"This looks good to me," remarked Mia as she took out a postcard advertising an Elite Class mission with a very attractive reward.
Jin came from behind to examine the postcard and was amazed at the kind of job she was after.
It wasn't just a difficult mission; it was also virtually impossible, and from the looks of things, Mia was only interested in the reward.
"Come on Mia, this is outrageous—even for you," said Akito as he observed the postcard from behind.
But Mia's greed had no affinity with reason, and her mind was fixed on that mission, and as the lead operative in charge of the squad, she was the one to call the shots, including making the final decision on what missions the team was to undertake.
The mission's objective was to simply return with the heads of two deserters who had broken their perpetual oath as operatives of the Sukunaku. The penalty for desertion was death, and they were to be the executioners.
Both deserters were ELITE operatives, so underestimating their capabilities would be a person's final mistake.
But they had broken the sacred oath, the oath they made on the day they were declared operatives—perpetual submission to the Sukunaku—and there was no way around it; you were either in or dead, and the deserters chose the latter.
But that wasn't enough to deter people from attempting to abandon their duties as operatives, perhaps because this was a time of peace when the Sukunaku almost resembled a free guild where everything was done at the convenience of free will.
People did this for a variety of reasons, either to take a shot at a normal life, to satisfy curiosity, or just for the personal thrill.
But no matter the motive behind the act, deserting the organization was an unpardonable sin, and capital punishment was assured.
The mission was primarily the execution of the deserters, but the reward would be increased if the deserter was brought alive to experience a slow and painful death that would serve as a scapegoat to potential deserters within the organization.
That was why, in most cases, the deserters would put up a great fight that would provoke the operative to kill them, as a swift death by a former comrade was better than a long, torturous death back at the Kingdom.
Some operatives purposely chose to grant their former comrades a quick death, as their conscience wouldn't allow them to be the cause of their former comrades suffering excruciatingly slow and painful deaths that could easily be avoided by landing the killing blow at first sight.
Jin knew that if this mission was approved, the heavy responsibility would be on their shoulders, and it upset him.
Not just because he would be burdened with killing a once-trusted comrade, but because, as strange as it was, a part of him envied them for their courage to leave the organization—something he wanted to do for a while but never had the guts to pull off.
Mia handed the postcard to Ken, gesturing for him to submit it for approval.
"You know you are supposed to be doing this, right?" asked Ken. "You are the leader of our squad, aren't you?"
"Just shut up and do as I've told you!" she snapped at him, pointing to the office next to them where he would submit the postcard.
Ken shook his head, shrugging it off as he went to the small office to submit the postcard along with their certificates.
In a moment, he got into the office and saw the lady he had grown very fond of behind the desk,
Mikan Katsura.
"Hello, Kenny boy, how's it going?" she asked with a sincere smile.
"Good morning, Mikan. "How are you?"
"Bored out of life," she answered simply.
"Really? "I thought your job was fun!"
"Trust me, young man, when you're a grown lady stuck in an office doing paperwork all day, you would grow to hate your job."
Ken laughed,
"Well, as you can tell, I'm here to receive approval on a new mission."
"Oh yeah? "Let me see," she asked while stretching her hand to receive the papers.
Ken handed them to her, and she took them, briefly examining them,
"I guess Mia is the one that called the shots on this one, huh?" she asked.
"You couldn't be more correct, Mikan," he remarked.
"So your squad consists of only one professional and four regulars, on a mission to execute two elite operatives?" she asked, hoping he could tell how absurd it sounded.
"Yes," he answered simply.
Mikan took a deep breath,
"Sorry kid, I can't approve of this—it renders you all expendable, and I simply can't allow that." "In other words, you all are too basic for this operation," she stated as she handed the papers back to him.
He was about to take it back when a firm hand came from behind to stop him, and it did so on time.
The firm hand slowly puppeteered him into giving them back to her.
"Would you authorize the mission if I joined them?" came a strange but somewhat recognisable voice from behind.
Mikan was surprised to find out who it was.
"Zaraki Mitsuki!" she called out in disbelief.
"Hello Mikan, I trust you're good." He asked, looking at her with a countenance that gave her butterflies in her stomach.
Ken found her reaction to his presence strange, but the average lady wouldn't blame her for it.
Zaraki was very good-looking, period.
But Ken couldn't get it, as the only things he found admirable about Zaraki were his ELITE class ranking and his great swordsmanship.
"Well, I guess they would no longer be expendable if an ELITE joined them on the mission," said Mikan.
"Good. "Then I will be leaving with them," he stated as he turned to face Ken, who didn't seem too happy that he interfered, and he wondered why.
"So who was your squad leader?" he asked.
Ken arched a brow,
"What do you mean "was"?"
"Well, from what I got out of those certificates, the highest-ranking operative on your team was in the PROFESSIONAL class of operatives," he stated.
"Yes,... so?" Ken asked.
"As an Elite operative and part of the mission, I am expected to be the leader by default as I would be the one to give an account of everything that happens during the operation to the authorities," Zaraki answered.
Ken sighed. "I'm sorry, Zaraki, but that's not going to happen."
"I wasn't asking for your permission." If you want to go on this mission, you'll need me, so you can decide not to tag me along; if I'm going with the team, I'll have to be the leader; that is my condition. "Take it or leave it," Zaraki stated before asking,
"Do I have to talk to him?"
"First of all, it's a she, and second, I'll talk to her myself."
Zaraki looked confused. "Why do you have to talk with her privately?"
"If I had you tell her yourself, things would get messed up, and I can't have that," he replied frankly.
And he was right; Mia was very excited about this mission, especially as the potential leader of the operation. So due to her impulsive behavior, it would be unwise for someone as blunt and straightforward as Zaraki to spill the bad news on her, as their clashing personalities would lead to a pointless battle that would be uncalled for.