Disclaimer: I do not own Taimanin series.
The Vengeful Blade - 03
At a corridor in Gosha Academy, Kotaro met up with his second-in-command.
Su Jinglei wanted to disclose an important information to him.
"Fuuma, we'll have a briefing this afternoon. Come when you're done with classes."
Arms crossed and composed with a dignified aura, Su straightforwardly announced to Kotaro whose left eye was closing halfway while his shoulders drooped.
"What's wrong?" Su blinked at his troubled reaction.
"Oh no."
"Oh no?" She tilted her head.
That wasn't a reply, Kotaro was muttering to himself. Something like this had happened before.
This is bad.
Kotaro got himself a promise he couldn't ignore, and there was no way he had had the heart to set it aside for another day. He promised Rinko-senpai that he would come meet her once classes are done.
"What will be distributed in the briefing?" He asked.
"The field agents managed to gather more intel about the remnant of the Blue Guardians. They're beginning to move their base of operation to south of Japan, we predicted their next destination could be in either Shikoku or Kyushu region." Su explained. "This briefing is to reflect on that information and the Task Force's solution in dealing with their next movements."
"Based on that, we just need to observe the situation for the time being."
"Umu. We're planning on sharing this information to other branches in the south, requesting them to keep watch on Blue Guardians' activities."
Kotaro thought about the solution Su just discussed. It was only temporary since the terrorist organization was keeping a low profile after their failed operation at a certain village.
"Do you think this will be enough?"
As Kotaro was still pondering, Su wanted to know his opinion on the matter.
"I think it's good. At least right now, Blue Guardians doesn't want to attract attentions from us or the UFS bases in the south. This will keep their hands tied."
Su hummed softly. Her head nodded with a hint of eagerness in agreement.
Kotaro had been considering the content of this meeting. They got the information, they found a solution to deal with said information and the topic in discussion would no longer cause trouble for a while.
Yep, all is good.
"Su, record the meeting for me."
"Eh?" She blinked at the sudden request. "You're not going to attend the briefing?"
Kotaro awkwardly scratched his cheek.
"I have something to do right after classes."
"Oh?" She raised an eyebrow, doubted. "And what could that possible be? What could be more important than the Task Force's activities?"
"It is equally important, Su. It is a promise I can't afford to break."
"What promise?" Su pushed.
"A personal promise."
"I don't get it."
"It's just for today, cover for me. I'll catch up with the info later."
"How suspicious, Fuuma." A frown fully formed on Su's face. "Usually, you would prioritize the Task Force's meetings and nothing else. Maybe I should inform Miss Murasaki about you trying to slack off from work. Then, she may take upon it to whip you into better shape."
"..."
When it came to the Task Force, Su was always serious and strict in everything related. It was her responsibility to look after the duties needed to be fulfilled within the team.
Because Kotaro made it sound like he was slacking off, which was entirely true considering the promise he made with Rinko-senpai, Su was in the right to doubt him.
He was the Captain. If he wasn't careful, disciplinary measures would be taken.
Kotaro made up his mind. Only one left thing to do to convince Su.
"Please!" He went down on all four on the flood, startling her. "Do this for me, Su. I really need to fulfill this promise!"
Screw the shame. It was either those harsher sessions with Murasaki-sensei or a gleam of Rinko-senpai's katana in the Training Room.
"Wha-?! I-I didn't expect you to go this far! Is it really that important?!"
"My heart would break if I broke this promise!"
"Your heart would break?!" Su was taken aback, confused. "What are you talking about, Fuuma?!"
"The details are not important! Right now, I've gotta keep this together! I can't let this briefing stop me!"
"Huh?!"
"That's it." Kotaro stopped the prostration and raised his head. "I'll see you later!"
"W-Wait! At least give me a proper reason!"
"I can't go to the briefing!"
"F-Fuuma?!"
Just like that, he quickly left.
The bell rang. School ended. Hallways turned empty as soon as students rushed home.
Head held high, Kotaro strode to Rinko's classroom with a determined look.
Reaching the location, Kotaro stopped in front of the door leading into her class. It was closing shut. The beautiful senior whom everyone admired was waiting for him in her seat on the other side of this door.
He sneaked a glance at the clock on the wall. Right on time for his promise kept with Rinko-senpai, too late for the briefing. The latter was still happening.
Needless to say, he felt bad for ditching it with an hasty attitude no different than what he showed to Kousaka-sensei's English class. No other choice, he would worry about the consequence later. For now, Kotaro was content with this. What mattered the most was the last step in fulfilling the promise to his senior.
He grabbed the door, decisively so and opened it.
"I'm here, Rinko...senpai."
Left eye widened, Kotaro stood dumbfounded.
"Eh?"
While the sunlight at dusk spread inside, the empty classroom greeted him back.
...
...
Outside the window, the Sun had fully settled behind the mountains.
He waited for an hour sitting in the corridor, Rinko-senpai didn't come. He had no idea if she was still within the school ground.
This was strange.
He didn't think Rinko-senpai would forget about their promise, she was not that kind of person. She is a mature, beautiful and well-respected senior in both the Academy and the Task Force. Honorable and professional, she carried a perfect reputation known to everyone in Gosha. Unless one managed to get onto her bad side - something he'd personally experienced before - Rinko-senpai would always fulfill what she set out to do for others.
Which made no sense in this circumstance.
[Senpai, I'm at your class.]
Kotaro read the message on his phone, which he'd sent her for about fourty-five minutes ago. She hasn't read it yet.
Did something happen? Did she receive an urgent mission and have to be on her way before this?
Even if Kotaro wanted to think about the reasons, there would be no answer to his questions.
Sigh.
He sat up, the school bag hurled over his shoulder.
Maybe he should make a few trips around the school yard to kill some time while waiting for her. He didn't plan on going back home, not before he could help Rinko-senpai with her request.
He'd made her wait for two hours and sixteenth minutes once. At that time he was at fault.
Now, their roles were reversed. One more hour in waiting was nothing much, he understood this feeling after all.
"Oi, you over there."
As Kotaro was about to leave the building, a voice stopped him.
The smell of burning herbs faintly floated around him. The owner of that voice was biting on a herbal cigarette and casually puffed out the smoke in a place where such activity was forbid by rules. A pair of violets kept a straight look at Kotaro as they approached, they seemed to have come from the direction of Asagi-sensei's office. Their face and orange hair color reminded him of a fierce member in the Task Force.
...Maika?
This person almost resembled her with a tomboyish yet more mature appearance. She was wearing an opened red jacket outside what seemed to be a battle suit that accommodated agility and swift strength.
"I heard Asagi is on a mission, do you know when she'll return?" They bluntly asked.
"You are...?"
"Look, I'm in a bit of hurry. Just answer the question."
Her personality was somewhat roughed too. Kotaro replied after thinking for a short while.
"In two days."
That was a roughed estimation. Chief Yamamoto and Asagi-sensei were working on leftover issues occurred after the battle of the Great Ashen Tree. Asagi mentioned in the private note exchanged between them that she predicted it could take more time than that if things got complicated.
"Two days." The woman muttered and softly clicked her tongue. "Tch. Dang, guess I'll have to postpone the investigation for a while."
Kotaro picked up that detail.
"Excuse me, what do you need Asagi-sensei's help for?"
She turned her gaze to him, his question got her attention.
"Ah, this again." She groaned. "I spoke with Shiranui and Murasaki already, do I really have to do this three time over?...huh?"
She noticed something on him, eyes slowly went wide. She moved towards Kotaro, closer to the point she nearly reached into his intimate zone.
"Hmmmm." Her hum stretched as she scanned him from head to toe. "Say, do you happen to be a Soul Art user?"
"N-No."
Kotaro slightly leaned his head backward on instinct, left eye averted to the side. He didn't deliberately look away because the woman's cleavage was openly revealed to him.
There was something in her gaze. Those violets appeared a gleam, directed at the closing right eye with a clear suspicion.
A cold sweat rolled down Kotaro's cheek. Her reaction to the right eye was exactly the same with Chikage.
Just who is this person?
"Then what do you have asides from not being a Soul Art user?"
"Nothing."
"Hm, hm. Nothing." She playfully repeated with a small grin. "Interesting. What's your name?"
"..."
He needed to create some distance. She didn't give her name, he had no reason to share his info first.
They weren't doing the need-to-know basic conversation people often exchange in a normal society. This place was Gosha, a place where Taimanin shinobi clans from all over Japan assembled. If a stranger who was not part of any of the clans entered the village through unknown means, the watchful eyes would follow their every steps in the shadow.
She was walking freely and no one was observing. This person being so nonchalantly smoking within the school ground and calling Asagi-sensei by her first name added more weight to the fact that she was definitely not a stranger in Gosha.
That gave Kotaro a bit of ease.
However, she felt something from him. She was trying to reach closer to a secret not yet revealed to Gosha. It was enough to alert Kotaro.
She might have known him, which sparked this conversation in the first place.
He could trace her identity using Gosha's database. That violet eyes and hair color style were the common characteristics of the Kamimura clan, he'd look into it.
"I'm in a bit of hurry."
For the sake of the secret kept hidden, the conversation should end here.
Kotaro stepped away.
However, the woman caught on his intention and took the same step the moment he tried to move past her.
"Tell me." She pointed at the closing right eye. "Were you born with monocular vision? Or is there actually something behind that eyelid?"
The herbal cigarette slipped into a corner of her glossy lip. The small grin became much more prominent, as if the expected result she's wanted was right within her grasp.
"Why do you want to know?"
"What's the matter? Can't give me a straight answer?"
"It's personal."
"Betcha it is. I thought I was imagining things, but turns out..." Excitement spread on her face. "I might have hit the jackpot."
Kotaro's instinct kicked into the alarm bell in his mind.
"Gotta go!"
He sprung past her, dodged her hand which was going to grab him, snatched his shoes in the locker and quitted the building.
"Oi! Don't just ignore me! I'm serious here!"
So was he! Kotaro was dead serious in keeping the Nameless Evil Eye a secret!
No good! This was no good at all! That person seemed to be aware of it!
How on Earth did they know?! With Chikage, it was the smell. To that person, what was it?! Did they see it? Did they feel it even though he was having zero Taima energy in his body? A mean to counter their keen senses, he was lacking so much of it!
"?!"
Suddenly.
From the darkened sky, an object came rushing down like a shooting star. It crashed right into the empty campus of Gosha Academy, forcing Kotaro to stop in his track. When the smoke and dirt were cleared, a great metal sword revealed to him.
"Sheesh. Students' manner these days, you don't run away in the middle of a conversation."
White aura swirling in the air, it quickly faded once a presence appeared right behind him. The woman in the red jacket already caught up and patted Kotaro on the back, giving him a frighten jolt. This person, so fast!
"Got it?" The woman smirked at his reaction. "Fuuma Kotaro."
He made an awkward smile at the mention of his name. Not surprising but somewhat expected, she did know him long before this meeting.
"And you are from Gosha...no, you were from here." It was his turn to figure out her identity. "Kamimura clan?"
"Yup, you guessed right." She was pleased to hear it.
She walked on ahead, the cigarette butt disposed inside a portable ashtray and kept in the jacket breast pocket. The woman pulled off the metal sword from the ground. the giant weapon looked so light by the way she hung it on her shoulder.
"I used to be from around here, but the way of the Taimanin doesn't suit me so I left. As expected from the Captain of the Taimanin Task Force, what I'm curious next is your performance in battle. How about a friendly match?"
"Wait! Now?!"
Kotaro was shocked at the wild suggestion. Regardless, she was eager for a battle with him, right at Gosha Academy.
"Don't fret. I'll hold back enough not to cause noises in the campus." She nonchalantly said, still smiling. "I may break a few bones by accident though."
"Hold up! I was only discharged from the hospital last week!"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, is that an excuse you're going with to avoid this fight? Must be scheming something to distract me with that, aren't you?"
Nope, he meant it.
"I don't have weapon on me."
"Use your limbs."
"I haven't fully recovered."
"Just show me what you got."
"I'm going to report this to the school staff."
"Wow, ain't that boring." She rolled her eyes.
"I can tell that I'm going to lose the moment you move from that spot."
"What the heck is wrong with your self-esteem? Kinda low, don't you think?"
The giant metal sword spun as she switched hand. It immediately shrunk in size, changing appearance and became a club.
"Enough and come at me." She waved her hand at him.
"Hey, do you happen to know a member of your clan with the name Maika?"
She blinked.
"That's my sister. What of it?"
"Ah, I see." His arms crossed, he nodded in understanding. Kotaro finally figured out from all those hints. "Kamimura Azuma. The clan's member who left the village and became an Onmyoji Specialist for the Vampire Hunter Division."
"Oh hooh~. So you've heard of me."
"Yeah, now that I figured it out..."
Kotaro smiled softly before he screamed to the entire world.
"I'm telling this on your family!"
"Hhaaah! You what, punk?!"
He got her shocked, and mad. Now they're even.
...
...
"You said you're in a bit of hurry. What happened to that?"
"Huh? Ah that, my mission is delayed for now. I have some time on my hands to do other things. This match is one of them."
"But I'm still in a bit of hurry though. More like, a lot."
"Try to make this fun, I'll think about letting you off." She grinned.
"You don't really intend to do that, do you?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"You should be asking yourself that, Mr. Captain."
"...I don't get it."
"Then I'll show you."
She dashed forward, the ground under her heels left a crack. Kotaro ducked down just in time for the club to swing past his hair and jumped back. Azuma was about to make the next swing. Kotaro inhaled deeply as he held out both arms defensively.
"Oh! Ninja Art?" Azuma wanted to see what will come next.
"I forfeit!"
The club stopped inches by his side. Azuma eyed him with a twitchy frown.
"Really?"
"Really! Plus, I know you were just testing me!"
An instant answer from Kotaro. The amber in that left eye filled with nothing but a determination to get away from the match. He saw through her intention too.
"Jeez! What a buzzkill!" She forced a groan. "Oi! What would it take for you to show me your potential?"
"I don't hav-!"
She grabbed his shoulders, bringing her face closed to his.
"Look at me in the eyes and finish that sentence."
Kotaro clam up and looked away. The faintest lie on his expression would be detected, he couldn't take that risk. She was an expert just as much as the rest of the Elite Taimanins.
"Fuh. I was right then."
His silence confirmed Azuma's suspicion. Her grin returned, fueling more flame to her excitement.
Click!
"Huh?"
Azuma glanced down, staring at the source of that noise which came from Kotaro's hand.
It was a grenade with the safety pin came off, dangling on his finger. Zero hesitation, Kotaro dropped it between their feet.
Upon detonated, it drowned them in a thick cloud of smoke.
Azuma couldn't see, she tightened her grip on him. Somehow, Kotaro's firm shoulders became weightless. She felt the change almost instantly.
"Oh no you won't!"
Azuma pulled him back, only to realize she was holding onto just his student shirt. The buttons fully undone and the person in question was gone, he literally ditched his clothe and ran away shirtless.
Azuma scanned nothing in the smoke. There seemed to be special type of suspension particles that mixed in to hinder her enhanced vision.
"Tch! Clever guy."
After getting out of the smoke by going in one direction, she saw the main door of the building just closing shut.
Heh, the boy was quite fast when it came to running away. She'd give him credit where it's due, that was one of the shinobi's specialties anyway.
"Guess I'll let you off the hook for today."
Still, Kotaro's little escape won't stop her from catching him again. She would stick around in Gosha for some time.
What she felt from him couldn't be ignored. Azuma won't let that feeling slide from her grasp.
"Oh right, he left this one."
She noticed his shirt, which was used for a split-second substitution technique. Chasing after him right now just to give it back would be weird, Azuma wasn't up for that.
For now, she decided to head back to the hotel where she was staying. Azuma'd keep this for him. When the time comes, she'll return it.
She looked forward to the next time they meet again.
The time when that immense potential in him shines the brightest.
...
...
...
"R-Rinko-senpai, I can explain..."
"F-F-Fuuma, w-w-what's with you?" Her voice was shaken. "Why are you shirtless?!"
Kotaro wanted to dig a hole, hide in there and never come out again. After he managed to get away from Azuma, he ran into Rinko in the hallway.
That shirtless upper body was covered by nothing but a school bag hugged to the chest.
Embarrassed, both hands already shot up to cover her face from the shameful view. Rinko sometimes peeked through the gaps between the fingers, her gaze glued to Kotaro's well-defined abs which was glowing and damped in sweat.
Knowing she couldn't fully look away, she blushed even more.
"C-Cover yourself with something!"
"Yes! That's what I'm trying to do, I'm getting my tracksuit by the locker."
"W-Wait! Stop right there, Fuuma! Why are you getting closer to me?!"
"Because my locker is that way!"
"No! Don't come near me!"
He was going to get a real heartbreak at this rate.
"I didn't prepare myself for this!" Rinko exclaimed. "What were you thinking?1"
"Calm down, Rinko-senpai. Just close your eyes and give me five minutes, I'll get ready."
"F-F-Five minutes?!"
As if Rinko couldn't handle this situation anymore, she reached for the sword bag on her back. Ishikiri Kanemitsu reflected Kotaro's pale face and his shirtless body.
"Rinko-senpai! Hold it! HOLD IT! DON'T DRAW OUT YOUR SWORD YEEETTTTTTTTTTTT!"
/
Author's Note: So Azuma finally makes an appearance. Next time, Kotaro and Rinko afterschool date!
Thank you for reading. Take Care!