The Immortal's Suspicion - 02
The thick smoke rose from the building and the harsh gust of wind slapped her in the face.
Murasaki watched the Tempest destroyed their base of operation with her skin slowly drained of color. The entire building they'd been using collapsed in flame.
[Our base?!]
[FUUMA?! His drone stops functioning! Did someone get to him?!]
[Murasaki-sen-BZBZbskbz! What sh-IBHksbbuzzzz-ould we do?!]
She rushed forward, piercing gaze focused on nothing but the giant silhouette of that mechanical weapon.
"Code RED!"
Code RED - Under unforeseen circumstances, the mission was to be aborted and dispatched unit must retreat to the nearest headquarter, awaiting for new instructions.
Murasaki had given the order, she wanted the rest of the team to stay away from this place.
As for the Tempest, she would deal with it. In PERSON!
Kotaro might have been a lazy bum, but he had improved. He became a clever young man who was always one step ahead when it comes to strategies. He must have noticed the Tempest sneaked its way to their base. He must have escaped before it blew up the building.
Things couldn't end like this. She won't have it!
The Tempest's head turned upon detecting her presence, laser sights appeared and spread from the ground to its approaching target. Murasaki kept running without a care, even if it meant she had to endure a downpour of gunfire.
However, the Tempest had something up its sleeves. Rocket launchers emerged from its joints, lots.
"Damn it!"
She ducked behind a wall in a hurry. Murasaki had confidence in her Ninja Art recovery ability, losing one or two limbs was no issue to her. But she wouldn't be able to endure that many rockets all at once, being reduced to a pile of meat was the last thing she needed before she could strike it down.
[KkkskskssZZsskksz!]
White noises sparked from her comm, it picked up the same frequency from the unit's communication channel. Someone with the same device was nearby.
Could it be...?!
"Fuuma?! Respond! Are you alright?!"
[Dog - Horse - Snake] - [Earth Art: Fissure]
As Murasaki shouted into the speaker, the ground shook. It didn't feel like an earthquake just occurred. Tokyo Kingdom was built with a solid foundation, strong enough to withstand even a nine magnitude intensity.
So where did this rumbling come from?
Murasaki peeked at the Tempest from her hiding spot. The ground beneath it split apart, creating a large crack. The giant weapon fell down, its four legs and gun turrets permanently stuck between the concrete.
[Onisaki Kirara's Style: Oni Strength (X3)]
Crush!
The sound of metal being reshaped by a brutal impact rang in Murasaki's ears. The Tempest being tossed upward for a good few meters before it hit the ground, immobilized. She caught the sight of the weapon's bottom part dented in by some kind of force, its main Core which hid behind layers of the armor shattered.
Something attacked it. Even though it happened out of her view, Murasaki could tell from experience.
The Tempest blew up. Burning components littered in the destruction of its own making.
"Fuuma, come in! Do you read me?"
Murasaki had yet to register what in the world damaged it to that extent. But her attention quickly shifted to the one person whose contact had yet to respond. Kotaro was still nowhere to be seen, she didn't know if he had tried to escape from the building before the attack.
In the worst case scenario, he could be stuck under the rubbles.
"Fuuma!"
Creak.
Murasaki dropped the comm and readied her axe, battle instinct raised with shurikens in one hand to intercept a potential ambush. Alerted gaze fixed on the moving manhole cover near her position.
"Sensei?"
It was Kotaro. Seeing him climbed out from the sewer, Her shoulders relaxed almost instantly.
"Are you okay? Any injury?"
"N-No. I managed to escape underground before the base got destroyed."
"Where's your comm device? We've been trying to contact you."
"I have it here with me. But the thing malfunctions."
Murasaki let out a sign, the worried expression on her face switched back to a stern one.
"I didn't expect a Tempest was in these terrorists' possession. Seems to be a new model with advanced camouflage tech and radio jammer, this is going to pose tons of problems down the line if we don't investigate its manufacturer quickly."
"It had a stealth function too. The tracks were moving almost too quiet. I didn't notice the Tempest until it was near the base, I'll fill the details in the report."
"Have you scanned the list of weapons from their dealer?"
"It's in the drone. We'll get the Tempest's serial number from there."
"Good." Murasaki looked back at the ruined site. "By the way, The Tempest was attacked. Have you seen someone else there while you got out?"
"Not to my knowledge, Murasaki-sensei." Kotaro shook his head.
She stared at him in the normal left eye, asserting the answer for a moment.
"So you saw nothing?"
"I saw nothing."
He gave a quick respond, it wasn't enough. There were more questions on her mind. But with many disturbances happened in a single span of the night, the area would attract lots of attentions.
"Let's retreat. Mission succeeded."
Gosha Academy.
In the Briefing Room, Murasaki looked over the information they'd gathered from the mission.
Alongside the details of the new Tempest model, she spent some times analyzing the blueprint of the abandoned building previously used as their base of operation.
"Hm, this is..."
When comparing the blueprint to the satellite map taken by the Conquestor, she discovered a clue, one that was more questionable than revealing some kind of truth to a doubt. The area where the mission occurred had a system of underground passages running along the sewer. There was one passage connected to the building, formerly used as a gateway for the criminal organizations.
It was also the passage Kotaro'd used to escape.
And...
Surprisingly, the Tempest at the time had stood directly on top it. It was a fact that baffled Murasaki.
The Tempest was attacked. Its armor dented in by a brutal impact from underneath. Its core shattered. Kotaro'd seen no other suspicious activities or presences before the thing was destroyed. The satelite picture also showed nothing in the surroundings.
What did this mean?
Perhaps, an individual with a high-level concealment technique was there and he didn't notice them?
Something is missing.
The mission was a success. They got everything they needed in order to continue the investigation, to go further into the illegal weapon trades involving the new Tempest model. However, the thing that puzzled Murasaki the most had nothing to do with the promising development of the event.
"Maybe I'll ask him again."
Fuuma Kotaro had always been easy to read since he lacked the skill to control his facial muscles. With the kind of disturbance happened to the Tempest, he should have noticed something. And yet, she didn't get anything from him when asking the question. He had a calm expression.
"...!"
She realized that he was calm...that kind of reaction!
Despite being the Captain of the Task Force, he was still a Taimanin-in-training, should that sort of emotion even make sense when he'd just came out of a dangerous situation?
Just as she was coming close to a certain possibility, there was a knock on the door.
"Murasaki-sensei." Kotaro walked in. "I finished my report."
Excellent timing!
"Fuuma, give me details of your encounter with the Tempest!"
"Yes, I've already included that in the report." He pointed at the paper, calmly.
She approached him, eyes grew sharp and hands folded under the chest. Murasaki determined to get the unspoken truth through his words.
"No, I want to hear it from you first."
"..."
He blinked, such a bland reaction.
"Did I stutter?"
"I don't think there're much to explain when we both saw it with our own eyes."
Murasaki rephrased her question.
"Do you know why the Tempest exploded?"
"Ah, that! The breach charges I planted in the sewer probably did that!" Kotaro revealed.
"Eh?"
Murasaki didn't expect to hear that. Her lips parted slightly, it took a short moment to let that information sink in.
"It was yours doing?"
"It was kinda risky at first, but since the Tempest was on top of the passage I figured I should do something to hinder its movement. To damage the core, I had to wait for the thing to fall right where I placed the bag and ignited the rest of the charges through remote control." Kotaro scratched the back of his head as he explained, smiling awkwardly. "Lucky it worked."
"Hmm." Murasaki had yet to buy into his explanation. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"I thought you'd already noticed since you didn't ask, and we were in a hurry to retreat, so..."
Still, the sound she heard when the Tempest got tossed up in the air was nothing like being struck by an explosion.
"Did something happen, Murasaki-sensei?"
She read the emotion on his face...nothing.
"Never mind." She extended her hand to him. "Your report."
Murasaki changed the topic, the growing suspicion forced back to a corner in her thoughts. As Kotaro handed over the paper, she noticed bruises on his knuckles.
"Now hold on!" She held his wrist. "I thought you checked in with the medical facility yesterday. Where did you get this?!"
"I-I haven't done that yet, I went straight home and slept like a log!"
Murasaki frowned. As his gym buddy and teacher, She didn't approve of his action.
"That's just lazy! Be more responsible with yourself, Fuuma. We need you to be in good shape to lead the team."
"A-Alright! I'm going there now!"
If her students knew any better, they wouldn't want to make her angry in the morning. Kotaro gained plenty of experience to know the consequence, he bolted out the briefing room before the scolding gets worse.
"Hey! I'm not done here!"
He was already gone, the lazy bum sure ran fast in time like these. Jeez, it wasn't like she intended to make him run twenty laps around school or anything.
Murasaki gave one last glance at the papers. The look on his face couldn't tell her anything about the questions her hunch picked up. Perhaps she was wrong about it. Perhaps she had been overthinking about something that might as well be a coincidence.
"Move on to the next work then."
Murasaki sealed off the mission details inside a folder and left the room. She would stop by the Headmistress Office to discuss the next step in the investigation.
And to get a sniff at Asagi's scen-wonderful shampoo.
...
...
Kotaro turned off the faucet in the restroom after washing his face.
An ultra thin layer of facial mask began to dissipate in the water and eventually flushed down the drain.
"Phew!" He let out a big sigh in relief. "Closed one!"
Kotaro managed to dodge a bullet with Murasaki's suspicion by using the versatile nature of a skincare mask to hide his true expression. He just hoped Hebiko won't think too weirdly about it when he asked to borrow some of her beauty products.
About the bruises on his knuckles, he got them from punching the Tempest. Three times an Oni's strength seemed to be a bit over the limit of what his body could handle.
Kotaro could have used Murasaki's Ninja Art, Immortal Awakening, to knock down the weapon while allowing the minor injury to quickly heal. But that would be a dead giveaway to the nature of his Evil Eye, Taima Particles would have spread from his body and caused Murasaki to recognize the activation of her ability.
Kirara-senpai's strength was the only solution that helped him conceal the energy released within the body. After all, it was just his muscles strength enhanced to the level of an Oni.
"I need to train more."
In order to use others' Ninja Arts sufficiently, his body would need to catch up to their standards.
Murasaki-sensei's suspicion hardly went away. Someday, he will talk to her about it, about this slumbering right eye.
For now, it continues to stay a secret until he is finally ready.
...
...
...
Murasaki: Oi, Fuuma.
Kotaro: Yes?
Murasaki: Your face looks smooth, did you use some kind of skincare?
Kotaro: Just recently.
Murasaki: I don't think I've ever seen you use one. Why?
Kotaro: Because...reasons.
Murasaki: *Staring*
Kotaro: *Sweating nervously* I'll see myself out!
/
The Immortal's Suspicion: The End