The cafeteria.

  This place was never quiet, even after rush hour. Players, Cleaners, SeComm’s staff and the general public throng this place, and it was here that Jin could see people, regardless of backgrounds, mingling as they pleased.

  At a corner table with a view of the exit, Ironshield was already waiting.

  “Heard your team is the only one that passes Phase Two,” he said while drinking a glass of fresh juice. “Congratulations.”

  Jin pulled up a chair and sat down. “Congratulations? Save it until I get my license.” He leaned back, crossing his arms. ”So, what’s up?”

  Ironshield’s lips twitched into a small smile. “Down to business right away, aren’t we? I like that.” His expression turned serious. “Tell me what you think of your teammates. Especially that Lowenhald’s girl.”

  Jin raised an eyebrow. “You’re the last type of guy who I can think of being her fan.”

  “Fan?” Ironshield burst into laughter, attracting stares in their direction. “I’m not a fan of anyone. Not even Valkyrie. Wait.” He leaned over the table, whispering. “Maybe I will be your fan, instead.”

  “Oh, please. Stop.” Jin rolled his eyes, but a small grin etched on his face. “You’re giving me nightmares now.”

  Ironshield’s amusement faded as quickly as it had come. His voice dropped, but his tone was clear. He meant business.

  “Pedigree aside, what do you think of her?”

  But Jin wasn’t about to hand Ironshield the information without any effort from him. A little tease would brighten his long day and ease his fatigue from the exam. He steepled forward, face twisted in agony as if he recalled a nightmare.

  "Let me think..." He drew out the silence, savouring Ironshield’s mounting impatience.

  “Come on, Frank. We don’t have all day.”

  “But I do.” Jin cracked a smirk.

  Ironshield groaned, shaking his head.

  Jin couldn’t help but chuckle. “Fine. Emilia’s alright. Good looks. Excellent Combat Power. A little mouthy, but that’s to be expected from a rich spoiled brat. What else? Oh. She’s a brave one.”

  “Brave?” Ironshield rubbed his chin. “You call it brave, but I call it foolhardy. Inside a RIFT, she’d kill everyone, including herself.”

  “Kids will be kids, Ironshield. They got to learn from their mistakes.”

  “Oh? And you look not a day older than her, yet you acted like a veteran Player.”

  Jin laughed. “I got a good and reliable instructor. You know who I’m talking about, right?”

  The words turned Ironshield’s frown into a smiling one. “I don’t know what is more dangerous about you,” he said. “Your hidden abilities or your damned forked tongue.”

  “Oh? What do you mean?”

  Ironshield smirked. “Enough with the flattering. Tell me, how do you manage to calm that walking firestorm?”

  “You mean what happened after our match?” Jin shrugged. “To be honest, it’s not me who calmed her down. All credit goes to Timothy and Shinohara. They did everything. Called her a heroic martyr or something.”

  “She took it well, then?”

  Jin smirked. “Lapped it up proper. All I did was butter her up a little more. She’s a proper sucker for compliments, that one.”

  The two men laughed.

  “So, a pseudo-leader with abilities to pull strings from the shadows and a tongue that calms even a raging fire. We could use more people like you, Frank.”

  “Nah. I have enough on my plate already. Anyway, what’s the important thing you wanted to see me about? Sounds urgent.”

  “Urgent and important.”

  Ironshield took out his phone and sent a message to someone. The reply came in an instant.

  ‘Do you mind waiting for a while?” Ironshield stood from his chair, taking his food tray with him. “There’s someone I need to meet first before I can tell you everything. As compensation, all food and drinks are on me.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “Don’t mind if I do. But don’t take too long, alright. Else, I’ll be clearing out the cafeteria.”

  “Takes only a jiffy.”

  True to his word, Ironshield returned sooner than expected. But not alone. Jin’s eyebrows shot up as Old Man Sid trailed in behind him, looking as grizzled and grumpy as ever.

  Before Jin could open his mouth, Ironshield cut him off with a sharp gesture. “Finish up. There’s somewhere we need to go.”

  Jin didn’t need telling twice. He scarfed down the last of his meal – or rather, meals – grinning as Ironshield begrudgingly slapped a couple of hundred-dollar notes onto the counter.

  “You’re going to eat all that?” He shook his head, eyeing the three bulging bags of premium cinnamon rolls and croissants Jin had ‘accidentally’ added to the tab.

  “Being a certain lizard’s lackey is a full-time job,” Jin quipped, shrugging as they stepped out into the SeComm’s headquarters.

  Idling by the main entrance, a sleek black car with windows tinted to near zero opacity, was already waiting for them. Once all three of them were on the road, only then did the conversation continue.

  Ironshield, riding shotgun, broke the silence. “Apologies for the hushes, but HQ’s ain’t the best place to talk about things.”

  “Things?” Jin, who sat at the back of the car with Old Man Sid, asked while eating a cinnamon croissant. “What things?”

  “Here.” Ironshield handed Jin a small velvet box. “I believe congratulations are in order, Frank.”

  Inside, to Jin’s pleasant surprise, was his Player ID. Complete with all the details, yet one caught his attention immediately.

  “Bronze I?”

  “What do you mean, Bronze I? Let me see that.” Old Man Sid snatched the ID away from Jin’s hand. “Blimey, mate. You’re really a Bronze I. You passed the bloody exam. Hahaha!”

  “Bronze I, huh?” Jin mumbled out his words. “Means I skipped two grades. And a three-month probation.”

  “Could have let you start at Bronze III if it's up to me,” Ironshield said. “But then again, some people at the HQ might not be too happy with that. So, a little compromise between us, if you know what I mean. Unless you’re Valkyrie, of course.”

  “You mean Eleana?” Old Man Sid said. “Didn’t she start at Silver V? But wait. Didn’t she get it after her exam and not during?”

  The realisation finally hit Jin in the head. “Yeah. I’m curious about it too. Why?”

  “Remember the big fat juicy favour I said I’m going to do for you? Consider it done.”

  Jin shot a stare at Ironshield. “You sure? Nothing else? There’s no free lunch, ever. So, out with it.”

  The man chuckled. “You’re too paranoid, Frank. There’s nothing behind it. Like I said back at the cafeteria, we could use more people like you. So, again. Congratulations on passing the exam.”

  “Thanks, I guess,” Jin replied. “Appreciate it.”

  But there was something off about him passing before the exam was over. Sort of like the military draft when there was a war brewing close by. A little training and bam, you passed. Fresh-faced into the battlefield. What kind of ‘war’ and ’battlefield’ he was going to get involved with, Jin didn’t know.

  That didn’t sit right with him.

  Then again, the Player ID that he had in his hand right now had put him a step closer to Eleana. As long as he had her within his reach, he didn’t care what kind of war or battlefield he’d get into. His daughter was all that mattered.

  The car glided along the Old Shuto Expressway before exiting the city centre. The scenery changed from a bustling metropolis to ruins of the old Shirokane District, where the skeletal remains of skyscrapers scraped against broken roads. Once a bustling satellite city, now a concrete graveyard. A grim reminder to everyone who passed through here of what would happen if Cataclysm were allowed to occur.

  The car continued for another half an hour. The scene outside the windows shifted in a stunning yet abrupt transition. Gone were the remnants of human failure and dangers from the RIFT; replaced by well-maintained streets, lined with flawless greenery and guarded by the towering walls and elegant gates of high-end properties.

  Ward 0.

  This was where the crème de la crème and the affluents few of Neo-Tokyo called their homes; leaders of the Eastern Eurolasia Alliance, nobles and uber-wealthy families, top entrepreneurs and businesspeople, and heads of the most powerful companies.

  “This is Eleana’s home now,” Old Man Sid said, tapping his fingers on the armrest. “Posh area. A different life compared to us normal folks.”

  Jin could only let out a bittersweet smile, watching the scenery pass by from the window. Eleana’s new home, huh?

  Those words stung him a little. Happy that she stayed and grew up in such an environment, but sad that he couldn’t be with her. Especially not in his current state. Powerless. Hapless. And with little connection under his name.

  This was one of the reasons why he wanted to become a Player and climb up through the ranks as fast as possible.

  “By the way, are we going somewhere?” Jin asked, trying to shake the gloom that had crept into his mind. “A RIFT?”

  “Already?” Old Man Sid added. “Seconds after getting his ID and license, and you have lined up commission for Ji-I mean, Frank? Is that why I’m called to come along too?”

  Ironshield smiled. “No such thing. We’re meeting someone. You, Frank, me.”

  “Who could that be?” Old Man Sid continued to ask. “Weird. Outside of my own boys and girls, who want to see me, especially for work? If this is even about work.”

  Jin kept his silence. Who could it be indeed?

  Ironshield didn’t say anything. The car ride went on until they entered a residential estate. As the car slowed, Jin’s eyes locked onto the familiar emblem etched into the granite gate. By then, Old Man Sid and him knew who wanted to meet them.

  Chairman Mashimoto Heihachi.

  The unchallenged leader of the Neo-Tokyo Security Commission.

  Though he retired as an active Player years ago, Chairman Heihachi remained the de facto master of every vital activity within SeComm, both Players and Cleaners alike. He remained the most powerful figure in Neo-Tokyo, the Player who held its reputation single-handedly within the Eastern Eurolasia Alliance.

  “Oi, Jin,” Old Man Sid leaned closer and whispered, “Been a little over fifty years I’ve worked as a Cleaner and I never met him once. I don’t like this one bit. What do you reckon he summoned us here for?”

  “No idea,” Jin answered, eyeing the scenery around him. “Security’s tight. Each one of them is not to be messed with either. Definitely not some random meeting session.”

  Yet, Old Man Sid had a point. Why on earth would someone like him, a fresh Bronze I, be summoned by the SeComm’s most powerful leader?