This chapter sounded better in my head... But oh well...
She wished that she could just grab the sparkles out of the air and stab him with it.
Perhaps his ability is to conjure sparkles and blind people... Yes that must be it... What a terrifying ability.
Pariston was smiling and not saying a thing; he was just looking at her with a mildly amused expression. She knew that something was wrong already, but she just couldn't detect what. Her Danger Radar was off the charts.
Mizutsuki looked down at the food in front of her and slowly scanned it. It was steak and wine. She highly suspected that there would be something nasty in the food. Like poison or drugs... She decided that she wouldn't eat it even if Pariston did. He'd have the antidote even if he poisoned himself. The whole room smelled refreshing with an unnamed flower planted in a pot beside the door.
"You should eat something." He said suddenly. "Menchi cooked this meal, you better not waste it or she'll go crazy. Even I can't help it when she goes crazy; and to think she's only fifteen…" He looked somewhat scared. "Women are scary when they're mad…"
"I don't know who she is and I could care less." She deadpanned. "What about me? Am I not scary when I'm mad?"
"You're always mad, it's not scary anymore."
"Tsk…" She scowled.
"You should stop scowling." He frowned slightly. "It's hard for people to notice that you have handsome face because you scowl twenty-four-seven."
"I wouldn't care about how my face looks unless that it's important to a mission. And it's definitely the last thing on my mind right now."
Pariston looked frustrated. "Well then, where are you from?" He asked out of the blue.
"Hah?" Mizutsuki's jaw almost dropped. What did that have to do with our conversation?
"Where are you from?" He repeated again with a smile.
"You should know. Isn't it on the oh-so-magical Hunter site?"
"There are times when even the information on the Hunter site doesn't work."
Immediately the face of Shalnark floated to the surface of her mind. She raised her guard even higher. "Just spit out whatever you want to say." Mizutsuki said icily.
She could literally tear his innocent face apart. "I'm just teasing you," He said. "Because you're amusing."
"What?"
Pariston smiled. "I'm really curious about that force behind you. So please tell me, what is it?"
She picked up the steak knife and slammed it into the table, landing right between his fingers. "Don't fuck with me."
Pariston laughed. "You just destroyed an expensive table there. Are you sure that you don't wanna eat? You really should."
Who would eat when you might have poisoned it? She muttered silently inside her head. "Anything else?"
"Hmm?"
"Whatever, I'm only here because I want to kill you. You are a threat not only to me, but my whole organization as well."
A mischievous light danced in Pariston's eyes. "I guess that it's not the Camorra, correct?" He started eating his own steak. "This is what I have gathered," He started. "On some occasion; you met another organization not related to any Mafia. This organization somehow captured you and your loyalty turned completely. Conveniently, at that same time; to prove your loyalty to them, you were given a mission to massacre the Camorra. You met me there by chance; but then I grew an interest on you and that organization. This was deemed as a threat to both of you. The man who entered the Exam with you was also a member of that organization. You know, chairman Netero told me something else. When he went to your room for an interview; you answered that you will hunt down anything a certain man wants. That would be the leader of that organization, correct?"
Mizutsuki was already sweating, but she hid it well.
Pariston sipped his drink and continued. "At the starting point, when you broke out a fight with another applicant, your company seemed unwilling to help you. That could mean two things." He held up two fingers. "Either that he trusts you to be able to handle the situation yourself. Or he is not familiar enough with you inside the organization to help you. If it is the second one, it means that you only joined recently and you are not close with him yet."
Mizutsuki had to admit that she was impressed. He was completely right.
"An organization you only joined recently. Not related to the Mafias, but is still a big part of the dark society." His smile was rather confident. "You are an A-rank criminal, this organization either needs people like you, or they can only take people like you. If so, that man's face could probably be found on the criminal files as well." He smiled. "Of course, these are just 'ifs'."
She cannot protest, since they were all true.
The only way to prevent this from happening was to kill him...
"Really, you should eat." He said. "Don't be so stubborn."
She shook her head. "No."
"Really? Didn't you just climb out of an underground mine nested with a bunch of Nosferatus? I thought that you'd be craving for good food."
"As I said, no!" She snapped. "I think that I will make this clear once and for all. I hate you because you're fucking annoying and cheerful. And one thing I hate the most is cheerful people, especially handsome Blondies like you who can throw out threatening comments with such an innocent face that can put an angel to shame. What are you going to do to me and my organization if you find out?"
Pariston looked amused at her outburst. "I don't know, you guys are only fun because I don't understand you guys. It won't be fun once I know."
"You're not speaking sense..." She muttered. "You mean that you'd throw us away once you find us not entertaining? Don't be ridiculous!" The Genei Ryodan isn't something you can joke around with!
Pariston's expression remained impossible to read. Mizutsuki's fire of hatred burned to the peak. "I am going to kill you, here and now." She said in a dangerous low tone that emitted aura of pure bloodlust. If the other members had to give a rating, this was without a doubt the scariest they've ever seen her. "I don't care what you say. Let's fight now, loser dies and no complains."
Pariston frowned. "I don't like fighting you know."
"Does it look like I care?" She snapped. "Godammit, ever since I walked into this room I've wanted to rip off your face!"
Pariston raised his hands. "Okay, okay, calm down Mizu-chan. This isn't a good place to lash out our abilities. Really, we can solve this without fighting."
"I doubt that…" She scowled. "There's no other option for me other than killing you…"
Pariston shook his head. "No, you're wrong Mizu-chan." He said. "If it was under any other condition, we could have had a fair fight, but not this time. You've already lost."
"Are you making fun of me?" Her expression grew extremely dark.
"No-no-no, don't get me wrong. Just that Bushidora and I made a bet. Whether you can notice the trick or not…"
That got her interest, just by a little. "What trick…?" She asked tentatively. Is it a trap…?
Pariston shrugged. "It's about time it starts now…"
"What starts…"
Then she felt it, a nauseating feel occurring deep inside her brain and spreading out towards her body. She slumped down back in her chair. "What the heck…" Mizutsuki muttered. Did I get poisoned? But how? I didn't eat any of the food…
"You see the pot of flowers over there?" Pariston pointed. "Their smell can temporarily nauseate and bind people. It's a very strong type of airborne poison that stops your body movements. Bushidora said that if you get caught by it, I'll have to hand you over and let him investigate about the crimes you made and that organization behind you." He sighed. "That's why I told you to eat so many times; it contains the antidote. But you thought of the antidote as the poison itself. Tsk-tsk-tsk…"
She forced herself to stay calm. I'm an idiot…! She screamed within her mind. Why didn't I think of that? Godammit… But it doesn't matter, as long as I can control the pH of my own body, I can nullify the effects of the poison… She hugged herself from the coldness coming from the insides of her body. It was freezing.
Pariston now looked troubled. "But this is bad…" He said. "I don't want to let Bushidora play with that amusing organization. But if it's you, it wouldn't be a very big harm right? The poison." He stood up and patted her on the shoulder.
"Why couldn't you say this earlier…" Her teeth chattered. She was feeling so cold and nauseated that even her abilities had some trouble functioning. "Who the heck is Bushidora anyway…?"
"Ehh, a blacklist Hunter; he's not fun at all." He was smiling at her dilemma. "What are you going to do now Mizu-chan? Crisis~Crisis~"
"Can you shut up?" She snapped. "I'm trying to save myself here…" Concentrate, concentrate… nullify the poison… Ignore that Blondie, Ignore that Blondie… Ignore that goddamned Blondie…
Pariston smiled and leaned down. Using two fingers he pushed the corner of her lips upwards; a vein bulged on her forehead. "See, you look better smiling!"
凸(-"-#)…
She glared at him. If she knew that this was going to happen, she would have watched Phinks fight more carefully and steal some moves from him – he was good in close-ranged combat. "Fuck you Blondie."
"You shouldn't swear so much either. But what can I say? You were raised by the Mafia." He sighed. "By the way, I have been wondering for a while. What is that giant bruise thing under your hoodie?"
Her heart took a giant leap off a cliff and landed with a KABOOM on the earth's surface. The spider tattoo was mistaken as a bruise; thank god. If he had recognized it as a spider she might as well write a will and go die. She hugged herself even tighter; the freezing coldness was starting to go away but the nauseating was still there.
"You put me through the Nosferatu deal, as strong as I am, you don't think that I can fight a thousand of those creatures at once and come out uninjured right?"
He frowned and placed a thoughtful finger under his chin. After considering the fact for a few seconds, he slapped her over the tattoo.
Mizutsuki jumped. "What were you doing?" She spat.
"Hmm… as I thought. That is not a bruise; that is a tattoo. And it wasn't there when I first met you. So that means that you only got it recently; perhaps as a symbol of formally entering the organization?"
The red alarm rang in her mind. Of for the love of god, NO…
"What is it…?" He squinted. "I can't really see… Excuse me please..." He loosened the collar of her hoodie and pulled it down. Mizutsuki gasped and blushed furiously.
"S-Stop!"
Pariston ignored her as he tried to get a better look of the picture. "It's a… Spider?"
Mizutsuki burned the grand hotel down and walked away from the scene, not looking back. It would be nice if all the Hunter Association people inside died; but she knew that it was impossible.
Shee still didn't understand. She had thought that Pariston would indeed be interested in the Genei Ryodan. However, after a talk with Netero, he came out of the office room looking rather disappointed and said that he would not hunt down the Ryodan.
The chairman probably told him not to… She thought. As annoying as that old jeezer is, he still has some sense of not messing with the Ryodan. But still, Pariston is someone that I should keep guard of at all times, no matter what happens…
The black cellphone rang and the short-statured bandit picked it up. "Hello?" He answered in his usual icy tone.
"Ahh, Feitan!" Shalnark said at the other end. "Danchou just handed out another mission."
"What is it?" Feitan deadpanned.
"Ehh, he said that he'll tell the members who are present when the time comes. Mizutsuki doesn't have a cellphone right now, but I know that she's at Zaban city. You're really close right? Can you notify her? Thanks!"
Before Feitan could reply, Shalnark hung up. He stared at his phone for a few seconds. "Tsk..."
Yay Feitan! *waves little Feitan flags*. Ya know, this chapter sounded a lot better in my head; but it didn't come out as good as I thought. I'll probably rewrite this chapter sometimes in the near future.
And You all know now right? That was like a GIANT hint. 'Danchou's mission'...? Obvious enough ya?
Because I'm very tired of writing this chapter (it's like 2 a.m. in my place), I'll end this short, messy author note here. Remember to review!
PS: Third arc starts next chapter