Once more, Kiriya scratches at his head, sitting on his desk with his back straight and his eyes glowering at the piece of paper in front of him. What was supposed to be a simple report slowly becoming far more problematic than it has before with the addition of one person: Caleb Aridam.
Slowly, he has been finding a place among the Hanzo Academy elites as a talented martial artist with Hibari, Asuka, and even Katsuragi if he's correct, their affection and respect blooming into something more.
He's cordial with Ikaruga but quite aggressive with Yagyu, but since the young man has captured Hibari's attention, it's no wonder why she's aggressive with him.
It's not his presence that is a problem, so to say, having one mundane know the secret of an entire shinobi elite isn't very strange, even having that mundane end up in a relationship with one, or even two of them is rare, but still accepted. It's the techniques he's teaching the girls.
The throw he taught Hibari and the technique he taught Katsuragi are practically unheard of, a stance that allows one to throw from any direction and a technique that lets someone act on not only instict but also thought.
He doesn't know if he should be included in his reports or not. Will it gain the attention of the higher-ups? Will they move to get Caleb? As a teacher, these worries are far more prevalent to others. Despite Caleb not being his student, he is still a student.
In the end, all Kiriya can do is sigh as he continues to write at his report and his plan for the next week to be approved.
Blinking, he looks at his plan and hums, "Maybe, yeah, tomorrow would be a good opportunity to learn about him."
He might have amnesia, but maybe trying to study his ancestors will be able to jog his memory and unravel the mystery that is Caleb Aridam.
With that in mind, he begins to write a note for his absence, all things have an order that must be followed at all times.
Caleb groans as he stumbles onto his feet, blearily watching his surroundings as he yawns, pushing his chest up and stretching while yowling like a cat before letting himself fall, creating an audible thump as he sighs. "Another horrible night of sleep." He grumbles as he pushes himself to his feet once more.
After the person that was peeping at him later at night left, he had nightmares of some of the monsters he's read up in Reshar's journal, particularly the ones with multiple eyes or some of them that are basically just an eye. Thankfully, they're all creatures to have been around from before the time of the Sorcerer Kingdoms.
They shouldn't be around anymore, thankfully, so he shouldn't have to worry about them, but with his track record with anything concerning luck has been like, there's a chance that he might have to fight them once more…
He really doesn't want to think about it any longer.
In the end, he leaves it for later and prepares some waffles, setting them into his toaster and grabbing some orange juice.
Waffles and OJ. One of the few memories he has untainted from the horrors of that man's training. Not like it was anything to really write home about, just heating up a few waffles on a toaster with strawberries and bananas, a rare delicacy his mother would feed him on occasion. He doesn't have any chocolate syrup so he can't do anything there, but with what he has it should be enough.
The sound of the toaster going off snaps him from his reverie as he goes over and sets the waffle on his plate. With the twirl of a knife and a cut downward, the banana and strawberries are cut into fine pieces before being set on the waffles. With the lick of his lips, he drops dollops of syrup onto it as he reaches down and grabs the waffles before taking a bite out of a section with strawberries, bananas and syrup. Humming, he nods. "Not the same but close enough."
Taking another bite, he hears the doorbell ring as he perks up, his hearing catching the voices of Hibari, Asuka and Katsuragi, though they're the only ones talking, Yagyu and Ikaruga are obviously there. Looking down on himself, he finds himself lacking a shirt, unsightly scars and all as he moves to grab a long-sleeved shirt on a couch nearby.
Taking a sniff, he comes to the conclusion that he wore it yesterday, so it'll be fine until he can get another one. Slipping it on, he hears Asuka start, "Caleb-kun~, are you there?"
"Wake up~, it's almost time for school Caleb-chan~." Hibari yells beside the girls.
"Yeah! Don't keep Asuka and Hibari waiting or I might just be forced to…" Katsuragi trails off, only for Caleb's keen hearing to catch Katsuragi's perverted chuckles as the steps of Asuka and Hibari recede, probably the two of them stepping away from the perverted Katsuragi.
The whistle of the air is followed by a loud thunk and a yelping Katsuragi as Ikaruga sighs.
Quickly using one of the multitude of maneuvers open to him, he moves with great speeds, slipping on his accessories and a clean pair of clothes as he finishes up his glass of OJ after practically swallowing the first waffle he was eating and being forced to stop to completely swallow the waffle before coughing as he moves to his second waffle without syrup this time.
He opens the door to find a garden of flowers waiting for him, each of the girls of the Hanzo Academy as beautiful as the last and as buxom as well. The first to greet him was Yagyu, who simply gave him a look, scoffed and snidely sniped, "Did you barely wake up or are you incapable of taking care of yourself?"
Holding up a finger, he finishes his second waffle in a few bites and sighs. "You're getting dementia already? What a tragedy, might as well leave you at a nursery home on the way to school." Caleb hisses at the aggressive girl as she does the same, her voluptuous chest pressing up against Caleb's as the two glare at each other and Caleb fights down the arousal to keep his glare on the red-eyed girl.
"Hey! No fighting you two!" Hibari says, getting in between us as her chest presses on his side as she hugs the two together, squishing Yagyu's chest against Caleb's own chest and against Hibari's. Still, the lovestruck fool and horny idiot still found it in them to complain.
"I didn't start jack, she was the one who came out the gate, aggressive for no reason." Caleb said as she tried to fight against Hibari's hold but her training with Caleb has been productive in more ways than one, especially for her grip.
"He's too immature to tell a joke from an insult." Yagyu snipes back, hearts in her eyes while simultaneously glaring at him. He would bet all nine swords on him that if she didn't have an eyepatch on her left eye, she'd be using it to either glare daggers at him, or to look lovingly at Hibari. Sadly, she only has one eye available and it's multi-tasking quite well, somehow simultaneously displaying unending hate for one person from one perspective and overflowing love to another person from another perspective.
As expected of a Shinobi.
"Now now, why don't my adorable underclassmen stop fighting." Katsuragi said as she leapt up behind Caleb and hugged him from behind, purposely pushing her breasts up against him as he stiffened in response. "You should be getting along, not trying to kill each other first thing in the morning.
"Get off." Caleb requests as he glares at Katsuragi and she just giggles perversely.
"And miss out on copping a feel? Not for the-eurk!" She starts, her hands wiggling like pairs of snakes looking for their prey only to be interrupted as Caleb jerks his head back and collides his head against her chin as she falls off holding her face as she whines. "I bit my tongue." She grumbles under her breath as she looks back up to a frowning Caleb as she smiles and pokes out her tongue and winks seductively. "Caleb~, my tongue hurts, can you kiss it to make it feel better?"
"Katsu-nee?!" Asuka yelped, looking flustered along Hibari as even Ikaruga seemed surprised at Katsuragi's boldness, the act looking more romantic than perverted as it usually was when Katsuragi is involved.
Yagyu just kept glaring at Caleb as her opinion of him continued to plummet the longer she stuck around him. Not that it wasn't already fairly low but he's digging himself deeper and deeper.
In the end, he just sighs and walks away. "So, school time, let's go and get a good grade or something."
"Hey, wait-urk!" Katsuragi starts but is stopped by Ikaruga as she begins to scold her fellow third year as the other three chased after him.
"Good morning, Caleb-kun." Asuka starts with a bright smile, the brunette settling beside the young man as she feels her mood already improving from how good it already was.
"Morning, Asuka." he responds before turning to Hibari who quickly settled beside him. "Mornin' to you too Hibari, Yagyu."
"Morning~." Hibari chirps as Yagyu just nods along with Hibari.
"Is this going to be an everyday thing, all of you just coming together to walk me to school?" He asks as the others just nod.
"That, or until the Evil Shinobi threat is gone." Asuka confirms before she continues, "But I'd like to continue walking you home afterwards." She says before fidgeting, a slight blush on her face, "If it's fine with you, of course."
"Me too!" Hibari says, raising a hand while pouting as Caleb just sighs.
"We'll see, for now, I guess I have no choice." Caleb relents as the others brighten and smile as they begin talking to each other while Caleb lets the words slip in one ear and then out the other. A lot of what they're talking about doesn't exactly involve him.
"Oh right, Caleb-kun." Asuka spoke as she leaned on his shoulder, pressing her breasts against him. "Kiriya-sensei was wondering if you could join us for the afternoon classes?"
"How do you girls have classes anyway?" Caleb asks out of curiosity as he hears a shuffle of clothing and two sets of steps join them.
"Like any student, we have normal classes with the exception of the last class where we go to the old schoolbuilding." Ikaruga explains as Katsuragi follows after while rubbing her head in pain. "There, we have Shinobi classes and study the Way of the Shinobi until it's late or Kiriya-sensei dismisses us."
"It lets us interact with the normal student and blend in on our off time as training for the future. Of course," Katsuragi adds, seeming like an actual senpai rather than a hormone-fueled pervert, "there are exceptions, such as family members or close friends, people who figured it out on accident, or people like you with a history of strange things happening around them. Not to mention shrines and the like."
"Really? Huh." Caleb hums as he nods. "Sounds reasonable. What about homework?"
"That doesn't change." Katsuragi grumbles with a pout as Hibari and Asuka nod along, "You'd think they ease up with the schoolwork since we are technically working for the government, but no. We've gotta deal with homework and our shinobi assignments. That doesn't sound fair right Caleb?" Katsuragi asks Caleb as he just shrugs as someone who only has to deal with the mundane side of the world in their eyes.
"I wouldn't know." He says only for Ikaruga to shake her head in exhaustion.
"Katsuragi, we already know why we aren't exempt from assignments from either side." Ikaruga says and now it's Katsuragi's turn to sigh in exhaustion, like the two have been over it hundreds of times. "It's our job and responsibility to-."
"'-To be an example for the students and impress our teacher by blending in with the students while excelling as shinobi', I know that, you've told that to me ever since we actually started to get along." Katsuragi groans as Asuka and Hibari giggle while the two upperclassmen began to complain about each other.
Caleb turns to Asuka and Hibari who shook their heads and answered. "Back when Katsuragi and Ikaruga were first-years, they didn't get along at all." Asuka answers while Hibari nods along. "They're better now, but Kiriya has a multitude of stories of activities that crumpled under the face of their rivalry."
"Asuka!" The two called out to her in outrage as she just giggles as it turns into full-out laughs while the two looked at her as if she betrayed them.
"Mouthy underclassmen get punishment." Katsuragi warns as she stalks forward, both arms out and her finger curling in a rythmic pattern. Asuka's back shivers as she seems to back away and Katsuragi gets closer.
"U-Um, Katsu-nee…" Asuka starts, gulping audibly as Katsuragi steps closer.
"What?" The blonde asks as she steps forward.
"Please be gentle." Asuka whimpers, the statement causing blood to rush to two places as certain images come to mind for Caleb, mostly of him towering over the brunette and their clothes nowhere to be seen.
"Here I come~!" Katsuragi leaps at her as the others just continue on their way, until Ikaruga passed by the bundle that was Katsuragi and Asuka, where she brought her sheath down on Katsuragi's head as the blonde disentangled herself from the brunette's breast and joined the group. Asuka stumbles back up, holding her breast with tears in her eyes before joining Ikaruga as the two caught up to the group.
A normal morning for the Hanzo girls.
"Oi, Kazuto." Caleb starts, referring to the Student Council president sitting beside him during class.
"Yes, Aridam?" Kazuto asks as he looks up from the homework he had.
"You ever had a day that changed your life, and you don't even know why?"
"I don't believe so, but your arrival has brought quite a few changes, so that might count." Kazuto points out as Caleb's brow twitches for a second as he leans forward and sighs.
"So, wanna hear mine?" Caleb ask as Kazuto hums for a long an excruciating moment.
"No, not really." He admits without much shame. "Not like it's hard to guess why you're being glared at all of a sudden."
Caleb scoffs as he looks at the groups of boys glaring at him from different parts of the classroom. Returning a single glare had them flinching in fear as he sighs, "Really? I didn't do anything to piss off this many people."
"It's not what you did, but what happened. You're a foreigner so you might not know," he says, closing the book he was using to help him with his homework as he turns, resting an arm on Caleb's desk as he continues, "but us Japanese have a habit of giving things or people monikers or titles."
"Really?" Caleb asks, quirking a brow as he huffs, "Is that normal or…"
"Not at all." Kazuto quickly clears up as he continues, "It's mostly in high school and far more prevalent in private schools like ours. All of the other students are pretty sheltered and spoiled after all."
"Huh, so they make these big names to soothe their pride?" After all, it's embarrassing to lose to a man, but a man whose known as the Undefeated Champion is less embarrassing.
"No, it's just interesting and these people don't have much else to do." Kazuto quickly cuts it aside as Caleb blinks.
"Wait, aren't you a student here, so aren't you rich?" Caleb asks and Kazuto just shakes his head.
"Nah, just was smart enough to get a scholarship." Kazuto clears up as he scratches his blonde hair. "Wouldn't be able to be here otherwise."
"Huh, okay, so 'cause most of the people here are rich kids cliques and the like are worse?" Caleb asks and Kazuto just shrugs.
"Probably." He confirms as he continues. "Anyway, among the students here, there are many that are considered beauties, but among them, five stand out, and one of them set their sights on you."
"Well, duh." He says, the other guys flinching as he continues. "I'm a foreigner, but what does interest have to do anything with these guys hating me?"
"Well, she's hot as hell and she 'chose' you." Kazuto says and Caleb nods along in understanding. "Now they're jealous."
"Well…" Caleb trails off, the idea that anyone would be attracted to him is already ludicrous, but for someone to willingly choose him over anyone else just seems like some fantasy made by some shut-in that involves things like isekai and harems.
He's a compulsive liar, a violent bastard, and above all, an obsessed lunatic. Who in the world would find these traits attractive, much less actively seek them out?
The bell rang and Caleb looked up, checking the clock on the wall as he sighs. "Well, I've gotta get going."
"You have a pass?" Kazuto says as he turns back to his desk and brings out a different paper while Caleb just raises the paper he was given by Asuka from Kiriya. "Sounds about right. See ya." He says as Caleb makes is way out towards the shoe lockers of the school.
Opening them, a flood of letters fall from it as he stares at them. As he was about to edge them away under a different locker or something, he hears a familiar voice giggle as he sighs. With a whistle, Katsuragi settles beside him, hooking her arm around his neck as she whistles. "Well look at you, aren't satisfied with just 'claiming' me now, are you?" She asks rhetorically.
Rolling his eyes, Caleb grabs them and gives her a look. "So you've already heard the rumors."
"Yup, man Asuka and Hibari were hilarious, they were panicking extra hard when they heard the rumors you know?" She says with the wiggle of her eyebrows. "Man, seeing them try to be subtle about it really shows how far both have to go to be true blue Shinobis."
"They'll be fine." Caleb says, grabbing a letter as he sighs, "Just have to evade the missions that have to do with national security and the like."
"They'll be fine, they don't need to have fancy speaking skills to cut it as Shinobi, I mean, look at me, I'm no Ikaruga, but a few touches with these babies," she says, puffing her chest out on her shirt, tight enough to emphasize certain feature but lose enough so every movement doesn't have the danger of popping a button or two, "and a few sweet words and I'm in."
"I'd suggest against that." Caleb mutters as he takes a deep breath then breathes out a stream of fire, as Katsuragi gapes at him. Slowly, he begins to attempt to burn the first letter only to be interrupted as Katsuragi sweeps at his legs and he sputters, the fire going out as he groans and he looks up and looks away from the upskirt shot he's getting from Katsuragi.
"What were you doing?" She says incredulously and a bit outraged as she picked up one of the letters, ignoring the flashes she's given him and revealing her striped panties. "These were made with love from a pure maiden, what kind of man are you that you can't even respond, much less even try to answer."
"I don't know any of them." He responds, grumbling as Katsuragi glares down at him.
"No excuse! Come, let's read through them, we have some time before classes start." She says as she grabs him by the hand, pulling him along while disguising her nosiness as a way to get closer with him.
A few minutes later, the two are at the clearing they trained in Caleb bored and Katsuragi excited to get some gossip. "So," she starts excitedly as Caleb gives her an exhausted glance, "open them up."
Sighing, Caleb reaches into his Bag of Holding and brings out a butterfly knife and flipped it open with a flashy trick as Katsuragi watches him rip open the envelope with little fanfare as he continues playing with his butterfly in one hand and the letters in the other. He says nothing as his face slowly began to blanch.
Slowly, he passes the letter to Katsuragi as she excitedly grabbed it and began to read it over. "Awww, how cute, and I know this girl, her tits are fairly large, good choice." She says as she put it aside, ignoring the slight pang of jealousy.
"I don't even know her." Caleb says with a tired tone and a sigh before cutting open the next letter and reading it through.
This time, he doesn't even finish it as he slowly places it on the table face down and Katsuragi looks at him in cutiosity. "What," she gasps, as if realizes something as she turns to the letter, "was it their nude?"
Reaching over, she blanches as she tries to make sense of the mess of words and statements in the paper as she slowly came to a shocking realization at the name. "Oh…" She recognized it, the girl was quiet and sweet, or, at least she thought so, "umm…" Katsuragi humms as she made the decision of keeping the image she originally has of the girl who wrote the letter.
A very prim girl with a chest that's smaller than normal but a good girl. Not a yandere who has laid out plans to kill the 'bitch that got in the way of their fated love' aka, Katsuragi herself.
"N-Next…" Katsuragi stuttered as Caleb sighs once more.
For ten minutes, the pile of letters were whittled down until none of them were left, and then Caleb made a burn pile to Katsuragi's outrage. "Why? I mean sure, some of them were a bit questionable, but a lot of these were heartfelt, they expressed emotion and longing, something that not everything can do, might I tell you, they put effort into them."
"If effort was all that was needed in this world then this world would be a much better place." Caleb retorts under his breath before continuing. "Besides, they're putting their efforts in the wrong place, if they tried to actually get to know me, I'd be a bit more open to the idea of answering. As far as I know, I don't know any of these girls."
"And guy, can't forget the single guy that sent you a letter." Katsuragi pointed out, grabbing the paper from the pile then putting it back. "Not gonna lie though, it was pretty good. He should become a poet."
"Don't know him. Ain't answering." Caleb says with finality as Katsuragi groans but relents. While the logic is heartless and ruthless and will leave multiple people heartbroken, she can understand the idea.
Obsessed with girls and breasts as she is, she is still a girl herself and she also has times where she wishes a 'knight' would boldly come and love her for who she is and not just her body. So the idea that these girls are just being swept to the wayside bothers her, but why Caleb is doing so is something she can relate to.
So, she sighs as she watches him blow fire from his mouth like a badass dragon to burn away the letters, a question coming to mind as her mouth moves before she can stop it. "So, you remember the rumor?" She asks and Caleb gives her a curious look.
"Don't expect me to apologize, it's not exactly my fault." He answers but Katsuragi shakes her head as she leans forward, her silky hair glowing in the sunlight as a slight blush appears on her face.
"That's...not what I wanted to ask." She says as Caleb gives her a questioning look as she tries to find the right words, "So, let's say I...asked you to… 'claim' me, just hypothetically," she adds at the last moment as she tries to hide her blush, "just as a lover, not as a girlfriend, would you do so?" She could see the gears turning behind his eyes but they seemed to come up blank before she adds, "Not that I'd mind if you had someone else with you, you know, the more the merrier."
What are you saying you dumbass! It's too early! And what about your underclassmen? Shouldn't they-
Before she could continue rambling to herself, a voice cuts through her thoughts like a sword. "I think you need your eyes checked."
So...that's the sound of a heart breaking.
The bluntness and directness of his statement only made the impact worse as she leans into the arm on the table. "...I see." She mutters as Caleb sighs.
"Yeah, honestly, you could do better than me." Katsuragi freezes as she turns to Caleb with an incredulous look in her eyes. "I mean you're so easy to talk to and you're bautiful to boot. Any man would be lucky to have you, why you'd settle for someone like me just makes no sense." He says as If he was joking around, but Katsuragi could see it in his eyes, he was being honest, probably more honest than he usually is. "I'm just some guy who managed to get lucky, but you? You're hard working, kind, attentive, observant, responsible in your own way, hell even your perversity can be seen as something good about you."
The more he says the more she could feel something in her sing and another part of her rage.
"Well," he says, as if he didn't just pour his heart out to Katsuragi, "let's go to the old schoolbuilding, we've been here for long enough."
As he stepped away, same as always and a bit confused as to why he felt angry when Katsuragi looked so downtrodden, Katsuragi was singing with joy inward. He didn't say no~.
At that, she smiled as she hopped up, a new resolve bubbling up from her chest but different from her wish to find her parents. Now, she just had to do one thing.
He's oblivious, but I think I can help him with fixing that. She hums in her mind as she hops away from the table the two were in.
Quickly catching up, she leaps at him as he turns, "Katsu-ah!" He yelps, catching her in a princess carry with only a slight stumble as Katsuragi draws circles over his chest as she hums.
"Tonight, the ramen stand by the crossroad, be there or be square, lover boy~." She purred as she grabbed him by his loosened tie and kissing his cheek before flipping away with grace as she turns to him. "C'mon, the others are waiting for us." She reminds him as she practically disappears away with little fanfare.
Meanwhile, standing at the edge of the clearing, Caleb dumbly blurted out, "Huh?" And blinked into space for a few seconds.
Shaking his head, he followed after Katsuragi, ignoring the flashes he presented her from atop the building as the wind swept her skirt to the side.
A/N: Well, here's the new chapter, with a bit of an introduction to Katsuragi as we try to get to know her a bit. I hope I got it right though. Tell me your thoughts on the review as we have some things set up for the future.
The only thing I can tell you is that the next published chapter will not, in fact, be Shadows, but something else, maybe two other things.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed regardless. Go, donate to my ko-fi, it's the same as my pen name as I am broke beyond belief.
You don't have to, but it'd be nice. Well, see you next time.