Chloé led Eliza around the place, drinking and eating whatever confectionaries Chloé wanted. “You know, my parents called it the round-robin eight,” Chloé said. “Find and drink the eight legendary drinks that this place has to offer, don’tcha think?”
Eliza was sipping down on a glass of wine… It was bitter, but quite refreshing. “Well… I think it’ll be more a one in a life time thing for me, I don’t think I can handle this every year…” she trailed off, placing the empty cup on a serving drone’s plate.
For Chloé’s sake, Eliza steeled her stomach through the pain and agony, fighting the need to vomit. Though she secretly grasped at her sides, begging for the cocktail of exotic tastes to end sooner than later.
Chloé shrugged, as she turned, looking over at pink cake being cut up… Eliza really should have put more thought into what she’d do at the event, now that she thinks about it. After all, she’s here on an investigation, and making friends is just a part of that.
Her liver did not like the round robin eight. Not one bit, she proclaimed to herself. She tried to follow on after Chloé, but felt an arm wrap around her, as a tall figure emerged from behind her.
Eliza stopped in her tracks. “Huh?”
Chloé turned around, not looking exactly surprised, simply nodding upwards. Eliza looked up, seeing none other than Archius, wearing a waistcoat with his messy and sharp hair cut and done down into a mischievously casual look, though it did give off an air of professionalism - though Eliza didn’t know if it was her knowledge of him, or the look itself.
“Hey, you two rascals think you can get rid of me!?” he asked, jokingly, as he slapped Eliza on the back.
“No, don’t do that…” Eliza trailed off, slowly jabbing at Archius’ sides. He took a step back, with Eliza having to dust the hem of her dress off any creases and dust, before pulling her thigh-highs back up at the perfect length from the hem.
Taking something out of his pocket, he presented Eliza with a jar of pills. “I’ll leave this in your hands, I was able to procure some from Claire. My apologies for creasing your dress.”
“Ah, thanks,” Eliza said, grabbing onto the jar and opening it. She popped a pill in her mouth, as she swallowed it. It was hard, given the fact that she had no water. Strangely enough, her stomach didn’t feel like it was completely scrambled with a dozen cocktails of alcohol! “Bloody hell, that’s brilliant, thanks, Archius…”
Then, it ticked just who she was taking to. She gave Archius one glance, then another, as she raised her eyebrow. Chloé chuckled. “Barclay couldn’t make it, and Archius was begging me to bring him as her!”
“So I’m here as her second!” Archius gave up a dual peace sign to Eliza, as he leaned in towards her, wearing a dark green suit, contrasting Chloé’s. He lowered his voice as his uplink flicked on, highlighting a bright line on his uplink, a small bell earing attached to the uplink. ‘As far as Chloé is aware, I’m just some uni dropout, got it?’
Eliza nodded.
Archius pulled away. “Archius… I didn’t expect you to be here!” Eliza said, trying to continue the flow of the conversation in a way that didn’t seem like he just gave her a very stern word of warning.
“That’s the point!” Archius shouted as he glanced across the large ballroom. “It’s my first time here and there’s so many people!”
Chloé grabbed a plate of cake from a drone, adjusting her own uplink before digging into the confectionery. “Don’t… embarrass me, alright?” she asked. “You’re only here because my plans A, B and C are all busy, m’kay?”
“Sure, sure, but you know I would’ve gotten in somehow, right?” Archius yapped on.
Chloé nodded, sighing in annoyance. He wasn’t wrong, Eliza thought. With everything she’s seen him able to do, she doesn’t doubt his ability to get into this palace, be it legally or illegally. She’d most likely prefer him to legally get in, it would be quite a surprise to Kazuki, after all.
“Does Chloé know?” asked Archius, pointing at Chloé.
Eliza paused, slowly looking at Chloé… Did she know what? Know that Kazuki is here? Yeah? Well, what else could Archius be saying?
“Yeah, yeah, Kaz’s here too, isn’t he?” Chloé asked, her head peering over and around the place.
‘Oh, she doesn’t?’ Archius murmured across the uplink. ‘Oh, this will be interesting, just the three of us doing the investigation, how spicy! How interesting!’
“Hey…” Eliza drooped down and shook her head. “We’ll talk about it later, alright?” She glanced over at Chloé, who was looking off into the distance. Huh? Was something the matter?
“That’s… Kazuki, right?” asked Chloé, looking back at Eliza and Archius. The two twisted their heads over at the direction she was pointing at. Her words snapped to her mind, wasn’t Kazuki going to rest up?!
There was a figure standing within the crowd, they looked familiar. Eliza pushed her glasses up her nose, getting a better look as she could hear Archius chuckle.
“Look what we have here!” Archius remarked. Kazuki was standing still in the middle of the room, staring off into space.
And standing beside him was a golden blonde girl, a head shorter than him. She had bright cyan eyes and was circling around him like a vulture. Her blonde hair was done up in twin tails, with a few strands of hair poking out from the top of her head. Her eyes thinned at her, she looked both Theonar and Trasian, with bright blonde against thin, roaringly blue eyes.
Chloé turned back to Eliza, then back at the sight - pushing forward along with her towards the two.
Her mind filtered away any other thoughts other than to get Kazuki away safely. Kazuki was her Contract-Breaker… her tool, she subconsciously thought. She was his key to this investigation, not whoever this person was!
Kazuki’s eyes snapped over to Chloé and Eliza.
“Oh… Liz…” Kazuki trailed off, looking back down and at Eliza.
But that didn’t snap Eliza out of her trance, shimmying to the side before placing her hands on her knees, and looking down at the girl. Eliza eyeballed her age to just be a year or two or three below hers. “Hey… I think you’re annoying my friend, miss,” Eliza said with a hint of jealousy in her voice… She wasn’t aware of it, even if her eyes were wide opened - glaring intensely.
Jealousy? No, that was impossible, she thought, that just isn’t like her! She’s… doing this because she wants to save Kaz from this annoying girl, right? A glare of envy struck out from her rose-red eyes.
Slowly, the girl looked up at her, wearing a light blue dress with a collage of extravagant accessories: aug-glasses that rounded her eyes, two earrings that lighted up with uplink messages, the underside of her blonde hair was glowing in a streak of rainbow colours…
She had a large strand of hair that protruded out from the top of her head, like Kazuki’s…
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
A brooch. Eliza noted that she had a brooch, a bright blue gem within a phoenix against a field of crimson and sea blue.
“Oh… so this is her?” asked the girl, looking up at Kazuki.
Kazuki looked away, as if not wanting to talk to her. “Who is this?” Eliza asked her eyes blaring down its envy onto this girl, a head shorter than her.
He had a default face, simply glancing away. “If you ignore her, she’ll leave you alone,” he commented, fixing his clip-on tie.
“Huh?” Eliza looked down at the girl, who was angrily ‘punching’ her dress. It… didn’t hurt whatsoever, and she looked annoyed.
“Hey! Don’t ignore me! You’ll rue this day!” she said, as Eliza noted that she had a piece of hair flicked up, like Kazuki’s… Though hers was curated in the shape of a heart, she’s a Trasian? “I’ll unleash a Yokai on you!”
She seemed way too childish for Eliza to take seriously… Beneath her breath, she snickered at what she thought, “I think you should go back to your parents, miss.”
“I. Warned. You,” the girl said, as she took a step back, raising her hand up towards Eliza.
Was this what Kaz meant about having to deal with people with the so-called 8th-grade syndrome?
Then, she flicked up a small device, a button embedded into an archaic rock, within a small sealed cage. The rock was glowing red and orange, though it didn’t seem hot by how she tightly held onto it. She pressed down on it,
“Where the fuck did you get that phoenix-wreath?” Kazuki raised his voice at the girl, but before she could say anything, or anything could be done: a bright flame burst out from the cage.
It burst out, crashing upwards as ashes and fire soared up. Flying high was a bird, no… a Phoenix. A Phoenicia-Leviathan, peered down at her potential prey.
Shouts and claps could be heard across the ballroom as the phoenix steadied itself. It kept flying, swooping down overhead and diving to the splendour and cheers of the room’s occupants.
Eliza peered down at the girl, as she had a bright smile on her face, barely able to hold laughter in as she extended her arm out. Slowly, the phoenix perched on her hand, cawking. Eliza looked at Kazuki, he looked dead, unwilling to do anything.
“Yuki. Those were for emergencies.” Kazuki remarked bluntly. “Grandfather gave us those stones for—”
“—Yeah, yeah, I know! And this is an emergency, there’s a threat right in front of us,” she said, pointing a finger at Eliza. Kazuki turned to her, then the Phoenix. It simply tilted its head, then back at the girl, before pecking at her. “OW. OW. OW. NO. BAD GIRL!”
Kazuki grumbled, snatching the Phoenix from her before turning to Eliza. “Sorry about that. I’ll handle him for now.” He placed a hand up to the brim of his nose.
"It’s mine!” the girl shouted at him.
“Sure.”
Kazuki merely gave her a nod. “You’ll feed her, entertain her and look after her, right?”
She nodded instantly, puffing her chest out confidently. “Of course!”
“Sure…” Kazuki didn’t seem convinced, at least to Eliza, but it seemed enough to get him to agree to it.
“Hehe,” said the girl, with a smug look on her face. Kazuki grabbed one of her twin tails and pushed it upwards. Her response was almost immediately, as she pressed on the assault towards Kazuki. “My hair! How dare you! I’ll tell Mother about this!”
“Yeah,” Kazuki said, using a single hand to stop her. “I don’t care…”
The girl spent the next few seconds trying to ‘fix’ her hair… It wasn’t messed up in any way, but Eliza could sympathise with wanting to keep hair clean, nice and tidy.
“Hmm?” Kazuki made a weird noise, as he looked down at his leg. There was a small kid tugging at his trousers. Eliza paused, before looking up at Kazuki with a suspicious face. “No. He’s not mine,” he said.
His affirmation was enough to convince Eliza otherwise, though she remained somewhat wary of this new kid. He had auburn hair and bright pink eyes.
“Sir… your bird,” said the kid, pointing at the Phoenix. “Can I pet it?”
Kazuki looked at Eliza, then at the girl beside her. Both nodded at him, with the girl crossing her arms. “Fine…” Kazuki said, kneeling and letting the kid pet the phoenix.
It chirped slowly as the boy petted it, before letting off a small singing tune. Aw, Eliza thought it looked rather cute. Even if Kazuki looked like he hadn’t much of an opinion on it. He stood up.
“Oliviré!” a voice called out from within the crowd. The boy turned around.
An epiphany hit Eliza, that was probably the boy’s parents! Any suspicions of the child was vindicated as she turned to look down at the kid, before turning to the voice. A figure emerged from a mass of bodies, a woman wearing a white dress.
“Oliviré! What did I tell you about running off!” the mother shouted at the kid, before picking him up.
Kazuki stepped back. “Your kid wanted to see—”
“Don’t you dare think of talking to my angel again, Contract-Breaker,” the woman barked at him. Kazuki’s face froze. “You and your Freemuzzles… disgust me.”
A moment of silence came over him. Eliza looked at his face, seeing something visibly snap within his eyes, though she couldn’t tell what.
“Contract-Breaker this. Contract-Breaker that. You all call me that,” Kazuki snarled in a monotone voice.
The blonde girl was tugging on Kazuki’s arm, as if to stop him. He merely shrugged her off, as she stepped back towards Eliza.
The Phoenix was making a growling noise, sensing the rising ire of its master. Eliza merely stood off at the side, thinking how little these people understand - how little they may provide Kazuki a chance to understand him. Surely the Marquis will not be the same, right?
“Don't talk to me like that, Contract-Breaker, you murderer! You dare to even approach my child?” she retorted in return.
Well, it was more like their child approaching him.
Kazuki was about to say something, as another man shouted out in the crowd, pushing through. “CONTRACT-BREAKER! YOU DAMN BASTARD!”
All heads turned to a man, no brooch was present on him, though that wasn’t the attracting feature. His anger alone made up for his lack of accessory.
A hand extended out towards them, as an aristocracy tried to calm the man down. The man whispered something to his attendant, but he shook their hand off, continuing, “My sister died on that Skyliner, do you have anything to say for yourself?!”
The aristocrat that the man was an attendant of seemed to grow pale at the question. It was an open question for all in the room.
He patted his second on the back and shoulders, embracing him to calm him down. “Jori, you’re tired, let me swap you out for—”
“—No, Ryan!” the attendant shouted, stepping forward. A circle was forming in the room, spectators peering in. Eliza looked up, seeing news drones take photos and video reels of this, LIVE as it was happening. “You and your Freemuzzles got my sister killed!”
Given the circumstances, it felt somewhat disrespectful.
Eliza watched Kazuki’s hand curl into fists.
“Clandestine Loyalists blew up the skyliner,” Kazuki stated, clear as day.
“You failed! If you weren’t there, they wouldn’t have blown it up! My family. My friends! The only reason why you’re not behind bars is because you manipulated everyone!”
Manipulate? It was not the thing that she’d expect Kazuki to do, more rather it was what she’d expect his enemies to do… this person does not see through the veil. Eliza saw the girl grip the edges of her dress.
“Miss them? Keep blabbering and I’ll send you to them.”
Kazuki's response shook the crowd. Silence filled the air, not even Eliza was willing to speak her thoughts. Slowly, the aristocrat nodded to the rest of his entourage. He dragged his assistant back into the crowd.
“There… there… it’s alright, let’s get something to drink, alright?” Eliza could hear Ryan try once again to comfort their attendant, as their voices disappeared into the mass of people. All eyes were on Kazuki.
His fists slowly uncurled, and life slowly rebreathed back into the room. And after a minute or so, everything was back to normal, and everyone seemed to have forgotten, or at least didn’t care anymore.
All were indifferent to both men who spoke, their worries all but to themselves, Eliza thought.
Eliza could see the woman, who started this mess, slowly walk away, with their kid on their shoulders. The kid gave Kazuki and his Phoenix a goodbye wave.
The Phoenix squawked in return. Before singing a small song… Eliza felt two hands on her, as Archius and Chloé leaned in, holding onto her shoulders.
“Man, your face was priceless, Liz,” Archius said.
Eliza twisted a gaze at him. “Hmm?” she mused, what did he just imply?
Chloé sighed. “Sorry about that Liz, Archius was adamant on pulling this foolish prank on you, with her…” Chloé nodded at the girl.
“Yeah, and it was worth it! I’ll remember not to make you jealous or anything, alright?” Archius jeered at her, before pushing off her and walking over towards Kazuki.
”Wait a minute! I’m not jealous!” Eliza rebuked his assertion, before looking down at the girl who tugged once again on Kazuki’s sleeve. He gave a simple nod and a grunt of acknowledgement.
She posed in an incredibly arrogant manner, so extravagant that it made Eliza confused. “Yuki Izumi Geminorum-Ryzaku.”
Eliza glanced at Kazuki, who had a blank face, only merely taking a glance down at Yuki.
“Kazu’s sister!” she exclaimed out loud.
“You’re adopted,” Kazuki smacked back.
“I KNOW!” she arrogantly proclaimed. Archius was talking to Chloé, yapping on about something, as she yawned. So, this was Kazuki’s sister, she thought. Comparing the two, Eliza, despite her brainpower, could not see the resemblance - as silence filled the conversation, Yuki glanced up and above, staring at a few drones that hovered by.
Then, she shouted out of turn, “Let’s go get something to eat! I got a reservation at a wonderful place, my friend’s already there, and you are ALL INVITED!”
“Hmm, wanna go?” Chloé asked Eliza. “Might as well, right? I mean… get buddy buddy with the heir to the GemRy family?”
“I thought Kazuki was the heir?” Eliza asked Chloé, as if she’d know. Chloé simply shrugged, simply nudging Eliza on the shoulder.
“Come on, let’s not keep them waiting.”
Yuki was already walking off, with Kazuki and Archius trailing behind her.