Conventional Universe

"Release..." The arm clenched its grip.

Beneath its brittle, flaky surface was the strength of the Beyond. A tiny fraction of it.

Sottocapo Kalo let out a caw.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any more interesting."

The Sottocapo grinned as the fingers dug into his wrist. This grip strength would have given him some real trouble back when he was a Capo.

A feat all the more impressive considering the hellish circumstances the Capos of back then were exposed to.

Certainly, the arm's raw strength was superior to his current Capo, Boris.

The man raised his other hand to his face. His chest began to tremble with laughter.

The small Fragment continued, unwavering.

"Her..."

Release her, it said.

Kalo didn't mind. The woman's stock value in his eyes skyrocketed, so it would be best if she survived.

Sayako's body crumpled to the ground. Within an instant, color returned to her face. Copious amounts of stagnant blood and black tar streamed from her mouth and ears. Along with the sludge came the remnants of her wounds.

A quarter of the arm's eyes fluttered with exhaustion before closing themselves once again. A small price for survival.

The Sottocapo crouched down, meeting the gaze of the arm-imbedded eyes. Despite the unsettling atmosphere, the man did not look worried at all.

He was having the most fun in a while. Ever since that Chimère Office showed up- No, ever since those two Fixers appeared, all sorts of amusements had graced him.

For a man suffering from chronic apathy, even just a spark of interest was euphoria.

"I never knew the Marionette had such curious powers. I never thought that a central Section would have access to Ruinous aberrations."

The Sottocapo knew these powers. The arm radiated sheer, concentrated chaos. Despair and pain of its host fed it.

It was made of emotions, condensed into physical form.

"..." The previously comprehensible whispers devolved into a series of crackles and pops.

The lights turned on once again, leaving the remaining Kurokumo clansmen wide-eyed and shocked.

Still, the yellow eyes scanned the room, intelligently aware.

Listening.

"Talk to me, creature. I know your kind. You have a name; what is it?"

"Fragment... Universe..." A faint voice replied.

The Sottocapo didn't make any outward reaction.

"Fragment Universe? I've never heard of that one."

"You... Power..."

Kalo smirked, running the tips of his fingers along the honeycombed skin of eyes.

"You can tell? Well, that's to be expected. I'll let your host live, for one request."

Half of the eyes blinked, almost like a nod.

The Sottocapo stood up, snapping his fingers.

"Boris, give me a tracker."

A syringe was placed in the man's hand. A liquid tracker, which Kalo injected into the limp body below him, into the woman's brain.

"Will... Regret..."

The Sottocapo twisted into a grin.

"No one," his eyes flashed with gold, "tells a soul about this tracker, understand? Even this woman."

Malice filled the room, curdling the blood seeped into the floor.

The Patriarch nodded, his breath crushed from his lungs by the chilling pressure.

"Now for my leave. Don't disappoint me. Especially you." The man eyed the Fragment of the Universe as he slid the door behind him.

Boris let out a pent up breath. That exchange made even him slightly nervous, let alone the Kurokumo. He glanced at the disheveled body lying on the floor. Two of the eyes on her arm were still open. Permanently, it seemed.

Sayako muttered, her eyelids pinching tight. The room was silent as she mewed with pain.

She suddenly bolted to her feet. Her hand drifted to her neck.

"I-I'm, I'm alive?"

She looked around the room, but the Sottocapo was gone.

"Yes, Dark Cloud Blade. Cover your arm. I will impart the address of your clan's target."

Sayako flinched, hurriedly pulling on her leather glove. In her rush, she did not notice the husk's fingers now moving to her will, nor the two eyes that stared at her, two tiny circles in her palm.

Strangely, the trauma inflicted onto her seemed to have affected her memories as well. Perhaps the lack of blood to her brain permanently altered the structure of her synapses.

In any case, she was fully attentive to the topic at hand.

Seeing as the Kurokumo were prepared, Boris spared no time revealing Asher's address.

Sayako nearly gasped as the location was revealed; that place was where she and Sophie met frequently as well.

'No way, do they live together?? So all that pain-' She shivered as a phantom agony clawed her throat shut.

"He lives with a civilian resident, too. Her name is Mei. The connection between the two is very intimate, so don't hesitate to use it to your advantage."

Boris smirked. There were many experts of torture here.

This was the Kurokumo, after all.

He eyed the Dark Cloud Blade, the greatest example out of all the Dons.

The Capo frowned as Sayako looked more frightened than anything. The stricken expression on her face annoyed him.

Just what was so special about that boy?

He scoffed, turning to leave.

"Whatever. Plan what's necessary. Just don't disappoint the Sottocapo."

As the Capo stepped away, the Patriarch stumbled to his feet, a shaky whisper forming on his lips.

"...Clean up the blood. Dons, follow me. We must be decisive."

A war plan.

But-

"Not you, Sayako." The Patriarch and the other Dons looked at her strangely as she moved toward them.

After everything they saw, the Fragment, the whispers, the tracker, it was impossible for their impressions of her not to change.

Sayako flinched as their gazes contained a strange unfamiliarity to them, as if all the years of her loyal servitude toward the Kurokumo Clan had vanished.

The woman didn't let her shock reveal in her expression. She smiled, committing her body to a deep bow.

"Then I shall take my leave." No one rejected her request.

She could feel their gazes digging into her back as she walked away. Her left arm had been fully revealed; it was only natural that she was treated with disgust now.

But wasn't this a blessing in disguise?

She had to warn Sophie.

Her clan was coming for blood.

...

*Knock Knock*

Sayako knocked on the door to Mei's apartment. Or Asher's. Or Sophie's. Whatever the relationship between the three were, this was the place where half of the Fixers of Chimère Office lived.

Sophie and Asher, she wondered who would greet her.

A sliver of light passed through a peephole as a board was removed behind the door. An ordinary civilian might not have noticed the minute change in peephole's glass, but Sayako was no civilian.

She waited patiently as her appearance was scanned by the presence on the other side.

The board quietly covered the peephole once again.

Sayako raised her eyebrow. If she was an ordinary civilian, she might have believed that there was no one home at the moment.

Again, her identity did not allow for such generalizations.

She knocked again, clearing her throat. Considering the three people who lived here...

"You must be Mei, correct? I came here to warn Asher and Sophie of a dangerous matter. I mean no harm."

The silence behind the doorway stiffened.

Still, Mei made no movement to open the door.

Sayako's lip twitched. The worst time for rational decisions was now.

She knocked on the door harder, almost slamming her fist onto the wood.

"There is no time to waste! Their lives are in danger, open the door!"

Suddenly, she heard shuffling footsteps behind the door.

Then urgent whispers, followed by a scream.

"S-Sophie, she has a sword-!" Mei's voice was filled with desperation, pulling the girl away from the handle.

The door opened. Mei took a faltering step away from the doorway as Sophie crossed her arms, placing herself between Sayako and the apartment within.

"Danger, you say?" Sophie turned back to Mei. "Don't worry, she's a friend. A friend who cradles a sword in her arms at all times."

Sayako sheepishly hid her blade behind her back. She nodded her head, returning to the topic.

"Yes, Asher is in danger."

Sophie closed her eyes, linking with her master's soul. "How so?"

"The Stray Dogs have been removed from service. The Sottocapo has set my clan to hunt you two, especially Asher. They have this address. They will come soon."

Mei let out a squeak. Stray Dogs, Kurokumo, Sottocapo? Just what was going on?

Sophie brought her hand to her face, pinching the bridge of her nose. So much trouble, all for what? Killing her master once again?

"Thanks for telling me. Wait here. It would be better to discuss this in person."

As an afterthought, Sophie brought out her phone, notifying Pete, Mangchi, and Aiko as well.

In less than an hour, the whole group was together. The seven confidantes met on the roof, as usual.

Mei, Asher, Sophie, Pete, Aiko, Mangchi, and Sayako.

Rays of dusk lit the gravel below their feet.

"What should we do?" Asher began.