Chapter 6: See No Evil
….
“Ruika… stay strong…. Never… give up….”
_______________________
Rising to her feet, Ruika shakily clutches onto her sword, feeling her nerves work in and out. Cherry gazed at her with amusement, fixing her gloves.
Cherry: Not staying down are we? You’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.
Ruika: Tch… do you think… I want your backhanded compliments?
Cherry shrugs her shoulders.
Cherry: It’s not backhanded, I mean it. Most people can't take a few thousand volts to the chest and have the guts to stand back up.
The redhead narrowed her gaze.
Cherry: What’s wrong? I touch a soft spot?
Ruika: You really… need to shut up…
Cherry: ???
Ruika: You badmouth my clan…. And then insult me personally? You’ve got some nerve…
Lifting her sword and calling out to Cherry with declaration, Ruika had a look in her eye that was filled with determination.
Ruika: I’ll teach you what happens when you spit on the Samura name!
Cherry narrowed her gaze.
Cherry: (Here she comes…)
Sheathing her blade, Ruika mutters aggressively.
Ruika: Divine Lotus Iai Style:….
Closing her eyes, Ruika takes a step forward and dashes quickly at Cherry. The redhead was expecting the attack.
Cherry: (The same move!)
Ruika drew her blade, going for a throat slash.
SHHHNK!!!
Ruika: …Surfacewater Swallowtail!
Avoiding the quickdraw, Cherry jumped back slightly, but as she did, she quickly noticed that the schoolgirl stood behind her with her sword sheathed again.
Cherry: Ngh! (She’s fast!)
Ruika: Divine Lotus Iai Style:… Senken Edge!!!
Slashing multiple times and resheathing, Ruika throws out sword slashes like a Gatling gun. Each slash, Cherry avoided or was grazed by, putting her in the defensive now.
Cherry: The hell?! (How is she doing this…with her eyes closed?!)
After a flurry of attacks, Ruika chased after Cherry, who held her hands up for a guarding stance. With a swipe from her blade and a swift step inward, Ruika was now in the woman’s guard.
Ruika: RAH!
With a few sword strikes, Ruika aimed to cut Cherry at the waist. However, with enough flexibility, Cherry jumps up, performing a split and blocking the sword slash, while simultaneously activating the flames in her heels.
FWOOSH!!!
Ruika: (It’s hot again..! She’s using those flames!)
Jumping off of the blade, Cherry front flips, aiming for an axe kick, covered in flame.
Cherry: Burning Basilisk Gullotine!!!
SHHH BOOM!!!!
As the attack was narrowly avoided by Ruika, Cherry’s heel hit the concrete, creating a large explosion.
Standing in the smoke, Cherry looks around for the schoolgirl.
Cherry: Tch, goddamn it… didn’t mean to lose sight of h-
SHOOM!!!
In an instant, the willingly blind girl came in with a draw slash, catching Cherry off guard.
Cherry: !!
But before she could land a strong blow with the backhanded slash, Cherry twisted the dial on one of her gloves, increasing the voltage to a palpable and tangible feeling for both of them.
Ruika: Ngh!
Cherry: VOLTAGE VENOM!!!
BZZZZTTT!!!
A massive blast of electricity shot outward, creating an explosive barrier of electricity to push Ruika back. Sliding from the force of the barrier, Ruika drops to a knee, panting slightly as she opened one of her eyes.
Ruika: Damn it…
Staring at the redhead’s gloves and heels, Ruika narrows her gaze in frustration.
Ruika: (Her Chakratech is really well made… and she’s really comfortable using it too… She’s no random thug… she’s trained… I need to be more deliberate with my strikes.)
Cherry: Look, kid… Stay down and I’ll let you live. No one needs to die here.
Ruika: That’s rich.. Coming from someone like you. Why do you care if I live or die?
Cherry: …I don’t… I’m just sa-
“CHERRY!”
Ruika: ?!!!
Cherry: !!!
Standing a few yards from them, a pair of goons held up and aimed their guns at Ruika. This caught both combatants off guard.
Ruika: (Damn it!)
Grunt 1: Don’t worry, we’ve got this bitch!
Cherry: NO! DON’T SHOOT!
Grunt 2: DIE BITCH!
However, just as the gun went off-
DOOM!
Cherry had suddenly appeared and grabbed the both of said grunts’ guns, raising them to the air to make them miss.
Grunt 1: Eh?!
Grunt 2: Cherry, what the fu-
Cherry: I told you….
ZZZZZZZZZZT!!!
Grunt 1: AAAAAAAAGHHHH!!!!!
Grunt 2: AAZZZHHHHK!!!!
Ruika:!!
After a few moments, the grunts fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. Ruika was in disbelief, looking at the woman with both eyes open.
Cherry:.... To not shoot….. Idiots…
Ruika: Wh-What… what’s going on… why did you…
Cherry: Sigh To save your life… you stupid kid.
Ruika looked incredibly confused, seeing Cherry pull something out of her pocket and place it into her ear, pressing her two fingers to the black nub.
Cherry: Pond, this is Agent White.. It’s time to close in.
In an instant, groups of men and women in black appeared, completely surrounding the back entrance of the club. Ruika was taken aback by the sheer numbers.
Ruika: Where did they…?
Cherry: They’ve been here, scouting.
Ruika: Scouting…? You mean…
Cherry groans in irritation, removing her shades and revealing her pretty mint colored eyes.
Cherry: This is why I can’t stand Swordsmen…
Ruika: ???
One of the men in black brings her a new pair of gloves, causing her to take them begrudgingly.
Cherry: We use tax dollars to set investigations like these up. Endless amounts of time and manpower goes into these cases… and a jackass with a sword can just barge right in and handle things just like that. How annoying…
Spotting a badge on one of the men in black’s suit, Ruika spoke aloud.
Ruika: Wait… that's the… Crest of Amaterasu…
She looks up at Cherry with a gaze of disbelief.
Ruika: You’re with the government??!
Cherry places her shades back on and answers sharply.
Cherry: Yes, and your crew just blew my cover. Now we’ve got to rush the raid.
Ruika: The raid..? Wait a second… What’s going on here??!
Cherry: A lot of that is classified… But since you’re with the Nichiren 11, I’ve got no choice but to spill some beans…. Stupid.
Ruika slowly gets to her feet, grabbing hold of her sword tightly.
Cherry: Senji Aizawa… he’s got some connections to even bigger fish in the underbelly of this country… We need to capture him and make him talk…
Ruika: Like with… chakratech?
Cherry: No… his connections and what they’re alleged to provide…. It’s way worse….
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Meanwhile, inside the club…
Nanashi, Kasumi and Yuto walk through, noticing something was….off…
Nanashi: There aren't any guards…
Yuto: It must have somethin’ to do with the noise out back.
Nanashi: Tch, and she told ME not to be all reckless…
Bzz Bzz!
Yuto: Hm?
Pulling out a phone from his robe sleeve, Yuto looked at the contact and immediately, his energy shot up.
Nanashi: Were you keeping that in your robes the whole ti-
Yuto: Shiiii-chaaaaaaan~! How's your morning goin’ beautiful???
Nanashi looked on in disbelief as Yuto answered the phone.
Nanashi: You can't be serious….
Kasumi: Who’s Shi-chan??? His sister????
Yuto nods his head as he was being spoken to.
Yuto: Uh huh… uh huh… oooo okay. I gotcha. So that’s what it is now…. Yup! We’ll get it squared away! Now how about a kiss over the phone???
Clk!*
Yuto: Eh?
As this “Shi-chan” hung up on Yuto, the green haired man gave a comical face of confusion before shrugging it off and placing his phone in his robe yet again.
Nanashi: The hell was that all about???
Yuto’s tone returned to normal, citing how the situation was.
Yuto: Change of plans… Senji’s capture is mandatory now.
Nanashi: Huh???
Yuto: Before, it was dead or alive… but now the government’s involved.
Nanashi: Nh??!
Yuto: They wanna take him in for questioning, cuz apparently they’ve been investigating him for years.
Nanashi: Tch, so what? It doesn’t change the fact he’s gotta go down.
Yuto nods.
Yuto: True, but the reasoning is something that I think will motivate you…
He looks over his shoulder to gaze into Nanashi’s eyes.
Yuto: He’s been dealing with the Amatsu…
Nanashi’s eyes widened at that revelation.
Yuto: I’m not entirely sure what, but we can get the details later…. Just know, this goes deeper than I expected.
Nanashi: The Amatsu……
His gaze goes cold as he remembers the day that took his life from him.
Nanashi: Let’s go…..
Yuto: Right…. Oh uh… where’d your gal pal go???
Nanashi: Huh???!
The two look around, but they didn’t see Kasumi at all.
Nanashi: HUH?! SHE JUST DIPPED?!
Yuto: Heh… funny…
“Hey you!”
Nanashi & Yuto: ?!
Hearing her voice down the hall, Nanashi and Yuto stare in disbelief and bewilderment.
Nanashi: You…. can’t be serious……
Yuto:.... Shit.
Racing into the main room, Nanashi and Yuto spot Kasumi, who confronted three men who looked as if they were packing briefcases to leave. The black haired girl glared at them with her hands on her hips and her thick eyebrows furrowed.
Nanashi: Ngh! Hey!
Kasumi doesn’t acknowledge him, her seriousness permeating as she stared the gangsters down.
Kasumi: Are you the bad guys Nanashi was referring to?
Senji narrows his dark gaze at Kasumi, facing her with a tired gaze.
Senji: Who’s asking?...
Kasumi gets into a fighting stance, narrowing her big blue eyes, ready for a confrontation.
Kasumi: I’m not letting you get away with what you’re doing…. Stop your ways, or I’ll make you stop.
Nanashi grits his teeth, attempting to intervene. However, Yuto held out his hand, stopping Nanashi. Nanashi gazes at Yuto in confusion, but Yuto raises a finger to his lips, watching things play out.
Senji chuckles aloud, standing up straight and nodding at her. The more muscular gangster to his left took his cue, walking toward her and cracking his knuckles.
Randy Rodeo: Get ready little lady. Cuz the Muscular Man Randy Rodeo is about to make you go night night.
Kasumi: Don’t….
Randy Rodeo: Huuh??
Kasumi looks up at him, getting out of her fighting stance.
Kasumi: I don’t want to hurt you….. So please don’t.
Randy Rodeo sneers, veins popping out from his temple. Yelling out loud and cocking his fist back, the muscular thug prepares himself to attack.
Randy Rodeo: DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME SISTER!!! GET READY FOR THE SMACKDOW-
POKE POKE!!
Nanashi:!!
Yuto: Ohh???
With two swift poking thrusts to the man’s throat and solar plexus, Randy Rodeo’s eyes went blank as he fell toward her unconscious. As he did, Kasumi readied herself, shifting and pivoting her foot suddenly before-
BOOM!!!!
Landing a powerful bajiquan shoulder strike to his face, launching the 6’6 man through the far wall he came from.
SHOOM!! BOOOM!!!!
Nanashi’s jaw dropped, while Yuto covered his mouth in surprise. Senji slowly turned his head as a vein popped out under his left eye. Despite his calm demeanor, Senji looked incredibly angry.
Senji: …. What… in the hell was that..?
Kasumi: Ancient family technique. Tetsuzanko as I like to call it.
Senji sneers, grabbing hold of his sword off the table behind him.
Yuto: That’s….
Nanashi:...
In an instant, Senji dashed right at Kasumi, blitzing her with insane speed. Realizing he had closed the distance, Kasumi’s eyes widened. Drawing his sword and aiming to rend her flesh, Senji came for her head. However, before the blade could reach her-
CHNK!!!!
Nanashi jumped in front, blocking the attack with his own Karmablade. Kasumi blinked in surprise, looking at the back of her cloaked protector.
Kasumi: N-Nanashi..!
Yuto: Woah..! (Quick on his feet!)
Senji:... Who the hell’re you..?
Nanashi: None of your business…. Now, my turn to ask a question…..
Nanashi’s gaze glared right into Senji’s tired eyes, coldly interrogating him.
Nanashi: …what do you know about the Amatsu..?
End of Chapter 6