Iris looked aghast. “What? Why not?”
“Because a tank is way too conspicuous.”
“Bah! Who cares about something like that. We’ll be in a tank! We can just mow over anyone who gets in our way.”
“And when the United States calls in an air strike?”
“We’ll blast them out of the sky!”
Kevin shook his head. “I’m not even gonna deign that with a response.”
“Oi!”
“Hawa… shiny car…”
“L-Lady Camellia, please don’t run off!”
Kirihime had to grab onto Camellia’s outfit to keep her from wandering off on her own. This garage wasn’t huge, but knowing the woman as they did, she was bound to get lost if she went off without anyone keeping an eye on her.
“I wanna drive a sports car,” Lilian inputted her own opinion. “Something cool like a Mini Cooper.”
“Mini Coopers aren’t sports cars, Lilian.”
“What about a Camaro?”
“You guys won’t be driving a sports car,” Kiara told the three of them. She then swiveled her head to stare at Iris. “And you’re definitely not driving a tank.”
The raven-haired vixen crossed her arms. “Whatever. Stupid dog.”
“I heard that!”
“Eep!”
“So what kind of vehicle are we using to drive from here to California?” Kevin asked. He honestly didn’t care what they drove, just so long as it got good gas mileage. As someone raised by a single mother, efficiency was all he cared about in a car.
“You’ll be using this car.” Kiara spun around to face them and made a wide, sweeping gesture as if to showcase the grand vehicle they would be driving.
The car she’d gestured to was painted silver. It was a sedan. Four doors sat on either side of its elongated body. The windows were tinted and impossible to see through. The front had a longer slope than the back.
“A Prius?” Kevin gave Kiara a questioning look, which earned him a grin.
“Problem?”
“No, not really.” Kevin shrugged. “Priuses get good gas mileage. I’ve got no problems with it.”
“I still wanted to drive the tank,” Iris muttered.
“And I wanted to drive a sports car,” Lilian said dejectedly.
“That’s enough out of you two!” Kevin barked.
“Ufufufu, have you been practicing your tsukkomi routine, Kevin-sama?”
“Don’t you start with me, Kotohime.”
“Ufufufu.”
Kevin ignored the giggling woman and turned to Kiara. “Do you know where we’re supposed to meet with this Kuroneko woman?”
Kiara huffed as if the question wasn’t even worth answering. “Course I do. You’re going to meet Kuroneko at The Yōkai Café. Here are the directions. When you get there, just ask for Kuro and tell them that you’re there to deliver a message from Seiryuu.”
“Right.” Kevin rubbed his neck. “Well, I guess we had better get going, then.”
“Take care of yourself, boya.” Kiara patted Kevin on the shoulder.
“Will do.”
“And should you get into a fight, remember to kick ass. You’re a student of Kiara F. Kuyo, and I have a reputation to uphold. I won’t accept you losing to anyone, got that?”
“Um, sure.”
While Kiara said goodbye to Kevin, Lilian and Kotohime were sharing their own goodbyes.
“Take care of yourself, Lilian-sama.” Kotohime looked down at her charge, whom she had protected for over half a century, giving the redhead a watery smile. “Stay safe, and remember to rely on Kevin-sama and Iris-sama. Don’t try to do too much by yourself.”
“Don’t worry. I will.” Lilian gave her maid a thumbs up. “I learned all about the power of friendship and teamwork from Fairy Tail.”
“… Right.”
“I’m all fired up now!”
Kotohime could not stop the sweat from rolling down her face at Lilian’s very poor impersonation of a certain fire-eating Dragon Slayer. However, that didn’t stop her from pulling the girl into a hug, startling Lilian.
“K-Kotohime…”
“I… I am going to miss you,” Kotohime choked.
Lilian relaxed and wrapped her arms around the woman. “I’ll miss you too.”
Kirihime looked at Iris, who noticed the look and shook her head.
“Not happening.”
“L-Lady Iris is so mean…”
“Whatever.”
“Hawa… Camellia wants a hug too.”
“Wait your turn, Mom!”
“Hawa…”
A round of hugs were given and received. Lilian and Camellia’s hug was particularly heartfelt, even if Kevin thought they could do without the resonating “Hawas!” He was a little surprised that Phoebe wasn’t around to see them off, but according to Kotohime, she was out on assignment. He was honestly grateful.
“Wait!” a voice echoed to them just as Kevin and the others were about to get into the car.
Everyone turned to see Heather running up to them. Blonde hair and big boobs bounced as she ran, and she carried several large spiral bound notebooks in her hand. She stopped in front of the trio who were about to embark on their journey, and handed them five notebooks each.
“What are these?” Iris asked, staring at the notebooks like they were Eldritch horrors from the abyss.
“That’s your homework for the next month,” Heather answered. “Your teachers wanted me to give these to you and said they would be due upon your return.”
The three youngsters froze for all of ten seconds before their brains started to kick in. After which, their shocked and terrified cries resonated across the garage.
“WHAAAAAAAAT?!!!!”
***
Justin Verräter had been busy since the war started. As one of the only humans capable of using the Mech1A prototype suit, he’d been sent out on a lot of missions. A lot of missions. Justin didn’t think he’d had so much as a single day off. He hadn’t even been able to watch a single one of his shows! It totally sucked.
However, today was the day, the day he finally got some time to himself, and he was going to use that time wisely.
Sitting on the couch, in front of his entertainment system, Justin had just placed the Blu-ray of his favorite anime, Vampire Hunter D, into his Blu-ray player—
“Sergeant Major Verräter!!”
—when someone practically broke his door down as they burst into his private quarters.
Justin glared at the person barging into his room with the subtlety of a rhino. If looks could kill, this man would have been dead.
“Do you not know how to knock?”
The rank and file soldier of no importance snapped off a salute. “Sir! Sorry, sir! But I was told to make sure you headed to Commander Paine’s office! It’s very important, sir!”
Great. What does that workaholic want with me now?
“Oh, fine.” Justin stood up and gestured at the soldier. “Lead the way, buzzkill.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Justin shook his head and followed the soldier to Commander Paine’s office.
Because the Sons and Daughters of Humanity was officially part of the US Military now, or rather, because they were considered a paramilitary unit of the United Nations, they had been given their own base of operations.
Their new base was much larger than their old one. Justin thought it was because they were no longer underground. Situated just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, the base greatly resembled the pentagon, only it was a hexagon instead of a pentagon. He didn’t really understand why, but he assumed the United States didn’t want a paramilitary group copying the architecture of their most secure compound.
The base, which had been originally named the Hexagon and then renamed Alpha H2 when American officials complained about plagiarism, was over 5 million square feet.
With their increase in operations, they’d also expanded their personnel, going from a secret group of 100,000 peo
ple worldwide to approximately 550,000. Alpha H2 had upwards of 23,000 people working there, from soldiers to engineers to office workers. The Sons and Daughters of Humanity’s stock had truly risen since the war started.
And yet, things have gotten really boring these days.
Oh, sure, he went out on missions nearly every day, and all of them had a very high chance of death, but Justin didn’t really care about that. He preferred to amuse himself watching people doing interesting things, not killing yōkai.
I wonder what Kevin’s been up to. I bet he’s at least having an interesting time.
Commander Paine’s new office was nearly twice as large as before. Consequently, this made his office seem twice as empty. It was like a massive space of nothing. The walls remained bare, with no adornments whatsoever, not even a trophy or a medal hanging from the barren space. At the very end of the office was a tiny cot, a plain-looking desk, and a just as plain filing cabinet.
It made Commander Paine stand out all the more.
His appearance reminded Justin of a grizzled war veteran. His face, lined with scars and stubble, was almost similar to his son’s—except it had scars, stubble, and looked way older. His once blond hair was now peppered with white, and his receding hairline was broken by an ugly red scar running from the left side of his face all the way down to his chin. An all-black military uniform fit his frame well, revealing bulking muscles that hadn’t atrophied with age.
Justin decided to have a little fun. He waltzed up to the commander’s desk, pressed his palms against the surface, leaned over, and gave the much older man a lazy grin.
“Sup, Commander? I heard you needed me for something?”
“Don’t speak in such a lax manner, boy,” Commander Paine’s growl was reminiscent of a grizzly bear. “You’re not in high school anymore.”
“Oh, I know. Trust me. You’ve made it abundantly clear that I’m no longer in high school, what with the dragging me all the way to New Mexico bit and everything—not that I actually spend much time here anyway.”
“You seem to have gotten more disrespectful than the last time I saw you.”
“And you’ve become even more gruff.”
Justin didn’t flinch when Commander Paine stared at him. His bodyguard, a hulking monstrosity of metal, shifted as if it could sense the tension. Just as the air became thick enough to cut with a knife, Justin leaned back and grinned.
“But I’m not here to complain about how I don’t get any time off. Nope. I’m here to see what sort of new mission you have for me.”
Commander Paine didn’t look pleased by his cheeky attitude, but Justin didn’t really care. The commander had been running him ragged with missions, and just when he thought he’d finally get to relax, some shmoe had busted his door down and told him to hightail it up to the command office. This was simply payback.
“I have a mission for you.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
Commander Paine’s glare silenced him, but only because Justin knew how far he could push the man before he snapped.
“We’ve recently received reports about a vehicle leaving the city of Phoenix. It’s traveling toward Los Angeles. The occupants are members of Neo Seiryuu,” Commander Paine said.
Justin frowned. “What makes you so certain?”
“Because we have pictures of them stopping at a gas station.”
Reaching for a file on his desk, Commander Paine produced several photos from within and showed them to Justin, who easily recognized the three people: a blond-haired teen with blue eyes, a beautiful redhead with a beaming smile, and a raven-haired vixen that oozed sexuality even through a photo.
“We have reason to believe they’re meeting with another terrorist cell,” Commander Paine continued. “Your mission is to tail the occupants of this vehicle, find out who they are meeting with, and then work with the US Marines to destroy whichever cell they contact.”
Justin found it ironic that he, the commander of a “former terrorist cell” was calling someone else a terrorist. The only reason the Sons and Daughters of Humanity was no longer a terrorist cell was because they had UN backing. Apparently, being backed by a nation or two, or 193, meant you were no longer considered a terrorist.
“I’ll accept the mission,” Justin said at last.
Commander Paine grunted. “You say that like I was giving you a choice. You’re to leave as soon as you're able. ETA: thirteen hundred hours.”
“Righto.”
Justin took the folder that Commander Paine handed to him, which would contain all of the extraneous details of the mission that took too long to explain. He’d skim over it while traveling to California. Maybe. If he felt like it.
“By the way,” Justin said just as he was about to leave. “Aren’t you being a little harsh? It’s awfully mean to call your son a terrorist.”
“Don’t you have an assignment to prepare for?” Commander Paine scowled.
Justin snickered as he left the office. Commander Paine made it way too easy to screw with him. He almost felt bad. Almost.
After entering his private quarters—and making a note to have the door repaired—Justin sat down at his desk, flipped open the file, and started to read.
Well, a Cheshire cat’s smile slowly spread across his lips, it looks like things might get interesting again.
CHAPTER 3
IT’S A TANUKI LIFE
Lilian knew that she shouldn’t have been having so much fun while on a top-secret mission, but she just couldn’t help it.
“Ubau tame ni de wa naku egao de ite hoshii. Meguriaeta taisetsu na kimi wo mamoritakute. Boku ga kokoro no tate ni nareru nara. Nani mo osore wa shinai.”
She and Kevin were singing. Loudly. Plugged into the car was Kevin’s phone, from which the music was playing. All of the songs were in Japanese, which made sense, as each song was an opening theme to one of the many anime they’d watched together.
They had a lot of songs.
“FEARLESS boku wa motto tsuyoku naritai. Omoide ja naku ima no kimi no tame ni. Negau kotoba masshiro na hane wo yadoshite. Owaranai monogatari no tsuzuki e. Kimi ga iru ao no hate made maiagare.”
As “Fearless Hero,” the opening theme song to an anime called Dog Days, ended, she and Kevin laughed while sucking in deep lungfuls of air.
“Ha… ha… that was… completely awesome!” Kevin said. He was the one driving. He had his hands on the wheel as they drove through a large mass of desert. All any of them saw for miles was nothing but a large stretch of sand, dirt, and the occasional farm.
This was the I-10 Freeway, which would take them all the way to Los Angeles.
“He… he… I think I’ve got a new favorite song. That was fun!” Lilian was beaming.
“I’m glad someone’s having fun,” a disgruntled Iris muttered in the back, her eyes roaming over massive blocks of text from the notebook on her lap. She didn’t seem to be having nearly as much fun as they were.
They ignored her.
Kevin grinned at her—a bright, cheerful grin that she absolutely adored. Lilian knew she was grinning back. She could see herself reflected in his eyes, and the expression on her face matched his to a T.
“So, what should we sing next?” Kevin asked.
“How about you stop singing?” Iris suggested.
“What about Fantasy Empire?” Lilian said.
“You mean the first theme from Mirai Nikki?” Kevin hummed. “Um, it’s an okay song, but not really upbeat enough. How about Minna no Namae wo Irete Kudasai?”
“Seriously, stop singing,” Iris insisted.
“That’s from D-Frag, right?” Lilian thought his suggestion over. She did rather like D-Frag. It was an awfully funny anime, though she felt the opening theme song was lacking. It just didn’t have the punch she was looking for.
She looked over at Kevin, who eyed her out of the corner of his eye. She saw it within those blue orbs. They were, as always, of like mind.
“Database?” she
asked.
Kevin’s grin widened. “Database.”
As the opening theme song for Log Horizon began playing, Iris moaned a piteous complaint from the back and covered her ears. However, even with them covered, her sensitive ears still shivered and twitched as if they were undergoing the most excruciating ear torture the world had ever known.
Lilian ignored her sister and enjoyed herself by singing with the person she loved more than anyone else.
***
“I can’t believe they gave us homework,” Lilian complained as she sat in the front seat with a book in her lap. They had decided to stop singing. Iris had fallen asleep, which was actually the reason they were no longer singing, and in any case, someone had to get the homework. Since Kevin was driving, the task of doing homework had been left up to her.
Kevin had changed lanes, deftly moving around another car that was moving far too slowly for his taste. There weren’t that many cars on this freeway. However, there were more than Lilian expected.
“Well, it’s not like school stops just because we’re on a mission,” Kevin said.
“I know that.” Lilian pouted. “I just think they should make us exempt from school work whenever we’re sent on a mission. Don’t heroes get special exceptions made for them like that?”
“Not usually,” Kevin said. “In fact, I think if you’re in high school, then having more homework piled on top of saving the day is standard procedure.”
Lilian cried in complaint some more.
***
“A boy cuts a cardboard circle and only cuts five straight lines. He does not care if the pieces are equal. What is the maximum number of pieces he can obtain if he makes five cuts?”
Kevin frowned as Lilian recited the problem. Even now, after being in the human world for a year, she still sucked at math. However, where she suffered from mathtardation, Kevin excelled at math. It was one of his two best subjects.
Within his mind, Kevin quickly created an imaginary circle and began the process of elimination. The circle was cute five times, remade, then cut five more times. Over and over again he did this, making cuts to see what maximum number of cuts could be made.
While his mind worked, he slowly eased on the gas and changed to another lane. He was driving down the Papago Freeway, also known as the I-10. Desert lay on either side of the road, an endless expanse of sand and dirt. There really was nothing to see out there. He sighed.
A Fox's Alliance (American Kitsune Book 10) Page 8
