Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume1 Chapter5 (section)

===1: A Flower Garden in the Depths of Hell===

Perhaps it was fortunate that PCB9 was a poison gas and not a biological weapon that could self-replicate from a small leak, expanding the infected area indefinitely.

Sugiyado wiped up his blood and retrieved his kunais. The gas could escape when he opened the door, so he would have to go to the effort of setting up a dual-layer barrier with plastic tarps, but it was not enough to trap him in this room.

After retrieving the empty container that had holes in its side, he ground to a halt like jammed gears.

“Kh.”

(With my clothes, my gear, and the empty gas container, I’m just past my first limit. It’s probably about 6.5kg.)

At 5kg, his back felt weird. At 10kg, it exploded with pain. He could not forget that passing the next limit would mean dropping his weapons and writhing in pain regardless of his surroundings.

(But I’m not there yet!)

“H-hey,” said the former gasmask ninja with a stiff smile. “What am I supposed to do?”

“If you don’t want to throw away the life I saved, then bind your arms and legs with these zip ties and stuff yourself in a coin locker. You should fit in the large lockers for suitcases if you fold up your limbs.”

“Are you insa-…um, I mean, I’ll see what I can do. Y-you’d better come get me soon, okay?”

After giving Sugiyado a look, the boy completed the necessary work, so Sugiyado locked the locker, removed the key, and placed a hand on his earphone with blood soaking the back of his short-sleeved dress shirt.

“John, no more need for radio silence from me. Can you hear this?”

“Took you long enough! So how’d it go!? There was apparently an explosion and the customers are flooding out!!”

“I stopped the central heating itself, but the room was contaminated. The seal is holding, but this is still a battlefield. Something could break the airtight seal at any time. John, do what you can to keep people away from this area. I’m counting on you!!”

“Any other requests?”

“I set up a cleaning sign in front of the door, but an overzealous employee still might take a peek inside. The Kingdom has some people on this island, right? Can you get any of them to secretly decontaminate the place? They’ll have to get there fast to beat the brave police or firefighters there.”

“I know you wouldn’t ask a favor of me unless you really needed it, so don’t worry about a thing. I’ll get it done.”

“I also secured the empty container wrapped in plastic. I doubt it will matter, but it’s still evidence. The Shogunate is behind this, so handing it over to them would only get it destroyed. I’ll hand it over to you along with the culprit I captured, okay?”

“Fine, but you’re talking about someone who attempted mass murder against their own people. You’re handing us one hell of a good diplomatic bargaining chip. It’s like a joker you can use over and over.”

“Anything’s fine with me as long as we can take out the idiot at the very top who approved this. Do whatever it takes to apply pressure on that bureaucratic advisor. And keep it up until it seems better to abandon that explosive official than to cover this up for them.”

“I see. But there’s more to this than simple harassment, isn’t there?”

“This will never end unless it’s stopped at the source, but I’m only one person. I can’t reach the true source myself. …But if they fall from power and are booted from the national system, I can pay them a visit in the wild darkness.”

“Heh. Ha ha. Doesn’t that count as inciting a foreign threat? So even if you take the head of your direct superior, you can still find a way around it, huh? You really are a ninja!”

“We’re not like knights. And don’t forget to check over the scene before decontaminating it. …I’ll be going now. I need to get to the heart of this issue soon.”

“So you’re joining that youthful catfight, huh? Reminds me of my teenage years.”

“I’m hanging up.”

Unfortunately, the battle was not yet over. His students and the twins had continued their deadly battle while he was stopping the spread of the poison gas and he could not allow any of them to receive a fatal wound. And with the other customers and the employees evacuating after the explosion, those girls no longer had to worry about having any eyes on them. Things were bound to be bad there.

He silently descended the stairs to reach the B3 plaza where the deal was to have taken place.

That large space could be used for public events. It looked large enough for a basketball game. The ceiling was tall and supported by evenly-spaced rectangular pillars. A bronze statue of a naked woman stood near the center, but the statue and its pedestal must have been movable to clear room for events.

And now.

That entire space had devolved into chaos.

Explosive flames and a flurry of steel poured down. This was now a battlefield too intense to seem real.