The preparation room smelled of new fabric, leather, and a faint trace of weapon oil. The light from the oil lamps flickered softly over the table where Alexei had spread out several documents.
Razel adjusted his jacket for the third time while listening to the rules with tense attention.
"To enter Casino Kuromorihime, an invitation alone is not enough," said the prime minister, reclining in his chair with calculated elegance. "Each person must enter accompanied by an item for sale. One per head. No exceptions. That is how strict the place is."
Gilbert frowned and crossed his arms.
"An item for sale? What exactly do you mean?"
Alexei pulled out a small list written in precise handwriting and slid it across the table.
"High-value jewels, legendary weapons, land titles… or humans."
The silence that followed was dense, almost suffocating.
Razel immediately shook his head, his expression hard.
"That last one is out of the question."
"The casino is extremely strict," Alexei continued without changing his tone. "Not even I, given who I am, can enter empty-handed. If you three want to get in, you need three valid 'merchandise' items."
Zack and Gilbert exchanged a sidelong glance and then fixed their eyes on Razel. They already sensed where the conversation might be heading, and they didn't like it at all.
Before anyone could protest out loud, Iris stepped forward. Liddy followed a second later, her hands clasped in front of her.
"We will serve as the items for sale."
Razel spun around abruptly, eyes wide with surprise and immediate rejection.
"Absolutely not."
Iris held his gaze without blinking. There was a calm determination on her face that left little room for easy argument.
"It is necessary if we want to rescue that mermaid. Besides… there is something more."
She pulled out a folded photograph that Leonora had obtained at great risk. The image was blurry, taken from a distance in poor light, but Baron Olston could be clearly distinguished conversing in a narrow alley with a masked member of the Phantom Troop.
"The baron has been missing for days," Iris explained. "It is very likely he is hiding inside the casino. If we manage to catch him there, we close another important loose end."
Razel clenched his teeth until his jaw hurt. He didn't want this. He hated the idea with every fiber of his being. But the logic was overwhelming, and he had no better plan.
Liddy then spoke in a soft, almost timid voice:
"We want to be of help. Please… let us do this."
Both of them turned toward Oz, who was trying to remain completely unnoticed in a corner of the room, as if he wished to melt into the wall.
"Oz," Iris said. "We need you to cooperate as well."
The boy shook his head several times, visibly uncomfortable.
"I don't want to… I really don't want to…"
Suddenly he went completely still. His eyes narrowed for a second, as if he were listening to a voice no one else could hear. The air around him seemed to grow denser. Then he slowly let out his breath and lowered his gaze.
"…I'll do it."
Razel watched him with a strange expression, but decided not to ask. There were more urgent matters.
"Fine," he finally accepted, his voice heavy. "We prepare now. There is no room for error tomorrow."
◇◇◇
In a room of oriental style, lit only by paper lanterns that cast soft shadows, a woman dressed in samurai attire carefully opened the sliding door.
"The guests are arriving, Kurohime-sama."
From the back of the room, partially hidden by wooden and silk screens, a feminine voice answered with a tone that was both lazy and dangerous:
"So they are…"
The soft rustle of several thick tails moving against the tatami could be heard.
"This will be a special night."
The samurai woman bowed deeply and withdrew in silence. When the door closed completely, more tails moved in the dimness, slowly, as if the owner of the voice were lost in thought.
"Perhaps tonight… will be the night I finally find her."
◇◇◇
Casino Kuromorihime had no eye-catching façade. From the street, only a perfectly ordinary two-story house could be seen, with lit windows and a varnished wooden door. The true entrance was a labyrinth of underground corridors that smelled of expensive incense, polished wood, and a faint trace of sweet alcohol.
Razel could not believe it as they descended the stone stairs.
"Is this actually legal?"
Gilbert, walking beside him with a resigned expression, answered in a low voice:
"Everything is in order. Permits, taxes, official records… above the table it is completely untouchable. The feudal lord takes his cut and looks the other way."
Razel did not understand how a place like this could operate in plain sight, but he no longer cared. He had more urgent priorities.
He turned and looked at Iris, Liddy, and Oz. The three of them were wearing minimal garments specially designed to highlight their "value" as merchandise. Scarce fabrics, eye-catching colors, practically nothing that truly covered them. Iris was trying to cover her chest with crossed arms. Liddy kept her back straight and her composure with difficulty, though the shame showed in her red ears. Oz looked as if he wanted to disappear from the world.
"Sorry," Razel said in a very low voice, feeling miserable.
Iris shook her head, though she was clearly uncomfortable.
"I just… want a place to sit as soon as we get inside. Everything is showing."
They arrived at the inner door, guarded by a beast-man with pointed ears and a bored expression. The guard professionally checked the invitations, then pointed at the three "items" with his chin.
"Merchandise is left here. You may proceed."
Razel tensed from head to toe, but nodded stiffly.
"I will come back for you. I promise."
The three were led down another narrower corridor. Razel, Zack, and Gilbert crossed the threshold and entered the main hall.
The interior was genuinely luxurious. The theme was clearly inspired by a modern Japanese inn: high-quality dark wood, painted screens, paper lanterns with warm light, and elevated areas with tatami where the more important clients drank and gambled. Most of the employees were beast-men of various races: wolf ears, fox tails, small horns. Everything operated with almost military efficiency.
Razel frowned at the number of demi-humans working there, but decided to ignore it for the moment.
"Clariana must be with the rest of the merchandise," he murmured to himself. "I have to find her before…"
He could not finish the sentence.
A desperate-looking man suddenly pulled a short sword from under his cloak and took one of the employees hostage, pressing the blade against the man's neck.
"All of this is that witch's fault! She took my merchandise! I want it returned right now!"
Some clients murmured in annoyance. Others laughed openly at the scene.
"How the hell did they let someone in that state enter?"
From the second floor, a figure leapt with supernatural grace. She landed almost silently in front of the troublemaker. It was a woman dressed in traditional samurai attire, katana at her hip, hair tied up, and an expression as cold as steel.
The first thing that stood out was her bright pink hair, tied in a high ponytail that moved with every gesture. Her eyes were an intense blue, full of determination.
She wore an outfit of oriental inspiration: a fitted blue blouse that revealed part of her cleavage, a short skirt of the same color, and a red cape that billowed behind her. At her waist she wore a decorated sash, and on her legs black stockings with golden details. In her hands she held a large katana whose blade shone with an intense red glow.
Her expression was fierce and focused, that of someone accustomed to solving problems with the sword rather than with words.
"I am Kirihime Mikoto. I will not tolerate anyone causing trouble inside this establishment."
The man recognized her instantly and his eyes widened with hatred.
"You! The witch who stole my mermaid! I want her returned right now!"
Razel tensed immediately.
(Clariana…)
The woman — Kirihime Mikoto — looked him up and down with pure contempt.
"A man who loses his money gambling and then comes crying… pathetic."
Far from being intimidated, the man snapped his fingers. Several accomplices who had entered with him simultaneously activated a complex magic circle beneath Mikoto's feet. Chains of golden light rose from the floor and completely surrounded her, immobilizing her.
"I know perfectly well what you are capable of. That is why I prepared this measure in advance."
Mikoto observed the luminous chains in complete silence for a few seconds.
"Good move," she admitted neutrally.
Then, with a minimal movement of her fingers, she reversed the flow of mana. The circle shattered from the inside out as if it were glass, and the chains dissolved into particles of light.
Zack, from his position, whistled softly with genuine recognition.
"She simply inverted the magical power of the circle."
Gilbert looked at him sidelong, incredulous.
"You say that as if it were easy."
"That is precisely the point," Zack replied. "Making it look easy."
Mikoto launched her attack. In less than a minute she left all the accomplices lying on the floor, unconscious or groaning in pain. When she approached the leader, he smiled with superiority and pulled out a weapon from the Arklight Empire: a specialized net gun. He fired without hesitation.
The special net, designed to stop everything from adult bears to minotaurs, completely enveloped her and brought her down. The more she struggled, the tighter the magical fibers became.
The man approached slowly, confident in his victory, sword still in hand.
Razel did not allow it.
He stepped forward, delivered a clean, sharp punch to the man's jaw that made him stagger, and then ripped the net off in a single brutal pull, freeing Mikoto.
She stood up, brushed off her clothes, and looked at him with a deeply furrowed brow.
"A customer should not interfere in the casino's internal affairs. This is my job."
"I understand," Razel replied calmly. "But what that man said made me curious. Do you know a mermaid named Clariana?"
Mikoto's gaze became as sharp as the edge of her katana. She partially drew the weapon and pointed it directly at his chest.
"How do you know that name?"
"She helped me get out of a hole during the second trial of the festival. I am not her enemy. I want to help her. She herself told me that a woman once freed her from a place like this."
Mikoto studied him in complete silence for several long seconds. Evaluating. Measuring. Finally she sheathed the weapon with a sharp movement.
"Very well. I will take you to my mistress."
Razel turned toward Zack and Gilbert, who were watching without fully understanding the situation.
"I'll be back soon. Don't do anything stupid."
Both of them looked at him with an expression that said "us?" as he walked away following the samurai girl.
◇◇◇
The main offices of the casino were on the highest floor of the building. Mikoto opened the wooden sliding door, and Razel stopped dead in the doorway.
There, reclining with lazy elegance on a raised futon, was a woman of supernatural beauty. Hair as black as the deepest night, upright fox ears, and nine thick tails of the same color that moved with hypnotic slowness. She wore a dark silk kimono that left the soft curve of her shoulders and part of her collarbone exposed.
Mikoto introduced her.
"This person is the owner of the entire casino, Himekami Kurohime-sama."
Razel felt a real impact in his chest. It was like looking at a distorted reflection — more mature, more dangerous, and more weary — of Yukihime.
"Mikoto. Who is this human and why have you brought him into my presence?" Kurohime asked in a lazy voice, barely opening one eye.
"I am Razel Bartlet," he introduced himself, without looking away.
"I do not care about your name."
Mikoto quickly explained everything that had happened in the hall. Kurohime frowned at her subordinate with clear disapproval.
"You were too confident tonight. Learn from this."
"It will not happen again."
Razel took another step into the room.
"I want to know where Clariana is."
Kurohime tilted her head slightly, interested for the first time.
"Who?"
"The mermaid," Mikoto clarified from behind. "She is with the rest of tonight's merchandise."
"I want to buy her," Razel said without preamble. "To free her. She is my friend."
Kurohime let out a low, incredulous, and slightly cruel laugh.
"'Friend'? What a curious word coming from a human's mouth."
"I am not like the humans who kidnapped her and brought her here."
The fox woman observed him in silence for a long time, weighing each of his words. Then she made a lazy gesture with one hand. Mikoto approached and, with surprising strength, forced Razel to sit on a cushion in front of the futon.
Kurohime lowered her gaze for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice had lost all its previous laziness. Only a cold, ancient rage remained.
"When I was little I lived in a country of demi-humans. Our home… the kingdom of Kamishiro," Kurohime began, looking toward the window as if seeing another time. "A place where demi-humans could live without having to hide.
It was the epicenter of the eastern side of the continent. I lived happily with my family… until the Ideal Empire attacked us without mercy.
They destroyed everything. They left not even the roots. All because of that damned human arrogance."
She reclined a little more, but her tails moved with nervousness.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
"They massacred my family before my eyes. The elders. The children. Anyone who tried to resist. And when they finished… they took those of us who were still alive. They sold me as a slave. My little cousin… Yukine… was taken as well. She was only a child.
I still remember how she screamed my name as they carried her away. And I could do absolutely nothing.
I was taken prisoner along with many others and sold as a slave. I spent years being used as a prostitute. Thanks to the innate powers of my species I was able to protect my chastity using a constant hypnosis spell.
There, in that hell, I learned how truly dark humans can be. I deceived a powerful noble, took all his fortune, and with that money I built this casino from nothing."
Razel listened in complete silence, without interrupting.
"Why did you create all of this?"
Her golden eyes looked at him as if he were prey.
"To free slaves and demi-humans from the hands of humans. To give them a real path of escape."
"Then why did they capture Clariana and keep her here?"
"We were not the ones who captured her. A noble offered her personally in exchange for a single night with me. I accepted the exchange because protecting my own is always the most important thing… but no one touches me. Ever."
She bared her white fangs in a dangerous, possessive smile.
After hearing her story, Razel felt a strong tug in his memory. Pieces that had not quite fit began to move.
"Were all the demi-humans of Kamishiro foxes like you?"
Kurohime slowly shook her head.
"No. Only the royal family were mystic foxes — those who possess tails. Those without tails did not belong to the royal family."
The words Yukihime had once said to him one night, half-asleep, returned to his mind with crystal clarity. Razel's eyes widened.
"Then you are a relative of the royal family of Kamishiro."
Kurohime visibly tensed. One of her tails stopped moving.
"…Secondary branch. The Yakumo."
"I know someone who may be your close relative."
Kurohime raised a hand with authority. Mikoto drew her katana in a fluid motion and positioned herself behind Razel.
"I told you all of this so that you would understand perfectly why you are going to die tonight," Kurohime said in an icy voice. "No one must learn of my true origin. If humans discover the truth about this place, they will destroy my business and the slaves will no longer have a real path of escape. I cannot allow that."
Mikoto cut Razel across the back without hesitation.
"Gyah!"
He cried out in real pain… and then, before the astonished eyes of both women, the deep wound began to close on its own, regenerating before their eyes.
Kurohime leapt up from the futon, her nine tails bristling. Mikoto was equally astonished.
"Kurohime-sama, I swear it. I just cut him."
"What kind of human witchcraft is that? Kill him at once!"
Mikoto drew the second katana with a fluid motion. The metal sang as it left the scabbard.
Combat erupted immediately inside the office.
The first assault was so fast that Razel barely had time to cross his arms and block with his Blut. The clash of the blades against his guard sent a painful vibration through his bones. Mikoto gave him no respite: she spun on herself and launched a horizontal slash that cleanly cut through a wooden screen, sending splinters flying throughout the room.
Razel retreated, dodging by centimeters. One of the katanas grazed his shoulder and opened the fabric of his jacket. Before he could counterattack, the second blade came down in a vertical arc. He had to roll to the side. The tatami tore under the impact and a nearby piece of furniture was smashed to pieces.
Kurohime did not remain still. From the futon, one of her tails extended like a whip and struck the floor exactly where Razel had been a second earlier, leaving a crack in the wood.
"Stop moving!" Mikoto shouted, launching herself again.
Razel continued limiting himself to defense. He blocked, deflected, dodged. Every time he had a clear opening to strike for real, he let it pass. He did not want to seriously injure them. But Mikoto showed no such consideration. Each of her attacks sought to cut, not merely neutralize.
Another screen fell. A bookshelf collapsed with a crash. The air filled with wood dust and the tension of a fight that could not last much longer without someone being seriously hurt.
"There is a huge misunderstanding!"
"I do not care," Kurohime answered, her eyes gleaming. "You are too dangerous to be left alive."
◇◇◇
In the main hall of the casino, Zack and Gilbert had taken seats at an elevated table with a good view of the entire floor. They drank cheap sake and watched the constant movement of bets and chips.
"Where has Razel gotten himself this time?" Zack asked, spinning a chip between his fingers.
Gilbert did not answer immediately. His eyes had locked intensely on a middle-aged man drinking alone in a discreet corner, far from the main tables.
"That is Cyrus Rapha Renfield… the former prime minister of the kingdom. He was dismissed years ago for serious corruption. He has had an outstanding arrest warrant ever since."
Zack discreetly activated his sound magic to enhance his auditory perception and focused his attention on the man's table.
"He is speaking with someone in the shadows. He says he came personally to finally get his hands on the owner of the casino. That is why he exchanged the mermaid."
Gilbert clenched his fists on the table until his knuckles turned white.
"We cannot miss this opportunity. Razel will have to manage on his own a little longer."
"Understood."
The two prepared to take matters into their own hands.
From the upper beams and the shadows of a side corridor, someone watched them in complete silence, undetected.
◇◇◇
In the restricted merchandise area, Iris walked slowly among covered cages and shallow pools. Her expression was somber as she contained her anger as best she could.
"This place is horrible… though for some strange reason they treat them better than I expected. They give them food and do not beat them in plain sight."
Then she saw the largest pool, separated from the others.
Clariana was there, half-submerged, her fish tail partially out of the water and her gaze completely dull, as if she had given up.
Iris approached carefully.
"Are you Clariana?"
The mermaid lifted her head abruptly, eyes wide with surprise and distrust.
"How… do you know my name?"
"We came to help you," Iris said gently. "Razel is here, inside the casino. He will get you out of this place."
Clariana's eyes widened even further, incredulous.
"Why would you do something like that for someone like me?"
"Because Razel is a good person," Iris answered with complete simplicity. "And because he truly wants to help you."
She turned for a moment to look for Liddy and tell her they had found the mermaid… and it was then that she noticed Oz had completely disappeared. In the open shackle he had left lying on the floor was a skillfully bent metal pin.
◇◇◇
The fight inside the main office continued without pause.
The sound of katanas cutting the air and clashing against Razel's guard filled the room. Each exchange left new marks: a shattered screen, a collapsed shelf, the tatami in tatters. Kurohime watched from the futon with a deeply furrowed brow, her nine tails moving with barely contained irritation.
"Enough already!" she exclaimed, striking the floor with one of her tails. "You are destroying my office!"
Mikoto did not respond. She continued attacking with both katanas, showing not the slightest trace of fatigue.
Each slash was precise, each feint calculated to force Razel to retreat.
He, for his part, limited himself to blocking, deflecting, and giving ground. He did not want to hurt her. He did not want to hurt either of them.
"How long do you plan to just defend?" Mikoto spat between one attack and the next. "If you are not going to fight seriously, then die already!"
Razel shouted between blocks:
"I do not want to fight you! There is a misunderstanding!"
Kurohime let out a short, bitter laugh.
"Humans always say the same thing when they are cornered."
Finally, Razel had had enough of the situation.
When Mikoto launched a downward slash with both blades, he reinforced his forearm with mana, blocked the blow, and spun on his axis.
His fist struck her solar plexus with exact precision. The air left the samurai girl's lungs in a choked gasp. Her knees buckled and she fell to the floor, without strength for a few seconds.
Razel stepped back, breathing hard.
"There is a huge misunderstanding, damn it! Listen to me for once!"
At that precise moment, the ventilation duct in the ceiling burst open and Oz leaned out, his face pale with urgency.
"Do not breathe, you pervert! Cover your nose right now!"
Razel saw him. He did not understand what the boy was doing there, but he did not think. He obeyed on pure instinct, covering his nose and mouth with his forearm.
Kurohime, seeing the opportunity, smiled coldly. Her nine tails bristled and released flames of a deep blue.
The fire did not burn… but it filled the entire room with a sweet, thick, and deeply intoxicating aroma.
Mikoto, who had just recovered her breath, inhaled without meaning to. Her eyes immediately clouded over. Oz, still leaning out of the duct, also breathed in the aroma and his expression became empty, lost in some pleasant hallucination.
Razel, who had followed the warning, felt the scent trying to seep even through his skin. He waited no longer. He turned and delivered a violent kick to the nearest window. The glass shattered into a thousand pieces and the fresh night air began to enter, slowly dispersing the sweet mist.
Kurohime clicked her tongue, annoyed.
"You are more troublesome than I thought."
She did not give up. The nine tails moved like living whips and launched themselves at him, trying to wrap around and suffocate him. Razel ducked, advanced in a low tackle, and managed to seize several of the tails with both hands. The fur was soft, but the strength behind it was brutal.
"Let go of me!" Kurohime ordered, struggling.
"Sorry!" Razel growled through his teeth, containing the effect of the ability as best he could. "I have absolutely no intention of doing anything bad to Clariana or to your business either!"
Kurohime bared her fangs, pulling harder.
"All humans say the same thing!"
"I am not like those disgusting humans!" he insisted. "I have a demi-human as my official fiancée!"
She let out a harsh laugh, still struggling.
"Simple sexual desire means absolutely nothing to me. I have seen enough humans who 'love' demi-humans… until they grow tired of them."
Razel maintained the pressure on the tails, looking her directly in the eyes.
"My desire is normal, yes. I will not deny it.
But I am not your enemy, nor the enemy of your people."
There was a second of tense silence. Then he spoke more calmly, though his voice was strained from the effort:
"Tell me one thing… Do you know the name Yukihime?"
Kurohime went completely still.
Even the tails stopped struggling in his hands.
Her golden eyes opened just a little wider.
"How… do you know that name?"
Razel did not release the tails, but he eased the pressure slightly.
"She was sent to the Lawless City of the Arklight Empire as a slave years ago. I rescued her personally. Now she is my fiancée and lives under my roof."
The reaction was immediate. Kurohime recovered her fury at once and pulled with all her strength.
"You lie! Yukine is imprisoned by some miserable human and I will save her at any cost!"
Razel clenched his teeth. He knew he had to say something that only someone close could know. He thought at full speed, searching for the smallest, most intimate details she had ever told him.
"Yukihime has completely white fur… A small dark mole just below her left eye… And she is always sleeping in any place she finds comfortable. On top of tables, on the sofa, even in the middle of a conversation."
Kurohime said nothing, but her eyes narrowed.
Razel took a deep breath and added the final piece:
"Once, months ago, I heard her murmur something while half-asleep, almost dreaming… She said: 'a black tail as dense as a forest…'"
◇◇◇
The memory struck Kurohime with the force of a physical lightning bolt.
The kingdom of Kamishiro.
The legendary country founded by an ancient creature known as the mystic fox.
The main branch, of pure silver fur, worshipped by the people as if they were living gods.
The secondary branch, the Yakumo of jet-black fur, tolerated only because they were necessary… yet despised in silence.
Her name was Yakumo Yumina Yoruka.
She was just another official of the kingdom.
And yet, every time she found an opportunity, she escaped from work and slipped into the gardens of the royal palace.
"Yukine!" she would call in a low voice to someone hidden among the bushes. "Did you escape from your lessons again?"
A little girl with fur as white as snow would poke her head out from behind a statue, laughing.
"If I do not escape, I can never see you, Yoruka nee-san. The adults always say the Yakumo should not get so close to us."
Yoruka would sit beside her under the great tree in the garden and gently ruffle her hair.
"Who cares what they say. I still come."
The people of the palace always saw them together and, laughing, called them "the reflection of the moon in the pond."
One day, while they shared sweets stolen from the kitchen, Yukine lowered her gaze, embarrassed.
"Father… officially baptized me."
Yoruka tilted her head.
"Baptized?"
"Yes. He gave me the name Yukihime," the girl whispered. "He said I am already of age to be betrothed. That this name is only given to women of the royal family when the time comes to… stop being children."
Yoruka felt an uncomfortable knot in her chest. She knew perfectly well what that name meant. She knew the fate that awaited the women of the main branch.
She remained silent for a moment. Then she smiled with a mixture of affection and rebellion.
"I see. It is a beautiful name for you. Then I will give you a name as well."
Yukine looked up, surprised by Yoruka's words.
"Huh?"
"If I am Yukihime… the princess of the snows… then you will be Kurohime. The princess of the night."
The princess of the night and the princess of the snows.
One represented the moon, and the other the darkness illuminated by its light.
Yukine touched one of Yoruka's black tails with a mischievous smile.
"And every time you see a tail as dark as a forest, you will remember that you have a sister here."
Yukine laughed and hugged her.
"Kurohime… I like it."
Yoruka said it with a smile, moved by the affection her cousin gave her.
But…
The years passed.
The contempt toward the Yakumo grew from the main branch. At the same time, the main branch was hated by them.
Until one day, Yoruka's own clan, tired of centuries of mistreatment, decided to rebel and completely eliminate the main branch.
Yoruka stood before her father, trembling with rage.
Her father looked at her with anger for interrupting him.
That night they were going to eliminate them forever.
Everything was planned.
"You cannot do this! Yukine has done nothing wrong!"
"It is necessary," her father answered in a cold voice. "If we do not cut the root, the contempt will never end."
"Then kill me instead of her! But do not lay a finger on her!"
Because of her actions, they arrested her that same night.
From her cell, Yoruka heard the chaos.
First the lights went out.
Then came the screams.
Then came the fire, and with it the end.
Yoruka had no idea what was happening outside. She could only imagine that things had not gone as they wanted.
When the soldiers of the Ideal Empire entered the burning cell, they found her chained along with others. They dragged her out.
While she was being dragged away, she saw her cousin in the distance being thrown into a cell with a guardian of the main branch.
After that, they turned her into a slave.
Years later, when she finally managed to become free, she built the casino.
And she gave it a name that only one person in the world could understand: Kuromorihime.
The secret name her cousin had given to her black tails…
when they were still two innocent little girls playing in the gardens of a palace that no longer existed.
◇◇◇
Kurohime was breathing agitatedly. Her eyes, normally arrogant and distant, were now open and vulnerable. The nine tails trembled slightly in Razel's hands.
"Is it true… that Yukine is safe?" she asked in a low voice, almost fearing the answer.
Razel held her gaze without looking away.
"I do not know the name Yukine," he answered with complete honesty. "She only calls herself Yukihime. And she hates talking about her past. Every time someone tries to ask her, she falls silent or changes the subject."
Kurohime pressed her lips together.
"Then… how is she?"
"She is well," Razel said calmly. "She eats everything she wants. She sleeps wherever she pleases, even on top of the tables if she feels like it. She lives peacefully and safely in my house. No one forces her to do anything she does not want."
There was a second of silence. Kurohime lowered her gaze a little.
"And… the homeland?"
Razel nodded slowly.
"I swore to her some time ago that one day I would help her rebuild her home. I do not know when I will be able to fulfill it… but I do not intend to forget that promise."
Kurohime closed her eyes tightly. One part of her refused with tooth and nail to believe the words of a human. Another part, deeper and more desperate, wanted to cling to them like a lifeline.
"I do not trust humans, except for Mikoto," she murmured. "I never have."
"I know," Razel replied. "That is why I am not asking you to trust me right now. I only ask that you verify the information for yourself."
He cleared his throat.
"I am an official citizen of the Arklight Empire. If you have any kind of contact, any information network… ask for the name Razel Bartlet."
Mikoto, still partially dazed by the blue flames, raised herself a little from the floor and murmured in a hoarse voice:
"That surname… Some time ago a drunk customer would not stop talking about someone with that name. He said the man had single-handedly defeated a strange black metal flying ship in Imperial territory…"
Razel nodded without completely releasing the tails.
"That was me."
Kurohime looked at him for a long time. She weighed every word, every gesture, every breath. The silence stretched so long that only the wind entering through the broken window could be heard.
Finally, she spoke in a hoarse, weary voice:
"Let go of me."
Razel did not move immediately.
"Are you going to keep trying to kill me?"
"No," she answered after a second.
"We need to talk calmly."
Razel slowly eased the pressure on her tails and released them completely. Kurohime gathered her fur with dignity, though she still appeared shaken.
It was then that Razel noticed Oz watching him from the ventilation duct. The boy had a clearly betrayed and disappointed expression.
"I knew you were a liar…" Oz whispered.
Razel fell silent.
(Shit!)
(I had completely forgotten the boy was there.)
◇◇◇
In the dense shadows of a side corridor of the casino, barely lit by a flickering paper lantern, three figures remained motionless.
They wore white fox masks with red markings that completely covered their faces. Their dark clothing blended into the dimness.
For several minutes they exchanged not a single unnecessary word. They only checked their weapons, adjusted their gloves, and confirmed that the exits were clear.
Finally, one of them — the one of slighter build — spoke in a barely audible whisper:
"It is time."
The other two nodded. They moved with the practice of those who had done this kind of work too many times. They were about to leave the corridor to fulfill the contract paid by Figaro: to eliminate once and for all Cyrus, the former prime minister, while the chaos of the casino provided them cover.
They did not manage to take the first step.
Two presences emerged from the deepest shadows of the corridor, as if they had always been waiting there.
There was no sound of footsteps or warning. Only the sudden sensation of danger. They were members of the Phantom Troop. One of them raised a gloved hand and spoke with a voice distorted by the mask covering his face:
"There are rats sniffing where they should not."
Before the three masked figures could react, the two intruders launched themselves toward the main hall, where Gilbert and Zack were still seated, unaware of what was coming for them.
The night inside Casino Kuromorihime had only just truly begun.
__________________
The fanservice is for Mikoto.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/12005991