‘’So, you got this kid as a new member?’’ a man referred to Hiona, looking at Yohiro after the group of them had made it to a well-looking building behind a large section of the twenty-seventh district. ‘’Yes, Yaromu, he is. May we get permission to begin our assignment already,’’ Hiona asked the man, annoyed by the time she was wasting on needless pauses between their dialogue and the old man-like behavior the man was having.

‘’Hiona, listen to me, I don’t understand why you picked something this difficult to start with, but I feel like this will be too much even for you,’’ he warned her with worry in his voice, putting his hand forward in a small motion.

‘’Have you gotten so you, you can’t trust me, Yarumo?’’ she started chuckling to herself, the other four lined up in chairs next to her. The others watched quietly, respecting the man dressed in a stern, pompous tuxedo, except for Yohiro who was wondering why the room was so dimly-lit. ‘’Trust… It isn’t that I don’t trust you, I could never distrust you of all people, but biting off more than you can chew is highly dangerous,’’ he added to his warning, concerned about Hiona’s choice of action.

‘’I understand that, but you must understand something; these three, and even Yohiro here, aren’t useless, and i’ll abuse that fact until I choose to retire, if that time comes,’’ she explained to him, shocking the Clous, Rosa and Bernie. ‘’I understand. I’m sorry for doubting your way of thinking. I wish you the best of luck with the operation,’’ he said, the two of the grinning at each other confidently as Hiona stood up, followed by the other four.

The five of them left the building, putting their black robes on, except for Yohiro. ‘’What are we using to travel?’’ Rosa asked with curiosity, looking over at Hiona. ‘’We’ll be using a glyph, how else!’’ she laughed proudly, surprising them and putting her hand inside the grocery bag again, awkwardly searching through it. ‘’A-a glyph, master?! Don’t tell me that’s why you were gone for that long, even though you were going for a minor missions!’’ Bernie shouted, slightly confused, hoping he had understood the situation properly. ‘’Yeah, bingo or whatever,’’ she responded half-heartedly, concentrating more on her shuffling, rather than Bernie’s question, finally getting a happy expression on her face as she pulled out a book, similar to Clous’.

‘’Wow, master has one too?!’’ Yohiro asked in excitement, taking a closer look at it. ‘’No time for the major detail, dear, but You’ve got to know one thing: I’ve placed another glyph in a treasure room of theirs on the middle section between the second and third floor, where people don’t frequently wander,’’ she explained to them carefully and slowly. ‘’I’ve got a question for you: How long ago did you get this assignment so you had time to prepare this shit…?’’ Clous asked her in a low, annoyed voice, looking her dead in the eyes. ‘’A month and a half, so?’’ she began flipping through the pages passionately and with purpose.

‘’No, it’s not that simple! You said it yourself, you’re abusing out usefulness to get what you want, as well as leaving us unprepared for whatever you pull out your ass and serve for us to finish! I’m not in for that!’’ Clous yelled at her loudly, setting his foot down, leaving Rosa and Bernie speechless, with them stepping away out of concern for themselves. ‘’Clous, believe me, I take enjoyment in every second of it,’’ she smiled sadistically at him, widening his eyes. ‘’Either way, you can’t back out now, can you,’’ she stopped at her preferred page, ‘’It’s a one-way trip until we finish this whole thing, and that’s something all of you will keep in mind,’’ she explained herself, extending her arm forward. ‘’Aian Yosei: article 7. Connect,’’ she chanted, creating a glyph before their eyes at an incredible speed, shocking them.

‘’This mission is incompletable unless all of you participate. This is your last chance to face up and give me your objections…’’ she gave them a warning, facing away from them and looking straight at the glyph’s shine. The went silent, Clous looking at the ground, teeth gritted and his fists clenched, Bernie staring at Hiona’s back in disappointment and Rosa wondering if she should raise her voice. ‘’By ‘all of you’ do you also mean me?’’ Yohiro asked Hiona in a spiteful tone, looking at her back with a mean look, surprising Rosa.

‘’It fully depends on what you’ll cause and what effect it will have,’’ she vaguely answered his question, stepping into the glyph and disappearing in front of their eyes, leaving Yohiro bewildered. ‘’Do you see, kid? That’s the master we’re so afraid of, yet we can’t live without her. Get...used to her,’’ Clous muttered in a slightly depressed tone, stepping in after Hiona and also disappearing into thin air. ‘’Before we go in, trust me when I say that Clous is the butt of out jokes, but he’s irreplaceable, Yohiro. You’ll see it for yourself,’’ Bernie smiled at him fakely, following suit and disappearing, followed by the Rosa, leaving him all alone in front of the magical glyph.

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It was a similar situation as before, back at Clous’ run-down house, except this time he wasn’t going to be met with surprised faces and weird expectations, but with a group of people, feeling strongly betrayed by the person they continue to believe in in spite of everything she had done to them up to that point. He took a deep breath and out up a smile, jumping into the glyph, the world in front of him going black for a split second before finding himself in front of his group, all of them waiting for him.

‘’The room smells horribly,’’ Bernie said to them, disgusted, inclined to begin cleaning the dust off the walls and floor, holding his nose shut with his forefinger and thumb. ‘’The room’s rarely used; it’s like a small room inside a basement, the door of which had been covered in trash, so it’s a safe place,’’ Hiona explained quickly and to the point, giving them a moment of reassurance. ‘’Now, for the plan,’’ she said to them, giving them signals to gather up. ‘’Clous prioritises in mobility magic, so you’ll mostly be going stealth the best you can,’’ she ordered him, watching him nod reluctantly and with discomfort. ‘’For Bernie, you’ll try to set Clous up with weaponry, ‘kay?’’ she asked him, seeing him in the corner of her eye. ‘’You just said i’m going stealth; the hell would I need weapons for?!’’ he shouted at her, watching her avert her eyes.

‘’I wasn’t specific enough, it seems. Explosives, Clous, she said, annoyed, ‘’Explosives.’’ Clous shook his head violently. ‘’You want me to plant bombs? Hell no,’’ he responded briskly, tilting his head. ‘’You’re making this a lot more difficult than it should be, you know, for everyone,’’ she looked at him with serious eyes, freezing him in place. ‘’She’s getting serious, isn’t she? It’s been a while since i’ve seen her like that,’’ Rosa mumbled to herself. ‘’Fine, i’ll bomb ‘em,’’ Clous nodded in agreement to her command, feeling like he had no control over it. ‘’Finally, Rosa; fire, and lots of it, but be careful of the amounts, understood?’’ she asked, the words leaving her mouth at a quick rate, leaving Rosa to nod quickly in a confused fashion.

‘’They all have their specialty, huh…,’’ Yohiro thought to himself in a fascinated tone as Hiona turned her head to him, parting her lips slowly after leaning over to him, ‘’You’ll be following me, closely and carefully, quietly and obediently like the child you are, okay…?’’ she spoke in a soft tone to him, whispering into his ear. ‘’Yes, i’ll do my best,’’ he formed a fist with his hand, looking up at her face, which was close to his, his eyes opening wide a she pressed her lips against his forehead. ‘’Good, you’re a natural slave-like student,’’ she smiled at him happily as she pulled away, leaving the others with a single thought going through their heads: She’s a complete pedophile.

‘’Now look, here’s where i’m going to have to leave a part of the planning to you three,’’ she started, ‘’You’ll navigate by yourselves, following sounds and ques and such to find your way to the ares I assign you to. It’s a large army building after all, and a single mistake could get you shot down,’’ she continued on, explaining in detail by using hand movements to support her words and claims, going on for a few minutes.

‘’Finally, the positions: Clous will be needed on the sixth floor, which won’t be a difficulty for him, i’ll need Bernie to make his way onto the first floor, avoiding making noise until Clous gives the signal that he’s arrived at the sixth floor. If he gets there before you reach the first, bomb them to reach it if needed!’’ she started rambling, confident in her planning skills, already having Yohiro confused about the roles. ‘’Rosa, you’ll be of use on the fourth or fifth floor; both will do fine, but the point is remaining safe until both of these two get into position,’’ she pointing swiftly at Clous and Bernie, all three of them nodding rightfully, in excitement. ‘’Last but not least, Yohiro and I are gonna make sure the center’s fine on every single floor, except the first, which Bernie will deal with, and also the sixt, with Clous taking care of it respectfully,’’ the tree of them lost her at last, staring off into the distance.

‘’Fine then, we’ll be making an enhanced cannon, simpletons…’’ she sighed, disappointed at the fact that she didn’t get to get a good moment and look cool in front of them. ‘’B-but that’s ridiculous, master! It requires too much precision and sync!!’’ Bernie shouted out in disagreement, waving his arms, justifying it. ‘’Yeah, exactly. You’re a squad, a team, a group, a...another word for a group of people who work with each other!’’ she reassured them, hoping to give them hope as she straightened her back. ‘’So, without further ado, MISSION BEGIN!’’ she said to them in a sharp manner, pointing upwards spitefully, smiling along with Yohiro, the others looking down in disbelief, not trusting in the teamwork their master believed so much in.