Heart on the Sleeve

Meanwhile, Yao Akanji met up with Hanzo Inoue, the founder and leader of Azurite. Yao was leaning against the wall, folding his arms as Hanzo stood beside him.

"Mr. Inoue, I can assure you that you will not have to come with us," Yao said to the older man.

Hanzo sighed and folded his arms.

"I do trust you all, but are you sure this is a mission I should not attend? Hana… I'm worried for her," Hanzo said. "She's never been out in a place like that."

"I'll make sure she's fine alright. She has grown up, not only as a person but as a fighter. She wants you to believe in her," Yao replied.

"That is true…" Hanzo said. "Perhaps I have been a bit overbearing, or rather protective, as any normal father would."

"If something happens, I will not hesitate to rush out there, alright?" Hanzo said. "Yao, promise me one thing, please?"

"Of course, I promise to protect Hana with my life. If anything goes wrong, I'll take full responsibility for it…" Yao said.

"Mr. Inoue, please relax for once and continue to spend time with your wife. Please… Let me carry on the responsibilities and continue doing the heavy lifting," Yao said. "Even if it means I have to put my life on the line, I don't mind at all."

Hanzo let out a grateful sigh. "You are correct, but it appears we are both being… Rather stubborn in a way. I will take your word for it, Hae tends to get extremely worried when I'm out in battle, and I do not wish to scare her again."

"Thank you," Yao said. "I'm… I'm not trying to say we don't need your help, but until we get closer to finally overthrowing Nixidia, I want you to be able to spend more time with your family, Mr. Inoue. You've been working for a long time."

"You're a good man, Yao," Hanzo smiled. "Very well then, I trust that you will be able to take care of the Undercity's problems, but please do not hesitate to call me if things go wrong. Until then, I will be spending time with my wife."

"Got it… And believe me, Azurite has only gotten stronger over time, especially the next generation. They've all grown into very exceptional fighters, even Hana" Yao said.

"And that, I am proud of her for. I'll make sure to tell her when I can," Hanzo said.

"You should, she'd be bummed if you didn't," Yao said. "I think it's time we go tell them now, huh?"

"Of course, I'll be on my way in a minute," Hanzo said.

Yao nodded and walked out of the room, going to meet up with Squad Azure, who were all currently in the lounge.

…

"So then, um… Then I hit 'em both at the same time, like boom! And I was able to get my staff back," Okoro said, laughing while he conversed with Squad Azure, who were all telling stories to each other.

"Hehe, that was right before we met too, right?" Mina asked while giggling.

"Mhm, it was such a crazy day!" Okoro said.

They were gonna continue talking, but they were interrupted by Yao's return. He stood there as everyone turned their attention to him.

"Ah, I did not mean to kill the mood, please don't look at me like that…" Yao said with a blank stare.

"You're good bossman," Amari said while laughing a bit. "What's the word?"

Yao then let out a deep sigh. "Our next mission is in the undercity. There's been a lot going on down there, and we have some things to take care of."

'The undercity…?' Okoro thought to himself.

"Um, sir," Okoro raised a hand.

"Yes?" Yao said.

"What's the undercity?" Okoro asked. "Sorry…"

"No worries, the undercity is a subterranean city under Kandona City. It has a high crime rate and is home to not only innocent civilians but evil Kani users as well," Yao said. "It is much less monitored by Nixidia soldiers, as they happen to fear what can go on down there, surprisingly."

"This means the civilians of the undercity feel neglected… And we're the only ones who can help them," Yao continued. "There is another case I wanted to investigate, the rumors of the Midnight Marauder."

"Sounds corny, I know, but that's another threat we have to watch out for. The Midnight Marauder is a serial killer rumored to roam in both the undercity and even random districts in Kandona City," Yao said. "He usually cuts up his victims and marks their chests with an M. I'm not sure why someone like that would leave their tracks, but it only makes it more twisted."

All of the members of Squad Azure began to feel uneasy.

"Right… The innocents down there do need our help now more than ever, no one else is going to look out for them," Mina said.

"Yeah, and I can imagine there're a lot of enemies waiting for my return," Yao said.

"Return?" Okoro raised an eyebrow. "You've been there before?"

"Of course… It's where I grew up," Yao replied. "Matter of fact, you, come with me."

He pointed towards Okoro.

"O-oh, me? Okay…" Okoro said, growing a bit worried.

…

The two were now back in the training facility.

"Before we start, are you okay with talking about yourself for a moment?" Yao asked.

"Yes sir!" Okoro said, giving him his trademark salute.

"You don't have to act so professional around me," Yao said. Honestly, it almost made him laugh, something the other members tried so hard to achieve.

"Oh right, my bad…" Okoro said while rubbing the back of his head and smiling. "But uhh, what do you wanna know?"

"To start, what's your technique?" Yao asked, crossing his arms as he looked down at Okoro.

"Uhh…" Okoro's expression went blank. "I…"

"What's wrong?" Yao asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhh, I don't really remember how it works fully…" Okoro shrugged, feeling a bit guilty.

"Not even the basics?" Yao asked with a confused expression on his face.

"Well, I do know some things! Like uhh, I get stronger when I'm angry or too excited. But when I'm feeling sad, I end up becoming a lot weaker…" Okoro explained.

"Ah, so it's emotion-based, you're dealing with a pretty difficult technique to handle," Yao said.

"Mhm! I don't really know how to control it fully… So I usually have to hold back a lot," Okoro explained. He looked a bit uneasy while trying to explain his technique, Yao had picked up on this.

To Yao, it didn't seem like Okoro was just bad at remembering or explaining things. It seemed like something about his technique bothered him.

"Alright then, we'll discuss it more later and I'll help you out over the following week. Since you're new to this, I wouldn't wanna throw you straight into a combat zone with no proper experience, or else you'll be a liability," Yao said.

"Yes sir!" Okoro replied.

Yao sighed, but he didn't mind it at all.

'Another kid that's too good to live in a country like this… I can't let anything happen to him either.' Yao thought to himself.

"Welcome to the team, by the way," Yao said.

"Thank you!" Okoro's face lit up, his worried expression from earlier immediately fading. "Also uhh… Is it okay if you can help me come up with a cool name for my technique…? Everyone else has cool ones, so I want one too!"

"Sure…" Yao said as he took some time to think of it. "How about 'Heart on the Sleeve?' It suits you."

"Okay, sounds cool! Hmm, heart on the sleeve… I love it, thank you, sir!" Okoro said while jumping up and down and shadowboxing, imagining himself in a cool combat scenario.

Okoro's supposed technique is now named 'Heart on the Sleeve.' From what he has said, this technique is emotion-based and seems to change his physical stats based on what emotions he is feeling at the moment. Perhaps his determination is what helped someone of his age take down Nixidia soldiers so easily, but from now on, he will be dealing with bigger threats.

"Mr. Akanji…" Okoro looked up at Yao with a serious expression.

"Yes, Okoro?" Akanji looked back at him.

"I won't let you down, sir…" Okoro said as he pointed his fist out towards him. "Please be patient with me…"

"Of course, Okoro…" Akanji said, fist-bumping him before walking back to the lounge.

'I won't let you guys down… I promise.' Okoro thought to himself while staring at Yao's back.