AKAME ASSASINATION (72)
RING! RING!
The little bell above the door chimed with deceptive cheerfulness.
"I see... I see a beautiful wife in your future." The mysterious woman's hands hovered over the crystal ball at the center of the table, her voice a low, practiced murmur meant to inspire confidence and loosen wallets.
"Really? On a scale of 1 to 10, how beautiful will she be?"
The woman paused. The kind of pause that suggested deep mystical contemplation, but was actually just her calculating how much this mark might be worth.
"It depends," she said slowly, "on how beautiful you'd like her to be." She waved a hand in a gesture of magnanimous fortune-teller magic. "The future is fluid, young man. Your desires shape its course."
The woman was wrapped in layers of fabric—shawls and scarves and draped cloth that obscured everything except her lips, painted a vivid, almost theatrical red. A classic fortune-teller's costume, designed for mystery and misdirection.
RING! RING!
The door opened again.
A man stepped through—dressed entirely in white, a large circular hat casting shadow over his features. Behind him, a girl in vacation attire bounced in, her eyes immediately drawn to the glittering curiosities lining the shelves.
The fortune-teller tilted her head just slightly. A hand rose, pushing aside the fabric that obscured her vision.
Her eyes widened.
"I want a 10 out of 10 exotic girl with—"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." The woman stood abruptly, grabbing the young man's hand and physically dragging him toward the front door. "Thank you for coming by! The spirits have spoken! Your future is bright! Goodbye!"
"Wait, but I still—"
She pushed him out with surprising strength, dusted her hands, and turned with theatrical flourish.
"Ahh. If it isn't my favorite customer." Her voice had shifted completely—from mystical fortune-teller to something warmer, more familiar. "What may I do for you?"
Koji removed his hat, holding it against his chest. "Undine? What are you doing here?" He glanced around at the shop's deliberately mystical decor—rows of shelves crammed with human skulls, oddly shaped antlers, demonic symbols painted on aged parchment. "Isn't this Zaya's shop?"
For those of you who have forgotten—and honestly, given the sheer volume of chapters since we last visited one, can anyone blame you?—this was a safe house. A place where sorcerers gathered in secret to accept missions, acquire black market goods, and exchange information that couldn't travel through official channels.
"Jeez, it wouldn't kill you to accept my greetings first." Undine began shedding the ridiculous fortune-teller costume—layers of fabric falling away to reveal a woman with dark brown skin and a bandage wrapped around her forehead. "Zaya's out of town. Asked me to watch his shop while he's gone." She rolled her eyes. "That damn bum. Always treating me like his servant."
"I can see him doing that," Koji admitted.
Undine tilted her head, her gaze shifting past him. "Speaking of servants... is she one?"
Koji turned. Catherine had wandered deeper into the shop, her fingers trailing over shelves with the awed fascination of a child in a candy store—if the candy were cursed artifacts and questionable taxidermy.
"How dare you." Catherine's head whipped around, fist raised in indignant protest. "I am no mere servant! I am the leader of this group! This merry band of adventurers!" She struck a pose, chest high, smile wide. "I face danger head-on, and if it weren't for me, they would not be alive!"
"Umm..." Undine stared at the glowing girl radiating pure, unfiltered confidence.
"Let it be," Koji sighed. "You won't win that argument."
"And who might you be, little lady?" Catherine skipped toward Undine, utterly unbothered by the skulls and symbols surrounding her.
"Little?" Undine's eye twitched. The word clearly struck a nerve—and there was no denying she was, shall we say, vertically challenged. "I'll have you know I'm decades older than you." A pause. "...I think."
"Catherine, this is Undine." Koji stepped in before the situation could escalate. "She runs a safe house back in my home country. Extremely reliable."
"A safe house?" Catherine pinched her nose, as if the concept itself had an odor.
Undine's eyes narrowed, studying Catherine with new intensity. 'There's something weird about this girl,' she thought. The kind of weird that set off instincts honed over decades of dealing with the supernatural.
"Sorry, Undine, I don't really have time to catch up." Koji moved past her toward the counter. "Right now, I need your help."
She followed, settling onto a stool behind the counter. "Whatchu need? Fake IDs? Passports? Tickets again?"
"Can I please have a passport and ID?" He reached into his pocket, retrieving thick bands of cash.
"Sure." Undine shrugged. "But you know they won't get here today, right?"
"I wasn't counting on that." Koji set the money on the counter. "You'll be heading back East soon?"
Undine nodded, bending to search for something beneath the desk. "I'll send you pictures. You can make them yourself—though you'll probably need the legal kind." She popped back up. "So go to a government office."
"I wish I could." Koji's voice was patient, but there was weight beneath it. "Not right now. I want you to do it for me. You've got great underworld connections, don't you?"
She coughed. "I ain't your servant. Why can't you people do things yourselves?"
"Well..." Koji considered his words carefully. "Because you're very reliable. And smart. And cunning."
"Awww." Undine's irritation melted like snow in spring. A blush actually crept across her cheeks. "You think so? I mean—I know, obviously. You guys wouldn't get far without me."
"Definitely."
Koji placed three stacks of bills on the counter. "I think this'll cover the cost."
Undine picked them up, fanning through the notes with experienced fingers. "Three million Yen." She said it aloud, more to herself than him. "That's a lot of money."
"I need you to rent me a boat as well."
"?"
"With your ID."
"?"
"You said you wanted to head back to the Land of the East Sun." Koji pressed forward, the plan crystallizing. "So I want to hire you. As our captain."
'I thought it was a letdown that she was here instead of Zaya,' Koji thought, 'but this might be better. She's a captain. Owns a boat anyway. This could work perfectly—'
"Hey." Undine's flat voice cut through his internal monologue. "You know I can hear what you're thinking, right?"
Koji's face went slack. "Oh. I forgot you could do that."
He scratched the back of his head, the gesture almost boyish.
Undine sighed—the long-suffering exhale of someone constantly surrounded by idiots. "While I'd love to help you out, I've got things to do here. And even if I didn't, getting past the Guardian is another issue entirely. It's extremely dangerous." She shook her head. "I don't know if I want to risk my life like that."
Koji nodded, accepting. "I know. I wasn't thinking about you, Undine. I'm sorry."
"It's cool." She tossed one of the money stacks back to him. "Keep that, since I won't be going. But I will rent you the boat, if that makes you happier."
"It will. Thanks."
Undine leaned forward, her voice dropping to something more serious. "I don't know what it is, but I couldn't read that girl's mind." She jerked her head toward Catherine, who was now examining a jar of what appeared to be pickled eyes. "You'd best be careful."
"Of course." Koji's expression didn't shift, but internally, gears turned. 'Maybe it has to do with her being made of pure fragments,' he theorized.
"You're terribly bad at keeping secrets," Undine noted, having heard every word.
"Damn it!"
"Um... Mr. Koji?" A soft voice came from behind.
"!"
He'd completely forgotten. Babysitting duty. The ghost child. Catherine.
"I'm sorry, Catherine, I—"
He turned.
And froze.
A woman in black had Catherine in a headlock. The girl's eyes were wide, her struggles useless against the iron grip of someone who clearly knew what they were doing.
Behind him, a blade pressed against Undine's throat.
And in front of him, inches from his face, were eyes he knew better than his own reflection.
Blue-green. Furious. Hurt.
"Koji." Maomao's voice was soft. Too soft. The kind of soft that preceded either tears or violence. "I hope you've got a good explanation for what's going on here."
The dagger at his throat glinted in the shop's dim light.
MAOMAO DOESN'T LOOK TOO HAPPY
TO BE CONTINUED!