The last of the flames were slowly diminishing. Dark and dilapidated ruins gradually returned to their former states, taking shape in the midst of the shadows that formed under the moon light. Ash and steel were scattered all over the area. The dust had finally settled upon the conclusion of a climactic battle in the ancient city of Minami.
Hayama took a small Oriental bracelet from Seijurou's grasp on the ground of the Yakuza boss' wake. "A relic, huh? It seems like he uses some form of twisted jutsu (art) to substitute his position towards a dead person."
Still in a little bit of a daze, like almost everyone around, Seijurou did not hear his sensei and kept himself deep in thought. "What a vile technique. He must've killed someone else beforehand and left the deceased's relic somewhere in an event that he needed to switch positions."
"Erida-san?..", called Hayama out to a shell shocked Seijurou. But his student barely moved a muscle. So, he decided to give him a nudge, which fortunately got the boy back to his senses. "Hold yourself together, Erida! The gang leader is still at large. Where is Xi Jaejin?"
"Eh? Jax?..", asked Seijurou in a still somewhat confused manner. "He left right after he handed me that relic, Hayama-sensei."
Wide eyed in surprise, Hayama gritted his teeth. "That boy is as reckless as ever. Which direction did he go to?"
"South, but I have no idea specifically where..", answered Seijurou. "He said that that relic smelled of pine."
After hearing Seijurou's words, Hayama glanced towards Chizuru's position above them. A bead of sweat appeared on his head upon realizing that she was no longer there. Then, he gazed towards Kazuma, who was also no longer with Yanagi Shinsuke. He just simply closed his eyes in frustration and shook his head. "They've got good intuition but still too reckless. My unit's already in pursuit."
"What now, Hayama-sensei?..", asked Seijurou while looking towards the vast forest south of him.
Hayama nodded towards the other two unit commanders. "Yanagi-senchou, Yoshiki-taichou, Shirogane and Akisu are in the pine forest on a hill to the south, and my crew is currently tracking them. Any suggestions for our next strategy?"
"Our witch and I can search around the perimeter of the hill from the sky, sensei..", Shinsuke said, as he approached Fujiishima's military commander. "Kinjou, Kuronuma, and Erida will be on standby on the ground."
However sensible Shinsuke's suggestion was, it was a different story with Yoshiki Mizuki. Upon learning where the Yakuza boss' approximate position was, a grim realization came upon her. Right after that, she made a mad dash towards the south. "There's no time for petty squabbling, you fools! One of my girls is on that hill.. she's in danger!"
The rugged landscape south of Minami was covered in lush forests that change color according to season. Although currently under the cover of darkness, the approaching autumn filled the ground of reddening foliage. However, one distinct feature was a hill growing with pine trees. It must have been the remnants of a once mighty volcano that flung that specific species of plant when it erupted.
"It is of great shame that my own master is untying me from my restraints..", said Akisu, as Shirogane untied him.
"You should be grateful instead of being shameful, aniki..", replied Shirogane while cutting the ropes of his underling. "Besides, it is better for you to escape with me on your feet rather than I drag you around."
"I am truly sorry for causing you such a burden, Shirogane-sama..", Akisu apologized. He then, saw his leader's burnt arms. "My lord, your arms.. you're hurt."
"Indeed..", answered Shirogane, while he untied the last of the knots of Akisu's restraints. He grimaced at the thought of the flames that burned him earlier. "That boy.. the fire burns fiercely in him."
All of a sudden, a crossbow arrow pierced Shirogane's head, but he just immediately pulled it out painlessly. He glanced towards the direction of where the arrow came from, seeing a silhouette of a braided girl, who slowly vanished into nothingness on top of a pine tree.
Shirogane Hayai snickered. "Looks like someone got lost hunting in the dead of night. Akisu-aniki, alert yourself. This one is quite tricky."
Another arrow went towards Akisu this time, but Shirogane covered the trajectory with his palm. It instead struck the gang leader's hand, which he quickly and flawlessly threw back towards the hunter's direction. He smiled deviously. "I see you, little girl."
Just after Sendou Kaguya dodged the returning fire, the arrow switched places with Shirogane to her surprise. Appearing right before her, the Yakuza boss did not let the young sniper to react and disarmed her. Suddenly, she was at the mercy of the sharp end of her own weapon.
"Do not even try thinking of getting a single lick from your potions, ojou-san..", said Shirogane smugly. "Interesting style though. I could use someone like you in my organization. Unfortunately for both of us, I do not have the time, and I'm afraid that I must take your life."
But Shirogane was not able to finish his sentence when a large figure swooped through to take Kaguya. It was a good thirty yards out where the Predator Princess and her savior landed and rolled another twenty. An uncontrollable kind of flustering brought her back to her senses upon realizing that her face was just an inch away from Jax's.
"You're too close, Chizuru-sama's teammate..", Kaguya gently pushed a madly blushing Jax away from her, as they stood up and adjusted their gears. "Your breath stinks."
A droplet of sweat rolled down on Jax's tomato red face. "Oh, come on, Kaguya-chan.. I have a name, you know. And you're welcome, by the way."
"I would've preferred to be saved by Chizuru-sama herself..", answered Kaguya stoically to Jax's dismay. She glared at Shirogane afterwards. "He has my weapon."
"Don't even try to fight back. We were no match for him..", the thought of having his attack blocked by a finger, and being saved by Seijurou at the same time, made him lower his tone towards Kaguya. However, it also fueled an insurmountable anger within him. "It was embarrassing especially that I even had to be saved by that otaku. But we have to run until the grownups arrive, Kaguya-chan."
However, there was no need of an escape. Upon realizing that the unit commanders were already fast approaching, Shirogane went towards Akisu's side quickly and ignored the two first years.
"How far does this crossbow shoot?..", asked Shirogane.
Akisu examined Kaguya's crossbow and arrow. "This is the latest model, and it's even enhanced, Shirogane-sama. The arrow is also modified to fly longer distances. Judging by these, it could go for over a mile."
"Good enough..", Shirogane licked the arrow and loaded it on the crossbow. Then, he shot it towards a random direction. He smiled at Kaguya before throwing to return the crossbow to her. "It was nice playing with you, but I have to take my leave. I hope to see you again but as a more formidable hunter in the near future, hime."
Right before the reinforcements arrived, Shirogane simply put his hand on Akisu's shoulder and vanished. A small crossbow arrow appeared in his wake almost instantly. Jax immediately picked the piece of ammunition up and sniffed it.
"It only smells of soil and saliva..", remarked Jax. "There's no way of pinpointing where he is this time."
"That's disgusting..", Kaguya pointed out blankly, which caused Jax to almost flip backwards.
Out of the darkness of the pine forest, Yoshiki appeared catching her breath. "It's good that you're all safe. But where is Hayai?"
"Got away for real this time..", said Chizuru suddenly from atop a tree, causing a surprised shriek from the then arriving Kasumi. "His position is currently outside the scope of my Serpent's Sense. Kaguya-hime, can you find him?"
Kaguya blushed a little with the thought of Chizuru's acknowledgement of her ability. She put her sniper goggles on and looked around the perimeter of the hillside. "That's a negative, Chizuru-sama."
"-sama?..", Chizuru stared at her classmate in confusion before reporting to the rest, who just arrived at the scene. "Our ranging abilities couldn't track him anymore. He's gone, Yoshiki-sensei, Hayama-sensei, Yanagi-senpai."
As the rest of the members of the three military units arrived save for Kanae and Haguro, who looked after the prisoners, a kind of frustrating silence took over. Deep sighs and muffled jungle sounds were the only things heard. No one spoke a single word for a few moments.
"Well, that's unfortunate..", Yanagi Shinsuke broke the silence with an awkward chuckle. "At the very least, no one got seriously hurt, and we still have to interrogate the captured."
Suddenly, a blaze erupted out of nowhere. It was so bright that it made everyone take a step back. Seijurou was holding the two relics and the arrow that Shirogane left, with his entire arm engulfed in fierce flames.
"We need to burn these. Or else, it will give that monster a chance to strike us from behind..", said Seijurou as stoically as ever. But the anger and frustration was very evident in his tone. "For some reason, any part of him allows him to do that sick magic."
The disappointment on Seijurou's expression was so obvious that Satsuki had to intervene. She approached him and softly patted his shoulder to calm him down. As he looked at her, she smiled at him endearingly. "You did well today, Erida-kun."
Seijurou took one deep breath and closed his eyes. After that, he gradually extinguished his flames and smiled at Satsuki faintly. "Yeah.. I guess we did."
A type of bittersweet relief was felt by everyone. Although not being able to subdue and capture the main perpetrator, progress was still made by capturing enemies and delaying some villainous operations.
However, it was a different case for a single individual. As Seijurou and Satsuki stood side by side in silence, Jax looked at them with disdain from afar. The series of events did not serve him well and took it hard.
"Being overpowered by some enemy, then being saved by that no one who's being acknowledged by Kinjou Satsuki, this is a little too much to take for one night..", thought Jax, as anger welled inside him. "Someday, I'm going to chop that nerd's head."
The long overdue reinforcement operation has finally halted to a stop. Only those who were skilled in tracking namely, Chizuru, Jax, Kaguya, and General Yoshiki Mizuki, continued the search for the Yakuza escapees. Going back to the Minami excavation were the rest of the members of the three units present. Most were assigned guard duty until the arrival of the national government's response regarding the captured outlaws.
"However, our task is far from over..", said Shinsuke to his unit, as they stood near the excavation's entrance. "We were sent here to investigate the ruins. Let's look for what the Yakuza and the Orientals were keeping here."
Haguro sighed. "It's been a long night, Shin. Can't we just call it a day and search the dig tomorrow?"
Giving each other tired looks, Satsuki and Seijurou just managed to smile faintly at each other. Non verbal communication was common for the both of them, but it was obvious in their faces that they were reluctant to do more work for the rest of the night.
"I'd obey any order from you, Yanagi-senpai.. -sama..", Himiko, however, tried to become more enthusiastic despite the state of recovery she was in.
Shinsuke shook his head and shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "I'm sorry. I know we're all exhausted, but I'd like to have some answers before the Shogun's courier arrives.. and not to mention the fact that we cannot meddle inside the excavation when morning arrives. It might cause suspicion and panic among locals."
A sort of a united but exasperated nod came as a response to their captain's argument. Shinsuke awkwardly scratched his head and chuckled to his unit's mediocre answer.
"Okay, let's do this instead..", Shinsuke continued. "Let's investigate the site by batches. The one's left here will set up camp and rest. Fair enough, mina-san?"
"Hai, senchou..", a rather slightly more enthusiastic but still tired response came from Yanagi's unit.
Shinsuke nodded in equal enthusiasm. "Good. Erida-kun, we go first."
Seijurou got a little wide eyed as an initial reaction. However, his reluctance to do more work was not because of exhaustion. It was more of he knew from the back of his head that his gentle senior might probably give him a mouthful with all the reckless antics he did during battle. He just simply nodded awkwardly avoiding eye contact as a response and proceeded with Shinsuke into the excavation.
Casting a "candle light" spell was the first thing Shinsuke did to illuminate the path. At first, the dig seemed like an already established hallway with a gallery of informative material on each side. Clearly, it was meant to be some sort of museum for tourists. Images of the past activities in the earlier years of the excavation littered the walls of the makeshift corridor. As they went deeper, lesser known artifacts like high grade metal sculptures and armory were revealed by the light to be on display everywhere. However, only an awkward kind of silence was the only thing audible aside from their own footsteps.
"Many of our enemies died today..", said Shinsuke to break the quietness. "Some of them could've given us valuable information."
Seijurou looked down in shame and reflected in his thoughts. "Okay, here we go. I'm done for."
"Your fire spells are out of control. I guess, you're not battle ready..", continued Shinsuke with an endearing smile. "But maybe it isn't your element? Why not use concentrated spells rather than area attacks?"
"I have a low level of affinity for offensive magic, and it goes the same with physical attacks..", replied Seijurou in a slightly embarrassed tone. "So, I use cloak or area spells to surely deal damage. Other elements won't work too since it's not enough to hurt even a child. Even if my fire element is out of control, I still use it. I'm sorry, senpai."
"There's no need to apologize, Erida-kun..", Shinsuke grinned at Seijurou. "I'm sure you're working on it."
"But I'm so far behind, senpai..", answered Seijurou back. "When I saw Chizuru earlier, with Jax and Toho, there was no hesitation in their eyes, even if it meant killing."
"Hayama-sensei's unit had been in the frontlines for quite a while now. Just being at war for a week can change one's perspective of the value of life..", Shinsuke replied with a small degree of seriousness. "But giving you combat tips isn't the reason I brought you here."
Seijurou gave his full attention towards his senior, as they walked through an even deeper part of the cave. But he had to be more careful since the section where they were currently was not open to the public yet.
"We're all tired. I want this quest to be over soon, so I brought you first..", Shinsuke continued, while they crouched to avoid getting their heads hit by the low ceiling of the cave. "Aside from Himiko-kun, you're the only one I can rely on these kinds of things."
"What things, senpai?..", asked Seijurou in confusion.
"Do you know the reason why most of FSG's students are a year older than the required age per grade, and why the school only took in a single class per year level?"
Almost slipping and getting his head knocked by a loose rock, Seijurou became more confused as to how Shinsuke's question was related to the direction of their conversation. "FSG only accepts the best of the best, and because of that, some train for a year before entering to make the cut. Why, senpai?"
Shinsuke let off a smirk. "Without any prior exceptional combat capabilities along with a recommendation, you made it as one of the nineteen best first years of the nation. It's precisely why I took you in this quest. You outperformed everyone in the theoretical and the intellectual aspect of the entrance exam. I was hoping your brain could help solve this riddle in front of us."
Trying to control a little flush, Seijurou looked away for a second. "You give me too much credit, senpai."
"No, I don't believe so. I think you deserve a little more..", said Shinsuke cheerfully. Then, he illuminated the dead end in front of him with his spell. "Bingo. I think we found the motherlode."
The dead end was in fact, not the end of the pathway. It was a wall filled with an unrecognizable text. Even if having the two best minds of FSG together, they were still left stunned upon laying their eyes on the old scripture.
"This script is way too ancient..", said Shinsuke in awe. "I don't recognize it at all."
Just as swift as his eyes going round as a baseball, Seijurou came up with an assumption. "No one would be able to recognize it, of course."
"What do you mean? Why is that?"
"Because we only see it in fragmented lines of incantations written on 'Wards' and not as full texts that explain something..", replied Seijurou. He held his chin as if giving something some thought. "I'm not sure. I'm just assuming, senpai. But I think this is 'Kanji', the ancient language in writing."
Shinsuke nodded in approval with a big smile on his face. "I knew I could count on you. Now, all that's left is to take some images of it. And then, we wrap up and go home."
As Yanagi Shinsuke carefully took images of the wall with his "console command", Seijurou continued to decipher the text. Some of the characters were familiar to him due to handling countless enhanced gear. However, he never got to understand it. Even if the ancient text was incomprehensible to him, he was able to see something strikingly recognizable though. "There's some oddly familiar pattern at the bottom. The characters repeat in different intervals."
"That so? I'll make sure to report that to the deciphering team..", Shinsuke answered, as he wrapped his documentation up. "And one more thing."
"What is it, senpai?"
"During battle from earlier, those times that Shirogane caught everyone by surprise..", said Shinsuke with a cheery grin on his face. "You were always the first to react.. the first to come after him even if it was hopeless.. and the first to protect your allies. Not even us from the supposedly best were able to do something. With that, I commend you, Erida Seijurou."
Seijurou slowly lifted his head towards his captain and grinned sincerely for the first time that night. "Arigatou Gozaimasu, Yanagi-senpai!"
Monogatari Concepts:
Kanji – believed to be the writing system of the gods. The characters are so unrecognizably old that it is hard for modern day scholars to decipher it. However, it is believed to grant special powers, that it is still used in fragments to write incantations on enhancements and ward spells.
Character Description:
Sendou Kaguya – arguably my favorite support character of the story. Everything about her looks and personality simply interests me. I created her on a whim just to find suitable opponents for Chizuru's group in the preliminaries but ended up making a super cool character. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll try to find a suitable storyline that involves her a lot.
Kaguya is basically a nod to Jim and John Thomas' "The Predator", directed by John McTiernan. Her appearance and the way she fights is strongly influenced by the film's namesake. Her braids, gear, and invisibility, gives off a striking resemblance of the intelligent fictional extra terrestrial, thus the nickname, "Predator Princess". But to avoid copyright issues, instead of wearing a mask, she uses goggles that covered half her face with some makeshift bunny ears to aid her hearing as well. When worn over her head, the ears make her look like a relaxed rabbit, but when worn over her eyes to activate "Sniper Vision", she resembles an alert bunny searching for danger. Pretty cool, huh?
Kaguya's name is also a nod to three different stories, actually. First is the monogatari about the bamboo princess Kaguya, which is also part of one of Jihon's fictional monogatari too. Next is Kishimoto-sensei's Otsusuki Kaguya, the "Rabbit Goddess" and the final antagonist of his "Naruto" manga series, which also has references from the said monogatari. And lastly, Shinomiya Kaguya of Akasaka Aka's "Kaguya-sama: Love is War", where I got her dual personality.
Born from a rich family like the other two members of "3K", Kaguya has some sort of elitist attitude towards others that may seem rude and has the tendency to acknowledge the very few whom she likes. However, once she begins to be fond of someone, she has this split personality that greatly adores that person up to a point of borderline creepy and psychopathic. Fukuoka Kanae often points this out in disgust whenever she experiences episodes of weirdly doting on Taneda Chizuru. It is not specified yet what her gender preferences are, but I'm definitely curious.
Being serious and stoic all the time (when she's not creeping Kanae out) is a result of Kaguya's commendable work ethic. When not on the battle field, she trains harder than most (mostly due to Chizuru's inspiration), brings her equipment to an alchemist regularly for maintenance, and mixes potions for future fights. Not only that, she also studies hard to keep her grades up and regularly practices dancing and singing for her "idol career".
During quests, she follows orders to the dot and takes things as seriously as her teammate, Kanae.
A decent apothecary herself, Kaguya relies on her surroundings heavily for making potions that aid her in combat (most especially the invisibility potion). She truly is a rugged hunter, which also uses the element of surprise mostly and avoids direct confrontation. But when such a situation arises, she draws daggers out of her wrists.
When not fighting, Sendou Kaguya is usually seen in her school uniform or in the latest fashion trends, with her long straight black hair freely flowing down to her waist. Of course, when performing on stage, she's usually in a combination of a cute and sexy outfit (which she dreads the most). Being an idol surely makes her one of the cutest young ladies of her generation (this time according to both genders). She stands at 152cm and weighs about 41kg. Her favorite things (besides Chizuru) are cured meat and fluffy little creatures (rabbits most especially).