My Ninja Girl 4 by Gideon Caldwell (latest novels to read .TXT) 📕

all societies are like that, you know, but this one seems to be. Perhaps it’s designed that way; if those living in Neo-Hokkaido now understood how their lives were in the past, they may be able to learn from it in a way that would naturally lead to progress. But who am I to issue such a statement? Some robot talking in your ear? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the Tomb of the Unknown Ninja would be a perfect place for them, it will have historical significance to them, and there are other ninjas still entombed there.”

“Is it far from where we will be exiting?”

“It’s not, actually. I’m surprised the ninjas haven’t suggested it to you yet, but maybe they have been distracted by other things. There are still plots, believe it or not. I can make sure some of my smaller Bobis clear up the area, and pick plenty of flowers. There isn’t a place to stay there, and I’m assuming as a human you might be afraid of the tomb being haunted, which is one thing that you could expect in a location like that. But I can assure you, ghosts don’t exist.”

“Um, good to know.”

“Once they are buried, what will you do? Where will you go? Aside from my temple, there isn’t really a great place to stay in the forest that will provide the shelter you would likely prefer.”

Micah nodded. “We need the vehicle that we flew in on. You still have that, correct?”

“Of course. And it has been maintained.”

“As to where we will go next, I’ll have to run it by the others, but my best guess would be that we visit Liza’s weapon stash and go from there.”

“Which is in Coralie, correct?”

“Correct.”

“And from there?”

“To Uyanga, to Ahmey’s shrine. But we may have to wait until early the following morning or even the next night.”

“Understood. I will be ready to assist you when the time comes.”

“It will definitely come, sooner rather than later,” Micah said, not able to get the conversation he’d had with Youseg off his mind. Was his death really imminent? Would the monk’s vision turn out to be false? Micah felt as if there were a clock floating before him, time trickling away. But he was too deep in it now to pivot. He knew the direction he was traveling.

Once his conversation with Bobi was finished, Micah changed clothing and joined the others in the main room of the residence, all but Yuri with them.

“She’s resting,” Liza said.

“But we can still train,” said Bunni.

“You don’t have to go, you know,” said Micah’s grandmother, the older woman with her white shawl draped over her head, an uncertain look on her face. “You can stay here, and we can just let Neo-Hokkaido do what Neo-Hokkaido will do. Fuck the monks, fuck everyone that isn’t us. Sorry, but that’s how I feel. I don’t mean to be blunt, but why go back there? Why not just stay here and live the good life? They treat us like royalty around here; Youseg has enough money to go around and then some. I don’t mind being his little concubine for the rest of my life.”

“His concubine?” Micah asked.

“He has to be chasing some bunny tail around here; I know those female nuns wear veils, and you can’t really make out their features with their layered robes, but I can spot a curve when I see one.”

“That’s not why we were sent here,” Soraya said, “to your timeline. We weren’t sent to simply retire in Heian and gawk at nuns. I could have retired during the First Orange Sun.”

“Bah. I’ve heard about why you came here, and how you came here. Just because someone sent you to do something doesn’t mean you have to do it. I’m not trying to be a quitter here,” grandmother said. “If I had a sword and a monk came to that door, I would do my best to waddle over there and stab the bastard in the dick. Then I would knee him in the chin, and once he was on the ground, I’d lift my skirt and take a dump in the opening of his bucket. You all know this about me, you all know what I’m capable of when I put my mind to it, even if my body has all but given up on me, the damn thing.” The elderly woman flicked at some of the flab hanging from her arm. “Used to be muscle, well, sort of. Where was I? Sorry. I have strange fantasies involving monks, nutshots, and apparently, defecation. But I’m totally sane, trust me, no need to pack me up and send me off to the loony bin. My point is: you don’t have to go anywhere. You can either let them come to you, or let them forget about you altogether.”

“We can’t do that,” said Bunni, the seriousness in her voice at odds with her general demeanor. “We have come a long way to make a difference, and we aren’t going to make the difference by hiding in another country, at least not yet, not until the pieces are in place.”

“That’s right,” Liza chimed in. “The pieces need to be in place.”

“We should train,” Micah said suddenly, now in the mood to get out some energy, especially with Youseg’s prophecy weighing heavy on his shoulders.

After his grandmother rattled off a few more monk-based insults, Liza, Bunni, and Soraya joined Micah outside, the four gravitating toward an area where they had been practicing the new industria technique. There were a variety of objects to move, ranging in weight and size.

They started up, Bunni working on a statue that was easily a hundred pounds and alternating between that and a small paper crane. She was very good at using industria in this way. Liza