"Yeah, I've been busy." Nagisa nodded while following the person inside. Just like Nagisa, this man was also wearing a mask, but not one that covered his mouth and nose, but one that covered his eyes. He wore a simple black full body suit and had a bunch of knives hanging around his waist. "How's it been, Crow?"
"Well, you came back on just the right day." The man Nagisa called Crow clicked his tongue and snickered.
"How so?" Nagisa wondered.
"The dusk has sent one of their princesses to our branch. They say it is just for training, but there is a rumor going around that she's being punished for something." Crow explained.
"That does seem more plausible, there's no other reason to send one of their elites to do our job." Nagisa nodded, "How's her record been?"
"5 out of 5 for now, but we are still trying to find her a partner. We've been specifically told that we're not to send her on A ranks or higher missions on her own." Crow explained, "But there's a problem, she's looking for a partner around her age and this person has to be able to defend himself for at least 5 minutes against her.".
"Doesn't sound too bad." Nagisa shrugged, "5 minutes sounds like a reasonable time even if she's an elite out of the elite."
"Yeah no, that's not the problem." Crow snickered again, "She's 12."
Nagisa instantly stopped walking hearing the news, "…I'm leaving." He said before turning around and walking back.
"Hey kid comon!" Crow quickly stopped him, "You're one of our best and the ONLY one around her age! You gotta help us out here!".
"I don't work with partners!" Nagisa was really irritated.
"Kid, you know you have to stop being such a difficult case… we've been keeping an eye shut due to your age, but we can't keep your status hidden for a lot longer! I agreed when you said you couldn't find a suitable partner, but after all this time you don't even have a codename!".
"No."
"Comon, give it a try, maybe you'll get along with her. For all I know, you could actually become part of the dusk if you really tried."
"No!" Nagisa insisted, there was no way he would partner up with someone! The only time he could go all out without any camouflage was on his missions. If he had a partner, he would have to hide the abilities from his shadow scale and constantly change the color and nature of his aura.
"God damn it, kid!" Crow sighed helplessly.
"How capable is she?" Nagisa asked after hesitating for a few seconds.
"Well, you said it yourself, she's an elite out of the elite, she can't be that bad."
"Hmm."
"So, will you consider?"
"No." Nagisa still shook his head stubbornly.
"Oh screw you, kid!"
Nagisa followed the man and entered a huge room that resembled a bar. There were a bunch of people sitting around and every single one of them were wearing masks, be it the sort Nagisa was wearing or crow was wearing. Some even had a mask that covered their entire face. And the most astonishing part, all of them were dragons!
Nagisa's attention was quickly caught by a silhouette sitting all alone in a corner, the main reason was that she was the only person around that was about Nagisa's height, the second reason was that she was wearing a dark purple combat suit.
"Really… purple? That's way too flashy for our work." Nagisa grunted in annoyance a little bit too loudly.
"Don't be like that, it's a really dark shade of purple so it basically looks like black in the dark." The man snickered again while patting Nagisa on his shoulder. "She's new to these kinds of missions after all."
Once Nagisa made his presence known, most of the people in the room looked up and greeted him. Despite the work that they do, the members of the branch were really tightknit and with Nagisa being the only literal child around till now, a lot of people in the branch saw him like some sort of kid brother. Of course, Nagisa's 100% success rate on missions also earned him quite a name.
"I was told that there was another member here who was around my age, I just didn't expect him to be so disrespectful and arrogant." The girl who was sitting there suddenly turned around and glared at Nagisa. She was wearing a mask similar to Nagisa's.
- Her eyes… they seem… familiar. -
Nagisa spaced out for a second before quickly recovering, "I was merely stating a fact. Purple really isn't a good choice of color if you want to stay hidden. You'll have to know that we don't always stay in the dark. Unnecessary attention might put not only you but also your teammates into danger." Nagisa rolled his eyes.
The girl, who was apparently the princess from the dusk, had large amber eyes and long back wavy hair tied into a ponytail. She had a rather slim and petite figure but her thin waist made her body look curvier than it actually was.
"Fair enough, I will look for a new attire." The girl was taken aback for a second, gave Nagisa's words a bit of thought, before nodding and glaring at Nagisa, "But even so, there was no need for such an attitude, was there?"
"The dusk has forced us to find a partner for you, and you selfishly added some extra requirements which made me the only remaining option." Nagisa grunted, "So in a way you are trying to get me killed along with you, what attitude do you expect?".
"You..." The girl audibly gritted her teeth while continuing to glare at Nagisa. Nagisa shuddered a bit when he noticed how her eyes were getting a little bit watery.
"Damn it, kid! Don't be a cunt!", "Kiddo! Don't just turn down a lady before even getting to know her, you'll be lonely forever!", Nagisa could hear people in the background yelling and couldn't help but to roll his eyes again.
"But I guess you are better than I expected. I really didn't think you were going to agree with changing your attire so easily." Nagisa sighed and admitted.
"You had a point so why wouldn't I?" The princess asked begrudgingly, "How did you expect me to react?!"
"Like a princess sitting on her high horse." Nagisa answered, "But still, I have no intention of forming a team with you." Nagisa declared straight ahead.
"Kid! Don't be such a pain in the ass!" Crow yelled as he frowned, "What is wrong with you?! Why are you behaving like that?!"
"I'm trying to leave a bad impression so she won't want to be my partner." Nagisa admitted shamelessly, "If she's the one who rejects the idea you can't blame me." Nagisa grunted.
"… Do you really hate me that much?" The princess frowned in confusion, "I don't think I've ever met you before.".
"No, you haven't, it's nothing personal. I simply don't work with partners and I plan to keep it that way." Nagisa stated, turned around and walked towards the mission board without even looking back.
"What's wrong with him…" The princess squinted her eyes as she continued to stare at Nagisa, but the anger in her eyes has faded and was replaced with a bit of curiosity.
Nagisa was scanning the mission board while letting out a silent sigh. He did feel a little bit guilty for acting the way he did, as a first impression, the dusk princess seemed like a sweet and polite girl. After everything Nagisa had said, she was still reasonably calm and didn't take any drastic measures. If they didn't meet under such conditions, Nagisa would gladly get to know her better.
That's when a mission hidden behind all the others caught Nagisa's attention! It was an A-rank assassination mission and had a hefty bounty of 10 gold! But the target was a Baronet living in Valm which would mean heavy security.
Without even thinking twice, Nagisa reached out to take it. But just as his hand was about to reach the piece of paper, a small hand with slender fingers reached for it as well.
Both hands stopped when they almost touched, Nagisa was startled for a second before he turned around to see the owner of the hand. "Can I have this mission?" Nagisa heard a voice ask.
"I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to take A-rank missions." Nagisa shook his head and raised an eyebrow. Next to him was no one else but the dusk princess he had just met before.
"… I need this mission." Nagisa could tell that she was gritting her teeth again.
"So do I." Nagisa simply shook his head again.
"Why?" she still wasn't giving up and asked. Nagisa sighed and simply moved his finger and pointed at the bounty.
"You're doing this for money?!" The princess shouted in disbelieve, "You're killing people for money?!"
"Alright listen here, princess!" Nagisa also snapped hearing her remark, "I don't know what kind of life you've been living till now and I don't care! You don't know a thing about me so stop judging me! I have things I have to do!"
"And you're willing to take other lives for it?!" there was a certain amount of disappointment in her large amber eyes. For some reason it made Nagisa shudder and feel really uncomfortable.
"I don't think I need to justify my actions to you, princess." Nagisa just grunted, "Then tell me, why do you need this mission?"
"That man deserves to die! For everything he's done!" There was a sudden burst of hatred coming from her amber eyes. It took Nagisa by surprise, he wasn't sure what to think of that answer. She knew what the baronet was doing.
"Do you know how these missions get on this board?" Nagisa asked her after calming himself down a little.
"Why are you changing the topic?" the princess asked coldly.
"People living in Valm send us these requests. We have places all over this city where they can leave their request, most of them are just moving stores and shops opened by people of our branch and if the missions are acceptable, they bring them back here." Nagisa continued completely ignoring the princess remark.
"But to have your mission accepted you have to pay 50% of the bounty which in this case would be 5 gold, the other 50% is paid by the dusk." Nagisa finished leaving the princess confused.
"And why are you telling me this?" she asked still having a disgusted and cold voice coming from behind her mask.
"This is my request." Nagisa said in a monotone, "5 gold was everything I've saved up in years, and I spend it all on this request. I need this mission."
"You request and complete your own missions to make money?! You're terrible!" She glared at Nagisa disgusted, "I've never met a scum like you!"
The look in her eyes bothered Nagisa and he couldn't figure out why. She definitely hated him now and this was his goal from the start, but whenever he saw her look at him in disappointment and disgust, he felt awful.
"Glad you think so poorly of me. Do you really think I would make this an assassination on a baronet if I just wanted money?!" Nagisa rolled his eyes, "If I wanted to maximize my profit I would just make myself steal stuff from a baronet, that's way safer and gives a lot more profit."
The princess was startled by that, Nagisa was right. After all, the one giving the request also gets to keep the stolen goods. "Then why?", she didn't understand.
"That baronet is involved in the slave market, not just our kind, but even humans!" Nagisa gritted his teeth and said, "He has to die."
"… You… I'm sorry, I thought you…" there were clear shock and panic showing in the princess's eyes, "I'm sorry." Was all she could say, "But then why would you say you were doing this for money?"
"I still am… I spend almost everything I had to request this mission, if I don't get it back I'll starve to death." Nagisa grunted uncomfortably, "I don't know if it's something you can relate to."
"I know how it feels to almost starve to death, I'm sorry for judging you without knowing what situation you're in." She apologized sincerely, "But now that I know, even though you already declined once, I want to ask you to be my partner. I feel like we have more in common than I initially thought."
"… I just ruined all the work I did to build a bad reputation, huh?" Nagisa grunted begrudgingly, "Why did I feel the need to justify myself…" he mumbled to himself.
"That's a great idea!" Nagisa grunted even louder when he suddenly heard Crow's voice, "You can see it as a test run, if things work out you can form a team after you're back, if not, well that's just how it is then."
"That's a terrible idea…" Nagisa mumbled again.
"Well, either you two are doing this mission together or I'm taking this mission." Crow snickered while snatching the contract out of Nagisa's and the princess's hands, "You know, I just decided that I have priority since I am in a leading position in this branch."
"You're abusing your authority!" Nagisa complained.
"Hell yeah I am! So, what's the answer kid?" Crow asked while holding the contract high enough, so it was out of Nagisa's reach.
"Just this once…" Nagisa finally gave in after hesitating for a few seconds, "Pleasure to work with you princess."
"Call me Akari, the pleasure is mine, ehh." Akari nodded but stopped as she realized that she had no idea how to call Nagisa.
"Akari? Is that your real name or your codename?" Nagisa wondered. It was unusual to have an actual name as your codename, most of the members use animals or objects as their codename like Crow, Blade or one member even called herself Baby.
"Honestly? I don't even know myself anymore." Akari answered quietly in a self-mocking way.
"Huh…? Oh yeah, I don't have a codename, most people just call me kid or kiddo around here, but I guess that wouldn't work for you." Nagisa just shrugged to change the topic. "Just call me whatever."
"Hmm, are you sure?" Akari raised an eyebrow and Nagisa could see a hint of mischief in her amber eyes.
"Ehh, sure why not." Nagisa frowned slightly and answered.
"Alright, then I'm just gonna call you Jerk." Akari decided happily.
"… Come again?" Nagisa deadpanned.
"You said to call you whatever, and my first expression of you was exactly that." Akari chimed as she took the contract back from Crow.
"Huh… I guess that's only fair."
"Mhmm, and we should get going if we want to get back before dawn." Akari said before starting to walk towards the exit.
"You owe me one kid." Crow grinned as he watched Akari disappear from their sight.
"I owe you nothing! If anything, the entire branch owes me for the sacrifice." Nagisa grunted helplessly.
"Aww comon kid, she seems like a nice girl." Crow just snickered and said, "It's odd though, she's always been extremely isolated the days before."
"Huh? She looks fairly sociable to me?" Nagisa doubted.
"Yeah that's what I'm saying, we've never seen her like this. I'm pretty sure this is the first time she said more than 3 sentences." Crow claimed.
"Huh…"
"And she's surprisingly friendly towards you even with everything you've pulled."
"You call that friendly? She called me a scum before and calls me Jerk now."
"You deserved that kid."
"I know! But still…"
"And you're being awfully nice even though you said you're trying to piss her off."
"I know…"
"I think I'm seeing something." Crow started snickering again while looking at Nagisa with a suggestive look.
"Hmm? What do you see?" Nagisa just frowned and wondered.
"… Really?" Crow deadpanned, "You know what, never mind. Just hurry up, don't make her wait too long."
"No seriously, what do you see?" Nagisa insisted but Crow already disappeared into the crowd before Nagisa could get an answer. "What was that all about…?"
Deciding to shrug it all off, Nagisa quickly followed Akari out of the underground bunker and back to the bottom of the well, "Do you have an idea how we should proceed?" Nagisa asked as he saw Akari.
"Hmm? We just have to kill him, right?" Akari asked innocently, the contradiction made Nagisa grimace.
"You've never assassinated someone, have you?" Nagisa sighed and asked.
"Is there a difference?" Akari wondered.
"Assassinating means that we have to kill him without revealing who killed him, best case we make it seem like an accident, for example, he fell down the stairs, or he just died naturally in his sleep and so on." Nagisa explained.
"That seems really unnecessary." Akari frowned.
"It's not! If they find out that we killed a baronet, the entire branch is in danger. The only reason we still exist is because we hide ourselves well. Why do you think we have another 7 spare hideouts in this city?" Nagisa explained patiently. "And we have to take your attire into consideration, it would be optimal if we can finish him off without alerting anyone, because once they have any source of light on, you'll be like the sun in a clear sky."
"I'm sorry…" Akari sighed and apologized after hearing Nagisa's explanation, not just because of the choice of her outfit, but also because she didn't consider the safety of everyone else in the branch.
"Don't worry about it, I was being unnecessarily harsh on you before. As long as you find something more suitable the next time it's all fine, it comes all with experience." Nagisa comforted her.
"Let's get out of here first, then we can figure out a plan on how to do this job." Nagisa suggested as he started to hop out of the well from side to side with ease. This will be his first time doing a mission with another person. Unfortunately for him, Akari seems like an amateur when it comes to assassinations.
That's the new chapter :D It should be pretty obvious who Akari is right? And it's just fine like that! I know there are probably a lot of questions about Akari/Kaede right now, they will be answered as the story progresses (Like why she said she didn't know if her name was a codename or not, what she's been through in the 3 years and so on.)
Please tell me what you think about this chapter in the reviews!
And as always, thank you so much for your support and I'll see you in the next chapter ;)!