Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Journeys We Make

In Search For The Best Ham

"Whoa, whoa... Did you, Nara Skaven, the guy we've been trying to recruit to our crew, just busted into our room and declared that we should throw out the artificial chest model that we've been building for our friend and fellow Star?" Damisan pointed his metal finger at the Nara clad in an eggplant-colored jacket with his hands in his pockets like he had just asked them to take out their own trash or something.

"Yeah, though it doesn't help it when you break it down like that. I'm gonna explain myself in a moment so I'll just have to ask you to trust me and not install that robo-heart into your friend," Skaven pointed his finger at the precious prosthetic that Damisan held in his artificial hand.

"Why should we trust you?" Tomi beamed her suspicion through her childish and spiteful stare. "No matter how many times Shige-H asked you to join the Stars, you've declined every single time. You're a stranger and I barely trust even people I've met, let alone shady guys like you!"

"Tomi..." Shige-H raised her hand up to pacify the situation by requesting that the young lady keeps quiet and doesn't aggravate whatever this budding relationship of the Stars and Skaven ends up being.

"No, the urchin raises a fine point," Endo frowned with his eyes closed, rejecting even humoring his guest with a look let alone trusting his proposition. "If you make sure to further yourself as far as possible from a group, you don't get to make important calls such as these for that group. As far as the Stars are concerned, this man is nothing."

"Look, it's true that I haven't been the most approachable guy with that membership business and I don't do well with gangs so I'd still rather not have anything to do with your operation but... I do care about Mana and I want her to be fine again. I think what you're doing is a grave mistake that will ruin her life, which nobody who has become a target of criminals and assassins deserves. Mana deserves nothing less than a full recovery," Skaven explained himself, and the group's scorns laying with this man had softened once the truthfulness of his words and intentions became crystal clear from his body language and tone.

"You care about Mana?" Shige-H wondered.

"Yeah, lately, she's been sort of staying away from you guys and I found that odd, so I've been observing her whenever our paths crossed," Skaven shrugged. The young man looked not at all proud of what he had admitted. As was becoming a trend with him, there was a total package yet to unveil with the truth behind what he had just said and it began vexing Skaven more and more that this stacked up with something that was to be his first bilateral impression with the Stars.

"Whoa, did you follow Mana-nee, you creep!?" Tomi jumped up on her bed, her thumb slipped to her mouth while she reared her pearly whites ready to dig into her own thumb and call for some help to pummel this Nara weirdo on the spot.

"I didn't follow her per se. I just... If our paths crossed, if we walked by each other in the hallway or if we ended up reading in the library at the same time or trained in the Training Grounds with a matching schedule, I... I paid attention to her, as opposed to my usual disinterest with people in general," Skaven shrugged and looked away. While he looked a tad embarrassed to have to explain this, there was a glimpse of irritation in his eyes that brought up the impression that the young man was getting sick of this stand of his and was considering giving up on this complete stranger he intended to help in his mind.

"You saw Mana's loneliness. She piqued your interest because she looked to you like someone you could help." Shige-H put it down in plain and simple terms. It didn't hurt that she had thoroughly researched the personalities and histories of each Stars member she planned to recruit beforehand, so she knew just the kind of person Skaven was for real. Out of all the people in the room, except for the Nara himself, Shige-H needed his justifications the least.