Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow #2

From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow" #2

"...Doomo. Ah..." Silver Karasu nods. "I am Kagi Tanaka." Kagi Tanaka is an alias of his. That is also the name he used while buying the house. "Doomo", the girl returns the nod. "Me is Yamoto Koki." The two introduced themselves without a second thought. There's nothing surprising about this. Even if you are complete strangers, an aisatsu is in order when you sit together. That is how it goes in Japan.

The girl with long black hair is wearing an acid rain-resistant jacket. However, her bottom is still of her school uniform. Silver Karasu becomes suspicious. It's the dead of the night. The clothes spinning in the laundry are apparently quite plain. "Can I?" Silver Karasu points at the magazine stand next to Yamoto. "Sure", Yamoto nods.
He raises his hand to take "Daily Korewa" full of poisonous headlines, stops, and takes a "Sportify". He sits away from Yamoto and starts flipping through the pages. The articles don't really catch his attention. Why a uniform, so late? Is she that kind of a service maiko? Nay, she doesn't have such atmosphere about her. She also seems to carry a large backpack.
(Well, she seems to have run away from home. I wonder if she's alright.) He continues looking through the magazine. However, at that moment, the feeling of uneasiness ran through his neurons. His ninja smell, or perhaps ninja sixth sense, feels something that does not fit this girl in her atmosphere, something resembling a faint trace of bloodshed.
Feeling the weight of his katana under the coat, Silver Karasu asks her. "Do you live around here?" "No, me came to my single aunt to play, but she got hospitalized with an illness. She wanted me to take the clothes to the laundry." She answers fluently, but somehow unreasonably. "I see."
"The drying is finished, dosue." "The drying is finished, dosue." Almost at the same time, their laundries speak with a maiko voice. The two look at each other. Yamoto gives a quiet chuckle. Silver Karasu hurriedly packs his clothes in a bag and bows in an aisatsu. "So, uh, bye. The security is pretty bad around here, so be careful." "Hai."
Silver Karasu leaves the coin laundry and starts walking toward his house, but then remembers something and goes in the opposite direction. In two or three minutes, he approaches a tobacco vending machine with "Actually Cheap" written on it in Mincho font. He looks for the "Sea of Twilight". The heartless "Sold Out" light shines. He hesitates about buying a different brand, and doesn't.
Instead, he buys a can of coffee with "Strong Coffee Flavor" printed on it. While drinking the sweet liquid full of chemo sugar and artificial seasonings that numb his tongue, he slowly follows his original course. As he passes the coin laundry, he sees Yamoto still sitting inside. He walks away.
"Bittersweet." Without even drinking a half of his coffee, Silver Karasu throws it away to the roadside. A man with squared shoulders walks toward him. Silver Karasu walks next to him. The man clicks his tongue, rubs his shoulder, and quickens his pace. Silver Karasu looks back and sees him entering the coin laundry.
"That looks pretty bad", Silver Karasu says to himself, scratching his head. After a few seconds, his premonition comes to life. The sound of a quarrel, a man's angry voice, and a girl's cry can be heard even this far in the street. "What a pity", he murmurs and keeps walking towards his apartment. Without a doubt, that man is a ninja. In other words, he's after that girl. That's only natural.
If that is true, and that Yamoto Koki girl, as he suspects, is also a ninja, she might also be one of the reasons it's been so dangerous around here lately. Might she even be cleaning her clothes of other people's blood? Is she running away? There must be a reason for a ninja to go out of his way to kill a young girl in public. That fast pace. That tense look.
Silver Karasu does not want to get involved in that trouble. Neo-Saitama is like a Tea Party Incident of such trouble, and he has more than enough to worry about with his biz...

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Yamoto feels the new presence... the hostility that runs through his neurons... with her own ninja sixth sense, so she stood ready before he even entered the coin laundry. The automatic glass doors open, and the man stands in the doorway. The man takes off his jacket, and his ninja suit appears on him in an instant! "Doomo. I am Nutcracker."
The man's bow dominates the room! Yamoto returns the aisatsu. "...Doomo. Me is Yamoto Koki." "Surprised? You shouldn't underestimate Soukaiya. It's a miracle that you managed to escape for so long", Nutcracker starts threatening her. "YEEART!" Yamoto takes the initiative and jumps!
"YEEART!" "NAAA!" Nutcracker reacts to Yamoto's ambush with a quick axe kick. His menpo transforms, revealing a set of steel teeth, like a bizarre bear trap! Yamoto is intimidated by the threat of a dangerous biting attack capable of cracking rocks, let alone nuts!
"I already see that this miserable karate is your best wazamae. Just a brat, like your appearance suggests", says Nutcracker. "A helpless brat, akin to a fawn! And this brat did in Sonic Boom=san and Bicorn=san? No way. Who are you working with?" "...!" Yamoto rises to her feet. And a kick! "YEEART!"
"NAAA!" Yamoto is sent flying by the kick, hitting a washing machine in the wall. "Ghah! ...Ghah!" "Of course, the Soukaiya got more than enough data about your jitsu. It's basically a kind of a karate missile, right? Ha!" Nutcracker comes closer. "You can't do it in a room this small, can you?"
Namusan, does the enemy already know all there is to know about Yamoto's jitsu? Indeed, using Yamoto's origami missiles in a coin laundry is nothing short of a suicide. How sly of Nutcracker, using such Fuurinkazan method! Yamoto is like a caged rat. "First of all, beg for your life", Nutcracker says coldly.
"And say who your collaborator is already. Since you're just a brat, you might have had no idea about the recklessness of your deeds, but the society won't forgive you. Everything that opposes Soukaiya will be tracked down by our karate." "...!" Tears start welling up with tears. "Don't keep your mouth shut. Beg for your life." Nutcracker's eyes bright up. "Or maybe I should listen to what your body got to say."
Nutcracker starts clanging with his teeth, as if to scare her. "I'm not really into flat-chested brats like you, but there is some fun in that, too! And I get information, as well! In other words, GWAAH!?" Something interrupts Nutcracker's speech. From his chest, just by his heart, sticks the tip of a katana.
"...In other words?" Right behind Nutcracker, stands Kagi Tanaka from before. Kagi Tanaka grips Nutcracker's head, sealing his biting attack, and asks him coldly. "In other words, you had no idea someone could ambush you from behind?" "ABAH!? ABAH...!?"
What dreadful wazamae, piercing a person's heart from behind. Nutcracker's wound is fatal, and he might die any minute. "Ah, you..." "A Soukaiya ninja, huh... I don't want to get any more trouble." With one hand, he pulls out a dagger from his pocket, with the other, he twists Nutcracker's neck. "ABAAH!"
Yamoto has no way to know this, but performing this stab and the choke at the same time is supposed to destroy the IRC communication devices cybernetically implanted in all Soukaiya ninjas as soon as possible. Tatsujin! Kagi Tanaka grabs Nutcracker by the neck and throws him out of the coin laundry.
"Sa, SAYONARA!" Nutcracker screams and explodes, scattering his ashes on the winds. "Hai, sayonara," Kagi Tanaka murmurs, turning around. "Ah..." Yamoto looks up at Kagi Tanaka, trembling. "You don't have to thank me", Kagi interrupts her. "For now, do pray for me, as well. So I don't get into trouble after this."
"You, ninja." "Well of course. Aah, wait, I got a bad feeling about this." Kagi pulls Yamoto closer by her jacket. Yamoto stiffens herself. Kagi unzips Yamoto's jacket, searches under it with his hand, and pulls out a small device the size of a pinky nail. "A transmitter. It doesn't transmit sound. Good thing they respect your privacy."
"Eh... You mean, all this time..." "That's right. I could feel its waves with my hand. Goes with the job", Kagi says without much interest, gets closer to a yotamono bike about to run along outside, and splendidly throws the transmitter onto it. "So, what exactly are you here for, missy?" Kagi looks at Yamoto.

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"This, this right here, this black shadow-like lump, you can see it, right?" The doctor with an overbite explains in a high-pitched voice while pointing a stick at the X-ray photo. "Well, the fact that you managed to come here is good enough", the doctor gives a heavy sigh. "Is it bad?" "Indeed."
The doctor scratches his head. "I recently learned that, even for a ninja, there are some things that are as bad as they sound, hai." On the collar of his lab coat, the emblems of cross-katana and Yoroshisan sparkle. "Or you can go to Lee-sensei-" "I apologize", Silver Karasu interrupts him. "How much do I have left?" "We don't have enough ninja data."
"Half a year, perhaps?" "Unfortunately, less than that." The overbite doctor adjusts his glasses. "You do have the money, right? Being a ninja and all. Why not spend it while you can on something you enjoy? "Well, thanks for the idea." "Or is there anything else? Do you have any feelings of guilt? Is that really okay? Living the rest of your life with it... Or perhaps, there is something you want to make right?"
... "Again with the dreams?", says Nonako. Silver Karasu stares at the ceiling. "No, I'm not sleeping." "You said something about making things right." "Aah. I did actually say that. I wasn't talking in my sleep." Silver Karasu turns his face sideways. Nonako stares right in his eyes. Silver Karasu mutters emotionlessly. "I wonder what." "What?"

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"When speaking about ninjas," Silver Karasu looks for the right words. "The so-called ninja insight, ninja memory... The education theory is quite different from that of regular humans." Yamoto listens with quite tense look. She wears Jiu Wear and holds a wooden sword in her hand. "...What should I even do, I wonder." "Eh?"
The Jiu Wear that Yamoto wears has been stocked in Silver Karasu's room, so despite it beeing slightly off-size, it's not worn at all (in a regular Japanese household, the Jiu Wear is prepared for the visitors in advance, so it's natural to have a few to spare). He also wears Jiu Wear. "Actually, how many years has it been..." "Eh?"
The two are in an unnamed advanced dojo. There are many things like this one hidden between the buildings in Neo-Saitama. Its owner was probably waiting for the day to open his dojo, but died or ran away, as the tatami are still new, and the calligraphy on the walls saying "Iai", "Karate" and "Yatsukete" is untouched.
"Let's move on. Because we ninjas have something called ninja insight, for now, it's fine to concentrate on the basics of movement. As long as the floodgates are closed, even if it rains over the lake, the water won't get into the river. The basic karate is the key to open these floodgates. Got it?" "...Maybe," Yamoto nods.
"By the way, did you defeat Sonic Boom? Really? You did?" Silver Karasu overheard it. Yamoto shakes her head in silence. "Figures. It's complicated. It's not like I know him personally, but I do know that he can't be beaten by simple jitsu." Silver Karasu says without going any further.
"Since you got no karate, you're always underestimated by the ninja like Nutcracker. Actually, if I didn't happen to come back there, you would've died right there. I'm not saying that you're in my debt. If you're going to fight them as you are right now, escaping them is a pipe dream. I don't blame you, either! It's the truth. Hey, don't cry!" "...!"
"My karate is iaido. It uses a sword. However, all Do uses the same karate movements. Hey, let's put the wooden sword aside, after all." Silver Karasu, who's obviously not used to teaching, puts the wooden sword he himself gave her down on the tatami. "First of all, let's practice tile-breaking. Just hold your fist up and bring it down. Since you're a ninja, this should be easy."
Silver Karasu sits down on his knee. "Up," he slowly lowers his fist, "down..." He watches Yamoto trying to imitate his movements. "Up. Down." "Ah, that's probably fine. ...It's up. Then down. The fist. Right." "Up. Down." "Right. You're getting it. That's what I'm talking about. Right, up, down. Right..."
... "YEEART!" "YEEART!" Yamoto strikes with the wooden sword, while Silver Karasu deflects it aside. Yamoto turns around towards it and tries to strike with her sword again. Silver Karasu dodges it by crouching down and tries to sweep her legs. "YEEART!" Yamoto dodges it with a cartwheel.
"YEEART!" Yamoto kicks the tatami, trying to approach Silver Karasu again, brandishing her wooden sword again. Silver Karasu calmly meets it with his own sword. "YEEART! YEEART! YEEART!" "YEEART! YEEART! YEEART!" Through the shouji doors of the dojo, the sunset paints the tatami red.
"YEEART!" "YEEART!" ... "YEEART! YEEART! YEEART! YEEART! YEEART! " "YEEART!" ... "YEEART!" "YEEART!" ...

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"Hiitorii, Komakitanee" "...Aka-chan!" "Misuujino, Itonii." The orange light falls down on the black water surface. The echoing advertising voices sound in mysterious harmony, akin to Zen. Overviewing this beautiful Nobidome Shade night view, Silver Karasu stands on the rooftop of an industrial building, unfazed even to his own surprise.
"Aka-chan..." "It sure is big!" "Like Bariki!" The ripples of light shine as if from a distant world, while the ad voices sound as if from the other side of the Sanzu River. Silver Karasu swallows the Zazen Tablet and silently puts on a gauntlet for throwing sniper surikens.
[As a tipsy salaryman goes out of that houseboat, please kill him with a suriken.] "Is this an assassination?" As he answers Smiling Jii over the communication device, Silver Karasu's voice is insecure. [Well, it's actually great, isn't it?] "I'm not talking about how great it is. If you want an assassination, pay for it appropriately. Don't be stingy."
[Well, it might be just a useless precaution, but you don't really have much experience as a sniper. Feel free to throw it like crazy and kill anyone else.] Smiling Jii goes on impolitely. [It's actually an invention of a genius sniper ninja. But since he has perished, the ones who acquired it made some improvements, so now it looks this way. It's easier to use now, apparently.]
"Easier to use?" Silver Karasu lies down at the roof's edge and extends his arms. The wheels installed in the gauntlet starts spinning, releasing a suriken put between it. Kyun! The suriken, with the immense momentum gained from the accelerating mechanism, destroys the lantern on the houseboat. "Hahaha," he laughs with a dry laugh.
After finding the balance with a few trial shots, he aims at the innocent tipsy salaryman that leaves the houseboat just in time. "I think I got it now." Kyun! The accelerated suriken lands far ahead of the salaryman! The salaryman's foot is sent flying! The salaryman grows pale in an instant! ...Kyun! ...Kyun!
It took six tries to kill the salaryman. Only one of them got cruelly killed, and one of his pals got badly hurt in his shoulder. "...Namu-Amida-Butsu." [Okay], Smiling Jii is heard over the communication device. [And now, go to the corpse and take a picture of it.] "What? Me?" [Hai.]
"Do I really have to go now? The mappo's going to come any minute." [Hai.] "That's too much trouble." [Please do.] "Send someone..." He doesn't finish. "Okay, roger that. But I expect a bonus for this." [Hai, otasshadee.] Silver Karasu gets up, shakes his head with a fed-up expression, and jumps down from the rooftop. "YEEART!"

(From part I, "Neo-Saitama In Flames": "Swan Song Sung By A Faded Crow" #2: The End. To be continued in #3)