Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume2 Chapter4 (section)

===5: Source of the Threat===

The most important factor for all forms of transportation was not acceleration – it was safely coming to a stop. In other words, braking. This was true on land, on the water, in the air, and even in the deep sea or outer space. With linear motor trains and ballistic spacecraft, simply launching the vehicle wasn’t all that difficult.

The sky fortress blotted out even the moon.

But that meant missing it would have been the bigger challenge.

“Sh!!”

Sugiyado swung his arms and legs in midair to manipulate his air resistance and spin himself around. He turned his straight-line motion into an endless rotation. He spun like a gyroscope or a figure skater to drain the magnitude of his vector while maintaining his attitude.

He only had to gently place his feet down.

Smoke burst from the toes of his boots as he easily landed on the upper armor of the sky fortress.

Oniyuri exhaled a white sigh next to him. She was so close they nearly collided.

“It’s cold up here.”

“We are more than 3000m up. That’s about the same as Mount Fuji.”

“Well, at least this feels more like a snowy date. I can blow my warm breath into my hands and hold onto the gentleman’s arm for warmth.”

“Let me guess, Oniyuri, the radio is still connected. Please stop provoking my students for fun. It affects their performance.”

Sugiyado sounded exasperated.

“Princess Karin, focus on your breathing and calculate how much oxygen you’re taking in. We can’t have you succumbing to altitude sickness.”

“Who – huff – do you think – puff – I am?”

“Murakami, you monitor her vitals. If things get too bad, kick her off the edge. If you don’t want him doing that, look after yourself. Now, let’s go.”

That sounded harsh, but Princess Karin had more than her own life to think about. She couldn’t push herself too hard.

The young man released a visible breath while gently supporting Princess Karin.

“Sorry,” he said.

“Stop apologizing for every little thing. The look in Princess Karin’s eyes gets harsher each time you do.”

They had arrived on the sky fortress.

Was it based on an aircraft carrier?

It had a unique silhouette, shaped like a 5km metal ship with four giant wings on each side. Needless to say, it did not flap those wings to fly. They looked like wings, but they were actually flight decks equipped with a linear catapult.

Princess Karin frowned when she saw the name painted large at their feet.

“Raging Gale?”

“You can use that as a tentative name in your head, but don’t rely on it too much. This isn’t a racecar. Its name and serial number won’t be written on it for all to see.”

Most likely, there was a similar project with that name and this was meant to misdirect people in that direction. It might even have been the model name for a project run by New Sapporo Domain.

“It sure is big,” complained Oniyuri.

“It has to be to look after stealth air transports and bombers. It’s little different from a ground-based runway. Each catapult is probably 2000m long.”

“Sensei, did you know an amusement park is a bad choice for a date because there is too much to see? Eh heh heh heh heh.”

Ouka’s voice over the radio had taken a disturbing turn.

She may have been upset about being left behind.

“2000. That’s 10 times the size of a standard nuclear aircraft carrier. And this has eight of them?”

Murakami Michiko’s skepticism was understandable. The defense system for the New Sapporo Domain and Hokkaido Area had run into a bottleneck over power, after all.

“I’m worried about how this Raging Gale powers itself. How does it keep something so large airborne?”

The wings seemed to primarily handle the aircraft. Meanwhile, the formidable number of ship guns and missile launchers appeared to be concentrated on the central “ship”.

Sugiyado’s group was on the 2nd starboard flight deck

The catapult was about 2000m long, which put Sugiyado’s group that far away from the central ship. Which meant…

“Hey, Raging Gale’s guns are turning this way, insolent fool.”

“Understandable given how far away we still are. This is a safe distance for them. None of the shell fragments will hit their main ship.”

Sugiyado’s casual response was immediately followed by a deafening “boom!!”

They never would have reacted in time if they had been responding to that noise.

It was like lightning.

The flash arrived first, then horizontal destruction swept through, and the noise arrived last. Given that it was cold enough to see their breaths, the speed of sound had to be about 330m/s, so it took sound a few seconds to reach the end of the 2000m flight deck.

It normally wasn’t possible to escape when targeted by microwaves or a laser.

But…

“Princess Karin.”

“Do not give me commands, insolent fool.”

“My, how naughty, Instructor. Inviting a pregnant wife on a secret date? And right in front of her husband?”

Sugiyado had acted before the gun was fired.

He had taken a few of the instant nitrogen foam cartridges used in his air pressure kunais and thrown them toward the main ship, intentionally placing them in the line of fire targeting his group.

There were two explosive booms and tremors.

The first created an invisible wall from the sort powerful foam used in airbags, bending the EM or infrared locking onto them. The second was a strategic antiair laser beam cannon firing on Princess Karin’s command and rattling the Raging Gale sky fortress.

With the targeting and the gun itself thrown off, not even the sky fortress could recover.

After surviving a barrage of attacks, each of which could blast a battleship in two, Sugiyado’s group kept low while running across the flight deck.

Princess Karin whispered while running alongside Murakami.

“That won’t work again.”

“Then get the ground personnel evacuated already. No matter how big those cannons are, they’re stationary. The Raging Gale is going to bomb them soon.”

“…”

“You ordered the antiair laser beam cannon on the outskirts to fire because you wanted to distract the Brown Bears from New Sapporo Domain directly below them, right? The weapon was meant to protect your people. It’s done that.”

That was when they heard a gritty sound.

It came from air ninjas equipped with a device that looked like a hang glider powered by a jet engine the size of a large drink bottle. Some came from the main ship, some came from other flight decks, and some came from patrolling the surrounding airspace.

Like vultures swarming an animal carcass, the Brown Bears in black quickly covered the 2nd starboard flight deck. The sky was their territory.

Firepower and armor weren’t what mattered.

Only a ninja could kill a ninja.

Noticing that the Brown Bears had finally recalled that truth, Oniyuri laughed and asked a question.

“What now, Instructor?”

“We aren’t honorable samurai,” replied Sugiyado.

Immediately, his entire group jumped from the edge of the vast flight deck.

Without proper preparations, an altitude of 3000m was a fatal part of the sky where even the basics of “falling” broke down. But these real ninjas didn’t even hesitate.

It wasn’t a perfectly smooth surface. There were bumps and indentations they could grasp with their fingers or nails. By grabbing on like that in stages, they could reduce their speed while dropping down along the “wall” to their destination.

Their destination was the bottom.

The flight deck was now a large roof. Countless pipes and small metal walkways dangled down from it. The Raging Gale’s stealth bent the radar waves using an uneven arrangement of artificial single-molecule magnets, so the ship itself did not have an origami-like design. From below, the flight deck looked like the catwalk at the ceiling of a theatre stage.

Each “wing” was 2000m long, so they were going to be more than just the enormous flight deck. This thing carried countless fighters, bombers, and whatever else, so they needed enough space to store them. The Raging Gale’s main ship didn’t seem big enough for that. The area below the flight deck “roof” functioned as the hangar and maintenance bay.

Sugiyado’s group landed on the pipes and metal walkways running below the giant roof and ran across them as light as the wind. It didn’t matter how powerful the people on the roof were when they were out of reach.

But there was still a threat.

“Here they come, insolent fool!”

“Deal with them yourself.”

Sugiyado gave his exasperated response while continuing to run and throwing Fierce Fang air pressure kunais into empty air. The ninjas who had been in the air before landing on the flight deck could circle below using those flight units resembling hang gliders. Sugiyado threw his air pressure kunais to destroy their wings or jet engines and send them plummeting toward the ground.

Needless to say, the Brown Bears were a formidable foe.

Each and every one of them was skilled enough to fight on or above the level of a former Hidden One like Sugiyado.

But.

That’s why he did this.

He had them gather together as a single group so their individual talents didn’t have a chance to shine. Not even the faster sprinter in the world could move in a train packed to 300% capacity. By sowing discord in the enemy force and making them trip each other up, he could easily draw out a far greater result than the firepower he employed. This was exactly what ninjas excelled at.

“That’s incredible,” commented Murakami Michihiko, earning him a glare from Princess Karin.

“Are they too reliant on their equipment?” Oniyuri sounded almost disappointed. “Even the most convenient toy won’t do you any good in circumstances it wasn’t designed for.”

“Still, where did they build all this behind my back?”

Princess Karin couldn’t find an answer, so Sugiyado supplied some theories.

“The Raging Gale may have been built outside the Hokkaido Area. Maybe outside the country altogether.”

“…”

“The Brown Bears are an abnormal group that sprouted up from the workers hired to provide a second layer of security at Abashiri’s special prison, but plenty of outsiders would benefit if they caused enough trouble. That’s generally how it works with these irregular conflicts. Very few criminal groups truly act alone. People who don’t want to get their hands dirty are always sending them money and weapons in secret.”

2000m was nothing for a trained ninja. They were nearly at the base of the flight deck.

But before they reached the main ship, Oniyuri’s nose twitched and she looked up.

“I smell explosives.”

“I had a feeling they would purge it. Murakami, Princess Karin!!”

Sugiyado got his warning out just before something exploded.

This was not an ordinary explosion that spread out in all directions from a central point. Orange sparks raced across the surface of the flight deck like an invisible blade was cutting through the thick metal.

It was sliced through at the very base.

To cut away the entire 2000m wing.

It was a form of autotomy.

It was the same as a captured crab or spider breaking away its own leg to escape the threat.

Anyone still on the wing would crash down to the surface and be killed on impact.

At this point, not even Sugiyado’s group needed any tricks. There was only one way to survive. Before gravity could find its grip on the tilting flight deck and pull it down, they had to jump to the Raging Gale’s stable main ship.

“Ohhhh!!!” roared Sugiyado as he ran along the lurching catwalk and leaped from the severed edge which was still glowing orange from the force of the explosives.

No matter how much he schemed and turned the tables on the enemy, it was his daily training that mattered in the end. And this wasn’t true for Sugiyado alone.

The four ninjas soared through the air at an altitude of 3000m. Sugiyado Souha tumbled into the Raging Gale sky fortress’s main ship before the thick emergency shutter could close off the opening left by purging the wing.

“Phew,” he sighed, but he of course didn’t relax yet. In battle, it was easiest to lose your life in the moment following a success. Your personal circumstances had no effect on what happened in the world as a whole. Or to put it another way, the enemy wasn’t going to wait.

“Oniyuri, Murakami, Princess Karin.”

“You worry too much, Instructor. You need to relax and think of this as a double date,” said Oniyuri, her white cloth ninja outfit swaying elegantly around her.

“I’m fine too,” said Murakami Michihiko.

“Why am I part of your roll call? You aren’t planning to put a collar on me too, are you?”

He was relieved to find none of them were foolish enough to miss boarding the train.

Princess Karin’s irritation was about more than just how unreliable Murakami Michihiko was being. That entire flight deck had fallen toward New Sapporo Domain from this high up. The area below was a deserted luxury residential region. If not for that, the result would have been a tragedy greater than a passenger plane crash.

(Ouka. And the others.)

Sugiyado was worried, but letting it show wouldn’t help. In the ninja world, soft emotions were targeted as a vulnerability.

You couldn’t forget your human emotions, but you couldn’t let anyone notice them. He had to remember that this was the very center of enemy territory. It was best to assume every last wall had very dangerous ears.

(We’re essentially down the Brown Bear’s gullet now. The more trouble we cause in its heart, the less it can focus its claws and fangs on Ouka and the others on the surface.)

“Now, then.”

The Raging Gale’s main ship was also enormous, but it appeared to be structured a lot like a human’s innards. In other words, everything necessary was packed in tight. The passageway was narrow and winding and all the necessary equipment for the flying aircraft carrier was packed in like a folded accordion.

Oniyuri looked around with interest.

She generally gave off a sweetly rotten allure, but she occasionally displayed a childlike innocence. But thinking she was safe to be around at those times would be a terrible mistake. Oniyuri’s devilish charm had more than one way of leading people astray.

“The ceilings are low thanks to the pipes and lights and these narrow corridors make frequent right-angle turns. It’s the same idea as a samurai’s mansion. It’s designed to keep any intruders from wielding long weapons.”

“So if the Brown Bears rush us in here…”

“That won’t happen, sheltered princess. If they tried it, we would only need to knock back the lead group and they would all fall like dominoes.”

“Whore. You dare point at me and call me sheltered?”

“Having a side job must be nice. You can switch titles whenever one becomes inconvenient.”

“(Hey, um, hey?)”

“Don’t look at me. She’s your wife. You restrain her.”

Sugiyado Souha casually sidestepped one of the most difficult problems in the world.

Camping out at a corner and either spraying gunfire or filling the corridor with poison gas would be a lot more “surefire” than wielding a sword or spear, but Sugiyado could think of two or three different ways of getting around that. Nothing in the world was truly “surefire”. If you calmly analyzed the pros and cons of each option, an exit would present itself.

But as they continued on, they found no ninja ambushes. Nor were they observed with security cameras or drones. Sugiyado guessed the Brown Bears had chosen the silent route. They would wait for the eerie silence to fill Sugiyado’s group with doubts that grew into paranoia. Once that destroyed their teamwork, the Brown Bears would make their surprise attack. It was the same idea as a haunted house sending people down a long, straight path with no scares in order to scare the guests all the more at the next corner. The easiest target for that kind of psychological warfare was probably Princess Karin. Of the four, she had the greatest tendency to start arguing with the others.

“Princess Karin.”

“I’m not a child. I know the risks.”

They held that exchange while continuing onward.

However.

They were speaking aloud and making other noises in enemy territory, but there was still no response. Sugiyado knew suspecting tricks within tricks within tricks would get you nowhere in the ninja world, but something still felt off even if this was a trap. This went beyond an artificial “creepy silence”.

“Is there…really nothing here?” asked Murakami Michihiko, cautiously holding his metal flute weapon at the ready.

It felt like they had nervously walked down the long straightaway in a haunted house only to find they had somehow arrived at the staff only door.

“…?”

“Instructor.”

“I know. Always keep multiple escape routes in mind, Oniyuri. This is no coincidence. It feels intentional. They may be luring us in so they can surround us and cut off our escape.”

Sugiyado still hadn’t answered his question as they walked carefully around a few corners.

And eventually…

“There’s something here,” said Sugiyado.

“Well, this looks like trouble,” complained Princess Karin.

He couldn’t blame her.

There was a room.

A door led to a great hall.

The rectangular exit in the thick wall looked like a tiny tunnel by comparison. And there were two layers of doors to keep any air from escaping. It was a lot like a cleanroom in a semiconductor factory. That suggested something very important was stored inside, but they would be trapped like rats if they carelessly entered. If the door locked behind them, they couldn’t get back out. If the air was removed, they would be killed.

But that didn’t mean they could just avoid that room.

They were badly outnumbered here. The Brown Bears were impressive in terms of quantity and quality, so Sugiyado’s group had no intention of directly facing thousands of them. Anything would be a risk in the center of enemy territory. They had chosen to enter the Raging Gale because finding and attacking the heart of the sky fortress was their only way of overcoming that disadvantage.

They were here for some sabotage.

If they always chose the safer route, they would be traveling down the path of slow but unavoidable suicide. They would be trapped.

“…”

After some thought, the boy pulled out an air pressure kunai. He cut only the cable for the sensor related to the opening and closing of the thick metal door and then he jammed the kunai into the gap between the open door and the wall on the hinge side.

“Oniyuri, you wait outside. Secure us a way out.”

“Leaving me behind on our secret date is next level.”

“Oniyuri.”

“Yes, yes, I know. But if they can tear through that tungsten steel wedge to close the door, it’s going to be a wild rescue operation.”

It was just like her to imply she was perfectly capable of it. Even without her psychic powers, she was still a fire and explosives specialist.

“Princess Karin, will you stay or go? The risk will of course be greater inside.”

“Do not underestimate me, insolent fool. Destroying the Brown Bears is the only way to restore order in New Sapporo Domain, which I am ruling in my ill father’s stead. I will not leave that in the hands of an outsider.”

“Murakami.”

“Don’t worry. I will protect the princess.”

“Have it your way.”

Sugiyado and the other two stepped into the airlock with Oniyuri staying behind.

Of course, Sugiyado had a few different possibilities in mind. For example, this fortress was carrying weapons of mass destruction like the air-launched ballistic missiles and it was carrying a power source strong enough to keep the fortress airborne – likely a largescale nuclear reactor. And this was all directly above New Sapporo Domain. Whether the plan was to destroy those things or make use of them, they would have to be very careful.

However…

“What?”

In that moment, Sugiyado Souha realized he had been careless. In the ninja world, speed of movement and flexibility of thought mattered most, but he had allowed his mind to go blank and all his muscles to tense.

He was shocked.

He was a Hidden One, removed from the usual hierarchy of ranks, but what he saw here managed to shatter his pride.