Chapter Twenty-Nine: Vivi
It was a long walk from advanced physics to the principal's office. Not because of the distance, but because of the destination. Vivi never got used to it, no matter how many times it had been now. Since the beginning of the school year? At least a hundred. At least.
She was making the journey again today. It was exhausting. The mental stress it put on her to go into that office and lie about her identity—to lie about her very being—was enormous. Now that vile ass Crocodile wanted her to come to the office to meet a new associate. Just another person to have to lie to.
She had been summoned by Miss Valentine herself. Miss Valentine walked ahead of Vivi, not because of rank or anything like that, but because unlike Vivi, Miss Valentine had no qualms with working with Crocodile. Miss Valentine was very cutthroat as well.
No matter how much Vivi dragged her feet, she always made it to the principal's office. But today, there was an unexpected visitor there. Vivi looked on in shock as Miss Valentine berated their uninvited guest.
"Kohza, what are you doing here?" Miss Valentine snapped.
"Mr. Galdino kicked me out of class for being disruptive," Kohza grinned, sitting lollopped in one of the chairs.
Miss Valentine tsked in dismay and went around to sit at her desk. "One of these days Crocodile-sama is going to have had enough of your shit and will deal with you in an unpleasant way. I hope I am around to help."
Vivi stood in the doorway watching the altercation with a practiced mask of indifference on her face. She was very good at this face; she used it almost all the time. But Kohza was trying against her ability to hold her composure. Vivi worried that Miss Valentine was right; soon Crocodile would become tired of Kohza's unruly behavior and likely kill him. The thought sent physical pain shooting through her.
"I have Miss Wednesday here," Miss Valentine said into the phone. She'd dialed into Crocodile's office to let them know of their arrival. "Along with that half-wit Kohza."
Miss Valentine made a sour face and hung up the phone.
"He wants you both in there right now," Miss Valentine relayed. She was probably sour because she was not going to be privy to the update Crocodile was to give them.
Vivi took a deep breath and made the last few steps to the office that she loathed. She opened the door with Kohza in tow and stepped into Crocodile's domain.
"There she is," Crocodile announced redundantly. "Miss Wednesday. And you've obviously met Kohza."
This was directed at the other young woman in the office. Vivi saw a girl around her age with orange hair sitting in one of Crocodile's chairs with her arms crossed and looking unamused.
"One of your assassins in training," the orange-haired girl confirmed.
"Kohza suffers from an incurable case of cockiness," Crocodile lamented. "It will someday get him killed, but until then, I use his skills where I can."
The orange-haired girl opened her mouth again to comment but Kohza spoke up.
"Brute strength!" Kohza announced, throwing a pose that Vivi had affectionately once referred to as 'the gun show' when they were children. "No one even thinks about fighting when I lay down the law."
"Indeed," Crocodile agreed. "Kohza manages the small skirmishes around the school so that they don't turn into fights. I suppose if you wanted to qualify him in terms of your old associates, you could call him an Enforcer."
The orange-haired girl did not look entertained. Though she gave Kohza a long look, she had a look of boredom on her face. Either she was as good at Vivi at hiding her emotions, or she was truly bored. In Crocodile's organization, it was likely the former.
"And this dear one," Crocodile said, reaching out a hand to Vivi, "is Miss Wednesday, my finest intelligence agent. Though like my other associates, she has a code name here. It's Vivi Alubarna. She is the one I wanted you to meet today, because you two will be working with one another."
Vivi reluctantly took Crocodile's hand and stepped closer to him. She hid a shiver of revulsion and instead turned her full attention to the orange-haired girl. Now that she could see her face, Vivi realized that she recognized this girl: she'd been on the missing person poster that had been posted all over the school. This was Nami LaFemme, the girl who'd gone missing for almost two months.
Missing wasn't necessarily the right word though. According to the information Vivi was able to gather from Crocodile himself, Nami had been employed by the Sawshark Yakuza and had gone with him voluntarily. How she had escaped certain death by building demolition from The Dragon's Brood was a mystery that piqued Vivi's interest. Only a handful of Fish had survived, and most of them were behind bars. That Nami was here, neither in jail or six feet under, meant she was something special. What kind of special that was, Vivi didn't know yet.
"Welcome to the organization," Vivi greeted Nami, reaching out to shake her hand. Nami stood from her chair and ignored Vivi's hand. She actually ignored Vivi altogether.
"I do best on my own," she stated plainly. "And I don't need anyone to show me the ropes of your organization or whatever. This isn't my first rodeo. I know how this goes. Just tell me what my assignment is and I'll get on it."
Crocodile looked to be a cross of amused and irritated. "You are doing exactly what I said before. Searching for the Nefeltari heir. You will answer to Miss Wednesday here. You are her subordinate, I guess you could say."
"Fine," Nami replied. She finally looked at Vivi. "What do you want me to do? Besides look for this Nefeltari person."
Vivi was at a loss. No one had acted this way around Crocodile before. Did she want to die? Because she was acting like she didn't care what kind of trouble she got into.
"Information gathering," Vivi offered up. "I have been going through the student profiles one by one to determine their background and upbringing and see if there is any possibility that they are our target. You will assist me in this."
Nami studied Vivi for a few seconds. "This school has one thousand one hundred and ninety one students in it. How many have you checked off your list?"
Nami was smart, Vivi observed. Or at least had the foresight to know her surroundings before she entered them. Vivi was slightly impressed.
"Six hundred and seven," Vivi told her. Nami looked dismayed.
"You're absolutely sure that the Nefeltari kid goes here?" she asked Crocodile.
"At the beginning of this school year," Crocodile answered, "the Nefeltari conglomerate ordered high school uniforms from this school."
Now Nami looked pissed. "Then why don't you go down to that fucking quim Bon Clay and have him figure out which gender of school uniform was bought so we can cut our search down by half?"
Crocodile's eye twitched and Vivi moved a step to the side. This was not something she had seen before. No one went against Crocodile, let alone told him what to do.
"Thank you for that astute observation," Crocodile managed to say calmly, "but I have already done so. Both gender uniforms were bought."
"What year?" Nami asked.
"Excuse me?" Crocodile responded, looking like he was close to losing his temper. Vivi stepped further aside.
"What year uniform was bought?" Nami asked. She pulled at the scarf tie on her uniform and pointed to Kohza's tie. "First years wear blue, second years wear red, third years wear green."
This gave Crocodile pause. "An intriguing question. I will check with Mr. Bon Clay."
Vivi held her breath. Crocodile was not going to lose it, for the moment anyway, but on the down side, he was going to ask a question that Vivi had not accounted for.
Crocodile was swift on the phone. In a matter of moments, he had the answer he was looking for.
"It appears that two different year uniforms were purchased," Crocodile told them, pondering the oddity of the answer himself. "First year female uniform and second year male uniform."
"That automatically rules out two thirds of our search populous," Nami calculated. "There are one hundred and seventy three girls that are first years. I'll check on how many boys are second years. We can cross reference which students you've ruled out and come up with a more reasonable number than five hundred and eighty four students to check."
Nami was quick with numbers. And as Vivi had surmised earlier, very intelligent. It was not a good thing. She shared a look with Kohza, but surprisingly, Kohza looked unperturbed. In fact, he looked rather smug.
"You will be promoted to the advanced class, Nami-chan, so that you may be at Miss Wednesday's disposal whenever she needs you," Crocodile added. "Starting tomorrow."
"Whatever," was Nami's response, but Vivi thought that Nami didn't look too pleased with the change.
"You two run along now, and get along," Crocodile dismissed them. Vivi headed for the door while Nami picked up her book bag and followed. "You, Kohza, need to stop trying Mr. Three's patience, or I will let him turn you into one of his formerly-living wax sculptures."
"Yes, boss," Kohza agreed easily. "He needs to chill though. He's too uppity to pull off the school teacher thing."
"I'll take that into consideration," Crocodile told him. "Now get out. I have things to attend to."
Kohza followed them out and the three of them headed back to their classrooms.
"We should spend time after school to go over that list," Nami suggested as they walked. "I want out of this so-called organization as soon as possible and the quickest way to do it is to find this kid that asshole's looking for."
Vivi's jaw tightened. "So much for being a subordinate. Were you always this bossy or is this cockiness due to being recognized by Crocodile-sama?"
Nami was lightning quick, too, Vivi realized. She had Vivi pinned up against the wall before Vivi had a chance to defend herself. Kohza tried to come to her aid but Nami reached back and grabbed his Adam's Apple and squeezed. Kohza started to choke as he pulled at her hand. Nami kicked back and caught Kohza right in between the legs. He dropped to his knees and Nami kicked him in the head, sending him down to the floor.
"Let's get this straight, Miss Wednesday," Nami whispered. "I'm here because I was ordered to be here. That's it. The faster this is done, the faster I'm gone. And then you can do all your Crocodile-sama-shipping all you want. But I refuse to beat around the bush like you have been all along. No girl in advanced classes is stupid enough to not realize how to narrow down her search by two thirds."
Vivi tried to play it cool. "Perhaps the uniform colors are a ruse. The scarves and ties could have been traded in the first day of school with the excuse that the wrong set was ordered."
"Or you could be stalling," Nami deduced. "I think it's the second. And I don't care why. I just want out of this assassin's breeding ground."
The bell rang and Nami let go and pushed away from Vivi.
"You want to screw around one more day?" Nami guessed. "Fine. Tomorrow then. We'll go over the student body during homeroom."
As students began milling out of their classrooms Nami disappeared among them. Vivi straightened her uniform and looked at Kohza, who was picking himself up off the floor.
"She's right," Vivi said quietly. "We aren't going to be able to beat around the bush for much longer."
"It's fine," Kohza told her, though he no longer looked smug. Now he looked hopping pissed. "The solution to our problem just attacked us in a school that avidly mandates no fighting."
Vivi regarded Kohza in confusion. How was Nami the solution to their problems?
.o0o.
Vivi had her own small apartment near the school. It wasn't uncommon among high school students to live on their own during the school year and return home during the breaks. Only Vivi did not return home during those breaks. She, being a part of Crocodile's organization, was obligated to stay year round. Kohza, as a part of Crocodile's advanced student assassins at the orphanage, was around too.
Vivi unlocked the door to her apartment and flicked on the lights. She purposefully kept the drapes closed over her windows so she had to use the light. Her light bulb was specially designed to buzz at a frequency that disrupted audio listening devices. Kohza followed her in, immediately shucking his book bag.
Being in the same organization meant that Vivi and Kohza worked together a lot. It was a careful line to tread, not spending too much time together, or it would become suspicious. At least, that's what Vivi told herself as she gauged how much time she was allowed to spend with Kohza. She certainly didn't want Kohza to die because he hung around her too often.
Today, though they were not a part of the same assignment, was one of those rare days that she allowed herself to revel in the company of Kohza. The two of them had been each other's only confidant since they were children. And recently, well, things had gotten a little complicated. Despite that, Vivi allowed Kohza to come over to her apartment because she needed to discuss the new developments with him. Just that. Only discussing. Period.
Despite her strict plans, Kohza had his hands on her as soon as the door to the apartment was shut. He slipped her book bag from her shoulder and dropped it to the floor next to his own and crowded around her until she was pinned back against the wall.
Where and when Kohza had learned to kiss, Vivi did not know. At the moment, she didn't care either. She just let herself succumb to his kisses. It had been a long time since she was able to kiss him. At least three months. She was turning into jelly in his hands.
This wasn't a good thing. She needed to be clear headed when she was around Kohza. But it was so hard! His lips, his tongue, his hot breath as he panted, they were all addicting. His calloused hands rubbing against her bare skin was decadent. The feel of his hair as it slid silkily through her fingers was hedonistic.
Still, she had brought him to her apartment for a purpose, and this wasn't it.
"Kohza," she managed to say between kisses. "We need to talk."
He made a negative grunt sound. "Later."
Later wasn't a good idea, especially since he'd hiked up her skirt to her hips and was using those calloused hands to caress her behind now. Abruptly, he snaked his hands below her thighs and pulled up, yanking her into his arms and moving in a rush towards the futon.
And suddenly she was on her back, splayed across the futon as Kohza knelt over her and kissed her again. She was hot for him, she could readily admit it, but there was a time and place for such things and infiltrating an assassin squad and sabotaging their plans was not that time and place. It seemed that Kohza did not agree though.
She felt his hand between her legs and she moaned loudly into his mouth. This was a little farther than they had gone before and it was a bit of a shock to her. He rubbed there slowly but firmly, causing her to squirm beneath him.
"Kohza!" she cried out, clamping her legs shut to still his hand. She stiff-armed Kohza and focused very hard. "Stop it."
Kohza sighed deeply. "Tease."
"I am not," she contradicted, releasing the hand between her legs. Kohza sat back on the futon and let Vivi sit up as well. "You know very well the purpose—"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Kohza dismissed with a shrug. "I'm a distraction."
"No, you are an integral part of an intricate stealth sabotage mission," Vivi reminded him. "I need you to stay focused on the big picture."
"And not thinking with my other head," Kohza added. "I know. We've been through this."
"I never said—"
"You think it, though," Kohza accused. "I can see it in your face when you frown like you are now."
"Moving. On," Vivi insisted. "We need to talk about Nami."
Kohza pulled out his phone and waved it teasingly at her. "Indeed we do. I believe we have what you would call 'incriminating evidence.'"
Vivi quirked her head to the side and took the offered phone from Kohza. "What do you mean? Just how long were you waiting in the outer office?"
"Long enough," Kohza answered. "Just FYI, that 'incriminating evidence' is very explicit."
Vivi unlocked the phone and opened the photos. She saw that there was a video from this afternoon. She gave Kohza a wary look before she replayed the video.
There was no preamble. The video showed Crocodile fucking the girl Nami as she bent over his desk. Crocodile appeared to be on the phone while he did it. He mentioned his plans specifically, and Vivi could not suppress a shiver as Crocodile sentenced her to a gang rape.
"Poor Nami," Vivi whispered, not wishing such punishment on anyone, even a girl who had attacked her. Kohza snorted. He obviously felt different as he unconsciously rubbed at the spot where Nami had kicked him in the head.
"She don't exactly look like an unwilling participant," Kohza diagnosed. "Watch. She's perfectly calm, and still is intuitive as fuck."
Vivi watched as Nami turned her head and appeared to look right at the camera. After a moment, she extended her right hand and put up her middle finger. The video stopped after that, but Kohza gave her no chance to think over what she'd just seen.
"It's perfect," Kohza was saying already. "All we have to do is place the right bits of evidence in Nami's file to frame her as the Nefeltari heir, wait for Crocodile to take the bait, and then bust open the whole organization."
Vivi felt cold at Kohza's strategy. She knew that she had been planning for exactly this, but she didn't realize the sheer amount of guilt she would experience at putting someone through their plan. It involved the exploitation of a minor without their permission. It was a hard pill to swallow.
"I'm not sure—"
"No, no backing out," Kohza denied. "We've been through this. It's gotta be somebody, and we found someone that's the right age already in Crocodile's organization. She's perfect. She's supposedly adopted. Give me a couple days to fiddle with her records and suddenly there'll be a few Nefeltari references in her background. It's that easy."
"It's not easy," Vivi denied. But Kohza didn't look at the situation the way she did. Kohza was sacrificing someone to save Vivi, while Vivi was sacrificing someone to save herself. Kohza felt selfless, Vivi felt selfish.
"We could be done with this whole operation in a week," Kohza predicted, still trying to convince her. "Next week you could be home with your father and no longer walking this dangerous tightrope."
"It'll take more than a week," Vivi contradicted. "I have evidence on the Millions and Billions, but not all of the Numbers and Weekdays. I still need more evidence."
Kohza rolled his eyes and sighed. "Who's left?"
"Mr. One," Vivi began listing. "Miss Doublefinger. Mr. Four, Miss Merry Christmas. And lastly Miss All-Sunday, since you seem to have taken care of Mr. Zero."
"Fine," Kohza agreed. "We start with the lesser agents first; Mr. Four and Miss Merry Christmas. Then we'll work up to Mr. One and Miss Doublefinger. Miss All-Sunday is last."
Vivi forced herself to pay attention to what Kohza was proposing and focus on the new task ahead. He was right; regardless of whether or not Vivi wanted to use Nami (or anyone) as a scapegoat, it was going to happen. But it couldn't happen until the last five agents had evidence gathered against them.
.o0o.
Mr. Four and Miss Merry Christmas.
Yeesh. Vivi knew Crocodile had some scum that worked for him, but she just didn't want to know how bad that scum was. Digging into the lives of Mr. Four and Miss Merry Christmas was awful.
Mr. Four had been with Miss Merry Christmas for a long time, as far as Vivi was able to find. And likewise, he had been firmly under her thumb. Miss Merry Christmas' forte was psychological warfare, and had no doubt used it on Mr. Four, to make him into the bastard he was. Not that he wouldn't have been a sick bastard without Miss Merry Christmas' influence. She just acted as a psychologically abusive guide to form him into a successful merciless bully.
Mr. Four was physically abusive where Miss Merry was mentally abusive. Mr. Four was a physical education teacher, and often bullied the students that he didn't think were putting in enough effort. The physical torture could be as simple as a smack with a wooden ruler, or as complex as slamming a student's head against a locker.
How did he get away with it? Miss Merry Christmas.
Students that were attacked by Mr. Four were sent to the 'counselor' Miss Merry Christmas and subsequently mentally abused and manipulated into believing that they had caused the altercation and if they did not want to be expelled from school for fighting, they had no choice but to accept their punishments handed out by Mr. Four.
So all Vivi had to do was be around when Mr. Four went berserk on a student and catch it on video. That was a daily occurrence, so luck would probably be on her side if she just paid attention to Mr. Four throughout the day. Then came the hard part: she needed to somehow work herself into a room with Miss Merry Christmas when she was counseling a student and video that as well.
Kohza had to be talked down from making an opportunity for Vivi to catch Mr. Four beating the shit out of him. Kohza skated on thin ice most of the time within the Baroque Works organization, therefore he didn't need to make any unneeded ripples. Vivi knew she'd get her opportunity probably sooner rather than later when she got to school.
Unfortunately, another pressing matter reasserted itself as soon as Vivi walked into school had to be dealt with first. Vivi had seen Kohza first, leaning against the outer wall of the school entrance right before she saw Nami, standing about two steps behind Kohza, apparently also waiting for her.
So it was going to be one of those days.
"Morning," Vivi greeted halfheartedly. Nami observed her coolly.
"Yes, it is," she replied. "I hope you're ready to get down to business. I'd like to be done with this business within a week."
Vivi and Kohza shared a look.
"An impressive deadline," Vivi responded. "Have you received your altered class schedule?"
Nami held up a piece of paper. "Your Crocodile-sama gave it to me last night at the orphanage. He said you would be the one to 'show me to my new classes.'"
"I see," Vivi said. "Then let's head to homeroom."
Vivi took the lead onto school grounds and the other two fell in step behind her. It was an odd combination. Kohza gave off an air of complete contentment and ease, Nami gave off an air of hostility. Vivi hazarded a glance behind her and saw that their company had grown by one: a tall second year was now walking next to Nami and of all things, holding her hand.
Vivi blinked in surprise as she refocused on what was in front of her. How had he snuck up on her undetected? She had seen this second year around the school, noticing him for his height more than anything. He was a head and a half taller her at least. But she didn't know anything about him. He hadn't been covered yet in her examination of the student body.
The tall boy accompanied them all the way into the classroom, dropping Nami's book bag that he had been carrying next to her as she stood waiting for Miss Doublefinger at her desk. Then he actually stooped and kissed her. Everyone stared at the very public display of affection, and Vivi couldn't help but stare too. Nami just didn't give off the impression of someone who wanted anyone near her, let alone a boyfriend.
Miss Doublefinger, or rather, Miss Blue as she was referred to by students, entered the class and went about giving Nami her new books, a school issued laptop for advanced student use, and assigning her a seat next to Vivi.
'How convenient,' Vivi thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
The advanced class had fewer students than the regular class, so there were quite a few seats open, but Miss Doublefinger had obviously been told that Nami and Vivi were working together and had arranged for them to be as close as possible.
Nami took her seat and homeroom started. Nami pulled from her bag two stapled reports and handed them to Vivi.
"I hacked into the school's computers last night and got lists of all first year girls and second year boys," she reported. "I assume you have a list somewhere of the students you've checked on. If you don't want to spend the time going through and marking off whoever you've been through, give me your list and I'll do it."
Nami's tone was all business. Now that the tall second year boy wasn't around, Nami wasn't giving off waves of hostility anymore. Now it just seemed like an air of irritated indifference.
Vivi actually had been doing the job that Crocodile had assigned to her, in a way. Vivi had spent the first four months of the year going through one by one the profiles of all of the students in the school for a person who would be best to be framed as the Nefeltari heir, but with every student profile she went through, she still had the same problem: she felt guilty at the thought of using them.
"I can do it," Vivi consented. Vivi's list was in her bag as well. She retrieved it and spent the majority of homeroom crossing off names from Nami's lists. When she was done, she handed the lists back to Nami to look over. Nami eyed them quickly before taking the pen from Vivi's desk and crossing a name off of each list.
The boy's list: Trafalgar Water.
The girl's list: Nami LaFemme.
"Safe to say that I'm not the Nefeltari heir," Nami sighed. "And I can vouch for this idiot. His father is a doctor at Flevance Water Clinic, not a multi-billionaire from All-Blue."
Vivi took the list back and crossed two names off of the list as well.
The boy's list: Kohza Suna.
The girl's list: Vivi Alubarna.
"Kohza's isn't just in that orphanage because he's a trainee," VIvi said under her breath. "His parents both died when he was young, and the rest of his family didn't want him."
"Lucky him," Nami commented darkly. "And you? What's your story?"
Vivi paused a moment before answering with her cover story. "My parents live in North Blue and run a tokoyaki stand. It didn't do much to pay the bills for school, so when Crocodile came to scout me for his organization, promising to pay all the fees for my training, I took the opportunity handed to me."
Nami was giving her a side eye. "Are your parents still alive?"
What an odd question.
"Yes," Vivi told her. Ingaram and his wife were fine, and still assuming the tokoyaki stand guise that had been concocted in order for Vivi to infiltrate the Baroque Works organization. Vivi's confusion must have shown on her face.
"They won't be for long," Nami predicted. "Crocodile is the type of man who would have you kill your own family to show your allegiance. I'd send word for them to flee the country if you have any sort of affection for them."
As Nami said this, she nonchalantly picked her nails. So blasé about death being doled out. But, now that the comparison had been made, Vivi could see that yes, Nami was probably right. It stung. The thought of the Ingarams, who had been like an aunt and uncle to her growing up, could be murdered, and possibly by her own hand if she didn't finish her assignment soon enough.
"This leaves thirty-six girls and fifty-one boys," Nami assessed from the list that Vivi had given back to her. "Do you want the boys or the girls?"
Vivi mentally steeled herself and reached a hand out for a list. "The girls."
Nami readily handed it over, not knowing that she was sealing her own fate as she did so.
"Assuming Miss Blue there doesn't expect us to pay attention in class," Nami said, eyeing Miss Doublefinger speculatively, "I figure I can get through at least ten of these per day. So I should be through my list by Saturday."
Considering that all Vivi had to do was frame Nami, Vivi had oodles more time on her hands. Time she supposed would have to be devoted to gathering incriminating evidence against the last five agents in Baroque Works. Vivi thought about it. The rest of Tuesday and all of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday to frame Nami. She took a deep breath and sighed.
"I can meet that deadline."
A/N: Welcome to the Baroque Works Arc if you hadn't already guessed where this was going. It's going to be an interesting ride. Let me know what you think of the creative liberty I'm taking with the story line.