None of the adults Hana dispatched that morning had acted any different than Ringo. Annitou seemed to be full of the types who chose to die out of spite rather than cooperate. Lots of spitting and cursing and damning thrown around, not a pleasant way to face death at all. Metsina, for all its faults, at least taught its soldiers to keep looking for an out even in the face of certain demise. Throwing a wad of earth at your attacker wasn’t something you would ever see a respectable Metsina bandit doing in the face of death. Annitou, it seemed, taught its warriors to fight like tantrum throwing children.

That moment of hesitation, or perhaps relief, granted Ringo just enough time to spin her arm in a wide arc. The grains of material in her clenched palm flung outward in a cloud, not just towards the Agent but towards Ringo herself as well. It couldn’t have been forest soil at least, it looked far too dry for that. Hana took another short step back to let the dirt fall flat back to the earth. Even though she believed the dirt to be harmless, an abundance of caution was what kept Hana alive across all these years. General Ama, her former mentor, had made sure to beat those lessons into Hana every day. Once the dust had literally settled, she would just move back in and cut Ringo in half like a loaf of bread. And that would be the end of it!

A snakelike hiss whispered out from Ringo’s flailing body. Then came the blinding light.

From seemingly nothing a piercing white hot flash burst out from Ringo, as if some gate had been opened. Hana’s trained and focused eyes got hit by the brunt of the light, as their intense focus on Ringo prevented Hana from looking away until it was too late. A lesser operative wouldn’t have been hit so hard by the flash! The early morning darkness likewise meant that the influx of illumination was more blinding than it would have been in full sunlight- in fact, if this had occurred any other time of day, this trick wouldn’t have needed more than a few blinks to clear up. But right then, and right there, the momentary burst of light drove Hana back just a few more steps

Momentarily stunned but still at the ready Hana swung her claws out defensively, aiming to intercept any possible surprise attack while her eyes rapidly tried to adjust to the sudden flash. She just couldn’t piece together what happened. A flashbang? Impossible, the girl hadn’t held anything in her hands. A jutsu? Back-up? Also impossible, there were ribbon tripwires laid all around the jungle floor. If any soldiers took a step anywhere within Hana’s radius she would know about it. A stench rolled in right after the flash. It stung her nostrils with an acrid, smoky scent. A week ago Hana might have not been able to place it at all, but her morning escapades had already ingrained that particular aroma into her memory already. If there was any benefit to having a cannon fired at her multiple times, this was it. Hana understood now what the girl had thrown.

Gunpowder! Not dirt! The flash of heat dissipated almost instantly as the fuel quickly burned up. The air was simply too damp to sustain much of a reaction, and the particles of accelerant were too far apart to do more than burn for a fraction of a second. That brat! Ringo must have been trying to ignite the cloth armor, much as Hajime had tried a few nights prior. A completely futile effort. Hana, while a bit warmed by the flash in the pan, was otherwise unharmed. Not only was the foggy air keeping her safe from a sudden immolation, but prior to engaging in this battle she had specifically soaked her ribbons to avoid exactly this outcome! Blood, sweat, and tears meant her Weave was now completely safe from meager attempts to set her on fire. In fact she had done it to counter General Daisuke’s potential fire techniques- that it helped out now was just icing on the cake. Hana’s Weave could harden and sharpen the ribbons, but the gauze-like inherent absorbent nature of the cloth material wasn’t changed at all. Ringo’s plan was doomed to fail from the start!

Now there was no reason to delay. Hana swung out gleefully, extending the ribbons along her arm to throw the claw forward like a spring loaded trap. Though spots still lingered in her vision Hana could still see the residual image of where the small girl had dangled and precision wasn’t necessary to land an attack. The quicker she could end this, the better. Even a second round of gunpowder ignition wouldn’t set her armor aflame. There was nothing else to fear, not that there ever had been anything to worry about in the first place.

Yet the claw passed straight through the air, catching nothing. Unabated Hana snapped her arm back, swinging the claw with wild abandon in place, covering every possible place the dangling girl could have still been. If Ringo had somehow managed to flail around and dodge while hanging upside down those follow-up attacks would have caught her, but again Hana’s appendage hit nothing but tree bark and dead air. Now her vision was returning, and through the white haze that realization finally came. Something was still dangling where Ringo had been a moment ago, but it wasn’t the tiny cadet herself. Like a forlorn spider web the shreds of the ribbons that had bound Ringo now dangled loosely in the wind. She had cut herself loose? Impossible! Only seconds had passed, and the trap had multiple layers of ribbon that needed to be cut through. How could a weak girl like Ringo have escaped so quickly?

As color returned to her vision the Agent the truth became obvious. The very ends of the ribbons, where Ringo had been suspended until just a few blinks ago, were blackened with char. Ringo hadn’t cut herself loose- she burned herself loose. The ribbons around her leg hadn’t been soaked in blood like the ones Hana used in her armor and were still very much susceptible to burning. The gunpowder hadn’t been for Hana at all.

Ringo couldn’t have gotten far, though! It only took a quick scan right below to catch the cadet scrambling in the dirt like a dropped rat. Ringo had barely managed to rise to her feet in the time it took for Hana to recover her full senses. There would be no missing this time! The Agent pulled back her claw and took aim again. This cute charade had gone on quite long enough. Even as Ringo herself pulled back to throw something else, the Agent felt no concern with launching a second attack. More gunpowder would do nothing. Now the girl was just throwing random garbage at her- no, look! It was almost comical. Ringo was throwing her CANTEEN! First fire, and now water? Truly this cadet had mastered the elements!

Ringo hurled the canteen first, and Hana’s claw smashed through it in midair. The flimsy material shattered on impact and sent water splashing around the ribbons, a good deal of it getting onto and soaking into her armor. After the hot flash from the gunpowder, the cool liquid almost felt refreshing. Warm, thick blood just wasn’t a very nice feeling to have stuck to your clothes all day. The hurled object didn’t even slow Hana’s attack down. She surged forward like a snake lunging in for a venom filled bite.

There was no escape now, this would be it! The claw surged forward to Ringo’s position and the whole scene erupted into a fountain of red. The image of Ringo was replaced by a wave of blood, bubbling out from all sides as if a waterfall had erupted out from the air itself. It was such a gratuitous display of gore that Hana didn’t even understand what she was looking at. Then a second later it became clear.

Actual, literal blood was bubbling out of the air. Out of her bandages. Out of her armor! The claw sunk into something alright, but the Agent realized immediately after that her vision continued to be hampered by Ringo’s antics. Hana couldn’t see anything now except a red, amorphous mist, like someone had dumped a bunch of red syrup over her head. The inside of the ribbon-formed helmet filled with some sticky combination of blood and water, bubbling and frothing out to block her sight completely. She quickly used the back of her hand which held the artifact to wipe at her face, but that did nothing as the frothy red foam remained in place. The bubbles multiplied so quickly even the breaths she started taking were becoming laden with the liquid.

Hana swung the claw around blindly again, but caught nothing. A tiny bit of panic tickled at her periphery. She recalled what Yuu had told her about this girl’s ability- some kind of bubble manipulation trick that didn’t even move the needle past ‘harmless’. But from where- the canteen! That dumb brat must have primed the liquid inside to ‘pop’ once it touched her, and now that the liquid was soaked into her bandages and ribbons, it was mixing with the fresh blood to create this god awful mass of obscuring foam. How incredibly pointless! Hana was still unharmed, in prime condition in fact. Nothing Ringo could do would pierce the ribbon armor, and Hana had material to spare to repair any damage even if Ringo had some trick up her sleeve. Coughing and sputtering, Hana fell back just a bit as her cautious nature took hold. She could just wait this out.

Then another haunting thought worked its way into her in between bubble filled breaths. Wait! That cannon- that damned cannon! So far Hana dodged every volley fired from it, but if there was any weapon that could do damage to her through her Weave, it was a heavy cannonball. Which way was the cannon facing? Away from her? Could that little girl actually spin the thing around if she needed to? Hana’s ears strained to hear any sounds of suggested movement but one downside of this total protection of the ribbon helmet was that those subtle sounds were muffled through the cloth. Okay, what about running? That wasn’t any good either, she might smack into a tree or trip. The armor, like a giant pair of stilts, gave Hana increased mobility and dexterity, but if she fell over it would take a lifetime to get back up with those long limbs. Somehow that dumb cadet managed to get a veteran Agent like herself back against the wall with nothing more than a few bubbles. Preposterous!

No, no. Hana was panicking over nothing. Hundreds of feet worth of ribbon still lay around her limbs and body. She couldn’t be hurt. Hana withdrew her outstretched claw and placed it over her face. Another important lesson learned from General Ama. When something becomes a burden, it is time to cut it loose. Whether it was teammates or bubble-soaked bandages, you couldn’t grow attached. Discard those that got in your way. Hana could toss away the soaked material like a wad of used tissue and then in seconds regenerate the armor back to its pristine form. All things considered Ringo had probably run away anyway. It would be madness to confront an Agent as frightening as Hana like this. In the handful of moments that had passed there was no way the girl could have primed the cannon to fire anyway. Rather, she must have been counting on Hana deciding to stand still! Yes, that must have been it. Ringo preyed on Hana’s caution. It had been the same in their first encounter, when Yuu forced a retreat for the thinnest of reasons. Further delay would only increase the risk. Hana needed to act now.

Committing to the action the Agent’s claws sunk into the cloth surrounding the head, getting a big handful of it and then ripping it away like wrapping paper. Along with it went the bubbly foam, and the Agent was relieved to once again have full vision of her surroundings. The chilly early morning air brushed against her sweaty face. The lingering smell of burnt powder still hung in the air. The cannon, as expected, hadn’t been touched. The bubble laden cloth floated like a bad memory and Hana got a good, sweet breath of clean air. How relaxing.

Her exposed face shifted slightly, as Ringo seemed to have disappeared from view. Was she comically scampering through the jungle for her life? Cowering behind a tree somewhere? Already the ribbons around her neck were coiling up her skin and in moments her entire protective shell would be back and better than ever. All that excitement and effort, wasted! This only reaffirmed the Agent’s belief that sooner rather than later she could attain the General rank. Fate was on the side of the brave. A little speed bump like Ringo never really had a chance to begin with.

Then, as if fate itself decided to deliver Hana a personal message, it was right then she saw Ringo. The girl was crouched down low, half of her body up against the trunk of a nearby tree. Probably as an poorly improvised defensive measure against Hana claws. The expression the girl wore was noticeably different though. Even when strung up and at her mercy, Ringo hadn’t looked particularly emotional. A lot of the now dead or dying Annitou soldiers were the same- more or less stoic to the end. Maybe that was to be expected, the warrior culture of Annitou was borderline suicidal in that respect. That made Ringo’s clenched teeth and wide eyes all the more strange. That wasn’t what someone facing death looked like.

That was what someone about to win looked like.

Ringo wasn’t leaning against the tree for defense. She was bracing herself against it.

From behind the trunk she pulled out a weapon too large for her to normally handle. An Annitou crossbow. Blood still stained the grip where a pair of hands once held it.

The Agent’s ribbons could move fast but not projectile fast. Ringo’s finger was already on the trigger. If that had been a firearm no doubt a bullet would have been sinking into Hana’s shocked face already. A tremendous electric bolt, shooting straight up Hana’s spine and into her skull, tightened every muscle in her body. By the gods, this runt of a soldier was about to peg Hana right in her exposed face with a crossbow bolt! Ringo hadn’t been trying to blind her to escape- that brat blinded her so she could get a clear shot!

Without the ribbons now covering her ears she could hear it all too well. The mechanical clunk of the firing mechanism releasing. The soft sound of the breeze tickling the leaves above her. Her own slow inhale, still caught mid-breath as Hana hadn’t even had time to properly react. Ringo would miss, she had to. Hana destroyed not one but two entire squads of soldiers. She basically defeated General Hashimoto Daisuke in battle without a sweat. Fortune had been on her side this whole time. This would have been a ridiculous, utterly nonsensical way to lose!

Pride. Wasn’t that what got her into this mess? Too proud to rely on Yuu. Too proud to acknowledge mistakes. Every decision Hana made was the right one- it had to be, even if it wasn’t. If something went wrong it was because of other people, or circumstances she couldn’t control, or...luck or fate or some other coping mechanism. Right now, at that moment, there was none of that between her and Ringo. Just a lot of still air and one projectile about to put a hole in her pride big enough to end it for good.

The armor couldn’t save her. That crossbow was aimed dead on, Hana could tell. She couldn’t move fast enough to even try and dodge either. It was an unprecedented situation. What else could she possibly do?

Nothing, was the answer. There wasn’t a single action Hana could take. Instead, she let it go. Rather than tensing up her muscles relaxed. Rather than fighting the moment she let it wash over her like rain. What was it that the insufferable Yuu liked to say? Lighten up? Get those burdens off her chest? You couldn’t be on all the time. Sometimes it was necessary to just...turn off. And so Hana did. The tightness escaped from her body. She let nature take its course.

Which, in this case, meant letting gravity take its course. The bolt fired from Ringo flew true and did make contact. It followed the same force of gravity that now overtook Hana’s body. Yet the projectile did not sink into Hana’s skull. Instead, it grazed her, though calling it a graze understated the chunk of flesh it did peel off her face. It wasn’t a miss at all. The bolt passed right through where Hana’s head had been moments ago- except that her head wasn’t there anymore. Something that sounded like a child trying really hard not to curse burst out of Ringo’s lips, as if she was trying hard not to spout any rude profanity despite her immense frustration.

Of course Hana was the same Agent from the previous night, with one crucial difference. Hana from last night wasn’t eight feet tall.

Hana was falling, and gravity had pulled her out of the way of the bolt. The ribbons around her legs had been making her stand taller, acting like lifts to give her a boost so she could tower over her enemies. The act of releasing a jutsu was instant, almost like letting out a breath, and much faster than one could move any muscle. No longer did the armor around her legs hold Hana up. Instead the cloth stilts simply fell away, like a caterpillar shedding a cocoon, and Hana descended along with it. She fell a few feet which was just enough to avoid Ringo’s projectile. With a soft plop the soles of her sandals hit the moist dirt, followed by a cascade of her shed bandages landing right after. Hana’s rosy skin, apart from the gash running alongside her temple right above the ear, was untouched. In fact, if Ringo had to make a guess, the girl looked more refreshed and relaxed than ever.

As ribbons recoiled around Hana’s face the girl gave Ringo what looked like a carefree, thankful smile. ‘Thank you’, it seemed to say, ‘for teaching me a valuable lesson.’

Ringo’s expression melted at once into anger. How unfair!