I drag the perpetrator down the stairs, handcuff her, get back upstairs, pick my sister who is faint from exhaustion and injury down the stairs, treat her injury then… It's time to talk to my boss about this.
As I wait for her to pick up the phone, I look at the girl who try to murder me again. She is hauntingly beautiful, not gonna lie. I always have a thing for girls with supernatural feature, heck even a cosplay kemonomimi (animal-ear) is fine by me. So she, who has a white, lustrous, silvery hair, is a complete fantasy. Her pale skin and teal eyes worried me, but again she is my type, no doubt.
But, she is also trying to kill me and my sister so, I would have no mercy on her if not for the fact that I think she is supernatural.
Then, my boss picked up the phone. I use a speaker mode, so I have my phone on the table as I am rubbing my temple.
“Moshi Mosh. I thought I'll talk to you again next week, are you missing me already?” She teases me again, but now… I just don't wanna deal with it anymore.
“Boss, you're not gonna have a boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter, anytime soon because of your teasing.”
“Come on, that's a joke.” She laughs.
“Boss, do you know anyone that has white hair and launches ice everywhere?”
She turns silent. I can imagine her face whitening in horror already. “Did she…”
“She trashes my place, nearly kills me and my sister, breaks my personal tachi, and she is immortal. You tell me, who is responsible for this?”
“What do you mean…” She tried to play dumb. Of course she would...
“Boss, you asked me earlier about fantasy. And then this happened. This is too much of a coincidence for me. So please tell me. Who is she? Why is she here? And who is responsible?” I cannot hold the question anymore. My rage swirl inside me.
“...”
Silence for quite a long minute, before she said.
“Yuki, please bring her here ASAP. And promise me 3 things. One, please do not contact the authorities. She is ELITE. This is beyond national authorities to deal with. Two, bring your team here as well, I’ll tell you everything. And three… please, after all of this, don’t ruin my plan. It has to be done. You are not my pawn, but they bring you in now, so please don’t ruin the perfect chessboard.” She then promptly hung up and locked her number. This is more serious than I thought.
I looked one more time at the girl who attacked us. Sigh. “Guess I have to deal with this bullsh*t.”
I phoned Chris to come and help me with this. And of course, to bring Narin along.
Back at the headquarters, we were escorted to the boss's office immediately. She is talking on the phone.
“Do I have permission now? Good. We’ll talk again later, bye.” She hangs up. Then turn around to face us.
Our line-up are; From left to right, Me-Neko-Chris-Narin, in that order. So, Black hair, brown hair, red hair, and blue hair… It really does sound like a fantasy world now that I think about it. Narin always says she dyed her hair blue, then highlights it so… I don't know.
“Boss, what is she?” I pointed at the girl who was trashing my place. She is still unconscious. So I got a weird look from the staff when I dragged her in. Whatever, it doesn’t change things much for me.
“I know you have a question but first…” She points the gun at the man behind her. And proceed to shoot him. Of course, he couldn’t react fast enough. His lifeless body fell to the ground. She really quick to disposed of people... didn't she... She is known as the Silencer back ten years ago... I'm not even recognized what 10 years ago was like. I still have my parents back then...
As we’re appalled by that action. She ordered a clean up and stand up. “We’ll leave for the meeting room. Follow me.” Then, she goes to the girl, touch her. I saw some sort of aura flow from her to the girl, the girl woke up immediately.
This time though, her eyes are full of life, not a lifeless doll-eyes it used to be. Odd. SUPER ODD. But then again, she materialized an ice crystal from thin air and threw it at me. So, probably to be expected.
If I seem nonchalant about everything, it’s because I’m dead inside. I mean… I have wasted my childhood life to go kill people, or to lie to the camera.
It is brutal. But, I get by.
We followed the boss and the girl to the giant meeting room.
There are 4 people already sitting and waiting in here already.
So, I will explain them one by one.
The one presumes the head of the table has golden-ish hair. She also has a pair of fox ears and nine fluffy yet ominous tails. She wears a kimono… but she wears it differently. She wears it loosely to the point where I can see her shoulders and her… ahem… upper breasts. A nine-tail fox who ruin the empire... Is this her? Or if she... She wore kimono though... Tamamo no mae?
On the right of her is another girl, with black hair and black eyes. It wouldn't be so eye-catching if she didn't wear a black gown and have completely black, feathery wings. I would say she is a fallen angel… but at the same she didn’t feel that way. Her face tells me that she is soft… maybe too soft for someone with her beauty. And unlike the fox, she doesn’t seem like she has anything to hide. I wonder why is someone who is as beautiful as her stay here... But again, my boss is also a looker so it might not be about her look but her skills.
On the left side, a girl who couldn’t be more than 20 years old, with a mischievous smile and angelic wings. If I couldn’t know better, I would say both she and the other angel girl are… swapped. Her mischievous smile though... She isn't evil, at all. She just want to play around, that's it.
The last one is a man. This man has blonde hair and blue eyes. Undoubtedly European heritage. But what sets this man aside is his clothes. He wears what could be assumed as an adventurer outfit in a JRPG… Seriously. I don't have any other description that fit him.
“So, I assume you’re Blizzard team, yes?” The man asks, coldly. His accent is, without any doubt, Old English. I immediately know it. My father is a linguistic major before he was forced to withdrawn from university. He loves to spoke to my mother with Old English accents as a inside joke for both of them. I nodded to the question, while my boss sat down together with the girl.
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“Yuki, please take a seat. Everyone as well.” My boss, Alexis, said. I reluctantly sat. Everyone in my team followed suit.
The air is heavy and tense, like I’ll suffocate.
“I’ll introduce myself. I’m…”
“Tamamo no Mae.” I said, cut her short. She seemed shocked, then her cunning smile was even wider. Seems like I was right.
“It wasn’t nice of you to speak over your elder, Takarada.” She said, threateningly.
“That’s true. But I’m not someone who will respect people who are willing to lie right from the get go.” I look at her. The air is even more tense now. Her tails wiggle, before she burst out laughing.
“Good one. Fine, you’re better than I ever thought.” She smiles, warmly. Followed by everyone else. I exhale quietly, so as to not show too much. I was about to wet myself right there… good thing that I have experience in hard negotiation... I'm ELITE... I need to... Calm... Down...
“So, your name is Kito? As in, Toolkit? ”
“Yes, my parents are very resourceful and want me to be the same. But my father also wanted a Japanese-like name, so they came up with Kito written in Hiragana.” I said.
“Your parents have a weird sense of names.”
“I totally agree.” I nod. She laughs out loud.
If you wanna know, Tamamo no Mae is a legendary nine-tails fox who almost spells doom upon Japan, escapes and ends up killed and sealed away. I heard that the rock that sealed her has recently been broken from natural causes, but the one right here probably is not directly from that myth… I think. Why? I don't think she is evil. She isn't good, I'm sure. But evil would be overstatement.
“Okay, okay. Please call me Tama, or Tamamo, however you want to call me. I have you here to promote you to Class B. Congrats.” She claps her hands, smiles brightly… but I smell something bad.
“From now on, I’ll be your direct superior, with Alexis working as a coordinator. All of your teammates will be promoted as well. And...” “I smell bullsh*t.” Narin blunts out, stopping Tamamo in her tracks.
“Excuse me?” She asks, quite calm in fact.
“Look, I’ve been infiltrating this organisation since Alexis accepted me in. I’ve seen you on multiple occasions. I’ve seen you kill how many people for your own benefit, sending good men to their death despite having other options. And you want to promote us to be directly under you? I smell a rat.” She wasn’t holding back at all.
Tamamo was taken aback, before regaining her composure. “Little girl, do you hav—”
“2 Years ago, Pripyat, Ukraine. 7 KIA. 2 MIA. multiple are injured beyond recovery. 6 months later, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 2 KIA, 3 confirmed MIA, at least 7 maimed and 1 in coma. Last time, 2 months ago, Singapore, you sent men to a terrorist hideout where they blew up the entire marketplace, 18 confirmed killed, at least 75 injured, and hundreds more lightly injured but suffering traumatic experiences.”
She reported… with great disdain in her voice.
“Tell me, am I wrong? YOU SEND THEM TO THEIR DEATH!” She practically screaming at this point.
“We have no choice.” Tamamo somber voice was tiny in comparison to Narin's screaming.
“NO CHOICE!?” She screams. Light manifests into her hand, forming a documentation, which she throws into the table for all to see.
“WE HAVE ASSET EVERYWHERE!
WE COULD USE THOSE!
WE HAVE DRONE!
WE HAVE JAMMING DEVICE!
WE HAVE SO MANY THING WE CAN USE INSTEAD OF SENDING THEM TO THEIR DEATH!
SO WHY!?”
The silence that followed is painful. Tamamo seems unfazed, but also remorseful.
“You are full of garbage. You’re not a strategist, yet you wear yourselves as if you are one. You are not a mastermind. Understand that.” She stated...
“That’s not true.” Tamamo tried to argue but...
“THEN WHAT IS YOUR EXCUSE!?” One more batch of documents gets thrown. “EXPLAIN!”
There is no coming back from this. My boss slowly spoke.
“Narin, please, be respectful—”
“SHUT UP BOSS! I’LL NOT BE SENT TO MY DEATH BECAUSE OF INCOMPETENT LEADERS AT HEIM!” She is so aggressive… Is Neko possessing her or something?
After an agonizing minute pass, I finally spoke up. “Narin, please calm down.”
“Yuki-san, I can’t—”
“Are you suggesting you can change the past?”
“No, but…”
“Then let it go, I understand your sentiment and your frustration. In all of these cases, there seems to be a more diplomatic, or at least, less destructive path. However, what’s done is done. If she is as incompetent as you suggest, then it might be better to leave gracefully rather than die.” I said to her, then looked at Tamamo, who’s now in somber. Narin’s words hit hard, it seems.
“So then, do you have a counterargument? Or any excuses at all?” I asked. “Not just Tamamo, by the way. I’m asking all of you.” I raise my voice a bit.
The white wings girl shouted out. “We aren't here to be ridiculed! I'll ki–”
“Michael, stop… they're right, I'm incompetent.” Tamamo admitted. The white wing girl, Michael, shut up immediately. Michael? As in... Archangel Michael? That one angel dude who receive God's blessing that he can never lost to anyone except God? The one that banish Lucifer to hell? This girl is that fricking guy!?
I'm shocked... But I cannot show it. I cannot... God... Are you mocking me right now?
“I'm incompetent. I admitted. But, that doesn't mean I'll send you to death. You're more valuable than that. Those people I send to die, they deserve it. The power and fame corrupted them, they're no longer useful for us.” She stated. Clearly... Authoritatively... I can see why she is the head of this meeting. She did not exert any pressure, yet she held strong against any criticisms... As a diplomat, I need to be like her.
“No longer useful!? Corrupted!? How can you—” Narin start to scream once more, but Tamamo cut her off. “All of the people you mentioned were involved in staged accidents, planned assassination, selling of important and classified information, foment insurrection in foreign countries, abuse of authority. I could even count you in because of insider trading and espionage. But, you're not abusing your power just yet, and your sense of justice is still considered normal. You are safe for us, so we'll overlook it. But if you are shown to be corrupted in the future, you'll be disposed of. That is how our organisation runs, remember?”
We all went silent. Of course she knows how this organisation runs.
Rule #1 … Any corruption will not be tolerated, and will result in termination. Both in agreement and literal if egregious.
Rule #2 Anything that happens in the organisation, stays in the organisation. No outside authority will be involved. Unless disavowed.
Rule #3 Against corrupted individuals, any operator is required to act ASAP. Even if no evidence is found, corrupted individuals have to be disposed of, first and foremost, then the council will begin to investigate. If the corruption accusation is deemed false, the operator will be facing consequences, namely prison sentence or life sentence, according to the country of the dead.
Rule #4 No impartial rules or laws. Everyone goes by the same rule, no matter how high or how low. Command structure is for commanding, not for rule lawyering. Anyone from First Founder to E Class will face the same consequences.
Those are the 4 most important rules. Try to break it, and you'll be gone. This is no joke rule. That is how it is made.
The First Founder refers to a group of people who form this as a coalition against terrorism and end up as a humanitarian organisation capable of dealing with terrorists without intervention for other nations, as long as the host country agrees, of course. ELITE is funded and subsidized by a personal company founded by each of the Founders. It is a herculean task. But their efforts led them to become history in this new era.
So, the rule set forth by the First Founder also affects founders themselves, to prevent anyone from thinking they'll get away. This is good rule-making.
“Please understand. We're doing what we can to minimize damage, to ourselves and to others. We have to deal with public reception, underground operation, espionage, not to mention internal power struggle of A Class and lower.” She looks at Alexis, who looks down, shamefully.
Alexis is in A Class, considered to be superior to anyone except for the Founder. The fact that she felt shamed was probably because she is part of the power struggle... Understandable.
“Now, we want to promote you guys, so you guys will know more. Do you know why there are so many C Class ”
“No.” I answered. She nodded.
“The barrier between C Class and B Class is knowledge about magic. Your teammates know magic for a long time now, so they're already on the list of potential B Class. But you don't, and you are very competent at leading your group. So, we decided to postpone the promotion, until you have learned of Magic in any form, which is today.” The black hair woman spoke. Even her voice is beautiful... But it is laced with aura... For some reason.
“So in conclusion, you planned for this moment for a long time now, right?” I asked.
“Yes.” Tamamo answered. Quite perplexed actually. “You're not surprised?” She asked back.
“I've seen their aura ever since I've known them. It's not new to me. Although, that explains a lot of oddities in life I guessed?” I said... Everyone went silent. Did I say something wrong?
“YOU KNOW SINCE WHEN!?”
Oh boy… we’ll stay here for a longggggg time.
…