The threat caused Ayumi to shiver. She did not know how Akira had that kind of momentum. Her investigation of the young woman did not indicate that she should have strong combat abilities or even resources to find information about Kaito.

However, it was clear she was not in the dark.

​​

At first, she assumed that Akira's information came from Kaito. He seemed to trust her with everything, even if they had known each other for a short period. But now, she had a feeling that Akira was not just riding Kaito's coattails. If she had found the same clues as Ayumi on her own, she had to be powerful.

This knowledge made Ayumi nervous.

Her current hope of a blissful future was finding Kaito first. But she could not hope to be at the forefront if Akira could manage to do the same. She needed to make her heart firm if she wanted to get Kaito. The gentle image she used for years while staying quietly beside Kaito did not work.

She needed to change tactics and not look back. Her heart became a little more vicious as she looked at Akira. If she could eliminate the little annoyance before Kaito returned, things would be fine. As long as he was not around, he would not know what transpired.

After all, Kaito had a lot of enemies.

Already, there was movement in Tokyo as some old enemies who feared Kaito returned to his abandoned territory. If Akira disappeared, no one would know the real culprit. Kaito might seek revenge in the future, but it would be impossible to find the right target.

Akira snapped her whip, and it landed on Ayumi's hand. She could see that the woman was plotting something against her. However, she did not care about that too much. Her only interest was what the woman knew about Kaito.

"How did you find out about the bar?" Akira asked.

"Why should I tell you?" Ayumi said defiantly.

"Because I am the one with a whip, and you are the one on the ground." Akira twirled the whip a little. "You know you seem a little out of practice for someone who is supposed to lead an assassin group. It would not take much effort for me to break every bone in your body."

Ayumi gritted her teeth. She was indeed out of practice when it came to fighting on the field. She was not like Kaito, who could balance his two lifestyles perfectly. He ran the businesses while still managing to take on assassination missions.

For her, she had chosen to focus on in-office operations. She managed the business end of Shadow Brotherhood and served as the vice-president of Shuriken Logistics in the past. But it meant that she had given up on fieldwork.

The only thing she had going for her was her precision in using her crossbow. If Akira injured her again, she was afraid that she would not be able to use it well. And she needed all the power she could get at this moment.

More combat power was not only necessary for eliminating Akira as soon as possible. She also needed to be able to show strength to keep the assassins in Shadow Brotherhood under control. Already, without Kaito, they were becoming restless.

"What do you want to know?" She asked.

"Did someone betray Kaito?" Akira asked while swinging her whip.

Ayumi weighed the situation before responding. "No. If someone was willing to give up information, I would have found this place sooner. I found out about this place after looking into the movements of Kaito's close followers."

The resentment in her voice was real, so Akira assumed that she was probably telling the truth.

"Do you know anything else that could be useful?" Akira asked, even though she did not expect anything.

"If I know something, why should I tell you?" Ayumi asked.

"I will take that as a no." Akira smiled. "Since that is the case, I have no more use for you."

Akira did not punish Ayumi further. The number of lashes the woman had received was enough to keep her in pain and out of commission for a while. Furthermore, she was once Kaito's friend, so she would show a little leniency.

Of course, if they met again, Akira did not plan on being polite.

"Do you think he really loves you?" Ayumi could not let her leave just like that.

Akira lifted a brow and looked at the woman on the ground with amusement. It seemed like she was not willing to give up.

"Is this going to be about Hu Lei again?" She asked.

"It is always about Hu Lei." Ayumi laughed bitterly. "Do you want to know how Kaito came to know about you? Do you know why Kaito left Tokyo and followed you to Mountain Ridge?"

Akira's curiosity was aroused. Even though Kaito arrived in Mountain Ridge before her, she always had the impression that he came to the city because of her. However, he had never spoken about the specific events that led him to find her.

"It looks like you are in the dark. Kaito was told about you by Hu Lei. She asked for his help in investigating you. Kaito kept the investigation on the down-low, but I still managed to learn a few things about the situation." Ayumi said with vengeful pleasure.

"If I am not wrong, you have some connections to the people who kidnapped and tortured Hu Lei." She paused and chuckled. "You know when Kaito left Tokyo, he said you were a present from Hu Lei. He just wanted to play with you a little."

"You should ask yourself what Kaito's game is before you waste your life on him. If you know a little about Hu Lei, you should know he cares a lot about her. Do you think that he would be shacking up with someone related to Hu Lei's torturer?"

Akira felt a little apprehensive as she watched Ayumi struggle to get up from the hard ground. She did not know if she should believe the words Ayumi was speaking, but she could not deny that they rang a little true.

She remembered Kaito mentioning that Hu Lei had been captured and tortured for years in Antarctica. That sense of familiarity arose again as she remembered that conversation. It felt like a shadow in her brain as if she was forgetting something.

"I don't even know why I am wasting my time looking for Kaito. For all I know, this is an elaborate plan for him to torture you." Ayumi laughed as she picked her crossbow. "He is like that, you know. When he finds an interesting target, he comes up with a lot of creative methods to play."

Akira felt her old insecurities rising.

"It is genius. Don't you think? He finds the girl related to the people who tortured his true love. He makes her fall in love with him. He knocks her up and disappears without a word. Then, that girl spends weeks, months or even years looking for him." Ayumi laughed louder.

Akira felt fury build up in her alongside her greatest fears. Before she knew what she was doing, she snapped her whip and lashed out. The black snake-like weapon landed on Ayumi's face, leaving a bloody welt on her cheek.

Without another word, she turned and left.