Part Twelve

    Hirofumi doesn’t see me enter the room. He’s sitting at his desk, his hands laced together to make a perch for his chin to rest on. Dark eyes stare down at the papers before him, but he’s staring through them. His thoughts are still on his brother, who seemingly has returned from the dead. I let a smirk pull at my lips as I cross the room towards him. He’s so lost in his troubled and unhappy thoughts that he doesn’t see me until I’ve reached the desk. He spots movement out of the corner of his eye and looks up, sending a startled look my way when he realizes who has come. I come around the desk to the side he’s on, lifting myself up to perch on the edge and offering him a lazy, dangerous grin.

    “What are you doing here?” he demands, eyes narrowing. He knows me as his father’s bodyguard, and he’s not pleased to see me show up at his office. He figures that he’s in trouble for something, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. He fears what it means to see me here, and that’s how he should be reacting. I’d kill him myself if I could get away with it. He should consider himself lucky that I can’t, even though we’re busy rearranging things to make his death possible.

    I tilt my head to one side, letting my orange hair spill across my face. “Just came to check on your progress,” I answer, hooded green eyes catching his stare and holding it. “Your father’s party is tonight, and he wants answers. For your sake, you’d better have some to give.”

    He scowls at me, but the expression is weak. “It’s eleven in the morning; I haven’t had much _time_ to make progress…”

    “Then perhaps you’d like some help.” My smirk widens, suggesting to him that this is less of an offer and more of something he’d better accept. He hesitates, eyeing my expression and trying to figure out what his father means by sending me here. I don’t bother telling him that Takatori has no clue where I am today. The fat bastard doesn’t care, as long as I’m nowhere near him. “Hmmm?”

    “And what could _you_ do to help me?” he finally demands.

    I reach out, calmly pushing his papers all out of order. He glares at me for making a mess of things but I don’t care, reaching forward and taking hold of his mind. I give it a solid jerk forward, crashing through his consciousness to his thoughts. I don’t have to worry about being careful with him; he’s worthless and we’ll be rid of him tonight, anyhow. Crawford and I figured everything out last night, between Crawford forcing himself to have visions and us finding ways to work everything to our favor. It’s not a flawless plan…The Council will probably still have words with us, as Hirofumi is going to die, but we will have protected our number one priority. Hopefully, they’ll accept the excuse. If not, they’re going to be pissed. But this is our best chance, so we’re going to take it.

    /What sort of brother is he?/ I purr into Masafumi’s mind. His eyes are wide and unseeing, his mouth frozen open in a silent cry of pain. I gaze at him, my eyes boring into him as my thoughts twist around his. /He pointed his weapon at you. You may have startled him then by recognizing him but what will happen when the shock fades? Will kinship save you again? He was out for your blood, you know…He was there with his friends. They wanted to kill you. What makes you think they won’t try again? They failed; they’ll come back for more. How will you protect yourself this time? My, what a hateful little brother he is…/

    Hirofumi makes a strangled sound in the back of his throat. I reach out, fingers digging into his hair. I slam his face forward into his desk. It makes a satisfying thud and the pain rocks through him. He can’t figure out where the pain is coming from, though; his mind is shut down, hopeless to do anything but listen to me. Because of this, his mind winds the pain around the words. I lean towards him, pulling his head back up from the desk.

    /His friends are going to kill you,/ I tell him. /Can you save yourself next time? You don’t even know who they are. You don’t know why they’re after you. But he knows, your precious little brother knows, because he was going to kill you, too. And if you don’t stop him, who will? Your father’s not going to lift a hand to save your worthless hide. You’re on your own. Can you save yourself when you see him again?/ His face is crashed into the desk again.

    “Unless you stop him,” I murmur in his ear, “you’re going to die. We’ll see you at the party tonight.”

    With that, I untangle my fingers from his short hair, sliding off the desk and moving towards the door. The secretary doesn’t remember me later, and Hirofumi, who I release as I slip through the exit, doesn’t know I’ve come. He’s left with the pain over his brother’s betrayal of the Takatori family and my words, and I let him chew on it the rest of the day.

***

    The party is laughable. It’s amazing how well everyone can get along when one considers what sort of creatures hide behind the pressed suits and wan smiles. Crawford and I are in attendance; I managed to salvage the white suit Adashi made me buy and the two of us came as a matched set. We are keeping to the walls, watching the crowd as we see what chaos we can create and prevent. Farfarello and Nagi are entertaining themselves in some of the back rooms, Nagi with his computer and Farfarello by sharpening his knives. They’re waiting until we call on them, and they have a while to go.

    The little Weiß is the only one here to represent that group. He was dragged here by the sassy twit Ouka. I had thought maybe his teammates wouldn’t want him to attend a party full of people who sponsor his newly revealed “father.” They almost made him cancel; it was an amusing argument between the four of them. Ran doesn’t want him here, though he doesn’t want the little Takatori back at the Koneko no Sumu Ie, either. Kudou and Hidaka want to trust their teammate, so convinced Ran to let Omi go. I gave him a nudge to make him give in, because the blonde’s presence is crucial for what’s going to happen tonight.

    Omi isn’t really on their mission anymore, anyway. Takatori Shuuichi is present and has a red-headed thing at his arm, a lady named Kitada Hanae. From her thoughts, she is another pillar within Kritiker and she will be keeping an eye on Hirofumi since Weiß is troubled by internal conflicts. The Takatori in question hasn’t arrived just yet, but he will be here soon.

    Crawford and I aren’t really necessary- not yet, at least. For the time being we have to entertain ourselves with watching the crowd. I’m bored out of my skull and hoping Hirofumi will just show up soon to get things started. He’s on his way, but there’s bad traffic. It figures. As long as everything goes as we’ve planned, the night can turn out to be highly entertaining. Hirofumi is just the person who will start the chain of events and deaths for the night.

    /I’m bored,/ I tell Crawford.

    ~I’m not surprised,~ is his response. He’s standing beside me, holding a champagne cup in one hand as cool golden brown eyes wander the crowd. I take his cup from him and help myself to a sip, only to make a face at the nasty taste and hand it back.

    /How can you drink that shit?/ I want to know, rubbing my hand over my mouth.

    ~Sophisticated people have no problems with it,~ is the smooth answer, and I shift my position so I can step on his foot. He looks at me and I give him a baleful look in return before returning my attention to everyone around us. Quite a few people have stared at us tonight, but no one dares approach us. They ask around to try and figure out who we are. Eventually they mentioned us to Takatori, who wrote us off as being foreign diplomats, representatives of a foreign organization that supports his party. His guests are impressed at Takatori’s far-reaching power but still don’t have the guts to walk over and say hi.

    Perhaps it’s survival instinct. I offer a wide smirk to the next person that looks our way and he quickly turns his attention back to his mistress. I look back at Crawford, taking his drink away to steal another sip. There’s really nothing else to do. There’s nothing good here to drink…Everything is the expensive bits of wine and champagne. Just because Schwarz makes an assload of money doesn’t mean I’ve acquired a taste for the richer people’s foods…I prefer the darker, harder drinks that I can pick up at a roadside package store or find at a bar.

    The food isn’t as disappointing, which is some bit of a relief. I was picking at the buffet table earlier, more out of boredom than hunger. We’ve been here for an hour already, and everyone’s thoughts circle around politics and Takatori’s greatness, and the wonderful things he’s going to do for Japan. Makes me sick, really. I offer an aggravated sigh to the air as I hand Crawford his glass back. We still haven’t figured out how to make Takatori expendable. Any mental adjustments I make to him have to be very careful so that the Council doesn’t realize we’re screwing around. It’s one thing to off an insane son or pick the father over the remaining child. To tell the Council that the man the Elders are currently riding their hopes on is useless is going to be very difficult. We cannot keep Weiß away forever, but we cannot kill them because we still need them. We can delay Weiß as long as possible but Ran _will_ have the man’s death.

    /Nagi, I’m bored./

    ~No sympathy here,~ comes his response. He’s busy playing solitaire on his computer. ~But the security cameras outside show that Hirofumi has arrived. They’re parking his car for him now.~

    I reach out to the Takatori’s mind, giving it a poke. A grin spreads on my mouth. /Good. Things will get fun soon./

    ~For you,~ Nagi answers. ~I still have to wait.~

    /No sympathy here,/ I send back at him, turning expectant green eyes on Crawford. /It’s almost time to play./ He glances towards me, finishes his cup, and sets it on a nearby table. This is my game for the first half…Until I’m done with Hirofumi, my teammates have nothing to do. I shove my hands into my pockets, yawning loudly and moving forward a few steps to where I can see into the room better. Ouka has shown up; I can see her across the room as she greets Omi. They flirt like the disgusting, unnatural couple they are in a few awkward sentences.

    Ouka has drawn all attention to that side of the room; everyone stares at her. She’s dressed in a long dark red thing with poofed sleeves, and I wonder if no one ever told her that dark blue hair and burgundy really don’t go together. I decide not to share the comment with my team, because they’ll just make a comment about the clothes I choose to wear on a regular basis. The difference is that I’m not trying to be fashionable… I’m just being me. ‘Tacky and loud,’ Nagi would say, because he’s a prick like that.

    Hirofumi enters the room and pauses on his way to greet his father, wondering what everyone is looking at. He doesn’t know who Ouka is but he definitely recognizes the boy she’s standing with. A dark frown curls his mouth. ~Why is Mamoru here?~ he wonders, not pleased at all. He glances around, seeking his father. On the one hand, he wants to point the boy out to prove he’s alive. On the other, he realizes this is not the best time to reunite the two Takatoris. Instead he retreats, weaving backwards through the crowd to where he can keep an eye on the youngest Weiß without being seen.

    I watch them both, waiting for Hirofumi to make his move. He wants answers from Omi; he feels betrayed over his littlest brother’s attempts to kill him. There will be a confrontation tonight, and I will be there when it happens to make sure things go as we want them to. Omi and Ouka chat a bit, moving further into the room, but are interrupted by some drunken boy who wants a piece of Takatori’s illegitimate brat. I have no clue what the guy sees in her; perhaps he is just in it for the money and prestige. It can’t be for her looks, certainly…Most definitely not for her intellect.

    She manages to get away from him by spotting her father and excuses herself from both of them. With a final whisper in Omi’s ear she prances away, vanishing through the crowd. Omi and the boy are left behind; the older teenager makes a face at her retreating back and heads off. I take a final glance in the direction Ouka headed in. Takatori is talking to Ohara, some other geezer that’s supporting his political ambitions, and his brother and the redhead. I put a tag on her mind so I’ll be able to find her later; I’ll need her shortly. I have to get Hirofumi out of here to where Weiß can get to him more easily. He’ll give me the opportunity… After all, Omi has been abandoned.

    But Hirofumi hesitates a moment longer, sending a sharp glance around. I give him a mental nudge, bored and knowing that it won’t be long before Takatori abandons his guests to answer his daughter’s every desire. Ouka wants her father and Omi to meet, so they’ll come looking for Omi before long. Hirofumi gathers the shreds of his courage, digs into his anger and betrayal, and closes the distance between the Takatori children.

    The words between them are lost due to the distance, but Omi’s thoughts echo with surprise and small dismay to find himself facing a man who just recently announced himself to be his older brother. Hirofumi wants Omi to follow him, though he hasn’t figured out where they’re going yet. I offer him a suggestion even as I’m heading towards the door, leaving Crawford behind and dropping a small notice to Nagi that things have started moving. The room I’ve picked is several doors down from the main room everyone is partying at, a small office. I let myself in, not bothering with the lights, and plant myself in the corner.

    The brothers enter just a moment later but they cannot see me. They’re too focused on each other to realize they’re being stared at and their minds won’t let them acknowledge that I’m here. I lean against the doorway leading to a water fountain and coffee pot, watching them as they talk.

    Omi is the first to speak, probably because Hirofumi is too busy staring down at a sibling he thought he lost over a decade ago. “What is it?” the white assassin presses.

    His words shatter Hirofumi from nostalgic musings, bring back the sharp reminder of how they were reunited. “What are you?” he demands. “Why did you try to kill me? I want to know why.”

    Omi isn’t sure how to answer that question. He was expecting an interrogation like this, but knowing it was coming doesn’t help him. He’s still reeling from the truth of a sudden past, of being confronted by his family after years of having forgotten their faces. And the truth of who he is related to is killing him from the inside out, especially after Ran’s cold attitude the past few days. At least now Omi knows why Ran hates him so much, after he confronted Ran at the hospital last night and learned about the man’s sister, but he knows that he can’t fix that.

    He can’t. I can. I will, too, but only because I have to.

    “Brother…” he says helplessly. The word sounds strange on his tongue and in his mind; he’s not used to saying it so it comes out with an awkward edge.

    Hirofumi is not so awkward. The pain and words from this morning are fueling his thoughts and words, making them sharp and angry. His brother tried to kill him, and it will take a lot of work on Omi’s part before he’ll be forgiven for such a thing. There is no love lost between twisted family members with the Takatori names…It’s a struggle for survival and power and Omi is a threat to that. “Someone gave you the order to kill me. Who was it?”

    “Brother, listen to what I have to say.”

    “Answer my question,” Hirofumi insists.

    “Brother, don’t you think it’s wrong for people to scheme like this in politics?” His thoughts are pleading, hoping for some sort of a peaceful resolution to this. For over ten years, he was an orphan with a second name. Now he has a name and a family, and his heart cries over the truth. He has always wanted the truth, has always wanted memories of a family to love. That the cherished and oft dreamed of family turns out to be this one is like a nightmare come true. He doesn’t want this to be his family, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to reject someone who is related to him when he has been alone so long.

    Just wait until I tell him about Ouka…A grin pulls at my lips and I swallow an amused snort.

    “Don’t act like you know what’s going on. I’m sacrificing my flesh and bones so that father can become the ideal politician.” The ultimate martyr, I’m sure… “Mamoru, you’re being tricked. You’re being used by forces who are against our politics.”

    “It’s not like that,” Omi protests.

    “Mamoru, please tell me where your friends are.”

    “Your way is wrong,” Omi says, a flat edge to his voice. He was doing fine with it until Hirofumi suggested he turn in his teammates; his team has been his family when he was robbed of his own, and the mere thought of betraying them to such people makes him angry. “Admit your crimes and turn yourself into the police.”

    Hirofumi finds that hilarious and starts laughing. I have to swallow my own laugh at the kid’s idiocy. He’s naïve, that one…It’s a wonder that he can be any sort of a competent assassin, even if his current idealistic hope is fueled by shared blood. “You’re still a child,” Hirofumi says, condescending amusement twisting his voice. “One day when you grow up, you’ll understand how I feel.”

    Omi’s had enough. “I’m not going to become an adult if I turn out like you!” he snaps viciously, then spins around and stalks out of the door. Hirofumi’s face gives an ugly twitch as he watches the boy stalk away.

    I take that moment to lounge more comfortably against the doorframe, dropping the guard that keeps Hirofumi from seeing me. “You hate that brat, don’t you?” I ask. He sends me a startled look, a frown replacing his scowl.

    “Schuldich. Since when…?”

    /He rejected you…/ I whisper into Hirofumi’s mind. /He’s turned his back on the Takatori name. Can you turn him back? Are you even strong enough to punish him for what he’s done, to make him sorry for ever threatening your life? If you let him walk away, you’re going to die. You’re all going to die, and your sacrifices to get your father where he belongs will all be washed down the drain…/

    He hesitates for a moment as my words sink in. I only give him a moment to consider them, just the barest of moments for him to realize that he can’t afford to let Omi get away, that he must get Omi far away from this party before he can kill anyone else his father needs.

    “Leave it to me,” I assure him. “I’ll do what you want.”

    “I want him stopped,” is Hirofumi’s flat answer. “He’s responsible for the murders of my father’s supporters, and he knows who else is involved. We must get answers before he can kill anyone else.”

    “But it’s unsafe for him to remain here,” I remind him, edging him back to his last concern.

    He nods sharply. “My estate,” he says. “We will bring him there.”

    “As you wish,” I answer, letting my mouth curl into a wide smirk. Perfect… I reach out, searching for Omi. He’s looking for Ouka, so I find her and give him a small poke in that direction. Next I seek out the redhead, keeping her mind close for when I need her. She needs to see Omi get taken away so she can alert Weiß. I push myself up from the doorframe, heading towards the door. “Go find your car,” I toss over my shoulder. “We’ll be down in less than two minutes.”

    The floor is lined with four little balcony windows on each side, the small platforms placed on either side of the office buildings. I can hear Ouka’s voice and step out onto the balcony closest to me, ignoring Hirofumi as he heads down the hall. She’s on the next balcony over, and I let my gift melt me into the shadows so she does not see me. Not that I think she’d notice at the moment. That boy from earlier is back, and drunker than shit. He’s harassing Takatori’s youngest and most precious, and I lean against the railing and watch. I don’t bother lifting a finger to help her… I don’t care what happens to her and her darling little prince is on his way, anyway. No one else can hear her- there is no one else in the hall. Everyone else is in the main room, congratulating themselves and Takatori on being such wonderful people.

    Omi shows up, takes one look at what’s going on, and acts. There’s a small scuffle between the boys; Drunk and Ugly is too smashed to put up a fight and ends up retreating. And then the twat kisses him in her relief at being rescued. I grimace, green eyes flicking away from the disgusting sight of cousin kissing cousin. I wonder if I could get Ouka out of here…If she’s here when I decide to take Omi for a walk, I’ll have to blank her mind. I can’t have her go crying to her daddy about his bodyguard toting the little one away.

    But Ouka wants to talk. “What do you think of me?” she asks him. When he doesn’t respond immediately, her voice gets a forlorn edge to it. “You only think of me as a friend…”

    “That’s not true,” Omi answers, a vague answer because he isn’t quite sure what to make of her. I roll my eyes, disgusted with the both of them, and give Kitada’s mind a small tug. The sooner she comes to watch me take the brat away the sooner these two can stop being so nauseating. She responds to the mental summons, excusing herself from Shuuichi on an uneasy feeling that something is going wrong.

    “You’re lying,” she pouts. “You won’t open up your feelings to me. You won’t tell me your problems. It hurts me to see you suffer. If you’re suffering, I want to suffer with you. I…I…”

    “Ouka…”

    That time, it’s a consensual kiss between the two, and I make a gagging sound in my throat. Time to move… I eye the space between the two balconies with a critical eye before hopping up onto the railing. It’s a good bit of distance, perhaps twelve feet, but I can make it if I use my speed for a running head start. Kitada shows up just in time to watch the cousins eat face, and I move backwards along the railing so I have a small runway. I have my arms out for balance and glance down to the ground three floors below, musing that I’d better make it because otherwise Nagi’s going to have to keep me from going kersplat on the ground. Kitada has retreated, contemplating what she’s just seen with a healthy dose of uneasiness. I grin to myself, glad that at least someone else knows that there is something horribly wrong with the couple, and race forward along the railing before leaping towards the two.

    Ouka sees me first, looking up from whatever Omi is saying to her to gape as I come flying out of nowhere. Kitada pops her head back out at Ouka’s strangled gasp of horror in time to see me bury my fist right in Omi’s stomach. He makes a horrendous choking noise and collapses over my arm, blue eyes going wide before he slumps. I offer Ouka a wide smirk as she stares at me in utter disbelief and shock.

    “I’m going to borrow him,” I inform her, and promptly split her mind away from me. Kitada’s is grabbed and jerked along with hers in the illusion that I’ve gone back over the railing. Ouka leans over the railing, yelling after her precious boyfriend as she tries to figure out where I’ve gone. Kitada vanishes, racing away to alert Shuuichi, and my path is clear. I give Ouka’s mind a twist, leaning in to change it to where Omi had to leave early. Soon she’ll dismiss herself from the party as well, tired from the events of the night, and will go home to dream happy dreams. I can’t have her remembering what’s just happened or she’ll go tattling to her father. I leave her there to admire the stars with a dreamy gaze, lifting the littlest Weiß and heading from the balcony to the hall.

    /Got him,/ I tell my team. /Nagi, suppose you could tote him for me? He’s not as light as he looks./

    ~Carry him yourself, grandpa,~ is his calm response.

    School definitely taught him a lack of respect for his elders, I note with a small scowl. How could Aine and Ikida think it would be good for him? Of course, his animosity towards me these days is fueled by the blue-haired sore spot between us. He hasn’t been allowed to visit Schreient again, and he resents that I’m keeping him away from her. He even asked Crawford if the man didn’t think it would be better to keep steady contact with the girls’ group, and Crawford answered calmly that perhaps Nagi had done enough work for us. Nagi’s sure I’m the one behind this, and he doesn’t understand why I’m so mad at him and her right now. It’s not like I’m going to tell him that he’s getting too close, enough to where he could refuse an order for her sake.

    I won’t let her come first. She’ll die before he chooses her over us, God damn it. All it’ll take is a nod and Farfarello will gladly tear her to shreds. Only Crawford is keeping me from giving him that nod, and I wait very eagerly for the time to come.

    I don’t run into security until I reach the stairwell. Nagi has let himself into the computer’s security system and keeps the cameras turned at an angle where they will not spot me, so no one knows that I am here. There are guards at the stairwell, however, that are posted on the second floor landing, and I tweak my way past them. It’s slow moving because I’m weighed down by the kid, but I don’t pester Nagi again and keep moving to the first floor. I consider just rolling him down the stairs, but that would draw attention to us. A pity.

    I finally make it to the door to find Hirofumi waiting in his car. His driver blinks, looking from me to the boy in my arms. Hirofumi is in the passenger seat, leaving me to get my own door. It doesn’t surprise me- it would have surprised me if he actually opened it for me- but my arms are full.

    /Nagi, get the door./

    I wonder if he’ll argue with me, but it pops open just a moment later. Hirofumi doesn’t notice it opening by itself, for he has turned to give his driver sharp instructions. I slide into the backseat, setting the little Weiß beside me. Kitada is watching us; she’s on her phone and has moved to a balcony. She was originally taking the position to try and remember which way I’d jumped, but my orange hair drew her attention to us as I was getting in the car. Despite the distance between us, she can see Hirofumi. Her thoughts whirl around, agitated, as she delivers the news to Omi’s teammates.

    It won’t be long before they show up at Hirofumi’s estate to find us. I glance sideways at the boy sitting opposite me. He’s groggy from a hit that was both physical and mental. I did not knock him out, because he would take too long to rouse and Hirofumi wants him awake. He blinks, foggy blue eyes staring at me without really focusing me, and I offer him a lazy smirk. A confused gaze turns to the front seat, and only after he sees his brother does he really wake up.

    “Hirofumi?” he asks.

    “Stay quiet, Mamoru,” is the flat command.

    “Better listen to your brother,” I murmur, twisting sideways in my seat to eye him. It’s the first time he’s seen me, the first time the two of us have been this close to each other, despite the fact that I tagged him first out of all of Weiß. My eyes are cold as he turns back to me, and he can sense how dangerous I am. His thoughts are uneasy and wary, and I tilt my head to one side as I consider him. Wheat colored blond hair and big blue eyes… He fits the picture of an assassin about as well as Tot does. Appearances can be deceiving; what a pity they can never deceive me.

    He’s considering jumping out, wondering if he’ll make it. I slide my jacket open, letting him see the gun on my waistband, and he reconsiders the escape plan. Blue eyes study the weapon before flicking back up to my face.

    His eyes are almost…Hoffmann’s shade. They’re a bit too pure; there’s more warmth than ice there, but the color is deathly similar.

    And so I find myself cultivating a hatred of the boy. I read words better than images in people’s minds, mostly because most people think in words rather than pictures. I did not see in Ouka’s mind that his eyes were this color. I lift a hand, tangling it in my orange hair, and tilt my head back to rest against the window. Neither of us are buckled, so Omi turns as well to face me fully. I am the one he senses to be the greatest threat in the car, so he wants to keep his eyes on me.

    I wonder if I can kill him. I wonder if I can gouge his blue eyes out and keep them as a trophy, symbolic of a victory I hope to achieve in the next few months. But without his eyes he cannot be part of Weiß, and without Weiß whole, we will lose.

    That’s all right…I learned long ago that living can be worse than death.

    I’ll let you live, blue-eyes, but we’ll see how much you appreciate the favor.

***

    I push the window open, letting the breeze sweep in to tug at my long hair. Takatori is on the other side of the room; that is how I am saved from getting yelled at by letting in cold air. He’s on the phone, chewing out the company that sponsored the security team for the night. He’s cursing them and their entire bloodlines, threatening them that their company will fall when he has finally risen to his place in the political world. I ignore the words, just letting the furious tone wash over me. Crawford is by the desk, enduring the loud ranting in silence. Nagi and Farfarello are closer to me, off to my right, as they watch in silence. Farfarello is cleaning blood from his blade, watching the two at the opposite end of the room calmly.

    It’s the second time in two days Farfarello’s been allowed to kill someone, so he’s quite pleased with the world. Nagi’s glad that Farfarello’s satisfied, so he’s relaxed his grudge towards me. I don’t care; I’m still pissed at him and he can act as rude or nice as he wants and I won’t forgive him for the things he could do in the future.

    There was an attempt on Takatori’s life tonight. It was beautifully done, the result of hours of precognition and telepathy pulling everything together. That’s what Crawford and I worked on earlier today…We found outspoken members of an opposing political party and had them send their most unsavory contacts to kill Takatori. Even with a small glitch in the cameras that let them get all the way to the third floor- where they promptly killed everyone in the main security room- they were doomed to fail from the start. We made them come so that they could fail, so that Schwarz could save the Koala’s fat ass. It was amusing to create a threat to his life and then squish it.

    Of course, we were so occupied with Crawford’s vision of Takatori’s impending doom that we dropped our attention from Hirofumi and concentrated on saving the prime minister hopeful. Weiß just happened to have excellent timing with our distraction and managed to kill Hirofumi. Oops, what a pity. Wonder how they managed that.

    So we are free of Hirofumi and have proved ourselves loyal to Takatori, and Weiß has reconciled after they walked in on Hirofumi beating the living hell out of their youngest teammate. Omi denied any relationship between himself and the older Takatori and that was enough for Ran to lower his grudge and accept the boy back into the team. Sickeningly simple, almost.

    Simple, at least, until the Council shows up and wants an explanation for why we failed to keep the second Takatori son alive. That should be quite a mess, especially when because it will put Farfarello and Hoffmann back into the same building. We still haven’t told my teammate that he’s coming, but there’s only so long we can wait. Telling him five minutes before the Councilman shows up pretty much ensures that Farfarello will kill us all. That means I get to listen to his furious mental ranting all day tomorrow when we break the news to him over breakfast.

    I’m getting a headache already.


Part 13
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