Search Party

A blade that does not fear anyone,
holding a grudge for a wound that nobody shares,
this is also a stray dog.

nd so Naoto's involvement in Bullets & Carnage begins. Her first appearance is during the first chapter, "White Hair & Eye Patch." Of course, her encounter is very brief, as the two characters that the chapter was centered on, Heine and Badou, are not familiar with her.
The duo is walking along when a girl, Naoto, crosses by walking in the opposite direction. There is a brief moment in which Heine turns back to look at the stranger, before being distracted about the prospect of "eating lasagna" for tonight.

eine and the rest walk off and we then follow into Naoto's part of the story. It seems that she is underground or in a shabby alleyway, trying to get some information from some street wanderers. However, their facials expressions suggest that there is no way they will be handing over anything without a fight. Naoto, most likely, knows this as she indicates what she is looking for.

Dealer:

Naoto:
"Yeah, well, I do know a bit about the things that go on in this area. I know who might deal with and sell something like that.
“What sort of information do you want? About a thing? Or a person?”
"… A thing, and a person. Both."

She then pulls out the sword that she received from Fuyumine to show to the dealer and tells him that she wants information about the sword, and who carries the same model.
The man looks over it and admits that he doesn’t know much about it, but remarks that it’s a “real beauty.” He smiles sinisterly and asks about the reward she’s willing to pay him. Naoto gives him a look of suspicion.

“I heard that the amount would be based on our conversation.”

The man laughs cruelly at her and tells her that there’s a widespread of information business dealers. He goes into an explanation about the process of things, concluding it with “there are sometimes hits and sometimes misses.” He then asks her if there are any questions about the statement she had “heard.”
Meanwhile, Naoto notices how she’s slowly being surrounded by the gang. She smiles coolly.

“That’s right. It looks like… I’ve found a hit.”

The dealer seems to be a bit more interested glad that she’s a “quick thinker.” Of course, it’s pretty obvious (except to the dealer) that she’s playing with him. He suggests that they go into the motel over yonder, and she responds with a, “Yeah, yeah,” continuing to toy with him. Seen in the panel beforehand, there is a small glint of a knife. Taking this opportunity of naivety from him, she slices off one of his fingers.
At first, the man is shocked, but realizing that the finger is his, he goes into a fit of anger and takes out his gun. Naoto, however, is too quick for him and she quickly unsheathes Fuyumine’s sword and makes a quick sushi out of him. Of course, this leads to the retaliation of the other gang members. To make a long story short, she ends up beating them all up.

Naoto walks over to the dealer with a scowl on her face, graciously awarding us a rather humorous scene.

Naoto:
Dealer:

“So have we become a bit better friends now?”
“Yes we have – we’ve totally become friends. A friendship deeper than the sea, so please let’s take this in a direction that doesn’t hurt!”

      After his defeat, he reveals to Naoto the extent of his information, clearly stating that he knows nothing about what she's looking for. Naoto listens silently before asking about a place even deeper underground that she had heard about.
      The dealer begins to explain that he knows nothing about that area either before he stops himself with an, "Ah!" remembering something important. He then continues to say that he heard about a man who was searching for the same thing she is. Her curiosity piqued, she asks who the man was.
      The dealer says that they had attacked his own group of friends who were in the same business as he is.

“It was a skilled team of two young guys, one of them with a path, and the other with white hair.
And… I’m sure they asked about that…”

And, if you don't know already, Heine has white hair and Badou has an eye patch on one eye. Hum... I wonder who he could be talking about.

oving on, Naoto’s search leads her to a church. The first person she encounters is Nil, who is sweeping the entrance. Unknown to her at that moment, it seems that Naoto is not the only one who wants to enter the church. As she goes in, an anonymous person says that they may have a little trouble. Another man states that one girl won’t be too much to handle.
We will see how wrong he is about this statement much later.

Inside, Naoto meets with the priest of the church. Surprisingly, he seems to know who Naoto is beforehand and, based on reactions, facials expressions, and the like, I’m assuming she never told him her name. He also seems to be aware that she’s searching for something.
Naoto says that, when she first came to this place, she heard that he was the most knowledgeable about the area, as well as the deepest areas. Presumably, she got this information from the previous dealer she had beat up beforehand. (“Oh come on please, give me a break!!!”) To this, the priest responds that he’s just a regular, ordinary priest. Of course, his statement is shot down by Nil, who stands a distance away, scowling at him.

Then, a gang of people (of the Carselino family, but it’s not like anyone cares or will even remember them later on) bust in with the explanation of, “We’ve got some business with that winged chick.” Off to the side, the priest thinks about a few things, managing to let the gang slip by without him noticing…
Of course, Naoto rushes on to the scene with a simple statement, “Move over.” Another thing to note is that at the same time, Heine is doing the same thing with his own group of thugs. Here, we see some parallel between the two situations, but let’s get it on anyway.

Bullets & Carnage: Ch. 1 “White Hair & Eye Patch”
Bullets & Carnage: Ch. 2 “Maiden & Eisen”
Bullets & Carnage: Ch. 4 “Smack Down”
Bullets & Carnage: Ch. 5 “Blade & Bullet”
Bullets & Carnage: Ch. 6 “Cowardly & Proudly”

The battle is quite easy and Naoto defeats them without a challenge. The priest thanks her, although he wishes that she should’ve taken it elsewhere instead of slicing their throats in the church. Naoto brushes off the comment and, instead, asks why Nil was being targeted. The priest just laughs and says that she’s “real popular around here.”
Naoto also notices the wings that Nil has on her back and seems to be mesmerized in them. You can find further analysis on this action here. And, after the priest does a rather OCD move on Nil, Naoto concludes that he is, indeed, a “freaky priest.”

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