Hana's Birthday, Part 2

WARNING: This chapter contains depictions of adultery.

In Hana’s well-furnished and large bedroom, all seven members of the Fox Knights had gathered together for a brief meeting among themselves. Sayaka was talking to Tenko, who was giving her a rundown of how things worked in the group as they stood next to a computer desk with a well-built liquid-cooled computer. “As for your rewards,” she said to her. “You get to keep half of all of your rewards for killing magical beasts. The other half goes to the group as a whole in a group fund, and then at the end of each month, each member gets paid ¥50,000 from that fund, which is also used to pay for weapons and, in my case, ammunition if we can’t afford it ourselves. It also guarantees us a stable income even when we have dry spells for hunts.”

Sayaka asked, “Ammunition?”

“I use a gun,” Tenko explained. “A 9mm semi-auto handgun, to be exact. I go through ammunition pretty quickly.”

“A gun?! Like an actual gun?!”

“Yeah,” Tenko replied, surprised by her shocked reaction. “It works pretty well, especially against smaller magical beasts, although for some larger ones, a single bullet will only annoy them, and I may have to empty a whole magazine into them to stop them.”

Sayaka was clearly not familiar with how guns worked based on her facial expression. “So, uh… What?”

“I know, I know, it sounds confusing at first, but trust me, I got the hang of it pretty quickly, Miyamura-senpai.”

“Everyone,” Hana then said to quiet them all and give a short speech to them. “I want to thank you all for making it here. I know these past few weeks have been challenging, but we’ve also gained two new members of the Fox Knights. I think with our ranks increasing to seven, we’ll be able to cover more ground and be able to hunt more magical beasts, which of course will not only benefit our financial situation, but also save the lives of more people. Even with the death of that boy we tried to save a week ago, I think we all did the best we could given the circumstances. Additionally, I want to recognize Kishio-san and Fujimori-senpai for stopping a Class Five beast that had crossed through a portal while the rest of us were busy at school. Given that that particular magical beast had emerged at the elementary school across from our own school, the risk for civilian casualties was high if it was left unchecked, and due to their combined efforts, no one was hurt.”

As everyone else in the room clapped for the two of them, Ruka gave a faint smile and humbly told everyone, “It’s nothing, really. Just another day of work for me.”

“Honestly,” Yoko then said, being playful while accepting her praise. “I’m surprised that damn thing was a Class Five. It had two heads. Two whole heads! Personally, I would have considered it a Class Four, but that’s just me. Obviously, I don’t get paid to dispatch requests and take calls for beast sightings, so what do I know?”

“I agree,” Hana nodded. “I was just as surprised when I read your report and you told me about it, Fujimori-senpai. That really should have been entered as a Class Four in the system.” Going back to her speech, she then told the rest of the group, “With all that said, Fujimori-senpai and Kishio-san still adapted and persevered.” Turning to Sayaka, she told the group, “On another topic, I want to welcome Miyamura-san to the Fox Knights as our newest member. She is a rather new magical huntress, but I can see she has much potential as a member of our team. I want you all to make her feel welcome and teach her ways to improve herself in combat. With all that said, I again want to thank you all for coming. It truly means a lot that you all are here.”

Yoshiro then asked Hana, “Do you need anything else, Hana-chan?”

“No,” she replied. “I’m good. Let’s enjoy the party, shall we?”

As everyone else dispersed from the bedroom, Ruka and Yoshiro began talking among themselves, staying behind. “So,” Yoshiro asked her rather quietly. “Any word from Kawase yet?”

“I haven’t gotten anything,” Hana replied. “I’m gonna contact him tomorrow and see what’s going on.”

Ruka turned over to them and asked them, “Hey guys, what’s going on?”

Yoshiro turned to her and told her, “This is a private conversation, Kishio. This doesn’t concern you.”

Hana put a hand on Yoshiro’s shoulder, telling him, “I got this.” She then told Ruka, “It’s about a deal to get some more funds for the group and maybe even some new weapons. I can’t really discuss more than that, but what I can tell you is that we’re on the verge of striking a deal.”

“I see,” Ruka nodded. “Some more money would be nice. I assume you’d try to get a new sword for me, too?”

“Of course,” Hana assured her. “Don’t worry.”

“Alright.” When Ruka turned back around, she asked Hana, “By the way, it’s nice to meet your dad, Miyashita, but where’s your mom?”

“My mom will be here soon,” Hana assured her. “She’s running a bit late from work.” As Ruka left the room, Hana thought to herself, “At least… My mom says she’s running late from work.”

As Ruka walked down the hallway upstairs, she turned to a doorway to her right side and saw it was ajar. Curious, she peeked through the crack in the door, and when she did, she looked around the rather dark room as best as she could from her view. When she saw that it was a bedroom, she looked at the bed and saw something that immediately caused her to blush and her eyes widen with shock. She quietly mouthed to herself, “What the fuck…”

In the bedroom, which was a spare one for the family, was Hana’s father, Kaito, who was sitting on the bed as the family’s maid, Yumi, was on her knees below him while partially topless. She heard him tell Yumi as he gently caressed her head and hair, “Ahhh… Fuck, that feels good, Yumi…”

Yumi interrupted her efforts when she looked up at Kaito and told him with a seductive smile, “When we’re all alone, I can do a lot more. I know you want to screw me.”

“I’m fine with this for now,” Kaito said to her. “We can have more fun tomorrow when there’s less people around.” Yumi then returned to her previous activities, earning her some praise from her married partner and her boss. “Your tongue feels amazing, Yumi…”

Ruka looked away, having managed to not get noticed. She then walked away as quietly as she could, looking around to make sure she was not seen by anyone. She took a deep breath and told herself, “Holy shit… What the Hell did I just see? I hope that was her mom…” Of course, the woman was not Hana’s mother at all. Ruka meanwhile walked down the stairs, still trying to process what she had just seen and failing to do so in time before she reached the foot of the stairway. “I just saw Miyashita’s dad get a blowjob,” she thought to herself. “Holy shit, I just saw him get a blowjob. How the Hell am I supposed to react to that?!”

As she reached the first floor, still packed with partiers who were none the wiser to the lewd activities Kaito was undertaking in upstairs with his own maid, Tenko saw her confused and somewhat disheveled expression and asked her, “Hey, Kishio-senpai, what’s wrong? You don’t look too good. It almost looks like you saw a damn ghost.”

“I’m just a bit tired,” Ruka told her, at least partially lying right to her face. “I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She thought to herself, “That part is true. I barely slept last night, indeed, but that’s not why I’m like this…”

“Ah, okay,” Tenko replied, seemingly taking Ruka’s words at face value. She then told her, “You gotta try the shrimp tempura they got for the party. It’s really good, Kishio-senpai.”

Wanting to get her mind off of what she saw, she followed Tenko to where the food was. “Shrimp tempura? Sure, why not?”

Tenko thought to herself as Ruka followed her through a throng of people attending the party, “It’s more than just her being tired. Something doesn’t feel right with her, but I don’t wanna press it in a place like this.”

…

While Tenko and Ruka were eating, Hana and Yoshiro came down the stairs after having finished their conversation in Hana’s bedroom just as her mother came home. Named Ayako, she was a few years younger than Kaito, and had short hair tied in a bun behind her head. She looked tired, having worked many hours at her office job, though she still dressed formally in a black knee-length outfit, clearly having changed before coming in. She looked up at Hana and smiled, telling her, “Happy birthday, Hana.”

“Thank you, mom,” she replied, giving her a hug with a warm smile. “I see you got changed.”

“I was able to bring my dress to work and change into it before I left,” Ayako told her daughter. “I’m sorry for running late. I got held up.”

Hana assured her, “It’s fine. You aren’t that late, anyway.” It was easy to tell that Hana took after her mother for her looks, the two sharing a similar facial structure.

“I still can’t believe my little girl is now fourteen years old,” she told her with happiness in her voice. “It feels like just yesterday, you were crawling around as a baby. My daughter’s becoming a woman.”

The two shared another hug before they split and Hana told her, “I brought the whole team with me.”

“It’s good to see you again, Miyashita-san,” Yoshiro told Ayako with a bow.

“It’s good to see you as well, Arikawa. Has my daughter been giving you any trouble?”

“No, no,” Yoshiro joked around with her. “At least, not too much.” All three of them then shared a laugh. “In all honesty, though, she’s a great leader.”

“And that’s because of how me and your father raised you,” Ayako told Hana. “Anyway, go have fun. We’ll meet up again soon. I gotta go say hi to everyone else.”

“Bye-bye,” Hana said before her mother walked over to some more partygoers to introduce herself to them. When Yoshiro walked down to meet her, Hana told him, “I honestly don’t mind too much that she’s a bit late.”

Yoshiro asked her, “She got held up at work, she said?”

“Yeah,” Hana nodded. As the two of them walked among the partygoers, Hana thought to herself, “At least… That’s what she says held her up.”

When Ayako walked into another room, she saw Ruka looking at her phone and recognized her. “Wait a minute,” she said to her. “Why do you look familiar?”

Switching to a more formal tone of voice, she asked her, “Do you know of my family’s name?”

“You look like a Kishio,” Ayako replied. “Are you one?”

“I am,” she replied before bowing. “I am Kishio Ruka, daughter of Kishio Minoru, and you are…?”

“I’m Miyashita Ayako,” she said with a bow. “I’m Hana’s mother.”

“I see…” In her head, Ruka began to panic slightly, realizing that the woman that Kaito was engaging in sexual activities with was not in fact his wife, but someone else. She thought to herself, “Miyashita’s father is cheating on her mother. Holy shit… Right now, I just gotta play it cool. I can’t tell her her husband’s fucking their maid in such a public place. Besides, their marriage isn’t really my business.”

“You’re his daughter…” Ayako knew immediately what that meant for Ruka. “I haven’t heard his name in a long time, at least not since he passed away.”

“I assume you knew him through your husband, did you not?”

“Yeah,” Ayako nodded. “Who do you live with now?”

“My uncle rents an apartment that I live in now,” Ruka answered. “I largely live by myself, though he checks up on me frequently.”

“Kishio Daisuke?”

“Correct.”

“I remember when he was a magical huntsman,” Ayako then brought up, referring to Daisuke’s past. “When my husband began working for the Agency, your uncle was still a teenager. He couldn’t have been more than seventeen. My husband still runs into him here and there. What does he do for the Agency now again?”

“He works on the administrative side,” Ruka confirmed. “It’s mostly secretarial work. He hasn’t been a magical huntsman in five years. He did his ten years and got out as soon as he turned twenty-two.”

Ayako then asked Ruka, curious about her own plans, “I don’t mean to pry, but… How long do you want to be a magical huntress?”

“To be honest,” Ruka said as she shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about when I want to stop. At this point, fighting magical beasts has become such an ingrained part of my life that I really cannot imagine not doing it anymore. I’m sure I’ll stop one day, but I don’t know when.”

“I see…” Ayako then turned around to leave the room. “Well, I gotta go talk to the other guests. It was nice seeing you, Kishio.”

In Ruka’s mind, she began to feel the urge to tell Ayako what she had witnessed. Time seemed to slow down, and a few seconds felt like hours as she tried to figure out what to do. Making a decision at the last possible moment, she suddenly interrupted her as she opened the door by saying, “Wait, I-!”

Ayako, surprised, turned around and asked her, “What’s going on?”

As soon as their eyes met, Ruka hesitated, doubt filling her mind. “I, um…”

“Is something wrong?”

Realizing she was only making things more awkward by extending the conversation without really saying anything, she dismissed her with, “It’s nothing. I’m sorry.”

“Oh… Okay…” Ayako then left the room, very confused as to what Ruka originally wanted to say to her.

Ruka took a deep breath and also exited the room, going the opposite way down the hallway and whispering to herself in frustration, “Fuck…”

…

As the party wound down, most of the guests had left, leaving the Fox Knights and some members of Hana’s extended family behind. Ruka and Hana were both sitting outside on the rear balcony of the second floor, looking out onto the narrow alleyway and garage that housed the Miyashita family’s cars below. “I want to thank you for coming,” Hana told Ruka. “You and everyone else in the Fox Knights truly made this a wonderful party.”

“No problem,” Ruka replied. In her head, she still thought about what she had seen Hana’s father doing with their maid, but did not want to tell her for fear of ruining her birthday. “I still can’t get the image of her father getting blown by that woman out of my head,” she thought to herself.

“I gotta say,” Hana then told her. “You speak very differently around strangers, especially when they’re older than you.”

“How so?”

“You’re far more polite and ladylike. You never use a casual tone of voice or vulgar language around them.”

“Oh, that,” Ruka realized. “When your family is upper class, you learn how to conduct yourself among your peers. However, when your mother was born among the dirt poor, the way they speak also rubs off on you.”

“Have you been to many such gatherings?”

“Yeah,” Ruka replied. As soon as she told her, her mind flashed to one particular event in her past, and she took a deep breath. “I… I sure have. My, uh… My grandfather took me to several of them after my parents died, even though he otherwise didn’t care about me.”

“I remember you telling me about your extended family… If you don’t mind me asking, what happened?”

Ruka sighed and admitted to Hana, “Almost all of them hated my mother for being poor. They thought my father made a mistake marrying her.”

“A mistake… So I assume they took it out on you?”

“You know,” Ruka then told Hana. “You’re pretty perceptive… But yes, they took it out on me, especially once my parents were out of the picture. My uncle Daisuke was the only one who didn’t hate me, so he’s the only one who I’m still close to.”

“And he’s in the Agency,” Hana added. “Did he recruit you?”

“No,” Ruka shook her head almost immediately after Hana finished her sentence. “In fact, he was pretty damn shocked when I showed up with this ring one day.” She showed her the transformation ring on her finger. “He did not want me to become a magical huntress, but it was too late to stop me when he found out. Ever since, he’s looked out for me as best as he can, but he has a family of his own to look out for, too.”

Hana nodded. “I can see why he was worried. My father actually personally recruited me.”

“Heh… Did he know what he was getting his daughter into?”

“He did,” Hana explained. “I did, too. I was the one who wanted to do it, actually.”

“I’m surprised someone in your position agreed to do this so easily,” Ruka noted. “Usually, there’s something else going on when girls sign up that compels them into this line of work.”

“Not really for me,” Hana shrugged. “I guess you could say the magical girl anime I saw definitely helped. When you’re a little girl and someone says you could be just like your heroes on TV or in manga magazines, you tend to believe them.”

“That’s fair,” Ruka acknowledged. “When I signed up, I definitely had anime and manga on my mind. I won’t get into details, but… Well, I was in a low place, and the idea of becoming like my heroes was enticing, even with the risks that I knew about from what little I heard from my uncle. Truth be told, I barely knew anything about magical huntresses before I got recruited. My uncle never talked about it openly to me until I became one.”

Hana then got closer to Ruka, leaning in to her as she told her, “You know, I’m glad I was able to get you into my team.”

Ruka, confused as to why Hana had gotten so close to her, replied, “Uh, thank you…”

“You represent a turning point for the Fox Knights,” she explained to her. “I want you to be my instructor for new members of our group. Your skills are truly impeccable, and I feel like you could train our newest members very well.”

Ruka pondered the request from Hana. “You want me to train Miyamura?”

“Not just Miyamura,” Hana pointed out. “From now on, I want anyone who joins the Fox Knights to get their training from you.”

“That’s a big responsibility, and you know that I’ve never really worked well with groups.”

“But I have faith in you,” Hana told her as she placed a hand on her shoulder. “Trust me on this, Kishio-san.”

Ruka looked at the hand Hana had placed on her shoulder and thought to herself as she could feel the grip she had get somewhat tighter, “Miyashita is really adamant about this. Her grip is really strong, too. In normal circumstances, I’d get uncomfortable with someone getting this close, but Miyashita… There’s just something about her that doesn’t unsettle me, or at least… Not as much as others.”

Hana then asked her, having noticed that she had fallen silent for a moment and wondering why, “Kishio-san, what’s going on?”

“Oh, sorry,” Ruka replied, moving slightly as Hana let go of her shoulder. “Miyashita… I’ll do it.”

Hana smiled and told her, “Thank you very much.” She then turned around to leave the balcony and head back inside, but before she stepped in, she said to her, “By the way… You can drop the formalities.”

“Formalities?” Ruka chuckled. “I don’t even use honorifics with you.”

“Just call me Hana then,” she told her. “We’re gonna get more familiar with each other than we already are, so we could drop the formalities now if you want.”

“Okay. You can just call me Ruka then. Use whatever honorific you like. I don’t really give a shit.”

“Sure,” she replied before heading in. “I’ll see you inside, Ruka-chan.”

Ruka then turned back around to face the alleyway before saying to herself, “She’s right. We’re all gonna get more familiar with each other very soon.”

…

Ayako was talking on the phone with someone rather quietly to ensure the others around her could not hear her. “Yeah,” she said to whoever was on the other end of the line. “I’m at my daughter’s birthday party right now. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if we could change the date of our next meeting,” said a male voice on the other end. “I can’t make the third due to a prior commitment, but I can make the fourth instead. I’m sorry for the short notice, Ayako. Would Wednesday work for us?”

Ayako sighed upon hearing the news. “I can make that work,” she replied. “What happened?”

“I gotta work overtime that day, so I can’t make a visit.”

“That’s fine.” Ayako then looked around to make sure no one else was around to hear her before telling the person she was on the phone with, “Let me tell you, I really needed that today. I was having a really stressful day at work doing overtime before I visited you.”

“Any time,” said the same male voice. “I’ll give you all the love you need whenever you need it.”

“You’re really sweet,” Ayako replied with a smile. “I gotta go now. Bye-bye.” She then hung up with the person she was calling and put her phone away. She said to herself with a hint of annoyance, “I was hoping to get a good screwing in on Tuesday, especially since I got that meeting with the boss that day… Wednesday will have to do, I guess.” As she walked down the hall, she saw her husband and smiled, telling him, “That was a great party, dear.”

“Thank you,” Kaito replied. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. How was work?”

“Hard, but it was worth it.” Kaito, of course, had no idea that Ayako was being unfaithful, nor did he know why work that day was ‘worth it’ for her. Ayako, meanwhile, had no idea that Kaito was also being unfaithful by having an affair with Yumi. However, this would not last forever, and when they did find out, everything would come crashing down.