Heart of the Infiltrators

Chapter 45: Solace and Peace

Heart of the Infiltrators

(Senran Kagura x Male Reader)

Chapter 45: Solace and Peace

"None of them survived?" echoed a voice rifled with shock over Oda's phone.

"None of them, Kiriya..." came the large man's reply as he sat back against an alley wall, Minori right beside him and pressing a bloody cloth against his wound, "In fact, Shiori was the first one down... followed by Onoda, herself..." After a moment of clenching his eyes closed in a mix of sorrow and shame, Oda looked down to the pigtailed girl beside him, "Even I took a serious hit..."

There was a brief moment of silence and the sound of a quiet breath being taken on the other end of the line before Kiriya asked, "...How bad...?"

"Ultimately, I had to call an ambulance," mumbled Oda, "Though I managed to keep Tsao back for a bit, he managed to get me with his dagger after giving a few... really hard punches..." Remembering how disgraceful it was to be beaten down by a man who was barely a third his size, Oda unknowingly lifted his hand to his covered wound, "I swear... however short our fight was, it was getting punched by a grizzly bear..."

"He's a strong opponent, Oda," said Kiriya in a gentler tone, "No one will blame you for losing to him."

"Sure, but I'll be blamed, rightly so, for leading ten women to their deaths... for allowing nearly thirty dignitaries to be slaughtered when we meant to capture them..." After another moment, Oda hung his head even lower, "...and I'll be blamed for however many civilians died because of that Yōma..."

Again, there was a brief silence on the other line. Then, hoping to block out the bad side of things for even the briefest of moments, Kiriya then asked, "Would it make you feel better if I told you that everything on our end went accordingly?"

Oda raised his head just a tad, "Yeah... it would..." and shuffled his shoulders, "What's the report on the warehouse raid?"

Kiriya immediately began to answer, "It's all going like you predicted last night. Shortly after the counter-attack, the dignitaries all began to swarm toward the distribution center. By the time Rin and the rest of our team arrived, they were already burning a bunch of documents and trying to carry out what material they could."

"Material?" echoed Oda.

"Machines and tools, old parts and scrap... that kind of thing..." After brief shuffling on the other end, Kiriya continued, "Most were pretty willing to hand themselves over... From what I can guess, a whole lot of them are hoping to make some kind of deal with prosecutors or however that works... As for everyone else... they were dealt with. No dead or wounded for the shinobi."

"Ah... well, at least one thing went right today," mumbled Oda as he dropped his hand from his wound, throwing a tired smile down to Minori, "On the upside of things, all the chaos that the Yōma was causing seems to have stopped. At least, I'm hearing more sirens and less buildings being crushed while people scream in terror..." Sucking in a tired breath, the large man shook his head, "The rest of the government will be asking questions."

"Do you have a plan in place of that?" asked Kiriya in grim tone.

"Had one since I started this job," replied Oda with a sad smile, "Half-truths and diversions... If nothing else, the boy's name won't be coming up on the prime minister's desk."