0457.

The 27th Day of October.

The guest room of Kyouko Nagamine.

Noa awoke to the dim early morning light. She sat up, wondering what could've woken her up so early. She usually woke up at exactly five-forty-five but this time she woke up nearly an hour earlier. Still slightly afflicted with sleep inertia, she groggily looked around before she was startled by a noise. "Ahh... No fair..." Swiveling her head, she looked at the girl sleeping next to her. It seemed that Suzuran was having a dream that made her mumble aloud. Noa shrugged in silence as she listened to Suzuran's sleepy laughter while getting out of bed.

She was already awake, she might as well get ready.

1033.

A spacious parking lot near the Narukami Castle, the Origami mansion.

The student representatives of the Five Traditions were all neatly lined up in a row in front of five different buses, each one heading toward Kamakura Station. They were all finally allowed to return home much to the appreciation of the students as they were starting to feel like they were birds trapped in a cage (which if Noa had the ability of telepathy, she'd definitely agree with an extra comment of "What a perfectly sound sentiment."). Reina lamented, "They still haven't found Suzuran-oneesama... Whatever could have happened to her?"

"Honami-oneesama is staying behind too..." Kaguya added. "Let's just pray that once we return to Osafune, they'll have something new on Oneesama."

The aforementioned Honami Mitsumine was standing to the side of the parking lot and watching the girls climb onto their respective transport vehicles. "Everyone's going home, huh...?" She watched, the buses starting up and slowly driving off of the lot. As she watched the buses go, she happened to glance to her left where she caught a glimpse of a crown of auburn hair climbing into a black sedan. "Wait, that girl's from Renpu...-"

"Hey, Milady Honami!" Alice called out in English.

Honami whipped around and saw the two girls, who were strangely entirely decked out in formal kimono outfits. The blonde foreign girl wore a blue-themed flowery kimono while the shorter girl with a shock of green hair wore one the same color as her hair. "Minoseki's representatives...!?"

"Hiya! I'm Alice Sakayanagi, desu!" she replied, tacking on an extra suffix. "This little one's Manaka."

"Oi, don't you call me little," Manaka replied indignantly. She bowed slightly toward Honami and introduced herself. "Anyway, I am Manaka Ichinose. A pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, a pleasure to meet you too...?" Honami stammered, definitely more than just a tad bit confused.

Alice took both of her hands and said gleefully, "Good work on your mission, desu! I know you must be worried about your friend but don't be sad! Smile, smile! A good smile makes for the best cure, desu!"

"Uh... okay..." Honami mumbled, unable to fight back against the giddiness in Alice's tone.

"Wow, am I glad I was able to meet you, desu! My papa and your papa are actually working buddies in the ins and outs of the Special Sword Administration Bureau, desu!"

".... My... father?" Honami stuttered.

"Oopsies, I said too much~!"

"Oi, Alice, quit messing around already." Despite being small, Manaka carried a lot of power in her minuscule frame. She yanked at the fabric of Alice's kimono and dragged her off. Before leaving, she turned around and bowed again. "I apologize for my partner's actions."

"Uh... wait, where are you going?" Honami asked.

Before Manaka could restrain her, Alice ran back toward Honami and got into her face with stars in her eyes. "We're finally free! We got special permission from our principal so we're going to go on vacation, desu!"

"... What she said," Manaka supplemented. "We're going to go head to Tokyo for some shrine visits."

"Kyuu!" Manaka's pet cooed in happiness as it popped out from her kimono and settled in her hair.

Honami blinked four times before exclaiming, "Wait, isn't that an aradama!?"

"Ah, this little guy's my pet," Manaka replied. "Or to be more accurate, it's the guardian beast of my Ichinose family."

"Nene is Manaka's little friend, desu."

Honami was about to provide a rebuttal when the pet made several sounds as if it was panting before leaping from its perch on Manaka's head straight into Honami's breasts. However, Manaka already knew of her pet's tendencies and caught it by its tail before it could reach Honami and play around with her chest. "... Sorry about that, this little guy is attracted to large busts."

"Yeah, aside from Manaka's head, its second favorite place to hang out is between my breasts, desu..." Alice said as she shivered slightly, perhaps recalling the unpleasant sensation of an animal squeeing its way into her chest.

"Anyway, let's go, we're running late."

The two girls departed with Alice leaving the parting words, "I'm sure we'll meet again soon! Please take care until then, desu! See you, Nami-nami!"

Honami blinked a few more times in confusion as she waved back before muttering to herself, "Nami-nami...?"

At the same time.

Noa sat in the seiza position as she held her sword out in front of her. After having used utsushi the previous night in a short but exhausting battle against a large aradama, she figured that she had run empty again. However, this worry was unfounded as she found out that one night's rest was enough to restore her to optimal condition. Opening her eyes and exiting her state of meditation, she muttered, "Alright, I'm all set..." As she was returning her sword to its saya, she heard a loud bang. Immediately assuming the worst, she threw open the sliding door. However, before she could draw her sword, she found the source of the sound: Suzuran having knocked over the beer cans that Kyouko partook in the previous night. ".... What could you be doing?"

"Ah, um, I thought that it'd be prudent of us to clean her apartment considering she's letting us board here at no cost..." Suzuran replied, trailing off as she begged Noa with her eyes to help her. After all, Suzuran Arisugawa had absolutely zero sense for "cleaning"; even during her current tenure as Osafune's student council president, it was always her council members and subordinates that would clean up after her because she just couldn't do it herself.

Noa sighed and facepalmed. "Alright, alright, move over. Just let me do it. Clearly, you don't have a sense of housekeeping."

"Aww, but..."

"Fine," Noa relented. "Take that rag and wipe down the tables. Even you wouldn't mess that up, right?"

"Nope, no problem," Suzuran saluted. She then went to carry out her orders. Noa, on the other hand, took care of the brunt work. She pulled out plastic bags and separated the trash into two bags: incinerable waste and recyclable trash. She made several bags of each before attending to the kitchen which was full of unwashed dishes. This irritated the girl who had a rather serious complex over cleanliness. It wasn't so much for her to be a germaphobe but it was certainly more than the average Japanese person who are, by default, pretty clean themselves.

It took just about the rest of the morning to finish up and they only stopped two hours later. The two girls then collapsed onto the sofa, giving each other a thumbs-up for a nice morning exercise. (If anything, it would be Noa who'd worked the most because all Suzuran did was wipe the tables, dust the counters, and sweep the floors; she wasn't so sloppy so as to fail on these kinds of cleaning.) The two then finally noticed the notes on the cupboards and fridge. They all said, "Feel free to take what you like~!"

The two girls looked at each other incredulously before bursting out in genuine amusement. It seemed like they will be babied for a while longer.

Meanwhile, Honami Mitsumine was delivering her report of the previous night to the higher-ups in the Special Sword Administration Bureau's main building. The only thing preventing from scurrying out of the room in fear the second she finished her speech was the two other girls in the room who silently encouraged her with genuine smiles on their faces (normally, they would not do this but due to exceptional circumstances, that is, the unexpected addition of Renpu's Azusa Hachimiya, they are doing so as they themselves do not like her). She concluded, "That is the entirety of my report."

Although her encouraging smile didn't wither, Suzuka let out a scathing voice, "So that was nothing but a complete waste of time."

Even if she braced herself, she couldn't defend against the powerful-only-when-looking-down-on-people voice of Azusa as she demanded, "Why didn't you request for backup?"

"I-I prioritized the retrieval of the yousai because I did not want the corrupting nature of the material to increase the damages to the area..."

"Forget about the yousai, dammit!" she bellowed, resulting in Honami visibly flinching. "Of all the things to prioritize... Ah, wait a minute... You surely didn't help them escape, did you?"

"Definitely not!" Honami denied. Of course, she was lying but she made sure that her countenance did not give off her untruthfulness. Maya and Suzuka, however, didn't seem to be fooled although they kept silent.

Azusa narrowed her eyes before sighing. "Whatever. Renpu will be handling the rest from here."

Maya gently dismissed her. "You may leave."

"Thank you, excuse me." Honami pivoted around on her feet and walked as naturally as she could out the door. Seeing her retreating back, Chikage looked on sadly, a glance that caught the attention of Maya who silently nodded in agreement. Honami herself did not notice this and walked down the hallway, her shoulders drooping and her hand shivering. In fact, she found herself breaking out in cold sweat as she looked at the palm of her hand.

When she was about to lose herself in anxiety, Chikage called out, "Mitsumine-san."

Honami looked back but immediately looked away. She couldn't bring herself to look at the principal. If anything, it was her own selfish wish that put Chikage in such a precarious position in the first place. Steeling herself, she looked the principal in the eyes and said, "I know how many problems I am putting you through and I apologize! However, I want to believe in Suzu! She definitely has a good reason for doing this!"

Chikage's face slackened as she processed the statement. She then fixed her face and broke out into a smile. Leaning in, she whispered, "Don't worry, those two girls are strong. They will be fine." Straightening up, Chikage went down the hallway with her destination being the bathroom. Of course, Honami does not know this and follows her with an "Um, Principal, what do you mean...?"

Suddenly, a high-pitched voice that didn't seem to belong in the building cooed from behind them. "Hey, hey, I overheard something interesting when I checked the control room! Is it true that you let the traitors go after finally managing to locate them?"

"The elite guard-?" Honami began but immediately clamped her mouth shut as the girl, Yume Tsubakuro, unsheathed her okatana, used jin'i, and trained the tip of her blade directly under her throat. Honami had absolutely zero time to react; she just simply found herself at death's door.

Yume, on the other hand, had a rapturous smile on her face. However, that quickly faded as it morphed into a frown. "Tch, you're annoyingly weak. Heh, even if you did encounter them, there's no way on earth you would've been able to capture them in the first place."

Honami was about to rebut but found her voice stuck in her throat. Instead, Chikage spoke for her. "Tsubakuro-san, withdraw your okatana."

"Yes, ma'am~!" she replied cutely. Withdrawing her blade, she returned it to the saya as instructed. However, as she did so, Honami caught a glimpse of a pink... something on the girl's finger. Catching her gaze, Yume guessed at what she was wanting to ask about, lifting up her left hand, "Are you curious about this little guy?"

"Ah..."

"No, don't worry about it," Yume replied, her countenance softening by several degrees. "This... Yes, this is the physical proof of the promise I made to him."

Chikage put her hand to her chin as she thought for a moment. "Ah, I remember now. You were the child in the mansion two years ago that fought against Nanae-sama's adopted son, right?"

"Oh, so I am remembered," Yume smiled. "Yes, I am that foolish child. I'm sure you also clearly remember my desperate plea, yes?"

"I will not and cannot slander you for your choice," Chikage giggled. "Love is a fickle thing and what better way to test it than in front of an audience?"

"My, surely you are jesting."

"Um...?" Of course, as she was neither at that event two years ago nor in the possession of prior knowledge of Yume, Honami did not understand what was going on in the conversation at all. She simply looked back and forth between Chikage and Yume dumbly.

Noticing her confusion, Chikage looked at Yume, using her eyes to ask for her permission. Yume simply shrugged and looked away although Chikage definitely saw that her cheeks were reddening. It seems that while she did allow her to tell the story, it was still highly embarrassing for her. Internally giggling, Chikage said, "Well, it's a long story. First, I need to ask: are you familiar with the family of Nanae-sama?"

"Um... Well, she is the oldest daughter of Masafumi Origami and Kanao Origami and the older sister of Akane Origami... Oh, and she has a son...? Well, no, but..."

"Well, yes, you're right," Chikage stated. "Nanae-sama is still an unmarried and untouched woman so she does not have any blood children of her own. However, she did adopt a child that had lost his parents in the Great Catastrophe of Tokyo Bay fifteen years ago. From his own volition, the boy did not take the name of Origami and even now still uses the name given to him by his late parents, Kazuyuki Yanagi."

Yume cut through and added, "This is top secret information so don't you ever leak it to anyone else but my belo-, er, I mean, Kazuyuki-san, is the only recorded case of a male Toji."

Honami blinked a few times before slamming her mouth shut to prevent her unbridled scream from escaping. After taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she removed her hands from her mouth and whispered, "Is that true...?"

"Yes," Chikage affirmed. "Kazuyuki-kun's okatana is even the treasured sword of the imperial house, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi."

"No way... He uses the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi...?" Honami mumbled in her attempt to process this absurd fact.

To backtrack, the okatana are the special weapons used by Toji to slay aradama. The okatana is made out of tamahagane, a mystical metal with strange properties. What primarily divides okatana is whether or not the tamahagane that went into making it is sourced naturally or was made artificially. Tamahagane is not a mineral found on Earth, it is actually a mineral sourced from the Netherworld. It is for this reason that Toji can utilize their powers as they have a connection to the Netherworld via the tamahagane in their okatana.

In this context, natural tamahagane is the term for tamahagane that was naturally found in a complete weapon state; this occurs in rare locations throughout the Netherworld that is then brought over to Earth every four hundred years when the barrier between reality and the Netherworld naturally weakens, allowing for items (and even people) to cross between worlds. Artificial tamahagane is the tamahagane that is made by human hands. It is unknown how humans first began making their own tamahagane but in Japan, it started in the 800's and this would also be when the first aradama began to make an appearance. Natural tamahagane, as opposed to artificially made tamahagane, is by default five times as effective in terms of performance.

The reason for Honami's surprise is the cold hard fact that the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, alongside the non-weapons-but-still-okatana Yasakani-no-Magatama and Yata-no-Kagami, are all-natural okatana. Mythology dictates that the sun goddess, Amaterasu, gave the three items to one of her descendants, Emperor Jimmu, with these three items then becoming the Imperial Regalia of Japan. As such, these items are kept locked away and secure most of the time and this fact also adds to Honami's surprise as she had never once heard of a Toji, even one born within the imperial lineage, to have been known to wield the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi as their weapon.

"Fufu, now do you see how amazing my belo-, er, I mean, Kazuyuki-san is?" Yume bragged as she cutely corrected herself once more.

"You know, you don't need to be shy about it, Yume," Chikage snickered, changing the way addressing the girl. "Just tell her that 'I am the future bride of that man'."

"Ahhh, shut up, shut up!" Yume stammered, her face burning crimson. However, putting her hands on her cheeks, she mumbled, "We-Well, it is true that I am engaged to him..."

Honami had already connected the dots the second Kazuyuki's name was mentioned anyway so she simply forced a smile and laughed hollowly. For the youngest member of the Elite Guard to be the bride of the only male Toji in recorded history made extreme sense to her. Yume herself couldn't take it anymore and ran away, her hands covering her small face, stained crimson.

However, she couldn't seem to shake the thought from her mind:

Kazuyuki Yanagi... A male Toji. If this is true, why have I not heard even a whipser of a man fending off aradama? Is it to keep his existence a secret...? Or...?

Lunchtime in the Nagamine household was a quiet affair.

Well, it would be quiet if Suzuran could keep her mouth shut.

"Whoa, Noa-san, you can really cook, huh?"

"Yes, I used to cook a lot for my mother. I don't have the chance to do it anymore these days, however."

"Your... mother?"

"Like yours, my mother was also a former Toji," she replied, "but she had passed away last year from a progressive illness."

Suzuran blinked before looking away. "... I see. How odd, our mothers are the same. They're both gone from our lives."

The two girls proceeded to cook in silence after that as they prepared lunch for themselves and whipped up dinner for their kind adult host.

For that host, however, Azusa Hachimiya had already managed to pinpoint her. Having spent the entire day poring through hours of security camera footage and other footages that may have caught and reflected the Toji in question, she managed to zero in on them. The footages that were being focused on were three shots: an image taken from a security camera in Platform 2 of Harujuku Station, an image taken from the ticketing gate of Shinjuku Station, and an image taken from an underground parking lot not far from Tachikawa Station.

"They may be disguised well but those are definitely our targets," she declared. "Track that vehicle down."

As for everyone else in the room, they were still skeptical as the images showed two girls wearing black hoodies and casualwear of various designs with a guitar case slung over their backs. If anything, they simply looked like two schoolgirls meeting with their music teacher. However, none of them could deny the chance that this was their target and as such, no one raised any objections to Azusa's order.

Well, all except for Maya Shidou who thought internally, That Noa Hiiragi... She definitely wouldn't be careless enough to leave video evidence... Or is it that these cameras weren't within her range of intuition...?

1947

"I'm home~!"

That cheery voice announced the return of the apartment's owner, Kyouko Nagamine. Upon removing her shoes and placing them in the cloister near the door, she looked at her apartment and let out a long whistle. "Dang, it's as if I went back in time to just when I moved in!"

Suzuran peeked out from the kitchen and replied, "Well, it's our thanks for letting us stay here! Noa-san and I cleaned it up for you."

"Aw, why, thanks! You girls are so sweet!" Kyouko declared, as she barrelled over to hug them. Breaking away, she noticed that they were wearing kitchen aprons and finally registered the smell of food. "Oh, I smell something good!"

"Yes," Noa stated. "We also cooked dinner for you."

She proceeded to set up the table and laid out the food that they had made. It was a simple dinner consisting of a bowl of rice, the flank of a baked salmon, and a bowl of beef soup. Kyouko only managed a sigh of approval as Suzuran boasted, "Fufu, Noa-san cooked it!"

"Hoho? Is that so?" Kyouko then began to take part of the food before adding, "Oof, this is delicious! Wowie, I didn't think Noa-chan would have such high-level femininity."

"I-It's nothing much!" Noa stammered, looking away as her face reddened, "My mother taught me how to cook so that I could become a virtuous bride..."

" "Hohoho?" " both Kyouko and Suzuran snickered at the same time. " "Do tell us more." "

"Ju-Just hurry up and eat!"

"My, oh my, Noa-chan is surprisingly shy too~!" Kyouko laughed. "That aside, I do have something I want to show you girls."

In the main operating room, Azusa also had something she wanted to show everyone who was present. "We've discovered the apartment the traitors are taking refuge in. The owner of it is a Kyouko Nagamine, a former Toji and an alumnus of Osafune Girls' Academy. She had returned her okatana ten years ago and is currently working for Yahata Electronics."

This one fact sent shivers throughout the room as Maya stated, "... That company is...!?"

Suzuka completed her thought: "One of the companies engaged in the development of S-Equipment."

Azusa smirked to herself, relishing in the pale countenances of her 'subordinates', as she gave the order into her headpiece, "Sayuki, deploy."

On the other end of that headpiece was Sayuki Asahina who was currently seated in a car parked in a parking lot near the apartment complex of Kyouko Nagamine. Without so much as breaking her expression, she replied, "Understood, ma'am. I have your clearance to begin the mission." Grasping her okatana, she opened the door of the car and got out, eyeing the apartment complex in the distance.

Kyouko led the two girls into a back room of her apartment that held nothing but a desktop computer. To be more exact, it was a computer with one main monitor and four substitute monitors surrounding the main one. It was quite the contraption as Kyouko booted up the device. Silently ordering Noa with her eyes to take a seat in front of it, she maneuvered the mouse to open a program. The program had a similar vibe to a messaging platform as a message showed up on the screen. Suzuran looked over at Kyouko before reading the message aloud: "Greetings, friends of Gladdy! We welcome you with open arms. Gladdy?" Suzuran looked again to Kyouko.

She pointed to herself, smiling, then said, "Alright, reply with whatever you want, Noa-chan."

The first thing that came to mind was, "Who are you?" which received an immediately reply of the English word "Ally." Suzuran could only mumble in confusion while Noa repeated the reply to herself aloud. The other party, GreenMan, proceeded to add two more replies, "You two are the only two rebels. You do have the 'letter', correct?" Noa noticeably flinched which did not miss the detection of both Suzuran and Kyouko as GreenMan sent a third message, "Are you ready to face this?" then a "Yes / No".

Noa did not hesitate in her reply as she sent an adamant "Yes." GreenMan was satisfied as he then sent two messages, "This was just completed today! / Go to this location." Noa was patiently waiting for the address but sensed danger. Her face whipping to her right, she drew her okatana, activated utsushi, and blocked another okatana, aimed directly for Kyouko's unprotected neck. The assailant had leaped straight up from the ground floor to the tenth floor of the building where Kyouko's apartment was located and had also pinpointed the room where the occupants of said apartment were, breaking through the windows.

"Oi, Suzuran, go get Suijijngiri Kanesada!" Noa demanded. It seemed that Suzuran had also realized her fatal error in not keeping her weapon on her at all times. What seems like curses flew from under her breath as she grabbed Kyouko's arm and dragged her out of the room while Noa chaneled Hachimanriki into her counterstroke to blow the assailant back out of the hole in the window she had torn open. Noa did not let up as she leaped out of the window herself and used jin'i to accelerate at the assailant, locking swords with her and blasting both her and Noa herself down into the asphalt which cracked radially under the force of the high-speed impact. Noa quickly stepped out of the crater she had just formed and regained a proper stance as her opponent did the same. Noa was shocked that her opponent received practically no damage from having served as the impactor against the ground. She also finally noticed the school uniform she was wearing. "You're... from Renpu...!"

The girl neither confirmed nor denied this accusation as she charged at Noa, barely dodging her thrust by a fraction of a centimeter. How is she so fast...!? After a quick exchange of six sword collisions, Noa finally figured out what the girl was doing. I see... So that's what she's doing...! Instead of using it for instant acceleration, this girl is keeping jin'i up at all times! I didn't think any person can do that...

To reiterate, jin'i is an offensive Toji technique where one channels their energy into one instant of acceleration by traversing momentarily through the layers of the Netherworld. What Sayuki Asahina was doing is slipping into the Netherworld and staying there all the while with her physical body still present in the real world. For her, this was a unique form of jin'i known as the Infinite Phase Jin'i and thinking tactically, Noa knew she was outmatched. She kept up an exchange but slipped up and was bisected from the left shoulder down, her utsushi dismantled. From above, she heard a faint cry ("Noa-san!") but couldn't properly register it.

"Not yet...!" Noa gritted her teeth as she squeezed her brain for more mental strength, activating utsushi again. "Then I must simply get faster...!" Noa accelerated again but was easily dodged. This did not discourage her as she turned around and charged a second time, forcing herself to dive deeper into the Netherworld. While she didn't quite advance past the Third Layer Jin'i, she was able to momentarily tear a hole into the Fourth Layer and successfully destroyed her opponent's utsushi. The girl leaped back but could not maintain her balance and so, sank down to one knee. ... Is this an aftereffect of using that jin'i? It seems she can't generate utsushi anymore. However, contrary to her expectations, the girl stood back up and retook her stance. "No way, does she plan to...!?" The girl charged back at her and Noa swiftly evaded her before exclaiming, "She plans to fight without her utsushi...!? Does she not care for her life!?" Do I have no choice but to cut her down...!?

"Don't!" Suzuran had finally arrived even though in reality, she had only taken two minutes. "Step aside, Noa-san, I'll take over."

"... You do know that you'll need to kill her, right!?"

"I won't kill her!"

"You're naïve!" Noa exclaimed as the girl charged at the utsushi-clad Suzuran.

However, Suzuran perfectly struck at the girl's sword and swept it aside. This girl... Just what is going on? Her sword wasn't like this when we sparred in the tournament...! It's like her sword is completely empty. Suzuran continued to sweep aside the girl's high-speed thrusts and slashes before stealing an opportunity in using the blunt side of her blade and slamming the girl's hands, forcing her to quietly yelp and drop her sword, declaring, "You won't be able to cut anything with a soulless blade!" Of course, as it was through her okatana that she could channel jin'i, the crimson color that stained the girl's normally red-violet irises faded away. She looked up dumbly at Suzuran's face as she said, "Do you remember me now, Sayuki-chan? I'm Suzuran Arisugawa and we fought each other in the third match of the tournament. I really enjoyed our duel! Your technique kept me on the edge the entire fight!" She then reached out for her hand and helped her to her feet before asking, "Hey, care to have another spar with me some time soon?"

Sayuki's eyes never wavered as she tried to process these words. As someone who was basically a puppet to be abused by Azusa Hachimiya, she had never once sought personal enjoyment. As such, she could not normally parse what other mentally normal people could. However, Suzuran didn't care for this as she grabbed her hand again and pulled her into a hug. "It's a promise, okay?" For Suzuran, this was the only way she could think of comforting the girl.

Noa, on the other hand, looked on with amazement at her companion's display of camaraderie. I must say... I thought that my only choice was to kill her but she... She found a way that wouldn't need bloodshed... She really is something. Noa internally sighed as she sheathed her okatana now that the danger had passed. "Okay, reality check, Suzuran. What should we do with her?"

"I have an idea," Kyouko declared, having also come down from the apartment. "You two plan to go to Kanazawa, right?"

"Yes, I want to take the Hokuriku Shinkansen straight there although I will make a stop in Karuizawa; there's something I want to do in Komoro," Noa replied.

"In that case, I'll drive you straight to Ohmiya Station," Kyouko announced. "You can still make in time for the final train tonight and we can drop off this girl in one of the previous stations before it."

"Sounds like a plan..." Noa nodded. "We'd first have to restrain her though..."

"I'll take charge of her okatana," Suzuran volunteered. "I'll watch over her so prepare our stuff, please, Noa-san."

"If you say so."