A fateful day

Rika sighed and held her head down as she and Mimi walked through the woods.

"Say, why are you acting all depressed?" Mimi asked.

"Depressed?" Rika replied.

"Yeah, you don't look like you're enjoying yourself."

"Well, I guess it's more me realizing I'm bound to a fate I don't want. See, my family's an elite assassin family that’s part of an evil organization that seeks to take over the world. My father's a terrifying and ambitious man and wants me to kill in order to raise his status to greater heights, but I honestly don't want to be a killer for life."

"You wanna be a spy right!?"

"Well, no. Honestly, I'd just prefer an ordinary career, but I don't even know what I'd choose, and even then, no way my father would allow it."

"Then just run away."

"I would if I could. My father or one of my bloodthirsty sisters would then hunt me down like prey if I tried to flee, that and the evil organization would also send killers after me."

"You have sisters?"

"Four of them, and they're all sets of twins. Two are older than me, and two are younger than me. I'm the 3rd of 5 children altogether so I really am the middle one."

"I was in an orphanage until I decided to become a spy. I didn't really have many friends there, but I still made the most of my days there."

"I envy your positive demeanor."

"It's been a bit rattled these past few days- er, I guess it feels like it was just days to me," Mimi somberly smiled.

"I guess I can see why. You woke up in a foreign land and everyone you know might be gone or drastically different from how they were before."

"So that's why I gotta make new friends too, like you."

"And the optimism's back."

"And it's staying long enough for me to impart some words of wisdom as an- well uh do I qualify as an elder?"

"Sure, we'll say yes to make it easier on your brain."

"Then here's my wisdom. Ahem, A good friend who confessed her feelings to me once said, 'If you can't escape the chains of order, find a loophole to slip through them.'”

"So, you're just copying the words of a friend."

"Hey! It applies to you!" Mimi pouted.

"Loophole huh? So, you're saying I should try and find something my father would be OK with me doing instead of killing? No, he'll want me to do something where I could still kill- ...! That's it! Mimi, your friend's a genius!"

"I mean, yeah she is. But I-"

"I just gotta say I'll get a job that would allow me to kill targets with ease, then just not kill. But what?"

"What are you good at?"

"Well, slicing things with knives, though due to my age and size, my technique is limited."

"But you took out that guy at the prison just fine."

"No, I was ordered to kill him as part of a job. I was originally supposed to get rid of one of those frozen guys and stuff the dead researcher in there. But since I'm still a kid, I ended up having to jump up to stab him in the back. Sure, I killed him, but it wasn't a clean kill with resulted in him stumbling into the control panel and unintentionally unfreezing you, though I'm kind of glad it did. I've really enjoyed my time with you, Mimi."

"See, we're becoming fast friends. Still, it's impressive that you know how to use knives so well at your age. AH! That's it! You should be a knife maker!"

"I'm good at USING knives, not making them."

"Then um, uh what jobs use knives besides killing. Oh, how about plain ole cooking?"

"Huh, maybe. No clue how good I am, but maybe it could work."

Mimi then noticed a woman in her mid to late 50s with violet and grey hair tied up in pigtails trembling by a campfire and ran up to her as Rika watched from a distance. “You may look older, but I know you're Vivi, aka Codename: Kage," Mimi smiled.

"MI- MIMI!?" the woman gasped in shock.

"Why are you so scared?"

"H- How!? Y- You were frozen!?"

"Wait, did you know I was frozen, then why- oh, you're too old now right?"

Vivi relaxed a bit and sheathed the knife she attempted to draw from her back pocket. "You'd best leave. I don't know how you found me but leave. They will come for you too," Vivi trembled.

"Who?"

"The traitor! The one who wiped our team, the one who got us captured...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vivi screamed as she began to hyperventilate.

"Vivi! It's alright! I'M here! I'm alive!" Mimi stated as she attempted to comfort Vivi.

Suddenly, Rika turned to see an old woman in a business suit glaring at her. Without saying a word, she kicked Rika in the stomach and sent her flying towards Mimi and Vivi. Rika landed before them and winced in pain as the woman approached them. "Well, it seems I've found you, traitor," the woman glared.

"MARZI!? You're an old woman!? Wait, what do you mean traitor!?" Mimi shouted.

"Mimi!? So, you’re alive. Vivi betrayed Denmark, though I guess you knew it as Danablu."

Mimi nervously turned to see Vivi with her knife drawn. "W- Why?" she nervously asked.

"I killed Sherry! I didn't want to, but I killed her! I KILLED HER! I KILLED HER! I KILLED HER! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Vivi cried in pain.

"Vivi? You... killed Sherry!?"

"I'M SORRY MIMI! I DIDN'T WANT TO, BUT I BETRAYED THE COUNTRY! SHERRY FOUND OUT, AND SHE WAS SO PATRIOTIC SHE FOUGHT ME, THEN I KILLED HER! I DIDN'T WANT TO! SHE CRIED TOO AND APOLOGIZED! I WAS ORDERED TO KILL YOU TOO, BUT I COULDN'T! I FROZE YOU INSTEAD! BUT I DIDN'T BETRAY TO HURT YOU! I WAS TOLD YOU'D ALL BEEN CAPTURED AND-”

Marzi cut Vivi off by clashing knives with her. "Seems age hasn't dulled you, or perhaps age has degraded me to the point where a deranged treasonous wreck like you can pull somewhat even," she glared.

"YOU'RE THE REAL TRAITOR! YOU CAUSED US TO GET AMBUSHED! I GOT CAPTURED AND WAS DECEIVED AND TORTURED!" Vivi shouted.

"I sold not one of you out! You inexperienced brats probably screwed up on your own."

As Mimi stepped back in shock, a large namahage with a knife suddenly appeared. "LOOK-"

Stab!

The namahage had stabbed Marzi through the neck, killing her instantly. Mimi and Vivi both screamed in shock as Rika got up. "We've gotta go NOW! That guy's a top killer that-" Before Rika could finish, Mimi had already grabbed Marzi's knife and was attacking the namahage. "She's holding her ground!?" Rika thought as she watched the fight.

Vivi immediately ran off, as Mimi delivered a series of slashes to the namahage before leaping into the air and stabbing him through the neck.

"So, I can't fly with my hands," the namahage growled as he coughed up blood and fell to the ground dead.

"Now let's see who you are- huh? The mask isn't coming off," Mimi said as she tried to pull her slain foe's namahage mask off.

"This might sound crazy, but I'm pretty sure he's a real namahage, or at the least genetically modified to look like a namahage. He's an infamous hitman from the underworld that only kills publicly on the Ides of March but kills in secret all year round. I had never seen anyone land a scratch on him, though I never saw him spar with people like my father or uncle," Rika stated.

"Huh, well I've seen crazier guys and even a few cyborgs so no biggie. Though, Vivi ran off."

"Oh, I can catch someone like her easily. Least I can do for all you've done for me," Rika smiled as she gave chase.

"Wait! Why are you so confident!? Vivi's strong!" Mimi cried as she ran after her.

...

As Mimi and Rika chased after Vivi, Rika suddenly stopped and froze as she stared at a woman walking towards them. The woman was merely out for a stroll, though that wouldn't have seemed obvious due to her being clad in a business suit and dress shoes. Her short, slicked hair was a putrid dark green and looked as though someone had smeared sludge on her head with a spatula. She smiled calmly as she took notice of Rika. "And why is a young girl like you running around with a sharp knife?" she sneered.

Rage and hatred immediately boiled up in Rika's eyes as she charged at the woman.

"Ri-chan! Why are you-"

"SHE'S AN INHUMAN DEMON! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE HER FOR TRICKING ME INTO COMMITTING SUCH AN ATROCITY!" Rika shouted as she pulled out a lighter and set her knife ablaze.

The woman smiled as she countered easily with a jagged hunting knife and effortlessly threw Rika back towards the face of a steep cliff. Rika managed to jab her knife into the cliffside and prepared to leap back up, but unbeknownst to her, the woman wanted her to do that.

"RI-CHAN DON'T!" Mimi shouted.

SLASH!

Rika's eyes went wide with shock as she gazed at the woman's demonically deranged smile, and Mimi's bloodied body falling towards her. "MIMI!" Rika shouted as she caught the bloodied Mimi and fell with her to the forest below.

The woman's calm demeanor returned as she shook the blood off her knife, sheathed it, and continued on her walk. Meanwhile, Rika managed to fall with Mimi to the ground safely by using her assassin techniques. She then laid Mimi on the ground and stared in horror. In on slash, the woman had crudely sliced Mimi's stomach along with most of her internal organs.

"MIMI NO! YOU CAN'T DIE!" Rika tearfully shouted.

"You... are... dumb... become... a sexy... hot spy... or chef... for me," Mimi tearfully smiled as blood flooded out of her lips.

"NO! YOU WERE JUST UNFROZEN! ...!"

Rika immediately ripped Mimi's sleeves and used them as a makeshift bandage. She then carefully picked Mimi up before vanishing. Rika worked her body to its limit as she leapt through the air carrying Mimi faster than the eye could see as she headed for the cryogenics lab where she had originally freed Mimi.

...

As Rika approached the lab, she noticed there was a heavy police presence. "Shit. Well, I don't care. I'm going to save her!" Rika thought as she charged in faster than the eye could see.

Mimi's blood had begun to mask Rika’s face as well as soak into her hair, giving it a crimson coloring. Even though Rika ran faster than the eye could see, she was forced to stop in front of the empty pod Mimi had been in. Everyone immediately gasped as a bloody Rika and an injured Mimi suddenly appeared before them. Rika frantically put Mimi in the pod and began smacking the control panel frantically.

"Who are you!? Wait that's-"

"SAVE HER!" Rika shouted as she pointed her knife at a nearby researcher.

The researcher nodded and began tapping away at the control panel as Mimi breathed heavily and police began to surround Rika. Rika didn't care and kept her knife pointed at the researcher until Mimi was cryogenically frozen again.

"Not again..." Mimi tearfully thought as she drifted off to sleep. She had been saved.

"She's safe. Her wound looks nasty, but maybe in 50 to 100 years we'll have the technology to save her life," the researcher stated.

"Good, now make sure she's preserved until I can find a doctor that can heal her," Rika ordered.

"Miss, you're-"

Rika immediately leapt over the police and escaped the hidden room. As she ran outside, her body began to ache from the strain she had put on it. To make matters worse, a car suddenly sped towards her. A young middle school girl leaned out and snapped a photo of her as she was forced to leap out of the way. Due to the strain on her body, she ended up dropping her knife and was forced to leave it behind and exceed her limits to escape as a young woman in a high school uniform with short silver hair leaped out of the car and charged for her.

Rika managed to escape but had all her fingernails and toenails ripped out by one of her older sisters as a punishment for her failure as soon as she returned to her family's mansion. Things would have been even worse for Rika if the police had been able to identify her, however, since Mimi's blood had discolored her hair and masked her face, the police still had no leads on her to this day.

...

Shiori gazed at the research notes as they finished downloading on her phone. "I wasted a shit ton of money for THIS!? A normie could work this thing just by bashing their head against the panel. Well, Ri said I could keep the pod, so guess that's a win. Now that I know how to work this thing, time to get to work," she thought.

Shiori put on her gloves and mask and unfroze Mimi from the pod. She then set her on her operating table and got to work. "Seriously? This is what freaked them out so much? I've sewn up far worse," Shiori grumbled as she effortlessly sewed Mimi's internal organs back together.

...

Mimi slowly opened her eyes and looked around. "W- Where am I?" she groggily asked.

"Japan. Your ass just got saved, but you're gonna be bedbound for a few weeks until you're healed," Shiori grumbled.

"Healed? Oh right, Ri-chan saved me."

"This time too. She brought you here and now your stomach's back in one piece, though you're gonna need to stay here till you're healed."

...

At the restaurant, Rika gazed at the message she received from Shiori. "Heh, thanks a lot Shiori. I'll give you a large ice cream pudding on the house, next time I see you," Rika tearfully smiled before falling asleep on the booth.