Cute Kunoichis:Volume1 Chapter2

Status: Incomplete

1/4 parts completed

   

Chapter 2

1: Outbreak

“It’s finally here! The incredible product you’ve all been waiting for has arrived. Never again will you have to wonder what snack to buy. Enjoy this extra-hard Happy Churn created with a new and improved thickener!!”

“Oh, ohh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

The 17-year-old boy named Sugiyado Souha gave a bizarre cry inside the supermarket’s snack section.

“I-is this what they meant by X Day? There must have been signs, so how did I overlook them!?”

The core of his body was shaken by the news.

Yes. Happy Churn was humanity’s greatest invention, but it was brittle. The slightest impact would cause the short-lived snack to break. The family packs had each one packaged separately, so how many times had he shoved a couple in his pocket only to find his partner crumbled to dust within the clear wrapper? But that would never again be a problem. No longer would Happy Churn be bound to the home. It could finally spread its wings and fly out into the open world!!

(Th-this is it. With this, I can have Happy Churn with me 24/7!)

Most people discussed how the flour could be improved, but that was not what truly mattered. The Happy Churn God understood where the true foundation lay. It was all about the thickener. It was the same as cooking soba. Yes, Happy Churn had an English name, but it was built on a much more local foundation. And just like arare or rice crackers, this was a snack where you enjoyed the crunch between your teeth.

He nonchalantly grabbed a value pack and placed some random items like bread and milk in his basket to hide what he was really after, but his heart would not stop pounding wildly. After all, this harder version meant 24/7. He could eat them at home and on the go. No one could stop him now. He had to wonder if this was really legal. It was like finding a cheat code to make yourself Level 99 in an RPG.

“That will be 399 yen. Would you like a bag?”

The young wife working part-time saw him off with a smile and the legendary item was finally his.

It was a weekday morning, but no one was going to question his presence out here these days. Skipping school years or skipping straight to employment was fair game in this age where the merit system reigned supreme, so insisting kids should be in school was seen as discriminatory in some circles.

(Hell yes! What do I do now!? I can eat them at meals, as snacks, and even in the bath. No, no. I really need to try eating them on the go. Time and place are no longer meaningful constructs!! Mwa ha ha! Who needs to visit another world when my paradise is already here!?)

However, reality was not so kind.

It happened the very moment he set foot outside the supermarket’s automatic door.

“Don’t move!!”

“Mfh mrh mrh mfh ghh!!”

He was surrounded by extremely concerning metallic noises in all directions.

With men in black pressing the muzzles of their carbines against his cheeks, Sugiyado Souha’s face was transformed into something hideous while he tried his best to protect the shopping bag by holding it close.

“D-don’t…what!? Were they illegal after all!? But hold on! Unbreakable Happy Churn should be a dream come true for every last member of the human race!!”

The boy stubbornly insisted on protecting the shopping bag, but then he heard a solid footstep.

This sort of person did not generally produce audible footsteps. Moving silently was the most basic of basic skills. This was being used in lieu of a business card

The different schools had distinctive ways of moving silently and those in the know could tell them apart. It was similar to how shurikens had been developed to be as logical and efficient as possible, so their distinctive shapes could be used as evidence of who had been at the scene.

“Sugiyado Souha-san, I presume?”

The voice was as clear as a bell.

But the boy managed a frown on his hideously distorted face. He could tell which direction the sound had come from, but he could not pinpoint who had spoken the words.

Because he saw two girls in white dresses there.

Their long skirts with large slits fluttered in the wind.

The twin girls stood alongside each other with such precision they almost looked like each other’s shadow. Their semi-long hair had a golden glow reminiscent of heads of wheat after soaking up the sun’s blessing. There was no mistaking this for bleached blonde hair. One sister had a white hair extension next to one ear and the other had a red one, so that my have been how they distinguished themselves from each other.

The girls manage to be lovely and flashy simultaneously, but that was why the “shadowy scent” they carried with them seemed so out of place. Almost like they were being swallowed up by the shadow cast by the very light they produced.

“I am Shirazaya Guren,” said the one with the red hair extension.

“I am Shirazaya Suiren,” said the one with the white hair extension.

He was finally able to tell them apart. Although if he had not focused on the movement of the lovely buds of their lips, he would have remained trapped by the illusion.

“I apologize, but we have paid you a visit in order to ask your assistance.”

“…”

This apparently had nothing to do with the miraculous invention of hard Happy Churn, so Sugiyado breathed a sigh of relief and slowly put his hands up while wearing a short-sleeved dress shirt and loose pants that made movement easy. The itchiness of his large scarf bothered him.

“I’m sure we have much to discuss, but isn’t this public location a problem for both of us?”

“If we were second rate or worse, perhaps,” replied one of the twins, Suiren, while she shut her eyes and teased her right earlobe. There was a hint of mockery in her voice. “But surely one of the Hidden Ones is aware of a way to speak in public without any of the uttered secrets reaching unwanted ears.”

He sighed.

They knew of the Hidden Ones rank which was a secret in and of itself. That alone placed the twins beyond a certain line. Whoever they were, they were not going to just let him leave.

It was possible this would become a case of kill or be killed. Even though he had already withdrawn from the front line.

Shortly afterwards, his lips stopped moving altogether. No, his tone of voice had changed entirely as he whispered in a way that vanished into the chatter of the surrounding crowd.

“Like this?”

“Well done.”

No one outside of 3 meters could hear them and the average person could not make it out even within that range. Even if it was recorded, the wavelengths of the background noise and their voices would match too closely to be decoded.

This technique was known as Chirping.

In a field kept hidden from ordinary people, this was as basic a technique as hiding one’s footsteps or presence.

“This tells me you’re active on the front line, so what do you need with someone like me?”

“We would like your assistance as Instructor Sugiyado.”

“Sorry, but the class is full. I am only accepting four individualized digital courses. I wish I could handle more, but I can’t. Besides, what could I teach you if you can do all this?”

“We are aware of that.”

They had introduced themselves and everything, but he briefly lost track of which was Guren and which was Suiren. Although those twins with black bracelets may have been fine with that perfect symmetry.

At any rate, the two girls spoke.

“We would like details on the thought patterns of the four Elite Ninjas you teach: Kuhou Ouka, Hanasawa Bara, Nantou Hoozuki, and Shizukuma Asagao.”

The meaning of his silence changed entirely.

Going after the girls’ instructor to learn how their targets thought showed extreme persistence. This was not just for a love of fighting. They intended to come up with a plan and lay a trap to deal with their target.

“I am sure you were very proud of your students. They have all reached the position of Elite Ninja, the highest rank among the spies working directly for the shogunate. And even though they are already working on the front line, we hear you get along well enough to have exchanged addresses so they can periodically return to ask for lessons.”

“And as a former Hidden One, you would know better than anyone how those four think. Yes, enough to predict their actions.”

Of course, he was not just going to agree to this.

Even if they normally only interacted via their phones, they were his students.

“What we have is nothing so special, dammit.”

He was already surrounded. Since his opponent was using the power of an organization, there would already be people watching his home and friends. How much could he do? How much could he protect? He was honestly having a hard time finding any option other than doing as he was told.

But he still said it.

Straight to their face.

“I just wanted someone else to fulfill the dream I lost, so I handed out all of the techniques I had. And those girls decided to stick with this selfish bastard. …How can I abandon those kind girls after all that?”

The white dress twins breathed exaggerated sighs.

This was their actual voice rather than the Chirping. The parents with children arriving at the supermarket finally noticed something was amiss and looked over at them.

Shirazaya Guren’s throat moved alluringly as she breathed.

“We are not unregistered ninjas, you know?”

“Shogunate spies have come to you, so please think about what that means.”

In other words, this was about an incident the ordinary police could not handle.

A crisis threatened the very survival of the country and it was on the same level as the unseen war with the heavily-equipped knight sand musketeers who targeted the country’s technology openly and in secret.

But what did that have to do with Kuhou Ouka, Hanasawa Bara, Nantou Hoozuki, and Shizukuma Asagao? As ninjas, they were supposed to be the ones standing up to those threats.

“It looks like he is unaware what has happened.”

“Are you sure he did not run out to buy some snacks to soothe his sulking heart after they failed to contact him well after they were supposed to?”

That hit the bull’s eye.

But there was no need to let it show on his face.

“What are you saying those girls did?”

The twins shrugged at that question. They had to be skilled kunoichis, but the action perfectly matched their blonde hair and bright skin.

“They stole and ran off with a modular nuclear reactor which can be broken down and transported via freight train. If modified, that could function as a dirty bomb, or it could simply be set to detonate. To be clear, we are acting on the assumption that they will actually use it and not simply use it as a bargaining chip. So please help us.”

“We are front line ninjas as much as they are, but they are a step ahead of us. They seem to have a half day or full day lead on us. So we need to fill that gap somehow. That is where your understanding of their thought processes and ability to predict their actions comes in to play.”

4

Back to Chapter 1

Return to Main Page

Forward to Chapter 3