The dining room was carved out of old aristocracy.
Crimson wallpaper lined the walls, lit by a hanging chandelier that glimmered like it hadn't been dusted in decades but somehow still shone. The long table, carved from what must have been some ancient dark oak, was absurdly large—ten seats long—but only 3 were occupied. Silverware gleamed unnaturally under the lights, their shine polished to excess. Every plate, every glass, every fork felt like it had been laid out for a royal banquet that forgot to invite the actual nobility.
Konstantin leaned back in his chair, cutting lazily into his steak with practiced grace. His eyes, always half-lidded with disinterest, sparkled faintly with the thrill of manipulation.
"So, how is that project coming along?" he asked, his voice silk-wrapped and slow. "It must not be easy, trying to fix and use what's already broken. But I suppose succeeding in something everyone else has given up on... would be quite an impressive feat."
It was the kind of sentence that held a compliment in its teeth while slowly bleeding it out with a hidden knife. Kai, of course, didn't blink.
"I'm still tweaking the blueprint," Kai replied, his voice smooth like varnish over rot. He raised a wine glass and took a measured sip, the red liquid catching the candlelight like blood.
"Ah yes," Konstantin said, spearing a piece of steak and swirling it in the sauce on his plate. "The blueprint did originally take quite a long time, didn't it? That's what makes it all the more valuable, I suppose. But the things you devote a lot of time and effort into never disappoint you."
Kai's lips twitched into a smile—too small, too perfect. His eyes didn't smile with him. They were watching Konstantin like a cat watches a bird it's already decided to eat later.
Rin stepped into the room.
Immediately, Kai's performance changed.
He cut himself off mid-sentence and looked away, as if bored. He shifted his posture slightly, elbows on the table now, shoulders relaxed, pretending to be someone who didn't have fangs tucked behind his lips.
Rin noted the shift instantly.
"So. He found nothing in the study."
It was a quiet calculation. Rin's gaze flicked down toward Kai's plate—his knife now moving aimlessly, slicing his steak in thin, meaningless strips. He was signaling him. No words. No gestures. Just nothing found.
"Mr. Satoru, come sit beside me," Konstantin called, patting the empty chair to his left like it was an invitation rather than a trap.
"Just the three of them... Konstantin, Kai, and Takeda. This is my first time seeing Takeda officially in person. He hasn't said a word yet."
Rin moved toward the chair silently and sat down, his posture perfectly formal, his hands folded on his lap. He made sure to keep his breathing steady and his expression cool. His eyes, however, didn't leave Kai for even a second.
Kai looked calm—eating his meal like he was born at this table. But there was something too slow, too deliberate in the way he moved his knife. Too measured in the way he chewed. His charm was wearing thin. He was bracing for something.
Takeda stood up.
His chair scraped loudly against the hardwood floor—sharp, harsh, loud in a room full of quiet elegance. He didn't say much. Just a single, restrained:
"Excuse me."
But the way he said it—flat, cold—carried weight.
His eyes darted toward Kai with something dangerous in them. Not the restrained disdain of polite society. No. That was a warning glare. That was a you've crossed the line glare.
Rin caught it.
"That look... has Kai been found out?"
He stared hard at Kai, whose eyes didn't flicker, didn't shift. He continued slicing, continued smiling, continued sipping wine like the house wasn't inches from burning down.
"Either he's bluffing through it… or he already has a contingency. Probably both."
Kai leaned back slightly, swirled his wine around in the glass as if he hadn't just been glaring death from across the table moments earlier.
"Don't worry about him," Konstantin said casually, waving his hand like Takeda hadn't just threatened to stab someone with a steak knife using only his eyes. "He's staying here as a guest for a little while."
Rin smiled slightly but didn't respond.
Konstantin leaned in slightly, his silver fork twirling idly in his fingers like a bored nobleman toying with a dagger.
"So, Mr. Satoru," he began, voice oozing civility with just a bit too much sugar, "is the hacking program you told me about being used commercially in Japan and the U.S.?"
There it was. Not even subtle. The test.
Rin's lashes lowered slightly. A provocation? A bait? No... a power probe.
He set down his knife calmly, dabbed his lips with the napkin, then said in a perfectly even tone, "We'd like to refrain from disclosing any information that isn't directly relevant to the weapon."
A half-smile curved on Konstantin's lips. "Why, of course. Excuse my thoughtlessness. I imagine you'd lose your appetite if we rashly discussed our deal in the middle of dinner."
You're not sorry, Rin thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. You're just circling like a wolf trying to see where the blood is.
But Konstantin's eyes didn't leave Rin. They lingered—just a beat too long. It wasn't subtle anymore. He wasn't hiding the way his gaze slowly dipped from Rin's face to his collarbones, his throat, his arms.
Disgusting, Rin thought, skin crawling under the heat of it.
"Then what should we talk about?" Konstantin asked, his tone falsely playful. "May I ask what your hobby is? What are you interested in?"
That wasn't curiosity.
That was a hand sliding beneath the table.
Rin stiffened slightly, just for a second. "Uh—" he began, trying to formulate something neutral.
His eyes darted to Kai, still lounging beside his wine glass, swirling the last of the red liquid with leisurely interest. Watching everything unfold like it was a private comedy.
That asshole. He's enjoying this.
Rin shot him a hard glare that said DO something.
But Kai only smiled lazily, like a cat watching a mouse squirm. Then, he stood.
"I'll excuse myself now," Kai said, tone light and falsely polite. "I'm tired after the long trip. Please, continue your conversation."
His grin was shark-like as he left the room without a single glance back.
Coward. Rin's jaw tensed.
Alone now with Konstantin, Rin shifted slightly in his seat—subtle, composed, putting a few more centimeters between them.
That was all the invitation Konstantin needed to lean in.
"So," he murmured, dropping the fake pretense of casualness. "Are you married? I doubt a handsome alpha like you is single."
The air in the room thickened like old honey. Rin's eye twitched. What the fuck did he just say to me?
"…Mhm. What did you say?" Rin asked, tone low, playing dumb—giving him one last chance to walk it back.
"I said," Konstantin repeated, his voice soft and grossly sincere, "are you married?"
Rin smiled, eyes gleaming with razor-sharp irony. "Will my relationship status dictate whether or not you buy our product?"
Konstantin smirked, drunk off his own arrogance. "Well, it certainly could."
And then—he reached.
Slipped his hand past Rin's collar and into his shirt.
The chill that raced up Rin's spine was instant and vicious. Every nerve in his body screamed to break something, but he only moved fast enough to be clear: he was done.
Rin sprang to his feet, chair scraping loudly behind him. His smile returned—but it was tight and cold.
"Excuse me," he said with a laugh that was all teeth, "but I'm very tired."
And without waiting for permission, he turned on his heel and walked out.
Konstantin sat there, hand retreating slowly to his own lap like it hadn't just crossed five lines too many. His face twisted into something between disappointment and entitlement.
"But... dessert…" he muttered softly to no one, sighing like a man whose favorite toy had been taken away.
The door clicked shut behind Rin, but the moment he stepped into his room, he stopped cold.
There was Kai—sprawled out lazily across Rin's bed like he owned it, ankles crossed, arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling like he was watching clouds drift across a summer sky. He hadn't even bothered to make himself look like he wasn't intruding. No warning. No knocking. No shame.
When the hell did he get in here? Rin thought, narrowing his eyes.
The calmness of Kai's posture grated against Rin's already-worn patience. After everything that had happened downstairs—after Konstantin's invasive hands, the suffocating pressure, the pretend dinner—it was like walking straight into another landmine.
"So, how did it go?" Rin asked, trying to sound composed. He walked past Kai, toward the nightstand, peeling off his gloves with slow, precise motions.
Kai turned his head lazily, his eyes glinting. "How did what go?"
Don't play dumb with me, Rin thought, but kept his voice steady. "Your search. You said you were going to check the study."
"Oh, that," Kai said, stretching his arms with a yawn that felt exaggerated. "Yeah. I checked it out. They had double—maybe even triple—the security in that place, so naturally I got a little curious. But to my disappointment, there was only a safe. And inside? Just gold, some cash, boring old documents. That's it."
Rin exhaled through his nose, rubbing the bridge of it with a thumb and forefinger. "So it wasn't there either…"
The pressure was mounting. Slowly, but heavily. The walls were beginning to close in.
That leaves two options, Rin thought, going into tactical mode. The attic in the spire… or Konstantin's bedroom. If we don't find traces of Scythe-9 in either of those places, this whole mission will be deemed a failure. And both of those locations…
He clicked his tongue. Both are fucking nightmares to get into.
"The vents might work for the spire," Rin muttered aloud, mostly thinking to himself now. "But they get narrower the higher you go—it'll be impossible to make it all the way through. And as for Konstantin's room…"
He trailed off, clenching his jaw.
Kai sat up, eyes gleaming with unspoken mischief. Rin could feel it.
"Why don't we just capture the old man and beat his ass until he talks?" Rin said suddenly, arms crossed, half-serious but tempted.
Kai gave a soft chuckle, leaning back again with his arms behind his head. "Tempting. But I'd rather avoid getting riddled with holes by a dozen trained guards. We don't even have an exact count on how many there are."
Rin was already pacing. We're running out of time. We can't leave here empty-handed. We need to pull something drastic, but smart. Something he won't see coming…
Kai suddenly sat up straighter, and the playfulness in his expression dulled, replaced with something colder. Calculated.
"Sometimes," he said, "a gentle approach is stronger than using guns or knives."
Rin paused mid-step. What is that supposed to mean?
"A gentle approach?" Rin asked, arching a brow. "You saying we should seduce him or something?"
Kai didn't reply. Just tilted his head and smiled.
Rin laughed, dry and bitter. "That old man is crazy about sex, but even if we did consider that disgusting route, where the hell would we even get an omega to seduce him—?"
Then Kai's eyes locked onto his.
He didn't have to say a word. Rin saw it in his expression instantly.
No. Rin's face went blank.
"What?" he asked slowly, cautiously.
Kai stood, stepping toward him, every move deliberate. His height shadowed Rin as he leaned in, lips brushing near Rin's ear.
"There's no need for an omega," Kai murmured, voice low and teasing. "According to some... scandalous rumors, Konstantin likes alphas."
Rin's pulse skipped. His whole body tensed.
Kai pulled back just enough to meet Rin's eyes, his smirk widening. "And on top of that…" he paused, scanning Rin's face, then his chest, "he likes them tanned."
It took a second to click.
"Huh?" Rin said, frozen.
Kai didn't blink. "I noticed how he was undressing you with his eyes."
There was a heavy pause. Rin stared at Kai like he'd grown a second head.
"…No. No. HELL no," Rin said, shoving Kai back a step, physically repulsed. "Ain't no way I'm letting that old hag lay a single hand on me. Don't say that crazy-ass shit! I'm not in the mood for your manipulative bullshit tonight."
Kai just tilted his head, unbothered, unphased. "Don't shoot the idea down right away," he said coolly, voice slow and smooth like a salesman laying the final hook. "Just think about it. You could get inside Konstantin's bedroom without raising a single alarm. Who knows? He might become completely intoxicated by you and end up spilling all his secrets about Scythe-9 on his own. All you'd need to do is let him escort you in."
Rin's stomach twisted.
Escort me in? So he can grope me, pressure me, use me? No fucking way.
"Well, I'm just saying... after that, you can beat his ass, fuck his ass, whatever you want. It'll just be you two in there. What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom. Right?" Kai's voice was smooth, laced with amusement, as if this were all some entertaining game.
Rin's fingers twitched at his sides, his mind seething. Easy for him to say... I doubt he would want to do anything with a grandpa who kept groping my hands... Ugh. Pervs everywhere I go. The memory of the older man's clammy fingers brushing against his skin made his stomach churn with disgust. He wasn't some plaything to be passed around, and the fact that Kai even suggested it—
"Stop pressuring me to do some bullshit. I ain't no male gigolo," Rin snapped, his voice low and sharp, like the edge of a blade.
Kai's smirk only widened, unfazed. "Do you think I'm suggesting it just for the hell of it?" With a flick of his wrist, he tossed a small device toward Rin, who caught it on reflex.
A GPS tracker. Rin turned it over in his palm, his frown deepening. When the hell did he even plant this on him?
"Now, who could that be, standing around in front of your room right now?" Kai mused, tilting his head as if genuinely curious.
Rin's grip tightened around the tracker before he flung it onto the bed with a scoff. "Still not doing that shit."
Kai's expression shifted, something darker flickering beneath his playful demeanor. In an instant, he closed the distance between them, backing Rin against the wall with deliberate, predatory grace. Rin's spine hit the surface with a quiet thud, but he didn't flinch, his glare unwavering.
"You know something," Kai murmured, looming over him, his voice dropping to a dangerous purr. "The more rivals a male animal faces, the more determined he becomes to win over the female."
Rin's brows knitted together. "Huh?"
Kai's smirk turned wolfish. "After all, a mate that many desire is one that's highly prized."
Before Rin could shove him away, a knock echoed through the room—firm, polite.
"Mr. Satoru, are you asleep?" Konstantin's voice carried through the door.
"No," Rin answered automatically, shifting to move past Kai. But in a flash, Kai's hand shot out, gripping Rin's wrist and yanking him back. Rin barely had time to react before Kai's other hand moved downward, fingers brushing against the zip of Rin's pants.
What the hell—HELL NO.
Rin's body moved before his mind fully processed the violation. His knee jerked up in a brutal, precise strike, slamming directly between Kai's legs.
"Ughh—! What the fuck, Rin?!" Kai doubled over, his face contorting in pain as he clutched himself, his earlier confidence shattered into ragged breaths.
Rin stepped back, his chest rising and falling with controlled fury. "Don't you ever try that shit again. Next time it wont be my knee. I'll personally twist your balls until they pop," he growled, his voice icy, leaving no room for argument.
Kai grimaced, but even through the pain, a twisted grin tugged at his lips. "Feisty... I like that."