Six
Taki Squad
A group of Inklings stood in front of her, making Nara begin to feel nervous, wishing Kazu hadn't abandoned her to go relieve himself in the bushes. A total of six very displeased looking assault troopers glared at her in silence, coming at her in a concave formation to surround her. Training kicking in, Nara immediately put a hand on her sword and began backing up towards the rest of her squad who were setting up for the night.
"She's not the one." One of the female soldiers said, asking Nara to her face, "You're in the eighth platoon's fourth squad, right? Taki squad?"
"Hey! What's going on here?" Takeo shouted, alerting the rest of the squad of Nara's predicament as he ran to his friend.
"Are you Taki squad, or not?" Nara was asked again, this time with a hint of anger on the girl's tone.
"Who's asking?" Nara returned, continuing to back up until Takeo reached her.
"What do you want? Whose squad are you a part of?" Takeo asked, getting between Nara and the group of posturing six.
"Taki, yeah? You're Taki, right?" One of the males asked Takeo, his anger much more apparent than the girl's.
"Takeo. What do you want?" Takeo asked, shifting his gaze between the six of them. Nara dared to glance around to find the others in her squad, Renzo, Ayumi, and Enri coming to see what was happening while Kiko and Yori stared in confusion.
"That's her. HEY, YOU!" The girl shouted, pointing to Kiko. "Come here!"
Kiko and Yori nervously made their way to the standoff, Nara not particularly liking how all of these strangers were bristling with fury.
"Y-yes?" Kiko asked, standing slightly behind the line that had formed in front of her.
"We need you to come with us." The female stated, as opposed to have asked.
"Yeah, that's not going to happen. You've still yet to identify yourselves. I don't know whose squad, or platoon you're with, but it won't be hard to find out. You should leave, before our platoon leader comes to inspect our squad's camp." Takeo said, completely lying at the end. Ren had never once inspected them, but Nara knew the fib was most likely to put pressure on their aggressors, who were chuckling.
"The platoon leaders are in their meeting, and will be for the next hour. Nice try kid. Now, she comes with us, or we take her. Choose." The leader ultimately said, as if it was a matter of fact.
"Why do you want her so bad? She's just a dumb kid." Ayumi stated, completely unfazed by the very real threat their squad had just received. As no one had actually drawn their swords yet, perhaps Ayumi thought they were still negotiating.
"She defiled a corpse, you idiot! She has to be punished, along with any who defend her!" One of the quieter ones blurted out, Nara just noticing this one had been shaking with rage. "She tore Ima in half!"
"You think we'll give you one of our squad because she made a mistake?" Ayumi asked, almost laughing at the thought... despite the very grievous error their squad-mate had made.
"You think we'll let her go after what she's done? She ripped our friend apart after she had died. What would you do if it was your friend?" The leader asked, bringing up a fair point.
"What would you do if we came asking for one of you, with threats of violence?" Takeo sullenly asked, making the motion of his hand going to his blade evident to everyone.
"Heh, the new kids think they can take us." One of the Inklings on Nara's side joked.
"Seven versus six." Renzo pointed out.
The cocky one let a very short laugh out, apparently signaling for hell to break loose.
Immediately, Nara was sprung upon, not even getting a chance to draw her blade. Her attention directed towards her assailant, Nara couldn't hope to comprehend what everyone was saying and shouting in the confusion that followed her descent to the ground from the female who Nara had believed was the leader. Undeterred that she was shorter and weighed less than the girl, Nara tried to bring her forearm into the face of the attacker several times once they both landed.
As the girl mounted her, Nara desperately threw her all into her back and legs, shoving the bitch off of her. As Nara began to get her feet under her, she saw her opponent was going for another tackle to retake the fight to the dirt. Prepared this time, Nara met the charge, intending to wrap her arms around the girl's neck. As if expecting Nara's move, the girl, in one swift motion, then grabbed her right wrist, pulled, and then used her leg to trip the one who had only practiced in sword-fights. Now, instead of being able to fight back with her back to the ground, her aggressor was pushing her face into the rocky ground, immobilizing her arm and putting all of her weight into Nara's back.
"Bitchcuntwhore! Getthefuckoffofme!" Nara growled weakly, half of her mouth filling with dirt as her head was having more and more weight pressed into her.
"You couldn't have made it easy, huh?" The girl mounting her breathed, hesitating before coming to her ear and whispering. "Doesn't this feel familiar? Did you enjoy it, when they had their way with you? How does it feel, little girl?"
Nara didn't know whether it was her pent up anger, or the fact the girl had accidentally slid off of her back briefly which messed up the pin, but Nara was able to twist her arm free much to her delight. Grabbing a handful of dirt and rocks with her left hand, Nara slapped the girl in the face and released the dirt cloud directly into the girl's eyes. Reeling on her knees and screaming in pain, the girl was in a perfect position to be tackled, which Nara took great pleasure in acting out as she mounted the girl, slamming her fist into the girl's face several times as she released more and more of her stress with every punch. Nara was able to get a few more direct hits in before the girl grabbed her own scalp, turning her arms towards wherever the fists were coming from and deflecting some of the damage, but Nara didn't care. She continued to put her entire back into each strike, never feeling so much anger at a single individual before.
"How does it feel, little girl?!" Nara repeated in anger as she shouted to the soldier who laughed off her strikes. "You demented bitch! What is wrong with you?!"
Nara continued to just yell things that couldn't even be considered words, and would have continued if she wasn't pulled off of the girl rather abruptly and by the neck. Grabbing onto the new assailant's arms to break free of the choke hold, Nara tried to kick the Inkling in the knees, but was quickly having her entire throat crushed. Even as darkness was coming to the periphery of her vision, and her lungs burned her from inside out, Nara continued to struggle, but her new attacker was taller and heavier than her. Any attempts to get out of the neck grip were useless, and her legs and arms soon stopped doing what Nara was telling them to do.
Suddenly, air returned to her lungs and ground rushed to meet her. Nara gasped loudly, perhaps the first sounds she had ever focused as intently on, as all of her attention went into putting air into her body and using her hands and legs to break the short fall. Nara shook her head several times as she coughed, able to hear over the racket she was making.
"We shouldn't be fighting each other, friends! I don't know why you are all angry and sad, but dying is the natural part of life we don't try to inflict on each other! Even if you're fighting for a reason or belief, there are other ways to get what you want besides from violence! We're all adults, aren't we?" Kazu's voice calmly asked, Nara unable to even look at the sudden mediator. From the sounds of it, all fighting had stopped around her, making Nara even more confused. "I don't believe you wanted to kill us, because all of you have your sheaths! So long as you can return your blade to its home, then peace can be achieved!"
Nara looked up and saw a very strange sight, wondering if Kazu had been like that since he started talking. In his left hand, her squad-mate had the one who had spoken about 'Ima' completely under his control, the boy's fingers digging into the back of the neck of the now crying soldier who was forced to lean forward. In his right hand, Kazu's sword was pressed very closely to another girl's neck, making her stand completely motionless in threat of death.
"As you can see, my sword no longer has its scabbard, though. Unfortunately, I dropped it in the woods when I heard the shouting! Isn't this terrible? I have a blade I can't put away!" Kazu happily exclaimed, his strange words of weirdly phrased mourning not even coming close to his tone. "Oh, I see some faces of recognition."
Nara turned to the other two Inklings that had come, one's sword crossing with Takeo's, the other Inkling about to run Kiko through, even though she was on her knees and looked to be begging for Renzo and Yori's lives, who were grasping at where their wounds were healing, namely their wrists.
The cocky one holding three hostages turned to the one holding two, saying, "We're taking her, freak."
Kazu's smiled didn't even flicker, as if he already knew the circumstances of this fight. "Go ahead."
"What?!" Takeo shouted in panic.
"Well, if he takes her, I can keep these two. Are we not bartering? I think that one life for two is extremely generous. If I can get two new friends for the loss of someone who hates me, I would gladly make that deal." Kazu almost sung, scaring Nara greatly.
Had he snapped completely from the squad's bullying? Had the teases and the constant quieting finally made the poor boy lose his mind? Where was the happy, content, awkward guy that Nara had grown to like and befriend? Why was there this savage look in her friend's eyes? Similar questions plagued her mind as she listened to the rambling one's words.
"We'll have so much fun, too. I know hundreds of games we can all play. Especially for you, mister… Oh, I don't know either of your names. What should I call you two?"
"Kazu-" Nara coughed, trying to make the boy see reason at the same time she was recovering her breath.
"Don't worry Nara. They'll be your friends to. No one really likes Kiko anyways, right? All she does is cry, and distract our squad-leader. That, or just fail at anything given to her. Really, she's just a waste of life. Just think, guys! We've got Mister Necky and Miss Pet now! I've just decided their names. What do you guys think?" Kazu asked, completely silencing the entire area... his words even affecting the crickets, and seemingly stopping the wind from blowing.
"Kazu, think about what you're doing." Takeo calmly said, trying to reason with his squaddie.
"But I have, Takeo. Look, I can make Mister Necky dance. I can't make Kiko dance, can I?" Kazu asked, Nara watching as Kazu cruelly shoved the boy hostage side to side, the Inkling shuffling weakly as he was pulled left and right, his hands uselessly clawing at the dominating Kazu's, who seemed to be much stronger than what he looked.
"Fine, I get it. Let them go, and we'll leave you alone. We've punished you all enough." The cocky one slowly said, quickly lowering his sword from Kiko's neck and sheathing it.
In a single instance, everyone let a small sigh of relief, thinking this fight could be resolved somewhat peacefully. Nara was even being helped up by the girl who she had pummeled, hoping this was Kazu's goal all along, and he had just been bluffing the entire time, Nara hoped to see Kazu's sword lower from the now crying girl.
"No." Kazu simply said, his smile gone.
"What?" Almost everyone staring at him asked in unison, each sharing nervous glances.
"I don't know why, but for some reason, I can't help but feel dissatisfied. I feel attached to both Mister Necky and Miss Pet now. How about I keep a part of them, so I can always remember our group bond we've made together? We've made some very dear memories over this short time, and I don't want to forget you six." Kazu said, his smile slowly returning.
"What… what do you mean?" The now not-so-cocky one asked, obviously nervous.
"Oh… I don't know. Maybe… this!" Kazu suddenly said, his sword's blade flashing as the girl dubbed 'Pet' screamed in fear as she jumped away, the sword no longer keeping her in place. Nara watched in confused horror as Kazu straightened 'Mister Necky's' back by pulling the boy's neck up, before making him bend backwards and stare at the evening sky. Nara could sense everyone take a step forward, thinking Kazu was about to execute the poor boy, before his sword flickered to the hostage's waist, the trooper's sword belt clattering to the ground. Stunned, Nara looked and saw Miss Pet's sword was also on the ground, too distracted by her friend to even see what his first strike had done. Letting the boy stand straight, Kazu's dead smile stared at the cocky leader.
"I hope we can be friends, Mister Scary-Eyes." Kazu cheered happily to the squad leader before releasing his grip on the boy's neck, who instantly fell, before scampering away.
As the group of corpse avengers quickly fled from their camp, Kazu slowly lowered his blade and swooped up the sword belts without a word. The stunned faces of the squad staring after him as he returned back into the woods.
"So… would you like to explain something to us, Nara?" Yori asked, Nara too physically drained to do anything else but stutter a couple words.
"I have no fucking idea what just happened."
"Sir, please, at least hear me out." Takeo pleaded with his platoon leader, who was busy ignoring him.
"I explicitly told you assholes to keep things within your squad." Ren growled, not even looking at his squad leader.
"They came to us! What were we supposed to do? Let them lynch one of my squad? One of your platoon?" Takeo asked, trying to stop his platoon leader from continuing into the commander's tent.
"It doesn't matter about who started it or why they started it. What matters is how it ended, and the fourth assault platoon now has two warriors catatonic because of one of mine. A squad is now at half strength because you couldn't keep Kazu in line, Taki."
"I'm trying to tell you, he snapped! He went mad and acted on his own!" Takeo getting angry that Ren remembered the name of the crazy in their midst as opposed to someone he interacted with on a daily occurrence.
"That's why he spent the night tied to a tree." Ren reminded him, stopping and turning on his squad leader at the front of the tent. "Now shut the fuck up. If you say one word in there, I will throw you in the nearest body of water."
Biting his lip, Takeo could only nod and follow after Ren, entering the commander's personal tent where leadership meetings took place nightly. Inside, cock-face, or whatever his name was, was standing next to his own platoon leader, who looked mightily pissed off. The older woman's glare actually made Takeo pause, Ren apparently sensing or premeditating this, and reached back to drag him forward. They stood silently, the platoon leaders standing next to each other in the empty tent that was illuminated by the dawn's light while the squad leaders stood by their flanks, trying to stay as far away from each other as possible.
"Ren." The female platoon leader muttered, barely audible in such close proximity.
"Midori." Ren quietly spoke.
Suddenly, the back end of the tent opened up, an Inkling wearing much different armor, signifying he was either the commander or the sub-commander. Takeo had only seen either one of them in passing and from a distance, so he actually had no clue if this was commander Kikimo or sub-commander Tetsip. This Inkling didn't seem hurried as he made his way to the platoon leaders, not even saying anything as he got in both of their faces, before taking turns inspecting the squad leaders beside them.
"Leaders."
"Sub-commander." Ren and Midori said in unison, shortly followed by their squad leaders mimicking them.
"So. Who wants to be the first one to speak?" Sub-commander Tetsip asked, as if enjoying himself. "Midori?"
"I have two Inklings who are on the verge of a mental breakdown, because of one of platoon leader Ren's squaddies."
"So?" Ren immediately asked, making Takeo immediately want to cut and run as the room turned to both of them.
"What do you mean, 'so'? One of your conscripts went and attacked two of my warriors and damaged them!" Midori accused, her tone uncaring for who they stood before. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Beat them." Ren instantly offered, giving an immediate remedy for the problem.
"Beat them? Are you insane?"
"No. Two 'veterans' got their asses handed to them by a conscript who hasn't been in the company for a week. They're probably just faking mental illness out of embarrassment. Hit them until they work." Ren said, Takeo's surprise evident as he turned his entire body to face his platoon leader, who was unfazed by everything in the room. Takeo realized Ren had to be fucking with everyone in the command tent, but was fairly certain it was mostly him, as he had spent an hour getting yelled at and grilled for Kazu's insubordination, blaming 'Taki' for not being able to control his squad. Now Ren had flipped teams, and was putting the blame on the other platoon?
Midori seemed to get even madder, basically shouting at her fellow platoon leader. "Unbelievable! Ren, your warrior attacked two of mine! There's no doubt about that!"
"Yes there is." Ren stated flatly.
"What?!" Midori all but screamed.
"My squad was more or less set upon by your squad of six. My kid who broke two of yours just so happened to take control of the situation and stopped any lives from being taken. From what I've heard from both our guys, is that your little barbarian killer over there was about to run one of mine through if Kazu hadn't interrupted by taking your two hostage."
"You talked to my squad?" Midori asked, that quieting her down in angry disbelief. "You went around my back to get to my platoon?"
"Not really. Your squad was panicking on their way back to their camp, and half the company heard them. I'm fairly certain your other kids would have told you if I went up and grilled them, Midori." Ren calmly explained, almost as if he was disappointed he had to explain himself.
"Okay. Enough out of you two." Tetsip interjected. "Squad leaders, explain to me what happened. Takeo, was it?"
"Y-yes sir." Takeo said, being thrown off by being called his real name. As Takeo was happy not to spend the rest of his life as Taki, he spoke. "Half an hour after the camp horn was called, one of my squad was encircled by that Inkling and his squad."
"Do you not know his name?" Tetsip asked, a look of surprise on his face.
"No sir. He, nor any of his squad identified themselves when asked multiple times. We've been calling him cock-face for the past few hours."
Ren lost his composure at the name, letting loose a single scoff of laughter and averting his gaze from the other platoon leader and sub-commander. Tetsip seemed more confused than anything else, while Midori was about to raise her voice. Not willing to let the platoon leader take hold of his talking time, Takeo continued quickly.
"After noticing that he had surrounded one of my squaddies, I alerted the rest of the squad, and demanded they identify themselves. After one of my other squaddies showed themselves, they demanded I hand her over, or they would 'take' her. Tensions rose, no explanation that was satisfactory was given, then one of his squad basically admitted they were going to lynch her for accidentally desecrating a body during the after battle recovery a day prior." Takeo summed up, Tetsip turning to face cock-face.
Cock-face tried to match the sub-commander's gaze, but eventually broke, finding his feet much more interesting.
"Who attacked first?" Tetsip inquired, his gaze not leaving the other squad leader.
"I can't say. I drew my blade when I saw one of my squad mates get taken to the ground, and was immediately set upon. It could very well have started out of my cone of vision, sir." Takeo admitted, being completely honest.
Cock-face might have been a cock-face, but he wasn't about to lie to his sub-commander. Instead of speaking, all he did was nod along, still avoiding his superior's gazes.
"So Kazu… snuck up behind two of your squaddies and took them hostage, halting the fight, Kazumi?"
"Yes, sir." Cock-faced Kazumi said.
"Then what happened?" Tetsip asked.
"He went on like a raving lunatic, saying he dropped his scabbard in the woods, and couldn't sheath it. He told me to take the girl we came for, but he was keeping two of my squad to be his 'friends', then named them 'Mister Necky' and 'Miss Pet'. When I understood that he was demented and I had given him a reason to go crazy, I immediately backed down and was prepping my squad to leave, but he refused to let them go, saying he had grown attached. When he said he was going to take a keepsake, we thought he had chopped off one of my trooper's ears, and was about to execute the other…" Kazumi trailed off, Takeo basically agreeing with what the other squad leader was saying.
"But…" Tetsip gave the boy a jumping off point to finish his story.
"But he didn't. He stole their swords, then threw my friends towards us. We left, the two of them made a scene once we returned to our platoon." Kazumi admitted, hanging his head.
"Did he miss anything, Takeo?" Tetsip asked.
"I don't know what happened after he left our camp area from his point of view, but until then, he was fairly accurate."
"Was this out of character for Kazu?"
"Yes…" Takeo hesitated, not on purpose, getting a concerned look from Ren who may have expected Takeo to defend his squad-mate unwaveringly.
"Takeo?" Tetsip asked... his tone showing doubt and giving Takeo a chance to rephrase himself.
"I can't answer that question, sir. I don't know him well enough." Takeo eventually spoke, hardening his conviction. This might be the thing he had wanted the most for the past year. A way to get rid of Kazu without having to hide a body.
"Huh. Didn't expect that. Kazu said you two were basically best friends." Tetsip said, worriedly looking behind him.
Concerned now, Takeo stared at the entrance where Tetsip had emerged, half expecting Kazu to appear from the tent flaps and rush him with a sword. Apparently picking up on Takeo's nerves, everyone else went on alert as well, but after a couple of seconds of nothing happening, Takeo calmed himself.
"We barely speak with each other outside of me giving orders, sir. I don't know what he means by that, let alone his definition of friend after last night." Takeo nervously admitted.
"I see. Platoon leaders, what do you believe the punishment should be for your squads?"
"Absolutely nothing." Ren immediately spoke, pausing only to observe if his fellow platoon leader would interrupt him, only getting looks directed at him to continue. "Blood was shed, nerves were fried after losses sustained from two days ago. I say we just pretend this never happened."
"I'm hesitant to agree with him, but after hearing both sides of the story now, I believe both squads are in the wrong." Midori said diplomatically, her rage having vanished during the younger men's stories. "I'd prefer having the insane warrior be moved to the next garrison we happen upon, if possible."
"I wouldn't." Ren said before Takeo could agree.
"Why?" Tetsip asked, apparently open to the idea of ditching Kazu off with some fortress.
"Because I want to keep him?" Ren asked, as if he needed another reason.
"That's stupid." Midori quickly spoke, shaking her head. "He's not worth keeping around if he doesn't even care about the lives of his squad."
"You don't know that." Ren immediately pointed out.
"He was willing to give up the life of a squad mate for non-descriptive, threatening friendship." Midori lashed back.
"We don't know that. He could have been bluffing. Look, sub-commander. We're a little more than a week out from Minami, the roads are becoming more treacherous, and reports of crustacean have come in. We can't afford to lose more able bodied warriors, especially now that reinforcing will be near impossible due to the nearing monsoons. We should be trying to get more warriors, not actively give them away." Ren said, making a convincing argument, even if Takeo was personally against it. Tetsip thought for a moment, showing everyone how hard he was thinking by pacing back and forth.
"Okay." He eventually said. "I'll give him back once Commander Kikimo has been notified. If there's another outburst by him however, we're dropping him off somewhere, before he does something that harms the unity of our company."
"Yes sir." Ren immediately answered, agreeing to the conditions that had just been made.
"Good. Now go prepare your platoons and squads. We'll be back on the road in less than an hour."
Tetsip didn't even wait for them to affirm his orders, turning around and leaving the command tent from the same back entrance. Briefly sharing a glance with Kazumi, Takeo wondered if that would be the end of his revenge seeking, watching the fellow squad leader leave the tent after his superior.
Following his own platoon leader, Takeo was wondering what Ren was up to as well, and why he was so dead set on keeping Kazu around.
"Hey guys! How's it going?" Kazu happily asked, disgusting her to no end. Ayumi had no idea why she had always found him, along with most males, repulsive. Now though, she had proof to her suspicions that Kazu was just another asshole, due to what Takeo called an 'outburst'. Ayumi was just glad that Kazu hadn't turned on them this past year, as he had been hiding his willingness and skill in the subject of killing.
Ayumi's squad leader stood a few yards away from his subordinate, his eyes darting to witness all of the reactions of Kazu's reappearance. She made sure her own expression was unreadable, only smiling as Enri, her longest friend turned to her for comfort at the freak's appearance. To Ayumi, all she truly cared for was Enri and her own continued survival, so she didn't even bother to look at the other four that surrounded her.
"Kazu…" Nara, who had been nice to the freak since last year, started, not finding the right words to speak. Ayumi wondered what it was like to feel betrayed like Nara undoubtedly did, the presumptuous girl always believing she had been protecting Kazu. The idea that Kazu had been playing her this entire time almost made Ayumi laugh out loud, but she was able to continue channeling the expression of a rock.
"Hey, Nara! How's your throat?" Kazu asked, everyone noticing how Kiko flinched at Kazu's sudden movement of a simple hand wave. Ayumi wondered what was going through the freak's mind, her own expectations and assumptions deliciously shattered since yesterday evening, especially now that Nara was shielding Kiko from the boy with her body.
"You… you didn't mean those things you said, right? You didn't mean what you said about Kiko, and everyone, right?"
Kazu's face showed concern, noticing how well-practiced it was now that Ayumi was paying closer attention to the boy she had disregarded the past fifty some odd weeks. She had to hide her smile as Kazu's eyes darted quickly around, scanning the expressions of everyone he could see, deciding the best course of action off of reading the faces of those he knew.
"Of course not! Kiko and Takeo were about to get stabbed to death, and I knew something extreme had to be done. I didn't know what else to do, so I acted like a crazy guy with nothing to lose. It was the only option available to me." Kazu softly said, taking a few steps closer to the girls. He sure did sound reasonable all of a sudden, Ayumi thought as she continued to hide the ever growing grin coming to her face at watching these individuals. It also appeared that Nara was trying to take what he was saying at face value, which almost made Ayumi laugh.
"That's… good. You had us worried there, you know. You really scared Kiko… and Enri… and Renzo… and Takeo… and Yori… and me. I don't know about Ayumi, because she's unreadable, but you know that already." Nara let out a nervous laugh at the almost unblinking Kazu, who was only smiling and nodding. "It's just um… one thing that doesn't add up, Kazu."
"What's that, Nara?" Kazu asked, tilting his head again.
"Where did you learn how to um… hurt, other Inklings?" Nara hesitantly asked, everyone watching as Kazu's face turned into incomprehension as he shook his head, as if denying the thought. "I mean, I've never even seen you train with your practice weapon… Kazu. You don't just get good enough to make quick controlled cuts, like cutting off people's belts… and the way you spotted the ambushers – and I know you care, because you saved me from getting shot, - but there's something you're hiding and I don't like it."
Enri grabbed her hand, which felt nice as the dramatics began to wrap up, Ayumi sensing that Kazu was understanding he had done something that couldn't be recovered from. He turned to face the people he had spent the last year of his life with, making sure to lock eyes with even the cowering girl.
"Does it matter if I am? Aren't we supposed to be friends, Nara? I remember you saying that friends stick together, no matter what. Or does that 'no matter what' have limitations?" Kazu asked, as though a lever had been pulled in his character, his smile and happy tone completely vanished as a look of disappointment and almost sadness stared Nara in the face. Ayumi's smile grew to its maxim as she watched Nara's eyes widen with the realization that the boy she had spent most of her time with had been faked completely by the manipulation of the boy who now stood in front of them all. Kazu continued to just look at each of them, the small stature that he had always seemed to walk with having evaporated with his smile. "If that's how you want to be, fine. It's up for you guys to decide how you want me to act around you all now, since I had to stop playing so you idiots wouldn't get yourselves killed."
"W-w-w-w-what?" Nara's voice as if she was on the verge of tears as Kazu quite possibly was speaking normally for the first time... and his charade dropped. It filled Ayumi with genuine joy as Kazu walked past the one who called him friend for the past year, Yori quickly giving the boy space as he made his way to his kit.
Ayumi watched with amusement as Nara began to cry, Takeo quickly coming to embrace the one he had romantic notions for. Ayumi couldn't stop herself from laughing as Kazu walked past the three, Kiko being weighed down by Nara as Takeo cradled her head as if they weren't even there.
"Our platoon is moving in five minutes, Takeo was supposed to tell you, but it appears he's got other objectives." Kazu stopped to say to the squad in a dead tone, Ayumi pulling Enri with her as Kazu started marching away, his three swords clanking against each other.
"Ayumi, why are you laughing?" Enri asked, bewildered.
"Everything just changed, Enri. Aren't you excited?" Ayumi asked, ignoring the confused look her friend was giving her.
