“I see. I’m glad you found one of the people you’re looking for,” said Arbitrator D’Émori, sipping a bit of morning tea. “And why are you telling me this?”

“I saw you and wanted to let you know.” I rested my head in my arms on the table. We ran into each other at sunrise, while Sorah and the others were still at the inn. Seated outside the inn’s alfresco patio, I thought I’d relay my information to her. Cool air dried my face as my clothes hugged me warmly.

She sighed and set down her cup. “...Appreciate the sentiment, but I must travel to Yubiyubi by noon. If I were you, I would look for that other person already.”

“Wait.” I stopped her as she stood to leave. “We still have to pay our group’s debt to you.”

“I’ll think of one when you find that last person.” D’Émori walked away nonchalantly, waving her hand in the air. She really left her drink on the table? I breathed out my mutter and cleared my throat.

Yesterday, we finally linked up with Totshigui Itchiro, Sorah’s father who’d been on the run for around half a year. At this reünion, I did not know how Sorah felt. Maybe it had been far too long since they last saw each other, or that he reacted with pure shock. Even so, they hugged tightly when Biyu’s brother released Itchiro from the Prism Cage.

Today Itchiro would join the rest of us to learn about what happened to Asya. Adjoined by Sorah, Ruri, and Yuanyuan, we notified Kahokayo Biyu and Yodomi for the occasion also.

“Gariyuchi Terrace, right?” Ruri opened the front doors of the building as I cleaned up. She held her long hair in the breeze with a somber expression. “Itchiro’s been working here all this time…”

I scratched my head. “Well, it’s the only place devoid of the Royal Marshal in this country. Which is surprising, I’ve never felt this safe. ”

Once everyone came down we departed again to Gariyuchi Terrace. Luckily I remembered the way back and navigated the maze of alleys better than before. In fact, the walls appeared to have changed. No birds chirped, and the foot traffic was dead silent. Approaching the place, Itchiro already sat at the long table.

“Good to see you again.” He stood and gave a brief hug to Sorah. “I thought I would never find you…”

Sorah stepped back and shook his hand. “Thought so too, dad. But now we’re going to find everyone else. Mom, Yuqui, and Lyo.”

“Although we must find the whereabouts of ‘Asya’, do we not?” We turned around and saw Kahokayo Biyu, Yodomi, and her brother walk onto the terrace. She wore a red coat, while Yodomi dressed in a black robe.

As much as I dissented with my own brother…I tried to ignore those feelings. Now was not the time for that.

“Right…I’m Totshigui Itchiro,” Sorah’s father introduced himself, “Asya has been missing since a few days ago. He always wandered off during my shifts at the forge…I can’t monitor him unless he stays in the alley behind the shop.”

I pressed my hand to my chin. “So he was on his own? Ruri, where did we find him?”

“Um, not too far from here. We only traveled down a couple of blocks until you bumped into him.”

“Huh… Miéki Honu is further out from this place. He couldn’t have wandered that far off,” Itchiro concluded, but Kahokayo Biyu raised her hand. “Yes?”

“Let us go to the sight of Asya’s last disappearance. From there we can reconstruct a possible pathway he took.”

“I’m on board!” Biyu’s brother dunked on his sister’s head, ruffling her hair. “C’mon, we should be able to find some clues.”

Reluctantly the rest of us glanced at each other. The others didn’t trust Biyu’s brother unlike I, who had discovered Itchiro yesterday with him. Coincidentally he brought me to a forge upon seeing my golem core. Speaking of which, I never commissioned a job for it. And for the longest time, I never knew the name to Biyu’s brother. Maybe I should ask it when we walked to the alley Asya was last seen.

The passages were still empty as ever. Against towering brick walls, rusted tools and wooden crates scattered across in a disorganized pattern. While Ruri and I had chased Asya through here, Sorah and Yuanyuan came to this same area. The Asya paradox still hadn’t been solved. Why was there two Asyas? The kid couldn’t talk—therefore he was incapable of summoning his chart. Unless…

“Hey, Sorah, I’ve been curious.” I stared at the ground as we walked around. We had split up to search for clues a minute before. He turned towards me with a gentle look. “What were those hand signals you were doing with your dad?”

“Ah… It’s sign language. Although it doesn’t raise your Lingual Cognizance, it was the only way our family could communicate with Asya,” Sorah replied, gesturing with his hands and arms.

“Kawari, you’ve lived in the Totshigui household for at least a month in Waqwaq and didn’t know that?” Ruri placed a hand on my shoulder, taking a verbal jab at me. I brushed her off. “Do you guys trust the man that decided to help us? Why is he so invested in this?”

“That’s a rude thing to say.” Biyu’s brother responded out of the blue. The three of us whirled around to see him following us not too far behind. “Any debt of my sister is a debt of mine. Besides, I just might know the answer to this situation.”

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Ruri put her hands on her hips. “Oh really? Spill it.”

“Woah, woah, alright, missy.” He shrugged with a smirk and closed his eyes. “I frequent these alleys for my job. In Koroné, the city layouts are purposely detailed to resemble a maze. To confuse foreigners, perhaps. A simple pursuit here can make people appear and disappear like an illusion. Got it?”

“Tch. So both you and your sister are familiar with these paths?”

“It’s a given. We live in this nation, so how could we not know the city like the front of a paw?” He strolled ahead of us as we watched him pass by. Biyu’s brother pointed to the dog ears on his head. “I know Asya is in the vicinity, and so does my sister. We’re demihumans with great perception, for the record. So please have faith.”

I stared down at my hand. I nearly forgot the Biyu siblings were demihuman like Tursun. “Faith…huh.”

Soon we four grouped back with Kahokayo Biyu, Yodomi, Itchiro, and Yuanyuan. We’d already taken our turns surveying the area, so I rested my back against the wall. Sorah and Ruri sat down nearby.

Biyu’s brother said that Asya was a prime target for the D’Orientois smuggling ring, all the more I became worried. If anything, we should hurry and catch up to Sorah’s mother and the other siblings. If Asya did get kidnapped then we could rescue him on our way through Aquitaine and Regione Straniera.

I shook my head. What was I thinking? We had spent the morning and afternoon investigating, but we couldn't give up now.

Kahokayo Biyu placed her hand over her chest. Her dog ears twitched gently. “Everyone, I believe I located Asya. Yodomi has confirmed signs of a child’s struggle.”

“Really?” Sorah shot straight up from the floor. Ruri’s mouth widened as he grasped Kahokayo’s hand.

“Thank goodness for demihumans’ keen sense of smell～” Yuanyuan held out a peace sign. “C’mon!”

Ruri didn’t do anything but kept her mouth shut with a glare. Not at Yuanyuan, but the Biyu siblings. When did she start doubting them? A few days ago she consented to this joint coöperation. I had to think. Ruri never had an interaction with the Biyu siblings and Yodomi in the first place.

I gulped. “Before we go, I would like to ask you, Miss Biyu. About why you and your brother are helping us.”

She blinked twice, albeit taken aback at what I said. I needed to clear the misunderstandings here and now. For Ruri’s sake, for our safety. Kahokayo Biyu stepped forward.

“We met at the Steppe, did we not? You wanted to find a father and his child with silver hair. That is why we are helping you. At the very least, ‘I’ wanted to. I told Yodomi he didn’t need to assist.”

Ruri jumped in with my lead. “But in this country that values debts and favors, you are helping for free…how could you—”

“Disrespecting Lady Biyu’s generosity… How dare one spit such nonsense,” Yodomi scoffed and towered over Ruri, “She took time out of her day to participate in an unproductive search party, yet you all are ungrateful? What low-lifes you lot are!”

“Yodomi!” Kahokayo Biyu snapped her head at him, and he retreated obediently. “It seems you don’t trust me now, Mister Kaizenji. If there are any doubts then I would be more than inclined to dispel them.”

“Then…what is the reason you wear a red coat?”

That was on my mind since gathering at Gariyuchi Terrace. She had a red coat, just like Irati Azzurro and Doctor Yang. I wasn’t dumb enough to not recognize that pattern. Every single person that had helped us out: Irati Azzuro who trained me…Doctor Yang Lianhua who employed me to work at his company…Kahokayo Biyu who helped us in our search—all people whose generosity had no payment nor reason to bat an eye on our situation. They all had red coats. How could that not be suspicious?

“...” Her face remained resolute, without any hint of faltering or fumbling. Yodomi tried to open his mouth but she raised her hand to block him. She took a deep breath. “I—”

“I don’t care if she has an ulterior motive,” said Sorah, breaking all the tension around us. “Everyone has their secrets, and we have no right to yank it out of anyone. I just want to see Asya again. So Miss Biyu, please lead the way.”

“Sorah…” Ruri looked at him with a tightened fist, but released it soon after.

Kahokayo Biyu placed her hand on her chest. “Just one more chance. After we find the child, I promise all will be revealed in the future.”

With Sorah’s override and a general consensus, Ruri shrugged her shoulders and folded her arms. Kahokayo Biyu led the way, with Itchiro and Sorah following suit. As we reached the deeper parts of the alleys the buildings blotted out the sunlight, with only hints of brightness highlighting the spires and tiled roofs. But the more I thought about it, I couldn’t believe Asya ended up here. Then we stopped at a dead end in the darkness.

A mattress made of cloth lay on the floor, with a wooden box in the corner. Trash clustered in another area, as I took a whiff of a repugnant scent.

“Huh, that is a bit strange…” She commented and sniffed the air. “It appears the child is on the move.”

“What? He is? Where is he going?” Itchiro probed to Kahokayo Biyu, causing her ears to perk up. “How could you lose him?!”

Yodomi leaned down on the ground and scanned the vicinity. He picked up the dilapidated wooden crate and tossed it away. He covered his nose to feces full of flies swarming around. “Makeshift toilet, pastry wrappers, temporary housing…and the smell of a child.”

“Let us move. He is moving farther away.” Kahokayo Biyu gestured while picking up her pace. Sorah’s fist tightened and ran after her. Ruri, Yuanyuan, and I gave each other nervous glances. I wiped my sweat.

Entering the maze again, I felt as if the pathways became narrower. Everyone went from walking to running. A chase to find Asya. Sorah sprinted after Kahokayo Biyu who dashed ahead turn after turn. Yuanyuan helped Itchiro walk after exhausting himself. Ruri overtook me and trailed Sorah. The sun began to dip in the sky. The stone steps darkened and cooled. The alleyways were dead silent except for the slight breeze passing through.

And eventually we all caught up with Kahokayo Biyu, gasping and staring at something. I walked and looked over her shoulder, only to figure out we came back to Gariyuchi Terrace. Her dog ears had been straight. However near the table surrounded by beautiful botany…was a boy standing alone. A boy with silver hair. He just stood there in the shade, with a certain look of grief.

Not before long Sorah arrived and saw him once again. His eyes widened and glistened. He approached him with steady steps. “Asya… Asya, it’s me!”

The sun moved. The shadow retreated backwards to reveal Asya in the light, exposing a man sounding a soft but menacing chuckle. Biyu's brother emerged from the shadows like a phantom. His eyes, usually obscured by an air of nonchalance, now gleamed with an unsettling intensity. His silhouette cast a long, foreboding shadow against the brick walls. Wearing a full white uniform and cap, he smiled and took off his hat for a bow.

“Hey…why don’t I formally introduce myself?”

And at that moment, Sorah summoned his chart.