Stronger Than Fire

By: Aviantei

Chapter Two

Renzo felt better hanging up his phone. This time, he stayed out of sight, watching his former classmates clustered together. They were fine, Gedouin was done for, and Izumo was safe. There was no need to make an appearance and rile everyone up further, especially as the reinforcements showed up. Naturally, it was a group from Kyoto.

Renzo turned around, navigating as best as he could. His orders were to retreat, to return to the main headquarters. This part of the base wasn't as shabby as he thought it would have become in the battle. It would only take a few minutes do regroup with the others, and then they would be out of Inari, heading far away to the European base.

In some ways, it was his last chance to say goodbye to everyone, but he had already done that at the festival. No sense in repeating the experience.

Still in his palm, Renzo's cellphone rang. It was one he had been provided by the Illuminati when he had joined up with them, bought to be the same model as the one he already owned. That way, it wouldn't look suspicious for him to use it around his classmates should he need to. It had a different number, though, one that only members of the Illuminati had access to. He answered it without hesitation.

"Hey there, Shima Renzo-kun. Is this better for you? Have you figured it out yet? I know you may not have had a lot of time to think, but I believe we tend to figure out the most important things about ourselves when we're not focusing on them. Has your subconscious solved the mystery, huh, Kid-do?"

Through the phone, her voice had a different tinge to it. But the hum was still there, even if it was in an altered key. Emília Nussbaum paused for a bit, and Renzo wasn't sure if she was done or not.

"Hey, you know English, right?" she asked. "Just for convenience's sake, we all use English at HQ. You might as well get some practice in. Besides, all this –kun and –san stuff gives me a headache."

"Did you really just call me to taunt me?" Renzo asked. "True, it may not be considered desperate, but I'd say this is at least impatience, right?"

"A little bit of impatience can be tolerated everywhere except for relationships. People are so self-righteous that they tend not to appreciate being forced past their limits when they don't have to… At least, that's what I remember having to think once."

Renzo snorted without meaning to. "I think you should stick to characters that are more like the real you," he advised, even though he didn't have any room talking like that to a superior. "Hearing you get all philosophical takes all the charm out of you, Emília-chan."

"Like it worked out for you back home, right?"

Now that…was nothing but a low blow.

Renzo focused on where he was going, taking the route to the base's helicopter hanger. Whatever staff was left was gathering, and would disappear without a trace. Not wanting to be left behind at such a critical juncture, Renzo upped his pace, footsteps echoing in the now empty halls. Though nothing had changed, they managed to look completely different than when he had led Izumo through them.

"Okay, okay, I know the place is gonna be swarming soon, so I won't tease you for too long." Emília sounded like she had given him a great favor to be proud of. "But I've given you enough hints that I'm starting to get tired of this, you know. One more time, Kid, any guesses?"

Renzo gripped onto his phone harder. The person on the other end of the phone was Emília Nussbaum, he knew that much, but it wasn't a name he had heard until earlier in the day. That was the first time, too, he was sure of it. But it was her voice that he recognized, her voice…

A situation where you learn a person's voice but nothing else…

"You were my contact!" The realization hit him so suddenly, Renzo shouted. Whether or not it surprised Emília, he couldn't tell, but there was no immediate response outside the phone line, so it hadn't alerted any of the True Cross. He was pretty deep into the base by now, and they had just arrived. "Before, all those times I got checked on for information. It was you."

He expected a teasing affirmative of some sort. All he got was the line going dead.

Renzo didn't stop walking. He couldn't. But he knew the floor plan well enough to steal glances at his phone, navigating to his call history. While he hadn't really expected otherwise, the display's Blocked Number was still disappointing.

But did she…just laugh before hanging up on me?

He almost ran into the door of the hanger, punching in the access code as an afterthought. The sounds of wind being chopped to pieces by helicopter blades assaulted his ears, and he more saw than heard his boss calling for him. Renzo ran to the helicopter, jumping in and strapping himself to the seat as fast as he could. It was a much more dignified retreat than being knocked unconscious by his own summoning.

"Is that all of us?" he asked, looking over the hanger. The whole place looked abandoned, and it was easier to tell as the helicopter gained elevation. Renzo had been half expecting Emília waiting for him, just in time for another game of Make the New Kid Feel Uncomfortable. Then again, he hadn't heard any helicopters in the background of her phone call, either…

"You're the last one," his boss replied, her seemingly ever-present pout not leaving her features. If anything, she looked more bored than usual. "Everyone else is already gone. We're reconvening on the Dominus Liminis. The Commander will address us there." Behind her glasses, the woman's eyes glanced to Renzo's lap, where he was still clutching onto his cellphone. "Were you expecting someone?" she asked.

Renzo loosened his grip and relinquished his phone to his pocket. "No, not really," he said. It got him a disbelieving stare, but Renzo didn't care. His boss probably had more important things to worry about, and, true enough, she let it go. Renzo stared blankly out the window, not really seeing anything before or after the glass.

Figure it out. It was a simple, childish challenge. It was meaningless, too. But something about the fact that Emília was an intelligence officer made it different. Renzo shouldn't have had any pride for such a thing, but as a spy, it made him want to know. He wanted to prove that he could find it out. And if it built up some familiarity with the Illuminati's information networks, then so be it.

"Hey, Boss, does where we're going have access to our intel?"

She gave him a sidelong glance, deadpan as ever. "It does,'" she replied. "Is there something you need?"

Renzo shrugged, keeping the gesture as nonchalant as possible. "Not really," he repeated. "I just figured it would be a good way to kill time."

Emília Nussbaum plucked her index finger across the keyboard, not taking any gesture faster than necessary. A lot could happen in a long course of travel—especially if you were on an airship large enough to host at least as many people as the average cruise ship, movability included—but she didn't feel like rushing. She had only been lucky enough to get her own private quarters, so there was no need to show any sense of efficiency.

The eleven keystrokes it took to spell "Shima Renzo" took almost an entire minute. It was erased in seconds by a single prolonged hold on the backspace key.

She already knew everything she needed to know about him. It was the first thing she did whenever someone new was assigned to her: dig up every available spark of information, then dig further, learning so much about them that she could infer what they were thinking easily. It had been a bit harder since the Myodha Sect wasn't as paper crazy as other organizations, but whatever gaps Emília had had in her information were filled in when she had spoken to him.

He was definitely a kid. While he had some talent, there was experience missing. A year just wasn't enough time to develop this sort of skill. Spying was easy. Balancing the right amount of attachment and willingness to abandon was the difficult part if you let yourself know what it was like to live without controlling such a thing.

His guilt was obvious the moment he had failed to kill the Kamiki girl's o-kitsune familiars.

He didn't yet know how to completely abandon them.

Of course, being a kid had its own merits, too. As a child, you weren't yet complete. As a child, there was still plenty of room to grow.

"He could really be something with the right training…"

Emília snorted. Talking to herself? Really?

What a ridiculous burden.

It didn't make the statement any less true, though. If anything, what Shima Renzo held was potential. And in that case, Emília wanted to be the one responsible for cultivating that potential. She wanted to know what such an experience was like. And since the opportunity was there, it wouldn't be hard to sway things in her favor.

Emília closed the lid on her motionless computer screen. Almost everyone should have been back by now, so a meeting would get called soon enough. Lucifer would manage to emerge from his bedridden state to make an announcement, and things would get rolling forward from there. Being late would only call attention. Right now, subtlety was the key.

She stood up, stretching out. She could smile easily.

"A little fun isn't too bad, huh?"

Renzo's cellphone rang and he almost jumped. He had been trying to sleep, but it wasn't easy. Even though the engineers had claimed otherwise, he still felt like there was turbulence. It was probably just his stomach rolling, but he like the other explanation better. Even digging through information hadn't been able to make Gedouin's death any easier.

And I'm the one that told Rin he had to be ready to fight humans, too…

Trying to swallow the grimace, Renzo answered his phone.

"How have you been, Shima-kun?" It was Mephisto. Of course. If anyone needed him from the Illuminati, they would have just come and got him. Only someone from the True Cross would need to give him a call.

"Remind me how I even have service when I'm probably over the middle of the ocean right now?" Renzo asked, fully sitting off and shrugging of his jacket. He had laid down in his uniform and had just realized how uncomfortable it was.

The True Cross Academy Headmaster laughed, which didn't make Renzo want to sleep any more. It definitely wouldn't be easier at least. "I upgraded your phone as a special gift for your mission, Shima-kun," the demon said. "You should be grateful that I made this so easy for you."

It seemed, lately, that there were a lot of things Renzo should have been feeling.

He was supposed to have abandoned all forms of contact with the True Cross. Even keeping his cellphone was dangerous. True, the camouflage worked backwards, too, but if someone realized what was happening, it would be trouble. And while Renzo wasn't really afraid of the consequences, they definitely would have been a pain.

"Yeah, so what's this call about?" Renzo walked to his door, double-checking the lock. It would at least give him some time to come up with an excuse if someone overheard him. "I thought I was supposed to contact you when I found something interesting to tell you. Changing the plan without telling me is pretty unfair." Not that it really surprised Renzo that much. The headmaster was easily one of the trickiest people Renzo had ever encountered.

"That's because I had news that I figured you'd be excited to hear. And I didn't want anyone complaining if the chance came up and I didn't tell you right away." Renzo stopped himself from swallowing, leaving behind an uncomfortable lump in his throat. It was easy to picture the headmaster's grin. "At this juncture, we're at quite the critical point, Shima-kun. If you want to pull out, this is your chance. The deeper you get in, the harder it will be to make a…clean break, per se."

Renzo almost agreed without thinking it through. Backing out really was the easiest thing. Sure, everyone at the cram school would be angry with him, but they would forgive him once they heard the whole story, right? Anything would be easier than having to go through with this, than being responsible for his decisions.

He stopped, though, and his hesitance was obvious, prolonged. He had wanted to see what he was capable of, to test his skills. Infiltrating to this point and then just backing out? That wasn't a test. It was a crappy demo that wasn't even worth experiencing. It was worth less than nothing. He clenched his fist, and the sound of leather escaped. Shifting the phone to rest between ear and shoulder, Renzo discarded his gloves to the floor.

"I can't back out now…" he murmured, but had no doubt Mephisto had heard. "I got to dig around their information a bit, but I haven't found anything worth letting Bon and the others let them think I betrayed them. Besides, you made it sound like I had a better chance than the others at getting critical intel. You can't be serious about pulling out even a pawn like me this early."

Renzo could have sworn that the headmaster sighed. "It's less about my judgement and more respecting your decisions." Renzo didn't even try to hide his breath of a laugh. "I simply know that your friends and family would be rather dissatisfied with me otherwise, so it's better to tell you. Whether you stay or go, it's up to you. Though it sounds like you've already made up your mind."

Renzo hated phrases like "make up your mind." They made things seem so final when they were flexible enough that staying up on their own was issue. It also made it feel like he had a lot more responsibility for himself than Renzo was comfortable with taking credit for.

"I just think it's the better decision. That's all there is to it."

"Hoh?" The headmaster sounded too amused for anyone's own good. "In that case, should I tell your classmates, then? I think they'll be more assured to know everything that you're doing is of your own will and not because I forced you to."

Renzo smiled a bit—the first smile that came all on its own in a while. "No. I don't want them to know. We agreed that having too many people in on it would just make an information leak, right? Besides, I don't trust Okumura or Bon to keep their mouths shut."

"Funny, I would think that Moriyama-san would also make it onto that list…"

"Moriyama's cute so I could forgive her."

At that, Mephisto burst into laughter. It hadn't been meant as a joke, but Renzo could understand. It sounded like a joke, even to him.

Renzo switched the phone to his other ear and say back down on the bed, finally kicking off his boots. "But I'm serious. They don't need to know anything about this. We can let them know when I actually do come back. Until then, it's better for all of their acting skills if they actually believe that I'm a traitor."

"That would have been the preferred course of action had your brothers not already told them the truth."

Renzo let out a soft curse. Of course, they had probably come with the Kyoto relief squad. And then Bon would try to do the noble thing and tell them that their little brother was a traitor…and they would stupidly drop the truth. It was so predictable that Renzo should have figured it out on his own. Then again, he had also gotten distracted.

"So then, it sounds to me like you've managed to catch onto some sort of lead, perhaps?" the headmaster prompted. "Is it exciting, then? Anything we should immediately know about here? I understand discretion, but too much secrecy would be inconvenient, correct?"

"No, nothing that big yet." Still feeling hot, Renzo pulled off his pants, too, going to lie down. It was a lot easier to relax without the weight of the uniform, and that had probably been his problem in trying to fall asleep before. Now all he needed was some magazines, and it would be even easier to relax… "It's just that I'm in a prime position to really dig up some dirt soon."

He tossed his pants aside, the discarded fabric scattering the papers concerning Emília Nussbaum.

It was easy.

It was too, too easy. Memorize a few words and suddenly everyone thinks you're like them.

It's almost exhilarating, how easy it is to fool people like that. It's scary, too. After all, what if you're being easily fooled the same way? Just how fragile are you?

Just how fragile do they realize they really are?

It's easy to think of yourself as surpassing others. A little bit of knowledge builds up a lot of ego. You start to think that if you can read other people, then there's no way they can read you. Then you're dealt a fatal blow as someone sees right through you.

So you work on improving yourself. You become self-aware, close in all your gaps, never let anyone get past.

Rote memorization is easily the least impressive of techniques.

"We will guide the world to unity.
"There are no demons and no humans.
"Only one world.
"In order to create it, we are the brave humans who have risen to the occasion.
"No matter what the trial, we do not go astray.
"We do not fear death."

It's so easy for people to fool themselves.

In retrospect, this story kind of has weird formatting. Sorry about that. I like the feel it gives off, though, so...

Thanks to the twenty-some readers that gave this story a shot for the first chapter. Hopefully some of you will come back for the second and share your thoughts!

In any event, there's already a bit of divergence from canon. I didn't intend it, but when I was first drafting this story, I didn't have consistent access to the manga online and the book containing the scene where Renzo talks to the Cram School kids wasn't (and still isn't) available in English. I don't think it matters much anyway, and recounting canon is boring. (shrugs)

Writing Emília's mind set is a bunch of fun. She'll be doing some more active things soon.

Thanks for reading! The next installment will be in two weeks again! Please look forward to it!

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