A/N: Hot off the presses.
Lockdown
Part I
3:33:33…3:33:32…3:33:31…
Water clicked at the trio's heels as they tread deeper into the mysterious darkness awaiting them ahead. The farther they went, the more dilapidated the building became. Mildewing moisture smothered the atmosphere, all the while moldy floorboards squished with each soggy step they took.
Kazehana's stomach had been growling earlier; she hadn't eaten at all during her capture, but that soon went away as the rancid odor crept it way into her nostrils. Not even her deistic grip over the air could keep it from seeping into her brain. It was too strong.
"So let me clarify…" Kazehana coughed as she massaged the deep laceration on her arm. The pain wasn't an issue for her, but a spell of numbness crept over the nerves every now and then. "we have all been kidnapped by a multi-talented serial killer who likes to play games with people's lives, and for shits and giggles forced you two to work together in order to save everybody?…"
"That's the gist of it, yes." Minato sighed, holding her close by the waist. He coughed as well.
Benitsubasa kept ahead of them by a couple yards. Given their luck, one of those pigheads was bound to show up again, and she wanted nothing more than to make 'em squeal for mercy with the new toy she yanked from their previous game. It didn't need to be the 'muscle' per-se; She just needed to crack open someone's skull to blow off steam.
She took a quick glance back at the reunited Ashikabi and Sekirei as their conversation progressed, gravity of her curiosity coaxing her pupils down to their entangling fingers. Their words became drowned out by the envy expanding in her belly, forcing her to turn her slightly watering eyes away and clamp them shut. She thought of Natsuo, how she longed for his touch and approval. But cold indifference was all she would receive. What made the blowhard cling to that weakling so easily? And why was he so receptive to it while Natsuo wasn't?!
She did everything for her Ashikabi; EVERYTHING! Every order he gave she carried out as if her very fucking life depended on it! Yeah, he had a rather questionable affinity for the same gender, but…not even a hug? A fist-bump?...spank on the ass? ANYTHING?! What made it so easy for Kazehana? Her tits, probably…
'Fuckin' bimbo.' Saliva bubbled in her grinding teeth as she thought about it more.
Just look at her, bouncing with every confident step...
Granted she didn't look too confident now with all those wounds, but the memory of their last encounter peeled over their current predicament. She tossed her and Haihane to the sky like they were mere bugs to be crushed amongst rocks with no less than the flick of her wrist…and kiss of her Ashikabi…
Squeezing her fist to the point where she could smash a pumpkin, she held it to her chest and whispered. "Despite all my rage, I'm still just a rat in a cage."
Minato overheard her. "What was that, Benitsu?"
"I-it was nothing." She said, marching with both hands behind her head. "Mind your own business. I'm just muttering to myself out of boredom, hoping one of those pigheads come a marchin' by so I can beat em to a pulp."
"Don't say that!" Minato yelled. "You might jinx us!"
She went back to thinking. The more she thought about it, however, the more she realized this was her chance…Natsuo's life it was up to HER to save him! If anything could get the man's attention, saving him from being ripped in half would most certainly be it! And in his current malnourished state, she'd need to watch over him 24/7… she would need to feed him! Wipe his mouth with a napkin if he spat anything back up- she would be touching his mouth! Maybe he'd even let her lick the remnants from his lips…an excuse to kiss him! Her heart tightly contracted as the vessels in her head sucked away the life fluid till her cheeks glowed bright red.
She felt a light tap on her shoulder. Benitsu took a startled glance. It was Kazehana.
She yelped. There she was, just a nose tip away from hers.
"And what might I ask has you all hot and bothered this wondrous evening?"
She jerked her head away, not realizing she was blushing ridiculously. "N-nothing…just thinking how much I'd love to get my hands on-"
"Your Ashikabi?"
"N-no!" she spat.
She wasn't fooling anybody. "You know, while you strafing along ahead of us fantasizing about him, Minato was giving me a rundown of everything. Word of advice; don't think that if we get out of this alive, your Ashikabi is going to all of a sudden convert to hetero and fall head-over-heels for you."
"Now what's that supposed to mean?!" she scowled. "And how the hell would you know anything about him?!"
"I'm well aware of your Ashikabi's… preferences; Matsu provided me and the others with quite a bit of information regarding our opposition, especially the Discipline Squad. It's wise to know the enemy better than your own friends." She said. "I can see it in your eyes, your expectations. You think that you'll fly the coop with Natsuo, he'll fall in love with you after you become his knight in shining armor and you'll live happily ever after. Don't count on it."
The Red Sekirei clenched her fists harder. Her voice became stone cold and monotonic. "S-Shut your fucking mouth about Natsuo at once…"
Kazehana's eyes pinched into a squint. "Listen closely, Pinkie Pie, I'm only telling you for your own good. I am in your debt. As disingenuous as it may or may not have been, you still saved my Ashikabi's life."
"Disingenuous?! He saved my life, so I saved his! Now we're even. It was a tradeoff of sorts…"
"Yes, but the situation calls for it. Don't blame me for being doubtful once we reach the end; where nothing is stopping you from finishing what you started on the bridge those many months ago."
"What I started? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it your twerp Ashikabi's kindness that got him into that mess in the first place?"
"You mean the same kindness that kept you from being liquefied from the inside out?" she reminded her.
Benitsu grumbled.
"Like I said, he told me everything."
'You're treading thin ice don't you think, Kazehana?' the ronin thought. However, he couldn't help but agree with her. 'She has a good point though…'
Kazehana flicked back her long bangs then spoke. "Now that I think about it, Minato has done more for you in this last hour than that Ashikabi of yours has done for you since you met him." She chuckled, brushing away some dark strands from her eyes. "The man you tried to kill has more compassion for you than the one you love; fufu, my, how ironic."
"Shut. Up." A fierce glare met Kazehana's gaze. "I'm going to do more for Natsuo than anyone else in his life has ever done; including that dead boyfriend of his he can't seem to get over!"
"The love in your heart is strong, Benitsubasa; that makes it all the more tragic when it just isn't enough." she said, wallowing for a moment on Minaka.
Benitsu groaned, and after a spell of silence, sighed. "So long as I have his acceptance, that would be all I need to feel accomplished…"
"Those words are artificial; you know that's not true," she argued, taking the Red Sekirei off guard. "The fact is you want much more than that, and anything less is failure. You may not admit it, but you don't have to; I can see it just like I can see myself in a reflection. Those eyes remind me so much of myself when I wanted to become one with the game master."
"It will be enough...Mark. My. Words. Oh," she paused, halting her steps. "and if you call me 'Pinkie Pie' again, I'll mark your face along with them. This conversation is over."
"Only number one or the game master can talk to me like that, so I suggest you keep that sharp tongue of yours on a leash, Miss Daisy clips."
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Benitsu's pupils broiled like pitchforks glazed in hellfire.
"It wasn't 'Pinkie Pie', if that's what you think," she said, playfully sticking out her tongue.
Benitsu's face was now boiling redder than a lobster's armor.
Despite the danger, Minato dove between the two as lightning connected their eyes and took the initiative. "Alright, enough. We're obviously not getting anywhere with this conversation, so can we please change the subject?"
"Here's an idea, pipsqueak, why not ask Miss Blow-Blow-Blow your boat if she remembers anything from before she woke up? Like if she can recall how she and your other concubines were snatched away?"
"Wow, good idea, Benitsu…" He said, surprised by how he didn't think of that. "Do you remember anything, Kazehana?"
"Now that you mention it, I do recall something now that my head has cleared up somewhat. But bear with me, this may or may not be the booze talking…"
"It's okay, take your time. If it helps, can you recall in what order everyone including yourself went missing?"
"That's one thing I know for sure, you see, were weren't picked off one by one like you would expect…we were all abducted at once at the same time and place…"
Minato staggered back. "What?!"
Benitsu was just as surprised. "You can't be serious!"
"I am." She stared at her feet. "All of us, including the landlady, swiped out from under the roof of Maison Isumo."
Benitsubasa scoffed. "Okay, this HAS to be the booze talking…"
"Let her explain, Benitsu." Minato urged.
XXX-FLASHBACK-XXX
5 Days Prior to Minato's Trials…
Branching thunder weaved through the dark zephyrs like an expanding spider web ripping through the sky as hail cascaded upon Maison Isumo.
For the first time in...well, ever, the silence around the dinner table at Izumo Inn was not caused by the dreaded scary mask Miya used to get her way all the time.
It had been an awkward week; earlier in the day everyone including the landlady had been called in for questioning by MBI's top ranking P.I. Saito Fukushima, whom was investigating a string of gruesome murders revolving around individuals linked to the Sekirei Plan; Ashikabi or otherwise.
Many had gone missing, Minato was among them, and those who were found were either stains being scraped off of crime scenes or traumatized to the point of unresponsiveness. Even their good friends Hikari and Hibiki, along with their own Ashikabi were victimized in this brutal string of cruelty according to the detective.
Musubi went straight to the hospital Hibiki was located at to be emotional support and arrived home no less than thirty minutes ago. The tale she told about her struggle with her sister, how she could do nothing to help… It only served to keep her eyes afloat in sorrow. Every few minutes or so, a tear would squeeze through. Not since Uzume's termination did she feel so useless.
That being the case, the overall mood had been dreary and lacking hope. Tsukiumi finished her meal early and headed upstairs without a word most likely to bang on Matsu's door again for the umpteenth time just to get no answer, and Kazehana had been gone since noon, probably to get loaded on one of those tall unfinished skyscrapers she fancies so much. Her absence did not cause any worry: she was one of the strongest Sekirei in the Plan, and could easily handle herself even without her Norito active.
Minato was absent, with everyone worried for his safety, and Kusano, the once shining light of the inn, had been mercilessly cut down by the cruel blade of Miya's long-time nemesis and Musubi's supposed best friend. Musubi had always known what Karasuba was, but she had clung to the hope that, deep down, Karasuba yearned for love, and thus, saw it as her duty to teach her friend the meaning of the world's most powerful emotion.
She knew better now, and she needed to pay.
The terror and shock on everyone's faces when the little plant girl died, especially Minato's, blitzed through her mind constantly, as did it with everyone else. This was not helped by the fact that he was nowhere to be found. He was alive, of that they were sure given how they themselves still drew breath, and that brought them some comfort, but as long as he was away from them, they feared for his well-being.
Matsu hadn't left her room since Minato went missing last week, most likely to keep focused on trying to find him 24/7. She had the skills to hack into every mainframe, security cam, and top-secret network in the world and enslave them to scour the globe for any shred of evidence leading to his whereabouts, but nothing had come up. Or at least Matsu would have poked her head out of her damn room and said something if it had.
Miya lightly picked at her small plate of rice with her chopsticks and ate some of the grain-based food. Delicious as usual, but she could not savor the taste of her culinary genius. Musubi, despite her reputation as a notorious glutton, had not even touched her food, the worry making her appetite non-existent. It had inflicted great pain on them all, but she felt the worst...except perhaps Miya herself, whom inwardly cursed herself for not having removed that she-demon's head years ago and feeding it to her pet mask when she had the chance. Well, she would remedy that soon enough.
The Black Sekirei would pay for her unspeakable sins; that Miya swore.
The door slid open, and Kazehana stumbled in, throttling the goose neck of an almost empty sake bottle. The stench of alcohol wafted off her voluptuous body. She was soaking wet head to toe from the storm outside, and trailing a puddle into the kitchen. No one said a word about her condition or even bothered to greet her. No one was in the mood to talk for the longest time. Without Minato, their world was embroidered by nothing but opaque shades of grey, their only hope of color splashing back taken right from under their noses.
Kazehana tripped and fell, her ample bosom cushioning her somewhat while the sake bottle flew out of her hand, its small amount of content spilling onto the table...and Kagari's pants.
"Gah- Damn it, Kazehana," he muttered, picking up his napkin and taking it under the table to wipe away the stains before they could sink in. "I just had these washed!"
"Sawee," Kazehana hiccuped as she struggled clumsily to her feet. "Guess I (hic) got car(hic)ried away t'night (hic)!"
She grasped the table cloth and unknowingly yanked. The result was far from magical, as a candle tipped over and Miya's ceramic china spilled to the floor with clattering shatters. Dinner was over before she had even a chance to grab a bite.
Muttering something about silly drunkards, Kagari finished cleaning his pants and placed the now used napkin back on the table. The power went out. Completely
"Wonderful." Homura said. "As if things couldn't get any more inconvenient."
"Oh don't be such a buzz kill, sweetie." Kazehana hiccupped again.
Everyone, except Miya, began flailing around blindly in the pitch darkness, with Kazehana crashing into pretty much everything, which ended with her bumping into Musubi and the two busty babes falling in a bouncy, undignified heap which Miya would most certainly disapprove of if she could see it.
Miya, stoic as ever, decided to restore order. "Everyone calm down," she said, her voice not raising at all. It didn't need to. "I'm sure that Matsu can restore the power if we ask her to."
Everyone nodded, though they couldn't see each other.
"But Matsu hasn't been out of her room for days without a word."
"She'll open it this time, don't worry. Miya said, getting to her feet like a general at attention, "now, if Kagari-kun would be so kind as to fetch that candle off the floor and light it, we might be able to safely make our way to Matsu's room."
"You know," he began. "I could just use my finger for-"
"It's best to be cautious, Kagari-kun." Miya countered with what he could tell was her signature smile due to her tone of voice. "Wouldn't want your powers to go out of control again now do we? You haven't been the same since Minato's disappearance."
"Hmm, alright fine."
After padding the ground (and 'accidentally' Musubi's chest) a few times searching for the candle he finally found it then lit the wick with the snap of his fingers.
Homura aimed the warm candlelight up the steps, and the group followed. Musubi of course had to sling one of Kazehana's arms over her shoulders as to keep her balanced going up. At the end of the hall, a hazy sliver of teal beamed through the crack of the hidden door leading to Matsu's chamber. Homura knocked and pushed it open.
"Art thou serious, Matsu?!" Tsukiumi spat as she hunched over the red-head's shoulder.
"Yes," she stated, swabbing her dress over her dust-sprinkled eyeglasses. "It took a lot of searching, but over the last few days, I have FINALLY been able to pinpoint Minato's location in the capital."
Musubi held her arms close to her chest, letting out a worried moan. "Ohh, where's Minato? I'm really getting worried…"
Miya then bowed under Homura's arm and entered Matsu's quarters as he held the door open and blew out the candle. "Calm down, Musubi-chan. I'm sure he's fine."
Kazehana downs a bit more sake and wipes her mouth. "I dunno, Miya. He hasn't been the same since-"
Tsukiumi and Matsu glanced back at them.
Miya cuts her off with a scowl. "Please, don't mention what that THING did, Kazehana."
"Ah," Matsu purred as she adjusted her bifocals. "Just in time. Glad you could join us."
"What are you up to?" Homura asked, snapping the door behind him. "The power just went out, how is your room still-?"
"A backup generator." She said, smirking. "Always keep one handy for myself in case of power surges."
She turned back towards the monitor, cracking her knuckles as she went to type again. "Once I find Minato, I'll be sure to get the power back on for all of you, now where was I?...oh yes!"
"A hex on the power, Matsu!" Tsukiumi roared, digging nails to palm. "Just find my husband at once!"
"Alright, alright, hold on a sec. Sheesh…"
Matsu's scampering digits skipped across the keys as her narrowing eyes absorbed the lightning-fast code into the supercomputer that was her mind. The inn's tenants kept silent, staring blankly into the, for them, undecipherable text as the clattering clicks crinkled into their eardrums. Perhaps if she could get a more solid lock on the signal…
"Heh,"A crescent glare swept across her lenses as the wisdom Sekirei's moist lips pulled back into a smirk. "Found him!"
Musubi let out a delighted hum as her cowlick twitched happily. "Ahh! Really?!"
"Sure did. Just lemme zoom in…aand-agh!"
Charged particles peppered Matsu's fingertips from the keyboard's malfunctioning backlight.
She jerked away holding her singed hand close as whips of static lashed and zigzagged about several meters, chaining from monitor to monitor. Except for Miya, everyone else in the room was rattled, they huddled together trying to keep their distance from the presumably lethal discharge of sputtering electrons.
As the shock died down, their confinement dimmed from its earlier baby blue hue and sank into a violent; dooming red haze. Like being enveloped by a thick shadow of blood.
The landlady's pupils rushed to each corner of her eyes at a pace only light could match; her arched thumb flicked outward, exposing the hilt of her blade as she drummed the grip with her fingers.
"Matsu," Tsukiumi bellowed. She was starting to regret that earlier comment on 'hexing' the power. "W-what the blazes is going on?!"
"Shit! It's a virus!" Matsu said, shocked.
Homura grumbled. "I don't like this…"
The landlady kept firm. Somehow she felt eyes were on all of them from every conceivable direction. "Stay close, everyone."
"I have no idea…" Matsu muttered. "my equipment never malfunctions! I have safe-guards!"
A harking squeal retched forth from the hidey-hole's surround sound system which soon escalated into a high-pitched buzz that got louder and louder until the audio outlets popped and cracked. It scraped into their brains deep; their minds begged their sensitive eardrums for mercy. Everyone but the landlady covered their ears and dropped to their knees in agony, the sake bottle slipping Kazehana's grip and smashing into fragments on the floor. Vibrating speckles of interference scratched across the monitors; rippling lines expanded from each corner and dragged downward; a picture began to form. Someone was hacking into Matsu's mainframe…
"Agh! Someone turn down the volume!" Kazehana retched, finally shaken from her stupor.
The tenant's now blended audit orifices were on the verge of oozing out of their skulls, but the scraping finally stopped and the laugh of an infant was heard.
"Hello everyone, I see you have finally found me. Congratulations."
They would have been thankful, if only said noise wasn't swapped in favor of the dry guttural greeting of the anemic Jigsaw doll.
"I have a game for all of you."
The residents stared at the central monitor in pupil gaping silence, awareness only briefly wandering amongst themselves to ensure they weren't the only ones seeing the paste-faced marionette addressing them. One by one they gradually pulled themselves to their feet, the landlady alert as she would be during a showdown with Karasuba.
The puppet's clicking jaw splintered as it spoke. "but before going into that, let me first assure you all that no harm has befallen your Ashikabi, Minato Sahashi. He will be partaking in a game of his own, one which will assist me in ending the bloodshed of this sickening Sekirei Plan, and you will all be playing a role in it. To save you the trouble of finding your Ashikabi and tracking me down, however, I've taken the liberty of personally delivering you all to him, save for Miss Asama, whom will be tasked with an…alternative test…"
"Alternative test?" the landlady spoke. "What is your business with me and the residents of Maison Isumo? And what have you done with Minato? Answer me!"
"With all due respect, Miya, I don't think he can hear you." Kagari spoke up.
"On the contrary #06, I can hear you loud and clear. Why don't you all just try…relaxing for a while…"
The puppet paused it's speech, a drafty hiss was heard from above.
"Does anyone else hear that?!" Kazehana shouted whipping her neck around to the group behind her.
"It's gas!" The landlady surmised, clasping a hand over her nose and mouth. The rest of her speech was now muffled. "Everyone, try not to breathe it in!"
"My gas masks? WHERE ARE MY GAS MASKS?!" Matsu panicked in a coughing fit as she searched her locker.
"Everyone stay close to me!" Kazehana shouted. A flowery vortex whirled upward from her high heels. "WIND BARRIER!" Her arms forced outward; the barrier's circumference swelled and engulfed the inn's tenants. "This bubble should keep the gas out for a little while, just don't start hyperventilating!"
"Right." Tsukiumi and Musubi nodded in unison, the brunette's tone more concerned than that of Tsukiumi's, whom's voice and nostrils were seething.
The weakened Matsu crawled into the oxygenated zephyr, and collapsed into a heap at everyone's feet. She had inhaled too many fumes.
Kagari attempted to resuscitate her as the gas thickened around them.
"C'mon Matsu! C'mon!" He said, shaking her. "You have to wake up!"
"It's no use." Miya affirmed. "She's out, and I know exactly why."
"By now you should notice that the air has become thicker. Rest assured the nerve agent you are currently breathing is non-lethal to Sekirei. It will, however, render you all unconscious within approximately two minutes taking your wind barrier into account, and yes, that includes you too, Miya. Your husband was the one who designed its formula, afterall…"
Miya coughed. "…so it wasn't the storm that caused the power to malfunction at all, was it? It was all planned…by you…"
"YOU LUMPISH, DIZZY-EYED VESSAL!" roared Tsukiumi, her hair flaring up like fire. She clasped the monitor closest to her, drawing it to her pearly snarl as she sent her fist into the puppet's superimposed cheek spiral. "Thou darest hide from a distance instead of facing us?! WHERE IS MY HUSBAND?! TELL ME YOU FILTHY CUR!"
Homura yanked her by the shoulder, his mouth now covered by his mask. "For the love of God, Tsukiumi, you're wasting what little air we have left! We need to get out of here, fast, so don't blow a gasket on us!"
Except for a few cracks on the screen, the picture didn't deteriorate. The puppet baby-cackled at this action.
"Your anger should be re-directed, #09. I am not the enemy amongst you. Friends come in all shapes and sizes, and there is but a common foe we all share. When you awaken, you will all be reunited with your Ashikabi, and the Sekirei Plan will soon be nothing more than a fetid memory in your watering eyes. No longer will Minaka's shackles bound your love for the individual you were destined to share your lives with. You will all be able to live your lives without fear of the confinement and bloodshed which was unrightfully forced upon you, provided that the man whom you all share affection for can prove that he in fact deserves it. Rest well, and good luck."
The screen then turned to a seizure inducing flashing of blood red and darkness.
Like their consciousness' would soon be, their unwelcomed guest vanished without a trace.
XXX-Flashback End-XXX
Minato stared at Kazehana as she clenched her hand. "Wow…"
She shook her head. "Despite Kagari's efforts, Matsu wouldn't wake up. We had to leave her there…"
"You did all you could, Kazehana. Don't blame yourself…you made a good call in what you did."
She couldn't help but go beet red at her Ashikabi's praises. "…thank you, Minato."
"What happened next?"
"Tsukiumi grabbed the flashlight off of Matsu's bedside and we made an effort to get downstairs as fast as we could…"
XXX-FLASHBACK-XXX
A fire grew in the landlady's eyes. "Everyone downstairs, now! Hurry!"
"BUT WHAT ABOUT MATSU?!" Kagari protested.
"The gas isn't lethal, she'll be fine!" Kazehana said. "We can come back for her later! Musubi, break the door down!"
"Yes!" She nodded.
Musubi burst through the door shoulder first upon the landlady's order. It was still pitch dark, but last time they were at least able to see out the window and into the lightning bug-swarmed backyard. Tsukiumi clicked on the flashlight and swabbed the beam over the windows, or at least where there were supposed to be windows.
With the Sekirei plan's tensions being as high as they were, Matsu installed a series of metal shutters to put the entire inn on lockdown in case of emergency. The virus must have effected them and sealed them shut.
"WATER CELEBRATION!" Tsukiumi catapulted a sphere of super-dense moisture at the metal, but no luck.
"You're wasting oxygen Tsukiumi!" Miya raged. "We need to get downstairs! If we're lucky the gas will be less dense!"
They couldn't focus on this fact much though as not a second later, they heard moaning coming from downstairs. The tone of which caused all their heads to turn to the stairwell.
"Help! Someone! Tsukiumi! Musubi! Anyone!"
"Minato!" Musubi panicked.
His terrorized screams pierced through the Sekirei's heart like a corkscrewing spear, she could barely breathe let alone acknowledge Miya's hannya mask as she tried to maintain order. It was all for naught. The group, growing wearier by the second as the oxygen became more and more cluttered, called out to the brunette as made a bee-line towards the steps.
"Musubi no! It's a trap!"
She looked back at them as the floor flew beneath her. As her lips motioned to form words, Musubi lost her footing and tumbled down the steps, her cranium cracked against the railing. She rolled into an unconscious heap.
XXX-Flashback End-XXX
"…after Musubi panicked and strayed from the group, she tripped and fell into the guardrail headfirst and went tumbling down the stairs. She didn't get up after that."
"Oh, no, was she okay?! Was she still breathing?!"
"HA!" Benitsubasa sneered. "Well at least she didn't damage anything useful!"
"Hey, shut up! This is hardly the time to be laughing!" Minato argued.
"Hey, we're trapped in a spiraling hellhole." She said. "May as well find a few things to laugh at on our trip to lighten the mood."
Benitsu started to whistle innocently.
"Yeah, at my Ashikabi's expense, of course." Kazehana interjected, pupils clutching in a squint while her lips curled downward. She looked back at her Ashikabi as the Red Sekirei pulled down her lower eyelid and exposed her tongue. "If Musubi could take all those bokken strikes to the head while training with #01, then she could survive a fall down a flight of steps no problem. Besides, Kagari checked her pulse, she was still breathing. So there's nothing to worry about."
"I suppose you're right. Come to think of it, a photo of her was also on that document I found when I woke up." Minato grumbled. "What did you do afterwards?"
"After checking on Musubi, we found…well, you."
"Huh?..."