Once they were inside, he found Choro and Liza sitting with Micah’s grandmother, the elderly woman absolutely distraught.
“Those bastards, those motherfuckers. All of them. The whole lot. It was the Society of Monks that did this, those bucketed bitch-titted baboon anuses! Their brainwashing, whatever it was… I’m not up to pretend to understand how they are able to do what they did, but…” She stood, her fists clenched at her side, her knuckles white. “We have to get back to Neo-Hokkaido. We have to do something about all of them. It’s time to fuck them up!”
“We’re working on it,” Liza said in a tone that told Micah that she had repeated herself multiple times now.
“Working on it? Oh, for fuck’s sake! Work harder, work faster. You know I would do something if I were physically able. It makes me so sick to my goddamn stomach what the Society of Monks did! All of you,” she said, a fire behind her eyes, “all of you need to get better, get back there, and burn that goddamn place to the ground. I’m… I’m coming with you!”
“No,” Micah said in a tone he didn’t often use with his grandmother. “You are staying here; you as well,” he told Choro, who was sitting near Liza, his hand on his forehead.
“But I can help,” Choro said.
“I know you can, but it will be safer for you to help from here. I will have you link up with Bobi. The two of you need to stay here and keep safe. We’re going to go back and do what we can, and then we will return. This isn’t up for discussion. This is how it needs to happen for us to succeed.”
Choro nodded. “I understand.”
“We’ll regroup in the morning, and there will be a procession led by Youseg,” Soraya announced. “As for tonight, everyone should get some rest. Tomorrow, we remember and we train, and after that…”
Micah, Bunni, and Soraya all looked at one another.
“We leave,” Micah said. “And hopefully, we will be back sooner rather than later.”
The night passed quickly, Micah spending most of it with Yuri held tightly in his arms. At one point she woke up and began to sob quietly, and when she did, he did his best to comfort her. All that changed by the time the sun began to rise. As the morning light spread into their room, the leader of the Royal Star Ninjas seemed as if she’d be doing better from this point forward, a hint of determination in her eyes that Micah had only seen glimpses of before, defiance even.
The two dressed in silence, Bunni sleeping in a different room last night as not to disturb them, her lack of presence in the space definitely felt. The Plains Dweller added a dynamic to any situation, but Micah was glad that she was gone for the time being.
Yuri needed his full attention.
Micah heard the older monk’s voice long before he spotted Youseg in the family space below and speaking with his grandmother, a grin on Youseg’s face as she told him some ribald joke. There were stacks of white robes for them to change into, and Liza already wore the funeral clothing, the nun with her hair in a single ponytail held by a white hair tie, a solemn look on her face as she went about the room helping Youseg’s attendants assist Soraya with breakfast. It really took an army, and as usual, the kitsune wanted to be in charge of food.
Youseg looked up to Micah as he came down the stairs, the smile in his eyes wavering just a hair. “Ah, just the man I wanted to speak to. Would you care to join me for a walk?”
“Sure,” Micah told him. He kissed Yuri on the forehead, and finally broke from her side.
“Good, right this way.”
Youseg led Micah outside, and from there toward an area of the compound that Micah hadn’t been in before, under an archway covered in flowering vines amidst more Plains Dweller statues, which reminded Micah of how he had first encountered Bunni, back at Tsomo’s shrine. A few of the statues had veils over their faces chiseled from bronze and stone, which added a bit of mystery to the setting. Butterflies fluttered in the air, even though it was a cool morning, Micah noticing that they had tiny hairs on their wings accented by the morning light. He was startled once an enormous wind chime sounded off, and then calmed by the deep hum that seemed to resonate through the area and through Micah’s core, its rumbling low and beautiful.
“I had no idea this was here.”
“It’s a little secluded, if something can be secluded in a monastery such as this. When I first came to possess the place, it was less protected than it is now, and you could see it from the entrance. I had the archways added, which connects to the fence and eventually, the vines will grow even thicker, separating it a bit more from the rest of the compound.” Youseg stopped before the large wind chime, easily as tall as Micah, which hung from a statue of a man lifting his arm toward the sky, his rabbit ears flat against his head.
“I’ve heard the sounds of the wind chime before, but I never came over here,” Micah said.
“That’s what you get for not exploring. May I make a suggestion?”
“Sure.”
Youseg turned to him. “Always explore. Always.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“But listen to me, rattling off like I’m some sort of sage. Trust me, I’m not; I’m just a man who had a vision, made some money off that vision, and now I have this,” he said, gesturing toward his monastery. “That’s not why I asked you to join me. I wanted to speak to you privately about something I haven’t mentioned yet.”
“Related to Milsung’s death?”
“No, nothing like that. I was being truthful last night when I told Yuri that I hadn’t foreseen anything about that. And what a surprise. I never could have predicted another ninja would show up randomly. But I digress. Now that you have plans to return to your country, with the hopes of bringing Ahmey over to your cause, it’s time that I tell you something, the truth, if a vision can be considered as such.”
Micah looked to the man, who was now gazing up at the statue they stood before, his hands behind his back. “The truth?”
“As you know by now, and as your friend Choro certainly knows, the series of graphic novels I wrote so many years ago were only partially published in your country, because of the direction in which they went. I told you that I’d had seen up to the point that you would somehow join me, but I didn’t want to write myself into the story, leaving the graphic novels to end on somewhat of a cliffhanger, but a win for our heroes nonetheless. As was to be expected. But the truth is, I have seen what happens next, and I hope what has been revealed to me isn’t something that comes to pass. I pray as much.”
“You have?”
He shifted his perspective to Micah, lines appearing at the corners of his eyes. “In my visions, the person from our time makes the ultimate sacrifice in the end. Micah, what I’m telling you here is this: I have foreseen your death. I whole-heartedly believe you will succeed in changing Neo-Hokkaidan society; without a doubt I believe that. But from the multiple visions I’ve had, it is your death that will truly spark this change. You need to be prepared for this. There have been details in my vision that have been wrong before, and I pray that this is the case here, but you may have to give your life for the good of the others, and for your society as a whole. Are you prepared to do that? Are you prepared to make that kind of sacrifice?”
Micah looked back up at the statue, the enormous bell hanging from it absolutely still. It was as if time had frozen, the butterflies he’d seen earlier all but vanished.
“Yes,” he finally said, thinking of his parents, thinking of his grandmother, the ninjas, his two wives, Liza, and Choro. If all it took was one man’s life to change an entire society, who was he to get in the way of that? He had lived a good life, and things had gotten even more interesting up toward the end. There was also the possibility that what Youseg had seen in his vision was indeed false. While he had been right about certain things, he said himself that he wasn’t always correct, which left something Micah hoped to truly rely on—chance.
“Yes,” Micah said again, with finality. “I’m ready for that to happen.�
��
“It may not even be up to you,” Youseg said, a flash of sorrow in his eyes. “But at least you know now what has come to me. I do have a word of advice for you: I would keep this from the others. It is perhaps best they don’t know, because knowing may change how they react in a situation, which could very well push the prophecy closer to truth, ironically enough. There has been enough loss for now. It is a tragedy what happened last night, but this is the way of our world, especially when the stakes are as high as they are now.”
“And you really didn’t perceive this?” Micah asked. “Nothing like a battle between the ninjas or death of one of them?”
Youseg thought long and hard about this question. He bit his bottom lip and looked back up at the statue, finally shaking his head. “No. No, I didn’t, and I wish I had. When I first saw the blood last night, I thought it had been you, that your death had come early. You just need to be ready when the time comes.”
“I’ll be ready to the best of my ability,” Micah said, trying not to sound unsure of himself. He definitely was. No one liked to be told that they would die as part of some prophecy.
“Good, good. I’m sorry to bring this up, truly I am. But I wanted you to know everything, all of it. Better to be transparent than get blindsided later.”
“Thank you.”
Youseg rubbed his hands together. “Now, let’s have a light breakfast with the others, and then prepare for the ceremony. It will be a simple affair, one meant to push their industria on. Then the five of you will need to train more, if it’s a possibility. There is no moon tonight, so tonight likely would be the best time for you all to return to your country. Yes,” he said with a short nod as he squinted up at the sky. “We are racing toward the future faster than I originally anticipated. Let’s try to make the best of it until then, shall we?”
Chapter Eight
The funeral procession was brief. Everyone, including Micah’s grandmother, dressed in all white while Youseg chanted a few words in an ancient language, one that Micah hadn’t heard before. Micah didn’t even pretend to recognize the language that Youseg spoke, but he did notice it was different than the mantra he had learned, which led him to believe that it was an ancient Heian dialect.
Near the end of the funeral, as some of Youseg’s attendants burnt incense, Micah noticed a hint of green energy puff into the air, the butterflies hovering around the garden earlier gravitating toward it. They formed columns over both of the caskets, and while the event was utterly magical, no one said anything about it once it passed and the butterflies had fluttered away. Everyone who had witnessed it took it to mean something individually to them, that magic existed and all of it was linked to industria.
Or so Micah assumed.
Once again, Yuri showed no signs of emotion as she paused before her sister’s casket. The leader of the Royal Star Ninjas got down onto her knees and placed one hand on the casket, bowing her head forward. She did the same to Kami, and that was the end of it.
It was over almost as soon as it started.
“I’ve reached out to Bobi,” Choro told Micah once the funeral had officially closed, which was marked by Youseg releasing a pair of doves into the air. “He wanted to check in with you. Especially now that you are planning to leave tonight.”
“Not a bad idea.”
They returned to the residence. Both were still in their white robes, which draped long past their wrists and ankles. “We have training scheduled, but Youseg wants to give everyone a little time to reflect on Kami and Milsung’s deaths.”
“Makes sense. Even your grandmother has behaved herself today, which tells me everyone is…” Choro searched for the word. “Off? Not going to lie: this has been hard. I guess that’s what I’m trying to say here. I wasn’t close with Milsung; we never even spoke, really. But seeing the expressions on the others’ faces affected me in a way I didn’t expect it to. It would be like if you suddenly died, or something. Not that that’s going to happen…”
Micah didn’t answer as they climbed the stairs to Choro’s bedroom, vowing never to mention the prophecy to his friend. Choro had already relocated some of the items from Youseg’s tech room to the bedroom, Micah glad to see that it had plenty of space for him to stretch out. He seemed right at home here, and as he sat down in his chair, Micah remembered how Choro had been living back in Neo-Hokkaido, the cramped basement apartment in the Golden Trash District.
He placed his helmet on, which had been hanging on a coat rack in Choro’s room, mostly because Choro was running tests on the helmets they currently possessed, cords currently hooked up to Liza’s bucket. After the piece powered on, Micah said the not-so magic words, “Call Bobi.”
He was instantly greeted by the chipper AI. “I heard what happened from Choro. How incredibly horrible! Loss of human life is something that is so tragic to me. Is there anything I can do? Perhaps I can have some flowers gathered here in Woodsaka, although my mechas picking flowers does lead to a rather strange visual, and I don’t know what it would look like if they were delivered to your current location. People may not like that in Heian.”
“I’ll make it easy for you: we are coming tonight,” Micah told Bobi. “We will need to bury the two bodies somewhere. Any ideas?”
“I absolutely have an idea, one that I believe those that remain of the Royal Star Ninjas will agree upon. I’m assuming you would like to place them at the Tomb of the Unknown Ninja, correct?”
“The what?”
“Alas, so much of Neo-Hokkaidan history has been covered by this forest, at the same time as its people have forgotten where they come from. Not all societies are like that, you know, but this one seems to be. Perhaps it’s designed that way; if those living in Neo-Hokkaido now understood how their lives were in the past, they may be able to learn from it in a way that would naturally lead to progress. But who am I to issue such a statement? Some robot talking in your ear? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Tomb of the Unknown Ninja would be a perfect place for them, it will have historical significance to them, and there are other ninjas still entombed there.”
“Is it far from where we will be exiting?”
“It’s not, actually. I’m surprised the ninjas haven’t suggested it to you yet, but maybe they have been distracted by other things. There are still plots, believe it or not. I can make sure some of my smaller Bobis clear up the area, and pick plenty of flowers. There isn’t a place to stay there, and I’m assuming as a human you might be afraid of the tomb being haunted, which is one thing that you could expect in a location like that. But I can assure you, ghosts don’t exist.”
“Um, good to know.”
“Once they are buried, what will you do? Where will you go? Aside from my temple, there isn’t really a great place to stay in the forest that will provide the shelter you would likely prefer.”
Micah nodded. “We need the vehicle that we flew in on. You still have that, correct?”
“Of course. And it has been maintained.”
“As to where we will go next, I’ll have to run it by the others, but my best guess would be that we visit Liza’s weapon stash and go from there.”
“Which is in Coralie, correct?”
“Correct.”
“And from there?”
“To Uyanga, to Ahmey’s shrine. But we may have to wait until early the following morning or even the next night.”
“Understood. I will be ready to assist you when the time comes.”
“It will definitely come, sooner rather than later,” Micah said, not able to get the conversation he’d had with Youseg off his mind. Was his death really imminent? Would the monk’s vision turn out to be false? Micah felt as if there were a clock floating before him, time trickling away. But he was too deep in it now to pivot. He knew the direction he was traveling.
Once his conversation with Bobi was finished, Micah changed clothing and joined the others in the main room of the residence, all but Yuri with them.
&nbs
p; “She’s resting,” Liza said.
“But we can still train,” said Bunni.
“You don’t have to go, you know,” said Micah’s grandmother, the older woman with her white shawl draped over her head, an uncertain look on her face. “You can stay here, and we can just let Neo-Hokkaido do what Neo-Hokkaido will do. Fuck the monks, fuck everyone that isn’t us. Sorry, but that’s how I feel. I don’t mean to be blunt, but why go back there? Why not just stay here and live the good life? They treat us like royalty around here; Youseg has enough money to go around and then some. I don’t mind being his little concubine for the rest of my life.”
“His concubine?” Micah asked.
“He has to be chasing some bunny tail around here; I know those female nuns wear veils, and you can’t really make out their features with their layered robes, but I can spot a curve when I see one.”
“That’s not why we were sent here,” Soraya said, “to your timeline. We weren’t sent to simply retire in Heian and gawk at nuns. I could have retired during the First Orange Sun.”
“Bah. I’ve heard about why you came here, and how you came here. Just because someone sent you to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it. I’m not trying to be a quitter here,” grandmother said. “If I had a sword and a monk came to that door, I would do my best to waddle over there and stab the bastard in the dick. Then I would knee him in the chin, and once he was on the ground, I’d lift my skirt and take a dump in the opening of his bucket. You all know this about me, you all know what I’m capable of when I put my mind to it, even if my body has all but given up on me, the damn thing.” The elderly woman flicked at some of the flab hanging from her arm. “Used to be muscle, well, sort of. Where was I? Sorry. I have strange fantasies involving monks, nutshots, and apparently, defecation. But I’m totally sane, trust me, no need to pack me up and send me off to the loony bin. My point is: you don’t have to go anywhere. You can either let them come to you, or let them forget about you altogether.”
My Ninja Girl 4 Page 10
