Chapter 194: The Scorned, Part Nine

{Rin}

"They were talking about you," Sara explained. "The situation I heard them describe aligned with yours well."

"W-What? Me?" Rin asked in a whisper, wondering if things were going to get violent here.

"Your past situation," Sara explained, noticing her worry. "As in, when you got captured."

"O-Oh."

"In any case, I believe we can be fairly certain at this point."

Part of her was terrified. Another part of her felt validated. Finally, she could look back at the anxiety she'd been feeling since entering this place and say she was justified in it, despite how sweet the words and sentiments surrounding her were.

That left her with one very simple question, though. What did she need to do now?

"Are we to leave?" Sara asked quietly.

"... Not yet," Rin replied, as her eyes scanned the room. "It's nice to have confirmation, but we need physical evidence now."

"Physical evidence..." Sara muttered, looking away. "Such as?"

"I have something in mind," Rin replied. "Wait here."

"As you wish."

Rin figured that a group like this had to have some sort of a symbol they could rally behind. She didn't expect to find anything too useful here, as it was unlikely this random building was actually one of their headquarters, but she figured maybe she could find a badge or an emblem of some sort that these people used to identify one another.

[Given that this is the initiation party, maybe they'll hand some out at the end or something. Who knows?]

Casting a pleasant smile and a friendly wave at anyone whose eyes roamed toward her, Rin nonchalantly walked through the room, moving around the dancing partygoers. Finally, she intended to sneak into the side doors, hoping there would be something she could bring back to the academy as proof.

The first place Rin went to check was the door to the back-left corner, a short walk from the stairs, still on the first floor.

[Well, if anyone asks me what I'm doing I'll just say I'm looking for the bathroom or something,] she thought.

The door led to a tight hall with a single, old lightbulb in the middle. There were a few other doors on both sides, but none at the end. The music from the main room was still loud in Rin's ears as she investigated the first on the left.

She opened it up and found two wasted partygoers in the middle of making their own fun on a comfy-looking bed, completely oblivious to the fact that Rin had just walked in.

She blinked.

[... Okay then.]

As skin clapped against skin rhythmically in the background, Rin scanned the room for anything she felt she should snatch, and then closed the door when she felt the room had nothing to provide for her.

The next room, the first to the right, produced similarly uneventful results. There was a guy passed out on the floor, having not even made it to the bed before the alcohol he'd been drinking from the bottle laid out next to him wrapped him up and carried him into the sweet, fuzzy realm of drunken unconsciousness.

The third inspection found Rin walking into a room that had three guys relaxing on another of those divine-looking beds. They casually looked over at Rin and greeted the white-haired woman as she checked the space out and dipped.

[Come on, there has to be something around here!]

There was nothing around there.

Eventually, Rin had just one more door to check. The final door to the right presented Rin's last hope at getting some proof...

... Well, at least in this hallway. But, ever since Sara had told her she was currently, in fact, sharing alcohol and trashy Cradleite dance music with kobold-raising zealots Rin had been slightly eager to get out of this place.

Just slightly.

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So, with a hopeful heart, she pushed the door open.

As she did, she found a room that, at first, looked just like all the others. There was a lamp turned on by the corner, casting a romantic light over a smooth bed that looked like love was meant to be made on it, as a few people had already shown they agreed with, some drawers, and a shabby carpet.

[Ugh. Alright, I guess I'll check those other...]

Just before Rin closed the door on this room, she noticed something.

On one of the drawers was an open book.

Finding it unlikely that someone had brought their favorite novel to a rager, Rin went back inside. She walked over to it and, keeping her expectations in check, leaned over it and read the book's contents.

The first page was the only one that had anything written on it.

[Aizen, Rita, Uli, Omar, Jess, Kate...]

Rin went through a series of names, wondering what they meant until she found her own alias scribbled at the very end.

[Triss. So, this is a list of all the initiates?]

Finally, right beneath that list was one simple message:

[Light the way. Let the lambs choose whether they wish to remain under the heels of wolves.]

That was it.

[... I guess this is better than nothing? I mean, it's no symbol but it's pretty much saying "hey, make sure you welcome them to our cult nicely." I guess I should take this back.]

She went to pick it up for a second before contemplating how exactly she was going to get this thing out of here.

[Anyone who's a member will probably try to stop me the instant they see this thing, right?] She thought as she stared down at it. [It's just a little too big to stick it under my dress... Maybe I could-]

Before she could finish that thought, the door opened.

Rin froze. She snapped her head toward it and found someone walking in. A man who stopped as soon as he saw her.

He looked at her. Then, he looked down at the book she'd been reading through.

"Oh, hey~" Rin quickly greeted him, smiling brightly. "Is this yours?"

"Uh, no," the man answered firmly, hustling over to her and all but ripping the book out of her reach. "It's just a guest list John had made. I should get it back to him."

"Ah, I see," Rin nodded.

Without bothering to say goodbye, the man went to leave. Rin, however, had other ideas.

She pushed Essence through her body and took the guy by the back of his head.

"Hey, what-"

Before he could get another word out, Rin slammed his head into the wall so hard she heard, and felt, a crack that made the man go limp.

At that point, just to be absolutely certain he was dead, Rin stomped on his head twice for good measure, hoping the pop music outside would muffle the sounds of his breaking bones.

[... Okay,] Rin thought, taking steady breaths as her hands shook from the sudden anger, [now, calm down. How do I get this out of here?]

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