Erina turned her eyes to the alley beside them. She pushed off as fast as she could, bones creaking and soreness flaring in her muscles as she broke into a mad sprint—

  She crashed face-first into the glass of an empty bakery and fell back on her rear. What? Erina knew she had just thrown herself at a clear alleyway. Why was that alley now ten feet to her left all of a sudden?

  She hastily got up and looked around. The sky shimmered above her. The streets were devoid of life save the four of them. Where people previously walked the bustling streets, there were only faint shimmering hazes of their outlines. When did they enter the Reverse?!

  "!" said Darius as he approached, lowering his arm. "Be careful over there. You'll hurt yourself if you run around too much."

  Akira stepped around Erina to block the strangers' way to her, greeting them with a cold glare. "What the hell do you want?"

  "Easy now." Darius stepped back, hands raised. "No need to escalate just yet." Looking at Erina, he said, "I'm Darius Lohrs. This is my coworker, Julian Suwayah."

  Julian nodded silently, hanging a few steps back from them.

  "We're with the Binding Association. I'll take it you've heard of us before." Darius looked Erina up and down. A black-haired girl in a school uniform who regularly attended to Akira ever since she appeared. She matched the description from both of Asayuki's accounts. "Emisane Erina-san, is that right?"

  "That is me, yes," she said slowly. Uwah. How did he know her name? Creepy.

  Akira stepped up, eyes on Darius. "Only time you ever show up is to be a pain," she said. "Do I need to spell it out for you that I don't wanna see your face for the rest of eternity?"

  "Yeah, yeah." Darius shifted his feet and rubbed the back of his head. He seemed just as reluctant as them. "We'll make this fast. A little birdie told me Goukei was up to his usual shenanigans on Mount Hakusan several days ago. A certain mythical creature was reported, but when we went there, we didn't see any sign of it." His eyes locked onto Akira. "I don't suppose you know anything about it?"

  "No idea what you're talking about," she lied to his face.

  Darius frowned and tried another angle. "The name Yamata no Orochi ring any bells?"

  "Never even heard of a Yamata no Orochi," lied Akira.

  Julian folded his arms behind his coworker.

  Erina stared at Akira. Even she couldn't pretend to take that at face value.

  "I was informed of two girls on Mount Hakusan at the time of the eruption," said Darius slowly. "A short blonde girl wearing an orange hoodie and a dark-haired girl in a school uniform."

  "We've never been to Mount Hakusan in our lives," lied Akira.

  "…Right." He wasn't amused in the slightest.

  "Why don't you go have another talk with your informants?" Akira smirked. "Seems like someone's been spewing misinformation. And maybe clean the gunk out of your gears while you're at it if it took you this long to investigate anyone. But then again, arriving too late to do anything but make things worse—that's been your M.O. for centuries, hasn't it?"

  "On the contrary." Julian stepped forward, scowling. His voice was deep—even lower than Goukei. "We've been preoccupied with cleanup work on the mountain. Orochi caused Surface-side damage beyond the eruption alone. It was sighted by civilians."

  "Hmmm?" Akira leaned in with a mocking cat smile.

  "Who do you think is editing memories, repairing damages, and handling the paperwork to keep the world moving on and the planet rotating? We maintain the balance of Surface and Reverse." Julian walked right up to her, looking down on the tiny patriarch. "You should take a moment to reflect on why youkai exist at all in the modern day, and who is to thank for that."

  "Yap, yap, yap!" drawled Akira. "Coming into my turf and talking shit to my face? If I didn't know better, I'd almost say you're picking a fight with me!"

  "Now, now," said Darius, stepping between them. "Let's all get along. Nothing to gain for any of us by fighting."

  Julian broke eye contact first, glancing off to the side. Akira turned away with a dismissive shrug.

  Darius adjusted the brim of his hat. As far as finding Orochi went, these two obviously weren't going to give any info unless he squeezed them for it. "As for the other matter…"

  He exchanged a look with Julian, and they both turned their attention to Erina. She froze up on the spot.

  "What do you think?" said Darius to his partner, eyes still on her.

  Erina twitched as she felt a pulse of mana. An invisible eye looked her from head to toe, analyzing her down to her mana signature—a scan spell.

  "Human," said Julian. "But there's something else."

  "Half-youkai?" offered Darius.

  "That's not it."

  Erina looked back and forth between them mutely.

  "…Implants?" muttered Julian.

  "That could mean anything," said Darius. "Organs?"

  "Inconclusive." Julian turned his head. "Akanaga-san. The first reports of this girl appeared a few weeks ago. She has no government records, no medical history, and appears on no registries." He unfolded his arms. "I'll ask this once. Where did you find her?"

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  Akira put her hands in her pockets. "I don't see a reason to tell you that."

  Julian's fingers twitched. Akira slid one foot behind the other, angling her body to reduce her profile.

  "Calm down," said Darius. "We don't want to jump to conclusions."

  "The circumstances are overwhelmingly suspect," said Julian. "We have a duty to the world as a whole. You know this."

  "I know, I know. Still, we're not doing this now, are we?"

  "We must."

  "Lemme warn you," said Akira in a low voice. "Before you do something you regret. This girl is under my protection."

  "Two of the Equalizers stand before you," said Julian. "Step aside."

  "I'm not gonna be the one who goes down in the history books blowing up both our orgs over a random high school girl."

  A fleeting silence passed between them, eyes locked. Erina flexed her fingers at her side, feeling the magic flow through her circuits.

  "…You know who we are," said Julian. "You truly intend to do this?"

  "Things come and go," began Akira. "Money, power, people, they pour into your fingers and slip through like sand. End of the day, there's only two things you know are always in your own hands and no one else's—your life and your pride. Toss out your pride, and what the hell was your life good for, anyway?"

  Akira stared down the Binding Association's ultimate warriors, the peerless heroes of all humanity, and smirked.

  "I gave my word. So long as I've got a pulse, nobody lays one finger on her again. Come get some."

  Pale green mana surged, cloaking Julian's figure as he and Akira—

  "Okay, that's enough!" Darius raised his voice.

  Everyone stopped. All eyes rested on him.

  "We don't want to go to war with the Kano Clan," he said. "And I'm sure you're not happy to tangle with the Association either, Akira-san. Throwing down right now will only end badly for everyone involved."

  "We are not going to sit idly by and let this stand," said Julian. "Nothing is worth even the possibility that—"

  "I'm taking responsibility for this operation," announced Darius.

  Julian raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

  "And I'll let this be the judge." Darius reached for his belt and unholstered a bulky revolver, polished to shining perfection. Sunlight glinted off its curves and features as he twirled it in his left hand.

  "Darius," warned Julian. "This is not the time for games."

  Darius pointed it at the floor and fired.

  Erina jumped as the gunshot pounded her eardrums. The bullet didn't just strike the floor. It erased the floor. A perfectly smooth hole appeared in the pavement, drilling deep into the earth like nothing existed in its path. Everything the bullet touched simply ceased to exist without the slightest hint of resistance.

  There was no doubt it'd do the exact same thing to her.

  Darius opened the cylinder. Six black rounds clattered to the floor. They were so dark, they didn't reflect any light—merely featureless holes in reality that adopted the outline of bullets. They smoked and dissolved to nothingness.

  He incanted something under his breath.

  Markings like black lightning coursed up his arms and vanished just as fast. A single black bullet rested in Darius' right hand, conjured from thin air. He turned it over through his fingers. Then he chambered it, snapped the cylinder into place, and gave it a spin. It spun silently, round and round until it gradually came to a stop.

  "Like I said." Darius raised the gun and pressed it to his own temple. His eyes didn't leave Erina. "I'll take responsibility."

  Julian began, "Are you out of your—"

  Click.

  The cylinder turned. Erina shuddered. Julian was speechless. Darius didn't even blink.

  He half-cocked the hammer and spun the cylinder again. He waited for it to come to a complete stop and then looked at Akira. "Now it'll be fair. No complaints, right?"

  "Fuck outta your mind if you think I'm letting this slide," snarled Akira. She kicked off—

  This time, Erina caught the end tail of Darius' incantation, even if she didn't understand it.

  He murmured in his native English, "—Second Seal, release."

  Space bent. Light distorted as reality stretched and folded.

  Erina knew this. She used something not unlike it—a spell that targeted not the person, but the world around them. Where Erina inhibited movement, Darius rejected it. If he claimed movement didn't exist, then it didn't exist.

  Akira couldn't move one muscle in her body, no matter how much she tried.

  "Sorry about that," said Darius. Black lightning formed on the one arm held out to keep her locked in place. "Right now, I'm not here to 'fight.' I'm on 'business' today."

  Black and white static crackled around Akira—

  And it vanished as something imposed on her. Erina felt a shift in herself too—her circuits seizing up, mana struggling to flow.

  "Watch," said Julian, pale green mist silhouetting his body, "but don't interfere."

  Darius brought his attention back to Erina. The girl's expression was set with calm determination, but he could see her fingers clutching the hem of her skirt. They were shaking.

  His shoulders fell slightly. "…One in six odds," he said quietly. "Not all that bad, right?"

  Erina didn't respond. Her green eyes seemed to be staring right through him.

  "Just between us," he said. "I'm not a fortunate man. If anything can go wrong for me, it usually does. Don't even wanna admit how much I've lost playing cards. I've never seen a good hand in my life. Lady Luck has it out for me, seems like. I'll admit, though, she's seen fit to throw me a bone every once in a blue moon." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "'Course, I'm sure I just cursed myself for the next seven years by saying that out loud."

  Erina didn't smile, laugh, speak, or move at all.

  "…Sorry." Darius twirled the revolver around one finger. "But when the cards are down and it's all on the—"

  Click.

  Erina faltered as a terrible chill ran through her. Darius lowered the revolver from her forehead before she even had time to finish processing.

  "—line," he finished, "sometimes you just gotta book it before she notices."

  She let out all the air she'd been holding in. Her knees gave out and she dropped, gasping for breath. Akira dropped out of the spatial distortion and caught Erina before she hit the ground.

  Julian protested to him, "You can't just excuse—"

  Darius pointed the gun into the air. Two dry clicks and then Erina flinched as the real bullet shot straight up in a thin line of total black. There was no trick bullet. It was completely real.

  "Seems like that's the end of our investigation here!" said Darius loudly, turning away as he holstered his gun. "What a shame, we did all we could, but there were no leads after all! We've concluded Erina-san's not the one we're looking for and don't need to come after her again. Guess there's nothing to do but move on now. Right, Julian?"

  "…I won't be found complicit in this," said Julian. "Just so we're perfectly clear. This is all on you."

  "Glad to hear you're on board. Oh, and…" Darius looked over his shoulder. "Akira-san. You have my word. The Association won't interfere in Shinjuku again."

  "Darius," warned Julian. "We cannot make promises like that."

  Darius held Akira's gaze. "On my honor."

  "That's great and all," growled Akira. "Get the fuck out of my sight, Association dog." As they left, she returned her attention to Erina. Her voice softened. "You okay?"

  Erina gasped for breath, her head spinning and legs unwilling to carry her. She felt sick to her stomach. She could barely see through the tears welling up in her eyes.

  "Typical Association," muttered Akira, guiding the girl to a nearby patio chair. "Barge in, wave around their guns, ruin everyone's day, and leave."

  "That…" Erina stopped to breathe. It wasn't until several minutes later that she'd calmed down enough to get her words out. "That was Darius? The one you warned me about?"

  "Yeah." A dark shadow covered Akira's face. "The most powerful man alive. Don't get it twisted—if he wanted us dead, we wouldn't stand a chance. Nobody does."

  Erina nodded shakily, her voice faint. "I see why you told me to run."

  "Mood killer," Akira muttered under her breath. "How are you feeling?"

  "Not good."

  "Can you walk?"

  "Probably."

  "Want ice cream? His treat."

  "Eh?"

  Akira tossed a leather wallet into the air and caught it with the same hand. She playfully stuck out her tongue. "Strongest man alive doesn't mean smartest man alive. It's the least he could do for us after pulling a stunt like that. Breathe, Erina—and let's get something good."