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OCTOBER 4TH
9:14 PM
“Four days, huh? Just four.”
If you asked any Yakuza grunt a list of names in the underworld to be especially wary of, Genichi Sojo’s name would absolutely be high up on that list.
Sojo was a terror of the underworld. Establishing his presence out of nowhere, completely uprooting the underworld’s previous system and being placed on the Kamunabi’s Most Wanted ever since he was 20, he was a wildcard like no other.
Especially frightening was Sojo’s intelligence. No other weapons dealer could hold a candle to his shrewdness, and he seemed to always be a few steps ahead in keeping up with the newest technologies. Despite over a decade of the Kamunabi’s pursuit, Sojo had classily evaded their every attempt at capturing him, whether through prediction or simply through brute force.
So of course, thought Norisaku Madoka, of course Sojo had managed to learn the ins-and-outs of an Enchanted Blade in merely four days. And oh what a spectacle it was—the ability to harness the weather itself!
“Daruma.”
A summons. Norisaku trudged his way into Sojo’s room, the man currently scribbling illegible notes with one hand and idly swinging that blade with the other. As Norisaku entered, Sojo immediately set his items down and regarded him with his usual unbothered expression.
“Did Koki and Soki fill you in on the recent incident?”
“Yeah. The material we were using for the Datenseki, she escaped, right? The brat.”
Sojo half-smirked. “Right on the money. Guess I don’t keep you around for nothing after all. Anyways. Go retrieve the material.”
Norisaku nodded. “Specifications?”
Sojo scratched his chin idly. “Just make sure you’re discrete. This matter is of top priority, so don’t screw this up or blow the news wide open.”
Frowning, Norisaku murmured his acknowledgement as another question rose to mind. “If discretion and tracking’s what you’re looking for, why not send Satsui? He could sniff the brat out no problem.”
Sojo shrugged. “Simple, he ain’t as reliable as you. Odds are, he’d either fail or his bloodlust would get the better of him and he’d murder the whole building. Now quit asking questions and get moving.”
“Got it.”
The cylindrical-headed man moved out as Sojo turned back to his notes, swinging Kuregumo idly to and fro.
One of the legendary works of Rokuhira in exchange for just knowledge on stabilising Datenseki? What a bargain. I’m getting my wildest dreams fulfilled just for doing what I already planned on doing!
Now in contemplation, Sojo momentarily gazed up at the ceiling, right hand paused in writing.
What’re they gonna do with the others, though, Shinuchi aside? Dunno why they’d want the Kamunabi to have a chance of buyin’ it back at the Rakuzaichi...Transfer attention onto it and away from the other wielders, wherever they are? Knowing the Hishaku’s reach, they’ve probably found ‘em already.
One part of his thoughts stuck in his mind, and Sojo abruptly turned around, snapping his fingers as he gazed upon an intricate set of papers attached to the wall next to him.
Right, nearly forgot. Gotta get that last delivery of weapons to the Sazanami. That geezer Kyora’s definitely pissed I’m over three weeks late. Well, sucks to be him!
Sojo turned back to his table, searching through the stacks of papers for the log of the to-be-transferred items he needed, when screams began echoing through the building.
The hell?
Focusing his senses with the slight assistance of spirit energy, he felt a hostile presence rapidly moving to his room, just as one of his men, terrified, burst into the room from the sole door to his left, the hostile presence seemingly hot on his heels.
“SIR! THERE’S AN INTRUDER! HE—HE’S KILLED EVERYONE!”
Turning around fully, the black-haired man scowled and twirled the blade in his hands, swapping it to his right and standing to his full height. Taking in the sight of the tall man standing across from him, hair white as bleach, hands quickly reaching out and snapping the neck of the reporting grunt. A cold, hard voice rumbled out of the man’s mouth.
“Tell me everything you know about Hakuri Sazanami.”
A smile flashed onto Sojo’s face. “Sazanami business, huh? I’ll get the goods to you, don’t worry.”
The bleach-haired man’s brows furrowed, gaze turning stony. “You didn’t answer the question.”
“Well could ya at least, I don’t know...introduce yourself? Jeez, and you’ve probably killed way too many of my men. How ya gonna repay me?”
Sojo’s sleazy grin and aggravating tone failed to elicit any sort of emotion from the man. “I don’t need to. For both questions.”
A shrug in response. “Well, whatever, Soya.”
Sojo briefly paused, seeing the other man’s slight twitch, before continuing. “You think I don’t at least know the names and profiles of the Tou? I’m not stupid.”
He began slowly walking forward, Soya still not moving an inch. “But this ‘Hakuri’...don’t tell me one of your myriad siblings grew a spine and tried to run? Hah! You don’t hear that kind of story every day!”
“So you don’t know.” Soya spat in annoyance, initially turning to leave, before spotting a certain something Sojo was holding. Sojo could sense a billion thoughts whirring behind Soya’s eyes within the span of a single second, his own mind pondering the situation.
If the Hishaku are handing over Shinuchi to the Sazanami, would a member of the Tou be in the know about whatever deal they made, or just their old man?
His question was answered as Soya moved , Sojo narrowly ducking the man’s punch and leaping backwards, kicking at Soya as he did so. Soya quickly slid out of the way, mouth opening to speak once more.
“Father mentioned the Hishaku had dealings with you as well. I’ll assume them giving you an Enchanted Blade was their part of the deal, in which case...”
A black flare roared to life over Soya’s right eye, Sojo’s grin deepening at the sight.
Looks like he’s getting serious. Good! I’d like to see what this masterpiece can really do!
“...you won’t need it to carry out your end of the bargain. An Enchanted Blade would certainly do wonders for the Sazanami Clan’s strength. It looks like my birthday’s brought me quite the bit of good luck.”
A token protest echoed within Sojo’s mind, a reminder of his position. Opposing the Sazanami Clan would not be without repercussions; far from it.
But a bonafide opportunity to explore the depths of Kuregumo…that was something he wouldn’t miss for the world.
Sojo’s manic energy leapt through his voice. “You want it, why don’t you fuckin’ come over here and take it! Enough talk!”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
The blade sang as it was torn from its sheathe.
The air pulsed as force came to the hands’ call.
“Kuregumo!”
“Isou!”
The wall of the room shattered as Sojo hurtled through it, the state of his meeting room a near-discarded thought. Behind him was the sprinting figure of Soya, his shockwaves propelling him into melee distance. Turning, Sojo quickly brought up his left arm to deflect the taller man’s palm strike into the air and slashed upwards, Soya throwing forth a shockwave that blasted the two in opposite directions.
Recovering quickly, Sojo grinned as his dragon crackled, sensing his incoming order.
“Mei!”
Clouds faded into lightning in an instant and roared through the outstretched Kuregumo towards Soya, whose eyes momentarily widened before narrowing in concentration. A leap sent Soya high into the air away from the explosion beneath him, and with his left hand behind he flung himself forward, right arm reaching towards Sojo.
Too close!
“Yui!”
The ice formation, a simple wall, cracked into pieces and Sojo still felt the impact, rattling his organs even though he only slid back several metres.
Those shockwaves are no joke…that’s to be expected, given who’s flinging them around!
As the rest of the wall began crumbling, Sojo forewent observing Soya’s silhouette through the ice and dashed to the right in an instant. He grabbed a vase and raised his hand to throw it to the left, but paused.
Guy ain’t stupid. He’ll know I’m trying to trick him.
So instead, he dropped the vase. In an instant Soya was blasting apart the left side of the room, just as Sojo sliced forward. Soya noticed too late, his hasty back-step only limiting the damage to a large gash on his arm.
“Tch!”
Ducking underneath the follow-up slash, Soya spun around, channelling spirit energy towards his foot. The resulting shockwave-amplified kick didn’t pack the punch of his hand-shockwaves, but it was still sufficient to send Sojo slamming through the wall to the right, causing an audible grunt from the prospective weather-meister. Soya spared a glance for his injured arm before speeding after him, brain quickly collating information all the while.
Lightning and ice…that obviously matches the Gouger of Clouds, Kuregumo. Which means what he’ll do now should be…
Fields of mist flooded the hallway he was in, spreading to the surrounding rooms as well, causing Soya to pause.
Water. Sojo wants to go for an ambush, hm?
Remembering an item he had spotted in the previous room he was in, Soya’s brow furrowed in contemplation.
Then let’s give him something unexpected as well.
“Note to self: Kou’s mist can be just as much of a hindrance as it is a help. When it comes to normal visibility, anyway…”
Sojo muttered to himself as he prowled the foggy halls, searching for any trace of Soya. It appeared Soya had decided to go for the same trick he had, and he had skilfully muted his presence.
“Even with how connected I am to the mist, it’s unreal how well he’s hiding. Either way, good to keep in mind for later.”
As a construct of his own spirit energy, Sojo was fully able to sense through it in a sense, although in quite a muted fashion. Keeping his instincts on high alert, only the quiet breaths sounding out of his mouth were audible to him.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Inha-
A clank.
Sojo’s spirit energy, previously spread amongst the clouds of mist in their sensing, immediately converged into one location, but he himself did not move an inch, narrowing his eyes.
It’s too obvious. Let’s see what’s there…
As expected, nothing. No bursts of spirit energy. Likely a loose ceiling tile had fallen down.
Though I’ll be damned if I just chalk it up to shoddy architecture.
Sojo expanded his senses from that point outwards, crawling through every nook and cranny as he stalked towards the area, keeping his body low and his footsteps silent. His eyes shot every which way as he cleared room after room.
Having detected nothing with his spirit energy, Sojo mentally stopped maintaining the mist as he approached the doorway to the room the sound had originated from.
The door went down with a kick as an alert Sojo charged into the room.
No reaction.
Annoying. Vexing. He knows how to wait. So let’s drive him out of hiding…
Kuregumo was pointed downwards as Sojo once again checked all around him. Lightning began crackling faster and more fiercely around the blade, charge accumulating at Sojo’s behest. Eyes and light flickered this way and that, in a bizarre rhythm.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
Back.
Up.
As the old saying goes, ‘they never look up.’ Except this time, Sojo did.
“MEI!”
Sojo ecstatically yanked the blade upwards as a massive barrage of lightning flew towards the form of Soya in the ceiling. Said ceiling immediately caved downwards under Soya’s shockwave-induced pressure, before Soya unsheathed the katana at his waist to parry Sojo’s follow-up slash.
“A sword of your own, huh?!” Sojo laughed as he briefly scanned and identified the weapon’s source.
The room we were in before. How resourceful of him.
“What makes you think that’ll change anything? You’d be better off with those blasts of yours, wouldn’t ‘cha?!”
Soya’s eyes narrowed as one of the blasts in question began forming on the edge of his blade. The two flew apart as Soya called out. “Both. Both is good.”
“So you do know how to crack a joke, huh!”
“Shut up.”
Dashing forward, the two clashed blades once more, steel biting against steel, both struggling to overpower the other.
For a few seconds.
A loud crack echoed, the sound of a gash jaggedly tearing through the air and making its presence known, Soya frowning at the sight.
Obviously an average katana can’t hold a candle to an Enchanted Blade.
Microscopic shockwaves formed on the katana’s edge, Sojo’s smirk widening at the realisation.
Using the shockwaves to carry forth the force of the sword all the while preventing damage to the katana itself...while maintaining enough control to not blast his weapon away, despite the number of shockwaves. Impressive.
“But not good enough!”
Barely a “Yui” had breathed past Sojo’s lips when the long-haired man in one go froze the two blades together and slammed the ice construct downwards, the ice around Kuregumo shattering. The Enchanted Blade was unharmed, but Soya’s weapon was in almost as many pieces as the ice was.
Soya blinked as he acknowledged the loss of his weapon before his eyes flashed upwards.
A crack. Ceiling’s damaged. Would be more mobile outside.
Two arms shot out to the side, shockwaves more powerful than anything he had used that day readying themselves. Sojo leapt to the back of the room but saw the arms begin to tilt upwards, and a smirk re-emerged on his face.
“That’s problematic.”
“Father?”
Enji turned his head to gaze at the sight of Kyora Sazanami’s frown. The latter stood, book and tea on the table all but forgotten, and began pacing around the room, brow furrowed in concentration. Tellingly, a white eyepiece adorned the clan head’s right eye.
“Is it Soya?”
Kyora spared barely a nod. “Indeed.”
“Has he found Hakuri?”
“Hardly. If so, Soya would have already notified us. No, what I’m getting from him is...aggravatingly unclear, but from what I’m noticing...”
Kyora abruptly stopped in his tracks and glared into the air.
“He is engaged in combat.”
“Against?”
“Genichi Sojo. Who appears to be wielding Kuregumo.”
Enji gasped. “How the hell did he get that?”
Kyora’s glare lost none of its heat as he continued pacing. “Likely from our mutual beneficiary. Undoubtedly due to some service that uncouth arms dealer is providing them.”
Kyora paused his pacing momentarily as he stooped to pick up and sip from his teacup, before resuming his march. “In any case, Soya seems to be making the monumentally moronic decision to challenge an Enchanted Blade in combat.”
Suppressing a curse at his younger brother’s most likely fatal decision, Enji voiced his concern once more. “But why would he do such a thing? He should know there’s little chance he can overpower an Enchanted Blade, even if Sojo’s only had it for little time! There’s no way Soya would’ve thought himself capable of taking it!”
“There is a way.” Kyora’s tone had abruptly shifted to an eerie cold. “Why would Soya’s train of thought be compromised in such a fashion?”
Realising immediately, Enji groaned and clutched at his face. “Dammit, he caught wind of Hakuri, didn’t he...”
The two men simultaneously sat down and grabbed their heads in parallel headaches. Their mutual air of silent frustration against the sound of rain battering the windows was only broken up by the appearance of an unexpected unwelcome entrant.
“Rice crackers, anyone?”
“NOT THE TIME, TAMAKI!”
Roofs were generally stable constructs, concrete made to endure the endless torrent of the elements and any number of possible incidents.
They also shattered when sorcery with even the slightest potential for destruction was applied.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Sojo landed on the rooftop in a textbook three-point position, staring at the giant hole in the rooftop in front of him and the white-haired man soaring into the air. His demented laugh was almost drowned out by the heavy rain falling around them.
“More space?! A fuckin’ good idea!”
Raising Kuregumo, Sojo shot out Mei after Mei , barely charging each shot as the lightning seemed to zip between the raindrops towards Soya’s location. Soya grit his teeth as he applied Isou liberally, zooming through the air at intense speeds and shattering the ground where Sojo was standing as he looked up, his target now leering down at him.
There’s a problem. I’ve got more space to use my speed...but it’s raining. Which is the perfect environment for Sojo to maximise Kuregumo’s spirit energy efficiency.
As if on cue, the clouds above rumbled and a lightning bolt roared from the heavens.
“Kou!”
The raindrops bowed to the Enchanted Blade’s authority and formed a pathway from the lightning to Soya, and he could only narrow his eyes in focus as he leapt into the air again, once more dodging Sojo’s attack. Soaring through the air, Soya grimaced as he shot forward, propelling himself onward and upward with more and more speed until his arms outstretched-
“Tch!”
-and exploded with force over Sojo’s rapidly descending head, the man in question chuckling as he waved Kuregumo below him, droplets of water freezing into a lattice-platform of ice for Sojo to land on.
“COME ON!”
Obvious bait. He wasn’t stupid.
No, his mind provided, you’ve already fallen into-
“GAH!” A scream involuntarily tore itself from his mouth as thin spears of ice, formed literally out of thin air tore through his thigh and chest. Seeing them trail down to the construct below, Soya ignored the pain, grinning in anticipation.
Down below, Sojo grimaced.
“Oh, hell.”
Torrential blast waves sent down the ice shattered not only the spears but also Sojo’s platform, the violent explosion of ice ships cutting into and slicing at Sojo far too many times for comfort. Hacking out bloody spittle, Sojo was disoriented as he fell back on the roof, eyes frantically searching for his opponent through the torrential rain.
That trick won’t work if I can’t pinpoint him. But there’s no need to search…
Determination reigniting, Sojo held Kuregumo downwards once again, silently charging powerful lightning around steel once again.
…when I can wait for him to come to me. Now where is he…
A loud boom echoed across the sky. Then another, another, yet another, a glorious anthem of thunder that even had Sojo smirking.
Thunder and lightning, how fitting. But storms are transient. They always blow over.
A bright speck on the horizon among the rainfall. Without thinking, Sojo screamed in triumph and blasted his magnificent blade’s electrical discharge right at the ridiculously fast bleach-haired force manipulator.
For an instant, Sojo thought it was over.
“GRAAAAGGHHHH!”
Fat chance.
Legs looking like they were barely functional, face resembling bread that had hit the grill for far too long, and arms that were smoking, scarred and yet still pointed right at him.
Sojo only saw the distorted air for a fraction of a second. Only had a fraction of a second to set up a last-ditch gambit, one that by all reason and logic should be impossible.
“ISOU!”
And then all he knew was pain .
Soya huffed, chest heaving, body screaming in agony at the charred flesh– his charred flesh, the metallic taste of blood on his tongue enveloping his mouth. He stared at the destroyed side of the next building across, where Sojo had landed in the midst of a wall of windows. Soya’s prize lay below him, bloodstained steel glistening.
Finally. Back to the main objective; locating Hakuri.
Soya knelt down to pick up Kuregumo, wincing as his legs nearly gave out. Picking up the blade, he paused to turn his eyes away from a lightning rod several skyscrapers away.
Though…shall I form a contract with Kuregumo straight away? Father would be displeased, but it would save me the hassle of some unknown grabbing it, forming a contract with it and complicating my business further.
With that half-second’s deliberation, Soya made his decision, holding Kuregumo upright in his right hand and taking but a moment to marvel at the craft.
“Kuregumo.”
…
Hmm? I still feel the presence of Isou. My sorcery…isn’t gone? That can’t be right. No, wait-
The faintest crackle around the blade was all the warning Soya received before he hurled the blade aside as far as possible, just before a lightning-crackling projectile slammed into the ground where Kuregumo was.
Said projectile stood, one bloodsoaked hand grabbing Kuregumo from its position held within teeth.
“...Not over yet, snowflake. This ain’t over yet.”
Soya’s grimace morphed into an outright scowl at the sight, a buzz whining through the air as he readied his force once more.
“It will be.”
The lightning crackled once more, before suddenly disappearing around Sojo’s form, two cloud dragons circling around their master once more, to Sojo’s apparent disappointment.
Which lasted for approximately two seconds before a demented smirk crawled onto Sojo’s expression.
“YUI!”
What in…What in fresh hell was this?!
“Grgh!”
A spear of ice came rushing in from Soya’s left, forcing his legs to jump while the young man’s eyes were on swivels as he took in the sudden environment that most certainly had not been there a second ago.
Pure white walls that seemed to act as windows and mirrors simultaneously, a gigantic tower in front of him that Soya was desperately rushing towards and what appeared to be another behind him, all the while rain continued to pour down from the heavens, giving off the impression that the structure was melting yet intact.
No, on second thought, it is melting.
Realisation.
Twin fucking ice castles.
How.
Fitting.
Firing himself into the air, Soya elected to ignore the spears of ice trailing out of the walls and hurling themselves in his direction in favour of charging directly towards the strongest spirit energy signature he could sense.
Just one shot. I only need one more shot to end this. JUST ONE GOOD HIT!
Reaching the peak of the spire, Soya reared back his arms and with an Isou of frankly middling power (by his standards, though it was all he could manage as exhausted as he was) he burst into the top-most room.
Well, something akin to a room. The gleaming white walls and floor had no detail, there was no furniture of any kind and there was no roof to speak of. The structure’s architect seemed delirious, eyes flashing–literally–with what seemed to be lightning. In fact, lightning had once again begun coalescing around Kuregumo’s wielder.
“You like it? I thought we should have a fitting battlefield for our final bout. It’s only natural, since I need to thank you for something; you helped me realise something about Kuregumo; about myself.”
“Quit the philosophical bullshit. You just want a home field advantage.”
“If you say so!”
Soya had been on high alert, but even he just barely caught a glimpse of the lightning-speed Sojo before he blocked Kuregumo with his prepared shockwaves, transitioning to a kick that sent Sojo into a wall.
Or more accurately, a kick that was supposed to have sent Sojo into a wall.
Instead, Sojo sparked out of the way and swayed on the spot for a moment, ice spikes emerging from the walls and floors and spearing the place Soya had been, the man himself metres in the air before diving down at Sojo.
NO NO NO NO NO
Soya’s reflexes suddenly screamed at him and Soya shot himself straight down to the ground just as a lightning demon completely eradicated the place he had been seconds prior.
This is insane! He’s fast, too fast! My brain can keep up, sure, but I have to move seconds in advance for my body to do so! All the while he’s still–
Soya off-handedly shattered more ice spikes before simply slamming straight through several floors at once.
–still controlling the bloody castles! Small miracle he can only send small portions of ice at a time and not all that quickly, it must be taking everything he has to maintain that lightning thing he’s got going on!
Craning his exhausted eyes upwards, Soya could spot the upper sections of the ice castle begin to disintegrate and vanish. Looking outside, much of the walls and the other castle were gradually undergoing the same.
I just need to outlast him–
Racks of pain stabbed into him again, every burn on his body and the slash on his right arm seemingly yelling at him to get away, run, flee, save yourself–
For just a moment, Soya considered doing so.
And then he quashed that feeling into the ground and screamed at himself for ever having considered it.
I’ll finish what I started! This will end as it should have! I can’t let this end without even having found Hakuri!
Pulling himself together, Soya tensed his legs in preparation to jump upwards.
Squelch.
“...Wh-what…”
Soya looked down, only to see what felt like a burning length of steel embedded in his chest. He looked behind, knowing what he would find.
An almost completely exhausted, yet entirely shit-eating grin.
“You took so long thinking to yourself, you know. It was quite the wait.”
“...B-bullshit…At most, it was five seconds…”
“...Exactly.” Sojo coughed out more blood, but never loosened his grip or stance. The reeking smell of burnt flesh hung in the air, an oh-so-helpful reminder to Soya of the lightning around both Sojo and his blade.
At that moment, Soya’s thoughts suddenly turned oddly crystal clear. At the apex of the pain, the anger, the indignity…
“Screw. This. Screw Sojo. Screw Kuregumo. Screw the Hishaku.”
A voice, one that hadn’t spoken up from within him for far too long, then raised his attention.
“Do you know who you are?”
…I am the heir to the Sazanami Clan. I will be the Twelfth Clan Head of the Sazanami Clan.
“Will mere pride help you in accomplishing that? Will the loss of a great opportunity really deprive you of your destiny? Or would you rather die a pitiful death, chasing after something entirely out of your grasp? You’re already on a fool’s errand as is. What use is a failure to a genius?”
He…he’s…family…
“Don’t give me that. The only thing he’s worth to you is as a method of ignoring yourself. Ignoring me. You spent so long concentrating on what you weren’t that you ignored what you were, and lost yourself. Veneer of ideal Sazanami Clan heir you may put up, but we both know that isn’t anywhere close to reality. You don’t deserve to be accepted, when you can’t accept yourself.”
…
“...Do you know what you need to do now?”
…Yes.
“You have to fulfil your duty. And that duty, right now…”
Infinitesimally, Soya’s eyes widened.
“...is to not die at the hands of some greasy, unsophisticated imbecile.”
Blood spattered through the air as Sojo gaped. One moment, there had been a large Sazanami brat impaled on the end of his blade. The next, there was nothing but an explosion. Yet it seemed to be nothing but cosmetic, no true force behind it, the blast merely disorienting Sojo long enough for Soya to make his escape.
“...Well…played…”
Sojo grinned as he lowered Kuregumo, staring up at the pouring rain falling down onto his face. The last of the ice around him, a byproduct of his instinct going on overdrive and resonating with Kuregumo, faded away, leaving Sojo alone on the roof of his building, Soya nowhere to be found.
“...I suppose I better patch myself up.”
He turned, locating the miraculously mostly-intact entrance to the stairs, before pausing and turning back around.
“It was a good bout!”
His victory, of course.
Just one battle and I’ve already learned so much about Kuregumo…Rokuhira, your works are truly sublime. Able to alter their abilities on-the-spot to fit whatever their wielder requires…genius! And soon, I will stand alongside you…
The pain was intolerable, and his right hand felt like it would shatter the moment he stopped holding Kuregumo in a vice grip. Still, the sheer satisfaction and euphoria the battle had brought him was almost enough to completely overshadow the agony.
SIXTEEN HOURS LATER
“What the hell were you thinking, Soya?!”
A heavily bandaged Soya opened his eyes from his half-slumber, taking in the sight of his older brother worriedly staring at him. Given the eyebags and the relative light in the room from the window…
“Good afternoon, Enji. Sleep well?”
Enji chuckled mirthlessly. “‘Sleep well?’ I didn’t sleep a wink. First you get the moronic idea to butt heads with an Enchanted Blade wielder of all things, and then Father gets front-door seats to you getting mutilated …You know, Father’s still not feeling in top shape, from transporting me all the way to that alley you managed to get to and taking us back.”
“I’ll need to thank him, then.”
Enji sighed and leaned back on his stool, the tall man scratching his head. “By the way, you still haven’t answered my question.”
Soya blinked. “I sought out Sojo initially in order to search for information on Hakuri. My frustration at losing another lead when Sojo turned out to have nothing, and seeing the potential value in an Enchanted Blade in the Sazanami Clan’s ownership…apparently morphed into some desire to fight him for it.”
“Of course it was about Hakuri. What did I expect?” Enji sighed and reached for the mug of tea to his side, sipping from it semi-contentedly. “Wait a second.”
He whipped his head around to Soya, setting his mug down. “You’re being a lot more…composed regarding Hakuri than you normally are.”
Soya froze, shuddered and his face collapsed into an expression Enji was far more positioned to expect whenever Hakuri was mentioned around Soya.
“That’s right, I missed out on him again! I need to go find him as soon as possi-”
Abruptly, Soya cut himself off. “No. That’s not right. That’s not the priority.”
At this, Enji turned himself to face Soya fully, shock in his eyes. Soya merely stared back impassively. “I came to a realisation after I nearly died fighting Kuregumo. If I am to fulfil my duty, there are aspects of myself that are less than ideal. They won’t go away. But I can work around them.”
“That sounds far too convenient.”
“I’ll look forward to your epiphany once you nearly die, then.”
Enji scoffed. “Fair enough. Does that mean you’re over your Hakuri obsession?”
Soya raised his bandaged left hand, staring down and flexing it slowly. “No. That’s why if I ever see him again, I have to kill him. No matter what.”
“That sounds extreme.” Enji raised an eyebrow in concern. “Not even Father thought it necessary to kill him.”
Soya’s metallic blue eyes bored their way through Enji’s concerned brown. “This is for my own sake. No matter his state, Hakuri is actively harming my ability to function as a member of the Tou, as a member of the Sazanami Clan. He is stopping me from reaching the heights that are entirely within my reach.”
He clenched his fist; not hard enough to draw blood from his injuries, he wasn’t stupid, but enough to feel the pain.
“This is the greatest respect I can pay to him.”
To the side, Enji hesitantly nodded. “I’ll tell Father about your condition, then.” A thought arose as he turned to leave, and his mouth…almost formed into a smile as he turned back.
“For the record, I doubt Tenri would have made it out as cleanly as you did.”
As Enji left the room, he swore he could almost hear the faintest of chuckles behind him as he closed the door.
“Oh no…”
To most, a young girl wandering the streets was perfectly normal. There would always be those more unfortunate than most in all circumstances, and this was no exception.
However, the subject plaguing the young girl’s fears was far from standard.
“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no-”
The great storm last night? That was one thing. The chilling laughter she had heard accompanying the storm?
Well, she was far too familiar with that laughter. Far too familiar for comfort.
So the young girl had moved far, far away from that building. Moved far, and fast, until she was sure she was on the other side of Tokyo.
And as luck would have had it, she found a cafe where sorcerers could be hired! Perfect!
In her mind, all that was left was to enter, hire a ‘super duper strong sorcerer’, and everything would be fine!
“Alright, now that everyone’s assembled, we may begin. Azami, report.”
“Last night, at around 9 to 9:30 pm, we believe Soya Sazanami of the Tou engaged Genichi Sojo for originally unknown purposes. Through observation of the conflict which eventually ended up outside during the thunderstorm, we have identified that Sojo is indeed contracted to Kuregumo.”
Groans filled the room, while the more composed members of the leadership merely wore grim expressions.
“He soundly defeated Soya although not without incurring injuries, particularly to his right arm.”
“On another note, our public relations division has successfully sent out the message that yesterday’s events were merely a particularly devastating thunderstorm. There were no eyewitnesses outside the Kamunabi.”
“Should we arrange a strike force to confront Sojo?”
“Given his injuries, it would be better to do so sooner than later…”
“And what about the Rakuzaichi? How should we move now that one of the Tou members has been incapacitated?”
“Irrelevant; there’s a month before the Rakuzaichi, plenty for him to recover. A battle against the Sazanami is still unfavourable.”
“Moving back onto the topic of Sojo; Azami, you have several subordinates particularly suited against Kuregumo’s abilities, correct?”
“I can recommend Agent Hagiwara in particular; his achievements have been outstanding and his leadership, no matter the team, is always top-notch. I also believe Agents Harima and Kugara have relevant sorcery helpful against Kuregumo.”
“I’d like to add one of my own, Agent Uzuki. He possesses restraint sorcery.”
“That sounds good. Though we need more offensive force beyond Harima and Kugara…”
“How about Agent Kasahara? Great destructive force, but at the helm of a very composed individual.”
“He and Uzuki will help balance the more energetic members of the team; plus, they were part of the same cohort when they first joined the Kamunabi. I believe we need one more, however…”
“Agent Machi.”
“...Are you sure? He’s never seen the field. And his sorcery is a wild card.”
“We’re dealing with an Enchanted Blade. We’ll need everything we can get.”
“And with Sojo at the level that he is… Azami. You will oversee the Anti-Kuregumo Special Forces, and have clearance to enter direct combat against Sojo at your discretion.”
“...Understood.”
“A conflict between Genichi Sojo and Soya Sazanami? What an interesting turn of affairs…”
“Seems he’s really deepened his understanding of Kuregumo. I’ll have to ask him about that later.”
“All in good time, Kuguri. Yura, how should we move from here?”
The lanky man, unassuming to all but the most trained eyes at first glance, hummed as he moved a coin between his fingers, finally ending with the coin in place on his thumb.
He flipped the coin.
Tails.
“The Kamunabi will organise a force against Kuregumo for certain; with Sojo’s level of mastery being far higher than predicted, they may even mobilise Azami or Kagari, though that situation is ultimately of no concern; our Datenseki stockpile is sufficient for now. The Sazanami should be able to operate in regards to the Rakuzaichi as normal; we will conduct any mediation between them and Sojo as is necessary.”
The lanky man picked the coin back up as he turned to a specific individual among his subordinates.
“Oh, and I believe it’s time for the Korogumi’s collection; please organise that, if you would.”
“I’ll ensure the spells are in place.”
“Very well. Everyone, you are all dismissed.”
The fedora-wearing man rose to his feet, as did the other individuals at the table, but the man stayed his feet momentarily while the rest filed out.
“One question.”
“Yes?”
“What about Chihiro Rokuhira?”
The lanky man wryly expressed a small smile as he stood.
“Well…”
“Chihiro!”
“Mr. Shiba?”
“There’s been news. Everyone’s talkin’ ‘bout a freak lightning storm in Tokyo yesterday, there was ‘parently a whole bunch of people who heard crazy amounts of thunder and lightning. But Azami managed to tell me what’s really going on.”
“...You don’t mean…”
“Yeah. The only usable Enchanted Blade has surfaced.”
“Kuregumo. Mr. Shiba, let’s go.”
“I booked train tickets as soon as I heard, don’t worry!”
“What’s that buzzing?”
“Oh, my phone. Oh, it’s Hinao! She must have news; definitely in relation to the situation.”
“Then we can stop at the cafe first.”
“Sounds like a plan!”