Steam curled from the dented kettle like a tamed ghost. Raizen lifted it off the flame and poured, trying not to burn his fingers.
Hikari sat on the windowsill with her knees hugged close, watching the Underworks outside. On the table, a heavy purse sat where Obi had dropped it with ceremony.
"Oh, oh, did I mention the roar?" Obi asked from the rug. "It started like a breeze and then - boom - storm. Cheering. A little weeping. I'm pretty sure a man proposed to me. I declined because I'm married to the craft"
"Married to your mouth" Raizen muttered.
"That too. I'm not saying I'm a local legend, but if someone draws my face on a wall I won't complain"
"Obi, you really shouldn't talk... After that girl let you next to the anvil... Not sure how legendary you are..."
"First of all, I told her to lean me against the anvil. She stabbed me with a needle, then I felt better and... Slept like a baby!"
Across the room, Takeshi sat in his chair like he always did. The mechanical hand rested open on his knee. His flesh fingers turned a pin while his eyes tracked the web on the wall - new threads, new notes. He didn't speak, but the set of his shoulders said he was listening.
"I had a visitor" Obi said, grin flickering. "After everything"
Raizen's eyebrows went up. "The big guy with the creative spelling?"
"Tempting, but no. Cinderette, again. Cloak, mask, dramatics... Except no mask this time"
Hikari tilted her head. "What did she want this time? See if you were alive?"
"To see the forge" Obi grinned, trying but failing to sound casual. "Pretended she was judging my tools. Was obviously judging my face. We discussed about vents. But she left before I could offer noodles. Tragic"
Raizen smiled. "Would you look at that! The loud smith and the gas grenade. That's how history will file you"
"Anyway" Obi stretched until his shoulders popped. "How was your day not being a champion?"
"Brutal" Raizen exhaled.
"Don't listen to him, he's getting way better" Hikari interrupted, eyes still pinned outside.
"Hey, you shouldn't be the one to judge. You get everything almost perfectly!" Raizen shot back, but he was half smiling.
A knock. The door swung in before anyone answered. Louissa stepped through with a basket on her arm, carrying warmth the way other people carried weapons.
"Evening" she whispered.
Obi saluted with his cup. "Granny, tell them I'm magnificent!"
"You're full of noise, that's for sure..." the smile came as she set the basket down. "I brought something for you" she added.
Then to Raizen and Hikari, "You two. Listen here."
They straightened without thinking. Even Takeshi lifted his gaze from the board.
"You want to kill Nyxes, right? For that, you'll need to enter the Lotus Academy." Louissa said. Not a question.
"Mhm..."
"Good. Then you'll need more than luck"
"Luminite...?" Raizen asked. The word tasted expensive.
"Stupidly" Louissa agreed.
"Purer luminite cuts deeper. Pair it with what your life can give it and you become something that ends Nyxes instead of patting them" she went on.
Obi leaned on his elbow. "Last year the exam was riddles, right?"
"Tons of paper and memory, yes. They needed sharp minds to feed the right fire to the right battle. But this year is different."
"Why?"
"Division One is gone"
The grin slipped from Obi's mouth. Hikari's fingers tightened on her knees.
"Wiped out?" Takeshi asked. His voice was a closed door.
"No names. No bodies anyone will admit" Louissa said. "But the gaps are there. When the strong disappear, the Academy stops asking riddles"
"So... A combat exam" Raizen completed. His eyes burned a little brighter in excitement.
"Or something that should be and then surprises you. Either way, you won't reach the door without Luminite. I can give you a road"
"Tell us" Raizen's eyes widened in interest.
"There's a man. Marcus Valerius is his name. Neoshima official" Louissa went on.
"He came down to do dirty business. Keeps a bodyguard glued to his side, and he's scheduled to meet someone soon"
"Where?" Takeshi asked, already looking over the map.
Louissa's eyes sharpened. You could see the other life in them - the broker who knew too much.
"Where shady conversations pretend not to be deals. The Maw"
They had heard the name enough times to know not to ask directions. The Maw was in a tone of voice - high ceiling, dim lights, good drinks, dangerous men trying to look bored.
"What's on the table?" Hikari asked quietly.
"Luminite, obviously. Not a vault, but enough. He'll carry a sample to prove his leverage. He plans to sell to someone uglier than his reflection"
"How do you even know that-" Raizen started, but Obi interrupted him.
"So we kindly borrow the sample?"
Raizen's smile came back crooked and quick. "We scout first. Entrances, exits, roofline. If there's a vent -"
"Windows, crowd flow, where the bodyguard stands when he thinks he's paying attention" Hikari added, head turning towards him, eyes going distant the way they did when she built a room in her head.
"Or" Obi lifted a finger "and hear me out - we walk up and grab it"
Silence. The stupid kind.
Both of them stared. Raizen raised an eyebrow. Takeshi made a sound that might have been a laugh.
"Simple" Obi said, wounded and theatrical. "Elegant"
"Suicidal" Raizen said, but the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
"Not if you add style" Obi smiled. "Style blinds. People forget to hold their pockets"
Louissa's smile folded into her eyes. "You three shouldn't be allowed in the same plan" she said, fond despite herself. "And yet..."
Takeshi looked around the room. "You need three things" he said. "Eyes. Time. The way they expect, and the way you take instead"
"I have eyes" Obi raised his hand. "Time and trickery pending"
"Tomorrow night" Louissa concluded. "Marcus moved the meeting forward. Word came late. It's either a trap or a gift. I don't like either. But a gift feeds people without bloodshed."
Obi tapped the purse on the table, then tapped his chest. "Then tomorrow we go shopping"
"Unnoticed, if possible" Takeshi said, already back at the web. The Moirai's name sat in one corner, written small, underlined twice. He added a thread and didn't explain why.
They ate while the kettle kept the room warm. The jar held citrus jam. Obi pretended not to like it just so he could sneak a second spoon.
Raizen tried to pay Obi for the earlier pastries with Obi's own coin and got cuffed on the ear.
Hikari laughed at a face Obi swore was not a funny face, but a heroic expression of triumph.
Takeshi cleaned a screw that didn't need cleaning and listened to his makeshift family fill the space where the Underworks couldn't reach.
When the lamplight slid lower on the walls, the plan sat between them - unfinished, unsafe, but there.
Obi hooked the winner's token on his belt, tested its pull like a smith checking work, and grinned at the tiny window.
"The Maw won't know what hit it"