Foreseen Moves

More than a week passed since Saki rediscovered her friends. Overall things were back to normal now for her. She found much of the initial data that Aya was requesting. Things were quite busy for her that week. Playing spy had been a very different sort of experience for her, given her guard duty previously.

She had been uncertain what it would mean for her. If she could handle the work. Without her powers and senses could she still be useful for the task? Could she even complete the task without being discovered? Stealth was important, necessary for her task. While practiced in such things with her training, it turned out to be a rarely used set of skills.

They weren’t necessarily things that she felt had expired or atrophied, but they weren’t something she refined. Alertness, visual acuity, reflexes, they were what she kept trying to improve and define. It made her a better soldier, a guard, but it did nothing for her as a spy. Killing people was easy for her.

That part of a spy suited her well. Being an assassin came with effortless ease. She could kill quickly and quietly without anyone knowing that she even had been there. The first time she did it carried anxiety and fear. Even if she had killed, it was different than before. The reasons were different. Her agency disappeared.

It surprised her a little how simple it truly was. Was it because they weren’t real to her? Had she already become desensitized to killing? Were the stories true? Many questions filled her head and she hadn’t planned to give them answers. They were unnecessary, even rhetorical.

The truth was in front of her. She killed again because that was the order. That was what was needed of her. That was the plan Aya had for her. It was that simple. Focus and empty, she kept that in her heart.

Before her was the man of Aya’s mission, Goro Terada, military advisor to Lord Komagata. With him dead, she would likely walk completely over Komagata’s forces. The war would end quickly and Seiji and Nerine would be able to save the people and get Yori out as they escaped. This would be the key they needed.

Saki wiped off her bloodied blade and returned it to her sheath. It had been an excellent kill. She minimized the amount of blood and made it very clean. The man died almost instantly, she assumed. No one would know what happened, just another one playing the game removed from the board.

Her breathing never changed the entire time. There was nothing more that she could have asked for with the kill. Leaping up to the beams, she lifted herself back up into the roof and disappeared into the shadows.

No one would see her escaping the mansion into the darkened streets that surrounded the grounds.

The war had changed.

Chapter 531 – Foreseen Moves

With her primary objective completed, the rest of the mission resumed. For Saki, things didn’t change too much after the death of Goro. As expected, it did put the guards in the city on more of an alert, but they had no clue to his death. Without an insider on the court, she had no way of knowing what was occurring. She presumed that there would be a power struggle to fill the vacancy left by his death. Nothing noticeable from her investigations led to signs that it began to spill out into the city.

It wasn’t as though she wanted that to happen, but witnessing how things were when she killed Akira Matsushina she expected something to occur. Nothing but silence from the Lords felt a little strange in her mind. But stability for now at least made her life easier.

She journeyed around the city in her data gathering. Picking up news here and there about people or events, it remained mostly mundane and not nearly as useful for her as she hoped. A deeper dive into the Lords was still going to be necessary at some point. She put it off as the risk increased.

As she approached two weeks into her mission, the majority of what she could accomplish without sneaking around protected areas ran out. The reality finally approached that her mission required her to put more risk into her survival.

While she began her personal investigation into the Lords one at a time, she received a message from Nerine’s spy. It impressed her how well adapted to the era Nerine became. She wondered if the network could be utilized later, but she couldn’t be certain how willing they would be to work for their enemy.

However, regardless of the future, they had something they wanted to talk to her about. She returned during the day in stealth to the home of Seiji’s family. The same place they met before though a little more stealthy this time around. She waited for them to return.

Seiji entered first with Nerine behind him closing the door. He looked visibly bothered. Saki had a very good guess as to why. He sat down at the table before speaking. “Your handiwork I’m assuming.”

“It was part of the mission.”

“Thanks to your mission, things have become very complicated.”

“How so? I haven’t been inside the Lords’ homes yet, but things seem pretty stable. I expected significantly more impact.”

“That’s because there wasn’t a struggle for power. It was filled nearly immediately.”

“By who?”

“Yori. He’s the new military strategist for Lord Komagata. We’re no longer going to be able to escape so easily.”

Saki allowed emotion to spread over her face. Another piece fell into place for her, something that she felt was a little odd, but still rationalized. “So that’s why she wanted the military strategist dead.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’s like we said before, Aya could beat everyone here pretty easily. So asking me to kill this one in particular seemed a little odd to me. She doesn’t do anything for no reason. Since she lived here for a while, she must have known what would happen with Yori and she removed the one obstacle to place him in power.”

“Are you thinking she wants to face Yori? That seems a little odd, if anything they’re fond of each other.”

“It’s hard to say what all of her motivations are, but that seems to be what we can assume based on the events. She wants to fight him. Maybe she blames him for her family’s death. I’m not sure really. There’s still a lot about the way her mind works that we haven’t figured out.” Saki sighed thinking about the consequences of her actions. “But it’s like you said. With Yori in charge of the military, it’s not going to be easy to get everyone out anymore. And if it is the case that she wants a fight with Yori, she’s probably going to be difficult or impossible to convince in having him join after this is over.”

“We’re not going to sacrifice him.”

“Certainly not, we’re going to have to find a way to save him from that fate.”

Seiji rubbed his forehead as he pondered the options. There was some frustration with Saki just killing someone that caused this, but he also understood. It actually pained him some that he did understand. It made him wish that he didn’t instead, it would have made it easier. His younger self would have just shouted and yelled at her, probably thrown a punch knowing him.

It only troubled him more that he could reflect on it in such a way. A sign of maturity shared how problematic the situation was. The added complexities only made him feel worse. He felt a hand touch his with comforting warmth. ‘Nerine…thanks…’

“What are we going to do?”

“How are your plans proceeding for the city?”

“I’ve had my network investigating shelters and evacuation routes. It’s taking some time since I wasn’t focused on learning about those aspects of the city.”

“What have you found so far?”

“I’ve identified three routes we can evacuate to, though the main one leads into the mountains and some caves nearby. I suggest that one as our best tactic.”

“Normally I’d agree, but it’s probably also going to be obvious. I don’t want to think Aya’s ruthless, but if she’s fueled by revenge she might not think rationally. She will likely see to cutting off that escape.”

A sigh came from Seiji as he looked over the map that Nerine directed them over. “Saki’s right. Even if she’s not after the citizens, it’s a pretty obvious retreat for troops as well. She would probably cut it off just to keep the soldiers from escaping.”

Pointing out the two other routes on the map, they had promise and were probably safer. One ran along the foothills of the mountain while the other went out into the open. The second option had a river for some protection, as long as the citizens weren’t a target, they would be safe.

“If we are to evacuate the citizens, these are the only other options I’ve found.”

“And any shelter we can use?”

“Everything’s made of wood. There’s no stonework or form of masonry in any of the building construction. Anything we try will likely just be a death trap.”

“I feared that might be the case. I just hope this is an emergency backup. If things are done properly, the battle will be out of the city and be resolved there.”

“But they could push into the city if the fighting continues. Yori’s a stubborn man, if his shogi style is anything to judge.”

“That’s another reason I want to be sure to have plans for whatever happens.”

“Thanks, I know you didn’t have to do this.”

She leaned back a little as they took a pause in their talks. Strategy wasn’t exactly foreign to her, but she didn’t find it her strength. A small headache felt like it started to develop. And it only seemed like it would get worse as they tried to predict and speculate on what Aya would do. Anything that they tried to think up felt like it was something that she would have anticipated already.

Planning for plans caused no endless amount of pain. Sometimes she wondered if they gave Aya too much credit. It felt like they were elevating her to some sort of deific status when she could make mistakes just like anyone else. Given how smart and resourceful she was, she didn’t see Yori’s parent’s conspiracy.

The mission was expanding beyond the scope Saki intended. But it was important nonetheless. “I know they’re not real, but I still feel like if I did nothing it would lessen me as a human. That probably sounds selfish, but I can’t turn away.”

“I think we all feel the same way. Even if they have a temporary life that will disappear with this world, it’s still a life that has value while it’s still here.” Seiji laughed a little to himself over a thought that came to him. “I guess we’re still kids in some ways. They’d probably say a real adult would not worry about fake lives and just do what must be done.”

“I don’t know. I think plenty of adults would feel the same as us. Even if our bodies out there are still teenagers, inside here we’ve grown up a second time. I’m not going to have someone else define for me what an adult is and fit to that model.”

He smiled a little while listening to the untended speech. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to start a philosophical debate.”

“No, I probably got a little preachy.” Saki looked down at the map pondering once more what they were facing. The coming war would pit themselves against each other. There was a very unsettling future that she could see. “Yuki’s going to be on the frontlines in this battle.”

“As will I,” said Seiji, “Yori’s put me in charge of commanding out on the field.”