At just fifteen, Elio Deren was cast onto the streets, blamed for a crime she didn't commit-the murder of her own sister. The real culprit? Her younger brother. Betrayed and abandoned, Elio's life spiraled into darkness after a destined encounter le...
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Sora Otsuka...
Ever since Feya joined the leaders and some new blood joined Diad, I've started to pay closer attention to recruits and freshly appointed leaders. Usually, Diad's new faces come in groups, picked like they're fruit off a tree. Useful? Most of the time, yeah. But when it's a solo promotion, a lower ranker moved up, or someone scooped off a mission, the whole thing's a bit riskier. Untrained, raw... sometimes a disaster waiting to happen if they aren't handled right.
I've tried to do something. Took up this "final say" policy on new recruits and leader picks to keep the train wrecks out of Diad before they even hit the rails. And yet, somehow, they still manage to slip through, leaving us with headaches that make me wonder why we even bother.
Back to Sora.
Ava and Demian found her. Just stumbled on her during one of their missions and, for reasons I can't entirely follow, decided she was recruit worthy. When they brought her file across my desk, I wasn't exactly expecting much. To be honest, most solo recruits aren't worth the time. But I figured I'd give it a look. Didn't get my hopes up.
All I knew before checking the details was her name, age, and that she was a runaway from Japan.
Her file was like a mixed bag a few pros, some things I couldn't ignore, and a small amount of cons and... something else.
The pros were what we'd wish every recruit had.
She's alone. No close or "direct" family ties.
Barely scraping by in the world, so she'll have the grit.
Clean as a whistle. No substance abuse.
And then the cons were smaller but might be a bit didifficult.
Trauma. Loads of it.
Family trauma mainly, but her file didn't exactly spell it out. All it said was "no close family." Something about that didn't sit right. So I did a little digging of my own, just to see.
Turns out, her family disappeared. Some "missing persons" cases and a few whispery news headlines about "mysterious deaths." What a backstory. But something about it was off. I started looking harder, tried to piece together what was left.
A regular family. Supposedly happy, or at least that's how it would've looked on the surface.
Maybe I'm just cynical, but part of me wondered... did she kill them? You grow up in blood and betrayal long enough, and the innocent explanations start to look thin. I mean, here she was perfect recruit material, no ties, completely loyal, and with a kill count. Those three factors alone make her a perfect asset to Diad.
When I actually said "yes" and let her in, the leaders even raised a brow or two, shocked I'd let a solo recruit through the gates. But she had promise. After that, Sora clawed her way up the ranks like the world owed her something, and it didn't take her long to earn her title among the leaders.
