Finding Out the Truth

October 12, 2023

Daisuke, his wife, and his young son were all visiting Ruka today for dinner after school. As the four of them ate together, Daisuke asked Ruka, “So, how was school?”

“To be honest,” she replied with a shrug. “Uneventful. No magical beast calls, no big tests coming up, no drama today at school, nothing. It was oddly peaceful, actually.”

“Seems almost unusual these days,” Daisuke commented. “There’s been a lot more activity these days than in the past.”

“Tell me about it,” Ruka agreed. “It’s shaping up to be one of the busiest years to date for you guys at the office, huh?”

“Yep.”

Daisuke’s wife, a woman named Ayumu, then asked Ruka in regards to some food for her toddler-aged son, “Can you pass me some more rice for Hideki?”

“Sure,” Ruka said as she passed a bowl of rice to her. She then turned to Hideki and smiled, playfully asking him, “How was your day at preschool, Hideki?”

“It was really fun, Ruka-oneechan,” the young boy excitedly replied. Even though Ruka was obviously not the boy’s actual older sister, he still treated her like she was, much to Ruka’s delight given that she had been an only child. “Me and some other boys built this really big thing out of toy bricks and had a really cool fight with action figures. It was so cool.”

Ruka chuckled and told him, “Wow, that is really cool. Who won the fight?”

“My toys did,” he beamed with a proud smile.

“Nice job,” she said before giving him a hi-five. Around young children, Ruka was neither the prim and proper young lady nor the brash and sometimes crude swordswoman she presented herself as to others. Instead, she acted more like a big sister or even a mother to them. “I bet you had a lot of fun, didn’t you?”

“It was so awesome!”

Daisuke, Ayumu, and Ruka then all laughed among each other. The former then said to her, “You know, you’re really good around kids, Ruka.”

“Thank you, Uncle Daisuke,” she replied to him.

…

Meanwhile, Hana and Yoshiro were at Hideo’s apartment again, this time to collect the money that Hideo had promised to Hana in exchange for what she had done at the onsen. Yoshiro was angry at Hideo for what he had arranged, but knew that he could not do anything about it, at least not yet. As the two of them sat themselves down across from him at a table, Hana asked him, “So, where’s the money?”

“I got two guys bringing it now,” Hideo explained before he reached down and pulled up a large black briefcase. “But I do have the weapons you requested, Hana.” As he opened up the briefcase, Hana and Yoshiro saw two brand new pistols and several loaded magazines inside. “For that one girl on your team with the handguns. I got her another two thousand rounds of ammo too aside from the six mags in the case.”

“Excellent,” Hana replied to her. “Now how about the swords you promised?”

“Right here,” Hideo said as he got up and walked over to a large package left near the front door of the apartment and then used a knife to open it. From said package, he pulled out three different swords. “The katana is your’s. The broadsword is your one friend’s. The cutlass goes to that boy over there who came with you.”

As he walked over with the sheathed swords in his hands, Yoshiro said to Hideo, “Thank you.” In his mind, he thought to himself, “I can’t believe I’m thanking someone as disgusting as him. If I could, I’d take my new cutlass and slice his fucking head off right now with it.”

“And one last thing,” then said Hideo as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the last weapon Hana had ordered from him. He then walked back into the room carrying a case of throwing knives. “Here’s the ten knives you also ordered.”

As he set them down on the table, Hana grinned and told him, “They look amazing.”

“Only the best for a girl such as yourself.”

“Damn it,” Yoshiro thought to himself. “That sentence makes me want to throw up. I feel like I’m gonna get sick if I stay here any longer.”

Then, they both heard a knock at the door. Hideo told the two of them, “I’ll get it.”

As Hideo went to answer the door, Hana told Yoshiro quietly, “I can tell you’re disturbed.”

“You’re God damn right,” he whispered to him. “This doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Listen,” Hana assured him. “I’m fine, okay? It happened already. Besides, like I said, if he tries anything against us, I’ll expose him. I’m the one with the upper hand here.”

“I hope you’re right.”

Hideo then came back to them while carrying a small briefcase and then setting it on the table. “Here’s the money I promised.”

As he opened it, both Hana and Yoshiro were amazed by the many stacks of yen notes inside, measuring four wide and six across and all held together by rubber bands. “Holy shit,” the latter said. “How much money is in this thing?!”

“¥8.4 million,” he told them.

“¥8.4 million?!” Yoshiro was dumbfounded. “You have us that much?! That’s about as much as my mother makes at her job every year!”

“And it‘ll be enough to sustain us for a while,” Hana also pointed out to him. “See? I told you. This deal will be worth it.”

“I’m glad we could come to these terms,” Hideo told the two of them. “Truth be told, I was originally gonna have it be about ¥8 million, but I was thoroughly impressed by some of the things you did a few nights ago, Hana, so I upped it a little bit.”

“How generous of you.”

Then, the door behind them opened again. This time, a girl stepped in wearing what looked like a high school uniform. “Hideo-sama,” she said to him. “Am I too early?”

“No, no, you’re fine,” he assured her. “Come on in. We’re just finalizing a business deal here. We’ll be done very soon.”

Hana then said to Hideo as she got up and bowed to him as a sign of respect, “Thank you very much for your generous gifts to the Fox Knights, Kawase-san.”

Yoshiro, prompted by this, did the same. “Thank you, Kawase-san.” He thought to himself as he bowed, “I can’t believe I’m bowing to him, but if it’s what Hana-senpai wants…”

…

October 13, 2023

Yoshiro and Kyosuke were walking to school together, a rarity for the two of them, but not an entirely impossible occurrence. “Crazy shit, man,” the latter said to the former as they talked about his dead vision Ai. “None of us were expecting it.”

“And the way she died was really horrible, too,” Yoshiro replied, referring to both the cover story that Kyosuke had been fed for her death as well as how Ai had actually died. “That really sucks.”

Kyosuke then gave him a faint smile before telling him, “Well, at least Ayano-senpai is back from the hospital after her car accident. I heard she’ll be in a leg cast for a while and have to deal with her missing arm, but still.”

“Better that than dead.” Yoshiro thought to himself, “It feels so weird to talk to civilians when the agency gives out a cover story for someone’s injuries. None of them have any idea how close Ayano-senpai from Kishio’s class was to getting killed.”

Then, they both saw Hana walking towards them from across the street. She waved and said to them, “Yoshiro-kun!”

“Hey there, Hana-senpai,” Yoshiro said back as she crossed the street to join them.

“Oh yeah,” Kyosuke replied. “I forgot that you and Miyashita-senpai often walk to school together.” He then playfully joked with Yoshiro and Hana by asking them in a sarcastic tone, “Are you two secretly dating and hiding it from everyone else?”

Yoshiro denied it immediately while Hana giggled at the idea. “No, we’re not!”

Hana further clarified, “I’m flattered, but no, we aren’t. We’re just friends, Furukawa-kun.”

“Alright, alright,” Kyosuke replied. “I was just messing around. Just some joking around, that’s all.”

…

At school, Riko and Ruka were talking to each other in class during a break. Riko had a set of crutches to deal with her leg cast, and her uniform coat and shirt were tied up at where her left arm had been ripped off. “It’s been difficult,” Riko said to her. “But I’m slowly getting used to it.”

“How was the hospital anyway?”

“It was nice, but after a while, it got too repetitive. I never thought I’d say it, but I’m actually glad to be back in school.” Riko then looked at her now half-missing left arm. “I’m just glad it wasn’t my writing arm.”

“That’s always a plus,” Ruka nodded. “Are you getting help with anything?”

“Mariko-chan from class is helping me around,” Riko said as she looked at another girl in the class with them. “She offered last Friday when she heard I was coming back to school. She also delivered most of my class work and homework I missed. On another note…” Changing the subject, she asked her, “How have you been?”

“I’ve been keeping busy with work outside of school,” Ruka replied, using a euphemism to not say exactly what she was working with. “You know what I mean, right?”

“Yeah,” Riko nodded.

“I haven’t gotten a lot of work in the past few days. Yesterday, I didn’t have any.”

“That’s not a bad thing,” Riko pointed out. “It means no one got hurt. I know a thing or two about that.”

“That’s fair…” Ruka then looked at her shortened left arm and asked her, “Does it still feel like it’s there?”

“It does…” Riko looked down at her arm stump and admitted with a sigh, “The doctors say I’ll have that for a long time. They call it phantom pain.”

“I figured that was an issue.”

“Not gonna lie,” Riko said with a chuckle. “It reminded me of the video game, actually. The doctors say I’ll feel like I have an arm even though most of its gone for much of my life, although they do say it gets less severe as time goes on.” She then attempted to grab something on her desk, but soon realized she was trying to do it with her now-nonexistent left hand. “Oh, right… See what I mean?”

“Damn, that must suck.”

“That isn’t the first time I’ve tried to grab something with that arm since the incident… And it won’t be the last.”

“You’re taking this pretty well for a girl who got her arm ripped off, you know.” Ruka, indeed, was fascinated by how she was handling it, at least in front of other people. “I assumed you wouldn’t wanna talk about it at all.”

“Talking about it’s the only way I can keep my sanity,” Riko admitted. “If I kept it bottled up, I’d lose my damn mind.”

…

October 14, 2023

Yoshiro and Hana were battling a magical beast together early in the evening after having traveled through a portal that had opened up on the side of a hospital. As Hana stepped back after striking a tiger-like beast with insect-like compound eyes and gray fur in the chest before narrowly dodging a swipe from one of its paws, she told Yoshiro, “It nearly got me!” The cold weather surrounding then in the world they had stepped into made it so their breaths were clearly visible.

Then, the beast charged at both of them again, trying to swing at both of them once it got close. Yoshiro yelled as he blocked the blow with his own sword, knowing they would not be able to outrun it, “Look out!” The beast screamed as Yoshiro’s sword cut through its front left paw and sliced it off. “I’ll go for the kill!” Yoshiro then blocked another attack from its remaining front paw before kicking the beast in the head and slicing through its neck to decapitate it.

As the beast’s blood poured onto the ground and its head rolled towards them, Hana commented, “A tiger with the eyes of an insect… I wonder how the worlds these portals open up to come up with these creatures.” The blood of the dead magical beast was warm enough to cause some steam to rise from the cold ground and snow it fell on.

“Same here,” Yoshiro commented. “That tiger thing had, like, hundreds of eyes. They looked like the eyes of a fly, but… Bigger…”

“I’m amazed that even after all this time,” Hana commented. “We still only barely know about one of the worlds these portals lead to, and next to nothing about the other worlds. Hell, we don’t even know how many worlds there are.”

“At least Halargian magical beasts are relatively normal. Whatever the Hell this thing was definitely wasn’t from Halargia.” They looked around at the world they had come to, which was akin to a wintery plain with fresh snow on the ground. “Speaking of, we better get ready for our own world to look like this in a few weeks.”

“Don’t remind me,” Hana chuckled before she shivered slightly. “It’s freezing. Let’s go before it gets any colder.”

As they crossed back over into the real world through the portal just a few feet behind them, they both turned and saw Ruka waiting for them on the other side. She looked at both of them and noticed the snow on their shoes. “Was it cold in there?”

“It’s about time you showed up,” Yoshiro commented.

“Hey, don’t blame me,” Ruka shot back. “Traffic was a bitch to run through. Some asshole almost hit me when I was crossing a street, too, so I had to deal with that shit. Besides, once I saw you guys weren’t here, I assumed you were fighting inside the portal.”

“You could ha-“

Hana then put a hand on Yoshiro’s shoulder. “It’s fine. We didn’t really need a third person anyway.”

Yoshiro admitted, “Okay, that’s fair.”

“So,” Ruka then asked them. “How was the fight anyway?”

“It was just some lion-like creature with a bunch of eyes,” Hana replied to her.

“A bunch of eyes?”

“It had insect-like eyes,” Hana further clarified. “Like that of a fly.”

Ruka, curious but also weirded out, replied to her, “That sounds… Rather unique.”

…

October 16, 2023

Ruka and Tenko had just gotten done fighting a magical beast behind the junior high school they went to and were now walking away from the scene, both of them still dressed in their magical huntress outfits. As they did, Tenko reloaded her brand new guns from Hideo and asked Ruka, “So, now that you’ve been in the Fox Knights for basically a month, what do you think?”

Ruka replied to her, “Of what?”

“Of us,” Tenko clarified. “What do you think of the group? Do you like it?”

Ruka looked up at the sky and admitted to her, “I guess I do, actually. You know, the Fox Knights are different from all the other groups of magical huntresses I’ve encountered. Most of the time, the groups are temporary, and even the ones that aren’t are often a revolving door of people going in and out. People largely band together for larger fights to survive, but don’t really look out for each other beyond that. Something’s very different here.”

“Really?” Tenko then pondered Ruka’s words. “Huh… I guess I never thought of it that way. If I had to guess, the reason the Fox Knights are different is because of Miyashita-senpai. She’s a very charismatic person, and she can easily put you at ease.”

“I noticed that when she talks to the newer girls in the group. It’s like she puts Miyamura in a damn trance whenever she talks to her in particular.”

“Yeah, I noticed that, too.” Tenko then held out her left hand as the ring on it began to glow and transformed back into her school uniform. “You know, I think you’ll fit in just fine. You’re doing it already. Hell, if Miyashita-senpai trusts you enough to train Miyamura-senpai and Murata-senpai despite only being in our group for about a month, that’s gotta be a good sign.”

“You got a point.”

“I personally think you’re a great magical huntress, and I like the fact you’re in our group.”

“Arikawa doesn’t seem to think so,” Ruka replied in an annoyed tone. “I don’t get why he’s so pissy around me.”

“I’ve had a suspicion he has a crush on Miyashita-senpai for a while,” Tenko theorized.

“That’s painfully obvious,” Ruka agreed. “I knew that already. I could see it very soon after I met you guys. My question is why he lashes out at me.”

“He sees you as competition,” Tenko explained. “He thinks that Miyashita-senpai focuses on you too much.”

Ruka sighed as she also transformed back into her school uniform, “Is that so, huh? I wish he’d understand that I don’t wanna sleep with Hana. I don’t swing that way.”

Tenko chuckled, amused by Ruka’s choice of words. “I guess he isn’t convinced.”

“Believe me,” Ruka assured her. “I feel pretty confident in saying that I don’t like girls that way. Truth be told, I think I see boys that way, but… I don’t know. I’m too focused on battling magical beasts to have a boyfriend anyway.”

“I get it,” Tenko nodded. “Besides, you know how boys our age can be.”

Ruka chuckled at her remark. “Now, now, let’s be fair, Ikezawa. Girls our age can be pretty bad, too. You saw how much we all talked about boobs in the hot springs last weekend, right? How’s that any different from boys looking at porn on their phones and ogling at it with their friends?”

“Okay, that’s fair.” Tenko blushed slightly as she thought of what Ruka had described. “So, uh… Have you looked at it?”

“Looked at what?”

“You know… Dirty things…”

Ruka was perplexed that Tenko was bringing up such a topic out in the open. “You mean porn? You really wanna discuss it more out here?”

“I, uh, I mean, um… We don’t have to…”

Ruka explained to her, “Look, I get it, okay? And yes, I’ve looked at it. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find someone our age who hasn’t. I’m just surprised you’d be so bold as to mention it out here near our school.”

Clearly nervous about asking her, Tenko said in a somewhat shaky voice, “What did it, um… How did it make you feel?”

Ruka stopped walking and turned around to face Tenko. She thought to herself, “Truth be told, I’ve looked at it sometimes to calm myself down whenever I think about what happened four years ago… But I can’t just tell her that. Why would I even tell anyone in the group about what happened to me? They don’t really need to know.”

“Are you… Are you gonna say something, Kishio-senpai?”

“I just felt… Good,” Ruka shrugged. “The people in it looked nice. I know it’s all acting, but it looked like it felt good to do. I wish I had more of an answer for you, but I don’t. Have you looked at it?”

Tenko immediately denied to her, “No, I haven’t!”

“If you have, it’s not a big deal.”

“I…” Tenko then sighed, realizing she could not lie to Ruka. “Okay, fine, I have. It was just one time, though, I swear!”

“I don’t think there’s any shame in it. I can’t say the same for how others think, though.” As the two continued their walk, they momentarily stopped before crossing a street. Ruka thought to herself, “I can see myself staying in the Fox Knights for a while, actually. What I’ve seen of the group so far is pretty good.”

…

October 21, 2023

Ruka was busy making lunch for both herself and another person when she heard the doorbell to her apartment ring. She quickly set down the knife she was using to cut several green onions on a wooden board and walked out of the kitchen to answer the door. When she opened it, she found Hana on the other side. “Ah, you’re here early.”

“I am?” Hana then checked the time on her watch. “Oh, I am. My apologies, Ruka-chan.”

“It’s fine,” Ruka replied. “I’m almost done with the food. Come on in.”

As Hana walked into the apartment and then took her outdoor shoes off, she was impressed with how well-kept and well-furnished it was. “Wow… I gotta say, Ruka-chan, your apartment is really nice for someone who lives alone.”

“I’m not always alone,” Ruka pointed out. “My uncle will come over usually once or twice a week, often with his family. Even so, I still do most of the things around here by myself.” She then went back into the kitchen to continue making the food they would have for lunch. “Make yourself at home, Hana.”

“Thank you,” she replied as she sat down on a couch in the living room next to the kitchen. “What are you making?”

“Oyakodon,” she replied as she checked the temperature on a bowl of the aforementioned meal on her stove. “I’ve gotten really good at making it in the last year.”

“Perfect,” Hana said with a smile. “I love oyakodon.”

“My mom loved making it for us when she was alive.” Ruka then put the last of the onions in the bowl. “It’ll be done in a few minutes.”

“That’s fine.” Hana then asked Ruka as she checked her phone, “By the way, how do you like your new sword?”

Ruka chuckled. “It’s pretty fucking awesome if you ask me. That Yakuza guy you got it from knows his shit when it comes to weapons.” She was clearly impressed with the quality of the sword from Hideo.

“Thank you. I made a great effort to attain what we all needed, and I’m glad it paid off for you.”

“How about your sword?”

“My new sword is performing very well,” Hana replied. “I have zero complaints.”

After this, the two of them went silent for about a minute as Hana turned on the television in front of her and began flipping through the channels and Ruka prepared the oyakodon they would soon be eating. As they quietly went about these things, Ruka suddenly began to remember what Yoshiro had told her about how far Hana would be willing to go to improve the Fox Knights and herself, causing her to stop what she was doing as the smile faded from her face and her expression changed into one of dread.

Hana then turned around and asked Ruka as she pulled out a charging cord from her backpack, “If you don’t mind, may I charge my phone he-?”

“Hey,” Ruka asked her in a serious tone, her back turned away from her. “What did you do with that Yakuza boss, Hana?”

Hana’s blood froze upon hearing those words. “I, um… What do you mean?”

“I want you to answer me,” Ruka calmly yet firmly demanded from her. “I saw you with him at the hot springs last weekend. What did you two do?”

Denying that she had given him sexual favors, she told her, “We just talked and negotiated the final prices for the weapo-“

“BULLSHIT!” Ruka then stabbed the cutting board with her knife as hard as she could, leaving it firmly implanted in the wood. She turned around and yelled at Hana, “What did you do with him?! You didn’t just talk, did you?! He didn’t just listen either, did he?!”

Shocked by Ruka’s sudden change in behavior, Hana stood up and replied to her, “Ruka-chan, what’s with the yelling?”

“Tell me the truth, Hana! Tell me!”

“What do you want to tell me?!”

Ruka then left the kitchen and marched over to Hana, asking her in a very forceful tone, “Did you have sex with him?! I know his reputation, Hana! Did he tell you to have sex with him, and did you agree?!”

Hana dropped the charging cord, realizing Ruka was not going to believe any lie she told her about what Hideo had done to her. She thought to herself, “I can’t lie to her. She won’t believe it, anyway. I have to come clean to her like I did to Yoshiro-kun.” She took a deep breath and admitted to Ruka, “I… I had sex with him, yes.”

Ruka’s expression turned from one of anger to one of sadness. “Why… Why did he do that to you? Don’t you know how old he is?! He’s a fucking pedophile!”

“Ruka-chan, hang on!” Hana then backed away from Ruka. “Listen to me, okay?! I know the risks I took when I did that! Trust me, if it weren’t for this weapons deal, I would have never in a million years thought to have sex with him! Do you think I actually think he’s hot or something?! Hell no! He’s ugly as Hell!”

“Then why the fuck did you do it?!”

“Because I wasn’t willing to let more innocent children die in the name of my dream,” Hana loudly admitted. “And I wasn’t going to let any more of my comrades in the Fox Knights die due to poor weapons and armor ever again! That’s why I did it! I chose to sacrifice my own dignity and my body so that other people wouldn’t have to needlessly die!”

“You…”

Hana breathed heavily, having gotten unusually emotional. As she tried to calm herself down, she thought about what had happened two years prior with Yuna Morikawa, and thought back to the day she died.