Chapter Thirty-One - Sprout

Chapter Thirty-One - Sprout

Chapter Thirty-One - Sprout

Samurai may have similar profiles with several commonalities, but its worth noting that every one is a unique individual, and applying the same brush across all of them will lead to errors in judgement and application.

--On the Mental and Psychological Treatment of Samurai Patients - 2046 Psychological Profiling Database

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I stepped out of the toy store and nodded to the nearest militia guys. Place is clear for now, I said. Move on to the next place that needs you. And with that said I grabbed onto the back of the pickup Id ridden over and climbed onboard. Intel, got any news for me?

Ohaio!

I suppressed a full-body twitch. Intel-chans avatar now had a pair of cat ears on, both sticking out of a hairband of all things. What?

Sprout-dono could probably use your help. Hes in bad shape. Not kawaii at all.

I glared. Are you getting worse? I asked.

The avatars eyes widened into a look of pure, unbelievable innocence. What do you mean, Stray Neko-sama?

Pain in the ass, I muttered. Whats wrong with Sprout? Is he alright?

He was injured while taking care of the other sneaky-sneaky hive, Intel-chan said. I sent more of our backline to the area to help stop the antithesis from spreading out from there.

That was frustrating. Hows the front-line? I asked.

"So far so good! Theres less aliens than there were before!

That didnt sound right at all. Myalis, whats that mean?

It either means that the nanomachine attack was significantly more effective than expected, or the antithesis are holding back for reasons unknown.

Lets assume that its the aliens fucking with us, thats the worse possibility, isnt it? Dont they usually just charge in mindlessly? Whats keeping them back?

Higher tier antithesis can sometimes display a certain level of tactical and strategic acumen. Lower-tier antithesis also tend to remain in the vicinity of their greater counterparts. Its an instinct that presses them to protect the more valuable members of the hive.

So we were probably going to get messed up by some higher-tier aliens soon. Intel-chan, keep an eye out for any models in the double digits. I want to be informed right away if we start seeing more of them.

Alright, I said.

I got chewed up. If it wasnt for the militia people, for my armour, Id be dead.

I frowned, happy that he couldnt see my expression at the moment. What did you meet in there? I asked.

Just some model threes. Not even a lot of them. He leaned forwards and cupped his face in his hands. Fuck.

That summed it up nicely, yeah.

And now youre like this because you couldnt handle it? I asked. It wasnt nice of me, I knew, but damn if I didnt have time to play therapist. You know, its not all bad. Youre still new. Cant expect to be great out of the gate.

Ive been a samurai for three days now, he said. Johnnys as new as me. He wouldnt have any trouble. Manic... shed enjoy it. Im... he shook his head. Im not made for this. I dont know why I was chosen at all.

Hey, calm down, I said. I placed a hand on his shoulder and tightened my grip. Tell me what went wrong.

I told you, he said.

No, you told me what happened. Tell me what went wrong.

He shook his head, but replied all the same. I dont know. I tried to not be noticed so that I could plant a few things, but my plants take a lot of time to grow. I thought I could just put a few of them down and let them grow to fill the hole. Theyve been good at stopping smaller models so far.

Alright, and what happened? I asked.

They attacked me. I couldnt fight them off.

I nodded slowly. Do you have a gun? I asked.

I lost it, he said.

I shut off the mic on my helmet so that I could let out a long sigh. This guy was... not front-line material. He didnt have that edge, that willingness to jump into trouble and mess up the enemy.

Gomorrah had it in spades. She enjoyed seeing the enemy burn. Manic was as violent and temperamental as they came. Even Johnny, while he was more focused on himself, was willing to jump into trouble to punch it.

Sprout struck me as something of a pacifist, which was a fantastic thing to be, I was sure, but it was also not the best trait for a samurai to have.

Well figure it out, I told him, and I hoped I was right because I needed every samurai I could get right now.

***