"This is stupid."
Reina walked through the empty corridors alone.
Her heels clicked against the marble floor.
The sound echoed forward into infinity and backward into memory, the only noise in a building that should have been bustling with activity but was instead eerily silent.
She'd been summoned.
People who didn't need to ask for what they wanted, who simply expected to be obeyed.
Her ginger hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail, not a single strand out of place.
Her uniform was immaculate, the dark blue of the Witch's Department, silver insignia gleaming at her collar. Her gold eyes were fixed ahead, her face an expression of professional composure.
She stopped in front of a door.
It was unremarkable. Simple. The same polished wood as every other door in this endless white corridor.
The symbol of the Witch's Department.
She didn't knock.
She simply opened the door and stepped inside.
The room beyond was dark.
A single lamp burned on a massive desk at the far end of the room, its glow barely reaching the figures seated in the shadows beyond.
There were five of them.
Reina knew them all. She'd worked with them, for them, against them, for years.
The government representatives.
"Reina Albert." The voice came from the center figure, a man whose face was hidden in shadow. "Thank you for coming on such short notice."
"Of course, it was my pleasure." Reina's voice was pleasant. Affable. The voice of someone who was discussing the weather.
[The most powerful people in the country, one mistake and I could get my neck chopped off]
Reina clasped her hands behind her back, her posture relaxed, almost casual. "What might this be about? I assume it has something to do with the incident at the Shaw facility."
"The incident." Another figure, a woman this time, her voice sharp. "The Shirogane boy, the one you were supposed to be keeping under control, broke into a government-protected facility. He killed a couple of guards. He stole a classified asset. And he did all of this in the company of Neila Shaw, who is now a fugitive. This is not an incident, Vice Principal Albert. This is a catastrophe."
"I'm aware of the situation." Reina said. "You must be talking about the goddess."
"Are you sure that you're aware of the situation?" The woman leaned forward, her face emerging from the shadows. She was older, her gray hair pulled back in a severe bun, her eyes sharp and cold. Reina recognized her. "Are you aware that the Smiths are already mobilizing? That the Walkers are considering joining them? That the Millers have issued a formal statement demanding the boy's immediate execution?"
"I've read the reports." Reina's voice didn't change. Didn't waver. "The Smiths are using this as an excuse to pursue their vendetta against Hoshimi, they could use that chance to put the blame on us as well."
The woman's sharp eyes fixed on Reina's face. "Where do you stand in all this? The boy is your responsibility. Your ward. Your weapon. You were the one who convinced us to let you raise him instead of handing him over to the research division. You were the one who promised he could be controlled."
"I also promised he would be useful." Reina's voice didn't change. "And he has been. He was involved in the Mirlo case and helped solve it, he helped in solving the Dominic case as well."
"Anyone else could've done that. The assassins. The bombings. We want him to be helpful. But he's been giving us more trouble than he's worth." She leaned back in her chair. "The boy is a problem, Vice Principal Albert. A problem that needs to be solved."
"What are you suggesting?"
"I'm not suggesting anything." His voice was cold. "I'm telling you. The council has reached a decision. The Shirogane boy is to be terminated."
The word hung in the air between them. Terminated.
Reina's expression didn't change. Her gold eyes didn't flicker. Her hands, clasped behind her back, didn't tremble.
Reina's expression didn't change. "He's seventeen years old."
"He's a weapon that's turned against its makers. A weapon that you molded. A weapon that you are responsible for. Or should we take it as a sign of your betrayal?"
"Of course not." Her voice was quiet. "But I do have a question. How about the Shaw girl?"
"She'll be dealt with separately. The patriarch wants her alive. We're willing to accommodate that request as a gesture of goodwill." One of the men paused. "But the boy is non-negotiable. He's attacked a government facility. He's killed important personnel. The law is clear on what happens to witches who step this far out of line."
"The law." Reina's lips curved. It was not a smile. "Of course. The law."
"Do you have a problem with the council's decision?"
Reina was silent for a long moment. The lamp on the desk flickered, casting shifting shadows across her face. When she spoke, her voice was the same as it had always been.
"Of course not," she said. "I have always been on the government's side."
"Good." He nodded slowly. "Then there's only one more matter to discuss."
"And what's that?"
"Your role in the termination."
Reina's gold eyes met his cold ones. "I assumed the execution would be handled by the department's specialists."
"It will be. But there's a... symbolic element to consider." He leaned forward, her elbows on the desk, her fingers steepled. "The boy is your ward. Your responsibility. You raised him. And he's become a threat to the very system you serve." She paused. "The council believes it would be appropriate for you to take personal responsibility for his elimination."
The silence that followed was absolute.
"You want me to kill him," Reina said. Her voice was flat. Empty. The voice of someone reading from a script.
"We want you to demonstrate your loyalty." Another figure spoke up, the younger man from before. "There are those on the council who have... concerns about your allegiances. Some have suggested that your judgment might be compromised."
"Compromised."
"We're not accusing you of anything, Vice Principal Albert." His voice was smooth. "We're simply offering you an opportunity to put those concerns to rest. Execute the boy yourself. Prove that your loyalty to the state outweighs any personal attachment." She paused. "Or refuse, and face the consequences."
A figure reached into her briefcase and withdrew a single sheet of paper. She slid it across the table toward Reina. "This is a Witch's Oath. Made into into its less magical form."
Reina didn't look at it. "What are the terms?"
"You will eliminate Hoshimi Shirogane. Personally."
The words hung in the air like a blade.
"If you succeed," Director Chen continued, "your position as vice principal of Hex Academy will be secure. Your government contracts will be renewed. Your faults will be overlooked. The boy will be remembered as a tragic case, just like Dominic."
"We don't want this, Reina. You've been a valuable asset to the government for over two decades. Your loyalty has never been in question. But the families are demanding action. The public is demanding action. We are unable to protect him anymore."
"The council requires your answer, Vice Principal Albert. Will you accept the assignment?"
Reina turned back to face her. The lamp on the desk cast long shadows across her face, deepening the hollows of her cheeks, darkening the gold of her eyes until they seemed almost to glow.
Reina took the document. Her eyes swept over it, reading the terms, the conditions, the consequences of failure.
And at the bottom, in clear, precise script, the terms of her assignment:
The signatory agrees to personally terminate the life of Hoshimi Shirogane, also known as Subject 307, also known as the reincarnation of King Arthur.
The termination shall be carried out within seventy two hours of this agreement. Failure to comply will result in the immediate nullification of the signatory's government contracts, the revocation of her level ten status, and her designation as a rogue witch subject to immediate execution.
Reina stared at the document for a long moment.
"Gladly."
Then she smiled.
"There's no need to send anyone else, tell the other families to stand down. I want to kill him myself."
She reached into her pocket and withdrew a pen. The motion was casual, unhurried, the motion of someone signing a routine document rather than a death warrant. She clicked the pen. Pressed the tip to the paper.
"I want no one else to steal him, he's mine for the taking."
And signed.
The Oath flared with golden light. The mana in the room spiked, a brief, controlled surge that made the fluorescent lights flicker and the air grow heavy. Then it faded, and the contract was inert again, just a piece of paper with a signature at the bottom.
Reina Albert.
"I will kill Hoshimi Shirogane with my own hands."
"You're dismissed, Vice Principal Albert."
Reina turned and walked toward the door. Her heels clicked against the marble floor with that same metronomic precision, the sound echoing through the dark room, through the shadows, through the silence.
The corridor stretched before her, white and sterile and utterly indifferent.
Reina walked.
Her heels clicked against the polished floor, the sound echoing forward into infinity and backward into memory.
Her face was blank. A canvas. A page. A surface that revealed nothing.
The elevator at the end of the corridor opened as she approached, as if it had been waiting for her. She stepped inside, pressed the button for the ground floor, and watched the doors slide shut.
Alone.
Her reflection stared back at her from the polished metal walls. A woman in a dark blue uniform.
Ginger hair. Gold eyes. Face blank.
She raised her hand. Looked at it
She looked at her hand for a long moment.
Then she smiled.
It was a terrible smile. Cold and sharp and utterly without warmth. The smile of someone who had just been given exactly what they wanted and was already planning how to use it.
The elevator doors opened.
Reina walked through the empty corridors alone.
The building was silent at this hour, the administrative staff long gone, the night shift security concentrated at the perimeter rather than the interior. The fluorescent lights hummed their eternal, maddening song, casting everything in shades of white and gray and the occasional flicker of broken bulbs that no one had bothered to replace.
Her heels clicked against the marble.
Click. Click. Click.
Her face was blank. Not the blank of composure, not the blank of professionalism. The blank of something that had been shut down, turned off, locked away. The blank of a door that had been slammed closed and bolted from the inside.
She didn't stop walking until she reached her office.
The door was the same as every other door in this endless white corridor. Simple. Unadorned. But the nameplate beside it was different. The nameplate that read REINA ALBERT, VICE PRINCIPAL in crisp, silver letters.
She opened the door. Stepped inside. Closed it behind her.
And then, alone in the darkness of her office, with no one watching, no one listening.
"I'll have to deal with this shit and the case with Rouge at the same damn time, I'm so done with everything."
"Hoshimi you've royally fucked yourself over."