Chapter Text
The Black Market officer studied the man in front of him: a tall, lanky figure wearing a suit and a strange black mask. And was that a… sword sheathed at his hip?
What a curious choice of weaponry. He didn’t think this city had any melee weapon users.
“An adult male, hmm? That’s a rarity in this city. You’re not Schale’s Sensei, are you?” he asked.
“…No, I’m not,” the man replied.
“Just making sure. I don’t really care who you are, as long as you’re skilled.”
The officer didn’t really know how a halo-less man with a sword could stand up against the gun-toting students of the city, but the way the man moved and held himself exuded the confidence and experience of a seasoned professional. So, he’d give him a chance.
“What kind of request are you looking for? Easy or hard?”
“Whatever pays out the most.”
“Jumping straight into the meat-grinder, eh? Well, it’s your skin, not mine.”
He pulled up the list of available missions. There was always someone who wanted someone else knocked down a peg. Case in point –
“Looks like one of Kaiser’s many enemies wants one of their bases destroyed.” He slapped the mission contract onto the table. “Just sign here and you’re good to go.”
The man’s head tilted downward, presumably reading through the contract. Normally the officer would try to scam any new faces out of their pay, but this man exuded a dangerous aura that hinted that he’d swiftly regret that decision.
The man nodded, moving to pick up the pen when suddenly the door slammed open, revealing a purple-haired student.
The officer blinked in surprise. “Oh, you’re the one I gave a commission to last time. What are you doing back here?”
“F-Forgive…” the student muttered.
“Forgive?”
“I WON’T FORGIVE YOU!”
Roland watched as an angry purple-haired girl waltzed up to the robot-person and began unloading shell after shell at point-blank range.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
“Ahhh! P-Please! Have mercy!” the robot yelled.
“How dare you scam us out of proper payment?! I’ll never forgive you! I’ll make you wish you’d never been born!”
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Roland wondered how loaded the girl must be, to be using so much ammo so frivolously. Wouldn’t it be so much more economical to beat the robot up with her fists?
The robot fell to the ground with a thud. Roland was surprised to see that the body was still relatively intact considering how many rounds it took.
“A-Aru said I should go and make my point… to tell you to do the calculations correctly…” the girl muttered. “I-I think I made my point?”
Roland slowly approached. “Hey.”
“EEK!” the girl whipped around, looking like she had just seen a ghost. “O-Oh, there was someone else here.” She bowed. “I-I’m so sorry for the commotion. So sorry for existing!”
“…It’s fine.” From the sound of things, that officer might’ve been trying to shortchange him anyway. “Are you a fixer?”
“F-Fixer?” the girl looked up, blinking at him. Her eyes brightened. “Y-Yes! I-I am a fixer of Problem Solver 68!”
Problem Solver 68? What a strange name for a fixer office. But perhaps this was a good opportunity. “I’m new to the area, and I’m looking for fixer work. I’d be happy to help your office with their requests in exchange for learning about your connections.”
In exchange for a favor, the Purple Tear had offered to send him and his wife somewhere that was supposedly “safer for them to live in”. After having his Nest application denied, he had been desperate and took her up on that offer.
The first order of business after arrival was, of course, to establish a stable source of income. Unfortunately, his prior connections wouldn’t be of any use here, so it was important to make new ones.
“Y-You want to work with us?” the girl looked him up and down. “A-An adult? Like Sensei?”
“…Who is this ‘Sensei’ person?” he asked. This was the second time they had been mentioned.
“S-Sensei is our teacher!” A pause. “A-And also our management consultant.”
A teacher who was also a consultant to a fixer office? This place just kept getting weirder and weirder.
“A-Anyway, I guess you can come with me to meet Aru,” the girl said. “O-Oh, but first I need to go plant some explosives…”
Explosives? This girl’s office must be truly both wealthy and successful to be able to afford to use guns and explosives.
Aru looked at the man in front of her, taking in his clean, pressed suit and his sinister-looking black mask.
There was no doubt about it.
This man must be a truly hard-boiled outlaw!
She had no idea what to expect when Haruka had sent a message saying that she had met another “fixer” who was interested in working with them. Her first thought had been that the applicant was another novice on the path to becoming an outlaw, a seeker with a mind much like herself.
But it was clear that this man was no novice. He was a veteran. The way he moved just oozed danger and excitement.
“My subordinate tells me that you’re interested in working with us,” Aru said with a sinister smile.
“That’s right.” The man nodded. “I’ve come here from afar, and I figured the best way to get the lay of the land is to work with a local office for a while.”
An outsider? Those were a rarity in Kivotos. The only other outsider she knew of was Sensei.
She eyed the sword sheathed at his hip. It was her first time seeing one outside of a museum.
“Is that your weapon of choice?” she asked.
“It is.”
“…Guns are quite common here.”
“So I’ve noticed,” the man said dryly.
“I take it that means you’re quite confident in your abilities, then?”
“I am.”
“I see.” Aru nodded. What a hard-boiled outlaw, to be so confident in bringing a sword to a gunfight!
A gunshot rang out. The next thing she knew, there was a loud clang followed by a bullet hole appearing on her desk.
Aru blinked. The man had his sword out, pointed at Kayoko, who also had her gun out.
“Eh?” She hadn’t even seen either of them move.
“Sorry about that. We were just testing you.” Kayoko slowly lowered her gun. “Wouldn’t want to bring along someone who ended up being all talk, after all.”
The man lowered his sword, sheathing it. “That’s understandable. You weren’t aiming to hit me, anyway.”
“Hahaha! Mister over here is fast enough to deflect bullets!” Mutsuki hopped up and down in excitement. “Isn’t that so cool, Aru?”
“I-Indeed, that’s very impressive,” Aru said with a strained expression.
It was very important for an outlaw’s image to remain calm and collected at all times. Unfortunately, her lovely clubmates could be rather . . . unpredictable.
Well, she supposed a bit of unpredictability was fun too.
Aru cleared her throat, reforming her mask. “You seem quite capable. Were you a renowned fixer back in your homeland?”
“Back in my land, I was a Grade 1 Fixer.”
“Grade 1?” Mutsuki asked.
“The second highest rank a fixer could achieve.”
Second highest? Wasn’t that… really high, actually?!
Aru’s eyes sparkled. With someone so capable assisting them, Problem Solver would surely rapidly rise in fame and notoriety. They would definitely be able to attract famous and wealthy clients and live a life of luxury!
“I’m sure your group must be just as capable as me,” the man continued.
Aru froze. Them? As good as a second-best fixer? She wouldn’t be… quite so boastful.
“A-Aru is amazing! She’s definitely super capable!” Haruka said.
Aru appreciated the compliment but she really, really didn’t want to build up the idea that they were the cream of the crop only to disappoint the man later.
“Yeah! You definitely won’t be disappointed by us!” Mutsuki said with a grin.
You definitely will be disappointed by us!
Inwardly, Aru was screaming. Outwardly, she did her best to maintain her façade. “P-Problem Solver 68 is the best in the business! You won’t find better than us!”
“Is that so?” the man asked. “What kinds of contracts have you completed recently?”
Aru burst out in sweat. Their recent accomplishments definitely weren’t impressive enough to be considered “best in the business”!
“W-We escorted a client to an auction and protected him from scammers!” she said.
“B-But didn’t we – ”
Mutsuki tackled Haruka and put a hand over her mouth before she could let slip that they had accidentally blown up the building (with the client still inside).
“We also fulfilled a bounty for taking out a group of dangerous gangsters!”
Aru left out the part where they had gotten help from Abydos. And also the part where the gangsters didn’t even really fight back.
The man nodded, his impression of them getting more and more unrealistic by the second. “I see. Anything else?”
He wants more?!
Fumbling through her thoughts, Aru tried to think of any other suitably impressive accomplishments she could bring up. Unfortunately, the remainder of their recent tasks involved mundane tasks like rescuing cats from trees and courier work.
“O-Our office’s motto is ‘one evil deed a day’!” Aru proudly pointed at the scroll on the wall, which helpfully read “One evil deed a day.”
The man turned to look at the scroll. “Evil deeds, hmm?” He folded his arms. “Does that mean you’ve dealt in human trafficking, drug dealing, maybe even organ harvesting?”
“…Eh?”
Aru stared at the man in shock. She found herself rather unnerved at how casually he just listed off all those heinous crimes.
“Yeah, Aru! Tell him about how we’ve definitely done all of that evil stuff!” Mutsuki said.
Aru sweated furiously. “W-Well, that’s – ”
“Oh?” the man seemed intrigued. “How many people have you sold off? What drugs are the most popular? What’s the highest price you’ve gotten for a kidney – ”
Kayoko sighed as Aru’s face turned increasingly pale. “We haven’t done any of that stuff,” she cut in.
“…Then, what evil deeds have you committed?”
“Skipping school!” Mutsuki yelled.
“Skipping school?” the man asked in disbelief.
“Yeah!” Mutsuki grinned. “We’re supposed to go to school, but we’re playing truant!”
“…Going to school is a privilege. Not everyone is able to do so.” A pause. “You shouldn’t take it for granted.”
An awkward silence descended. Aru felt like this meeting had gotten really, really derailed at some point.
She cleared her throat. “A-Anyway, we would be happy to have you along for our contracts, and we will of course pay you your fair share of the reward.” A pause. “A-Assuming you’re still interested in working with us, that is…”
The mask made the man’s expression impossible to read, but Aru still felt like he was judging her, at that moment. Was the man about to walk out? At some point, it had felt like he was interviewing them instead, and Aru couldn’t help but feel like she had failed.
The man sighed. “It’s fine. I just had some misconceptions, is all.”
Aru wasn’t sure what kind of misconceptions the man had but she was glad he hadn’t walked out. “Excellent! Let’s hash out the agreement, then…”
Angelica was bored.
She was sitting on a couch inside their new home, a cozy little thing nestled in the outskirts of a district called “Trinity”. Their surroundings were clean, pristine, and beautiful, a far cry from the Backstreets they had been dwelling in a few days ago.
She didn’t know how Iori had come across a place like this, but she was glad her old mentor had offered them the chance to come here. This place seemed more opulent than the Nests of most Wings!
Unfortunately, she was currently bereft of things to do. Her husband had gone out to find work – she had offered to come with, but he insisted that she stay home and rest, citing her pregnancy.
She puffed her cheeks out. What a worrywart. It was still early, she could probably still beat him in a fight in her current state.
Standing up, she put on her trusty gloves. She’d go crazy if she sat around all day. A stroll outside seemed rather appealing at the moment, and it was a good idea to familiarize herself with the environment anyway.
Angelica stepped outside, breathing in the clean, fresh air. She had gotten so used to the rank stench of the City’s Backstreets, of the blood and death that constantly pervaded the air. It felt so strange to take a breath and not smell the acrid tang of blood.
…She found she liked this change.
She began aimlessly walking around, taking in the sights of the city and the nearby people. The people were definitely the strangest part about this place – why were there so many young girls? And why did they all have guns?
And of course… why did they all have soft, glowing halos floating above their heads?
Angelica was pretty sure this place wasn’t heaven. Iori would probably have said something if it was. Then what were the halos, then? The product of some kind of experimentation?
Her mind darkened as unpleasant memories were dredged up. Of lab coats and needles and agonizing pain, of cold voices and a colder room, completely indifferent to her screaming –
The sound around her stopped. The screams inside her mind faded as Angelica panted for breath, hands pressed over her ears. It was always hard to relive those nightmares, to recall the terrifying experiments she had been subjected to during her childhood.
She fervently prayed that she was wrong, that these children hadn’t been subjected to something similar. But she knew that even a city as bright and cheerful as this would always have its shadows.
“There she is! The white-haired girl wearing black!”
Up ahead was a group of girls in black uniforms, one of them already aiming a rifle at her.
“Is the suspect supposed to be that tall?” one of the other girls asked.
Angelica frowned. “Little miss, I think you have the wrong person.”
“Don’t try to trick us! You match the description perfectly!” the rifle-aiming girl shouted.
If their description began and ended with “white-haired girl wearing black” she supposed that she did fit the bill perfectly…
“Didn’t the suspect have wings? I’m pretty sure she – ”
“If we bring her in, we’ll definitely be promoted!” the rifle-aiming girl interrupted.
Angelica saw the girl tense, saw her finger tightening around the trigger. It had been a long time since she last used this technique, but –
She swung three times. Three bullets clattered to the ground.
The girls gaped at her in shock. “D-Did she just deflect those bullets?” one of them asked.
Angelica gripped her silvery dual swords and sprinted forward, taking advantage of their daze. Her instincts took over, and three bodies hit the ground.
She grimaced, preparing for the spray of blood, for the stench of death to taint the peaceful air and remind her that violence always followed her wherever she went.
No such thing occurred. She stared at her swords, shocked that they remained clean. Looking at the bodies, she saw that she hadn’t even drawn blood.
I didn’t hold back and use the flat side of my blades or anything . . . what kind of augments do these girls have?
Inwardly, she was relieved that she hadn’t ended their lives. She was too used to killing, too used to cutting someone down before they could become a threat again later down the line. But… these girls seemed too young to be subjected to the dance of death, to the battlefield where it was kill or be killed.
In the City, all too often children were exposed to blood and death before they were ready. But she wished it didn’t have to be so.
Especially… for her own child.
The sound of pounding footsteps brought her out of her reverie, and she turned to see a much larger group of uniform-wearing girls round the corner. They took one look at her and their downed comrades around her.
“There’s the suspect! Apprehend her!”
They all raised their guns. Even a Color Fixer like her had a limit to the number of bullets she could deflect.
She turned and sprinted away as a torrent of gunfire chased her.
The chase led Angelica to a field that was riddled with traps for some reason. With her keen eyes, she was able to navigate through the field with impunity.
Her pursuers, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky.
BOOM!
“Gah! Who set up all these explosive traps here?!”
She found herself in front of a storage shed of some kind. The door opened, and a girl wearing a gas mask stepped out.
“…Who’re you?” the girl asked.
Angelica studied the girl. White hair, black dress… yep.
“They think I’m you,” she said.
“Oh.” A pause. “Sorry about that.”
Another explosion erupted in the distance. She assumed this girl was responsible for all those traps.
“Little miss, why are you fighting them?” she asked.
“They heard that I beat some students up, so they came to arrest me. Naturally, I intend to resist with all my might.”
That was the reason? She supposed it was reasonable if the victims were under their pursuer’s protection.
The girl pulled out a magazine, loading it into her gun. “You can leave. This isn’t your fight.”
Another explosion resounded in the distance. The pursuers were getting closer.
She should leave. It was an unnecessary risk to stay. But a thought caused her to linger.
“Little miss, why did you beat those students up?” she asked.
“They were bullying someone.” The girl locked and loaded her gun. “It’s not right to prey on the weak.”
To Angelica, those words were so simple yet so profound. In the City, it was natural for people to prey on others, to exploit others for personal, selfish gain. It was a cycle that perpetuated hatred, that perpetuated misery and suffering.
A selfless conviction like this one was all but unheard of there. Those who showed kindness were all too easily taken advantage of and dragged deep into the mud.
But perhaps this place was different. Perhaps kindness had a place here, had a place to flourish without being extinguished by humanity’s ugliness.
Angelica found that she wanted to protect that kindness.
A moment later, her pistol and shotgun popped into her hands. They weren’t the best at dealing with crowds of enemies, but they would have to do.
“Little miss, got any spare ammo for a pistol and shotgun?”
Ammo was extremely expensive in the City. Firearms in general were heavily regulated, with strict restrictions on the level of modifications that could be made to guns and the maximum caliber of bullets that could be used. Even as a Color Fixer, she couldn’t afford to be frivolous with her ammo usage.
This place, on the other hand, seemed to be swimming in ammo, to put it lightly.
The girl tilted her head. “Why would you stay and help? I don’t understand.”
Angelica smiled at her. “Well, it’s not right for a large group to pick on a single little girl, you know?”
She was curious to know what kind of face the girl was making right now. Alas, the gas mask denied her the privilege of such knowledge.
“…Fine.” The girl tossed some ammo at her. “Do as you please.”
Angelica loaded her guns as multiple explosions rang out behind her. The enemy would soon be upon them.