“I’m glad we’re all on the same side this time,” Raurie said, grimacing at Aina and Teo. “We can’t expect to fight people like Bautix if we’re fighting or lying to each other. Now maybe we can make an actual difference.”

Teo nodded once. “It’s a good plan. If we stop Bautix from hurting even one more innocent person, then it’s worth the chance of getting caught.”

And it’s worth the fear of going back into those dark tunnels. She smothered the thought for now. She’d deal with that fear when the time came.

When Teo and Raurie left to prepare their supplies, Aina stood alone with Ryuu in the library.

A tense silence hung in the air that made it harder for her to speak, broken only by the rain lashing against the window. He rolled up the drawing and the blueprints, taking a bit longer than was necessary.

“How are you doing?” she finally blurted out.

He turned to face her with an odd expression, which made her wish she hadn’t asked at all.

What kind of question was that? she berated herself. His brother just died. Of course he’s not in a good mood.

Instead of answering her question, he said, “All these years, I’ve been saying I’m not afraid anymore, but I still am. I say that I know how to defend myself and that I’ll be safe, but that’s not actually doing anything about the terrible things going on here. That’s hiding, and letting it all happen because it’s too frightening to try to stop it. But now I want to end the things that scare me.”

His words sent a chill through her as more memories from the other night returned to her. She remembered why she’d gone to Kohl’s in the first place, and her shock when he’d told her the truth about her parents’ deaths. She could never forgive him, so there was no point in seeking an apology. There was no way he could bring her parents back to life. The only thing she could do was seek revenge. Try to hurt him like he’d hurt her.

I want to end the things that scare me, Ryuu’s words repeated in her thoughts.

“We will,” she promised him in a whisper, then raised her voice to add, “I can’t bring your brother back to life. I can’t make up for how I lied to you. But I promise you, I’m going to stop Kohl.”

“Don’t do it for me,” Ryuu said, his eyes softening a little. “Whatever happens, I hope you do something you’re proud of. Something you want to do instead of whatever your old boss would want. If killing him is the answer, do it for you, not me. Killing him won’t bring my brother back, after all. But after this is over, we probably shouldn’t see each other anymore. I don’t forgive you for what you did, but I understand why you did it, and that makes it hard for me to hate you. Even if a part of me really wants to.”