After sending that walking calamity Freya away, Loki finally let out a breath.
"Come out."
Tsuna slipped from the pocket of another dimension.
"Well? Your read on that woman?"
"Loki-sama was completely led by her nose."
"No kidding! That one's far more troublesome than she looks—annoying to deal with, and her mind's a nest of schemes."
A few muttered curses seemed to ease Loki's shoulders. Only when Freya sat across from you did you really feel how vexing she was.
"She's an absolute pest," Loki said. "Thick-skinned patience, a knack for striking at the soft spot in your heart… and sometimes—even knowing she's moving against you—you can't quite bring yourself to hate the move."
"Also? Completely, spectacularly willful."
Tsuna could only agree. "Refusing a meeting was the right call. With a goddess like Freya, curiosity alone can drive her to do the unimaginable."
"The curiosity of gods is deadly," Loki nodded, grim. "Especially a goddess who can see a soul's essence. One look, and you become prey."
"But as long as it stays at ordinary curiosity, we're fine. That woman has more curiosities than stars; she won't miss this one if it doesn't flare."
Loki knew the line by hard experience. She'd watched children get dragged into Freya Familia once those silver eyes truly lit. It had been amusing—until the 'child' at risk was her own.
"So," Loki said, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, "be careful when you go out. If there's no need, send a puppet. Until you've grown, avoid Freya face-to-face. Too many ways that can go wrong."
She had no idea what Freya's sight would glean—and Loki wasn't about to gamble on "probably nothing."
"Loki's got me on a tight leash," Freya sighed back at her quarters.
With most people she might resort to… methods. With Loki? Harder. Orario couldn't withstand a civil war between their Familias. If they fought, everyone lost. Starting a war with Loki over an unverified child? Even Freya wasn't that willful.
"If we could confirm the child's soul," she murmured, "perhaps then." Until that day, restraint.
"Shall I seize him?" the Black Tower rumbled behind her.
"I'm not the sort to kidnap on a whim, Ottar," Freya shot back over her shoulder. She wasn't Apollo. She preferred to let children gather to her—and wanted their willingness, not chains. Using a child to honey-trap Loki's child, just to pry out intel? Crude. Roundabout. Why not simply ask?
"Forget Loki for now," she said at last. "With her brooding over a chick like that, prying is more pain than payoff. Keep pushing and even Uranus might call me in. Not with the Dungeon in abnormal flux and the dark Factions stirring. The city can't afford our quarrel."
On that point, Loki had judged her perfectly: keep Freya's curiosity from ascending and everything stayed manageable. Of course, even "only curiosity" was a handful. Hide too much and it hindered growth. Only Tsuna could truly ignore the goddess's gaze—by never being where eyes could find him.
Send out a puppet, and no matter who spied, nothing changed. Unless a god could pierce the extra dimension itself, they'd never glimpse Tsuna.
They could not.
So this time, Freya came in high spirits and left empty-handed.
Meanwhile, the Loki Familia's collective push rolled on—better than expected. The twenty in the pilot were grinding with everything they had: half a day inside the training space, half a day in rest. The space gnawed at minds if used too long, but everyone held the line.
A week passed quickly.
The first—and only—pilot wrapped.
At nightfall, the entire Familia gathered in the dining hall, just as promised a week ago. Finn took the stage, looking over comrades bristling with nerves and hope.
"Then," he said, "let's update the numbers."
(End of Chapter)
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