Chapter 21 - In Need of Assistance
...
"So, where to first?" I ask Shizuko, as the three of us walk outside the tea shop.
"Whenever things begin to hit the fan at Hyakkiyako, like now, there are two main places where we can turn for help." Shizuko begins. "First is the Yin-Yang club, which is more or less the academy's student council. And the other is the Hyakkayouran Resolution Council."
"But I heard that Hyakkayouran is currently on hiatus!" Pina adds.
"Yep. Pina's right about that. That would leave only the Yin-Yang Club... at first glance." The brunette idol says, crptically.
"At first glance?" I ask, eyebrow raised.
"About that..." She says nervously darting her eyes around, avoiding mine. "You'll see what I mean later! Let's be off for now, Sensei." She then turns to the blonde. "I'm leaving Momoyodou in your care while I'm gone, Pina."
"You got it!" Pina says enthusiastically. "I won't let anyone encroach on OUR turf!"
"All right, then. Before I go, answer me one question." The idol begins.
"Hit me."
"Let's say the Mouryo come here while Sensei and I are gone. What will you do if they come knocking on the door and say, 'Excuse me, may I have some water?'?" Shizuko asks the taller girl.
"A gangster with a sense of justice would never ignore someone in need! I would help them!" She says, causing me to facepalm.
"NO! Wrong answer!" The idol shouts, before sighing. "What am I going to do with you? Maybe I shouldn't leave the store like this..."
"You worry too much, President! I've got this!" Pina says, trying to reassure the idol.
And so, the two of us left Momoyodou in Pina's care while we walked to the Yin-Yang Club.
A bit later, we arrived at an impressive-looking building. A masterpiece of Japanese architecture.
"This is one of the most important sites at the Allied Hyakkiyako Academy." Shizuko says seriously.
"I can see that. It's very impressive." I say, admiring the building.
"The Yin-Yang Club should be inside." She says, before groaning. "My stomach is always in knots when I come here."
"It'll be alright, just relax and focus on what we need to do." I reassure.
"That's why I'm worried. The Yin-Yang Club isn't very cooperative, and they rarely agree to help." She explains. "Truth be told, this request would be better for Hyakkayouran. The Yin-Yang Club claims that they exist to keep the balance at Hyakkiyako, so there's no guarantee they'll cooperate. They'll smirk and say, 'We don't have the authority.'." Or at least that's what their smug president always says!"
"Seems like they really annoy you." I observe.
"You don't know the half of it!" She continues to rant. "Not to mention, they have a rule about official matters always needing to be addressed in writing first. Give me a break! Who has time for that when the festival is underway?! My old nemesis, red tape! Always with the red tape!"
"Believe me, I know your pain..." I say, agreeing with her.
She awkwardly chuckles. "But that's enough complaining for now. We have our ways of getting them to cooperate." She says, before smugly smirking. "And this time, we have you and Schale on our side, Sensei. The Yin-Yang Club president will have to listen to us so long as you're here." She then makes an evil grin. "This time, I'll have the upper hand on that smug little piece of work." She says, followed by smug chuckling. She then catches herself. "U-Uh, I mean... I sure hope she'll hear us out!" She says, awkwardly chuckling.
"You know you don't have to keep up appearances around me." I say, causing her eyes to widen slightly. "Just be yourself, like I do. Now c'mon." I say, beginning to walk up to the large building.
A moment later, we enter the building and are greeted by a girl in a beautiful room. "Welcome, Sensei. We were waiting for you." She says, with a quiet tone of voice. "I'm Waraku Chise, a member of the Yin-Yang Club. Nice to meet you."
She has pale blue hair tied in two long braids, reaching her ankles with reddish-purple eyes, a similar color to dragonfruit, as well as two small oni horns of the same color jutting out from her forehead. On the right side of her face is a white, flower-shaped hairclip. She wears a white and blue sleeveless kimono with an oversized collar, her sleeves being separate pieces held by blue string to the main kimono. Her kimono is short, revealing much of her legs, save for her feet and a portion of her shin, which are covered by her tall blue, black and white socks, which, in turn, are covered by her blue and black sandals. Her halo is a pale blue, with two octagonal shaped rings, with four diamonds in the center. Sat next to her is a white grenade launcher with blue and black trim. Interestingly, the loading group has the kanji for 'oni' repeated all along it.
"Hey, Chise..." Shizuko begins, before stopping. "Wait. Did you just say you knew Sensei was coming?"
"How'd you know that?" I ask, a tad concerned.
"Niya told me." The oni girl, Chise, says like it's obvious, while speaking slowly. I suppose that's her default. "And now here you both are. The cute sensei and the raccoon."
"...Cute...?" I ask myself, confused. Since when am I cute?
Shizuko takes offense."Wha-?! Who are you calling a raccoon?! Where's that know-it-all president of yours anyway?"
"The president?" The blue haired girl asks with a head tilt. "She... Hmm... I think a black cat would make for a much better pet, personally." What...?
"No one asked you for suggestions!" Shizuko shouts. "Wait... Are you implying I'm some kind of pet raccoon?!" She then sighs and calms down. "Anyway, the whole reason Sensei and I came here was to meet with her. So, where is she, Chise?"
"The president?" She repeats. "She's out of office for the rest of the day. She should be back tomorrow."
"For the rest of the day?" The brunette idol asks.
"It's still early, right? Why's she gone?" I ask.
Chise just tilts her head. "To see... a cat?"
"Why did you phrase that like a question? Someone tell me what's going on!" The idol shouts.
"I'm just as lost as you." I say.
"It figures that annoying president isn't here when we need her most..." Shizuko grumbles.
"Look, Chise. Some goons have been trying to stop the festival, for whatever reason. There's an unknown amount of them and Shizuko, Izuna, Pina and I can't take care of all of them." I explain, lying somewhat. I COULD take care of them all, but I'd rather not get my ass beaten by rushing in too quickly.
"Yeah, I know all about the incident at the festival." The oni girl says.
"You do?!" The idol asks.
"The president said we can't help directly, but the Inner Discipline Club may be able to." The blue haired girl says, slowly as usual.
"The Inner Discipline Club?" Shizuko asks.
"There's been a similar claim from the Inner Discipline Club about the commotion at the festival. The president's stance is basically, if one group can't get it done, why don't they try working together?" The oni says.
"Which means there are clubs having the same problems as us. The Mouryo aren't just attacking the festival, they're attacking indiscriminately, to stop the festival." I theorize.
"Are you saying the Inner Discipline Club... is also looking for help?" The idol asks, slowly. "Okay, say no more. Let's go pay them a visit. Please get a hold of me if your president returns, Chise. Come on, Sensei! Let's go!" She shouts, walking away.
"Nice meetin' ya, Chise." I say, smiling.
"You too, Sensei. Catch you later." The oni girl says with a small smile.
"You think this Inner Discipline Club will help us?" I ask, as the two of us walk through the somewhat crowded streets of Hyakkiyako.
"Well, they're kind of... How do I put this?" Shizuko asks herself. "Their members are known to be kinda weird."
"That's not sayin' much. Most everyone in Kivotos is weird to me." I joke.
"Hey!" The idol yells.
"No offense. I meant it as a compliment." I say, holding my hands up in mock surrender.
She sighs. "The Inner Discipline Club does all sorts of training to better themselves. For example, they do jigsaw puzzles in their sleep to improve their sleep cycles."
"That's not weird, that's just impressive." I say.
"They even take out thugs to improve their street cred. The best of them can even read minds!" She says.
"Okay, now I know you're making this up." I say, dryly.
"I'm not. Well, this is all according to the stories, anyway. You'll see for yourself soon enough." She says, like it's a warning.
"Sure, sure." I wave her off.
"Still, I'm not convinced they're going to help us." She says quietly.
"You still worried about that?" I ask. "Look, the chances of them helping are at least higher than those of the Yin-Yang Club helping, so why not?"
"You're right, Sensei! We won't know until we try!" She shouts, energetically. "Let's go see them!"
Right as she says that, an explosion goes off near us. I grab Shizuko by the waist and jump backward.
"Wh-What was that?!" She yells.
Sure enough, it's the Mouryuo again. One chuckles in glee. "The Mouryo are back to ruin the festival!"
"This time, we're gonna tear down everything!" Another shouts.
"And once again, I'm here to knock you idiots down a peg!" I shout, causing them to look at me. They recoil a bit, but swallow their fear.
"Bring it on! We're ready to fight anytime, anywhere!" Shizuko shouts.
Wordlessly, I rush forward, pulling out my rifle. The goons tense up, but they don't back down, likely having adapted to my strategy from earlier. Time to change things up. I once again dodge their gunfire, but observe my surroundings a bit more. Grinning, I see a trash bin. Deciding to channel my inner yakuza, I pick up the trash can with my hands and run straight into them, the bin blocking their bullets. Guess they make 'em differently in Kivotos? As I reach the group, I begin smacking them with the large, metal trash can.
Shizuko, who's been taking down some more with her shotgun complains. "Ugh. No matter how many of them we defeat, they just keep coming! If only Pina were here!"
"I know. They're like roaches." I complain.
"That's enough! Your evil ends here, Street Mouryo!" A girl's voice says.
"Wh-Who are you?!" One of the goons shouts in fright.
"Wanna know, do you? Better be careful what you wish for!" The feminine voice says. "Ha! Swish! Swoosh! Dramatic!" The voice's owner says, jumping out from an alleyway.
The speaker is a short girl with rather large... assets, so to speak. She has short, brown hair tied into a small bun on either side of her head, held with flower-shaped hairclips. Her eyes are golden, and has small, rodent-like ears protruding from the top of her head, with a cowlick, or perhaps an ahoge popping out right in-between. She's dressed like a traditional miko, wearing a white kimono with red accents. Her kimono is white and sleeveless, whereas her skirt and obi are red. She also has sleeves, resting on her arms, and tall, white socks that come to her mid-thigh. On her feet are black sandals with red straps, which have super tall soles, increasing her height by at least a few inches. Her halo is a magenta, five petal flower with five, light pink tomoe surrounding it. She's holding a red and black pistol that resembles a flare gun.
Best way to describe her would be 'miko shortstack'.
"Um... athletic?" A second girl says in a sleepy voice.
This girl is dressed similarly to the first, wearing a red and white sleeveless kimono with separate sleeves. One key difference is that her 'assets' are even larger than the first girl. She has short, black hair in a bob cut with dark grey eyes and what appear to be... panda ears coming from her head. Her obi has two long, red rope coming from it, as well as a yellow band. Her white socks are short, only coming past her ankles. Her sandals are red and black, with two blocks underneath. Her halo is a red hexagon with a diamond on either corner. The next ring is also a hexagon. Beneath that are five, red circles with a sixth, smaller one in the center, resembling flower petals. She's holding a sub-machine gun colored white, red and black with gold detailing, similar to her outfit.
"And... beautiful? Is that right?" A third girl says slowly.
The third girl is quite stunning, for some reason or another. She has light pink hair, ending in the middle of her back, tied into a bun on the left side of her head. Her sky blue eyes are striking as well. Her kimono, also red and white, reveals a lot less skin than the other two's, it resembles a sailor uniform more than anything. It has a white top with a red collar, a white undershirt, which reaches the middle of her neck, and a red skirt and obi. On her shoulders is a long, white cape that splits into three, with the logo for Hyakkiyako at the bottom, near her ankles. Her legs are covered with dark grey leggings and short, white socks with low, black sandals that have red straps. Her halo is hot pink and comprised of two outer rings, with that look like petals connecting them in five places. Within that are five, interlocking rings, similar to the logo for the olympics back home, but in a circular arrangement, similar to flower petals. She's holding a small white handgun. The grip is detailed with a black oval, filled with pink, sakura blossoms.
"Behold! Three delicate flowers fighting as one!" The shortstack says. "The keepers of peace in the streets, the Inner Discipline Club HAS ARRIVED!" She says, excitedly.
"Wow..." The sleepy girl says in awe.
"Um, yes... Here we are." The third girl adds, awkwardly.
The short girl huffs. "We nailed our entrances, right?! Tsubaki?!" She asks the second girl, Tsubaki.
The panda(?) girl merely yawns. "I guess so."
"Um, Kaede? Everyone is staring..." The third girl says shyly to the small girl, Kaede.
"Like I said. Weirdos." Shizuko says, not whispering at all.
I can't say much because I'm surprised they showed up out of nowhere. Even the Mouryo are shocked to silence. "Are you done yet?!" One shouts, having enough. "Wh-What's going on here?!"
"We're the Inner Discipline Club, endlessly training day and night to become proper young ladies!" The shortstack, Kaede, says happily.
"Speak for yourself, Kaede." Tsubaki says. "I'm fine with catching up on my sleep. Actually, would anyone mind if I took a rest over there?"
"Tsubaki, you can't nap like usual when we're facing off with the Mouryo! Wake up!" The short girl yells in the panda(?) girl's face. "Seriously! If you fall asleep now, then...!"
The third girl chuckles. "Well... you have to admire her persistence, at least."
"Well said, Mimori." The short girl says to the third girl, Mimori. Hang on, Kaede and Mimori? They must be who were chasing Izuna before. "Persistence in our training to become better ladies while protecting the streets is what our club is all about!" She continues. "This job calls for the Inner Discipline Club to take charge! You're cruisin' for a bruisin', Street Mouryo!"
"Right. Prepare yourselves..." Tsubaki says, eyes fluttering closed.
"Yeah! I-I hope you're ready!" Mimori shouts.
Kaede pulls out a handgun, as does Mimori. Tsubaki pulls out a SMG and a shield.
In the corner of my eye, I see a flash of brown on top of a roof. Sure enough, Izuna is peeking at me. "Hey." I call out to the Inner Discipline girls, drawing their attention. "You three can take that group and we'll take this one."
"Are you sure, um..." Mimori asks.
"Ah, I'm Joshua, a teacher from Schale. And yes, I'm sure. We can handle these ones."
"Okay, then!" Kaede says happily.
"That just means I can nap quicker." Tsubaki says with a yawn.
Picking up my trashcan again, I run into the group of Mouryo. Deciding to go a bit more all-out, I swing my trashcan with one hand, smacking one in the face while spraying another two with my rifle, stunning them, allowing me to move towards them and smack them with the trashcan as well. This pattern continues with my spraying them, stunning them, then knocking them out with the trashcan.
To the side, the Inner Discipline girls are cleaning house too. Kaede and Mimori are picking goons off one by one while staying behind Tsubaki, using her shield to cover herself as she sprays them with SMG fire.
One of the goons yells in frustration. "Th-They just keep getting stronger!"
Shizuko smugly chuckles. "It's hopeless! You have no chance with Sensei on our side!"
"What did you just say?! Sensei?! As in, Schale?!" One Mouryo yells.
"Izuna...!" Another growls out. "Where's that dumb ninja girl when you need her?!"
"Any second now..." A third says, not noticing me speeding forward from behind them. I smack all three of them with the trashcan.
"Talking isn't free action, idiots." I taunt, causing them to pull out their rifles once more.
After taking down a few more, I see Izuna in the back. As I run at another group, she winks at me, to which I wink back. She throws some kunai at me, but my trash can blocks them. Grabbing it with one hand, while still running, I pull out the kunai with my free hand, and throw them at the Mouryo, incapacitating them quickly. Izuna stays back, firing her gun at me, while staying back, also occasionally throwing kunai and shuriken at me, giving me more ammo to deal with the thugs. Soon enough, all of them are knocked out.
Putting down the trash can, I walk over to the fox girl. "Still up to no good, Izuna?" I ask, with a chuckle.
"A ninja is always up to no good, Sensei!" She says proudly.
"That was... an interesting way of fighting, Sensei." Shizuko says, walking up to me.
I shrug, then turn to Izuna. "So, find anything new?"
Her ears flop down sadly. "Sorry, Sensei. Izuna knows nothing more of what her 'client' wants, aside from that they definitely want the festival cancelled. Today." She says, making air quotations when she says 'client'.
"Damn. Still, good work." I say, patting her head a bit.
"Yes! Izuna is still on her way to being a true ninja! And one day, if Izuna continues to walk the path of a true ninja, she will meet a lord of her very own!" She says happily, before catching herself, covering her mouth with her hands as her eyes widen while a blush appears on her face.
"Hm? I did ya hear something, Shizuko?" I ask with a knowing grin.
"Hear what, Sensei?" Shizuko asks, playing along.
"...Thank you, Sensei." Izuna says quietly.
Looking to the side, the group of Mouryo fighting the Inner Discipline girls have all gone down. "Well then, you'd better retreat back." I say.
"Oh, right!" The fox girl says, catching herself. "I'll defeat you next time, Sensei!" She says, getting into character, as she throws down a smoke bomb and runs off.
The two of us step back from the smoke as I shake my head and chuckle.
"Hurray! We ran off the Mouryo!" Kaede says, to our side.
"They said something like, 'Next time will be different!'. That's totally what generic villains say, isn't it?" Tsubaki says with a sleepy voice.
"We had a rough go of it when it was just us. That was a lot easier with help." Mimori says.
The short girl gulps. "Is this the power of adult supervision?!"
"That's one way to put it." The large-chested girl says.
Deciding to take the opportunity, having found their names and voices familiar from earlier. "Ya'll were the ones chasing Izuna earier, weren't you?"
"Oh, you were there too, Sensei?" The panda(?) girl asks.
"So you saw! That's right, the Inner Discipline Club has been patrolling the streets and fighting off the Mouryo!" The short girl says proudly.
"Really? You have?" Shizuko asks. Hang on, these three are who we're looking for?
"One of the club's goals is to promote discipline to protect our community." The panda girl explains.
"That's why we're doing what we can to keep the festival safe!" The short girl happily adds.
"What kind of festival would it be if people weren't having fun, right?" The pretty, pink haired girl asks. "But we weren't expecting the Street Mouryo to go on a rampage like this, so we haven't been sure how to go about stopping them."
"Yeah, that's why Sensei and I visited the Yin-Yang Club, too..." The idol adds.
"So when ya'll saw me cleaning house, you decided to take care of the ones in the back." I summarize.
"Correct, Sensei!" The short girl adds. "But what were you talking with that ninja girl about?"
"Long story short, she doesn't wanna mess up the festival, but whoever hired her does." I explain. "To solve this, I hired her to spy on them. You know, ninja-like." I say with a smirk.
"Wow, that's pretty smart of you, Sensei!" The short girl praise. "Anyway, we should introduce ourselves properly. I'm Isami Kaede!" The short girl says, energetically.
"And I'm Kasuga Tsubaki our club's President." The panda(?) girl says.
"I'm Mizuha Mimori." The pink haired girl says. "Nice to meet you, Sensei." She says a polite, perfect bow.
"Like I said before, I'm Joshua, a teacher from Schale. Nice to meet ya'll too." I say.
"I had no idea the Inner Discipline Club was fighting to protect everyone." Shizuko pipes up. "I thought you were all just weirdos that went around doing weird stuff for fun."
I raise my eyebrow while looking at Shizuko and dryly say, "You DO know you're sayin' that to their faces, right?"
She freezes. "W-Well, anyway! We don't know who has hired the Mouryo, but we do know that someone hired them and that ninja girl to stop the festival."
The panda girl, Tsubaki yawns. "Come to think of it, I did hear a rumor recently. There's some kind of 'boss' uniting the Mouryo that wander the streets. I suppose it wasn't just a rumor."
"Seems that-a way." I say. "But we still don't know WHY they have it out for the festival."
"Hmph. I bet they just can't stand everybody laughing and having a good time! That kind of person is nothing less than pure evil!" Kaede shouts, stomping her feet.
"Kaede might be jumping to conclusions on that one, but there's no denying someone is trying to sabotage the festival." Mimori says. "Now we just need to figure out their motive."
"Okay. First things first, we find who hired the Mouryo." I say.
"Wanting to get to the root of the problem? Good idea, Sensei." The pink haired girl praises.
"Did that ninja girl say anything?" Tsubaki asks.
"No, she still referred to him as her 'client'. I'd wager she's never actually seen him close-up." I theorize.
The short idol hums. "If we want to find out who's responsible for sabotaging our festival, then we need to take extreme measures! I say we kidnap one of the Mouryo and have them tell us where their boss is by force!"
"...Or we could just ask Izuna" I point out.
"...Oh." Shizuko deflates.
I pat her on the head. "It was a good idea, regardless."
"Wow. Now she's the one who sounds like a villain." The panda(?) girl points out.
"I wouldn't expect any less from the president of the Festival Operations Department!" Kaede exclaims. "You always know how to get what you want when it comes to your teashop's revenue and your festivals' success. Isn't that right? Or at least, that's how the rumors go." She shrugs. "I guess they're true."
"Um... Kaede. I hope you don't think that you're complimenting her." Mimori says.
Unfortunately for them, Shizuko heard all of that, and has snapped. "Th-That's not what I'm like at all!" She defends, frantically, before smiling. "I-I'm a kind-hearted idol!" She then decided to drop the act with a loud groan.
"Anyway, I'mma text Izuna." I say, pulling out my phone.
I swear, the girls in Kivotos are a handful.
"Defeated again? What about Izuna? Where is she?" The mysterious employer shouts.
"She wasn't any help! Some ninja she is!" One Mouryo yells in outrage.
"She ran off earlier saying that she had some business to attend to." Another says.
"Hmm. What a pity. I truly did respect her skills." The client says. "I wonder if we can count on her any further..."
"At the rate things are going, that Sensei person will stop us before we can sabotage the festival." A Mouryo says.
"I never would have imagined that a single adult could cause so much trouble." He says with a sigh. "Well, regardless... How many Mouryo remain in the streets?"
"About, uh... a hundred and twenty or so?" A Mouryo says.
"Wonderful. Now is the time to go on the offensive, then." He says, sadistically. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, so listen carefully."
The employer whispers to the goons, before one recoils in surprise. "Huh?! Are you serious?"
"For real? You really want us to do that?" Another asks.
"It's time to eliminate the last variable." He says. "Complete this mission and you'll receive your bonuses, as it states in our contract."
"Well, if you say so. Got it, Boss." A Mouryo says, mustering her courage.
"Yeah, understood!" Another agrees.
"Of course... you must keep this a secret from Izuna." The client says, lowly. "It's about time we finish this once and for all."
AN
Fun fact, I've been writing this while watching videos of the main story in another tab. This time, the event story wasn't localized very well, but was re-done when the event re-ran recently, so I've been using my phone to replay the story. I actually accidentally ended up skipping the first cutscene with the Inner Discipline Club and wrote the story as though they just showed up during the fight and introduced themselves after Izuna left.
Then I realized I skipped a part, and fixed it. Ugh, what a pain.
Edit: November 1, 2022: Added girls' weapon descriptions.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next!