A sigh. "Hai, Crawford. I’ll be in in a second." The sixteen-year-old boy stood up and followed the older man towards the hidden room where Schwarz holds their meetings. Farfello and Schrudich were already there when they arrived.

"You all know why I called you here?" Crawford asked.

His four companions nodded.

"Good." A satisfied smile. "We lost once. But this time, we won’t fail. This is going to fix them, for sure."

Farfello gave out a demonic laugh. Schrudich nodded in agreement. Nagi stared off into space, deep in thought.

Schrudich telepathically read Nagi’s mind and caught Crawford’s eye. They spoke through each other’s minds silently.

 "He does not agree with the plan." Schrudich said.

 "It doesn’t matter what he thinks. She has already agreed with us." Crawford interjected. "And he cannot do anything about it."

 "He cannot," Schrudich mused, "but what makes you so sure he WON’T?"

 Crawford gave a sinister smile. "He won’t. Trust me."

 "Crawford." A strange masked figure appeared from behind.

 Crawford smiled. "Did you get them?"

 A brief nod. "Here they are." The figure held out a gloved hand carrying an M.O. disk and a small remote control.

 "Excellent." He smiled at his companions. "Those people won’t know what hit them." He turned and gave a smile to the masked figure. "Good job, for starters."

 The figure gave another nod. "Arigato. Sayonara." Then it disappeared without another word.

***

Some minutes later after the meeting, the strange masked figure appeared out of nowhere and rested at the corner of a stand post in the secret room, observing with keen onyx eyes as Nagi Naoe, the youngest member of Schwarz, telekinetically switched around two water glasses repeatedly.

Like he does every time something is bothering him.

Like right now.

A sigh. Then the strange masked figure jumped down, silently as a cat. It sat down at the arm of Nagi's chair.

The boy gave a soft sigh. "You agreed, and yet you never told me?"

A dry laugh. "Should I have told you? I knew you would never agree. I knew you would forbid me to be one of you."

"Still--"

"In case you forgot, I'M the older one here, not you," the strange figure interrupted in a clipped tone.

Nagi gazed at the figure with pleading dark eyes. "But Oneesan--"

A loud, exasperated sigh. Then the strange figure unmasked and took of the helmet that hid a long mass of dark hair. The hair spilled across the shoulders of the strange figure who happened to be a girl. "It wasn't because I didn't want you to know, Nagi," she said in a soft, hesitant voice. "It was just...complicated, that's all."

"What did they do to convince you?" He wondered allowed.

She shrugged. "I just decided to help out, that's all. Five ARE better than four, you know. And besides, with you four failing twice because of those people, maybe I can make a difference." She said. "Don't worry about me, Nagi. I'll be fine. I can take care of myself. I'll be alright, I promise. OK?" She gave him a reassuring smile.

He didn't answer. He just continued to switch the water glasses around.

With a resigned sigh, and a wave of her finger, she hailed one of the glasses towards her and caught it in her hand. " I can do this, Nagi. Trust me."

Nagi turned and looked at his sister straight in the eye. "Just what exactly did they do to convince you to do this?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I told you--"

"Oneesan," he interrupted. "I know them better than you do. I've seen what they can do. I've been a part of it. And you know I don't want you to get hurt--by them, or worse, even by me."

Silence.

Then, she spoke. "I know that, Nagi. Too well. I've seen everything. And believe it or not, I believe I can do what you guys can do."

"I know you can, and I would let you do this but only if you swear to me that they didn't threaten you or anything similar to that." He examined her face closely. "Did they?"

She replaced her mask and helmet, avoiding her brother's eyes. "They didn't do anything, Nagi. I decided this for myself."

"I hope you're telling me the truth, but judging from your tone of voice..." he shook his head. "I know you too well, Oneesan. You can't hide anything from me. Maybe you can mask your feelings when Schrudich reads them but you can't hide anything from me. Not now, not ever."

She didn't answer.

A sigh. "Think about what I said, Oneesan."

"What can I do to convince you I want to do this? Nagi, I need to do this. I decided this for myself. Remember when our parents died? I vowed to avenge them. And I will. I think this is the perfect time to fulfill that vow." She said. "You know I need to do this, Nagi. For you. For Makoto. For our parents.

"Most of all, I need to do this for myself. For my own peace of mind."

She jumped back up to the corner post. " I shall see you later. Sayonara, little brother."

A soft resigned sigh. "Sayonara, Futora Oneesan. Take care of yourself."

"I will." She disappeared into the darkness.