"What did you just say?"
Number 11, who had been holding her guard, froze the instant Geno's words reached her.
Her sisters? Of course she hadn't forgotten them. How could she ever forget?
She remembered running with them through the light of a dying sun — that golden, irretrievable youth that now belonged only to the past. Fate had not been kind. In the end, only she remained.
Hearing those words from Geno's mouth, of all people, stirred something impossibly complicated inside her.
And then there was the name itself. The name Harin — very few people knew it. Outside of her sisters, it was only a handful of researchers who'd ever been privy to it.
"What are you implying? How do you know anything about me?"
"Naturally, Miss Harin — your sisters and I go way back."
Over a year of living together, and a particularly close bond formed with one of them in particular. Way back felt like an understatement, honestly.
Standing before the last surviving member of the Silver forces, Geno found himself thinking that he was this close to completing the full set.
"Way back? Don't you dare feed me that nonsense! They died in battle — every single one of them! I will not stand by while someone uses their names to run some kind of con!"
She didn't wait for a response. Number 11 raised her flame blade and charged.
Geno's words weren't wrong, exactly — but for someone who had been kept in the dark about nearly everything by the military, they landed like salt ground directly into an open wound.
Seeing Number 11's reaction go sideways, Geno startled — then scrambled to bring his weapon up in time to block the strike, so fast that even Hellfire and the others nearby barely had a chance to react.
"Number 11! What do you think you're doing?! Stand down — that is an order!"
Hellfire was furious. What on earth was happening today? First one, then another — nobody was listening! This entire squad was a collection of problem children!
"My apologies, Captain! I'll write a formal reflection report when we're back!"
Number 11 pressed the attack, trading blows with Geno. Her eyes burned with equal parts rage and grief.
As far as she was concerned, there was only one way Geno could have learned her name — from the traitor, Anby.
Everyone who knew her knew that Number 11 harbored a deep-seated animosity toward Anby, born of certain misunderstandings. And yet, buried beneath all that resentment, she still cared. She always had.
The moment Geno had spoken her name, it confirmed one thing: he had met Anby. No matter how she looked at it, Geno had some kind of connection to her — even if he wasn't an ally, he certainly shouldn't be an enemy.
And yet, to Geno's complete bewilderment, this particular girl — whose thought process operated on its own entirely unique wavelength — appeared to have arrived at a very different conclusion.
"Eat this!"
"Hah?!"
Geno stared, dumbfounded. How in the world had she gotten there from that?
The normal response would have been to ask about his relationship with Twiggy and the others — where they were, whether they were safe. That was the logical next step.
Leading with a sword slash was not. Did she think he was some kind of bargain-bin punching bag?
In fairness, this was Geno's own assumption biting him back. After spending over a year around the Silver Squad, he'd grown completely accustomed to their sharp, perceptive natures — and somewhere along the way, he'd taken it as a given that all of them operated that way.
After all, how dense could anyone be, compared to Number 9?
Turns out: very.
Even Number 9 knew to ask questions before throwing punches. Number 11 made no such promises.
For her, the order of operations was simple: slash first, ask questions during.
And so Geno found himself in a deeply uncomfortable position.
Fighting back was out of the question — if things escalated, neither he nor the Orpheus Squad would come out of it looking good.
But not fighting back meant this unhinged girl was genuinely trying to cleave his skull open. His head was not a watermelon!
And Hellfire — why were the rest of them just standing there watching?!
Somebody control your subordinate!
"Captain Hellfire! Is this really how you manage your squad?!"
If Number 11 kept this up much longer, he genuinely wasn't going to be able to hold himself back!
"Number 11 — that is a direct order! Stand down! Orpheus! Get that little menace under control!"
"...Me? You want me to fight Number 11?"
Orpheus pointed a finger at her own chin, gripping her dagger in the other hand, her expression a picture of pure, blameless confusion.
She was just a kid!
"Move it! Or there's no dessert after dinner tonight!"
"On my way!"
Pfft — getting beaten up was one thing, but missing dessert? That was a genuine crisis.
Orpheus broke into a stumbling, lopsided sprint toward Geno and Number 11.
Then — in one surprisingly fluid motion — she staggered forward just enough, flicking her dagger out to knock Number 11's military blade off course, while simultaneously twisting her body to sweep Geno's cross-blade aside with a kick.
Geno rode the force of it, flipping cleanly through the air before driving his sword into the earth to kill his momentum.
Number 11 wasn't so lucky. Orpheus had thrown off her rhythm completely — and with it, the flame along her blade guttered and died. A heartbeat later, Trigger and Sid piled on top of her and pinned her to the ground with practiced, well-worn efficiency. You could tell this wasn't their first rodeo.
"I owe you an apology, kid — that was poor leadership on my part. But you're not entirely without fault either. Who are you, really? Why did both Number 11 and Trigger react the way they did to you — and where did you get that information?"
As squad leader of the Orpheus Squad, Hellfire was well aware of Number 11's background. That kind of intelligence was strictly need-to-know — and very few people needed to know.
"Finally — room to breathe and say a proper sentence." Geno rolled his shoulders. "Like I said, I go way back with the Silver Squad. Just a few days ago, we were all sitting around the same table having dinner together."
"Impossible. That is absolutely impossible!"
"Chancellor, I assure you — it is entirely possible."
Number 11, still pinned to the ground, screamed her disbelief up at him. Her eyes were blazing, wide with a fury that went far beyond anger — she refused, on every level, to accept what Geno was telling her. Even now, even today, she had believed they were all gone.
"It's true. Everything I know about you — Twiggy and the others told me themselves."
Geno began to relay certain things — moments shared between him and the Silver Squad — piece by piece, until Number 11's certainty started to fracture.
"Are they... really? Are they all really still alive?"
Feeling the resistance drain out of Number 11 beneath her, Trigger let out a quiet breath of relief — and then looked over at Geno with something far more complicated in her eyes.
"Even if everything you're saying is true, you're still a potential threat. That hasn't changed."
Geno felt a bone-deep weariness settle over him. He wasn't exactly a model citizen — he'd be the first to admit that. But for everything that had happened since the moment he walked into this situation, he hadn't hurt any of them. Not once.
Even when Number 11 had come at him with that blade, he'd been careful — deliberately careful — not to injure her.
"Facts speak louder than arguments. If I were truly an Ethereal, how would I even be capable of having this conversation? Even a Doppelganger doesn't have an IQ this high."
Geno decided to put it all on the table. It didn't matter — even if he walked through the Fissure right now, nothing would happen to him. The only reason he'd waited for Lucia and the others to leave before saying any of this was to keep the Silver Squad's situation buried.
The fewer people who knew, the fewer people who got dragged into it. The Congregation had eyes — possibly still watching, possibly still waiting in the shadows.
"Truth is, I'm hoping to get some information through you. Less than two weeks ago, the Silver Squad and I were hit — directly — by a Congregation attack."
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone