novelVolume 2, (2b)
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Volume 2, Chapter 2 part 2
5: Stroll Through the Weapons Plant
The center of New Sapporo Domain was methodically laid out like a shogi board, but this workshop area was an intricate arrangement of narrow roads with lots of one-way and no-entry signs. Not to mention the snow. Not only did it cause visitors to get lost, but certain locations could be cut off from their surroundings by several lesser-used roads.
At first glance, it was not obvious what route to take. Without the use of a satellite service, they would have stood out from their surroundings.
"Continue as planned, " whispered Sugiyado.
In their ninja outfits that perfected a combination of sex appeal and practicality, Ouka, Bara, and Hoozuki vanished upwards in the blink of an eye. They had jumped up to the single-story rooftops with some help from the layer of snow thicker than a meter below their feet. With their physical abilities boosted by the special flexible material of their ninja outfits, a jump like that was nothing. And they were not dumb enough to step on a rooftop trap and tumble back down to the ground along with a thick layer of snow.
Black-haired and white-uniformed Asagao remained on the ground, but...
"W-wait, Sensei, what am I supposed to do? I can't fight or jump up onto the roofs even with the same equipment as them."
"..."
"That kind look! I'm the one left behind while the rest enjoy a secret date today, aren't I!?"
He ignored her protests. When fortunate enough to be working in a group, it was best to leave one person behind so they could respond in case of emergency.
From here on, moving swiftly was more important than blending into the crowd, so he removed his down jacket and tossed it over Asagao's head while she puffed out her cheeks.
"You wait here. And hold onto that for me."
"Pwah. I'm not a kitten you can leave at the pet hotel while on vacation! You can't...you can't placate me with...ahh, I can feel your warmth. No, I won't let this work!"
Bara's manic voice reached them over the radio.
"Oh ho ho! I'm going to be extra demanding today after being left out yesterday, Sensei!!"
He could have called Ekaterina or Murakami Michihiko in for support, but he did not know either of them well enough. He wanted someone he knew would be able to respond immediately.
So he trudged off through the snow on his own.
The entire area was a 5km square, but each individual workshop was smaller than a convenience store. They were all packed in tight, so there was simply not enough time to sneak into each of them to check them out. He wanted to pinpoint target the right one, but they did not know which one was the center.
"Asagao, how's the data look?"
"Why am I stuck with a no-touching-allowed long-distance internet relationship? Boo....Anyway, this is tricky. Data security here might be even stricter than at New Sapporo Castle."
"Because unlike the castle, there's no defined honmaru or server room."
It was best to use the process of elimination at times like this.
The warehouse district had no obvious symbols of authority. There was no tenshukaku, president's office, or other seat of power, but there was also no supercomputer, server room, or centralized manufacturing equipment. All of that had been made as parallel and distributed as possible to avoid having an obvious "giant core".
But.
What had to be kept all in one place no matter how much they tried to distribute everything?
This northern land's defense system had been expanded to the point that it required as much power as 10 nuclear reactors to run. No matter what system they used, that would make for one hell of a toy.
Sugiyado sensed a stir up ahead.
The roads here were narrow and labyrinthine, but he still hid himself in an alley off to the side. An old wooden board with several long nails sticking out of it was left on the ground nearby, presumably to act like a beartrap.
"..."
The combined electricity/gas/water meter on the wall nearby was displaying a warning color on its small LCD screen.
Something was wrong.
But this was not just an electrical or gas leak.
There were no sirens sounding, but that may have been borrowing the logic of submarines. Everyone in the area had been swiftly and silently notified to not give away their presence. Most likely, every worker and guard in the 5km area had received an emergency email on their mobile devices.
A few roars of engines he guessed belonged to snowmobiles passed by on the road he had just vacated. They had the light but violent roar of a chainsaw.
(That's fine. I figured we would be detected eventually. )
This was effectively a defense weapon development base maintained by the Stonewalls, so they would have a failsafe in place. If an enemy attack was detected, they would have to go through a few steps.
For example:
1. Lock down all the major entrances and exits so no one else could get in or not.
2. Use overwhelming numbers to search out and restrain the intruders.
3. Report any human or material damage or theft and run a search for any bombs or traps that might have been set up.
And they were using as much energy as 10 nuclear reactors, so...
4. Temporarily shut down any dangerous experiments underway behind the thick walls.
No one would want to be killed by their own invention blowing up.
People's actions were a reflection of their heart.
Blindly making waves would never end well, but if you put together a careful plan, knew where to look, and made careful observations, you could learn something from it.
That said, ninja strategies lacked a decisive blow. Ninjas sought two kinds of power: the power to put together a detailed plan and the power to adlib their way through problems.
So they generally played things by ear.
He chose to follow this route to the center since their presence had been noticed, but if their opponent had behaved differently, he would have taken a different route to his goal.
"Now, then."
Once he heard some dogs released nearby, he climbed onto a nearby rooftop and abandoned the surface route.
Nowhere here was safe.
It never was in enemy territory.
The rooftops were also covered in a thick layer of snow. Step in the wrong spot and you would fall to the ground along with a slipping sheet and the snow on top of it. In some areas, the snow melt cables had been intentionally shorted to leave a high-voltage current for someone to unwittingly stumble across. He had to assume the traps were more dangerous in the places ordinary people would never tread.
"..."
When he took a careful look from above, he saw some guards equipped with cross-country skis that could be folded up and stored in the shin of their boots. They gave some instructions to a large dog and then moved elsewhere. They were also equipped with submachineguns that had a grip and a ski pole built in, so they were presumably meant to be fired from the hip while aiming with a laser pointer. All this equipment confirmed his suspicions that these were Stonewall ninjas.
(They may have sealed the place off, but it's a big area. Some footprints in the snow isn't enough to put them on alert. )
Then there was the dog. His back felt funny at 5kg and it exploded with pain at 10kg, so he would be trapped if he was pinned by a dog of that size. He needed to be careful.
They photographed his footprints.
If he wanted to avoid being caught that way, he needed to change the soles of his shoes. Plus, how he carried his weight could be used to identify him. His own legs felt weird with every step he took thanks to the extra sole and insole he was using.
That was a pain, but he looked way from his feet.
There were a surprising number of people around. Some of those were of course pursuing the intruder that had entered the strategic military research institute known as the Teine Workshop District and that had taken out On-Site Commander Taganuma Yukizasa, but there was something else going on as well.
It felt like he was seeing a scattered minority trying to escape while the majority were on the attack.
For example, he saw a teenage girl who did not look like the fighting type and he saw an old lady wearing a workshop jumpsuit. The trick to being a courier was not to be strong and tough. It was to be nondescript enough to never stand out in a crowd. In that sense, they were perfect.
Because they were not acting.
No one acted more naturally than an actual amateur. That was why careless travelers might end up with a strange plastic bag shoved in their travel bag at the airport while they were not paying attention. In the same way, these people may not have been told what it was they were carrying.
"..."
He found that much more interesting, so he spoke into the small mic hidden below his scarf.
"Ouka, Bara. I've marked some runners who look like amateurs to me. Cut off their escape and restrict their available routes. Hoozuki, you provide backup."
"Will do, Sensei."
Ouka sounded excited.
He had only climbed onto the roof to prevent the dog from following his scent and there was no completely safe place here, so he hopped down from the roof at a convenient place and then moved below the eaves. He made sure not to step on any of the makeshift caltrops made with broken bottles while he waited for a surveillance drone to pass by overhead.
"Coordinate DD32. Using ID card in 3, 2, 1..."
As Ouka made her countdown, the drone unnaturally turned back the way it had come. Just as he heard the quiet roar of a snowmobile engine on another street, several bullet-shaped objects flew from one roof to another.
"..."
Word of Yukizasa's defeat would have reached them by now, so what would happen when Ouka used the stolen ID card? But that could be extremely useful when you wanted to put the hornet's nest in a frenzy.
While security was focused in that direction, Sugiyado stealthily pursued the amateur girl and old woman.
(Okay. )
The more intense the defense team, the more the escape team stood out by moving in the opposite direction.
They might as well have been dunked in glow-in-the-dark paint.
They also cautiously (or fearfully) avoided the area where Ouka had used the ID card knowing it would be detected. As amateurs, they were not going to take the long way to check for anyone tailing them and they did not know how to use diversions or distractions.
But even though he could defeat amateurs like this with ease, Sugiyado did not immediately go in for the attack. He observed them from a reasonable distance to figure out where they were headed.
The answer surprised him.
"Asagao, I'd like some analysis. What is this?"
"So you can't forget how sweet my presence is even when we're apart? Grin, grin. Anyway, that's officially designated as a park, but it's effectively an empty lot since they removed all the playground equipment and banned playing there with a ball or whatever because it's too dangerous."
"So it's really nothing? Not what I expected."
The rectangular space was about half the size of a soccer field and covered in more than a meter of white snow.
The escape team had gotten here ahead of him, so where had they gone?
He had retired from active duty, but he still had the skills he had built up.
He was not about to lose sight of an amateur.
The footprints in the snow just stopped all of a sudden and there was no sign of a car or snowmobile having driven through.
They could not have been picked up by helicopter either. He would not have overlooked a hot-air balloon, flying car, or any other vehicle flying through the wide-open sky.
They must have used some other method.
This area had none of the traps made with everyday items...but that did not mean it was unimportant. They might have chosen not to lay any traps here because a normal person stepping on one could end up drawing attention to the place.
He looked down at where the footprints completely vanished.
"Wait, could it be?"
"Sensei?"
He put off answering Ouka's question over the radio.
"Asagao, you must have already checked on the map. I want to know how deep the snow is here."
"Since it's artificial, you can't use the weather maps for that. But if we can trust the laser measurement data, it's 103cm in that area."
"Is it really?" He had no proof of this, so he naturally grew more cautious in his wording."Laser measurements are taken by sending IR down from a satellite, measuring the reflection, and comparing the result to the actual terrain. But that tells you more than just the altitude. You can combine the results to give yourself an accurate 3D diagram, similar to lining up gourd slices."
"What's your point, Sensei?" asked Asagao.
"But that only works when no one messes with the process. If someone sets up shiny mirrors or black carbon pigments that absorb any wavelength, the results will come back wrong. Then what about this place? The entire place is covered with unnatural artificial snow."
"Oh."
"The Stonewalls have been raising the land little by little while changing the reflectivity of the artificial snow so the satellite's laser measurements won't notice. The environmental defense policy lets them keep this snow out here year round, so no one would even notice if the ground below the hardened snow had been lifted, even by more than a meter. Or if the space below had been dug out to create a giant igloo or cave."
"So is that park itself a giant lab?" gasped Bara over the radio.
"B-but wait a second, Sensei, " cut in Ouka."We don't know the scope of their experiment, but aren't they ultimately trying to build a medium that can produce more energy than 10 nuclear reactors? You're only talking about snow and ice. I doubt that could physically shield against an emergency!"
She had a point.
Or she would have if this snow had fallen from the sky and the ice had frozen on a lake.
"They used a special plastic, " he bluntly stated."Something like polystyrene. It's harder than metal and extremely light, so I bet they hid it below the snow."
"You're kidding, right? We're talking about a lab that manages more energy than 10 nuclear reactors. I don't know how much they built up the area using the snow, but you would need dozens of meters of that special plastic to create a physical barrier capable of preventing disaster!"
"What if it could change shape to redirect impacts, just like your ninja outfits do?"
That idea overturned the idea of heavy armor or a solid fortress.
But it was not a crazy idea.
They could do it here.
"They use an emulsion. Water and oil tend not to mix, but with a surfactant, they will appear to behave like a single mixed liquid. That was used to create the polystyrene plastics."
"But doesn't that end once it hardens?" asked Bara."I doubt that would provide the muscle-like flexibility you're talking about."
"It hasn't hardened."
"Then how is it any different from a gooey adhesive?" asked Asagao.
He smiled a little at that.
Preconceptions were hard to shake.
"With an emulsion, Particle A and Particle B might appear to mix together, but they never actually combine and become a different substance. It's more like B slips into the gaps between A. But if you mess with the water molecules filling that space, A and B will behave very differently. Did you forget, Bara? And Asagao too? New Sapporo Domain has the perfect toy for this."
"Oh, " he heard Asagao say over the radio.
He nodded.
"The slow-melting artificial snow, which you can see all around you. That snow has clearly been altered in some way since it doesn't melt at ordinary temperatures. If they combined that with the high-polymer water-absorbing gel used in your ninja outfits, then it's doable. By controlling the water molecules that act as the solidifying core, they can create a new plastic that freely switches between rigid and flexible."
The usual assumptions of construction did not apply here.
What should harden, did not. And what had supposedly hardened would ignore the usual rules by growing soft once more.
Ninja outfits were so thin they had more or less become a part of the wearer's skin, yet they could hold back the force of a bullet. In the same way, a decently thick layer of this plastic could be placed over the lab to eliminate the risks presented by an accident.
Because...
"..."
A heavy rumbling reached him.
He slowly turned around to see a gray giant had partially crushed the roof of a small workshop across the road.
They already had it working at a military level.
This cutting-edge fighter was made by strengthening a slender girl's body, with a focus on the arms and legs, and simply giving her thicker armor. A smooth mass of fine-tuned plastic stood over three meters tall.
It produced a sound like a pressure cooker or locomotive, so it may have used steam power.
Destroying the building's roof seemed to have set off a few traps using tripwires or electrodes. Explosions and sparks from high-voltage lines scattered around, but the giant did not seem to care. Nor had she taken any noticeable damage.
The smooth surface gave off an unnatural rainbow light similar to a soap bubble or the surface of a movie disk. The unique structure was probably refracting the light. From the look of that, simple explosions would be useless and even a warship's laser beam would only melt the surface a little while most of its power was deflected away.
This next-gen powered suit determined the behavior of an emulsion by messing with the core of water molecules that decided how hard the special plastic would be. Part of that likely used the same high-polymer water-absorbing gel found in the kunoichis' ninja outfits.
If so, it could do more than just protect against bullets and explosions in combat. By adjusting its flexibility on command, it could also boost the wearer's physical abilities.
Something was staring at Sugiyado from the center of the gray.
"Found you."
It was Taganuma Yukizasa.
That youngest of the Stonewall elites used the humiliation burning inside her to get her murderous internal combustion engine running.
He had saved her life.
He had let her live when he could have killed her.
But she apparently had too much pride to view it that way.
Instead, his failure to finish her off only inspired more anger and humiliation over her defeat. The young kunoichi bit her lip and then gave a roar as if releasing all of the emotions built up inside her.
"I've found the intruder!!"
6: The Stonewalls in their Element
Now that their eyes had met, there was no peaceful route out of this. Mutual understanding was generally presented as a beautiful thing, but not so in the ninja world. Understanding was meant to be a one-way thing. You never sat at the same table and any location containing two ninjas of different affiliations was known as a battlefield.
But before they got started, Sugiyado made sure to say one thing using the small mic on the inside of his scarf. While making sure the scarf would keep her from reading his lips.
"Change of plans. Ouka, you infiltrate the depths of the park. You can find the entrance and do that, can't you? Hoozuki, you support her. I've already been spotted by Yukizasa, so I'll draw her away along with as many other enemy troops as I can. That should give you more room to work, but make sure you don't get caught while I draw them away."
"Sensei, what should I do?" asked Bara.
"I hate to ask this, but could you support me? But you haven't been spotted yet, so use your hair coilguns. Load your heavy Tatami Needles and focus on sniping from a safe distance while staying on the move. You're the best one for that job."
"Yes! A personal request for a one-on-one secret date!! Joint work with Sensei☆"
"Tch. That sounds way more fun, " complained Ouka.
He heard the heavy sound of someone jumping. Heavily-equipped Yukizasa had jumped toward him, crushing a small workshop's roof in the process. She was not just landing near him. She intended to crush him with her weight. If that was a mass of pure plastic, it would weigh 500kg, making it about the same as a light car. And if it was also bulletproof and blast-resistant, then it would probably weigh even more.
"!?"
He reflexively drew two air-pressure kunais from the bottom of his short-sleeve dress shirt, but that was not going to accomplish much. Even if he killed Yukizasa at the core, the plastic armor would still crush him. The moment she landed was his biggest opportunity, but he could only use that to roll out of the way. After that, he left the park and ran into the labyrinthine streets.
She did not seem bothered by this.
She must not have expected to actually kill him with the first move. She showed no real surprise and pursued him like nothing had changed. She approached with the intensity of construction machinery. She tripped more and more of their own wires and IR beams, stepped on lawnmower beartraps and glass shard caltrops, and triggered all sorts of explosions.
If she caught up to him, he was done for. He could not escape a rush from those massive fists.
Taganuma Yukizasa was an expert at fighting in closed and dark places.
That stance remained unchanged. If he was not confident in his ability to emerge victorious after grappling with those wrecking ball arms, he had to avoid engaging her in high-speed infighting.
Besides, defeating her was not his goal.
His goal was to investigate what was hidden in the Teine Workshop District and destroy it if necessary.
This battle was unnecessary and he would gain nothing by insisting on victory at the cost of his own life.
"But she isn't going to let me go either."
"Why the hell would I? I don't know who you are, but you're telling me everything. While I smash your body beyond recognition, one piece at a time!!"
Her killer intent hit him like a physical blow.
Blatant threats had a way of making people flinch, but that did not work against trained ninjas.
Her giant gray powered suit was made from a miraculous plastic created by messing with water molecules. It had an average range of between two and three meters. Sugiyado had to continually fall back to stay out of that range, but no matter how persistently she moved that giant body toward him, she could not reach him. Given the size of the suit, she should have been able to just reach out and grab him at this range.
"Shh!!"
He threw a Fierce Fang air pressure kunai from close enough range that it was more like stabbing with a spear than launching a projectile. The instant nitrogen foam contained in the grip converted it into a tool that harnessed a maximum of 15 tons of force to pry open even a tank's hatch if the tip was stabbed into the crack. However...
"That ain't gonna work!" she roared.
Her powerful arm flew through the air and caught a nearby wall along the way. The storm of rubble altered the air pressure kunai's path.
Just then, he heard a dull thud and the 3m giant tilted to the side. It was a lot like a bat had been swung into the side of her head, but yet again...
"Wow, that thing's solid!!"
(Not even Bara's Tatami Needle can get through? But that's a depleted uranium alloy!!)
A second and third shot hit Yukizasa, but they were equally ineffective.
The impacts themselves were reaching the girl.
But that suit was made from a special transformable plastic, so she may have prepared bags of resupply pellets and hidden them in the snow around here. It was no problem for her if the suit took damage.
(Which means...)
Retrieving every trace of his projectiles would have to come later. He memorized the amount and location and then fell back. His goal was to draw the enemy away and create an opening for Ouka or Hoozuki to safely and successfully sneak into the secret base, but that would all fall apart if he was taken out here. He had ordered them to infiltrate that place, so he had to assist in their escape as well.
"What the hell!? What school are you from? Tell me, cause this isn't making any damn sense. I'm getting answers here even if I have to crush your bones and squash your flesh until you're nothing but goop inside!!"
Yukizasa shouted angrily and violently swung her artificially long arms. That kind of yelling was not very ninja-like, but it may have been an intentional switch she threw. Anger kept people from thinking logically, but that made their actions harder to predict.
Close-quarters combat required reading your opponent with lighting speed. If you wanted to be aware of the danger you faced while also spicing things up a bit, powerful emotions could do the trick. Of course, that was a high-risk, high-return doubled-edged sword. It relied on offense being the greatest defense. The idea was to take some hits in order to defeat your opponent before they could defeat you.
"Not bad for someone so tiny."
"Shut the hell up!"
Just as her anger burned even hotter, he heard the chainsaw-like rumbling of a light engine. It was leaving the large park(?) and returning to the labyrinthine workshop district, but it came from overhead.
It was a snowmobile.
Several of the vehicle were leaping from one snow-covered rooftop to another and they were unsurprisingly driven by the Stonewalls who protected this disguised strategic military research institute (and who Princess Karin had turned into her own private force).
"This is our backyard."
The snowmobiles generally carried two.
One was driving and the other was wielding a firearm.
"Don't assume you can escape after messing with us. Time is on our side. We just have to call in more and more reinforcements to cut off every avenue of escape. Just like tearing off a bugs legs one by one!!"
The snowmobiles crisscrossed overhead like they were knitting wool, but after instantly noting their equipment and locations, Sugiyado grinned boldly.
"Bara, load a Tatami Needle and attack the snowmobile carrying an anti-tank rocket."
With a thud, one of the land vehicles rotated unnaturally as it soared through the air between rooftops. The gunner in the rear seat had been trying to fire an explosive on fleeing Sugiyado to damage him even if the shot was not perfect, but the extra rotation caused their aim to veer way off.
"Yes, Sensei, " said Bara's cheerful voice in his earpiece."You really know how to ask a girl for a favor☆"
The anti-tank rocket's aim shifted from Sugiyado Souha to Taganuma Yukizasa as she pursued him.
"You dumb-!?"
The small kunoichi's protest was cut off by the rocket hitting and detonating.
Rockets were general-use weapons, but they had originally been designed to break through a tank's armor. Not even that gray powered suit would escape this unscathed.
Sugiyado was close enough to be blown backwards by the blast, but Yukizasa had taken the brunt of it.
This was an away game for him, but that was not reason to be shy. He had to think of it as a chance to fight in a way he could not on his home field.
If he was short on firepower, he only had to borrow some from his opponent. Ninjas usually traveled light and tended not to have much firepower, so using the confusion of the battlefield to cause friendly fire among the enemy was a standard method.
The gray powered suit fell onto its back while armor shards scattered everywhere.
It triggered a few of their own traps as it fell, so some smaller explosions followed.
"Go to...hell!"
But.
It ended about how Sugiyado had expected it to.
The breaking of the armor must have kept the destructive force from reaching the human body within because the young kunoichi got up from the snow while still wielding that giant body even as it fell apart.
This was not over.
She could still move.
"Go to hell, you intruderrrrrrs!!"
She really did seem to have supply materials hidden in the snow because the holes in the thick gray armor were filled back in as if the nearby snow and ice itself were being absorbed.
Sugiyado stayed calm and swung his right hand.
He threw a Fierce Fang, lodging the weapon inside the special plastic as it repaired itself.
It landed in the very center of her flat chest.
"Uh!?"
"Be warned: that isn't a normal kunai."
He would have a hard time retrieving that projectile once it was absorbed within that strange plastic device, but the air pressure kunai was a ninja tool he had developed on his own after retiring and he had never registered it with the Shogunate. Unlike active duty ninjas like Ouka or Bara, they could not reveal his identity by searching the weapon in a database. He had managed to keep that tool hidden during his unofficial trial after the previous incident.
"I'm sure your ninja outfit inside that thing is bulletproof and blast-resistant, but can it rival a tank's armor? If not, I would recommend not testing it. Once it bursts, your broken ribs will shred your lungs."
"..."
He heard the sounds of several people kicking off the snow.
He was now surrounded by ski troops and snowmobiles on the rooftops. The gunners in the back seats were aiming submachineguns or semi-auto sniper rifles his way, but he did not seem to mind.
"I don't care either way."
He twirled another Fierce Fang in his hand.
It looked like he was holding a serious negotiation, but that was an illusion. He was buying time. So he wanted to force as humiliating a choice as possible onto the kunoichi and while she was in front of so many of her subordinates. That way he could keep her from making the choice right away.
"Will you give up and let me through, or will you recklessly challenge me and lose your life? I will be walking through here either way. The question is how alive you will be when I do so. The choice is yours."
"Sensei, I'm in."
Ouka's voice reached him over his earpiece, so he made an estimate of how much more time he would have to buy. She was inside, so that just left searching the interior of the facility and then escaping. Just like in a video game, these things were most difficult the first time through. Everything went much faster during a replay when you already knew where to go.
Yukizasa bit her lip in front of him.
But she was unable to repair her gray armor any further.
She glanced up at her subordinates on the roofs.
She shut her eyes, sighed, and finally made up her mind. Would she live or die? There was only one possible choice.
"Okay, I'll-"
"You will do nothing of the sort. No Stonewall would make that choice."
A carefree voice cut her off from overhead.
It came from even higher up than the ski troops and snowmobiles on the trap-covered rooftops.
(Oh, no!)
"Yukizasa!!"
Sugiyado Souha shouted a warning, but the girl herself was only staring up in puzzlement.
Then, with a blast of explosives, a hail of metal skewers rained down from directly above. The projectiles were so numerous they covered an entire area like a falling spiked ceiling, leaving the target nowhere to run.
There was no scream.
Only the high-pitched shattering of the thick plastic armor.
The young ninja lay collapsed on the white snow.
That had come from a large axe made from bundles of small wires. The blade was covered with tightly-packed bundles of metal like a toothbrush, so when they were detonated from within, they would transform into countless sharp projectiles.
This was one of the Stonewall elites.
Which of those kunoichis had specialized in the use of explosives from a medicinal and chemical perspective, with a specialty in mine blasting?
"Horisato Oume!?"
(But our intel said they guarded Teine one at a time on a rotation!?)
Sugiyado analyzed the situation as calmly as he could manage while Oume easily landed on the snowy road.
Did they randomize even their security system itself?
That sounded simple enough, but thoughtlessly attempting that would only create confusion among their ranks from communication failures and the like. In the worst case, the unnecessary hierarchy of information would breed distrust among their own people. If they were doing that, they must have solid enough control over their communications to eliminate those risks. That would take considerable skill.
Oume's long black hair was tied at the end and a sweet scent came from skin so white it seemed to be born of this snowy land.
The boy narrowed his eyes a little.
She was an explosives and blasting specialist. He could not keep the same distance he had from Yukizasa who specialized in extreme close range. Her fighting style would be entirely different.
She gave off a definite sex appeal even through her loose-fitting shrine maiden outfit. The way it was close to slipping off of her altogether suggested she was a travelling shrine maiden who journeyed across the land - as opposed to one who served a particular shrine - and who had lost her faith and ended up making a living through sex work. Of course, that was all camouflage meant to hide her identity as a kunoichi. Also, those corrupted shrine maidens had not worked in the well-maintained red light districts and brothels of the big cities. They had worked in the rural areas without such facilities - such as at a mine where many brawny men labored.
Horisato Oume.
She must have had belts wrapped around her body because, when she held her own body tight, glass cylinders emerged from the slits all over her shrine maiden outfit. How large an explosion could she cause with one of those containers no larger than a relay baton?
"We are all here for the hunt. I do wish Princess Karin would wait further inside where she is better protected, but that is a lost cause since you could say she was born for the battlefield."
"..."
It would be wrong to blame Ouka or Asagao for the faulty intel. Information warfare was standard for ninjas. When everyone was working to deceive and infiltrate each other in lieu of trading physical blows, you were never going to escape entirely unscathed.
Perhaps Sugiyado should have realized the truth himself when he saw the heavy firepower the snowmobilers and skiers were using. People who worked in the mountains did need to know how to fire a gun to protect themselves from wild animals. They had to know how to shoot and how to avoid mistaking a person for an animal. These were the faithful subordinates trained by Oume, the explosives specialist, not of Yukizasa who specialized in closed and dark spaces.
"Sen...sei."
"Ouka? Hoozuki?"
"I found it. I actually found it, " said Ouka."I've arrived in the lab that hides their new power source deep underground, but is this...is this really what we were pursuing here?"
"We can talk later, Ouka!" said Hoozuki."They're coming! Is that Amamo who specializes in terrain effects!? Dammit, it really is like seeing a dragon hidden in the earth!!"
An unnatural tremor shook the ground below his feet and the snow fell from the rooftops.
It sounded like he was no the only one who had run into unexpected trouble.
"Asagao, this hasn't gone as planned. I can handle myself, so you support those two's escape."
"Ksh, kssshhh!!"
"Her too!? Goddammit!"
He could not tell if Asagao was being jammed or if she had been physically attacked, but something was happening to her when she was supposedly outside the battlefield. Princess Karin's Stonewalls had a longer reach than he had expected. His group had thought they were sneaking in relatively undetected, but the tables had been turned in no time. He could not let this continue. If he just let time pass, he would only be allowing true tragedy to strike.
"What do we do, Sensei!?"
(So Bara's fine. )
She could directly fight using her Serpent Monster hair coilguns or she could ensnare people with her sex appeal and disguises. Having her meant a lot.
There was no such thing as safety or a sure thing on a ninja battlefield. Every step of the way, you had to tap the stone bridge ahead of you to see if it remained solid. So when things did not go according to plan, you had to use your best guesses based on experience. He had to work out where the greatest risk lay and who he could save to set off a chain reaction that would ultimately get them back on their feet.
He could only make one move.
Everyone's future would be determined by where he chose to move Bara who would be a rook or bishop in shogi terms. If he chose poorly, he could have his piece taken, leading to their utter defeat.
"..."
He had to choose now.
And Sugiyado Souha gave a clear order in front of the enemy.
"Bara, go into hiding. Don't touch anyone."
The silent head tilt came from sexy Oume with her shrine maiden outfit nearly falling off of her.
"My, my, my."
She had thoroughly trained herself to speak in a way that intentionally got under the skin of anyone listening, making them lose their cool. Wielding a blade was not the only way to fight. Even the way she swayed her body like she was waiting for a customer on the side of the snowy road was a part of her "attack".
That was enough to tell him she was a master of direct combat and sex appeal. She was similar to Bara in that way, but still different. While Bara took control with the sweet candy, Oume took control with the lash of the whip.
"Holding someone back now? True, thoughtlessly placing a hidden piece on the board only to have it immediately taken would be the height of folly, but are you really in any position to hold back? We already have you all in checkmate. You do understand that, don't you? I refuse to believe you don't."
He was surrounded by ominous metallic sounds. The guards (who were actually ninja subordinates well-trained by Oume) had stepped down from their snowmobiles and aimed their assault rifles, submachineguns, semi-auto sniper rifles, and even shoulder-fired rocket launchers. Guns were equally deadly no matter how much or little ninja training given to the person pulling the trigger.
"What option do you have but to place your sacrificial pawn on the board and make a run for it?" Oume smiled seductively."It is either that or be turned to Swiss cheese."
"That's what you want me to do." Sugiyado did not hide his vicious smile."You detected our actions and moved in ahead of us. I'm not ashamed of falling for a trap if it took all of the Stonewall elites, including Princess Karin herself....But even after all that, you missed one. You needed to get rid of us all, but you failed. So you're trying really hard to make up for that, but it won't change a thing. Our shark has dived below the waves. And you can't rest easy as long as even one of us is still free."
"..."
Don't let her rattle you.
Ouka and Hoozuki had only encountered a powerful foe. The battle was not over yet. Amamo's skill was an unknown, but it was two-against-one.
He had lost contact with Asagao, but that did not mean she had been physically eliminated. It would be easy to set this up by jamming all of the radio frequencies they were using.
And Bara remained entirely outside the Stonewalls' field of view.
This attack had left a major impact, but that was no reason to act rashly. He could not let Oume lead him astray when they were not losing yet.
The ones actually sweating bullets here were the Stonewalls after their attack with all four of them had failed to achieve the desired results.
"And you can't shut down the entire fishing grounds, so you're stuck. You were trying to rattle us with lies, but maybe you should have waited a while longer before purging Yukizasa."
"My people will use their bullets to shred your body starting from the hands and feet and working inwards. Then it won't be long before your companion disobeys your orders and comes running. Once we have drawn out your last hidden fighter, our checkmate will be complete."
"I'd rather you didn't do that." Sugiyado slowly spun the air pressure kunai in his hand."And what makes you think my plan was to run away?"
He threw something down at his feet and white powder spread out across the entire area.
"Wha-!?"
Oume's eyes widened, but it was already too late.
Snow covered everything here and that Fierce Fang was a special ninja tool that could create 15 tons of force using an instant nitrogen foam more powerful than an airbag. By removing the foam cartridge and throwing it against the ground, he could block their view with snow.
All it did was blind them.
It was an alternate form of the dramatic smokescreen.
But...
(If they can't see, they can't fire their guns no matter how much I'm surrounded. Those subordinates will be too afraid of accidentally hitting their commander to do anything. )
Even the classics had their uses.
Sometimes a threat not found in the good, old days became an oddly perfect match. This workshop district was covered in countless traps made with everyday items, but he had discovered that there were almost none on the main roads. Otherwise the ordinary people passing through would get hit.
And Sugiyado Souha had hinted to Oume that he did not plan to run away.
"Shh!!"
"!?"
He took off running.
This was the exact opposite of when he was fighting Taganuma Yukizasa earlier. The safest place in this case was right up in front of the sexy traveling shrine maiden. That would prevent the guards from firing on him for fear of hitting their commander and it would prevent Oume from using her own explosives and blasting. No one would want to be blown away by their own bomb.
However.
He also could not hope for any support from the long-distance coilguns.
This was entirely reliant on his own skill now.
It was one-on-one.
He tore through the thick curtain of pure white to approach Horisato Oume. He of course held an air pressure kunai in each hand.
"Really!?"
Oume jumped back a few steps and swung a few glass cylinders the size of relay batons. But not to ignite them.
Explosives were a type of chemical.
By mixing several of them together in the right quantities, they could become a chemical with an entirely different effect.
For example, a poison gas that had already begun destroying the red blood cells flowing through your blood vessels by the time you sensed its sweet scent.
However.
Once again...
"It...didn't work!?"
Instead of using another air pressure kunai, he swung around his long scarf. The clothing swelled out with air and captured the floating white snow.
The snowflakes mixed with the air caught the makeshift poison gas and dropped it to the ground.
Sexy Oume's eyes widened.
"Was that a variation on the Rain Puddle!?"
"A poison spray made from toxic plants or jellyfish tentacles won't work on a rainy or humid day."
Once he had neutralized her thick poison gas barrier, the rest was easy. He detonated another instant nitrogen foam cartridge at his feet, slid badly-injured Yukizasa to the right side of the road, and continued toward his real enemy. He arrived dangerously close for someone who specialized in explosives and firearms.
He held an air pressure kunai in each hand and their tips rushed in toward Horisato Oume of the Stonewalls!!
"Tch!!"
Oume must not have had any other choice at this point. she beat at the air with her baggy sleeves to spread them out and twirled her entire body around.
The movement was as beautiful and light as a dance dedicated to a god.
But.
The air pressure kunais' tips were pushed back with a sound much too violent and distorted for such a dance. Her circular motion carried the weight and edge of a guillotine. From his perspective, her shrine maiden sleeve had hardened as it grew gray and petrified. It transformed into a dull blade much like a rusty axe blade.
(Stone dust!?)
That was originally a fire extinguishing powder sprinkled around in a mine to stop a dust explosion chain reaction. Oume readily used explosives in closed spaces and indoors, so it made sense for her to carry some around for protection. And Sugiyado had heard it could harden and lose all effectiveness if it absorbed the moisture from the air.
This was not its intended use.
She had been caught in a bind when his snow smokescreen kept her subordinates from using their guns and then neutralized her poison gas with his Rain Puddle ninja technique. But she had instantly turned the tables on him with this new idea. She had the flexible thoughts and the powerful drive to take advantage of any accidents and of her enemy's attacks. That girl in a shrine maiden outfit really was skilled.
"!!"
It was now Sugiyado's turn to move himself out of the way.
Her large sleeves spun around with a circular motion based on the movement of her arms and torso. He responded like he was being attacked by metal balls attached to short chains. A single hit here would easily shatter human bone.
(That isn't her only weapon. Just like a bayonet, the point is to hold back any enemies that get too close. If I keep my distance, she'll start using the artillery and explosives she specializes in!!)
If he could stab in just the tip of his Fierce Fang, the door-opening power would force the crack open. Its 15 tons of force was enough to pry open a tank's hatch.
But he could not use that force without first stabbing the weapon into the target.
(In that case. )
He struck with his right kunai.
He doubted his first strike would kill. He expected her petrified sleeve to deflect it, so he used that momentum to twirl around. He built up speed as if for a roundhouse kick and made a horizontal strike with his left kunai.
"It's no use!!"
She was using an improvised weapon and she seemed to be only barely holding him back, but he was not trying to increase the kunai's piercing power.
He struck at the air.
Several snowflakes reached the left kunai's surface and the frictional heat melted them.
He made sure they were refreezing when he clashed with Oume.
What would happen then?
He did not need to stab the Fierce Fang into her.
Not if he used the ice like glue to attach the kunai to hit.
"Ah!?" she groaned.
His air pressure kunai sprang open and shattered Oume's petrified sleeve from within. He did not give her time to create an additional blade. She was leaning back with her large chest jiggling, so before she could straighten back up and recover, he flipped his right kunai around and slammed the butt of the grip against her temple.
There was no obvious scream.
The traveling shrine maiden collapsed to the snow with her limbs irregular convulsing. She did not appear conscious, but it would be best to tie her up.
That was Yukizasa and Oume.
Two of the central Stonewalls had been taken out, but this was not over yet.
The snow smokescreen was a temporary thing. The armed Stonewall subordinates were still surrounding him on cross-country skis and snowmobiles.
He had to take his next action before that white cover vanished.
(Now, then. )
"Ouka, Hoozuki. I've cleaned things up here. Two defeated, no damage. If you've found anything, take it back with you. I'll keep the guards as busy as I can to create more of an opening, so as long as you're careful which direction you escape in-"
"Pant, pant."
"Hoozuki?"
"I'm sorry, Sensei."
"I need an actual report, Hoozuki. What happened!?"
He had to consciously suppress the unease rapidly filling him.
However.
"Oh? You should really be praising her for getting away at all, insolent fool."
That was not Hoozuki's voice.
And it came on a different channel. The transmission was not from her radio.
This was from the small radio Ouka had been using.
(Is there anything I can do right now!?)
This turn for the worse meant he could not allow things to get even worse or to fall any further behind. At 5kg, his back felt funny. At 10kg, it exploded with pain. He could not even drag Yukizasa or Oume into an alley. He instead dumped snow over them to hide them from view and then hid himself in the trap-filled alley. That was easier said than done since it required slipping past the 20-30 people surrounding him. If they noticed anything off at all, they would immediately fire on him, but his heartrate remained calm.
"Is that Princess Karin?"
The wind blew through.
The white snow was swept from the air, bringing danger back to the road.
Sugiyado observed things from the back alley while listening to the villain over the radio.
"It was Amamo who took her out, but I am willing to accept the honor myself as the Stonewall leader."
"..."
One of his beloved students had fallen into enemy hands.
He could not change what had already happened, but he checked over what options he had available to him and considered how to best use those options. He had no time. Burning anger welled up from the pit of his stomach, but his thoughts also raced with tremendous speed.
"I have Yukizasa and Oume."
"You have two replaceable pawns."
"Yeah, I'd say the same thing in your position. You could comb this area and never find your precious companions. They've been taken from you, so you have no choice but to change your focus and say that. If you admit how much those captured girls mean to you, who knows what kind of brutal torture you'd find in the video footage sent to you. So you can never reveal how you really feel. Especially when it comes to hostages."
"Insolent fool."
"Only a special few can be trusted to truly watch your back, right? I understand that all too well. We're in the same situation here, but the numbers are different. I have two. I can play the 'kill one' card and still have one left over, so torture and execution are both on the table for me."
He could not physically reach her, but he still had to take the initiative.
He would use threats, persuasion, conflict, compromise, confusion, sudden outbursts, and anything else that might help. He would use every lie and truth he could to bind Princess Karin who was out of his reach. Because allowing her to move a single fingertip just one millimeter would permanently scar Ouka.
They could call him a demon if they liked.
The time had come to let his soul burn.
"..."
His surroundings were growing noisy.
Snow ninjas on skis and snowmobiles were rushing around.
From their perspective, Sugiyado, Oume, and Yukizasa had entirely disappeared from their encirclement, so of course they were as frenzied as a hornet's nest.
But this created an opportunity for the boy who had buried the two kunoichis in the snow on the street. He would wait where he was until he had a chance to dig them up. Ideally, he would get that done before they released the dogs.
He whispered into his radio without revealing any of that.
"Let's hold a hostage exchange."
"Why would I want to do that? I need to know who you people are, so my first job is to squeeze as much information out of this kunoichi as I can get."
"If you aren't going to take this seriously, then I will play my most effective card right away. Let's see if you change your tune after you find one of these girls dead on the side of the road. Would you prefer it be Yukizasa or Oume?"
"Do not forget that this girl is still effective as a hostage even if I cannot kill her. She might be a kunoichi, but she has her limits. I have been trained as a Stonewall, so I am aware what line I must cross to have her beg for death instead."
Sugiyado clenched his teeth hard enough to make a noise, but he knew he could not let her know.
"Don't destroy that radio, " he said."I'll contact you with further instructions later."
"And you treat your two guests with care. Those cards you hold are quite literally your last hope."
She ended the transmission first.
It was a small thing, but he clicked his tongue while hiding in the alley. He had successfully restricted her actions, but she had left the greater impression in the very end. The way she talked hinted at the merciless violence that women could exact on each other. He wondered if he should have similarly hinted at some of the scummy things that men could do to women.
At any rate...
"Bara, come to me. I hate leaving the heavy lifting to you, but I need you to dig up the two hostages and carry them. There are no soldiers around anymore, but get it done before their dogs can sniff us out. I'll take the lead and clear the way."
"Understood."
"Hoozuki, you support her once you catch up. Don't bother attacking. Collect my dropped kunais and Bara's Tatami Needles at the locations we provide you."
"Sensei, I'm sorry. This is all my fault."
She had no reason to apologize like this.
She and Ouka were both Elite Ninjas of the Shogunate, so if they had worked together and still been defeated, it was not because they had done anything wrong. And unlike Bara, who used her coilguns to give her a way to fight outside of disguises and chemicals, Ouka specialized in direct combat. Amamo the terrain effect specialist was just absurdly powerful. As the commander of this mission, Sugiyado could only conclude he had erred in their distribution of forces.
This was his responsibility, so he would make it right.
(I just have to deal with one thing at a time. )
Step one was leaving the Teine Workshop District now that they were done here.
Based on what Princess Karin had said, only Ouka had fallen into her hands, but he still wanted to regroup with Asagao and confirm she was all right.
Then he could have Hoozuki share whatever she had discovered about the new energy source in the lab.
And...
(I need to influence Princess Karin using Yukizasa and Oume so I can get Ouka back unharmed. )
He could guess that Princess Karin was thinking the exact same thing. They essentially had a blade pressed against each other's throat. In a way, they would understand each other even better than some friends.
He covered his mouth with his scarf and silently gathered his resolve.
(I will get her back unharmed. No matter what it takes. )
Eventually, a single ski soldier returned after searching the surrounding area and peered into the gap between the two buildings.
But he did not notice anything amiss.
Because there were no longer any footprints remaining.
| ← Ch. 13 | Ch. 15 → |