Novel There are Two Gods in Heaven

The last bastion

The walls were breached in less than five minutes.

Our security system got sabotaged and we realized that we were under attack way too late.

This simple camp is far more vulnerable than a military base, and if we can’t count on seeing the enemy from afar and preparing for the siege, then we are lost.

At this rate, we’ll be decimated way before the backup from Karachi arrives.

The rebels are dashing around on their horses in a seemingly unorganized formation, but they’re wreaking havoc on our own formation and I notice they’re focusing principally on our resources. Some twenty of them rushed directly for the place we keep a big part of our munitions in the training ground, and blew them up as soon as they got in. Another group flanked us and breached in directly from our emergency exit, then blockaded it.

All this makes me a hundred percent certain that the White Snake betrayed us by giving them details on the camp and killing our soldiers on watch duty.

From the top of the watchtower, I’m shooting them down like flies, but they’re swarming in endlessly.

Fire illuminates the surroundings and I don’t even have to aim to hit someone.

Ally or foe, it doesn’t matter.

A grin shows up on my face.

“Hahahaha…”

It cracks me up.

This whole situation makes me laugh loudly.

I couldn’t care less about dying here as long as my death is a good one.

“Did he lose it?”

A boy with a turban on his head points at me. He’s talking to a woman in armour next to him. They look up at me from the back of their horses.

Seeing how proper and dignified he looks, he must be one of the leaders.

Still grinning, I take an aim at him and shoot, but he avoids it by ducking. Then, noticing the soldiers that aimed at them from the ground, the boy and the woman spring up, and crouching on their horses, dash at the soldiers and slash them with their sabres.

“Woah!” I can’t help but react aloud.

I love this vibe!

The blood pumping in my head, I crack up again and go back to firing in the crowd.

“You’re having fun? That’s good, that’s good!”

A voice resonates from behind. Surprised, I turn around and see a girl in a blue dress clap.

I didn’t see her walk up…

She looks at me and beams. Her white hair kind of reminds me of the White Snake.

“Ah, but don’t mind me,” she continues, “or would you know by any chance where Gini is? Oops, I mean Schwa! She was supposed to be on top of here.”

“Who the hell is that?”

“Ah, it’s a girl about this tall. She has white hair like me, but shorter. She’s extremely cute!”

Now this is getting too funny. “You mean the White Snake?”

Well, I knew she betrayed us now, so this doesn’t come as a big surprise, but the way she describes her, though, really cracks me up.

“Yeees, exactly!” She claps. “Where is she??”

“No clue.” I respond while aiming at her face.

“Oh, oh!” She exclaims before I fire.

‘Funny last words,’ I want to say, but she dodges the bullet with a sidestep.

Are these guys even human, hahaha?

She closes the gap between us in a wink, and smiles at me, her knife under my throat.

“It’s too bad, you couldn’t guide me. So, I guess this is goodbye.”

But I smash the butt of my rifle on her face.

She falls on the floor and holds her bloodied nose, spitting.

“You’re making a huge mistake, kiddo. I’m not a man you want to have a fight with.” I smile.

In return, the smile on her face vanishes and she finally makes an interesting expression.

I kick her face again and take aim. “Don’t underestimate people twice your age in the afterlife.”

But she doesn’t give up yet and slides between my legs. Then she jumps on my back and tries to stab me, roaring.

I turn over and grab her neck, then push her to the fences.

She screams and struggles, trying to get out of my grasp.

I push harder until the fences break off, and I’m the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground.

Her body hanging on top of the watchtower, she gathers all her strength to plant her knife into my arm.

“Ah, is that what you want?” I laugh and let her go.

She screams, falling from the thirty metres of the watchtower, and drops on the ground.

That must have hurt!

The boy from earlier notices her and runs over. He seems panicked and tries to reanimate her.

Funny sight…

The boy looks up at me with a scary expression. I aim at him and shoot, but I ran out of ammo.

I sigh and jump from the watchtower to the rooftop of the offices.

A group of soldiers who were taking cover there seems happy to see me. I take one of the men’s rifle and push him away.

“What should we do, 2nd Lieutenant?”

“Get in a tank and cry.”

Actually, I’m pretty sure I saw the lieutenants Parrot and Swallow get inside a tank and use the warheads to shoot at the rebels, which was in hindsight, not such a bad idea.

Unfortunately, a group of rebels are taking over the offices and the rooftop won’t stay a safe spot for long.

I jump again from the roof and slide down the wall to get on the training ground.

Since this was the first place the rebels rushed in, it’s now almost deserted because most of them are taking control of the other spots.

On this ground, though, the boy and the woman in armour are waiting for me, along with some other guys that got down from their horses.

The boy raises his hand and jumps to the ground, then takes out his sabre and announces: “I am Nala of Jamani, and I represent the Independence Army for the liberation of the Indian country and its people from the yoke of the kingdom of England. You seem like a worthy warrior, let’s have a fair fight.”

Again, this comical nonsense…

“You have no idea how big of a mistake you’re making.” I smirk.

This boy truly makes my life easier by not ordering his dogs to come at me all at once.

He juggles with his sword. “Prove it.”

Picking up a grenade launcher from the training ground, I laugh. “I am the 2nd lieutenant Crowsclaws of the King’s 4th Regiment. The last bastion of this tumbling fortress. And I will burn your wings, Nala of Jamani.”

God, let my death be a good one!





I grew up in the radiant city of Lahore.

Its streets were embroidered with resplendent shades of gold and azure.

Its people were shining and joyful.

As the first son of a wealthy diplomat, I was promised a fate far different from the one I got.

I was interested in biology and chemistry early on, and my childhood went on without any worries.

However, after my father’s death, which I suspect to be an assassination ordered by my uncle, my family got split apart and I had to drop out of the university.

Since my father didn’t leave a will, my uncle and his wife manipulated the law in order to receive all his inheritance.

Since I couldn’t let my mother and three sisters live in misery, I worked hard to feed them.

It was a series of coincidences that led me to enlist in the army.

My father had a friend who recently became colonel, and he convinced me to join for the appealing pay.

I did value my life, and I was scared to die, but for some reason, knowing that I will act in my own country and not in a foreign place like my comrades, helped my mind, at first, to be free from homesickness and anxiety.

However, it soon became a nightmare.

Every time I killed one of my countrymen, I was filled with guilt. Every night, I was cursed with dreams that turned me crazy.

I wasn’t the only Indian in the British army, but I avoided them. Even their sight was hard to face.

I didn’t want them to see me, and I felt like they didn’t want me to see them either. So, we avoided each other successfully, only interacting the strict minimum, because a little more would have been too painful.

The nightmares wouldn’t stop, so I stopped sleeping.

At the same time, I retook an interest in chemistry and biology. I joined the research & development laboratory of my regiment, where I met a superior whom I treated as a teacher.

Life became a little more bearable when I had something to keep my mind busy with. My teacher was an intelligent and kind woman. She taught me physics and engineering. She helped me get through the hardest time.

I thought I owed her my life.

Unfortunately, she finished her contract and went back home a few years later.

Since few soldiers in the camp were interested in research & development, I soon after became the most experienced member.

But as I stopped sleeping, the nightmares appeared during the day.

People were crying.

Sometimes the hallucinations were so vivid that I became bedridden for days.

I needed to find a way to make them stop.

I had the doctors at the camp auscultate me, but they couldn’t find any solution apart from resting.

But I can’t rest, I don’t have time for rest!

The solution came to me when I met a man.

If the solution to my hallucination was to rest, then the war needed to end; otherwise I wouldn’t be able to rest. Maybe this way, my countrymen will forgive me!

This black man came from the most powerful country in the world.

If I convinced the Nubians to help the Indians, then England can’t win.

And then, I can rest, and they will stop crying.

Stop crying…

When I got blown up in that medieval fortress, life became easier.

I became the 1st lieutenant and could make my own unit.

I chose a handful of men and women, among the best and smartest. I taught them all I know and I carefully chose them because I knew they shared my will.

This girl was crying.

The moment I saw her face, after I woke up injured, I knew she was crying.

Of course, not outside, but inside. I knew she was someone like me.

I wanted to save her.

While I was in contact with the Nubians to make them intervene in the conflict, I was also making a plan to help her.

I knew what she needed the most in her life was to claim her humanity back.

The girl was deaf and had an ear implant that allowed communication, but it was terribly badly made. We tried to improve it a bit, but not too much, or it would have been noticed.

We also designed so we could hear every sound it amplified; thus, we were able to manipulate the odds more easily.

That’s when she finally went on the solo mission that this plan had led to.

I had trained my unit in spying, and we had found the Punjab rebels’ hideout a year ago.

We sent them false intel that the army had hidden landmines in the Punjab desert. That way they would send people that would be forced to meet with her.

I knew my countrymen would be able to save her. I trusted them with it.

I hope they can stop crying now…!

I want to rest.

Ah, but it’s finally time…

The Nubians are finally here, the girl is finally breaking her chains.

The country is finally going to be free.

It can finally stop crying.

The major isn’t a bad man, but I know he wants to fight.

I can’t let him fight.

When we started driving away from the Karachi base, I released some very flammable soporific gas.

Since I’m wearing my mask, I’m immune to it.

I slowly walk out of the jeep and breathe in.

This thing is in my way. I remove my mask and throw it away.

Looking around in this moonless night, I smile.

What a beautiful country.

What a beautiful happy country.

It’s not crying anymore.

I open the engine and manipulate the mechanical components. Then, I get back into the jeep and slowly breathe in.

“Goodnight, Major.” I touch his cheek with the back of my hand, and the engine detonates the instant I start it.

It’s finally time to rest.

The machine explodes like a firework acclaiming the end.

 

The flames of freedom

“Come, Gini. We have something for you.” The corporal’s deep voice resonates in the night.

I carefully follow him and the other members of the 1st lieutenant Kalakuna’s unit, while making sure that no-one else sees us.

We head towards the laboratory, and I stop my walk when I notice some corpses lying under the tanks.

“Don’t worry,” the sergeant says, “they’re just taking a nap.”

“What side are you on, exactly?” I take a step back.

I know it’s irrational to be scared now, but I can’t help it.

“The side of freedom.” They all respond at once.

“But come, habibti, we’re not going to hurt you.”

I already decided to trust the fact that they’re not going to kill me, so I start moving again.

‘The side of freedom…’ I guess they are traitors like me.

I step in the laboratory and feel a sense of dread since it’s pitch dark.

“Do you prefer if we turn the lights on?” The corporal asks.

“No, I’m going back right after. What did you want?”

“Don’t be in such a hurry … don’t you have more things you need to ask?”

I don’t have much time, but it’s true, I have a lot of questions.

I step deeper into the laboratory. The corporal is standing behind a benchtop, but I lost sight of the other guys.

“Don’t worry, they’re in the back looking for something.” He whispers.

“Fine, then.” I sigh. “I don’t have much time, though, so let’s make it quick. Who are you guys, and the 1st lieutenant Kalakuna? How do you know the name Gini? What else do you know? What did you want to show me? What do you want me to do?”

“Oh wow, not all at once, habibti! I’m a human, you know?” He raises his hands.

“Just respond in order.” I sigh.

“Alright, alright. Then we are just a scientific slash spying slash child soldier saviour unit under the 1st lieutenant Kalakuna’s orders.”

“What the hell was that last slash?”

“Ah, well. You might have not noticed it, but we actually did our best to save you, habibti!”

“Save me from what?”

“Don’t be so dense! You must know by now that this is not a place for a child! Or else what was the point of all this character development?!”

What’s with this ridiculous way of speaking? Also, I’ve never considered myself as a child. But I guess he has a point.

“So, what did you do to save me?”

“That’s the answer for the second question! We could actually listen to everything.” He laughs pointing to his ear.

I can feel my face turn red in shame.

“WHAT THE FUCK?! THAT’S A VIOLATION OF PRIVACY!!!”

I never expected them to be so immoral!

I run around the benchtop and grab his lab coat.

I want to punch him so bad!

“Hahaha, that’s such a cute reaction, habibti! Don’t you realize you would have never reacted like this a few days ago?”

I stop my fist midway.

It’s true. Why did I change like this?

“The people you’ve talked to were way better than we imagined. The 1st lieutenant Kalakuna did well to trust you with them.”

“What do you mean?! Does he know them personally?!”

“No, no, they’re just from the same place. He said he trusted his countrymen. So, we guided them to you.”

I remember now that we chose this route for my solo mission especially because it was far from the caravans. I was so relieved to be saved in the desert that I forgot it was odd to meet anybody in the first place.

“So, it should be evident to you now that we also know about the raid tonight.”

“Why aren’t you stopping me, then?”

“I told you, didn’t I? We’re on the side of freedom.”

“So, you’re traitors too?”

“I would rather say that we never were on their side. We were on neither side, actually.”

“That’s the definition of a traitor, but whatever. Is Kalakuna one too?”

“Don’t stop saying his grade now. He’s a respectful man. But yes, he’s the mastermind behind all this.”

“Why did he trust me?”

“For the details, you’ll have to ask him directly, but I think he might just have had a saviour complex. You did look like a mistreated puppy back then, I’m glad you seem much happier now. Ah, but there it is, what we wanted to give you.”

The other members of the unit comeback with a … strange thing in their hands.

I have no clue how to describe it in such darkness, but it looks like some kind of weapon.

“This is the 1st lieutenant Kalakuna’s masterpiece! Even though we all worked on it for months. This was inspired by Indian mythology. Have you ever heard of Gandiva? It’s Arjuna’s bow in the Mahabharata. Well, you can call it whatever you want, but I think Gandiva is a very cute name. ‘Think of it as a congratulations present for gaining freedom.’ That’s what the 1st lieutenant said. Ah, but don’t worry, it may look incomprehensible at first, but I’m sure you will know instinctively how to use it. Just be careful of one little thing…” He covers his ears with his two hands “Make sure to protect them properly.”





I wake up with a sharp pain in my ears.

I underestimated the noise this crazy weapon makes and I thought I would be safe because I have an implant.

I look around and recognize the laboratory. I guess one of the traitor’s unit followed me up the watchtower and saved me when I fainted.

I try to touch my painful ears and notice my whole head is circled in bandages.

I hear a lot of commotion from outside and remember that the raid has started.

Shit! I’m not at the rendezvous point!

I try to stand up but flinch and fall back on the benchtop I was lying on.

The corporal appears in my line of sight and auscultates my head.

Weird, he doesn’t say anything.

Is it the bandage that is blocking the sound? But I can hear some things, they’re just not human sounds.

I can’t recognize anything like human language.

This sensation reminds me of something, but…

A loud noise resonates in the back and I turn my head, but there is nothing at all.

The corporal grabs my head in his hands and turns it towards him.

I start sweating, noticing that something is off.

The sergeant approaches from behind him and hands me a cellphone.

I accept it and tap the notification on the top.

It opens a direct message software that says: “itme! ^^” Followed by a man using a gas mask and a waving smiley.

I stare at the corporal and then the sergeant. They both wear gas masks, so which one is it??

The short 1st-class-private appears from the left and waves at me, then points at his own cellphone.

Ah, so it’s this one, okay.

I receive another notification and read: “zi implant saturatet an browk owo. Ur deaf agen lol.” Followed by a sobbing and a crane smiley.

Ah, so that was the feeling… I had gotten used to hearing so I forgot this is how the world sounds normally for me.

Another notification pops up: “w dnt ave taim to ripar it.” Followed by a clock and a sweating emoji. “wi did awr bist t’ranimat u qwickli,” followed by a surgeon emoji, “bt wi av t’set dlab un” fire and crane smiley.

The corporal gets sick of it and kicks the 1st-class-private, then steal his phone and starts typing.

“Sorry, he’s a zoomer. Anyway, I apologize but we have to kick you out. We need to finish some things in the laboratory and you can’t stay. Can you move?”

I nod and stand up.

“You can keep the phone. Gandiva is waiting near the entrance. Take care, habibti.”

I nod again and walk to the lab’s entrance.

I find the weird gun and pick it up.

Gandiva… You’re quite a rude one, uh? Breaking my implant on the day we meet.

I look at it for a bit, then put the strap on.

I hope we can get along.

I walk out of the lab and start running to the watchtower, but someone grabs my arm.

The lieutenant Parrot stops me and talks to me, panicking.

I read her lips: “Snakey, we saw you come out of the lab. Are you okay? You seem badly hurt! You should stay hidden with us.” She points at the tank where the lieutenant Swallow is waving at me, the upper half of her body protrudes from the turret.

I shake my head rapidly and try to pronounce as well as I can: “I have to go. If you surrender, they won’t kill you.”

She responds rapidly and I can’t catch everything, but I read the name ‘Crowsclaws’ on her lips, before I pull my arm out of her grasp and start running again.

I find myself honestly hoping that they don’t die.





“Alright, boys. She’s gone now.”

“Yep. I will miss her.”

“Me too, but I’ll miss all of you as well.”

“Hey, don’t start being emotive! You’ll make me cry!”

“But seriously, Zhongjie, couldn’t you type properly?!”

The 1st-class private Zhongjie removes his gas mask. “Nope! This is much funnier! Didn’t you see the face she made? Try not to laugh 100% impossible challenge! Subscribe for more!”

“Ridiculous.” The sergeant Jonathan removes his gas mask. “I’m sure she didn’t understand a thing.”

“That’s why I clarified it.” I smile, removing my gas mask. “But get to work, khouyi. We need to make it look like the rebels did it. Be careful not to leave anything behind.”

“Corporal Amir, are you sure we need to destroy the ballistic formulas too? It’s such a shame, we worked hard on them.” The warrant officer Joana joins us from the back of the laboratory and removes her gas mask.

“Yep. Everything.”

“I have no trouble destroying our PS5.”

“You say that because you kept losing!”

“NO! NOT THE PS5! YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW MUCH MONEY WE CAN MAKE BY SELLING IT!”

“Oops, my hand slipped.”

“I’m the sobbing emoji IRL!”

“Warrant Officer Joana, am I finally allowed to punch him in the face.”

“Yep, today you can.”

“WARRANT OFFICER JOANA!!”

“Please Sergeant Jonathan, have a little bit of patience.”

“For what purpose? I won’t have another opportunity.”

“Corporal Amir…”

“Hmm… Fair enough, but just a little bit.”

“CORPORAL AMIR!!!”

“Corporal Amir, while these two are playing, why don’t we start it.”

“Yep, we can start.”

After having made a big pile containing all our electronic equipment, we set it on fire.

“Now kick it all around the lab. We don’t want them to think it was done on purpose.”

“Hahaha! Finally, I can play football with this stupid lagging computer! Oh, how I waited for this moment!”

“OUCH! My nose!”

“The PS5…”

“Alright, boys. It was fun.”

“Yep.”

“Yep.”

“Have a great afterlife!”

“You too!”

“I hope Zhongli won’t have a cellphone there.”

“Hey, rude! I’m going to cancel you!”

Pressing the button on my phone, I smile.

A series of detonations resonates and the laboratory ignites into beautiful dancing flames.

Beaming, we open our arms to welcome freedom.

 

Unrivalled Under Heaven

The fight begins by a long silence.

My opponent is standing approximately ten metres away from me. With his grenade launcher, he has the advantage of distance.

However, it doesn’t scare me. I’ve been training my martial skills for as long as I can remember.

I slowly stride to the left, keeping my stance.

I glance at every section of his body, waiting for a change of posture.

During this part, it’s a battle of wits, and the first one who gets impatient loses.

My opponent also stares at me, with a smile that transpires absolute confidence.

On his face, is inscribed, by a scar, the mark of a true warrior.

Everything about him makes me realize our difference in experience.

It gets on my nerves… I want to make him pay for what he did to Rohini.

Suddenly, he stomps the ground with his foot and throws a grenade to the sky.

That was not an explosive, but a stun grenade he took out of his jacket.

It illuminates the battlefield in a blinding light, alongside a deafening clamour that makes me lose both my senses.

This is extremely bad!

I jump to the side even if I can’t see a thing, and get blown away by the wind that rises after an explosion.

I roll on the ground, as I slowly regain my vision, I realize that my reflexes saved me from a pathetic quick defeat.

I am, however, not safe yet, and my opponent is already preparing his next move.

My sight is still blurry and my ears still ringing, but a realization comes to my mind.

If I manage to close the gap between us, he won’t be able to use his grenades without blowing himself up as well.

With this in mind, I dash forward, even though my senses aren’t fully recovered yet, and try to slash his head.

My opponent foresaw this reaction and laughs. “I didn’t expect anything from a kid like you, and I’m still disappointed. What kind of recklessness is that?” He clashes his gun with my talwar.

He then kicks me in the guts and I get thrown away.

“You’re weak as shit!” He taunts me as I catch my breath on the ground.

I get more hopeful since my vision and audition have recovered now.

I’m still too close for him to launch grenades, so I…

A grenade rolls right in front of my eyes.

Panicking, I roll away and cover my head under my arms, but … it doesn’t detonate.

“Hahaha, what a funny reaction!” He exclaims. “Don’t you know that modern grenades come with a safety system that forbids them from exploding if they meet an obstacle that is less than three metres away?”

This fight is getting more and more humiliating, but I breathe in and try to keep my head cool.

I jump back on my feet and juggle with my talwar. “That means I have nothing to be scared of.” I smile and dash in once again.

This time, I don’t let him clash with me and use my crafted footwork to confuse him.

I feint a slash to his flank, but he doesn’t take the bait.

He keeps the grenade launcher in his hands for some reason, even though it became a dead weight since we’re fighting this close.

I circle him a few times until he loses patience and tries to kick me away.

I carefully avoid it and this time aim for his shoulder while he’s still stuck in his movement.

However, he blocks my talwar with his gun again, with his leg still midair.

While his arms are risen, I pull my talwar and aim for his exposed flank.

His face twitches, and I finally hope that I hurt him, but when I try to pull my talwar out of his wound, I notice it is completely stuck.

Is he using his muscles to prevent me from pulling it out?!

He stomps his foot on the ground, and his willpower makes me shiver.

Sweating, I jump away and pick up the grenade that fell on the ground earlier.

Grinning anxiously at the scary face he makes; I throw it in a backflip to make sure I’m far enough for it to explode.

“Begone, Asura.” I whisper, hoping that this is enough.

But I was naïve, and the madman throws his gun towards the grenade, so it hits an obstacle midflight and falls on the ground without exploding.

The gun ends up around fifteen metres away to the left, so he won’t be able to use it for the moment.

Breathing loudly, he pulls out my talwar from his flank and grins, sweating. “Alright, you really almost got me there, kiddo. I was scared for a split second.” Then he points at me with my own weapon. “But now, what do you do?”

I am indeed in big trouble. Losing my only weapon to this man was the worst thing I could have done.

I take a step behind and think of my next plan of action.

His jacket gets tainted with blood at the place his wound is.

I need to find a way to exploit this weakness.

“NALA!” Auntie Nishaa throws me her own talwar.

Grateful, I accept it. I almost forgot that I wasn’t entirely on my own here.

“Weren’t we having a fair fight?” My opponent smiles. “Not that it matters to me.”

I get in a fighting stance. “You have access to every weapon on this training ground. It’s only even that I can borrow some as well.”

“Fair enough. I really like swords, actually. I practised fencing for fun. It’s too bad that I couldn’t use them in the army.” He laughs as he gets in a fencing stance.

I know fencing is about thrusting the tip of a very thin and light sword into your opponent, but the talwar is a heavy sabre so it should be hard for him to use it this way.

Confident that I can beat him in a sword fight, I approach and aim for his wrist.

Since the talwar is heavier than a fencing sword, using this stance must put a lot of pressure on it.

However, he pushes it out of its course with a light hand movement.

I need to focus. It’s not the moment to underestimate him.

I use my footwork and make some rapid hits to tire him out. If I take his wound into consideration, I should win on time.

He responds without showing any tiredness, and I can’t penetrate his guard.

After doing this for a few minutes, he finally starts flinching and I push his sabre to the side with a strong broad slash.

He is finally wide open, and I want to plunge the talwar in his shoulder, but he blocks it with his other arm.

I can feel that I hit the bones in his forearm. He instantly tries to stab my stomach, but I also use my remaining arm to block it.

The two of us roar in pain. Both of our talwars planted in each other’s arm. Stuck together in a chicken game; the first one who takes a step back loses.

I can feel the blood dripping from my hand, and focusing with all my strength to not faint, I push my talwar deeper.

He, however, stomps my foot with his, trying to crunch the bones under his steel-reinforced boot.

I push my talwar even further, gaining some balance over him and use my remaining leg to kick the wound in his flank.

Still roaring, we struggle like this for a seemingly eternal minute until his forearm finally can’t take any more pressure and breaks off.

It hangs painfully to the rest of his arm thanks to a bit of skin, and my talwar, which I’m still pushing, makes a deep cut in his eyebrow and penetrates his shoulder.

However, he headbutts me in the face and slits my forearm off as well, that flies three metres away.

His foot still stomping mine, I scream and fall to the ground, as I can’t balance my body anymore.

Laughing, his face tainted with blood; the talwar still plunged in his shoulder, and a part of his forearm still hanging comically to the rest by a piece of skin, he is about to finish me off.

He crouches, getting ready to plant the talwar into my heart. “Have my apologizes. You were not a kiddo, but a worthy warrior, Nala of Jamani. Your wings were not made of wax, but of real magnificent feathers. See you in Elysium.”

I grasp the rest of my strength to keep awake for the last moments of my life.

I may have lost this battle, but I know deep down that we will win the war, so it’s with absolute confidence that I smile to my end.

The adrenaline keeps me from feeling much pain in what remains of my arm. Death isn’t as scary when it’s not painful.

I also feel a bit of happiness for having been approved by such a strong man.

But my last prayers are interrupted by the fire of a rifle.

Auntie Nishaa has pulled her Winchester out, and has aimed for my opponent’s talwar that breaks in two.

“That’s enough.” She says. “Nala, you fought well, but I can’t let you die. The fair fight ends here. Everyone, get Nala back and kill this man.”

The dozens of comrades who were waiting for the end of the fight on the training ground take their weapons out and are ready to join in.

My opponent stares at them and laughs. “Yes, good, good. Come all at once.”

He throws the broken talwar to the side and takes out another grenade from his vest.

“DON’T APPROACH!” I yell for my comrades.

But he doesn’t wait for my warning to throw it and cover the battlefield in a dense smoke.

I can’t see anything further than one metre, but I hear Auntie Nishaa’s voice from afar. “Be careful! Don’t let him kill Nala! Circle the perimeter!”

This bloodied soldier struggling in such a way to survive even in a desperate battle really is a sight to behold.

He crouches to my face and smiles. “You’re blessed with good subordinates and strength. Anybody in your situation would weep and cry, but that’s not your case. I won’t kill you because it would be an insult to your struggle. You deserve to win this one. I wish the army held one man like you in every regiment, we would rule this world.”

“You… Aren’t you afraid of dying?” I articulate between hiccups.

“Nope. I’ve been wanting to die for a while. I hate this place like you wouldn’t believe. All my life I’ve been looking for a time to do it. Dying in the middle of nowhere for no reason is pretty dumb. Here I’m going to die to allow you victory, that’s much more meaningful! When we’re done, tell them to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding, and get a surgeon to look at it ASAP.”

“You are an incredible man; I will never forget you.” I grimace.

“You’d better not.” He laughs as the smoke dissipates.

Three comrades rush at once on their horses and pull me out.

Two others attack him with their swords, but he dodges them.

Auntie Nishaa and another girl fire at him. One shoots the stomach and another the leg, but he keeps standing.

Three other comrades circle him, but he kicks one in the face and takes his talwar. He then stabs the other in the lungs and pushes him on the last who falls to the ground.

The last two pick up the grenades that didn’t explode earlier and were lying on the ground and throw them at him.

He throws the talwar at one of them so it explodes midair and makes the second one explode as well in a chain reaction.

This looks like it can last forever.

Fighting in frenzy. I can barely see his face under the litres of blood he is drenched in.

For me, this soldier will forever hold the title of ‘strongest man in the world’.

He reminds me of those demigods from myths, that would be able to fight for days and nights without rest.

How many more men would he be able to fight at once if this final event doesn’t occur?

A bright light illuminates the camp and a terrifyingly loud vibration of a sitar chord resonates in the night.

Like a divine thunder from his almighty father that calls him back to heaven.

His body still stands, but his guts are split open.

I may be hallucinating it, but I faintly hear his voice say “Congratulations” in a tender tone.

From where I am, I can’t see his face but I imagine it to be smiling.

Watching this great warrior’s end, I finally tear up.

The only noises remaining on the battlefield are the crackling of fire and my loud sorrowful wail.

 

The eternal egoist

Thus concludes the battle.

When I met back with the group of rebels, I was shocked to see Nala lost his forearm, but more so that Rohini was unconscious after falling from a lethal height.

First thing I did before leaving was to head back to my room and grab Ishqam’s clothes. Communication with the others wasn’t so difficult since I kept the phone the lab guys had gave me, and we used the written chat to speak.

Nila who is usually a big coward didn’t shed a tear when he witnessed all the damages. Not only were his friends and family badly wounded, but only 3 or 4 of his handmade drones came back without a scratch.

On the other hand, it was a very successful battle and the rebels counted only 36 losses for more than 100 on the opposite side. The survivors quickly surrendered when they lost their commanders.

In the end, reinforcement never came. It turns out someone from the 1st lieutenant Kalakuna’s unit must have sabotaged the alarm system, and the HQ only realized something was off when they didn’t receive the morning report, the next day.

Nila, and a few of his friends worked on my implant and improved the sound quality. They added a compressor for loud noises such as Gandiva’s, made the reception static less painful, and modified it to allow two-way communication.

Both Nala and Rohini were hospitalized in Lahore: Nala stayed only two months, but Rohini stayed one whole year. She had lost the use of her legs.

I was offered a room in the Jamani Mahila palace, and visited Rohini at the hospital as often as I could.

She woke up during the first three months and was informed that she wouldn’t be able to walk again. The face she made at that time broke my heart, but nothing could be done.

During that period, a group of guys from a foreign country got into contact with Nala and the other rebel leaders and announced that they were going to take over the country until they are able to self-govern. Apparently, they came from Nubia, the richest country in the world.

Nala developed a pacifist aura and agreed to all the terms. Some of his comrades were not happy with this result, though, and I heard them curse over the fact that ‘all their sacrifices were meaningless if these guys were going to come anyway.’

Some information about that fateful night spread eventually. Apparently, the major and the 1st lieutenant had a car accident and died in the middle of the night. The last thread keeping me tied to my past life snapped anticlimactically.

The rest of the British army slowly withdrew from the country over the course of that year.

On the same day as Rohini came back home, the king of England announced the independence of India and the constitution was signed.

Nala refused his seat in the Senate. He said he was more of a warrior than a politician and had no will to rule the country. He was simply happy that his wish—the independence—was achieved. His comrades were also very vocal about this choice.

They probably expected Nala to accept and wanted to influence his decisions as a senator, but I don’t understand politics, so I’m just speculating.

Nila went to university to study medicine and suggested that Nala gets a prosthetic arm, which he refused categorically. He wished to keep this scar eternally.

Rohini unfortunately got really depressed. She was not the funny girl that charmed me anymore. She had lost all will to live and spent all her time in her bedroom.

That’s when I realized a peaceful daily life was too boring for me. I was constantly on edge, trying to find something to do. Nala who was a big fan of science fiction shared with me his books, and that’s how I discovered the world of literature.

I fell particularly in love with the worlds depicted in steampunk novels. My favourite ones were Jules Verne’s Voyages Extraordinaires.

I wanted to travel around the world, but I had nowhere to go, and I waited patiently for Rohini’s carelessness to return.

Two years went by like this, until one evening, when I came back from Lahore where I had met with Nila, I found Rohini in one of the living rooms, speaking with Nala on the couches.

Happy, I went to greet her: “Good day to you, my lady. You honour us with your presence today?”

She stared at me with a gentle expression that made my heart ache. She did not seem like the person I knew. “You’ve grown so much, Schwa. I barely recognized you. You look like a real woman.”

It had indeed been a while since we last saw each other, and I had grown a few centimetres since then.



“What a rude thing to say. I’ve always been a woman.”

She laughed lightly. “That’s not what I meant. You were such a tomboy when I met you.”

Nala, though, kept his tone serious and interrupted us: “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“Yes.” Rohini responded.

Of course, I was the one who interrupted them in the first place, but my curiosity needed to be fulfilled: “What were you guys talking about?”

Nala turned his head. He didn’t want to look at me.

“We’re going to get married.” Rohini replied.

At that time, I didn’t feel much pain; it just confirmed to me that the Rohini I knew was dead.

“Congratulations.” I simply smiled and left for my bedroom.

Three months later, a ceremony took place in Jamani, but I didn’t take part in it.

Nine months later, they gave birth to a child, but I wasn’t interested in it.

My sulking lasted two more months until, as I was walking in the palace, I heard a loud thud from the staircase. I rushed over to find a Rohini that had fallen from her wheelchair.

“Are you okay?” I helped her get back on her wheelchair. “Are you hurt anywhere? Why did you try to go down the stairs in a wheelchair?!”

“I needed to get something and nobody was here. Can you help me, Schwa?”

“Sure, what do you want?”

“Can you get me a towel?”

“Alright. Don’t move. I’ll help you get back up.”

“Thank you, Schwa. You’re kind.” She whispered as I carried her to her room with a towel in hand.

I entered her bedroom and noticed it had changed quite a bit since I last came.

In the corner, lay a cradle with a little baby making odd noises in it.

I sat Rohini on her bed and approached the cradle, curious.

What a strange creature…

“Is it your first time seeing him?” She giggled.

“What’s his name?” I nodded.

“Abhimanyu. Like Arjuna’s son from the Mahabharata.”

“What a difficult name. I bet it’s Nala who chose it.”

“You guessed correctly.” She laughed. “I call him Abhi.”

“Abhi… That’s much cuter…”

“Do you want to hold him?”

“No way! I’m bad with these things! By the way, wasn’t it hard to give birth in your condition?”

“You silly, it’s much easier nowadays with caesarean section.”

I crouched to look at the infant more carefully. He had brown skin like his parents and white hair like his mother.

“So, did you give up?” I finally confronted her.

“On what?”

“Being a god. That’s what you told me. Did you give up being one?”

She took several minutes to ponder and smiled. “I’m glad you remember. I didn’t give up. It just took me a while to accept some things. Life goes on and I lost my legs. I was forced to give up on my purpose.”

“What purpose?” I poked on the baby’s cheek making it pout.

“Don’t you remember? I once told you my parents were betrayed and murdered.”

“Yes, I remember.” The child grabbed my finger with his whole tiny hand.

“Well, I can’t avenge them anymore. It took me a while to accept it.”

“Couldn’t you simply ask me to do it? I can kill anyone you want.”

“No, I wanted to do it myself. But it doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t even know who did it.” She sighed.

“And why did you do this?”

“Do what? Ah, marry Nala. Well, I needed to do something meaningful. I was on the verge at that time. Taking action actually saved me. Do you think it was a mistake?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

I stood up and turned to face her, grimacing. “Didn’t you tell me that you liked…? That you didn’t like…”

“Women? That was a fantasy. Something that would never bear fruits. Look at this beautiful boy. Would I have been able to produce this with a girl? I gave up being an egoist.”

“BULLSHIT! EVERYBODY IS AN EGOIST! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO TOLD IT TO ME!” I screamed.

The baby wailed in reaction, and Rohini got on her wheelchair and rolled over to the cradle.

She took him in her arms and sang a song to make his crying stop.

I frowned, wanting to ask, ‘what happened to you?!’ but kept it in.

I sat on her bed and listened to her song. I covered my face with my two hands and cried silently.

Now, eight months have passed, and I got used to this new Rohini.

I can’t say I like her as much as I used to, but I definitely value her presence.

I can’t say I approve of her decisions either, but I’m glad that she found a way to continue existing, even if it meant changing her whole way of life.

She told me about her parents’ home. An island in the Pacific where everyone is free. She said that her parents told her it was the best place in the world, but when I asked her why they left it, she couldn’t answer me.

I spend much more time with her and Abhi now. He once pronounced the word ‘bwa’ while I was changing him, and I shamelessly claimed his first word was ‘Schwa’ to everybody.

I will keep being a fervent egoist in her stead. The world is too small for two gods anyway.

Today, I’m taking care of Abhi again. He’s already able to walk for two or three seconds. He crawls up to me while I prepare his baby bottle.

“You’re such a glutton, you little demon!” The kitchen’s door opens and Nila appears. We didn’t expect him to come back for a while.

Abhi runs towards him and Nila pulls him up before he falls down.

“What’s up?” I wave at him.

“My internship is over, so I came back earlier. Wanna go for a walk with this monster?”

“Sure, I don’t mind. Give him his milk while I get ready.”

I head over to my room and find Nala in the corridor. “How is Abhi?” He asks me.

“No problem, Nila is here. We’re going for a walk with him in a bit. Need something?”

He makes a surprised face. “Nila is here? Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to have a talk with our father. Keep him away for as long as possible.”

“Sure.” I walk into my room.

I have met the twin’s father only once since I started living here, and he gave me the impression of a very depressed and cynical man.

I come back fully dressed. It’s been a while since Ishqam’s clothes stopped fitting me, so I bought some new ones with Nila’s money. I tried to keep them in the same vibe as the previous ones.

I take Abhi in my arms and we leave for Lahore in Nila’s car.

We spend some leisure time in clothing shops and cafés until the evening.

When we come back to Jamani, we get surprised by the lack of servants in the work areas.

Abhi is yawning, so I carry him to Rohini’s bedroom and lay him in his cradle. I think it’s odd that Rohini is not here at this time of the day, but she must be with Nala.

When I get down, I see Nila, anxious. “I think they’re in the garden.”

The door that leads to the garden is made of large and opaque tainted glass, but if I press my ear to it, I may be able to hear thanks to my implant.

“Why did you have to kill Auntie Nishaa?! Father, don’t you understand? Our struggle is over. The war is over. We won. Why are you still like this?”

I hear Nala’s voice. His father responds. “Whatever you say will not enter my ears, you snake. You betrayed me, Nala!”

“What about my parents?” Rohini’s voice sounds exasperated. “Didn’t they get betrayed too? Why are you so worked up when it’s yourself and not when it’s your friends?”

“YOU IDIOT!” The father screams. “You simpleminded girl! Your parents were the traitors! I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want to destroy your mind!”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?!” Rohini yells.

“Father, that can’t be true.”

“Of course, it is. Your parents were criminals! Impostors! Have they never told you why they left their small island? They were criminals on the run!”

“You asshole! How dare you speak like this?!” I hear the noise of something falling.

“Rohini, are you okay?”

“You witch and your witch parents. They betrayed me and you bewitched Nala into betraying me too!”

“That’s not the case, Father. Rohini is innocent.”

“I’m going to kill him!!”

“We have to stop them.” I turn to Nila, but he seems very anxious.

“I lied. I didn’t come back because my internship was over. I heard that something was being prepared in Jamani. I had no clue it was today. It’s over. We have to run away.”

“What do you mean?”

A gun fires from within the garden, and I put my ear back to listen.

“NALA!”

I hear the footsteps of at least twenty different people and Nala’s voice moans in pain. “At least make it quick…”

I try to enter the garden, but Nila pulls me back. “You’re going to die! There are at least thirty people there!”

“Ahhh,, it feels good to get our revenge, doesn’t it, guys?”

“Yes. Nala, if you had accepted your seat in the Senate, nothing bad would have happened.”

More gunshots sound. Rohini shrieks: “I don’t care about what you do with me, but don’t lay a finger a finger on Abhi’s head.”

“Don’t worry, he will be treated as the precious heir of Jamani.”

Five more detonations reverberate. Nila pulls me away. I don’t know what to think. Is this a dream, or is it reality?

“We have to run away. Let’s take Abhi with us. We can’t stay here anymore.”

I rush upstairs and grab Gandiva from my room, then run into Rohini’s bedroom and pick Abhi up. I jump down the stairs and notice some of the people who were in the garden are already walking out and notice us. “THE WHITE GIRL IS HERE! DON’T LET HER LEAVE!”

“SHE HAS THE CHILD!”

“VRITRA!”

“VRITRA!”

I use Gandiva as a blunt weapon to knock them down and get into Nila’s car who starts it right away.

Abhi wakes up, wailing. I have no idea how to calm him down.

After driving for a hundred kilometres, Nila stops the car and we both take time to realize what just happened. We have nowhere else to go. The people who organized this assassination are everywhere in India. We’ll get found in a few days.

“Do you have a single idea of where we could go?” Nila cries.

I push Abhi’s head to my chest and stroke his hair. He instantly calms down and goes to sleep again.

“Rohini… She told me of an island in the Pacific where everyone is free. The best place in the world. And its name is Omond.” I whisper with my eyes also closing by themselves.

Whether it’s heaven or hell, it may be the only place on Earth where we can find shelter…

…

I open my eyes eight years later on the operation table of our underground bunker.

My emotions building, I look around, as my gaze lands on a pair of glasses and white hair.

I try to get up and stumble to the ground.

“Sch-”

“Don’t say a thing!”

His eyes widen as I embrace him.

“Abhi! I was so scared of losing you!”

“I’m not so dumb that I wouldn’t notice a fire!”

“I know you’re the smartest boy in the world. The most precious thing in the universe. The most handsome man of the mortal realm.”

“You’re so ridiculous!”

“I’M NOT JOKING!” I shout, then start weeping loudly. “Thank you, Abhi. Thank you. Thank you…”

It’s only fair that I wail in his arms for at least as long as he did in mine.

Even though he was a baby at that time, I don’t care!

I will keep being an egoist forever.

 

A barely edible curry

I am stuck inside a box.

A mental prison that I will never leave.

In legends, boxes always get opened.

A few days ago, I actually believed that it finally happened.

But I should have known that running away would never pay off.

I already tried so many times in the past, and yet it never worked out.

Why do I always believe that ‘this attempt will be the right one’?

Why do I have this irrational hope that if I ignore my responsibilities, I’ll free myself from them?

On such short notice, I am back in my prison.

Those few days I spent outside went by like a blink, but I was the happiest I’ve ever been.

The happiest I’ll ever be.

How I wished that time had stopped… Now I’m wishing that I could go back to a place I can call home…

But it will never happen.

Because my guardian is the most terrifying person in the universe.

And I won’t leave this world before she does.

And when she does, I’ll have nowhere to go to.

When she does, I’ll definitely follow her.





I finally calm down and wipe my tears.

My eyes are burning and my head hurts. I feel like I came back from a long journey.

Abhi stopped frowning at me and hands me some tissues. “What’s up with you, anyway? Entering a burning building is downright stupid! If I didn’t sneak out to see if it was OK, I would have never found you! You would have died there!”

I sit on the couch, holding my face. “I was so worried about you… I didn’t care about dying! You have no clue how precious you are to me!”

“Yes, I do!”

“Then, why didn’t you send me a message?!”

“I didn’t have time to take anything with me! The moment I sneaked out and found you, it was to see if the computers were still working and to contact you!”

I sigh. “I guess I’ll have to buy you a mobile phone for next time…”

“Indeed! I’m glad you finally get it!”

I stand up and start looking in our first aid kits. “I need painkillers. My head is going to explode.”

“You should drink coffee.”

“Wrong answer, you little addict. I’m going to put you through a detox one day.”

“I’ve literally been in detox the past few days! We ran out of instant coffee!”

“Damn, are you okay? Did you cry?”

“Shut up! I drank tea and cocoa instead!”

“Good boy.” I smile after swallowing the painkillers. “What day is it? How long have I been sleeping?”

“It’s been six days since the end of the boat mission. How did it go, by the way? Is the dumbass dead?”

My heart skips a beat.

“Oh my God, DIANA! She’s been kidnapped!”

“Rest in peace, freeloader. Om mani padme hum.”

“Stop joking, it’s serious! How is it outside of the bunker?”

“The flat is in ruins and there is no water or electricity.” He shrugs.

“Shit!” I spit. That was predictable, but still very annoying. This place was very convenient. At least we still have some backup power for the bunker, but it won’t last eternally. “So, we’ll need to move out. How much more food do we have?”

“We had enough for one month, so there is still a lot.”

I look into the freezer and the shelves and count the frozen food and cans we have left. We indeed still have enough for weeks.

“Have you been eating properly?”

“…”

“What did you eat while I was asleep?”

“Something…”

I turn to him and stare in his eyes. “Answer me.”

He avoids my gaze. “I made eggs and pasta…”

“That’s it?!”

“Yes…”

“That’s not enough!!” I scream. “What about the vitamins? You need to eat fruits and vegetables if you don’t want to get scurvy! Oh my God, Abhi, you will never grow up if you only eat pasta and eggs every day!”

“But frozen and canned food taste disgusting!”

“I agree with you for cans, but frozen vegetables taste almost the same as normal ones! I know, how about I make you curry?”

“With frozen veggies? Yikes…”

“Be quiet and eat these canned fruits before I get angry!”

He picks out a piece of pineapple from the can I handed him, and makes a disgusted expression. “I shouldn’t have woken you up…”

“Listen, young man. It’s my duty to watch over you, and if you get sick, I can’t afford to bring you to the doctor, so get a healthy lifestyle or I’ll force-feed you. Which do you prefer?”

“I wish Nila was here…”

I get stunned by this remark.

“You know… I actually dreamt of him.”

“What?! Weirdo…”

“That’s not weird, he’s my best friend.” I sigh. “I didn’t only dream of him, but of your parents too.”

“Now it’s getting weirder…”

“Not in a weird way! What do you have in mind?! It helped me remember a few things.”

“Did it help you remember how to be an infuriating and authoritarian tyrant?”

I grab his face and forcefully open his mouth, then fill it with a huge piece of pineapple and close it so he won’t spit it out.

“Ah, it’s good when it’s quiet…”

After he swallows it with tears in his eyes, I let go of him. “You monster! Demon! How could you do this to me?!”

“Do you think you’re a princess or what?”

“No, but close! And that’s what Nila said!”

“He spoiled you too much! You keep talking back!”

He jumps on the couch and sulks.

“How did you keep yourself busy all this time with no internet?” I chuckle at him.

He points at the gigantic medical books sitting on our lower shelves that Nila had left with us.

I whistle, impressed. “Aren’t those super boring?”

“They’re fine when you don’t have anything else to do…”

I’m amazed by how diligent he can be.

I may not sound like it, but I’m really grateful to him. He saved my life in many more ways than literally.

Appreciating the effort he put into keeping the both of us safe, without complaining for a second, I regret having been a burden for such long days, and now aim to catch up with what I missed.

I can’t stay inactive any longer.

Not only do I need to find a better place to stay for Abhi, but I also need to figure out what happened to DIANA.

“Alright, you know what?” I approach the mannequin that is wearing my leather attire.

“No.”

“I know where we can ask for a place to stay.”

I wink at his surprised face and hide myself to get changed.

Thankfully, we have a rudimentary shower in this bunker.

I check my phone but the battery died. I put it to charge while slowly remembering how the previous mission went.

When I take off my dress, I hear a couple of rocks falling, and looking down, I remember that I was carrying the stolen gems in it.

“Abhi?” I call from behind the curtains. “Do you know where we can sell the jewels?”

“Wait you managed to steal some? That’s so neat! Pretty sure I can find a bunch of buyers on the internet.”

I push them out of the shower with my foot and pick them back up when I’m done.

I drop them on Abhi’s belly, who is still lying on the couch, while I dry my hair. “Feels good to scrub it! My head was in terrible pain!”

Abhi looks at them with excitement. “It’s too bad we can’t keep them.”

“You like jewels, Abhi?”

“Of course! They’re so pretty!”

“You really are a princess…” I giggle.

“Shut up! Don’t you like them too?!”

“I do, I do… I would keep them if I didn’t need to feed you.”

“I can feed myself!”

“No, you can’t. You can’t even eat pineapple without crying.”

“It was canned, for fuck’s sake!!”

“Just get used to it, geez… I used to eat rations almost every day when I was your age.” I laugh internally when I hear his gulp. Still drying, half dressed, I start washing some rice in the sink and cook it in a small pot that heats on a camping hob. “Which do you prefer between carrots and potatoes?”

“Carrots.”

“Alright.” I take a bag of frozen carrots out of the freezer and pull a can of coconut milk from the shelves. “I’m going to get dressed, so keep an eye on the rice. Lower the heat if it boils too much or it will splash all around.”

“Okay.” He sighs.

I get into my working tunic and put some makeup to hide my ‘exhausted after a coma’ features. My face is so pale it looks like a ghost from one of those Japanese creepypastas that Abhi likes to watch.

When I come back, I notice that he did not move a muscle and the water splashed all around the hob. “Abhi, you are a very useless creature. You should be thankful you have such a cute face.”

“Thanks…?”

“I didn’t plan to make a compliment, but…” I cover the rice that should almost be ready now, and after a few minutes, when it has absorbed all the remaining water, I pour the thawing carrots in the pot to accelerate the process.

This is quite ghetto, but we don’t really live in luxury…

I finish by pouring some coconut milk and curry mix powder to make it edible for a little brat. At least it doesn’t smell bad…

“Meal is ready. I don’t want to hear any complaints or I’ll kick your butt! Savour every bite!”

“I don’t feel very hungry, actually.”

I gaze at him with my most serious expression, and he understands that if he doesn’t grab his spoon and start eating right this instant, I will punish him out of the mortal realm.

“Is it good?”

“It’s edible…” He grimaces.

“Good. That’s better than I expected.”

“Don’t make me eat something you don’t think is edible…” He tears up.

I bring my hands together. “Alright, now that I know that you’ve eaten, I will leave for a bit.”

“We won’t be able to communicate, is that OK?”

“Yes, as long as you promise me that you won’t move from here.”

“I have nowhere to go.” He munches.

“Perfect.”

I pick up my phone and carry my Gandiva in a strap and exit by the sewers. I climb out of the manhole and head for the canals where the motorboat which I used during my first mission at the agency is docked.

My destination is the agency itself.

I’m going to negotiate with my employers to have them help me find a place to stay, and to get some info on DIANA and her demonic sister.

I’ve only entered the agency’s office once, but I remember where it is quite well.

Standing in the middle of the business district, it’s a building that looks like many others.

The entrance is locked, so the employees get access by inserting their identification number and password in the verification system disguised as an intercom.

The entire lobby is furnished with gold like a very fancy hotel and the ceiling is so high that crystal chandeliers are hanging from it.

It is not busy, yet I feel a sense of dread that I didn’t have the first time I came.

The reason for this is simple.

Here, in the middle of the lobby, SIRONA is cheerfully chatting with another girl, a flirty grin on her stupid face.

A few metres behind them, making an awkward contrast, stands DIANA, staring gloomily into the void, and not smiling in the slightest.

 

The shattered cage

An organization without any official name, that’s what the people of this island call ‘the agency.’

The only things I know about it are the ones I have been told during my employment.

It is divided into three branches: the administrative, the juridical and the executive.

The administrative, the biggest, takes care of communicating with the employees and the clients. It is split into the secretariat, the human resources, the accounting, the databasing and the IT security.

Next in size comes the juridical branch that looks into the criminal records of the employees and the clients and manipulates them if needed. It validates or cancels the missions, communicates with the police or courts in case of trials, and takes care of issues between the executive and the administrative branches.

Finally, the executive branch is what I’m part of. We don’t work in the HQ, but can move freely until we receive a mission on our phone. We are ranked according to how successful our past missions were and receive a pay that is proportional to it. The missions are chosen depending on multiple factors like our abilities and the physical proximity with the client. Those who rank in the top 50 are titled ‘Koteloppolo,’ meaning ‘the defenders’ in Omen, and receive the most difficult missions. They often build teams of lower ranks executives to accomplish their missions more effectively. They also serve as mentors for them and have their own deals for the pay which is very convenient for those with low experience in the field. It is said that those that are the most successful as Koteloppolo receive their orders directly from the ‘Banta,’ the highest-ranked executive, along with many other advantages.

The process behind a normal mission is thus: a client contacts the agency, the secretariat asks them for all the information they need, they transfer it to the juridical branch that verifies it, if the demand is accepted, they send it to human resources that chooses an executive that qualifies for it, the executive performs the mission, the secretariat and the juridical branch make sure that the terms are fulfilled, then the accounting that received the money from the client, sends their pay to the executives in charge and everything is recorded in the databases. The rest of the work, like the ranking system, is done automatically by the computers.

But there are still many mysterious things about it, such as its creation, its influence in the country, and how it receives some information, like when during my first mission, the old man codenamed ‘Prince’ suddenly died, and the agency was the first to know and contacted me within the same hour, in spite of him being hidden in our bunker at the time of his death.

I had searched all around the bunker for cameras or microphones, or anything that looked like it, but of course, I couldn’t find anything at all. My last hypothesis was that the old man had had some kind of chip that monitored his heartbeat or some other implanted device that could tell if he’s dead or alive, but I couldn’t check if that was true since the Chinese guy threw him out before I had this idea.

This is why when I entered this place, I had many questions in mind, but they all vanished when I saw these two.

SIRONA, the girl who has been mistreating DIANA for many years, is once again in front of me, and I feel my anger rising.

But what should I do now? They still haven’t noticed me and I can’t start a fight here.

Paralysed, I stare at DIANA that is still gazing into the void, inexpressively.

She bears some handsome traits that I’ve never noticed before.

Even though… I’ve always thought she was pretty.

Now I understand why I was drawn to such a stupid girl.

Rohini’s early cheerful grin flashes in my head.

She was exactly like her… A stupid girl to the core… And yet, they had a clever and gloomy side that always surprised me.

But more than anything, they were entertaining. At least in the beginning, in Rohini’s case, not a single moment was boring…

But she changed… And I wanted to help her, but I couldn’t do anything!

Even though I managed to change thanks to her, she herself changed into someone else right after.

That’s the day I learned that people can only save themselves. If one doesn’t want to be saved, then nothing can be done.

She didn’t want to be happy, because she found a purpose in her own misery. She pleased herself in martyrdom…

There are some people nobody can save.

But DIANA, I do believe she can be saved…!

I don’t know much about her situation, but she seemed genuinely happy when we were together; yet, she looks so sad now that we are apart.

I’m sure she wants to be with us … and not with this demon!

Even though she never said it, it’s so obvious that she hates her.

To be fair, I hate her guts, so I may be projecting…!

But I won’t allow anyone to treat people I like the way she does!!

I am certain of it now, I like DIANA.

I like her airheadeness, her humour, her pretty face… Even her stupid fashion sense!

I am going to save her!

With this new conviction, I approach the siblings.

The girl with short, blue-dyed hair who SIRONA was chatting with points at me. “SIRONA…”

SIRONA finally turns her face to me and laughs. “Oh my, what a coincidence!”

At the same time, DIANA’s eyes widen when they see me. Even now, I can’t help but think they are pretty.

The blue-haired girl steps back with a worried face, but I don’t pay attention to her.

“I’m going to take her back.” I speak with a dark expression.

SIRONA cracks up and contorts her long body, holding her side. “Hahahahahaha, what the hell are you saying, you simpleton?! Is it my sister you’re talking about?!”

This clown makes me want to puke.

“No.” I respond. “It’s DIANA, I’m talking about.”

With this sentence, I’m denying her claim on her.

DIANA makes an unreadable expression. I’m not sure if the message I wanted to send was properly interpreted, but I can’t back down now.

SIRONA, on the other hand, keeps chuckling, wiping a tear from her eye. “DIANA is my sister, you moron. I am the one who takes care of her!”

“She’s an adult. You have no obligation towards her.” I raise my eyebrows. “She can choose wherever she wants to go.”

SIRONA’s smile widens, and she turns to DIANA. “Very good response. How about we ask her, then? My sweet sister… Who do you want to stay with, this scum, or me?”





Why is she here?

Why is she here? Why is she here?

WHY IS SHE HERE, NOW?

I was this close to finally accepting my fate, and forgetting my time with her.

But she is back in my life!

Is someone playing a game with me?

Even though gods don’t exist…!

Or if one exists, he must be a very cruel person…

“I’m going to take her back.”

My chest hurts.

Don’t say things like that…!!

Don’t start a fight with my sister!! You’re going to lose!!!

“Hahahahahaha, what the hell are you saying, you simpleton?! Is it my sister you’re talking about?!”

“No. It’s DIANA, I’m talking about.”

What…?

My head is about to burst.

What the hell is going on?!

Something is crumbling all around me.

‘Is it my sister you’re talking about?!’

‘No.’

‘No.’

What did she mean by ‘no’???

Am I not her sister?

Do I need to be her sister?

Can I stop being her sister if I want to???

The crumbling doesn’t stop.

It sounds like stones dropping from a high place.

Like the walls that were confining me are tumbling down.

Like a bright light is piercing through them.

“My sweet sister… Who do you want to stay with, this scum, or me?”

My sister pulls me out of my own world.

I lower my head, in pain.

“I … I…” I try to articulate.

What should I say?!

I want to go with Boobies, of course, I do!!

But if I say that, my sister is going to kill me!!

She’s going to kill me, and Boobies too!!!

What should I say?!

“I … with S-”

Something is pulling me by the hair.

Forcing me to look up, I realize that my sister is grabbing it so hard that it makes me tear up.

In my line of sight, I see her face again.

I can only read boiling anger on her face, but she can’t move. She can’t do a thing here. She can’t do a thing against my … my si-

I get thrown to the floor in front of her and I wiggle in pain.

“Since you’re too much of an imbecile to speak, how about you show it with the only thing you can do?” She laughs, dropping my knife in front of my face. “Kill the one you don’t want to stay with.”

My heart is throbbing at full speed, my head is going blank.

She’s right, it’s the only thing I can do.

Without a thought in mind, I pick up the knife and stand up.

There is only one person I can kill in this place…

In an instant, I jump and plunge my knife into her flesh.

She screams loudly. The blood splatters on my face and hands.

I feel peaceful.

I pull my arm and stab over and over and over and over until a hand pulls me away by the hair once again.

The blue-haired girl lies on the floor, inert.

I turn my head to get it slapped by my si-

She pulls me in front of her with irritation and kicks me towards the other person I didn’t want to go against.

The face that one makes is hardly readable anymore.

Still unable to think straight, the demon behind me spits. “Playtime is over. Kill her now or I kill you.”

I … don’t want to die.

I knew early on that I would never be a heroic figure able to die for others.

I am scared of dying, so scared I would do anything.

Even killing someone I loved…

I approach the girl, my knife in hand… My bloodied hand… ready to act…

But something in the back of my mind is still screaming.

I tumble on top of her. She doesn’t fight back.

Lying on the ground, she is wide open. I can kill her easily. I just need to stab.

It’s the only thing I can do after all!

So why am I not moving?

Why is she not moving either?

Just push me! Run away! Do something!!

Say something, at the very least…!!

Not knowing what else to do, I raise my arm, ready to plunge it in her chest.

But something stops me at the last moment.

A warm sensation on my cheek. Her hand gently strokes it.

A faint smile appears on her face and my whole body gets stunned.

“You’re beautiful.” She pronounces faintly.

Those words pierce through my body and soul, and my knife falls on the ground.

“You deserve to live.”

The walls crumble louder and faster than ever.

“Upon my Divine Rights, as a god of this world, I grant it to you…”

A bright light illuminates my face, as the box I was imprisoned in shatters into nothingness.

“From now on, you are a god too, my Boginya. And nothing can stop us from ruling the universe together.”

Unable to breathe, I bend over and weep.

“We are the only two that matter in this world.”

Delivered from my small, insignificant cage, I embrace my saviour.

“You are free.”

Pandora opened her box and two goddesses sprouted from it.

However, no curses or blessings were sowed into the world, simply two souls that found their own way to happiness.

 

A new shelter

“You are free.”

I … can’t believe I’ve said all this, but it looks like it worked…?

DIANA is weeping in my arms like a little kid, but I haven’t been so happy in a while.

Her erratic breath blows in my hair but I can appreciate her flowery smell since she is so close.

I would have preferred if we weren’t in such a place, though…

As I am gently holding her, she suddenly gets taken away.

SIRONA pulls her by the hair with a terrifying expression. “You fucking bitch! Betraying me of all people?! You ungrateful asshole! You think I’ll let you leave with a whore?!”

I’m going to kill her.

I try to quickly get up, but as I put a foot on the ground, the sound of something being slapped resonates in the hall.

“You… DIPSHIT!”

DIANA shoves away her oppressor whose expression turns into a shocked gaze. “Wha- what are you saying?!”

“DON’T TOUCH ME, YOU DISGUSTING PIECE OF SHIT!” She kicks SIRONA in the leg so hard that she releases her grasp on her hair.

“You… Are you high?! Do you have any idea who you’re talking to?!”

“I’M TALKING TO THE MOST PATHETIC UNLOVABLE CUNT THE WORLD HAS BESTOWED! YOUR NAME IS A CURSE I WILL NEVER PRONOUNCE! I HATE YOU!”

Now SIRONA looks genuinely devastated. “Y-you hate me?! After all I did for you?! I bought you food and clothes! I protected you!”

“LOVE CANNOT BE BOUGHT, YOU MORON! YOU ARE THE MOST PATHETIC LOSER, AND I NEVER LIKED YOU!!”

“You can’t be serious…”

… Did this crazy girl never realize that the feeling DIANA bore for her wasn’t love but fear…?

I didn’t expect someone like her to react like this, though. What the hell am I supposed to say, now??

However, SIRONA turns her gaze to me angered. “It’s her… It’s your fault! You manipulated my sister into rising against me!!”

I get a feeling of déjà vu…

“I-” I begin but DIANA interrupts me.

“YOU THINK YOU’RE THE CENTRE OF THE WORLD, YOU EGOCENTRIC PIMP?! DO YOU THINK PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO DO IN THEIR LIVES THAN SPEAK ABOUT YOU?! I’M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU TROGLODYTE!”

“DIANA, I think that’s enough…” I put a hand on her shoulder while SIRONA is so stunned, she doesn’t say a thing anymore.

“I’M GOING TO KILL HER!!” DIANA picks up her knife and gets ready to stab SIRONA.

I don’t feel like stopping her. If that’s what she wants, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with killing the person she hates most.

But the sound of an elevator’s door opening in the back interrupts them.

From it, four figures walk out.

In the middle stands an incredibly beautiful person. Actually, I’m not sure what his gender is, but I get the feeling he’s just an androgynous boy.

His long straight white hair makes a contrast with his light brown skin, and his shining blue eyes sparkle even in this golden hall.

He bears all the traits of the ‘Tiban,’ the natives of the island. His features are, furthermore, striking me, for if he wore glasses, he would look exactly like Abhi would in a few years, but giving an estimation of his age is close to impossible.

He’s wearing a light blue shirt with long sleeves and a long white skirt held up by a large belt. These clothes remind me of Eastern Asia, like kimonos or hanfus but ornamented with pearls and gems. His hair is tied in a sophisticated high bun, and is decorated with a gorgeous silver coloured crown. He wears heavy earrings and bracelets, and light blue makeup under the eyes. Silver rings are adorning his fingers and the silver pearls that are embroidered on his skirt are arranged in such a way they draw motifs of pine trees. His walking posture is calm and dignified.

He looks like a prince in a royal court.

The three people surrounding him are simply dressed in boring black suits that only emphasize how astonishing that person is.

They stop a little less than 10 metres from us, and this radiant boy breaks the silence with his clear, androgynous voice. “SIRONA, what is going on here? Who is this?”

SIRONA turns her face to DIANA, then me, before responding. “It’s my sister and a slut.”

The boy raises an eyebrow. “I meant this.” He points at the dead girl whose blood stains the golden floor.

“Beatrice from accounting.” SIRONA smiles awkwardly.

The boy makes a chin movement that makes his earrings chime and two of his underlings walk over to carry the corpse to the elevator. “Your sister… Her name is DIANA if I recall correctly… And you … are ARTEMIS.” He gazes into my eyes as if he can read my mind.

“Who are you…?” I ask without worrying about manners.

SIRONA chuckles and the other underling’s face blemishes when he hears my question, but the boy smiles and raises his hand. “I’m the Banta.”

I kind of expected this response…

But ‘Banta’ isn’t his name, it’s a title, so I want to ask him if we’re supposed to call him Banta or something else, but he bears some kind of aura that makes it hard to speak.

“SIRONA, we don’t allow such commotion down here. Why did your sister kill that girl? If she’s a part of your team, as Koteloppolo, you bear the responsibility.”

I also expected SIRONA to be a big shot, but it’s always a different feeling to get it confirmed…

“I’m not a part of her team.” DIANA says.

“She’s not?” The boy seems amused by this response.

“No, she’s not.” SIRONA clicks her tongue. “But I asked her to kill, so I bear the responsibility anyway.”

I really don’t understand how her brain works.

If she’s such a protective person, then why does she treat her sister so badly at the same time?!

“I-” DIANA begins, but SIRONA interrupts her.

“She didn’t do it of her own free will.”

The boy turns again to me and squints his eyes almost mischievously. “And what is your say in this?”

Of course, I’m going to grab this opportunity to exonerate DIANA.

“I can testify. She was forced to do it.” I nod.

The boy turns around and starts walking back to the elevator. “SIRONA, come into my office.”

SIRONA leaves a last unreadable gaze upon DIANA before following them.

I pull DIANA towards me and whisper in her ear. “I’ll be right back.” Then I start running towards the Banta. “Wait!”

The Banta tilts his head, making his earrings chime again.

“You know who I am, then I don’t have to present myself. My home was caught in a fire a week ago, I need help to find a new shelter!”

The Banta smiles kindly. “It pains me to hear so. You should send your demand to the social welfare offices.”

“You don’t understand. I have a Tiban.”

His eyes suddenly widen, and I find it interesting that such a powerful organization wasn’t aware of this.

“I mean, I’m taking care of one. He’s a half Tiban and his parents are dead but he’s been entrusted to me. I know you can afford to help me if there is a Tiban’s life at stake.”

“Where did you get such an idea?”

“I’ve been doing research on this island and Tibans for a while. He’s a very cute and smart boy, you know?”

The Banta shakes his head from right to left, making his earrings chime, and starts walking again.

I look at him go, not knowing what this response means, until he concludes: “Your previous mission is not over yet. The Triads will offer you shelter. I’ll contact you later to discuss about this matter. Bring the boy with you.”

SIRONA stares at me with hatred, but I don’t pay attention to her.

I walk to the entrance where DIANA hasn’t moved an inch.

“Shall we go?” I take her hand.

She nods and we wordlessly head to the canals.

Before I noticed, it’s already nighttime.

We get on the motorboat when DIANA finally breaks the silence. “I didn’t know you could drive boats.” She giggles.

“There are many things we don’t know about each other. We’ve only met a few months ago after all…”

“You’re right. But I’m sorry, I don’t feel like talking about myself.”

“It’s fine. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious, but in the end it doesn’t matter. You can forget who you were and make a fresh start now, if you want.”

“Yes, I would really like that.” She smiles, looking at the water. “What is it that you called me earlier?”

I flush slightly. “A god…?”

“No, not that.” She laughs brightly. “There was a word I didn’t understand. Even though that whole rant was crazy, what the hell is wrong with you??”

I am now super embarrassed. “It’s something someone told me before… Don’t make fun of it, okay? These words saved my life!”

“They saved mine too, now…”

“And the word… It was Boginya…”

“What does it mean?”

“… Not telling…”

“Heyyyy~~! But it’s so cute!”

“Would you mind… If I called you that, now?”

“No, it sounds good. I like it.”

I feel happy with this…

“Boginya…” I whisper faintly.

We reach our destination and jump into the manhole to enter the bunker through the sewers.

Abhi is soundly sleeping on the couch and I shush Boginya so she doesn’t wake him up.

Boginya, though, chuckles and whispers in my ear: “Earlier, you said that we were the only two that matter in the world, but didn’t you forget Abhi?”

I get embarrassed again and hide my face in my hands. “I didn’t mean it like that! Of course, I value Abhi way more!!” I respond in murmurs.

“I know, I know.” She tears up from laughter.

We speak like this for hours, sitting side by side on the operation table, trying to make up for all the days we were apart from each other.

We have such a comfortable time, that I almost forget about the fact we have to leave this place soon.

I suddenly get thrown back into the present when I receive an anonymous text message on my phone saying: “We’re here, come out.”

Surprised, but also a little worried, I ask Boginya to come with me to see what’s going on.

We get out of the bunker from the flat and see two male figures illuminated by the city’s lights in the middle of the road.

The shortest approaches. An Asian boy with a missing tooth waves at us energetically.

“Hey there, the agency people?”

Not recognizing this person, I frown. “Who are you?!”

The taller figure approaches and I finally identify this face.

The reason why I didn’t before, is because he changed his red hanfu into a white one, and he’s now wearing a massive pointy hat with a long veil.

“Take your things.” TIAN HUO says calmly. “The Triads are giving you shelter.”

His sad expression makes me think he looks like a mourning widow.

 

Only good things to come

“Damn, that party was great!”

“Yep, Yi Le even threw up.”

“That wasn’t just ’cause I drank a few shots, okay?! Jin Jin pushed me onto that girl’s chest, who slapped me all the way to the champagne fountain where I ended up gulping half of it!”

“You should try making up more realistic lies…”

Four men are finishing their night at a Chinese restaurant.

At this time, way past midnight, it’s probably the only place that is still open on this side of the island.

They seem to be aged from 20 to 35 years old. Dressed casually, their imposing tattoos are partially visible, so anyone who sees them knows who they are.

Speaking a casual Wu dialect that is similar to Japanese in many aspects, they laugh loudly as if they were invulnerable.

Such audacity…

“Hey, Jin Jin, give me a bite. Just one shrimp, okay? I’ll pay you back!”

“No way! Last time I did, you never paid me back! It’s your fault for spending all your money in one evening!”

The youngest munches noisily on a bowl of seafood.

The second only takes a glass of water.

The third and fourth are sharing pickles and Chinese gyozas.

They don’t seem ready to leave anytime soon.

“Waitress!” The youngest shouts.

“What, you’re not going to eat again, are you?!” The second exclaims. “Or is it for me??”

“Shut up, it’s for me and only for me! Waitress?”

The waitress doesn’t come out.

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom.” The oldest shrugs.

“I would walk to the kitchen, but if I do, Yi Le is going to finish my bowl!” The youngest starts eating faster.

“I can’t deny that…”

“I’ll go then.” The third stands up. “What do you want?”

“You’re too nice, shixiong~!” The second sighs.

“More rice!”

He nods and heads towards the kitchen.

“I can’t believe he didn’t ask me what I want…” The second finishes his glass of water with a sad expression.

“That’s because you’re not going to pay! And if you don’t pay, who is going to pay? Not us!” The first stops eating, waiting for the rice.

“What about you, dai shixiong…? Will you not pay for your cute little shidi…?”

“I’m broke too, it’s Mu Min who’s going to pay.”

The younger two stare at him as if they have lost all forms of respect towards their elder.

“Mu Min?”

“Is that shixiong’s nickname??”

“It comes from a European manhua … doesn’t it sound cute?”

They look at each other with confused expressions.

The youngest picks up his phone and starts searching for it on the internet.

“I can’t find anything on this Mu Min…”

“How did you type it? Show me.”

“Man, it’s European, so you won’t find it unless you type in pinyin, are you an idiot?”

“Shut up. I still can’t find anything.”

The oldest extends his arm and takes the phone, then starts typing on it and shows them the result.

“What the hell is this?”

“Is that a real animal?”

“A hippopotamus?”

“It stands on two legs.”

The oldest massages his eyebrows. “It doesn’t matter what type of animal it is. It’s cute, alright?”

“Shixiong, are you a furry?”

“You have weird taste.”

“Shut up. Wait… Hasn’t it been a while since Mu Min left?”

“I mean, the kitchen is right there. He can’t really get lost, can he?”

“What is taking him so long, though?”

“Should we go see?”

“I’m not moving! I’m watching my bowl! SHIXIONG, ARE YOU THERE?!”

No answer.

“Yi Le, come with me.” The oldest stands up.

“Sure…” The second acquiesces, and they head towards the kitchen.

What they find there, is a sea of blood.

“What the hell happened here?!”

It’s as if all the meat that the restaurant was keeping to cook one day, had its blood squeezed out and poured on the floor, releasing a foul smell.

Or more reasonably, like human beings have been emptied of their litres of blood.

Under a worktop, the body of the third guy lies on its belly.

“Mu Min!” The oldest screams, running towards him.

He turns him over and gasps.

His face is drenched in blood; his two eyes have been gouged out. The skin where his tattoo was visible, has been stabbed many times over, until it has become impossible to discern the original pattern.

“I can’t believe Mu Min is fucking dead!” The second cries.

“Shut up! Someone else is here! Quick, we must go back to Jin Jin!!”

They rush out of the kitchen and find the kid right where they left him, his head lying on the table.

“Jin Jin was so tired he started sleeping right away! What a good kid!”

“What the hell are you saying?!” The oldest shouts pointing at the blood dripping from his chair.

He pulls the boy’s face up to discover that his two eyes have been gouged out and his skin stabbed as well.

“Who the hell-?” The man begins, but finds himself interrupted by a sharp pain in his back.

He turns his face to see his shidi, a bright smile on his face, pulling his butterfly knife out of his body, before he falls to the ground.

“Yi… Le…?”

The boy grins, wiping his bloodied hand on his face, leaving a red mark on it. “Wrong!” He laughs. “My name is NANAYA!”

He stabs the man over and over until his shirt is drenched in blood. “And my rank is oni!”

Satisfied, he stretches. “TSUKI, you can come out now!”

I swiftly drop from the shadows on the ceiling and approach the last body.

I pull his head up and with the help of my long, pointy dagger, I gouge out his eyes with precision.

“Ohime-sama will be happy with this.” I nod.

“Hehehe,” the boy laughs, “you’re so cunning…”

“What about you? This guy was dead by the third stab. You didn’t need to do eighteen.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all! I love your style!”

I inexpressively nod. “Likewise.”

NANAYA heads to the back of the restaurant where the waitress and the cook’s bodies are hidden. They were killed by poison so there isn’t any blood on them.

“Why were you so obsessed with their tattoos, though?” He laughs, taking off his shirt.

“What’s concealed must stay hidden.” I respond.

I give a look to NANAYA who is strangely well-built despite his looks.

Not that I ever doubted it, considering his martial prowess.

On his well-defined back, there is tattooed a magnificent colourful oni. The ogres in Japanese folklore.

Next to it stands a beautiful princess under the round moon.

“I don’t mind them.” NANAYA puts on the cook’s clean shirt. “They’re simply imitating us. And we know well that no imitation can hold up with the original.”

He runs a hand through his messy jet-black hair, not realizing that it is still drenched in blood.

His face still spotted; he cracks up maniacally.

“I’m not so sure about that…” I pronounce faintly.





We get back to the bunker and try to gently wake Abhi up.

“W-what’s going on…?” He yawns, rubbing his eyes.

“We found somewhere to stay; we need to leave now. Take all the important things.” Boobies smiles.

He pulls his head up and looks around, visibly half asleep. “I can’t take everything… All the books… Nila’s books…”

His gaze falls on me and he rubs his eyes again.

“Weird…” He says, then lies back down on the couch.

“What are you doing, Abhi? We have to go. Wake up!”

“I’m still sleeping… There’s an idiot…”

“No, you’re not sleeping!” Boobies exclaims.

“Oi… Abhobho…” I poke his forehead. “That’s not very nice… I missed you, you know? We still haven’t finished Mecha Dinosaur Impact…”

He suddenly opens his eyes. “What the hell, you’re really here?! Schwa!!”

“Please Abhi, be a good boy. She’s going to live with us.” Schwa sighs. “Anyway, you can’t be a picky eater now because we’re going to live at someone else’s place, so get dressed and pick up your things.”

Abhi frowns but complies.

Am I going to see Abhi with mundane clothes?? I can’t wait to see this!

He indeed comes back a minute later, with a large backpack and his headphones on. He’s wearing oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants with running shoes.

It’s … quite like I imagined it… Always going for comfort instead of fashion… Just like me!

“Abhi, you’re so cuuuuuute~ I’m going to eat you!” I rush over and pull him up.

“Stop it, you degenerate!”

“I didn’t know you wore such things. Don’t you know they are made for sports? You don’t seem the sporty type to me, uhuhu!”

“Shut up!” He flushes. “I used to run before!”

Boobies seems to remember something. “Oh right! With Nila, didn’t you?”

I turn to her. “Who is that? One of his friends? I didn’t know you had friends! Good for you, Abhobho!!”

“It’s not my friend!”

Boobies laughs. “Nila is his uncle. We lived all together until recently.”

“Oh, I see. Now that I think about it, you never told me how you guys met.”

“That’s a story for another time…” Boobies sighs. “But did you never question it? What if he was my child?” She smirks wickedly.

“I thought he was.” I respond frantically. “Even though you both never admitted it, to me you were like mother and child from the beginning. He’s such a cute boy too, who wouldn’t want a child like him.” I squeeze his cheeks “He even has white hair and blue eyes like you!”

“I … also think so…” Abhi turns red from shame.

“What?!” Boobies’ eyes widen.

Abhi turns his head so as to not face her. “That’s how I always considered you… And Nila too…” His eyes start getting wet.

Oops, that’s a risky topic!

“Oh, we need to leave, right! Did you pack your things yet?” I clap my hands.

Boobies nods. “I’m going to ask the guys to carry the books. We can’t leave the bunker like this so we’ll burn it to the ground. Don’t forget anything you need, or better, leave anything you don’t need.”

I suddenly stop breathing.

Anything I don’t need…

There is one thing I don’t need…

Once the Chinese guys have taken the books, the canned food and the rest of the clothes away in a trolley, and Abhi is waiting outside, Schwa and I are left behind to set the bunker on fire.

Schwa sighs. “I’m going to miss this place. We had a lot of cheerful memories here.”

She looks at the mannequins and the exhibited weapons with a sad expression.

“I return to you this talwar…” She whispers, spreading oil all around the place.

I put a hand on her shoulder. “There are countless new memories you can make… I am also going to return something.”

I suddenly pull off my tie. The tie that my sister gave me. The single human I hate the most in the world.

Tying me like a curse, it’s the only thing that linked me to her.

I drop it in the middle of the bunker with a smile.

“Goodbye, old me.”

As the phoenix is reborn from ashes, I light my old self on fire.

Boobies looks at me with a pained expression. “You don’t look the same without it…”

“Thank you.” I smile.

That was the point after all…

She rushes to the back of the bunker, coming back with two objects in her hands.

“The first time you came, you played with my hat, but I think this one will fit you better.” She puts it on my head.

It’s a light-gray cotton cap that fits my head perfectly.

“One last thing.” She hands me a blue choker, which makes me laugh to tears. “I thought your neck looked naked without anything around it…”

Grateful, I accept it. “Now we match.”

Igniting the bunker, Boobies smiles happily.

Now there are only good things to come!

And we run out of it, laughing brightly as the sun rises.

 

A sweet and yummy carrot cake

After an all-nighter, the blinding light of the rising sun gives me a huge headache as I walk out of the agency’s headquarters.

Getting roasted by the Banta for that long is truly the worst punition I could get.

I sigh, pulling my sunglasses down on my nose.

To the side, by the entrance, a familiar silhouette is standing.

“ORPHEUS, you damn traitor. Why did you let that whore come in?”

The black man puffs his cigarette while giving me a sideways gaze. “You didn’t ask me to do anything…”

His clear, deep voice is a soothing melody for my pain.

“Isn’t it fucking obvious? And why did you let them leave?!”

He tilts his face towards the sky and squints his eyes silently.

“What are you looking at?” I ask him, annoyed.

“Nothing… It’s coming…” He responds as he pulls his guitar case up.

I click my tongue. “Seriously, man. Is there a brain in your head? There are some things one doesn’t need to say! Obvious things, you know?! Like, for instance, not letting the whore that stole my sister come in the building when my sister is inside!!”

ORPHEUS sighs and hands me his half-consumed cigarette.

I take it and take a drag, energetically.

“Stay cool, Sis. I don’t think she kidnapped her. She looked quite happy actually.”

“SHUT UP!” I throw the cigarette to the ground. “SHE’S MY SISTER!!”

ORPHEUS shrugs. “That was my last smoke, Sis.”

“I’M NOT YOUR SIS!” I want to pull my sunglasses up to look him in the eyes, but I remember the pain the sunlight caused earlier and stop my movement.

“You know, Sis. I have a Sis too. She’s very good-looking…”

“Where are you going with your bragging??”

“She’s very kind and smart too. She runs a small coffee shop down there.”

“I know that.”

“She makes a great carrot cake.”

“Yeah, and?!”

“Shall we go there?”

I raise an eyebrow. I remember this exact conversation. Last time, we were about to go there, but many things happened and we were interrupted.

“Sure. I don’t care.”

“Should I ask the others too?”

“Yeah.”

ORPHEUS pulls up his phone and starts messaging on the group chat.

I peek above his shoulder to read what’s being said.

ORPHI: Sis is pissed. Wanna eat cake?

ASCLE-PYON: OMG, CAKE!! POGGERS!

THE CHAD HECTOR: What kind?

ORPHI: (sunglasses emoji) carrot cake.

ASCLE-PYON: Send the address!!

THE CHAD HECTOR: Why the hell would you put carrots in a cake?!

ASCLE-PYON: Don’t listen to him, ORPHI, he’s too much of a boor to enjoy this delicacy.

ORPHI: carrot cake is good, it’s sweet and yummy

THE CHAD HECTOR: Does it come with tea?

ORPHI: Of course, it’s a coffee shop!

ASCLE-PYON: ORPHI, sweetie, you still didn’t explain where it is…

“What the hell am I reading? Is that a fucking circus?”

ORPHEUS pulls his phone closer to his chest so I can’t read more. “Sis… You can read it on yours…”

“I know that, dumbass! Also why did you say I’m pissed?!”

He suddenly makes a shocked face. “You… Aren’t pissed?”

“YES, I AM!”

“So, what’s the problem?!”

I slap my shaking face before I start cursing again.

We reach the café after a twenty minutes’ walk; it isn’t busy at all at this time of the day, but ASCLEPIUS is somehow already seated, waiting for us.

His short silver-dyed hair is brushed to one side. It helps me remember how much of a fashion victim he is. Thankfully, today he isn’t wearing one of his eccentric outfits, but the blue suit we use as uniform.

I already mentioned it in the past, but with ORPHEUS’s guitar case, we must really look like musicians from a band or an orchestra in those expensive suits.

“Whassup!” He makes a strange hand sign that I barely understand as a greeting, which ORPHEUS replicates to perfection without a single change of expression on his face.

I sit down without commenting on that. “Is HECTOR coming?”

“Yeah, he’ll be here soon.” ASCLEPIUS responds with his cat-shaped mouth. “More importantly, SIRO-PI, how did your date go?!”

“She got dumped.” ORPHEUS answers without being the one asked.

“I didn’t get dumped! My sister killed her!”

“That’s what he meant,” ASLCEPIUS nods, “you got dumped by your sister.”

A beautiful black girl in an apron approaches our table with a big naïve smile on her face. “What a pleasure it is to meet my brother’s coworkers!”

She is indeed pretty cute, but too young and chaste looking for me…

“Pleasure is shared!” ASLCEPIUS exclaims.

“Are you by any chance my brother’s superior? He always tells me good things about you!” She beams at me.

“Yeah, he’s a hard worker.” I respond as politely as I can.

“Sis, three carrot cakes please.”

“And a mocha for me!” ASCLEPIUS raises his hand in the air like a middle schooler.

He may not look like it but he’s close to thirty years old…

“I’ll get mint tea.” I sigh.

“Understood.” ORPHEUS’s sister smiles. “Everything is on the house, so don’t be shy and order anything you’d like.”

“Ah, in that case, can I also add a parfait and a Frappuccino?” ASCLEPIUS smirks, but ORPHEUS stares at him with an unreadable gaze, so ASCLEPIUS quickly adds: “I’m joking~~…”, before getting into trouble.

The waitress walks away, so we can go back to our previous topic.

“My sister didn’t dump me! She got bewitched by a whore!”

“LOL, SIRO-PI, aren’t you just mad that she stole your sister, you siscon?! Maybe if you had treated her nicely, maybe she wouldn’t have left you~!”

Enraged, I punch the table, making it shake violently, right as ORPHEUS’s sister comes back with our plates.

“The drinks will come right away!” She smiles awkwardly before running away.

“Please… Don’t hurt the tables…” ORPHEUS whispers.

“THE TABLES CAN’T GET HURT!” I punch again, but weaker. “You dipshit,” I point to ASCLEPIUS’s face. “I treat my sister better than anyone, okay? What happened tonight didn’t make any sense!”

“Nobody here agrees. Do you agree ORPHI?”

“I don’t.”

“ET TU?” I click my tongue when the front door opens.

HECTOR appears with a Panama hat to hide his bald head. Well, I’m making fun of him, but he really looks elegant with his long eyelashes and heavy beard, on top of the usual blue suit.

ASCLEPIUS waves at him energetically. “TOTOR, this way!”

HECTOR laughs loudly. “I know, I saw you when I entered.”

“Who knows how dumb you can be~?”

HECTOR sits down and stares at our plates. “What? So those’re carrot cakes? They just look like normal cakes!”

“What the hell did you think it was?!” ASCLEPIUS spits, irritated.

“Something more carrot and less cake… Can I have a bite?”

“NOPE, it’s mine! Get one yourself!”

“But how would I know if I like it? What if I don’t? Wouldn’t it be rude to order one and not eat it?”

“Here, you can have a bite from mine.” I sigh.

He picks up his fork and cuts a piece from my cake, then brings it to his mouth and munches longer than necessary.

“Hmmm… It’s sweet.”

“That’s what we told you!!” ASCLEPIUS shouts.

The waitress comes back with our drinks. She greets HECTOR who seems captivated by her beauty and removes his hat in reverence. “Miss… You are fine and sweet like a pretty flower. May I have one piece of this delicious cake? Which I’m sure was baked with tender love in mind… And a black tea to go with it.”

“Of course, please give me a minute.” The girl giggles before walking back to the kitchen.

“Hey man, calm down. You’re probably twice her age!” ASLCEPIUS smirks.

ORPHEUS, however, makes an unreadable face again, which makes HECTOR cringe and put his hat back on his head. “Oh, right, it’s your sister… Sorry pal. Don’t worry about it, I don’t do affairs with coworkers’ families anymore.”

“By the way, SIRO-PI. Didn’t you stay all night with the Banta? What did she say?”

I click my tongue. “You know too much, you cunning rat, but that’s why you’re on my team. I’d rather have you on my side than against me. I think that about all of you.”

ORPHEUS nods silently, but ASCLEPIUS and HECTOR are acting all moved, with fake tears in their eyes.

“SIRO-PI…”

“SIRONA…”

“Shut up, dumbasses. Well, the Banta had a mission for me, and…”

I suddenly get interrupted by a deafening pouring noise.

On the other side of the window, water is dropping from the sky like a torrent.

In less than a few minutes, the sun got covered behind the darkest clouds.

“It’s coming… Rainy season…” ORPHEUS closes his eyes, rocked by the vibrations.





With my clothes drenched under the monsoon, I run quickly towards my destination.

As a spy who has infiltrated into the Triads, I can’t move freely and I must head back as soon as possible.

I don’t have a minute to lose.

I finally find shelter in an underground parking lot.

I take off my top hat and try to shake the water off, to little effect.

I am steadying my breath when a person’s muffled voice resonates behind me. “It’s raining cats and dogs…”

The man is wearing a gas mask with dumb looking pointy ears on it, but I’m not one to talk with my absurd camouflage.

“Indeed.”

“Good to see you… What are we calling you, nowadays? Master of…”

“Langman Shi, or Master of Romance.”

“Yes, Master of Romance. Come, the major is waiting for you.”

I follow him deeper into the parking lot until we reach a door that seems to lead to a closet, but when opened, is actually far wider.

A foul smell gets to my nose and I cough slightly.

“I’m sorry for the smell… It’s our chemicals.” The man responds.

“Shouldn’t I be wearing a gas mask too, then?”

“Don’t worry, they’re not toxic.”

After another corridor, we open a final door, where a group of mercenaries are resting.

In the middle of it, sitting behind a table, reading a large book which I can’t see the title of from where I am, the major raises an eye at me.

His only remaining green eye.

Next to his eyepatch, many scars are drawn on his face, and a prosthetic arm and leg are linked to his body.

“Welcome.” He smiles. “What news do you come with?”

I pick up my handkerchief and wipe my drenched forehead. “The White Snake is finding shelter at the Triads.”

The major’s sole eye widens. “Isn’t that convenient?”

I shrug. “It is, but I can’t do much there.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. All you have to do is to monitor her for me. I’ll pay, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried about that, but a bunch of things are happening there. It’s not well-known in the underworld yet, but the Triads and the yakuza are at war. The Japanese are killing them one after the other, so I won’t be allowed to come here much. And we both know that communicating in another way is impossible.”

It’s actually not impossible at all, but I want to keep my freedom as much as possible.

The major, though, smiles wickedly. “A war… Amazing!”

He turns to… A kind of strange monster that is sitting in the corner of the large room.

“DARIUS,” the major says, “how about we make a deal with the yakuza?”

The strange Frankenstein monster rises. His gigantic body, almost as tall as the ceiling, responds with clarity. “Yes, Major.”

Dark clouds have covered the whole island and now that they have settled, they’re not going to leave in a while…

Rainy season has begun.

END OF ARC 3

 

An empty office, and a not so empty corridor

I push the underling in front of me aside as I swiftly walk into the long corridor.

The dim neon lights blink sporadically on the ceiling.

Trotting at my side, is a young handcuffed individual with a strange demeanour and a huge smile on his face.

His face… Something is wrong with his face…

He hums a joyful air while keeping his eyes closed.

A gigantic burn scar is drawn on the upper part of his face. It spreads from one ear to the other, on both of his eyes, his forehead and a good portion of the top of his head. Many discreet moles are splattered on what is left of his face.

I must admit that he’s quite uncanny. He doesn’t have any eyebrows or barely any hair on his head at all. He was wearing a cap to hide it, until he was forced to take it off during the inspection. He’s also wearing a formal-looking plaid shirt and running shorts at the same time. His legs are bare and he wears flip-flops on his feet. Ironically, while a beach towel is resting on his shoulders, his whole body is drenched because he kept this ridiculous attire without covering himself under the torrential rain outdoors.

What an incomprehensible fashion sense… Well, I guess if I were blind or close to it, I wouldn’t care about fashion either. Also, I’m not one to talk since I never pay much attention to what I wear. Only the most basic salaryman suit when I’m working, the rest of the time, I’m just hanging around in T-shirt and trousers.

His voice is a bit high pitched. He’s not tall and does seem quite young, even though it’s hard to tell how old he is, or his ethnicity for that matter, but there is something witty about his smile that annoys me to the highest degree.

We finally reach a small office that is entirely empty, apart from a single chair on which a boy with a constantly -stressed aura is seated, his tablet in hand.

“Who is this?” He asks without even looking up.

“A crazy guy looking for trouble.” I sigh.

TADPOLE raises his head and gazes at him.

“Oh boy, oh boy!” The guy says. “Don’t stare at me like that! It’s so awkward! Also, I’m not crazy and I’m not looking for trouble! I’m just here to speak with your boss!”

The awkwardness rises again. How did he know he was stared upon? Even if this guy wasn’t keeping his eyes closed, with a scar like this, I would assume that he’s blind.

TADPOLE skims through his tablet while responding. “I’m sorry but she’s busy right now. Do you want to get an appointment?”

Why does he feel the need to respond like this? This stupid secretary…

But the man nods rapidly. “Yes, yes. An appointment!”

When I look closer, I notice that his gigantic scar wasn’t the only odd thing about him… It turns out that… Apart from that, he doesn’t seem to bear any other wounds. It’s weird because I can’t think of any accident that would have left a scar like this, but nothing else. At least one or two cuts should be expected. Or burns elsewhere, like on the arms. Did he not even try to defend himself when he got this? I must add that it’s kind of a miracle that he has kept all of his teeth if he got into such a predicament. Unless it wasn’t an incident but something else… And why am I so obsessed with it?!

TADPOLE also seem interested in the newcomer and I even notice a faint smile on his face. Guess even he must find this guy comical. “Name, profession, motives for the appointment, please.” He coughs and hides his mouth behind his hand.

The man laughs, shaking his cuffed hands. “Can’t say, can’t say.”

I finally have a good reason to beat him up, so I pin him on the wall and spit. “Who the hell are you?”

I want to look him in the eyes, but he keeps them closed, and even though he’s threatened, he keeps smiling manically.

“Come on, come on. Let’s stay civilized. I just want to speak with your boss!”

“YOU THINK YOU CAN FUCK AROUND AND HAVE A CHAT WITH OUR BOSS WITHOUT PROPER MOTIVES?!”

Hearing the commotion, a group of underlings quickly rush into the office, their weapons in hand, ready to strike at this impertinent asshole when I give them the signal.

TADPOLE, though, starts biting his nails. “TORA, keep it down or they’re going to hear you! And my office is crowded now… Finish this outside.”

Well, it’s true that this scene looks rather absurd in such a narrow room.

“This is my first time entering Lord TADPOLE’s office…” I hear one of the underlings whisper to another. “Why is it empty, though?”

“Maybe he’s moving out?”

“No way! He’s so nice! I’m going to miss him…”

“I am not moving out…” TADPOLE pronounces faintly.

“A moment, a moment!” The blind guy is finally looking as worried as he should be. “You… Didn’t give me my appointment!”

“You…!” I seize him by the neck and push him out of the office. “Didn’t you hear what he said? Name! Profession! Motives!”

“D-don’t shout…” TADPOLE bites his nails frenetically. “Sir, even if you gave me that information, you wouldn’t get an appointment for the next four months. I recommend you come back when you’ll be willing to do so… And through the front door. Seriously TORA, why did you bring him here at all?”

That’s … a really good question…

There is something about this guy that is very weird, if it was anyone else, I would have already killed him.

It’s not that he is so charming or charismatic that I can’t lay my hands on him. It’s more that, he didn’t give me any room to do so.

Even though I’m holding him by the neck, and he should be at my mercy, he’s not showing any openings and I have the strange feeling that the moment I try to kill him, it will be too late for me.

I nonetheless push him out of the office and he falls on his ass in the corridor.

The neon lights are now blinking so much that they’re giving me a headache.

I cover one eye with a hand. “Hey you… Who are you…?”

The underlings get out of the office while bowing to TADPOLE and get ready to circle the still-smiling bastard in the long corridor.

He raises his cuffed hands towards me. “Please, I just want to ask your boss something. Let me do this and I’ll go home!”

“You think you are in a place where you can ask whatever you want?! Kill him!”

The underlings have finished circling him, and are ready to strike, when the lights suddenly turn off.

“What?!”

Confusion instantly rises. What are the odds of getting a blackout now?

I quickly put a hand in my pocket to pick up my mobile phone, so I’ll be able to illuminate the place, but I’m too late and after the sound of something cracking and a chain being moved around, one of the underlings starts crying in pain.

When I finally switch the flashlight on, I see the madman using the chain between his handcuffs to strangle one of our boys who is visibly suffocating.

“What are you trying?! You won’t get out of here alive. How the hell did you make a blackout? Do you have friends?” I pull my handgun up and aim at his head.

“You should be worried about this boy… I’m about to kill him!” The madman laughs.

“That’s not how it works, idiot. For us, it’s an honour to die for our company.” I fire.

But he uses the underling as a meat shield and the bullet finishes the poor boy. “Is that really how it works? Damn, I guess my previous job was nicer.”

“Lord TORA…”

The other underlings have never seen their colleague die like this, by the hand of their superior, so they are quite shaken.

“He’s a cornered rat.” I shake my head. “Avenge your comrade.”

How the hell did that guy know where I was aiming at…? And he quickly mentioned his previous job, so I’m even more curious to know what that is.

But now, there is nothing that can save him. More underlings are coming from the left and right of the corridor, and he’s now circled by more than twenty armed people.

I take a step back in order to enjoy the show but… He’s taking them on… Singlehandedly…

One man jumps at him with his katana, but he dodges it, twists his arm until it dislocates, uses his chains to pull the sword out of his hands and plants it in a woman’s face. Then he jumps on her body and kicks a guy’s head with his heel. Someone tries to strike him from behind, but he raises his leg to stop the blade with the bottom of his flip-flops, that are definitely not made of a normal material, and pushes him backward to destabilize him. The madman, then, uses his chains to suffocate him again.

I raise my gun again and try to shoot his head thrice, but he dodges the bullets and hides behind his newly found meat shield. After another woman manages to make him drop it, I reload and shoot again twice, but he’s untouchable.

“Heyyy, you’re having fun!”

I turn my flashlight to the side and recognize a familiar face. A woman with very long curly blonde hair and frenzied blue eyes is laughing. She’s topless apart from a few bandages that she’s using like sarashi to tighten her chest and a leather motorbike jacket that is laid on her shoulders like a cape. “What’s going on here, TORA?” She rests the back of the long blade of her iaito on her shoulder, laughing.

I inhale. At least with her, the problem should be solved quickly.

“Come help us, GON. This guy is a real handle.”

GON laughs again and approaches. For some reason, the blind guy seems to notice something and twitches. He sweeps his leg all around him to give himself some space, feels the wall with his hand and jumps away in an instant.

“Ohohoh!” GON giggles. “And here I thought you were having so much fun! Why stop when I join the party?” I want to take advantage of the fact that he doesn’t have anybody to hide behind, so I point my gun towards his head and prepare to fire, but GON stops me. “No need to try, you won’t hit him.”

“You seem pretty strong.” The scarred man is still smiling.

“And you seem really weak.” GON squints her eyes to take a better look at him now that they are closer. She could barely catch a glimpse in the dark after all. But I notice her expression change drastically. “You … are blind…?” She seems disgusted. “How can I have a proper fight with a blind guy…?”

CLICK—

Finally, the lights are back on so we can better appreciate the carnage.

Among the twentyish underlings who fought him, only a handful are still standing in the corridor.

“You…!” GON grabs him by the collar, a gesture that reminds me of myself a few minutes ago. “You motherfucker, how did you do this in your state, how?! Who the hell are you?!”

“GON, stop being emotional and kill him.” I frown.

I’ve never seen her react like this, but I guess I never saw her face a blind person before. Her reaction is a bit weird, but she’s a weird person overall.

TADPOLE sneaks out of his office, his face is showing extreme worry. “Oh, you’re still not done. Can you finish quickly? I need to go to the bathroom…”

“Boy, there was a blackout, did you not notice anything?” I crack up.

“I don’t really care…”

“Nobody cares.” GON spits. “You. Tell me who you are. Now.” She pulls the blind guy up who for some reason, doesn’t seem to be smiling anymore. Since the moment GON appeared in the corridor, he lost all will to fight.

“GON, let him go.” A deep voice resonates.

Three silhouettes appear from the other end of the corridor. A tall man with long and straight silver hair in a white suit, a boy with short jet-black hair and an old woman in a very expensive kimono.

Upon noticing them, GON instantly lets go of the blind guy who falls to his knees, his breaths short.

The group stops a few metres away from us. Tipping the stalk of her cigarette holder towards her lips, the woman takes a drag with a cold expression. She doesn’t seem to care about the bloodbath. “Are you the man I was waiting for?” She asks.

My heart skips a beat. So he really was supposed to meet with her?! What a stupid mistake.

The blind man, sweating, raises his head with his habitual smile back.

The three of them stare at his scarred face with little to no reaction as he finally answers.

“The major sends his regards.”

 

One hell of a mess

“The Triads’ hideout is hidden behind two ‘safety’ layers, as they like to call it, in the south-east district of Tanumm, in Omond’s Chinatown.

On a perpendicular, -and much less busy- street than the main one, where one can find hundreds of Asian restaurants and a popular marketplace, lies the gloomy façade of a butcher shop, which hides an unlicensed seller of hunting gear behind its backdoor.

Behind the backdoor of this unlicensed shop, however, is their HQ. As for the reason why it’s hidden that way, I quote, ‘so when the police have suspicions and inspect the butcher, they do find something illegal, so they get their results and won’t expect that something even more illegal is hidden behind it, forehead.’

Okay so, first of all, I’m not a forehead, and secondly, this argument is completely stupid. If the police come to inspect the butcher, they will find the illegal shop and the hideout. The fact they are doing something illegal in there, since the hunting gear shop is pretty famous in the vicinity, increases the risks of it getting discovered; but the person I quote argues that ‘if we hid something legal then that would raise suspicions as to why we needed to hide it in the first place!’…

Oh, and I’m being way too nice calling it an HQ, it looks more like a youth hostel than a super underground organized crime shelter.

At least the façade is well-decorated. The building looks like some fancy (and extremely cliché) Asian castle, with flamboyant red tiles and jade dragons hanging from the roof. I honestly wouldn’t expect to see actual Chinese people inside this place more than I would at that cartoon mouse park.

The inside, on the other hand, looks like your typical middle-class hotel, and the constant activity one can find inside is akin to a teenage summer camp.

The reason why the inside is so bland compared to the outside is that they ‘ran out of budget midway into the construction, and it was too late to go back, but at least the façade is extremely impressive and if anyone wanders by coincidentally, and ends up in front of it, they will shiver in fear and run away before its magnificence!’

… Okay, but what are the chances that someone ends up in front of it by wandering around?? And what are the chances that they don’t call the police when they find something so suspicious?! Not that I would, personally, but whatever, I think their logic is slightly flawed and needs revisal, but whenever I mention it, they argue that ‘if it didn’t work, they would have already been spotted.’

Fallacious! Arguments! Everywhere!

Did these guys never learn basic rhetoric?! They are going to get killed by their cognitive biases!!!

Whatever, half of these guys are alcoholic or drug addicts anyway, there are plenty of other ways they might die. I bet they’re trying to fill up the Darwin Awards. Especially this stupid Lianjie Shi. He spends literally all his free time at that bar where he hangs up with girls and gropes their hmmmss…”

“Okay, okay, Boss… But what about that girl?”

“Is she at the bar too? Getting her hms groped?”

“God, I wish I could grope some hms right now…”

“God, I wish someone could grope my hms right now!”

“Actually, I…”

“Not you, you owe me 100 bucks.”

“Ouch…”

These morons keep interrupting me! “No, you don’t get it at all, this is important setup!!” I cry.

“Yes, yes, we get it, they’re all very dumb.”

“Can’t you skip some parts?”

“NO, I CANNOT! You youngsters have no patience and no respect for storytelling! Can’t you tell that I’m slowly getting to the good parts? This subtle increase of intensity, the shivers you would get when I finally get close to it, the goosebumps when we all reach the climax together…!”

“Boss, you’re making me horny.”

“I know! That’s what storytelling is about, like sex, it’s an adventure, it’s an epic tale that transcends people!”

“Fine, I’m going to wank it, see you in a bit.”

“C-can I see?”

“Ew, no, what the hell is wrong with you?”

“If you didn’t want to, you wouldn’t have said it aloud.”

“Okay, sexual harasser, I’m reporting you to the police.”

“P-please don’t…”

“SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP ALL OF YOUUUUUUU!!!” I wail.

Speaking to an audience of fifteen people is much harder than I expected.

“Master of…” The most important voice in the assembly rises. “… No, I can’t say it. Dude, can you keep going, please? Everybody shut up.”

“It’s Master of Romance… But thanks, Major.” I breathe.

“I guess I’ll call you Boss too. This name is too ridiculous.”

“Please don’t, Major. You’re the boss here to me and everyone else, and I wouldn’t dare to steal your place.”

“This conversation is going nowhere. Go back from where you left.” The major sighs.

“I … Don’t remember where I left…” I start sweating.

“The groping part!”

“The boobs! The big boobs!”

“The sexual harasser!”

“The booby licker, lick lick lick.”

“Oh my god…” I start tearing up. This audience may be a little hard to handle, but they’re actually following quite well…! Some of them did slightly twist the facts a bit, but it is almost exactly where I left! “Alright, so there is this stupid guy named Lianjie Shi, who keeps going to the bar where he gropes women…”

“How do you know that?”

“What, again?!” I slap the table I’m seated on with my hand.

“How do you know he’s groping women every time he goes to the bar? Did you see him?”

“Y-yes, why?”

“That means you’re going to the bar too.”

“Well done, Josh.” The guy next to him shakes his hand.

“I’m going for work, of course!” I stutter, trying to save myself.

“For work, of course! Get a load of him, guys!”

“Didn’t you get some drinks too?”

“F-for work!”

“How about groping women, uh?”

“F-for work… NO, I DIDN’T!”

“Checkmate.”

“FORGET WHAT I SAID!”

“Nope, it’s written on your Headnovel wall now. ‘I love to grope women’s hms in bars with my best friend Ching Chong.’” A girl laughs while showing my profile on her mobile phone.

“PLEASE DON’T, I HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO CHANGE IT BACK!! Also, holy shit, that’s so racist, are we back in the 1500s or what?!” I press a hand against my eyebrows, exasperated.

“Bonnie, delete the post, and all of you, let him finish before I feed your dinner to my birds.” The major pronounces deeply, as the singing and screeching shrieks of birds of prey resonate in the high ceiling and dimly lit parking lot.

The hubbub in the assembly finally vanishes and I can continue my report. “So I was in the bar when—”

“So he really went to the bar…” I hear whispered in the audience.

“When I received a phone call from this gorgeous goddess… With a chest as sumptuous as it is voluptuous, a waist that is meaty enough, while keeping slim nonetheless, legs that could crush my skull in between them, and hair, like her skin, white as clouds and eyes blue like a sky in spring!”

“And he really went to grope women… Sick…”

“How did he know what she looked like if he received a phone call, this mythomaniac?”

“He’s saying all this to make us mad!”

I hear whispers again, but the voice of the major rises anew. “Milo, I heard you. Say goodbye to your dinner.”

“No, please Major, I beg you!!” Milo cries, bringing his hands together to pray for forgiveness, but the major’s judgement is impartial.

“If I hear you again, it’s not just your dinner, but your whole body that will feed the birds.”

The shrieking rises again, and Milo, crying silently, covers his mouth with his two hands, giving a strange aura to the next part of my story.

“Uhm … well, for those who are wondering, I did meet her before, that’s how we shared our phone numbers.”

“Lucky bastard.” May or may not have been pronounced, but I’m convinced I heard it even if it was by my subconscious!

“As for the conditions under which we first met, that’s a story for another time!” I meet the major’s sole eye that seems to be trying to see through me, but I go on. “She called me to get in contact with two members of the triads, TIAN SHUI and TIAN HUO, who are under Jinqian Shi’s jurisdiction. Basically, they’re super strong at beating people up, but that’s not the topic… In the process, she gave me her address, which I then gave to you. Can you confirm that you received it, Major?”

“Of course, I can.” The major smiles. “We paid them a visit after all. Too bad it was empty.”

I roll my eyes. “Of course, it was. They’re actually pretty well organized as far as I can tell.” I’m actually not sure about that, but it’s still way better than the Triads.

“I taught her well.” The major says, still smiling.

I nod as to not disappoint him. “And now, she’s staying at the Triads, she actually got her own room with her friend and the boy—”

The major’s expression changes drastically. “Her son?” He asks.

Taken by surprise by his sudden question, I scratch the back of my head. “They say they’re not mother and son, but they do look a bit similar.”

The major makes an unreadable face. “What about the friend?”

“A girl she met here. I don’t know anything else about her. She works for the agency but everything from her name to her background are forgeries, there is absolutely nothing about her, anywhere.”

“Is that even possible, nowadays?” The major asks, dumbfounded.

“I admit that this is a first for me too. Usually, we can find at least a receipt from something she bought, and forgeries of birth certificates and passports are bound to be found out at some point, so even people who deleted their backgrounds keep the originals safe in case they need it, but I have no clue where to look. The only thing I found is that she may be related to another agency member, who is a pretty big shot, but it’s just a hunch based on their physical appearance.”

The major nods. “Continue on this track, if you don’t have anything else. Alright boys, it’s time to eat. Except you, Milo, you do 150 pushups where I can see them. And Josh and Bonnie, you made a ruckus too, so you’re going to count and you’ll only be allowed to eat once Milo will be done. I count on you two to motivate him.”

“Milo, you fucker! I’m soooo hungry!”

“Start doing them now!”

“Hahaha, you guys will be damned! I’ll take my sweet time!”

As the hubbub grows again in the parking lot, I jump from the table I was sitting on and start walking towards the exit, but the major is in my way.

“This was the last time I could meet with you; I can’t afford to leave the Triads anymore or my cover will be ruined.” I pronounce softly enough that only the two of us can hear.

The major puts his metallic hand on my shoulder and smiles. “Thanks for coming… Master of… Boss.”

“I did what I could, but I can’t afford to stray from my main mission any longer.” I sigh.

“Are you never going to tell me what the Crown ordered you to do? I can help you; I owe you this.”

“You can’t help me, Major. It’s not something that can be solved with violence.”

The major removes his hand from my shoulder and lets me go, but the exit suddenly gets blocked by a giant.

The monster named DARIUS enters, carrying on his back, another of their members, his face almost entirely burned, but still beaming happily.

The scarred man suddenly jumps from the giant’s back and exclaims with a joyful, high-pitched voice: “The yakuza accepted the alliance!”

The mercenaries acclaim the news with a toast and laughter, and under the major’s scrutinizing gaze, I leave this noisy place.

I got into one hell of a mess…

 

The Pain Song

RIIIIIIINNNG~

I wake up to the 6 a.m. alarm, yawning.

Life at the Triads isn’t that bad… There is a canteen with chefs making great food, and we can do whatever we want, but this…

This alarm is driving me crazy.

Not because it’s ringing every single morning at 6 a.m., but because after ringing twice, it starts playing songs that are probably straight out of 1930s Chinese opera from the speakers extremely loudly.

“QÍNG SĪ HUĪ JIÀN~ DUÀN LE JIŪ…”

See, exactly like this…

I look at the other side of my bed, and sigh wondering how that girl can sleep in such conditions.

Boobies seems totally unfazed by the deafeningly loud singing, and didn’t even notice it the first day we slept here…

It went a bit like

“Good morning, Boginya~ how did you sleep?”

“Terribly… Did you not hear the imam doing the call to prayer super early this morning?”

“What are you talking about? There is no mosque in the vicinity…”

I was extremely disappointed by this lack of sense of humour that day, and I’ve been trying to find a way to explain the joke since then, but since she doesn’t hear the proto-C-pop that’s playing every morning, there is nothing I can do about it except wake up in frustration!

Of course, I could also wake her up when the jingle is playing, but the last time I tried, she almost killed me by pressing my face against her breasts so hard I almost suffocated! Well, it wasn’t that bad, in retrospect…

And no, I can’t record it, my cellphone is a dinosaur!

Not the cool dinosaur like in Mecha Dinosaur Impact, though, just a stupid, useless dinosaur that I can’t even watch anime or read manga on, a terribly useless dinosaur…

At least one other person isn’t unfazed by this noise, and it’s my dear Abhobho…!

But as I soundlessly walk out of the bedroom, I find him, still lying on his sofa bed, his tiger duvet covering everything around his face like a hijab.

I could have a round two of my Muslim pun, but I need to find a way to take a picture of him.

I tiptoe my way back to the bedroom and sneak over to Boobies’ side, so I can steal her phone without waking her up.

If I recall correctly, this is how I open the camera…

I sneak back to the sofa bed and snap three pictures of Abhi, but for some reason, they are extremely blurry…

I try to take a better one while paying attention to the focus, but he suddenly wakes up and screams: “AAAAaaaah!! What the fuck are you doing?!”

I jump and throw the phone into the air. “Nothing, haha, nice weather, isn’t it?”

“I just woke up, dumbass, how would I know how the weather is?!” Abhi rubs his eyes, losing his perfectly hilarious position. “Also it’s always rainy in this season…”

“You’re right! Good morning, Abhibooo!” I exclaim, patting his head. “How come the call to arms didn’t wake you up today?”

“I don’t know…” Abhi yawns. “I may have gotten used to it.”

“Ah yes, this is the proof that you are young, I heard that kids get used to things faster. It is due to your plastic brain, by the way!”

“It’s the plasticity of brain…”

“See, I was right. Here, coffee!” I hand him the mug of coffee I was preparing since the moment he opened his eyes, in the hope that it will divert his mind so he won’t ask me about what I was doing… But he sees through me!

“What were you doing earlier, when I was sleeping?” He asks while sipping softly.

What a fearful boy! Truly not one to be underestimated!

“Nothing, I told you. I was just surprised you weren’t awake, so I wanted to make sure of it by getting closer.”

“What were you doing with Schwa’s phone?”

“W-what phone?”

“The one you threw there.” He says, pointing at the phone that I indeed threw a moment ago.

“It was an optical illusion; this is but a figment of your plastic brain.”

“That is not how it works…” He slowly stands up.

“Where are you going? Your coffee is going to get cold!”

“I just want to see something on that phone, it’s not yours, so it shouldn’t matter to you, right?”

“No, no, you don’t get it, little boy. This isn’t my phone, but it isn’t your phone either. You cannot touch other people’s belongings!”

“Why did you touch it then?”

“Do as I say, not as I do…”

Abhi squats on the couch, ready to jump to the side, but I catch him midair and the transformed energy makes me turn in a circle.

“Let me go! Let me go!” He starts wiggling.

“Good boys should stay quiet. Just stay seated and drink your coffee! Boobies is still sleeping!”

“If the stupid songs don’t wake her up, there is no way I would!” He screams.

But some steps sound from the bedroom, and slowly, opening the door, Boobies walks up with her usual bed face. “A-Aaaa.” She yawns. “Abhi, are you okay?”

“Wooow,” I whistle, “so 300 decibels of Chinese rambling don’t wake her up, but simply hearing Abhob’s voice does! Very impressive! Very cute!” I put Abhi on the ground. “Is this what they call the super powerful maternal instinct??” I take advantage of the fact that she’s still half asleep to tease her, since I know this is an embarrassing topic for her.

“Naturally…” She yawns again, not catching up on my teasing, and heads for the bathroom.

Abhi, though, didn’t miss his chance to pick up the phone and exclaims: “Whaaat? Did you take a picture of me while I was sleeping?!”

“No! But how do you know that?” I ask, genuinely curious.

“Liar! When you scroll like this, you can see the apps in order of utilization! The camera is the last used app!”

“I see, I see. Thanks for the help!”

“That’s not the topic! Look, you tried to take pictures of me! Though I have no clue what I’m looking at.”

“See, you can’t prove what you just said. You can’t even tell what’s on the picture. It could be my poop, for all you know!”

“Poop doesn’t look like this!”

“Mine does, stop being so judgmental, jeez…”

“I’m done talking with you.” He jumps back on the couch and starts sipping again. “OUCH, I burned my tongue!”

Boobies appears from the corner of the room that leads to the bathroom and walks up to Abhi in one instant. “Show me your mouth.” She says.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!”

“No, you’re not. You didn’t brush your teeth.”

I smile awkwardly… It’s partially my fault for giving him his coffee right away… “Hmm, Mommy… I think this one is on me…”

Boobies looks at me with an exasperated gaze and points to the bathroom. “You go brush your teeth too. And stop calling me ‘Mommy’ or I’ll throw you out the window.”

She’s so cold when she doesn’t have her whole night of sleep! Ahhh, poor me~!

I grab Abhi’s hand and slowly walk with him to the bathroom where we wash our faces and brush our teeth in silence.

By the time we’re done, Boobies has finished dressing up and points to the ground. “Should we have breakfast?”

“I’m not hungry when I wake up.” I shrug.

“Sorry, it was not a question, we are going to have breakfast.”

“Okayyy…” I slowly raise my thumb as a way to show my motivation.

I put my hat on and ask Abhi if he’s going downstairs in pajamas again.

“Of course, why would I need to dress up if we’re not leaving the building?”

Well, I guess that does make sense.

“Boobies, what would you think if I went downstairs in pajamas too?”

Boobies’s half made-up face appears from behind the bathroom’s door with an expression as if she’s worried for my plastic brain. “Are you 8 years old?”

“Well, technically…”

“No, you’re not. I’m almost ready, let’s go.”

We get out of our room, and I must say… This place is exactly like a hotel… Or more like a gigantic dormitory.

A group of four young Chinese boys, whom Xiao Shui is part of, sleeps in the room next door. They wave at us when our eyes meet.

“Good morning! Are you going to eat?”

“Yeah.” I wave back.

“We already ate, qing xiang, qing xiang!”

“You girls are lucky to be able to wake up later, if we aren’t woken up during the Tong Ge, we aren’t allowed to eat, and will be punished for the whole day!”

“Well, we’re not really a part of your group. Thank you for your hospitality, though.” Boobies responds professionally.

“Of course, of course!” The boys laugh before getting back to their banter, until an older boy yells at them for joking around.

We walk down the staircase, not getting attention from anybody anymore.

The first few days we came in, we were the main topic of every conversation in the building, but after a whole week had passed, everybody got used to it.

They do greet us and mention the fact we have it good compared to them often, though, but I wouldn’t dare to mention that they have it good too, in such an unrigid environment.

Boobies never complained about it. In fact, I get the feeling she enjoys this place.

She notices I’m looking at her and tilts her head, confused. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing, I was just enjoying your pretty face.” I laugh. “But actually, it seemed to me that you don’t hate this place, do you?”

Boobies cracks up for the first time today and looks around before responding. “Of course, it’s not as great as having your own home, but it’s a fun place, quite entertaining, and it reminds me of somewhere else too.”

“Oh?” Now I’m curious, but it doesn’t seem to be a good time to ask for more details, since we arrived at the canteen.

The chef laughs happily when he sees us and exclaims in Mandarin: “Finally, the pretty girls are here! I was sick of seeing all those stupid boys’ faces! What are you going to eat?”

“One fried egg with toast for the little brother, muesli and yoghurt for the big sis and an apple juice for me.” I respond, knowing the other two’s orders by now.

This is the perfect time to eat at the canteen since everybody has already finished eating and are ready to go for their missions. Only a handful of people, like the big shots, are staying here.

For instance, one of them, an old man with tiny glasses, who is still reading physical newspapers in this day and age is sipping tea in the back.

TIAN HUO mentioned earlier that this is the Master of Finance, who ordered him and TIAN SHUI to stay at our place last time.

TIAN HUO coincidentally appears in my line of sight and approaches our table.

“Morning.” He bows. “Do you have any plans for today?”

I look at Boobies who shakes her head left to right. “No, we don’t.” I respond.

“In that case, would you mind helping us with something? We’re running out of hands and I know you’re trustworthy.”

“Are you sure about that last part…? We’re the reason why Blue Force… I mean TIAN SHUI is…”

“No.” He shakes his head. “That was due to my lack of judgement.”

“The lack of judgement was trusting us…” I continue, but TIAN HUO cuts me.

“Are you willing to help or not?”

“Sure, we owe you this.” Boobies answers.

“Hao. Let’s meet upstairs when you’re done, then.” He concludes before walking out.

“It’s probably something annoying.” Abhi comments.

“Sure, but we’re guests here, and I don’t plan to pay for all this food we eat, so this is a good compromise.” Boobies sighs, before being interrupted by the ringing of a phone. “Isn’t that my phone?”

Abhi takes it out of his pocket, sweating.

“Why did you have my phone?!” She exclaims while I burst out laughing.

“This stupid … idiot… It’s all her fault!” Abhi tries to come up with an excuse, but Boobies doesn’t really care about his reasons and her expression changes drastically when she reads the message she had received.

“Dear ARTEMIS,

You have been bestowed an appointment with the Banta, today, at 4 p.m. on the topic: ‘TIBAN’

We ask you kindly to cancel any plans you may have had in order to not be late for it.

We thank you for your cooperation.

- The agency.”