"I'm back."
"Vyvy!", Levan immediately sprung up to hug Vyko.
The cult leader sighed exasperatedly as Levan wrapped their arms tightly around them.
"Levan. You're suffocating me," Vyko said firmly.
Levan immediately let go of them.
"Right. Sorry."
Akio and Makoto looked at the two with mildly dumbfounded expressions.
Vyko then walked into the kitchen and put the bag of groceries on the counter, starting to put away the stuff they bought.
As soon as they were done, they re-entered the dining room.
"I'll be in my room, if anyone needs me. After all, I can't really proceed with my experiments, while Levan is around. Feel free to do whatever," Vyko spoke apathetically before disappearing again.
Silence settled as the three watched Vyko leave.
Until Levan decided to break it.
"Do you guys want to play poker?"
"What do you mean he quit!?"
"Calm down, Kotsuzui," the boss said firmly, silencing the shorter man. "He did what he thought was the right thing for *Takahashi*. Not for the organization. He made a mistake. If Takahashi doesn't want to be rescued and instead drags Yakedo with him into the cult leader's cage, we must force them out of it."
Viola immediately spoke up.
"But sir-"
"No. We must act. We've been doing nothing long enough. We must do what is best for the Hollow Hand," Palm interrupted, a dark look in his eyes.
The silence that followed after was almost suffocating.
"I feel like this is morally questionable...", Kouya admitted and Ermina chirped in agreement.
Palm's eyes narrowed at Kouya, which made him flinch.
"We must do what we must. Morality is the least of our problems right now. We need to get our members back. Kemuri was a big loss already, but losing Takahashi and Yakedo to a cult leader... That is bad for the image of this organization."
Everyone was quiet, not wanting to anger the boss even further.
"So you only care about the image of the Hollow Hand? Not about its members? Not about the morally questionable things involved?"
Everyone looked towards the source of the voice.
It was Meki.
"If that is how you play, I will leave this organization as well," he said fiercely, his normally laid-back demeanor nowhere to be seen.
Palm's eyes widened for a short second before returning back to normal. He didn't predict this. Not at all.
"You wouldn't."
Meki stood up and stared down at Palm's sitting form.
"I love all of the members dearly. But I draw the line at forcing someone back into the Hollow Hand, if they don't want to. Of course it's a huge loss. But in the end it is *their* decision. Not yours."
And with that Meki left the briefing room, shutting the door behind himself.
It was quiet again. Uncomfortably quiet.
"Sir, I don't think this was a good idea," Viola said calmly.
Palm stayed quiet.
"Uhm... Is now a bad time to say that I've got the cult leader's number...?"
Everyone turned their shocked gazes towards Julie.
"You what!? How do you always manage to get the enemies' phone numbers??", Kouya asked, utterly baffled.
Palm sat up straight.
"So you're in direct contact with the abductor? That is very useful. Now we have their location and their phone number."
"I suggest you pay them a little visit. And don't forget to bring the boys when you come back. If they still refuse to hand them over, we must take them by force."
Vyko was taking a nap peacefully when suddenly they could hear their phone ringing.
Vyko groaned and put their hand in their sleeve, pulling out the phone and looking at the caller ID.
It was the girl from earlier.
Vyko picked up reluctantly.
"Yes, hello?"
"Hey! I'm just gonna let you know that I'll visit you. My boss wanted me to," Julie said enthusiastically l on the other end of the line.
Vyko was silent for a bit.
"What?"
Before they could register what the girl said, they heard their doorbell ring.
Vyko sighed, annoyed, but got up from their bed anyway.
As they descended the stairs they could hear Levan talking to the girl. It seemed they already opened the door for her.
How careless.
As they finally arrived downstairs, they immediately witnessed Levan overwhelming the girl by asking a whole load of questions.
"Levan. Leave the poor girl alone."
Levan turned around to find Vyko standing behind them.
"Why are you here, Julie? Can I help you?", Vyko asked the freckled girl.
Julie stood up straight.
"The boss told me to get our members back. Akio and Makoto. If you don't give them back they'll have to take them by force. That is what he said."
"They? As in you won't participate? Why's that?", Vyko questioned, mildly amused.
"Lately our boss is acting off. I just don't agree with his ideals anymore. Right now I'm merely acting as a messenger," Julie explained.
"I see. Well, I won't give my experiments over so recklessly, you know? But I wouldn't mind a third one," Vyko said smugly, coming closer.
"So you won't give them back...?", Julie asked, making sure.
"No. Not yet at least. I still have plans," Vyko clarified.
"Oh...", Julie mumbled.
"'Oh'? That is all you have to say? Interesting. You just accept it?", Vyko inquired curiously.
"Well, I don't want them to get here uninvited like that. That's rude," Julie muttered, looking anywhere but at them.
Vyko chuckled lightly.
"You still care about politeness in a situation like this? Remarkable. But you should really set priorities, darling. Sometimes you need to be rude to certain people to get your point across. There's no use in being kind to people if they only use that kindness against you."
"What do you mean?", Julie questioned cautiously.
Vyko gestured to themselves.
"Well, take me for example. I would definitely use your kindness to my advantage. You're a naive little thing, aren't you?
Julie crossed her arms, now looking up at Vyko.
"I'm not naive. I may think everyone has good in them, but that is nothing but a fact. There is no 100% bad person. Just as there's no 100% good person. You can't define good or bad that easily. Besides, I know there's people who would use me, just as there's people who would return the kindness I give them. I simply prefer to believe most appreciate benevolence, instead of turning it against someone."
"Ah. You choose to believe instead of letting belief choose you. How very noble of you," Vyko mocked. "I always appreciate it when people think for themselves instead of being dragged into yet another belief that isn't even their own."
"Vyriel."
Vyko turned to face whoever called out their name. Which - according to how they called Vyko - was pretty obvious.
"Levan. What do you want?", Vyko faced said person.
"... There's someone behind you."