Chapter 67

“We need to talk.”

For some weird, mysterious, mind boggling reason.

Denzo had barged into Little Edgar’s only wearing his gym shorts and basketball shoes; and nothing more.

And the only people who were inside the building, are:

-Nica

-Yukino

and

-Neeya - Who is the only one not caught off guard with their mouths agape.

[5 Minutes earlier]

It is gym day for Denzo’s class, and since it was the start of a new semester, the subject of their physical activities have changed. As for the current semester, they are now learning the basics of basketball and everyone in the class had just done the basic drills for some of the movements required to play the game and are now about to do the cooldown drills before heading into the showers.

But there was one person in the class who looked a little too eager to play the game today, as he remained in the court shooting some hoops even when the gym teacher had already advised them to cool down.

It was Denzo.

Ever since he had returned from the little excursion he had done with the police, he hasn’t been able to meet up properly with the others. For some unforseen circumstances every time he would have a class with one of the people from their special group, some oddly timed reason would pop up to prevent them from having a complete group meeting.

Of course, because of this Denzo had proposed to just talking about the details with whomever was present at hand but Pete was adamant that they either have a meeting with the complete group or none at all.

And thus Denzo has not been able to relay the info he had learnt from his encounter with Miles.

Except for today.

Gym was something of an all day affair for the student’s of St. Rita’s. In some other schools, these Gym classes would be scheduled depending on the availability of the gymnasium and the logistics of each class schedule if they can fit it in their day.

But at St. Rita’s; Gym day is Gym day. From morning till the last period in the afternoon, everyone within the same grade had gym, and each class would rotate on the subject to practice per semester.

As for example, in the last semester, Denzo’s and Pete’s respective classes had volleyball while Pai’s and Aida’s respective classes had swimming since the school could accommodate two classes, one in the morning and another in the afternoon. Since it is the new semester the subjects had rotated and Denzo was now playing basketball while the others have now moved on to football or volleyball. And because of this, he had been waiting the rest of the week for this day, since he knew for a fact that none of the people in the group had a swimming class for this semester.

Which meant everyone should be in some corner of the gymnasium.

But this was not to be.

Leaving him frustrated, and thus venting it out on the court.

He wasn’t even scoring a basket.

He was just running around dribbling the ball and throwing it at the board to blow off some steam. He doesn’t even care if the other students were making fun of him.

He just didn’t wanna stop because he felt that if he did, he’d punch someone in the face. The harsh words that Miles had said to him affected him greatly and thus, he wanted to meet and get a better solution as quickly as possible.

Just to get it out of his head.

It was at this moment when a certain thought climbed back to the surface of his mind.

[Neeya]

As soon as the memory hits him, he suddenly gains a temporary focus, and makes a quick pivot from the three point line as the shot lands with nothing but net.

The other students were quick to cheer after his immediate success, as Aida happens to pass by the court with perfect timing.

She blushes after she sees the shot, impressed by Denzo’s athleticism, not being there to see all the blunders that he made beforehand as he immediately makes a beeline towards her direction, getting flustered at his approach as she had never seen him in a rugged looking state before.

‘Hey.’

‘Ummm… Hi…’ Aida answers looking flushed as Denzo stood before her looking like a knight who’d just won a bare fisted fight.

‘There’s something I wanna ask you.’ He said as Aida’s heart started racing, not knowing what to expect and what he wanted to ask. But she steels her composure as she takes a deep breath and prepares herself for what the question would be.

‘Umm… ok.. Yeah?’

‘What’s class four’s schedule?’

Aida was stunned after hearing such a simple question. For sure she expected something a bit more spicy in her mind, but nonetheless it still felt mesmerizing for her to see him at this state up close as she can see the details of his muscles protruding out from his drenched shirt, unsure of what to say.

‘Ai? Class four? Keeno’s class?’ He said, leaning closer to her as he waves his hand to get her attention back.

‘Oh… yeah… ummm… they finished earlier since they had softball class and they couldn’t use the field since it’s all muddy.’

‘Oh… Is that why you’re here as well?’ He asks as he noticed that Aida had changed back into her class uniform.

‘Oh… yeah! Yes… umm… I got football so… yeah… same issue.’She responds, still flustered.

‘I need to talk to Neeya about something. Any idea where she went?’ He asked as Aida’s eyes immediately sharpen upon hearing another girl's name being muttered from his mouth.

‘Why do you need to know?’

‘I can’t tell you that…’

‘Why not?’

Aida kept her suspicious gaze on to him as Denzo felt the pressure coming off of her, immediately catching on to why she was acting that way. He chuckles at the sight of Aida reacting the way she is, which annoys her even more, but Denzo brushes her hair around her ear and gives her a deliberate kiss on her forehead, making her blush.

‘Trust me on this. Okay?’

She nods as some of his classmates start teasing them to get a room as Denzo flips them off.

‘I saw the three of them walk towards the office after class.’ She answers as Denzo gives her another deliberate kiss on the forehead before running off towards Little Edgar’s.

Denzo had severely underestimated the weather outside as it gave him a swift reminder that it had been raining since that morning. As the chilly air makes him shiver under the dampness of his own sweat drenched shirt. It also didn’t help to know that the office has a good air conditioning system installed, meaning he’d just shiver once he got inside.

And with his sound and calculated judgment, he thought it was best if he just took it off.

Neeya looks at Denzo and wonders who he was talking to. She stares back and forth between the girls behind her and his shirtless figure before pointing a finger at herself to clarify who he was asking.

‘Yes! Who else?’ He aggressively answered.

‘I dunno? These two?’ She replies as she points her thumb behind her to where the other two girls were sitting.

‘Uhh… no. Just you. Urgent matter.’ Denzo demands as Neeya felt annoyed at how bossy he was acting towards her even though they barely knew each other. Not ignoring the fact that he had just suddenly barged in while she was about to relax with her afternoon coffee.

‘Well if it’s so urgent then why don’t you say it now?’ Neeya retorts as a challenge to Denzo’s attitude towards her. Denzo purses his lips in frustration as he controls the urge to snap back at her. If he hadn’t realized before that he was acting too heated at the people around him then he realizes this now as he sees the shock and confusion painted on the faces of the two girls behind Neeya.

But even if he did realize this, it doesn’t stop him from sassing Neeya back.

‘Oh… okay…

So what’s -B-side protocol-?’

Neeya immediately sprays the coffee she just sipped as he said something that was far from what she assumed he was going to ask her.

‘Uh Huh.’ He smirked.

‘Okay fuck this come with me!’ She said as she hurriedly got up from her seat and pulled Denzo by the arm outside of the premises of the parochial. Coincidentally, the rain had started to fall once again.

‘Who the fuck told you?!’ She interrogates him as she forces Denzo to stand in the clearing behind the building as he shivers under the cold drizzle.

‘Don’t fucking spin this around! I’m the one asking!’

‘Answer! Or you won’t get anything from me!’ She shouts back, both of their tempers already flaring. Denzo stood his ground and kept his peace until Neeya agreed to answer first, but Neeya saw him shiver under the cold, giving her confidence to keep her silence.

‘You know you’ll get a cold if you stay out there.’ She taunts him.

‘I could just leave.’

‘Leave then.’

‘Fine. Prolly just ask the internet about “Bravo Sierra Oscar.”’

Upon hearing this Neeya lunged forwards and pushed Denzo onto the muddy ground, face first with her gripping hands wrapped firmly around his neck, carefully manipulating how much air he could take in without suffocating him completely.

‘I should fucking kill you for knowing that you know?’ She whispers to his ear as Denzo struggles to break free, but the limited air getting to his lungs was sapping him of strength.

‘And you know what? I think I might just kill every - single - one - of your friends unless you tell me who gave you that info.’

‘Iw - ash - mways.’ He spoke as much as he could as Neeya seemed to understand what he said.

‘Who? I don’t think I know anyone with that name.’ She taunted him as she continued to squeeze his neck.

‘Iw - It - wusz -mwahzles’ He said again but this time it was as silent as a whisper as Neeya didn’t relent on her grip, feeling the fight in Denzo’s body starting to fade away.

‘Neeya what are you doing you’re killing him.’ Yukino shouts from behind, throwing away her guise, effectively letting Neeya know she was spying on them. Nonetheless, she did not budge and kept her hands on his neck.

Yukino had enough and went after her to pull Neeya away but she sensed her approach and immediately swatted her back without controlling her strength, which was good enough to send Yukino a few feet in the air as she slams her back on the walls of the parochial.

‘Arrgh… fuck! Neeya you’re gonna kill him!’

‘That’s the point.’ She whispers as Yukino struggles to stand up from her painful fall.

‘You fucking--’

Neeya hears a loud disgruntled voice that snaps her out from hyperfocusing on Denzo as she immediately sensed heavy steps rapidly approaching her, alarming her to counter.

But she sensed it too late.

As she felt a hard thump at the base of her skull.

Then a momentary blackness consumed her.

The next thing she sees was the angry glare from the girl she was tasked to protect, and the keenly sharp sting of repeated open palmed slaps across her face. Both on the left, the right, and sometimes a cheap occasional pounded fist to her nose.

It took her a moment to get the feeling back to her limbs before curling up her core to put her feet squarely on her attacker's chest and kicking them away to stop the beatdown on her face.

Nica stumbles on her back, dirtying her uniform with mud but the look on her face clearly expresses that she did not care one bit about falling. As she positions herself back up for another round of violence.

‘Nica stop!’ Yukino quickly caught her and held her back as Neeya tried to pick herself up, her face feeling swollen and her nose leaking blood.

Neeya looks at the heavy red can of the fire extinguisher as smiles as she makes the connection.

‘You got me good.’

‘Fuck you!’ Nica shouts as Yukino tries her best to hold her back. Which is amazing to think as she also was nursing Denzo, who lies passed out on her lap.

‘Stop it both of you!’ Yukino shouts to break them up. ‘You! What in the world were you trying to do to him?!!’ She shouts, trying to find out Neeya’s reason for almost suffocating Denzo to death. Neeya just spits the blood from her mouth and gets up without a word before walking away from them, which in turn, further enrages Nica.

She breaks out of Yukino’s grasp and storms towards Neeya, but this time her attack was already anticipated as Neeya gets a hold of her arm before Nica could even land her strike.

‘What is your problem?!’ She shouts as she prepares a witty comeback for herself, knowing that Neeya would always throw a taunt to anger her during moments like these.

But Neeya didn’t.

Instead, she grabbed her by the throat, and squeezed. Lifting her feet up a good few inches from the ground.

‘If anyone finds out about me, who I work for and the people who support me. I will kill you.

You 'AND' your friends.’

Neeya said with a grim tone as Nica sees the bloodlust from her eyes as if she was possessed by a demon, letting go of her grasp as Nica falls to her knees looking at Neeya’s silhouette getting further and further away from her. Try as she may to get up and catch her, the strength from her legs had simply become non-existent as she could only crawl back towards the shade under the parochials eaves where Yukino held Denzo in her arms.

‘He’s still breathing.’ Yukino assures her as Nica slumps her back on the wall besides Yukino as they all stare blankly at the garden behind the building, wondering what had just happened.

‘A few moments ago we were just chilling with a cup of coffee inside. Happy, warm, dry…

Now we’re confused, cold, and wet....

The fuck did just happen?!’

Yukino aired her thoughts as Nica sighs, not knowing the answers either as the two girls could only look down at the unconscious boy who lies below them, knowing he’s the only one who has any idea of what was happening.

Because for some reason, he had brought out a side of Neeya that none of them had ever witnessed before.

‘Can you stand now?’ Yukino asks as Nica tries to move her legs.

‘Yea… Yea I - I think I can.’

‘Okay… good… good… Help me get Denzo inside.’ Yukino requests as the pair did their damndest to get him inside the parochial so all three of them could get out of the cold, damp weather.

Meanwhile, not that far from where she had left them, Neeya had broken into a sprint across the campus, as she makes a running jump towards the fences that lead outside of the school proper, pressing her thumbs oh her palm, before vanishing completely, as a trail of water twirls above the metal fencing, looking like a cartwheel going over the fences.

‘Dammit…’

Aida sighs as she sees the rain getting heavier the more time passes. She was about to go home when the rain started falling again, ultimately leading her to decide to stay a bit longer within the school to avoid getting drenched in the rain. It was weathers like these where she imagined some moments with Denzo where they cuddled together by a window to keep warm as they watch the rain drops fall from the safety of their room, but unfortunately he had some business to attend to and she had to wait the storm alone, sighing once more as she imagines what could’ve been if things had been different.

And as she loses herself in her thoughts, her phone rings.

It was Yukino.

‘Hello?’

‘Aida where are you?!’

Aida was quickly taken aback after hearing Yukino’s panicked voice from the other end of the call, making her feel anxious as to what was happening.

‘Uhh… I’m still in school by the guard post. Why? What’s up?’

‘Oh thank god…’

Yukino said, as she was starting to feel a bit more alarmed with the situation. Her intuition was somehow telling her something was wrong.

‘Can you come to the SC office now? We have an emergency.

It’s Denzo.’

‘On my way.’

She quickly drops the call and runs all the way across the campus toward the back where the parochial is as she slams the door open, only to see her half naked boyfriend laying drenched on the sofa, seemingly unconscious.

‘WHAT HAPPENED????!!!’

‘Honestly we have no clue either…’ Yukino said as both she and Nica were covering themselves up with towels to dry off their messy drenched clothes after the fight outside the parochial.

‘Denzo just came in, said some words to Neeya and for some reason got pissed off… So we’re just as confused.’ She elaborates.

‘And you guys called me cuz you need him to be taken care of?’ Aida asks.

‘Yeeeeaaaahhh… we didn’t wanna… y’know… he needs to dry off.’ Yukino responds with flushed cheeks as Nica tries to avoid eye contact with Aida, possibly embarrassed at the situation.

Possibly.

Aida sighs but smiles at the two as she pulls the both of them in for a long warm hug.

‘I love you guys.’ She affectionately said as tightens her grip on their waists, not minding that they were still damp from the rain.

‘Have you gotten his stuff?’ Aida asked as it would be troublesome if Denzo remains damp for long, she can already tell that the two had turned off the air conditioning to ease the temperature, but it would be bad if Denzo was still wearing some drenched clothes.

‘It’s kinda okay to leave him like this, he’s just wearing shorts after all but…’ Nica said.

‘But we’re not taking that chance. He looks pale already from the cold.’ Aida said as she checked his temperature with her hands.

‘His stuff is here.’ Yukino comes back from the bar, carrying his bag. ‘I already hung his shirt at the back to dry, so… yeah that’s that.’

‘Okay good.’ Aida pauses but the two girls already knew what she meant.

‘I’m gonna need you to…’

‘Yup! Yes we’re gonna go to the other rooms, and uh leave you two…’ Yukino awkwardly responds as both her and Nica hurried back into the president’s office to dry off, leaving the unconscious Denzo and Aida alone in the common room as Aida stares at him slowly realizing what she has to do. Her cheeks slowly turn to red, as she takes a deep breath.

‘Oh… goodness.’

‘Hey boss…’ Neeya holds her earpiece as she speeds through the back roads of the metro, hopping from roof to roof trying to reach her destination.

‘What is it?’

‘I think Miles just handed out classified info.’

‘Well… I did remind you how random she can be.’

‘Yeah but still… I’m pissed at how stupid she is.. She could've… fuck it… nevermind.’

‘Well I know her so I made sure our plans had leeways for such things… unless…’

‘Well it’s borderline bad.’

‘How borderline?’

‘An inch.’

‘Shit… did you close the loop at least? No loose ends?’

‘I can’t everything’s connected… I do something drastic and everything’s a bust.’

‘Ahhh… I see… It’s part of the “web” yes?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well I can see why you’re pissed. Since it would’ve gone smoothly for you otherwise?’

‘Exactly… Anyways, I’m gonna go dark for the rest of today… I’m sure you get what that means.’

‘I know I know… Don’t want you blowing your top. Am I right?’

‘Yeah... I’ll resume contact at 0800. Talk to yah later boss.’

‘Loud and clear.’

‘Oh.’

‘What is it?’

‘Make sure Miles gets an earful. Please?’

‘You ordering me now kid?’

‘Oh uhh… sorry nevermind.’

-Bleep-

‘Who was that?’ Lando asked as Tatiana paced around Mr. Asia’s office, looking peeved after ending her call.

‘Ugh… just some troublesome subordinate.’ She said as she poured herself another glass of champagne.

‘Oh gosh… headache to deal with?’ Lando replies.

‘Ughhh… well… I guess. But it looks like a certain someone is having fun pulling her strings.’

‘Ohh… based on your conversation I think I know who.’ Lando said as Tatiana chuckles at his response.

‘Oh you do.’ She answers back with a teasing smile. ‘I guess it’s time she gets taught the hard way on how to be efficient.’ She continues as her smiling face immediately switches into a more serious one.

‘Anyways enough chit chat. You got your lines?’ She firmly inquires.

‘Yup! All in here.’ Lando answers confidently as he points to his head.

‘Good. They’re waiting downstairs. Let’s see if you can fill in the role…

Mister Asia.’

‘Ooooh… I felt THAT pressure.’ Lando responds as they both leave the office to make their way back to the mansion proper.

‘Uggghhhh…’

‘Hmm?’

Aida suddenly pipes up as she hears Denzo groan for the first time ever since she had arrived within the premises.

‘Hey, how you feelin?’ She gently spoke, caressing his forehead to check his condition as Denzo answers her in a raspy voice.

‘Water…’

‘Nica?’

‘On it.’

As Nica runs to the bar to get him a glass Yukino pops out of her office after hearing the commotion. ‘Is he okay?’ She asks, approaching him with concern.

‘Ugh… I feel dizzy… hangover dizzy… and parched.’ Denzo answers as Aida assists him while he tries to sit up on the sofa. He looked like he had a lot of things he wanted to say immediately but Aida calmed him down from over exerting his voice. Thankfully Nica came back swiftly with a glass of warm water to ease his throat.

‘Ughhhh… any cold one?’ Denzo requests but Nica denies him.

‘Sorry but no. Cold water would just damage your throat.’ She answered as he sighs in disappointment.

‘I know it’s too sudden but, what the hell happened back there?’ Yukino directly cuts to the chase as Aida tries her best to hide her annoyance with her sudden interrogation. However, Denzo squeezes her hand to assure her it was okay, as he gives her an answer.

‘When I went out to get caught by the cops. I learned a little tidbit about my family. Turns out Neeya has some info on it, so I wanted to ask her about it.’ He said, his voice still slightly raspy.

He takes another sip from his water just to ease some of the sting that he feels when speaking and continues to tell what had happened.

‘It turns out both she and I were not in the greatest of moods. I dunno about you but whoever that “Miles” lady was… She’s really good at getting under your nerves.’

‘Waaaiittt?? You met Miles?’ Yukino curiously asks, wondering how all of a sudden she was hearing that name being included in the conversation.

‘Yeah… I dunno how it’s connected but one of the detectives sorta took over interrogating me and somehow got me out of the police station without any further questioning.’

‘Can you remember the name of the detective?’ Yukino further questions.

‘Uhhh… I think it was… Bert?’

‘Ohhh… Lucky you then.’ Yukino answers as Denzo squints his eyes at how she seems to know something. Then he remembers her name being casually mentioned in their conversation in that room.

‘Come to think of it. I heard your name come up multiple times in that room where we talked…

I think I should be asking you about certain things.’ He responds with strong suspicion in his voice as it continues to recover the more he hydrates himself.

‘Well Denzo we have plenty of time to talk about that. But… for now I think you all owe us here a little explanation as to why Neeya wanted to squeeze your soul out of you.’ Yukino counters as the whole room falls into an eerie silence. Making Denzo feel their curious stares as the other girls were silently looking at him, waiting for him to speak.

‘Argh shit fine…’ He sighed. ‘I’m pretty sure you already heard me ask her about the “B-side protocol.” He said as the two girls nodded, leaving only Aida looking confused.

‘B-side what? What’s that?’ She asks.

‘It’s something I learned from the detective that got me out of the precinct. He said my gramps used to work for them so naturally it got me curious. But since the detective looked like he didn’t wanna be bothered with the explanation. He told me to ask Neeya, cuz he said she came from the same place.’

‘I see…’ Yukino responds, keenly listening to what Denzo had to say. ‘So your grampa’s connected to these people… But I still don’t see a reason why Neeya would attack you if all you were asking about is your gramps… Unless your grampa has done something bad in the past that made her go off like that?’

Denzo looked troubled when he heard Yukino say those words, which made him feel more eager to know about his grandfather’s past.

‘I really have no idea…’ He said, biting his lip. Yukino saw his distress and decided to not probe any further. Meanwhile Nica was fidgeting around, unable to keep herself still as she took a deep breath before butting in.

‘I think I have… an idea you know… of… of what that is.’ She blurts out, leaving the rest of the room wide eyed and surprised of her sudden answer.

‘Well shit Nica why didn’t you just--’

‘Aida.’

Yukino silencess Aida swiftly, fearing that Nica might regress her knowledge if she gets criticized for not coming forward sooner.

‘What is it? Please tell us.’ Yukino continued, softly encouraging her as Nica takes another deep breath before speaking.

‘Well.. it’s not much… but I have tried asking her on some details on who she really was and she just kept telling me she works for people who are higher than established governments. Though I don't really know anything beyond that…

I think she’s just telling me things that she is allowed to say… though… I hope that helps…’ She said, looking nervously at Denzo and Aida.

‘No that’s okay… It helps a bit. Though most of what you know had already been briefed to me by both Miles and that detective she worked with.

The thing that I wanted to ask her was their purpose.

What do they do?

For whom?

And What for?

And to make it more annoying I never even muttered those questions to her and she immediately got angry.

The only thing I told her was the old name of the group.’ Denzo said as Yukino became intrigued at the fact that Denzo never even got to the questions before Neeya went berserk.

‘What was the old name?’ She asked.

‘Bravo Sierra Oscar.’

‘Huh.’ Yukino responds blankly.

‘Ring no bells?’ Denzo asked.

‘None. Have you tried making a search?’

‘I did.’

‘And?’

‘None.’

Both he and Yukino sigh as they realize that everything was a dead end unless Neeya gives them proper answers which was highly unlikely, but there was another idea that came to the surface.

‘How ‘bout your grandfather? Can’t you talk to him?’ She asked.

‘Can’t… Police have him under surveillance and I can’t visit him. Hence why I’m asking. Since I also learned that he’s not placed under witness protection to be protected.

It isn’t witness protection… He’s on house arrest.’

The moment Denzo said that a wave of guilt came rushing through Yukino’s veins as she remembers herself accusing his grandfather of doing unsavory things that made Neeya trigger her destructive side.

‘Oh God… I am sorry Denzo… What I said earlier I--’

‘It’s fine… I don’t even know either…’ He cuts her off to clear the air before she goes and apologizes for something he himself doesn’t fully understand. For all he knows, she could be right about his grandfather. As he starts to think about why his mother had always hated him.

And even if he does not want to believe it. It all made perfect sense, and as a couple of moments passed by before he realized that the room had grown eerily quiet.

‘Moving on!’ He shouts, slamming that table before him to jolt everyone out of their trance. ‘Since most of you guys are here.

I wanna talk about rethinking our plans for Omega Epsilon.’

‘Huh?’

‘What?’

The girls were suddenly caught off guard after hearing him say that as they thought they had all agreed that what they had talked about was good enough to take down their leader. But it seems that Denzo had walked away from that meeting learning more about their target.

‘I’m guessing that's mission accomplished then.’ Yukino said, noting his intentions of getting captured in the first place.

‘It is… kinda paid a shitty price for it though… but it was worth it either way.’ He replies, assuring her that things are fine for the moment.

‘That’s cool and all but wouldn't Pete get pissed that we’re gonna be meeting without him?’ Aida said, worried since the group was not complete.

‘It's the main damn reason why I’ve been so anxious this week!’ He stresses his words as Aida was taken aback that Denzo got annoyed by her. ‘Keeno’s here, Nica’s here and you’re here. And to me that’s good enough. Let’s go and hash out the plan so far and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned from the meeting with Miles.

At least by doing this we already have some sort of a counter solution to present to the group so we can justify why they need to change it.’

Denzo elaborates as both Yukino and Nica nod while they get themselves comfortable inside the common room so they can discuss what they should do. The three of them sat down as Aida brings some drinks to the table as they go and gather their thoughts throughout the rest of the afternoon, keeping at the back of their mind: Neeya’s strange behavior.

Haunted, but not paralyzed by it.

As Yukino learns to not blindly trust everything that Miles prepares for them, no matter how helpful they seem to be.