Throughout their duel, Scarlett couldn't help but wonder just what the deal with that white-haired man was. Apparently, he had history with Makoto, but he didn't stick around long enough to elaborate. And Makoto being vague about it didn't help much, either. All she could glean was that it was some kind of grudge, and perhaps one that affected Makoto more than it did Mr. White Hair.

As they fought, Scarlett could feel desperation behind every blow, and it only made her more curious. She couldn't help it, this just seemed interesting. So, she made a mental note of his appearance, recording his curly white hair and dark blue eyes - blank, like a dead fish. Maybe someone higher-up at Libera knew.

The battle raged on for a while longer, and Scarlett, stepping further away from him, held her cutlass in hand and entered a more defensive stance, watching as Makoto stepped out of a cloud of smoke of her creation, slowly advancing towards her.

"Makoto, about that guy from just now!" she said, as Makoto's eyes held a mean glare in her direction. "Who was that? What's your beef with him?"

"That's none of your business! This is between me and him!" Makoto scowled. "And you're in the way!"

He sprouted his angel wings of light again and took to the sky, performing a dropping stab as he plummeted to the ground. Scarlett quickly jumped out of the way, watching him hit the ground and lunge towards her again. She flickered her sword and it quickly parried his spear's blade, while she struggled against his strength.

"Back off, Scarlett!" he warned. "I won't kill you, but I'm not afraid to make you hurt!"

At that, Scarlett shook her head, slipping out of the clash once it was clear she was losing. "Between you and me, you don't scare me! But the boss does!"

Makoto gritted his teeth at that, advancing towards her and swinging his spear wildly, an attack that was just narrowly dodged due to the unpredictable attack pattern. This went on for some time, Makoto recklessly attacking and Scarlett struggling to dodge, with a few stray hits even connecting. Eventually, the girl managed to escape his flurry by blinding him with a smoke cloud and jumping out, waiting for him to emerge so she could go on the attack.

Makoto coughed as he made his way out of the cloud of smoke, looking around once he was out and preparing to attack until he stopped himself, thinking about what he was doing. Because honestly...what was he doing? He was wasting his time fighting Scarlett, and in the process, he was letting Inigo get away!

Seeing Scarlett lunging at him, he raised his spear to defend himself, watching as she quickly turned around and repeatedly slashed, each hit bouncing off his spear and barely deterring her. Trying to find an opening, he eventually opted to just shove her off and step back, taking to the skies on his white wings once again.

"Forget this! I don't have time to deal with you!" he said, much to Scarlett's confusion. "I can't let him get too far..."

"Hey, hold on! You're just leaving?"

Makoto ignored her, turning around and heading in the direction that he'd seen Inigo depart in, his spear vanishing as he flew off. Scarlett attempted to strike him with crimson fireballs unleashed from her palm, but they went wide. Thus, Makoto escaped, and she was left on her own.

"Hey, Makoto! Get back here!" she called out to him, but he either didn't hear her or actively ignored her, and she sighed in defeat, making her sword disappear as she looked down to the ground. "...damn it...what am I gonna tell the boss?"

As she looked around, her once-energetic expression became overcome with worry - fear, even. She began to envision the punishments that she'd be put under if she returned with nothing. Maybe she'd be denied food, or put through manual labour, or even given injections. The thought of that made her shudder.

But then, she remembered she didn't have nothing. Not necessarily. The Dawnspear's grudge against the white-haired man might have been something Kotoba was aware of. So, if it turned out to be important...then maybe she wouldn't be seen as a disgrace for today. She might even be praised, and that thought put a smile on her face.

"Alright, here's hoping this'll soften the blow!" she beamed, snapping her fingers and watching as a silver-coloured stone appeared in her palm. Grasping it tightly, she closed her eyes. "Take me to our base in Modum Town!"

The stone, sensing her Natura, gave off a bright light that quickly enveloped her, and in a lustrous flash, she was gone completely, leaving the forest empty. With the chirping of birds and the squelching of slimes as the only noises, nature was once again at peace.

.........

"I'm sure you understand why you've been brought here."

In a spacious office, of whereabouts unknown, with polished wooden floorboards and grey stone walls, alongside an identical ceiling and a simple bulb giving off a bright light, there were three chairs - two of them were wooden and simple, seemingly rather uncomfortable, and the third of which was larger, cushiony, and coated in leather, sitting behind a wide wooden desk near the edge of the room. Near that chair was a large bookshelf, standing tall against the wall and filled to the brim with worn books. There were a few books on the desk, too, in front of the minimalistic silver lamp, which was turned off since the main lightbulb was on. There were no windows, but there were two doors on either end of the room.

Sitting on the wooden chairs were two men, dressed in suits with neat haircuts and dark eyes - though one of them had dark skin and glasses, while the other was pale, with a distinctive set of freckles. Both of them were looking up, nodding wordlessly.

They looked up in fear as they faced the woman behind the desk; an androgynous, handsome lady with a light brown complexion and orange eyes, stern and sharp like an eagle. Her hair, silver in colour, was unkempt, tied into a low, short ponytail that gave her an authoritative air. This was only bolstered by her clothing; a formal black pantsuit with a silver tie. She gazed dispassionately at the other two, hands interlocked.

She turned her eyes to the dark-skinned man, slowly shaking her head and watching him swallow a lump in his throat. Her voice imperious and deep, yet still distinctly female, she spoke. "Let's begin with you, shall we?" she said. "If I recall, you were tasked with delivering a package to Ruben Town. Am I mistaken?"

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"N-Not at all, Boss..." he stammered, his eyes wide and his arms glued to his sides, not even daring to adjust his spectacles.

"Good." the boss nodded slowly. "Then I'm sure that when I tell you I received a rather irate complaint from Galileo that he has yet to receive it, it won't come as a surprise to you."

The man shook his head slowly, hanging his head in shame as the boss sighed quietly. "Now, then, would you like to tell us why this is the case?" she asked. "This is a simple oversight, after all, no? You aren't thinking of leaving Libera, are you? Or ratting us out?"

"N-No, I would never!" he panicked, shaking his head quickly. "I swear, I didn't lose it on purpose! I really was trying my hardest, you have to believe me..."

"You were trying." she said, not so much asking as much as she was repeating his statement back at him. "And yet, despite these valiant efforts of yours, you managed to lose the package."

"Sorry...I did my best..."

"Then your best simply isn't good enough." she glared at him, piercing his soul with nought but a gaze. "As I'm sure Galileo will agree, effort without results gets us nowhere."

The man hung his head low, averting his gaze from both the other man and the boss, as a look of evenly-blended shame and fear spread across his face. The boss, figuring he'd gotten the message, decided to move on. "Thankfully, however," she said, now turning her attention to his befreckled counterpart with a look of contempt on her face. "You could never be half the disappointment that this wretched little man next to you is."

"Oh, cut me some slack, Kotoba!" the man scowled in protest. "The robbery went without a hitch!"

"Without a hitch, he says." she frowned, resting her arms on the desk as she leaned forward, crossing her arms. "I have a hunch that your victims wouldn't agree with that."

The man rolled his eyes, only for Kotoba to give him a glare, stopping him in his tracks as if by magic and replacing his annoyance with worry. "We have a strict policy. We don't kill civilians unless it becomes absolutely essential." she told him, before beginning to gradually raise her voice. "So, would you like to explain just why you had to do it? Attacking the shopkeeper until his Natura shield broke, taunting him, and then slitting his throat once the money was taken?"

"H-How do you know..."

"That doesn't sound like an explanation. Shall we try that again?" she sternly and sarcastically cut him off, causing him to sigh and look up at her, his hands in his lap.

"I was just...he wasn't handing the cash over...and it kinda pissed me off..." he admitted quietly. "It's like, he didn't acknowledge my power at all! So I had to show him who's boss, is all..."

"I'm certain his ghost is trembling at the mere mention of your name." Kotoba commented, evidently unamused as she sat up. "Now, the two of you have both failed me, so you need to be punished."

She stood up, looking at the two quivering men with a curious determination in her eyes. "I challenge the two of you to a battle against me! Should you win, you may go without punishment." she told them, extending a hand in their direction. "This is your chance to fight for your own freedom - will you take it?"

The two men looked at each other, feeling her imposing aura and quickly becoming overwhelmed by terror. They shook their heads quickly, having decided in less than a second that they would rather not do battle with their kingpin - or perhaps queenpin was a better word. As for Kotoba, her determination just as quickly turned into disappointment as she sat back down.

"As expected, you're weak, the both of you." she said. "But perhaps through reflection, you can grow stronger."

The two transgressors looked up at her as she reassumed her finger-tenting pose. "The two of you will be allowed to live...but you must reflect on your wrongdoings, the weaknesses that led to these mistakes." she said. "This will take place over the course of two weeks, and for the duration, you may not eat anything."

The bespectacled man simply nodded, accepting his punishment, but the freckled one looked at her in shock, trying to find the right words. "But that-I mean-that's not fair!"

Kotoba slowly raised an eyebrow as he spoke. "If you don't want to, then I can provide the alternative right now." she said, and he quickly shook his head, now falling silent. "Then we have an agreement. You'll do well to honour it, and I will know if you don't."

Watching as the two men before her nodded, her facial expression didn't change as she pointed towards one of the doors. "Now then, you may go."

That was all they needed to hear, getting up out of their uncomfortable wooden seats and scrambling to the door, running out as it closed behind them. Kotoba sighed deeply, closing her eyes once they were gone, before opening them again so that she could distract herself with the hardback book on her desk for the time being.

.........

A short while later, Kotoba heard a knocking on the door, and at once, she folded the corner of the page she was on, closing the book and putting it down so she could address whoever was on the other side. Gazing across her immaculate office, she spoke up, saying, "Enter!"

So the door opened, and in came Scarlett, her face struck with an uncertain smile as she faced her boss. Kotoba herself sat up, not emoting even slightly as she looked down at the blonde woman. Instead, she gestured towards one of the chairs. "Take a seat, Mata Hari." she ordered, and Scarlett nodded quickly, speed-walking towards the chair and sitting down, meeting her eyes and clearing her throat.

"Good afternoon, Boss!" Scarlett greeted her, a slight apprehension in her voice as she crossed her legs for comfort purposes, both physical and mental. "Uh, I must say, you're looking rather sharp today!"

Kotoba raised an eyebrow at that, shaking her head in confusion before looking down at her, choosing not to dignify that response. "I can't help but notice a significant lack of Makoto with you."

At that, Scarlett grimaced, nodding slowly as she looked down. "It's true, he managed to escape..." she admitted.

"A real shame, that. To my understanding, he's around your level of combat ability." Kotoba said.

"Oh, definitely! I actually managed to hold him off!" Scarlett exclaimed, almost boasting. "But...he can grow wings. I...can't."

"To get someone as bullheaded as my brother to flee, though, you must have done quite the number on him."

"Well...that's actually why I came back." Scarlett said, looking directly at her boss as she uncrossed her legs, her demeanour becoming more serious. "He didn't leave because of me at all. Some stranger interrupted our fight, and all of a sudden, Makoto wanted to pursue him."

Kotoba listened intently to this, raising an eyebrow as Scarlett spoke; which didn't escape Scarlett's notice at all. Her boss was interested in what she was telling her, just like she'd suspected she'd be. "Tell me more about this stranger."

"Well, I didn't get a name, so all I have is his appearance." Scarlett lamented. "Pale skin, white curly hair, blue eyes, deader than a zombie's graveyard..."

And at once, Kotoba had no doubts, nodding slowly and closing her eyes as she took all of this in. "I see." she said. "I'm curious about this man. I want you to bring him to me."

"Eh?"

"You can do that, I'm sure. Capturing is your speciality, Mata Hari." Kotoba commented, narrowly opening her eyes to look down at her.

"W-Well, sure..." Scarlett nodded slowly, smiling ever so slightly. She had done it a lot, and Mr. White Hair didn't look like the fighting type.

"Take as long as you need. It matters not when I get to meet him, just that I eventually do." Kotoba said. "It is by luck that you have met that man, and by skill that you will continue to do so."

"Of course!" Scarlett declared, pushing her misgivings away. "I won't disappoint!"

"I should hope not." Kotoba placed her arms on the sides of her chair. "Now, you're dismissed."

"Right! Bye!"

As Scarlett whimsically made her way out, Kotoba sat in her chair, closing her eyes in deep thought as she assessed the situation. Now that that man was active, she would have to tell her men to keep a close eye out for anyone matching his description. But still, this was a stroke of luck, and she couldn't help but smile as she allowed this to sink in.

"So, you finally show yourself, Red Joker." she said to herself, opening her eyes to reach into a drawer and pull out a blank sheet of paper and a pen. "Now, then...why don't we play a little game?"