About thirty minutes had passed since Chloe’s and Alex’s sparring match.

As we were all talking, Jun pulled Chloe to the side to chat with her privately about something. Whatever Jun was telling her, had her reacting in such an animated manner. She even did a quick glance at me. I wonder what they were talking about.

━•❖•━

“You know I’ve been thinking. Lisa hasn’t reached back with a conclusive answer to Mary’s case yet, so I thought I could teach her a thing or two while we wait.”

“You mean like train her?”

“Yeah, I guess. I think it would be kind of fun too. I might as well be proactive doing something.”

“Darling, I get what you mean, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Chloe glanced over at Mary with a slightly concerned look.

“Why do you think that?”

“Well for starters, you haven’t gotten any clearance from commander. And if I must be honest, it was a security risk bringing her to the training facility. Besides, only official agents can receive training here.”

“Yet, you still insisted on her coming here. Plus, I won’t teach her anything crazy, just some basic combat moves.”

Chloe adamantly looked at Jun.

“Okay, well, how about Zoey then. Do you plan on telling her, because she’s going to be the most vocal about it all.”

Jun looked away with guilt in his eyes.

“Y-yeah, my plan was to just...You know...Not tell her. And I was maybe hoping that you could somewhat keep her distracted.”

“Are you out of your mind! You out of all people should know that you can’t hide anything from her. She’ll notice something immediately.”

“It’ll be fine trust me, I have it all under control. Also, if you think about, wouldn’t it be a good way to sniff out if she really is a spy or not?”

“Sigh, listen darling, I’m not gonna try and talk you out of this, but let it be known that I did warn you. But I will go along with this for Mary’s sake. I can’t have Zoey rain hell on her.”

“Oh, looks like someone took a liking to her.”

“Of course I did, who wouldn’t with a face like that. I can’t extort the modeling agencies for money if her face is all bruised up. Speaking of which, you be careful with her too, darling.”

“That’s my favorite little British devil.”

“Well, I’m the only little British devil you know.”

━•❖•━

Alex managed to convince some of the lesser ranked agents to set up a small snack bar area for us. So much for equality.

But those agents didn’t seem to mind, so I won’t delve further into it.

Jun and Chloe had since reunited with Alex and me. I couldn’t help but notice an odd expression on Jun’s face. His head was facing away from us with his eyes closed.

It looked as if he was trying to contain an untamed beast in his mouth. The sight was quite something to see. Chloe was standing next to me facepalming, which I assumed was because of Jun.

“Uh, is he alright? He’s been acting strange for the past couple of minutes now.”

“Really? He looks entirely normal to me. Don’t you agree, Alex?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

Alex continued sipping out of her juice box.

“But if you’re that concerned, darling. Oi, Jun, our dear Mary is worried sick about you.”

“Well, my poor kōhai, don’t fear! For as I am simply thinking about the future! You’re future!”

Why do I feel like this entire thing was planned from the start.

And why is he talking like that suddenly.

“What do you mean ‘my future’?”

“For as I, who has long yearned—”

“I’m sorry darling, I can’t take this level of cringe anymore.”

Thank you, Chloe. You’re a lifesaver!

“He wants to secretly train you some basic stuff.”

“Wait, really?”

“Boo, you’re no fun. But yeah, she’s right. I got bored following procedures, so I wanted to train you for fun.”

“If I’ll be honest, you stopped following procedures years ago.” Alex added.

Jun mimicked Alex’s snarky remark in a taunting voice.

Alex responded with a sharp middle finger while sipping her juice.

“Anyways, it’s nothing crazy, just think of it as a normal self-defense class. It would be a good way to kill some time for the both of us. Plus, I don’t want you feeling like some helpless prisoner.”

“Well, I don’t mind, but are you sure?”

I honestly slightly do mind. But what choice do I have?

“Yeah, of course! If I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t have even thought about it in the first place.”

“Then alright, I’m in.”

“Perfect.”

His mood became a lot brighter suddenly. It was practically glistening.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“You remember the plan, Chloe?”

“Of course, daring, you mean the plan that will lead all of us to our deathly demise! Come on, Alex, let’s go.”

“Wait, what? Where are we going?”

“Thanks again, Chloe!”

Chloe dragged Alex out of the room without a minute’s notice. The door slammed shut after their departure.

Her comment about our supposed deathly demise made me doublethink if I chose the correct option.

Now that I think about it. All these choices that I’ve made leading up to this moment; do I not have any regrets? Who knows what these people will do to me, because I was still technically in uncharted territory.

Especially after seeing Chloe and Alex’s match, they can easily kill me whenever they please. For now, the best I can do is just play by their rules.

“Alrighty, let’s get this party started.”

“Um, does this have like any relation to what I just watched earlier or is it seriously just normal self-defense stuff?”

This is a good chance to get some answers out of him. He looks a bit relaxed after all that eating.

“Hm, there’s no relation, it really is just basic self-defense. Besides, to do what they did requires an entirely different training regime, but you already know about that.”

“I get that, but...”

“You’re really curious about it, huh?”

“I mean anyone would after watching a girl move at the speed of sound.”

“Only the speed of sound? Don’t say that around Chloe, otherwise she’ll freak out.”

“...That’s what you’re focusing on about?”

Jun would respond to me with a simple laugh.

For some reason, I’m slightly annoyed by how carefree he is. I now understand what the others meant.

“Back to main topic!”

He’s already switching subjects.

“Let’s get this self-defense class started.”

“Sigh, about that. I don’t really need a self-defense class. I’ve learned the basics from my uncle years ago.”

Jun tilted his curiously and stared at me.

“Really? I honestly didn’t expect that.”

“Well, I was forced to learn some since at the time I was dealing with some crazy admirers. My parents didn’t want their prize possession getting hurt, so they reached out to my uncle.”

“Hm, sounds like your parents trusted him a lot.”

“Yeah, he used to train for a bunch of different martial arts when he was younger.”

“Well, hopefully all his teachings paid off.”

“What?”

A fist hurdled towards my face. I stumbled towards the right, as I barely managed to dodge it.

“What the hell was that for!? Are you trying to kill me?”

“Did you notice anything?”

“Well, I noticed to that try to take my head off!”

“Ha, sorry about that. It just surprised me that you didn’t go for the block that’s all.”

“Of course I didn’t, that clearly would’ve broken my arm!”

“­So, you did notice.”

“W-what are you talking about?”

Just like before, he’s being unpredictable again. I seriously cannot tell what’s going on in his head.

“Judgement. You have a good sense of judgement when it comes to your opponent’s strength. I mean you were right about the broken arm thing.”

“So, you were trying to kill me!?”

“No, of course not. That punch wouldn’t have killed you, at most it would’ve just left you paralyzed...Probably.”

In other words, he has no idea what would’ve happened to me if that punch had connected.

“But that’s besides the point, the real kicker is that you have naturally sharp senses. Even a normal person wouldn’t be able to dodge that fast.”

“Well, you can thank my uncle for that. He made sure that I was prepared for literally anything.”

Now that I think about it, this somewhat reminds me when my uncle used to train me. He would always throw these surprise attacks out of nowhere. Whether it be him or a random person he hired. His teachings were kind of eccentric.

Jun raised his hands up, revealing his palms to me.

“Hit it as hard as you can.”

“Why?”

“Just do it. I wanna see how hard you punch.”

Another one of his impulsive acts I see. Oh well, I’ll just do what he says.

As instructed to, my fist and his palms connected. Jun stood there with a serious expression.

“Hm, interesting.”

“What is it?”

For some reason, I was slightly anxious about what he was about to say.

“You...punch pretty weak.”

Never mind. I was somewhat bummed by his reaction.

“But that’s just relative to me. If were to compare it to a regular person, I would say you’re far above average.”

“Well, thanks, I guess. At least I know all that training wasn’t a waste.”

“By any chance, did your uncle—.”

Jun was interrupted by a buzz coming from his wrist.

“Jun...” A woman’s voice said.

“Yo, Lisa, what’s up?”

“Are you still with Ms. Yamato?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Good, I need to you come to my office now.”

The call abruptly ended with another buzz sound.

“Sigh, she could’ve at least said bye. Well, I guess class is over then.”

━•❖•━

Jun and I were standing in front of large wooden double doors. The area was secluded from the rest of the facility with just only the hallways covering both ends.

The sound of the loud doors opening echoed down the halls. The light coming from windows greeted my eyes. The room was massive, it was filled with screens, books, decorations, and a plethora of other things.

And right at the very end of the room was Jun’s commander sitting at her desk holding a lit cigarette.

“It’s good to see you again, Ms. Yamato.”

“Same here.” I’d slightly bow.

The atmosphere was so heavy. Her presence didn’t feel this intense the first time I met her.

“Oi, Lisa, you gotta cut back on the smoking, you’re going to look even olde—Ow!"

Before Jun could finish his sentence, an eraser flew straight into his forehead.

“Anyways, I know this all seemed a bit confusing to you that after saving you in that incident, you immediately became a person under custody. But that was only due to the rarity of your situation.”

“That’s okay, I really didn’t think too much about it.”

That’s a lie. I totally thought they were going to kill me or take me as a prisoner of war.

“That’s good, and as for your friends, I’m sorry, but unfortunately none of them survived. As part of our procedures, all their families and friends have had their memories erased, as well as anybody who have had any relation to them.”

It haunted me that everyone will have no recollection of their existence. All those years that they spent roaming the earth, and suddenly with a snap of a finger, they vanished into thin air.

The fact that the parents were stripped away from their children so abruptly, yet they will never be able to mourn for them is heartbreaking.

Although I felt bad, I could tell that I didn’t have any emotional connection with any of them. No tears had escaped from my eyes.

I noticed Jun clenching his fist after her comments. It seemed to be affecting him also. I don’t blame. He must feel deeply guilty about it all.

“I’ve also decided to not continue on with investigating your case since I deemed it to be unsubstantial.”

“Hey, that’s great, Mary! Looks like you won’t be getting sent to the slammer after all.”

Jun smirked at me.

“However,”

I turned my attention back towards her.

“That means we will have to erase your memories as well.”

“Wait, what. My memories?”

“Lisa, is that really necessary, don’t you think we could let this slide just this once?”

“Absolutely not. That’s the number one rule; our identities must never be revealed. You should’ve expected this to happened.”

“I get that, but I don’t sense any ill-intent from her, I’m sure she won’t say anything, besides who would believe her.”

“Doesn’t matter, we must follow safety protocols. It’s a risk in every corner you look at.”

“But Lisa...”

“I won’t argue with you. Either you do it, or I will. Remember who caused this mess in the first place.”

Jun looked at me with sadness in his eyes.

Was I really going to forget all this happening? The few hours I’ve been here were more exciting than the past few years of my normal life.

I couldn’t bear going back to my old daily life. The shallowness that I felt every waking moment was horrible. But when I finally found something new, something that I could claim as my own. I, of course, don’t have the luxury of seeing it through.

“It’s fine, Jun. If that’s how it works, then there’s not much you can do about it.”

“Mary...”

I gave him a reassuring smile.

“Seriously, it’s okay, she’s just doing her job.”

“Her job...That’s it!”

A sudden surge of excitement rushed through his body. He was back to his energetic self.

He rushed over towards her, slamming his hands down on her desk.

“Lisa, what if she became an agent!?”

“Well, then it would be a different story. But the process and qualifications for that is very strict. I would also need to approve her.”

“That is true, but this is a direct recommendation from me. And since I’m the top agent, I have that power of authority.”

She sighed at his determination.

“Well, in that case, that decision isn’t up to you, it’s up to her.”

They both stared at me waiting for my response.

“Well then, what’s it going to be, Ms. Yamato?”

In the blink of an eye, I was in the middle of making the most crucial decision of my life.

A decision that could allow me to alter my fate. A decision that would allow me to take back control of life.

I took a long and big deep breath.

“I want to be an agent!”