After about five minutes, Eve returned to where Finn and Iris were. The two were quite surprised to see her come back this quickly, naturally. They had expected her mother—the leader of this squadron—to take longer at whatever meeting she was at. Still, they weren’t complaining.

“Back already?” Iris asked, blinking a few times in confusion.

“Mhm! I just had to drop off my equipment, that’s all,” the girl replied with a bright smile that rivaled the sun itself. “Oh, but if you’re talking about my mother… then no, she isn’t back yet, unfortunately. I just headed back down here to talk with you two! There’s not much else I can do, anyway~”

With a soft giggle, she casually strode over and plopped down on the couch, in between Iris and Finn. Then, glancing at both of them, she smiled like a curious child.

“Heehee… so, how did you two meet?”

“E-Eh?” Iris was taken aback by this sudden question. “Why…?”

“C’mon, c’mon! Don’t hide it! In exchange for taking you two here, I want to hear about your love story!”

“Um… we aren’t really a love coupl-“

“Aww, stop denying~!” The girl giggled excitedly. “You two work so well as a team and even have matching aliases! There’s no way you aren’t a couple!”

“Erm…” As Iris struggled to come up with a good response, Finn came up with one of his own.

“Actually, we are brothers.”

… One hell of a response, that is.

“H-Huh?” Iris and Eve were both shocked at this, and at a loss for words for a good few seconds.

Finn didn’t say anything further, most likely because there was no need. He just let the two girls figure it out on their own.

“A-Ah, um…” Eve scratched her hair awkwardly. “I see! Well, it seems I had it all wrong, then… my bad, my bad!”

Meanwhile, Iris was still in a state of speechlessness, staring at Finn like she had seen a ghost. But then, the sound of a phone ringing snapped her out of it.

Eve pulled out her smartphone and brought it to her ear.

“Hello?”

A voice came back on the other end, too faint for Iris and Finn to hear. Eve was able to catch it perfectly fine though, and made a prompt response.

“Mm! Okay, got it!”

With that, she hung up, and turned to Iris and Finn. “My mother has returned. I’ll go see if she has time to see you, then let you know.”

Finn nodded as she went away, and the two fell into silence once more. That is, until…

“Um… psst. You couldn’t have come up with a better answer than that?” Iris whispered, voice shaking slightly.

“No,” Finn replied. “It was the best I had.”

Iris sighed. “I know I’m disguised as a boy right now, but hearing you really think of me as a man hurts… don’t forget, I’m still a girl, okay?”

“Quiet,” Finn said harshly. “There may be people listening in.”

“Yes, yes…” Iris pouted slightly and turned away, slightly concerned that after this, Finn would never see her as a girl again.

– Upstairs –

“Welcome back, mother!” Eve exclaimed cheerily as a beautiful woman who could easily pass as her elder sister sat down in her rotating chair behind her organized desk.

“How many times have I told you… not to call me that during the day?” The woman—Evelyn—sighed. “We are manager and employee during the day, not mother and child.”

“Ehehe… I forgot, sorry~” Eve laughed awkwardly and scratched her hair. “But, um… there’s two people who asked to see you.”

“Oh? And who are they?” Evelyn rummaged through some papers, not even paying attention to her daughter’s words.

“Two freelance Ghost Hunters who helped us take care of an Outbreak,” Eve explained. “They were quite strong, and their aliases were Heart and Spade respectively. Brothers too, apparently.”

At this, Evelyn set down her documents and fell into thought.

“… Hm. Heart and Spade, is it…? I’ve never heard of them before.”

“Well, there are many freelance Hunters in the world. You can’t remember them all, mothe- er, President.”

She quickly corrected herself as Evelyn shot her a glare and promptly sighed.

“… I don’t know why they have come here, but very well. Bring them here. I have a little bit of time to spare.”

Eve nodded. “Yes, president!”

Soon, Finn and Iris were led upstairs by Eve via one of the many elevators in the building. The ride took a while, considering they were headed for the topmost floor in the structure, and said structure was very tall.

After exiting the elevator, Eve continued to lead them, all the way down to the end of a hallway where a formal wooden door stood, professional and modern-styled. There, Eve knocked on it gently.

“President, I have brought them.”

A deep, mature woman’s voice responded.

“… Enter.”

Eve sent a smile towards Finn and Iris, then pushed open the door and allowed the two to enter. Iris rode on Finn’s back and not his shoulders, for the latter would’ve made it impossible to pass through the door. Eve didn’t go in with them and instead just closed the door so they could speak properly with Evelyn.

“… Good afternoon, President Evelyn,” Finn began, doing his best to speak politely. However, his monotone voice betrayed his goals and instead just made his words sound sarcastic.

“… Heart and Spade, is it?” Evelyn narrowed her eyes at the two. “Why is he riding on your back?”

“My legs are… crippled,” Iris replied, doing her best to use a boyish voice. “Because we move around a lot, we don’t bother with wheelchairs.”

“Legs are crippled, hm… now where have I heard that before?”

She was baiting them. Finn and Iris, h0wever, naturally weren’t going to fall for it that easily.

“What do you mean?” Finn asked, playing dumb. “Do you have some kind of prejudice against people with crippled legs? If so, then we will leave.”

Good play. Turning the tables on Evelyn.

“No, no, nothing of the sort.” Evelyn shook her head slowly and eyeing the two of them carefully. “It’s just… recently, I’ve been told about a pair of escaped fugitives from the guild. One of the two had crippled legs just like your companion there, and the other… was blind.”

Finn blinked. “I have never heard of them, but… I am not blind.”

“Oho? Is that so?” Evelyn smiled wryly. The person Finn had chosen to Shapeshift into was not blind, and therefore he had opened eyes. However, he still couldn’t actually see, only pretend he could.

“Forgive me, but I have to make sure,” Evelyn said with a smug grin, then raised her hand. “Now… how many fingers am I holding up?”