Blue: 005

"You are right."

At the hitter's base with the famous crimson glow, the image of Obake was taking shape. His humanoid body made of the purest gloom emerged on the small white pentagonal stone. That darkness-molded mannequin had no eyes, but we could feel he was watching us closely.

"You're right, Youkai Slayer. It's like Tengu said, you're a natural strategist, always studying the field and the enemy."

"Leave the compliments for when you tell my story in Hell." Yuna said, sure of herself, and although it was one more of her arrogant lines, I have to admit it sounded cooler than it could be.

And Obake laughed.

"You've become the dread of many youkai since you killed Yuki-onna. Both times we tackled each other you showed great dexterity in combat, even without using your powers as you should."

"It's not like I didn't try. But your body seems to be covered by chi. I can't freeze this energy. I could cover you with ice but if I didn't stay there to keep it, no matter how thick, it would be consumed by your dark energy. I confess I still don't know exactly how you function. Anyway, you're a youkai and I'm the Youkai Slayer."

"I suppose you've got a negative feeling for me, since I took the shape of your dear father."

The hanyou took off her glove from her left arm, without giving an answer to Obake. Then she took off her sneakers with the elegance of a ballerina. The girl slightly rubbed the little French bread pair at the pitcher base. They're so cute I couldn't believe that one of those feet had taken my former director's head off at Mythpool.

"Why are you getting undressed?" I couldn't help asking.

"You pedophile, don't get excited. I'm done here." Yuna replied without looking at me, keeping her eyes focused on the youkai ahead. "Listen, Obake, it's true you extended your metamorphosis powers with Kagami, but I feel you're not with it. Where is it?"

"It's a great question, murderer. Currently, I don't know. My purpose with the shield was to only amplify my powers. However, my mission was to hand it over to the one who gave me the opportunity to walk free through this world once again."

"Well, Well, then the most implausible of my theories was right."

"Hmph, did you really think that far ahead?"

"And why not? Obakes are a youkai breed that have been extinct for years. Yes, it could be that one or two survived, and that was my first thought when I found out your identity. But the idea that an Obake was brought back to life by someone, didn't stop me from thinking harder. And, since we're in a healthy dialogue, I'd like to know to whom you gave the shield to."

Your Humble Narrator would like that too. I was brooding on the bench.

"To whom?" The youkai hesitated for a moment. "I guess I didn't make it clear earlier. It wasn't for a single person, but for a group. A group on the other side of the globe. They also brought Tengu back to life."

"What group is this?" The hanyou asked the question of the moment.

"The acronym is NIP. That's all I know."

To that answer, more specifically to that acronym, a chill ran through my body making me shiver. At that time, I didn't know exactly what kind of group that acronym was referring to. Nothing came to mind. However, NIP was something that crossed my ears, and that chill should've been a warning sign to something I shouldn't have forgotten.

"Hmph." Yuna smiled. "Of course, there is someone behind this... but that's a problem for later. First, Obake, let's work our differences out. Let's finish what we started on that golf course. No weapons or tricks. Only fists. Is that fair to you?"

"No weapons and tricks, is that it?"

"Girl Scout word."

The girl was dictating the battle's rules, adjusting them so the match was fair for both parties. I've seen her doing this but not against someone who carelessly walked through her private minefield. And... Girl Scout?

"It's fine by me, Youkai Slayer. A duel till death, determined in the most archaic way. Spartan rules?"

"I don't intend to be formal," replied the hanyou. She took up her fighting stance. A Kung-Fu position, emphasizing the Tiger Style. After that her arms and legs were coated with a resistant layer of ice.

"I thought you said no tricks." Noted the youkai.

"Yes, but I know it's dangerous to make contact with your weird skin. As you showed me in our first meeting. This is just a precaution to make our duel fairer."

"Hmm, yeah... I'll accept this condition. But do you really believe this is going to postpone the inevitable?"

"I think so. I'm a very smart girl."

Smart? The miserable is a genius. She's the type of person who is born to do what she does. In Yuna case, she wasn't born to be a murderer, but to be a war machine. Both her strength as well her agility and intelligence worked in a harmoniously elegant synchronism transforming her into a mass destruction weapon, disguised as a snow angel.

"Well," Obake also took his combat position. "Do your worst, Youkai Slayer!"

And she proceeded forward. From the pitcher base to the hitter's, the hanyou sprinted faster than any ball ever launched in a baseball game. All records would've been broken if she was one of the small leather balls used in that sport. The youkai, even in a battle position seemed to be unprepared for such speed. But it doesn't mean he didn't react.

The Obake tried to 'hit back' Yuna with a right cross, tearing the air with a buzz. However, he didn't see what was coming; taking advantage of her ice boots, Yuna slid the last few inches in front of the youkai, flexing her knees and slightly tilting her torso, thus avoiding the supernatural being's black fist. Using the not-slowing down speed, the girl collided with the youkai's dark body, striking his solar plexus with her elbow.

The pop sound from that shock was agonizing. Along with the sound, Obake's body lifted from the ground. He levitated weakly as if he were a rag doll. The next moment Yuna swirled her heels. Her hands, covered by the solid state of the water, took an arm of the youkai. And from back to front, over her shoulder, the hanyou launched Obake, ironically from the hitter base towards the pitcher's. It was like a Russian reversal.

Well, the pitcher base wasn't the purpose of the Youkai Slayer. Obake's body went through that point and also the second base behind. He was about to hit the wall separating the bleachers from the field but as if awakening from a nightmare, the youkai whirled in mid-air and touched the ground, sliding on the dirt to stop his own body.

"Frankly," he said, "I shouldn't have accepted these conditions."

"If you hadn't, I would've killed you already, douchebag. I don't intend to take it easy on someone who impersonated my father."

Obake didn't refute Yuna's words with more words. He decided not to continue the dialogue in the middle of the action. Like a frog, the youkai jumped from where he was to the hitter base. His body drew an arc in the air into the hanyou direction, falling meteoric in a two-footed flying kick against the girl. And the Youkai Slayer didn't show hesitation to Obake attack. She pressed her feet to the ground making her body as steady as a steel pole and crossed her arms in X shape in front of her face, which she leaned to watch the youkai fall violently.

The supernatural being's feet landed on the icy forearms of the killer. For a normal human that blow would probably make half of the arms come loose from the rest of the body, as simple as a ventriloquist's arms break. But when it comes to Yuna Nate, the only eminent thing that happened was a halo of dust swirling around her. The hanyou's body didn't even shudder at the impact.

In a superhuman balance as himself, Obake lingered kneeling on the girl's ice arms. Moments later, the protection in the solid state of the water, whose ice blue color stood out in the night, began to be contaminated by the youkai's dark energy.

Yuna didn't take long to understand the danger she was in. She opened her arms, pushing Obake off her and then immediately jumped back, taking a safe distance. She transformed the arm protection parts taken by the black energy, into snow. Then, as an advanced healing factor, the frost protection enveloped the killer's skin again.

The youkai on the other hand, as soon as he felt the lawn under his feet, voraciously sprinted against the hanyou, leaving no time for her to take a breath. He madly went on, straight kicking after a spin. It wasn't too complex or too fast of a move Yuna couldn't dodge. In the time fraction Obake took to run a couple feet to her, the girl changed her Martial art style, going from Kung-Fu to Capoeira. At the youkai's kick, she waddled to the side dodging the blow and counter attacking with a bolt kick hitting the supernatural being's face.

And then, it was time to end that game. Obake reeled with the blow he so directly suffered. Without the proper concentration needed to deal with the Youkais Slayer's dexterity, that shadowy mannequin was unable to react to what happened after the kick. Yuna hit him with an inch length punch in the middle of his chest. The agility with which she set that blow was as staggering as the pressure shot it created.

It's as if an air projectile passed through Obake's body and flew up to the bleachers' wall, cracking and sinking in the same line as the hanyou's fist.

As I expected, the youkai's body wasn't launched with the one-inch impact punch. The effect was different and Yuna's fist collision with the supernatural being's chest seemed to completely block his body. So, then the girl lowered her arm. The ice surplice got off her limbs. Obake, without his fist support on his torso, fell to his knees and collapsed face down on the ground, while the hybrid of his kind circled his defeated body, heading for s the pitcher base.

She began to walk to grab her gloves and sneakers.

Her serious expression could be carved out of marble, considering her mixture of beauty and strength, almost like a teenage warrior goddess.

However, that young icy lady sight, wandering victoriously for her belongings, was interrupted by a well-known crimson glow. Like a drawing being erased, Obake's downed body melted away with that shine, disappearing from the place where it was sprawled and appearing with the same shine on the second base, a couple feet ahead of the hanyou.

The girl stopped.

She blinked twice, processing the information.

"Frankly," she sighed. She put her hands on her waist. "Hadn't we agreed on no tricks? I thought you could at least keep a simple agreement like this."

"It wouldn't be wise to make such a deal. I know our strength differences. And you really thought I was going to join your game so easily? I didn't expect such naiveté."

"Yeah, I confess I was naive, Obake. I shouldn't expect any kind of honorable action from someone who lives on others appearance. So, let's do it your way. I chose to let you live trapped in one of Mythpool's weird cells, but if you want to fight for your new life and your freedom, youkai, I accept your challenge.

Yuna's right hand came out of her waist, moving forward, where a spear of ice appeared bouncing between her fingers. She picked up her icy weapon and soon took up her position as a lance, bringing her left hand to the shaft as well. And after that I realized the girl wasn't joking around. From her body in combat position to both sides, two pairs of clones popped up in the same position wielding the same weapon. Four perfect simulating clones as if they'd been splashed out of Yuna's skin, now voraciously stared at the shadow mannequin.

Honestly, that was a grown man's dream. Five pairs of Japan's most beautiful blue eyes in a single short space. It was a monumental sight for me.

I wish I could say the same for Obake.

It wasn't possible to read his facial expression, but judging by his unsteady legs, I can honestly say the youkai wasn't feeling very safe in the situation he found himself in. Five Youkai Slayers were just a few feet from the pitcher base, and if the clones had the same strength and speed as the original, it was pretty sure the supernatural being would return to the dead's world in a blink of an eye.

He was probably aware of his disadvantage before Yuna. Knowing that no matter the rules or circumstances of combat, the hanyou would always be one level up. It was based on that huge difference that Obake used his wild card.

He converted into the figure of Nicolas Nate.

Again, he became the murderer's father.

And Yuna replied to that. From the original to the center of her copies gnashed her teeth for a brief moment and soon tried to disguise her negative reaction about the youkai's attitude. Along with her clones she kept her voracious icy gaze, now threatening with her pair of sapphires the image of her own father.

"So, daughter, won't you fight?" Nicolas said. "Can't you go ahead? Even though I'm not real, you can't fire upon me, is that it?"

"Hey, master." A Yuna clone called. "Just give the command that we fight for you."

"Yes, yes," said another, "We can do this dirty job, master."

The Youkai Slayer ignored her vassal copies and kept her eyes fixed on Obake. She perfectly adjusted her posture, which had left the axis a little. The girl was trying to draw strength from somewhere deep in her heart to give her decisive blow. A few seconds of exuberant mental strength would be more than enough for her and her clones to mutilate the youkai. However, it was already possible to notice the hanyou's body nervously trembling. According to her behavior at school in Okinawa, it should be a very big effort just to stay in that offensive position against her father's image.

"So, what's gonna be? Asked Nicolas.

"Yes, master, we are…"

POOF! The clones broke out into snow.

With a divine will, Yuna wiped out her copies that put Obake in check.

Then the girl lowered her shoulders and raised her body, getting out of her lance position. Like the clones, the spear in her hands crumbled into albino flakes.

"Even though I'm aware it's just an illusion..." she began, "Even if it's not real, I can't... I can't hurt the only person I loved … it's shitty, don't you think?"

"In your case," The youkai said, "It really is a shame."

Pulling the gun. Unlocking it. aiming... Yuna sobbed with surprise…

My shot was unsuccessful. In fact, I made a mistake. The adamantine projectile detoured a little further Obake's head. He stopped walking right from the start and twisted his face in my direction. I kept him in sight, without lowering my gun.

"I won't let you touch Yuna in that cowardly way," I said as I wandered into the space between him and the hybrid. "Even if it can make this child's head worse, if you try to touch her that way... no, in any way, I'll unload my comb on that weird body of yours!"

"What is this? Are you trying to stop me from hugging my own daughter?"

"Get back! You're not her father!"

"Douchebag…"

"You don't interrupt me either!" I cried without gazing at her, already standing behind my back. "I won't let you be tortured by him!"

The youkai smiled, as if he heard a good joke.

"Why do you protect her, human? You know I can go over you. You know you don't have enough bullets and this shaking isn't gonna help you hit any vital spot in me. So why do you risk your life for a non-human?"

"For me, she is human! She may not have had a normal childhood. She may have been found by an organization of supernatural killers. She may have been raised to kill. She may have wolf ears or horns. She can constantly accuse me of pedophilia. She may have killed her own mother. And she may even have lost her virginity with a bag of arrogance. Even though she has a lot of bad things, for me, she is human! And today, it's hard for me to imagine myself living without being called a douchebag once in a while! So, Obake, one more step and I…!"

Well, he took the step. A powerful step launching him like a missile nears me. It was sudden and very fast. My brain fell asleep and my neurons didn't give me the order to shoot the youkai. My body just looked away scared and closed my eyes, waiting for the end. A cruel death in an emotional stance to protect a murderer. But after a few moments caught in the same position, my mind warned me I was alive.

I opened my eyes.

I turned my gaze forward.

"Now I get it, douchebag. You really have a crush on me, you little perv. I'm very happy... I never thought anyone would try to sacrifice himself for me like my father. Thanks."

Before my eyes, the view was stunning, at least for me. The Youkai Slayer stood in front of me obstructing Obake, pressing the muzzle of my pistol against the supernatural being's forehead. I don't know how or when she disarmed me, but she did and pointed that mythological metal weapon at the youkai's head.

At Nicolas Nate's head.

Surrendered and probably caught by surprise as much as I was, Obake had nowhere to run. He was in shock. He could've even considered the girl's interference in his aggression against me, but in that way, putting an adamantine gun in his third eye; I highly doubt it. Just by his frightened expression, I could swear he didn't see it coming.

"Daughter, are you really going to…"

According to her supernatural ancestry, Yuna's dexterity was far greater than a trained agent like Your Humble Narrator. Her finger pulled the trigger so suddenly, I thought the gun would delay its firing. However, a high-tech resource with a hint of mythology would not fail to fulfill its only mission at that time. The mission to spit an adamantium bullet through the dark youkai's skull.

A mission successfully completed.

The image of Nicolas that Obake had taken, dissipated, making him back to being a mannequin made of shadows, now with a huge hole in the middle of his forehead. And finally, this time, definitely, the youkai's body collapsed on the lawn. It was his second and last trip to the world of the dead.

The girl lowered the gun.

"I should have said Jackpot, don't you think?" She asked, watching me over her shoulder. And she was already back to her usual self.

Then my debts knocked on the door. The pressure and the fear I held firmly dragged me to my knees on the grass. I looked around, feeling my heart pounding and my blood still pumping in my veins. The University that was on fire was now intact. It was as if none of this happened.

But it did.

I threw up my breakfast.

"Oh, you douchebag." Yuna muttered, turning to me. "If you don't have a good stomach, you should change jobs."

"It's not that... it's not about Obake death," I said. "It's kind of a way to lighten the weight."

"This is bulimia. Be careful, you may have anorexia…"

"it's not the time for jokes like that."

"And why not? What would be a better time for good humor than the moment I recognize my knight in shiny armor."

"What? Knight...? Who?"

"What do you mean who?" Without hesitating, she pointed at me. "It could only be you."

"..."

"What is it, douchebag? I just declared myself..."

"You got a little hurt, right?"

"Yeah, maybe." The hanyou swirled the pistol in her hand and handed it to me, while helping me to get up with the other. "I guess I should reward you in some way. I don't like to owe anyone anything. So, come on, you can squeeze them."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"About my boobs, douchebag, don't play fool. As a reward for your bravery, you can grab them."

"Yuna…"

"Yes, supreme sir."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Uh, don't you want me to call you that while you caress my breasts?"

"No! No, no, no..." I took a deep breath. My eyes went straight to that pair of sapphires in front of me, with that innocent girl's gesture the killer purposely made to tease me... or...

My hand moved, but it wasn't on one of those breasts she touched. My fingers slid across her face, going to her ear. The teasing expression was completely shattered by that gesture of mine.

"Yuna, you don't have to pretend. You can cry."

+++

Now, the story's lesson. Or rather, no, this is more of an interlude than an epilogue. When we started talking, dear reader, I mentioned something about Yuna being given a nickname, or an affectionate nickname by a certain mysterious god. I said that, considering what she endured that summer break, she earned the Crystal Knight epithet. And yes, it can be said this story is the reason why the hanyou received such an honor from the highest echelon. However, what actually made that name official wasn't the fact she was stronger than her traumatic past and sending Obake back into the hands of death.

Especially because The Happy Hour Operation was a failure.

Although Kitsune was killed, as well as Obake, that wasn't the mission purpose. Finding out what the youkai group wanted and preventing that, was the real focus. And in the end, we only found out the group was outsourced by a larger force to get the Kagami shield.

The NIP.

That was the acronym for its name, but that's not the point.

After Yuna defeated the youkai using her father's image, the girl tried to hide and hold back the terrible sadness of seeing her father's image dying so brutally, even though it was an illusion. Pretending to be in a good mood, the killer gave me a free pass to squeeze her boobs. That could be one more of the teasing games she plays once in a while, however, it seemed unnatural for her, given the situation.

Your Humble Narrator saw it under her mask.

To this day I wonder how long the Youkai Slayer lived without a heartfelt hug.

"You can cry."

Upon hearing this, it was as if she had been holding something very heavy and suddenly dropped it. She staggered against me when the first tears leaked, she laid her face on my chest and after hiding it, the hanyou cried out, wrapping her arms around my waist, while her icy tears wet my uniform.

That scene was desperate. The summit of Yuna's human side being poured into a waterfall of tears on my chest.

To her, the world could end at that moment.

Or, that was already the prologue to the end of her world.

"It must've been complicated without me," said Suny about my mission report.

"Yes," I admitted. I couldn't disagree with Agent 2k9. "With you, everything would be easier. Perhaps we would've worked everything out in Okinawa."

"But you preferred the hybrid. And in the end, failed in your mission."

"No, Suny, don't start…"

"Relax," she smiled. "I'm no longer mad about your emotional decisions. But you should know I didn't take that brat out of my black list."

So, I smiled. Relieved on one side, worried and embarrassed on the other.

"Well, that's not why I invited you over," she continued. "There's someone who wants to meet you."

"To meet me?"

"It's not someone I want to introduce you to. It's someone who really wants to get to know you."

"So… it's fine…"

To my kind of answer, my partner nodded and left the room. Seconds later, coming through the kitchen door a man showed up. A man I'd seen in a picture and heard about in the corridors of Mythpool.

"I'm not responsible for the following freaking out," he said.

In the next moment, after he raised his arms, as if to show he was unarmed, his body shone with blue rays in a whirlwind of magic. In the blink of an eye, the man transformed. That man was known as Doz, a private detective from Mythpool, hired by the president himself. But before my eyes, the generic appearance of the highest-paid agent had changed dramatically. A young man with long, blond hair, shiny as gold threads. Casual and very clean white garments. Light blue eyes, stormy and full of energy, imposing a load of respect to that man.

"Obake?"

"Definitely not," he replied. "Honestly, I should be offended, but I'll let go."

"So, who are you? Suny, that's not…"

"Don't be so scared, agent. Let's get straight to the point and get this over with."

"What point?"

"About the Crystal Knight."

"Knight... I don't know any…"

"But of course, you do, don't mess around. You must be the only human who knows Yuna Nate."

"Yuna... Knight? What weird talk is that about?"

"Well, 3k1, I was monitoring your last mission and I saw that girl with you. A hanyou, isn't she? Hmph, she is incredibly skilled, not only for her powers, but for how she manages to act even without them. She's practically a demigod."

"So? What do you want with her?"

"I want her to join my Winged Forces."

"What do you mean this? What's going on here?"

"I'm Zeus, agent. The Lord of Olympus."

I swallowed. The lightning show. The appearance. Winged Forces. Was that man before me really Zeus? Does it mean that Doz and the Lord of Olympus are the same person? And why does he want Yuna in his forces? I knew Mythpool had contact with much more than our atmosphere, but an infiltrated god was great news.

"It must be confusing, I know," continued the god. "Suny said you're trustworthy, so I hope you keep that as a secret."

"Did Suny know...?"

"Ah, yes, since the Battle in Warsaw."

Wow. It blew up my mind.

"Now, back to the subject…"

"The answer is no." Did I interrupt a god? What kind of suicidal am I?

"No?"

"Yeah... you know, I can't answer for her. But, if you ask in person the answer will be the same as I gave you here. Yuna has her own life and already has too many problems. Besides, she's not a hero."

The Lord of Olympus lowered his shoulders.

"I see. Well, unfortunately I cannot speak to her personally. I hoped you could talk to her, but if what you're saying is true, at least it's worth the try, it's not polite to insist. Especially in front of the situation where we gods find ourselves in this modern world, it's already complicated to live like Detective Doz."

"For what it's worth, I'm quite surprised."

"Thank you," he smiled before turning his back on me. "Oh, I liked how audacious you were now, talking to me. I'm also very surprised, considering your performances in your missions."

I feel like he was trying to make fun of me, but I didn't want to push it.

"By the way, agent 3k1," The Lord of Olympus gazed at me over his shoulder. "In a future meeting, I hope you won't interrupt me again."