Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter3 (section)

===9: Another===

Princess Karin had been fully equipped as a kunoichi. And even if she was on the front line, she was still the domain’s princess. Below the thick junihitoe, she had to be wearing carbon nanotube bulletproof tights just in case. But the impact still reached her even if she did not bleed.

Amamo truly had learned the exact same techniques as Princess Karin to act as her body double.

At the last moment, Amamo had moved to protect her stomach.

The same happened here.

Princess Karin had moved to protect her internal organs, so Sugiyado had instead aimed for the side of her neck. Because even with full-body bulletproof tights, the neck was still hard to defend.

“Kah!?”

As well-trained as she was, she had preserved the slenderness of a sheltered young maiden so she could wield martial arts and sex appeal simultaneously. The muscles in her neck were not enough to fully brace against the impact.

Then they fell.

The two of them crashed into a few pipes along the way, but they finally hit the thin layer of artificial snow covering the surface.

The impact knocked Sugiyado’s breath from his lungs.

The gas turbine power plant appeared to reach its limit at the same time. The broken pipes and turbine building exploded one after another and the entire place was soon wrapped in smoke and flame. He was not immediately shredded by the Swift Foots scanning the area because those obstacles obstructed their cameras and sensors. The heat and metal powder would be damaging the permeation sensors as well.

His spine protested.

He tried to get up, but his body refused to move, like a gear was jammed.

(I may have pushed myself too hard.)

He had known this was how the ninja world worked, but he had done it anyway the instant he saw what had happened to Ouka. He still could not get used to seeing his allies hurt. He could no longer get after those four for what they did last time. He was starting to think his own powerful emotions had infected them without him noticing.

“Heh…heh heh.”

He heard some weak laughter from nearby.

Princess Karin had been caught on a waterproof sheet where she swayed in midair, but the impact still would have been considerable. She lacked his spine handicap, but it would still be a bit before she could get up.

“Is that all you’ve got? Well, it was decently entertaining at least, insolent fool.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“But you misread the big picture. We win this one.”

“What were you even trying to do in this northern land? You secured largescale power generation with the underground linear motor train network and you used that to bring the Hokkaido Area’s defense system back online…but that’s a means, not an end.”

She did not answer him.

She knew her death was close and she knew she had no future, but she still kept her secrets. She had not only learned just enough to fill the role. She was a true ninja leader of the Stonewalls.

Just like former Hidden One Sugiyado Souha who led his four students.

(Is it finally over?)

Sugiyado sighed while collapsed on the power plant’s snowy road.

Even with the many explosions erupting from the gas turbine power plant itself, he would be found by the troops or Swift Foots if he stayed here. And even if they left him there, the flames and smoke would reach him. At this point, there no miracle that would allow him to escape unscathed.

Kuhou Ouka.

Hanasawa Bara.

Nantou Hoozuki.

Shizukuma Asagao.

He was glad they were safe. That much he was proud of. His own life had hit a dead end, but he had left his mark on the world. He could let his students handle the rest.

Hearing someone stepping on the shallow snow, he looked over from the ground.

“Murakami Michihiko.”

“…”

He did not interpret this as help having arrived.

In fact…

“If you want Princess Karin, then take her with you. That’s what you came here to do, isn’t it?”

“Are you sure?”

“I had two objectives: repay that old man and rescue Ouka. Whatever Princess Karin’s plan was, I ended it here. If you two disappear now, it should make some waves inside the castle, but it won’t bring any more chaos to New Sapporo Domain and the Hokkaido Area.”

Silence followed.

That man’s priorities never changed, but he could not help but hesitate. Sugiyado had to smile. That was dangerous thing for a ninja, but it made him a good person. It reminded him of the old man who had looked after him in the special prison despite having no logical reason to do so.

“Go.”

“I’m sorry.”

Murakami Michihiko gently picked up the junihitoe princess while she swayed in the waterproof sheet like a hammock and then he bowed.

Without a sound, the ninja turned away from Sugiyado and vanished.

Before long, Sugiyado heard a heavy mechanical clanking through the smoke. A Swift Foot’s cameras or sensors must have detected him. There was nothing at all he could do.

(Did that repay you in some small way, old man?)

He started to shut his eyes on the snowy ground.

But he stopped when he heard a piercing roar of destruction. He knew that was the result of the giant Swift Foot’s composite armor being sliced through and its slimmed-down steamroller body being chopped apart, but he still nearly lost himself in the beauty of the music it created.

Someone had dropped from above and sliced vertically through the machine.

The two halves of the silhouette shifted out of place before fully collapsing.

(That was a military sword that uses an arc discharge to pierce composite armor.)

That was an unusual weapon for a ninja.

It was not even Shogunate technology. It had been given a Japanese design to match the kunoichi outfit – or maybe it had the kind of “Western” design that only existed in this country, like a visual version of wasei-eigo – but that “move in close and hit them with a powerful heat source” style of military technology was the specialty of the Kingdom.

“Oh? Giving up already, instructor? Yet you insist on saving others and keeping them in this world whether they like it or not.”

He recognized the voice.

It did not belong to Ouka, Bara, Hoozuki, or Asagao.

This was another kunoichi who had possessed extraordinary power.

Her ninja outfit resembled a sleeveless kimono, but the sides were left wide open, making it look something like a surgical gown. Her long black hair had two distinctive bits tied to on either side of her head. She had a body as curvy as Bara’s, but her sex appeal was so decadent it seemed to be rotting.

In other words…

“Oniyuri?”

<noinclude>
{| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaaaaa solid; padding: 0.2em; border-collapse: collapse;"
|-
| Back to [[Cute_Kunoichis:Volume2_Chapter2|Chapter 2]]
| Return to [[Cute_Kunoichis|Main Page]]
| Forward to [[Cute_Kunoichis:Volume2_Chapter4|Chapter 4]]
|-
|}
</noinclude>