Triple Point

Chapter 76: Get Your Girlfriend

With the important introduction out of the way, they focused on getting Hitomi settled in. As expected, Hitomi had rushed over to Los Angeles without the slightest plan, only knowing to pack several of her own gadgets and taking care to avoid getting on the Org's radar. Elsie gladly offered the room that was supposed to be Camilla's, only faltering slightly when Hitomi commented that it hadn't looked like anybody had been in there for months, and why weren't most of Camilla's things in here? Judging by Hitomi's faint but knowing smile, Elsie knew Hitomi was just trying to tease her, but Elsie wasn't about to admit that she and Camilla basically shared a room.

Afterwards and over a light snack, they discussed their next move. Hitomi agreed immediately to help test people's trustworthiness, and she thought that Elsie's short list of potential allies was a decent start and probably the only help they could get. Unfortunately, she didn't know of any other metas that would be willing to risk everything for Camilla, and Hitomi spent at least a combined ten minutes ranting about how it was possible for her cousin to make so many enemies.

For the time being, they simply had to work with who they had, so Elsie texted the Songs and Mack for an impromptu social gathering that evening. The brothers both quickly replied that they would be there, but when they both asked if they could also stop by earlier, Elsie just told them all to show up whenever they wanted. Mack, as expected, ignored Elsie's text, but Jordan insisted he would be there as well.

Minyoung showed up half an hour later, intending on going over work things with Elsie. But when he spotted Hitomi lounging around in the living room, he froze, then stared suspiciously at Elsie.

"It is very nice to see you again, Minyoung," Hitomi said, pulling his attention back to her as she extended a hand out to him. "I see you are still obsessed with your work as usual."

"What?" was all Minyoung could say in his surprise, but he at least was polite enough to shake Hitomi's offered hand.

Shortly after, Hitomi turned to Elsie. "He is fine," she said, then returned to her spot on the couch where she had been sitting opposite of Elsie.

"What?" Minyoung repeated, still dumbfounded.

"I'll explain when the others get here," Elsie said, waving at him to sit as well. "You wanted to talk about work, right?"

It took some persuading for Minyoung to follow along, and Elsie kept him busy while Hitomi continued to use her laptop to search for possible Org hideouts. She had told Elsie it had some fancy features that sounded like something from a spy movie, and at the sight of Elsie's confusion, Hitomi assured she could take care of anything related to technology.

When Jordan and Mack arrived a couple hours later, they too were surprised by Hitomi's presence, but they were a little more subtle about it than Minyoung had been. It didn't take long for Hitomi to confirm their trustworthiness, and Elsie urged them all to sit down so she could explain why they were really there. Mack still seemed angry at Elsie from their argument at the hospital, but at least he and Jordan had sorted out whatever drama had come between them and he begrudgingly let Jordan drag him over to the two-seater.

"Thanks for coming by on such short notice," Elsie began, then took a deep breath. "I know I've been kinda... withdrawn lately—"

"Understatement of the year," Minyoung muttered bitterly.

"—but now, I'm going to tell you why," Elsie continued, ignoring Minyoung. She looked around at the three men, and they returned her gaze expectantly. That is, except for Mack, who just seemed like a grumpy toddler. "But you all have to promise that nothing leaves this room, okay? You can't even talk about anything with each other outside of these walls. Can everyone do that?"