Suzume stared at the woman.

  Grey hair. Red eyes. The kind of aura that belonged to someone who'd killed before. Maybe more than once.

  [Geez.]

  "You want to join the guild," Suzume said.

  "That's right."

  "And you are?"

  "Rina Kurogane. Nineteen. Rogue-class, Level 18." She tilted her head slightly. "I can scout, disable traps, and take out enemies without anyone noticing. I figured your guild might need someone like that, so I came to apply."

  Kasumi moved beside Suzume, her hand resting on her spear.

  "We don't just let anyone walk in and join here."

  "I'm not anyone." Rina's gaze didn't leave Suzume's face. "I think you'll find my skills to be more than up to the task."

  Hikari was already pulling up something on her tablet. Her fingers moved fast, scrolling through data. Her expression didn't change, but her jaw tightened.

  "Can you give us a moment?" Suzume asked.

  Rina shrugged.

  "Take your time."

  Suzume, Hikari, and Kasumi stepped into the small side office. Yumi followed, closing the door behind them. Honoka stayed at the conference table with Sato, both of them watching Rina through the glass.

  "Well?" Suzume asked.

  Hikari turned her tablet around.

  "Rina Kurogane. Former member of the Shadow Vipers guild. Left six months ago under what the records call 'mutual agreement.' No official complaints filed, but..." She scrolled down. "The Shadow Vipers have a reputation."

  "What kind of reputation?"

  "The kind where Players go into dungeons and don't come out. Where loot mysteriously disappears. Where accidents happen to people who get in their way." Hikari's voice was flat. "There's never been proof, but it's speculated that they like to engage in... player killing."

  "Player killing? What, you mean murder?"

  "Basically."

  [... As in, they just go into dungeons, kill players, and leave with their stuff?] Suzume blinked.

  "The Association's investigated them three times and found nothing concrete. But the rumors persist."

  "She was part of that group?" Honoka had appeared in the doorway. "But she seems..."

  "Dangerous?" Kasumi said. "Because she is."

  "I was going to say sad."

  They all looked at Honoka. She fidgeted with her staff.

  "I-I don't know. She just looked... lonely when she walked in."

  Suzume looked through the glass. Rina stood exactly where they'd left her, hands in her pockets, expression neutral. She didn't look around. Didn't fidget. Just waited.

  "I'm gonna talk to her," Suzume said.

  They went back out. Rina hadn't moved.

  "We need to know why you left your previous guild," Suzume said.

  "Because I didn't like what they were doing."

  "Be specific."

  Rina was quiet for a moment. Then she pulled out a chair and sat down uninvited.

  "The Shadow Vipers steal from other Players. We'd scope out targets, wait until they were weakened or separated, then hit them. Take their loot, their equipment, whatever they had. Leave them alive but broke." She met Suzume's eyes. "I was good at it. Really good. Could get in and out without anyone knowing I was there until their inventory was empty."

  "And you're telling us this why?" Kasumi asked.

  "Because you're going to find out anyway. Better you hear it from me." Rina leaned back. "I left because a job went bad. Kid, maybe sixteen, had just cleared his first C-Rank dungeon. We hit him on the way out. He fought back. Got hurt. He... almost died." She paused. "I pulled him out before it got worse. Quit the next day."

  "How noble," Kasumi said.

  "I'm not noble. I simply... have limits."

  Suzume studied her. Nothing in Rina's expression suggested she was lying. But nothing suggested she was telling the whole truth either.

  "Why do you want to join a rescue team?" Suzume asked.

  "Because I'm curious. Because you go into dungeons everyone else abandons." Rina crossed her arms. "And because destabilized dungeons are unpredictable. You've been lucky so far. Eventually you'll hit something you can't fight your way through. Even you," she looked at Hikari. "There's a large gap between level 42 and 100, isn't there? When that happens, you'll need someone who can get you out quietly."

  Stolen story; please report.

  Hikari tilted her head.

  "You're saying we need a stealth specialist."

  "Yes, but more precisely, I'm saying you need me specifically." Rina stood. "I've been in more destabilized dungeons than anyone in this room, aside from maybe you," she looked at Suzume. "I know how to read them, how to move through them without triggering every trap and monster in the place. You want to save people? I can help you do it better."

  The office was silent.

  "Can you give us another minute?" Suzume asked.

  Rina nodded and stepped back to the entrance.

  This time they didn't bother going to the side office. They huddled near the conference table, voices low.

  "No," Kasumi said immediately. "Absolutely not. She's a thief. She may not have admitted to murder but she admitted to that. We can't trust her. What if we wake up one day and all our shit is missing!?"

  "She'd be useful," Hikari said. "Strategically speaking. A rogue-class Player with dungeon experience would fill the only remaining gap in our capabilities."

  "But can we trust her?" Yumi asked.

  "Probably not." Hikari shrugged. "Kasumi's certainly got a point. We could wake up one day a lot poorer. But trust isn't the same as utility."

  "I think we should give her a chance," Honoka said quietly.

  Everyone turned to look at her.

  "What?" Kasumi said.

  "She made mistakes. She left when she realized it was wrong. People deserve second chances." Honoka looked at Suzume. "Isn't that what we're about? Saving people others have given up on? I-I think we have someone here who needs saving!"

  "That's different," Kasumi said.

  "Is it?"

  "Yes!"

  "Okay, everyone calm down." Suzume held up her hands. "Let's vote. Kasumi?"

  "No. Hell no."

  "Hikari?"

  "I abstain. She's strategically useful but potentially untrustworthy. I... I'm caught."

  "Honoka?"

  "Yes. Everyone deserves a second chance."

  "Yumi?"

  Yumi sighed.

  "We need a fifth member. The Association's requirements don't care about our trust issues. From a purely practical standpoint, she solves a problem." She paused. "I don't like it... But I think we could use her."

  Suzume looked at each of them. Then at Rina, still waiting by the door.

  "I need to think about it," Suzume said finally. She walked over to Rina. "Come back tomorrow. Same time. I'll have an answer."

  Rina studied her for a moment, then nodded.

  "Fair enough."

  She turned and left. The door clicked shut behind her.

  The office felt emptier suddenly.

  "You're seriously considering this," Kasumi said.

  "I'm considering everything."

  "She's a thief, Suzume. A thief. What happens when we're in a dungeon and she decides our loot is more valuable than our lives?"

  "I... don't know."

  "You don't know?" Kasumi's voice rose. "That's not good enough!"

  "Then what do you want me to say?" Suzume snapped. She took a breath, steadied herself. "You think I'm happy about this? You think I want someone with that history on our team? But Yumi's right. We need five people. And everyone else who's applied so far has been unqualified and untalented. At least Rina's honest about what she is."

  "Honest about being a criminal."

  "Better than lying about it."

  They stared at each other. The tension was thick enough to cut.

  "I'm going to get some air," Kasumi said. She grabbed her jacket and left.

  Suzume stood there, suddenly exhausted.

  "You okay?" Yumi asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Want to talk about it?"

  "No."

  "Want me to order dinner?"

  "..... Yes."

  Yumi pulled out her phone. Hikari had already returned to reviewing footage with Sato. Honoka sat at the table, looking guilty.

  "I'm sorry," Honoka said. "I didn't mean to cause a fight."

  "You didn't cause anything." Suzume sat beside her. "This whole situation is just... complicated."

  "Do you think she's telling the truth?"

  "I don't know. Maybe."

  "What are you going to decide?"

  "I don't know that either."

  Honoka nodded. She didn't push, and Suzume was grateful for it.

  An hour later, after everyone had left, Suzume sat alone in the office. Her laptop was open, Rina's file on the screen.

  Rina Kurogane. Level 18 Rogue. Former Shadow Vipers member. No official complaints. No charges filed. Just rumors and a record of being somewhere else every time something suspicious happened.

  Smart. Careful. Or guilty.

  Suzume scrolled through the data. Six months since leaving the guild. No new affiliation. No dungeon clears registered. Just... nothing. Like she'd been waiting.

  For what?

  Suzume's phone buzzed. Kasumi.

  Kasumi: Sorry for snapping

  Suzume: It's okay

  Kasumi: It's not. I just... I don't want us to get hurt

  Suzume: I know

  Kasumi: But it's your call. Whatever you decide, it is what it is

  Suzume stared at the message. Then at Rina's file.

  She closed the laptop.

  Tomorrow. She'd decide tomorrow.

  ---

  {Rina}

  Rina walked through Shibuya at night.

  The streets were still crowded, tourists and locals mixing under neon lights. Players in expensive gear posed for photos. Street vendors sold dungeon-themed merchandise. The System had turned heroism into a commodity.

  She'd tried to be one of them once. A real Player. Someone who cleared dungeons and saved lives and got their face on billboards.

  That lasted about three months.

  Turned out being a hero didn't pay well. Not for someone without connections or a pretty face or the right class. The Shadow Vipers had found her when she was down to her last thousand yen, living in a capsule hotel and eating convenience store rice balls.

  They'd made it sound so reasonable. Players hoarded loot anyway. The System generated more than anyone needed. Taking a little wouldn't hurt anyone.

  Except it did. Eventually. Always.

  She stopped at a crosswalk, waiting for the light. A group of Players passed by, laughing about their latest clear. One of them bumped into her.

  "Watch it," he said.

  She didn't respond. Just kept walking when the light changed.

  Her apartment was in a building that barely qualified as residential. Thin walls, broken elevator, neighbors who minded their own business because they were all hiding from something too.

  She unlocked her door. The apartment was tiny. Futon in the corner. Mini-fridge. Sink. That was it.

  She sat on the futon and pulled off her boots.

  The Dungeon Rescue Guild. Bunch of idealists playing hero. They'd probably get themselves killed within a month.

  But they were trying. Actually trying. Not for money or fame or glory. Just because they thought people deserved to be saved.

  Rina lay back, staring at the ceiling.

  She closed her eyes.

  The kid's face came back. It often did when she tried to sleep. Brown hair. Wide, panicked eyes when he realized what was happening. She'd waited until he was alone, exhausted from his first big solo clear, and moved in to take his loot. He'd fought back harder than she expected. Grabbed her wrist. They struggled. And, somehow...

  She still doesn't know how it happened, but her knife just... ended up in his throat.

  She still remembered the wet sound. The way his eyes went from angry to confused to empty. How light he felt when he collapsed.

  The guild had found her standing over the body. She'd expected fury, consequences, something. Instead, they'd cleaned it up. Told her it was fine. That they'd all done it at some point. Killing was just part of the job when targets didn't cooperate. One of them had even patted her shoulder like she'd passed some kind of test. And the worst part...

  The worst part was, it was so incredibly easy to kill someone. Even now, she couldn't describe what she felt as guilt. More like... discomfort.

  She'd walked away that night and never went back.

  Now, here she was, applying to this rescue-focused guild, trembling as the memory flashed back in front of her mind.

  Tomorrow she'd find out if her hands were too dirty to be cleaned.