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"Minato." - Regular Speech
'Musubi' – Thoughts
"Kaminari!" - Sekirei Incantation
Beta'd by BigCC
Chapter 24: The Teitō Escape Plan
Later
Lab Room, Takami's Off-Site Base
Sahashi Minato instinctively took a step back as his mother began to curse the air blue. Normally, his mother only spat out a single curse or two when something got her angry or annoyed; only really letting loose when something seriously pissed her off.
Hence, his almost immediate desire to flee as she let out a litany of foul language that'd make a group of rowdy sailors blush.
"…ham-handled, dull-witted, feckless dolts!" Takami finished with an audible snarl, chest heaving and face flushed in anger. Over where Kuno had been lying on an examination table, both she and her Ashikabi were huddling together, quivering slightly; suitably terrified by the enraged form of the elder Sahashi.
"So…I take it that the idiots who were in charge of Kuno-san's Tuning are going to be getting the boot?" Minato ventured cautiously.
"Right off the top of the MBI Tower if I have any say in it." Takmai growled out. She paused to take a breath before continuing tightly. "That idiot had already given special instructions for Kuno's Tuning. They were bad enough, but unfortunately necessary given the nature of her abilities. Those worthless fecks, however, somehow got it into their head to make things even worse than even Minaka would have authorized."
The silver-haired scientist let out a bone-rattling sigh and looked like she needed a strong drink. "From what we figured out, Kuno's abilities are linked to her voice, or rather her ability to produce soundwaves at specific pitches. Through various songs, she can create various effects ranging from causing instant narcoleptic attacks, inducing physical exhaustion, or even disrupting or augmenting the power of other Sekirei's cores, weakening or bolstering their abilities. She would even be capable of producing sonic waves that are capable of causing physical damage to anything that hears them. The problem was that her powers don't have any form of targeting ability; anyone who hears her song could be affected by it, outside of her Ashikabi. Minaka decided, and I unfortunately had to agree, that a Sekirei that could literally rip everyone within earshot to pieces with a song couldn't be let loose. So we specifically altered her Tuning to remove her ability to create damaging soundwaves.
"The problem is that those fool-minded quacks took the process well beyond anything we'd intended. Instead of simply removing her ability to produce damaging soundwaves, they also removed the natural inhibitors that protected her from the feedback of her own powers. This causes the vibrations she produces when she uses her powers to damage her body at the same time, hence why she coughs up blood whenever she uses them for more than a few seconds. They also, somehow, managed to mitigate her natural physical enhancements down to levels barely above an untrained human of her own age-group."
"Those…those…" Haruka was practically growling as he clutched his Sekirei tightly to his chest. "This can't have been an accident!"
"Oh believe me, this stinks of sabotage so badly, I'm barely holding down my lunch." Takami replied coldly, before turning to her son. "Minato, I might need to borrow Yahan for a day or two to help hunt down the incompetents involved and figure out exactly what they were planning."
"I'm sure she'd be glad to help." Minato agreed with a quick nod, before continuing a bit more uneasily. "So, do you think you can fix her?"
Takami absently waved a hand in front of face. "Oh, definitely. The methodology they used was fairly ham-handed and was never fully anchored, so I should be able to fully reverse it to the proper levels. But it's going to take some time, particularly if we don't want to risk her health. At least a week of daily treatments, and even after its done she likely won't be up to full strength for another fortnight."
"But we can't stay in the New Capital that long!" Haruka put in nervously. "She can't fight like this, and who knows what the Ashikabi of the East will try if he finds this place…!"
"You don't need to worry, even that brat of a man isn't stupid enough to attack an MBI facility." the Head of the Sekirei Plan responded with a hard look on her face. "That particular little rodent knows exactly how thin the ice he's walking on is. He's come so close to violating the rules that the Disciplinary Squad is pretty much floating over his neck like the Sword of Damocles, and we've made sure he knows it'll come down if he steps one more toe out of line. The only reason he hasn't been removed already is the sheer number of Sekirei he's forcibly Winged; he'd take close to thirty Sekirei with him if he was removed now. Minaka's not willing to let that happen just yet, but he's already on the chopping block for going after Mina-chan here."
The Rōnin Ashikabi looked somewhat enviously at Minato. "Must be nice to have a mother who's high up in MBI."
"I would have put the screws on Higa for trying to assassinate any Ashikabi, not just my son." Takami said frostily. "The Sekirei Plan is already a clusterfuck I never wanted to see happen, but since I couldn't stop it, I'm at least going to enforce some kind of order on it where I can. That includes keeping punks like that Higa brat in line."
"Y-Yeah…sorry…" Haruka gulped, almost able to see the hostility radiating off of the elder Sahashi like an aura of intimidation.
"Kaa-san, go easy on him." Minato sighed as he gently tried to pull his mother's attention away from the poor rōnin. "He's just worried about Kuno-chan. How bad were Kuno-chan's damaging songs going to be if both you and the chairman decided to lock them up?"
"Against another Sekirei, not that bad. Musubi or another close-range type could likely power through them with nothing more than a migraine, busted eardrums, and some minor internal bruising." Takami answered clinically. "The problem was that her ability cannot differentiate friend, foe, or even non-targets. By her default settings, the moment that she sings, everything not recognized by her core as an ally, i.e. her Ashikabi and any other member of her Flock, is going to get hit, and those same soundwaves could easily severely injure if not outright kill a normal human. It was simply too much of risk to let her out with that kind of uncontrolled power."
Both Minato and Haruka winced at the idea. Neither wanted to imagine the kind of collateral damage that kind of ability could cause. Even Haruka, as much as he wanted to deny it, couldn't argue with the reasoning behind it.
"So, combined with her other abilities, her powers seem more suited for either delaying or locking down multiple enemies, giving other Sekirei a chance to attack." Minato continued. "In other words, Kuno-chan is a Support-type Sekirei, one that's more suited to work as part of a large Flock. By herself, she has little chance of being able to survive the next stage of the Sekirei Plan, let alone actually winning."
"Uuuuuuuuuu~!" the Sekirei of Song seemed to shrink into herself as she heard that.
"C'mon, Kuno. You're my girl, and I promised you that I wouldn't Wing anyone else if you didn't want me to." Haruka said encouragingly.
"Haruka-sama…!" Kuno grasped his hand tightly. You could almost see hearts in her eyes.
"That's sweet enough to give someone a cavity and all," Takami deadpanned, "but when it comes down to it, Kumo simply isn't built to survive as a lone Sekirei. The two of you going on your own is going to be extremely dangerous for both of you. I won't push the subject further than that, but when you have this much information, you know what you might have to do, right?"
The Ashikabi/Sekirei pair looked down at that. They really wanted to retort with, 'Well that's why we want to leave the Capital!', but didn't dare to say that in front of the second most high-ranking member of MBI.
"They want to leave the Capital." Minato threw them under the bus almost immediately.
"EEHHHHHH?!" Kuno and Haruka exclaimed, eyes wide with shock.
"Afraid there's not a snowball's chance in hell of that working." Takami responded blandly with a shake of her head. "Even if by some miracle you could get past MBI's garrison and the Discipline Squad, all of the Sekirei have transponders implanted in them that uses their body heat as a power source. The second you leave the New Capital's outermost borders, it'll activate and start transmitting your location to a dozen of satellites that MBI has in orbit. There's literally nowhere on Earth that you could run that MBI couldn't track you."
Minato let out a low whistle. "The Chairman certainly covered all his bases on this one, didn't he." He offered, begrudgingly impressed with the caped madman's precautions.
"If nothing else, the lunatic isn't considered one of the smartest men on Earth for no reason." Takami let out a bitter sigh, once again regretting that the most brilliant man she knew was also a raving fruitcake. "If he actually put half the effort into running MBI as a business as he did with this Plan of his, then our annual income would likely eclipse several small countries by now."
"Doesn't it already?" Minato asked dryly.
"Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City aren't considered actual countries by most people. They're closer to the modern equivalent of city-states, and most are still so deeply tied to another nation's economy that they're not truly independent, despite their sovereign status." Takami pointed out clinically before shrugging. "Well, MBI's stock has taken a bit of a hit since the Caped Idiot started this stupid game, but we're still a multinational corporation dealing in vital technologies in several markets. Even if the rest of the world wanted to boycott us, they'd essentially be shooting themselves in the foot in both the long and short terms."
"Just another part of the plan, more than likely." Minato mused tiredly. "Make MBI a vital part of the world economy and you make stopping it, and the Sekirei Plan, that much harder."
He missed the proud smile that momentarily sparked across her mother's lip at that deduction.
"Damn it, why does the crazy person in charge of this have to be such a big brain." Haruka groaned out, before sighing and turning his attention to Takami. "So can I stay here with Kuno for these treatments? No offence, but I don't feel comfortable leaving her in an MBI scientist's hands by herself."
"None taken." Takami replied absently, a hint of approval in her tone as she returned her focus to the other young man. "I'd honestly call you an idiot if you weren't at least a bit cautious after what you've learned. Unfortunately, there's no private quarters here, so neither you or Kuno can actually stay here when she's not undergoing her treatments, which will likely only last a couple hours a day. She should still be well enough to leave under her own power when they're done for the day."
"That doesn't solve our problems with the Ashikabi of the East. We can barely set foot outside without being ambushed." the Rōnin Ashikabi replied with a tired sigh.
"Given what we've seen of Higa's methods, he'll likely have your apartment under surveillance soon as well, if he hasn't already." Minato pointed out. "He's the heir to a Zaibatsu, that means he likely has more than enough funds to have surveillance other than his Sekirei working for him."
"Great, now we have to deal with professional stalkers as well…"
"Well, I might have a solution for that if you're interested." Takami offered with a smirk. "It just so happens that the inn near Min-chan's home, Izumo Inn, is owned by an old acquaintance of mine. Her husband was one of MBI's top researchers and she's well aware of the Sekirei Plan. The only issue I can see is that Miya, the owner and landlady, doesn't accept MBI Cards as payment."
"Couldn't I just transfer some money from the MBI card into my own bank account or draw some from an ATM?" Haruka offered. "Sure it's a bit convoluted, but so long as she's only concerned about MBI Cards then it shouldn't be a problem right?"
"That should work, as long as you don't mention what you're doing to Miya herself. She can be…scary when she wants to be." the Head of the Sekirei Plan advised. "Don't let her Yamato Nadeshiko act fool you, she's scary good with a sword, a living example of the idea of 'silk hiding steel'."
Haruka gulped. Anyone who the intimidating woman in front of him could refer to as scary was someone he didn't want angry at him. "Noted, I'll get in touch with my current landlady and get things started."
"I'll let Miya know to expect you and put in a good word. Warning in advance, no hanky panky under her roof beyond holding hands and kissing, and even that has to be sparing and in private." Takami said with a shake of her head. "That woman can be more conservative than one of those old isolationist idiots back before the Bakumatsu."
"Kaa-san, that's a bit much, isn't it?" Minato sweatdropped at his mother's rather…unflattering words.
"I'm simply being honest." the ash-haired woman denied. "Anyway Min-chan, are your Sekirei, Kuruse and Yashima, still standing guard out there?"
"Yeah. Kuruse-chan's still a bit paranoid about security after those foreign soldiers attacked this place last time." the Ashikabi of the North noted. "And Yashima-chan tends to get nervous if she's stuck somewhere where she doesn't have the room to swing her hammer properly. Still, I'm surprised that this place is already fixed up."
"I've had MBI's every resource at my fingertips to get this place up and running again." Takami responded with a smirk. "The Caped Idiot's way of apologizing for his part in that screw-up from before, I suppose. I've already upgraded the defences several times over. Anyone trying to break in here again is going to be in for a few nasty surprises."
Seeing the look in his mother's eyes, Minato suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He silently offered a prayer for any soul stupid enough to piss her off like that.
Ironically enough, several people across the city sneezed at that exact same moment.
Later
Living/Dining Room, Izumo Inn
"I see." Miya offered, as she put down her tea. "And this Shigi Haruka-san wishes to leave Shin Teitō with his Sekirei, does he? I assume you disabused him of that notion?"
"I gave him an idea of just how hard escaping MBI would be. I didn't think it wise to let him know about just how many foreign powers would also try and get their hands on him and Kuno as well." Takami answered with a shake of her head. "As much as I loathe to admit it, the security around the Capital and the Sekirei is just as much for their protection as it is to control them. Minaka's cracked, but he's not stupid; his control over Japan's national government may be as solid as possible, but the prefectural authorities are a lot harder to keep wrangled, particularly those that have a large American military presence. If a lone Sekirei and Ashikabi pair were to leave the capital, they'd be overwhelmed quicker than our response teams could get to them, and that's just with the Americans. I don't want to count the number of infiltration and black ops teams that are likely roving Japan right now."
"The boy really does need to be made aware of the threats that would await him outside the city if you wish to keep him here." the Pillar offered disapprovingly.
"I intend to, but giving him too much information at once would likely make the kid do something stupid." Takami shook her head again, "That or he'd flat out disbelieve me and rush out head-first. I'll be dealing with him for at least the next month or so as I handle the readjustments Kuno needs and oversee her recovery. I'll feed him pieces a bit at a time so he can fully understand just what he's dealing with. He's a bit like Min-chan like that."
"Ara, ara. Considering you've only known him for a short amount of time, you can already see your son in him." Miya demurely concealed her mouth with one sleeve of her kimono, hiding a smile. "Is this the instinct of a mother, I wonder?"
One eyebrow twitched on Takami's face. 'If it wasn't for the fact that you'd obliterate me in a half-second, I would be kicking the crap out of you for that one, Miya!'
Instead, she merely snorted derisively. "I can hardly call myself a mother, given how little time I have for either of my children. Damned Minaka. Anyway, do you think you put Shigi-san up?"
"Takehito had a policy of never turning anyone away who came to his doors." the lavender-haired woman said after a moment. "Still, I must see these people with my own eyes. Bring them over tomorrow and I'll judge them for myself."
"That's fine. Oh, by the way, how have you been since Min-chan and the twins started their nightly fun?" Takami gave the other woman a smarmy smirk, making the purplette blush scarlet.
"Really, those two didn't even wait a full day after their wings became full before jumping him." the former Number 01 huffed. "How utterly immodest."
Takami snorted. "Miya, that house is practically a swimming pool of hormones and pheromones. The girls are all literally fighting down their instincts to keep from jumping Mina-chan before their bond is fully formed." the mother of two put in dryly. "Once that final hurdle was out of the way, they likely couldn't help themselves."
"I am aware of that, funnily enough." Miya replied, just as dryly. "Their feelings, despite their lascivious overtones, are pure and devoted; they well and truly love your son. That only spurs on their natural desires and their instinctive response to bonding with a compatible Ashikabi. Unfortunately, I was on the receiving of every thought, feeling, and sensation of that culmination. Honestly, the things a poor married woman has to endure…"
"Widow, you're a widow, Miya." Takami reminded her firmly. "Takehito is dead, and he would have wanted you to be happy and move on. Staying devoted to his memory is one thing, but locking yourself away in this old inn isn't going to make things any better for you."
"I am well aware that my husband is dead, Takami-san." Miya replied sharply. "And I do not 'lock myself away' in my own home. I simply prefer my own company, and that of my tenants."
"Your tenants, the number of which has been reduced to one, and who rarely stays in the building for any longer than it takes to shower, dry and change clothes?" Takami said pointedly as she rose. "Well, I suppose it's all to the better if you're alone at night, Miya…after all, having someone hearing you moan as you feel my son turning his Sekirei into women would be far too embarrassing."
With that, she turned and left as Asama Miya flushed red in both anger and embarrassment, struck speechless for once in her life.
Three Days Later
Outside Sahashi Minato's Home
Minato let out a sigh as he walked towards his home, Yahan and Musubi flanking him. If the University courses weren't stressful enough, he also had to deal with the added issues of constantly arguing with the faculty about the presence of his Sekirei. Seriously, someone had literally tried to assassinate him, he clearly needed bodyguards!
Unfortunately, the starch-ridden old battleaxe (his mother's words) who was acting Dean was continuously pushing for him to remove them every day. The way the woman had spoken about his wives, as if they were rats or cockroaches…he was truthfully getting tempted to channel his mother and let the old bit…woman have it.
Honestly, he was just glad to be home so he could rest for a bit, but that wasn't going to happen tonight, sadly enough. Haruka was going to stop by tonight and discuss the whole 'escape for the capital' plan he wanted to make, despite everything his mother had warned them about. If nothing else, the Rōnin could certainly stick to his guns.
His brooding mood was swiftly swept away as he walked through the door and instantly caught an armful (and mouthful) of happy, eager Sekirei. Namely one Kusano, who was extremely eager to catch up with her sister-wives when it came to enjoying 'Mina-time.'
"Heya, Ku." Minato murmured happily once she'd, very reluctantly, removed her mouth from his. "Been having a good day?"
Kusano giggled as she hopped back a step and twirled happily. She still preferred the loose, one-piece dresses she'd worn prior to her final adjustments, but her new ones were far more adult than her old ones and were often decorated with floral prints and colours She was currently wearing a soft, lawn-green one with lace frills and a small cleavage window.
"Yup!" she sang happily. "I spent all day planning the garden; Takami-okaa-sama even stopped by for a bit and helped!"
It honestly hadn't taken a lot of convincing for everyone to agree that the gardens were going to be Kusano's personal domain and responsibility. Her natural abilities all centred around manipulating plant-life, particularly using it to attack and bind her enemies. Even outside combat, her abilities granted her a supernatural green thumb and she could even cross-breed and hybridize plants with a terrifying ease. In less than a week, she'd produced a new species that seemed to be a mix of ivy and a venus fly trap.
Astounding. Slightly terrifying when combined with her power, but still astounding.
From a purely defensive purview, allowing Kusano to plan and create her own personal gardens around the house had been a 'simply brilliant' move according to Takami. With the proper variety of plants at her command, the Sekirei of Life could shift from 'capture and bind' to 'attack with extreme prejudice' with only a thought. It wasn't just the outside that had been adjusted to suit their home's new guardian; various potted plants had been positioned throughout the house just in case someone managed to sneak in.
They would also be readily portable weapons if Kusano ever needed to help out on the offensive.
"That sounds good, you'll have to show me what you've planned later." Minato agreed, ruffling her hair with one hand before Akitsu pulled him away for a kiss.
Once all of his non-bodyguard Sekirei had received a dosage of affection, Minato found himself snuggling on the couch between Yomi and Kuruse. They'd apparently won that honour for the night via a rock-scissor-paper tournament. It honestly baffled him a bit, he knew that Sekirei could be a bit competitive and that they were very physically affectionate, but he'd failed to realize what happened when you combined those two traits.
Ergo, being competitive about who got the first chance at cuddle-time after he got home.
"…I know I've already said this, but the sheer number of Sekirei you have blows my mind." Haruka deadpanned as he walked in on the scene a few minutes later. "Also, really glad we didn't have to fight you guys."
"They've all already beat me in every way that matters~!" Kuno moaned with tears falling from her eyes as she gestured between her body and those of Minato's Sekirei. In terms of bust size, the only one she beat was Hibiki, and there only slightly, while she was beaten everywhere else by all of them.
"You really are down on yourself about being useless, aren't you?" her Ashikabi sighed.
"I'm not useless, I'm Kuno!" the petite blond whimpered.
Sighing again, Haruka swooped in and picked his only Sekirei up in a bridal carry before walking over to the nearest empty seat and sat down, placing her in his lap as he did so. The Sekirei of Song squeaked and blushed at her sudden position, but still melted into her Ashikabi's embrace.
"Seriously, that's diabetes-inducing sweetness." Hikari deadpanned, making the pair blush brightly, much to the Flock's amusement.
"Be nice." Minato chided gently, causing all his Sekirei to quickly look at him obediently.
"Wow…" Haruka muttered with a blink.
"My girls can get serious when times get tough, but they sometimes need a bit of a reminder when to lay off on the teasing in more casual situations." the Ashikabi of the North shrugged, sounding more fond than any kind of censuring. "Now you wanted to talk about escaping Shin Teitō? Despite what my mother has explained about MBI's ability to track you if you set foot outside the New Capital?"
"How's that any different than what we have to deal with staying here?" the Rōnin Ashikabi protested. "MBI can probably keep track of us through our MBI cards or something. Either way, they'll come after us if we don't participate in the Game, and at least outside we'll have room to move and run! Not to mention that the Ashikabi of the East is still after us! You should've already heard about the attacks over the past couple days."
Minato frowned, but nodded. Higa's Sekirei, or some belonging to his subordinate Ashikabi, had been dogging Haruka and Kuno almost every day since they'd left their apartments and moved into Izumo Inn. They hadn't made any moves on the Inn itself, which honestly puzzled Minato, but it was likely that, since the owner was affiliated with MBI, Higa didn't want to risk attacking what could be considered MBI territory. He didn't doubt that someone with Higa's resources could get information on the Inn's previous owner.
Fortunately, he'd suspected that kind of reaction, and had always had several of his Sekirei to guard and escort them to and from his mother's lab. So far they'd been able to force Higa's Sekirei to retreat without terminating anyone. Ensuring that they had a Single Number (Akitsu) on their side had been a huge advantage, but it was one they couldn't play forever. Akitsu still got tired and after three days of fighting, even if in only brief clashes each time, she needed time to rest.
Normally, a Single Number wouldn't be so easily tired by using their powers, but Akitsu was still recovering from her time as a Scrapped Number. She needed time to both regain her stamina and relearn the discipline and control most Single Numbers needed in order to regulate their power. She was working hard and recovering smoothly, but these things took time.
Technically, Minato had two other Single Numbers in his Flock, but neither could fight for vastly different reasons. First was Yume, who was currently merely a spirit held within her Tama inside Musubi, and the other was Matsu, who was wanted by MBI (for a reason even Minato hadn't been able to get out of her yet), a Support type rather than a Combat type, and an agoraphobe.
Speak of the devil. "While you're not wrong about the dangers in the New Capital; I honestly don't think you've thought about what happens after you get out, Shigi-san." Matsu put in, adjusting her glasses with a single finger. "You are aware that every country on the planet wants to get their hands on the Sekirei and the secrets of our abilities and technology, aren't you?"
"I…" Haruka blinked. "…hadn't really thought of that. Considering how easily most of you can turn people into paste, that makes a lot of sense. Honestly, it'd be stranger if a government wasn't trying to get their hands on superpowered aliens."
"Bingo." the Sekirei of Wisdom nodded. "Outside of myself and a few others, who are Support-types rather than Combat-types, nearly every Sekirei could crush an entire battalion of human soldiers with little effort. The governments naturally want control over our technology, exotic capabilities, and physical prowess…to the point that one country killed one, pre-adjusted, Sekirei in the pursuit of that goal…"
Shigi Haruka listened in mingled horror and disgust at what one country had done in order to acquire the secrets of the Sekirei. His mind kept imagining Kuno in place of this unknown Sekirei and it made his mind rage and rebel in refusal to allow it.
"Every man and woman who was a direct participant of that operation is dead, Shigi-san." Matsu finished solemnly as she wound down from her condensed lecture regarding the kidnapping of Numbers 87 and 88. "One of the Single Numbers gave her life to revive that Sekirei…Number 8, Yume, sacrificed her life in order to bring back Number 88, Musubi. Miracles like that don't happen twice, Shigi-san. Kuno-han will die if you let a country's military get their hands on her, which is almost inevitable if you manage to escape the New Capital."
"Haruka-sama…" Kuno whimpered in concern as she felt his emotions over their Bond. He was in turmoil. The Sekirei Plan was far, far too risky to allow them to remain in Shin Teitō, but at the same time, the outside of the New Capital was wrought with newly discovered threats just as great, but in different ways, to their happiness, so they couldn't leave.
Can't stay.
Can't leave.
What could he do…?!
"Matsu-chan, the transmitters that MBI has in every Sekirei…can anyone track them or are they on an encrypted frequency?" Minato asked thoughtfully.
"The frequency they use is both heavily encrypted, and kept on an isolated band Mina-tan." Matsu replied immediately. She'd studied those systems personally. "That being said, it isn't impossible to hack into and trace; it'd require both top of the line, specialized equipment and several capable hackers, but it's nothing beyond what most of the world's major powers could accomplish. It would take time, though, and MBI would be able to detect it, even if they couldn't trace the hack itself to its source."
"Still seems like a glaring weak spot." Yahan pointed out with a frown, her quick and agile mind seeing the incongruity immediately. "Why design a tracking system for Sekirei that leave the New Capital if any other major power could tap into it given enough time."
"My personal suspicion is that the Chairman is using it as just another incentive to keep me from leaving the New Capital." the orangette grimaced. "I'm a Single Number with low-combat potential and high espionage value; I know that other countries know I exist from hacking databases, and I'm among their top ten targets for acquisition and 'investigation'. I didn't dare set foot out of the Capital, even if my agoraphobia didn't half cripple me at the thought."
"Agoro-what?" Haruka asked in confusion.
"A fear of wide-open spaces." Minato translated for him. "It does make choosing somewhere she feels comfortable to take her on a date problematic, but she's very much worth it."
"Eep!" Matsu squeaked, turning red at the thought of going on an actual date with her beloved Ashikabi. The shock melted away as all sorts of fun activities that they could partake in afterwards paraded through her mind, making her giggle lewdly.
"Uwah, we've lost Matsu-nee." Uzume snorted in amusement. She knew very well how perverted the Sekirei of Wisdom was, and that this kind of situation happening in public had only been a matter of time.
"And people call me perverted." Yomi snickered.
"You are, Yomi-chan." Yashima put in with a grin. "You just hide it better to people outside of the Flock."
The flaxen-haired Sekirei pouted at her sister-wives as they chortled at her.
"They're having fun." Haruka noted.
"They are the largest group of unified Sekirei who have found their Destined One in the game, Haruka-sama." Kuno said with a smile. "They will be more powerful than almost every other group shortly. They can afford to be somewhat relaxed in private like this."
Haruka would have muttered about how unfair that was, but first off, he was fine and content with his Kuno by herself, and second, with power came a large target; just about every Ashikabi would be gunning for the four Cardinal Ashikabi come the later stages of the game. Haruka was perfectly happy not standing out enough to get that kind of attention, thank you very much.
Minato, who had been thinking amidst the chatter, smiled as an idea came to him. "I have a though, Matsu-chan. What if…"
As he laid a plan out to help Haruka and Kuno, Matsu's eyes widened.
"That…that might just work, Mina-tan, but it'll take a LOT of work to get right." she said once he finished. "It helps that Kuno-han is gonna be laid up for a while as she gets herself sorted out with Takami-okaa-sama, but even with three weeks to work with, it might be tight."
"We'll be able to do it, Minato-sama." Yahan said firmly. "In just over a fortnight's time, we'll be able to carry out your plan."
"Jeez, it's easy for you to say that, but I'm the one who has to do the most work here!" the Sekirei of Wisdom wailed.
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Next Chapter: A Warrior Enters: Kaho, the Naginata Sekirei
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