Itsyoursis-Artemis here! I haven't abandoned this fic I promise! I know I said I was going to update last November. Welp. Im so sorry for not following through. (sweats nervously). I had such a stressful semester that I became depressed.
But I'm getting better now. I'm not satisfied with this chapter for some reason, but I need to move on with the story and pick the pace up.
I'm trying to release another chapter before 2017 ends!
Merry late Christmas, and have an amazing happy new year!
Several months had passed since Ayano's first encounter with GM and she had yet to make any development with her investigation. She found it difficult to extract information about her mother from him because snooping around was not her forte. Her time wasn't exactly wasted though; she appreciated how much she learned about firearms—from self-defense and hunting techniques to learning the mechanical parts of a simple hand gun. However, that wasn't her ultimate goal.
I give up. This is futile. What else can I do?
The fearless girl wished that she could time travel back to when she first found out about GM.
She wished that she could have approached her situation in a simpler way.
She wished that she could have just told GM the truth from the very beginning and not have to lie about her identity.
She was confident that he would have sympathized with her if he listened to her story.
It's not too late to correct my mistake, right? she questioned herself.
The Nicolaou girl was now sitting at a table outside a coffee shop, anxiously waiting for someone. She had just invited GM out for a coffee and intentionally chose a crowded, public place. The presence of people somehow gave her a sense of security, especially with what she was about to do today:
She decided, without her aunt's consent, to reveal everything to GM.
When the old man finally arrived, they exchanged greetings and chatted for a while. He definitely thought that it was peculiar of her to suddenly invite him for a cup of coffee. He knew something was up when he listened to the voicemail she left for him.
"GM-san, I need to be truthful… to you," began the fearless girl in a hesitant tone, as she took a sip of her coffee. "But promise me you'll remain calm after hearing what I'm about to say."
"Interesting. I had a feeling that this meeting is not just about the coffee," GM wondered.
Her eyes were on the ground for a good 5 seconds before lifting her head up again. "Your quirky personality uplifts my mood every time, and I truly enjoyed learning from you, GM-san."
"Oh no, this sounds like an introduction to a goodbye. Are you quitting?!" interrupted the dramatic old man.
Ayano expressed a painful smile. "I… hope not to quit."
"Oh, that's great! But what's the news you need to break? Please don't tell me you killed someone using what you learned from me?" he joked.
The long-haired girl couldn't help but chuckle at his response. "No, I didn't kill anyone. But back to the topic, I'm a bit afraid that you won't forgive me once I tell you the truth." There was a slight quiver in her voice.
"Huh? You're scaring me…" the adult scratched his head.
Ayano took a deep breath. "I was abandoned at an orphanage when I was a baby. Fast forward to last year, I learned about my biological mother, and that she has been missing for 18 years."
"Woah, that's… I'm sorry." GM looked uncomfortable upon hearing such a personal story. He quickly tried to cheer up the mood. "Wait I hope you're not here to tell me that I'm your dad?! I don't remember knocking up someone from 18 years ago?!"
Ayano softly laughed at his reaction, appreciating his comical personality. "Don't worry, I'm not a child of yours. But I'm not a Fujioka either. So let me introduce myself properly," she straightened her posture and took another deep breath before the big reveal.
"I'm Nicolaou Ayano, Yoshino's daughter. And I'm sorry that I lied about my identity."
GM was about to take a careful sip of his hot coffee when he spilled some of it on the table upon hearing her revelation.
He looked at her with wide eyes, not sure if he misheard it or if she said Nicolaou just now.
He didn't buy her sudden claim. Maybe she was pranking him?
Her resemblance to Yoshino was uncanny indeed. But, he insisted that this was all a bad joke.
She wasn't kidding though. She continued with her story—about Yoshino, Dimitri, her aunt Agatha, the journal entries… everything. He was speechless. Her story matched his past with Dimitri.
GM's face darkened, and he remained silent for few moments.
"Are… you mad at me, GM-san?" Ayano fearfully broke the silence.
The adult glared at her, which made her jolt.
He then softened his gaze.
He felt bad for her, for being deserted. For being left alone to search for her origin, that—unbeknownst to her—ended in chaos.
So chaotic that almost killed his children, thus giving birth to his grudge against the Nicolaous.
But he knew he couldn't blame her. She wasn't even born when the whole incident happened.
"You lied to me this whole time, putting up such a façade. You could have tried to tell me everything in the beginning instead of deceiving me, and I would have understood your situation. Don't you think it was unnecessary to drag this for months?" he responded with slight exasperation.
"I… didn't know what was going to happen if I did that. I felt the need to protect myself. When you accidentally mentioned your hatred against my grandfather during that one conversation, I became scared of you."
"Those Nicolaous almost ruined my business and almost put my family in danger." GM remembered saying this.
But what was he going to do now? He needed time to process everything. But at the same time, the girl in front of him was seeking for immediate response.
"Geez, okay. You know what? I forgive you for lying to me."
He forgave her. Her situation was too complicated, and he felt that it was unfair to impose his hatred on an innocent civilian just because she was related to Dimitri.
On the other hand, Ayano wasn't expecting that response. Her vision became blurry, feeling a warm tear drop along her cheeks.
"Wait don't cry! Not in this public setting!" GM panicked.
Ayano let out a soft chuckle and quickly wiped her tears away. "Thank you… for listening to my story."
"I should be apologizing to you for scaring you in the beginning about the Nicolaous. Since you told me your story, this means you weren't part of the past. You didn't do anything wrong. There is no fault upon you. And I want you to understand," GM put his hands on Ayano's shoulders, "that you should not blame yourself for your mom or grandpa's mistakes in the past."
Ayano's tears became tears of comfort. She was able to apologize for deception, and GM was forgiving about it. That was all that she needed.
"Do you want to know what I know about Dimitri and Yoshino?"
"Yes." She adamantly responded. "I've been seeking for the truth."
"Then you have to promise me not to change after hearing the truth. Promise me, that you will stay as yourself: a bubbly, ambitious, aspiring, strong, independent, woman you are."
His disclaimer slightly alarmed the long-haired girl. What part of her family history could possibly affect her greatly that GM had to warn her about it?
She nodded as a sign of affirmation. All she could do next was to listen as part of her bloodline history unfolded in front of her.
Flashback
"She's only 11, are you sure about this?"
"The earlier she learns, the better, right?"
The two adults in their early 40's exchanged glances, displaying an apathy look. Three seconds later, they burst into a perfectly choreographed hand gestures. Both widely grinned at each other upon successfully doing their well-coordinated handshake.
"What the heck, dad," nonchalantly hollered the little girl.
The other man, who revealed to be GM, snorted at the kid. "What a language you have there, lil' miss! Who taught you that?"
"It's not that bad of a word. She might have heard me say it once," Dimitri shrugged. He turned around to bring his daughter in front. "Say hello to GM-san, Yoshino."
The little girl, dressed in a long denim overall, tilted her head up to look at GM. "Good afternoon mister. Why is your head covered with a handkerchief?" she blatantly commented.
GM squatted and scratched the side of his cheek, impressed at how bold his best friend's daughter was. "Well, I was never blessed with thick hair. And I discovered that bandanas are very trendy, so I transformed it into my own fashion!"
"Sooo you're bald," the little girl blurted with no sense of courtesy.
Dimitri burst into laughter upon hearing his daughter's response. The other man simply shrugged; she was correct, after all.
"She definitely got her attitude from you, Dimitri." The owner of the shooting range place smiled at her and pointed his index finger on the ground. "Do you know this place, Yoshino-chan?"
Yoshino casted her focus around the building. It didn't take her a long time to formulate her response.
"Yes. Dad said I'm going to learn how to defend myself today, and obviously this place is where I'll learn."
GM was impressed. "You are a smart cookie, little one! But this is a pretty scary weapon for girls like you to handle," he added, pointing at the rifle that Dimitri was carrying on his shoulder.
"I might be a kid but daddy said that I will grow up to be a tough one. Besides, I'm inheriting daddy's business in the future, and I will become the best leader when that happens!"
You see, little Yoshino had no memory of growing up with a mother figure. Her father said that her mother was receiving the best care in the world and will be back when the right time comes. She didn't really mind growing up without a mother. Dimitri would always take his daughter with him to his "business" trips, therefore the two developed such a strong, unbreakable father-daughter bond.
Young Yoshino was also easily impressionable—whatever her father did was always amazing to her. She had witnessed him as an admirable leader in action, a skilled hunter, a knowledgeable mentor, and overall, a loving father. She aspired to be just like him, thus setting herself up to a high expectation that will prove to be fatal 15 years later.
"Hold a minute, Dimitri. Did you tell her about Soteria at such a young age?" GM whispered to his friend.
"Yes. I learned about my fate as a boss at a much younger age. This isn't that different."
Soteria was an underground company: a firearm manufacturer/supplier. Initially, the company was simply named Nicolaou, which was founded in Macedonia so many centuries ago. However, with the civil war breaking out, the state prohibited multiple firearm companies from supplying anti-government groups with weapons.
However, back then, the Nicolaou company was affiliated with some powerful mafias as well as the government itself. It was truly a two-faced company: extremely loyal like a watchdog toward the government while operating behind it by providing illegal weapons to the criminal organizations.
They were Nicolaou on the surface, but Soteria underground.
Nicolaou fell apart after several years, but Soteria remained alive. Soteria continued to supply for the mafia and gangs around the world for so many generations. There were multiple attempts by the world leaders to crack down black market activities, But Soteria had such an excellent history with leaders being successful at operating under the radar.
"I know that she'll inherit your business, but do you think this is the appropriate time? Will she be able to handle it?" GM's voice was now slightly disappointed with a condemning tone.
"My loyal watchman informed me about how the Soteria members approved the transition of power because they thought that they could easily have an influence on my daughter due to her gender. Those fools. I'll condition my dear daughter to be an excellent leader. A charming boss that will show care to her family yet will show no mercy toward the unfaithful ones. A true Nicolaou that will uphold the family's tradition."
"Does that mean baldie-san will work for me when I grow up?" Yoshino suddenly clapped her hands, which surprised both the adults.
"Baldie-san?! Lil one, you are savage! You definitely got your dad's personality eh?" GM laughed. He then continued. "Just be careful with your goal, Dimitri."
"Don't worry, she'll grow up fine."
Halfway through the semester, students prepared for bunkasai, a school festival that occurred around the Halloween season. Discussions upon discussion in each classrooms occurred in a span of two weeks, and finally, Ayano's class decided what their event was going to be.
Ayano's class agreed on a simple Halloween-themed café. She was assigned as a server, and therefore must wear a costume for the event. It didn't take her a long time to decide what she was going to be.
She saw a cheap wedding dress at a thrift store a few weeks ago, which she impulsively bought. At first, she didn't really have a plan on what to do with it. She thought of customizing it if she ever came up with the right design. Now that she remembered this purchase, she decided to dress up as corpse bride, minus the blue skin. There were still rules that the disciplinary committee imposed, such as prohibiting "excessive decoration on your body". Whatever that means.
The day of the festival arrived. After serving for about an hour, Ayano took a break to check if she had any secretarial duties to fulfill. But first, she decided to go to the rooftop to meet with the person who left a mystery note in her locker that said: Please meet me on the rooftop at 12pm.
Ayano was not that dense. She had a strong feeling that she was about to receive a confession from someone. Never did it cross her mind that she had a secret admirer.
Of all the places, why the rooftop? I hope Hibari-san is not there, she mentally sighed.
Once the Nicolaou girl reached the rooftop, the door creaked upon opening, which startled the male student, whom she was unfamiliar of.
"Hello! Erm, Uhm…" the male stuttered, his head pointing down on the ground due to perhaps, nervousness.
"Hi…? I haven't met you before…" Ayano held out the note as she slowly approached the shy guy.
"Ahh… Yes… Uhm… I'm from class-B, and I've been…and I've been admiring you from a distance… I mean, not stalking… but like…. Please don't think of me as a creep!" He nervously chuckled, his fingers fidgeting. He looked up and both made an eye contact, which he immediately broke within a probably, half a second. He was so shy, as if he had just met a very popular celebrity.
Ayano simply nodded. She wanted to let the guy finish his sentences.
"So… Uhmm…. Please go out with me!" he bravely confessed, followed by a 90-degree bow.
That was Ayano's first time of being confessed.
It wasn't even a confession. She felt it more like a demand. He didn't even introduce his name.
Nevertheless, she was genuinely curious about what he saw on her. She was about to ask the guy when suddenly… on cue, Hibari walked in, interrupting the love confession.
"What business do you have with my secretary that you're crowding with her?"
Both Ayano and the unnamed student froze.
"Hi… Hibari-san!" shrieked the poor guy. "I was just… I'm sorry! It's nothing!… BYE!" The nervous student quickly dismissed himself, almost bumping onto the skylark on his way back inside the building.
"What was that?" nonchalantly yawned Hibari.
"I received a confession, but you scared him off just as I was about to give an answer."
Confession, such a childish act, he rolled his eyes. Although for some reason, he felt slightly irritated.
On a more important note, he was distracted by his secretary's costume. She wore a "blood"-stained wedding gown. The dress was ripped at arbitrary places. Her long hair along with the veil covered her exposed shoulders. Her ripped wedding dress was long enough to cover her knees.
What the hell is she wearing. Hibari didn't even need to utter a word. He was judging her costume so hard. He couldn't understand why students would waste their time with unnecessary antics.
"I'm dressed up as a newly-wed bride accused of murdering her groom, if that's what you were wondering," she joked.
"Hn." He was unentertained.
Then there was an awkward silence.
"That boy, I was going to reject him, if you were also wondering." She wasn't sure why she randomly just said that. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to clarify that to him.
For some reason, the skylark felt a sense of relief upon hearing her statement. He couldn't explain why he hated the thought of his secretary being with another male student.
"Student Ryo, average grades, average looks, just a plain herbivore. It would be best that you don't crowd yourself with the likes of him." He felt satisfied saying that.
How condescending, Ayano raised her eyebrow. "And you're not really in the place to tell me who I should be with, are you?" she smiled with a sarcastic undertone.
He approached her while she stepped back until she was against the railings.
"Then who do you think you should be with?" He smirked, as if taunting the "bride".
He was too close that she could feel a blush creeping up on her cheeks, but she fought her emotion to suppress it. Ayano knew that he was trying to get a reaction from her, but she wasn't going to give him that satisfaction.
This ended up in an unintended staring contest. Five seconds is not long, but it sure was if you locked your gaze with someone… and if that someone was the one you might have a questionable crush on.
There. She finally admitted it to herself.
It took her a few denials, self-lies, and maybe some sleepless nights of thinking about Hibari until she realized that she developed a one-sided crush.
Good thing it's only a crush, and a questionable one too, she mentally reassured herself. She believed that the topic of romance might never be Hibari's cup of tea. To prevent herself from falling too deep, she advised herself to convert these feelings to platonic acquaintanceship (if such concept even exists), hoping this whole crush thing will go away soon.
"Honestly, I'd date you if you weren't very dominating," she muttered, forgetting what she just advised to herself.
She didn't mean to provoke, but she just successfully extracted a reaction from her senior.
"Oh?" Hibari challenged her response.
"Ah. Never mind, I need to go back to my classroom." She lightly pushed him aside. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist to prevent her from leaving.
"My secretary is growing a fang. Should we test if it can withstand my tonfas?" He smirked.
She remained silent.
She was used to his "threats" that she didn't need to beg for mercy.
She's physically weak, and he should know that. And she knew that he wouldn't actually fight her. He'd get bored easily.
"How boring," uttered Hibari after not getting any response.
See? I knew it, she mentally celebrated. She forgot to keep her silliness all inside of her head that she accidentally let out a few chuckles.
"Herbivore, what's so funny?"
"Oh. Nothing," she tried to stop her giggles, but the smile was still there.
"You should be laughing at your own attire. You look more like a cheap vampire than a serial killer."
"You might have confused an attempt to flirt with an insult," Ayano smiled.
"Woman, don't be full of yourself. I don't flirt."
"I know. I was just joking," she beamed. "You know, you have so much pride in the school, yet I can't see your school spirit. You should've dressed up."
"I don't participate in such lame activities."
"I'm sure you'd suit some costume ideas… such as," she paused. Her eyes slightly widened at the first image that popped in her mind.
This was then followed by an attempt to stop her burst of laughter.
"You're laughing again. You are thinking about something inappropriate, spill it." He was unamused.
It wasn't really an inappropriate thought. The first image that popped in Ayano's mind was Santa. It would be cute on Hibari, but picturing him with a white beard on, was too much for her sanity to take.
"Sorry about that. I just thought that you probably would hate to dress up as Santa. Very random thought. Just ignore me please," Ayano giggled softly. "Also, can you let go of my wrist now?"
The skylark didn't realize that he had been holding her wrist and quickly let it go.
"That's absurd. I'm going back," he turned around. "You have some paperwork to do after school, don't forget that."
They had quite an interesting conversation, but now, he was itching to do some "hunting".
Maybe he could hunt that male student who tried to mingle with his secretary?
Still feel unsatisfied with this chapter. Let me know what I should improve on.
Please review. :)