"Please strip."
"Ochi, being the perverted one is my job. Please don't steal it from me."
"Ochi, please stop! Admiral Igo is healed!"
After the last darkness creature ceased to exist, Cubey sent me and Ochi back to The Castle using his bullshit ability. The shrine maidens immediately surround us and barrage us with questions as to where we went. I was going to explain to them but I realized I would sound like a crazy person if I described what we went through so I let Ochi do that. It would all end there if Ochi did not have a fixation on making sure that I'm not hurt at all.
"Ochi, it's only my hands that were hurt. Nothing else." It's nice feeling Ochi's smooth pure sakuran hands on my bare chest, searching for any trace of wound but I will enjoy it more if it's just me and Ochi alone in a bedroom. "So please don't ask me to strip. I'm okay."
"I don't trust you." That hurt me more that it was coming from Ochi for some reason. "Strip, now."
"Ochi, I'll do it. I'll search around Admiral Igo's body." Dunno why I'm feeling much better now that Kara is the one that searches around my body. "From your story, there shouldn't be any wound other than your palms, correct?" I nod. "Fufufufu~~ Ochi, you big baby~~ With a body like this, Admiral Igo can take a few hits or two." I don't think you know, Kara. It doesn't matter how much I exercised, a single hit from the dragon and I'll be dead.
"Where did you both go anyway? I don't remember there being a similar looking tree to the sacred sakura tree anywhere in this country." Then could it be somewhere outside of The Sakura Empire? "Perhaps it's somewhere outside. I've never heard of anything like that before but truth be told, our information about the outside world is pretty lacking."
"The elders never said that the sacred tree is connected to another tree. We may be able to go to that place again using the same method. Although…" Ochi looked outside through the window. "It may take some time before the tree grows back to its original size." When Ochi and I came back, the massive sacred sakura tree that was almost as big as the castle had shrunk into a freaking sapling. "It used all of its stored magic to teleport both me and Igo."
"It's going to take generations for the sacred sakura tree to grow back to its original size." Well shit! Does that mean our chance of going back to that place is 0? "Perhaps a growth magic can help in our endeavor?"
"I can try searching for any trace of magic from the remaining gemstone. I'm pretty well versed in tracking magic." You have been rubbing my chest and stomach for quite some time now, Kara. Do you find any wounds?
"I'm planning to talk to the elders first to see if we have any records of the same thing happening before."
"And if they don't?"
"Then we'll launch an investigation. If it is in the outside world then that means there's a large group of sakuran magic practitioners out there that we are not monitoring." A sakura tree needs to be in the vicinity of sakuran magic users in order to grow past its normal size so that means wherever that place was, it needs to have a sakuran magic user to have a sakura tree that big. "Any unauthorized use of sakuran magic should be stopped no matter what or where."
"Fufufu~~ If we do find out that the other sakura tree is outside of The Sakura Empire then are you willing to be my bodyguard while I'm abroad, Admiral Igo?" I have a job too, Kara. As much as I love going around the world, I can't just dump my girls to Stella. "With muscles like this, I'll surely feel safe." With spells that you have, you don't need my muscle, Kara. You could easily end everyone with a single snap of your fingers.
"Don't joke around, Kara. Admiral Igo is busy with Azur Lane." Chie gets it. "It's better if you contact The Academy to see if they know anything about it tomorrow morning." Oh yeah, it's still night, huh… Kinda glance over that with all the crazy shits that happened. "I'll oversee the rebuilding of The Village."
"Can I ask what happened to the shadowy thing that attacked us? Last I saw it was falling into the hole."
"We couldn't find it. We turned the earth upside down to search for it but no matter what, we couldn't find it." That could either be good news or bad news depending on your view of life. Optimists will say that it's dead but pessimists will say that it escapes. "After hearing your story, I think it went with you when the gemstone teleported you away." That makes sense. "But just to be sure, I shall coordinate a patrol."
"Now that all of us have cleared up everything, shall we go back to bed? Admiral Igo needs to get back to Azur Lane tomorrow." Good idea Kara but can you stop trying to pry my kimono away?
"Okay."
XxX-XxX
"Are you seriously healed?"
"Yes, Ochi. Please calm down. I'm in my peak condition." Even after a night of sleeping together, Ochi still nagged at me. I don't feel any pain on my body at all so I don't know why she keeps asking to heal my body? I understand that she takes it upon herself to keep me safe and it's not her fault that I get hurt. If anything, it's Cubey's fault.
That's what you get for having weak palms.
Fuck you!
"Please send my greeting and sorry to Admiral Stella, Admiral Igo. I hope I could meet her yesterday." Eh! You're a busy person, Chie. You shouldn't be too hard on yourself like that.
"Remember about our dates, Admiral Igo. I'll be waiting for you."
"Ahahaha~~ I don't think we can meet that often, miss Kara."
"Fufufu~~ Don't worry, we'll meet soon enough." What does she mean by that? Is Stella scheduling something that I don't know about? "See you later, Admiral Igo." Hmm? She isn't speaking in sakuran? The hell?
The shrine maidens wave their hands at me as I descend down from the entrance of Miko Village to the base of the hill. They don't really need to get everyone to line up and wave their hands at me but you know what, I appreciate the hospitality. I make sure to wave back at them while going down. I wonder what The Sakuran government has provided for me as my transportation home. I went here using a bus because I was with Azur Lane but now that I'm alone, I doubt they'll be using a bus.
As I reached the bottom of the hill, my question was answered. There is a slick-looking bright green car on the bottom of the stairs. "What the fuck?" What surprises me the most are the people near the car. "The hell are you guys doing here?"
"Didn't I ask you to free up your schedule?" You did but I don't remember ever agreeing to meet you now, Looke. "Don't worry. We got permission from the sakuran government so we're not trespassing."
"We're not criminals." The person leaning on the car next to Looke is Logan Anford. He is the [Blank] in our group chat. He has a gray comb over hair and no, his hair color isn't because he is old. He's at the same age as I am. He has mocha brown eyes that look like they're always tired. He wears a red-black checkered button down shirt and jeans.
"That's the most suspicious thing someone could say, Logan." He would be the first person I question if bad things happen. "So what do you want to talk about and where did you get that car?"
"The same one that let us pick you up, of course. You really think they'll let you ride some random car." It feels weird being told that. Not gonna lie. "They need a car that they can track easily."
"The last time we met, you were the one who got tailed by a bunch of people."
"Oh please. All of us are followed by people. Yours are just smarter at being hidden." Really? Well shit. I didn't notice anything yesterday. I really am rusty. "Come on, get inside the car. They'll get irritated if we don't follow their schedule."
"What if I want to do just that?"
"They'll probably tell Stella about it." Damn it! Curse Stella's virgin ass!
The 3 of us enter the car with Looke driving the car while me and Logan are sitting on the back. This car is an automatic car with some very techy interior. There are screens on the back of the front seats headrest so the person behind can watch something. The dashboard has a big screen on it with some analog tuners below the screen.
"So where's the listening device?"
"On your seat, probably." I slam my fist on my seat several times to give whoever is listening an earache. "That'll teach them a lesson." Looke smirks a little bit. Guess being followed nick him off a tiny bit. The car began to move shortly after.
"So what do you want to tell me?"
"This karaage is delicious." Logan handed me a box of karaage. I open the box and the savory smell of the sauce strikes my nose and causes my stomach to grumble even though I had breakfast with the shrine maidens earlier.
"Thanks." The karaage is shaped like a disc with a diameter the length of my middle finger. I grabbed one of the discs of chicken meat and the thick dark red sauce was dripping down. I carefully bite down to make sure nothing touches my uniform. "Shit! Taste good! Is this what you want to tell me, Looke?"
"Course not." Looke's hand reached toward the screen on the dashboard and did something with it. The next moment, the screen in front of me lit up and showed me something. "I want to show you that."
"What is that?" Is that a CCTV POV? What's with the weird angel the image is taken from? Why does it look so weird? And more important, what's in the picture? "I'm completely lost here."
"It's an image from CCTV." Score! I win! "It's guarding a relic of The Sakura Empire."
"Alright… What does this have to do with me?"
"One of the reports I found about the relic mentions 'wisdom cube'. I know you have a relationship with them." Looke swipe and the screen in front of me shows a paragraph from a scientific report with a highlighted part. He is right. There's a mention of a wisdom cube there.
"Interesting… Do you have the full report?"
"No. Only parts of it. They store reports about this relic separately."
"What do you mean?"
"For example, the cover is stored on disk A. The introduction on disk D. The conclusion on disk H. If you want the complete article, you need to locate all of the sections, get them, and combine them together. Getting this one is already pretty annoying, believe it or not."
"That sounds annoying to deal with." I can't imagine it was fun to store them like that or to try to get them back. Make you wonder how important this relic is if they do all of that to hide information about it. "So where is it?"
"That's complicated." Hmm? "There are four sites in The Sakura Empire that are built to store this relic but like you notice, there's only one relic so they place replicas on the other three sites." Then we just need to differentiate which one is the real one. "All of the sites are heavily defended with zero difference between them. I don't think even the guards know if they're protecting the real thing or not."
"So who knows which one is the real one?"
"These are the only people I know." Looke swipes again and the screen in front of me shows a list of people. "The Emperor. The Head Priestess. The Academy Headmaster. There's possibly more people but this is all that I had."
"You should've told me before, dumbass!" I was with The Head Priestess a moment ago!
"Sorry for being late, Mister Busy!" It's your own fault for not telling me earlier! "Do you think you can just ask The Head Priestess?"
"I can try." I probably can, honestly. "It's easier than The Emperor." I really don't want to talk face-to-face with The Emperor. "Guh! Now how are we going to get that thing?"
"Honestly, that's on you." Huh? The fuck do you mean, Looke? "I've been on warm water by sticking my nose where it doesn't belong. Any more than this and my water will start boiling. If you still want my help then you need to wait for the water to cool down a little."
"You too, Logan?"
"Mmhm~~"
"God damn it! I'm a busy man guys! I need help!"
"And you think we're not?!" Not as busy as me! I have to deal with an arsenal bird for God's sake! "We're not some useless bum."
"Can't tell the difference, honestly."
"You're the last person I want to hear that from." Hey! What does that mean!? "And you know The Head Priestess. You have a better chance at this than any of us are."
"Curse your logic." He is right and I hate him for that.
"Someone has to use it."
"Looke, swerve slightly to the right."
"'Kay~"
"What's wrong, Logan?"
"Our followers are getting clumped up." He said while using his thumb to point behind us. There are quite a number of cars behind us. "Also, the front ones almost crash into each other." Although morbid, it's kinda funny imagining secret service crashing into each other becoming a hazard for someone they're protecting.
"Damn dude. You really level up in the world, eh?" Well, one of us has to. Looke opens a map app on the dashboard and it shows our car being followed and led by several red dots. "They know how to blend in with the citizens, I tell you that much." The cars that were used by these people are your average run-of-the-mill sakuran-made cars which, in this place, blend in pretty well. Compare that to our foreign-made brightly-colored expensive supercar and you see just how much we stand out like a sore thumb.
"Do you think some of those people that are following us aren't part of the sakuran government but just a normal car enthusiast who likes what they see?"
"That would be hilarious but I doubt those people will let the car enthusiast get closer to you." What are they going to do? Slam the enthusiast's car from behind until they roll over? "Hmm?" I don't like when Looke lets out that noise. "We got company."
"Rival government institutions?"
"I doubt it. Some government institutions' job desks might overlay a little but it's stupid being hostile to one another." The screen on the dashboard showcases some more color as several unknown instances enter the entourage. Our car is shown in green, our followers are in red, while the new instances are in yellows.
"Could it be a false identification?"
"Perhaps." Logan answers my question while also handing me a Glock 19. Dunno how you can get one around here but thank you~ I grab the gun and check it to make sure its safety pin is still locked. Don't really want to accidentally fire it inside the car. "Better be ready." Logan put several full mags between the both of us. I wonder how accurately I can shoot now with one of my eyes damaged?
"Don't shoot before they do. The doors and windows are bulletproof so don't worry about it." Is the tire bulletproof, Looke? As much as I'm worried about being shot through the window, I'm much worried about our car toppling over because they damage our tires.
"Put the karaage in the glove box." Hey! That's mine! Logan grabs the box of karaage on my lap and passes it to Looke. "Too precious." How about our lives?!
"Are we really going to rumble in the toll?" The group of cars are clumping tighter and tighter. Before, there's at least a space of 2 cars between us and our followers. Now, there's barely even one for a motorcycle. I wonder what normal people are thinking right now when they see this. "Do you think their windows are bulletproof too?"
"Most likely." Well, shit. I was thinking of aiming for the driver. "At the very least, we know who to aim for. Our invaders like uniformity. They have precisely the same car type and color." Whoever it is, they must be very rich to be able to afford all those cars. "Are you speedrunning making enemies here, Igo?"
"Not that I know of. I thought they were gunning for you, assholes." I'm 10th in the speedrunning community on making enemies, okay? I still need to get my game up. "Don't you think they're closing in too close?"
"Yeah… We're approaching our exit but if this continues… We might miss it." Looke slows down the car to try to push the cars on the back away but they won't budge. It gets to the point that Looke slam the back of the car to their bumpers. "Damn… Not even an inch, huh…" Looke tries to go to our left since our exit is approaching but just like the back, the cars on the left aren't budging. "Fucking hell… Maybe we should start shooting."
"We'll be dead if you do that." Logan is right. Their cars are far too close. Killing the driver would cause their cars to go awry and it might hit us. I don't want to enter sakuran news right now.
"Tch! We miss our exit." At least we're still on the road to Nagoya. Dunno what we'll do if these cars guide us further though. "Wear your seatbelt. We're doing this."
Ring*
"Alice?" Oh my god… How did I not put everything together?! That bitch is the only one who can pull this bullshit and she did say that she is coming to The Sakura Empire yesterday. "Should I accept her video call, Igo?" I almost want to swipe the reject button on the dashboard screen but I know she won't stop calling unless we answer her so I just nod my head.
"Hey boys~~"
"Disconnect please." She brings back so many bad vibes that my hand almost instinctively ends the call. Her blue eyes and long blond hair cause me to have a pack of murder hornets in my stomach.
"Wait! Wait! Please don't disconnect." Then don't be you. "You're so naughty, Igo. Perhaps you don't like seeing me through a screen? Don't worry, we'll soon meet face-to-face."
"Sigh… I assume this is all your doing."
"Kukuku~~ Who else would greet you with an appropriate greeting?" What the fuck do you mean by that?! "Looke, I've pinned where you need to drop Igo."
"Uuh… Dunno about that. I'm entrusted to get him home, you know?" Thanks for the back up!
"I've something that you want to trade Igo with." What do you think I am, bitch?!
"Sigh… You always do…" Not exactly the greatest feeling huh, Looke. Don't worry, I understand. "I'll be the judge of that." Looke stepped on the pedal and we drove toward the place where Alice had pinned for us.
.
.
.
"Come here, Igo." The blonde princess opens her arms and invites me into her embrace. Everything about her right now should be inviting to me. Her open arms, her big breasts, her bright smile, her beautiful face, and yet, all of those blare an alarm in my head. The princess is wearing a purple crop top jacket, dark blue shirt that she let some of the upper buttons open, and a long purple skirt that has a long slit on one side.
"Not until you show me what you got, Alice." We're basically in the middle of a trafficking deal with me being the thing that is being traded around. When you have friends like this, who needs enemies, right? "I can get a better deal if I hand him to Stella." I know you don't like dealing with Alice, Looke but this is not it, buddy.
"Kukuku~~" The princess brings out a flash drive from her pocket and throws it at Looke. "Everything you want is right there." Looke grabbed the flash drive midair and it was a flash drive with an OTG connector.
"If this is a virus, I'll kill Igo right here right now." You fucking bitch! Both of you! Looke inserted the OTG connector to his phone and checked the content. "Damn… Well, she is your problem now, Igo."
"You fucking asshole! Are you really going to sacrifice me for your convenience?!"
"Yes." Don't answer that so easily! "Be a bro and sacrifice yourself for the betterment of the many."
"This is the first time you ever call me a bro."
"I can call you that again if you take care of Alice for me."
"Logan is right here! Why don't you ask him?!"
"Logan, here!" As if to mock my attempt, Alice the princess throws a flash drive at Logan. Logan catches it midair like Looke before giving me a thumb up.
"YOU DON'T EVEN LOOK AT YOURS!" Logan just nodded to answer my comment. "Are you guys really going to give me to this bitch?" Logan casually gave me another thumbs up.
"Igo, I'm getting sad that you are treating me very harshly." I've never heard a more gleeful tone in my life before, liar. "I need a hug right now, Igo."
"You know she won't stop until she gets what she wants, right?" Get your hand off my shoulder, traitor! "At least you help me and Logan with something instead of just sacrificing yourself in vain." I really need to choose my friends better.
"Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh… Fucking fine! You two fuckers owe me your life!" I grumpily walk over toward Alice who still has her arms wide open for me. "What now, Alice?"
"Into my embrace~~" Like a bear trap, Alice's arms close in on me and hug me. "You're so cute! I love you so much! We're so compatible!" Curse you, you tall woman! Her height causes it so that whenever she hugs me, I faceplant into her breasts.
"Glad doing business with you, Alice. We'll be going now." The 2 traitors' footsteps grow distant and more distant as I was drowning in Alice's boobs. I swear to God that I'll murder those 2 sons of bitches!
"Kukuku~~ Let's go, Igo."
"Do I have an option?"
"No~~" I can't do much to go against the UN chairman's daughter. We both walk away from the meeting place. "We have a lot of catching up to do, Igo~~ Kukuku~~"
"Guh…"
"Your hands are going everywhere, Alice."
"Is that real?"
"Fine! But he has to be back before eight PM and you owe me one!"
"He is just respecting you, Alice. You don't need to be an asshole like that."
I'm an independent man, Alice.