What Is Aka?

“Wait, I think we forgot to take a turn earlier,” Prix said as she slowed down her pace,

“Why? The road continues ahead.” Sato said, pointing ahead,

“I think we should go back,” Prix said, urgently pivoting to try and go backwards,

“What’s up ahead?” Sato asked curiously as he kept walking along with Garia, Carrot, Luna, Idalec, and Aka, who was having a really tough time towards the back,

“Hey, Gaira~” Luna said in a loud whisper towards Sato, “Why do you think you are stupid, Sato, bought some human girl and pretend she’s a turtle girl?”

“What?” Sato, who had been pretending not to eavesdrop, turned to Luna,

“Oh, did you hear me say that you bought a girl who’s just wearing a shell and had her hair dyed green?” Luna looked pleased with herself,

“Wait, is that true?” Sato spun to face a silently pissed-off and tired Aka.

“Did her appearance really not have any doubt in your heart upon viewing her? She carries all the features of a human woman.” Garia brushed her face with her arms before continuing, “Could this not have turned for the best? After all, turtles are natives of the sea; it is the tortoise which roams the land, Master Sato.”

“But I’ve seen a turtle before, and they look just like her?” Sato said, pointing at Aka’s ears, “See, she had red ears and a shell, so she’s clearly a red slider.” Sato then pointed down at the shell Aka was wearing. Aka breathed out in relief.

“I doubt you’ve ever seen a turtle.” Idalec said, ‘I don’t want to ruin Aka’s time, but Sato should know for his own good.’

“No, I've seen turtles plenty of times before.” Sato argued, stopping in his tracks to look back at everyone, “I’ve eaten turtles before. I’ve probably seen ninja turtles more times than you’ve seen sunrises.” Sato bragged,

“What are ninjas?” Idalec asked, and everyone else nodded along,

“Ninja’s.” Sato repeatedly looked around like everyone should already know, “This is common knowledge!?”

“I have no idea what a ‘ninja’ is,” Prix admitted as she saw everyone nod along to her, as she looked at Sato. You could see Sato’s brain blue-screen in real time as his eyes glazed over. “Can you hear us, Sato?” Prix asked after a few minutes, waving her hand in front of Sato’s eyes.

“I can’t possibly describe a ninja turtle to you.” Sato finally said, coming back to his senses. “It’s a turtle-” Sato made a box with his hands, “that’s a ninja.” Sato made another box to the right of the first box,

“What’s a ninja?” Prix gently tried to nudge Sato’s thinking,

“It’s like…” Sato looked up at Garia as he thought, "They're like assassins who dress in all black and throw ninja stars.” Sato said slowly,

“What are ninja stars?” Prix asked, exasperated, “This is circular logic where you're saying that a ninja is someone who’s an assassin who throws ninja stars. So are the ninja stars? Are they what makes someone a ninja?”

“No, none of the ninja turtles use ninja stars… except for all of them, I guess,” Sato said, rubbing his chin.

“Can you say that again?” Prix asked, spinning her fingers in a circle. Sato looked at Prix, not understanding what she didn’t get.

“Master Sato, I could see where Prix’s confusion could come from, since I myself do feel your explanation unfathomably impenetrable, as you have said the following: A ninja is an assassin who dresses in black, which would imply these assassins act in the cover of night, and yet you say they ‘throw’ ninja stars? I can not fathom how a mere person, no matter how great, could throw a star? I could imagine you meant something different entirely than that in mind, as you have just said that none of the ninja turtles, if I had to speak my mind, I would attribute to ninja who are of the turtle folk race, do not use ninja stars. However, right after you then went ahead and contradicted yourself by saying that apparently everyone is an exception to the rule?” Garia concluded, leaving more questions for everyone.

“Can you explain how a ninja star looks?” Idalec finally asked,

“It looks like a star with a hole in the middle,” Sato said confidently,

“And what’s it made out of?” Idalec asked, making a five-pointed star with fire and leaving a hole in the middle,

“No…” Sato laughed, “Of course a ninja star has FOUR points and not five!”

‘Fine.’ Idalec thought, turning his star into a four-pointed star,

“Yeah, that’s about right; they’re made from iron and ninjas just throw them,” Sato said as everyone looked at Idalec’s fire trick for a while before Idalec dissolved it. “Case in point: I know what a turtle looks like.” Sato bragged,

“I don’t think you even know what a star looks like~.”

“Who said that?” Sato demanded, opening his eyes to look around. “It was you, wasn't it, Luna?” Sato squinted his eyes at Luna,

“It was~” Luna snickered.

“Anyway, Sato, maybe you should let Aka take off that shell she's lugging around?” Prix suggested,

“But a shell is a part of the turtle's body; if you take it off, she’ll die!” Sato worried, looking over at Aka,

“Aka, it’s ok you can tell Sato that you're not actually a beast folk,” Prix said, moving towards Aka,

“But then Master would beat me,” Aka whispered angrily to Prix,

“He wouldn't; I'll make sure he won't,” Prix whispered over to Aka.

Aka didn’t look a bit convinced as she looked into Prix’s eyes. “I’m not actually a turtle girl.” Aka looked up to Sato with a hardened look.

“Hmm, no.” Sato pursed his lips together. “I think you're a turtle girl, Aka.” Sato then turned around and started walking again down the road.

“Oh look, it's a town! New slave girl, here I come!” Sato yelled, running into the sleepy town, even though it was around dinner time; nobody seemed to be out in the streets.

“Slow down.” A demon stuck out his hand,

“Bro really be larping as a stop sign-” Sato said, spinning to face his six fellow heroes. “Get a load of this guy, fr fr.” Sato turned again to face the demon, who had the most puzzled look on his face,

‘I guess Sato is really good at confusing the enemy.’

“Bro, just be standing and glowing like ‘slow down’-” Sato imitated the pose of sticking out his hand, mace in hand.

“What’s that?” the demon demanded, pulling up his shield and drawing his sword after spotting the mace.

“This?” Sato asked, confused for a moment before grinning deviously, “I’m about to Swordomize you with this 32K blade.” Sato laughed as he approached the demon and slammed the mace. More accurately, Sato moved the mace through the demon’s shield, splintering it where the mace struck and launching the demon sideways with so much force that it killed him on impact with the solid stone wall, leaving behind only a dust cloud in its place. “Holy shit.” Sato looked in awe at what he did. “I guess my hard work really paid off, wouldn't you say, Sensei?” Sato laughed back at Idalec.

“That was impressive.” Idalec admitted, ‘That sure is one impressive magical mace.’ Idalec eyed it up.

“Nobody can tell me to slow down when I’m trying to buy another slave girl!” Idalec started running again, looking both ways to find a slave market.

“What!” Sato screamed at the top of his lungs when he tried pulling on the locked door to the slave market. “No no no no!” Sato kept tugging on the closed door. “Why must fate be so cruel to me!!!” Sato had both his hands on the door as he slowly slid down it like a religious fanatic begging to be let into their place of worship after the priest had already left.

“Idalec, I think the demons have taken over this town,” Prix observed as another demon was walking towards them. “We should be on guard.”