On the bustling street, I put my phone away and asked the fox eared girl beside me, who was watching me with concern.
"Izuna, you don't want the Cherry Blossom Festival to be canceled either, right"
The little fox blinked her round eyes at my words, her expression slowly shifting into bewilderment.
"Eh… canceled… Why would you suddenly say that"
Carefully watching Izuna's reaction, I confirmed that she truly knew nothing.
The Festival Operations Department and the Inner Discipline Club's plan to capture the Street Mouryo gang had already failed at the very beginning, and that failure meant only one thing, something none of us wanted.
The problem child from the Street Mouryo, for some unknown reason, had shifted away from her previous reckless behavior. She was now withdrawing her presence and hiding in the shadows.
The most likely explanation was that they were biding their time, sharpening their claws in the dark, conserving their strength, and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
In other words, the hope of extracting information about the mastermind through the Street Mouryo was now almost completely gone.
And at this point, the only person still outside their grasp, the only person who clearly knew the identity of the one plotting to sabotage the Cherry Blossom Festival, was Izuna standing beside me.
In a normal situation, would someone deliberately rein in every other force at their disposal yet leave one unstable factor wandering around freely
Assuming our opponent was not a fool and that their confidence came from thorough preparation, only a few possibilities remained.
Among those possibilities, the worst was that Izuna herself had a problem, though I did not want to believe that.
Thankfully, for now, Izuna truly did not seem aware of the plot to destroy the festival.
But if her acting skills were so flawless that she could show no gaps at all, if she could play the innocent fool perfectly, hiding a mind capable of deep schemes and long term planning, predicting even before the festival began that Schale might be hired for related work and preparing a role in advance, then I could only admit defeat.
As for the remaining possibilities…
After thinking for a moment, I decided to tell Izuna the truth.
"Izuna, it seems your employer intends to destroy the Cherry Blossom Festival."
I admit I was getting impatient.
But at this point, there was no room or need for evasive words.
"Destroy the Cherry Blossom Festival…"
Izuna stared at me, stunned. "T-The order Izuna received… Izuna was told there were people getting in the employer's way, and Izuna had to take them all down… That was the mission, but… destroying the festival… Eh… ehhh…?"
The young ninja trailed off, choking on her words, her face filled with disbelief and rejection.
And just like that, she believed my one sided claim without hesitation, simply because it was me saying it.
I truly felt worried for Izuna.
"So, Izuna," I looked into her eyes, which were filled with confusion, and asked softly, "To protect the festival, can you tell me who your employer is"
"T-that…"
After a long moment, Izuna finally emerged from her shock and panic, regaining a little sense. Her brows were still tight with conflict, yet something firm had settled in her expression.
Unfortunately, in this situation, such determination was not a good sign.
"…No!" Izuna looked straight at me and rejected me without hesitation. "Izuna was hired, so leaking information about the employer… a ninja must not do that!"
"…I see."
"Yes! Izuna will become an amazing ninja! So even if you are Izuna's Shishou…!"
She said that, yet both her expression and tone were wavering. Clearly, her obsession with being a ninja was stronger than I had expected, but not unbearably so.
If I appealed to her a little more, I could persuade her.
Besides, I knew exactly what kind of words would reach a girl who modeled herself after the ninja of old.
Lowering my gaze, I sighed and shook my head.
"Even so, would that not go against the code a ninja should follow"
Izuna froze on the spot the moment she heard that.
That was the heart of the matter.
If she refused to reveal her employer's identity, that meant allowing the festival to be destroyed, perhaps even helping make it happen. Was that not completely contrary to the ideal ninja she aspired to be
Now that I had pointed out this cruel truth, what choice would Izuna make when backed into a corner
"T-this…"
Her voice trembled, and her reddened eyes quickly filled with tears, on the verge of spilling over.
If I pushed her now, she would cry.
But if she cried, I would easily learn the mastermind's identity and pull Izuna back to the right path. The price would be nothing more than her brief sadness.
The choice between the two was already clear.
I sighed inwardly and placed a hand on the little fox's head, roughly ruffling her hair.
"Ha, I'm joking. Did you forget what I taught you I told you to think more, didn't I, you dummy."
Even without information from Izuna, I still had ways of dealing with this attempted sabotage, though they would involve more risk.
Such a small matter was nothing compared to Izuna's smile. The answer was obvious.
It was my choice to let my not quite dependable student make her own decisions. So I would bear whatever consequences came with it.
"…Eh?"
Looking at Izuna's puzzled face, I smiled.
"The path of a ninja is something you choose for yourself. This is your second lesson. Everyone stands on their own ground. Since you already have an answer you believe is right, stay true to it. No matter if it is right or wrong, keep walking forward."
Izuna thought hard. "Ah! So this is also part of ninja training?"
A very Izuna like interpretation.
I neither confirmed nor denied it. "In any case, on my side, I won't allow your employer to destroy the festival. Izuna, you said you would defeat me and convince me, didn't you"
"Yes!"
"I will return those words to you."
I narrowed my eyes, withdrew my hand from her head, stepped back half a step, and looked at her earnestly.
"I will definitely defeat you. So be prepared."
"…Mm! Shishou and Izuna really are bound by fate…!"
Despite her words, she finally smiled, bright with anticipation. "Izuna will take her leave now! Even though I don't know why we ended up enjoying the festival together… next time we meet, I will defeat you! Definitely!"
"You sound confident. I'll be waiting to see the results."
After saying goodbye, I watched Izuna skip away, then turned into a narrow empty alley nearby.
Footsteps rang out behind me without attempt at concealment.
"You are Schale's Sensei, correct"
I turned. The speaker was a blonde fox eared girl wearing a mask.
"There is someone who wishes to meet you. Will you come with me"
This was probably the price I would have to pay.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and nodded calmly.
"Of course."