Hi guys, author here! Please share your thoughts in the comments and reviews. And if you like it, don't forget to drop some stones — they're a great motivator!
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Kobe City:
In one of the busier shopping districts, a group of five young men walked casually, laughing without a care in the world.
They weren't locals. They had come for work and had been operating together for some time.
As they turned toward their usual lunch spot, one of them suddenly stopped.
The others continued a few steps before noticing he wasn't behind them.
"What happened?"
No response.
He was staring at something in the distance.
They followed his gaze.
"What? You see someone you know?"
"Or someone caught your eye? That girl? Too bad she's with her boyfriend."
"Well… the boyfriend could 'disappear'."
They laughed and slapped his back.
"...Zenin," muttered the man.
"Huh? What did you sa- OI! Where are you going?"
Without saying anything, the man ran and started following the people he spotted.
The other people looked at him, wondering what was wrong with the man to run through the crowd with such a scary expression on his face.
His colleagues looked at each other before they shrugged their shoulders and went ahead to have their lunch.
Food was more important than a crazy guy.
-----
Currently in the alley where Noaya and Utahime went in, the said man came as well.
He looked around and only spotted a girl, seemingly talking to someone on her phone.
'It's the same girl, but where is the Zenin?' thought the man.
"Yes mom, I am fine," said Utahime and walked a bit deeper in the alley.
The man slowly followed behind her while Utahime continued to talk on the phone.
"...You need something from me?" asked Utahime, ending the call and putting the phone down. They were quite deep inside the alley.
"Maybe....I would like to ask something," said the man.
"...You are acting kinda creepy, you know."
"Really? Too bad, that's just how I am. Just answer my f*cking question," said the man and showed the dagger that was hanging around his waist to Utahime, trying to scare her.
Utahime simply continued to stare at the man, unimpressed.
"Where is the kid who was with you?"
"What kid? I came here alone."
"Don't play with me, b*tch. I saw you enter with that Zenin bastard. So drop your f*cking act. You are a sorcerer too, right? Where is the Zenin bastard?" asked the man and took out the dagger.
"Sheesh, such foul language. Is that how your parents raised you?"
A new voice came, making the man panic and look around.
"Here, look down."
"Huh?"
"Sup"
The man looked down and saw a face peeking out of the ground, more specifically out of the shadows.
Without any warning, Naoya jumped out of the shadows and landed an uppercut on the man.
"AGH!"
"You know me?" asked Naoya, grabbing the man's leg and slamming him to the ground.
"Zenin!" called the man in anger, glaring at Naoya.
"Yeah, yeah, say something else now, would you?" said Naoya with a bored tone and summoned [Toad] from his shadows to sit on top of the man, pinning him to the floor.
The man felt the weight of the Toad and found it quite difficult to move. He was about to use Cursed energy reinforcement to push the shikigami away, but Naoya summoned [Tiger Funeral] as well, which was ready to tear apart the man the moment he tried something.
The man glared at Naoya, making the Zenin heir simply smile back at him.
Utahime looked at the scene and sighed. Their cover was blown quite early on the mission only because one of these curse users recognised Naoya.
'Well, maybe it's for the better. It saved us time looking for them.' thought Utahime and looked at Naoya who was interrogating the man.
She stared at him for a while and soon a blush came on heer face, remebering the position the two of them were a moment ago.
Realizing that her thoughts were going haywire she shook her head vigourously trying to snap out of it.
.
.
.
After a few back and forth with the curse user, Naoya and Utahime gained some insights.
The man had known Naoya since back in the day, Naoya killed this man's father, who came to kill him, and since then, he had a grudge against Naoya.
What can he say? He was quite famous.
The man is also indeed part of the group they were after, but refused to say anything or even admit it.
After trying to get him to confess anything useful for around 15 minutes, Naoya gave up and unsummoned Twister the toad.
"Let's get going, senpai. He clearly knows nothing and just came after me. We have more important matters to attend," said Naoya and unsummoned Snow, the tigress, as well.
"Wait. What? He clearly is invo-"
"Trust me senpai. Seeing how weak he is, he is not involved with the ones we are after," said Naoya.
Utahime looked unconvinced but decided to nod along. If the man was not going to tell them anything, then there was no point in wasting time on him.
"Agh, Zenin," spat the man as he finally got back on his feet.
He was quite injured from all the 'interrogatory beating' he got from Naoya.
"What now?" asked Naoya, clearly annoyed by the man.
"...Do you even remember my father, whom you killed?"
"Nope."
Hearing the nonchalant answer from Zenin, the man got speechless.
"Does your dead father remember all the innocent people he killed for money? Do you remember all the people you and your curse user buddies killed for money? The family of those whom you killed. How much did they suffer because of your actions? How are they doing now? Do you guys look into that?" asked Naoya back.
The man got silent and clenched his fists in frustration.
Seeing that reaction, Naoya snorted and smirked.
"Congrats, dude, you are a hypocrite, just like me. Go annoy someone weaker than you. At least that would be something a pathetic burden on earth as you can do," said Naoya and walked away.
Utahime blinked at Naoya's cold and logical response with slight amazement before turning towards the man who was insulted by Naoya.
The man had unimaginable anger on his face. The humiliation only boosted the frustration he had.
"Let's get going senpai. He is not worth our time," said Naoya, and pulled Utahime along.
-----
Back on the crowded streets, Naoya and Utahime were back on their job.
"I still believe that man is related to the group we are after," said Utahime.
"Maybe. I don't think there are many reasons for a curse user to roam around in the bustling parts of the city," replied Naoya.
"!!! Then why did you let him go just like that?!" asked Utahime.
"He wouldn't have given us any information. Better not waste time on a defective lead."
"Still, we could have tailed him to know about their whereabouts."
"Not ideal. Considering he knows that we are sorcerers, he will now try to lay low for a while. If he spots us tailing him, he can lead us somewhere else entirely. Tailing him will only cause us more problems for now."
"Agh, so annoying. There goes one of our leads."
"Not entirely," replied Naoya and smirked.
"What do you mean?"
"Now now, senpai. Will it be fun if I give you the answer so easily?" asked Naoya.
"...You just find new ways to be annoying."
"I try my best."
"You don't have a nice personality. I pity Maki-chan and Mai-chan for having a role model with such a bad personality."
"Oi! Take that back! I am the bestest brother and role model!" complained Naoya.
"Doesn't look like that to me."
"...Fine, act like that. I won't come to save you when you come calling for help."
"...You know you will."
"Ugh...why am I such a good guy?"
"Hehe. Suffer for being on the side of the good," said Utahime and laughed.
"You are evil."
"Me? Evil? I am gooder than you. Maybe the goodest one on the side of good."
"Yeah, says the one who yells home run while hitting others with a baseball bat."
"Oi! That doesn't count."
"It certainly does."
The two continued to bicker for a while when, suddenly, Naoya's stomach growled, signalling that it was lunch time.
The two moved to a ramen store, and like usual, Naoya ordered the challenge set.
Once the two got comfortable, Utahime suddenly asked.
"That man that we met in the alley."
"Hm?"
"He said about his father trying to kill you."
"Ah, don't worry about it. I have been a target since I was young. It has improved now, but back in the day, it was too troublesome. You wouldn't believe how low people can stoop to earn money," said Naoya.
"Young, like when you were a kid."
"Yeah, things were going on in the background, and most of the attacks got stopped before the assassins even reached me, but around the time when I got around 8 or 9, stronger and better assassins started coming to kill me. Sleeping, eating, bathing, shitting, you name it. Those bastards didn't care about the time and place."
Utahime simply remained silent. She can't understand how Naoya would have felt. She has never been a target of assassinations. Naoya was strong and belonged to a great clan, but even then, a kid would not have been fine facing such things constantly.
"Leave the depressing talk. I now just think of it as one of the many downsides of being born in the Zenin clan," replied Naoya and sipped on some water.
"...Judging by how you are speaking, I guess being born in a great clan does not guarantee a rosy life."
"Can't say about other clans. The Zenin clan is just 'overly affectionate'. The assassination problem is common, though. Every clan member goes through it. Honestly, at this point, it is a rite of passage. Surviving it guarantees an amazing future," said Naoya and sat back.
"... Surviving being assassinated is a rite of passage.... honestly, sometimes I blame being involved in this side of the world. I genuinely think that what you said made sense. How much messed up our heads are?" questioned Utahime.
Naoya leaned in, lifted her bangs and stared at her.
"Hm? By my diagnosis. You are quite messed up. I prescribe deep brain cleaning."
"Drop it," complained Utahime and smacked Naoya's hand.
Naoya looked at her with surprise and rubbed his palm.
"Such a violent lady."
"Hmph. Deal with it."
"What else can I do. Honestly, why does such a sweet and peace-loving guy like me get entangled with this brute of a senior?"
"Huh? You, peace-loving? Did the meaning of the word change?"
"Hey, I am all for peace. You cannot deny that. Either come in peace or rest in peace. Peace is mandatory for me."
"Wow, such a charming personality."
"Hm? You making a move on me?"
"In your dreams!!!"
Naoya nodded and pretended to sleep.
"Ah, no senpai~ Don't do this to me. It is wrong. We should first get to know each other better."
Without any second thoughts, Utahime tried to smack Naoya, only for a solid shadow to block her.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Stopping the senpai in my dreams from taking advantage of me. She was quite agressive you know."
"You damn bast-"
"Your order is here."
A shop worker came with their food, making Utahime stop and calm herself down.
Seeing her stop, Naoya smirked. He won the argument this time.
Utahime glared at him, making the Zenin heir enjoy the victory even more.
Still, after a while, he apologised to her for annoying her.
Utahime didn't mind. She has come to know that Naoya didn't mean much by his teasing. Still, it did annoy her quite a bit.
While the two were talking, the other people in the shop looked at their table, more specifically at Naoya, who devoured the entire challenge set in a matter of minutes and even ordered another one.
The shop owner was already cursing his luck for sending Naoya to his restaurant.
Utahime noticed the gazes on them, but she was mostly unaffected. She was now used to being stared at in restaurants whenever she went out with Naoya.
She stared at Naoya for a while before finishing her own food and standing up.
"Boss, cancel the challenge bowl order," said Utahime.
"Huh? I am not done eating," complained Naoya.
"Let's go somewhere else; just having ramen is not nutritious. Honestly, you should know this already," chided Utahime.
"Don't act like a mother."
"Don't act like a kid and get on your feet. If I didn't know your diet, I would say that you have eaten enough. C'mon, let's go. The sooner we are done with lunch, the sooner we can go back to our jobs. Don't forget that we are not here to have fun."
"Ah. I forgot about that. I was having too much fun with you...about our job, though, don't worry about it," said Naoya, stood up and paid for their meal.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" asked Utahime.
"Enough talking, let's get going. I am still not done eating."
"Wait for me! What do you mean by not worrying about the job?"
"You will understand later...what do you want to eat, senpai?" asked Naoya and looked around.
Utahime was about to tell him to get serious, but noticed that Naoya was not looking at the shops; rather, he was looking at shady areas.
"...Let's go for some meat. You need protein too," said Utahime and grabbed Naoya's arm to pull him along.
"Are we being followed?" whispered Utahime.
"Seems so. Around 10 to 15 of them."
"...There are too many people here."
"Yes...for now, follow me."
Utahime gave a nod and let Naoya lead the way.
The two entered an alley, and the moment they got in, Naoya partially summoned [Nue] to fly away along with Utahime and landed on top of a building.
The two of them then looked down, and just as Naoya told them earlier, around 10 to 15 people started to head towards the alley and act frantically the moment they didn't spot them.
Naoya glanced towards Utahime and gestured something to her.
The senior nodded and started chanting.
Naoya focused back on the group and activated his technique.
Shadows emerged from his feet and launched towards the group, and restrained them before pulling them up.
Utahime finished chanting and dropped a curtain around the terrace of the building.
The moment the curse users came within range, Sparkles, the Nue, emerged out of the shadows and released a controlled blast of electricity at the enemies.
"AH!!!!"
The group screamed in pain as current coursed through their bodies and fried them enough to not die.
One by one, the electrocuted bodies fell on the terrace.
"See, I told you. Don't worry about the mission," said Naoya with a smile and showed the curse users to Utahime.
Utahime looked at the twitching men and then turned towards Naoya, who was patting Sparkles for a job well done.
'Peace-loving, my foot!!!!' thought Utahime but kept the thoughts to herself.