[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 88: In Which Tokyo Has Unexpected Company

Seoul took longer than Shanghai.

Nested anchor points, forty-plus enforcers, the usual nightmare of violence and dimensional surgery. But we closed it clean, and more importantly, nobody broke any ribs this time.

Progress.

"Ten rifts," I said, watching the map projection update in real-time. The Seoul rift winked out, and I felt the Coastal Asia cluster destabilize slightly. "One more and the whole cluster collapses."

"Tokyo," Azryth confirmed, already studying the final anchor point. "Shibuya district, underground maintenance tunnel."

"It’s heavily populated above ground," Henrik added from his station. "You’ll need to be careful with collateral damage."

"When are we not careful?" I asked.

"Shanghai. You imploded a rift so violently it created a minor earthquake."

"That was a structurally sound implosion."

"It cracked three building foundations."

"Minor cracks."

Mara looked up from her tablet, expression thoughtful. "The coalition made their announcement an hour ago."

"What announcement?" I asked.

"Official cessation of hostilities toward Azryth Valek." She turned the tablet to show us. "They’re acknowledging that you two close rifts faster than any recorded method in hunter history, they’ve agreed to stop active hunting operations."

"How generous," Azryth said dryly.

"It’s actually significant," Mara countered. "The coalition doesn’t make concessions easily, this means they’re prioritizing the rift crisis over their vendetta."

"But they still don’t like us," I guessed.

"They still don’t like you," she confirmed. "You’re just currently more useful than you are offensive to their principles."

"That’s almost a compliment."

"Take what you can get."

Azryth and I pulled on the key together, and Tokyo’s coordinates flowed through the binding.. underground tunnel, eastern access point, minimal civilian exposure.

Space tore open, showing a narrow maintenance corridor lit by flickering industrial lighting.

"After you," Azryth said.

"Such a gentleman."

We stepped through into the tunnel system beneath Shibuya. The air was thick with moisture and that particular underground smell of old concrete and stagnant water. Pipes ran along the ceiling, dripping condensation that echoed in the confined space.

"Atmospheric," Kelvin said, ducking under a low-hanging pipe.

"You say that about everything," I pointed out.

"Because everything is atmospheric. You just don’t appreciate ambiance."

The rift was fifty meters down the tunnel, I could feel it pulling at my awareness, wrongness bleeding into the surrounding space.

But there was something else.

Movement ahead, human-sized, multiple signatures.

"We’re not alone," Azryth said quietly.

"Enforcers?"

"No. Human."

We rounded a corner and found them.

A group of about eight people, all armed, all wearing the kind of tactical gear that screamed "professional hunter." They were positioned defensively around the rift, which pulsed with its usual purple-black light about twenty meters behind them.

One of them saw us and stepped forward.

He was tall, maybe early thirties, with dark hair pulled back in a short ponytail and the kind of posture that suggested years of combat training. His eyes were sharp, assessing us with the same intensity Azryth used when evaluating threats.

"Azryth Valek," he said, his English accented but clear. "And the warden, we’ve been expecting you."

"Have you," Azryth said, his tone carefully neutral.

"I’m Ryota Hasegawa. Tokyo coalition cell." He didn’t extend a hand for shaking. "We received word about the cessation agreement. We’re here to... observe."

"Observe," I repeated.

"The coalition agreed to stop hunting you, we didn’t agree to trust you." His eyes flicked to me, then back to Azryth. "We want to see this legendary rift-closing technique for ourselves."

"And if we refuse the audience?" Azryth asked.

"Then we’ll be forced to conclude that your methods aren’t as effective as claimed." Ryota’s expression didn’t change. "And the cessation agreement might require... reconsideration."

The implied threat was clear.

"We’re not performing for you," I said.

"I’m not asking you to perform." Ryota finally looked directly at me, and I noticed his eyes were an unusual amber-brown. "I’m asking you to close the rift while we verify that you’re not using corrupted techniques that will make things worse."

"Our techniques are not corrupted," Azryth said, his voice dropping into dangerous territory.

"Forgive me if I don’t take a demon lord’s word on that." Ryota’s hand didn’t move toward his weapons, but the other hunters shifted slightly, ready. "You’ve been exiled from your realm for attempting to usurp infernal hierarchy, your binding to a warden is unprecedented, your methods for closing rifts are unknown to any hunter organization. You’ll understand our skepticism."

"We’ve closed ten rifts," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "The Eastern Europe cluster collapsed completely because of our work. We’re not making things worse."

"So you say." Ryota finally moved, but only to lean against the tunnel wall in a deliberately casual pose. "Prove it. Close the rift, we’ll watch, if your technique is sound, we leave you alone. If it’s corrupted..." He didn’t finish, but his meaning was clear.

Azryth looked at me. I could feel his anger through the binding, controlled but burning hot.

"We don’t have time for this," I said quietly.

"I know."

"The cluster needs to collapse today."

"I know that too."

I looked at Ryota and his hunters, all of them watching us with varying degrees of suspicion and hostility.

"Fine," I said. "You want to watch? Watch, but stay back and don’t interfere."

"Wouldn’t dream of it," Ryota said, and I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or sincere.

Azryth and I moved toward the rift, leaving the coalition hunters behind us.

"I don’t like this," I muttered.

"Neither do I."

"He’s going to judge everything we do."

"Let him." Azryth’s power began manifesting. "We know our technique works, his opinion is irrelevant."

But I could feel through the binding that he was bothered by Ryota’s presence, the scrutiny, the suspicion, the implied threat.

This was going to be a very uncomfortable rift closure.

The rift pulsed ahead of us, and I summoned the spectral blade.

Behind us, I heard Ryota say something to his hunters in Japanese. Whatever it was, it made several of them shift their grips on their weapons.

"Fantastic," I muttered. "An audience of armed skeptics, this is exactly what I needed today."

"Focus on the rift," Azryth said. "Ignore them."

"Easy for you to say."

But I activated my X-ray vision anyway, trying to block out the awareness that eight coalition hunters were watching our every move, just waiting for us to do something they could call "corrupted."

No pressure.