Raiya cringed at the thought of having to share any information with the man who duped her. But the price might be worth it, if she was able to obtain a slip up of information leading her to her freedom.
She outwardly sighed a puff of air, and then pulled the mana crystal inlay from her ear and placed it back in the socket on the manadial. She then took out her flask once more and took a large swig before placing it back into her jacket. She was going to need it.
"I'm sure you've been able to gather that I had been raised in the Arcanocracy, but left and became an apostate four years ago. Well, up until then, I really hadn't given much thought as to who my parents were. I didn't really need to, because my identity was solely based upon the Catholic Arcanocracy. Every person I met within that organization was a brother and a sister. We were mostly all orphans, with a few exceptions. Though, regardless of how you join the ranks, you are required to cut ties with your previous family, as your life is carried out solely in the confines of the organization. So, technically we were all orphans. And, really, to deny them, is to deny your family. So once I became an apostate, everything changed. My entire viewpoint of what family was changed. I went from believing family was those in closest proximity to you, to believing that the only true family you could have is a blood family. After I left the Arcanocracy, I decided to try and find out more about my parents. Of course, if you have genuine questions of your origins, the Arcanocracy is very open and ready to tell you everything they know about it. And everyone does become curious at one point in their life within the Church. And I was told about the Japanese heritage I had, and how my parents were killed in a car accident. So, after I left, the first thing I did was look into the reports. All the reports I could find online corroborated what I had been told by the Church. But, of course, with the circumstances that had lead to my apostasy being about a fellow member being corrupt, I learned to be a bit more skeptical. So, I used magic to break into the police station that had filed the report. I found all the evidence that had been sealed away. Which, in and of itself was odd. If the station had ruled it an accident, they would have had no need to keep a box of evidence. What I saw inside were nothing more than blood spattered clothing and the wallet and purse of my mother and father. At first glance, it just looked as though this is what they died in during the crash... But then I used manalysis... Through manalysis I saw protective Shinto runes covering both sets of clothing. Immediately I was in shock. I knew that it would make no sense for someone wearing these runes to die in a car crash. Those runes would have protected the users from any sort of kinetic damage received. Then I read the file. The file said it was ruled as a double homicide, a burglary gone wrong. I realized that all of the articles about this online had been changed to say it was a car crash, so if I had gotten curious and searched it, I would have found what the Arcanocracy had told me. So, not only had the Arcanocracy outright lied to me, but the chances were, they were the ones that killed my parents. That was the only conclusion I could come to. And so, to get better acquainted with my roots, I went to Japan for two, almost three years. I ended up becoming very familiar with the undergound there. It turns out all of the gangs, the yakuza, were all large syndicates of Talents. Once they saw my potential, they taught me Shinto magic, as well as some zen budhist magic as well. I mastered the magics in record time, and within the year at the Yamaguchi-gumi Yakuza organization, I rose to the rank of Wakagashira, (or First Lieutenant roughly in English.) Even though I had rose to such a rank, eventually I felt as though I was still missing something. And I knew if I didn't figure out who killed my parents, I'd never get that thing back. So I told my Oyabun, my boss, that I needed to go back to the United States, and use the Yakuza to get a foothold in the Underground in New York, in order to find exactly what happened. He agreed, and luckily at the time, he was looking to gain a foothold in the underground there as well. So sending me there as United States Yakuza branch leader seemed to be the best option. And there I started up the branch of the Yakuza known as Hebi-kai. I, of course, had duties to perform besides looking for information on my parents. Mostly, I handled all the United States domestic business. Trafficking drugs and prostitutes from the states to Japan. Securing business deals in the states. That kind of stuff. Little by little, I began to get information. That yes my parents were murdered, and it had to be by a powerful mage because they were notoriously powerful themselves. I was right on the cusp of getting a real large piece of evidence indicating who killed them, right before-" Raiya stopped herself. She didn't want to let Nemo know that he had impeded her investigation. If he knew, he would also know how urgently she wanted to leave. And how desperately she would claw at any possible way out. So she fabricated the final part of her story. "... Right before the lead died. I was investigating who killed the informant, by doing some dealings with a few gangsters in New York who might have known something when you showed up. But I know Tsukihi will follow up the leads, and I'll no doubt have a mountain of information when I get back." Raiya finished.
"Now it's your turn." Raiya prodded.
