The Princess and The Devil - Karma Akabane x OC

T W E N T Y - T W O : MUDPRINTS

Normal's POV

Hime furrows her eyebrows as she analyses the mud prints on the grass.

It's still wet.. Hime's shoulders fall slightly when she lets out a breath of relief. At least now she knows two things; it's recent and their base is somewhere muddy. And this news is great because they couldn't have gone far and there arent many muddy areas in this town. She could just narrow down all the places with muddy places around here as soon as she gets a map. She knows that the yakuza wouldn't take a train. I mean how weird and suspicious will that be? If she could find tyre tracks, it'll help her a lot.

Her train of thoughts derail the moment she hears the rustles of bushes. She immediately reacts on the sound. At the moment, she was thankful she didn't have any weapons with her or it will freak the dirty blonde man with asparagus green eyes out of his wits. It is Ichiro Fujisaki, Hime's uncle. Not long after his arrival, a group of men wearing all black from head to toe emerge from the forest. She immediately recognizes them as the Silver Sakuras.

"Ichiro-ojichan" Hime acknowledges. Ichiro makes a mental note on how emotionless her steel blue eyes are.

"Hime-chan, here." Ichiro digs deep in his bag pack before pulling out a jar of her favourite heavenly cookies. Hime couldn't help but to stare at the jar. Any other time, she would pounce at the jar of cookies but this isn't one of those times. She is more concerned about her friends' wellbeing. Most importantly..

"Why are you here, Ichiro-ojichan?"

"Karma called me this morning. He told me to track his mobile phone and if it suddenly goes off without a warning for 5 minutes, I have to immediately find you and bring you to safety. He told me that I'd find you here." Ichiro chuckles lightly at himself. "Who would've thought that he'd be right?" Ichiro has a grim look on his face and it's making Hime more worried than she has already been.

Does that mean Karma knew that this will happen? Hime clicks her tongue in annoyance. If Karma had seen this all coming, why didn't he inform her sooner so she will know the art of holding her tongue and monitor her movements better. While Hime is left outside with her uncle, the Silver Sakuras came out from the classroom and reports of clues like slight knife markings on the walls of the teachers' lounge and dented tables were thrown to Ichiro in all directions.

"Sir, we found these too." One of them said, raising a familiar green rubber knife with the letters S.A.A.U.S.O printed on it in white and a M1911 handgun. Hime pales a little once she had seen the weapons that she used to carry around with her to assassinate the yellow octopus she calls her sensei.

"What are these?" Ichiro questions out loud as his subordinate passes the two weapons down to him. "Where did you find these?" Ichiro asks as he bends the knife backwards. He lets it go and it bounces right back to its original position. "It's made of rubber." Ichiro states as he runs the tip of the knife on his wrist. It doesn't even draw blood. He then checks the gun. To his surprise, it is filled with bb bullets but to add up to his confusion, they are pink with the same letters printed in black on it and a weird octopus creature with a creepy smile. Ichiro notes that that too is made up by a substance that will not bring any harm to a human.

"We found this underneath a table in the classroom."

"So it's one of the students'?" Ichiro wonders and diverts his attention on his niece who has a look of melancholy in her steel blue eyes. "Hime-chan, do you recognize these?" Ichiro asks, tossing the two weapons to her. She couldn't help but to smile. She misses these.