I was in.
The training hall stretched wide and low, lit by harsh white lights that flattened everything beneath them. Bodies moved everywhere—girls and boys sparring, fists cracking into pads, boots scraping against concrete, the air thick with sweat and discipline. No laughter. No hesitation. Everyone here moved like they had already learned the cost of being slow.
I stood still, watching.
This place didn't feel like a base.
It felt like a machine.
A small boy approached me from the side, quiet as a shadow. His eyes were pale—too pale for someone his age, as if he'd seen things that bleached the color right out of him.
"Name?" he asked flatly.
"Selena," I replied.
He tilted his head. "Sell?"
"Yeah."
No reaction. Just a nod, as if names didn't matter here—only function.
He took my hand without asking and started walking. His grip was firm, almost practiced. We passed more doors, more people who didn't look twice at me. That was worse than being stared at.
We stopped at a door near the end of the corridor.
Knock.
Silence.
Knock again.
"Come."
The boy opened the door.
Inside, a man sat on the edge of a neatly made bed, a book resting casually in his hands. He looked up slowly.
David had sharp features softened by something unreadable—kindness, maybe, or exhaustion. His hair was dark and slightly messy, like he didn't bother fixing it unless someone made him. His eyes were warm brown, alert but not aggressive, the kind that noticed everything without announcing it. There were scars on his knuckles. Old ones. Clean ones.
The boy poked my arm and pointed to a single sofa by the window.
I sat.
The man closed his book.
"David," he said cheerfully. "Member of Security Capo. Assassin. Codename: Dove."
I blinked once. Then smiled.
"Nice name. Selena. New member of Security Capo. Private militia. Codename—Sell."
He laughed softly. "Hell really does give people creative names."
Then, more casually, "Sir Marco's out. Meeting with the higher-ups. He'll be back by eleven."
I checked my phone.
9:00 PM.
The city outside the window glowed—lights stacked on lights, beauty pretending it didn't know what fed it.
"David," I said, deadpan, "where's my room?"
He stared at me for a second.
Then laughed.
"Your room?" He gestured behind him. "This is our room. Bunk bed. I take the bottom. You get the top. No private rooms here, Selena."
"....Of course." I muttered.
"And the kid?" I asked, glancing back.
David smiled and ruffled the boy's hair. "Sir Marco's younger brother. Yuri. Eleven."
Yuri didn't look up from his handheld game.
Two Yuris in my life now. Fantastic. The universe had jokes.
We will calm our Yuri: yurian from now on!
"I'm exhausted," I said. "Wake me when the Captain's back."
"Sweet dreams," David replied.
I slept.
Unfortunately.
---
The dream wasn't loud. It never was.
The headquarters twisted into something wrong—walls breathing, chandeliers dripping light like bloodless wounds. I wasn't armed. I wasn't even myself. My pockets were stuffed with paper—evidence. Names. Numbers. Photos. Each step made them heavier, like guilt soaking into ink.
Then I heard him.
Jack stood at the end of the hall, back turned, his suit stitched together with red thread, rushed and uneven. He spoke to someone I couldn't see.
I tried to shout.
Nothing came out.
Doors opened and closed around me, each revealing the same thing: an empty chair, a ticking watch, a glass of water slowly turning cloudy.
Time was rotting.
Jack finally turned—but his face was smeared, blurred like wet ink. He handed me a lighter.
It didn't work.
He smiled anyway.
The EXIT sign rearranged itself into something meaningless. Chains hung over the door—thin, fragile, begging to be broken.
When I looked back, Jack was seated, calmly folding paper cranes from the evidence in my pockets. Each one perfect. Each one staining his fingers darker.
"Take only what you can carry," he said, without moving his mouth.
Smoke filled the room. No fire. Just smoke.
I smelled iron.
Rain.
The city after something terrible had already happened.
I ran.
Behind me—
Click.
I woke up before the flame.
My hands were empty.
---
"Selena."
David shook my shoulder gently. "The leader's back."
I sat up, heart pounding, reality rushing in too fast.
After changing, I stepped out and found Yuri waiting. I patted his head.
"Hi, Yuri-chan."
He blushed. Adorable. Dangerous place for a child to be adorable.
He took my hand again and led me through guarded doors into a large dining room.
I bowed. "Selena. Private militia."
"Oh, don't be formal," Marco said warmly.
I looked up—
And froze.
White-grey hair like moon frost, tied loosely back. Sky-blue eyes calm enough to feel unreal. He looked like something pulled out of a beautifully animated tragedy.
"Are you… anime?" I blurted.
Marco choked on his tea.
David yelled, "HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS TO YOUR CAPTAIN?!"
Yuri sat on the table.
Dinner somehow continued.
And then they started sigh.
Marco cleared his throat. "Alright," he said, "The chairman and all division capos met today."
David froze mid-bite.
"What did the chairman say?" David asked.
Marco rested his elbows on the table.
"Dock operations are under review. Chairman wants tighter control, no freelance moves, and—" he glanced straight at David and I did too."—no creative interpretation of orders."
"That was one time," David protested. "And it worked."
"It worked because I covered for you," Marco snapped. "Again."
I continued eating, eyes flicking between them like I was watching live entertainment (I WAS!)
David scoffed. "You act like you didn't agree with me."
"I agreed after you already did it," Marco shot back. "That's called damage control."
"Oh, so now you admit you trust my judgement?"
"I trust that you'll survive just long enough for me to fix things."
They leaned closer without realizing it, voices lowering, tension sharp but weirdly familiar.
"You always assume the worst of me," David muttered.
"And you always prove me right," Marco replied.
Then Marco reminded David to eat, Yuri and I stopped chewing at the same time.
"Old married couple," I said.
"Gay," Yuri added.
Silence detonated.
Marco chocked, "What?"
David stared. "Excuse me?"
Yuri shrugged. "Leader yelling at his member, then feeding him and remembering his eating habits? Yeah. Definitely. Gay.
I decided I loved this child.
"This is a meeting." Marco snapped.
Yuri picked his fork back up, "Sure. Should I and Sell leave you both alone or..?"
Both of them spoke at first. "NO."
Yuri smirked, "Relax. I'll pretend I didn't see this."
I looked at David who looked at me in shock.
I gave him thumbs-up.
"Same!" I said smiling creepily.
"Not you ALSO Selena!" he shouted.
Ow, my ears.
Later, Marco spoke again.
"Suzu," he said, smiling at me.
"Me?"
"Suzu suits you. Suzuki. And I want you as vice-captain."
David choked.
"OF COURSE," he said instantly.
I agreed.
"So there's going to be a meeting of division capos after one day. Get ready. Make sure be sweet with them. Understand both of you?" Marco said looking at us suspiciously.
"Of course!" I said as I slapped David's head. He yelped. Hehe.
"And Suzu, from now on whoever asks what's your name is tell them it's Suzuki not Selena."
"Yes! Darling!" I said joking.
Marco chocked.
Now I was going to my room with David.
"David. Why did Marco polo- I mean Marco said us to be sweet and kind with them?" I asked him.
"Well, it's because only our division is sweet and kind." he replied.
"Actually, when I joined this division 3 months ago, other divisions bullied Capt., because they said he is such a girl being sweet and etc, so yeah they bullied him and Marco let them do it because he wouldn't lay his hand on his colleagues tsk. And then I started breaking rules, scared them, then yeah they stopped 2 months ago. And they love to bully whenever they see a new person joining the clan, so be careful Suzu." he added.
"Oh, don't worry about me Dove, it's just how dare they lay a hand on our Marco!" I shouted.
David got startled and laughed."You are a weirdo, y'know Suzu."
"Duh 🙄 " I replied.
"Nice huh? My foot." I said.
That night, lying awake on the top bunk, staring at the ceiling, And thought, How? How can the world be so cruel? Sigh.
I was here on a mission.
To gather evidence.
To burn the truth out of monsters.
But I won't let anything happen to Yuri, Marco, or David—
I'll protect them until I die.
It was morning now,
And—
They gave us the docks.
By morning, the Finance Division's vice-captain was dead.
No note. No witnesses.
Only one thing was certain: someone wanted blood, and I had just stepped into the storm.