3 Chapter 03

I was at the place where Tiger-nee-san had told me to go. It was a big park, there were a lot of people there. Some were doing exercises, others were having picnics with their families. I stood under a tree waiting for Tiger-nee-san.

I waited for a while, and then a white car appeared. I didn't know what the model was, but it was obvious that it was one of the most current ones, it stopped in front of me and from it, Tiger-nee-san left.

(Tiger): "Ichika-ku~n." - she had a smile on her face and using a playful tone, which made me happy.

(Ichika): "Tiger-nee-san!" - I exclaimed while going to her.

Reaching her, I gave her a hug, which she replied. I don't know what made me so close to her, even though she saved me it was still a little weird, but I didn't care.

When we broke up, she was no longer smiling.

(Tiger): "There is only one reason for you to ask us to see each other..."

(Ichika): "Yes... I want to join the group..."

She sighed at my statement.

(Tiger): "Do you know what we do?"

(Ichika): "I saw the news about your last target ..."

(Tiger): "So you know you're going to have to do this kind of thing, don't you?"

(Ichika): "Yes..."

I didn't like the idea of taking a life, but I was willing to face it.

(Tiger): "And what will happen to your sister when you don't come home? After all, you're going to stay at the base."

(Ichika): "My sister is traveling. Thanks to her victory in the championship, she received a job... although I don't know what it is."

(Tiger): "What about school?"

(Ichika): "My school has a student project at home... they send the lessons, we do and send them to them... we just have to go to school on test days."

(Tiger): "And did your school accept you?"

(Ichika): "When I said what could happen to me, thanks to my sister's fame, they thought I would be safer at home."

Before leaving, I had talked to the director about it, and with my sister traveling and me saying that there was a possibility that I might be kidnapped, which has already happened, the director accepted ... I think it was because he would take it bad for the school image if a student was kidnapped there.

(Tiger): "You are determined, aren't you?"

(Ichika): "I am."

She just stared at me for a while, and then she let out a tired breath.

(Tiger): "I don't think you can get it out of your head..."

(Ichika): "That's why you gave me the card, isn't it?"

After all, if Tiger-nee-san didn't really want me in the group, it was just that she didn't give me that card with her number.

(Tiger): "Got me on this... get in... I'm taking you to the base."

(Ichika): "Thank you Tiger-nee-san." - I said that while hugging her again.

We both got in the car, I got in the front seat for the first time, and I felt kind of stupid to be excited about just that fact. She drove for a while, I didn't follow the landscape, but when I noticed, we were in front of an old building, almost falling apart, with at most two floors, the sign was so rusted that I couldn't read it what that building had once been.

Tiger-nee-san took a device from his pocket that had two buttons. She pressed the first one that opened the door of the building, and she got in the car, the interior was in the same state as the exterior. As soon as she stopped the car, the door started to close, when she closed completely, she pressed the other button.

I heard a loud sound, and when I looked out the window, I saw some marks on the floor that I was sure were not there, and we started down. It never crossed my mind that the building was a kind of elevator.

We kept going down for a while until we stopped, when we stopped, I found myself in a wide area, where there were six spaces for vehicles, where only one was free, and in each one there was a drawing of the head of an animal. In the occupied spaces, they had two cars, one black and one blue, and three motorcycles, one green, one purple and one yellow.

In the black car seat, there was the head of a bull, in the blue car seat, the head of a horse, in the green bike seat, that of a snake, purple, that of a rabbit, and yellow, that of a dog. And the empty spot, which was where Tiger-nee-san was going to park, had the head of a tiger.

(Tiger): "We're here." - she said playfully when she parked the car.

The fact that Tiger-nee-san could go from serious to playful and vice versa so easily, was starting to make me confused, because I was wondering which one was the real one, or at least the one she showed the most.

We got out of the car, and she guided me to the only door in the place, when we got to the door, she stopped and turned to the elevator and pressed the same button that made him get down, to make him go up. I was looking at her confused as to why.

(Tiger): "We have to prevent it. After all, we don't know if someone is just going to invade the place, we can't leave a hole that leads to a secret installation, can we?"

It seemed like the most obvious thing to do, and I was starting to insult myself in my mind for not having seen it. We passed the door and walked down the corridor, when we reached the end, there was a door and a screen beside it.

Tiger-nee-san put her hand on the screen, the screen glowed a little and a robotic voice spoke out of nowhere.

(Robot): "Welcome back, [Zodiac Beast], Tiger."

The door opened soon after, and we entered. I came across a slightly smaller area than the vehicles. There was a big computer on it, with a table right next to the computer, a few benches, and three hallways.

There were two people there too, a woman who looked to be the same age as Tiger-nee-san, only slightly smaller than her, with short purple hair, with a pink dress going purple, the other was a man , he seemed to be old, although I could not be sure of his age, had white hair combed back, was a little taller than Tiger, at most a hand, and was dressed like a butler.

(Tiger): "Rabbit! Goat! I'm back." - she said while waving.

The woman, who I believe Tiger was referring to as Rabbit, looked at her tiredly, while the man, who was Goat, looked directly at me, without changing the expression on his face, it made me think that if put him and my sister in a contest that changes the expression first, my sister might lose.

(Rabbit): "Tiger, did you come back early ... did you decide to cut the bash?"

(Goat): "And who is the child?"

When Goat said that, Rabbit looked at him confusedly and then followed his gaze and saw me, and he had a surprised expression on his face.

(Rabbit): "Who are you?"

(Ichika): "My name is Orimura Ichika. And I want to join [Zodiac Beasts]."

Rabbit looked shocked, while Goat, still with the same expression, faced Tiger-nee-san.

(Goat): "Is this the child you were talking about, when you commented on a possible recruit?"

(Tiger): "Yes."

(Rabbit): "Are you crazy, Tiger? We are not an orphanage! This is a place to work."

(Tiger): "I know that, you know that and he knows that, that's why I brought him."

(Goat): "Wait ... Orimura? Are you by any chance the younger brother of Orimura Chifuyu?" - His eyes widened a little, which I thought was great, because I was starting to think that this guy was actually a robot.

(Ichika): "Yes, I am."

(Goat): "How did you get in touch with Tiger?"

(Ichika): "Tiger-nee-san rescued me from a kidnapping two days ago."

Rabbit stared at me for a while and then looked at Tiger with a serious expression.

(Rabbit): "Was it because of him that you were late for our service with the politician?"

(Tiger): "I couldn't leave a child to merit them."

(Goat): "Indeed, it is an act to be commended, Tiger-sama."

(Rabbit): "But that doesn't change the fact that you brought a child as a recruit!"

Soon after that cry a sleepy voice was heard.

(?????): "What's going on?"

I, and the other three who were with me, turned in the direction of the voice. There was a woman with long green hair, possibly longer than Tiger's, and she was wearing a white dress shirt with a brown skirt and she had a sleepy expression on her face, as if she had just woken up.

Her breasts were big, bigger than Tiger's and I asked myself if her shoulders hurt with that, after all one of my teachers, who had big breasts, kept saying that always, in front of another teacher who didn't have such breasts big, which made the second angry, which always confused me, because she should feel relieved to have no shoulder pain.

(Tiger): "Snake, hi! I saw the bike and I thought you would be sleeping."

(Snake): "I was about to sleep, but when I heard you talking, I decided to see what was going on... and who is the little child?"

(Rabbit): "According to Tiger, he is our new recruit."

She stared at me for a while, and her expression was serious as she stared at Tiger.

(Snake): "I hope this is a Tiger-chan's joke."

(Tiger): "I'm sorry, but it isn't. It was his decision."

(Snake): "I will not allow a child-"

(??????): "What is going on?"

It was a calm but firm voice. It froze everyone present and we looked at the direction of the voice, and we saw an old man, different from the Goat who could disguise, I would guess that this person is over 60 or 70. He had a calm expression on his face, as if he had sure that nothing could happen to him. He was wearing a kind of black military uniform with a red cloak over his shoulders.

Tiger-nee-san, Goat-san, Rabbit-san and Snake-san bowed when they saw him. I decided to do the same, as it was obvious that he was the leader of the group.

(Zodiac Beasts): "Dragon-sama..."

(Dragon): "I see that you are excited, it is not past five in the afternoon... and what is the new face?"

(Tiger): "The recruit I mentioned, Dragon-sama."

His eyes widened a little, like Goat's, when he heard Tiger's phrase. He stared at me and I had the impression that even my soul was not hidden from his eyes.

(Snake): "Dragon-sama, please make Tiger-chan give up on that idea."

(Rabbit): "Yeah! She can't just bring up a child."

(Dragon): "If it is to make someone give up... I think it has to be someone else..." - he said as he approached and stood in front of me - "Are you sure about that child? Once inside, you can only get out dead."

(Ichika): "I have." - I said while lifting my head so I could look Dragon-sama in the eye.

I didn't even think twice, after all if I wasn't sure, I wouldn't even have called Tiger-nee-san. He stared at me for a while, without him, or the others saying anything. After a long silence, a small smile appeared on his face.

(Dragon): "Found someone determined Tiger."

Tiger-nee-san said nothing, just nodded.

(Dragon): "Very well boy... you are in."

I almost jumped for joy, despite the expressions of Rabbit-san and Snake-san not being happy with the fact that Dragon-sama accepted me in the group, while Goat-san remained unchanged.

(Goat): "Will we leave him in the care of Tiger-san?"

(Dragon): "No."

(Tiger): "No?"

(Dragon): "He will be in my care... boy, I will train you to be the next 'Dragon'."

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