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After that meeting in the wilderness, Shinri has become acutely aware of the Koillective’s presence in his life. When walking between villages, he always sees a koi out of the corner of his eye, whether in the river or hiding in the bushes and trees. When he rests for the night, they all come out as one group to keep him company. It was strange at first, but he’s learned to enjoy the company of the Koillective. They seem excited to hear him ramble on about whatever topics he wants to talk about. He can even pick up on distinct voices directly responding or adding to what he said. Though he himself is willing to ramble the night away, they seem acutely aware about the time and push him to go to sleep. On nights where he accidentally confessed that he hadn’t eaten yet, he’s hit with a chorus of disappointment with pieces of fruit being pushed into his hands. If he had given the Koillective food that night, the food gets pushed back into his hands. The chorus of disappointment (and squeaks of anger, if he had to guess) wouldn’t stop until he has eaten at least half of what they gave back to him.
It’s nice to have companions, no Koipanions, to accompany him on his journey. They seem to enjoy his company too, intent in keeping an eye on him and making sure he takes care of himself. Though he suspects their care may be more involved than he initially thought…
He already had seen the Koillective’s propensity to protect him. But he distinctly remembered his first direct interaction with them in action. It was not often that he gets surrounded while on a hunt, but this one seems to have been a pack leader. He just the missed the heart of the beast before it gave out a vicious call, bringing more out of the woods. He just managed to pick off a few before he was surrounded, forcing him to weigh his options. His supply of arrows was not enough to handle them all. He may have had a chance with his tanto if push came to shove.
That was not something he had to worry about for long though.
Something swished his bangs forward. The view of 7 beasts transitioned to tan silk.
‘You don’t need to see this.’
There was a rush of air and a sudden yelping. He tried to focus on the sounds, but whatever was obstructing his vision started swaying his head. It was distracting enough for him to almost miss the metallic smell permeating the air. He’s pretty sure that there were some legs lightly kicking his neck. He reached up to hold them down, but something else took his hands.
‘Your turn, Miria.’ ‘Thank you, Nix!’
The tan silk was changed to pure black. Wait, no, there was some blues and purples. Actually, the colors…were…moving. Was this space? There was a lot of air rushing past him with some squishy sounds mixed with crunches, but he could easily distract himself with the cosmic void before his eyes. The void…also had a pretty voice.
Soon, the sound of violence died down. He tried moving his hands to test his mobility, but whatever was obscuring his vision was also holding his hands. Though he could technically move them, he couldn’t…feel whatever was holding his face. When he clenched his fists, there was a movement on his wrist and a little giggle in his ear, but no release.
“Umm…can I look now?”
‘Not yet’ ‘Lemme finish cleaning this first!’
“You don’t need to. I…I need some of the teeth and other parts.”
‘Okay papa! Come here, Nix!’
The void left his vision and his hands. He was met with 15 beasts on the ground and…a…little girl?
She had red pigtails and yellow eyes. One of the eyes seems to be flickering in and out but not noticeably. She looked like she was wearing a modified yukata, though he’s unsure if that would be the right way to describe it. She waves her hand, the tan silk sleeve flapping back and forth.
‘Go ahead, Shinri! Take as much as you need! Just let us know when you’re done!’
That was when he took notice of the darker koi circling the girl’s neck. It has the same space design as the void that covered his eyes, though he suspects he shouldn’t look at it for too long. The design is pretty, but condensed in that small body, it’s a little disorienting. Also, he’s pretty sure that the koi is trying to hide behind the girl’s neck.
He turned away to go through the bodies to find the organs requested by the butcher. While he went through and collected the items for his job, he observed the girl playing around with the koi. He couldn’t quite catch what they were saying, as it was too soft for him, but they seemed to be enjoying each other’s company. The koi bobbed in and out of the girl’s sleeves, with the girl herself patting the koi anytime she got. It was a cute scene. Save for the blood stains on the little girl’s sleeves. He should still have some solvent in his bag. Maybe he could clean the stains off for her.
Wait, who was she?
There was no way for a little girl to come out so far. The butcher said that this area was rife with monsters and no one in the village was willing to come close to it. How could a little girl…
Wait…
Miria and Nix… He heard those names before. It was some of the names he was able to catch from the Koillective. Was the little girl…a Koipanion? Would that make the koi another Koipanion? There’s only one way to be sure.
“Miria?” The girl turned to face him. “Nix?” The koi. “Are you guys…Koipanions?” They turned towards each other. Back to him. Head tilt. Smile.
‘Are you done with the bodies, Shinri?’ The litt- no- Miria inquired. He looked at what he had gathered so far. If he turned this in, he should be able to afford a few bentos and as well as some snacks for the Koillective. The quality of the teeth also looks like it could afford him a glass or two of…spicy water. He looked to Mirira and nodded. She grinned and motioned towards the k- Nix. They stood on either side of the pile of beasts and rushed towards each other. When Shinri blinked, all that stood before him was the clearing.
There were no signs of the beasts, the Koipanions, or even any evidence of a fight occurring. The only evidence was the bag in his hand that was…definitely not empty.
…Maybe the spicy water money can go to something else….Do kois like milk tea?
Meanwhile, village markets tend to have their own dangers. There are always market aunties wanting to make conversation as well as stall owners trying to tempt potential customers to come over and purchase their goods, albeit at differing and -in his case- vastly overblown prices. Occasionally, someone would notice his arm and start to harass him. However, these unwanted interactions seem to be happening less and less.
One market auntie, he remembers, was strangely insistent on him marrying one of her nieces. He was looking through a fruit stand trying to find a decent watermelon to buy since he wanted to treat the Koillective that night. He was about to settle on 2 smaller watermelons when she came up by his side to make conversation. He doesn’t remember how the conversation started, only that it happened while he purchased the watermelons.
Suddenly, he was hit with “You would make a great husband for my niece!”
“…Excuse me?”
“You have to let me introduce you two!”
Oh dear…this was going to be a hassle to deal with. He wasn’t sure what she saw in a wandering ronin like him, but he was pretty sure that he was not fit to be a husband. And if he’s reading between the lines correctly, he was definitely not fit to be a father. He needed to find a way to slowly let her down without accidentally offending her. It was going to be difficult as most of the surrounding market was now watching the spectacle.
‘Now now, auntie…’
A new voice spun heads, including the auntie’s and Shinri’s. It belonged to a tall, elegant woman in what looks like a gorgeous orange modified kimono. Her hair was partly up with the rest of it hanging in a low braid. Though none of those qualities were the most eye-catching part.
The skin that was visible was decorated with orange and black spots. The way that it was scattered highlighted her sharp eyes and slim figure. She looks out of place in the market, as though she should be modeling in an air-conditioned studio.
And she’s…walking this way?
‘That’s no way to treat a man like that. Especially not one that is already taken,’ she moved to stand in between Shinri and the auntie. It gave him a good view of the black frill that was draping the bottom of the kimono. Wait a minute, he definitely recognized those designs. Was this-
“Oh, he’s already taken? I’m sorry miss, I didn’t realize-“
‘Don’t worry auntie. A lot of people don’t. He’s always been a real eye catcher~’
Shinri feels himself start to warm up a little while the woman he thinks is Mai directs the auntie’s attention away from playing matchmaker. He was thankful that he no longer has to deal with the auntie anymore, but he wasn’t expecting the conversation to still be on him. While considering whether he should escape, he felt a little tugging on the bag holding the watermelons. When he looked down, he was met with blue eyes behind a pair of red wire-rimmed glasses. Before he knew it, he was being pulled away from the stand back through the open streets.
It must have made a humorous sight: a man as large as him being pulled by a girl a third his size in what looks like a hanfu with an over-sized koi patterned robe. That unto itself would be innocuous enough, but Shinri clearly noticed the blue sleeve holding onto his blue arm.
This was no ordinary little girl.
After a few more twists and turns, they came to a stop in an alley behind some restaurants. The little girl let go of him and spun quickly to face him with a big grin on her face. The fast movement caused her hat and the flower in her hair to fall askew, but she barely seemed to notice. He bent down to readjust the flower and the hat. No point in having those fall off; the flower was very pretty, especially since he’s never seen one like it before.
‘Plumeria.’
“Pardon?”
‘It’s a plumeria flower. Well, kinda a plumeria.’
Ah, a plumeria… Wait, he didn’t ask that out loud, did he?
‘You think loudly, Dad.’
There’s that nickname again. This was definitely a Koipanion. He had no idea when the Koillective had decided to refer to him with parental terms, but he decided that he didn’t have to think about it anymore and sat back against the wall. It’s been a long day and he needed a break before finding some more food and heading out. Maybe he should get a coffee as well.
As he weighed his options with the Koipanion sitting by his side, there was a commotion farther along the alley. When he looked over, a gang of delinquents was walking towards them, knocking kendo sticks and pipes against the walls. There was one young man with an abnormally tall hairstyle with a swagger in his step that reminded Shinri of the overconfident ronins back at the academy. This guy swaggered over to them and leaned over them in what looks like an attempt to intimidate them.
“Hey fucker, you’re in our territory. You and your kid better get the fuck out before we beat the shit out of you,” he barked.
Well then. Shinri knew that the Koipanion by his side was not his kid, but that swearing was excessive. Well, he didn’t want to cause anymore trouble, but he really needed some rest. “Don’t worry. I’ll be out of your hair, soon. I just need some time to rest my feet.”
“Tch. Did I ask you to leave? Nah fucker, I TOLD you to leave! Now go before I chop off that stupid blue arm of yours!”
Well, this was escalating quickly. The delinquents were all pulling out their knives and slowly advancing. Shinri did not like using violence against other humans, but he’s afraid that his hand may be forced.
Snap. Crack. Scream.
Before he knew it, the Koipanion that was by his side snapped one of the kendo sticks and used it to beat the shins of the delinquent over them. A little red-headed girl with pigtails and a tan silk jacket (Miria? When did she show up???) joined her, snapping another kendo stick and smacking the shins of another delinquent. Both men doubled over in pain, eventually falling over and clutching their shins…which were bleeding. Wait, how hard were they hitting them?
Near the back of group, Shinri saw a few heads turn into pairs of feet in the air. Soon, a familiar face (How did Mai get here so quickly?) bobbed up before snatching another delinquent to flip into the ground. Panic started to spread throughout the group, but there was no place for them to run. They could either run towards the tall woman literally throwing them into the dirt or the two little gremlins literally breaking their shins.
Shinri considered standing up to get the girls to stop until a cold sensation hit the top of his arm. He whipped his head over, only to be met with a searing pain in his neck. The groan of pain that he let out just barely covered the panicking squeaks and increased violence that filled the air. Something got placed in his hand while what felt like a hand was placed on his neck. Soon, the pain faded away, allowing him to open his eyes without wincing in pain.
The first view to meet his eyes was the faces of the three koipanions looking at him worriedly. Actually, he jumped back a bit as they were standing so close to him. They seemed pleased with his reaction, giggling a little before…taking…a sip of their…milk tea.
That’s when he glanced down at the object in his hand; it was a cup of taro milk tea. Huh. This must’ve been what caught his attention in the first place. How did they-wait a minute, only one group knows what his favorite milk tea flavor is. Feeling the hand that was on his neck leaving, he looked behind him to view his benefactor. He was met with a face full of light blue hair as the Koipanion he wanted to thank scurried off to hide behind Mai.
Deciding not to draw too much attention to it, he took a sip of the taro milk tea that he received. It..was perfect. It was not too sweet for him and the boba was still nice and chewy. There was also enough ice to chill the drink but not dilute it once the ice melted. “I suppose that rambling about my favorite foods and flavors was worth it. You guys nailed my favorite! Thank you!” He chuckled as he took another sip.
This reaction had the present Koipanions smiling, with Mai softly nudging the Koipanion behind her. ‘See Haru, I told you that you got it right!’
‘Look! I was worried, Mai!’ The hiding Koipanion poked her head out to whine at Mai, her blue hair swishing over her white dress. So this was Haru.
‘As if you could ever mess anything up!’ teased the Koipanion that guided him to the alley.
‘Anjie, nooooooo,’ Haru ducked back behind Mai, with Mai herself laughing while patting Haru’s head.
Anjie then smirked. ‘Oh speaking of which, Miria, you’ll never believe what Mai had to do today ~’
‘An, noooooooo!’
Shinri laughed. It was fun watching them banter with each other. He doesn’t get to see it often since he’s usually the one talking. He continued to watch them, taking sips of his milk tea.
It was a better view than the scattered delinquents with broken shins and their heads stuck deep into the ground.
Thankfully, weapon supply is not something he has to worry about. Being able to make his own hard light arrows means that he never has to bargain with fletchers that overprice their arrows when they aren’t even of good quality. However, hard-light is not terribly effective when he’s distracted with another encounter and has to think on the spot.
One weapon that he always has on hand is his tanto knife. It’s a good sturdy knife that he can use to easily collect monster parts. In a pinch, he can also use it when he needs to create some distance between himself and his target. He’s just not proud of his hand-to-hand combat. He was always assigned support roles at the academy, so he never had a chance to train.
After one difficult hunt, Shinri was struggling to remove the foot off a mutant rabbit when he heard a concerning crack . After checking to make sure that it wasn’t from any of his limbs, he lifted the blade to find…nothing but the hilt.
His knife … just… sheared off. The blade is gone. Going back into the rabbit flesh and digging through the cut, he sees it embedded on the bone.
…What the fuck is he supoosed to do now? Tear off the leg himself and hope that he doesn’t accidentally strip the leg bone?
Shink. Squish. Slice.
The appearance of a blade cutting the foot of from over his shoulder had him quickly turning his head. Thankfully for him, he recognized the swordman…er, swordkoi…before he pulled his bow out.
Ryūra quickly chopped off the rest of the rabbit limbs before he moved on to the rest of the rabbits that was piled next to Shinri. As he did so, another Koipanion squatted down next to Shinri and picked up the leg with the blade still stuck in it.
‘I guess today is not your lucky day, huh?’
“...Hahhh. No, unfortunately…”
‘I’ll say. You found the one unlucky rabbit’s foot. Though it may not count since these are corrupted rabbits.’
…Was that meant to be a pun? Wait, does that mean that the first statement was also a pun? …He really can’t with these kois.
‘Don’t worry, big guy,’ The Koipanion - Kesseki, if he recalled correctly - took the hilt from his hand and walked off while still holding the leg. ‘I can fix this for you. In the meantime, why don’t you do some training with Ryūra? Your leg work needs some sprucing up.’
Next thing he knew, a heavy stick was thrown at him. His reflexes were just enough to not drop it, but not enough to prevent it from knocking against his shin. There was a low chuckle as he stands up rubbing where the stick banged his shin.
‘Your reflexes are shit.’
“I was not prepared, Ryūra.”
‘You should’ve been.’ Most people would’ve found this statement to be instigating. But Shinri knew better. Aseel hasn’t had a lot of practice with interacting with others and they didn’t necessarily start on the right foot when they first met. He’s been getting better, though. His teasing tone has not quite developed, but the smile on his face is better than the sneer that used to be there.
Once he finally stood up, they ran through some of the drills that Aseel has been teaching him. He imagined that it was difficult teaching a guy like him since he was an old guy with almost no dexterity in his feet. But anytime he brought this up to Aseel, all he would get is a scabbard to his upper thigh. He has since learned that he can avoid smacks to his abs and ass if he avoids making self-depricating comments.
After a few drills, Kesseki came out of the trees spinning the newly repaired knife in their hand. It looks like they added a few more details, if the swirling orange was anything to go by. As they got close to the sparring duo, they slipped the knife back into the holder and leaned against a tree.
‘How’s his leg work, Ryūra?’
‘Not as bad as before. He still has difficulty with quick dodges, but he’s improved since the last practice.’
‘Nice. Maybe you can teach him to take better care of his tools as well.’
“Guys…”
He’s never going to here the end of this, is he?
He doesn’t have to fret about danger when the Koillective is around. When the going gets tough, there is always a few Koipanions nearby to help him. But it’s never overbearing. The Koipanions let him handle things on his own and generally take care of tedious tasks. It doesn’t matter when he goes. He knows how to spot a Koipanion, whether in the rivers he crosses or the streets he walks through.
The Koillective will always have his back. He only hopes that he can return the favor.