The Enemy and Their Intel

February 28, 1976 (Present Day)

The City of Cheshire

(Yamir's POV)

Naoto, my master, and a man who yearns for universal destruction. Via, my mistress, and a deranged woman who craves blood and violence.

Loki Francis Kurogani. A mysterious woman, no, a demon which I haven't seen again in several years.

Freed Maxwell, the current lord of Cheshire. Sir Raiko, the lord of the Onne Clan. Vert, a general retainer. Three people whose abilities are unknown.

Kenji Naiden, The Immoral Savant. A very dangerous Desperado whose ambition is to "change history".

And finally, Raiko's children. Saze and Nejo Onne. Two siblings who possess the uncanny ability to "discern" another person's background information.

All the key players in this particular situation had finally gathered underneath this one roof.

Out of the nine people in which I have now listed, I would soon come to find out that one, and only one, person in this room, would prove to be the most….

…troublesome.

Excluding Raiko's children, who excused themselves earlier, all of my potential enemies were here at last.

With everyone finally here, this prompted Naoto to suddenly speak up about the topic he wanted to tell me and Via about in person.

"So, I won't beat around the bush anymore and get straight to the point." He said.

"After giving it some thought with the present party members here, I have finally decided to enroll you guys into Cerulean Academy."

"What?" Via replied, though her confusion was a lot more normal and understandable.

"Why are we suddenly talking about enrollment? Don't we have better things to do?" I asked.

"We do, yes. But I also realized something. Until the day we find our "goddess", we won't be having anything better to do in the meantime."

"I suppose. But wouldn't that just mean we have more free time to dedicate our resources into finding her? If we enroll in some school, wouldn't that just get in the way of our work?" Via asked.

Suddenly, Naoto looked at Loki for a second. But after confirming something with each other, Loki raised two fingers before speaking up.

"This plan serves two purposes."

Oh?

"One, it provides a good cover for you girls. We wouldn't want you sticking out like sore thumbs during school hours. And two, it's more education for Yamir. A win-win, am I right?" She replied.

Well, I suppose enrolling in a school would teach me a little more of how the world works, so in a way, I can't deny it's a beneficial proposal.

However….

"I don't agree with this plan at all." I boldly said.

With that said, all eyes were casted towards me.

"What do you think will happen when the goddess suddenly decides to up and leave the city while we're busy taking a math test or something?"

"When you think about scenarios like this, then you realize that this plan would essentially be no different than trying to hunt our prey with tied hands." I further explained, clearly and precisely.

But just when I thought I presented my case correctly to them, I suddenly got interrupted by a certain somebody.

"She won't leave. Even if she does, she'll come back sooner or later. That I'm certain of."

When I looked towards my left, I realized it was Loki who had spoken up.

"And what makes you think that?"

But Loki only smiled.

"Tell me, Yamir? What do you think I have been doing since these past few years?" She asked.

Answering a question with another question. Such A roundabout cliche…

"Oh, we're going into that story!?" Course Via didn't seem to mind when she asked that excitedly.

"Well, it's nothing special to be honest. All I did was simply return back to headquarters and have a little chat with the boss again."

"After deeming that I did enough work taking care of Yamir, the boss redirected my attention towards a different case that she wanted to see attended to."

"And that was…..?"

"To hunt down the Godmother. And as quickly as possible."

"Loki….." Naoto called out to her with uncertainty.

"It's okay, it's okay~ I was given permission to talk about it with her." She immediately replied.

While he rolled his eyes, I raised my eyebrows out of curiosity. Though I probably would have guessed the answer, a single question floated in my mind.

"Who is that?"

"Asara, The Godmother. That's the name of the goddess we've been hunting down." Via replied.

Ah, so I was right.

It's been four years since the day I was first ordered to hunt down this goddess, but today was the first time anybody told me her proper name.

About damn time, to say the least.

"So let me get this right. While you were gone, you were searching for this Asara person too, right? If that's the case, why didn't you just come back and help us with this?" I asked, accusing Loki.

"It's simple, really."

"It's because I really don't trust you, Yamir."

Wow. That was a lot more straightforward than I thought. But why me specifically?

I doubt I did anything out of the ordinary. Atleast not to an extent that would warrant suspicion.

Well, not unless…

Once a strange thought came across my mind, I narrowed my eyes at her, now throwing her an accusatory look.

"Hey, don't take it personal. I'm just following company policy, you know?~ See, watch this."

"Hey, Via. I don't trust you." Loki called out to her.

"Aww, I don't trust you too~..." Via replied.

And yet, despite saying that, the two of them saw this as a sign of affection and hugged each other.

"See?" She said, proving her point to me.

I could only roll my eyes.

"The thing is, I prefer to work by myself somewhere behind the shadows and do my own thing rather than get tied down by the affairs of my co-workers."

Operating as a free spirit, huh. How funny. That's the same mindset she drilled into me when I was younger. Unfortunately, there haven't been many times where I was able to put that philosophy into practice. Well, not yet, anyways.

The shackles of being only a tool are a tight one….

Still, the fact that Loki had been hiding elsewhere, making moves from behind the shadows while we were busy running across the globe makes things a lot more difficult for my future plans.

There's no telling what else she has learned during those past four years….

"And, of course, you're fine with that right?~ Sure, I may not have been there in person with you, but if you really think about it, we were both working to achieve the same goal."

Tch….

"So as long as you get permission from the boss, then I don't have much room for argument."

"Mhm. But don't look so sad. All my sneaking around did bring me some relative success."

"How so?"

"Well, as you know by now, I have been watching you guys from behind the shadows all the while taking care of some preparations on my own time."

"A couple days ago however, I noticed there was something suspicious about the way how Asara was traversing the map." Loki replied.

"And once I had looked closely, I eventually realized she was traveling the world in a particular pattern."

"And once I managed to get a solid grasp on how she likes to travel, I later realized that eventually, her routes always circle back to this city in particular. Cheshire." Loki said, explaining even further.

I stopped for a moment to think. But once I mentally envisioned the world map and cross referenced previous data, what Loki said wasn't exactly wrong.

As embarrassing as it was to admit it, to put what Loki said in simpler terms, Asara, quite literally, had us running in loops and circles chasing after her like headless chicken.

And, the thing that Loki was trying to prove was that the same predetermined circle she made always had Cheshire somewhere around its epicenter.

The problem was that she did it in such a particular and masterful way, we ourselves didn't even notice mid-chase until after Loki herself brought it up.

Gotta say, this Asara person sure is a craftier lady then I first thought.

"That's when I concluded that there must have been something here in this city that's constantly drawing her back here. That's when I got curious and decided to come see things for myself out here."

"So that explains what you were up to and why you're here in the first place." Via replied.

"Yep. That's basically the gist of it, to be honest."

"So, did you by chance find where this Asara person was then?" I asked.

"Well, if I did, we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?"

Fair point….

But that only means I still have some time left to act.

"But don't you worry, Yamir~ I will find her. This I can guarantee." She replied, reinforcing her resolve.

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks, but I don't need it." She mysteriously said.

"Why?"

"That's because Loki was able to get a lead on this case." Naoto suddenly interjected.

"A lead? Now this I gotta hear." Via said.

My thoughts exactly.

"Do you guys happen to know anyone by the name of "Daz"?" Loki randomly asked.

…..!?

"Yes we do, actually. In fact, we met just two people earlier today who coincidentally had that word in their names. I think their names were Dazai and…the other one, I think Dazrael or something."

Goddamn it, Via.….

"Dazai, huh. Heh, it's been a long time since I saw that boy." Freed suddenly said.

"I think it's been about, what, five years for me?" Kenji asked with a bit of a chuckle.

"You two know him?"

"Me and his dad used to go a little ways back. And Dazai, his sister and I think his cousin used to play with my children all the time." Freed responded.

Well now. That's some pretty useful information.

"As for me, I used to be his training instructor back in the day. Though it wasn't for too long, he and his sister were still interesting to say the least~..." Kenji explained.

"Are you talking about that failure of a bootcamp you tried putting together? Thanks to your own damn agenda, we lost a lot of potential children!"

"Oh, please. That generation wasn't worth much anyways. None of them had the power to define the future." Kenji explained.

"Well, except for Saze and Nejo, I guess." He added on, complimenting the children from earlier.

"You're goddamn right." Raiko said while nodding a little in satisfaction.

This is a very dangerous conversation to say the least. I almost wanted to walk away, lest they'll kill me for even hearing such words come from them.

Still, information is information. And I don't know when but I'm sure it'll come in handy someday.

"Dazai and Dazrael, huh? How interesting~" Loki said, taking great interest in those two names.

"Say, Yamir. You don't mind if I put those two guys on the company's watchlist, do you? I have a feeling those two boys are going to make a breakthrough for us in this case~...." Loki suddenly asked me.

Fuck….

"Do whatever you want…."

Although I spoke calmly and collectively towards Loki, I could help but curse loudly in my thoughts.

How the hell did she even get such a similar lead like that in the first place, anyways?

Well, honestly, considering her, anything was possible. Which is exactly why I need to disregard the question of "how" and focus on what I "can" do.

Dazai and Dazrael.

When Via had asked me if there was anything special I sensed from either of them, I said I didn't.

That was a lie.

In reality though, since the moment Dazrael opened the door for us, and Dazai coming up to serve as our waiter, I immediately noticed something odd about them two.

During our time in the park earlier today, I had took the moment to contemplate what exactly it was.

But once I did, I immediately realized.....

Just how dangerous those two boys were.

At the time, I had hoped that, if those two were ever going to stick around for long, I could eventually see them again and somehow take the time to properly gauge their abilities and determine something important.

...That is to see whether or not they would become useful tools for me.

However....

With them suddenly falling under Loki's watchful eye would only make the situation worse for both me and them.

Especially considering how she too, somehow, possesses the same lead I got a week ago.

*Sigh*.

This situation just can't get any worse now….