Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter3 (section)

===2: Destruction===

The disconcerting straining noise sounded just like a large bundle of hair being twisted and pulled taut.

It came from synthetic construction rope colored yellow and black.

“Kh,” groaned Kuhou Ouka, the girl with her long chestnut hair in twintails, as she awoke.

The solid thunk behind her came from the collapse of the tripod that had been supporting her hips from behind. Her arms were pulled over her head, her wrists were tied together, and they were dangling from the ceiling. If she was being suspended off the floor, her wrists would have been congested too badly to move or her shoulders would have dislocated, but she was kept just low enough that she could rest on her toes if she stretched down. Keeping her in that in between state was meant to slowly wear down all her body’s muscles over the course of hours.

(Can I slip the rope? No.)

There were a few stage magic tricks to that end, but they generally required some setup before being tied up. She was helpless since she had been bound by an expert while she was unconscious.

Also, a shiver ran down her skinny back.

She did not have any sort of equipment. Her stacked-barrel hunting gun called Midnight Tempest and the rest of her ninja tools had been confiscated, but she also felt no response from the strength boost her ninja outfit was supposed to provide using its electric potential elasticity and high-polymer water-absorbing gel. That was equipped with several batteries smaller than a stick of gum, but they must have all been removed.

She had not been stripped bare while unconscious, but not as a kindness to her.

That was a defensive measure to prevent the Stonewalls from feeling unnecessary guilt while she was imprisoned here.

When one side had an advantage over the other, the psychological effects were not a one-way deal. Sometimes, the imprisoners would be influenced by a pressure of their own creation. Ouka had her direct strength, but kunoichis were also taught to make a weapon of their weaknesses like that. Of course the enemy was being cautious.

She could not escape right away, so she had to alter her focus.

“…”

Unable to protect herself, she observed her surroundings while standing on her toes.

(Where am I? The enemy base? If I can find any intel I can get back to Sensei and the others, then my capture won’t be entirely meaningless.)

She was in a small square room measuring 10m on each side. The walls, floor, and ceiling were made of thick steel and, when she twisted her hips to look behind her, she saw a large door of the same material. Ducts and pipes ran along the ceiling. She was dangling down from one of those pipes and she could sense a faint vibration through the rope when she focused her senses.

(Is it a steampipe?)

The room had no windows and the fluorescent lights on the ceiling had been removed. The only light came from the large lamp in one corner. Instead of a desk lamp, this was a floor lamp standing taller than she was. Ones like that would normally be used in studios and nighttime construction sites.

(This reminds me of a current or former construction site.)

She could only guess without seeing things outside. It was even possible this was a photography studio in a skyscraper decorated to look like a construction site.

That said, it was unusual to hear absolutely nothing through the walls when she remained entirely silent. Absolute soundproofing was hard to set up and not many people could do it. That had to be a clue to where this was.

Just then, the metal door behind her opened without so much as a knock.

“Hello, miss. How are you feeling?”

She twisted around to look back at the door and focused on the view through the door before on the person who had stepped in.

However…

“There’s another door behind this one. We’re not letting you see outside this room.”

“…”

The woman of around 20 who circled in front of Ouka had long black hair swaying at her sides and dragged a gorgeous junihitoe behind her.

She was Princess Karin.

Her skin was flushed a faint pink and her black hair was glossy and shiny even while dry. A faint herbal aroma hung over her.

(Was she bathing or receiving beauty care? I guess it isn’t unusual these days to use the heat of a garbage incinerator for a spa.)

She made some guesses, but she had no way of getting any of this to Sugiyado and the others. It was frustrating.

Meanwhile, the situation was underway.

Princess Karin leaned in close to peer into the eyes of the kunoichi standing on her toes with her bound hands dangling from a rope. She was looking up from right in front of Ouka’s growing chest. That was intentional. She was trying apply pressure through the violation of personal space, just like how oppressive it felt on a packed train.

“We checked over your equipment.”

“Oh? Way to ruin the wonderful hospitality you were offering me here.”

“Act tough if you like, but we checked over all of it. Including in here.”

Princess Karin’s slender finger ran down Ouka from her flat chest and past her navel, rubbing her skin through the ninja outfit that no longer functioned but still gave off sex appeal.

“You must be a real worrier to install seven batteries in this thing.”

“Kh.”

“You hid them well, so it took a lot of ‘feeling around’ to find them all.”

That was how it must have happened.

Ouka had known that, but trained as she was, it still took a lot of effort for her to keep her teenage side from showing through.

“Now, was that search done by a woman, or by a man? Who do you think I gave the order to?”

“…”

Ouka’s expression remained unchanged.

A raging storm of embarrassed heat roiled in the core of her body, but letting that show would only invite more attacks in the same vein. The standard anti-torture strategy began with feigning indifference no matter what they did.

Princess Karin was trained in the Stonewall ninja school, so she would be familiar with the womanly techniques. She made a purr in her throat, covered her mouth with her large sleeve, and laughed in an overly elegant fashion.

“Do not worry. There are vanishingly few men who are worth inviting into a group of kunoichis who hone their sex appeal as a weapon. Most men are no more than imbeciles who end up forgetting their mission and running wild while inventing some strange story about it being ‘elopement’ or ‘challenging the world for their love’. I was so close to finally securing a useful one back at the castle when you had to intervene. The scan for hidden weapons, transmitters, and suicide pills was done by Amamo.”

It was said even the lawless pirates had avoided putting a mixed-gender crew on a single ship when possible. When working with multiple ships, they would always divide their personnel along gender lines. Needless to say, that was to avoid having the entire crew break apart from unnecessary trouble. Ouka’s group had been blessed with an extreme exception in Sugiyado Souha, but the young man named Murakami Michihiko may have been that for Princess Karin and the Stonewalls.

“But anyway.” Princess Karin looked up at the suspended girl and breathed an exasperated sigh. She was close enough for the air pressure to tickle Ouka’s flat chest. “I did not expect your tools and outfit to be so official. What are Elite Ninjas from the Shogunate doing this far north?”

“I think you know exactly why, Princess Karin.”

“Well, you can’t kill yourself like this. Despite what fiction would have you believe, humans do not die just from biting their own tongue. Are you trying to anger me into carelessly killing you?”

Princess Karin knew how the game was played. She reached into her junihitoe’s sleeve and pulled out a hairspray-sized can. Then she attached a clear plastic cup to it.

“What are you having me inhale?”

“You should really ask me to let you inhale it. While saying please, of course.”

It could simply be a gas, but it could also be bacteria or mold spores. Ouka tried to feign calm, but her eyes still wavered.

Princess Karin looked amused as she shook the metal can equipped with inhaler cup and she lightly slapped it against Ouka’s soft cheek.

“Don’t worry. It’s only oxygen. And the idea isn’t to have you inhale so much you hyperventilate.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“If I’m going to negotiate with a guy who can bring multiple Shogunate Elite Ninjas together, I need some tricks up my sleeve. I want to get Oume and Yukizasa back, but that will be no easy task. I just know he’s working up some kind of plan, so I want to lay a trap of my own. …A trap using your body and mind.” That demon in female form smiled like this was none of her concern. “Simply put, I will remake you into a puppet who can never say no. I’m sure you have done your research into New Sapporo Domain and the Stonewalls, so you might even know our identities and abilities. I doubt we could win back Yukizasa and Oume entirely unharmed now that they have been captured, but what if I had a new fighter they knew nothing about? That is exactly what I will have once you betray your companions. Those Shogunate ninjas will be satisfied once they get all of Yukizasa and Oume’s insider information, but this will catch them off guard.”

That was a horrifying thought.

She was being asked to personally kill her beloved teacher. Her body and mind would be remade until that was a real possibility. As if unseen components of her being would be removed one by one and replaced with something else entirely. She would prefer to be tortured to death in the cruelest way imaginable.

This demon understood that, but she said all this anyway.

She stood a step removed from standard morals and etiquette. She knew this was a line that must not be crossed even by a kunoichi who actively made use of taboos, but she whispered sweetly all the same.

“Yes, I can pretend to lose the negotiation and send you to him. Then, when you strike, I can use the resulting chaos to take back my companions. Now, I’ve revealed my plan to you, but you have no way of letting him know. It’s killing you inside, isn’t it!? Anyway, I would appreciate your cooperation in this. When I am done remaking you, I hope you will kill as many of your companions as possible.”

“I’ll never do that!!”

“Yes, you will. Your own intentions are irrelevant here. After all…”

Princess Karin stretched up and touched the steampipe Ouka was suspended from. Specifically, she grabbed the emergency release valve.
With a loud “pshhhh!!”, something formless erupted out. It did not directly hit Ouka, but it instantly filled the sealed room. The stench of rotten eggs reached Ouka’s nose, reminding her of a hot spring.

“Hydrogen sulfide!?”

“Maybe it is and maybe that distinctive smell is being used to hide something else. Use all of your knowledge to fuel your paranoia. Now, miss, if you would like this oxygen tank, you need only ask. If you’re lucky, it won’t be too late by the time the mask is in place, but I would recommend making up your mind sooner rather than later.”

Princess Karin grinned and placed the clear cup over her own mouth and nose.

“I will be back to ask again in half an hour. I’m not interested in sitting around testing your patience.”

“…!”

“And this will continue for hours if need be. Or days. It is all up to you, so this could be the first of many half hours to come. Personally, I think I will go enjoy the rest of my massage in a room with an air purifier. Listen, I will only ask you once each visit. Enjoy feeling the toxins entering your bloodstream through your lungs.”

The first half hour was a battle with her own struggling.

She held her breath and strained her bound hands, but nothing she did improved her situation. Not breathing had never been an option. With no power left, her ninja outfit would not protect her. She felt like the unseen source of the stench was entering her through her nose, her hair, her skin, and even within her underwear.

Was this really the sulfuric chemical found at hot springs?

Could it also contain an even more brutal delirium gas or knockout gas?

Once her body could no longer resist, her mind raced and gathered up every bit of knowledge she had. It was like having her life flash before her eyes. This was her instincts trying to find any clue to breaking free of this, but her ninja training had left her with an extensive knowledge of toxins and drugs, which only made this worse. She could not have feared the possibility of certain gases and bacteria if she did not know they existed.

“How are you doing? Changed your mind yet?”

After precisely half an hour, Princess Karin reentered the room with a transparent cup over her nose and mouth.

She must have been worried that the smell would get on her junihitoe or her hair because she grimaced and closed the steampipe’s valve even though she could not have actually smelled it.

“You are a sight to behold, let me tell you. Is all that sweat just from tension? I’m sure that flesh-colored skintight suit would have maintained an interior environment between it and your skin if it still had its batteries, but you look like you just ran a marathon. Sweat is seeping from the cracks in the suit and…I kindly left your underwear intact, but it might as well not be there anymore.”

She took a deep and performative breath of fresh oxygen and the sound of gas leaving the metal cannister wore on Ouka’s nerves.

“Just say the word and you will be immediately freed from this physical exhaustion and mental fear.”

“I will never do that.”

“Another half hour it is.”

The next half hour was a battle with flashbacks.

As all the “what ifs”, maybes, and hypotheticals swirled through her mind over and over, her knowledge ended up running in an unusual direction. It may have been similar to getting lost reading manga or a magazine found while rearranging your room. Or maybe her instincts concluded there was no point in continuing the vain search through the direct genres of toxins and drugs, so they ended up reaching for a different genre of technique and memories.

Her senses dulled.

Was that because her mind was focused inwards, or simply because of the colorless gas(?) causing the stench?

She heard a whispering deep in her ears.

It was not coming from outside.

She could not pin it down to any specific direction.

The more she focused, the less she could make it out, but it refused to leave no matter how much she tried to make it go away. The indistinct voice was a lot like a mosquito buzzing around near your ear on a sweltering summer night.

She had been looking at this wrong from the beginning.

Her resistance was fairly irrelevant. Princess Karin had not set a time limit; she had simply said it would continue until Ouka broke and became her puppet. If she could not escape on her own, then she only had two options.

The options were not obey or disobey.

They were to be successfully remade or broken beyond repair.

This may have been similar to a surgical procedure.

“How are you doing?”

After a while, Princess Karin returned.

Ouka could no longer tell if it really was half an hour later or if hours and hours had passed.

“Still supporting yourself on your toes? A normal person’s legs or back would have cramped up by now, so well done there.”

“Shut…up. I…”

“Acting tough is pointless when I can see how swollen your eyelids are. Your body is reaching its limit. That just leaves your mind. Which way are the scales tipping? Will it be next time? Or maybe the time after that? Not that this will end even if it’s the time after the time after the time after the time after that. Whenever it happens, I look forward to hearing you say the word.”

“…”

“Death is the end of all possibilities. No matter how far you fall, you still have a chance of being reunited with those familiar faces as long as you remain alive. That is the logical thinking befitting a kunoichi. Okay, see you again in half an hour.”

During the next half hour, her life ceased flashing before her eyes.

Her breaths caught.

Something was wrong with her throat, so she was wheezing. Princess Karin mad mentioned her eyelids swelling, so maybe her throat was too. Her trachea could be swelling closed. She could no longer support herself on her toes, so a lot more force was placed on her wrists. If that continued long enough, her hands could be permanently damaged, but she doubted she could bring strength back to her legs as they weakly convulsed below her.

The voice was back.

The directionless voice continued to whisper to her like a bug buzzing around by her ear.

(If necrosis sets in…)

This was the only thought on her mind as she trembled with her tongue hanging limply from between her lips.

This was likely the last coherent thought remaining inside her.

(I could…die here.)

“You’re persistent, I’ll give you that.” Princess Karin returned and briefly shut off the valve. “But you should have started to notice it by now. To be honest, the gas doesn’t really matter. ''It’s the steampipe.'' The faint vibrations pass through the rope and rattle all the bones in your body. Have you been hearing a voice? Did you think you were hallucinating? The necessary instructions have already been inserted into your mind. How long until they take effect differs from person to person, but all that remains is to wait until then.”

“…”

Was this a variation of the technique named Out of the Blue?

A kunoichi made a weapon out of her own feminine beauty and allure, so she could not rely only on pure muscular strength to defeat her enemies. A kunoichi was meant to have a slim and delicate body that made an enemy careless, so they were often forced to fight at a disadvantage. They had done considerable research into how to cause the maximum amount of pain with the minimum amount of force.

When an enemy was prepared for the blow, they could grit their teeth and charge onward even as their skin and flesh were torn by a blade, but if the attack came from an unexpected direction with unexpected timing, then even the prick of a single needle could cause a large man to jump and lose consciousness.

Think of it like a test of courage where someone shoved konjac in your face on the end of a fishing rod. You would only laugh if that happened right in front of you in broad daylight, but your heart would leap out of your mouth if it caught you by surprise in the dark.

“I will remind you that when this ends is up to you. This would already be over if you would pass out and raise the white flag, but your stubbornly strong mind is only making you suffer longer. But I will wait. Wait until the light fades from your eyes.”

She could resist.

Or she could not.

…The result would be the same.

Ouka felt a miniscule but unmistakable crack form in the center of her heart.

Why was she forcing herself to continue suffering suspended from that pipe? What was the point of this? If she could prevent even one tiny part of Princess Karin’s plan, there would be a reason to let years be taken off her life here. But this was wasted effort. Nothing would come of it. The longer she resisted, the closer she would come to being the mindless puppet Princess Karin wanted.

It hit her.

What did it matter if she said the word?

What would her struggles accomplish?

“''You set up your shield in the wrong direction.'' If you had focused on the vocal data reaching you from the steampipe via bone conduction, it never would have set in so easily.”

''Oh, no,'' thought Ouka.

Yet she could not rid herself of the doubt that continued to grow within her. In fact, the doubt began to weigh heavy on her soul.

If her struggles were meaningless, why not just give in? She could leave the rest in Sugiyado Souha’s hands and let him save her.

She knew that was only wishful thinking. If they failed to notice she had been remade, then she might attack and kill her teacher in his sleep.

But what other choice did she have? A pounding headache grew while all of her thoughts, ideas, and inspiration focused in on that one point.

(Bad idea…planted in my head.)

Her mind grew hazy.

She could no longer make sense of the words there.

Darkness closed in on her vision and her ears heard only Princess Karin’s sweet whispers.

“The choice is yours: will you resist and suffer, or will you give up and be freed from it all. The voice finished its job during the first hour and it is too late to struggle after reaching a lethal dose.”

(Sens-…)

Another half hour passed.

Another half hour passed.

Another half hour passed.

And.

There was no half hour after that.