Ooh. This will be very interesting… BUT MOST IMPORTANT: fun! Yuki kept running circles, the coloured dyes beneath her hair glowing rainbows as her eyes sparkled high. “Kazu! Do you hear me?!”

She’s never seen an actual good scrap before, so of course Yuki was still feeling the adrenaline.

“No.”

Kazu was sitting in the med-bay, bandages around his arm and body… It probably stung a bit, she thought, but her brother will survive! He didn’t seem too concerned about it, so why should she!?

“Do you hear me?” she asked again.

“No.”

Yuki grumbled, bellyflopping across the medic bay bed. He had a dead face, but she could tell that he was incredibly pleased to see her! Absolutely, uh huh!

“Uh, how about now?”

“No,” said Kazuki, as a drone hovered by, applying the last bandage and injections. Pi, their glowing red phoenix, was perching on Kazu’s shoulder, gently licking him wounds, they were healing!

‘TAKE THESE. TWO A DAY. HELP WITH PAIN,’ said the drone. Ooh, drone. It looks cool, Yuki thought, it was like a mini robot doctor.

But Kazu just nudged it away from him. “I’ll be fine,” he said. The phoenix squawked at the drone. The drone simply hovered away.

“Hey! Why don’t you listen to the drone?” she asked, rolling around on the bed as she looked up, back towards Kazu. He stood up, putting on a thin jacket.

“Because I’ll be fine. Yuki, go back to Nate or something. I’m going to send for a laundry drone. Need to wash my clothes.” he started walking off… Without her!

Yuki kicked herself up from the bed, dusting her light blue, sparkly dress as she put her shoes back on. “HEY! WAIT FOR ME!” she shouted after him, rushing to his side across the medbay.

“What do you want?” Kazu asked with a strained voice. Was he annoyed with her?! Absolutely not!

She laughed at his response; how dare she believed that. She placed a hand on her own chest, arrogantly puffing it out. “I am giving you the opportunity to hang out with me and Nate! How about that, huh?”

“Not interested.”

“HUH?!” Yuki grabbed onto Kazuki’s sleeves, as she tugged on his arm. “But our SUITE IS MASSSIVEE!”

“Ow…” Kazuki trailed off, causing Yuki to immediately let go of his arm. Kazuki turned towards her, ha-ha… she’s in trouble, right? “I’m just… not interested, alright?”

“Oh… come on, it’s been so long!” Yuki said. She’s going to address that elephant in the room, the one thing hat she’s most definitely interested in! “Because it seems you’ve gotten yourself someone special!”

She placed her hand up to her chin, giving him a smug smirk. He made a movement to drag on her hair, but she jumped back. His hand moved up to his own head… scratching behind his ear. She heaved a sight of relief! Safe! It was just a misunderstanding! She caught up.

It’s been so long since they’ve talked. Soooo very long.

Actually… some years! He’s not some stupid Contract-Breaker or mercenary, he’s just… Kazuki!

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kazuki snapped. Yuki continually shifted from his left to right, leaning forward and glancing up at his face.

Yeah, that was definitely Kazu, those dead eyes are just like…

Kazuki stopped in place, glaring at her. His eyes thinned at her gaze. “What?”

“Oh… uh… nothing!” Yuki laughed it off, placing her hands up as she leaned onto her brother. “Anyways, uh, you gonna talk about that Liz girl or what?!”

“What about her?”

“Kazu…” Yuki started to smile behind a fake, happy tears. “I never thought there’d be a day where you could pull some bitches.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kazuki asked her.

“Oh, you know, it’s so and so, you and her, right?” Yuki elbowed her brother in the side. He let off a small grunt. He’s gonna tell her eventually, right!? He absolutely has to! She can read him like a book, she arrogantly thought.

Yuki chuckled, as her brother didn’t say a single word. Oh, she must have hit the mark, right?!

∗ ∗ ∗

He didn’t get it. What the fuck was she talking about? He should have memorised the slang that she used. No… that’d just be a waste of memory, Kazuki thought.

“I don’t… get it…” Fucking hell, why does she have to be even more annoying than usual, Kazuki thought. Always pestering him to play videogames.

Words were never his speciality… But the frustration he felt was very much real. He cannot let it show, though. She is the prized kid of their family. He’s merely the corpse airlocked into space - left to fend for himself.

He’s just a forgotten, broken mess, a mirage of shattered memories, collated into a mass of flesh. That’s all he is, Kaz thought.

Walking down the hall, his mind filtered out Yuki’s speech and rants. Finally, some peace and quiet… They’re just too different. She might have his name, but he’s no Geminorum-Ryzaku.

He’s the Contract-Breaker, nothing more. Nothing less.

“Wait, wait wait, let me guess, you’re interested in her!” Yuki shouted loudly.

Wait… Eliza? Well… Interested? Yeah? She's his ward. He has to protect her. Kazuki slowly nodded, she’s not wrong on that. Yuki froze in place, falling behind Kazuki.

“What?”

Yuki’s glistening cyan eyes lit up with more stars. Kazuki petted Pi, the phoenix sprouting a nice tune

“Oho, you’re in for it now! I’m telling mooother!” she shouted.

He’s in trouble, isn’t he? Ugh… Kazuki simply nodded.

“Yeah. Whatever,” he said, turning away and continuing to walk off. He can’t stand these damn civilians.

Archius hummed to himself, phasing the door behind him closed. The room was dark. The automatic light switches flicked on.

Light ignited out from the ceiling, illuminating the whole room. Kazuki wants him to ‘keep an eye’ on Noah. Well, if he wants that, he’ll probably not be too fussed if he did some preliminary research.

“Let’s get to work, shall we?” Archius talked to himself, walking into the suite living room. It was small, at least compared to the ones Yuki and Chloé had. Well, it was Eliza’s suite, not Kaz’s, so he should have seen that coming.

He walked down the room, past the small kitchen, dining and living area and up a small flight of stairs in the living room. A nice little inside balcony, similar to Eliza’s own condo back on Anagora… Except this place far less homely, and far more artificial. He glanced down from the balcony, seeing opened cases of luggage around the table.

“Heh…” Seems like Kaz and Liz were messy in their unpacking. Since they were in the middle of it, wouldn’t that mean that Kaz’s laptop would be in his?

He came down on them, searching the luggage. Some were Eliza’s and some were Kaz’s. He looked across the bags’ exteriors. If he remembers, Kazuki had a standard pilot’s luggage, and Eliza? Well, it was obviously the more good looking luggage pack.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Dragging a black case out, he looked through it. Black shirts… essentials. Yeah, it was probably Kazuki’s, that or one of his guard’s stuff - but only he wore THIS many black shirts.

Sticking his hand into it, he gently pulled out a holotop projector, in the shape of a disk. It had Kazuki’s name stamped onto it. Inspecting it, it was written like it had been printed onto it.

“Fucking show-off…” Archius muttered, placing it onto the table.

He looked at another projector on the table, Eliza’s. Her name was done in a posh scribble, he could barely make it out, though.

Flicking on Kazuki’s laptop, he was met face to face with his lock screen. It was a picture of a Trazicat, a native cat species that evolved on Trasia. Now… the password.

Archius stood up, circling around the table as he cracked his fingers. He got into position in front of the electron keyboard. Kaz will thank him later, he thought - if he doesn’t then… that’s a problem for later Archius!

Archius felt like he’s been typing for an hour… How long is his fucking password!? He has it… memorised, right?

"Simple my ass," Archius commented, as he finished the paragraph length password. He grumbled to himself. Archius looked down to the corner of the screen for a moment. April 5th... "Hmm... Kaz's birthday is soon..."

He took his eyes off his typing for a moment.

And then, he pressed enter...

Incorrect!

"FUCK!" Archius shouted out loud. He was about to start from scratch again, as the sensors he had outside were set off. He flicked his phone on, watching as Kazuki and Eliza were back.

Archius could see Kazuki glare at him through the camera… Gig’s up, he supposed, shrugging as if Kaz was beside him.

Grabbing onto the laptop, he lobbed it into the luggage. He delved one hand into it, as he shoved it deeper into a monotony of plain shirts and blast proof trousers.

Footsteps entered the room, as Archius at up against the table, leaning with both his hands backwards. "Hey! Took you guys long enough, where the fuck were you two?"

"Oh? We were out eating with Chloé, then we went around shopping," Eliza said, holding up several bags.

Eliza was wearing a different dress from before, frilly and velvet blue. He pondered for a moment, maybe there's something deeper here, Archius thought. "Nice dress, so uh? Shopping, right?"

"Yeah? We're planning on going on more expeditions, we haven't even cleared out one floor of the shopping centre!" she shouted excitedly. Kazuki noticed Archius' gaze, simply saying, "I paid."

"Fair. Even I'd leech off your pocket money," Archius admitted, grinning.

The Trasian man grumbled, furrowing his brow. "Fuck you."

"Fuck you too." Archius stood up, walking over towards them as Eliza placed a dozen bags down beside the wall. "So, it's been some time since the duel, you guys have any idea of what to do?"

Eliza looked at Kaz.

"No," Kazuki answered. "I have something in mind, but I’ll make preparations for it.”

"We're not running an operation, Kazuki, remember that," Archius commented. He'd prefer if Kazuki didn't blow up the head of a politician, or some rich guy... "I think you... should let me handle the planning."

Eliza walked over towards the sofas, crumbling over the backrest and falling onto the pillows. "I think Archius' is right on this one, Kazuki. Plus… I can bring Noah on board… He and his parents could help us, no?”

“No.”

Archius slowly dotted his eyes to Kazuki’s snapping response.

“I trust you that you trust him…” Kazuki said, grabbing his forehead slowly. “But I don’t trust those around him.”

She stopped to think about it. Hmm, Kazuki did make a good point, though it was surprisingly how fast he had reacted to it. Eliza then nodded. “No objections from me, I guess…”

“I’ll keep doing work on my end, see what I can slither out of people,” Archius said, turning to Kazuki. He has Archius on ‘Noah’ duty. He’ll make the best of it, though, finding Kaz’s truth will be one thing checked off. “Eliza, you make sure Kaz remains fixed ‘n’ preferably not broken waist down, got it?”

Kazuki over towards the kitchen and taking out a packet of pot noodles from one of the shelves. “Well, you can always put me back together like I’m a jigsaw puzzle, works all the time.”

A cross between both sarcasm and a darker hint of humour... It suited Kazuki well, Archius thought… Eliza, however, interpreted his little remark very differently. He held back the laughter.

"Keep rubbing shoulders, Archius. It’s your forte,” he remarked.

"Aw, thanks, I'll take that as a compliment," Archius said, before leaning against the wall. He looked down at the bags, mainly just gifts and souvenirs from the various shops. He even sees a holographic diorama in there, along with some packaging!

"Obadiah... what do you think we do about him, Archius?" asked Eliza.

Archius thought for a moment. "Are you asking job-me or university-me? Because I have two vastly different answers for you..."

The first one was very clear, blackmail him with something and force him to divulge the information. Very hard handed, too overt for an ex-Republic intelligence agent like him. The second one was, however, had more set up needed.

"Uh... the second one?" Eliza answered.

"University-me would probably infiltrate his inner circle. Friends of friends to acquaintance. Sacrifice your dignity and morals to the point that you can get the information, though…" He didn't seem to mention the obvious flaw in that one, but he'll leave Kazuki to answer that.

"Except that's no longer possible. Obadiah will not be willing to trust us... And I will not bend over backwards for him." Kazuki started to boil water, as Archius walked over towards him. "What? Want some noodles?"

"No... I think you should let me cook them," Archius said, silently appearing to his side.

Kazuki sighed. "It's just cup noodles. I can handle that."

‘Isn’t members of your family notorious for being very bad at very mundane things?’ Synthia asked as she sat down on Eliza’s head. Eliza looked up, nearly rocking Synthia to the floor.

“Hmm?” Eliza raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to make a mess, right Kaz?”

Kazuki didn’t have a clear answer for that. “Well…”

"No... it's a matter of principle, Kaz!" Archius took hold of the cup of instant noodles Kazuki was holding onto, tugging it towards him. "Remember what Barclay said the one rule of our dorm back at Sarimba?”

"I... wouldn't do the cooking." Kazuki had a dead face. “That… you should call the fire brigade if I did.”

Synthia chuckled at Kazuki’s answer. ‘Dear, it seems we all have embarrassing secrets we’d like to keep to ourselves!’ the AI tutor quipped.

Archius chuckled too. "And do we know why?" he continued. Of course, Kazuki knew why, but he’ll have to send the message into that thick fucking skull of his, for suggesting something so obviously stupid to the two of them.

"Because I blew up the kitchen..."

"WHAT?!" Eliza shouted, nearly falling over the backrest as she kicked her legs back to gain balance. "What the fuck?!"

‘I… In my professional opinion, I think Mr. GemRy should step away from the kitchen,’ remarked Synthia.

Eliza quickly nodded. “Well, of course?!”

"Yeah, Kaz blew up the kitchen trying to make a cup of FUCKING COFFEE." Archius pointed at Kazuki with his thumb, rolling his eyes. "GIVE THIS MAN A 10 STEP RECIPE TO MAKE A CAKE AND HE'LL BLOW UP THE BUILDING WITH THERMITE!"

’you’re the one that did all that damage!’ Synthia spoke up, turning to Kazuki with a half-impressed, half-worried face. ‘It was a good thing that no one was hurt.”

“Still…” Eliza shook her head in disbelief. “Blew up a kitchen?!”

Kazuki interjected, "Heh..." His face didn't change one bit at Archius' comment. "And that's not how thermite works."

"No... I don't care! And that's not a 'heh' thing!" Archius twisted around in place, leaning against the kitchen counter whilst scratching his head. He then lowered his voice. "Noah... what do you want me to do with him exactly?"

"Keep a close eye on him," said Kazuki, lowering his own voice. He stepped to the side, allowing Archius to cook the instant noodles, finally…

"Anything I should want to know?" whispered Archius.

Kazuki gave him a side glance, glaring at Archius. "He's an old friend. Currently a student at Sarimba University..."

"That all?" Archius asked, pouring the water in with one hand, whilst casually leaning back and showing off to Kaz. Such a head-ass, Archius thought. Just tell him!

"Yeah..." Kazuki trailed off. "I don't care how you do it. Just... do it."

His voice remained monotone, and his words bland and tasteless. But his eyes were alight with a fire, Archius thought. A fire of the past, so interesting.

He glanced over at Eliza, as she and Synthia were organising and going through a thousand revision notes, a messy collage of data.

Synthia asked Eliza, ‘What have I told you about studying too early?”

“That… it won’t stick…” Eliza trailed off.

"It's about her, isn't it?" Archius asked. Kazuki stayed motionless, more so than he was before. Archius could see his muscles tense up slightly. Bingo!

Kazuki slowly opened his mouth. "Yeah. Now, are you gonna make some cup noodles, or are you gonna keep pouring water?"

Hmm? Archius glanced down at the instant noodles he was making, overflowing with water as he had been pouring for a bit too long. "OH SHIT!" he shouted, placing down the kettle, boiling water spilling onto the counter.

"Hmm?" Eliza looked over at the two of them. "Can you guys keep it down for a bit, I'm revising."

"Yeah... yeah, I got that." Archius nodded.

Eliza shifted up in place, looking over at what was going on. Kazuki was standing still, and Archius quickly covered the mess he made. "Did... something happen?"

"Uhh... No?" Archius nodded.

"Kaz..." Eliza turned her attention to Kazuki. Archius kicked Kazuki on his cybernetic leg-braces, come on, Kaz, hold out for him!

Kazuki shook his head. "No. We're making cup noodles. Is there a problem?" he asked with a completely straight face. Damn, he might be a good liar, Archius thought.

Oh boy, Archius thought, he'll have a fun time dissecting all his little truths... Eliza turned back down towards her notes. Archius heaved a sigh of relief, scratching his dark green hair as he opened the fridge, whistling away as if he didn't spill the noodles all over the floor.

Kazuki looked unamused at his actions, simply standing still and rolling his golden, dead bulbs. Archius grabbed a few eggs from the fridge. He’ll just cook something up for their little meal, he thought - slamming the door shut.