Machua’s call came at a surprise. Not only did she want to finally introduce her ‘special guy’ to them, she wanted to do it the very next night. Naiya, as usual, was free. Yoona however, had a few meetings. She had to push them back with all sorts of excuses but did manage to find a 1 hour timeslot. And then after that, she had to go meet someone.

  “I never expected Machu to ask you to reserve the entire place though,” Naiya spoke as she spun around the table.

  “Me neither. It isn’t much of an issue to reserve Diamant Brioche though. Barely anyone uses it as a cafe at night,” Yoona talked as she looked through decor. It could use a bit of a refurbishing.

  “How bad is that for business?”

  “It’s a bakery first. The cafe is only a side business at most. Its job is to make the bakery more comely,” Yoona informed.

  “Ohhhh,” Naiya acted as if she understood what her friend was saying.

  It was at that point the bell at the door jingled. The two turned their gazes to it to see their dear friend. Machua Purin, who was… carrying another person on her back. The person on her back had a hoodie on, which obscured them.

  “Hey~” Machua called. “Sorry, we’re late. She’s pretty exhausted.”

  Yoona and Naiya approached Machua hesitantly. She walked over to a table and sat the person on her back on a chair. The person slumped onto the table, their hoodie still covering their appearance.

  “Is this-“

  “That special guy!” Naiya almost leapt to pulling the hoodie back, but Yoona grabbed the back of her neck.

  “If your ‘special guy’ was so exhausted, you should’ve cancelled this meeting,” Yoona advised.

  “It’ll be fine. She was adamant on doing it today.”

  Machua then gently placed her hand on her guest’s head. “Wakey, wakey. We’re here.”

  “Mmm?” The guest mumbled. “Machi, we’re already…”

  The guest took down her hoodie and looked around. “Oh, hi-“

  The ‘guest’ was interrupted when she turned to Yoona and Naiya. Their eyes were as wide as saucers, and they kept turning their head back between the two.

  “Machu…a. Who. Is. That?” Yoona slowly asked. Naiya’s head was shaking so fast she almost got dizzy.

  “Oh, he’s Machi,” the guest, Machua, yawned and answered. She thumbed towards him.

  “I’m Machi.”

  “PAY-“ Naiya began to scream.

  Yoona, having predicted this scream, wrapped her arm around Naiya’s mouth. She had gotten very good at this, so not much could be heard of her scream.

  “Machua. Machua… This isn’t funny,” Yoona tried to laugh.

  “I’m Machua,” Machua rubbed an eye and pointed at herself.

  “She’s Machua.”

  Naiya finally freed herself from Yoona’s grasp. “So, fake Machua carried sleepy Machua in here!? What did you do!?”

  “I’m Machua,” Machua repeated.

  “Wake up already, dummy,” Machia bonked his sister on the head.

  Machua then mysteriously became more awake. “Oh. Oh! We’re here”.

  “We’ve been here for a little while.”

  “Answer my question!” Naiya almost shouted.

  “Yeesh, no need to scream. This here’s my brother, Machia,” introduced Machua casually.

  “I’m her brot-“

  “Shut up,” Yoona interrupted. “Explain yourself. Who in the living hell is Machia? Identical twins are only ever the same gender.”

  Machua looked at Machia. He shrugged. “I know it’s hard to believe but turns out I had a long-lost brother out there. He learned about me and mami and then he decided that he wanted to live with us. He’s actually in the Lemuel squad with me and Plu.”

  “That cute birdy?” Naiya asked. “Totally unlike Yoona?”

  Yoona briefly flashed a look of hatred. “He’s in the Lemuel squad? He’s an official Erelier Hunter? He has an id?”

  Machia handed over his hunter license. Yoona and Naiya scrutinised it. Naiya even brought up her own hunter license to compare it. No matter how much they searched, there was not one detail that was off.

  Yoona stared at Machia with suspicion. She looked at Machua. And then back at her brother. The exact same face. The exact same look. Other than Machu being tired. There was one big question she had in her mind. Could Machua be trusted? If this was a stranger, was Machua being lied to? Or is she in on it? No, she couldn’t be in on it.

  “Answer all my questions, if you please,” Yoona began with a serious tone.

  “And mine too,” Naiya tried her best to sound tough.

  “Where were you born?” Yoona questioned.

  “The same hospital in Paradiso. Saint Avenir. Mami’s doctor was Dr. Miriam Weissman. She calls her Miri-bili,” Machia answered without issue.

  Yoona and Naiya stared at Machia in surprise.

  Naiya whispered to Yoona, “Uh, is the last part true?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “It’s what mami has her under in her phone. You should give up right now, he’s probably better at answering your questions than me.”

  “It’s not like he would know our personal histories, other than what you’ve told him,” Yoona disagreed.

  “That’s true yeah. But if you’re searching for anything that disproves him being mami’s son or my brother, you’re gonna hit a dead-end.”

  “Rrgh!” Naiya grumbled. “Hey, you! Where did you go to school?”

  “I…” Machia began. “Never went to school. Our biological father stole me from mami and raised me by himself. He died a little while ago and then I found her.”

  “Wow, real suspicious background. Real believable.”

  “Who was he then? Tell us.”

  “I don’t know his real name. He lived a criminal’s life though and I was his little sidekick.”

  “Give up already. You’ll get to see the public record for our missions together. You’ll see he’s saved my life tons of times. He’s super trustworthy, you just have to give him a chance.” Machua patted her brother’s shoulder.

  “I’m not a bad guy.”

  “Says the most obvious bad guy in the world,” Naiya retorted.

  “Hrm…” Yoona grumbled. “Your mom’s a good judge of character… But a brother all of a sudden? Your mom’s always told us she’s only had you. It was on purpose, wasn’t it?”

  “Haha…” Machua tried to laugh it off. “You’ll have to ask mami about that. I don’t really know what she was thinking.”

  “I promise to keep Machua safe. And please know that all I want is to live here with my family. I’ll do my best to fit in. So please, just give me a chance.” Machia nearly went to bow down.

  “…” Yoona gazed at him.

  “Urgh. Now I feel bad. But there’s no way, right? There’s just no way.”

  “He’s my family,” Machua spoke softly.

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  “Very well. If that’s what you say. Let’s drop the issue. At least, until he becomes a problem.”

  “Okay then, but,” Naiya then jabbed a finger at Machia, “I’ll beat the living daylights out of you if you hurt her.”

  “I won’t fight back if you do.”

  “Alrighty then. If everything’s… all over,” Machua groggily said. “I need to go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow…”

  Machia gave her a comforting smile as she fell asleep again. He gently picked her up on his back. “I’ll be heading back home with her then. See you two around.”

  “Oh! I’m coming with you! Can’t let her just be alone. And you can’t fight with her on your back,” Naiya rushed to Machia’s side.

  ‘What do you think will happen?’ Yoona thought.

  “See you, Yoona!” Naiya waved goodbye as the three of them left Diamant Brioche.

  Yoona silently watched them go. After they left her sight, she looked to the time. She still had some time before her meeting. She expected that this would go for longer, but Machua was very tired.

  “I still have a bit of time. I might as well do some manual labour.”

  Yoona silently began cleaning up Diamant Brioche. She then reviewed the ledgers and after confirming her workers had made no mistakes, she turned the lights off. It didn’t take much time at all.

  “I suppose our conversation will be a bit longer then.”

  Yoona briskly walked out of the mall and down the street. It was already dark, and it was a bit late, but she wasn’t scared. She was never the strongest combatant around, but she could handle herself.

  The destination she was heading to was known as the Dias Rehabilitation Complex. It was a project she started herself with the purpose of rehabilitating the homeless and impoverished of Erelier. It gave them a home and the training necessary to get a job. Though, there were always going to be a few people who couldn’t manage a job, whether because they were incapable or they had already given up. Yoona had long accepted that fact.

  Her complex was regarded as one of her greatest achievements by her parents. They were looking forward to her eventually rehabilitating all of Erelier’s homeless, so she could sell or rent out the complex to the more luxurious members of society instead of making it a home for the homeless. She was making a profit, if only barely, but it wasn’t enough in their eyes. It brought the Dias Group great favour by Erelier’s mayor, but they always had a mind for profit. Still, it was her complex. She wasn’t going to let that happen.

  “Oh, young miss,” an old man called out to her. He was dressed in raggedy clothes and had a few scrapes on his face. His beanie had a few holes in it.

  “Hello there, Gustave. It’s good to see you out. Aren’t you supposed to be in your security booth? It’s your turn tonight, isn’t it?” Yoona asked. They were a bit of a distance away from the complex still.

  “Oh? That? I wanted to take a walk.”

  “Gustave… You can’t abandon your post like that,” Yoona chided. “What if someone dangerous got into the complex?”

  “Oh, no worries, no worries. I got Ali to cover my shift. But I’ll get back lickety-split if you really want me to.” Gustave swung his arms around.

  ‘He seems happy to be on that walk. I guess being cooped up in the complex all day has its issues. They have a gym though. Something to discuss maybe.’

  “We can walk together.”

  “Would ya like me to hold your bags, young miss?” Gustave held out his hand.

  “I keep telling you to stop calling me that, but you never learn. Very well, Gustave, if you really want to,” Yoona said as she handed over her bags to him.

  Gustave laughed. “Haha! Let an old man have his fun. It’s always a joy when you come over you know.”

  “Not everyone in the complex would say the same.”

  “Aw, those guys are just… tired. Always expectin’ the worst of things. But even they have to admit their life now’s a whole lot better than before. And it’s all thanks to you,” Gustave said with a big smile.

  The smile was infectious. Even the ever-serious Yoona had to smile seeing it. She didn’t initially develop the complex out of a desire to help the poor, but it was very nice to be appreciated. Besides, she never had good memories of her grandparents. It was nice to see Gustave still so lively in his old age.

  Yoona didn’t say anything in response. This was a conversation they had many times. She knew he had come by to pick her up. He always skimped out on duty and always got someone to cover him at this time. She didn’t need the bodyguard but she appreciated it. So, she didn’t tell him she knew.

  The two of them kept chatting about recent things as they approached the complex. She told him about the secret brother her friend showed her. He told her it had to be a scam. She agreed. He did a lot to ease her tension regarding the mysterious Machia.

  “That you, Gustave? Young miss? Finally,” Ali, who was sitting in the security booth called.

  “Heheh. Thanks. I’ll give ya an extra instant noodle pack for the trouble.”

  “Ooogh! Gustave, you’re a good guy, you know that?”

  “Too much is bad for you, you know? You have the money to buy actual food now.” Sometimes Yoona felt like her job was chiding all the old people around her.

  “Can’t blame a guy for wanting to save money. I want to open a store of my own someday,” Ali proclaimed.

  “If you wanted to do that, I could always give you a loan. You’ll have to pay it back, of course. With interest,” Yoona proposed.

  “That’s exactly why I’m saving.”

  “I forget how greedy you are sometimes, young miss.”

  “Ohoho,” Yoona laughed. “It’s a no even if the interest rate’s 0.5% per year?”

  “0.5….?” A sordid voice snuck up on them.

  Yoona, Gustave, and Ali turned to look at their new arrival. It was a gaunt-looking person in a hood, and he seemed to be a youth. From what little they could see of his face, he was very dishevelled. His hair was untamed, and he had a strange look in his eye.

  “H-hey. I’d like a loan,” he spoke.

  “… How much are you asking?”

  “A-a 100k,” the hooded man spat out. “Promise I’ll pay it back in the next year.”

  Gustave spoke, “Aw, little miss, there’s no need to give this guy the time of day. He’s just looking for his next fix.”

  “I don’t need a promise you can pay it in the next year. I need a promise you’ll pay it back at all. You’ll have to give me collateral,” Yoona stated.

  “C-collateral? I don’t even have anything…” The man ruffled in his hooded jacket for anything.

  “Then no loan for you, sorry. But if you want rehabilitation, then I can offer you a-“

  “Look, just gimme the money!” The man suddenly shouted. He brandished a knife in his hand, and his mana flared up.

  “Tch.”

  Judging from the man before her, he had either finished his service or was in the middle of it. If he was the latter then he must have been missing for a while. Gustave and Ali were both very old men. Though they did their service, they could hardly be expected to defend her. So, it was up to her to defeat the threat.

  ‘What a pain. I hope I don’t get cut.’

  Yoona reached into her bag and pulled out a fan. The fan’s components were metallic, and it was Engraved to ensure she could channel as much of her magic as possible. This piece of equipment was easily 10 times as costly as the loan the man just asked her for. He, frankly, had no chance.

  The man rushed her with his knife, but she didn’t even have to move.

  A blur rushed from behind her. The knife jabbed into that blurry figure, but it was stopped entirely. Now that the figure had stopped moving, everyone could see him for who he was.

  The figure was a young man with purplish-black hair. He had broken horns, and a sword sheathed in a scabbard on his back. His arm was grabbing the blade of the knife, but he was not bleeding.

  “H-hey! I’ll fuckin-“

  The man wrestled the knife from the hooded man’s hand and pointed it back at him. His expression never changed.

  “A-alright alright! I’ll go!” The hooded man took off running.

  “Su…” Yoona called.

  Suka turned. His eyes were the same as she was always used to. Sad. He barely even looked at her as he dropped the knife onto the ground.

  “Thanks for coming, Yoona. But you don’t need to do this anymore,” Suka spoke languidly.

  “Su…” Yoona reached out. “Our meetings were never about that. All I wanted was…”

  “To see me get better?”

  “Of course.”

  “It’s not getting better,” Suka whispered. “I’m broken.”

  “You are not broken, Suka Ananta. Don’t say that,” Yoona rejected. “Your horns may be broken, your sword may be broken, but you as a person are not. You’re still Suka.”

  “…” Suka didn’t respond. He always stayed quiet when it got like this.

  “Su, look at Gustave and Ali? You were living with them when I brought you here. Look at them now. Gustave’s energetic enough to go on walks. Ali wants to start a store of his own. They’re so much older than you, but they still want to build up their lives.”

  Gustave and Ali awkwardly stood there. Suka did not look at them.

  “I never asked. Why did you choose to develop this place? Was it because you saw me? Someone who was only ever an acquaintance?”

  “Yes. I won’t lie. This was a project for my own selfishness,” Yoona admitted. “I didn’t want to see someone I knew on the street. You needed the help.”

  “You’re amazing, Yoona. A selfish desire turned into all of this. You’ve gotten a lot of people back on their feet. I just wish,” Suka began walking off, “you’d stop trying with me.”

  Yoona could only watch him leave. She wanted to say something, anything, but her words could never break through to him.

  “Poor kid. Whole squad got murked a while back. Hard to be the sole survivor,” Gustave remarked.

  “Lots of us are the only ones left,” Ali said. “Don’t got family, don’t got friends not from here. We also had nothing, I just don’t get why he’s different.”

  “There’s more to that mission, I know it,” Yoona said. “But he won’t tell me. Won’t tell anyone. It’s marked as confidential too.”

  “Looks like you won’t be having your meeting with Su, little miss.”

  Yoona bit her lip. “One day, I hope we’ll be able to have a normal conversation.”

  ———————————————————————

  “Experiment HC62… Failure. HC 63… Failure. I should probably stop experimenting on house pets. A proper sample size ought to be at least 1000, but I don’t have the means to acquire enough subjects without arousing suspicion. That one success was probably a freak accident, an early outlier. I will shelve the idea for now. End recording.”

  The laboratory was not lit, despite the amount of writing and recording the scientist did. It did not seem to bother him though. His eyes could read his writings. Light was not a requirement. It wouldn’t do to rouse his subjects with bright light anyhow.

  Suddenly, the light switch flickered on. A bright light shone through the room, illuminating the scientist.

  The scientist, at first glance, appeared to be gaunt. A crooked figure hidden under a lab coat. His face, when revealed, showed a balding man with grey hair, far earlier than expected. A long and thick red lizard tail peeked out from beneath his clothing.

  “Sheesh, way to play into the stereotype,” the scientist’s guest joked. He had on his face a small smile, a smirk almost, that was never fading.

  The scientist blinked and stared at his guest. For a second, he had the urge to devour this interloper, but this was not someone he could attack without consequence. In fact, had he tried, he might be the one to be devoured.

  “Stereotypes are not something I am concerned with.”

  “I see your transformation’s gone a long way since we last met, Dwyn,” the guest commented.

  The guest espied the scientist’s appearance under his lab coat. Lizardkin did not have scales beyond their tail, yet this man had scales all over his body. They were disparate, not complete. Scales grew over his face, over his chest, his limbs, and over his neck. It made his voice hoarse, but he did not seem to mind.

  “Yes… your information was very useful. Did you come here to tell me more?” Dwyn asked.

  “Nah, nah, nah. I came in just to check up on you,” the guest shook his hand in the air. “Never met someone crazy enough to want to become a dragon.”

  “Scratch that. Lots of kids do. Never met a kid who grew up into a crazy scientist so he can turn into a dragon,” the guest corrected himself.

  “You’re the anomaly between us,” the scientist huffed.

  The guest raised his hands in the air in mock-self-defence. He was as normal looking as he could be. A young-looking human man with ears that were a little pointed. He wore a coat with a few patches on it, and regular clothes underneath. If one were to pass him on the street, all they would think was that he was a man who’s been through a few things. An active Hunter maybe.

  “You know, I was wondering. Why is it that you took over Chimaera specifically?” The guest continued, without waiting for an answer. “There’re tons of groups out there you could control and even have them be loyal to you. But you had to pick the happy little family and blackmail them.”

  “Could it be you picked them up cause you’re kindred spirits? You know, some people say one of the parts of a chimaera is a dragon.”

  If it were any other person, Dwyn wouldn’t have bothered answering the question. But this was a person of great interest to him, and he was willing to play along with him for as long as it took.

  “… In all my experiments, there has always been one crucial element that was missing. Perhaps not missing, but not strong enough. Do you know what that is?” He asked.

  “Hmm… Couldn’t tell ya,” the guest responded without much thought.

  “It’s desire. An unwilling test subject does not want to change, to grow, or… evolve,” Dwyn punctuated.

  “There must be a goal. There must be a want. There must be a ravenous desire. Desire is the reason why Engravings change with their carriers, why monsters evolve into Egotists and how they decide their new forms. If nothing else, those three have desire. Even if it is a simplistic want for family, to be united as one.”

  “Desire is also the reason why you took that form,” Dwyn proclaimed. He pointed a finger at his guest, the finger having already transformed into a talon.

  The man’s smile did not change. He looked on with mild interest.

  “Akzeriyyuth… You wanted to remain human.”

  “But when I finish my evolution from human to monster, to Egotist, I will abandon my humanity and truly become a beast.”

  Dwyn, momentarily taken by his words, continued speaking, no, rambling. Akzeriyyuth stood silently, willing to listen to it all.

  “A human transforming into an Egotist. No one would ever think it was possible. But then you came along. You, an Ego Eater from Idealich City, had transformed into an Egotist, your very own worst prey.”

  “If an Egotist is a monster evolving to become ‘human,’ acquiring the ability to cast magic, to gain an Aspect, then is an Egotist also what happens when a human evolves to become a ‘monster?’” Dwyn asked to the air.

  “Ah, but humans already are ‘monsters,’ aren’t they? They stole Engravings from them, they copied down biological information, and converted it into magical code. A technique to carve your own ideas into yourself, ideas that will grow as you do. If it is the best of both worlds, what does an Egotist have that a human with an Engraving doesn’t?”

  “Don’t got the answers to any of your questions, Dwyn,” Akzeriyyuth spoke.

  “This thing,” he pointed to himself, “this thing happened by sheer coincidence. But I’ll tell you how it happened if you uphold your end of the deal.”

  “I feel a little bad. His death would hurt the hearts of many. He’s an actual hero, after all. But it’s what has to be done. Lemuel Salas has got to go.”

  “I’ve already prepared a few tricks to deal with him. That, and the Egotists and beasts you’ve given me will ensure he dies.”

  ‘Had those 3 incompetent fools done their job, I wouldn’t have needed to beg him for a few extra beasts.’

  “That took some work to get, you know? Had to send our resident handyman to wrangle them all. You better kill him,” Ajzerriyyuth nonchalantly said.

  “If you succeed, I could even see us picking you up. We’ve got a few slots open you know? If you become a Sphere, Qliphoth’ll give you all the funding and resources you’ll ever want.”

  Akzeriyyuth raised an eyebrow and thought on it. “That’s a really low chance though. Suppose we could take you in as an unnamed member. You could work in the background as just another scientist.”

  Dwyn did not respond.

  “Hey, chin up. You’ve got an important goal, you know? Kill that Blockade guy, run away somewhere to a nice, cosy lab, and then you can turn into a dragon. Maybe along the way you’ll figure out how to stop them from going extinct.”

  “Indeed.” Dwyn had no more patience.

  “Well, either way it goes, you know what you have to do. If you lose, you better not tattle on us. Otherwise, our handyman’s gonna have to fix that little problem,” Akzeriyyuth warned, though his tone didn’t make it seem that way.

  “Your handyman can infiltrate the flying prison Helheim?” Dwyn questioned, with actual curiosity.

  “Mm… for that one it’ll prolly have to be our hitman. Might even have to call in our magic expert. Though if it was Iweleth, they could handle it alone… Nah, they’re too busy.”

  “You don’t have to worry about me blabbing, I’m not stupid. The minimum sentence I would receive would be a life sentence in Helheim, the only scenario in which I would tell would be in an attempt to avoid the death sentence. At which point, I would be dying anyway, and I would prefer to die painlessly.”

  “Well, since you’re not an idiot, I’ll be off now,” Akzeriyyuth waved a hand goodbye, even if he knew it wouldn’t be reciprocated.

  “By the by, Lemuel’s already got a ping on your location. I know the plan’s to lure him here and all, but you ought to shore up your defences quickly. See ya.”

  Left alone, Dwyn could only sigh. “That bastard can’t leave without getting under my skin. No matter. I will uphold my end of our agreement. Lemuel Salas will die.”