Meanwhile, miles away in Japan, the morning sun illuminated the pristine tatami mats of a traditional estate.
On the polished wooden floor of the central dojo, a young man lay flat on his back, a thick volume of manga draped carelessly over his face. He was snoring loudly, completely oblivious to his surroundings.
A pair of sharp, silent footsteps approached the room. Akira Shinomiya stepped across the threshold, her expression instantly hardening into a mask of pure disgust as her gaze landed on the slacking figure.
Who let this absolute idiot inside? she thought, her veins visibly pulsing at her temple.
The man rolled over lazily in his sleep, the manga sliding off his face to reveal a messy shock of hair.
Akira's jaw clenched. Hayato... why on earth is he occupying my training floor? And he dare sleep here?
Her fingers instantly wrapped around the hilt of her katana, her killing intent spiking as she prepared to teach him a lethal lesson in discipline.
But before the steel could clear the scabbard, the heavy sliding doors at the back of the room opened, and her father—the Commander—stepped out into the hall.
"Akira... my dear daughter," the Commander spoke, his voice carrying the weathered weight of an old general. "You have returned."
Akira immediately let go of her sword, dropping into a deep, flawlessly respectful bow. "Greetings, Father."
The Commander's gaze drifted over to the snoring Hayato, letting out a heavy, exhausted sigh. Noticing her father's fatigue, Akira quickly shifted the focus back to her mission report.
"Father, the infiltration of the Loop's Third Branch yielded zero intelligence. Their local data cores were completely empty prior to my arrival."
The Commander nodded slowly, showing no surprise.
Akira's crimson eyes snapped back down to Hayato's sleeping form. "Father... do I have your permission to kill him?"
Her father simply shook his head, offering a faint, dismissive wave of his hand.
Akira bowed her head, suppressing her irritation. "Understood."
"Akira, sit. Read through these intelligence documents carefully," the Commander said, handing her a thick stack of tightly bound documents as he seated himself on a traditional floor cushion.
Akira complied perfectly, settling onto an adjacent pillow with her spine perfectly straight.
"You are the sole remaining of my bloodline, Akira," the Commander murmured, his eyes staring blankly at the garden outside. "I have grown old, after me, You will take my place. The entire weight of the clan will fall squarely on your shoulders."
"Please refrain from speaking of such dark outcomes, Father," Akira countered smoothly, her voice softening slightly. "You are physically in very great condition, even at this age."
The Commander shook his head, a bitter smile touching his lips. "Ever since that day... I have spent every hour managing the clan. But ever since..." He trailed off, the words catching in his throat.
Akira opened her mouth to offer words of comfort, but the heavy, rhythmic sound of Hayato's loud snoring abruptly shattered the solemn atmosphere.
Akira's hidden fist clenched so hard her knuckles turned white. The moment Father leaves this room, I am going to kill this idiot... Is this a place to sleep? Why couldn't he be serious for a second.
"Akira... I am sorry, that I couldn't give you with a peaceful, ordinary life," the Commander added quietly.
Akira shook her head firmly. "Father, please focus exclusively on positive outcomes. The clan requires your vision."
The Commander offered a solitary nod. That is all I can manage, he thought.
Akira returned her focus to the tactical papers in her lap, attempting to lose herself in the data. But in the very next second, she felt a sudden, heavy weight shift directly onto her thigh. She froze, looking down to find Hayato's head resting perfectly in her lap.
"Mmm... most premium pillow in the entire universe" Hayato muttered groggily in his sleep, having rolled across the tatami mats completely unbothered.
Akira's restraint threshold completely shattered.
BOOM.
Without a shred of hesitation, she drove a hyper-velocity punch straight down into the center of Hayato's face. The sheer kinetic shockwave cracked the reinforced walls and wooden flooring beneath his head. All the glass substances shattered.
Hayato bolted upright, blinking rapidly as his nose leaked a comical stream of blood. "Huh... wait... is it morning already?" He spun around, completely dazed, only to find an absolutely murderous, demonic Akira looming directly over him with dark shadows casting over her eyes.
Hayato blinked, offering a cheerful, completely fearless wave. "Oh, hi there!"
Before the final syllable could leave his lips, he leaned back, attempting to drift right back to sleep on the cracked floor.
"Where did that pillow go?" He said.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Akira roared, picking the heavy floor pillow and violently slamming it over his face, pinning him down to the floorboards.
Hayato thrashed wildly beneath the cushion, his legs kicking the air until his body suddenly went completely limp. Fearing she might have actually asphyxiated a clan asset, Akira violently ripped the pillow away.
Hayato instantly sat up, gasping for air and clutching his chest dramatically. "I couldn't breathe! I literally saw death" He wiped the blood from his nose, looking up at her with a grin. "Wow, Akira, you're actually back in Japan? Man, I seriously thought I was just having a beautiful dream."
Akira remained absolutely motionless, her hand slowly creeping back toward the hilt of her sheathed katana, the room's temperature dropping to near freezing.
Hayato, completely blind to the lethal aura, leaned in with a smooth smile. "It's really great to have you back, beautiful. I genuinely missed you, very much. Say, do you wanna go out on a da—"
SHING.
The pristine silver edge of Akira's katana cleared the scabbard in a microsecond, the tip of the razor-sharp blade resting precisely a millimeter away from Hayato's throat.
Hayato immediately froze, his jaw snapping shut as he raised a single finger, pressing it tightly against his own lips. Hayato swallowed
"I didn't say a single word, milady" Hayato whispered around the blade, "That was just my mouth speaking entirely out of turn."