31.[]:《》who is left after they left?

「page iii」

°

「

When I was young, I had two rabbits, both born on the same day. I adored those two and spoiled them fairly and equally without restraint.  

However, one day, quite suddenly, the larger one passed away. The rabbit that remained seemed so lonely that just looking at it almost made me feel the same. 

After some time, however, the smaller rabbit, which I thought was sequestering away, began to grow and flourish more and more with each passing day. With this, came a sense of relief. I thought to myself—

Thank goodness the larger one died.

」

°

In the dark silence of the locked room, the prince, the swindler, the soldier, the pirate, the librarian, and the detective stared down at the body of an unknown seventh. 

The detective knelt beside the body and placed two fingers on her neck. He declared a moment after, “She’s dead!” 

The swindler and the prince gasped. The soldier took a step back, while the pirate leaned forward with interest. 

“It seems as if she died from a high fall,” the detective said. He stood and began to pace back and forth.

“But how is that possible?” the prince asked before looking up to the high ceiling where a large chandelier drooped. “Did she fall from there? The height isn’t great enough for someone to die from something like that! In fact, there’s certainly no way!”

“That is the case.” The detective nodded, giving the other five a sweeping look over. “Meaning… her body was movedhere. This certainly was no accident.” 

The prince and the swindler gasped.

“Most likely, the perpetrator of the crime is right here.” The detective pointed to the ground before abruptly turning away from the group and staring with intense focus at a point in the distance. “Don’t you agree?”

The screen went dark for a moment, briefly reflecting back the faces of the ones who had been watching the scene unfold. Weary faces caked in sweat and wearing mirroring expressions of befuddlement. The weary group sat along a long dining table, divided on opposite sides seemingly by demeanor and clothing. On the left, the Capricornian and Sagittarian commanders, a handful of Virgoans, an Ariesian Knight, and a peacekeeper. On the right, Geminian and Cancerian commanders, another handful of Virgoans, another peacekeeper and—

“How the fuck do they know how the doll died?” Derik grumbled, shoving a biscuit into his mouth. He sat on the left of the table. “There wasn’t even any blood. Fucking unrealistic.” He grabbed an apple from the fruit-cluttered platter in front of him. “And where the hell did all these people meet up at? It doesn’t make any sense.”

A beat of silence followed.

General Vogel broke it. “Landser Stein, you were ordered to stay in the other room.”

“I’m not a landser anymore, so I’ve got a choice,” Derik replied. “And my choice is to not take any orders from you, sir.”

“You’re a traitor and a coward,” Vogel said. “You’d be executed.”

Derik snorted. “I saw how you were during the Week of Blindness.” He jabbed a finger at the man. “It’s because of you bastards that I’m like this—”  

Gabrielle who sat on the opposite side of the table interjected quickly, “Okay. Let’s all settle down. There’s nothing wrong with Derik Stein sitting here. He’s been in this place longer than we have and probably has a different perspective than the others who’ve been here the same amount of time—”

The door at the end of the dining hall opened and Werner Waltz, wearing a pair of matching blue polka dot pajamas, stepped into the room. In his left hand was a bagel and in the other another bagel. Upon entering, he stared at the seated group and then at the television and then back at them. “Oh, good morning. Are you Caddy’s guest?”

Allen Foxman frowned at the name. “You mean Cadence?”

Werner nodded.

“Where is she? Is she coming here?”

“Huh? Oh—you’re not Caddy’s guest?” Werner glanced past them at Atienna. “Are they your guests, Atienna?”

Volker exchanged a look with Von Spiel beside him. “Werner, we know each other.”

Werner appeared perplexed. “Do we…?” 

General Vogel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Handle him, Volker.” 

“We went over this earlier, Werner,” Volker drew slowly, switching to his native tongue. “We were…” He looked at Vogel briefly. “… working together on an operation before you and several others suddenly disappeared. You’ve been missing for months—”

Werner’s brow met. “Huh…?”

Atienna cleared her throat. “From your point of view, you met the others here just last night. We were at the gates of Ndoto and… I believe you were there for… a dispute, Werner. There was some miscommunication, and we came into conflict, but we came to an understanding afterwards. You helped transport us away from the border and took us to this… interesting place. Afterwards, you said you were a bit too drunk to take us to a resting place, so I believe you called Cadence to transport us somewhere. She sent several drivers to pick us up.” She paused and offered a hesitant smile. “Remember?”

Werner brightened immediately. “Oh, yeah!  I remember now!” He gestured to Volker and then to Alice. “You’re O-man’s professor! Both of you! Did you guys have fun last night? Wasn’t it great? I barely remember it but—”

“Not surprised with how much you drank last night,” Derik interjected. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”

“You said you would take us to somewhere we could take cover,” Vogel interjected. “Waltz.”

“Yeah!” Werner pointed to the ceiling. “They have a lot of little roof things on the outside of buildings at Chloro & Wheat—”

“Fucked up with that place being called Chloro & Wheat,” Derik noted.

“Huh? Why? I think it’s a pretty cute nickname,” Werner said. “The  burger shop Fries, Meat, and Wheat and the Green Chlorophora dance club. Chloro & Wheat! Chorowheat! Anyways, like I was saying, it has a lot of little places where you can go under for, like, cover—” 

Vogel let out a breath. “Are you an imbec—”

“That’s not what we meant by cover, Werner,” Volker interjected. “We were hoping you could direct us to somewhere we could take shelter.”

“Shelter…?” Werner stared for a moment before he brightened.  “Oh. Well, you know, Ndoto is really safe, so you don’t have to worry about that.” He turned back to the television set. “This show is kinda dark…” He reached out and turned the knob. “Oh! How about this?”

The dreary room on the screen became replaced with a bright one. In the place of the chandelier spun a ball of mirrors. Below that sat a checkerboarded floor with each square lit up a different color. Behind that stood a long but shorter presenter’s stand and behind that sat a man with dirty blonde hair. A pair of outrageously large sunglasses adorned his face, and it matched his floral-printed suit. 

“Let’s dance,” the man said. “This is DiscoFever. The best place to catch some disco.”

Throbbing music resounded a second after and two people appeared on screen. They swayed and swiveled to the music.

“That’s your General Abero, isn’t it?” Mai said dryly. 

The Geminian captain grimaced at her. 

“Oh yeah. That’s Nil’s day job,” Werner rattled on. “Isn’t he great? This is one of my favorite shows. You know, Caddy and Kafke are going to be doing an interview on the show in a couple weeks, I heard. Oh—do you guys want any more food? I can whip something up for you. Feliciano and Donato are really good, but I can also make something too—to give those guys a break—”

Volker held up a hand. “It’s alright, Werner. Carry on.”

Werner’s brows met. “Carry on… what?”

“I saw Feliciano and Donato earlier. Raised from the dead,” Allen said, looking to Carl beside him. “They said this place was ours, Carl.”

Carl nodded. “Ain’t half bad.”

Allen frowned. 

“I mean, all things considered—”

“Wait—where is everyone else?” Werner slowly pointed to each of them and counted under his breath. “Weren’t there more of you…? I know that one guy went home with Heinrich.”

“You’re referring to Friedhelm Heimler?” Von Spiel asked from beside Volker. “Where did he go?”

Werner nodded. “Friedhelm’s Heinrich’s dad, right? They probably went home. Heinrich lives in a different district that’s a bit of a drive. ” He looked around. “Is that where everyone else went? Did they go home?”

“No, they’re in the other room.”

“Why?”

“They were ordered to.”

“That’s kind of not cool…” Werner looked to Atienna as if for confirmation that this was indeed ‘not cool.’

Atienna merely offered a tight smile.

Werner turned back to the TV. “Well, I’m sure they’d like to watch too.”

---

“Where’s Francis?” Allen asked after two dance numbers played out on the television. He still had trouble wrapping his head around how that small thing could display footage without a projection screen. “Where’s Cadence?”

Werner didn’t look away from the screen. “I think Cadence had practice late last night and Francis had a meeting late last night too, so they probaby’ll come by soon.”

“The ELPIS Leader,” Mai said. The mouthy Sagittarian general. “And the swindler.”

“Francis’s not really a leader…” Werner’s brows met. “I’m not sure if ELPIS has any leaders. I think maybe they have a president or something? Wait, what do you mean by swindler?”

“And the prince?” The Ariesian Knight pressed. Charming something-or-other. “I’ve looked everywhere but I haven’t been able to find him. He was with us last night. ”

“Yeah, Caddy’s house is pretty big. I’m sure he’s still around though. Lavi too. Well, unless their parents picked them up.”

“Parents?” Alexander Charming tensed.

Allen rose from his chair.

“Where are you going, Allen?” Fortuna asked, eyes narrowing.

“No point in sitting here and waiting,” Allen replied.

“There’s a big point in sitting here and waiting,” Gabrielle noted. “Not much of a point in charging.”

Carl retorted as he popped to a stand too. “Funny thing for a peacekeeper to say—”

“Not worth it, Carl,” Allen interjected.

Carl shut his mouth immediately and followed Allen as he proceeded to the door he’d seen Werner come in from. It opened before Allen could reach for the knob. What met Allen’s gaze was not the end of a hall, but a sprawling field of flowers. Stainless white pillars popped up at random around the field—blinding in the sunlight.

Just blocking his full view of the sight were two women. A blonde woman in white robes and a dark-haired woman in black ones. They both seemed vaguely familiar.

“What the hell?” Allen ogled them. 

“You’re not here,” the blonde woman said, meeting his eyes. .

Allen took a step back, bumping into Carl behind him. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing—”

“Huh? What are you talkin’ about, Allen?”

The blonde woman placed a finger to her lips— 

“Al?”

Allen blinked. 

His youngest brother, face bare, stood in front of him accompanied by a young woman with long copper hair. Behind them stretched a red-rugged hall. The discrepancy of the duo’s appearances stirred a distant memory within Allen’s mind and a pang of nostalgia in his chest. 

Cadence rushed to him and wrapped him in an embrace. Allen stiffened but said nothing.

“Oh, Allen…” she murmured as she pulled away. “Are you okay?”

“Is that who I think it is?” someone at the table muttered. 

“They’re all awake already?” Cadence gasped as she peered into the dining room. She checked her wrist where a gold watch gleamed. “I didn’t think you’d be up so early—”

“Is that you, Cadence? We’ve been up this entire time,” Fortuna called out, “after we were unceremoniously dumped here last night.” 

“Oh—my apologies then…” Francis said, studying Allen for a moment and then Carl. He tapped Allen lightly on the arm before rounding him and entering the room. “I was caught up in a meeting early this morning and stopped by to visit the children at the center since I haven’t visited since Wednesday…” He trailed off as he scanned the table. “I didn’t realize there were so many of you.” He glanced at Fortuna and then at Alice who sat across from her. “Are you two… familiar with everyone here?”

Carl was right, Allen thought. Francis really did sound like himself again. 

Fortuna rose to a stand. “I heard, but I didn’t believe it. Your… face, Francis.”

“I happen to have a good skin care routine.” Francis chuckled before offering  her a sympathetic look. “You too, huh, Fortuna?” He scanned the room again. “I don’t mean to cause any alarm or discomfort—I’m sure you’re already very overwhelmed—but I have to ask… do any of you happen to not have VNW?”

Werner raised his hand.

“VNW—that would be this Vonn Neumann Weinger condition that we’ve been hearing about,” Alice drew from her seat. “The one that triggers a folie a deux.”

Francis offered her a polite smile. “That would indeed be what it is. I wouldn’t call it a folie a deux—though it seems as if in your case, it might be. I’m glad you’re already well-informed, Doctor Kingsley.” He quieted for a moment.  “I’m… sorry that this happened. Your group probably got too close to the gates. We… miscalculated. Everyone in our group is fine and we were able to put up the demonstration.”

“Wait.” Bachiru, who had been silent the entire time, popped to a stand “You were able to take down the gates?”

Francis frowned. “Take down the gates?” 

“Yes, the plan for the protest—we were to take down the gates surrounding this place. Using an explosive device of some kind—”

“Right…” Francis drew slowly, studying Bachiru carefully. “An… explosion of art. On the walls. We painted the walls with pictures of the children and families on the opposite side of the gates.”

“What the fuck?” Derik made a face.

Safiyah scoffed. “Of course.”

Derik snapped at Bachiru, “How the fuck do you mix that up, stupid?”

Safiyah snapped back at him, “It’s quite ironic for you of all people to be calling him that.”

“What the hell did you say—”

Bachiru let out a breath as he sank down into his chair. “I am… sorry. I don’t know how this misunderstanding occurred.”

“You… have VNW too, Bachiru?” Francis’s brows rose as some sort of understanding dawned on him. “Since when?”

Bachiru remained silent.  

Alice quickly broke the silence—“Francis, from what I’ve gathered  you’re implying from your perspective, we’re members of ELPIS.”

“Some of you are, yes. You, Doctor Kingsley, Professor Weingartner—”

Volker tensed at the mention of his name.

“—and of course Fortuna too—though you’re more of a covert member. The others”—Francis gestured to the Ariesian Knight, the Capricornians, and the Sagittarians— “I’m not quite sure what’s exactly going on here outside of that. Do you remember why you were at the gates?” 

“We weren’t at the gates,” the Geminian captain replied, jabbing his finger onto the table. “We were on the field—at the borders.” 

Rude bastard. Cheap too. 

Francis smiled politely. “It’s alright if you don’t recall. We’ll figure it out.”

“So whatever we’re dealing with has the means to draw in ELPIS Leaders,” Volker said to Vogel and Von Spiel in their native language. 

“And how do you know our situation isn’t the result of an ELPIS Leader’s machinations?” Vogel muttered.

“I don’t think Mr. Foxman is pulling our leg here,” Gabrielle said, thrumming her fingers on the table. 

Vogel’s eyes narrowed at her. “And you would trust an ELPIS leader?”

Gabrielle laughed dryly. “As much as you trust saint candidates.”

Vogel quieted. 

“Then it’s the saint candidates,” Martin Von Spiel suggested.

Gabrielle hummed and thrummed her fingers against the table. “Which saint candidate though? Aries? Can’t be. An Elementalist from what I understand. Same with Sagittarius. They’re not even active. Cancer doesn’t seem like the type to be able to pull this off either. Libra? No. Gemini—well, there was a saint candidate for them recently, wasn’t there?”  She eyed the Geminian captain.  “Maybe Virgo since the signs in this place are in one of the Virgoan languages, so it could be them—but there hasn’t been any news of any saint candidates from them.”

“Virgo as a country has been uncommunicative these past few months,” Alice added.

“True.” Gabrielle stared at a bottle of sparkling water on the table. “But then there’s the why? The saint candidates want the syzygy to happen, right? We all more or less know that the day the syzygy was supposed to happen has already passed. I think the reason why that happened is because some of the True Conductors have been here the entire time—”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but I think there’s some confusion going on here right now.” Francis looked to Allen and then back at Gabrielle and the others around her. “You are all aware that whatever you’re discussing isn’t actually real, right?”

Allen frowned.

Gabrielle smiled. “Sure, Mr. Foxman.”  

Francis didn’t appear to be convinced. Allen figured he was going to say something else to her, but Francis instead turned to Werner whose eyes were still glued to the television. “Thank you for letting us know about them and bringing them to us first, Werner. It saves us the trouble of having to deal with guidance officers without getting our matters sorted out first.”

Werner whipped around and grinned. “Oh yeah, no problem, Fran—but y’know, the guidance officers aren’t all bad—”

“You shouldn’t be thanking him, Francis!” Cadence stormed into the room. “What were you doing out there in the first place so late at night? What were you thinking?!”

Well, that was different. 

“Who? Me?” Werner appeared bewildered.

Cadence stopped short in front of him. “Who else would I be talking to, Werner? Why in the world were you at the gates last night? You were hanging out with those hooligans again, weren’t you? With Kafke and that Nil—”

Vogel and the Geminian captain looked between the two.

“They’re not hooligans, Caddy. They’re my—”

“They’re grown men acting like teenagers!” Cadence rebutted. “You’re a grown man—”

Werner appeared hurt. “Hey… I’m still young… They’re still young too—”

“That’s not the point!”

Francis cleared his throat again, commanding the attention of those in the room save for Alice whose gaze momentarily lingered on Cadence and Werner.

“You’re all free to stay here for the time being,” Francis said. “I was under the impression that it was only going to be a few of our protest group members here, but it looks like I… misestimated our situation. I’ve been thinking that it’d be best to turn this into the guidance officers after we get things sorted.”

“Guidance officers?” Gabrielle interjected. “That would be the people in charge of this place?”

“I wouldn’t say they’re exactly in charge of this place,” Francis replied. “They work in tandem with the guidance council to help create and implement policies for Ndoto based on the people’s wants.”

“Sounds like that’s synonymous with being in charge,” Gabrielle noted. “Are we able to meet with them?”

Tension strained the room.

“Well, Miss Law, I’m sure you would be able to meet with the council members. You are a guidance officer.” Francis put a hand to his chin. “Maybe you could ask Maria—”

“Maria?” Volker inquired. “That would be Maria Gloria-Fernandez? The… pirate?”

“We should probably notify guidance officers…” Cadence murmured, studying Volker with concern. “I know Jericho was saying we shouldn’t—” 

“Did you say ‘Jericho’?” Alice interjected. 

“You remember Jericho?” Cadence looked over Werner towards the woman. Her expression softened. “I’m glad. He should be here soon.”

“Yeah, I called him!” Werner added.

Alice exchanged a look with Gabrielle, while Cadence frowned down at Werner. As Allen studied them, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Francis was standing beside him. Allen finally noticed the ring on his finger. 

 “You feeling okay, Al? I know… it’s a lot,” Francis said. He glanced at Carl who was still at Allen’s right. “For you too, Carl.” He gestured to Cadence who was still chastising Werner. “Cadence said she’d take a day off from the studio to spend time with the family. I was thinking I’d call off work and school too.” He frowned a bit. “I’m worried. Something about the VNW cases recently is…”

“Studio?” Allen stared for a moment as he processed this information. He knew none of it had any substance, but— “You… go to school, Francis?”

“Not forever hopefully.” Francis chuckled. “At least, it’s not my plan to be a forever student.”

“But you’re still a member of ELPIS.”

“I am, though I’d rather keep it low-profile,” Francis replied. “I doubt with the stunt we pulled off last night I’ll be low-profile for long—”

“You—” Mai rose from her seat and called out to Francis “—do you know where Yuseong… Haneul is? He was with us the other night. Do you know if he’s still on the premises?”

“You mean Claire?” Cadence answered instead. “I think he was the jacuzzi in our bath house with Olive—”

“The prince?” The one non-peacekeeping Ariesian in the room rose to a stand too.

“If you go down this hall, make a left, make a right, and make a left again, you’ll be at the bathroom hall. The kids should be in one of the rooms there.” Cadence sighed suddenly and whipped around to Werner. “I can’t believe you took Olive with you, Werner! What were you thinking—”

Mai left the table, brushed past Allen, and slipped through the door.

---

Mai spun down the halls of the mansion without trying to make much note of the decor. The extravagance of this place was ridiculous. The wealth here was ridiculous. With the amount of art pieces hanging on the wall, the rugs lining the floorboards, and the vases pressed up in the corners, this hall alone cost more than Mai’s own room. Wealth only possible in a dream. 

“Slow down, Mai,” came a huff in her native tongue. 

Mai looked over her shoulder. Kai. Her brother. Always a step behind. Tailing him was Arjun, the two peacekeepers, and that Ariesian Knight. 

Gabrielle waved. Mai slowed for her.

“Why are you following me?” Mai frowned. 

“We just happen to be headed in the same direction,” Gabrielle replied, hands raised. “I’m worried about the prince.” She lowered her hands.  “And you—you want to confront this alleged fake.” She arched a brow. “Any particular reason why? Why specifically Yuseong Haneul only? There are other alleged fakes here too that you could go after. Is it because he’s—”

Mai’s lips thinned. “Do you understand blatant disrespect of pretending to be a member of the Sagittarian royal family? It’s a crime punishable by death in Sagittarius.”

“It hasn’t been used to punish fraudsters in over a century,” Arjun amended. 

Kai winced and followed after her.

“Forgive Mai’s abrasiveness,” Arjun said to Gabrielle. “She’s had a particularly difficult time in this war. I’m sure she’s simply trying to get to the bottom of this. That and… our family is a sensitive matter.”

Gabrielle gave him a sympathetic look. “Oh, I know the feeling.” 

As the group wandered through the halls following the directions Cadence had given them, they eventually came across a masked woman standing in front of a great red door.

The masked woman dipped into a low bow three times.

“Soha, so this is where you’ve been,” Mai realized. “You were ordered to stay with the others.”

Soha rose from her bow.

Mai frowned. “Is he in there?”

Soha remained silent.

Loyalty. 

“You’re under my command, Jaesong. Do you even know what you’re guarding?”

Mai felt something cold in the air. Regardless, she allowed the digression to pass.

“The Ariesian prince and Claire are inside,” Soha finally replied. “Eunji is elsewhere with Felix and that other girl.”

Mai proceeded past her and through the door. Inside, she found an extravagant room with walls lined with mirrors. A windowed dome opened up at the center of the ceiling and let the morning light onto a large marble tub filled with steaming water. In that tub sat two familiar adolescents. Olivier Chance and… the fake.

Both boys were thoroughly engrossed in pouring over the thin book in Olive’s hands, and so neither acknowledged Mai until she walked right up to the tub. Claire immediately startled upon realizing her presence. 

Claire whispered to Olive as he peered around Mai towards the others who had followed in after her—“Hey, I thought you put the occupied sign up.”

Olive arched a brow. “I did… I thought that lady would’ve kept them out.” He waved at the two peacekeepers. 

Only Gabrielle waved back. 

Mai hesitated for a moment before focusing on the fake. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Enjoying the jacuzzi,” Claire replied. After a pause, he said, “If you’re going to stare, you might as well join us. You got a swimsuit? Unless you like to go jjimjiibang style.” He thumbed Olive. “He probably wouldn’t appreciate it though—or maybe he would.”

Mai narrowed her eyes.

A beat of silence passed. 

“The vibes here are weird,” Olive noted. He eyed Claire. “You said you knew these other people?”

“Yeah, they live in the same development as me in my home district.” Claire treaded to the edge of the tub and neared Mai. “Is there something I can help you with—”

“You know something,” Mai pressed. “I know you do.” She gritted her teeth. “How dare you pretend to be a member of the Sagittarian royal family.” 

Mai could see Soha stiffen. Most likely, that woman was sending her a glare that could kill. 

Olive snickered. “Someone is on cloud-nine.”

“You look like you’re enjoying yourself, Ollie,” Claire noted. 

Olive shrugged, returning to his comic with another snicker. “It’s not really my problem, so it is entertaining.”

Claire sighed and returned his attention to Mai. “I didn’t steal anyone’s identity, Mai.” He gestured to his face. “This handsome jawline was gifted to me.” He swiveled to face Olive again. “Oh—do you remember the book Anton chose for us to read for our literary club this month?”

What…?

“The weird depressing one?” Olive flipped the page. “What about it?”

They were ignoring her—making her to be insignificant. A familiar feeling and her worst nightmare. 

Claire looked over his shoulder towards Mai and the others that had followed her into the room. “For context, it’s about this group of people who pull this magical weapon out of this magical stone. A wizard guy comes by and tells them that since they pulled the weapon out of the stone, they’ve contracted themselves to fight shadowy monster beast things that randomly appear in random places. The beasts basically want to destroy the world, and these guys are the only ones able to stand in its way.”

Mai frowned. “What are you rambling about?”

“Wait.” Gabrielle held up a hand as she leaned against the wall. “Let’s hear it.”

Claire continued, “It’s like a round table roulette type of thing, so only one person is chosen by the weapon to battle a beast at a time. The weapon grants them unimaginable power, so it’s not like they’re charging in arms flailing. ‘But what if a person doesn’t want to fight because they’re a pacifist or coward?’ Basically, if the person doesn’t fight, it’s an automatic loss. A loss means that their entire world will be destroyed at the end of the battle.”

“Sounds unfortunate,” Gabrielle noted.

“Yeah, sure. Anyways, a gung-ho guy is chosen by the weapon first and gets a clear victory—but he dies right afterwards. No clear clue why. The lady that gets chosen by the weapon next has this whole character arc thing before she fights and wins—but she dies right after too. The wizard appears and goes, ‘Plot twist. The weapon is powered by your life force, so once you fight, you die right after. If you don’t fight, you’d also die right after with the rest of the world because you forfeited the match.’”

“Sounds morbid,” Gabrielle corrected. 

“Yeah, it’s depressing, since all the characters eventually resign to their fates. Plus, plot twist number two: it turns out the mysterious monsters they’ve been fighting are actually humans from a parallel universe that are in the same situation they’re in—”

“Parallel universe?” Alice inquired.

“Like a world similar to your own but different by one degree or a million,” Claire explained.  “The degrees of difference come from the different the choices and paths you and other people take—from as large as deciding to murder someone—”

Olive arched a brow at him.

“—to as small as deciding whether or not to wear a tie to a meeting.” Claire smiled rather slyly. It didn’t look natural on his face as Mai knew him to keep such wolffish slyness behind a sheep’s demeanor. “You know, Gabrielle, maybe in another universe you are actually a peacekeeper like you were saying you were last night. ”

“Really?” Gabrielle’s demeanor remained affable. “What exactly are you implying?”

“I’m not implying anything. I’m trying to make an allegory. A metaphor.”

“A metaphor for what exactly—”

“Come on, Claire.” Olive sighed and turned the page of his comic. “Stop messing with them.”

Claire pouted. “Hey, you mess with VNWs all the time.”

“Yeah, but it’s Guidance Officer Law.”

“So?”

“So, she helped me and my family a lot back when my parents got VNW, and you’re being an ass to her.”

Claire squinted at him. “So basically you’re selective about who you’re pushing around, and you want me to be selective like you.”

“Yep. Vice versa though, right?”

Claire shrugged and continued, “Fine. Anyways, every time the main characters win against one of the monsters and save their world, they’re also killing an entire universe. They have reservations, of course, but what can they do? It’s an us versus them situation.” He treaded back to Olive’s side and peered over his shoulder to read the comic book. 

Mai looked back at Kai.

“So, what happens at the end?” Gabrielle pressed. “You’re not just going to leave us hanging, are you?”

“Haven’t gotten to that part yet.” Claire looked back up at her. “What do you think happens?” 

“They all die?” Kai suggested before being silenced by a click of the tongue from Mai.

Claire shrugged.

“I’m assuming they honor the people who sacrificed their lives,” Gabrielle tried with some irreverent flair, “and vow to never let anyone make a contract with that weapon ever again.”

Amazing how she seemed both like and unlike a peacekeeper at the same time. 

Claire hummed and then shrugged again. 

“Would it be so much to hope that they reach some sort of resolution so there would be no need for any such battles in the future?” Arjun asked.

Of course Arjun would say something ridiculous like that.

“Hm? Why?” Claire asked, brows raised. “The main characters have already fought the fight, so their universe survives. It’s done and over with, so it’d make for a weird ending to try to find a resolution to that.”

“While that may be true, from what I understand about this story, the battle continues on for others,” Arjun said. “It should end for them too.”

Ludicrous. Mai didn’t understand why Arjun was entertaining this evident fake. She didn’t understand why any of them were—

“Do you think the author cares about that outside the main narrative?”  Claire locked eyes with Arjun. “Anyways, there’s only 30 pages left, and the last contracted guy is up to fight, so I doubt that’ll happen.”

“Perhaps there will be a sequel then,” Arjun said, “where they’re able to find that resolution.”

Claire slowly looked Arjun up and down. Then, he smiled. It looked un-earnest, unnatural. 

Claire dragged himself out from the jacuzzi, grabbed a cloud-spotted blue towel hanging on a rack to the side, and began to dry himself.

Mai frowned, but simultaneously felt a cold sweat building on the back of her neck. She felt nauseous just looking at him.

Olive snorted. “Maybe it’ll be one of those ‘it was all a dream’ books.” He shut the book and tossed it onto the sink beside the jacuzzi. A moment later he was dressed. 

“It kind of sounds like a pointless book,” Kai said suddenly.

 It was evident by Kai’s demeanor that he didn’t quite know how to hold himself in the situation. He never knew. It had always been up to Mai herself to know. 

Claire chuckled as he passed them on his way to the door. “Hey now. That’s a pretty harsh criticism. An average person’s life is just being born, fighting, and dying at the end of the fight regardless of the fight’s outcome too, you know?”  

An ominous feeling overwhelmed Mai at that moment. Something heavy and oppressive clouded the room making the hot, humid air even more difficult to breathe—

“Do you know what’s for breakfast?” Olive asked suddenly, turning to the Ariesian Knight. He turned to the rest of them. “Well?”

The oppressive atmosphere disappeared in an instant.

It took Mai a moment to comprehend the question. “What…?”

“Oh yeah! What’s for breakfast?” Claire brightened. “You know the person who owns this place is filthy rich, so it’s basically an all-you-can-eat buffet half the time here.”

“Maybe Werner made something,” Olive said as headed out the door. “If not, I’ll tell him to make something. You want pancakes, Claire?” He eyed the knight and snickered. “How about you, coach?”

Claire hummed and followed him. “I like the sound of that—”

Mai darted to Claire and grabbed hold of the young man’s wrist just as he was halfway out the door. “Enough of this senselessness. Who are you?”

Claire’s brows rose as he studied her. “Why are you so committed to saying that I’m not who I am? I mean—we don’t even really know each other, so…” His expression became unreadable. “Did you… see something that makes you think that I’m not me?”

Heart skipping a beat, Mai released him. Arjun and Kai looked at her curiously, but she said nothing.

“You’re asking the wrong questions.” Claire rubbed his wrist. “The real questions you should be asking aren’t about me but about you.  Like—why did they come here earlier and you later? Why are they worthy while you’re not—”

“There’s no such thing as being unworthy when it comes to being granted entry to Ndoto,” a deep voice cut through the conversation, emitting from somewhere out in the hall. “Do you think your parents were less worthy than the people who were admitted before them? Do you think the people who were admitted after them were less worthy?”

Claire looked down the hall and raised his hands. “Oh no. I’m not saying anything like that.”

Olive followed his gaze and brightened. “Jericho! What are you doing here? I thought you worked today.”

The two peacekeepers who were still within the bathing room exchanged looks before darting out into the hall. Mai followed them.

A young man with dark skin and dark hair stood at the center of the farmer there. A pair of round glasses glinted on the bridge of his nose—the color of glasses just a couple shades darker than the purple pink of his odd shirt that was speckled with flowers. A camera hung from his neck. He looked rather studious. 

Jericho nodded at Olive. “Werner called and told me about what happened last night, so I asked Ayda to take my shift—”

“Ayda?” one of the peacekeepers muttered.

“—and came as soon as I could. The question is—what are you doing here? I’ve heard about how Werner ended up in this situation, but how exactly did you end up at the gates? I know he certainly didn’t send you an invitation.”

Olive shrugged, looking to the side. “Well, it just sort of happened.”

Jericho arched a brow. “Just sort of happened?”

“Jericho.”

Jericho looked up at the blonde peacekeeper’s call.

“Doctor Kingsley,” Jericho greeted her. He nodded at the other peacekeeper. “Gabrielle. Are you two alright?”

“Are… you?” Gabrielle asked. “I mean—I’d like to have a reunion right now, but I feel like the affection’s going to be rather one-sided.”

The blonde peacekeeper stepped forward  and regarded Jericho for a moment. After that moment passed, she closed the distance between them and slowly placed her hands on his arms. Then, she pulled him into an embrace. 

Jericho stiffened in her hold and shared a look with Olive who shrugged. Then, he lowered his arms and gave her a squeeze on the shoulders before pulling her slightly back. 

“You must be very confused,” he said.

Claire scooted past them towards the door at the end of the hall alongside Olive—like a snake. Just as he reached the door, however, it swung open, and a familiar figure stood at the threshold. A man with curly dark hair and a mole gracing the corner of his left eye. In his hands was a packet of colorful papers.

Fliers? 

The two peacekeepers immediately tensed.

It was Talib Al-Jarrah, former first chairman of Ophiuchus and allegedly a saint candidate. Mai had learned from the discussions with the Capricornians and the peacekeepers previous night that the dangerous saint candidate had been properly subdued. And yet—

Talib waved at them as he stepped over the threshold. Claire stuck out his foot at the same moment; however, and the older man went flying to the ground. The colorful papers and fliers he’d been holding fluttered into the air. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Claire half-sang as he quickly helped Talib up to his feet.

“Fret not,” Talib assuaged him as he began to recollect his things. “You’re simply preparing me for my encounters with the Organization’s nefarious traps.”

Mai was bewildered at the words coming out of the man’s mouth. She couldn’t imagine them coming out of the mouth of the chairman she’d been intently listening to on the radio during the election period. 

“You’ve got to be joking…” Gabrielle murmured. She glanced at Alice. “You don’t think that…”

Once Talib got his items in order, he paced to the two peacekeepers who remained frozen. “It’s great to see you both again. From what I heard about last night, the situation got quite intense—”

Bodies tense, the peacekeeper exchanged glances again. 

“Talib?” Gabrielle tested.

Talib replied slowly, “That would be me last I checked.”

“You were right,” Alice said suddenly.

“Er. Right about what?” Talib asked. 

“Right about me and why I’ve decided to go into this line of work,” Alice said, eyes searching, gaze calculating. She was testing him, it seemed. “You were right all along.”

Talib glanced at Jericho. “I… don’t follow.”

Alice’s expression tightened.

Talib’s face immediately lit with worry and his gaze flicked between the two peacekeepers before he cleared his throat loudly. “I mean—I do follow.” He stroked his chin. “Yes, yes, I was right all along about… being right about something.”

“Maybe it’s best not to do or say those things to exacerbate their condition,” Jericho suggested.

Talib cleared his throat, before he addressed the two peacekeepers again. “Right. Forget everything I said. I was being too gung-ho about it. I’ll be serious now. Forgive me. I’m glad you’re alright, Alice, Gabrielle. You had me worried there for a second.” In the silence that followed, he cleared his throat again. “I see you might not be familiar with me with your condition, so I’m happy to reintroduce myself—”

“No, we’re familiar with you, Talib,” Gabrielle drew, tone cautious. “It’s just been a very long time.”

---

The dining room fell silent as the small group headed by Mai that had left half an hour earlier returned with additional members.

Vogel and Martin Von Spiel shot up from their seats, while Volker visibly tensed as his hand moved to his waist. Reneé LeBlanc stared. 

“Oh, donuts. Nice!” Olive made his way to the table from the doorway. He craned his neck around and shouted, “Claire, they have those weird tea-flavored donuts you like! I think there’s only one lemon one left though, Lavi, so you and Eunji might have to share.”

The addressed adolescents made their way to the table, although this interaction did not draw the attention of anyone else in the room. 

Jericho gave a quick nod to Francis who was seated at the table in-between Cadence and Allen and then made his way to the television set near the front of the dining table. He turned the knob and the screen filled with static before white text on a blue background appeared:

WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK WITH OUR LOCAL NEWSCAST.

“Hey, I was watching that…” Werner, who was still seated in front of it, protested before he brightened upon registering Jericho. “J-man! You’re here!” He peered around the man. “Hi, Talib! Morning, Olive, Claire, Lavi, Eunji—”

Talib waved back before whispering over his shoulder at Gabrielle and Alice, “Is it me or does the atmosphere here seem somewhat tense?”

Gabrielle and Alice stared at him, before the former nodded at the Capricornians and then at Reneé. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”

“You are certain?” Reneé pressed. He smiled wanly. “And how do we know you’re not being pulled on puppet strings?”

“Because he’s the type of guy who would rather watch me trip over my own shoelaces than put a rock in front of me,” Gabrielle replied.

“Weird analogy,” Olive said.

“How does that saying go?” the peacekeeper continued. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Talib glanced between the two groups. “I’m not quite sure what’s going on here, but I’m sure the Organization is behind this.”

Vogel studied the man and then eyed the peacekeepers. “What is he talking about?” 

“It’s nothing.” Alice said. “The Organization is a concept the original Talib Al-Jarrah conjured up back when—”

“It’s not just a concept,” Talib rebutted. “It’s reality. The Organization has been pulling the strings of Ndoto since the very beginning—”

Alice sighed. “It seems as if your delusions can’t even be rearranged by a folie a deux.” 

“Oh, Alice, Alice, Alice, Alice.” Talib tutted. “Alice. You needn’t pretend you don’t know of the Organization’s nefarious deeds here. You’re among friends who also know of the Organization—”

Something akin to pain, regret, and nostalgia flitted through Alice’s expression all in the beat of one second.

As Talib and Alice went back and forth, Jericho leaned over and asked Werner, “You didn’t call anyone else after me, did you? You didn’t tell anyone about what happened last night?”

“After I called you?” Werner shook his head. “No, you said not to.”

“Good. Let’s keep it that way.”

“Alrighty—”

The television flickered. A woman wearing large hoop earrings and sitting at a long white desk appeared on the screen. Behind her was the banner VERBUNDENE AUGEN NEWSCAST.

“Is that…” Martin Von Spiel muttered. “Marionette Engel?”

“And we’re back!” Marionette Engel exclaimed. “And with exciting news regarding the Market District’s very own Cadence Foxman!”

A small image of Cadence wearing a pink headband and an outrageously frilly dress appeared at the left corner of the screen.

“Fans far and wide will be glad to hear that Cadence is debuting her new single Stay with Me this weekend at the Gemini Geminorum. She’ll also have an interview with esteemed baseball player Kafke this Wednesday at DiscoFever!”

“Hooray, Caddy!” Werner clapped.

The applause was soon joined by Francis, Olive, Lavi, and Claire. The others looked on bewildered.

Marionette gathered the papers on her desk and tapped them. “But before we go more into that story, let’s go back and discuss the explosive events that occurred just last night at the gates—”

An image of a dull gray wall that was painted over with the depiction of a long-haired girl entangled in a garden of flowers popped up on the screen. While the girl was colored in sketchy black, the hyper realistic flowers were vivid reds, blues, oranges.  Just beyond the garden were a pair of painted white gates with the flowers bleeding off from the field crawling up on their bars. 

ELPIS PAINTS THE GATES, read the small news banner running across the bottom of the screen. 

“—prior to this demonstration, ELPIS members purportedly stole from the Child of the World District's historic Aesculapium Museum. Here we have footage caught on camera—”

The image on the screen shifted to grainy footage of none other than Volker, Von Spiel, and Fortuna pulling out uniforms from a shattered glass case.  

Marionette appeared back on the screen a second later. “As you can see, ELPIS has become rather extreme with its demonstrations. Rather abstract too might I add. Perhaps there’s an ability here to be made between the past wars and the current gates?”

“Oh dear…” Cadence put a hand to her mouth. “Was this also part of the demonstration, Francis?”

Francis and Jericho exchanged looks. 

“Of course not,” Francis replied. “They’re just exaggerating things and stealing from the museum was never part of the plan.” He turned and studied Volker and Fortuna. “Do you happen to know why you… took those uniforms?” 

“That’s not us,” Volker muttered. “These are our uniforms. We never took them. It could be the work of a Transmutationist.”

“It has to be,” Martin agreed. 

“Wow. What a movement.” Marionette sighed. “Demographics indicate that members of ELPIS tend to be university students and the children of first generation Ndotoans. We now turn to an old interview with a renowned policy maker on why exactly ELPIS is so persistent with its goals and what exactly the guidance council is trying to do about it.”

The image shifted to another grainy reel of footage. Captured in the flickering frames sat Atienna Imamu on a bright green cushion. Her hair was long, her smile passive. 

“It’s difficult to satisfy everyone in Ndoto,” the Atienna on the screen said. “In fact, perhaps one could assume that certain people can never be satisfied.”

The camera zoomed into her face, and she made eye contact with it.

“So, rather than changing the environment to try to appease them, it would be better to try to help change the person instead, don’t you think?”

Those around Atienna stared at her at this, but Atienna’s expression betrayed nothing.

“Breaking news!” Marionette gasped abruptly as she reappeared. “We have incoming word of a potential crime scene investigation occurring right in the heart of our Market district. We go to Hilton Tyler live on the site.”

The screen became grainy again before a man with bushy brows appeared. He was dressed in an oversized pin-striped suit and standing in an alleyway. He stood still for a moment before he beamed.

“Thank you,” Hilton said, accent crisp, “Marionette.”

Reneé shot up to a stand, wide eyed, before he turned and stared holes into Atienna. 

“Here we are in the Spectabllis area of Family District, ” Hilton continued, gesturing down the alley. “Peter, if you direct the camera behind me, you can see some guidance officers surveying the scene.”

The camera panned to the end of the alley and showed men and women in khaki uniforms moving around in the open street. It was difficult to make out exactly what they were doing, but they were focused on something on the ground.

“Unfortunately, the square where the crime has happened has been cordoned off so we’re not able to get any closer—”

The screen went grainy again. When it focused, Hilton was moving down a dimly lit alley.  

“Come here now.” Hilton said to the cameraman as he crouched low.  “Follow me. I think we can get a closer look if we go through here.” 

Hilton and the cameraman broke out of the alley and held tight to the sidewalk. 

“Point the camera there.”

The cameraman complied and the screen panned over to an open yellow plaza. Something was  dotting the brick of the plaza at the center.  The camera panned closer and the images on the screen—although still grainy—became sharper. 

A strange silence fell over the dining room. It was similar to the silence that had fallen at Talib’s entrance.

A slew of large letters occupied the plaza’s center. It was difficult to discern whether the letters had been carved, painted, or built onto the brick. The word itself was easy to discern however, and the world was familiar to many in the room. Spelled out in squarish, blocky letters was—

Fortuna tensed. “Does that say—”

“What does 5-y-2-y-g-y mean…?” Werner wondered, squinting.

“It’s syzygy,” Jericho corrected. 

“Vandalism?” Francis suggested. “It must be something more. I’d doubt so many guidance officers would be there for an act of vandalism though. I heard from Vincente that there were hardly any officers at the gates after our demonstration.”

Fortuna glanced at Francis at the mention of the name.

Hilton and the cameraman continued to slowly inch their way along the sidewalk and came closer and closer to the word spelled out on the plaza.

“Wait—” Hilton gasped.  “Oh my. What the—” He doubled over immediately and began retching. 

Reneé leaned forward with concern.

The camera became shaky as well as faint retching from the cameraman resounded in the background.

“Focus on it!” Hilton demanded.

The camera view shook for a moment before it became directed back on the letters on the square.  

Cadence gasped. Werner covered his eyes with a hand. Jericho tensed. Atienna looked on, eyes unaverted—as did all the others in the room.

The letters were crisp and clear now. Each corner, each line, each color of each line. Clear too was what the letters were composed of—each digit, each palm, each appendage. It was all clear as day. Hands holding onto the bottom of severed arms. Severed hands holding hands. All of it held together by the stems of blossom flowers. 

“What the hell…?” Carl grimaced. “Thought this place was supposed to be utopia.” 

“Hey!” came a shout from off-camera. “What are you doing here! You’re not allowed here!”

The camera whipped around and one of the guidance officers from earlier stormed towards Hilton. Hilton backed away, arms raised. The officer brushed past Hilton and stormed to the camera operator. The man then grabbed the camera and stared down the cameraman—however, it appeared as if he was staring right into the camera, through the screen itself, seemingly towards the ones who were watching.

“Are you listening to me?” The guidance officer said.  “You don’t belong here.”

The television cut back to Marionette Engel, sitting pale and silent. Someone offscreen whispered to her, shaking her from her stupor.

“I’m sorry about that graphic image, viewers.” Marionette tapped her papers on the desk and offered a tight smile. “It looks like our Hilton Tyler ran into some trouble. We’ll get back with him shortly. That scene we witnessed just now is allegedly tied to the Raincoat Murders, a string of killings that have been happening since early June. The guidance officers state they believe the perpetrator is just one person, naming this type of killer as a ‘serial killer.’ This is Ndoto’s first ever high-level crime, so please be safe out there, everyone.”

There was a stretch of silence. 

Marionette brightened. “And now let’s head to our commercial break. Afterwards, we hear from a pre-recorded interview with Doctor Alice Kingsley regarding the psychological profile of Ndoto's first ever murderer.”

Jericho shook his head. He crossed his arms and leaned against the table. “How awful. Senseless. I can’t even think of a reason to justify taking someone’s life. We all come here for a reason.”

“Their poor families,” Talib muttered as he came behind Jericho.

Alice and Gabrielle studied the two, while the others at the table went frigid at Talib’s approach. 

“Agreed.”  Francis glanced at Cadence and gave her clasped hands a small pat. “This sort of thing doesn’t belong in Ndoto.” He let out a breath. “I know this is in poor taste to be saying this given the situation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the policy makers use this to discredit our message at the gates.”

Werner frowned a bit. “Gil, wouldn’t do that…” He looked down the table towards Atienna. “Atienna wouldn’t do that either, right?”

Olive, Jericho, and Cadence followed his gaze and stared at her.

Atienna’s expression betrayed nothing once again. “Don’t worry, Werner.”

Many in the room including the companions she had arrived at the gates with the previous night found her response peculiar. 

The door to the dining hall creaked open abruptly, and Feliciano scuffled into the room. He was ogled by Allen and the Geminian captain as he had been just the previous night.

“U-Uhm, I’m sorry for interrupting,” Feliciano stammered, “but there’s guidance officers at the door.”

Francis shot up to a stand immediately, and Jericho unfurled himself.  “What—”

Shouting resonated from the room Feliciano had just come from before the door leading to that room burst open. 

Twenty men and women in khaki suits and navy uniforms flooded the room and surrounded the table.

Derik leapt to his face and hurtled towards the opposite door immediately. “Fuck this shit—”

One of the uniformed men darted forward, leapt across the dining table—

“The silverware!” Cadence gasped. “You animal!”

—and landed on top of Derik who immediately began swinging his fists. The uniformed man struggled against Derik for a moment before he slammed his bare palm against the carpet. The area began to pulsate amber before it stretched out and wrapped itself around Derik’s body. The man proceeded to press against Derik’s back with his knee.

“Liebling!” Werner identified the uniformed man. “Nico!”

Derik swore beneath Nico’s knee.   

“The rug, Nico!” Cadence shouted in exasperation. “You’re damaging the rug! That was a gift!”

“Tesoro, stay put!” Nico shouted at Werner. He leaned down and snapped into Derik’s ear. “And you—you stay put. You’re in a whole lot of trouble.” He scanned the room. “The lot of you are.”

In the chaos, Fortuna and Arjun slipped out of the room through the opposite door. Allen was one of the few who took note of their departure, though he kept his gaze focused on Nico.

“Yeah, he’s an ass,” Carl confirmed. 

“There’s no need to get violent,” Francis half-snapped as he rose to his feet. “None of these VNWs are dangerous.”

“I bet you wouldn’t say that if these VNWS weren’t ELPIS members,” Nico replied, tone cold.  

Francis frowned. “Not enough half of them are members, Nico.”

“Half of them, most of them, all of them,” Nico rattled on. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re all VNWs and they all developed VNW at once.  Do you know how dangerous they can be? But all you care about is your stupid movement.”

Cadence snapped. “Nico! enough—”

Werner looked between the two fretfully. 

“Let’s calm down, Nico,” a smooth voice cut through the conversation. One of the uniformed officers stepped forward. A woman with loose brown curls tied into an ornate bunch. Each step she took exuded elegance. “You’re not all in trouble. We’re only here to help you and protect Ndoto’s citizens.”

“Araceli,” Jericho, stiff but calm, greeted the woman, “it’s good to see you—though I wish the circumstances were different.”

Araceli smiled slightly and nodded at him. “Perhaps next time.”

Gabrielle and Alice stared at the brown-haired woman incredulously. 

Talib whispered to the two of them, “It’s alright. She’s a spy infiltrating the Organization. She’s on our side.”

Jericho turned away from Araceli and then to Werner. “Who else did you tell, Werner?”

“Huh?” Bewildered, Werner shook his head. “I didn’t tell anyone. I promised you.”

Jericho paused, then rephrased his question: “Did you tell someone before you told me?” 

Werner brightened. “Yeah, I told Nico before I told you. You know I tell him everything, and he tells me everything.”

Jericho sighed. “He must have told the other guidance officers then.”

Werner gasped before his face fell. “I’m sorry, J-man. I didn’t tell him not to tell anyone. I know he wouldn’t’ve if I asked…”

“It’s alright,” Jericho reassured him. 

Alice, who was a little ways away from the two men,  watched the interaction with thin lips.  

“Where will you be taking us?” Gabrielle asked, hands raised, as she watched the uniformed men and women flit back and forth. 

“You’ll see,” Nico grunted as he dragged Derik up to a stand. 

“Touchy,” Gabrielle noted. “Every other person here seems to be overtly amicable and positive, but it seems like you’re just the opposite. Any reason why?”

“You should be ashamed as a guidance officer,” was all Nico replied with.

“You’ll be taken to the Small Services,” another uniformed officer—a woman—said. “Don’t worry. We only have to ask you some questions about your VNW status and what you were doing last night—”

Alice tore her gaze away from Jericho and Werner at the sound of the woman’s voice. She stared. “Shion…?” 

The woman turned at the identification and froze immediately as her eyes widened. “Alice…?” Her gaze trailed behind the woman and landed on Claire. 

The adolescent was in a small circle at the table with Olive, Eunji, and Lavi and snickering along with Olive at the chaos unfolding around them. As soon as he locked eyes with Shion, however, he stopped laughing and his smile became wan. 

The guidance officer known as Araceli Gloria-Angelo cut across the path connecting their gazes. She proceeded down the table before stopping short in front of Atienna. The Virgoans around her quieted. 

“I see you’re always in interesting places, Miss Imamu,” Araceli said. After a pause, she added, “Maria requested you to meet her.” 

 “Oh—again…?” Atienna asked. 

“She thinks you may be able to help with the Raincoat case.” 

Atienna asked, tone more curious than concerned. “What do you mean?” 

Araceli leaned forward and whispered into  Atienna’s ear, “I don’t know the details, but she mentioned something about a book you may have written. She believes someone may be using it as inspiration for the murders.”