The echos of the day’s turmoil had yet to die down as the night fell.
Somewhere in a crook of it, Mishakuji Yukari, having easily avoided the nets cast by the Blue clan, “Scepter 4” in the course of their rigorous investigation, was on his way back to the Green clan’s headquarters known as the “secret base” when the parrot, Kotosaka, perched on his shoulder, spoke up in a calm male voice that was not his own.
“I appreciate your efforts, Yukari.” The Green King, Hisui Nagare, was speaking through the clansman he bestowed his power upon. “This time’s mission relied a little too heavily on you. Although it did yield the appropriately worthy gains, the fact that we failed to make proper use of our advantage in numbers can be very well considered my shortcoming. I apologize.”
His words of gratitute were sincere, and Yukari replied in a friendly manner, “I don’t mind, Nagare-chan. It was amusing in its own way to work alone. But…” He added in a lowered voice, and his eyes flashed with the sharpness of a blade. “During the previous mission, you probed into both the Silver and the Gold King’s reactions, and during this one, you gauged the strength of the Blue King… It’s almost time for us to go on a real rampage, no?”
“As they’re supposed to, since I meant them that way.”
“Fufu.”
Yukari’s shoulders lifted in an amused shrug, and the world his master was seeing rocked.
“Well, at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore if you’re cut out for it or not, don’t you think?”
“We’ll be bidding our time for only that much longer, won’t we? Soon, our stance will shift from having to bate our breath and exercise extreme caution to slowly amassing power… or am I wrong?”
“Oh no, it’s far beyond my talent.”
Yukari did not try to hide or deny reverence that stirred up in him at the mention, but, as if to shake it off, the same instance he jumped again towards the night skyline and into the heart of the thick jungle, enshrouded in the beauty of a wild beast.
The invisible foliage swallowed his frame, covering it with the usual bustle.
“Ka–w!”
Before long, it did the same with the parrot that took flight to follow after him.