*GRATAK*
A metal door slides open, and Quroe and the two men he chose as his ‘guides’ entered the room. The word RECORDS was written on a metal plate above the metal door.
“I was wondering how a building this small could house about 500 people inside, but now that I know that there are many basement floors below the ground, things make more sense!” said Quroe.
Once they entered the metal door, it slid closed behind them.
They are all currently on the lowest basement floor of the building, the seventh floor below the ground. The two ‘guides’ have instructed the entire facility to accept Quroe’s presence in this building for a specific goal, and they were promised to be let off of their other crimes afterward. The leader of WASP agrees to Quroe’s terms to avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
The records room looks like a big library, just darker in shade. There are so many shelves filled with documents and whatnot regarding past missions that they have received, both finished and failed ones. There are also computers in this room to store mission details digitally. This is purely for reservation purposes, though some missions are purposefully not input digitally for unknown reasons. There are also tables and chairs for the members to sit down and research past missions.
“So, what do you want to see here, good sir?” said one of the two guides politely.
“Get me the mission details regarding a target named ‘Luna Eriniva’.”
*!!*
“Hm, that’s quite a big one!”
“Sure can do! Wait a bit, mister! Go take a seat on one of the chairs, sir!”
“Make it quick!”
“YES, SIR!!”
Quroe sits down in one of the chairs and keeps a close eye on the two guides as they start searching through the files for Luna’s case.
About 15 minutes later, they finally found the files. There were no records on the computers regarding this mission, so they had to manually search the papers. The two guides hand over the files to Quroe. He opens the files and starts reading through them quickly.
“(So far, there have been 137 people who chased after her, and they all failed. That many? They all said the same thing. They captured the girl, but when they were planning to bring her back, they all somehow always lost their consciousness, and when they regained their senses, the girl was gone. They all explain that they were brought into some kinda dreams somehow. They spent a long time inside those dreams, which were different and varied from person to person. This dream was always terrifying and invoked fear in all of them. I see, she really was using her Faith power to escape her pursuer this whole time. How long has she done this then?)”
As Quroe questioned the date, his eyes glanced towards the top section of the files.
-Mission request date: 13th June, 2013-
*!!*
“. . .”
“(2013? So, she’s been chased around the globe for five whole years? She has been all alone in the world since the age of 10?)”
Quroe was startled and shocked by the reality behind Luna’s background.
“(No wonder she knows about the Underworld at such a young age. Who on earth placed a hit list on such a young girl like her?)”
“Hey, how much is the reward for this mission?” asked Quroe to the two guides.
Uuhh, if I remember correctly, it was 20 million dollars or something.”
*!*
“(That much?)”
Quroe looks at the client name that is written only once in this file.
-Damian Eriniva-
*?*
“(Eriniva?)”
Quroe was shocked to his stomach once he read the client’s name. There can only be a few answers to his identity.
“(The one who put a bounty on her head was a family member? Or worse. . . her own father?)”
“Hey! You two!”
“Y-Yes, sir?”
“Who is this? Who is Damian Eriniva?”
“Uuhh, I apologize, sir! None of us were the ones who actually met with the client, so we don’t know!”
The other ‘guide’ takes out his walkie-talkie from his pocket.
“But let me ask the leader, sir!”
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“Be quick!”
“YES SIR!!”
After some time talking on the walkie-talkie, the two guides finally tell Quroe about what they know.
“S-Sir! The person who met the client was killed a long time ago, but he had a friend, and that friend was tailing him, observing their meetings from afar. The only thing we know is that Damian is a 43-year-old man at the time, and he has no similar physical features to the target, Luna Eriniva.”
“(What? No similar physical features? But he has the same last name, so I guess he’s a distant relative of some sort. What is going on here?)” thinks Quroe, confused.
.
.
.
Meanwhile, at the same time Quroe had met the two men inside the building, Luna and Kasumi had sat down and lit up a fireplace on the hill that she mentioned.
“Aaahh!! It’s warm!” said Luna with a satisfied smile.
“Glad you like it, Luna-chan!”
“Thanks for lighting up the fire, Kasumi-chan!”
“It wasn't much!”
Kasumi and Luna gathered a few tree branches, piled them up together, and Kasumi used her Faith power to strike the pile of tree branches with her purple lightning and set them on fire.
“I never thought of using your Faith power that way, Kasumi-chan! You’re so smart!”
“You’re giving me too much credit, Luna-chan! It’s not that bright of an idea!”
“Say, how long do you think Quroe-san is gonna spend inside that building?”
“An hour at most, if I must say, factoring in the unknowns! Knowing his Faith power, though, he can probably be done with it within ten or fifteen minutes!”
“Wow, you really pay close attention to Quroe-san, huh, Kasumi-chan?”
“W-What are you trying to say, Luna-chan?”
“Well, I was just wondering, if you really like him, what are you going to do for what’s ahead?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Is your crush towards him simply a feeling that you wanna keep for as long as you live, or do you want those feelings to be answered by him?”
Kasumi was slightly shocked. She wasn’t expecting a serious question coming from Luna. Though Luna’s question has sent Kasumi’s mind spiraling.
“. . .”
She starts thinking to herself.
“(She’s right. What do I wanna do with this feeling of mine? Am I satisfied to just stay like this with Quroe-kun? Well, I mean, I started falling for him because of unusual circumstances. I kept thinking about him for an unhealthy long amount of time. The respect I had for him turned into a crush sometimes inside that crazy maze.)”
“Kasumi-chan? Uuhh, Kasumi-chan??!!”
Kasumi has been silent for a few seconds, and Luna has been calling to her a few times, but she has not responded. She really dives deep into her own mind.
“(What comes after a crush is probably a relationship, right? And then after that, marriage. . . Do I even deserve him? I am just a woman with a strange background. Marrying someone in the position of a Judge would upset his status, wouldn’t it?”
“. . .”
“(Oh, but Quroe-kun isn’t the type to care about what others think of him. But does he even like me? He hasn’t shown any interest in any woman in particular this whole time I’ve been with him. Does this mean that he isn’t interested in a relationship? That kinda bums me out. . .)”
“Kasumi-chan?”
*!!!*
“Y-Yes, Luna-chan?”
“Wow, you were staring blankly at the snow! Is the snow that interesting to you?”
“N-No, Luna-chan! I was just thinking about your question.”
“So what would it be? What do you wanna do with Quroe-kun?”
“. . .I. . . still don’t know. . .”
“EH? IT LOOKS PRETTY OBVIOUS TO ME!!” said Luna, shouting.
“How is it obvious, Luna-chan?”
“Well, you are thinking about it seriously. If you didn’t really like him, you wouldn’t even stress about it!”
“That. . . actually makes sense. . .”
“Well then, let’s come up with some confession lines already!!”
“L-LET’S PUT THAT ON HOLD, LUNA-CHAN!! I AM NOT GONNA CONFESS ANYTIME SOON! AT LEAST UNTIL QUROE-KUN ALSO SHOWED THE SAME INTEREST!!”
Kasumi suddenly looks down and twiddles her fingers.
“I. . . am scared of being turned down. . .”
“Ahh. . . That’s true. . . I still can’t tell whether he actually cares about you or if it’s just duty for him, since he took you as a disciple.”
“Well, forget about me for now, Luna-chan! Isn’t it about time that you tell me about your whole reason for being chased around?”
“. . .”
Luna suddenly fell silent for a brief moment. She was smiling, but now all of a sudden, her face turned sad, her smile changed into a slight frown, and her mood was down.
“I-It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it, Luna-chan! We can save it for some other time!”
“N-No, it’s okay, Kasumi-chan! We can talk about it.”
“. . .”
*inhales exhales*
Luna closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she starts opening up about herself. She slowly opens her eyes as she stares towards Kasumi.
“Kasumi-chan. . . I am a child conceived in rape.”
“. . .”
Kasumi couldn’t say anything. Out of every possibility she has in her mind, what she said was not one of them.
.
.
.
15 years ago
Spain, Valencia city. . .
*Step step step*
In a city called Valencia in Spain, there was a woman who walked alone at night at 22:42. She is a mother of one young child, and she is currently drunk.
*step step step*
She is walking very limply. She is very drunk and not in any condition to properly walk, especially alone at night.
She works at a bar from evening to night, and she has just left her bar. She was drinking with her friends and got drunk heavily. She usually keeps her alcohol to a minimum, but today was special. Her high school friends visited her, and they were having a party from 18:00 till 22:00. She passed out drunk, and she has been walking home since 20 minutes ago. She was usually picked up by her husband, but currently, he is on a business trip abroad.
Her husband is an office worker and has a high rank in one of the most famous companies in the city. He often left for business trips a few times a year, and each business trip could last for a few weeks or sometimes two months. She has a personal driver, but because of how drunk she was, she didn’t inform the driver to pick her up that night.
She is often left alone in the house, though she was busy handling her young son, and they live inside a giant house, and they have maids and butlers to help take care of him.
Nothing feels lacking in her life but the presence of her husband. She’s longing for him because of how often he left her. However, she did not blame her husband or hate him. In fact, she loves him very much because he works hard to keep their livelihood.
In terms of spending money, she is not wasteful with money and is always responsible regarding the things she buys. She always prioritizes stuff the family needs above her own interests. Financially, her family is safe and secure for an entire decade and more. She doesn’t even need to have a job, but she chose to simply because she loves her job. She has been working at this bar since she was 19, and she loves this line of work.
*Step step step*
“Urgh. . . My head hurts so much. . .”
The woman takes a wrong turn towards a small alleyway that is scattered throughout the city. She was supposed to take a left turn ahead of this alleyway to go home, but because of this small mistake, that horrible night happened.
*Step step step*
She walked further and deeper into the alleyway, and she didn’t really notice her surroundings, but there was almost no noise at all inside this alleyway; only a few mice’s chirpings and cats’ meows could be heard occasionally.
*GRABS*
But then, someone suddenly grabs the woman’s body from behind and points a knife at her face.
“If you fight back, I am going to poke your eyes out with this knife!!”
*!!!*
And then the woman was violently raped that night.
