.

  It was located near the heart of the city, blending in with the skyscrapers neighboring it. Erina barely had time to appreciate the bustling life of the city center before she had to follow Akira in. She knew running away was a lost cause.

  Rough-looking men bowed their heads as she and Akira walked past on their way to the elevator. Erina noted the pins they wore as she passed—another unfamiliar design. Now she was fully certain what those pins meant and exactly what kind of building she was in.

  She could also feel their eyes on her back as she walked away. Erina did her best not to fidget. It wasn't easy when her heart felt like she was running a marathon.

  The elevator took them high, high up. Akira stretched her back with a quiet groan and rolled her shoulders, hands in her pockets. Erina was tense and silent the whole ride.

  The doors opened to a polished room decorated with large statues and ornate pottery. The porcelain floor was polished so shiny Erina could see her own reflection in it. She didn't like it.

  "Stop fiddling with your skirt," said Akira. Erina couldn't tell when she managed to look at her when Erina was following behind her back. "Just draws more attention."

  "R-Right," said Erina. She could only see the back of her head, but Akira's tone and even the way she walked had changed. The casual swagger was gone, leaving behind a terse, serious girl who blended right in with the men in suits that lowered their heads in her presence.

  Two imposing guards stood flanking the lacquered wooden doors they stopped at. Wordlessly, they stepped forward and opened them, allowing the two entry into a lavish office that could only belong to a leader.

  "Patriarch Kano Hiro," Akira muttered to her as they entered. She warned her, "Behave."

  Erina didn't have any intention of doing anything else.

  Seated at his desk and waiting for them was a slender man with green hair and a crisp black suit. His eyes immediately reminded Erina of Akira's in the thick of combat—the same vicious, piercing yellow. A vast mural dominated the wall behind him, depicting a colossal serpentine dragon whose body twisted and turned as it draped itself over mountains and valleys.

  Erina's attention drifted over the bowler hat on the corner of his table, and then she had to bite back any reaction at the tip of the reptilian tail slithering back behind the desk. That petrifying gaze was still on her; Erina's heart skipped a beat as she forced herself to meet it again.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Akira bowed her head. What a relief, Erina could do the same now.

  "Akira." Hiro's voice was cool and commanding. "You called this meeting. What's so worth my time?"

  "Sir," said Akira. "I've acquired a breakthrough in the laboratory investigation. I expect it to accelerate analysis greatly. The timescale is reduced from years to weeks."

  "There was something in that junkyard after all," he mused. "Then? The sample you presented last time?"

  "There are many more like it. Larger, more complex, and more numerous. A meld of technology and magic beyond even the Association… and we have the means to decipher it now." A smirk flitted across Akira's face. "We'll take everything we can make use of. I have the confidence to say this will play a key role in cementing our standing."

  "What?" said Erina. "When did y—?"

  A sharp elbow in the side made her pause. Akira's eyes screamed a silent warning: Stop running your mouth. Erina tried not to shiver when she realized the patriarch's attention was on her now.

  "Who is this?" said Hiro.

  "The breakthrough." Akira took her sweet time turning back to him. Her gaze was the last to leave Erina and let her breathe again. "This is the loot I recovered from the laboratory—Emisane Erina."

  Erina objected, "That's not—"

  She winced. Akira jabbed her harder this time.

  "She will be our key to deciphering what we find in the laboratory," Akira carried on. She looked at Erina again before she could say anything.

  Erina could see the obvious question—you can do that, right? But there was something else about the way she looked at her. Erina tried to figure out what it was. Was there something else she wanted her to do? Did she do something wrong?

  …No. It was an opportunity. Akira's words bounced around in her head. Dilapidated and neglected as it was, Erina felt some attachment to the laboratory. She didn't want it taken apart and picked clean. If Erina was leading their foray into the laboratory, that meant Erina got a say in what happened to it.

  Or maybe she didn't have any say in the matter and needed to cope however she could.

  "…Understood," said Erina quietly. "I accept."

  Hiro shifted in his chair, his eyes on her. Erina didn't know what to do. Saying more seemed like the wrong move. She forced herself not to squirm. She wasn't even sure if it was too late to bow her head again. Paralyzed and helpless like a deer in the headlights, she merely stared back.

  "So you discovered her in the laboratory," said Hiro.

  "Yes, sir," said Akira.

  "I take it she doesn't have any affiliation." He leaned forward and steepled his fingers. "Besides the lab you found her in. She is a civilian… or more accurately, a vagrant. You came here to tell me you not only want to entangle an unknown outsider in our world, but to give them so much sway over such an asset?"

  Erina could feel the sweat beginning to form under her shirt. All she could do was focus on keeping her breathing steady and her hands not shaking.

  "Oi, Kai!" Akira barked at one of the door guards behind them. "The oaths."

  "Sir." He walked off. When he came back, he handed her a clipboard, which Akira handed to Erina in turn.

  "Read," said Akira simply.

  Erina read as fast as she could, her eyes flitting back and forth down the lines. One page and then the next and then the next, digesting it all quickly. Several lines jumped out at her as she went through it.

  I swear my loyalty to Patriarch Akanaga.

  I swear that all that I do shall be for the name and betterment of the Akanaga Family.

  I dedicate my life to the order of the Akanaga Family and all that it serves.

  At the very bottom of the last page, a line with a dark red X awaited her signature.