Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter4 (section)

===3: Contacting the Brown Bears===

The moon was beautiful that night.

The impossible artificial snow provided a nice accent to the circle of the moon. White powder scattered into the clear night sky, seeming to reflect a gentle light. This was supposed to be near the center of New Sapporo Domain, but even owners of the nicest homes here only visited a few times a year and the place was far from bustling with life. A deafening silence ruled this space.

It was like another world cut off from the everyday world.

“Sensei, someone is approaching the back gate. Be careful.”

“Understood, Bara. Don’t lean too far out. You won’t make for much of an ambush if you get sniped first. Asagao, continue scanning the entire area. But don’t focus too much on the most noticeable people.”

“I know, I know. The Brown Bears are a group, so they’re bound to make a multi-front attack and in waves rather than all at once. Need I remind you I’m the only one who has gotten through this entire affair unscathed, including you, Sensei!? Even Bara had her interrogation used against her!! I don’t know what this secret date business is about, but don’t forget that I’m winning!!”

“Hoozuki, work with Bara to eliminate your blind spots. You’re both long-range attackers, so your positioning will determine how this plays out. Don’t get too focused in the wrong direction.”

“I know, Sensei. I need to finally actually do something here.”

“Oh? No orders for me, Instructor?”

“We’re the same rank and you’re an active-duty Hidden One, Oniyuri. Besides, I know removing your psychic powers isn’t enough to make you obedient. Still, I want you to support Ouka and handle any other requests I give. This is something I can only ask you with your superior skill and experience.”

“Hee hee. You can count on me.”

That just left…

“Murakami, Yukizasa, and Princess Karin. You’re the Brown Bears’ top targets. I want you to lead them around and lure them into good attack positions for us. We’ll handle all the attacking, so don’t get caught too easily.”

“Are you kidding me, insolent fool? This is our issue. Do not forget who brought who into this.”

“Princess.”

“Don’t tell me he’s gotten to you too, Murakami!? Don’t give me that gentle understanding look! Whose side are you on!?”

The boy had decided to let Murakami Michihiko look after that unruly princess. Not even Sugiyado was an expert on the maternity blues.

“Don’t wowwy, pwincess. I swear I will pwotect you no matter what.”

“?”

A new character suddenly appeared on the radio.

Sugiyado wondered who this childish voice could belong to, but it was apparently Taganuma Yukizasa, youngest of the Stonewalls. When that expert at combat in dark, closed places donned her gray powered suit, she became an embodiment of violence who would swing her powerful arms down at you even if it meant trampling on the traps she had set up herself, but apparently she spoke like that with her Princess Karin. She sounded a lot like an inept maid.

(Is that another kunoichi deception?)

Given what had happened with Princess Karin, should he assume that Stonewall’s juvenile speech was not to be trusted?

And finally, Sugiyado called a certain girl’s name.

“Ouka.”

“Yes, Sensei?”

“I won’t tell you not to push yourself too hard. Do this however you want. Vindicate yourself in this northern land. We’ll all support you.”

“Understood. Let’s make this a night to remember, Sensei.”

Meanwhile, the enemy didn’t even try to hide. They stepped in the thin layer of artificial snow, leaving footprints on the ordinary roadside and they walked in the moonlight and streetlights on their way to the mansion’s back entrance.

There were more and more of them.

Finally, Sugiyado focused on the small radio hidden below his scarf.

“Bara, Hoozuki. Fire simultaneously from different directions.”

Roaring wind tore through the night sky overhead.

One shot was a shuriken launched from between two rollers and the other was a coilgun hidden in the hair. Sugiyado didn’t expect the first shots to kill, but the enemy would still have to take some kind of action to defend or dodge. Meanwhile, he raced precariously atop the wall surrounding the mansion’s grounds, taking enough of a running start to leap directly above a Brown Bear.

He performed a midair flip while aiming the point of his air pressure kunai at the enemy’s head. And while he fell behind the enemy, he threw another kunai as if stabbing them with the tip of a sword.

(Impressive!)

Sugiyado was the one surprised as he absorbed the impact by rolling on the snow and then hopping back to his feet in one smooth motion.

Two high-pitched metallic clangs sounded after the fact.

The enemy had been knocked off balance by sniper shots from multiple directions and then attacked from her blind spots overhead and behind, but she still hadn’t shed a single drop of blood.

The result was enough to rattle Bara and Hoozuki.

“All that and we still failed!?”

“Argh, she must be working out the origin point of the shots. And she’s preventing me from taking another shot by keeping Sensei in the line of fire!”

The young girl slowly turned around while waving the two air pressure kunais she held between her fingers.

She even had a smile on her face.

“Surprised?”

(So she’s a nekote user.)

While the group as a whole was known as the Brown Bears, this girl seemed more catlike. The triangular decorations atop her shoulder length blonde hair had to be movable sound collectors. Instead of sending the sound to her ears, it was sent directly into her skull using vibrations. That meant she didn’t need to see her enemy. And as long as she detected them, she could accurately strike back.

“Not what you expected? Your enemy fights as a group, so you thought your first opponent would be a decoy scout that separates herself from the group and gathers intel. And you assumed she wouldn’t be much of a fighter, didn’t you?”

That was nonsense.

Ninjas were unofficial units who primarily handled reconnaissance and sabotage. They didn’t have a central group that ordered around the rest. Even with a million of them gathered, each of them could handle it all.

But more importantly…

“So you ''are'' with the Brown Bears,” said Sugiyado.

“Try thinking for yourself. Including whether we’re an organization or individuals.”

“Care to name yourself?”

“Kawai Nekoyanagi. But that’s a fake name, of course☆”

Her clothing was a lot like a jacket and bike shorts that left her midriff bare. The real surprise was the almost entire lack of armor against bullets and blades. She only had some belts wrapped around her in a spiderweb structure to protect her vitals. Was that because she wanted to prioritize her feline litheness over a solid toughness? Since she had managed to defend against a pair of air pressure kunais while taking unstable evasive action, she was clearly quite capable.

Nekote were metal claws worn on the fingers. They allowed finer control than ones attached to the back of the hand, they were an all-purpose weapon capable of everything from scaling cliffs to torture, and they could even be thrown in a pinch. And with 10 of them, losing one or two wasn’t a big deal.

A solid clacking sound came from Nekoyanagi’s hands as her claws sliced right through the air pressure kunais like they were made of wet paper.

(Those aren’t just made of a heavy metal. They must be an electrically-enhanced elemental lattice.)

The girl took her next action before gravity could even pull the pieces to the ground at her feet.

Nekoyanagi sharply kicked the jagged wreckage as it fell.

The jagged metal pieces of the air pressure kunais fanned out in front of her.

“Tch!!”

As the improvised barrage approached, Sugiyado clicked his tongue and ducked very, very low to avoid them. He had to press himself against the ground on all fours like an animal. It was an effective means of dodging, but it was far from earning a perfect 100 since it limited his next move. It was like announcing you could only play rock next turn.

The cat-eared kunoichi rotated her right arm vertically.

“How about this?”

Her fingers dropped down like she was trying to smash him with her palm. Her electrically-enhanced elemental lattice claws had torn through tungsten steel weapons like wet paper, so the slightest touch would even cut through bone. And more smoothly than slicing a cake.

However…

(She isn’t a ghost who can pass through walls. Nekoyanagi can slice through anything, but that means her claws are influenced by all matter in their path!)

“Sh!!”

Sugiyado threw one of his kunai’s instant nitrogen foam cartridges onto the snow and activated it. The explosive expansion of air slammed into the approaching nekote, creating a distorted noise.

It was just like a wind turbine’s blade shaking and ultimately breaking from slicing through the wind with its own power.

“…!!”

Sweat formed on the Brown Bear girl’s brow. She must have been suppressing pain that felt like an invisible hand grabbing and twisting her skinny fingers.

The increased resistance reduced her speed.

Just like she was crossing a rapid current.

An air pressure kunai wasn’t enough to block those nekote. And he couldn’t even get his head out of the way while down on the ground. But he had given himself more time by slowing the attack’s speed just a bit.

He didn’t use his legs.

He used his hands to grab the backs of Nekoyanagi’s slender ankles and pulled her feet out from under her.

“Wah!?”

“Bara!!” roared Sugiyado just as the target was flipped onto her back.

The Tatami Needles depleted uranium alloy coilgun flew in at supersonic speed and mercilessly burst at the center of the girl’s chest.

Nekoyanagi had prioritized litheness, but her bulletproof armor would be enough to protect her there of all places. Or maybe she had managed a last-second decision to shift her position so she was hit there.

“Kah…ah!?”

“Do not underestimate Sensei’s trump card, you naughty kitten☆”

That attack was powerful enough to blast right through a lightly-armored attack helicopter or armored truck, but Nekoyanagi only had the breath knocked out of her. Her armor was definitely not your average gear.

That said, she wouldn’t be able to run and jump around anytime soon. She was sprawled out in the snow with her limbs twitching disconcertingly, but she still put on a tough face by smiling thinly.

“Your plan isn’t going so great, is it? If the first one took you this long, what happens when things get a little more chaotic around here?”

“Is that all you wanted to say?”

“You’re only going to lose things here. You must know that. Set aside what any individual accomplishes and look at the big picture. You’re going to lose more than you gain here. And Princess Karin isn’t worth protecting. Her or her womb.”

“Bara, another shot.”

After the slightest of pauses, a shockwave erupted and the cat-ears kunoichi was rendered fully unconscious. But the thinly-smiling girl hadn’t succumbed to delusions of grandeur.

(It took Bara, Hoozuki, and me to take out Nekoyanagi alone. She’s right that it wasn’t easy.)

That had honestly been too much for the very first enemy. The time it had taken to defeat her had them falling behind schedule. If that kept up, the entire plan would fall apart and he and his students would be wiped out.

“Asagao, adjust the enemy’s strength by -3. Rework the timetable.”

“Three already!? That’s going to more or less break the timetable!!”

“We can’t make progress without accepting this harsh reality.”

None of them could figure out the Brown Bears’ logic, but they clearly thought they were doing this for New Sapporo Domain and the Hokkaido Area even if they were completely wrong about that. That meant their primary target would be Princess Karin who they saw as vulnerable and incapable of ruling, but they would also lock onto Sugiyado, Ouka, and the others as enemies who were disturbing the peace. Anyone could be targeted at this point.

The only option was to defeat as many of them as possible and extract as much information as possible from the defeated enemies. So it was time to turn the tables and make an attack on the Brown Bears’ hideout.

(Nekoyanagi was a scout sent out to do recon and provide a diversion. So where will the Brown Bears come from?)

“Oh, no. Oh, no, Sensei! Our secret date is about to be ruined by inclement weather!!”

“What do you mean, Asagao.”

“Up in the sky!! They’re sending out stealth air transports!!”