Then a shadowy figure emerged on his balcony.

Samuel took a step outside onto his penthouse balcony, closing the door behind him.

“Have you found anything out about the newest citizen?”

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to gather much, sir,” said the shadowy figure, perched on the very edge of the balcony.

“Do I pay you for no results?”

The figure noticeably shuddered. He was well aware of the type of pain Samuel Archer could inflict on him.

“He was illegally thrown in yesterday. It looks like the climber president and Sakura The Golden Blade are going to let him stay.”

“What is his trait? Does he have one?”

“The Golden Blade destroyed the analyst’s file,” said the shadowy figure. “It will take a bit more work to find out what it is.”

“It must be a powerful trait then,” sighed Samuel. “Sakura wouldn’t go so far as to destroy the analyst’s documents if it were anything else. He must have an uncommon or rare trait then.”

“Do you think his presence will effect our plans?” asked the shadowy figure.

“A puny boy from the outer-rim?” scoffed Samuel. “I doubt he’ll amount to anything, but it is good to be cautious. Keep a close eye on him. If he ends up in our way, we’ll simply remove him.”

11

“Well, I guess you’ll be crashing here tonight,” said Sakura, opening the door to her apartment.

She flipped on the light switch and Max gaped at the messy living room in front of him.

Potato chip bags and instant noodle cups littered the floor, alongside cans of beer.

Sakura looked around her apartment and laughed. “Sorry—I wasn’t expecting any visitors.”

“Oh really? I couldn’t tell,” said Max, trying to be polite but worried he was coming across as sarcastic.

He was surprised by how messy it all was. Sakura was such a powerful fighter and seemed to take her job as a defense climber seriously that he was expecting her apartment to be cleaner.

The woman waltzed in and threw her leather jacket on the floor. She headed to her refrigerator and grabbed a can of beer.

“Help yourself to whatever you’d like,” she said. “What’s mine is yours.”

Max stepped into the apartment, peering around. It was a very large apartment and Max could see that if it were clean, it might actually be quite impressive and maybe even swanky-looking. Beyond the messiness was a tall bookshelf full of paperback novels with cheesy titles like Lovers First, Climbers Second and Love Has No Walls.

He pulled the book out from the shelf.

Sakura’s eyes lit up. “Are you a fan? That one’s my favorite. I love how you think the couple might not end up together, but then they do. So sweet!”

Max laughed and put the book back on the shelf. “I haven’t read it but maybe I’ll give it a try later.