Book 1: Simplicitatem
Chapter 12: Judas
"Don't forget that kindness can hurt people too."
-Himeko Inaba (Kokoro Connect)
Overall, the auction started with no noticeable hangovers. When the double doors swung open, the crowd had rushed in causing a scene of minor chaos, one that Aika was grateful for, since it gave them an opportunity to lose the hostile Mafioso and blend into the crowd.
It took about twenty minutes for them to get ushered to seats but at this point, the female didn't really mind. All she had to do now was spectate the auction and go home to Meteor City; she just needed to hang on for a few more hours.
"Excited?" Kuroro whispered in the few terse moments before the initiation of the bidding.
"Hardly." She kid back, crossing her arms and then her legs. "Impatient."
When it was well past time for the auction to start, the curtains drew apart and revealed the host. Aika sighed, relieved to finally start the damned thing.
It also passed uneventfully, unspectacularly. Why Kuroro had wanted to come to spectate the event, Aika had no idea. It was monotonous, boring, and she found herself nodding off more than just once.
Your typical noble pig would stand up and offer a generous amount of money for something Aika couldn't find much worth in; an ancient necklace belonging to a certain someone whose name she couldn't pronounce; several rare jewels; the mummified remains of the royalty of some faraway land.
Yet her chest clenched painfully when she realized one item that was rolled out to be displayed proudly atop the dais. Within in large cylindrical tube were suspended two, rather small, spherical object, glowing crimson, bright and eerily in the dim light of the auction hall.
The Kuruta's Scarlet Eyes she herself has helped to harvest.
They were quickly bought at a jaw-dropping number and when they were rolled off stage, the female found the tension to finally start seeping from her body.
Next to her, her leader was idly tapping away no his mobile device, an expression of worry settling comfortably on his face. "Aika, I'll be right back." He whispered then, sitting up and low in his seat.
The female opened her mouth to argue, question where on earth he could be going at this point in time, but the leader was already gone, outline of his form blurring. She hmphed and crossed her arms again, sitting back against her chair.
The auction continued on for a good half-hour more, all the while Aika absent-minded chewing on the inside of her lip. It was unnerving, she realized, being without Kuroro by her side, incase someone recognized her.
Not that she was scared -she knew she could take on any ordinary Mafioso; she was just mildly concerned.
A murmur suddenly rippled through the crowd. Aika caught sight of a short woman with shockingly bright fuchsia hair climb the steps to the stage and face the crowd.
Machi..? Her eyes widened in horror, specifically recalling Kuroro's orders to lay low throughout the duration of the auction.
"Miss?" The host smiled politely. "What seems to be the matter? If you're lost, an usher at the back of the auditorium will gladly guide you-"
Coldly, Machi turned around to fix him with a piercing glare and calmly proceeded to drive a needle clear through his forehead, perfectly centered.
It took the host a good three or four seconds to freeze and fall to the ground.
"Oh my fucking-" Aika stood up, angry and confused.
Then the screaming commenced. Machi had set off a stampede.
Franklin stood up at that point as well, preparing, setting, and then beginning to fire off rounds of nen bullets from his hands.
Upon instinct, the training Aika had done with Kuroro kicked in and she immediately allowed her nen to cover her in a protective envelope.
The bullets hit her nen shield and ricocheted off, harmless but not without considerable impact. The orangette recoiled and looked around her immediately for an exit.
Why her little Troupe neglected to fill her in on this little piece of intel was beyond her, but there was no way she was going to go on a mass killing spree unless Kuroro himself ordered it.
On the subject of the raven-haired leader, where exactly had he run off to?
Seeing as the doorways were totally backed up by panicked auction-goers, Aika tsked and fell part of the wall right next to it, successfully an exit. Aware spectators flooded the orifice immediately.
Finally out in the fresh night air, Aika rapidly took in her surroundings. Loud crashes and noises came from within the auction hall and sleek black cars—ostensibly belonging to the Mafia families that were given the job of protecting the people—raced toward the building behind her. It had already caught fire.
Aika frowned.
Within the span of several seconds back in the auditorium, she had seen Franklin, Machi, and Feitan wreaking mass havoc. Paku and Nobunaga had been nowhere to be found, and so had her good-for-nothing leader.
Well now that they had specifically done exactly what Kuroro had told them not to do…
"Aika!"
She turned around immediately, wary of leaving her back open to anyone at this point in time.
Well speak of the devil.
"Nobunaga." She responded, crossing her arms. "What's going on?"
"Hell if I know," the samurai seemed extremely exasperated, "we got an assassination order from the Mafia, but this seems a bit over th-"
"We what?!" She cut him off, taken aback. "We weren't supposed to be taking any more missions from them!"
"It was a final mission kind of thing," he explained, motioning for her to calm down. "They said if we finished this mission they'd leave us alone, no strings attached."
"No strings attached, this is the Italian Mafioso we're talking about, what the hell was Kuroro thinking?"
"They gave it to me first, but I didn't look into it in depth. I sent a picture to Kuroro and then I shredded it. It was a lot of text."
Aika shot him a pointed look. "Well unless it was to completely decimate the auction hall and every one in it, I think our high and mighty Dancho might have royally fucked up?"
"I'm sure he has his reasons, like he normally does."
Aika wasn't so sure. The last encounter at the Zoldyck mansion had left her reeling for a good week, and she remembered the worried look Kuroro had on his face—not that it was much different from the stoic expression he wore around all the time—and felt her own worry spike drastically.
"Where is he now?" She questioned.
"He said he'd call me in a few-"
His phone went off.
"Dancho!" Nobunaga answered, obviously just as irritated as her. "Where are-" The samurai felt a tic form on his forehead; everyone seemed to be cutting him off today. "Here," he frowned and handed Aika the phone. "He wants you."
"Kuroro fucking Lucifer, explain yourself right now."
Aika could almost hear the telltale smirk that Kuroro was undoubtedly wearing. "Patience." He sighed. "We've received an assassination order."
"For?"
"A certain nobleman. We need to meet up."
"And the rest of your psychotic Spiders?"
"Can fend for themselves." He finished her sentence. "I'm behind the auction hall near the vending machine we passed on our way in. Do you remember?"
"Yeah." Aika blinked. "Give me five minutes."
The dial tone hung heavy in the air immediately after their conversation.
Tersely, Aika flipped Nobunaga's phone shut and handed it to him.
"What's going on?" He asked her.
"Hell if I know." She snorted. "He didn't even give me any orders."
"What do I do then?"
"Figure it out!" She snapped and then took off, speeding quickly toward the vending machine Kuroro had mentioned before.
It was strange, very very strange…
She had said five minutes, but honestly she had only needed fifteen seconds to reach the rendezvous point.
"Wait, please, how much do y-"
Aika sped around to corner only flinch backward immediately, the all-too-familiar stench of blood heavy in the air.
An unfortunate Mafioso had just had his throat slit, cutting off his offer for money in exchange for his life. He slid to the ground, no longer breathing.
"Aika." Kuroro called, catching her attention.
The girl crossed her arms, biting the inside of her lips, contemplating. "Well, you said a certain nobleman if I'm not mistaken, and that typically implies one person…"
The grass behind the auditorium was littered with bodies.
"Irrelevant." Kuroro shrugged it off. "The Mafia gave the okay to use whatever means necessary."
"And capriciously picking off anyone who suits your whim is within that jurisdiction?" She frowned.
"We've gone over this Aika." He sighed. "You can leave any time you want."
Her fury flared. "Just give the damn orders Dancho."
"Follow me."
"Not what I was looking for, but alright." She shrugged.
"There are too many people here. We're not detectives." Kuroro shrugged.
"So you're going to kill everyone." She narrowed her eyes. "This is sloppy, lazy, and unlike you Kuroro."
"We are not assassins." He commented. "We are an unruly band of bandits and it's time the Mafia learned that."
"Why did we need to meet up?" Aika unintentionally raised her voice. "You could have just as easily transferred this information via text."
"Lately I've been thinking," he was leading them farther and farther away from the auction hall, much to her confusion, "I'm not in my right mind."
Aika couldn't agree more. The strange debacle at the Zoldyck manor could attest to as much; he'd also been more open with his feelings, very out of character for the leader of the Brigade.
"We have a mission!"
"And I've come to a peculiar decision regarding this thought." Kuroro went on, disregarding her outburst.
"Kuroro!"
"Have you ever read Scripture before Aika?"
The girl inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The fact I believe in God doesn't mean I am a zealous fanatic; no, Kuroro, I have not the freaking Bible, screw your head on straight will you?!"
"There is much debate over the validity of the book of Matthew."
Aika opted simply to listen now, seething in her own frustration, anger she was feeling for the innocently slaughtered.
"And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee," he recited, "for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish."
She frowned.
"And not that thy whole body should be cast into Hell," he finished.
"Your point?"
"Pakunoda."
Aika felt confusion swarm her once again, catching sight of the aquiline-nosed woman several feet farther back. Why she had failed to register her presence could have been explained by Aika's anger, but now she had a gun pointed straight to her.
The orange-haired girl flared her nen more than it already had been, refusing the bullet.
"Aika," the woman called out. "It's me. Have some faith."
Of course it was her; Aika knew about Pakunoda's nen ability, her Recollection Bullet, but it was still a bullet, one that she had yet to experience. Kuroro's erratic behavior hardly helped at all.
Five seconds of tense silence passed agonizingly slowly, and Aika cautiously withdrew her nen back into her. "Fine." She relented, taking a deep breath. "Shoot."
Pakunoda didn't need to prompted twice, firing immediately. The bullet entered perfectly on it mark, in this middle of her forehead and the impact jolted Aika backward a bit.
She gasped as memories began to flow into her consciousness with such force she thought she was coming apart at the seams.
She saw a photograph of a certain aged man, glasses atop his nose with grayed hair. He had a cold gaze, clad in a black suit. Beneath the photograph was a note: We leave matters regarding the biological weapon in your hands.
She saw Kuroro pacing uneasily outside the auction hall; him, pacing.
He opened his mouth to look straight at Pakunoda. "What do you think I should do?"
"You're the boss for a reason."
"A flawed one at that." He seemed aggravated
"You said it yourself. Our goal is not to keep the individual alive, but the Spider."
"You're telling me to kill her." He turned his back to her.
"Dancho, the choice is yours to make."
She saw him send Pakunoda away and give the order to start the chaos.
She saw a coldness come over his eyes, she saw him begin the catharsis known as mass murder. She saw his pain.
She lurched as she regained her bearings, finding that Paku was no longer anywhere to be found.
"Aika." Kuroro called again, much like the last time, but with more force.
The girl blinked, shock slamming into her as she realized her situation.
"You endanger me." He sighed. "You compromise my thought process, and thus, you endanger the Spider. Our mission, our assassination of this certain nobleman has already been fulfilled."
She took a step backwards, for the first time in a long time, fearing for her life.
"You would do this, after the three years that we-" Aika started, voice shaking with anger; she felt an incredible sense of betrayal inundate her, drowning, cutting off her air.
Pain entered her body, omnipresent throughout her, suddenly. It hurt so much that the tears began to flow, tears of pain mixed with tears of fury and tears of incredible sadness.
"You bastard!" She choked out, realizing that she needed to lash back out at him, but realizing that she had no intention of every hurting him.
"Aika." He breathed again, close to her as he drove something sharp into her.
Her vision was blacking out, blurring and then coming back into focus, then blurring again.
"Kuroro!" She gasped.
"Thank you, for being my right hand when I need it."
END BOOK 1
"I'm not scared per say. I think it's accurate to say I'm not looking forward to the pain that will accompany it."
- Aika Brehznev (Eat Your Heart Out)
A/N: Read and review! ^.^