Apparently, he had posed as a police officer before. He must have been Achille's partner back then. I pitied the Achille of the past, forced to patrol with Jaeyeon while he pretended to be normal. He probably had something to do with Achille leaving the police, too.

Seeing Jaeyeon didn't anger me as much as I'd expected. I'd anticipated that he would show up here in one guise or another. Not being able to spot him might have made me more uneasy.

At any rate, one thing was now guaranteed.

I would not die here.

"Green Dream."

In this pallid place, cool air enveloped us. Achille looked up at Jaeyeon, his voice tight with suppressed fury.

"Were you the one who supplied that, too?"

"Ah, our dear Mari?"

The remnant of a delighted smile lingered on Jaeyeon's lips. The neat-looking man narrowed his eyes.

"She's not my doing. She's a defeated man's futile struggle."

I alone understood what he meant. Assuming Jaeyeon was telling the truth, the schoolgirl who had injected us with Green Dream was an agent of the nameless elder Colton had defeated.

The loser hadn't given up yet. Even though Jaeyeon and Colton had seen through his final plan as well. Jaeyeon must have found his opponent's struggles amusing. He had probably enjoyed watching the loser's defiance, then become a police officer to help make things worse.

Purely for his own amusement.

Ah... More memories of the old days.

Bound to Colton as he was, Jaeyeon often acted however he pleased. Jaeyeon blowing off steam, his master watching him with disdain. Whenever Colton scolded him—["Stop wasting your time on pointless nonsense"]—Jaeyeon would raise a hand and smash his belongings.

CRASH!

BANG!

I remembered quietly slipping away when the sounds of breaking objects began.

I let out a small sigh.

"You can survive the matches, can't you?"

Ignoring my sigh, Jaeyeon directed the question at Achille. But before Achille, who was grinding his teeth, could respond, footsteps sounded at the end of the corridor. Several sets of them.

A familiar voice emerged from the darkness.

"Officer."

Mick was the first to appear.

"Got any more Green Dream?"

"Unfortunately not."

Jaeyeon spun around and smiled at Mick. It was strange seeing him answer so meekly with his hands clasped behind his back. I'd never seen him address anyone but Colton so politely.

But who could say which version was closer to the truth?

"The procedures for taking Green Dream off-site are rather strict. The woman who tipped you off about this plan might have some to spare."

"She's nowhere to be found."

Mick answered, and the three or four Mafia members who had followed him grumbled. Listening to their complaints, I pieced together a rough picture of the situation.

Putting the Badgers in the arena had apparently been the defeated elder's and the Mafia's plan. The former elder ousted by Colton seemed to have conceived it, with the Mafia as his first accomplices. The elder would have hated the Badger senior leadership for deciding to stand by and let him die, while the Mafia would have resented the Badgers interfering with their business at every turn.

Jaeyeon must have slipped into the mix, posing as a corrupt cop.

Mick gave a theatrical sigh and flicked his hand.

"Can't be helped. We'll have to make do with more narcotics."

My seniors stiffened. I pretended not to notice them grinding their teeth and glaring at the gangsters. Shouting at the Mafia wouldn't change anything now.

Mick took a syringe from his underlings.

"Rookie. Get over here."

With the syringe in his right hand, he looked at me and crooked a finger.

"Stick your arm through the bars."

"Yes, Mom."

I answered with a perfectly straight face.

My seniors, who had been about to protest Mick's treatment of me, whipped around. Jaeyeon burst out laughing. I heard Riccardo give a disbelieving huff. Achille and Bobby stared at me, wide-eyed. The gangsters wore much the same expressions.

Mick alone showed no change of expression. Holding the left forearm I'd extended through the bars, he blinked a couple of times. He peered intently into my eyes, then gave a long laugh.

"Too young to know any better, are you?"

He stuck the needle into my forearm and pushed the liquid in.

"New Badger recruits never know their place. They get drunk on all that power they've suddenly acquired."

"Is that why you keep pumping me full of drugs?"

Smiling, I asked him gently,

"Because you're scared of me?"

BZZZZT!

THUD!

I hit the floor with a heavy thump.

Ah... That really hurt.

I curled up around the pain left by the electric shock and let out a faint groan. The gangsters' laughter and Achille's and Bobby's alarmed voices rained down on me. So did Riccardo's low sigh. And Jaeyeon's snort.

Mick, who had yanked me into the bars, quickly straightened. Then he stood in silence while I lay gasping on the floor. At last, he spoke.

"Drag these things to the arena when intermission ends."

"Yes, sir!"

The gangsters moved. While his underlings busied themselves, Mick stayed where he was. Head lowered ominously, he simply kept staring down at me. His shadow fell across my body.

"You think this is all a joke because the Green Dream isn't working as well on you?"

My attitude seemed to have gotten well under his skin. His voice dropped toward the floor, taut with suppressed anger.

"You think you'll win in the end if you just give it time. You heal faster than ordinary people, and you've still got all your strength."

"Are you trying to call me arrogant?"

Even as I gasped for breath, I couldn't resist answering with a laugh.

"You, of all people? Calling me arrogant?"

"You must be confident you'll get out alive, no matter what happens to your seniors. It's that delusion that lets you act this way."

The gangster didn't even acknowledge my words. Perhaps he genuinely hadn't heard them. There was something unhinged in his eyes as he muttered,

"Let's see how long that confidence of yours lasts."

Mick turned away. The gangster walked off, radiating gloom. Still gasping, I listened to the people outside the bars leave. The crowd that had poured in now poured back out.

Jaeyeon, who had been watching Mick and me with a smirk, left too. As his footsteps receded, the tread of combat boots changed into the click of high heels. Then, at some point, the footsteps stopped.

Pallid stillness. Silence settling over this chilly place. Cold seeping into my body.

No sooner had that chill eased the aftereffects of the electric shock than the drugs kicked in.

"Rookie."

Achille's voice hummed in my ears. But I had no strength to answer his worried question.

"Are you okay?"

I needed to get away from my seniors.

A confusing jumble of sensations bore down hard on my body. Achille seemed to jump up and say something, but I could no longer make out his words. My other seniors' voices were nothing but an incomprehensible buzzing, too.

Only one thing was certain: I couldn't trust myself to control my strength right now.

Scraping together what little judgment I had left, I rolled across the floor, away from the others. Once I reached a corner of the cell, I curled into a ball.

Had those bastards really given me narcotics? What kind of drugs just hurt instead of making you feel good?

My seniors kept talking to me, but I couldn't understand a word. I gave up trying and held out a palm. As they tried to approach, I barely managed to get out a few words.

"Please stay back."

Riccardo sounded annoyed. Good thing I couldn't understand him.

I smiled faintly at my frowning seniors.

"I can't understand a word you're saying."

... Did Riccardo just kick the wall?

Scary. Seeing him that angry.

Watching Bobby and Riccardo jump to their feet, I decided I should pretend to pass out. Close my eyes naturally, curl up so I wouldn't hit them if I thrashed around. If I held out like this, the drugs would wear off.

Until then, I couldn't hit my seniors, even by accident...

I struggled for a long time to stay conscious. It was cramped enough in here already; I was afraid I'd black out and accidentally strike one of my seniors. At the unpleasant sensations, I clenched and unclenched my hands, flailed through the air in search of something to grab, and, finding nothing, scratched at the floor.

Fortunately, clawing at the innocent floor kept me from passing out.

I felt someone drag me out of the corner where I lay huddled and into the middle of the cell. I blinked the cold sweat off my eyelashes.

"Should we make him throw up?"

The voice sounded frightened.

I heard someone else answer in a low voice.

"It won't do any good... We can only wait for it to wear off..."

"Let's keep the rookie out of the matches."

A rigid voice.

"Let's finish this ourselves."

Finish what?

I listened to their conversation in a daze. I remembered that I couldn't pass out, no matter what, but not much else.

Why was I here like this again?

The floor was cold.

Who was talking? Judging by their voices, none of them sounded particularly happy...

Ah. My hands and feet were tingling.

When I stirred, the voices abruptly stopped. Someone's face filled my warped field of vision.

"Hilde!"

Hm?

"Can you see me?"

Ah.

I smiled faintly at the blurry figure. Shoulder-length hair, wide eyes looking down at me—the sight was familiar.

Another bothersome ordeal must be over.

Watching the swaying hair, I gave a little laugh.

"Eve."

The person looking at me went completely still.

"I can see you. Looks like it's over. Where's Kyle?"

No answer came. I blinked at the unfamiliar silence.

Why wasn't she answering? I wondered through the haze. She was such a talkative human. She was especially interested in us, launching into an excited speech after every experiment, her distinctive two-tone hair—blue with purple underneath—swinging every which way...

"Who are Eve and Kyle?"

Hm?

... Oh.

Damn it.

Reality abruptly came rushing back.

"People he knows? Whatever the case, he's clearly out of his mind right now."

"I'll carry him to the waiting room on my back," Achille muttered gloomily.

"I doubt he can even walk properly."

I'd better pretend I was still out of my mind.

Embarrassed at having mistaken Bobby for someone else, I kept pretending to be utterly drugged out. Right up until Achille pulled me to my feet.

I was still putting on an act when, trying to spare my silver-haired senior the burden, I tensed my muscles—and Riccardo caught on that I'd come back to my senses.