Chapter 47: Interesting discovery
Honestly, Owen wished he had a Nintendo 3DS so he could play Mario. After the first hour of playing with his shields and trying different forms while wielding his spear, he got bored very quickly, to say the least. He would have continued to stay bored if not for Ikoma storming in, anger visible on his face as he sent a punch into the nearby wall, denting it while leaving zero marks on his hands as he let out a curse under his breath.
"Damn it," that's all he said as he delivered another punch, this time leaving an even bigger dent in the wall of the train car, causing Owen to worry that if this kept up, Ikoma would end up putting a hole in the wall. This would let in the cold air from outside, messing up Owen's sleep, as he never really liked sleeping in the cold.
"Hey Ikoma, what's wrong?" Owen wasted no time stopping the enraged Ikoma, who turned to him a bit surprised, as if not expecting to see him. But he soon seemed to stop caring about that as his face morphed back to anger as he spoke.
"The bastard Biba is transporting kabane, and not a small amount, I would say about 50 - 70," Ikoma said as he sat on the ground, letting out a small sigh.
"Where did you find them?" Owen asked, joining Ikoma on the ground as he continued to speak.
"I didn't get a chance to, as Mumei was sent to stop me from entering. Not only that, she was acting different! Must be because Biba sent her to stop me!" Ikoma said, with the last part his voice becoming quite angry at just the mention of Biba. But Owen soon calmed him down with his words.
"Calm down, Ikoma. I believe you. We just need to figure out why he has so many kabane stored up, right?" Owen said, causing Ikoma to nod in agreement.
"Yeah, we also need to find a chance to get Mumei away from him, as he keeps brainwashing her with his flowery words, and I nearly got enticed by them too." With that, Ikoma was fully level-headed as they now began to discuss how to deal with Biba. Owen suggested simply killing him, which immediately got shot down by Ikoma, who said that could lead to mass bloodshed between his group and the innocent people on the Koutetsujou, something Owen soon agreed on as they continued thinking. They barely noted Kurusu, who soon entered the car with a weird look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Owen asked, seeing Kurusu's entrance and the look on his face, but the words that left his mouth nearly caused Owen and Ikoma to jump.
"Mumei tried to get her hands on the train's master key." These words, though simple, were a surprise to Ikoma as Owen knew this would happen from the anime, but still hearing about it left him feeling a bit on high alert as he soon spoke up.
"Thanks for telling us this, but I would suggest you go stand next to Ayame just in case," Owen said, getting a nod from Kurusu, who soon left, leaving Owen in the train car even more sure they needed to get rid of Biba. But that's food for later thought as Ikoma soon left, and Owen rode the rest of the journey to the next station alone.
Two days later
We arrived in front of Iwato station, which didn't let Biba's men enter, something Owen could understand as they wanted to stay neutral in the battle between the daimyo and his son. Letting his son through their city and directly to the capital would make them take a side, something they would much like to avoid—a choice that sadly leads to Biba deciding to destroy the city and feed it to kabane in order to get through, something Owen would like to avoid if possible. That's why he is currently telling Kurusu and Ikoma to do their best to protect Ayame and the Lord of the Iwato station as they were heading over there to speak to him.
"You got it, Daiksuke. We will do our best and keep an eye out," Ikoma's voice was clear and determined as he left alongside Kurusu, and Owen got ready for what he knew was coming.