Chapter 4: Year
A ginger haired girl opened her eyes as she woke up without even a peep of light from the sun. She had formed a habit of waking up at the crack of dawn it seems, because of her teacher had been waking her up repeatedly at this time of the day for a year already.
Honoka opened her eyes and she sighed as she rose up from her bed. She ran her fingers through her hair and she noticed that it had gotten longer. She had decided to change her look because of her new identity. Lorenzo had advised her this for anonymity.
The ginger haired girl walked to the bath and took a cold shower. After that, she was in front of her closet and took an all-black suit with an orange tie. Honoka wore it with practice and as she finished, she paired it with a black formal shoes.
Honoka then took the gun she hid under her pillows and wore it inside her suit. She placed a cheerful smile on her face and proceeded to exit her room. Waiting outside was her boss's bodyguard, Lorenzo. He was also wearing a suit the similar to hers but with the tie being dark green.
"Good morning, Lorenzo!" Honoka spoke in Italian as she greeted cheerfully the dark haired bodyguard who had been looking at her with dark brown eyes and gave her a nod in return. Honoka had already known that her teacher was a quiet person and only spoke when he needs to unless he was facing their boss.
The ginger haired girl was only up to his shoulder so he was looking down on her to meet her blue eyes. He sent her a proud look as she had succeeded to pass through all the challenges that came with her job.
The ginger haired girl's perseverance and tenacity had surprised him multiple times in the field. It had more than once saved his life when he was in critical situations.
"Come on, we need to meet the boss in the lobby." Lorenzo spoke in his deep voice and his assistant had simply followed with a bright smile.
He was really amazed by the ginger haired girl's strength that she could still smile innocently after all that had happened to her in the past year.
Flashblack
Honoka's heartbeat had been racing inside her chest as she accompanied Lorenzo on her first time in the field. They were going to be delivering drugs to the other people and taking their money. Their meeting place was in the docks and Honoka had given a curious thought as to why do the docks attract illegal transactions.
She was kidnapped and placed in the docks too. 'Ugh, no distractions today!' Honoka thought to herself. 'This is just like performing in stages. We had to act here too.'
Lorenzo had already told her to be observant of their surroundings because their client might use underhanded tactics to steal their packages.
The bodyguard was talking to the other party as the ginger haired girl had been looking around cautiously. There had been odd movements with the other party's men and she had tried to talk to the tall dark-haired bodyguard. He ignored her in favor of their client before a gunshot had been fired.
The place where Lorenzo was standing on had been shot and the bodyguard would've died if only Honoka didn't pull him away. The client had run off with the package and Lorenzo shouted at Honoka to chase after him.
"Rossa, don't let him escape!" The bodyguard had said to his assistant as they were surrounded by the other mafia's men.
"Oh no, he won't, Sir." Honoka quickly pulled her gun out and aimed at the escaping thief's legs to stop him from running. Her shot had hit the target and he fell down on the ground. Lorenzo had proceeded to kill the other mafia's men one by one.
He wasn't called the Oro Sciabola's sharp-shooter knight for nothing.
"Good job, Rossa. I'll take care of everything here for now." Lorenzo had walked towards the crouching client on the floor. He took the case full of drugs and pointed his pistol on the man who had been pleading for his life.
Out of the corner of Lorenzo's eyes, he noticed Honoka was watching the scene. As he shot the man, Honoka had flinched but she never took her blue eyes away from the carnage.
'Hooh, interesting.' Lorenzo had thought before ordering Honoka to leave the scene with him. The ginger haired girl had asked what to do with the bodies but only told her that the cleaners will come and dispose of them soon.
The two had left inside the black car that Lorenzo had been driving to the scene. "Next time, you will be driving." The dark haired bodyguard told his assistant who had only gaped at him and said, "But I don't know how to!"
He gave her a look that said, "Are you dumb? Of course, I'll be teaching you.' Honoka realized this and gave him a sheepish grin.
Lorenzo looked at the road as he thought that the ginger haired girl was weird to act like nothing had happened back in the docks.
Later on…
Honoka was puking her guts out inside her bathroom from the savage nightmare that she had been having due to their earlier actions in the field. She kept seeing the dead people's eyes, swallowing her up. They were pleading for their life that they were choking her up.
She knew that she had to strengthen herself. This type of things would also happen to her in the next field missions. She needs to quickly adapt to her surrounding but for now, she will let herself drown in guilt. Just this once.
"…Kaa-san… Otou-san…Yukiho…" The ginger haired girl counted in her fingers kept counting the important people in her hands. She needs to remind herself the reason why she was doing this. "Umi-chan…Kotori-chan…I want to see you…" She hugged her knees and sobbed. Even though Honoka was stupid in academics, she can understand that she will, in the future, dirty her hands if she was in this type of job.
She can only carry her life in her hands and no one else's for she also had things to lose as do those who face this type of occupation. They had all decided to enter this business with open eyes.
Lorenzo had taken Honoka to the field multiple times. She was becoming numb to the deaths that had been surrounding her for the past assignments.
Today, though, the dark-skinned bodyguard had been placed in charge of the torture. Honoka had passively stood on the side in a calm manner with a bright smile. The ginger haired girl had been unflinching from the savage act in front of her even when the spy had been begging for her to help.
After they took the information they needed from the spy, Lorenzo had thought that it was finally time. "Rossa, kill him. We don't need him anymore." His voice was deep and serious.
Honoka stood still and continued to look at their prisoner who was pleading for his life. She stared at him with blue eyes before she smiled to that person, brightly like the sun. The ginger haired girl had pulled her gun from his suit and shot the Italian spy on the head swiftly and with no hesitation.
With her bright smile, Honoka wanted the prisoner to part ways in this world with something bright or with happiness no matter how false it is.
The dark haired bodyguard eyes widened from his assistant's actions. Their boss was right. There was something extraordinary about the ginger haired girl who was willing to do anything to get what she wants. He would've thought that she would be shivering for the first murder but she took it with unbelievable poise for someone who had just joined this business in months.
That night though, after her mission, the ginger haired girl decided to drink herself out to unconsciousness. She wouldn't be able to take the nightmares that had been plaguing her mind every night on that specific day.
Tomorrow, she would need to strengthen herself more but for that day, she can't.
It was her birthday and yet Honoka had just taken a life. She just had gifted her hands with blood.
In the hall to the lobby, the bodyguard and his assistant had passed by a lot of people who had been staring at them discreetly. Lorenzo was known in the area already because of his reputation that had been spreading throughout the city.
It was related to the businesses that Don Alessandro had been conducting for the past year.
The people was dumbfounded though when they saw the notorious bodyguard accompanied by a young ginger haired girl who was brightly smiling to everyone they passed by.
What is she doing with that dangerous person? This was what everyone thought when they saw the pair. The girl looked too innocent to be involve with the dangerous man.
Once the two reached the lobby, there was a blonde middle aged man who was waiting for them. There were two large guys in black suits guarding him. When he saw Lorenzo and Honoka, his green eyes brightened with amusement.
The black haired bodyguard and his assistant had bowed in front of their boss. When they raised their heads, Lorenzo was expressionless while Honoka was smiling brightly at the mafia boss like she was just very happy to see him.
And she was, the ginger haired girl had been doing her best for the past year to have the chance to take his deal for her freedom. She knew that she had proved her worth and Lorenzo had witnessed it.
"Good morning to you two. Come, let's go. I have a car outside and we'll talk about that deal of yours, Rossa." Don Alessandro had led his men to his limousine which was waiting for them in front of the hotel which had housed Honoka for the few months for their field missions.
Inside the car, the mafia boss was facing the ginger haired girl. They had already been inside for almost thirty minutes and there was still no talking. Don Alessandro was just drinking his exquisite red wine while his green eyes was watching Honoka.
The girl was looking around the inside of the limousine with child-like curiosity in her blue eyes. She had already learned not to talk unless being spoken to by Lorenzo.
"Rossa." The mafia boss called her new name which made the girl look at him with razor sharp concentration. "Congratulations. You have passed my trial. I have heard a lot of your accomplishments from Lorenzo so I must commend you for that."
"Thank you, Don Alessandro." Honoka answered with an embarrassed smile which made the blonde man laugh.
"Now, you know that I am here to offer you a deal for your freedom right?" The mafia boss had leaned back on his comfy cushion while swirling the wine inside the glass he was holding on to.
Lorenzo was just watching the two quietly on the side of the mafia boss. He was sitting up straight and watched as his student exuded a relaxed posture. He could tell that it was just a false bravado because the ginger haired girl's muscle looked like she would jump out of the car any minute now at the sign of danger.
Don Alessandro had noticed this too and had thought that Lorenzo taught her well, especially if it was just for cramming in a year.
Honoka just responded with a nod and crossed her arms. "So, lay it on me, Boss." She grinned mischievously at her boss who once again laughed at her antics. He was really glad to have bought this girl because she never ended to surprise him.
The girl probably didn't know but she already formed a reputation under Lorenzo's guidance. She was feared because of her outrageous ideas of completing the tasks and her always smiling face under the danger added a sense of insanity especially when she was surrounded by the dead bodies of her enemies.
One of his favorite was Honoka casually throwing in a grenade, tactically placed inside a baguette, in their enemy's car window.
"So Rossa Leone, I am going to give you freedom once you completely paid the money I used to buy you. Of course, this had some interests and you will pay for it by working for me. I will give you various jobs but primarily, you will be guarding my daughter and I want you to befriend her." The blonde mafia boss stated to the young girl in front of him. Honoka was gaping at him accompanied with wide eyes opened, clearly surprised.
"Um… Excuse me for a really stupid question but don't you have an abundance of strong bodyguards already? You wouldn't need me for that. I mean, just look at Lorenzo! He can kill a bear with his little toe!" Honoka said to Don Alessandro because of her bafflement. This was really unexpected for her.
"Of course I had already assigned some of them but for some reason, she was scared of them." The blonde middle aged man sighed and Honoka just nodded in understanding because she had seen their 'family's men and women, they could scare the pants off some civilians with just one look.
"So, that's why I want you to be her bodyguard. I had you trained especially for that and you'll be doing this while receiving other missions too." Don Alessandro gave her a charming smile. He was definitely going to milk the ginger haired girl's abilities before letting her go. "But think about it, the more missions you have, the faster you get your freedom, Rossa."
The ginger haired girl returned his smile with one of her own as she just looked at him. It was another thing that Honoka adapted with her current occupation. She learned how to charm people with her smile even when she was giving them their death without them knowing.
"Do you accept this deal?" The blonde man reached his open hand out to Honoka who looked at it at first. She then took his hand and knelt in front of him before laying a kiss on the top of his hand.
"Of course, I would be happy to accept this deal, Don Alessandro. I had already given you my word right?" She gave him a bright smile which was returned by a sly smirk. Green eyes was saying 'Like you have a choice.'
With that, Honoka had taken a step to her freedom. She had sat back on his seat and watched the streets bustling with people from the window. 'Just wait for me, I am going to return back home.' Her blue eyes was filled with determination, hands clinched to fists on her side.
The two older men was watching her and she was aware of this so Honoka gave them a bright smile. "Can I also have a drink too, Boss?"
Don Alessandro laughed and gave her a go signal. He only added that it will add to her tab after she had drank the expensive wine.
'I'll definitely come back, no matter what hellish journey might be waiting for me.' Honoka had daydreamed about familiar amber eyes and brown eyes, it seems like she still hadn't got over her two first loves because her heart still raced for them. 'Definitely someday.'
A/N: Huge time skip next time so I can finally progress this story faster than my lovely internet connection.
