Rudy awkwardly stood in front of the bedroom door, hearing the muffled sounds of the siblings arguing on the other side.

“W-what do you mean you think Millie could still be alive?! I was the one who found her dead body! We still have her ashes in our house!” Kat's voice cracked.

“I know, onee-chan, but this is all too strange! You know something changed with Millie when she returned from Hokkaido. We should at least ask Wu Gaa what he knows.”

Rudy took a deep breath before she moved her hand.

Knock knock

The bedroom suddenly went silent before Adrian's voice came through.

“Come in," he said.

Rudy gently pried open the door. The two giants standing stiffly in front of each other slowly came into view.

“Uh sorry, this may be an... awkward time.”

“No, it’s alright,” Kat said, regaining her composure.

“I just wanted to say–I’m uh, sorry, about what I said about your late sister,” Rudy stuttered. “You can join us on our operation to rescue Wu Suk, provided you follow my orders. I know you must be wanting answers from him regarding your clan’s involvement.”

Rudy’s words awkwardly spilled out, but she looked at Kat straight in her eyes. Kat’s own eyes widened at Rudy’s apology.

“I’ll give you two some space,” Adrian whispered as he left the room.

“It’s–it’s alright, Rudy. I’m sorry I slapped you.”

“Heh, didn’t even feel it.”

“Maybe I should’ve gone for the other cheek,” Kat muttered.

“Huh? Whadya say?”

“Nothing.”

Rudy took a seat on the child-sized bed, clasping her hands together as she leaned forward.

Kat took a seat on the small wooden chair that she had stitched Rudy on. It looked comically smaller with her on it.

Between the two of them sat an awkward silence. Rudy was looking down at the floor, where Kat's black heeled boots were. Her gaze made her way up Kat's figure, completely sheathed in tailored black. Collars as sharp as knives crossed over an inner Kevlar robe hemmed with Ainu embroidery. Eventually, Rudy's eyes caught onto Kat's silver earrings, dangling underneath her bandaged ear. Kat was rubbing one of the earrings between her slender fingers, as she stared off to the right. Rudy followed Kat's gaze, finding that she was staring at a doll in the corner of the room. It had dark black hair tied into low pigtails and a little smile on its porcelain face.

"You may think of my sister as a demon," said Kat. "But to me, she was just like that doll there. Always wearing that cute innocent smile on her face."

“Your sister must have meant a lot to you,” spoke Rudy. “I know that losing family is... quite painful.”

“I know that my sister, Millie, has quite the reputation in the Underworld, but she wasn’t always like that.”

“What? You mean you Takagis don’t come out the womb with a knife in your hands?” Rudy scoffed but immediately cut her joking when she saw Kat’s scowl.

“I’ll stop,” Rudy timidly corrected herself. “What was your little sister actually like then?”

“Believe it or not, Millie was the sweetest girl I ever knew. She was the girl on the block that all the kids wanted to play with because she always shared her toys and treats. No one could have guessed that she came from a family of killers.”

Kat’s gaze wandered to the bedroom's fading wallpaper of cartoon animals, reminiscing her childhood.

“Our family meant everything to her. She did her best to make our mother proud as a Takagi assassin, even if she wasn’t as skilled as I or as strong as Adrian. She also lacked the killing intent that drives us Takagis. The only thing she really had a knack for was baking treats for our family and friends.”

“Could she have just? Not chosen to become an assassin?” asked Rudy. "My mother was actually a baker. She even opened up a bakery in Hong Kong. I'm sure she would've even hired your sister if she ever met her!"

Kat smiled softly as she imagined the idea.

“That would have been a sight to see. Takagis and Laus, putting down their guns just to make bread. Maybe in another world. In this world, we have no choice; every Takagi is bound by blood to serve the Devil’s Hand. We kill to survive,” Kat answered. A deep bitterness wrapped her words. “What worried my family was whether or not Millie would survive our coming-of-age trial."

“What is this trial?” asked Rudy.

“When we turn fifteen, we’re dropped into the wilderness of Hokkaido during the peak of winter, with only the clothes on our backs and a knife. We must survive there till spring, alone, to prove our resilience. Not only that, but we also must bring back the pelt of a bear we’ve hunted. It’s proof that we are ready to hunt just as our Ainu ancestors once did. Those who can complete the trial start working as a Devil’s Teeth operative and are given a ceremonial tantō blade to mark our start as Takagi assassins.”

Rudy grimaced. “What the hell? You Takagis sure are something for doing something so crazy.”

“Yes, it is crazy. Some of us don’t even survive it. But those who do have proven themselves to carry on the Takagi legacy. It’s why we’ve never failed an assignment.”

“Well, it sounds like Millie passed, right? She became a Tooth.”

“She did, but a year before, we weren’t sure she would make it. The training didn’t come naturally to her like me and Adrian. She was also smaller and weaker than the average Takagi. Our mother tried her best to make sure she would be ready, but we all had our worries.”

Kat’s eyes narrowed into blades before her next words.

“When Millie turned fourteen, our clan head ordered her to train at the main branch in Hokkaido. She guaranteed Millie would pass the coming-of-age trial under her guidance. But not all of us Takagis get along. My family in New York has been at odds with the other families who stayed in Hokkaido. We had our own set of worries about sending Millie there, but we had no choice if the order came directly from the clan head. My mother only relented so that Millie could survive the trial.”

Kat lowered her posture along with her voice.

“After Millie left, we didn’t hear back from her for the whole year, not even a phone call or letter. Every time we asked the clan head, she said that Millie was ‘busy training’. Our anxiety only grew when the winter of her fifteenth birthday arrived. My mother could barely sleep that whole time. Then, on the first day of spring, the clan head called us, announcing that Millie had passed the trial and would be returning to New York to start taking assignments from the Devil’s Hand as a Tooth and a Takagi assassin.”

“You and your family must have been relieved to hear that,” softly spoke Rudy.

“Yes… but,” Kat’s expression darkened. “When we saw her again, in New York, something was different about her. Millie always had this reassuring smile on her face, like we didn’t need to worry about her. She still wore that same smile on her face, but I could see that there was some pain in her expression. Like it hurt her to smile. When I asked her what really happened in Hokkaido, Millie explained that the clan head just made her do the usual training routine that the Hokkaido branch does, just under her close supervision. It was enough to help her pass the coming-of-age trial. We took her word, but when we had our first training session together, Millie was a completely different person in combat. Adrian and I are considered some of the best in our generation, while Millie was the weakest, before her year in Hokkaido. When we first sparred with her in hand-to-hand combat, she completely wiped the floor with us. Her movement speed and reflexes were inhuman. Even two-on-one, we couldn’t land a finger on her.”

“Seriously? I couldn’t imagine someone better than you in hand-to-hand combat. Your brother is also huge!”

“I appreciate the praise, Rudy. But that level of improvement was… unusual, no matter what kind of traditional training methods the clan head used on Millie. Something else must’ve happened that Millie won’t tell us. When we practiced our live fire drills, Millie outshot all of us in speed and accuracy. Not only that, but she would always aim for the head and never miss. Two shots, less than an inch apart on the forehead, in the blink of an eye. My mother was overjoyed that Millie was finally living up to her expectations, and Millie was happy that she made our mother proud… but I didn’t see this as a good sign.”

Kat clasped her hands together and held them near her mouth. Rudy leaned further in.

“Millie had no issues with the missions that the Devil’s Hand assigned her. Eventually, they started giving her harder missions. She started coming back home, not even bothering to wipe off the blood that covered her. She would leave with a full combat load of magazines and come back completely empty. We started hearing about her work from rumors spreading throughout the Underworld. How she not only eliminated her target, but also their entire organization in the process. Devil’s Teeth operatives only need to kill the designated target, usually the faction head or a couple of key members. But this, this was excessive.”

“Why did your sister go so far? You said that she didn’t even have the killing intent that you and your brother have? Did something inside her snap while she was in Hokkaido?”

“I wish I knew, Rudy. I approached Millie once about this. I said that we’ve been hearing some rumors about her work. That I’m worried about her going too far, and that it could get her killed. She looked at me and said these words.”

Kat sat up straight and faked an eerie smile.

“‘Onee-chan, you don’t need to worry about me! No one can hurt me. I’m just making sure there’s no one left to hurt our family!” Kat mimicked the melodic nature of her sister’s voice.

“She said that with a smile, Rudy,” emphasized Kat, as she lowered her posture again, interlocking her fingers over her mouth, “But this wasn’t her usual reassuring smile. I knew what this smile was. I've seen it tons of times in the Underworld... it was the kind of smile you would see from someone who enjoys killing. Takagis are killers by profession, not killers for pleasure. The Devil’s Hand knows that, but they also knew exactly what would happen when they put Millie on the field.”

Rudy watched Kat’s fingers tense together, like a bridge about to snap.

“What the fuck? So, the Fingers used her as an excuse to completely eradicate orgs that look at them the wrong way?” Rudy spat in revulsion.

“She wasn’t just an assassin to them; she was a weapon of mass slaughter,” Kat hissed, “and they treated her as such. She received significantly more assignments than anyone else during her two years as a Tooth. She’d be leaving for back-to-back missions, only stopping by home at times just to resupply.”

Kat’s eyes moved to the floor as her fingers braced her brows.

“We always asked Millie if she was okay when she came back. She’d turn and look at us, still covered in blood, and give us that same reassuring smile, like nothing was wrong. However, Millie began to lock herself in her room more and more after finishing her assignments. Sometimes, we wouldn’t see her come out for days. I would hear muffled screams and groans from inside her room. Every time we asked her ‘what’s wrong’ from outside her door, she’d reply ‘nothing’ and say that ‘everything’s alright. ’ Even if we made her open the door, she’d give us that same old smile, but her eyes would be bloodshot. We could tell she was losing weight, too. Something must’ve happened in Hokkaido that Millie and the clan head wouldn’t tell us about. Millie was deteriorating every day.”

Rudy shifted uncomfortably at the details of the story as she saw the pain in Kat’s eyes.

“It must’ve been hard… seeing that happen to your own sister,” Rudy softly consoled.

“It was hard for everyone in my family. Even my mother, who’s always so hard-headed, started to worry. The second year, Millie seemed to be improving. She wouldn’t lock herself in her room as much, but sometimes she’d seem a little… out of it. Like she was on something. That’s when I found the bottles of prescription pain medications hidden in her room. I asked Millie why she was taking these, and she said that she had some joint pain from all the training in Hokkaido. She went to see a pain management doctor, and these were prescribed. She told me that she was alright, to not worry about her, but I knew that these were very strong opioids for serious, debilitating levels of pain.”

Kat sucked in her breath, as if the next words would freeze the air around her.

“Then she started to deteriorate again. The medications started to lose their effect on her as her body’s drug tolerance increased. Everyone started to notice her withdrawal symptoms at this point. She became increasingly anxious. She wouldn’t even show up to dinner because she would either feel nauseous or vomit up her food. The worst part was that we couldn’t even touch her. Every time we tried to, she would reflexively dodge us, like it would kill her if we did.”

Kat’s voice choked on the last words. She clenched her eyes shut, furiously willing the tears to stay in.

“Kat…”

“I’m okay, Rudy.”

Kat sat up straight and took a deep breath to regain her composure.

“I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that. I didn’t know Millie’s backstory was so painful. I-I feel like a real dickhead for calling your sister all those things. I understand now why you were so mad. Hell, if I were you, I probably would’ve thrown a punch instead.”

“People only know us, Takagis, as assassins. Machines bred to kill with unmatched efficiency. Demons, not humans. We’ve built this reputation ourselves, though. This is the price of our legacy.”

“Well, I’m sure the Underworld would be shocked to find out one of them is a doctor saving lives.”

“Who would ever go to a doctor, knowing that they spend their nights taking lives?” Kat stared at her hands, as if they were covered in blood.

“Well, you did a bang-up job with me, even if you were the one who stabbed my face,” Rudy let out a pained smile with the right side of her face. “Well, uh… I mean… I can tell that talking about Millie is very painful for you. You don’t have to continue if it’s too much, but I can lend my ear for a bit while we’re stuck in this mess together. I’m no therapist, but I doubt the Underworld has any that would hear out the woes of an assassin.”

Kat looked up from her hands to see Rudy looking at her with open eyes, clear of any judgment.

“Thank you… Rudy,” Kat wiped her eyes before continuing. “I’m all right now. I’ll finish telling you what happened to Millie, so you can understand why we need answers from your uncle.”

“Alright, go ahead.”