If Nina were asked to sum up her last few days in one word, she would probably answer with ‘relaxing’. She would have even said that the days had been blissful, but the fact that Reina had asked her to cook twice readjusted her opinion.

Like how her apartment on Caecus had things that her room in The Cloud Orchestra couldn’t offer, it was also the same the other way around. The rainy days tucked up in bed with the cool fresh air were something that she missed from Caecus, while the books and food in Luem were quickly growing on her. The fact that Svanda often acted as a free delivery girl didn’t hurt either, meaning that she often got to lounge around in comfort without heading out onto the chaotic streets that surrounded her.

Reina hadn’t even been asking her to visit the range, which she was surprised at. Maybe it was just that she didn’t want anyone to see Julia for the time being, but Svanda had probably been seeing her anyway. Nina had her own questions about that too, but it wasn’t something that she could just walk up and ask about. In time, she guessed. Reina had said that it was fine for her to lay low for a few days, but Nina knew that Jade and Aline were already out and about again. They were too active to keep pinned down in the office anyway.

Nina stifled a yawn as she padded down the stairs. She hadn’t bothered changing out of the loose white t-shirt or grey shorts that she had slept in; it wasn’t like she was going anywhere.

“Morning,” Trim said as her eyes opened. Wearing a green tracksuit, her feet were propped up on her desk as she flicked through a news website. Blonde hair that wasn’t tied in a ponytail for once hung out from underneath a black beanie, a set of grey headphones on top. As the dull throb of bass disappeared when she turned her headphones down in courtesy, Nina wondered why Trim was so sensitive to movement in the room. She didn’t know how, but Trim always seemed to know if someone appeared even when her eyes closed. The headphones certainly wouldn’t help either.

“Morning,” Nina echoed as she sat at her desk and powered on her computer. Most of the team had passwords on their computers, but Nina didn’t bother. It wasn’t like she had anything interesting on there anyway, she just used the internet to browse around. Jade had shown her some websites, but unfortunately she couldn’t access any of her old favourites from Caecus.

Maybe I should just ask her, she thought on Trim’s sensitivity as she opened a news page from her bookmarks. Focused on news for the orange levels from JA-01 to JZ-99, Jade had configured her account to pick news from close to home. She frowned she didn't see anything that interested her, but that was expected. The real juicy stuff wouldn’t be on there, Jade had said. You needed to pay to see that.

She typed a few details into the search box before clicking on an article that she had already visited twice. There wasn’t a picture, but her eyes scanned the text under the big headline which she was familiar with:

Glass Heart Finished: SuTSU Smash Private Information Ring in KF-14

She skimmed through the article before her eyes flicked over the list of names at the bottom. She felt sorry for them even though she wouldn't be able to put a single name to a face. Reina had said that there wasn’t anyone of interest there, but it would probably help narrow down who the sellout had been. Whoever it was wouldn’t have wanted any of their own operations to be compromised through the bust, so looking at who wasn’t there was at least a starting point.

She was disappointed that there wasn’t an update on what happened to the people on the list, as it was the main reason she was revisiting the article. She had a sliver of hope for them, but maybe it was information that she would never find. It was easy for news like this to become public as the bust couldn’t exactly be hidden from bystanders. Once the people had been taken into SuTSU custody and disappeared, however, well that was a different story.

“Where is everyone?” she asked. Trim was the only person in the office, which was strange for this time in the morning. Even Reina’s office was empty, and Nina had already learned that leaving early was something Reina was not particularly fond of.

“Reina took Svanda somewhere that was apparently important. Jade and Aline went for breakfast,” Trim yawned as she dropped her headphones down around her neck. “Saela’s still in bed.”

She was probably drinking again all night, Nina thought. “Reina went somewhere important?”

“Svanda was complaining about the job from Julia, so Reina said they would go and fix it,” Trim answered as she looked over at Nina. “It was strange, really. You were there, weren’t you? Do you know what kind of job it was?”

Nina shook her head as she thought back to their encounter with Julia. Reina had seemed frustrated when they were with Julia, but her mood improved when they exited the elevator. When she thought about it, Reina had even seemed rather happy when they left The Eye of Iron.

Either Reina had come up with a perfect plan in the elevator, or she had been leading Julia along from the beginning.

“She said she was going to jump into the middle of a Ruryn family dispute.”

A low whistle escaped from Trim’s lips before she dropped her headphones on the desk and stood up. Walking around the desks towards Nina, she sat backwards on Svanda’s empty seat and gave her a curious stare.

“She went to see Alan?”

“I don’t know,” Nina replied. She had heard the name Alan pop up when they had left The Eye of Iron, but knew nothing more about him besides the fact that he was related to Julia. “Reina didn’t say much.”

“Alan’s the real deal,” Trim said as she pulled her beanie off, tossing it onto Svanda’s desk. Her hair that had been kept in order underneath now hung just past her shoulders, shining in the light as she tossed it around with a shake of the head. Nina watched as she pulled a hair tie off her wrist before collecting it into her usual ponytail. “The Eye of Iron is big, but Ruryn Company is massive.”

“Isn’t Julia a Ruryn too?”

“She is in name,” Trim sighed. “She used to work under Alan as part of the Ruryn Company, but decided to start The Eye of Iron with a few of Ruryn Company’s old suppliers. She’d had enough of her older brother, and they’d had enough of him forcing prices down.”

“And now they compete,” Nina finished. Like she had imagined, Julia was among the top at The Eye of Iron. What was interesting though was that her older brother Alan was apparently yet another cut above in society.

“Alan humored her at the start. He let her use Ruryn Company resources to expand her business and develop connections, but Julia began to take more and more. He’d had enough when he saw that his profits were suffering, and closed the Ruryn Company doors to her. The pair have maintained an uneasy relationship ever since.”

“I thought The Eye of Iron was very popular here though,” Nina mused. “I’ve never even heard of Ruryn Company.”

Trim pointed towards the ceiling in response. “Ruryn operate above us, and The Eye of Iron operates on the orange floors. The scraps, really,” she smiled. “Julia tried to push into the yellow floors but it didn’t go very well. Not that she would tell you that, she doesn’t like to advertise her failures.”

Nobody does, Nina thought as she mulled over what she had learned. It seemed as though Reina was off to see Alan, but she didn’t know enough about him to know what the meeting would entail. If Nina had seen Reina as similar in standing to Julia, Alan was probably on another level. She wouldn’t have any advantages in negotiation there, unless what she knew about Julia was of any value. Probably not, she thought. If Alan was as successful as she had been led to believe, he would be keeping tabs on her.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the sound of a bell rang out across the room. Trim wiped the confused expression from her face before quickly standing up and walking to her own computer, leaning on the desk before tapping a few keys. Nina saw a frown appear on her face as she stared at the monitor.

“I wonder what they’re here for,” she mused as she walked to the door that led to the apartment. Pressing a button on the wall that Nina had never asked about, she opened the door and turned to Nina. “Coming?”

Nina shook her head while pointing to her shirt. She was still wearing her sleeping gear, she wasn’t about to go outside.

“We’re not going outside,” Trim laughed. “I just let your friends in.”

Nina wasn’t sure if she had any friends that couldn’t walk in by themselves, but decided to go with her despite her current attire. Following her through the door, they appeared in the small reception room that she had always ignored. It wasn’t like anyone ever used it anyway.

“Lucky you’re here Nina,” Cross said as she walked through the archway into the room. Hala followed her in with a smile, the ale bottle in her hand not escaping Nina’s attention. It seemed as though this pair were the friends that Trim had mentioned. Were they friends? They had only spent one night together, and Nina couldn’t even remember half of it.

“Cross, Hala. Good to see you,” she smiled. She did, however, remain behind the reception desk. “Are you doing well?”

“We always are,” Hala laughed as she leaned on the counter. “Is Reina around?”

“She’s out,” Trim replied, her tone flat. It wasn’t unwelcoming, but it wasn’t a particularly nice tone either. It was businesslike, as though they should just spit out whatever reason they had come here for. Nina frowned when she saw how Hala ignored the hint, but her attention quickly changed to focus on a piece of paper that had been dropped onto the counter.

“Reina needs to know about this, and Nina does too for obvious reasons. Well, you all do,” Hala said as her finger tapped on the paper. “Not looking great, is it?”

Trim and Nina both scanned the page as Hala rotated it to face them. Nina felt Trim tense up, but she couldn’t blame her because she did exactly the same thing.

“Where did you get this?” Trim asked.

“We were shown a copy when we were at KB-54 yesterday. It seems to be spreading out from somewhere in the K towers,” Cross explained before turning to Nina. “You’ve been there recently haven’t you? Somewhere in the K towers.”

Nina nodded as her fingers touched the page. Her gaze flicked from the photo to the details, a large SuTSU stamp above them. She felt as though time had slowed down, as though the blood in her veins had begun to freeze. “This is what I think it is, isn’t it?” she mumbled.

“Yup,” Cross sighed. “That’s a wanted poster, a wanted poster for you.”