Kiri la Kill - Chapter 24

Aaaand 30k words! Wew lad, I wasn’t expecting to hit this point before we introduced Ryuko! But we’re about 1 chapter from being on the halfway point so… this is more than fine on its own!

Without further ado then, a short interlude chapter that takes us away from Kiri’s point of view, and into the heads of those who’ve gotten to know him over the month’s worth of timeskip we’ll be covering within this chapter.

A short taste of what’s to come, in a way.

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“That is the boy?”

“Yes.”

“...I see why you risked breaking your cover to call me over.”

“I didn’t risk much… the school’s security is still heavily compromised after the Rampage.”

“Heh… that’s what they’re calling it?”

“Don’t blame them for lacking creativity, it’s long since been stifled thanks to this school.”

“As you say… Tell me about this boy.”

“He’s a peculiar sort. Earnest and hardworking, but also… lumbering in the way that he deals with issues, slow and methodical to a fault. Kind too, considering he’s practically forced the Kiryuin girl to clear up the slums.”

“A small price for her to pay, to get a soldier like that.”

“Indeed… and the problem is that it’s working, I would be a fool to deny Kiryuin Satsuki’s natural charisma, and those daily conversations they’re having over tea and biscuits have long since worked to bridge the distance between them… If we don’t act, we’ll have another Inumuta Hoka situation on her hands, except much worse.”

“Troublesome.”

“The boy has the capacity to be the Perfect Nudist… but we will lose him if he gets pulled to her side, we would do well to approach him as soon as we’re able to.”

“All well and good, had you not been making him resent you… It’s one thing to make constant allusions to military oppression in your classes, it’s another to pull that.”

“I had to be certain about his personality.”

“And now that you are..?”

“I want you to speak to him.”

“Difficult.”

“A small window of opportunity everyday after school, I would arrange detentions… but Kiryuin Satsuki has already been on my case about my treatment of him, so that’s all I can give you.”

“...I’ll see what I can do.”

“And if you don’t succeed?”

“He’ll be treated as another tyrant.”

“How regrettable…”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

“My dear daughter… I hear you have a new recruit for your inner circle.”

“Yes, mother.”

“Could that be correlated with the damage done to your school, I wonder?”

“O-of course.”

“Now that is a fascinating bit of work, I will admit. You must simply tell me ”

“All it took was clearing out some s-slums.”

“Ah, quite the bleeding heart you’ve found for yourself then… that explains some of the complaints I’ve been getting from the board, you’ve disturbed their lives of casual comfort quite heavily, haven’t you?”

“I believe it is necessary.”

“And I trust you on this matter… the squabbling of a few monkeys concerns me little, after all. So long as you continue to show results, I will let you have your autonomy.”

“Thank you.”

“I look forward to how your relationship with this new recruit develops… I hear you’re already quite close…”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Quite close, huh?

Kiryuin Satsuki bit down on the shivers of revulsion that always struck her body in the aftermath of a visit to her mother as she contemplated their words. As much as the source of them disturbed her to the extreme, she could not bring herself to deny them.

Kirishima Eijiro was someone she was actively working to get closer to.

No doubt that would cause quite an apocalyptic stir to admit out loud, but it was the truth.

By all accounts, he was someone that was made remarkable by two factors and two factors alone. The power he wielded, and his missing memories. She was not charitable enough to say that his personality was something unique, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t pleasant. .

To Satsuki, someone who surrounded herself with bombastic personalities, someone who had to work extra hard to match and then exceed the sheer aura of energy that they put off… the quietly resolved Kirishima Eijiro was a breath of fresh air.

His power, even diminished by his personal problems, gave him the confidence he needed to stand tall even in the face of some of the most powerful people on the planet. His lack of information on his surroundings meant that his view of her wasn’t tainted with the biases of others, and could change with every interaction.

Though he’d thought of her as his enemy at first, he’d shown himself to be capable of logic, enough that he was able to get over his initial impression of her, and though she would not say that she cared that much for his ideals, or his lack of them, the fact that he cared so much spoke well of the boy, or… man.

Yes, she enjoyed his company as well.

It was fascinating, just how she had been able to gradually wear away at the veil of formality that existed between her and everyone else, and commit to making their relationship something a lot more casual.

It was fascinating, watching the effect that those little conversations had on him in a way that the grandstanding speeches she gave to the whole school never could. How he grew more confident, and how he began to use less and less words as he spoke, yet his eyes expressed more than she could have ever imagined.

She’d found herself looking forward to those meetings, every day.

Because if she could have that effect on him, what effect could he have on her?