(A new distortion. A new fate lingering towards us. Let us see where this one shall lead us shall we?)
Bold = English Conversations
Bold + Italics = Japanese Conversations
Distortion 18
The Otsunian winter is the first thing any person had to get used to. Being positioned lower to the Akitsu Ko cauldron, Otsu benefited a bit from the cauldron's weather control properties but was still relatively cold. So when Ko's weather control system went down, while Akitsu Ko became a blizzard, Otsu barely managed to contain the snow storm that was ravaging the city. One of those ways was through the use of much older ars magus heaters that were often spread throughout a city before the weather control system's introduction.
And this is where Makoto was standing at, warming her face and body as she stood in front of the old machine, trying to desperately melt as much of the ice around her as possible as the plane had landed her in Vlad's territory of Otsu, a military base primarily made out of tents and simple constructed buildings that was repurposed to be made livable by a larger population. This was where most Otsunians had managed to retreat to with some others choosing to remain in the city to defend the town from there.
"Glad to see you are doing alright comrade Nanaya!" Vlad said, his smile as warm as the heater was as she was simply confused as to how a buff large man like him was able to not wear that many layer of clothes despite the fact that a muscular individual like him should have been more vulnerable to the cold. "I am doing fine Vlad. Thanks for the warm hospitality." Makoto simply replied as she kept her thought of Vlad just being built for the cold to her mind as she followed him to where the Otsu four had managed to set up their own main base.
"As you have asked of us, we have been doing some digging into this Tsubaki Yayoi person and you will be happy to know that she's still around here thankfully. The leak we did of you still being around here made her stay put instead of taking off like you had hoped." Vlad said, giving Makoto some relief as she had hoped by leaking her intentions of returning to Otsu to help out, she would be able to keep Tsubaki grounded in Otsu instead of going all around the world again and possibly running into Hunter and Noel in the process.
"We also did some background checks into the Yayoi family and have sent the files to your personal device. Everything you need to know from the family's history to the Izayoi itself is there for you to read once you settle in." Vlad continued as Makoto smiled. "Thanks Vlad. But I don't really plan on settling for too long. Got to keep moving to make sure nothing bad happens to her you know." Makoto said as Vlad scratched his head.
"Still sticking your neck out for someone in the NOL… Even with a death warrant on your head it's good to know that death is nothing that holds you back." Vlad said as he gave her a firm smack on the back as Makoto rubbed her back a bit, biting her lips as she wanted to say that she had no choice on the matter, that she couldn't afford to fear death in the first place because she was marked for death by the world itself but maybe sounding like a crazy person isn't such a good idea in the first place.
"Well as they would say… Fuck trying to be subtle for once. If you want something you got to go for the balls." Makoto said, remembering a line from a movie she once watched but not exactly the lines said by said person when she explained it. Vlad laughed at her sentence before patting her back even harder. "Good words to go by Comrade Nanaya! Now go and help yourself inside with the others! I got to help get ready the men for more battle!" Vlad said with eagerness on his face as he ran back to his men to help get them ready for further NOL attacks.
"There goes Vlad again. Eager to get back into the action." A voice said from the door as Makoto turned to see it was Sofia who had slightly opened the door open, most likely having heard Vlad's voice as Makoto simply nodded her head at that. "I wish the big man would slow down sometimes you know. Take it easy and not rush everywhere." Sofia said, expressing her thoughts openly as Makoto couldn't help but smile at that.
"What you care for him little missy?" Makoto teased as Sofia pouted her lips a bit. "He and my old man were good friends and whenever we needed help he was there to help. I would like to spend more time with him but with this whole mess with Otsu and being the head of the mafia, that's hard right now." Sofia expressed, Makoto knowing that this had nothing to do with her current objective but decided to let her vent a bit, as a way of letting Sofia get out some frustrations out of her mind.
"But that is something you don't need to know about. You may be a citizen of Otsu but you're not a part of my damn crew nor a shrink. So you can fuck off if you think that I will tell you all of my troubles right now." Sofia said as Makoto couldn't help but smirk a bit at the sass this little girl was giving her. "Alright alright Sofia. But just so you know. I was already ready to be business when you started to say all of that stuff so that is on you." Makoto teased back as Sofia simply shook her head before giving her the middle finger. This made Makoto scratch her head as she and Sofia entered the building to escape the cold air biting at them.
"So what's the rough news in Otsu right now? Have the NOL been making their move?" Makoto questioned as the two walked down the hallway leading to the room that the heads had been using to hold their discussions. "Well… the interesting thing we found out is why they need to be here in Otsu in the first place." Sofia said as she opened the door and allowed Makoto into the room. The room itself was rather neatly assembled despite being hastily put together.
On the massive circular table was an ars magus projector projecting the map of Otsu itself and the various levels that made up the free Hierarchical city. Tetsu and Zhang Pi were going through their respective notes, discussing their various duties and how they had been coming along. "You know. You deciding to return as quickly as you had left really did mess up certain plans we had." Tetsu sternly said as Makoto simply remained quite and allowed the man to speak as he stood up and approached her.
"Normally if you were one of my man. I would demand that your pinky finger… but seeing as you decided to return quickly and there is a clear objective in your mind you have other plans right now." Tetsu said as Makoto simply nodded her head at that. "I know that I caused you trouble and I apologize for that. But there is someone I need to see back at the NOL and I need to convince her to stop." Makoto explained.
"You mean that Tsubaki Yayoi girl? The daughter of the Yayoi household and part of the Zero Squadron? Something tells me that you have gotten yourself into more trouble than we had originally thought." Zhang Pi said, raising her own set of suspicions as Makoto simply nodded her head. "I understand if you think I am bullshitting you right now. But the truth of the matter is her life is in danger right now and I couldn't risk standing by where I was and not trying to do anything about it. I'll take any punishment you guys think is fit for me if it means securing your cooperation." Makoto continued as Tetsu simply remained quiet before pulling out a small tanto and tossing it to the ground.
Tetsu didn't say a word as he simply glared at the squirrel beastkin as she stared at the blade that was on the ground and knew what that meant. Without hesitating, she grabbed the knife and held out her remaining hand, exposing her pinky finger as she aimed the blade carefully towards where the bones were and took a deep breath. She was ready to sever her own finger without a second thought when Tetsu grabbed her arm.
"I have seen enough. We will help you." Tetsu calmly said before taking the tanto back from Makoto. She breathed as sigh of relief as Zhang Pi simply smiled. Tetsu was simply testing the beastkin girl's resolve and she couldn't help but smile at Makoto's eagerness to do what was needed. 'That friend of yours better be grateful for you being such a good friend. Nobody would sacrifice what little of their body for someone like you Tsubaki Yayoi.' Zhang Pi thought as Makoto was escorted to her seat where Sofia gave her a nice glass of whiskey to drink.
"Some alcohol should help take the edge you must be feeling right now. Drink." Sofia said as Makoto stared at the whiskey, unsure if she should really be getting a bit tipsy but decided to just accept Sofia's offer and sipped the glass of whiskey slowly as to enjoy it. "We have managed to find your friend. And you are not going to like where she's at right now." Sofia explained as Makoto nodded her head at that.
"Right now, the NOL has managed to take mostly the airspace and the city center of Otsu. They are trying to get to the other parts but other than being heavily guarded by our troops, we have managed to keep them primarily at the city center and airport." Sofia continued as Tetsu and Zhang Pi began to tap on the projection to show more of what was going on at the city to Makoto. "As you can see here, we are right here at the outskirts. Our gangs are positioned around the city center and Airport and the NOL have set up checkpoints over here." Zhang Pi pointed out as Makoto stood up.
"Have they tried to push against you guys to take more territory?" Makoto explained as Tetsu shook his head. "Not really but it is to be expected, we have cut them off their main forces and they have to rely on air space to bring in more troops. So for the time being they seemed to have shifted their focus onto securing their checkpoints rather than try to take more of our territory." Tetsu pointed out as Makoto nodded her head as she noticed something interesting at the city center.
"Isn't that the NOL office building that acted as the NOL's home base until they were driven out?" Makoto pointed out as she couldn't help but realize what the building had become. It seemed that the NOL were able to bring the old building back to life, having set up their forces once more on the base. "Indeed. With the city center secured, they can officially reuse their office building as a staging point. We made sure to strip the whole place of anything the could have used but the power source runs on it's own separate system from Otsu's own grid." Zhang Pi continued
"But that is not the concerning part for me. The NOL has both Tsubaki Yayoi and Meifang Lapislazuli in their ranks. If they wanted to, they could have just sent a force consisting of those two and a couple of their own troops to support them to take more territory from us yet they are choosing to remain behind and stay at the NOL Building. And I think I may have a theory why." Tetsu said as the door opened, revealing it to be Vlad.
"May I take over for this part Comrade?" Vlad questioned as Tetsu simply nodded his head, deciding to let the one who has experience leading actual forces against various troops explain what is going on. "We did some digging on that base and found out that deep down, that NOL base like most other NOL headquarters has a cauldron underneath it." Vlad explained, causing Makoto's eyes to widen in shock of what she was hearing.
"A cauldron? Here in Otsu!? I mean… I wouldn't be surprised but how does nobody know about it's existence!?" Makoto said as the fact that an NOL base would have a cauldron underneath was nothing new, the fact that Otsu had a cauldron that nobody seemed to be aware off was what alarmed her. "There are at least 2 main factors as to why we didn't know until now. The first being the NOL destroyed any info about the Otsu headquarters and locked up the important facilities when they were leaving with sealing ars magus only their men can access. The other was the fact that the room holding the cauldron had high levels of Seithr concentration there." Vlad explained.
"And that level of Seithr concentration was enough to completely clog up any sensors trying to detect for stuff. Like a massive cauldron." Makoto theorized as Vlad nodded his head. "Whatever it is, we can't let them activate that cauldron. We can't afford to have the NOL flood the city with even more Seithr. We are already near the sea of Seithr. Any more and the whole town will be lost to Seithr." Vlad explained as Makoto bit her lips.
"We can't have anybody getting caught in that scenario if the NOL do decide to activate the cauldron. Have you guys managed to evacuate the civilians out of Otsu just in case?" Makoto questioned as the Otsu four scratched their heads a bit. "Nobody wants to leave Otsu Miss Nanaya. We have nowhere else to go at this point." Zhang Pi explained as Makoto was about to ask why before she caught herself about to ask a stupid question, understand why they wouldn't be able to ask for help in the first place.
"Because Otsu is their only home left and going back to the Hierarchical cities with their criminal pasts is a no go." Makoto said as the heads simply nodded their heads. "Regardless of whether or not the people of Otsu can adapt to living in NOL society. Nobody here in Otsu wishes to do so in the first place. This is the place where they want to make their living in, we must protect this place from anybody who wishes to trample upon that way of life." Sofia said, expressing her own feelings to the situation as Vlad patted Sofia's back before drinking a glass of whiskey she had prepared for him.
"Which is why we must go into the offensive and take back that NOL center before the NOL have any ideas of turning on the damn Cauldron." Vlad explained as Makoto scratched her head. "Now that I think about it, we don't know how cauldrons are turned on in the first place. Nor do we know how to fix one. Do you know how they might be able to do so?" Makoto asked as Tetsu simply nodded his head. "We do in fact. It involves a colonel who is an expert of this weird stuff." Tetsu said as Makoto's face paled a bit before she said her next words.
Makoto: Is that Colonel in question Colonel Relius Clover?
Tetsu: Why yes that is correct. You familiar with the man?
Makoto: Familiar? I just wish I can get that scumbag out of my life. He keeps on messing with me whenever he gets the chance and I really want him off my back… in more ways than one.
Zhang Pi: That's rough
Makoto: Don't worry. I'm used to dealing with the guy somewhat. If he's involved in all of this then that's no good. We got to work fast on this
Vlad: And work fast is what we plan to do. So I hope you are ready for the crazy plan we have Comrade Nanaya.
"Let me guess. It's going to involve us charging in and trying to overwhelm the NOL and force them back to the airport?" Makoto suggested as the Otsu four couldn't help but laugh a bit before noticing that Makoto had a semi serious look on her face. "For once. That is not really the plan. We want to go in to the NOL base ourselves and gain access to that cauldron." Vlad said as Makoto couldn't help but think about what Vlad had just said before realizing what he was thinking.
"You are thinking about trying to ransom off a cauldron of all things to the NOL to try and get them out of Otsu?" Makoto questioned as Vlad snapped his fingers and hugged Makoto at that moment. "I knew you would get what we are trying to do here Comrade Nanaya!" Vlad said as Makoto scratched her head over the plan. "So how does one exactly ransom away what is essentially an ancient power source that everyone would kill for? And how would that work in the first place." Makoto said as Vlad grinned.
"Those details… Zhang Pi can handle them. The more important part is for us to get those NOL troops away from the base and spread them thin enough that we would have a shot of our plan working in the first place." Vlad said with a casual sense as Makoto couldn't help but sweat hearing that casual way of speaking about such steps. "Vlad's right. I can handle the ransom part. Talking and scouting is more of my specialty. The more important thing is our plan gives you the chance to meet with your friend in circumstances that don't involve Armed NOL troops surrounding you." Zhang Pi continued.
Makoto couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at that as the last thing she wanted was to deal with an army of NOL soldiers eager to either kill or arrest her for being a traitor to the NOL. If she had Tsubaki and only Tsubaki to focus on, she would gladly take that over an army any day. "So how are we going to be doing that? I would like to be put up to speed as well you know." Makoto asked as she was anxious and eager to get moving.
"Good to see you are eager to get moving as much as I want to. Unfortunately the other heads are saying they are waiting for the right time to do so." Sofia said, expressing the same urgency of wanting to move if they had the plan ready from the get go as Makoto looked at the other heads in question, wondering what their game plan is. "Don't get me wrong. We would move immediately if we could. The thing is, it's a one time deal. If we do this, we are committing to it to the very end. We won't be able to pull back at any moment." Zhang Pi said
"So that's why you aren't ready to tell me the plan huh… You're trying to make sure you don't fuck it up in the process." Makoto said as Tetsu simply nodded his head. "I refuse to accept a plan not forged out of steel. If we commit to something, we must commit fully and not half hearted." Tetsu expressed as Vlad for once looked more serious other than his jovial state. "We are fighting for our people's right to live at the end of the day. The moment we fail, the NOL will round them up and throw their asses back into the NOL prison system. Most of them cannot even survive such a place and parents would be separated from their kids. This is something we truly cannot take lightly for once."
Makoto couldn't help but be a bit quiet as her eyes landed towards the projection of the Otsu NOL headquaters and what she wanted to do. She wanted to not only help Tsubaki out of her troubles but also to try and find clues about her own situation. She needed to keep moving, and never stop moving until the day she truly dies or she manages to reach her destination. "In that case. I am alright with you wanting to keep things to the chest until you are ready… but for the day itself. May I go down to the cauldron to see for myself if you don't mind?" Makoto questioned as this raised the interests of the Otsunian heads.
"And may I ask for all of us, the reason as to why you are interested in such things Makoto Nanaya?" Tetsu questioned as Makoto thought about it before deciding to answer in a way that was both truthful but doesn't reveal too much. "I think that the cauldron should be low enough ground that I should be able to get Tsubaki away from most of the NOL troops and allow you guys to isolate us from the outside world. I also have a bit of an interest in the Cauldron itself and think it would be a good idea to get some images about it that are separate from NOL intelligence." Makoto explained.
The heads listened to her words before gathering among themselves to discuss further. "Do you guys think that what she is suggesting is a good idea?" Sofia pondered as Zhang Pi could see the benefits. "She is not wrong about what she said. By isolating her and Miss Yayoi further we give ourselves more space to work with before the NOL try to push us back and a better chance of causing chaos." Zhang Pi suggested.
"But it also means that when it is time for us to leave, depending on how successful Makoto Nanaya is convincing her friend, we will either have an easier or harder time trying to extract her out. Information about what the cauldron may look like or what is inside it won't matter if we end up pinned at two sides." Tetsu countered as Sofia looked at Vlad, the man experienced with such things in the first place as he tapped his fingers on the table, formulating the plan on his head.
"So what are you thinking big man? Does Makoto's suggestion make any sense to that brain of yours?" Sofia asked as she knew if there was someone who she could trust to decide what they should do. It was the normally drunk Russian man her father was a close contact of and was secretly one of the more serious individuals who knew what he was talking about. Vlad turned his massive frame towards Makoto and took a deep breath before voicing out his thoughts.
"I think your plan is sound Miss Nanaya. But if we are going to follow said plan, you got to be able to follow a strict timeline. We cannot stay for too long and if we have to leave you we will leave you. You understand what I am saying right?" Vlad asked as Makoto could understand what he meant and knew to say it. "That means that if I fuck up, you will treat me as gone and leave me behind so that the rest of you guys can still finish what needs to be done… So in other words, I am going in on what is essentially a suicide mission." Makoto concluded as she processed the choice in front of her at that very moment.
"I'll accept the conditions. You are watching out for the interests of your people. I won't be a dead weight holding you guys back." Makoto replied as the heads looked at each other, staring Makoto down as they could see the dead serious look in her eyes as they nodded their heads. "Then you best get to the quarters we have prepared for you to get ready. That plane ride away from Yabiko has to have you a bit drained and we don't want you being tired on us." Tetsu theorized as Vlad grabbed a large orange coat and tossed it towards Makoto's direction.
"The coat may be a bit too big for a lady like you. But any coat to shield you from this cold weather is better than nothing right? Besides I doubt that tail of yours will be able to keep you fully warm now." Vlad said, giving a soft smile as Makoto simply nodded her head and slowly put on the coat. "We will bring your portion of the food later on. Eat up and rest up well Makoto. When we move, we will move quickly so make sure your final rites are all prepared." Zhang Pi said.
"Don't worry about my final rites you guys. I've already read them a long time ago and trust me when I say this. I am really ready for what has in store for me this time." Makoto said as she left the room once she put on her jacket. As soon as their friend left the room, the leaders couldn't help but look at each other and wonder about the mental stability of their friend. "The woman seems to be pushing herself much harder than it appears." Sofia noted as Vlad nodded his head.
"That may be true, but she's willing to push through whatever is going on with her life. If we try to hamper her or get in her way, she will definitely get in our way." Vlad said as Tetsu crossed his arms. "Are you trying to suggest that Makoto Nanaya is going to be a danger to our operation ahead?" Tetsu suggested as Vlad shook his head. "I am saying that we better not get in her way and let her handle whatever is going on with her right now. It's not normal to be after an NOL official unless something really bad is happening. Don't ask, just my instincts here." Vlad replied as Sofia sighed.
"You and those instincts of yours. Fine. I'll trust the same instincts my father once trusted." Sofia said as she poured for herself another glass of whiskey as Vlad raised his glass, beckoning for the girl to pour for him another glass. "In that case, if Sofia trusts you, I will do the same." Tetsu said as Zhang Pi simply smiled and slid her own empty glass for Sofia to pour as Tetsu took out a cup of sake for him to drink as the four heads picked up their glasses and looked at each other before raising them in the air and downing their respective choice of drinks.
...Preparing themselves for what felt was going to be Otsu's biggest battle yet.
As soon as Makoto entered her temporary quarters, she felt a wave of tiredness suddenly hit her. Taking off her newly gifted coat and tossing it to the table, Makoto allowed her body to crash down on the hard mattress as she turned to face the ceiling of the room. Her eyes drifted a bit as she looked around her surroundings to get a good bearing of where she was and what she was doing. Here she was, in the middle of a civil war just to try and rescue her friend all while trying to save her own boyfriend in this whole mess.
"God why does life have to be so god damn messy right now… oh wait." Makoto sarcastically said as she looked at the desk which contained the information that the Otsu four heads had explained they have managed to gather as she decided that she would go through them later on. Feeling a strange sense of tiredness hit her as she thought about what she heard the Otsu four had just told her. From how the NOL have managed to secure their old base to the fact that the NOL had secretly hid a cauldron underneath their own base.
"Everywhere I go, cauldrons seem to pop out everywhere. A cauldron in Ibukido sent me into another dimension. A cauldron in Kagutsuchi kidnapped my boyfriend and is currently holding him hostage in erased jail. A cauldron is where I had the displeasure of reuniting with Relius Clover and now a damn cauldron is where I am going to meet Tsubaki again. Just my damn luck." Makoto sweared as she couldn't help but curse her bad luck as she couldn't help but begin to recall the dream she had.
"That woman… she was working somewhere too… Could it be?.." Makoto tried to piece things in her head before she shook her head. Distracting herself with all of these thoughts was not going to help her actually save Tsubaki or even Sora in this case as she worked. "Don't get bogged down by your latest fever dream Makoto Nanaya. You need to focus on what is coming ahead. Not what you experienced in your dreams." Makoto said to herself as she tried to pump herself for the rescue mission that was ahead of her.
"Just focus on Tsubaki… not on your slowly crumbling life, nor the people that are trying to kill you right now. Or the god that kidnapped your boyfriend or the cauldrons. Especially the god damn cauldrons." Makoto said, resting her head on the pillow as she took a few deep breathes, feeling her body get a bit tired as she realized the words that Vlad spoke were true. Nothing would be accomplished if she was too exhausted to do anything.
Makoto closed her eyes, trying to let the silence of the room lull her into a small respite as she tried to mentally prepare herself for her hardest challenge yet. Despite this however a small voice continued to ring on her mind. The dream she had before, the mystery woman who had Sora's white hair and yellow eyes? The room she was in and how she was somehow related with the great sage Nine. Why did she even dream of such things in the first place? They were not her memories so why did she get a glimpse of a person that she knew nothing about.
"...Form the contract… Make us whole." Makoto subconsciously muttered. What contract was there to be made? What did she need to make whole? Why did she dream of another person who she suspects could have been another Continuum Error like Sora. Why did she have Sora's hair and eyes? The more Makoto questioned, the more Makoto found it difficult to fall into any kind of rest as she sat up and looked out at the window.
Now that she had this private time to herself, all she could think about was how for the past few months, her relatively normal life at this point was thrown upside down. A quiet moment of reflection was needed for Makoto to process the crazy series of events so far but there was one thing that was painfully clear to her and it was this. She was never going back to the boring mundane and slight depressing life she once lived because if there was one thing she was certain of and it was this.
… Makoto Nanaya herself had changed… for better or worse is up for her to decide…
GREETINGS LOST SHEEP OF FANFICTION!? HOW IS EVERYONE DOING ON THIS FINE DAY! Well as for me, things are going fine where I am in life right now. Just trying to live everyday one step at a time without going insane here. To those who are currently forced to stay at home, I will simply say that if you have a way of going outside, go outside for a few minutes a day. Your body may be lacking Vitamin D and if you do feel a bit of depression, sometimes all you need is the sun to fix that. But if that doesn't work, always seek help whether it be through a support group or a therapist. Any help is better than no help but just make sure it's help that you need not depend.
SO WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TO OUR HERO!? WHAT IS GOING TO BE THE FATE OF OTSU!? HOW WILL EVERYONE REACT TO THE RESULTS THAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT!? WHAT ABOUT MAKOTO AND HER STAKES IN ALL OF THIS!? WILL SHE BE ABLE TO REACH TSUBAKI WITH HER VOICE OR WILL SHE SUFFER A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH!? FINALLY WHAT ABOUT THE THOUGHTS THAT REMAINED IN HER HEAD!? All this and more will be answered when the next distortion forms.