Chapter 44

"Ah, so he's dead." Henrik rubbed his chin where a newly formed scar was put on display in red.

"Yes, it should be about a few years later when Near appears," I nodded as a bodyguard poured me some more tea, smiling kindly as I asked for some macaroons that they had imported from France.

Henrik was successfully expanding his trade all the way across the world. Well, with the help of that French businessman I met at the party, everything was easy.

"How are the names that I told you to get going on?" I asked before inhaling the mint tea that smelt like toothpaste but more mild and sweet under my nose.

"The good thing is that I successfully passed a worker to get Bill Gates's signature. As for the other two, we are still tracking them down because they have not yet made such a big influence on the technology industry." Henrik explained.

"Vous avez très bien fait, papa." I complimented his work as he grinned proudly. "But remember, since Light has taken over the world for a couple of years, we must not use the Death Note unless necessary."

He grimaced a bit before rolling his shoulders with a sigh.

"I wait until the day when we take reign over the world."

I lifted my cup above my eye with a sly smile.

"That day will come, papa. That day will come."


And so, began my after-school classes in which Henrik assigned me to learn.

First was basic defence, although I pushed hard to learn the gun, Henrik said that once things settle down with his side, he would assign Felix to teach me. To that, I accepted with a heavy 'yes' before bouncing off to my taekwondo lesson.

Needless to say, my muscles were growing a bit leaner after every session. I felt more powerful even. I remembered the first day of classes when the tutor asked me to do a push-up, in which I tried, but failed. And then he told me to try a girl push-up, in which I tried...but collapsed halfway.

I was seriously weak.

But what was good, was that my perseverance had increased. Even if L had tried to torture me again, I would last a total of 10 days instead of 5. Dancing had totally paid off on finding the rhythm that opponents attacked in.

Dancing had also brought out my confidence and curves.

I knew which side was the best side to make a man drool.

"Hah!" I huffed as I punched the sandbag, bending down and raising my leg before I thwarted my foot at the top of the bag, spinning around to connect another fist and jumping backwards to give myself some space. Sweat rolled down my neck before I launched myself again at the bag, punching sideways twice and connecting an upper-cut which totally would have broken my fist if it wasn't for the gloves.

Geez, Henrik was really grooming me to become the perfect wife for a mafia successor.

"Hiyah!" I screamed again while jumping up and doing a double kick, practicing the basics of the martial arts before pulling both of my fists back to my sides, breathing heavily and turning around to bow 90 degrees towards my teacher.

"Thank you very much, teacher!" I hollered out just like I was taught before the teacher nodded with satisfaction, dismissing me.

"When you seduce a man, play with their eyes! Show them that they are attractive, and that you find them appealing." My other tutor wrote on the board as I copied it down on my notes like the perfect student I was. It was extremely awkward how much I was already using some of the tips in that bar before, mainly copying whatever I saw from movies.

Be bold, coy, and flatter his ego.

Make him feel special and that your meeting was fated to be.

Men loved fate.

Which was weird because I thought girls were supposed to love more romantic stuff. But apparently, no one could resist the romantic atmosphere if you brought it out. Well, for once I had found out that I was into romance, but just prioritized my work and career more.

Which also brought into question if that change was because of a certain brother of mine.

Other than that, it was how well I nailed the clothes that would hug my curves correctly. Apparently, I had a rectangular body type, which was one of the most common ones amongst people. Girls like Misa, were born cute with an hourglass.

I gritted my teeth.

Why was God so unfair? If you gave her a nice face, then give her a terrible body shape!

It wasn't that the rectangular body type was ugly or anything, it was just harder to showcase my better curves, especially when Japanese girls were way too slim for their own good. Well, the hourglass body was achievable with endless waist practice which Henrik eagerly gave me support on.

Geez, what was he trying to make me do? Seduce men to hand over their blueprints?

Well, that was actually one of my missions in the future, no joke.

Girls needed to have assets. Which were their chests and butts to put it plainly. Being thin as a stick was good for clothes, but bad when the man actually grabbed onto the booty. You needed a little booty to keep them interested.

I made a face at that thought.

Why were the people making me sound like some kind of barbecue stick? Not that it wasn't helpful, being somewhat luring was what I had wanted to try out in my past life, but honestly, the training was so blunt that it took me all my energy to not laugh at it.

It was even more awkward when the tutor started talking about kissing techniques. Although she did not force me to try with a random guy, she told me the theories of it, where to lap my tongue, the force I could use to bite him and the different places where I could kiss him…

Okay, I was not immature enough to squeal in disgust, in fact, it was interesting to the point where I had the urge to test it out on Light, but for someone who was left single for a total of 23 years...it was a bit overwhelming.

But I learned how to cry on cue.

Then came the instructions on where to place my hands.

Then came the practice for erotic dancing.

I finally voiced my concerns.

"Pardon me, teacher," I called after class as the lady turned around with a simple smile. "Is it even appropriate for a 16-year-old girl to learn this?"

"Why, Alyona, it is never too early to learn about these things," she blinked innocently as I gave her a grave smile before thanking her and leaving.

Okay then...either it was my understanding of the mafia world to be too naive, or that the mafia was simply too messed up. What were they, training me to become a prostitute?


"Happy birthday Light!" Dad and I clapped as Light smiled gratefully at my chocolate-baked cake, sitting down in his seat as the candles flickered in and out. During the past year, Dad and I had slightly reconciled.

The incident with L made Dad even more guilty of the fact that he could have prevented my abduction if he paid closer attention to me. I brushed it off coldly but not harshly. In his eyes, I was a daughter that still did not forgive him for his actions last year, however, he could see that I was beginning to change my attitude bit by bit.

"You two are my only children," Dad gave out a forced smile as his eyes lingered on the fourth seat that was empty beside him. "I cannot afford to lose any of you."

He closed his eyes and drew out a shaky breath before blinking back his moist eyes.

"I will do anything for you two, I swear on it with my life."

A furtive grin cracked upon my face as I sighed it out of my expression and earned a glance from my brother.

"Dad, I know that you feel guilty, and I won't say it's not your fault," I bit out a bit too cold as his eyes clamped shut.

"I'm sorry," he whispered as guilt slowly ate from up from the inside. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"But it's a day to celebrate," I cleared my throat and interrupted him. It was a deliberate act to tell him that I did not want to listen to his useless murmerings. Dad grimly nodded before turning his eyes to Light.

"My son, I am so proud of you."

Light lowered his head gratefully before replying with the same thing every damn year. I swear, was it because of anime or something? They repeated the same birthday verses every time.

"Last year we missed your birthday because of the interrogation, but I'm happy we could celebrate it this year," I softened my tone and gave a twist of my lips. Light's eyes glimmered before I wished him my own words.

"Happy 20th birthday, brother. I wish all the success in whatever you'll become."

His expression lit up only a bit brighter at my words, chuckling at the hidden message when I empathized on what he would become instead of what he pursued in his career.

"You'll be turning 17 soon too, Sayu." Light's hand grazed smoothly over my hand under the table as his eyes burned with something dark. Butterflies trampled inside my stomach, screeching at the emotion that I recognized from my lessons.

He…

Oh gosh.

Oh, my god.

It was desire.

I mean, I was mentally 23, but-but-

Was it even legal?

I mean, yes, considering that Japanese girls usually lost their innocence at 14, but-

Did I even care about blood?

You knew this was going to happen sooner or later, Sayu.

The voices in me chuckled at my flustered state before I cleared my throat and broke the silence. Dad did not notice the small exchange between my brother and I. He did not even notice the smile Light had placed deliberately on his face each time I spoke.

It was so intense that the fire within me started to ignite.

Burning really badly.

I was dead tired when I plopped onto my bed after hours and hours of practicing my martial arts. It had been months after Light's birthday. He was planning to graduate in exactly three years, taking an extra year to make up for the one that L had taken away from him.

Needless to say, seeing me in the same class had surprised him quite a bit. While he was considered to be a genius, I was considered to be the youngest scholar at my age. I did not get the best grades, only having an average of 3.5 for my GPA, but hell, no one cared about the GPA as long as you graduated.

It was a stupid system, I know.

People were fretting about their grades even with the knowledge that their GPA would not be printed on their university diploma. They still tried to aim for a high mark and cried when they didn't get what they wanted.

My brother had a cursing mark of 4.9 as his GPA.

He was disappointed when he saw that he had messed up on one question that the professor had to take away because it was too perfect that Light had been suspected of plagiarism.

In the end, it was nothing. But the professor still had to take a single point away on his final so that Light would somehow learn his lesson of not being 'too perfect' in class.

Honestly, I think the professor was just salty.

I laughed in his face when he came back scowling at the 9 on his report.


I pressed my face deeper into the pillows, trying to smush it in before I heard my phone buzz. Groaning before throwing my fist at the object I flipped it open only to be met with total confusion.

An unknown caller?

I pressed the call button.

"...Hello?"

"How have you been, Alyona?" The voice smiled like a gentleman at the other side of the line.

The voice sounded familiar- too familiar to be honest.

The only people who knew me as Alyona would have to be related to the Mafia. If it was 'such a long time', then it couldn't have been someone from my group nor my tutors. I racked my brain for the duplicate sample of the voice.

"Aw, don't tell me that our little wise lady has forgotten about the green-haired man?"

I furrowed my eyebrows.

"...Hugo?"

"The one and only, Alyona." He laughed softly into the phone.

How the heck was I supposed to remember? It had been 2 freaking years.

"Okay," I hesitantly lifted the phone away before glancing at the door to check if it was locked. It was.

"How may I help you?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could possibly muster.

"I was hoping that you were looking forward to the gift that I prepared for you. Do you remember your bratty business partner in China?"

"You mean Anthony?" I questioned. How in the world did Hugo know that Anthony was our business partner? My eyes slightly fell down on the floor of my room.

Did we have a spy?

"I was wondering if you would like to speak to him for the last time before I nail the bullet in his head," Hugo's smile could be heard as the background shuffled with voices of his men and their shouting.

I could hear that they had brought someone and thrown him to the ground with that thump.

"Little brat, come and greet Alyona, she's quite worried for you."

Nothing rang out from the end of the phone for a few seconds before I heard Hugo's darkened chuckle and his guards kicking into something like a sandbag.

"Looks like even at the end of his life he would like to protect his potential fiance," I could literally imagine Hugo's pursed lips in my mind. Since when did Hugo like to mock small children? I still remembered that he was the one to advise us not to drink alcohol because we were too young.

Well, time changes everything.

"You have Anthony's mom captured too," my eyes glanced darkly at the clock beside my bed, indicating that it was 1:00 am right now. The night was too dark to meet with Henrik and ask him to search for Hugo's location.

We would have to abandon the Black Dragons and search for a new partner.

"Not just his mother, but rather the whole family." Hugo paused for a second before speaking again. "How about let's play a game, Alyona? You will come to me without Henrik or that Blond successor. Each day you arrive late, I will shoot one of Anthony's family members."

"Starting with his brothers. I remember him having 7 siblings. You have exactly 7 days before I start with his parents, then finishing with him."

Mafia.

I rolled my eyes.

Playing with lives like a game, huh?

Not that I could say that I'm any different.

"Sure," I chirped. "Is today that first day, or tomorrow?"

Hugo only laughed.

"Amusing as always. Since it's midnight here, I'd say you only have 6 days left."

Oh ho? He's in a similar time zone. Definitely in the asian countries then. Could it be China? Where was the Xzar group even from? I knew that his perfect English was something to notice, but he also knew a bit of Chinese when talking to Anthony.

"Hugo, you're not playing fair," I laced my silky voice with an audible pout. "At least give me a hint for being so much younger than you!"

"One hint," he chuckled. "Stars."

With that, he hung up.

Stars as his location huh? Well he's definitely not talking about the stars in the sky. If he were to give me a hint about his location, it would probably be the country. I closed the flip of my phone before clicking my tongue in annoyance. Even if he were to give me a major hint about the country, how in the world was I supposed to pinpoint where in his country he was in?

Stars, huh?

Stars.

The flag.

I pursed my lips.

Definitely not America, it would be too obvious and the language there was not Chinese.

Israel had one star, and that was not plural.

Australia had stars but they were more known for their lines so that wasn't it either.

A country that has its main language in English but partially Chinese too…

Singapore or the Philippines.

I opened my phone and texted Tsubame.

What is the time in Singapore and the Philippines right now?

Three minutes later, her reply came back.

12:08 am.

Bingo~

The Philippines have their own languages, while they also know English, there was a slightly lower chance of speaking Chinese.

Singapore it is.

They speak Malay but are closely known for their roots in Mandarin. English was a universal language so they would definitely know the language. Maybe only a few people, but for a huge group like Xzar, they had to learn the language that was most commonly used throughout the world.

Goddammit, it was so hard without the google search bar!

Other than that, Singapore was fairly large to search for a single group. Though I could always start with the underground in Singapore. I'd have to ask Henrik about that tomorrow. I sighed in exasperation as I relaxed onto the bed. 6 days left and 2 days for the parents. I have 9 days before the Black Dragon Heir gets exterminated like burnt fish.

I'd give myself a day to fly over to Singapore and another day to prime myself to the top condition, getting rid of all that jetlag to have a proper fight. Henrik and Felix cannot come with me, but he left out how many men I could take with me.

Hugo's expecting a fight, isn't he?

I pressed a small smile onto my lips.

If I were to summarize the speed it would take for Henrik to find the locations of their gangs, it would take around a day. After that we'd have to pinpoint all their hideouts. Mafias would not only have a single hideout.

That would take another day.

Then we'd have to arm ourselves. Two days max.

Six days in total.

I'll make it.

I yawned before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.