Chapter 10

Of all the vans they could have been on, they were on a truck delivering empty coffins. They couldn't even shift the boxes to sit on, since there was too little space anyways.

What made matters worse was that Mizu… had found a bag of croutons. And was munching on them. Obnoxiously.

Neo couldn't do anything to hurt the inconsiderate gangster, considering that noises made could alert the driver. Even Kojiro's legendary patience with Neo's shenanigans had been slowly whittled away to the point that he had to suppress the irritation like he had to back at Caster's temple gates, though to a much lesser degree.

After twenty minutes of Mizu agonizingly eating the croutons, he had began to crinkle the plastic bag that it came in. The crumbs dropped onto the floor slowly as he fiddled idly.

Neo was about to snap. Kojiro, at this point, had began to meditate in a horribly uncomfortable position, the soreness distracting him from the intermittent background noise.

Neo gritted her teeth and channeled her already dwindling aura reserves.

Glowing black lettering in Times New Roman font appeared in front of Mizu's nose, since Neo couldn't see where his eyes were.

The word was simply… S T O P.

The crouton wrapper fell out of Mizu's hands and slowly floated onto Kojiro' s knee, illuminated by the lettering. Still in a half-catatonic state, Kojiro did not notice the object on his leg.

Looking at Kojiro's dimly lit, serious expression, and on the trash on his robes, Neo let out a silent laugh. Mizu began snickering as well. The laughing session soon turned into a quiet session of relief.

They had survived… whatever that car chase was. Even if Kojiro never even seemed worried (though he never did), Mizu and Neo had both been fearing for their lives for the most part.

"I'm…. uh… sorry about the crouton thing." Mizu said, fidgeting with… nothing, this time.

Neo shrugged.

"I just get really stressed out. The boss never calls me on any important missions, and this was just supposed to be a quick escort thingy."

Neo raised her eyebrow.

"…I may or may not just be the guy that carries barrels around. I could never afford a coffin like this." Mizu said, putting a hand over the polished mahogany. The lid slid open a bit, revealing the velvety inside.

He looked at the oily crouton package on Kojiro's leg.

"Hey, why don't we…vandalize this expensive stuff a little bit?"

For once, Mizu understood Neo's impish expression.

Vandalizing is always an act I can get behind.

…

Later that day, the coffin deliveryman would find the fine velvet in the coffins covered with oil stains. They would later get fired, get a call from another cousin that worked in the delivery industry about witnessing a truck getting stolen, and then hitch a bullhead back home in defeat.

…

The day's events were finally over. Sitting awake at night, in a room filled with gangsters crammed onto cushions, Kojiro looked out at the fragmented moon through a gap in the curtains.

The exhilaration of finally getting to drive again still filled his veins with adrenaline, but with it, came unstoppable flashbacks to times where things were more chaotic and random than the occurrences today. Those thoughts eventually lead to other timelines, other universes, other versions of Kojiro across the narrative multiverse.

Kojiro looked down at his calloused hands. These hands had killed that swallow back in the waterfall, had slashed at the king of knights, had almost won a holy grail war with a temple gate, and had trisected the king of demons.

And yet they haven't.

The usual sense of sleepiness that came with a human body didn't come that night. Kojiro's hand itched for the sword. He wanted to go up somewhere high, beneath the moon, different as it may be, and attempt to replicate his dream of skill until dawn rose again, and if circumstances permitted it, until the sun set again.

Then, he looked at the head leaning on his shoulder, and all of his slightly injured coworkers. He decided to try and sleep anyways. In this life, he was more than just a sword reaching for infinity. Whether he liked it or not, he was now tied down by responsibilities.

So, for now, Kojiro stared at the moon and dreamed of the past. Tomorrow, he would probably be sent out with his sword to seek vengeance upon these so-called revolutionaries.

But that was tomorrow. He could allow himself to be distracted… for a little bit.

…

Kojiro was driving again. After Mizu regaled Old Man Xiong about his driving prowess, he had been assigned to drive the gang's enforcers over to begin their counterattack.

According to intelligence secured through a couple of allied labor unions, the Monarchs (which was still a dumb name in everybody's hearts) had occupied a warehouse besides a river. It was abandoned, but it had an extensive underground network. Abandoned parts that were dragged there to create a train station from the factories to the residential area were still strewn in the yard, though the inside was reported to have been cleared out.

Now, spotlights were mounted on the four, fortified corners. Barbed wire ran across the edges of the roof, and the construction materials served as a maze to deter potential attackers from going at the base from the sides. With a river to its back, the only real way to enter the compound was through the heavily guarded front door.

Now, however, they were on a scouting mission. Their goal was to hopefully take out some of the opposing strongholds outside of the base to encircle the area, literally placing the factory under siege. Another gang had once controlled the place, but had been mostly wiped out. Being one of the rival dock gangs, they had begrudgingly given out information about locations for strongholds and strategic areas to occupy to the general alliance.

The movement was sloppy and disorganized, with several bands of lowlifes starting fights or drunken brawls. Still, the more disciplined groups had continued with the operation anyways. Kojiro had originally not been included in any operations, being considered missing in action, but now that he was here, he had been lumped in together with the rest of the enforcers for the more heavy-duty area clearings.

Neo had been very unhappy to be crowded in with a bunch of sweaty, alcoholic people wearing generic trench coats again, but she would rather follow Kojiro than remain bored at their base. Thankfully, with Kojiro being the driver, she had the privilege of occupying the front seat.

"We should be approaching the first destination right about now." Kojiro said, eyeing a rather classy bar.

"This was our place. After we clear it, nobody loot anything." Somebody in the backseat said. Neo looked back and blew a silent raspberry, much to the amusement of the others.

"We don't give a shit. If I see a good pack of cigs, I'm swiping em. What are you going to do, let your boss sic the five goons you have left on us?"

Another round of laughter reverberated throughout the truck, making the twins that had said that statement grit their teeth. Kojiro saw their reactions through the mirror, and deigned to make a comment.

The black van parked, and the doors opened. Kojiro grabbed his sword and watched as the others ran into the bar like it was just a regular burglary, instead of something akin to clearing out a hideout.

The sound of water flowing reached Kojiro's ears through the heavy footsteps, and he grabbed Neo's hand just as she was about to rush in as well, hefting a new parasol.

"What's wrong, Kojiro?" Mason, the enforcer with the shield and the bat, said.

"Too chicken to actually go in? Afraid your auraless body will get shot full of holes?" Verdant, the rogue huntsman he had dueled, said.

The sound of aura breaking reached their ears. Gunshots were fired and weapons were swung. A window was broken as a severed hand flew out of the glass. After a moment of grim silence, blood began to flow down the stairs of the bar.

"What the fuck?" Verdant said, jumping back from the stairs he was just about to enter.

"So this is the trash that I have been hired to eliminate."

Softer, measured footsteps now came down from the second floor of the formerly pristine bar. Kojiro peered into the dimly lit room to see the fellows that they had come with slumped over and leaning on the previously cream colored wallpaper.

A sound like a schlorp accompanied the footsteps. A blob of water trailed behind the man, shedding some of its mass as areas diluted by blood lost its adhesion and fell to the floor, splattering over the hardwood floors.

A bucket was plopped down and the blob flowed into it, causing the metal to shake.

"If it were this easy, I wouldn't even have to bring my spear. I was at least expecting competent fighters."

"At least you three might be able to give me some modicum of entertainment."

From the bucket, a tendril of water emerged, thin and aimed… straight at Kojiro's face. Neo's eyes widened as she blurred into motion. Kojiro's sword swiped at the construct preemptively.

However, Mason's reaction was still the fastest. His leather jacket pulsed with black, before he raised his slightly spiked shield and shouted.

"Get over here!"

The tendril of water abruptly turned and struck the man's shield, pushing him back by about a quarter of a meter.

Verdant fired a round at the spear wielding, raincoat wearing menace, but a canopy of water billowed out in front of him. The bullet passed through the water and fell to the ground.

"We have. To run. What kind of overpowered semblance is that?"

Neo pulled Kojiro into the car and pressed the gas petal for him with her umbrella just as Kojiro unsheathed his katana with a smile on his face.

The other two scrambled into the back of the van and hastily slammed the doors shut. Water tendrils pierced the glass as Kojiro finally stopped strugging against Neo. He dropped his half-unsheathed katana and stomped on the gas petal. The van lurched forward, before the curve they were driving up balanced the acceleration out.

As the vehicle fled the scene, the spearman walked out of the bar.

"Clean this up, maggots." He gestured to the blood. People that had been in the basement scrambled out to meet his demands.

"And here I thought that taking out all these… 'skilled' individuals would at least take some time."

…

"A series of devastating attacks have occurred across the city. Officials are still… unsure of the cause. However, the most prominent of these incursions have been a car chase conducted by one individual identified as Kojiro Sasaki-"

"What-" Summer said, almost speechless. Taiyang had dropped the book he had been holding, staring in open shock as the truck drifted past the police barricade, recorded by a shaky phone camera. All the while, Kojiro could be seen with a happy expression on his face.

Qrow raised a cup of… something to the television and drank it. Raven wasn't watching the news at all.

"-the instigators, however, were mysterious men wearing some sort of trench coat uniform and driving armored cars."

"Thank god." Summer said, sighing in relief. "I knew Kojiro wouldn't do something like this."

"Property damage is estimated to be a low five thousand lien, mostly because of broken cars and glass, but traffic was slowed down for multiple hours. The group chasing Kojiro Sasaki have been caught, but refuse to divulge their origins."

"You fuckers don't understand! We're killing that gangster shit for the greater good!"

"Shut the fuck up, Cyrus!"

"You goddamn edgelord. This is all your fault."

"Wait, I didn't-"

The recording abruptly stopped as the rustling of clothes probably indicated that whoever 'Cyrus' was had gotten beaten up after that.

The news announcer coughed awkwardly, before continuing.

"But what was perhaps the most noteworthy part of this chase was the fact that Sasaki Kojiro has vanished from the vehicle. The person identified as Cyrus had shot at him with a rifle before the police could reach the scene on the highway and stop the attack, but instead of finding a body, only glass shards were located."

Another shaky phone video of Cyrus's impassionate speech and the shot that he hit was played behind the announcer. Team STRQ (minus the R) watched with baited breath as Kojiro's image shattered after being hit by the bullet. The video was zoomed in after the car door was opened, revealing a distinct lack of blood.

"Wait, so if Kojiro didn't have aura, how did he escape?" Taiyang asked, picking up the textbook once more.

"Probably his partner." Qrow rasped. "She has a weird semblance that can make glass appear in thin air, and in any color. It was an illusion."

"Will you stop drinking… whatever that is… and just be serious for once?" Summer almost shouted.

"But I am being serious." Qrow drawled, putting down the cup. The mystery liquid sloshed out and stained Summer's normally immaculate desk with what smelled like cheap alcohol.

"Why you…" Summer growled, a white aura wreathing her form.

"Guys! Calm down!" Taiyaing shouted, jumping out of his bed. "If you use your semblance again, it'll take a couple of hours to-"

A chime from the PA system interrupted the altercation. Raven walked back into the room casually, sweat glistening in her long mane of hair.

"Attention all students. Please report to the auditorium for emergency missions. As many of you may know, several attacks on establishments in Vale have been reported, and to quell negativity and keep the wellbeing of our kingdom intact, Vale needs you to stand guard and act as a comforting presence for those most affected."

"Finally." Raven growled, "Something to do."

"Maybe we should go see if Kojiro's okay or not. Hopefully, his bar wasn't hit." Summer said, reaching for her white cloak.

"Multiple attacks have been going on around the place for apparently no reason, but we probably can guess that it was just an organized attack on gangs." Qrow said, wiping his mouth with his cape. Raven slapped Qrow in the face, and as he stumbled, she grabbed the towel behind him.

"We can at least remain optimistic, right?" Taiyang said, finally standing up from a day of just lounging around on his bed.

…

In the distance, the team could see fire trucks and nearby buildings evacuating. Civilians stood around the bar, holding umbrellas up to shield themselves from the ashes and mist slowly emanating from the establishment.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." Qrow said, shrugging. His scythe almost released itself from its harness and fell onto the ground, but he caught it just in time before clipping it in again.

"Now where do we go next?" Taiyang said, looking at their despondent team leader.

"According to this notice…" Raven said, "All first years should report to the Mt. Glenn tunnel to monitor grimm activity."

…

"S-sir, the huntsmen have been mobilized." A secretary looked up from one of the three telephones in the room.

"Mere huntsmen are of no concern to me. If anything, this will make this assignment slightly more interesting."

"Even if I don't doubt your prowess, wasn't what you just did a little… extreme?" Rufous said apprehensively. Even if he was ambitious, he was not a fool. He did not dream of being able to control this mercenary.

"I…dismissed those others because with me, you no longer need any other form of aid in combating your slightly more competent enemies."

Rufous scribbled an order to cancel the contracts with the other mercenaries he had contacted and passed it to the secretary, who nodded and ran out of the room with a fearful look at the blonde man.

"But I am not just doing this for a meager reward." The man said. "I, Chrisos, am demanding power after you take the throne."

"And what if I refuse?" Rufous said, taking a small step towards the door.

"Do you really think you have a choice?"

From the floorboards, the familiar form of Chrisos's water blob emerged. Tendrils of it laced out and blocked the exits and the windows.

Rufous felt a drip of sweat travel down his back. Maybe by hiring this guy, he had been too prepared for those gangs.

AN