Hachiman placed the Ninja Nomicon down on the coffee table that was in front of Saika's couch before sitting back down.
"Ninja Nomicon, one of the students in my school turned into a purple monster; do you know how to change him back?," Hachiman asked.
After Hachiman asked his question, the Nomicon started glowing before opening up, flipping its pages, and stopping on a certain page. While Saika and Yoshiteru looked at the book in awe due to it being able to open itself up and flip through its own pages, Hachiman brought the book towards him so that he could read the words on the page.
"'Sever the puppet's strings,'" he read.
Saika and Yoshiteru were confused by what the Nomicon was trying to tell Hachiman.
"Um, I don't get it, what do puppet strings have to do with turning Bucky back to normal?," Saika questioned.
"This is truly a puzzling lesson, finding the meaning behind it might take days, weeks even," Yoshiteru added.
Hachiman looked at his friends in confusion, "You guys really don't understand what the Nomicon is trying to say; I thought it was being pretty straightforward."
"No, I don't get it at all," Saika admitted. "What do you think it means Hachiman?"
"Well, a puppet is controlled by someone tugging at its strings," Hachiman explained. "If you cut a puppet's strings, however, then the puppeteer can no longer make the puppet do what he or she wants it to do."
"Pardon me, but your explanation still leaves me confused; I still do not know what that has to do with changing Bucky back," Yoshiteru interrupted.
"I was getting to that," Hachiman explained, glaring slightly at Yoshiteru for interrupting him. "I think the Ninja Nomicon is trying to tell me that Bucky is under the influence of someone's power, so if I sever the connection between Bucky and that person's power, then Bucky will be able to turn back to normal."
"Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense. Wow Hachiman, the way that you were able to figure that out was impressive, you're really smart!," Saika praised.
Hachiman couldn't help but blush at the praise he got from Saika, "It honestly isn't that big of a deal, I just have a knack for riddles," he confessed.
Hachiman then notices that there is something else written on the corner of the right page, "Wait, there's something else written on this page."
He then noticed the type of ink that was used and looked dumbfounded, "Hold on a second, was this written in permanent marker?," he questioned.
Once Hachiman read what the words said, he couldn't help but think that the Ninja Nomicon was not as credible as he thought it was.
"'You gotta D'Stank em bro,'" Hachiman read in a monotone voice while dawning a deadpan look. "Alright, you had me at first Ninja Nomicon, but now you lost me."
The Ninja Nomicon began glowing and suddenly, Hachiman's body went limp as his soul was once again sucked into the pages of the book. Once his soul was inside, he landed on the pages before noticing words floating in front of him.
"'The evil funk possesses the vulnerable, using that which they hold most dear,'" Hachiman read.
Suddenly, the words that he had read had disappeared and were replaced with another set of words.
"'Warning, while the evil funk possesses someone, the Ninja's smoke bombs will only teleport the Ninja to that individual or individuals."' he read.
"I'm glad that I didn't use any smoke bombs to teleport home tonight; suddenly teleporting to Bucky with no idea where I am would put me at a heavy disadvantage," Hachiman acknowledged before his soul was returned to his body.
Suddenly, cold water had fallen over Hachiman's head causing him to jump up in surprise. Once he recovered from getting water poured on him, he turned around to see where the water came from, only to see Yoshiteru who held a now empty cup. Before Hachiman could ask him why he did that, Saika quickly brought Hachiman into a hug, which, while Hachiman enjoyed, confused him as well.
"Thank god you're okay, we thought something bad happened to you!," Saika cried.
"What is up with you guys," Hachiman asked in confusion more than he did in anger.
Saika looked at Hachiman, tears threatening to pour down from his eyes, "Your body went limp out of nowhere; your body looked completely lifeless. We were worried about you, so Zaimokuza decided to get some water and pour it on you to see if you would wake up!"
Hachiman couldn't help but feel more confused, he had told them that his soul would be sucked into the pages of the Nomicon, so it made sense that his body would look lifeless. Just then, Hachiman's eyes widened as he realized something, 'I forgot to tell them that the Nomicon sucks my soul into its pages!,' he thought to himself.
"Uh, actually, the Ninja Nomicon usually sucks my soul into its pages when it wants to teach me something," Hachiman admitted sheepishly.
Saika quickly let go of Hachiman and looked at him in shock and anger, "And you didn't think it was important to mention this to us?!," he asked, a bit outraged.
"I forgot to tell you guys, sorry," Hachiman apologized, feeling a bit guilty and stupid for forgetting to tell his friends about how the Nomicon works.
"Alright, but next time something like this happens, please let us know ahead of time, okay?," Saika asked with a pout.
'So cute,' Hachiman thought with a small blush on his face.
"Alright, next time I'll give you guys a heads up when something like this happens," Hachiman agreed.
Saika's pout was quickly replaced with a big smile, causing Hachiman's blush to spread more throughout his face. Saika noticed this and started to look at Hachiman with concern, "Hachiman, are you okay; your face looks pretty red."
"Uh, yeah, I'm just starting to get thirsty again. Totsuka, can you get me more water please?," Hachiman lied, embarrassed that he had been infatuated with one of friends. 'Totsuka is a guy, do not let his feminine appearance trick you,' he thought to himself.
Saika, not noticing that Hachiman was lying, complied with Hachiman's request as he went to the kitchen to get another cup of water for his friend. While Saika was busy, Yoshiteru turned his attention to Hachiman and decided to ask him something.
"So, what wisdom did the Ninja Nomicon give you while you were in its pages?," Yoshiteru asked, a bit of excitement could be heard in his voice.
"It confirmed my suspicions; apparently Bucky is under the influence of an 'evil funk' as the Nomicon puts it," Hachiman shared.
"Did it tell you anything else?," Saika asked as he returned from the kitchen, having heard what Hachiman and Yoshiteru were talking about.
"Yeah, it did; it told me that the evil funk possesses that which he holds most dear, which means that I might have to destroy something that he holds dear to him. That's probably what the Nomicon meant when it said that I had to 'destank' Bucky," Hachiman explained. 'Although I wonder why the Nomicon had something written in slang and improper grammar in its pages, or why it was written in permanent marker for that matter,' he thought to himself.
"Also, apparently if one or more people are 'stanked,' my smoke bombs will teleport to me to them and will not let me teleport anywhere else until they're 'destanked,'" Hachiman continued.
"Wait, your smoke bombs grant you the ability of teleportation?!," Yoshiteru asked in amazement, causing Hachiman to nod in approval.
"Hachiman, my dearest friend, may I please use some of your smoke bombs?!," Yoshiteru pleaded.
"Absolutely not, my ninja tools are not toys," Hachiman answered bluntly, making Yoshiteru deflate.
"Wait, if you can teleport to where Bucky is right now using your smoke bombs, then why don't you teleport to him and try to turn him back to normal?," Saika asked.
"Teleporting to where Bucky is right now would leave me at a disadvantage," Hachiman began explaining. "If I teleport to Bucky and I have no idea where he is prior to me teleporting to him, he would have the advantage because he would have a better understanding of the area that we are in more than I would."
Saika had a thoughtful look on his face before nodding his head, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense, but then how are you going to turn Bucky back to normal?"
"I'm going to have to lure him out of hiding somehow, but the thing is, I have no idea how I'm going to do that," Hachiman admitted.
"I think it would be best if you slept on this and tried to come up with a strategy in the morning," Yoshiteru advised. "That way, in the morning your mind is refreshed and you are able to think of a way you could revert Bucky's monstrous transformation."
"It has been a long day, maybe Zaimokuza's right, we should get some sleep," Saika agreed.
"Well, I am pretty damn tired due to the school work and work I had to do as the Ninja," Hachiman admitted.
"Alright then, bring your bag, I'll lead you to the room that you'll be staying in," Saika instructed.
Hachiman grabbed his bag and followed Saika upstairs, with one thought lingering in his head, 'How am I going to lure Bucky out?,'
Inside the Sorcerer's prison, he is sitting down on his stool as he waits for Bucky to wreak chaos once again. Suddenly, he hears something crawling up the pillar until finally he sees a rat sitting down on top of the pillar. The Sorcerer walks over to it, grabs it, and holds it close to his face, smiling at the rodent in his hand.
"Hello, I don't think we've met, I am the Sorcerer; I have been down here for eight hundred years, you've probably heard of me," the Sorcerer introduced.
The rat answered "no" which the Sorcerer was able to understand due to his magical powers.
"Makes no difference, I won't be here much longer. My latest creation is up there making chaos," he told the rat before waving his hand over his belt of green orbs, which glowed light green as his hand passed over the orbs. "Chaos gives me power, and once I have enough power, I will break free of this prison and destroy the Ninja!,"
After explaining who he was and how his powers worked to the rat, he started to chuckle, which quickly turned into a sinister laugh. Not long after the Sorcerer started laughing, the rat began to laugh as well, causing the Sorcerer to stop his laughing and eye the rat suspiciously.
"Are you laughing at me or with me?," he asked the rat.
The rat answered, "with you" causing the Sorcerer to smile at his newest companion.
"Good, very good," he told the rat before he started laughing again.
At the end of school the next day, Yoshiteru and Saika were waiting near the bike racks outside the school for Hachiman.
"Sorry I'm late, I just finished setting up my plan to change Bucky back to normal," Hachiman explained, calling out behind them.
"That's quite alright, so what's your plan for-," before Yoshiteru could finish, he had turned around, only to notice that Hachiman was not wearing his school uniform. Instead, he was wearing the marching band uniform which consisted of a blue shirt with golden braidings, blue pants with gold stripes on the side, a blue shako, and a gold sash around the waist.
"Why are you wearing that?!," Yoshiteru asked, outraged by his friend's appearance.
"I joined the marching band," Hachiman answered plainly.
"Why are you saying that?!," Yoshiteru asked, still outraged.
"Because you asked," Hachiman answered plainly once again.
Yoshiteru calmed down a bit, although he was still upset by friend's decision to join the marching band.
"How did this happen?," Yoshiteru asked calmly.
"I auditioned Zaimokuza," Hachiman answered, a bit exasperated with Yoshiteru's dumb questions. "What's with you asking questions that you should know the answer to?,"
"I asked those questions because I cannot believe you joined those miscreants without telling us!," Yoshiteru answered, starting to get riled up again.
"While I don't agree with his way of saying it, I do agree that you joining the marching band is out of nowhere; why did you join Hachiman?," Saika asked.
"It's part of my plan to turn Bucky back to normal," Hachiman explained. "This Saturday, the school's holding another basketball game, which the marching band will go to so that they can perform. Since Bucky wants revenge on the marching band for kicking him out, it's highly likely that he will appear at the game. Before he can do any damage, I'll transform and turn Bucky back to normal."
"That does not explain why you would join those uniformed jerks," Yoshiteru pointed out in slight anger.
"I have two reasons for joining the marching band," Hachiman revealed. "The first reason is so I can secure the position of triangle player so that when Bucky turns back to normal, I can give him back his position as triangle player."
"While admirable, why did you think to do that?," Yoshiteru asked.
"I think that Bucky turning into a monster has something to do with him getting kicked off the marching band," Hachiman explained. "I can't confirm it, but just to be sure, I wanted to secure Bucky's position so that he doesn't turn back into a monster again."
"What's your second reason Hachiman?," Saika asked.
"I didn't want to pay for tickets to the game this weekend," Hachiman confessed.
"That's all well and good, but I do not think that we should see each other until you quit the band," Yoshiteru suggested.
"What, why would you say that Zaimokuza?," Saika asked, baffled by his friend's behavior.
"Although Hachiman is my best friend, I cannot stand looking at him as he dawns that putrid uniform," Yoshiteru explained. "I'm sorry my friend, I will see you another day."
With all that said, Yoshiteru began to walk home, leaving Hachiman and Saika by the bike racks. Saika couldn't help but scowl due to Yoshiteru's decision to abandon them.
"How could he do that, can you believe him Hachiman?," Saika asked in disbelief.
"To be honest, I kind of figured that Zaimokuza would do something like this," Hachiman revealed.
"Wait, you guessed that Zaimokuza would not want to be near you because you joined the marching band?," Saika asked incredulously.
Hachiman nodded his head in confirmation, "He really hates the marching band for bullying him, so I can understand why he did that, even though it is unreasonable considering I'm only going to be in the marching band temporarily."
"Well, do you want to go watch a movie?," Saika asked.
"Yeah sure, let me just head home first so that I can change into casual clothing," Hachiman agreed before taking the chains off his bike.
"Alright, let's meet at Chiba Station," Saika decided.
"Okay, I'll see you later Totsuka," Hachiman told his friend as he got on his bike.
"See you later Hachiman," Saika told his friend.
As Hachiman biked home, a smile was plastered on his face, thankful that he was going to hang out with Saika, alone.
On the night of the basketball game, Bucky had been lurking around a construction site that had been a few blocks away from the school. He was looking for some pipes that he could use to make a triangle and triangle beater that was big enough for him to use, but before he could do that, he had heard footsteps coming his way. Not wanting to be spotted in case the people who were passing by would somehow alert the Ninja of his whereabouts, Bucky hid behind a crane and waited for them to pass by.
"Hurry up Kai, or we'll miss the basketball game at Sobu High tonight," one of the people passing by told her friend.
"I'm going as fast as I can Aiko, stop rushing me," the boy named Kai complained.
"I wouldn't be rushing you if you would just hurry up!," the girl named Aiko countered, her voice sounding more distant to Bucky.
Bucky heard Kai talk again, but he had gotten far enough away that Bucky could no longer hear what he said. After waiting five more minutes to make sure that no one else passed by, Bucky moved away from the crane after not hearing any footsteps and smiled sinisterly to himself.
"A basketball game, huh? Perfect time to get revenge on my bandmates," Bucky mumbled before leaving the construction site and running in the direction of Sobu High School.
It had been twenty minutes since the basketball game had started and Hachiman was starting to regret joining the marching band due to having to constantly dodge soda and popcorn being thrown his way. Two things had kept him from flat out quitting; he needed to make sure Bucky didn't get stanked again, and he kept thinking about the fun time he had with Saika yesterday so that he wouldn't think of quitting. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted when he had noticed two people sitting down next to him. He turned to his right and saw Saika and Yoshiteru, and oddly enough, Yoshiteru was wearing a red popcorn bucket strapped to his head.
"Do I even want to know why you have a popcorn bucket strapped to your head?," Hachiman asked.
"Let us be clear, I'm only sitting here for the snacks," Yoshiteru told his friends as he took out a pair of yellow goggles and strapped them on.
Popcorn had started flying inside Yoshiteru's bucket due to people trying to throw it at the marching band. As the bucket began to fill up, he started taking popcorn from inside and ate some while Saika and Hachiman looked at Yoshiteru with disgust.
"Really, you can't be seen with me?!," Hachiman exclaimed, both disgusted and annoyed by Yoshiteru's actions.
"I have to admit, it is pretty… bizarre to eat popcorn that people were trying to throw away," Saika admitted, causing Yoshiteru to deflate. "Hey Yoshiteru, do you mind switching places with me; I have something I want to ask Hachiman."
Yoshiteru quietly complied with Saika's request, still upset by his friends essentially calling him weird.
Saika scooted close to Hachiman and got close to his ear, causing Hachiman to blush slightly.
"Any signs of Bucky?," Saika whispered, causing Hachiman's spine to shiver due to feeling Saika's breath hit his ear.
"I haven't seen or heard him and the mask hasn't glowed, so he's probably not near the school yet," Hachiman whispered back.
As soon as he finished whispering, his mask began to glow from his pants pocket before Bucky crashed through the wall, roaring loudly, causing the basketball players to stop playing and scream in fear and the students who were watching the game to start panicking and run away in fear.
"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear," Hachiman stated.
Hachiman quickly took off his shako and placed it to the side of him before ducking underneath the bleachers without anyone noticing. He quickly slipped the mask over his face, causing him to change into the Ninja. As Bucky began terrorizing the gym, the Sorcerer was laughing as the green orbs that were previously around his waist now floated around him. Bucky noticed his band instructor running away and glared in his direction. As he got ready to attack his instructor, the Ninja jumped from the bleachers and landed in front of Bucky.
"Give up Bucky, I got you where I want you," the Ninja advised before being punched so hard by Bucky that he went crashing into the concession stand.
Yoshiteru quickly ran towards the Ninja, who was on the floor, leaning against the concession stand's table.
"Ninja, are you okay, can you stand?!," Yoshiteru asked loudly, shaking the slightly disoriented Ninja.
The Ninja grabbed Yoshiteru's arms so that Yoshiteru would stop shaking him.
"I'm fine, please stop shaking me," the Ninja told him, causing Yoshiteru to let go.
The Ninja quickly slapped both his cheeks so that he could focus; once he no longer felt dizzy, he got back up. Before the Ninja could do anything, Bucky had approached him and Yoshiteru before grabbing the Ninja, causing Yoshiteru to run away, afraid of Bucky grabbing him as well. Bucky started shaking the Ninja, causing him to get dizzy again. As Bucky was busy shaking him, the Ninja scanned Bucky's body to see what he might have on him that he held most dear. The Ninja then notices Bucky's triangle beater sticking out of his pocket before coming to the conclusion that the beater was what Bucky held most dear.
"Alright, I think it's about time that we ended this," the Ninja proclaimed before reaching into his belt for something.
"I need something that can disorientate him, give me something that can do that," the Ninja mumbled before he pulling something out from his belt.
The Ninja looked at his hands and saw that he pulled out two glowing red balls with a wide horizontal black stripe that went around each ball with red '9' symbols that went along the stripes of the balls. 'Flash bombs, huh? These should work perfectly,' the Ninja thought to himself. He quickly threw the flash bombs at Bucky's face, causing a big flash of light to be emitted, causing Bucky to let go of the Ninja so that Bucky could rub his eyes in discomfort. The Ninja used his scarf as a lasso and wrapped it around Bucky's beater. Before the Ninja could pull the end of his scarf back towards him, Bucky grabbed the scarf and pulled it hard, causing the Ninja to get sent flying towards him.
"Sorry to tell you this, but you're not going to grab me a second time," the Ninja told Bucky as the Ninja continued to soar towards him.
Once the Ninja was close enough to Bucky, he kicked Bucky's face as hard as he could, causing him to let go of the Ninja's scarf before stumbling backwards. Unbeknownst to Bucky, his triangle beater had fallen out of his pocket and landed in front of the Ninja's feet. Once Bucky noticed this, he began charging towards the Ninja while the Ninja flipped the beater into the air using his foot before pulling out his sword. Before Bucky could reach him, the Ninja sliced the beater in two, causing the stank to disappear into a vent and Bucky to transform back to normal, albeit, with ripped clothing. The people who had decided to stay in the gym so that they could watch the fight instead of running away in fear surrounded the Ninja and chanted "smoke bomb!" until the Ninja threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Once the stank had returned to the Sorcerer, his orbs had stopped floating around him and returned to his waist. The Sorcerer clenched his fist tightly while he scowled, angry that the Ninja had thwarted his plan.
"One day Ninja, I promise you that I'll break free of my prison," the Sorcerer declared. "And once I get out of this blasted hole, you are in for a cruel and painful death."
After Hachiman got out from behind the bleachers after changing back, he had walked towards Bucky, who was surrounded by the spectators of the fight, asking him a lot of questions. Once Bucky saw Hachiman, who had a triangle and triangle beater in his hand, he pushed through the crowd of people and approached him.
"So, uh, I guess you're the new triangle player for the band, right?," Bucky asked awkwardly.
"You are correct," Hachiman confirmed.
Bucky looked a little sad once Hachiman confirmed his suspicions.
"Yeah, I thought you might be," Bucky admitted sadly. "Listen, I love the triangle more than anyone, so can you please do me a favor and play the triangle with as much passion as you can muster?"
"Sorry, but I don't think I can do that," Hachiman confessed, much to Bucky's shock.
"What, why not?!," Bucky asked, outraged.
"Because I don't really want to play triangle in the marching band, I don't really have a passion for it," Hachiman admitted. "I guess that means that I'm going to have to give up my position as triangle player to you." Once Hachiman told him this, Bucky couldn't help but feel stunned by Hachiman's declaration.
"A-are you serious, is this some kind of joke?," Bucky asked suspiciously.
Hachiman shook his head, "I don't really want to be in the band anymore; I didn't like it as much as I thought I would," he lied, knowing he wouldn't like it before he joined. "Since I'm giving up my position as triangle player, and since I'm sure that no one else wants this position either, it only makes sense that you should have it."
Hachiman held out his triangle and beater towards Bucky before Bucky joyfully took both of them out of his hand and put them into his pants pocket. Bucky suddenly hugged Hachiman tightly, surprising Hachiman, before tears of joy fell from Bucky's eyes.
"Thank you so, so much!," Bucky exclaimed. "You have no idea what this means to me!"
Feeling awkward by the sudden hug and from the people who were watching him and Bucky, Hachiman carefully pushed Bucky off of him.
"Hey, shouldn't you go home and let your parents know you're okay?," Hachiman asked, hoping Bucky would go home and not try to hug him again.
Bucky's eyes widened as he realized Hachiman was right, "Oh my gosh, my parents! They must be worried sick, waiting for me to come home! I gotta go, but thanks again whoever you are!," he yelled before running out of the gymnasium.
'Thank God that's over, I can't wait to head home and change out of this dumb band uniform,' Hachiman thought to himself as he began to make his way out of the gym.
Before he could make it to the door, Hachiman felt someone tap his shoulder; he turned around and saw a pretty girl with red eyes and light orange hair worn in a loose side bun. Hachiman was confused as to why she wanted his attention and was further confused when she began flashing a smile at him.
"Uh, may I help you?," Hachiman asked, wanting to know why she was preventing him from leaving.
The girl with the light orange hair looked embarrassed once Hachiman asked her that question, blushing slightly before she began to speak to him.
"I saw what you did back there, that was pretty nice of you," she acknowledged.
Hachiman raised his eyebrow at her, 'Is that seriously the reason you stopped me from leaving?,' he questioned mentally.
"I wasn't trying to be nice," Hachiman admitted. "I didn't want the position of triangle player anymore and I doubt anyone else would have wanted it either, so I gave my place on the marching band to the only person who would want it; I was just being practical, nothing more."
'I was also just trying to be efficient for my job by making sure that there was no reason for Bucky turning back to a monster,' Hachiman added mentally. The girl with the light orange hair looked somewhat disappointed by his answer before shaking it off and smiling at him again.
"You say that, but you could have just quit the team and let the band instructor deal with finding a new triangle player," she pointed out. "Instead, you gave up playing the triangle so that someone else who loved playing the triangle could play it, so you were being nice."
Hachiman was a bit annoyed that he couldn't tell her the real reason that he did what he did without revealing his secret identity, so he just sighed and decided to not let it bother him.
"If that's what you want to believe then I'm not going to stop you from thinking that, but you couldn't be further from the truth," he told her.
"Deny it all you want, but I know the truth," the girl with the light orange hair smirked.
Hachiman couldn't help but roll his eyes at her, "If that's all you want, then I'm going to go home," he told her before making his way out of the gymnasium.
"Alright, see you later Hikki!," the girl called out to him.
As he continued to leave the school, one question had popped in his head, 'Who the hell is Hikki?'
Outside the school, Hachiman was unlocking his bike, but stopped once he heard a voice call out to him.
"Hey Hachiman, wait for us!," the voice told him.
He looked behind him and saw that Saika and Yoshiteru were approaching him; Yoshiteru went up to Hachiman with a guilty look on his face.
"Hachiman, my friend, I have been acting extremely immature and idiotic lately," Yoshiteru admitted. "I apologize for ridiculing and abandoning you just because you joined the marching band, that was wrong of me, especially since I knew you were going to quit afterwards."
"That's okay, I didn't really miss you anyways," Hachiman admitted, bluntly.
Yoshiteru curled up on the floor, moaning as if Hachiman's words had caused him actual pain.
"I deserved that," Yoshiteru wheezed.
"By the way, good job turning Bucky back to normal Hachiman," Saika complimented, ignoring Yoshiteru's theatrics.
"Thanks Totsuka, I appreciate that," Hachiman replied with a smile before dawning a serious look. "Although, this whole thing has me wondering something."
"What's that Hachiman?," Saika asked.
"Where the hell does stank come from?," Hachiman questioned.
Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, and I hoped you enjoyed the newest chapter of "My Job As A First Year Ninja Is Weird, As Expected." Once I start working on it, the next chapter will be called "McFist Of Fury." Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. Hope you enjoyed, and until next time, later!