Editing Cute Kunoichis:Volume1 Chapter1 (section)

===5: The Four Girls===

Once they had finished cleaning up, they finally got moving.

“Why do we have to be so thorough? Normal people would never know what they were looking at.”

“Don’t get sloppy in training, Hoozuki. That will only lead to sloppiness in actual combat. I taught you your subconscious is always less disciplined than you think it is, didn’t I?”

“Yes, yes.”

The cool beauty transformed her wheel shuriken launcher back into an off-road motorcycle and tossed Sugiyado a C-shaped plastic device she had been toying with in her hand.

“Place that behind your neck and it will function like an airbag. A gyro sensor will monitor the angle of your head and protect it with a balloon bag in case of emergency. It’s single-use, but convenient.”

He flipped the device over in his hand and spun it around.

“You do love your gadgets, don’t you? I bet you like looking through electronics catalogs.”

“Of course I do. Spec tables for new products are humanity’s greatest literary achievement. Everything needed to spark the imagination is found there. Not even Shakespeare or Doyle managed to invent this.”

“Hmm, so you’re some kinda weirdo?”

“I won’t criticize your zealotry for the Church of the Happy Churn, so how about being a little more openminded, Sensei?”

What a silly thing to say. Sugiyado Souha was openminded enough to accept any person of any age or gender. For that reason, he was not about to say no to riding behind a female motorcycle rider.

He might as well have been embracing the feline litheness of her spine and shoulder blades and he placed his hands around her hips. He had to watch himself to make sure he did not end up hooking his fingers around the belts binding her body.

“Nh.”

“Let’s not make weird noises, Hoozuki.”

“You’re acting calm, but your heartrate doesn’t lie, Sensei. But I’ll take that as a sign that you see me as a woman. I was a little worried about that, but I don’t have anyone else to ask about it. Heh heh heh.”

He cleared his throat, but she must not have meant it as criticism. She provided him the feminine softness and warmth of her back while she set Countless Calamities in motion.

They rushed through the city while the engine rumbled so deeply it almost sounded like a bass instrument.

“I heard you were out shopping with Asagao.”

“I doubt Ouka would give away the surprise, so that must have been Bara. She really has this annoying fetish for causing trouble while pretending to be an innocent bystander.”

“Call it an annoying ‘habit’, Hoozuki.”

“But anyway, I sent Asagao back to your room with the food. So this is my second time out here.”

Hoozuki made sure the others could not even hope to threaten her position as the most mobile of the four. She was a kunoichi whose transformable off-road motorcycle functioned as a means of transportation and a weapon. She could, in all seriousness, leap from rooftop to rooftop or lift up the back wheel and spin on the spot to swing it around like a roundhouse kick. If she was going tightrope walking, she would be safer roaring across on Countless Calamities than spreading her arms to balance herself on foot. That machine was becoming a part of her body.

“Can you stop your ponytail from slapping me in the face?”

“Bear with it. Not even I can make the air resistance go away.”

“Fine, but I’m afraid I’ll eat it if I’m not careful.”

[[Image:Kunoichis_v01_BW02.jpg|thumb]]

“You’re into some surprisingly kinky stuff, Sensei. Ouka would probably freak if she heard. Y’know, swinging her twintails around like a den-den daiko.”

It did not take long at all to arrive at the rundown apartment despite how far from the station it was.

After arriving back in familiar territory while the roaring engine probably triggered some noise complaints, they found an extremely small girl seated out front.

Her glossy black hair was worn in a bob cut, making her look something like a symbol of Japan, but she was dressed in a white military uniform with a tight skirt. She was 11 years old. With her appearance, any police officer that spotted her would 100% mistake her for a runaway child and drag her away.

“Asagao?”

“Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!!”

Her small head popped up and she started swinging her baggy sleeves around while screaming. She sounded like someone who had spotted a ship on the horizon after a month stuck on a desert island.

“You’re mean, Hoozuki! And you too, Sensei! How could you leave me all alone in that horrific cage!?”

“All alone? What happened to Ouka and Bara?”

After Sugiyado hopped down from the off-road motorcycle’s back seat, Shizukuma Asagao stomped her long boots on the ground and practically tackled him to cling to him. She looked up at him with a tearful and confused face that was not quite angry and not quite relieved.

“I’m saying you left me all alone while those two were emitting crazy auras at each other! It was so scary! Ouka was looking forward to surprising you and Bara went ahead and spilled the beans, so they were just glaring at each other in the scariest way!!”

He had no idea what was waiting for him inside, but he could tell it was not going to be pleasant. And with Hoozuki’s roaring engine, those two would know he was back home, so running away now would be silly.

Expressionless, Hoozuki held a hand out to Countless Calamities and transformed it into something like a rectangular bag.

“Asagao, you specialize in manipulating and dealing in information, right? All you have to do is use your conversational skills to guide them back to a calmer state.”

“Ugh. If you think that’s remotely possible at this point, then take a peek in there. Unlike the rest of you, I’m purely a scout, so I can’t actually fight. It’s a miracle I survived this long here.”

Incidentally, changing shape did not change the mass, so the bag making Nantou Hoozuki’s shoulder blade crawl alluringly below her skin weighed more than 90kg. Her every step caused a strange creaking from the rundown apartment’s stairs. Again, Sugiyado felt like complaining about kids these days.

“Sensei, you’re my Onii-chan, so it’s your duty to protect me.”

“Don’t think you can use that argument to get any New Year’s money out of me.”

Shizukuma Asagao was more than half serious as she tearfully clung to the side of his hip. Since her small head was in the perfect position, his hand naturally ended up petting it while he sighed.

Kuhou Ouka.

Hanasawa Bara.

Nantou Hoozuki.

Shizukuma Asagao.

The four of them really were like precious gems. Sending them out into the world as proper ninjas may have been even more impressive an achievement than anything Sugiyado Souha had done during his time as an active ninja.

Now, could he think of any way to peaceably end a face-off between those Elite Ninjas?

“No, that’s just not possible. Okay, Ouka, Bara! The only solution here is for you to grow up!! I’m making adults out of you right here and now!!”

When he threw open the door and made that announcement, he did indeed see Kuhou Ouka striking an intimidating pose and Hanasawa Bara looking like she was enjoying herself.

However, the chestnut twintails girl showing off her undeveloped bodylines and the red ringlet curls girl crossing her arms to lift up her enormous chest were not fighting to the death using legitimate ninja techniques.

“You want to ‘make an adult out of me’ in this tiny, filthy room, Sensei!?” (Ouka)

“And ‘the two of you’? Does that mean it’s at least going to be a threesome!?” (Bara)

(Um, uh oh.)

He realized too late that he had phrased that last part poorly. Asagao’s warmth had silently left the side of his hip and he could hear the clanking transformation sounds of Hoozuki’s Countless Calamities.

He recalled what he had read in some textbook or another.

Q: What is needed to bring multiple opposing forces together?

A: A common enemy.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhbwahhhh!?”

His screams were not going to convince the girls he was not in fact a pervert.

Four active-duty Elite Ninjas attacked him from four different directions at once.