Believe it!

“…You want a sparring partner?” She asks dubiously. “Hnn… I have been itching to blow off some steam, and Akemi is nowhere near ready for anythin’ fucking serious, so I guess I could be down for that. Just don’t go crying to the others after I hand your ass to you. I ain’t no soft touch.”

“Ehh. So I had the right idea- You are skilled. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

You could tell he was getting excited. More confident in his speech as he began to do a couple of warm-up stretches.

“Of course, I think I said it before but- I’m also a Martial Artist. Super High School Ninjutsu Practicioner. My grandfather’s teachings focused primarily on Disarming and Disabling my opponent’s. So I hope you don’t mind if I hold back a little bit-”

He didn’t mean to sound arrogant- Why would he ever intentionally do that- But he was confident in his abilities. In his talent. His posture. His grandfather’s teachings. His knowledge of the human body’s systems. 

Her eyes snap open as she hears the ninja approach, the awkward boy greeting her.

“Hey…” She says, trying to suppress her growing anger. What did this fucker want?

“Ah- Tachibana-san then... But uh. I assure you my ears are perfectly fine- I just don’t believe you’ve uh. Introduced yourself.”

Yep. That was entirely true. But he had a reason to be here, and it wasn’t just to learn her name. 

“But uhm. The reason I wanted to know your name was- Well. I want to see how skilled you are- And I feel like I uh. Need someone to spar with. You punched that one purple guy before-”

He motions his hands in front of his mask, attempting to indicate something in front of his mouth through charades, Specifically Omen’s Bandanna. He thought he was doing a pretty good job, although it could probably also be misinterpreted as beard.

“It’s been a while since I’ve gotten to fight against an actual human, so uh... What do you say?”

Vera had gotten a letter from the Imps a while ago and found it to be no us to her so, it just lived forgotten in her room most of the time. Living on the desk long forgotten. 

so when she tossed her book onto the desk and the letter went fluttering down to the ground. She picked it up and sighed. 

“Maybe I should give you to who you belong too.." 

Pocketing the letter she walks out to find Masato, who is if she remembers right is the one in the gas mask. After searching several rooms she found him in the main hall.  At least she found him

Without much thought she walks over to him and holds out the letter.

“I Uhm- Yes? That uh... Definitely looks like my name.”

Masato stares at the letter from a number of angles before eventually taking it from Vera. It definitely didn’t seem like it was from her, considering the presentation.

“What is it? A letter?”

It wasn’t important. Honestly. He took the letter and held it up to the light. Not because he wanted to see its contents, but because well... there wasn’t a particular reason for it.

“Also uh... I don’t believe we’ve uh... Met?”

And then, there was a person there, right in his path. She had talked alot during the trials, right? And was always helping? And-

“Ah- Uhm… Hello! I uh-”

Masato walked up to the girl. 

“I just wanted to apologize for uh… Suspecting you back there. I- I’m sorry”

The ninja boy bowed deeply. 

“Uhhhm. I don’t believe we’ve actually uh. Spoken before… Have we?”

“Oh, um hi there!”

She waved slightly, smiling at the newcomer. This was…Akemi didn’t actually know his name. Oops. But she certainly recognized him, considering he was the only person here who wore a gas mask all the time. Her smile grew a bit and she shook her head at his apology.

“It’s fine, don’t…don’t worry about it! After all trials are, um, difficult situations and…if we don’t accuse anyone then…then we’ll fail and…that won’t be good.”

Well, that was probably an understatement.

“No, I…don’t think we have, um…I haven’t…really talked to…a lot of people here…”

“Ah- I see. Thank you then.”

Why was he thanking her though? Probably because he was grateful she wasn’t offended.

“I haven’t either to uh. to be quite honest. I just, haven’t been able to get around though, honestly. I uh. I don’t have much of an excuse. Haha...”

He scratched the back of his head as he let out his halfhearted chuckle.

“Oh! Uh, that’s right! I should uh, probably tell you my name then- I’m uh... My name’s Shinjin Masato- I’m the Super High School Level Ninjutsu Practicioner... that’s partially why I’m knowledgeable about weapons- How about you?”

Ever since the confession, Akemi had been silent. Completely silent. She wasn’t needed anymore, so she didn’t particularly need to speak. Besides, the topic of mothers was an…uncomfortable one for Akemi. And then the execution, and the strange light….

Would they be saved? Was that an angel? An actual angel, not a disguise of one, as Silliamas had appeared to them so long ago? Or was this all just wishful thinking and it was actually something much, much worse?

Regardless of what it was, the execution still happened, and it was somehow even worse than the others. It was so personal, so…

Never mind what it was. Akemi didn’t want to think about it. She bolted as soon as the trial was over, barely witnessing the demise of Uluka, of the demon, the horrible demon, that reminded Akemi of her very own mother…liar, liar, words bones made of razors, hiding violence, hate, hate hate

And then, there was a person there, right in his path. She had talked alot during the trials, right? And was always helping? And-

“Ah- Uhm... Hello! I uh-”

Masato walked up to the girl. 

“I just wanted to apologize for uh... Suspecting you back there. I- I’m sorry”

The ninja boy bowed deeply. 

“Uhhhm. I don’t believe we’ve actually uh. Spoken before... Have we?”

He slept in a bit before he actually got up, and put on his mask. It had been so long since he had had a mostly private place to sleep he had almost forgotten what it felt like for a pillow to touch his face. And when he finally woke up… He wasn’t sure where to go. 

The ninja made a brief pit-stop in the kitchen, grabbing a small bread roll to munch on before he headed out and about. He hadn’t done a good thorough search since they arrived, and he hadn’t even been in the newly opened wing. As a result he ended up making his way to the garden, lifting his mask occasionally to take a bite out of his snack. He tilted his head and blinked when he noticed he wasn’t alone.

Well, it wasn’t like everybody was there, it was just one other person, and if anything Masato definitely needed a recap on the most recent events due to his daze during the trial.

“Ah- Uhm. Hello!”

He called out from across the garden, raising his right hand to wave.

“Do you uh… Do you have a moment?”

Still, Ren stiffened when the unfamiliar voice reached his ears. He quickly straightened up, drawing his hand back towards himself. Turning around, his gaze immediately snapped over towards the benches, and…

Good, it was still there.

Ren felt himself relax as he turned his attention towards… “Oh! Hello, ah…” Tilting his head, he narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the other student. “Shinjin-san, right?” Ren hadn’t really spoken to the other, but he definitely recognized the gasmask. It certainly made him stick out amongst the crowd, which was… weird. Weren’t ninjas supposed to… not want to draw attention to themselves? Maybe he just wanted to keep his identity a secret?

Eh. Ren gave a subtle shrug, before offering the other boy a smile. Right, he should probably introduce himself. Granted, he had done so during the first trial, but… “I’m Ren, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Shinjin-san.”

“Ahh... I see, Ren-san... -kun? hmm...”

He tilted his head in thought. This again. Thanks. It didn’t last for very long though, as it wasn’t very relevant to him- He had introduced himself with his first name, and therefore, it probably wasn’t a big deal to be a bit more informal with him, right? Right? But not too informal. -san it was.

“Well, you see. The uh... The thing is... You might have noticed that I was a bit out of it during the last trial- The last couple of days even were a big blur to me. I uh. I was hoping you could fill me in on the important things that happened?”

He paused, went silent, before panicking, shaking his head and waving his hands in front of him as if to stop.

“You uh- You don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable though! I was just... Ugh. Sorry.”

It had been a day since the trial, and after getting some sleep, and, most importantly, a shower, Ren was feeling much, much better. He had finally been able to get all the blood and grime washed off, and he’d been able to change into some clean clothes! Honestly, at this moment, he couldn’t be happier.

And now, now he was wandering the halls. He’d left the hotel room early, taking with him a small wooden box. He was hungry, but… what if there were other people in the restaurant at this time? It was still early, yes, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t people scrounging around in the kitchens for something for breakfast. Ren didn’t really want to deal with any of the others at the moment, so he crossed that area off his list. For right now, at least. Maybe he’d go rummage around for food later.

Now, where to go…

The answer hit him almost immediately. He had glanced around the garden before, but his encounter with Violet had cut that little excursion short, sadly. Now, however…

Ren hummed a little tune to himself as he headed in the direction of the west hall’s garden. Fortunately, it was a short walk, and he didn’t encounter anything, or anyone, that gave him pause. Entering the garden, he glanced around, breathing a small sigh of relief when he saw that the area was empty.

He headed over towards the benches first, but paused once he’d reached them. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then laid down the wooden box he’d been carrying onto one of the benches.

Ren hesitated once more, but then turned away to walk towards the back of the garden, to where the flowerbeds were gathered. As he approached, the flowers blinked at him. He stared back, looking a bit awed.

(What would happen, if he just…)

He slept in a bit before he actually got up, and put on his mask. It had been so long since he had had a mostly private place to sleep he had almost forgotten what it felt like for a pillow to touch his face. And when he finally woke up... He wasn’t sure where to go. 

The ninja made a brief pit-stop in the kitchen, grabbing a small bread roll to munch on before he headed out and about. He hadn’t done a good thorough search since they arrived, and he hadn’t even been in the newly opened wing. As a result he ended up making his way to the garden, lifting his mask occasionally to take a bite out of his snack. He tilted his head and blinked when he noticed he wasn’t alone.

Well, it wasn’t like everybody was there, it was just one other person, and if anything Masato definitely needed a recap on the most recent events due to his daze during the trial.

“Ah- Uhm. Hello!”

He called out from across the garden, raising his right hand to wave.

“Do you uh... Do you have a moment?”

He tried to remain calm, though, and nodded a little when Masato said that bandages were the priority. “Yeah, that makes sense. I guess bandages would be better. It’d, uh, keep any injuries clean,” he replied, trying not to let on that he’d seen the wound the other had been trying to conceal. Even though by saying he needed bandages, Masato had basically confirmed he’d gotten wounded. Oh well. After Masato asked Robin about where bandages might be, he frowned a little, looking down at the floor.

“Hmm…I don’t really know where they could be found. I mean, from what I can tell, there isn’t an infirmary that we can access. Which seems really, really irresponsible. I mean what if someone had a medical problem in San Griento normally, where would they go… ” Now that he thought about it, there were a great deal of irresponsible, potentially dangerous things here. In the very area these two are standing in, the walk in freezer locked from the outside. Conceivably, someone could be shut and locked in that freezer, unable to get out. Thinking of the freezer made Robin remember he had the soup cooking, and he quickly turned off the stove. Wouldn’t it be terrible, wasting food by overcooking it to inedibility.

“And I haven’t really seen any sort of bandages around at all. I haven’t checked the East or North Halls or anything, but. The offices here probably don’t have any clean cloth that could be used for bandages… It’s a mess, there. There’s a chance that there’re bandages, or something close, in the rooms, but… ” His voice trailed off. He’d tried going to the rooms once, and he didn’t want to remember how it had ended. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Robin could’ve sworn he felt a twinge of pain in his chest as he looked at Masato.

“Uh, your safest bet would probably be the Gift Shop, maybe. I think they sold clothes, so you’d probably be able to find some cloth that wasn’t contaminated. ” Without thinking, his eyes darted down to his blazer, with newly dried bloodstains on it. “Of course, the imps might not like you just trying to take something, but I’m really not sure Hell Money would work for you, given the items seem kind of… Miscellaneous, I guess? I really don’t think you’d get clean bandages from that… sorry.” He shrugged slightly, realizing that oh goodness he’d talked for way longer than he’d meant to what if he’d bored him or that was too much.

Thankfully, Masato formally introduced himself, and Robin was happy to shift the topic. “It’s nice to meet you as well, Shinjin-san. I’m Robin Statlender. The Reserve Course student.” Something in his voice seemed… almost ashamed. “And don’t worry about living up to expectations. These…really aren’t normal circumstances. I mean, it’s only natural that you’d be off your game, a little.” His scar made itself know again; not through pain this time, but just a feeling of awareness.

“That’s uh... A bit disappointing. I actually thought that uh...  here might be my best bet, honestly.”

His shoulders slumped and he sighed. 

“But hearing there’s other clothes isn’t bad. I was a bit worried that I’d have to start tearing strips off my shirt to uh, dress my wounds.”

He looked around the room, 

“Actually, there’s uh... Another reason I came in here- I couldn’t make it to the armory, and I- I figure it might be easier to fight with some weapons-”

“But uh! Don’t mind that- So you’re a Reserve Course Student...”

He paused, looking Robin straight in the eye through his mask. Honestly, it was just a bit unnerving. What did he want? Why was he staring...

There were better places to be stuck, but there were also worse places, Robin supposed. There was food for all of them, and relative safety in some areas. Nobody had gone through with the whole “kill each other” thing yet, so he guessed it wasn’t terribly bad yet. Besides, there was bound to be a way out of here, right? Maybe it wasn’t immediately apparent, but if someone kept searching, surely they could find something!

True, it would be incredibly strange to emerge without the teacher who had arranged the trip, and it would be nigh impossible to get a plane back home, but those facts didn’t matter now. What mattered now was surviving and finding a way out.

In the mean time, while the area they had to explore safely was small, there were plenty of things to do! There was a row of offices that had their secrets, there was a kitchen to practice cooking with…all in all, there were worse things that he could be doing with his time! This was all he needed!

At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. If he didn’t, he might try to go into the other areas of the castle. He’d tried that once. He didn’t want to do it again. And he wouldn’t let boredom get the better of his judgement.

“Food does sound nice but uhh... I should probably find some uh... bandages first...”

He didn’t sound defeated or downtrodden, instead it seemed like he might just be contemplating something... At least, that was what could be told from the sound of his voice. pretty hard to read someone’s face through a mask.

“Ah! uh... Sorry... Probably not something I should uhmm. Shouldn’t bring it to the dinner table, right? Ugh. Sorry. But uhh... Yeah... right... Have you seen anything that could be used as bandages?”

He paused, and looked around the room, hoping to spot something, or maybe he didn’t he seemed kinda clueless as to what he was looking for, and honestly, he wasn’t quite sure what he specifically was looking for either. 

“Oh- Uh. Right. My name’s Shinjin- Shinjin Masato. And I’m uhhh... Not quite living up to my title right now ahah... It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Like if he got compared to Naruto a lot. And…Actually that’s about it.

Regardless of questions or not Tsukiko never manged to talk to him (or many others) due to her wandering nature. So, instead of walking up to him and just talking to him she had decided to do only the most logical thing. Follow him to wherever he was heading. Surprisingly it wasn’t as hard as following Agent Zero but the actor still took as much care to not get caught. Just for the fun of it, out stealthing a ninja will be one of her personal achievements it worked.

And it did until she finally followed into the entrance. A shame, she was hoping to sneak up on him. Looking around she raised an eyebrow…When she passed to go to the armory she swore a guard had been near that seat earlier…Oh well.

“Hi! I just happened to see you go in here, nothing else. Nope.”

What a terrible lie.

“Did’ja get rid of the guard? I was gonna do that after forming a plan…but if you already took care of it then no worries!”

Walking right past him she looked around once more before sitting herself down onto the throne. What a horrible mistake, because anyone would know Masato definitely did not and the guard probably was taking a short bathroom break or something of the like and Tsukiko was going to be in deep water soon.

“I don’t think we’ve ever talked during the trip yet! I’m Yukimura Tsukiko! Or Akiko I guess. I go by Tsukiko though. Super Highschool Stage Actor if you want the whole introduction.”

Grinning widely she looked at him in all his awkwardness. Truly a sight to behold, she swore tall people were supposed to be confident to go with height. Or maybe it was like an exchange? She’d have to test this theory out with other tall students…

“Ah... I see...”

So she just happened to see him go in here? Well then. That made things easier... or did it? Well, there was absolutely no reason for Masato to wrack his brain over that question for more than a couple seconds before proceeding.

“Uhh... Guard? No- I uh, I don’t think I killed the guard. I mean- I didn’t even see a guard so yeah...”

He scratched the back of his head. How long had it been since he had actually tried having an actual conversation with somebody again? Hrrrm....

“But uh- If you do needed me to uh, knock down a guard or two, I could probably do it...”

It technically fit into his talent.

“Ahhh, ok, Tsukiko-chan-- er... san? Yukimura-san? Er... hmmm...”

He thinks about it a bit before giving up. Surely she’d correct him shortly. Hopefully. 

“But uh, yeah. No no no- It’s not Madara, it’s Masato- Shinjin Masato. You could uh. Write them both with the same kanji if you wanted- If that helps. I’m the uh. I’m the Super High School Level Ninjutsu Practitioner- I think is my full title but uh, it’s a bit wordy so uh... I guess if you really wanted to SHSL Ninja is fine?”

Even though that’s not what his title is at all. But let’s face it, if he had a choice, Ninja would probably be what he chose for his title. But there’s a reason it’s not his title.

“So yeah... You’re a stage actor, huh? Stage actress? So uhhh... Does that mean you preform in things like er...”

How long had he spent admiring the weapons in the armory? Far too long to be completely honest. Eventually though, he did decide he had to move along his merry way and check out some other places. But where to next? Well, obviously, thinking back on it, the throne room was a pretty good idea. Why, you ask? Well, wouldn’t you like to know.

And so he made his way into the room with the big ass chair. Really, that’s all there was. He looked around, before creeping his way over to the throne and ducking around behind it. On his hands and knees he glanced over the back of the throne, and crawling around, he investigated the sides too.

And as he poked his head up, he couldn’t help but notice someone in the vicinity. Had they been watching him? How long had they been there? Should he consider this embarrassing to be caught doing? Well, the answer to the last question was obviously an astounding “Of course not!”

So he stood up. 

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“Uhhh…. Hi there.”

Great. What a great introduction to your new acquaintance. Actually, shouldn’t you technically know her seeing as you’re both on the same field trip? Well. Unfortunately, He doesn’t. Whoops. Well, never a bad time to meet new people, right?

“I’m uhh… My name’s- Ehhuuuhhh… Hi.”

Ah yes. Spain. The land of uh… Uhh…. Well, quite frankly Masato wasn’t the biggest buff when it came to history of foreign countries. Well, he didn’t really care. All he knew is that this was a fort and that was cool, so as soon as they were set free, Masato snuck away from the class. 

He didn’t really need to sneak away, he probably could have walked away just fine, but well, it’s not like he was trying to be sneaky. He just was, that was how he moved. If nobody noticed him that would be just swell. He didn’t really know anybody else in the class anyway, so it wasn’t like he had any cliques to hang out with while he explored. Might as well had make the most of what this trip was designed to be: Education. But… Where was he going?

With his eyes glued to the map, Masato began navigating the fort, Making his way through a couple of halls and eventually up a flight of stairs he ended up in the one room that interested him the most on his map: The armory. Yep. And who was surprised by this? Nobody. That’s who.

Moving from one glass case to another, Masato scanned over the weapons. He didn’t pay much attention to the armor, and spent less of his time looking at the bows, but he couldn’t help but admire the swords.

With his hand on his chin he nodded his head approvingly in the weapons direction. They were so different than the weaponry he was used to seeing. Axes weren’t really his cup of tea, so the next case he went to admire was the pole-arms. While nothing he personally would use, they were still practical, and worth being appreciated…