The young man appeared from the shadows in the dark Halls of the Estate.
It was deathly quiet, without a trace of other people inside.
A black raven swooped out from the darkness ahead and landed gracefully on his shoulder, squawking softly.
He sighed and rolled his eyes irritatably, before gliding silently through the hallways.
A few minutes later he stopped in front of a pair of black, intricate doors with a single purple flame lamp hanging from the outside.
Strangely, it was unlocked.
His brows raised slightly, pushing the door open.
A woman with snowy, white hair, warm brown skin and round glasses framing her beautifully dark eyes was sitting behind a desk, absentmindedly chewing on the end of a pen and pondering a stack of papers in front of her.
The young man cleared his throat to get her attention.
She glanced up, surprised and immediately brushed the papers to one side.
"I received Yue's message." She said curtly, a faint Puerto Rican accent audible in her smooth voice. "It's no surprise she resorted to tranquilizers in order to move them without trouble or noise."
"So this begs the question, Alex, what do you plan to do next?" She rested her chin on the tips of her painted purple nails, fixing him with a firm gaze.
The young man stayed silent, his lips fixed into a thin, straight line.
Finally, he let out a sigh.
"I think I've had enough scouting this month. Why not let Elowy or another one of the juniors try?" He asked.
The lady's brows shot up and she burst out laughing for a few seconds. "Que Diabo! Entrust a trainee with 3 of the most destructive people of the modern generation? Absolutely not." She gasped, catching her breath and wiping a tear from her eye.
Alex sighed and shrugged, turning away.
"Well, don't look to me if you want someone to scout out Rikono
again. I won't do it."
He then disappeared out the doors and out of the woman's sight.
She gazed at the doors for a long time before a soft, furry body brushed against her leg.
Looking down, she noticed the small black cat she'd taken in a few days earlier and picked it up.
Rising from her perch on the desk, she took it to the wall of windows on one side, gazing out at the dark city lights and stroking it's head.
"Hmm...if I can't trust Alex..." She touched a fingertip to her bottom lip. Her face scrunched up in disgust before sighing.
She despised him, but for something like this...
Kris reached over to the old-fashioned rotary phone (she had a thing for items lost in a different era) and began to dial.
Meanwhile, a girl with long, dark brown hair in tornado curls playfully pulled her fingers in and out of the surface of the waters, teasing a koi fish in the lake. A white mask with a bunny's face print was resting on her hair, her purple eyes sparkling. She didn't look much older than a 6th grader.
"Elowy," a soft, soothing voice said, flowing like music through the night, belonging to a tall man shrouded by shadows behind her.
"What did I tell you about wandering about past 8?"
The girl called Elowy turned around and pouted. "But I'm 12 now. That's basically a teenager."
The man laughed softly. He had long, silky black hair that ended in soft curls halfway down his back, and as far as an outsider could tell from afar, sharp, kind violet eyes, not much older than Rikono.
"I'm aware, child. I'm just concerned." He offered one gloved hand out to her. "Come on now. Tomorrow will come sooner if you sleep."
Elowy bounced up and took his hand.
Swiftly, he whisked around and, pulling Elowy with him, disappeared into the dark hallways of the Estate.
//////////////
Author's Notes time:
Alex Kunizushi is the Secretary of the Vice Admiral, Kris Emer.
Elowy Kirs is the adoptive sister of Black Vine's founder and headmaster.
Note: Some terms in the later chapters are derived from different languages based on the Character's nationalities. For example, due to Kris' Puerto Rican lineage, you might find some phrases that are in Spanish (Que Diabo means 'What The Hell') or some Chinese, Japanese and Korean terms (Gege, Onii-chan and Hyung. Either way these all means older brother).