After making certain that no curious classmates were following us, we ascended the stairs to the roof in a diamond formation.

As our de-facto leader, Saki took up the vanguard, with Mai and I a metre or so behind in the middle guard, and Nao another metre behind us in the rear guard. It was a tactically defensive formation, made to give us the best chance of successfully retreating if attacked.

As Saki opened the roof door and the four of us stepped out to meet our adversaries, we were met with four faces.

Two belonged to Shiko and Yokoshima, with whom we were already unfortunate enough to be acquainted. In front of them stood a girl we had never met, but that I vaguely recognised as another third year. And the fourth and final person was…

“「Shapeshifter」.”

Saki finished the thought for me. Yes, there in front of us, flanked by the members of Flame Of Time, was a girl wearing my face.

“It’s been a good few days since we met, Sorachan. It’s a shame you didn’t accept my invitation, but no matter.” She completely ignored Saki and addressed me immediately. She was trying to establish the upper hand by reminding me that I was her target, but I knew a way I could strike back.

“I’ve seen you more recently than you’ve seen me, Kagami. I trust that he’s doing well?”

“So you know who I am, do you? I’m impressed.” Though she tried to feign nonchalance, I could tell by the way she momentarily clammed up that I had rattled her. She wasn’t expecting me to call her out like that, nor did she expect me to bring up ‘him’ without her prompting.

“Stow the chatter, you two. There’s things we need to discuss.” The one who interrupted our back and forth was the girl I didn’t know. “The name’s Juno Nakama. Since I know who the four of you are, it’s only fair that I tell you who I am too.”

She was smart. It might seem like a dumb move to give her identity out like that, but she knew we’d be able to find it easily after seeing her face anyway. By giving it to us outright, she can act like it’s a gesture of good faith while also swinging the momentum of the discussion in her favour.

“In that case, Miss Nakama, I have to ask. Why summon us here? What are you hoping to achieve with this supposed truce you’re calling?”

Saki wasn’t gonna let her control the flow of the conversation. She cut straight to the chase, not letting Nakama slowly talk us into a corner. Nakama sighed, clearly having hoped that she could string us along a little while longer.

“You girls have caused us quite a few problems recently, and in return you’ve gotten pretty beat up yourselves. So I want to look for a way to solve all of this without further violence. A peace talk, if you will.” She sounded calm, but her voice had a sort of pressure to it. She appeared openly rational and fair, while exuding an aura that reminded us that she held almost all of the cards in this interaction.

“As long as you continue enslaving innocent girls, there’s no peace to discuss. Your crimes can’t be allowed to continue. As long as they do, we will oppose you.” Saki stayed firm, her voice not wavering for a second. The three of us behind her silently nodded our assent, sending the message that we were all as resolute as our leader.

“The actions we’ve been required to take are… regrettable. Truly, I find no joy in the knowledge that those girls have been stripped of their free will. But if you understood our reasoning, you may see things a different way.”

“…you’re building an army, aren’t you?” This time it was me, not Saki that spoke up. “You have some sort of great enemy, and you’re using the kidnapped girls as soldiers to fight for you.”

“It is an unfortunately necessary course of action. And one that we would like to offer an explanation for. But we cannot do so without an important party that isn’t currently here. One that I believe you’re familiar with, Sora.” While she had been addressing us a group until this point, she looked at me directly as she spoke.

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A sinking feeling in my gut told me that I knew exactly who she was talking about.

“The director.”

“Bingo! Knew you’d figure it out sooner or later.” Kagami was the one piped up, but Nakama simply put up a hand and she immediately fell silent. This girl was just as good at commanding the situation as Saki. Maybe better.

“I understand that the man likely feels like a spectre of your past, and a painful one at that, but that’s all the more reason you should hear him out. After all, will you ever find closure on the death of your parents without knowing why they were killed?”

I could feel my anger rising as she spoke, but I remained silent and didn’t show it on my face. I had to keep my composure here. Any outburst or loss of control would throw away the only few cards we had in our hand, leaving us at the mercy of this brutal negotiator.

She played me perfectly. In just three sentences, she both confirmed that she knew of my parents murder, and informed me that their killer wanted to speak to me. All while maintaining her outwardly kind and fair persona. If I hadn’t caught on to what she was trying to do, I likely would have lashed out.

“Let me take charge. I have a plan.’

Snapping me out of my silent anger, Saki transmitted her thoughts to my mind.

‘Okay. I’ll hand the reins back to you.’

Though the situation had been made suddenly personal for me, I knew that Saki was the best speaker amongst, and by far the most skilled at person-to-person interaction. If she had a plan, I’d follow it through.

“So you want a more proper meeting, where we’ll get to meet this ‘Director’ of yours in person?”

“That’s what we’re hoping for, yes. A real, honest dialo-“

“Stow the shit, Nakama. Just tell us. What are your terms.” Once again, Saki shut down Nakama’s attempts to sweet talk her. Though she was better at hiding it than Kagami, a twinge of irritation registered on Nakama’s face.

“Very well. We want the meeting to take place at midday this Sunday. No weapons. No fighting. No allies backing either of us. Just the eight of us here and the director. Are those terms acceptable.”

Outwardly, it likely seemed that Saki was hesitating, but I knew her well enough to know that she was thinking her answer over carefully. In this sort of negotiation, every single word counts.

“We’ll accept them, if you meet one condition of our own.” She spoke after a short but stifling silence, her voice once again never wavering.

“Very well. What’s your condition?”

“Give us until tomorrow to choose a venue. We’ll only meet with you unarmed if it’s at a place we decide on. Can you accept those terms?”

It was a risky demand to make. On the one hand, if it was accepted it would eliminate all risk of an ambush as we would be choosing a tactically advantageous location. However, if our adversaries declined, negotiations could break down here and now. We might lose our chance to glean information straight from the Director himself.

But Saki was shrewd. She likely already knew exactly what the reply would be.

“You certainly drive a hard bargain. Very well. At lunch tomorrow, Shiko will come to your home room again and you’ll give us the location we’ll be meeting at. But we reserve the right to refuse if we deem the location too dangerous for us. Does that work for you?”

“That's fine. Will that be all?”

“I believe we’ve achieved what we wanted for today. Girls, let’s get moving.”

Without another word, the four girls approached the edge of the roof in unison, magically donned the uniform of Flame Of Time, and flew off into the distance.

“That girl…”

“I know. The way she spoke was… almost overpowering.” Saki finished my though for me.

“I felt so much pressure from her. If it were any of us but Saki, she’d have talked circles around us.” Mai seemed to share our sentiment.

“S-she was terrifying…” Nao seemed to almost be shaking with fear.

Nakama and Saki seemed to be practically equal in speaking skill, but while Saki spoke with the air and nobility of a natural born leader, Nakama exuded the menacing feeling of an interrogator. Calm, but always looking for holes to cut into. I had said only a handful of words to her and she already practically had me cornered.

“Still, we have our window of opportunity. We might finally find out what we’ve been fighting for all this time. This is our turning point. Are you girls ready?”

Saki one again spoke with pure conviction. I would be lying if I said my anxiety wasn’t firing on all cylinders, but her unwavering confidence helped me steady my nerves.

With her at the helm, Mai by my side, and Nao supporting us from behind, I felt like we could overcome any hardship.

“I’m ready.” I met Saki’s conviction with my own, answering her question with unwavering resolve.

“I-I’ll follow you anywhere.” Nao seemed to have regained her confidence too, stutter notwithstanding.

“Let’s knock ‘em dead, girls.” Mai was the last to answer Saki’s question, but she also seemed the most optimistic of all of us. She seemed to share my sentiment that the four of us would be okay if we stuck together.

“In that case, I declare this the beginning of a new mission. Let’s squeeze every drop of information out of them that we can.”

And with that, we began preparing for the most important meeting of our lives.