Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Withdraw

Though Miyabi's eyes were open and she was entirely aware of her surroundings on the athletic field, she had a horribly dizzying feeling in her head and stomach that told her something wasn't right. Amidst her internal struggle, she heard Imu's voice softly speak from above her, "She's awake..." before Miyabi looked up to the surrounding shinobi, comrades and enemies all worried for her present state.

The white-haired girl raised her head from Imu's knees with a wobble that made her look as intoxicated as a morning drinker. Though, she tried to keep her head steady for a moment, she found it far too heavy on one side and pulled to the opposite only to have the same problem. After a few times, she heard Yozakura call, "Everyone, give her some air."

Eventually, Miyabi's eyes found the unmoving body of the young man. As she tried to straighten herself again, she lurched forward to the boy's body before promptly reeling her head back and whirling it down to headbutt him hard in the dome. Right then and there, she regained full control of herself and brought her hands to her head while groaning in pain from the self-inflicted blow. When she looked up, she found the young man convulsing and wildly shaking before he turned himself over onto his stomach and proceeded to heave and cough until a disgustingly large glob of saliva blew out of his mouth. With a mumble and a few pained moans, he simply laid silent while Murakumo's two wolves stood guard over him.

A part of Miyabi wanted to check on him, though her thoughts were interrupted when she turned to find Imu kneeling next to her and asking, "Are you okay?" Though her voice was solid, there was a terribly sorrowful look in her puffy red eyes.

"I'm sorry," blurted Miyabi before she reached up and wrapped her arms around the girl's neck, "In a way that no one in this world can possibly fathom, I am so sorry."

Letting the shock pass through her for a moment, Imu cradled her exhausted leader, "It's as I promised in the past. I will always follow you."

As the surrounding shinobi were taking in the soft sight, the young man looked up from where he laid before dragging his arm across the ground so that his watch was under his mouth. After he uttered a few words, his eyes settled on the two canines who were growling right by his head. Keeping himself calm, he offered open palms to the two. At first, the wolves snapped at his fingers until he receded his hands. But, after a few tries, the white wolf, Kotarō sniffed his hand before licking it, seemingly satisfied with his smell and attitude.

Spotting his interaction with the wolves, Murakumo called in her deep voice, "Oi!" as the young man scratched behind the dog's ears, all while the black wolf, Kagerō, was sniffing his other hand and seemed to wish for a petting. Again, Murakumo called at the young man, "Oi! Leave them alone." With a quick grunt, the young man stopped only for the two wolves to begin nuzzling their noses into his arms until he shrugged and began to pet them again.

Baffled at the taller girl's side, Shiki noted, "I've never seen them do that before..."

With her own short grunt, Murakumo crossed her arms in brief disapproval before conceding the round, though she still kept an eye on the young man to make sure he didn't harm her pups. Once everyone was sure that Miyabi was fine, doublechecking the newly attained bump on her head, all eyes and ears turned with mixes of curiosity and distrust to the young man. Amidst his session of dog petting, Yumi approached him with an unreadable expression before calmly asking, "All of this... In the school and here... What was all of that?"

Keeping his attention on entertaining the dogs, the young man muttered under his breath, "Ah, you know. Got some exercise, built up some grit..." before averting his eyes under her critical gaze, "hocked up a blob because my exit was cut off..."

Her face steadily twisted in frustration as she swatted her fan against the back of his head, "Quit acting so snide. You detected us despite the shinobi barriers and made yourself known to us only to run away. Then you... did whatever you did to Miyabi. Pardon me if you consider my request rude, but I believe an explanation is in order."

With a nod, the young man uttered, "I suppose it would be in order," and proceeded to maintain his silence in defiance, opting to scratch Kagerō's hindleg while the dog panted happily.

Still in Imu's hold, Miyabi slightly turned her head until she could see him again. "Hey," came her solid but cautious voice, "All that... just a bit ago. Did that all really happen?"

She remembered it all far too thoroughly for it to possibly have been some sort of hallucination or dream. To the relief of her sanity, he nodded to her but did not say a word. Her eyes fell to the watch on his arm as he continued to pleasantly rub and scratch the two dogs. Something about the device seemed so odd, especially since the rest of his attire seemed simple and tightfitting, perfect for a stealth operation. Then she spotted the word 'deceptive' on the watch's face and felt her eyes narrow in suspicion.

Pulling herself from Imu's hold, Miyabi treaded over to the young man and looked down at his slouching form. Unsure of what to say, she simply pointed down at his watch and waited expectantly for an answer. As everyone else craned their heads in to listen to what he had to say about the device and the word on it, he flashed a toothy smirk before suddenly twisting his head toward the school building, "I could use some backup over here! Now!"

Immediately, everyone twisted their heads to the school in fear that he had reinforcements on the way only to find the area completely deserted. While their eyes were averted in that one brief moment, the young man offered gentle pats to the wolves' heads before darting up to his feet and making a run for the tree he had tried to scale earlier. Quickly realizing the horrifyingly simple trick that they'd fallen for, Miyabi heard his footsteps and turned around to dive after him. Though her fingertips brushed against the back of his legs, he'd successfully gotten his head start as everyone else, including the wolves, also made to pursue.

He clicked his watch and shouted, "Vibrant!" into it before he felt the surge of energy rush through him again. Using the initial momentum, he bit down the pain in his bloody arm and ascended the tree before running straight along its branches for the fence, ducking his head under a couple of Ryōbi and Ryōna's bullets before leaping over the fence with a flaunty call, "Later!"

Though everyone was frustrated at the fact that he'd so easily gotten into the woods on the other side of the fence, Yumi was by far the most furious with her breaths practically steaming with rage. Seething through her teeth, the girl cried, "Everyone! Pursue and capture him!" before she and the rest of Gessen scaled over the fence to give chase. Though Miyabi nearly gave the order to do the same, her exhausted body gave out and fell back into Imu's arms.

At the sight of her weakened leader, Ryōbi simply stated, "We're getting you to the infirmary. Tell us what all happened once you've gotten a hold of yourself."

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Miyabi knew that there was no point to arguing. With a final glance toward the fence and straining her ear to listen for Gessen's shouts after their target, she allowed herself to be hauled off by her team back to Hebijo academy.

Meanwhile, darting between the trees and out onto the suburbs, the young man knew that his time was going to run out if the girls behind him didn't lose his scent. Making for one of the alleys that ran behind a line of houses, the young man continued to run as his pursuers broke through the line of trees and out onto the streets with their wolves eagerly howling into the air. Fearing that they'd caught sight of him, he lowered his head in a sprint before double-timing it through the passageway, sliding to his knees to round a garage corner as the girls arrived at the alley entrance. Finding a pile of wooden debris, some garbage cans, and a fence, the young man quickly concocted a plan.

Not wasting any time, he grabbed hold of a few broken pallets and shelves and shoved them onto their sides, knocking over the trashcan all the while. He unwrapped his scarf from around his neck while intentionally screaming out, "Shit!" and flapped it so that it rested on the top of the fence, pulling it a bit against one of the points so that it tore a little. By the time the girls had came around the corner of the garage, he'd already dived into the trashcan and buried himself into a couple of the bags to let the rancid smell cover his scent.

When the girls saw the ruckus and the torn scarf atop the wooden fence, they assumed he had a faulty jump before hauling themselves over and giving chase to where they believed he'd ran, though the dogs were visibly unsure about where they were heading. Even when their footsteps had been gone for a minute, the young man opted to remain in the foul-smelling bin until he was comfortable with exiting. Their yells were still audible in the distance but they'd certainly kept going despite the lack of a proper lead. Puffing a breath of relief out of his nose, the young man thought himself victorious.

From there, he continued to carefully sneak through the alleyways in the suburbs, not allowing himself to walk out too much in the open. Every now and then, he glanced down to his bleeding arm and realized he'd have to get it treated quickly. He decided that, once he'd reached a more urbanized area, he'd head into a convenience store and use their bathroom to clean himself up. While pondering his next step, he realized that his rear-end was pained and sore before a thought occurred to him. Quickly, he reached into his pocket only to find that his glasses were very broken. Though the frames were mostly intact, if a little bent, the lenses were completely unsalvageable. With a huff of frustration, tinged with worry as he would not be able to sight active shinobi barriers, he continued on his way.

After a bit more time, he finally spotted a convenience store and trekked out in the open. While passing wary glances to his left and right, front and back, up and down, the young man skirted himself to the glass door while watching for any signs of traps or ambushes. Once he popped the door open and managed to slink inside, he thought himself in the clear.

The kind old man behind the counter was already dealing with another customer, a girl in a gray school uniform with brown hair tied into two pigtails. For a moment, the young man thought nothing of it until something clicked in his head. Taking notice of him when the entrance bell rang, the girl turned around to see who'd come in behind before offering a surprised grin. Putting together quickly that the girl, Minori, had reverted from her shinobi form to head into the store in order to buy the pile of sweets she'd piled up on the counter, the young man simplly stared on as his face fell in a mix of horror and frustration.

Quickly after taking notice of him, Minori turned to the old man and sweetly said, "Sorry, I won't be buying anything. Time to play!"

The young man's eyes shot open and he darted out the door in a shoot sprint for his life while the old man heartfully waved goodbye to the girl as she moved to pursue and went back to minding his business with a murmur, "Young love has grown quite intense these days."

Peering behind him, the young man spotted a flash emitting from Minori's body and realized that she was setting up a shinobi barrier to transform. Sure enough, when her clothes shifted to the cute yellow dress she'd been wearing before, he knew that he was in a terrible position. He rounded off the sidewalk into a nearby park, scaling a staircase into it, and shooting over the benches and decor. When he turned around, she matched his every move with greater speed and a giant smile on her face, which only served to terrify him all the more.

Knowing that even with having set himself to a vibrant state of mind, his body could only take so much abuse in so short a time. Sure enough, as he continued to run for his life, he felt his side twisting in pain and his tired breaths shifting more into sore groans. Outrunning her was no longer an option but, from what he observed before, neither was negotiation. In the end, he only proficiently knew of one option on the table: trickery.

Spotting a nearby public toilet, he gave one final effort to sprint for all that he was worth and ducked inside. The girl, conflicted about the prospect of entering the men's room, stopped just outside before circling around the building. From a vantage point where she could see both the door and windows, she took a seat and gleefully took out her phone to call over the rest of Gessen's elite.

Inside the restroom, the young man acted quick. He clicked and muttered into his watch, "Control," before he felt the effects take place. His already dwindling energy sapped with his vibrancy in an instant and he collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily as his heart punched hard against the inside of his chest. He reached a weary arm up and grabbed the sink to pull himself up. He looked at himself through the mirror and took in his appearance: messy hair dirtied by all of his roughhousing, a bruised and bloody face, his bleeding arm, and various spots of dirt across his clothes.

Knowing his allotted time was drawing near its end, he washed his face and wounds quickly, taking his black long-sleeved shirt off and discarding it into the trash while washing the cut he sustained on his arm. He looked at the white tank top that he wore underneath and noted that it looked relatively clean. As he continued to wash his face, he suddenly yelled in a deep voice that sounded nothing like his own, "Hey! What the hell! What're you doing!?" and began to smooth his hair out before taking his fingers and styling strands together to make it look a bit more punkish. "Crazy bastard!" he boomed as he angled his bangs to stick to and cover the bruises on his forehead, kicking the wall and waste basket to mimic the sound of a scuffle. "What're you doing with that?" he cried as he flushed his nose with water before flaring his nostrils to give them a wider look, all while banging his fist against the glass. "To hell with you! I'm calling the police!" he uttered in a loud growl and sucked his lower lip inside his mouth to give it a smaller appearance. Still moving quick and rapidly, he reached into his pocket to produce the frames of his glasses before poking out the remainder of the glass and pulling them on. On giving a final look to himself in the mirror, he realized that there was poor gentleman standing out from his stall door and looking at the young man as though he'd grown two extra heads. To that, the young man politely whispered, "Sorry to disturb you," and strode out with his expression pulled into a convincing scowl, holding the facial features that he'd adjusted in the mirror. As he walked out, he angled the wound on his arm away from Minori and was forced to simply hope that she wouldn't take notice or would assume it as coincidental.

As he walked from the bathrooms, he spotted the girl skipping up to him in his peripheral vision and kept his eyes forward. He glowered to the ground and began to mutter in the unbefitting voice under his breath, "Crazy piece of human garbage. Bastard of a thousand fathers. See if he acts so confident when the cops pull him out of there crying," and maintained a frustrated march. A few times in the middle of his rant, he heard her attempt to talk over him and get his attention. But he kept his face, eyes, expression, and tone level and did nothing to acknowledge her presence, just as any normal person would while she was still holding up her shinobi barrier. It was an extremely great gamble to convince Minori that he wasn't the same young man as before. Though he'd done what he could to try and change what facial features he could, the general shape of his face remained unchanged.

Much to his extreme relief, after trying to get his attention a few more times with a pout to her lip, Minori pondered on the frustrated words that he was uttering under his breath before the lightbulb went up in her head. Just as he wished, she figured he was just a fellow with a similar face who'd been startled and attacked by the actual young man's in the bathroom. The words rang aloud in his head, "If you hold as firm as iron in denial and give unyielding reason to instill doubt, there's a fair chance that your lie will become the visible truth.

Having finally won the day as he heard Minori call, "Are you almost done in there?" and galloped back to the bathrooms, he maintained his scowling march through the remainder of the urban area, into the suburbs on the other side of the city, and only stopped when he was finally just outside of his apartment. The whole way, he did nothing to call attention while justifying his existence with an assertive march. Along the way, he got a few weird looks from pedestrians but he blew them off without a care in the world.

Slowly and precisely, he took out his key and let himself into his apartment. With one final grand survey of the one room, he ripped the watch from his arm and tossed it at his duffle bag before his energy was officially depleted. Passing one final glance at the time, which read four o'clock in the morning, he threw himself onto his futon and dared to do nothing else. Even as his arm still dribbled a bit of blood onto the sheets, he was content to simply sleep after a hard night's work.

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