Tiana laid out the cold, hard truth, Raito wasn't being recruited for his bravery or some hidden elite skill. It was much more simpler than that, the amnesiac serum, the Agency's primary tool for silencing witnesses, simply failed to take hold in his mind. Whether this immunity was a miracle or a curse, Raito didn't know, he could only let the current of fate pull him along. The decision had been made for him by the weight of two grim choices, work for the Agency to protect their secrets, or die to ensure they stayed buried.
Presently, Raito was being escorted through the facility by the same doctor who had first monitored him.
"Hey, Doc, what's that over there?" Raito asked, pointing to a flickering monitor.
"Sigh... this is exactly why I hate dealing with fresh meat," the doctor grumbled, his voice laced with a weariness that didn't match his face.
"You look pretty young to be so grumpy, Doc," Raito noted, eyeing the man's sharp features. "Why do you talk like someone's grandfather?"
"THAT'S BECAUSE I AM OLD!" the man shout, his eyes snapping toward Raito.
Despite his outburst, the doctor looked like he was barely in his thirties, with a lean, athletic build that suggested he spent as much time training as he did in surgery. However, he stoically explained that he was actually fifty-four years old. Raito simply nodded. In this place, he realized, reality was a flexible concept, if a Yeti could exist, a youthful middle-aged doctor was the least of his worries.
When Raito asked for his name, the man didn't look up. "Michael Aran," he replied flatly, his boots echoing against the floor as he led the way toward a massive, high-vaulted library.
Inside, the air smelled of old parchment and ozone. Michael pointed out various archives, specifically those dedicated to combat roles and tactical expertise.
"Wait a second," Raito said, stopping in his tracks. "What exactly is my role here? I don't even know where I'm being stationed."
Michael looked him up and down with a clinical gaze. "Judging by your physique and your brain, you'll probably just be a regular soldier. Front lines."
"A regular soldier? You mean a target?"
In response, Michael shoved a heavy, leather-bound tome into his arms. It was a compendium of monster profiles and the classified history of A.I.T.S. He told Raito to start memorizing, emphasizing that knowing a creature's ability was the only thing that would keep him breathing in the field.
Three and a half hours vanished in an instant. Michael had long disappeared from the library of the facility, leaving Raito with the book that he needs to finish. But Raito was too absorbed to notice, as he turned the pages, a startling realization hit him. Not all monsters were the enemy. According to the records, some of these "threats" actually served within the Agency itself.
The book stated that only those who hunted humans or violated the rules were marked for extermination. A grim, twisted smile touched Raito's lips. He had nearly been slaughtered by one of these creatures, and now, he was being forced into a life where he might have to call them "teammates."
Raito let out a long, heavy sigh. The world he thought he knew was gone, replaced by a reality filled with interdimensional shadows and ancient myths that were very much alive. These legends didn't belong to the history of Earth, they were refugees from another world entirely, and now, Raito was one of the few people standing between them and the rest of humanity.
***
After Raito had exhausted himself wrestling with the dense, heavy lore contained in the volumes Michael had provided, he finally pushed back his chair. He stood up with a long groan, his joints popping like dry twigs as he stretched his stiff muscles. A flicker of genuine annoyance crossed his mind, the deeper he dug into the archives, the more he realized how little he knew. He had managed to finish only three of the nine books in the series, leaving a daunting mountain of information still untouched. He carefully returned the finished copies to their slots and gathered the remaining six, their leather covers cool and heavy against his chest.
As he moved toward the reception desk, a strange, heavy silence hung over the library. The air felt thick with the scent of old paper and something metallic, almost like ozone.
"Hello? Is there anyone here? I would like to check these out," Raito called out. His voice seemed to be swallowed by the high, vaulted ceilings.
A few seconds drifted by in total stillness. Then, a massive shadow detached itself from the gloom behind a partition wall. Raito froze as a towering figure stepped into the pale LED light. Standing nearly two meters tall, the creature possessed the powerful, lean build of a Great Ape, covered in thick fur that shimmered with a subtle, golden hue. But it was the head that made Raito's breath hitch. The creature had three distinct, tufted ears on each side of its head, totaling six.
Raito's mind immediately flashed back to the myths he had just been studying. "Wait... you are the one from the *Journey to the West* legends, aren't you? The Six Eared Macaque."
"That was one of my ancestors," the creature replied. His voice was a deep, gravelly resonance that seemed to vibrate through the floorboards. He looked visibly annoyed by the comparison, his golden brows furrowing, yet he did not turn away.
Raito stared, his curiosity momentarily overriding his fear. In the old novels, such creatures were described as much smaller, perhaps only 130 centimeters tall. But the being standing before him was a giant, radiating a quiet, ancient power that made the sterile library feel like a prehistoric temple. Not wanting to offend a being that could likely crush him with a single hand, Raito kept his mouth shut. He carefully stacked the six heavy books on the counter.
"I would like to borrow these, sir..?" Raito said, trying to keep his voice steady and respectful but confused about what should he call him.
As the creature began scanning the barcodes on the spines with surprising dexterity, he spoke without looking up. "Just call me Mihui. You wouldn't be able to pronounce my true name even if I sang it to you."
"Right. Because you are from the Other World, I assume? Understood, Mr. Mihui."
"And your name?" the creature asked, all six of his ears twitching in a synchronized, rhythmic motion.
"It is Raito, Mr. Mihui."
Once the task was finished, the Macaque slid a shiny, new membership card across the polished counter, resting it on top of the stack of books. Raito paused as he picked it up, a confused frown touching his face.
"Wait, how did you know I was a new member? I have not even introduced myself to the staff yet."
Mihui finally looked him in the eye, a faint, knowing smirk playing on his dark lips. "Do you think these ears are just for show? I heard your heart pounding as soon as you stepped into this library. I heard Tiana talking about the new recruit who didn't forget anything after being injected with the serum."
Raito blinked, genuinely stunned by the sheer scale of the creature's senses. "Oh, wow. That is incredible. Does that mean you have all the other legendary powers, too? Can you shapeshift?"
"I can," Mihui replied shortly, his golden fur catching the light as he turned back toward the shadows of the shelves. "Now take your books and go."