"Are you here to help?" Alina questioned as she appraised the person before her. He did look familiar. There was a strong resemblance. A spark of anger stirred within her, but she knew it wasn't fair for Shōhei. If she judged him for what he had no control over, she would be no better than the people she despised.
"Yeah, at least I think I am." came the cheeky answer as the guy grinned.
"You think?" Cayne asked. Alina reached over and flicked his forehead. "Don't question it. You might make him change his mind." she told him. If he didn't change his mind, Alina might. And she didn't want either of that to happen. If she allowed something bad to happen, she might as well even call herself Okhrana anymore. She already just borderline passed as one at this point, though that was mainly her fault.
Korū gave Cayne a glare, then shifted over so that Shōhei could take his place at the window seat.
"Thanks."
Cayne resisted the strong urge to huff.
"Do you know what's happening now?" Linda asked him. The fact that they kept picking up random people whom they didn't know well for this overly complicated mission was bothering her less and less. And she couldn't tell if that was good or bad.
"Yeah. The crow delivered a message to me." Shōhei said, and Korū stiffened. But when Shōhei didn't say anything to reassure him that Hikari would be fine, he relaxed. Shōhei's arm was still around his friend.
"From who?" Alina asked curiously, watching as Cayne glared at Shōhei's arm through the rear view mirror. No one else noticed Cayne's weird behaviour.
"Me." Korū lifted Kaguya and the cat booped Shōhei's nose. "I sent a message to Mihoyo-san."
"I see. Let's continue, shall we?" Alina said. "I feel like we're just picking up people along the way. Like, first was Hikari and Korū, then Cayne joined, then Liam and Cole and Kumori and Kaito and this guy."
Linda chuckled and started driving. So she wasn't the only one who had noticed this. Hopefully they won't ever end up picking up an imposter.
Kaguya snuggled between Korū and Shōhei, purring.
A buzzing sound was heard in the car. Alina immediately turned to look at Korū. "Is that your phone?"
Korū blinked and glanced around, picking up his phone when he found it, staring for a moment. "Yeah."
"Is it Jo?" Alina asked, impatient for some good news. Or bad. Whichever Joanne could provide.
"Who?" Shōhei asked, confused.
"Yeah." Korū said, ignoring Shōhei.
"Put her on speaker," Alina said.
Korū nearly hung up by accident, but he thankfully managed to press the correct button in the end.
"Hi." Joanne's voice sounded through the phone, a tad bit weary.
"Jo! You're on speaker. Linda, Korū, Cayne and a new guy called Shōhei can hear you." Alina said, "Do you have any news?"
"Who?"
"Just a random dragon." Alina replied. Not really.
"Hey!" Shōhei protested.
"Okay, then." Joanne continued, trusting Alina's judgement, "Hikari's alive, and her body is flushing out the poison alright, but it's spread out throughout her whole body, which is why this is taking so long. Give it a day or two more, and she'll be fine and dandy. We've done more tests on her and we know exactly what's in the poison, in her bloodstream and in other parts of her body, so I'll be making a potion to neutralise the pain. She won't have to suffer for the next one to two days. I'm just making final touches to the potion, which means you'll be able to mindlink her about an hour after this call ends. Call me a genius."
"You're a genius, Jo." Alina smiled, "Just try not to kill her." A snort came through the phone before Joanne continued.
"Kumori, Kaito and Cole should stop being too worried about Hikari, and Liam should stop being too concerned for Kumori, so they should also start responding to your nudges."
"Ah, so that��s why there's been radio silence from them." Cayne commented.
"Their reactions were worse than Hikari's." That was only a half truth, but they could hear the full story from their friends if they wanted to know. That is, if their friends decided that it would be better for them to know. "Anyway, I did do the digging you asked me to do… or at least I sent someone to do it. Apparently the Beta was an Okazaki, but he cut ties and changed his name after some huge falling out with… someone, I think his father? But yes, he's related."
Everyone, except Linda who had to focus on the road, turned to look at Korū.
"You have a second cousin, once removed… or something…" Alina said incredulously.
"Third cousin, once removed. Or something. I can check if you want to know." Joanne said. "Which means Akui has or had… a cousin?"
"I never understood the 'once removed' things," Shōhei commented, while Korū raised an eyebrow.
"Liam's worried about Kumori?"
"Is that the only thing you heard?" Joanne asked from the phone.
"No," Korū said irritably. "What the heck do you mean my grandfather had a cousin?"
"Obviously I mean that your great- oh, hang on a moment. Uh… since the Beta is your third cousin, once removed, that means your great great great grandfather was the same as his great great grandfather… I think. So obviously if you have at least one cousin, your grandfather also has cousins-"
"Jo, when was the last time you slept?" Alina cut through, frowning.
"A few days, I think, with short naps in between. Why?"
"I think you just mixed up his mother's side of his family with his father's? Wait, I'm confused too. Hold up." Alina paused for a moment. "Oh, it's his grandmother's family with his grandfather's, but that doesn't change the fact that Akui might have killed his in-laws and his children…"
"Oh, right." Joanne sighed. "Basically, the dead Beta is an Okazaki. The end."
Korū huffed. "Go and sleep."