The Disappearance of Osomatsu-san

Chapter 161: The True Akatsuka Nightingale

"Do you really need to do this?"

Choro sighed, pausing from his stretches. Ichi was still busy warming up, occasionally retorting back to Kara that he wasn't an idiot for arranging the duel in the first place. Hijirisawa would then scold Ichi for his lack of manners, causing Osomatsu, Todo, and Jyushi to stifle their giggles at a red-faced Ichi. "Yes." He replied, not taking his eyes off Ichi, who was scowling as he took a swing of his katana. "Our last duel was not fair. I wish to fight him myself, with my own skill and with my own mind controlling my own body."

The voice continued to talk. "You can let me duel him instead. No harm would befall you if you let me do it."

"I know." Choro closed his eyes. "You could win any duel, with how skilled you are. I do not doubt your capabilities, but Suuji Ichi declared that he challenge me, Choro, to a fight. And as such, I will not cheat. Such is not chivalric in the slightest."

"Then why won't you let me do it? He does not know the difference between you and me. He does not know I exist." The voice asked again.

"Just trust me." Choro said in a voice that was almost cracking. "I can hold my own weight. You needn't worry about me so much anymore. I am an adult."

"I worry about you more than ever. You do not understand what is fully going on. There will be something soon that will put you in a tight position. I am only doing this to protect you. Let me do this, you do not understand what will happen."

"So I will try to understand. I am an adult, as I said so, and as such, I can do this myself." Choro took a deep breath. "Whatever threat is coming to harm me, I know it will harm my newfound friends as well. So I will not let them be harmed."

"Why?" Asked the voice, sounding a bit angry. "Why would you defend them? They will only hurt you in the end. One of them only wants you for his personal gain."

"And that is to go home to his brothers."

"What does he have in store for you once he accomplishes that goal? You do not know if he will use you for more of his selfish wants."

"I do not have time to argue with you." Choro snapped. "This is only a friendly duel. None of us will die in this. Do you understand?"

Finally, the voice shut up, as if it was guilty for angering Choro. The green-eyed boy sighed, his eyes remaining shut as he tried to remember what lead to all of this.

Deep in his head, Choro could hear a voice. Such a voice was not of his own, as it was deeper in tone, lacked any sort of emotion whatsoever, and even hearing it made the hairs in Choro's arms stand straight from goosebumps. Yet, despite that description, he felt safe whenever that voice spoke up and offered advice, and occasionally, words of praise and reassurance.

As long as he remembered, Choro knew there was always this odd voice in his head. He did not question it, for he found no reason to. The deep, velvety voice had always helped him in times of peril, and if not for that, he would have been long dead. When Choro awoke in that forest with no memory of who he was and how he got there, it was that voice that had been the one to guide him.

Choro was told that his parents were murdered by a criminal whose name Choro didn't even familiarize with. He was told that he spent nearly all his childhood trying to avenge them, fending for himself and training himself to be someone that the victims of that vile creature could count on. The voice in his head would soothe him whenever he got scared or he started to doubt himself, and Choro later accepted his words and story with no questions asked.

Choro didn't ask how it was possible he even lived that long. Choro didn't ask where their old house was. Choro didn't ask why, despite all the supposed years that had passed, his body had barely matured.