“I will send somebody over later on to pick you up. Go have a rest.”

“Thanks, Albert.”

Stepping over a guest barrier and into one of the many corridors on the second floor, Alice arrived in front of a room near the end of the hallway. Opening the door with its key in hand, she entered a modest bedroom with a simple bed and office desk. The top of the desk was tidy, the wardrobe was closed snugly and the sheets were made neatly. The cushioned office chair seemed to offer fluff and comfort of the highest level, while an impressive radio set was stacked on the desk. The room was dimly lit, but as she walked further into the room and past the tiny washroom to the side, the ceiling lights lit up brightly, automatically sensing her presence.

Alice threw herself face-down on the bed, fatigued from treating guests alongside her family. Plus, she came off of a whole day outside with her friends, so both her mind and body were tired and in need of rest. She turned over on her bed so she faced the ceiling, collecting her thoughts on what had happened today.

While she was grateful of Kato’s presence when she was compelled to join Gilbert on his surprise visit, the more thought she gave it, the more she was inclined to know about what happened between Kato and Mirabelle. After their disappearance and Kato’s return, the rest of the Elites weren’t as surprised of the situation as she was, which left her even more curious as it seemed related to the Elites on some level. It was on her mind the whole time she was downstairs, and she had been waiting for this moment.

She leapt back onto her feet, crossed the room and poked her head out of the door. Surveying the corridor, carpeted and lavishly decorated, it was quiet and dim as it was away from the main lobby and great hall. Feeling a little nervous, she called out softly.

“Kato?”

Seconds passed, but nothing followed.

“Kato? Kato. Katoooooo~”

Calling out his name many times, panic crept into her expression as the clock on her desktop kept ticking. She gently closed the door behind her and leaned her back against it, her face slowly flushing red with embarrassment.

Hopefully, no one heard that…

Because she definitely looked like a weirdo. But it was very strange. From what Albert described, Sisi’s partner should definitely be Kato, and as her bodyguard, he should be nearby, at least within earshot.

Unless, she thought, that they weren’t supposed to interact with their clients, i.e. herself, which made it even more embarrassing if Kato was indeed within earshot. She could hear the stifled giggling from an imaginary Kato hiding in the shadows of the corridor, which infuriated her as much as it was embarrassing.

“Alice?”

Then, a voice and a knock on the door dispelled all the worries in her imagination. She turned around quickly to open the door to a handsome-looking Kato with a bemused look on his face. Her smile was as wide as it could be, relieved that he was indeed here with her, to which Kato was even more confused by.

“What’s with that creepy grin? You okay?”

“One hundred percent okay. Come in here already, Kato. You can sit in that chair.”

As she sat down on the edge of her bed, inexplicably, the smile on her face refused to disappear, which continued to shine down on Kato’s somewhat exasperated expression. He began asking questions almost right away.

“How did you know that I was your bodyguard?”

“I took a guess, from what Albert told me earlier. I didn’t actually know for sure it was you.”

“Huh. Not a bad guess.”

He spun himself around and leaned back on the chair before he continued.

“I heard about your situation from Sisi, by the way. I’m sorry to hear it, and second-hand from Sisi as well. So it’s true that you chose to marry Gilbert?”

Alice’s eyes widened, but she was not surprised. She guessed as much, if Kato was Sisi’s sidekick. Her smile slowly disappeared as she began to explain.

“So I take it that you’ve already been told of my place in my family’s company. Yes, I chose to marry Gilbert. As incompatible as we are as people, he’s also the most trustworthy of the bunch.”

“You can’t just give up all of your ownership stakes to your brother and uncle, and recuse yourself from your family business entirely?”

“Even if I did, there wouldn’t be any freedom for me to choose who I marry anyway. A marriage with the Westgrove name is always a piece of the political game. So I’d rather choose my partner while I still can.”

“I mean, breaking off relations with your family completely. If you wanted neither of those things, then why not just renounce your claims and family name? Their business will carry on without you.”

“Hah, I’ve considered that many times, but I guess it’s up to your values. I’m grateful for the few things I have because of my family, but I have just as many complaints. For example, if I were to ask you, what’s in it for you to become one of Eternia’s greatest servants, what would you say?”

“Servant?”

“Your future as a Heart. I take it that you’re not in it for the ideological reasons. You’re a realist at heart, pardon the pun.”

He was surprised. Alice really gave lots of thought to everything. She would never let a single bolt stay loose.

“You’re right. I don’t heed the chivalrous duty of noblesse oblige. It’s all meaningless to me. If I could, I would walk out in an instant.”

“Then why can’t you walk out?”

“Maybe it’s because I feel indebted. My life was made possible because of Eternia’s patronage, so I guess I’m trying to repay them in my own way, as long as I’m able to protect those who are dear to me.”

“It’s a lot simpler than that. We’re just unwilling to part ways with whatever made us who we are today. Because whatever it was, it became an important part of us, so it’s natural for it to be difficult to say goodbye to.”

Kato stopped. She was right. The idea of owing responsibility to what they were born into came up earlier in the day with Gilbert as well, but neither he nor Kato explained why exactly they felt that responsibility. Here, Alice summarized all their feelings in one short breath.

“And until that day when you can’t tolerate it any longer, in the meantime you have to continue living through it, so why not use what you can to make it better for yourself, right?”

He smiled brightly at Alice’s words, and in response she straightened up at the sudden change on Kato’s face. He learned something new today, thanks to this girl from a completely different world.

“And if indeed you need to run away from it someday, you’ll be carrying the same baggage anyway, so you better look for a good timing for that.”

“That’s right. I’ll carry the Westgrove name no matter what I do, and with it the gangs and mafiamen that would be after me for it.”

“And similarly for me, Eternia would follow me for the rest of my life, no matter what I do.”

They both nodded soberly, staring at each other, understanding each other’s inextricably difficult situations. Then, suddenly, they broke into laughter as the atmosphere became comically too heavy for them to stay serious.

“What the hell, aren’t we supposed to not get along? When did we start agreeing on things?”

“That’s what kindred spirits are.”

Removing her heels easily, she pulled her feet up on her bed, laughing at the insurmountable barriers around their lives. Musing endlessly about it wouldn’t help. At the moment, the best she could do was to look past it and enjoy the here and now.

“Is this supposed to be your room?”

“Yes. It’s my room for whenever I needed to stay over here in this house. How does it feel being inside a girl’s room?”

“You’re talking to somebody who lived and still lives with girls their whole life, and recently only increased in number.”

“But surely it feels different from family.”

“Maybe, I’m not sure. I’ve been normalized to a great extent, probably.”

Kato, ever restless, fiddled with the stationery on her desk idly. Somehow, the unfazed young man pulled in Alice even more; the desire to ask Kato questions about him grew ever stronger. She took a deep breath and hesitated for only a moment.

“By the way, what’s between you and Mira?”

“Between me and Mira? What do you mean?”

Hugging her legs close, she let herself fall onto one side, curled in a ball, allowing her curly hair flow around in front of her.

“Like, after the two of you ran away and then came back to us, literally no one else seemed to mind or ask questions about it. Well, they did, but it was way too soft, and the response to going on the Ferris wheel together was just as soft. So there must be something between the two of you that the Elites already know about and wouldn’t need to ask, right? I’m the only one left out here.”

“Hahahahahaha. Very perceptive, I see.”

“Perceptive or not, spill the damn beans already.”

“Mira haven’t told you anything? Though I wouldn’t expect her to.”

“It seems like both of us know that part of her quite well.”

Kato continued to fidget with the things on the desk. For a spare room that she only used on occasion, it was well-kept and tidy, with no traces of dust or misplaced items.

“Well, I guess it’s better for you to know now than surprise yourself later. ‘Coz it’s not just about me, but the Elites too. We’re a very old group of children, minus Franco, who grew up together.”

“That cheap shot at Franco. I feel bad for him.”

“Heh. Franco’s proven himself to be a great friend. But the rest of us are childhood friends in the most literal sense of the phrase. I think it’s fair to say that we became inseparable over the years, including the Jupiter sisters.”

“But what about your training as a Heart? Surely that took a lot of time away.”

“It did. For the longest time, we only went to school for two out of the six days, and it was only in the morning, but apparently it was enough to bond over. Conveniently, we would always have Sunday to play with each other.”

“So things just worked out, even though your job actively worked against you all.”

“Well, Evie and I were, and still are, the ‘cool’ kids of our class by a long, long shot, so there’s that social aspect which helped us stay relevant in school. Kids will be kids.”

Alice giggled at his characterization of himself.

“I’d bet all your teachers were on edge every time the two of you appeared in class.”

“And you’d be right. At best, we were troublemakers. As time went on, we went to school more often, so that helped too.”

“That’s the original genesis of the Elites. Now, where does Mira come in?”

“Hah. I’m probably not qualified to explain her part for her, but I’ll try. From what I can remember, it was Mira who brought the two groups together. It helped that we played in the same old playground, and they were just as eccentric as we were, so we bonded real fast.

“Mira, she started getting serious tutoring in, like, grade three or four? She was at school and at the playground steadily less and less often, sometimes absent for months on end, but she would always come back to us in the end. By this point in time, Eon and Bia were leading the charges across the playground.”

“Bia? Bianca?”

She was reminded of a name that slipped from her mind, and many metaphorical dots connected in her brain. With her imagination in overdrive again, she imagined that, likely, Mirabelle wasn’t the only main character in this situation, which inexplicably worried her.

“She’s like you in many ways. She was cool and aloof, but once she got used to the infighting it became second nature to her.”

“Heh, infighting. Is this the disrespect I hear?”

“You’ve seen Bia in action before; her speech is as crude as a guy’s. And yours is up there as well, sister. Don’t be so disrespectful to the disrespecting.”

Alice smirked, for once proud of the poisonous tongue she had.

“Anyway, all that continued until we hit senior high, and she slowly came back to us. Though she still disappears from time to time, like right now, she’s more or less back in full attendance.”

“The history lesson is nice and all, but what’s actually between the two of you? Please answer the question.”

“Ah, I thought I could bamboozle you with my longwinded misdirection. I guess not.”

They snickered at each other as Kato said in a pretentious voice, a bit of his natural grandstanding shining through. He crossed his arms as he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, turned his back to the desk, and faced straight in Alice’s direction.

“Well, Mira’s rather attached to me ever since we were kids. Overly attached, I should say. I don’t think there was a time where that wasn’t the case. We’re super close, despite all the missing time between the two of us. Eh, how can I explain it? Like I said before, we’re true childhood friends, and we have all the baggage that comes with being that, so that’s why, I guess, we didn’t have such a heated reaction as yours.”

“What kind of baggage? I never had any childhood friends of your magnitude. Explain it like I’m five.”

“Heh. It’s the kind where we know each other so well that we know exactly which topics to not bring up. You know how it’s conventional wisdom to never talk about politics with your family, unless you’re prepared to permanently part ways with them? It’s sorta like that.”

Alice narrowed her eyes at the vague answer he gave, but realized that Kato was right to explain the origins of the Elites; the expression on his face was one of fatigue, and she could see an inkling of why it was the case. Nevertheless, this was the best time to weasel out information from him, while he was separated from his friends and family, so she pressed on.

“So something big happened in the past related to this, and it seemed to have involved most everyone, that we’re all fine with sweeping it under the rug, right?”

Kato arched his eyebrow.

“Wow, you’re pretty sharp.”

“It’s not that hard. You don’t know what really hurts until you run into it, right?”

“Fair.”

Silence drifted between them, and Alice watched him on quietly for a while as he spaced out, eyes unfocused. She sighed. There was not going to be an explanation about that from him willingly, so she left it at that. She sat upright on the bed again and clasped her hands together in front of her, thinking carefully of her next move.

“I’m going to make it real clear. Mira’s side, it can be left to her to answer, but you, do you like Mira?”

Slowly, Kato smiled widely in response. He put his elbow on the desk, and rested his chin on his knuckles, supporting his tilted head, staring back into Alice’s unyielding blue eyes.

“What do you think?”

His expression was one of amusement, halfway between joking and serious. It was obvious that he was enjoying the moment, but it nevertheless held some importance to him.

“I think it’s obvious that you like her. To what extent, I can’t be sure, but it’s obvious that you see her as way more than just a close friend, and for a long time.”

Alice said bluntly without holding back anything. Her face was serene, neither jesting nor perturbed: just proclaiming a statement matter-of-factly. Part of it was she wanted to see a more earnest reaction from Kato without distracting his thoughts with her emotions.

“Ahahaha, does it look like that? It’s true that she’s more than just a childhood friend to me.”

For some reason, Alice felt a sinking feeling in her chest as he admitted just a little bit of it in front of her. Though she steeled herself for any answer, it was still rocking nonetheless. But as a person who constantly dealt with her emotions, she quickly internalized that moment and moved on from it without missing a step.

“But still, why are the two of you not together after all this time? If you’re willing to run away from us and go off on your own, going on a Ferris wheel of all things, from an outsider’s point of view, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the case.”

“What, are you jealous that I would take Mira away from you?”

“Idiot. Your situation looks suspect regardless of who was looking on from outside.”

Kato’s smile unwavering, she felt her face suddenly heat up. There were mixed feelings in there, consisting of some bits of pride, jealously and disappointment. And when a bit of arrogance crept into his eyes, Alice knew that her uneasiness was written all over her face.

“Your promise from earlier today is still in effect. No shenanigans allowed.”

“Aw, I was hoping it you’d forget about it.”

“How can I forget about—?”

She stopped herself before she said out loud what she was thinking, and was surprised at it herself; the ability to stop herself, that is. In a rush that seemed remarkably natural, she cleared her throat to cover up her stumbling and continue.

“If you can’t share it with me, that’s fine. That’s just what your relationship seems like from an observer’s standpoint.”

“And you’re probably not wrong. Hell, I’m used to it by now, getting glares from guys around me all the time. Evie is also another one that they’re all jealous for.”

She let out a long sigh. As expected from a master of deflection.

“I can see why; and why you’ve become so numb towards both Evie and her crowds.”

Kato stood up from the chair and leaned against the edge of the desk, just a slight bit restless. Alice watched curiously, as he took a moment before he began again.

“I guess there’s no single answer to that question, only scattered parts that don’t even make up the whole answer. One part of it, I answered a bit earlier. Another part of it is related to our upbringing as Hearts.”

She was pleasantly surprised that Kato went back on topic, but then she narrowed her eyes, a little apprehensive at what the reason was if it pertained to the organization. It reminded her that despite all the human-ness of his gang, they were an exceptional existence to not only Eternia, but likely this world too.

“Because we’re brought up as future Hearts, there’s a need to remove evidence of our pasts so that we’ll be reliable assets to the organization. Our identities will be hard to trace not only for enemies, but allies alike. And one of the things done for that purpose is alchemically erasing the memories from the people of Livia.”

Alice’s face turned sour, confused and upset by this revelation.

“What? Erasing memories from people? How?”

“I’m not exactly sure, but our guardian Karl, I’ve mentioned him before I think, he’s involved with that job right now, and that’s why he’s not home anymore.”

“So he’s going around the city, looking for people with memories of the three of you, and erasing them? Is that even something that can actually happen? Not just literally but logistically?”

“It must be. Sisi is a living example of that.”

Alice slackened her arms and head as her fatigue suddenly returned to her. Downcast, she had a thousand-yard stare aimed at nowhere on the floor in particular. Though she could already guess the answer, she asked anyway, seriously hoping it wasn’t the case.

“Then will the Elites, the Jupiter sisters, all our classmates, will they be subject to the mind wipe? Will I have my memories erased too?”

“Of course.”

She closed her eyes, taking a moment to process the affirmation from Kato. A sense of hopelessness crept into her mind, now knowing that Kato and Evie would be erased from her memories. Would their friendship be meaningless, if she would forget about their existence?

“The deadline is shortly after the end of this school year. That’s when the people closest to us will be subject to the mind wipe. Once that’s done, we’ll be ready to serve Eternia as the leading Hearts candidates.”

Alice remained silent and forlorn, as if mourning for a loss that had not even happened yet. Kato tapped at her foot lightly with his foot, trying to elicit some kind of response from her, to which she slowly raised her head to make eye contact. There, she saw a sheepish grin that epitomized his powerlessness and acceptance of the situation, which only now she truly understood the shackles that he and Evie had to live with, just as she had been under the chains of her own circumstance.

Seeing her evidently distraught, he closed the little distance between them to pat her on the head silently, as he did many times for his sisters. She didn’t say anything, only lowering her line of sight once more, staring down imaginary holes into the ground. Grasping at straws, she had it in her to ask one more time.

“Who won’t get mind wiped? Certainly, there’ll be at least a few outliers. Sisi must be one.”

“I suspect some of the nomenklatura and above wouldn’t need to be wiped. It’s useful for them to know, after all. I don’t know the status on Karl, but hopefully his memories don’t need to get erased.”

An idea sprouted from the depths of her mind at the mention of the nomenklatura. Alice looked up at him once more, this time with an obvious sense of desperation.

“So if I become a nomenklatura, there’s a good chance that I’ll be spared from the mind wipe?”

Kato removed his hand from the top of her head, just a little confused at her far-fetched idea.

“A good chance, yes. Why? Don’t tell me you’re going to join Eternia just because of this? And aiming straight for the high place of a nomenklatura too.”

“I can make my way in there. From my position, it’s possible for me to make it in there. It’ll take a lot of effort, but it’s definitely doable.”

“Whatever ideas you’re having right now, I suggest you leave it alone. Joining the nomenklatura is not a joke. It’s not worth it.”

Alice jumped up from her bed, standing tall and looking straight at him with indignation.

“It’s not you who determines if it’ll be worth it for me. Evie is my foremost consideration in this decision.”

Kato was taken aback as she snapped at him, though not so much for the rudeness than the words she used. He said something similar to what Alice said, just earlier on the Ferris wheel to Mirabelle. He smiled lightly at that thought and leaned back on the edge of the desk once more, casting his eyes away from the fiery girl in front of him and nodded.

“No, you’re right. It’s your choice.”

Now her turn to be surprised, Alice still was unfamiliar with Kato being agreeable and her cheeks tickled pink. What she said was a lie. He was the reason why, not Evie. But just as quickly, she calmed down as her thoughts returned to his original point.

“Then is this why? Do the rest of them know about this? Did you tell them?”

“That’s certainly a part of why things are the way they are. And yes, they do know about it. I myself have learned it not too long ago, and I told them about it very soon after that.”

“Is this the big thing that happened?”

“It was a significant part of it, I’d say.”

Alice stared on at his non-response, but dropped it quickly. There were other things of concern to her that she still wanted answered, and she asked hesitantly.

“If, hypothetically, Mira was somehow able to keep her memories, what would you do?”

“It wouldn’t change what I’m doing right now. There are other things between us and the others that need to be sorted out.”

Kato said, rather bluntly and seemingly preoccupied with something. Somehow, Alice felt lighter at the sound of this apparently intractable issue that he saw between himself and Mirabelle. While on that train of thought, the next question was out of her mouth before she knew it.

“Then, would you be happy if I managed to keep my memories of you?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

He said offhandedly, still very clearly absentminded, which turned his affirmative answer into an equivocal one to Alice. Strangely, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed, to which she was concerned about once she was self-aware of it. As he was still staring off into space, she found herself wanting him to look her way. In which manner, she wasn’t so sure.

Abruptly, the door behind them was blasted wide open. There was no noise, however, from the slam of the door into the wall beside it, and instead white sparks flew out from the points of contact, obvious that they were the residue of an act of alchemy.

Standing at the doorway was a young woman, clad in a black full-body jumpsuit. On her head was a large piece of headgear with a tinted visor, obscuring her eyes and most of her face from view, presumably to prevent the person from being identified. She held no visible weapons, but wore a pair of tactical gloves that were sparsely metal-studded on the back of the hand. Her long black hair was tied back in a large bun, not unlike the way Bianca made hers.

“Hey—”

However, Kato apparently already anticipated the intruder’s appearance, and the moment that the door flew open, he pushed Alice out of the way and onto the bed, which was at least somewhat out of the view range of the mini-corridor between the door and the open space of the bedroom. He walked up to the intruder, standing only a few arm’s length away in a battle-ready stance, feet shoulder-width apart and balancing his centre of gravity.

“Hand over the girl. She won’t get hurt, and she will be returned here within the hour. Surrender.”

A robotic voice in Old Yue came from the girl’s mouth, alchemically scrambled from the white adhesive bandage that was pasted on her neck. She was clearly not allowing her identity to be recognized; not that Kato would be able to recognize her anyway. At least the words themselves could be somewhat trusted. The aura around the intruder and her killing intent was not one that suggested she was after Alice’s life, but it was definitely strong enough that she was serious about her intentions.

“No can do. Those conditions are against my orders. If you want her, come at me.”

If her goal was merely to subdue him and retrieve Alice, which seemed to be the case from the low intensity of her killing intent, then he would also return the favour. From his apprenticeship at the Chang temple, he was taught that the act of killing was a last resort, a line that can only be crossed once one accepted the consequences of it.

The intruder quickly closed the short distance between herself and Kato with a light step, and threw a lightning-fast jab at the centre of his torso with the left arm. The speed in which it was executed surprised Kato, but he was no slouch either. He took a big step backward on his right foot to tilt his body out of the effective range of the short-reaching jab, and then used that momentum to spring back on that foot to lunge forward with his left elbow.

Unlike Kato who utilized the mobility of his limbs, the intruder raised her right arm to block the elbow strike with the back of her hand, a technique that matched direct force with direct force, which would not be recommended unless she was armoured with her metal-studded gloves and had foreknowledge of the physical strength of her opponent. With Kato’s counter-strike checked, she knocked Kato’s stopped limb upwards with her left arm that was just pulled back from the missed jab. With his left arm knocked up, it exposed his lower torso to attack and she attempted to follow up with an upward elbow strike with her now-freed right arm.

In the split second his left arm was knocked upwards, Kato realized he was too greedy with his counter-strike and was likely to take the coming blow. As he steeled himself to take it, he forced himself to take a step backward with his left to soften the blow, even if it meant destabilizing his centre of gravity.

He took a blunt strike to his left ribcage, with its full force softened as expected from his forced step backwards. He immediately felt the pain and momentary flinching that came with that force, disabling his movements for a split second. Without hesitating, the intruder followed up with a step forward of her left foot to pivot on it and performed a hook with the left arm. Executing on the basics of basics, her hips and body followed the natural flow of the hook, turning significantly in the clockwise direction to put her entire body’s power into the strike.

Fortunately, he blocked the hook with his right arm just in time, but it sacrificed much of his balance and the force of that strike almost sent him off of his feet. He dug in his heels hard, preventing a fall that would have meant the end of any control for him in this fight. However, by standing his ground it opened up another window of opportunity for the intruder to launch another jab with the right hand, this time aimed for the base of the neck and if it connected, it would result in a serious loss of balance and flinching from which he would not recover from.

Of course, Kato didn’t bank on fighting empty-handed. From his left arm being knocked up to the transition between the blocked hook and the upcoming jab, he was able to unsheathe the hidden knife in his sleeve, slip it into his hand in a reverse grip, and bring it up to block her jab with the edge of the blade. The metal on metal clanging seemingly stupefied the intruder for a short moment, allowing Kato to take another step backwards to recover his usual centre of gravity.

Realizing that his posture had recovered and equipped with a short-ranged weapon, she tried to step up her attacks in order to prevent her opponent from using it offensively. With both fighters on equal footing again, they exchanged many more blows as the intruder advanced into the room while Kato continued to dodge by moving backwards.

In seconds, they covered the distance from the mini-corridor to the edge of the office desk. Once Kato reached the desk, he instantly leapt behind the office chair and pushed it into his adversary. While she was momentarily distracted, he reached down into his leather pants, grabbing an extendable rod from underneath it with his right hand, and then throwing away the knife under the table with his left.

From the exchanges just prior, he realized that the intruder wore chainmail underneath the jumpsuit, at least on her arms, which made the attacks of edged lightweight weapons meaningless. As the knife had already served its purpose, it called for an immediate change of tactics.

With extended reach, instead of going for swift and dominating control as was usual with hand to hand combat, he could play the longer game both in distance and time. He saw the chair being thrown back into his direction on its wheels, to which he slammed the chair to the side and into the edge of the bed with his fully extended baton, while the whole time watching on the intruder beyond the chair advancing quickly toward him.

The moment she came within range, he lashed out several quick swipes in succession, all aiming for the head and neck. The intruder parried every one of those attacks with her arms, but more importantly she was stopped in her tracks, as Kato did not need to step backwards any further.

With the swipes being parried, Kato lowered his posture and made a thrust towards the neck, expecting another parry from a fighter who always stood her ground. But like Kato, as the fight evolved she changed tactics too, and elected to dodge the upwards attack by taking a step back and ducking. At the same time, she clasped the extending rod with both hands, completely restricting the weapon’s axes of freedom, and even wrestling for control of it from Kato.

However, Kato was already prepared for this eventuality and she took his bait. In the moment she tried to yank the baton from his grasp, he let it pull him forward, still grabbing the rod along its length as if he was holding onto a rope in a tug of war. It brought them back into melee range, but Kato had the slight initiative this time around as the baited yank caused her to lose balance, which required a split second to recover before she was able to form a solid defence.

In that moment of unbalance, he closed the distance quickly and following through with the momentum that his intruder contributed to, he smashed onto the visor and the face using his forehead. It was a no-brainer that he was aiming his headbutt for the nose, an easy target, and crushing it at full force.

Flinching, she staggered a step backwards as the visor crumbled under the impact to reveal an abundance of bandages wrapped over her eyes, forehead and cheeks. The debris scattered around her, with some bits of it stuck to the point of impact on Kato’s forehead.

She was clearly a student of an empty-handed school of martial arts, and one that did not use eyesight, for that matter. It meant that she depended solely on hearing and the sixth sense to seek out enemies and movements. He doubted that she was blind. Rather, eyesight most likely interfered with her techniques’ focus on sound and the mana flow around her.

Now with the nose dripping blood, it soaked into those bandages and gave it a bright red hue. Kato was not going to leave it at that. He weaved in his next attack through a knee kick at the stomach, which connected and sent the adversary tumbling backwards several feet towards the doorway, letting loose of the rod that Kato regained control of, while his opponent was knocked out of her effective ranges.

However, the intruder was just as tenacious as he was, and was no doubt a highly trained physically superior fighter like him. Unfazed by the bludgeoned nose and the knee, she dug in, willed herself to resist the effects of her injuries and recovered her posture in seconds.

Kato did not make any follow-up strikes in her recovery window, and instead immediately backed off and reached for the inside of his shirt for his handgun. Because he was ambidextrous, it didn’t matter which hand he held his weapons, and it just so happened that his extendable baton was in his right and the handgun with a silencer in his left. Now that there was some distance in between them, it was possible to use the pistol at its effective range.

The opponent, of course, anticipated his possession of ranged weapons from the start and purposely maintained melee range the entire time. But with them standing at least eight feet apart, he had the upper hand with range. Knowing that, she froze in position as she watched, from her sixth sense, Kato’s loaded gun aimed at her head. Her senses were sharp, especially in this adrenaline-charged fight, and though her intuition told her that the end was near, whose victory was not yet decided.

And it was for good reason, as Kato too remained in position, unwilling to continue the melee. He was at a disadvantage at that range. However, he refrained from firing immediately as he suspected, correctly, that those metal-studded gloves could easily deflect a bullet from a pistol. And from the strength and finesse of her movements, being able to keep up with and even surpass Kato, she could definitely do that, and was definitely a challenger if not already a deity.

Seconds ticked by as the stare-off continued, though with one side having no naked eye to stare from. There was actually another, more pressing reason for both sides to take a pause, as both the intruder and Kato sensed her presence reaching them imminently, and that reason finally appeared behind the intruder at the doorway.

“Freeze!”

The intruder, failing to subdue Kato before her time ran out, could only accept the stalemate in her fight against Kato and surrender once reinforcements came. She quietly tore off her gloves and raised her hands high in the air, signalling her acquiescence to Sisi’s demand. She turned around to address the tiny girl who held a long, embroidered lance in her hands, which emanated quite an evil aura from its body.

“Number Two. I didn’t expect her guard would be you and this gentleman here. Mr Albert must be a well-connected man.”

Sisi squinted at the opponent, who was still splattered with blood on her face and bandages. Sisi’s expression was devoid of emotions, unperturbed by the situation and the intruder’s nonchalant attitude.

“Sorry, but this is mine mission. Miklos shall see that it gets done. You, on the other hand, have not had the best of fortunes, Miklos can see. It was not just this battle you have lost in.”

Elizabeth Miklos Romana was Sisi’s true name. It seemed like she used her middle name to refer to herself among her peers in the underground.

“That is indeed unfortunate, isn’t it?”

“And you shall suffer a failure here. Don’t take this too personally.”

“How could I? At this point, I can only accept what had happened.”

She shrugged, and the adversarial aura around her disappeared as she dropped her gloves to the floor. Sisi lowered her weapon as well, sensing the change. The robotic voice still sounded strange to the ears, especially when it tried to convey some emotion.

“Sisi, do you know this person?”

Kato asked his mentor warily, his gun still trained on the intruder.

“Yes. And stow away your weapons. It is over.”

He did not move at all, his eyes remained hostile towards the young woman, evidently still distrusting her intentions. Seeing that he was not yet ready to let go of the fight, Sisi sighed and began with a question for the girl, hoping that Kato’s hotheadedness wouldn’t blow over.

“What are you after?”

“I need to take Alice away for a short period of time. Then, we intend to let her go.”

The intruder stated her aims once again. Alice, who had been unceremoniously thrown onto the bed and remained there until now, stood up from it and called out to the intruder.

“Hey, miss, are you under orders from Uncle Justin?”

“Yes.”

Alice’s bodyguards were taken aback, wide-eyed. Alice replied immediately to the girl.

“Then I’ll come with you. But my friends will come with me, is that fine?”

“I don’t see a problem with that.”

The girl affirmed Alice’s intentions. Kato was unrepentant.

“Alice! Are you absolutely sure?”

“Definitely. Uncle Justin told me earlier he would see me again. I just didn’t know it would be in this manner.”

Alice waved a small piece of paper for the crowd to see, presumably slipped to her when Justin approached the stage earlier in the night. It was a plan already put in place from the other side.

Kato looked to Sisi, who eventually nodded at Alice’s decision.

“We are bodyguards. We do not dictate our client’s demands, only adapt to them.”

Reluctantly, he lowered his gun and put it away. Kato knew already from the mana flow around him that his opponent would not fight, especially now that Alice was basically acquiescing to her original objective. The excessive overflow of killing intent from both fighters disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He nodded in the end, as there was no other choice but to follow through with it.