Hijiri bit into the juicy steak, taking a large gulp of chilled mead and sitting back with a satisfied sigh. Mine silently watched his actions in amusement. "Are you sure you don't want in?" he asked with a mouthful before taking another gulp from his wooden tankard.
"Nah, I'm fine. I'm surprised you can stay this calm," she looked around and leaned closer, "with us being deep in enemy territory and that Roland guy could easily betray us."
Hijiri poked the meat with his fork, calmly looking around before giving a nod to the bartender who held his gaze: "Roland's too naive to double-cross us like that, and that lizard bastard wouldn't stoop that low."
Mine bent forward, placing both elbows on the table and holding up her face with her palms, peering through her lashes at Hijiri with a smug smile. "Eeeehh, so you trust 'em? That's sweet of you." She watched him remain quiet as he dropped his cup and wiped his mouth, her eyes trailing the left hand that came to rest before her forehead. "Hm? Ow!" Mine recoiled teary-eyed while holding a bright red spot on her head, a result of Hijiri's finger flick.
An approaching waitress caught the attention of the two assassins, the silver head's gaze lingering on the note she slipped by his plate while picking Mine's. "What is it?" Mine whispered, scanning the bar cautiously.
Quietly unfolding the paper while he took another bite from his meal, Hijiri peered upstairs and said, "It seems our host's up there."
"Really?" Mine watched him rise, stuff the note in his pocket, and walk to stand behind her chair. "Hurry, let's move."
"Wait, you're not finishing your food?"
"Ah," he said, grabbing the plate and gobbling down the rest of the steak, emptying his tankard and slamming it with a satisfied sigh.
Arata adjusted his baseball cap and leaned back, tilting his head inquisitively at Roland, who stood at attention beside him. "You can rest easy. We have rented the entire floor, so the only company we would be expecting is theirs."
"At least you're in one piece, you lizard bastard," Hijiri hollered, drawing out a chair and flopping on it with a grunt. Mine wordlessly took a seat beside him.
"I am glad that is the case for you as well; battling Armageddon would be difficult with just three orders, after all," Arata retorted with a smirk.
"Cheeky bastard."
"Unfortunately, due to my current state," he gestured to his bandages, "I will not be able to create an air bubble to prevent eavesdropping, but we should be fine here."
He sat back and crossed his arms. "I'll get straight to the point. Judging by your state," the three people at the table turned to Hijiri as he spoke, "and that of the capital, were you also attacked by someone with Armageddon's power?"
Roland stiffened, and Arata's lips twitched at Hijiri's question, the latter relaxing into his chair and mirroring the silver head's posture. Looking between the silent Arata and Roland, Hijiri sighed, raising his right hand as he explained, the bar's light reflecting off his obsidian gauntlet. "Ok then, I'll kick us off with the tale of Hijiri the Great. Hono Haruma, yes, a member of my supposedly extinct clan, was the wielder of the big bad's power that I fought, but he's dead now, and I got a massive nerf now, but it's all good."
Mine watched him with a slight frown as she recalled his state upon return from their mission and the mental place he, Tatsumi, and Leone were in weeks after it. Sighing and turning away, she decided to ignore his antics; it was so like Hijiri to joke about an impactful moment after all.
"So," Hijiri gestured at Arata with a nonchalant smile, "it's your turn."
Taking off his baseball cap, he ran his hand through his navy blue hair with a sigh. He inhaled sharply and, much to Hijiri's satisfaction, recounted his experience. "Her name was Ellie. An archer with formidable physical strength and reflexes. We battled for some time before I was able to put her down, but as you can see," Hijiri turned back to what Arata pointed at, "I was unable to completely prevent her from wreaking havoc."
"...that so."
Arata leaned forward and interlocked his fingers, his tone remaining solemn while he stated, "I will ask for nothing but your complete honesty and cooperation in answering the questions I shall ask. But you can rest assured knowing I will do the same. I swear on the Arashi name." Roland looked at him, taken aback by his closing remark, Hijiri's dry chuckle dialing down the tension.
"You always go overboard. But that depends. Don't expect me to hand you any of Night Raid's secrets."
"It is quite obvious that I will not ask that of you."
His lips twitched and his crimson irises glinted in amusement. "Go on then, ask away."
Arata bent down and reached into a black bag by his right foot, pulling out a red wooden oni mask and placing it on the table. "Does this look familiar?" He sat back and crossed his legs. While it was a shame that he couldn't visually read Hijiri's expressions, he paid extra attention to his tone while hoping that the ever-expressive Order of Flames would hint at something.
Hijiri reached for the mask and inspected it for some time, looking up from the imperial arm to Arata with a scowl and asking, "When the fuck did the empire get their hands on those horned bastards?"
It seems he is unaware. "Since the creation of the Imperial arms, this," Arata tapped the mask, "is the only recorded weapon created from beasts directly related to the Supreme order."
"I'm no idiot; I haven't seen any shit like this in any of the records back home."
"There is a reason I have to be grateful to the emperor for approving my access to the archives of the empire."
"So?" Hijiri frowned at Arata, the latter picking up the annoyance in his tone. "What's this about? You asked if I let shit like this happen in the resistance?"
Arata waved his hand dismissively, his calm tone easing up the tense atmosphere. "No, I do not believe you had any knowledge of this, but what I do wish to know is if the resistance had recently organized any task force of the sort? To handle Esdeath or Roland perhaps?"
"And here you said you wouldn't ask anything about Night Raid?"
"But I did not ask about Night Raid, now did I?"
Hijiri's scowl was yet to leave his face as he exhaled audibly, then glanced at Mine inquisitively. She stared at the table briefly, raising her head to meet his gaze and shaking it. "Normally, I'd laugh it off and ask who will be suicidal enough to face Esdeath or Roland, but noting the weird shit that's been happening, I gotta ask." Hijiri sat back and rested his cheek on his knuckles, his eyes narrowing while he asked, "They fought like they knew just how to counter Roland and Esdeath, right?"
"What?! How-" Roland was cut off as Arata suddenly raised his palm, turning to him with an apologetic smile.
"What made you think so, Hijiri?"
"There's this," Hijiri said, tapping the mask, "and that would've been the case for us with how much they observed us." Mine watched the two orders while they conversed, and the sight of Arata's lips twitching in surprise was a major shocker. She made no efforts to hide her emotions and stared at the blue-haired man, a confused Roland glancing between the two. Mine assumed Arata was far more cool-headed than Hijiri and was a cautious planner that avoided showing his hand when possible—a deduction she thanked her keen sight and his previous actions for—but noting his brief reaction granted new information to work with.
"When did you notice the observers?"
"During the stronghold attack, I thought it was the empire with how quickly y'all showed up," Hijiri explained with a shrug, Arata's posture easing as he sat back in his chair.
"I do believe that the empire might have had something to do with that; after all, Esdeath was sent a letter to notify her of your actions." The three men silently pondered, Mine's eyes flitting across the room.
After a few minutes of silence, she sat up as a theory came to mind, a theory so wild that it might just be the missing piece to solving their predicament. She sighed audibly; it seemed she'd be the one to suggest it: "What if, hear me out for a sec, all this is the work of a third party?"
The table went silent, and the chatter and activity in the bar below, though more audible than before, were drowned out by the possibilities the question had brought to their minds.
"That is quite possible," Roland blurted out, acknowledging his actions soon after and nervously glancing between the other two orders.
Stroking his chin in thought, Arata exhaled and stopped, turning to Mine to ask, "Excuse me, miss, but what exactly led to such a theory?"
Mine gulped and glanced down, avoiding eye contact with any of the three who had made her the focus of the discussion. Her eyes widened, and she turned to Hijiri, yelling, "The transports!"
Roland watched the two inquisitively, Hijiri's expression morphing from confusion to realization. "I do not mean to intrude, but could you bring the rest of us up to speed?" He looked at Arata, considering avoiding the question, before he sighed and replied. "A few of the resistance's transports containing Imperial arms were attacked and the weapons were stolen; my lady here's suggesting that the third group may be behind it."
The gears in Arashi's head turned as he contemplated the information, his mouth parting one moment only to close the next in grave understanding. "That would explain how," he said, placing a silver ring with a small blue orb in the middle of a serpentine figure on the table, "Black Marlin, which was to be in the possession of the revolutionary army, ended up in their hands."
Mine's gaze darkened at the sight of the ring, Hijiri's arm bumping into her gently before inquiring, "What's up?"
"That's what killed Bulat; it was one of Esdeath's underlings." She inhaled deeply while he placed his hand on her back, patting it gently. "But to answer your question, Arata-san," he tilted his head while she continued, "their actions against both groups and the lack of evidence to show that the culprit is on either side For example," Mine gestured at Hijiri, saying, "We all know the kind of psycho my wonderful guard here is." She paused, pointedly avoiding her companion's glare as the other two chuckled at her remark. Resuming, she said, "So we can rest assured that nothing as cowardly as sending others to fight his battles or attacking innocents will be tolerated by him, and I believe that is the same for you, or am I mistaken, Arata-san?"
He faced her, and she turned away. Even though his eyes were bound by layers of bandages, she naturally assumed he couldn't see. Mine felt like Arata was staring into her soul.
"Oi." Hijiri slammed his fist on the table, rattling the dishes and surprising them, saying, "You're scaring her."
Arata faced him briefly, turning to Mine and bowing slightly. "My apologies; I did not intend to do such." Mine waved it off with a nervous smile while jabbing at Hijiri's shoulder. "While the existence of the third group might just be speculation, both sides need to look into this and remain cautious. But there is something that still eludes me. Why risk exposing such aces like Ellie and the Haruma you fought so early in the game?"
Hijiri relaxed into the chair, scanning the room with his interlocked palms behind his head before answering, "Maybe they wanted to weaken us and gain more rep." He sat up, his obsidian gauntlet making a clicking sound as he tapped the table. "Think about it; aside from the big bad, we're the next strongest beings in the world. Take us down even a bit, and our people will be too scared to face them, especially when they're equipped with Armageddon's power."
Arata inhaled sharply, his lips drawing into a thin line while he faced Hijiri. "I mean, c'mon, there's no way you wouldn't have known. They reeked of it."
"I will investigate further into how they were capable of doing such; after all, we were lucky enough to retain the body of Ellie for an autopsy." The four went silent after Arata's remark, the grave reality of the situation truly dawning on them.
The chatter on the lower floor was soon drowned out by the plashing patter on the roof, and a storm ensued, much to the surprise of the Night Raid duo. He turned to Arata, gesturing at the window with his thumb while he asked, "I've been meaning to ask, is that your fault?"
"Yes. A side effect from my battle with a mutant colossal danger beast."
Hijiri cocked a brow at the blindfolded blue head and asked, "Why the hell are we even calling it speculation when it's obvious there's a third party involved? I mean, c'mon, Armageddon's fragments and now a mutant colossal danger beast?"
There is also the "child" who appeared after I defeated Ellie, but I do not think it is necessary to bring it up until I find out more. After all, if he had had contact with it, Hijiri would have spoken up. "I understand your point, but like always, I prefer to see some things for myself before I act."
"Don't think you'll be acting anytime soon then," Arata tilted his head inquisitively at Hijiri, a few seconds of silence passing before he sighed audibly. "Surely, you cannot be serious."
"I'm serious, and please, don't call me surely." He snorted and leaned forward, snickering at the exhausted expressions his companions wore, the sound of Mine's facepalm covered up by the ongoing tempest. "Alright, jokes aside, we've overstayed our welcome." Hijiri pushed his chair back and stood, motioning at the table where he sat on the floor below. "You've got that covered, yeah? Cool."
He exhaled tiredly, his fingers running through his wavy blue hair, looking up at the sound of his colleague's holler. "Oi, I almost forgot. Here." He rummaged through a pack on his belt and dropped a tag on the table, leaning on it and dropping his tone: "I need your help with finding the family of this soldier and taking care of them."
Picking up the tag with his confusion visibly written on his features, Arata ran his thumb over the cold metal and traced the name imprinted on it, handing it to Roland. "Who does it belong to, and why do you need such?"
Standing upright and shrugging, Hijiri replied, "She's a soldier from one of the strongholds that we wrecked. I promised to look after her family, so I'm having you do it."
Arata remained silent for a brief moment, tapping the table with his middle finger while pondering, "Fine. But I am quite glad that I cannot see the stupid grin you usually wear when doing things like this." Roland and Mine laughed, Hijiri's goofy smile morphing into a sinister grin as he cracked his knuckles.
"Is that so, lizard bastard? How about I yank those stupid bandages off your face and show you, huh?"
"We need to leave." Mine tapped his side and leaned in, whispering.
He glanced at the smirking Arata, putting on his cloak with a groan and turning to leave but pausing, much to the surprise of the three present. "Don't die."
"You too, Hijiri."