Kazuki had to be prepared for everything possible.

The Jara-Jins have a grudge. Kazuki will trust that they… can look past that.

Kazuki kept one hand hidden. Eliza, on the other hand, sat up straight, maintaining an air of formality and professionalism. Kazuki rolled his eyes, glancing at the two people sat opposing him. Both were smoking, their brooches illuminating the room with a mixture of light Kazuki was not familiar with.

He kept his guard up. A waiter arrived and placed several dishes down on the table between them.

Two men, middle-aged, straightened their ties in unison. They were synchronised. One with a trimmed, well-kept beard, and the other had a goatee.

Their mahogany red hair and red eyes stared into Kazuki’s gold. The air was tight and thick, each word and action palpable.

They took up their small cups of tea, sipping down on it. Were they ignoring him? Kazuki leaned forward, ready to wake them steady. Eliza placed a hand on his arm... Kazuki relented, giving her a chance for this.

"Thank you for meeting with us, today..." Eliza glanced from left to right, trying to remember which one was which.

She raised her voice, "Kantos and Irya Jara-Jin." With that, Eliza gave a subtle bow, alongside Kazuki.

The Jara-Jin brothers gave their respects, bowing as well before serving tea, but their actions did nothing to hide the thin veil of spite these two held for Kazuki’s lineage.

Still, they’re Trasian. No matter what, that respect was boiled into their very fabric.

They placed their cups down. Kantos spoke first, with a harsh and raspy voice. "Thank you... you're Annabelle's daughter, right? You look very much like her."

But for their purposes, that may be better than the alternative. She showed off her brooch. It didn't have the same gleam as theirs did. "Well, my sister and I did take more after our mother than our father, after all," she said.

The two entrepreneurs avoided the Contract-Breaker in the room. Nihara and Cyrus stood guard behind their sofa, as two unmarked guards stood behind the twins.

"A shame what happened to her," Irya said, his voice sharp, yet hollow. “Many children lost their parents… But yet, they all deserve more.” His eyes latched onto Kazuki. “I’m sure… not all of us can relate.”

“On the contrary,” Kazuki stated, calmly.

Kazuki was there the day the Jara-Jin’s lands were raided. A whole mercenary army was at their command. The twins must have been a little younger than his sister back then – a pity.

Eliza cleared her throat, before pausing. Kazuki denoted no emotion or thought he was familiar with on her face. She must miss her mother, Kazuki surmised.

After a few seconds, she replied, "Yes. Well, I believe Fer-Charelota would have told you some details about this meeting..."

The Jara-Jin twins glanced at each other, then back at the duo in front of them.

"No?" Eliza asked, trailing off. "Well, Kazuki and I believe you can assist us with a specific problem we've encountered."

"Obadiah," the twins said in unison. Iyra spoke next, "The big players are not the only ones with eyes and deduction. We saw your duel.”

Kazuki wanted to speak. But he knows that whatever he says will harm the progress Eliza has made.

Kantos said next, "Word gets around quick if you have the right connections. Now, shall we start eating? I'd prefer to get this over with."

Kazuki tapped his finger against the table. "We can finish this right now if you want." It was a harsh response, but necessary. Kazuki justified it to himself.

A moment passed beside Kantos' face. Iyra responded where his twin did not, "Contract-Breaker, what do you mean?"

"Can we please not refer to Kazuki by that name?" Eliza asked, a cool and frozen glare reaching out to the twins. Slowly, they nodded. “I mean… he’s your Prince, is he not?”

And… just like that, Eliza had just ruined any and all chances of a quick resolution with that one title.

"Apologies, Kazuki..." Kantos said. “You must understand…”

“I do,” Kazuki stated. “Your standing with my family has been… wavering.”

Eliza glanced over between the three of them. “Your family isn’t on good terms with them?” she whispered over to Kazuki.

Irya nodded, leaning forward. “Our father rebelled, and his father crushed us… What makes you think we’d negotiate with you?”

“Because you didn’t get here by playing on emotions,” Kazuki replied. Then, he let off a sarcastic comment, “And… I was five at the time.”

Eliza grabbed a bowl of rice, picking up the chopsticks. She’s improved, he thought. Irya gently smiled at her lack of Trasian etiquette. “Well, I’m sure the situation is rather complicated.”

Kazuki glared. The twins sighed. “Our father rebelled. Treason is treason, no matter how complicated the situation. At least he was given the honour of taking his own life…”

“But we escaped,” Irya continued. “Our mother… she…”

Kazuki closed his eyes, before calmly staring forward, exuding the air of a prince for once in his damned life. “The past is just that: the past. They are dead, nothing will change that.”

Glancing over with a scrutinous face, Eliza frowned. “I don’t think that’ll help us,” she said.

“We’re Trasian. We live and die, we do not control that,” Kazuki replied coldly. “Lord Jin was a traitor. His children, however, are not. My grandfather would disagree. Many nobles would disagree. I, however, am more open-minded than the Imperial court.”

The twins nodded, dismaying Eliza’s optimism at the cold, pragmatism of Trasian culture. “For that, we are thankful.” The two gave slight bows to their ‘Prince’.

Eliza sighed, before taking a massive bite from the bowl of rice she had. Kazuki saw her actions as either naive or an act to reduce the tension. Maybe both. Either way, it worked, as Irya chuckled slightly. “It’d be an insult to let this food grow cold out of our bellies.”

The twins placed their hands together and gave a small prayer in Trasian. “We humbly accept,” said the two in their Trasian dialect. Kazuki placed his hands together as well but did not utter the words.

"Has the Marquis paid for this?" Irya asked.

"Yes," Kazuki said. "A 'gift' for my birthday. Cruel, I know."

"Our condolences," the two said. Despite their differences, the three at least knew they were being played as pawns in this mess.

"I watched your home burn," Kazuki said. It was the most brutal ice-breaker he could think of. Eliza was in the middle of picking up a lambracup steak but turned to Kazuki. She raised an eyebrow, almost shocked at what he just said. "I was five. Meaning you two were—"

Kantos merely nodded. "What's done is done, but did you really have to bring that up?" He stood up, face furious as he furrowed his face into a scowl. Kazuki waited for a response. "Our families were murdered by your grandfather."

"For secession. Rebellion," Kazuki stated.

Irya scowled. “Says you.”

Slowly, one of his eyes glanced over to Eliza, as she looked at him with frustration. Kazuki had to find a solution. He hated this... playing the politician's game. It wasn't his way, he thought.

Kantos's scowl slowly disappeared, as he sat back down. He took a deep breath.

"We need your help dealing with Obadiah," Kazuki stated. "The restoration of your lands at the expense of the Imperial treasury. Justice. To set things right between our clans."

"I believe the two of us can get you two back to where you were, wouldn’t that be nice?” Eliza asked. “Well, we can’t necessarily turn back time, can we?”

Their family burned alive, Kazuki thought. He was luckily he didn’t see it in person. Father refused to show him the wreckage and ruins up close, even if his grandfather insisted.

Kazuki stretched out, picking up some sides with his chopstick. His movements were slow, meticulous and formal - everything his mother drilled into him, not his sister.

“No… we cannot,” said Irya.

“Well, maybe give EZRA a few more hundred years or so,” Eliza remarked, highlighting the premiere research alliance of the galaxy.

“This is rather spectacular Kazuki, how do you think we can help you against Obadiah?" Kantos asked, voice snapping back to business, cutting their conversation in two.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Mutual interests cooperation,” Kazuki stated. Obadiah’s been an arsehole to almost everyone not under his belt. Kazuki was willing to bet that the Jara-Jins would love to see his head on a pike as much as him.

The twins glared. They weren’t buying it. “All your politics. Why should we get involved?” Kantos asked. “We have our own issues to deal with. Not yours as well.”

Kauzki was stumped. They knew what Kazuki could offer, but… They weren’t convinced. Eliza stepped in. “I have heard of the past… I’m not that well-read, but I believe you have had issues with Obadiah, right?”

Kantos and Irya remained silent, but their silence was an answer enough.

“Don’t you think it’s time to make him see some type of justice?” Eliza inquired. “Please, that’s what we’re after here, and I’m sure you two are after that as well!”

Empathising with them… It wasn’t something Kazuki could overtly do. Nice, Kazuki thought. “Fine… we’ll hear your offer,” Irya said, to Kantos’ surprise. But the older twin’s face quickly faded to neutrality as Kazuki saw it.

Kazuki heard a click from his ear. His uplink was bleeping... He can't deal with this now. If it was truly important, Archius would have left a voice note. He flicked his uplink off.

"Something wrong?" Kantos asked. "Please, you’re not exactly in any rush, are you?”

Kazuki shook his head. "No. It's not important."

Then, he heard some distant crying. Yeah, it wasn’t important, he reaffirmed. The twins and Eliza peered over towards the noise. Kazuki knew who it was instantly but kept his face forward.

"It's not important. Let's continue, shall we?"

"Uh... did someone let their daughter loose?" Kantos asked, standing up and looking across the restaurant. The crying got louder, as Yuki came into view, throwing herself onto the sofa and directly onto Eliza and Kazuki's laps. "Uh... oh... I... umm... is she your?"

Kazuki spoke with clear certainty: “Absolutely fucking not.” The conciseness and clearness in his voice allowed no room for misinterpretation.

Eliza's face went red with shock as she looked down at Yuki, who was sobbing into Kazuki. She started to claw at his suit... Ugh... "Kazu, Nathan and Archius were being mean to me!"

Oh? Nathan has some balls. Maybe he does have some of his brother's spirit in him. But the inclusion of Archius probably just meant one thing, Nathan was manipulated. Ugh. "Where's Pi?" Kazuki asked, looking at her.

"It kept clawing at Archius and Nathan and, and, and, I tried to stop it, but—"

"—Short story."

"—sleeping," said Yuki, falling face flat onto Kazuki's lap. He dragged her up, slowly placing her in between Eliza and himself.

"Sit up. And don't talk.”

Yuki let off a small smirk as she giggled.

Irya coughed in retaliation, glaring at the three seated opposing him. "I did not believe we were going to get an additional guest."

"Nor did I," Eliza muttered.

"Ignore her, as far as we are all concerned, she's not there." Kazuki slowly shifted his bowl of food towards Yuki. Food will shut her up. He looked back towards Cyrus.

Kazuki’s tone lowered to a hidden fury. "Get Václavos. Now."

Cyrus nodded, placing his finger on his ear. They waited a few seconds. He then nodded. "Václavos lost track of her. He's rendezvousing with us right now."

"Tell him to be quick about it," Kazuki snarled. He turned back to the trio plus the stupid sister. "My apologies."

"Hmm, food makes everything better," Yuki muttered to herself. She was distracted with munching down on what Kazuki wanted to eat...

"Where were we again?" Irya asked, chuckling at the amusement of Kazuki’s sister

"The cost of my offer." Kazuki stared the twins down, placing his hands together... Silence encompassed the area, except for Yuki, who kept eating loudly. Eliza was glaring at Yuki from the side... Her red eyes glistened amidst the negotiations.

Kantos nodded. Irya was more suspicious of everything, maintaining his guard up. Despite having the same jagged teeth, mahogany hair and mahogany eyes, the two are complete opposites. "I'm guessing that you are to demand something from us greater than the value of what you offer us."

"Kazuki," Eliza whispered to him behind Yuki's head, her eyes gazing into his soul. "Should you or I do the talking for the next part?"

Kazuki shifted his head towards himself, nodding. Eliza nodded in turn, smiling and mouthing the words 'good luck' to him. Kazuki turned back to the twins, as Irya said, "Hey, I'm sure it's completely reasonable."

"Reasonable is not in his family's vocabulary," Kantos growled.

Kazuki responded, “Fair.”

"Come on, let’s not get bogged down here.”

Irya cleared his throat. "I'll activate the Hazard if you do anything stupid."

"What?!" Kantos snarled. "Not in front of these people. Actually, never, please?"

Eliza spoke out loud, "Hazard?"

Irya opened his mouth, only to be interrupted by Kantos. Kazuki can somewhat sympathise with Irya... he thinks. "Oh, it's not like we have the death shard or anything." He tapped on his brooch. "We both have these little beauties. Transfer hazard, allows for the transfer of information, kinda like an uplink but more reliable.”

"Ooh," Eliza said, her voice piquing with interest.

"Good. For a second I thought the Marquis sent me here to have me killed by Hazard Users," Kazuki snarled. He glanced over at Yuki. She had already dozed off. Václavos walked up from behind, awkwardly scratching his head. "Václavos. Bring my sister back to her room. Do not let your eyes off her. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Václavos hoarsely responded, embarrassed from his own failure. Kazuki will overlook this incident... He reached over and grabbed Yuki, slowly 'airlifting' her out, cradling her like some spoilt child. Kazuki turned back to the two.

Eliza shifted over towards Kazuki, filling the spot that Yuki had. "We have to start somewhere... so..." Eliza trailed off. Kazuki nodded.

He extended his hand out towards them. Eliza was smiling slightly... Well, things seem to be going well. They all shook. "Tch... making a contract with a Contract-Breaker..." Kantos smugly whispered to himself.

Irya said something to his brother. Seems like Kantos was able to play their chess game well, Kazuki thought.

"You will assist us in developing a route to getting information out of Obadiah Cariana-Slynt,” Kazuki started. The twins glanced at each other, before cautiously nodding at Kazuki. "And you will provide both of us with as much information as you may know.”

“Protection?”

“We’re the fall.” Kazuki gestured to himself. “I dare him to attack me.”

“Good.”

Eliza looked on in baffled amazement at this quick, ping-pong diplomacy. Well, they haven't gotten to the real nitty gritty of it all. Hopefully, they can skim over that. Probably not.

"And you are to provide Eliza with assistance for networking," demanded Kazuki.

She shifted her head towards him, shocked. "Wait... what?!"

"Of course," the twins said. "We'll help her."

"Huh?" Eliza turned over towards them. "Help... me?"

Kantos rolled his eyes.

Irya replied, "Well, of course! You're the Genius of Sarimba, within the Kallender Group, it'd be very unpolitic for us not to help you when given the chance. But what else are the terms?" He turned towards Kazuki. "It's... quite a risky plan, you have."

"Then I'll sweeten the deal. My appreciation... Two million Standardis. And if your lands, for any reason, cannot be reimbursed..." Kazuki trailed off, thinking about what he could give. "I'll have my grandfather and Delia assist you two with governorships over territories within the Republic Hinterlands."

"Wait, what?!” Eliza raised her voice slowly. Ugh, what did he do this time?

"The Hinterlands are not yours to give," Kantos said. "And why would we want these backwater regions bordering Yamikoi space? If anything... it seems like you're trying to push us to the side."

"It's a backwater. You two are renowned entrepreneurs. Do what entrepreneurs do. Make that place into your empire for all I care," replied Kazuki.

"Kazuki, by the asteroids that form old Terra... what are you doing?" she muttered to him. "Those are… are we buying them public offices?”

Kazuki turned towards her. He lowered his voice into a monotone snarl. "This is how business is done in the galaxy.” After all that Eliza had done today, she couldn’t stomach this? Kazuki was thankful that she cracked the twins to negotiate to begin with… but now she seemed to be a little too naïve – even for him.

"Not like this... Kazuki... I thought we were... going to do good for this," she whispered. How naive and rosy, Kaz thought. Maybe he should have brought Archius along as well. Archius could explain it better to her.

"Is something the matter?" Kantos asked. Irya continued from where his twin left off, "Your friend seems to object to something?"

"Term specifics," Kazuki replied. "I’m clearing things up."

The two slowly nodded, carefully examining what Eliza would say next.

"Is this what your family's power is based on, Kaz?" Eliza asked. "Bribery... corruption..."

Kazuki's face kept still. "You want their help?”

Eliza scrunched her face up in frustration, thinking deeply about what she would say next. She closed her eyes, in solitude. "Alright," she whispered. She opened her eyes, gazing at Kazuki for a moment... Those eyes... Judging blood-red eyes...

‘Elizabeth,’ Synthia whispered to her. ‘See this not as corruption, but rather a gift… Kazuki is providing them with something they can provide for us, it’s the basis for human exchange…’

Eliza nodded, understanding that. Then, she slowly shook her head. ‘We’re partners in this… I don’t want to rely on… this…’ The two talked with one another silently.

‘This is how things are done,’ said Kazuki, silently over the uplink. ‘It’s messy. Wrong. Call it whatever. It’s how business is done. We don’t have a choice in that. Not even I do.’

He wanted to tell her how unbearably naïve she was. But… that would just hurt her for no purpose.

Eliza slowly looked towards the ground. She wasn’t on board. Then, she nodded, reluctantly, he thought. ‘You’re not asking for my approval, are you?’ Kazuki’s eyes glanced away.

Despite their agreement to be 50/50 partners in this investigation, Kazuki had completely taken hold. ‘I…’ Kazuki trailed off. ‘Trust me on this.’

Eliza nodded. ‘I’ll trust you…’ she murmured back, though Kazuki wasn’t convinced she placed her heart in that statement. Understandable, he thought.

‘It’s only a failsafe, Elizabeth,’ said Synthia. ‘Plus, they’ll have to be elected, rather democratic, don’t you think?’

As if.

‘Welcome to the top brass, Eliza,’ Kazuki callously remarked, driving her face away from his. ‘Nothing is fair, everything is for sale.’ Glaring at Eliza, Kazuki could see the light of grit within her eyes fade.

It wasn’t a good sight, Kazuki thought, because in those eyes he saw a spark of himself. One blue eye stared back at Kazuki in the reflection. That fire, that wants to do things right…

Kazuki didn’t have the heart to explain it all to her, he couldn’t. Those lifeless eyes were something he wanted to avoid, something he swore to protect.

"We have a deal," Kazuki said to the twins. They gave each other short smirks, before smiling brightly at the duo opposing them.

Kantos proclaimed, "Then the contract is sealed."

"By way of the old and new," Kazuki continued. They both extended their hands and shook on it.

"Now then! Let's finally eat," said Irya. “I’ve been bloody starving the whole time.”

Kazuki commented, “Whatever it is, it’s on me.”

Kantos immediately shot back, “Nope, on me!”

For a moment, Kazuki found himself enjoying their company, giving a slow nod to Kantos’ interjection.

Eliza ate silently, pretending that Kazuki wasn't even there. Should he do something? Kazuki grabbed his bowl and continued eating as if nothing happened. He can't confront her here... but each second gave him more anxiety. Eliza must understand the necessity of this deal, he thought, he knew her cold logic would come around - eventually.