Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers. Everyone else, I hope you enjoy your Thursday.
Watching the Masho scare the captive snake-man didn't surprise Touma at all. They had set a trap in the local junkyard with Touma as bait. Rajura lend his powers to hide himself and the other two. The snake-man at first tried to ignore Touma's questions. When Naaza got his hands on the man, Touma watched the guy squirm. It probably didn't help that Naaza had one of his swords dripping venom on the guy.
"Naaza, we can't kill the guy."
"Why not? I'll enjoy watching him scream like a little girl."
Touma sighed, "Because he hasn't told us anything. How are we going to find out who we're fighting if we end up killing the enemy before he talks?"
"Tenku is correct." Anubisu added.
"Fine." Naaza stared at the snake-man, "You better speak, or you'll taste my venom."
"Masafumi sends his regards, Yamanouchi. He says your armor will be his soon" The snake-man spoke.
"So, that's who it is. My dear little brother now comes to challenges me." Naaza let his sword 'slip' across the man's neck.
"Not more of you." Touma let out.
"Yes, Tenku, there are more of my kind."
"Your kind?"
"Didn't your parents tell you stories of the snake-men?"
"No, I read books about science and logic because my parents thought fairy tale were a waste of my smarts, since you know; I'm the logic and science guy."
"I think there's a story to be told." Rajura spoke, trying to hold his laughter from Touma's comment.
"It shall wait until later."
Touma sighed, "It's after three. I have to go pick Hector up from school."
"Fine, we'll wait at Miss Torres' home from work." Anubisu said, "I think there's left over enchiladas still."
"Yes, there is." Naaza spoke.
Touma laughed at the Masho's new found favorite food.
"I didn't think you were much of a family man, Tenku." Rajura teased.
"And I didn't think you all had a sense of humor."
It was a quick run to the school where Hector was waiting outside.
"Touma, were you out fighting bad guys again?" the boy said, crossing his arms.
"Yes. Am I cooler than Leonardo now?"
"You use a bow. Leonardo would beat you." The boy said.
Touma frowned, "I think I could show Leonardo a thing or two about bows."
"Maybe." The boy said, starting down the street before giving Touma a serious look, "Are you going to marry my mom soon?"
"Do you want me too?" Touma spoke, surprised the boy asked in the tone he used.
"Yeah, I think it would be cool to have a dad who's a super hero."
"But you just said that Leonardo would beat me."
"Because he uses two swords."
"But his swords are useless if I'm standing far away."
"He had his shells."
"And I have killer armor." Touma said, knowing that arguing with a kid is a headache.
"Leonardo has three other brothers to help him."
"I have eight other friends to help me."
"Do any of them use swords?" Hector stopped wide eyed with excitement.
Touma stopped as well, "Actually, four of them do."
"Then the sword is better."
Touma frowned, "You're truly too smart for your own good."
"And I'm only in kindergarten."
"Yes, you are in kindergarten."
"Can I meet your other friends?"
"Yeah, eventually."
"What are they like?"
Touma thought about how he could describe them, "Well, my friend Seiji is a lot like Leonardo. Wise, thoughtful and that kind of stuff. Shu would be like Michelangelo; the crazy dude. Ryo, well, Ryo gets angry kinda like Raphael. And Shin… hmm, Shin's like a kitten. All fun to be around until you make him angry and he'll scratch hard."
"Are they nicer than your friends that are staying here with us?" he made a face, "Because they're weird."
"Yeah, those guys are a completely different story. That will be saved for another time." Touma said, hoping the boy didn't continue asking about them.
"Can we have pizza for dinner?"
"We had pizza a couple of nights ago."
Hector cried out, "But I really like pizza."
Rolling his eyes, Touma took a deep breath, "We'll see what your mother wants."
"Please Touma?"
"Ugh, I can feel my arteries clogging already. What about ramen noodles?"
"On pizza."
"Why would you eat ramen on pizza?"
"Because it's something we both like!"
Touma sighed, knowing the boy was going to stick to his decision. Lucky for him, Carla had brought food home from a local Chinese restaurant. It was nothing like the Rei Fauns' cooking, but Touma wasn't going to complain about eating some rice.
"Yum… rice." Touma purred into his girlfriend's ear, "It beats the pizza that your son talked about."
"What did he say?"
"He wanted pizza with ramen noodles on it."
"You and your poor college kid food."
Touma laughed, "Did the others come home?"
"No, your strange friends haven't come back yet."
"Is your mother here?"
Giving him a look, Carla responded slowly, "She's outside reading."
Grinning Touma spoke, "Can I borrow you for a moment then?"
"Can I eat without you bothering me?"
"Fine." Touma frowned, before making a devilish face.
Grabbing the phone, he started to dial Seiji's phone number. Seeing what he was doing, Hector asked if he could talk to his friend. Touma nodded, thinking that it would be funny to hear Seiji's reaction. Hearing his friend curse at him, he couldn't help but laugh when Hector got silly on the phone.
"Okay, I'll take it now." Touma said, "Hey any news on your side?"
"Not anything new. These snake-men are just ruining things here. The Rei Faun restaurant was burnt down and they attacked a football game that Ryo was playing in. Ryo and Jun are out trying to find something. It's like these guys are messing with us with actually fighting us." He heard a long sigh, "Anything new on your side?"
"Yeah, we know who's leading this. Naaza has a jealous younger brother after the armors."
"He has a brother?"
"Yep."
"Why couldn't one of the other Masho have a brother?" he heard Seiji sigh.
"That's what I thought." Touma paused, "So now what?"
"You're Mr. Plans."
"Well then, if that's the case; I'll think about it. If we come up with anything I'll let you know." Hearing Carla yelled at him, he quickly finished, "I have to go. Carla's yelling at me."
"Like that's new," Seiji teased, "Later then."
After his girlfriend left for her late night classes, Touma found himself on the couch watching some slow show. He found that it wasn't very good, but the poor acting and horrible story made it addictive. He was glad that Hector had got to his room though. The last time the boy watched a late night movie with him, Carla lectured them both on how important it was that Hector went to bed on time. The boy was sent to bed, and Touma receive an earful. The movie was interrupted by a breaking newscast. From the video, the warrior of Tenku assumed that the snake-men were behind it. Things became even more interesting when there were rumors of hostages taken. Checking to see if Carla's mother was around, he left a note saying that he'd be back.
As he reached the scene, the police had the area around the college blocked off. The Masho were around because reports of armored men were going through the crowd. Taking off through the line of police, Touma came to a halt when he saw the three Masho fighting several of the snake-men and who he guessed was Masafumi. Unlike his brother, Masafumi was shorter and kept a Sengoku era appearance. Standing in front of him was a captured Carla and another student from the school. They were standing on the stairway before the college entrance.
Naaza was already taunting his brother when Touma arrived.
"He's has Carla."
"Yes, and she is lucky that she knows you otherwise she be dead along with my brother." Naaza responded.
"Always the impatient killer." Masafumi said, "I'm surprised you even have friends."
"He grew on us." Rajura answered.
"Guys, can we just save Carla?" Touma said, "You all can chit chat after."
"If you want her so much," Masafumi spoke, "catch her."
As he finished talking, he pushed the women hard. Running towards the stairs, Touma called his armor. The Masho also came forward to chase the enemy. As Masafumi ran into the college, the Masho followed.
"You okay?" Touma asked, after setting the women down.
The other student nodded, while Carla sat there. She had a look of distaste.
"Touma, what the hell is going on? Why are we constantly being attacked?"
"The bad guys have a way to mess with us through family." Touma frowned.
"Well, I'm so glad you mentioned this on our first date."
"Fight demons and spirits is not exactly a date sealer." Touma laughed.
"Just take me home."
As they returned to her house, Carla stopped him at the front door.
"You should take your freaky samurai thing back to Japan. It's not needed here as I have now two children and an elderly mother to take care of and no car." She then shut the door.
Touma heard her lock it. Taking the armor off, Touma seated himself outside the door. He was going to stay there until he was removed by the police, or Carla gave him a chance to explain why he wasn't leaving.