“...” (Makoto)

 

“...” (Kohaku)

 

“Nothing?” (Hibiki)

 

“...” (Hotaru)

 

“Alright, it’s your funeral when I have nothing but shit to say.” (Hibiki)

 

*Click*

-Hibiki's POV-

We wandered about the empty halls, I wasn’t expecting much from the wooden exterior. It was one of the older buildings in the village but, Masaki mentioned they were planning on renovating it once everything had settled down.

 

That much was clear, I guess the Fūma were the leading clan here. For the house and compound to be so spacious, and so quiet while we stayed spoke volumes to how the situation was turning.

 

I felt a sharp cold breeze blow by, putting me on edge. I gave the place a quick once over with the dull sounds of wood against our shoes. All the equipment was up to date, new even. I kept that thought in the back of my mind.

 

It wasn’t anything strange. You just wouldn’t expect it, as the full-on x-ray and heart monitor felt a little out of place.

 

We went around the pharmacy, the eight wards, the intensive care unit, the delivery room, and so on. Karin splat off from us about 15 minutes ago giggling to herself. Suddenly, Masaki jerked her head towards the direction Karin went into a harmonious chorus of *MROWRS* like a response.

 

“Oh no…” (Masaki)

 

“What wro-” I could barely continue the thought as I watched a small stampede of fluff barrel down the hall. My mind went blank.

 

I was shook, baffled by what I was watching, and by the time I fully registered it a clawed paw was making toward my eye. Luckily, I was pulled back in the nick of time, barely escaping with a scratch and the crowd of critters kept going.

 

“Are you alright?!” (Masaki)

 

S: “Hibiki?!” (Jules)

 

“I’m fine. Sorry, that caught me off guard.” (Hibiki)

 

“No, you’re not. Hold still.” Masaki dug around the room before pulling out an ointment that stung as she smeared it across my cheek.

 

“Ow!” (Hibiki)

 

“Now you feel it? I’m going to check up on Karin, do you think you can take care of that?” She applied a bandage, only making the stinging sharper.

 

“...Yeah…” (Hibiki)

 

“Good. Please try not to get up close, they seem quite feisty today.” Masaki sprinted down the hall.

 

“Alri- TODAY?!” (Hibiki)

 

“WE’LL TALK ABOUT IT LATER!” (Masaki)

 

I had to take a minute to gather myself because I could’ve sworn it was like Déjà vu.

 

‘Ahh… cave… man, no… mother fuck.’

 

S: Hibiki? (Jules)

 

(...Shit.) (Hibiki)

 

S: (What’s-) (Jules)

 

(Give me a sec…) (Hibiki)

 

I looked towards the small circular icon I’ve been ignoring ever since that was now flashing red.

 

‘Fuck me…’

 

B: (Already did.) (Marcus)

 

S: (What?) (Jules)

 

(We got a bit to catch up on. Could you run down what happened, Jules?) (Hibiki)

 

S: (Uh…, yeah.) (Jules)

 

It only took me a little contemplation afterward to click the damn icon.

 

‘Lesser of two evils, might as well.’

 

I had to make sure that actually just happened, I could’ve sworn I heard “Find the sacred pouch!”

 

[QUEST DISCOVERED!]

 

<Quest: Snatch Those Cats!>

 

Some facetious felines have gone on the loose! Yet, there seems to be more than meets the eye.

 

- Find the perpetrators of this incident.

 

- Find out what they are after. [Completed]

 

- Put a stop to their plan and retrieve the item.

 

Balancers: 1/1

 

Loot: Varies based on results.

 

[You may invite your allies to assist you.]

 

“...”

 

(D-Do I look at it?) (Hibiki)

 

S: (I’ll leave that up to you, remember if you do-) (Jules)

 

(Yeah, yeah. I know…) (Hibiki)

 

B: (As long as you’re familiar with what you’re working with, I see no problem.) (Marcus)

 

(...Shit.), I grimaced.

 

B: (BWAHAHAHA!) (Marcus)

 

(I hate that you’re up.) (Hibiki)

 

B: (Right back at you, bitch! AHAHAHA!) (Marcus)

 

S: (New class?) (Jules)

 

I paused where I stood. Thinking about how Celeste just smiled at me after I made my choices. I still don’t know how to take it but just like Masaki, what they conveyed came through wordlessly.

 

(... No, I don’t think so.) (Hibiki)

 

S: (Then just… Dive in…) (Jules)

 

‘She did not-’

 

B: (AHAHAHAHA! SHE SAID IT!), Marcus’ laughter bellowed so much that I could barely think.

 

(Fuck both of you.) (Hibiki)

 

B: (AH! C’MON, YOU LOVE US!) (Marcus)

 

(You’re so fucking loud….) (Hibiki)

 

S: (Agreed.) (Jules)

 

“Let’s get this show on the road.” I started making my move down the hall.

 

S: (Some help first,) And backed up just as quickly.

 

“Ugh, so much work. I guess we have some time to kill.” (Hibiki)

 

(Who’s closest?) (Hibiki)

 

S: (You’re pretty close to meeting time, they aren’t too far from here but, Menma is closer.) (Jules)

 

(Same direction?) (Hibiki)

 

S: (Yup.) (Jules)

 

(Thank you.) (Hibiki)

 

I made a small series of hand seals with my message in mind, one of the smaller uses of chakra. I still had fun with it. I couldn’t tell you the number of people I got to expose for cheating and shit, it’s always a good time with this one.

 

<Sound Style: Swift Messenger → Quick Call>

 

Two silver will-o’-wisps sparked with life in the form of fairies and flew through the wall behind me to deliver my message.

 

B: (Won’t they be loud?) (Marcus)

 

(Did I say my message out loud?) (Hibiki)

 

S: (The little light show did keep a few people in wonder.) (Jules)

 

(Scared most. Man, I’d love to see their faces…) (Hibiki)

 

S: (I’ll have the recordings.) (Jules)

 

(Hell yeah!) (Hibiki)

 

“Back to work!” (Hibiki)

 

I made a dash and peeked around the corner; small problem was that all eight doors were open, so I had to be cautious about how I even began to not alert the rest.

 

The rooms with near to no footfall were the last two but, that may not be all of them.

 

I didn’t know if it’d do the trick, but it looked like it was worth a try. I softly hummed the lullaby our mom used to sing to act as a medium.

 

[Sleep→ Sound Style: Siren’s Serenade]

 

I could hear 5 small thumps one after the other as a soft rain came over two of the room. I moved into one of the wards and wrapped each cat in its own bundle of chakra string. Maybe I was feeling a little confident after that. So, when I went to the other room, nothing could’ve prepared me for the two demons pouncing toward me.

 

“MROWR!”

 

“MOTHER-” (Hibiki)

 

*HISS*

 

“FUCK!!!” (Hibiki)

 

*PING PANG THUD SPLISH*

 

Um... given a nice minute to actually make something out without the monsters chomping on my flesh, Water shield was helpful. Drenched cats ran but I wasn’t too gentle about throwing threads this time. Now my clothes were torn, I was scratched up, and drenched and I had two beach ball beasts I was rolling to the others.

 

B: (How ya feeling, Spiderman?) (Marcus)

 

“Ahahaha….” (Hibiki)

 

‘End me.’

 

(...So, it splits…) (Hibiki)

 

S: (Seems to be the case.) (Jules)

 

B: (Had to learn somehow. Got anything to not catch a cold?) (Marcus)

 

(I still have a scroll at the ready.) (Hibiki)

 

B: (Good on you for that, I’ll help you dry off.) (Marcus)

 

(Making me a fucking toaster…) I grumbled while stacking my captures in small round pyramid and setting 1 to the side.

 

“Hibiki?” (Menma)

 

“Sorry! Give me a second!” (Hibiki)

 

(Let’s make it quick!) (Hibiki)

 

B: (Yes, boss.) (Marcus)

 

(Be fucking careful!) (Hibiki)

 

B: (Aren’t I always?) (Marcus)

 

(...) (Hibiki)

 

‘What would be better? A chokehold or tying him above shark-infested waters? Hmm…’

 

S: (Please calm down…) (Jules)

 

B: (You gotta switch to something more… you-inspired.) (Marcus)

 

(Can’t I catch a break...) (Hibiki)

 

B: (A deal’s a deal, nyehehe!) (Marcus)

 

I took off my soaked ragged T-shirt and shorts and took of my shoes with a guess of what he was planning.

 

(Go for it.) (Hibiki)

 

B: (Don’t mind if I do!) (Marcus)

 

Flames whisked my back and rolled down my arms until my whole body was engulfed in a ball of fire for a second and like magic, it vanished.

 

S: (...Show off.) (Jules)

 

I pulled the teal scroll out of my chest and made do with what I had.

 

B: (I knew it.) (Marcus)

 

(SHUT UP!) (Hibiki)

 

Yeah, I had an outfit prepared. I dealt with some of his ridiculous demands before and most of what I could remember about him consisted of those outfit changes.

 

I was guilty by association.

 

***

 

“Mhm…” (Hotaru)

 

“Purely association.” (Hibiki)

 

“Would Jules say that too?” (Kohaku)

 

“... I liked dressing up, sue me!” (Hibiki)

 

***

 

Erm! Anyways, I wore baggy black Nikka pants and wrapped a sarashi around my waist.  My own turquoise haori had rings of gray around the hemlines for the sleeves and waist.

 

None of that prevented me from hearing my friends shush each other from outside. I looked over to my cat pile before heading looking out the door.

 

“Hey.” (Hibiki)

 

“AH-!” My own member of the blonde squad jumped and screamed bloody murder.

 

I covered his mouth before he could do any worse than I’ve already done. I slowly turned him to face me while Sasame moved beside me with a finger to her lips.

 

“Let’s keep our voices to a minimum.” (Hibiki)

 

S: (I could’ve told you that one.) (Jules)

 

(You can talk to me when you’re the one getting beat down!) (Hibiki)

 

“Are you sure we could do this?” (Sasame)

 

“Of course, we can, did you bring what I asked for?” (Hibiki)

 

“Mhm.” (Sasame)

 

“Then we got nothing to worry about.” (Hibiki)

 

“We’re going to save that for the big boss?” (Sasame)

 

“If we can.” (Hibiki)

 

“What are you guys talking about?” (Menma)

 

“...Let’s catch you up.” (Hibiki)

 

‘3 kids, 10 or so cats, what could go wrong?’

 

*Click*