Starring:
Date: November 16, 2012
Summary:
Hired by a wealthy young merchant, a team of Leaf nin sneaks into a noble's estate to rescue his daughter.
Poster's note: foul language filtered in obvious places.
"Girl in the Tower"
A large, fortified estate in the Land of Fire
It's like a fairy-tale romance! Tsuyagoto Koiji, the young son of a wealthy merchant, met the lovely noble's daughter, Tenshukaku Hinageshi, at a ball. The two danced together and fell in love. But now Hinageshi's father, not content to marry her to a mere commoner, has arranged for her marriage to a brutish nobleman and locked her in a tower in his castle. Having learned of the news, Koiji has vowed to rescue her. Unable to best the dangers of the castle himself, however, he has hired a team of Leaf nin to help her escape.
Atsuro, Taiki, and Eremi are concealed within a clump of trees, near the outer wall of the castle. Tonight, they will infiltrate the castle, find Hinageshi, and take her back to Koiji. They haven't been given much. Only a photograph and a handkerchief with Hinageshi's scent. But being capable ninja, they will surely have saved her before the night is over.
"Okay," Atsuro whispers, "We don't have much to go on here. She's in one of the towers and we have to get in somehow." He looks over to the wall. "First we need a way in. We could go over the wall, but that has the risk of a guard seeing us. Or we might be able to bluff our way in at the gate." He glances back to Taiki and Eremi. "Any of those sound good to you? Or we could look around for another way in. Or one of you geniuses might have some idea."
Taiki and his two ninken seem to look at the castle, quietly contemplating. "If I knew more genjutsu, I could say we could use that to cover our presences as we scale the walls. But that's not really an option," Taiki whispers very quietly in response. "Misdirection could help here, but I am assuing we don't want the owner to suspect anything until we're safely away with the girl?" he asks, arching a brow. "What time frame are we talking about here?"
Kneeling close to the other two within the trees, while listening to what options were currently at their disposal for entering the outer wall of the castle, Eremi could only shake his head in response. There wasn't much of anything going on through his head except not to mess this one up. He was still a little rusty and wasn't expecting a mission right off the bat. Though he wasn't ungrateful for it. Nothing like hitting the ground running to get you going again.
"That might not be a bad idea Taiki." Trying to work off what his friend had suggested. "Misdirection that is. I guess that all depends on whom the decoy is really." He hummed quietly to himself before continuing again, "I'm not sure I've seen an Inuzuka fight without his ninken, so I don't know how keen you would be on letting Taizen, Shinobu or Nozumi(I think that was her name) be that distraction…I also wouldn't mind being the distraction myself, and I doubt the Noble would believe people are here to 'rescue' his daughter. Then again…I could be wrong."
Atsuro shakes his head at Taiki. "I was sorta hoping for strategies we could use here, man," he says. "The time frame is however long we need to get her. Assuming we don't wait until the marriage, which is over a month from now. If you've got some idea, I assume it doesn't take that long."
He looks over to Eremi. "If we distracted some of the guards, either entrance could be easier. Less guards watching the wall. Or we can just quickly knock out whichever ones are remaining at the gate." He glances at Taizen. "Tai could probably find us. Or we could just have him wait out here once the distraction is done. Still, I'd rather he came with us if he could. I assume it's something similar for the Taiki Brigade."
He glances between the two of them, "Any ideas if we go with the distraction?" He pulls out the handkerchief, sniffs it, then sniffs around the area. "Don't think she's been around the exterior of the castle recently. Might get something once we're inside the walls."
Taiki considers the situation carefully, then nods in agreement with Atsuro. "I would want both of my partners with me. Nozomi and Shinobu are about as important to me as Taizen is to Atsuro. To be honest, we need someone somewhat normal to go to the lady, for if she is civilian nobility, she may be rather put off by course attitudes that we Inuzuka share. Therefore Eremi, you'll need to go with whoever is going to find her. I would suggest Atsuro do so, since he has the keener sense of smell between the two of us. I can come up with some kind of diversion, I suppose, even if it's attacking one of the gates. About the only other option is to infiltrate the place, killing people as quietly as we can as we go…"
Still trying his best to come up with something, Eremi took this time to roll up one of his pant legs that revealed a set of ankle weights that he quickly unstrapped, placed aside and then repeated the process with the next leg. Though it was a great training exercise, keeping them on during missions normally ended in disappointment. This way, which ever plan is chosen, he'll be as ready as he can be.
"That is true, Atsuro." Glancing up at the elder of the group. Normally, he'd consider Atsuro the chuunin of the group, but with Taiki one as well, it was only Eremi left as the genin these days. "Making noise, causing a scene, knocking over one of the outer walls, starting a fire. Any of those would be just simple enough to get the guards to turn their heads momentarily to sneak in. That is of course, if we go with the distraction technique."
The boy would glance over toward the castle walls and where one of the entrances were, "There's always just being sneaky shinobi, either through stealth or the least used…Henge No Jutsu. There's six of us, counting the nin-ken. The possibilites for what we could henge into are almost limitless."
Atsuro takes a few seconds to consider Taiki and Eremi's input, then nods. "Okay," he says, "I think I've got an idea."
Circle wipe!
Atsuro, Taizen, and Eremi are at the main gate. "Hey!" Atsuro calls, "You've got visitors."
A snooty-looking guard dressed in lamellar armor, more ornamental than practical, appears atop the gatehouse. "And just what are these visitors here for?" he asks in an imperious voice.
"What are you, /dense/?" Atsuro asks, "Haven't you heard? Some rich kid sent a bunch of ninja to kidnap Tenshukaku-sama's daughter. We've been hired to protect her. Since obviously you can't."
The guard frowns at him, part offended, part suspicious. "I haven't heard any such thing."
With the plan now decided, Eremi could do little more then follow along and wait until he can be useful, but not before looking to Taiki and nodding, "Good luck." After which he leaped from his spot and after Atsuro to the front of the gate. When they arrived, he still wasn't sure how this was going to go down. If they were going to wait until being approached or draw attention to themselves. Neither seemed comforting. Especially not with Atsuro now shouting about and then calling the arriving guard names.
Slowly Eremi took in a deep breath to calm himself, unsure if any of this was going to be believable. "Just because your superiors decided to not tell even the most insignificant guards in the bunch what goes on behind closed doors, doesn't make it any less true." Oh dear, Atsuro must be rubbing off on him :/ "Now you can either let us in now so we can be useful for what we were paid for or you can deal with the consequences of making us wait out here."
Wsssssssssst. THUNK!
Wsssssssssst. THUNK! THUNK!
Speaking of consequences, a total of three kunai wiz by the guard's ears, hitting the gate behind them, almost hitting the guards. Atsuro would recognize the sizzling pieces of paper hanging from them. They're Taiki's more powerful explosive seals. And from the looks of things, he has about 2 seconds to move.
1….
BOOM!
BOOM BOOM!
There's not much left of the gate, nor any guards right beside it. Three non-descript Kumo nin step out of the clearing, two preparing lightning jutsu, while the third has another one of those kunai…
"The consequences are that you will die," Atsuro explains helpfully, "Now, if you're just so desperate to confirm that we're on the level, we'll give you exacty one minute to run to your boss and see if— " The rest of Atsuro's sentence is cut off by Taiki's attack. The gatehouse was built to withstand siege engine force, so most of the guards inside are relatively non-dead. However, the gate is gone, and they're not in any condition for fighting.
"Get out of here," Atsuro yells to the guard, "We'll handle this. Don't worry about the girl, protect your master. We'd damn well better get paid for this!" The guards begin to hurry deeper into the castle. Atsuro grabs a katana from Taizen's vest and charges at Taiki, putting on a little show for anyone who might still be able to see them. "HiiiiiYAH! Yeeaahrrrrr! GuurrrrAH!" He swings the katana around wildly, missing Taiki and the others by a mile until any lingering scent of guard is gone. "Okay," says Atsuro, lowering the sword, "That was a little excessive. Maybe next time don't kill anyone." He puts the sword away in Taizen's vest, then waves the group beyond the gates, "They're just doing their job."
When the explosions come directly after the kunai struck the gatehouse, Eremi dove out of the way. Perhaps acting as if he had no clue about the attack and was legitimately scared or more likely he was worried that some rubble might come falling his way after the powerful kaboom. Once clear of debris, Eremi followed Atsuro's lead, charging at Taiki and the ninken, "Dynamic Entry!" Sending a flying kick aimed high enough to avoid, but still believable, then continued with a series of close kicks and punches before giving himself some room to judge their opponents strength.
"You shall not take….!!" Clamming up as Atsuro stops the charade, leaving Eremi no reason to finish his sentence. "What's done is done I guess. So, where's the girl being held so we can hurry up before reinforcements show?"
Taiki and his ninken "give" as good as they get, putting on a show that has them on the slightly losing end of the battle so as to convince the few remaining upright guards that this was /not/ a place they wanted to be. "Lightning Bunshin!", one of the ninja call out (Shinobu), as another calls out, "Lightning Arc!" Attacks go wide, but leave with a rather impressive display of lightning that only ensures the guards that are alive /stay down/ to avoid indirect, unfriendly fire.
As the last guard is gone, and Atsuro stops to admonish Taiki, the lead nin shrugs and says, "I had to make it look believable. I know they're just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but the fact of the matter is that no deaths would be too unrealistic. We wouldn't get very far without them coming after us, and I'd have to seriously hurt or kill a few then. Better fewer die here than many more later. In the meantime, shall we go?"
Atsuro huffs. "We'll discuss this later," he tells Taiki, "Come on."
He leads the group into a nice big courtyard, with the keep rising up high into the sky in front of them, with a tower rising out of it as well. There are other buildings in the area, however, many of which look like they could be liveable towers. "Alright then," says Atsuro, pulling out the handkerchief again. He takes a sniff, then passes it around for Taiki and the dogs to smell as well. "I don't smell her around here," he says, "We'll have to wander around here a little. Everyone stick together and keep out of sight." He begins to lead them around the courtyard.
Eremi could only stand in silence while looking uncomfortably between the two Inuzukas as they discussed the 'issue'. He'd offer his own insight about it, but it most likely wasn't his place, being neither part of their clan nor a current/former member of team 10. "Right behind you guys." Relieved Atsuro decided to just press ahead.
Reaching the courtyard, Eremi scanned about, trying to keep his alertness about him while doing the best he can to remain undetected. Something he has never really been the best at. For now though, it seemed it was the only thing he could try to do. Not like he'd be able to pick up the girls scent. So he stayed close, waiting until they were spotted or found where the girl was being kept.
Taiki sighs and shakes his head. This happens to be a point where the two Shinobi differ, and it was hard to make Atsuro understand. He did not enjoy killing. He would grieve for the loss of the guards later, but he made a decision that, in this case, the guards that died probably saved a lot more lives. But he couldn't get the words out right, so he just shrugged and moved on.
Dropping the henges, Taiki and his team move quietly, sticking to the dark recesses, blending in as much as they could. This seemed to work well considering Shinobu's size and all. Still, he sniffs the air, keeping a nose out for any guests, or their objective… whichever he should smell first…
For a while, the sneaking works out. They're ninja, after all, and even in a large group such as this, they're able to keep quiet and stay out of sight in the evening darkness. But unfortunately, their luck runs out. As they enter a little garden, a twing snaps under Eremi's foot. "Who's there!?" calls out a guard. Luckily, there's only one. He can't see the group yet, but they can see him through the bushes, and he's heading their way.
"Brick," Atsuro whispers under his breath. He quickly signals to Eremi and Taiki: Eremi; Left flank; Taiki; Right flank; Silent takedown; Wait for me to attack.
When Atsuro and Taizen attack, it's simple but strong. They jump out at the guard from the bushes. Atsuro attempts to punch the guy right in the face while Taizen gets ready to tackle should that not work.
The snap of a twig from beneath Eremi's foot causes him to cringe, sending shivers up his spine. For as long as he was allowed, the boy remained motionless, not wanting to believe it was him that messed up and alerted the guards to their presence, despite it being just one, he had. "Sorry," He'd whisper under his breath in reply to Atsuro's comment, frown and then do as directed. He'd hunker down low and go off into a sprint to the left, hoping to catch the guard by surprise.
When Atsuro attacked, Eremi would do the same. He watched and waited, to see how effective the duo would be before coming in himself. It was possible the guard was fast and able to avoid the attacks, if that were the case, he lead up with a series of kicks to catch the guard in it's blind spot. Otherwise, he'd simply help pin the guard down underneath Taizen.
Taiki nods and waits, patiently. No tools, no elemental taijutsu for this… it's not needed. Instead when Atsuro attacks, he is right beside him with an attack of his own, directly into the solar plexus of the man, with the aim to knock the air right out of him. If it hits properly, the man won't be able to shout another word, and thus keep the alarm locallized. In the meantime, both Shinobu and Nozomi stand to either side of Taizen. Should further action be necessary, they will both execute the fang portion of the fang and fist technique, keeping him imobilized for Taizen's follow up attack.
WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP WHUMP THUMP CLUNKA CLUNKA
The poor guard goes down without a word. Not much else to do when you're attacked by ninja from three different directions. "Nice job," Atsuro says quietly, "And we didn't kill anyone this time." He takes a moment to search the guard. "Keys," he says, holding up some keys. Then there's a slight pause. He glances over to Taiki. "Hey, doesn't this guy smell kinda like Hinageshi?" he asks, "I hope we didn't just…"
He checks under the guard's helmet. Luckily, this is very obviously a man. "Still," he says, "That could be kinda useful. Maybe we could wake him up and try to interrogate him. Or maybe he just came from guarding her. Or we could find some likely spots and try the keys… Rather one of the first two, but what do you guys think?"
Eremi straightened up after the guard was taken down, then quickly glanced around the area. They were still out in the open and more could appear if they weren't fast about moving the body and making up their minds about what to do next. "Waking the guard up might pose a problem. He could instantly scream for help and then we might end up over our heads." It might be a bit presumptuous. "If the guard smells of Hinageshi, then we must be close…Can we keep moving around, maybe pick up her trail as well? We have the keys, but I don't want to randomly open up doors into some trap."
"We could gag him before waking him up," Taiki observes, then shakes his head. "No, that won't work because he'd just scream when we remove the gag to allow him to talk. I don't know any sound sealing jutsu yet, so we're better off trying to follow his scent. With the lady's scent this much on him, we should be able to follow the trail right to her."
"Fair enough," says Atsuro, "It's recent, but we don't really know the route he took here. Hopefully he hasn't been wandering through the entire courtyard or something." He sighs. "Well, best option in any case." He sniffs the man. "Well," he says, "That's certainly a very… distinctive scent. Let's go."
Following the guard's scent, Atsuro leads the team through the courtyard. It's a little meandering, but it leads them fairly directly to one of the towers. "Her scent's strong here," Atsuro says, "This is probably it."
He tries the door at the base of the tower. "Locked," he says, "Think I can pick it, but this is one window of a lock. I'm pretty good, but this'll take us a few minutes, which isn't great under the circumstances. But the only alternative I can see…" He points up at a window high up on the tower, "Probably won't make staying hidden any easier. Thoughts?"
As Eremi followed behind the others, he kept an eye out for any more guards that they might come across, though as they reached the tower Atsuro led them to, he was pleasantly surprised when no others showed up. For a moment after arriving, as he watched Atsuro fumble around for the lock, he had to try his best to not laugh to loudly and instead contain it to a soft chuckle. "Atsuro…" Whispering quietly. "Atsuro!…Don't forget you grabbed keys off the guard. If they work, might be a lot faster then picking a lock or scaling a wall."
Taiki was about to suggest something similar, but stops when Eremi grabs his attention. He smiles at his friend for remembering that important detail, then nods. "Any other way we could break into this tower would be far too obvious, not to mention loud and needlessly destructive." See Atsuro? Taiki isn't just a force of mindless destruction, he does actually have some guidelines he follows. Pity Atsuro has yet to find them. "Eremi and I will be on lookout while you try to find the right key Atsuro. That way if we are spotted here, we won't be jumped."
Wait, keys? Atsuro glances down at his vest to see a small lump in one of his pockets. "Oh yeah," he says, taking out the keys. He shoots Eremi and Taiki a grin. "Just testing you," he jokes, "Of course I remembered the keys." He points to a few spots. "Everyone who isn't me, spread out from there to there. This shouldn't take too long, but keep an eye out."
He kneels down and starts trying the door with all of the different keys. There are a lot on the keyring, so it takes a while, but soon enough… click! The door opens, allowing the group entry to the tower. "Nice," says Atsuro, "Everyone in." He waves the group into the door and up the stairs to the top of the tower.
Eremi would give a thumbs up in reply to Atsuro finding the keys, only slightly believing that he was testing Taiki and himself the whole time. When directed where to go though, he forgets the whole key issue and moves to be lookout. They hadn't seen any guards yet, so seeing some come by now would be a bit troubling.
Hearing the click, Eremi spun around and followed into the door of the tower. "Hey look." Pointing at something on one of the steps as they made their way up. He didn't need to explain what it was, as it was pretty obvious, so instead he picked up the silver earring for the others to see. "Too bad you changed your attire Taiki. Earrings aren't a bad look for spikes and everything." Eremi probably being one of the few people that didn't really have an issue with the way he was dressing.
Taiki follows up with the other two, with Shinobu and Nozomi behind. He pauses when he sees Eremi pick up the ear-ring and shakes his head. "No, earrings are not me, even in this outfit," he whispers. But he stops and sniffs the air, then looks back toward the dogs for confirmation which they willingly give. "I smell something," he says as he activates his senses to discern what it could be.
After a few seconds his nose crinkles up in obvious distate. "Pipe smoke. There's pipe smoke here, and it seems to be getting stronger as we head upstairs. If she's here, she's not alone."
An earring and pipe smoke. "The earring might just belong to Hinageshi," Atsuro suggests, "The smoke… Yeah, there's someone else here. Maybe her dad. Hopefully seeing us doesn't give him the idea to hire more ninja and kidnap her back." He looks up the stairs. "We're almost there, anyway," he says, "We'll find out in a moment." He continues to lead the group up to the top of the tower. They come up to a landing, then Atsuro throws open the door to reveal…
A frightened-looking young man, a arrogant looking young man, and a gorilla. No, wait, the gorilla is a man too. A very hairy, muscular man. His ear is pierced, but he has no earring. "Who are you ruffians!?" the young man demands, "How dare you interrupt me and my betrothed!"
Atsuro points to the young woman, Hinageshi. "We're just here to rescue her from her jerk fiance," he says, smirking, "You and your betrothed are free to go."
Whatever reaction this quip was supposed to elicit, it makes the young man angry. "How dare you!?" He points to the muscular man. "This is The SKULL," he explains, "All-time champion of the Land of Fire Wrestling/Kick-boxing/Boxing/Kicking Championship. A rather vulgar sport, but he does make a good bodyguard." He waves idly at the group, signalling to The SKULL. "Get them!"
As the group made their way up the stairs and into the room, Eremi waited until the fiance had finished speaking, even postponing preparing himself to defend against The SKULL, before stepping forth and holding up the silver earring. "Does this belong to anyone? If you aren't as partial to keeping it, since it was just left on the stair case, I think I might just keep it as a souvenir." After that announcement, he tucked the earring back away into his pocket then shifted away from Atsuro, Taiki and their ninken, not wanting to be so huddled together when and if The SKULL decided to attack.
Taiki drops down to all fours, in an altered stance. If the Skull was going to attack, Taiki was determined to end this quickly with a minimum of fuss. The guard may look big and tough, but odds are he was not a shinobi, since this castle hadn't had one yet, thus Taiki was confident he could take the big guy down in a single hit. He does take Eremi's lead and spread out though, though he has Nozomi stand back as Shinobu stalks up beside him. "There's something wrong here," is all he signals, using hand-signs at the moment to keep attention focused on Eremi.
The SKULL stomps out in front of Hinageshi and her betrothed. He widens his stance slightly, hunching down and getting ready to unleash a beating. Then Eremi brings up the earring. "Hey!" says the SKULL, "I was wondering where that went." He glances back at his charge. "Eh," he says, "I think I'd rather not fight you guys, if you'll gimme the earring. You're ninja. And he's kinda a weasel." He holds out his hand for the earring.
"WHAT!?" comes an outraged voice from behind him. The SKULL's big body blocks whatever's going on behind him from view, but the sound of Hinageshi screaming can be heard. When The SKULL finally gets out of the way, the team can see that the arrogant young nobleman has got himself a sharp letter-opener, which he's now holding to Hinageshi's throat. "How about this!?" he 'asks,' "You don't get paid if she dies, right? WHATCHA DO NOW, PARAPETS!? AHAHAHAHAHA AHA HAHAHAAAA!"
"The earring is yours? Well, if you want it back…alright, I'm not much for finders keepers anyways." Eremi reached into his pocket, pulling the earring back out, but as he saw the arrogant man threatening to kill Hinageshi, he just couldn't find himself letting go of the earring. "You seem like a reasonable man, The SKULL. I'm just Eremi, by the way." Eremi was continuing to shift to the left, further away from the others of his team and if Taiki kept moving right, force the arrogant nobleman to choose a direction to defend against. "Since you say that man's just a weasel and now he's using his betrothed as a bargaining chip and a shield. Perhaps you could help us out? Make it a lot easier to just hand over the earring." Thinking on it a bit, "Though this isn't blackmail, if you just want the earring and to leave, then I'll give it to you."
"Not very bright, are you?" Taiki smiles widely. It's not a warm smile, it's the smile of the psychotically insane. It would unnerve many shinobi, and send shivers of fear down the spines of civilians. It promised pain, lots of it, and death, certain death. "How do you know what our true mission is? You have no idea of the parameters of our mission. For example, in many extraction missions, there's often a secondary mission, in case the first mission fails. Care to guess what that normally entitles?" he asks in a mocking voice. His eyes flit over to the girl, though he dare not drop the mask he's wearing. He tries to convey by eyes alone he's not serious, but he has to be subtle… hopefully she picks up on it. "Think on it for a moment my friend," he says, with the phrase 'my friend' clearly sarcastic. "Don't worry about me attacking yet, I'll just stay right here… After all, primary objectives pay more…" It should be obvious to both Atsuro and Eremi, he's keeping the guy's focus on him, while instilling the fear of Kami into the guy's soul.
The SKULL glances down at the earring again, then back to Hinageshi and her captor. "I guess he did stiff me on my pay that one time," he says, "Aw, mortar, why don't I help you out?" He turns and get back into the same fighting stance as before.
"Wh-what!?" Obviously, the nobleman is upset at the way things are turning against him. "You-you-you-you IMBECILE!" He pulls the letter opener back, ready to plunge it into Hinageshi. But then he freezes as he sees Taiki's look and realizes that he is clearly dealing with some kind of murderous psychopath. Or at least, that's the logic Atsuro will use to explain this occurence during the debriefing.
In any case, the nobleman remains frozen. He realizes that there's simply too much against him. Atsuro walks over and gently removes the letter opener from his hand, then pulls Hinageshi herself away from him. "Nice work, everyone," he says.
Seeing everything unfold and Hinageshi finally safe, Eremi walked over toward The SKULL and handed over the silver earring, "This is yours and thanks for the help." A glance would be given to Taiki who sure knew how to 'play' psycho, a little too well, but guesses everyone has their own cards they know when to play on the table. This being one of those times. "So…" Ignoring the nobleman as he walked over toward Atsuro, "Back to the village now right or are we taking Hinageshi home?"
Taiki stays right where he is until Atsuro has the letter opener and the girl away from the guy. At this point he stands fully erect and adopts a new smile, one of a harmless guy whose not quite all there. "Good, I knew you'd see things our way," he says with a shrug. Sure, he'd have Eremi and Atsuro worried about him, but if they thought about it, it would only make sense that he knew what to do and how to say things for the maximum insanity quotient. It's not like his life has been exactly conducive to good mental health, after all. "I'd advise against trying to get her back though. I'd hate to have to show you just how serious I just was." After using that ploy, it was best to leave your target wondering just what "could have been." It kept people straight and doing what you wanted them to do. After reaching down to pet Shinobu he says, "Shall we go?"
"Thanks!" says The SKULL, taking the earring from Eremi. "You people seem pretty nice," he says, "But I think I'd better get going. I, uh, think I might have overstayed my welcome. I kinda need the headstart." He quickly puts the earring back on, then hurries out of the building.
"Well," says Atsuro cheerfully, "That's that." He glances over to the nobleman. "Yeah," he says, "I mean, if this unbalanced whacko didn't already convince you, you'd better just let this one go."
He glances over to Hinageshi. "We were sent by Koiji," he explains.
She frowns a little. "I… think he read a little too much into our first meeting," she says. Whoops, so much for the whole fairy tale thing. She glances at the nobleman. "But I guess you three did save me because he sent you. I suppose I can at least thank him." She steps towards the door. "There's a hidden exit from the compound," she says, "Follow me."
Soon enough, the group has escaped from the estate. After a couple of day's journey, Hinageshi has reunited with Koiji. Naturally, Atsuro gets the pay as quickly as possible, then ushers the team out double quick. No sense in sticking around for a breakup. Bad news for Koiji, but the team can be happy knowing that they've done their job well.
