Concentration was supposed to be Eliza's forté, especially with studying, but she just couldn't focus. She looked up from the study notes she was making. The pile of data-pads beside her reached a quarter of the way to the ceiling, she sighed upon looking at it, shaking her head in disappointment.

So foolish, she thought. Despite the low-volume music playing from her holo-phone, the suite was silent.

Kazuki said he was taking his bi-weekly rest, though Eliza could tell that he was going to be awake in less than an hour, especially so since he had quite a long rest recovering from his injuries.

She shifted towards the cup noodle beside her. Extending a hand towards it, she thought about whether it was now the time to eat it...

Her head glanced between the stack of studying she wanted to do and the cup noodle. Out of all things, why must she be addicted to studying... Agonising over it for a moment, Eliza closed her eyes. She placed her hair into a ponytail, as she extended out and grabbed the cup noodle.

'That contains a lot of sodium chloride, Miss Elizabeth,' Synthia started, sitting on top of the pile of to-be-finished reports. 'And you have your leave, you should keep revision to a later date.'

"It's... that's just salt..." Eliza sighed. "And it's studying, not revision. There's a lot of study material that Professor Jutenha has posted online, why not breeze through it in my free time?" she asked what seemed to her to be a very obvious question.

Synthia merely sighed, watching Eliza pull the igniting pin on the cup noodle. It immediately cooks the cup noodles. 'You should be spending your free time socialising with people... Archius, Chloé, maybe even Yuki?"

"Why Yuki?" Eliza inquired.

'As Kazuki's sister, she has quite a vibrant personality... compared to him. I think you'll get along quite well,' Synthia suggested, placing her hands on her knees.

The cup noodles finished cooking, as Eliza ripped the lid open, smelling the aromas of a timeless food staple - helping students across near three thousand years of history. She slurped it up, the hot steam fogging up her round glasses. Synthia projected onto Eliza's phone, lying down. 'So, how about it?'

Eliza pointed to the steaming hot noodles, before speaking through a hot mouth. "I suppose it'd be nice!"

The tutor nodded, as Liz's phone vibrated with a notification. It immediately hooked up to her uplink, as Eliza flicked it on. It was a message from Noah of all people! She remained surprised, as she read the message. 'I heard about what happened, you free?'

Synthia paused, as she hummed to herself. 'Noah...'

Eliza quickly ate her noodles, shovelling the ramen down her mouth. "Hmm? Familiar with him?"

'Not particularly...' Synthia trailed off. Eliza nodded, not taking in the implications of her hesitation.

She grabbed her phone, knocking Synthia off as she replied. 'Yeah? Is there a problem?'

Noah instantly replied. 'I think we should meet up, at the aquarium? It's rather important.'

Pausing, Eliza narrowed in, thinking for a moment about his words. Just what was he talking about? She was intrigued, and where there was a mystery, she felt inclined to inquire. She replied, 'I'll be there in a bit.' Noah gave it a thumbs up, as Eliza finished the cup noodles.

Sure, she felt slightly ill at shovelling it all down, but a stomach ache was nothing compared to the wounds she'd incurred on herself. Glancing down at her knees, Eliza could almost feel the phantom pain of being kneecapped... She shuddered at the mere thought of the pain, standing up.

She got changed into one of the more casual clothes she brought along, buttoning up a light blue blouse, and putting on her skirt and jacket. "What do you think he's on about?" Eliza asked.

'Perchance it may be about the recent attempts on your life... Given how many there have been since the start of the year, he may be concerned about that,' Synthia said. 'From the little time I've been aware of him before, he's a kind person... But time changes people.'

Eliza paused, thinking about Synthia's words. Was she implying any level of malice? Synthia projected onto her shoulder as Eliza finished putting on her thigh-highs and garter, before storming out of the room. Cyrus was leaning against the wall beside the stairs.

She smacked her brooch onto her blouse, feeling the weight of it slowly dawn on her chest. Judging by what Synthia said, and the severity of Noah's tone... Eliza knew that whatever he had to say must be worth her time. She believed in that, as she left the suite, Cyrus followed after her, yawning.

∗ ∗ ∗

The endless exchange of water filtering in and out of the tanks was the only thing keeping Archius sane in these moments. He rolled his eyes... Ugh, why must he be the one to do this?! Sadly, Archius doesn't have a spy within this space station, not one that he could rely on at the very least.

He kept complaining to himself, wondering what Kazuki would get him as compensation... He's a bit of a dull person, so Archius doesn't expect much. Maybe he can pressure Kazuki to compensate him with secrets?!

Ooh, that'd be a void-hulk he'd be interested in delving into. Plus… he can also wager what happened to Jasyme against him. Kazuki has a guilty mind, he could see that from a light-year away, and both of them would benefit from him learning some things.

They're akin to brothers, after all, Archius thought. He'll have to say something eventually…

With his mind set, Archius stopped mulling around...

It's been quite a while since he choked and slammed him against the wall, and he could still feel the pressure against his neck.

Perhaps it was a lesson, he thought: DO NOT TRY TO DRUG KAZUKI.

Knowing Kazuki, the drugs would probably never have as strong an effect as the first dosage, Archius would hazard a guess that half of Kazuki's blood contains some sort of painkiller or stimulant or whatever liquids his exospine pumps into him.

"Oh... come on, do something interesting!" Archius muttered to himself, watching and listening through a micro-camera attached to Noah. He was simply watching the sealife within an aquarium. A turtle-shelled toad swam past the glass... He felt like he'd go insane just watching this! "Just what the fuck are you doing in an aquarium?! It's just a bunch of fucking fishes!"

He almost hit his head on the top of the small maintenance tunnel he was sitting in, with several devices to keep him company. He hated this... and just when things seemed to doze off in his mind, a voice called out to Noah.

'Noah, I didn't expect you to be a fan of Quintibeki sealife,' Eliza said. Noah turned to face, her as she was looking all around, admiring the colourful and vibrant fishes behind the glass, up and above in the tunnel. 'Oh, there's a squibbi-duck!'

'Ha, you know your fishes well,' Noah commented. 'It's hard to find proper Quintibeki sealife back home... ever since you know, the war. I've never actually seen these fishes on my homeworld...'

'Ah...' Eliza trailed off, sensing the very obvious awkwardness in the conversation. Archius leaned in, listening intently. Come on... don't just talk about the fucking fishes, he feels like he'll drown and be sunk to the depths of the ocean if they continued to talk about the FUCKING fishes.

Noah stretched, moving to reveal more of the aquarium. It was a series of long tunnels attached to each other, with various sections of wildlife - all in various colourful lighting hues to designate sections. 'Sorry for calling you out all the way over here, just wanted to be somewhere quiet,' Noah started.

Archius could see, for a brief moment, Synthia. The AI was staring directly at the microcam, before her head twisted away. Fuck... does Synthia know?! Shit... he'll have to gamble on it, this is an opportunity to ascertain Noah's true intentions, and he won't let it be ruined by some second-rate tutor bot.

'It's fine,' Eliza said calmly, giving off a warm atmosphere. Archius could see Cyrus far off in another section of the tunnel, guarding from a distance. 'I know it must have been hard to ask me to talk out here. Well, what's the matter? I'm sure it's important, right?'

Her added questioning might have been from the goodness of her heart, but whatever she said slowed Noah's tongue down. He sighed, before answering, 'Well... it's about you. I've been keeping track of the news since you know my parents do own a media conglomerate, and you've been putting yourself at a huge risk!'

Eliza paused, not replying for a moment. Noah must be referring to the numerous incidents involving Eliza, where she nearly died. Well, Archius will have Noah know that he bled so Eliza didn't fucking die! 'It's fine if you're worried about those... It's just a few incidents, white black holes, per se?'

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'No... it's just that they only started once you started to affiliate with Kazuki again,' Noah said, dropping the mother of all bombs on Eliza. Her reaction was priceless, a thousand-yard stare directly into Noah's soul. She seemed almost offended by the mere notion of what was very much a truthful assertation. 'Hey! Hear me out on this, please?!'

Eliza's eyes thinned, as she started to walk around the aquarium. Noah followed as she nodded. They walked over to another section, with more deep sea creatures... more abominations than anything, Archius thought. 'Go ahead... just know I won't take any slander for my friend.'

'Thank you... but I'm not wrong, it's just correlation and causation. Everyone in the media industry calls Kazuki the Contract-Breaker... we're probably half the reason why everyone calls him that,' Noah admitted solemnly, attracting Eliza's ire. 'Hey... I have no say in what the reporters report on.'

'Still... could you not call him that?' Eliza asked. 'Trust me on this, he's so much more than just this quote-on-quote Contract-Breaker everyone's been calling him.'

Noah sighed, as he leaned against the bannister. Archius saw the guy peer up at a large tray, floating above the tunnel. 'He plays into it, Eliza... Either that, or he's a leviathan hiding in the clothing of humans the whole time...'

The metaphorical link was interesting, Archius mused. Given that Noah knows Kazuki from the past, Archius could definitely assume that Noah's 'suspicions' of Kazuki being a mass murderer are 'true'.

'The Loyalists... then the attack on the train station!' Noah raised his voice as if begging Eliza to hear him. For her part, she merely glanced away, grumbling. 'And this is all in under half a year...'

'Look, Kazuki has taken many steps to ensure my protection... Plus, we're working together on something,' Eliza said. She spoke calmly as if trying to make a child understand something difficult. 'I understood the risks of working with him, yes... I know the risks, Noah. He'll protect me, he always does.'

'And what about now?' Noah snapped. Eliza nodded towards Cyrus, as Noah turned to face him. The giant guard gave the two a small nod, with his hands in his pockets.

'He trusts me enough to protect me with one of his very own bodyguards,' Eliza said. What an innocent interpretation, Archius thought. Back in the old days, having a guard from someone else typically meant you were important... Important enough to keep an eye on and ensure you didn't accidentally 'leave'. Kazuki's not that type of person, so Archius knew that Cyrus was truly here to protect her. 'I've seen him fight, get injured... bleed just so I don't have to.'

'And what if he's all just one big lie?' Noah asserted. 'I've known Kazuki back in the day... He's...'

Archius raised an eyebrow, as he started to move in the maintenance tunnel. Things were getting spicy, and he might have to get involved if Noah revealed too much. Archius would love to know more, but if Eliza learnt too? Well, that was a bit on the dubious side for Archius' personal liking.

To Archius' surprise, Eliza's emotions reared their head, oozing from her tongue. 'Lie?! What lie? He's been by my side this whole time... He's been helping me with our project, he might have some flaws, yes, I know he does, we all do! But he's willing to help me nonetheless.'

'I... can help you,' Noah placed a hand to his chest, trying to fruitlessly convince Eliza. Archius continued to wonder what exactly Noah would say, and the desperation in his voice was making Archius somewhat worried. He started to climb down the maintenance tunnels, flicking a fake employee uniform ontop of his regular clothes.

And to make things even worse, Kazuki called him. Archius picked it up... 'Archius. Where's Eliza? I received word from Cyrus that she's with Noah.'

'Jeez, you're worried about her, aren't you?' Archius teased him slightly, insinuating that Noah would steal her from him. 'Don't worry, I'm keeping my eyes on the two of them... three if you count Cyrus.'

'Where. Are. They?'

Kazuki didn't take his teasing well, his voice lowering into a deep threatening tone. Archius responded normally, 'Aquarium, it's at—"

"—I know where it is," Kazuki snapped, as he cut off the call. Archius rolled his eyes, not even being given the chance to acquire his compensation. Archius kept watching the conversation through his ICAPAD, as he hid within the janitor's closet.

Eliza's face was frozen, staring at Noah's. 'I can help you...' Noah repeated. 'I dont have blood on my hands like he does. I don't know what you're after, but I'm sure I can help!'

Her eyes narrowed, a feeling of envy or jealousy exuding from those bloody red eyes. 'Kazuki is helping me on this... I'm sorry but... I do not believe this investigation requires you...'

'Investigation! Aha! You're... you're...' Noah trailed off, clapping his hands together as he tried to think of something. He was getting even more desperate. He lowered his voice, 'P-1, isn't it! I can help... I have friends, many of them with information, look, I can...'

'Noah,' Eliza started, her freckled face cold and pale. 'I'm sorry, but I'll need to consult the other parties on whether I should include you in our investigation. Kazuki and Archius are good friends of mine from high school... I'm not saying I don't trust you, but it's just that I've been with them much longer…'

Noah's body stopped in its place, as he stood up straight. 'Archius? You... know him?'

Oh, Eliza, you better not start spouting on about how Archius is a social engineer, he thought. That'd be the worst-case scenario, mainly because he'll have to mind-wipe Noah and give Eliza a stern talking-to. Though with Cyrus around, he might not be allowed to get away with the second one.

Eliza merely nodded. 'Knew him back in high school and university... is something the matter?'

'No...'

'Alright then,' Eliza said, as she started to walk. The two continued around the aquarium, entertaining themselves with the various sealife, huge to small - rabid to peaceful. 'You say you could help me… but wasn't your family the one that fuelled the news with all those rumours about Kazuki?'

'I… it's not for us to decide, Eliza,' said Noah. 'And it's the news, Eliza… The bottom line is: by the end of the week, everyone would have forgotten about it."

'The Skyliner… I watched it fall from the sky. My friends died on that vessel,' Eliza's voice broke into fragility, each syllable bitten off with determination. 'I couldn't even say goodbye to her…'

Noah sighed. 'It's a tragedy… yes, I won't deny that. But the news moves on… people move on, give it a month and not a single soul would be speaking of it. I'm not saying that this is how we made it, it's just how news works, more stories roll around, and even the greatest of tragedies are covered under a pile of worthless shit-celebrity spew.'

'Except for one event…' Eliza trailed off. Archius could see Noah nod, as the camera shook for a moment. Just... let's leave it at that, alright? I'll try to talk to them, but I—'

Another voice cut in, '—Eliza. We're needed, sorry about earlier.' It was Kazuki's.

Noah twisted to face Kazuki, he was followed behind by Nihara, who yawned, hands in her pockets. Archius could see that she was willing to throw Noah across the room just from a mere glance.

'Kazuki? I—uh...' Eliza trailed off. Kazuki walked up to her, tapping her on the shoulder. Cyrus followed on as Eliza felt somewhat inclined to follow on after him. 'What's going on?'

'I'd like you to meet a few people. Allies of mine,' Kazuki said.

Eliza twisted back to Noah. 'I'll see you later!' She waved at him, as her voice became increasingly excited. Archius could hear the murmurs of her whispers from far away. 'You're finally making some friends! I knew you had it in you...'

Leaving Noah all alone, it seems. He grumbled to himself, before leaning against the bannister, looking up at the fishes. Safe to say, Archius couldn't take another second of those damned fucking fishes. He prodded his phone up as he contacted Chloé.

'Where's Noah? I haven't seen him in a bit,' Archius asked her.

Chloé, completely oblivious to what was truly going on, answered earnestly. 'He talked about something about an aquarium last I saw him? Probably there.' She finished with a shrug emoticon. Archius replied with the same emoticon.

With cassis belli, in hand, Archius flicked his clothes back to normal and left the janitorial closet. He began to walk quickly, pretending to be searching for something. The colourful hues of light bore down on him, as he turned the corner, seeing Noah.

"Noah!" Archius shouted at him, rushing over whilst faking a small pant of exhaustion. "Dammit, you've been hard to find!"

Noah turned towards him, just slow enough for Archius to wrap a hand around him. In the moment of confusion, Archius flicked the microcam off him, as it fell onto the floor. "Archius? What are you doing here?" he asked.

Archius started to move, with Noah. He stepped on the microcam, destroying any evidence of spying and espionage. "I haven't heard from you for a while!'

Looking at Noah's face, Archius could clearly see that he was troubled, nauseated even. Noah merely nodded, as he shrugged Archius off him. "You're working with Eliza... aren't you?"

Acting confused, Archius paused, putting a hand up to his chin. "Well... what's it to you?" he asked, pretending to be keeping a secret.

"Eliza told me about an investigation with you... and Kazuki," Noah started. He sat down at one of the benches. Archius stood by, ordering some drinks from the vending machine nearby. "I'm guessing you're not gonna tell me what you're doing, right?"

"Hmm," Archius mumbled to himself. He bought two coffees, grabbed one of the cans and chucked it onto Noah's lap. "Sorry, no can do! Eliza's my friend as much as you are and I can't be going around trading secrets."

"Ah... should have seen that coming."

Archius nodded. "I'm just a good people's pleaser, you know? And you look like you need a drink... So... what happened? Did your heart get broken by Chloé or something? I should have told you she was taken... sorry, my fault," Archius chuckled, blabbing on nonsense.

"It's nothing..." lied Noah. Such an obvious lie! Why the fuck is everyone just so bad at lying these days?! Sure, he went through a rigorous multi-year course with Republic Intelligence, but that was no excuse for other people being absolutely recycled-shit at lying. "I just need some time to think for myself... thanks for the drink."

Noah stood up, cracked the can and started drinking it. Walking away, he waved back ay Archius. "Eh... whatever, just know that your man Archius is in your corner, got it?" Archius chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

Turning back to him, Noah smiled gently and nodded. He glanced down at the floor for a moment, then back at the drink, before taking another long swig. "Thanks, Archius. You have no idea how much that means to me... We'll... talk later, alright?"

Archius nodded, noticing a series of bleeps and bloops from Noah's uplink. He was getting messages. Now this was interesting! Could it be from mommy or daddy dearest? Who knows!? This was exciting! He could barely contain the excitement of all the endless possibilities.

He'll find who just messaged Noah... That much he was certain.

Archius silently tapped his ICAPAD, connecting to the uplink. Encrypted words... But a location, a casino?

Noah quickly left, walking off into the growing crowd of people. Such a poor soul, Archius thought, or perhaps not. He's wrapped up in a game he has no idea is even going on... Archius loved this.

Such a good plaything, Archius thought. If he had to sacrifice Noah for Eliza's mission, so be it, he thought. All toys have their expiration dates, after all...

Even humans.

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