moment and take your scroll. But of course you wouldn't be losing. It'd just be a trap for her."

That made sense.

"Good, then. I'll tell Yumi we're using her idea. However, I'll try to avoid having her be one of your sparring partners. She's already got her own little budding thing for you, and we don't want to add another combatant to that already ongoing battle. Perhaps Minori and Murakumo would be able to be of some use?"

I wasn't sure who they were yet, but okay. I was down with anything that might help us out.

So that was how I ended up going out late at night again, heading to a park. It wasn't the same park I'd been around with the Hebijo girls, though, since these were Gessen girls, and they were in a nicer area. A wealthier, safer area. And, of course, Yumi wouldn't want them being seen in the same territory as Hebijo girls. So I had to go somewhere I was unfamiliar with. Luckily I had Zelda in my head giving me directions.

When I got there, the two Gessen girls were already waiting for me. One of them had pigtails, and was already running around in circles. The other was wearing a weird ogre mask, and was sitting on a bench sketching in a sketchbook. I approached them with a wave. The ogre mask girl put her sketchbook away into a backpack. The pigtails girl stopped running abruptly, almost falling on her face in the process.

"Hello," the ogre mask girl said, her voice eerily chilly. "I'm assuming you're Linkle, the one that our classmate Zelda told us we are to battle. My name is Murakumo, and this is another one of my classmates, Minori."

"Ooh, you're the one we get to play with?" Minori was practically jumping up and down. No, she really was jumping up and down.

"I would not call it playing." Murakumo pulled out her weapon, a spear with a twisted sharp tip that looked like it could do all sorts of damage. Then she pulled out another weapon, a huge thing that looked like a giant meat cleaver. Which one was she going to use, or was she going to use both of them? I couldn't help but swallow hard as I drew my comparatively plain and normal sword and shield. They knew this was just us pretending to fight so we could set a trap, right? Right? "I will go first."

I nodded solemnly, before preparing to lead with a spin attack. I mean, it made sense to start off with something strong, right? She came at me, wielding both weapons at once. Good thing I was already spinning toward her, or I'd be screwed. Her giant meat cleaver clashed against my sword, hard enough that it halted my spin. I stumbled, and she used that moment to come at me with her spear. I deflected it with my shield, then swung my sword at her in a simpler, less showy way. It connected. And it cut her top open, right in the front.

She wasn't even wearing a whole bra underneath. She had, like, bandages over her nipples, but that was it. And she was completely not flustered by ending up showing that much. Like, so not flustered that she didn't even flinch, and just came at me with her cleaver to cut my top open. I was sort of not flustered, like way less flustered than I would've been at the beginning of all this? But I was flustered enough to flinch. And then she came at me with the spear, slicing downward and cutting off my skirt. I was standing there in a bra and panties, pausing like an idiot for a second, before I started charging up another spin attack.

I hit her in the stomach, knocking her backward. And that was when the really creepy thing happened.

Her ogre mask flew off her face.

She was cute underneath. Like, really cute underneath. Big green eyes and all that. But, as soon as her mask was off her face, her personality did a total 180. She went from eerily stoic to... well, she was in fetal position and crying.

"I... I'm sorry... I fought too much, didn't I... and now I ruined your c-clothes... and now you have to see me like this, without my m-mask, and..."

I went over to put a hand on her shoulder to let her know I wanted to help her calm down. It didn't work. She sobbed harder.

"You don't even want to look at me, do you? I'm hideous without my mask, aren't I?"

I shook my head no, then side eyed the mask. Why did it make her all creepy like that? Was it just like her own personal security blanket, or something more... sinister? I was getting a bit of a flashback at that moment, of crap I'd dealt with in past versions of myself. An eerie mask, that caused its wearer to go from a mischievous mild nuisance, to, uh, wanting to destroy the world? Because wearing it influenced his personality so much, that... what was this mask doing to Murakumo? I had half a mind to destroy it, so I took a few steps toward it and poked at it with my sword.

"N-no! Please! Don't break my m-mask!" Murakumo jumped to her feet and dove forward to save her mask from the point of my sword. In the meantime, though, she was trying to cover her face with one hand, and her boobs with the other, like she was ashamed for me to see any part of her, even the non offensive parts. But when she grabbed the mask, she put it back on, and climbed to her feet calmly and coolly again.

"Hmph. It seems you've found my weak point. But it seems you're not entirely too strong yourself either. I've managed to do quite a bit of damage to your uniform, and you weren't able to stop me. Perhaps it should be Minori's turn to fight you next. I don't want to slaughter you too badly." And she strode back over to the bench, and pulled her sketchbook back out.

I did not like that mask.

But I didn't have much time to think about what to do about that, because Minori came charging at me next.

"My turn, my turn!" She was clapping and giggling like a little girl. "Ooh, ooh. I wanna do my transformation. You should do your transformation too, so it'll fix your clothes."

That was... a good idea. I focused my energy into my scroll, and felt my battle outfit form around me. Meanwhile, she was focusing into her scroll, and ended up in the fluffiest pastel dress I'd ever seen. And her weapon? While Murakumo had two sharp objects that did a number on me already, Minori had... a bucket.

A bucket.

She smacked me with it a few times, but it didn't do much. I felt almost bad slashing at her with my sword, cutting up her cute fluffy pastel dress and leaving her hopping around in pain.

"Ow, ow, ow! You're so not fun." She kept smacking me with her bucket, to no avail. I was going to have to tone it down to fight her, maybe. Especially since, if our plan was going to work, it had to look like I was losing. I was starting to wonder if Zelda had really briefed them on the whole thing before we started doing this.

But then she gained an edge on me I didn't expect. All of a sudden, she used her secret ninja art. Which was... pancakes. A giant pile of pancakes flew out of her bucket and landed on me, crushing me beneath their weight. And I thought my secret ninja art was a weird one.

Which gave me an idea. I should use mine.

I focused my energy into my scroll, and then... it happened, again. The chickens came from every direction, swarming the park, clucking like crazy. I tried to mentally will them to descend on Minori, but they had other plans. They descended upon the pancakes instead, eagerly devouring the huge mass of carbs that was pinning me to the ground. It was kind of relieving, though, because then I was able to get up.

However, they didn't stop pecking at that spot just because they'd eaten all the pancakes. Instead, they were pecking at me. I was completely covered in them, and they were tearing my battle outfit to absolute shreds. Really? They were supposed to be my chickens. I dared not slash at them with my sword, knowing somehow that it'd just make them angrier, but I yelled out in frustration, causing them all to flee. Once again, I was standing in the middle of the park in my bra and panties.

"You got squished," Minori said, speaking in the blunt way small children do, which was weird because she was the same age as the rest of us.

I nodded. I did indeed get squished.

"Are we done playing?" she asked.

I nodded. I was tired of getting my ass beat. I mean, I was sure I could take these girls out if it really came down to it, but they were supposed to be allies, so I held back. And holding back got my clothes ruined twice.

You'd think that'd make our plan work. Ganondorf would somehow know I was getting my ass beat, feeling the power of my Triforce piece resonate with my weakened state, and would be tempted to swoop in and try to take it. But that didn't happen. Nothing happened. I just stood there, while Murakumo continued to work on her sketching, and Minori sighed.

"Now I'm bored."

"Perhaps we should return home," Murakumo said. "I'm sorry this plan did not turn out quite as we'd hoped."

I nodded yet again, forcing a grin to at least thank them for their time. And with that, they headed one way, while I headed another, still walking down the street in bra and panties, holding a sword. I sighed deeply. This hadn't worked, and... the thought of Murakumo's mask was still creeping me out. I wished I could have destroyed it, to protect her from it, but would she have understood? Probably not.

Later that night, I messaged Murasaki, like it turned out I did a lot before I went to sleep. Which, I was starting to wonder if that meant something? But... ugh, whatever.

"did ur plan work?" she messaged me.

"No," I messaged back. "I got my ass handed to me, but half of that was because I wasn't really trying. I'm not good at pretend fighting with allies. I'm good at fighting for real, but I guess it's either all or nothing."

"weren't u supposed to lose tho?"

"Yeah, but... it didn't work like a trap like we were hoping it would."

"aw. i hope what u do next works better."

"Maybe next time you should help us? Like, you're classmates with Ganondorf. If you told her you found out I was going to be sparring with someone at a certain location at a certain time, she might be more likely to go there to go after me."
"not sure if it would work. i think she knows i like u." Then another message popped up rapidly after that. "i mean she knows we're friends?" And another. "u know wat i mean rite?" And another. "i'm not being creepy rite?"

"You're not being creepy. I like you a lot too." Even though I wasn't sure how, exactly? "Well, think about it. Maybe she'll be dumb enough to fall for it? I'm not sure what we're going to do next, but I'll keep you updated. Going to bed now, though. Good night."

"good nite."

And I fell asleep curled up in a weird little ball with my face in my hands. Like, really. I wished I could ask for clarification on what she meant by liking me. Did she immediately backpedal on saying she "liked" me because she only thought of me as a friend, or was it because she really did think of me as more than a friend and felt embarrassed by it? Ugh. This stuff is so complicated.

Training to be a shinobi. Protecting the sacred power of the Triforce. And dealing with cute girls. All of it. Complicated.