Last time we got a glimpse into the Life of the Oni Ibuki, known as Tsubasa Minamoto in his human form. He works for the Hanzo Academy Shinobi as a caretaker. However he is but one Oni that is affected by the strange new behavior of the Makamou. Where do the other Oni reside?

Within a secluded part of Japan sat a school with a rather impressive atmosphere, darkness seemed to naturally hang over the academy like a plague. This was Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy, a school dedicated to training evil Shinobi. However a few short months ago, a singular male student joined the ranks of the prestigious school. Son of a graduate of the academy, he was accepted upon the request of his mother. Within one of the dormitories of the academy sat said individual. The room itself had a boombox sat on top of a dresser, a bookshelf filled with CDs from a collection of Japanese and Western Rock Bands. An amp and electric guitar sat in another corner of the room, completely devoid of dust.

            Held up on the wall by hooks was a simple katana. Posters of different rock bands decorated the walls and resting on the nightstand was a pair of green headphones with a lightning bolt design on them. Standing in the room getting dressed for the day was a teenage boy, eighteen years of age. He had short and messy orange hair, and electrifying green eyes. He wore the standard Hebijo Uniform, well standard in the sense he was the only male student at the school. He wore a black shirt with red lining around the collar, black pants, and a pair of brown dress shoes. The one unique aspect of his attire was a gray jacket that he wore over top of it. Emblazoned on the back of the jacket was of an Oni clutching a bolt of lightning in its hands.

This young man was Ranto Hanabusa, the sole male student of Hebijo Academy. Ranto grabbed his headphones before resting them around his neck. "Another day, another annoying lesson." Ranto mumbled to himself as he walked over to the guitar resting on its stand in the corner of his room. It was a simple green Flying V guitar, nothing overly fancy, just the way Ranto liked it. Ranto picked the guitar up before plugging it into the amp next to it and began tuning it. "Could be out patrolling Tokyo to try and figure out what's going on with the Makamou. But no, I decided to attend a school my mother wanted me to." Ranto grumbled to himself, slightly more venom dripping from the word mother. Ranto finished tuning his guitar before unplugging it and setting it back on its stand.

Ranto then walked over to his nightstand before pulling open the drawer where an MP3 player was resting. Ranto picked up the device before plugging his headphones into it. Ranto began scrolling through his multiple playlists. "Now what soundtrack will help me get through today?" Ranto mumbled to himself as he continued to cycle through his playlists in search of the right one. Ranto's search however was interrupted by a knock on the door to his room. "Goddammit, this early in the morning?" Ranto groaned as he was hoping for at least another hour of peace. Ranto shuffled over to the door to his dorm room before taking a moment to just stare at the door. The teenage boy sat there, contemplating whether or not he actually wanted to answer the door.

And impatient knock on the door however made the decision for him as he let out an annoyed groan. "Yeah calm your tits I'm coming!" Ranto shouted as he grabbed the door knob before undoing the lock and throwing the door open. Standing in the doorway was a girl, a year or two older then Ranto. She had light brown hair and dark green eyes framed by glasses. She wore a Hebijo uniform and clutched in her left hand was a red pole that had a gold cap on both ends.

"Took you long enough to answer Ranto. Honestly were you listening to that obnoxious music of yours?" Imu growled as she shot a glare at her male classmate. Ranto rolled his eyes of course it was Imu ruining his peace this early in the morning. "You should try giving it a listen Imu, might help you loosen up a bit." Ranto snapped back as Imu shot him a glare, but a small smirk spread across her face. Imu gently poked Ranto in the gut with her pole. "I still can't fathom why you listen to that obnoxiously loud rock music, yet whenever you play guitar it's much more gentle and pleasant sounding." Imu teased slightly as Ranto rolled his eyes at her statement about his music.

"Even the loudest and most raging tunes can have a quality of harmony to them if you know how to play." Ranto said as he gently pushed past Imu and entered the hallway as he closed the door to his dorm behind him. Ranto stretched as he felt a few of the muscles in his back pop. "So what hell does Suzune Sensei have for us today?" Ranto asked as he shot Imu a curious look. The bespectacled girl gave her classmate a concerned look as she knew Ranto wasn't exactly fond of training, despite always giving his best effort. "Ranto, Suzune Sensei can be harsh, but she does care about us." Imu stated gently as Ranto began walking down the hallway as the girl followed after him. Ranto snorted at Imu's words, Susune Sensei caring about him?

"Hey your jokes are getting better!" Ranto replied, irritation evident in his tone as he continued to walk down the hallway. Imu let out a frustrated sigh, she knew this argument was coming. "Ranto, I know Suzune Sensei sometimes get on your case, but that doesn't mean she doesn't care!" Imu said sternly trying to get through to her classmate. Ranto laughed at that claim before shooting a glare over his shoulder at Imu. "You mean she cares about you five, like she gives a shit about me." Ranto snapped, venom dripping from each word this time around. Ranto faced forward before picking up the pace of his walk. Imu followed behind him, a worried look on her face. Her male classmate was problematic at times.

"Master! You're awake!" A figure leaped onto Ranto, pulling him into a tight hug, something soft pressing against his head and a pair of legs wrapping around him. Imu recovered from her initial shock and saw that the figure in question was a girl with short blonde hair and heterochromatic eyes. She wore a Hebijo uniform and carried two custom pistols.

Ranto let out a groan of frustration before grabbing the girl by the sides of her torso before tossing her to the ground. "Yes punish me more!" Ryouna moaned as she laid sprawled out on the ground, drool leaking out of the side of her mouth, a perverted look on her face. Ranto turned to Imu, shooting her an unamused look as he did his best to ignore Hebijo's resident masochist. "You know I still resent you an Miyabi for not warning me about Ryouna's fetishes before that sparring match I had against her on my first day." Ranto grumbled in annoyance as an embarrassed look spread across Imu's face.

            "Sorry, we didn't expect you to beat her on your first day." Imu admitted as she scratched the back of her head awkwardly. Ranto let out a sigh, just another morning at Hebijo Academy. "Stop making it sound like it's an accomplishment. Anyone with half a brain can beat this mutt!" A feminine voice snarled as Ranto and Imu heard Ryouna let out another moan. Both turned to see a girl with long brown hair in twin tails standing over Ryouna, her foot pressing down on the blonde's stomach. She had the same heterochromatic eyes as Ryouna, only the colors were inverted. She wore a Hebijo uniform and carried a bolt action rifle that had an axe head fashioned to the stick.

Ranto's right eye twitched before he let a smug smirk across his face, time for one of his favorite parts of the day.

            "Is that right Ryoubi? I guess your right, but she at least beat you when it came to puberty." Ranto snapped back with a edge in his voice, a taunting smirk spreading across his face. Ryoubi's eyes practically ignited with fire as she aimed her rifle at Ranto, who was still smirking at the whole situation. "Keep talking like that and I'll rip off what makes you a man!" Ryoubi barked as she glared at Ranto, who just smirked at the threat. Imu pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a migraine coming on, these two couldn't go one day without a verbal clash. "Oh ho! You got fire, to bad you don't have certain "assets" to back it all up!" Ranto fired back as steam was practically coming off Ryoubi's head at this point, she was ready to explode. Ryoubi was about to rest her finger on the trigger, only for a hand to grab her rifle.

           "That's enough Ryoubi, I've told you to stop antagonizing Ranto. He's a member of this team and you gotta accept that." A stern female voice said as everyone turned to see another girl had joined them. She had short white hair, piercing yellow eyes, and a serious expression on her face. She wore a Hebijo uniform, her left arm was wrapped in bandages and clutched in her right hand was a katana.

"Why the hell should I be nice to this jerk off? Even Suzune Sensei thinks he's useless!" Ryoubi barked as Ranto shot an annoyed glare her way, that one had stung a bit. The white haired girl shot a stern glare at Ryoubi, causing the sniper to shrink slightly under her leader's gaze. "Ranto has only been here for a few months, comparing him to the rest of us is hardly fair." Miyabi said sternly as any snide comment Ryoubi had died in her throat under her leader's gaze. Ryoubi strapped her rifle to her back before turning on her heel and stomping off, muttering obscenities as she went.

             "Thank you Miyabi, I was about to strangle both of them." Imu groaned in annoyance as she rubbed her temples gently. Miyabi turned and shot a stern glare at Ranto who simply rolled his eyes at the look he was receiving from the Hebijo team leader. "Ranto, why do you insist on antagonizing her? Ryoubi talks to everyone like that, why play into it?" Miyabi asked in a tone that was a mixture of curiosity and concern. Ranto snorted at the question before shooting Miyabi a smirk. "At this point it's a game Miyabi, if she snaps and pulls the trigger, I win and she knows that." Ranto stated matter of factly as Miyabi gently whacked him on top of the head with her sheathed katana.

              "Honestly, what are we going to do with you?" Miyabi grumbled in slight annoyance as she shot a slightly more friendly glare at her male classmate. Ranto rolled his eyes as he didn't want to be at this stupid school in the first place, but he promised he would so no backing out. "I don't know, Suzune Sensei thinks I'm a lost cause, so maybe become a janitor for the school?" Ranto said as a joke, but there was obvious hostility in his tone. Miyabi and Imu exchanged concerned looks, both wanting to point out that their music loving classmate was wrong about how their teacher viewed him, but knew he wouldn't listen in his current mood. "We need to get Murasaki out of her bedroom, Suzune Sensei won't be happy if we show up to training without her, again." Miyabi stated sternly before she turned on her heel, walking down the hallway with Ranto and Imu following her.

The trio stopped in front of a door to one of the dormitories before Miyabi knocked on it rather roughly. "Murasaki, we have training! Please come out!" Miyabi shouted to the inhabitant of the room. The trio waited for five minutes but got no response. Imu then walked up to the door before knocking on it herself. "Murasaki, please don't be stubborn about this! Remember we will drag you out if we need to!" Imu called out to her little sister in a gentle, but firm tone as she hoped this would be an easy day. Once again the group waited five minutes for a response and once again received none. Imu let out a frustrated sigh before turning to Miyabi. "We should probably go get Ryoubi and Ryouna." Imu said in a defeated tone as Miyabi grimaced slightly at her words.

Ranto rolled his eyes before resting a hand on both Miyabi and Imu's shoulders before gently pushing past both of them. "Would you two sit back and let the professional handle this?" Ranto said in a somewhat cocky tone before he knocked on the door. "Yo, Murasaki we got training! I know it sucks, but if you're willing to cooperate, I'll make a deal with ya!" Ranto called out to his classmate before he waited for a response. Three minutes passed before a meek voice finally spoke from the other side of the door. "What kind of deal?" Murasaki asked as she waited for Ranto to explain himself. Ranto smirked, he had her on the hook, just had to reel her in.

"Tell you what, you come to training and this weekend we can hangout and marathon the Ronin Gaiden Movies that you've been asking me to borrow. I'll bring snacks and everything. What do ya say?" Ranto said as he waited for a response from the girl inside the room. After another four minutes the door opened to reveal another girl in a Hebijo uniform. She had incredibly long purple hair and dull purple eyes, her entire body language seemed to scream timid.

"You promise?" Murasaki asked cautiously as she gave Ranto a doubtful look. Ranto smirked before gently patting her on top of the head. "Do I lie Murasaki? You come to training the rest of the week, I'm yours for the entire weekend to watch those movies." Ranto said, causing Murasaki to smile before she started walking down the hallway to the training field. Ranto turned to look at Miyabi and Imu, who both looked at him dumbfounded. "You two need to learn how to negotiate." Ranto said simply before following after Murasaki. Miyabi and Imu both exchanged looks before following after their male classmate.

Three Hours Later, Training Field
Three hours had passed as Ranto and Hebijo were in the training field. Ryoubi and Ryouna were both practicing marksmanship by hanging upside down from a metal bar. Ryoubi had an annoyed look on her face as she reloaded her rifle before shooting another humanoid wooden puppet in the head. Ryouna unleashed rapid fire barrages with her pistols on any puppets that got close. The blonde was panting as she enjoyed the discomfort of the blood rushing to her head. Imu and Murasaki balanced across a beam one hundred feet off the ground. Puppets sat down below throwing kunai at the two sisters. Imu twirled her pole around, striking the kunai out of the air while slowly inching forward. Murasaki threw her Shurikens with her hair, decapitating multiple puppets before her hair caught them again.

            Miyabi and Ranto stood back to back, Miyabi holding her katana out in front of her. Ranto held a nodachi in a reverse grip, clutching the handle with both hands. A good two hundred puppets surrounding them. "Are we certain Suzune Sensei just isn't trying to flat out kill us?" Ranto asked the Hebijo leader over his shoulder, causing the girl to let out a small snort. Miyabi lunged forward before swinging her katana in a sweeping arc, slicing five puppets in half. Miyabi twirls around before blocking the swords of four more puppets. The white haired girl then deflects the blades before kicking one puppet in the torso. Miyabi follows this up by decapitating two more before spinning around and stabbing the last one through the torso.

            Miyabi backflips over another six puppets before slicing them all in half from the waist before leaping backwards out of the path of two axes. Miyabi lands on her feet before lunging forward and with three swift swings of her katana, slices the two axe wielding puppets into pieces. Miyabi looked around and noticed that more puppets had already surrounded her. "Suzune Sensei understands the term Over Kill a little to well." Miyabi mumbled to herself before she sidestepped a spear before stomping down on the pole, breaking it in half. Miyabi readied her katana again before lunging at three puppets wielding spears. The Hebijo leader leaped into the air before swinging her katana down towards the puppets.

           Ranto swung his nodachi in an arc around him, slicing five puppets in half before stabbing the blade into the ground. Ranto sidestepped a spear thrust before grabbing the pole of the weapon and thrusting it back at the puppet. The butt of the spear struck the puppet in the chest, knocking it to the ground. Ranto twirled the spear above his head before thrusting it towards three puppets, skewering all three through the chest. Ranto let go of the weapon before swiftly drawing his nodachi from the ground before spinning around and blocking a puppet wielding a large cleaver. Ranto reeled back his right fist before punching the puppet in the face before swiftly stabbing it through the chest. Ranto turned, ready to fight more puppets, only to find there were none left.

"STOP! That's enough for now." Ranto and Team Hebijo all ceased their training and lined up as a woman with purple hair and red rimmed glasses walked up to them.

Rin walked in front of her students before stopping and standing a few feet in front of them. "All of your performances in warmups and basic training were adequate. As for combat training, only one of you seemed to drop the ball." Rin said as she locked eyes with Ranto, who remained silent. Rin walked up Ranto, a stern look in her eyes, which Ranto returned with a frustrated glare of his own. "Do you have anything to say for yourself Mr. Hanabusa?" Rin said sternly as she waited for her mske student to answer her question. Ranto for his part didn't let his teacher's stony gaze faze him, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

"I'd say I did pretty well, but I'm sure you'll point out how my uniform was disheveled, which somehow threw me off kilter." Ranto said in a mocking tone as he was so used to being lectured at this point. Rin's gaze hardened as jabbed Ranto in the shoulder with her pointer. "There were two hundred puppets, you eliminated eighty while Miyabi eliminated one hundred and twenty. You shouldn't have fell behind by such a large margin." Rin said in a strict tone as Ranto heard Ryoubi snort in amusement, but ignored it. Ranto shoved Rin's pointer off his shoulder before shooting a glare at her. "Considering I've only be doing this Shinobi thing for four months, I'd say my progress has been solid." Ranto fires back at his teacher, who's glare only intensified.

"Do you understand that to be a Shinobi you have to always strive for perfection? Perhaps if you stopped playing with that guitar of yours, you might actually make decent progress." Rin said sternly as Ranto clenched his fist, if only she knew that he was actually doing. Ranto heard another snort from Ryoubi who he shot a quickly glared at, but it didn't faze the Shinobi Girl. "I don't think he'd give up the one thing he's good at, Susune Sensei!" Ryoubi sneered as Ranto felt a vein start to pop in his forehead. Ranto turned on his heel before he started walking away, not wanting to deal with this treatment any longer then he had to. "Where do you think you're going Mr. Hanabusa?" Rin asked her make student, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. Ranto shot a glare over his shoulder at his teacher.

"I don't know Suzune Sensei, I never wanted to be a damn Shinobi! My mother who didn't even give a damn about my feelings did! But hey, I still show up everyday and listen to your criticisms don't I? No, but you're right I'm just some rockstar wannabe that only cares about his guitar." Ranto said the last part in a gentler tone, his anger dying down with each word. Rin's stern gaze was replaced with a look of concern for her student. "Ranto, I didn't intend for any of my words to hurt you." Rin started but quickly stopped when she saw Ranto slip his headphones on over his ears. Rin and the Hebijo girls had learned quickly that meant Ranto didn't want anyone talking to him. The teenage boy walked off, his teacher and friends giving him a concerned look.

Nighttime
Everyone at Hebijo was asleep as the moon shone in the sky. However breaking the silence of night were the wails of an electric guitar. Ranto stood in his room, playing his Flying V, each strum of the guitar sounding like booming thunder or crackling lightning. A maelstrom of cords and guitar riffs screamed into the night sky, their loud and violent sounds melding together into a raging ballad. Ranto continued to strum the cords, not caring if he woke up half the school, not caring if he got noise complains from his classmates, and certainly not caring if Susune Sensei gave him another lecture for it. Right now he was declaring to the world what he was, not an Evil Shinobi, but a proud Oni of the String Clan. A perfect storm of cords, notes, and riffs sounded throughout Hebijo Academy, if an outsider heard it, they would mistake it for a storm.

So we got a glimpse into the life of Ranto, the human alias of Todoroki! However unlike his Tube Oni friend, he seems to struggle in his Shinobi related environment. As always leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments! What is life like for the Percussion Oni of the trio? Who exactly does he work for when not patrolling Tokyo? What threats are laying in wait for the Oni? Find out in the next Song of Senran Kagura: Song of Shinobi & Oni!