My tea’s gone cold, I’m wondering why♪

Get out of bed at all♪

“Are you going to tell us what happened?”

The morning raindrops on my window♪

And I can’t see at all♪

“Can you wait a bit Pinoki,”

Even if I could it’ll all be gray♪

But your picture on my wall♪

“Where is Lyra?”

It reminds me that, tis not so bad, not so bad♪

“Haven’t see her all day,” Apollo sat gingerly, crossed-legged, on the recreation room’s floor along with me, Pinoki and Karina,

“I don’t know mayb-”

The door swings open and a wet, disheveled Lyra huffs in, her clothes are torn in several places, she looks more beaten than Apollo and me,

“Here.” She drops a brown-gold quiver at my feet

“Hmm.” Lyra notices my bruises and Apollo’s as well,

“What happened to you two?”

“We should be asking you the same question,” Apollo retorts concernedly

“I was trying to buy that quiver for Kage, but the merchant wanted more money,

I didn’t want to give that greedy bastard any more money, so…...

I ended up having to fight him and all his goons,”

“And you won?” Pinoki asks, taking off the music

“…Not the first time,

But I did eventually.”

(This girl.)

“Why would you think I needed a new quiver?”

“It’s for the arrows you keep losing, the quiver is a magic artifact, anytime an arrow accidently falls out, it will get pulled back into it, you can also strap it to your hip instead of back,”

“Did I ask you to get this?

Now I’m confused,”

“Remember you said you lost your arrows when we did that job to go to Gate,”

“That was weeks ago Lyra.”

“Ok, and?—

—Oww, Kage!”

I pull her down to ground by me,

“Thanks,” I say looking directly into her eyes,

“Don’t get it twisted Kage, I only got you that, so you won’t have any excuses next time I beat you,” She pulls back

“Who says there’s going to be next time?”

“Is that a challenge?”

“No, no, I am saying that there will not be a next time that we fight,” I say preventatively

“I sincerely doubt that—

—Aw!

Stop squeezing my arm, Karina!”

“I have to check your wounds,” Karina replies, speaking somewhat caringly

“I’m fine don’t worry about it,” Lyra puffs her chest trying to seem tough

“Well at least put on a better shirt and dry yourself up, you look more or less half naked Lyra,”

“Weren’t you supposed to be going on job with Claude and Amelia?” Pinoki interjects,

“I was but he fooled me and said it was important, but it was just to wait on a visitor for the mayor or something, it was boring, so I left and roamed the city for a bit”

(In the rain?)

“Another job from the mayor huh,

I would really like to know what Claude’s relation to him is,” I say

“I’ll be right back,

I have to change,” Lyra abruptly leaving,

“………

She’s weird” I state, matter-of-factly,

“You’re weird too Kage,” Pinoki jeers,

“I know but she remembered something I said a few weeks ago, probably got beat on multiple times just to get me this quiver because of it, only to shrug it off like nothing, that’s weird behavior even for Lyra”

“Perhaps she is finally moving on from that self-blaming mindset she gave herself,” Apollo remarks

“You mean the mindset I gave her,” Karina laments,

“When we were younger, I used to berate her a lot, tell her how much of a monster she was like her brother, every single day I would….

Anyways, Why I did stop wasn’t because I started feeling bad originally, it was because I was still unhappy

I thought making her feel as bad I, would bring me some form of resolution,

But it didn’t,

Then I thought maybe I would find pleasure in being with her friend Apollo, it was fun for a while, but I felt nothing from it,

Ultimately, former queen Patricia pushed me to make club Hedon, and it was only after that…

I had gotten so high off magic absorption, I realized how much I scarred that girl,

All I can do to make it up, now is look after her, I don’t want forgiveness,”

……..

“Ehem ehem” Apollo dry coughs awkwardly,

“Oversharing a bit much,” Pinoki whispers, then gulps remembering that Karina probably still heard him,

………

The door turns slightly and Lyra re-enters nonchalantly,

(Did she hear any of that?)

….

“Now, what is the story with you two?” Lyra sits back down impatiently,

Somehow, I can tell she is trying her best not to make eye contact with Karina...

…

Apollo looks at me giving me a nudge,

“You tell them, or shall I?” he asks

“You tell, I’m not good at telling stories,” I reply

“Alright,” he turns to the other three,

“To make things as simple as possible,

Kage and I happened to er, encounter, the leader of the Hunter coalition,

We had a little ‘scrap’ with him and lost,”

“I don’t think he knew we were members of the adventures guild though,” I add

“Waitt, I am going to need you to explain how that came to be in the first place,” Pinoki sounding puzzled

“We went to a teahouse and-”

“-You and Kage went out together?” Karina coos

“Stop making things weird Karina,” Apollo monotones,

“Back to what I was saying,

I went to, you know, learn about my parents,

There was this stern looking guy there who recognized me,

And he was all like; ‘Yo I know a lil something about your father, fight me and I shall spill’,

And Kage was like’ ‘Ok we’ll fight you!’

I then reluctantly agreed and got my ass kicked as a result,”

“You just changed half of the story,” I renounce,

“You may have phrased it differently, but that man, Ginobelucci was his name, did challenge us to a battle for the reason you said,

Butt...

I specifically remember you saying, ‘Kage you up?’ when he challenged us….”

“Who accepted the challenge isn’t important Kage, what is, is how he beat us,

Using a beast’s requiem.”

“A beastman requiem?” Pinoki raises his eyebrows,

“What kind was it?”

“It gave him claw-like and a fang-like features, he attacked us with a special attribute he called beast’s carnage,

It seemed wind-based,

I could tell because he would slash from a small distance away, but still have it hit us,

And his agility was hard to keep up with we couldn’t attack or defend against him,” I divulge,

“Hmm, you’ve gotten really good at magic analysis in a short time Kage,” Karina compliments,

“From your encounter with him,

Besides getting beaten,

What kind of person was he?” Lyra asks,

“He didn’t seem that bad of a-”

“He is a pretender, I cut Apollo off,

You couldn’t tell, but I could,

His pleasant demeanor felt like a farce

His eyes were stern and lonely,

It was clear that there’s something he wants and won’t rest until haves,”

“Maybe it is the dragon’s requiem,” Pinoki brings up,

“I have been investigating myself,

And apparently, that’s the reason the hunters are trying to get rid of the adventures,

They can’t attack us head on for three reasons,

One, Giichi’s strength is feared by even their leader,

Two, you aren’t allowed to attack others like that without a formal challenge,

Three, the Order would be on them if they did attempt that, in an instant,

Their only choice is to ‘legally’ ruin the guilds status, slowly taking our place and influence,”

“And how exactly do we deal with them then?” Lyra quizzes,

“Don’t ask me, Claude is the one who said he was forming a plan,” Pinoki shrugs

…..

“Did someone summon for me?” A voice sings from behind the door almost on que

“Claude?” Lyra calls as the door slowly, dramatically, opens

His face sticks though the opening smiling as he surveys the room,

“Good, you’re all here,

But just to be sure you all came from Soterra correct?”

“Yeah, why?” Apollo answers

“Well~ I brought someone back from my latest job, who when I mentioned you all, said she knows you,”

“Huh, knows us?

Who are you talking about?” Karina eyes curiously,

“Come in.” Claude looks to someone behind him,

Amelia enters and following her…...

(What is she doing here?)

“Tori!” Karina exclaims

The woman steps into the room, looking around at us, then rests her eyes on Karina,

“Long time boss.”