"So are you assessing me, president?" A soft chuckle escaped from her lips, betraying her sharp aura around her.
"You want to see if this alien is going to bite off your precious detectives" She licked her lips seductively like a she-devil.
Dazai smirked darkly in amusement, but the president didn't react as he kept looking at her.
"I want to see if your soul is entirely consumed by the wars you have faced," he replied flatly, unbothered by her beauty or her tone.
Then he stayed in a stance, holding the sword horizontally; his movements grew more fluid as the oppressive aura of a swordsman surrounded him. Her smile widened as she felt the sheer will of the slash coming at her.
She released chakra to 'read' him, around him and herself as she muttered.
"Hatake-ryū, Ryūsui!"
In a fluid motion, she dodged his slash and let the tanto slide with the blade to the hilt of his sword. In a fast and sharp motion, he slipped backwards.
"Don't hold back!" There was a wide grin on her lips as she charged forward, chasing his movements.
As she closed in, she let his blade slide off with hers while spinning around his guard, attacking relatively low spots, but he reflected with the same intensity.
She kicked back at his knees to take him down. He jumped high as he predicted that and engaged with her in sharp, speedy slashes.
"Hatake Ryū, Rakka"
She parried his slashes while penetrating the area that his sword reached, attacking him in the blink of an eye.
"Your speed is remarkable," Fukuzawa commented, his eyes narrowing slightly as he analyzed her. "This is pure, brutal muscle memory of the technique"
"In my world, if you're slow, you will become a corpse even before you hit puberty," Itsuho laughed, an unhinged, playful edge cutting through her tone.
"Hateke Ryū, Tsuki no Ume!!"
In smooth yet fast movements, she aimed to pierce his vital points such as eyes, throat, heart, kidneys, lungs, shoulders, and groin with terrifying precision, even for a person with eyes.
The president was immediately forced into a full defensive stance as he kept defending against her blade.
As time went on, he interpreted that only five of ten vital points were actually targets, as she used the other five as feints.
But the pattern kept changing from time to time with her movements around him. But slowly yet surely, he started to notice something new again.
Every time her tanto came dangerously close to his vital areas, she subtly adjusted the angle. Contradictory to her psychotic laughter and the raw, terrifying aura of killing intent she was releasing, her blade was incredibly disciplined.
He came to realize what was going on. She wasn't fighting to slaughter him.
She was fighting to gauge his strength. From the way she talked earlier, she was testing whether he was worthy of leading her.
Suddenly, he countered one of her flurry of lethal attacks with a horizontal sweeping slash to prevent her from keeping doing the same move. Then he unleashed his complete might, using the full momentum of his body... he struck her blade.
Clang! Creek!! Creek!
The middle of the sharp edge of her blade shattered as it broke into two parts. Then, with a swift turn of his blade, it stopped just a few millimeters away from her throat as a part of her hair bangs that fell over her cheek was cut down.
She stood still, didn't flinch. With an unhinged grin, she leaned her throat slightly forward; a sharp red line appeared in her pale throat. Instead of a hiss of pain, she let out a delighted hum.
"Nice match, president", she said; her unhinged grin didn't waver a little bit. "You are strong. I like you"
He lowered the sword and put it on the nearby bench and looked at her. His stern and sharp look softened a bit as it slowly converted into profound respect.
"With your skills, you had many opportunities to use your hands and legs to shatter my ribs during that exchange, if not more than that", the president admitted, his voice filled with absolute certainty.
"But you held back your true lethal power. You possess the mind of a monster, Itsuho, but your blade obeys the rules of a samurai."
Her smile faltered for a moment into something nostalgic, though her expression became unreadable since her eyes were closed. "I had a good teacher who was from a samurai clan"
"I see" he gave him a deep look as Dazai and Ranpo walked to them.
"So am I allowed to join to play detective....president?" She put away the blade into a sealing space as she straightened up the trench coat Dazai gave her.
"Not that quickly, Itsuho-chan", instead of president, Dazai chose to answer. All three of them looked at her like they were trying to see her, and she smirked as if she sensed their gazes.
"There is a written test you need to pass before joining the agency." The president spoke. Before she could say something, Dazai spoke again.
"Since you have a problem with seeing currently. We will adjust it accordingly"
"Is that so...." She nodded with a half-smile, like she already expected that. "Well then, I'll play by your rules...for now"