Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter4 (section)

===2: The Puppy===

They had finally revealed their true enemy: the Brown Bears.

Those ninjas had assassinated Murakami Shouzou, the old man who had helped Sugiyado in the special prison, and they had plotted to take control of New Sapporo Domain and the Hokkaido Area from the shadows. If he defeated them and brought peace back to this northern land, he knew that old man would be able to rest in peace.

“You are a strange person, you know that?”

Sugiyado was using the large house’s tea room to perform maintenance on his Fierce Fang air pressure kunais when someone spoke to him.

It was Murakami Michihiko, the old man’s grandson.

Sugiyado responded without stopping his work.

“Shouldn’t you be preparing? We won’t have any spare time once this starts.”

“My metal flute has a gimmick to it, but its basic structure is simple enough. It doesn’t need any maintenance.” The young man smiled a little. “And there’s another kind of preparation I need to get done. If you’re going to be risking your life alongside me, I thought I should tell you everything.”

“About what?”

“About Princess Karin.” Murakami Michihiko slowly inhaled. “I didn’t know anything about the Brown Bears, but I can make some pretty good guesses about what happened. They poisoned her father, Domain Lord Hatsunaga, to put her in power. That might look logical, but doesn’t it seem like a bit much? If they only wanted to support the domain, they would only need to directly support the current lord.”

Sugiyado finally looked up from his work.

This conversation was now higher priority than the kunais he entrusted with his life.

“Continue.”

“There was some trouble between Lord Hatsunaga and his daughter. The Brown Bears took her side, so they were forced to remove her father from the equation…by force.”

Was this about the failed linear motor train project? Or maybe the Hokkaido Area’s defense system? Sugiyado came up with a few theories in his head, but the young man said something else entirely.

“It was over ''a puppy''.”

“?”

“One day, Princess Karin took in ''a puppy''. She hid it below the stomach of her clothing so no one would notice it. If her father had accepted it, she could have continued to take care of it. But Lord Hatsunaga refused and demanded she got rid of it.”

“This happened because of a-”

Sugiyado’s cheeks stiffened when he realized what this was really about.

He had scored a few clean hits at the gas turbine power plant, but Princess Karin had always shifted her position just beforehand. She had even seemed to leave her vitals exposed so she could use her hands to protect her stomach.

For that matter, her junihitoe was an unusually old-fashioned choice even for a domain lord’s daughter. Why had she always worn that clothing that ''hid the shape of her body''?

What if the beauty treatment oils he could smell on her were actually for the small life hidden in her belly?

Princess Karin had stepped in to protect her body double Amamo, but that was partially because letting it be known which one was the body double increased the risk of being hit in the future. Both for her and for that small life. Had she decided it was safer to take some immediate risk by saving Amamo since it would bring greater long-term safety?

“If her father had accepted it, she wouldn’t have had to give up.” Murakami Michihiko gave a faint smile. “Or if she could take control of the castle after he told her to get rid of it.”

“Did the Brown Bears pick up on how she felt?”

This explained why the young man had continued to defend Princess Karin after everything that had happened and why he had taken up his sword to protect her when it came to it. It also explained how he could simultaneously want to stop her.

Even if it meant turning his blade on her.

Even if he learned of his own grandfather’s death.

He had set aside his own grief and chosen instead to ensure his beloved and that still-unseen life would not meet the same fate.

Sugiyado Souha wanted to protect his precious students, but this was a different emotion. Murakami Michihiko stood in a place the boy had yet to reach.

“You’re a hell of a guy.” The ninja laughed. “You’re sent in as an inspector to uncover anything improper going on and you end up causing a scandal with the domain lord’s daughter?”

“…Sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? Do you think you did anything wrong?”

The young man appeared caught off guard by that question.

“Everyone has a secret or two in the ninja world,” continued Sugiyado. “I’m supposed to be in prison, but here I am. You just have to make it all work out. For me, that means ending all this to keep my promise with the old man. What does it mean for you?”

“…”

“If you say it means giving up on that small life, then I’ll kick your ass right here. There are a number of ways to solve this, so make sure you choose wisely. Don’t let the scope of the problem distract you from what really matters. Everything you do has to be for the people you want to protect.”

“Yeah…”

He seemed to be reflecting on that thought.

That did not mean he had not been thinking about it before. He had been agonizing over it this entire time.

But when climbing a mountain, you couldn’t afford to trip on the last leg of the ascent.

There was only one summit, so if you refused to give up, struggled, agonized, and continued working toward it, you would get there.

“I know that,” said Murakami Michihiko. “Using my metal flute to battle ninjas isn’t the only way to fight. There’s something else that only I can do.”

“…”

“But I need you to get me there. So please. I can’t afford to lose the princess or the other one. Not after all this.”

“Exactly what I wanted to hear.”

Sugiyado could repay the old man this way.

Now that he had rescued Ouka, that was the entirety of his motivation. Vengeance for the dead was a powerful motivator, but it was ultimately fruitless. You gained nothing from it.

But this could lead to something more.

From parent to child and from child to grandchild. That old man was dead. Sugiyado had failed to save him. But his grandson Murakami Michihiko was attempting to protect the next generation. That was a small piece of something the old man had left in this world.

So why would he hesitate?

[[Image:Kunoichis_v02_BW06.jpg|thumb]]

Doing what the young man wanted would repay the old man too. But the method used here was crucial. It was only meaningful if he was wielding that power to keep someone alive, not to kill someone.

What did the Brown Bears matter?

Why should he care about New Sapporo Domain Lord Hatsunaga?

The boy and the young man bumped fists as two ninjas.

“Let’s give ‘em hell, partner.”

“Let’s give ‘em hell, partner.”