Chapter 88: Two Siblings
Sophie glanced between the two, not comprehending the tension between them. They were siblings?
Well, they did share some similar features, most notable were their near matching pale skin and raven-black hair.
But how could so much tension be between siblings?
The man spat out the words 'older sister' like it was the most vile phrase imaginable. Pete and Aiko recoiled slightly as the man's eyes scrunched up with hatred.
His mask hid his mouth, but there was no doubt that the same expression was being made underneath the fabric.
However, that was not the only reason why they flinched.
This-
This was the Web of Blades.
Mangchi grabbed his friends' arms, quietly backing away to the corner. He unconsciously tiptoed, careful to make the least amount of sound as possible.
Sayako leaned back. Her trembling hand gripped her sword hilt.
"Taein... I'm so sorr-"
One of Taein's blades flashed forward.
Sayako's eyes followed the scythe easily, but her sword did not make a single attempt to escape her scabbard.
The scythe's flat side viciously whipped her cheek.
The sound of metal on flesh sent her sprawling to the ground.
Sayako spat out a mouthful of blood, mumbling under her breath as her teeth rattled. She looked at him pleadingly.
"Hold it. What do you think you are doing?" Sophie stepped forward, blocking Sayako from Taein's view with her body.
"This is a family matter."
He stepped forward, his two scythes spreading out like wings, threatening a painful confrontation.
"I am her frie-"
Sophie's spine snapped backwards as a scythe swept past where her neck was a second previously, narrowly avoiding decapitation.
"Bullshit. You're being used; all there is to it." The two scythes planted themselves into the ground. The man's hands hadn't left their pockets yet.
"What do you want, Taein. I'll give it to you, so stop fighting her!" Sayako squeezed her distorted arm, remembering her last confrontation with Sophie. The one with the Fragment's Melody. It was too dangerous for him.
"Explanations. I want explanations. Then I'll decide if you live."
Sayako's head bobbled up and down, feverishly agreeing to her brother's request.
Taein blinked at her immediate consent. He had planned all of his life for the day he met her again, but he never expected such an easy agreement from her lips.
He was actually quite vexed that she agreed so easily.
But that moment of surprise allowed Taein to snap out of his rage. He didn't come here for this.
"Are these your friends? One of them matches a profile I'm searching for." Taein's eyes landed on Sophie, analyzing her face and clothes.
"Don't fight them-!" Sayako's voice was filled with a sense of urgency that Taein didn't understand.
Sophie stuck her hand out, noticing how Taein's gaze lingered on her face, like he recognized her.
"My name is Sophie. Captain of Chimère Office, if that's why you are looking for me."
Taein shook her hand briskly.
"I was going to ask you about stuff, but I don't feel like doing that now. Hold for a second." The man pulled out his phone, sighing as he had to take both hands out of his pockets to text.
"Wait here for two of my Fixers. Me and Sis are going to have a talk in the Warehouse District." Taein yanked Sayako's neck, lifting her to his eye level. He wrinkled his nose at her meek reaction as his grip clawed into her neck.
"Come on, struggle a bit, give me a reason to hurt you." He muttered under his breath as he choked her life away.
But as her face turned red, she just looked at him with those same miserable eyes, like she was the one that regretted it most.
"Where's the big sister I used to know..." A hint of emotion tinged his voice before he propelled himself across the rooftops, quickly disappearing from sight.
And with that, Sayako was gone.
Aiko looked at Pete.
Pete looked at Mangchi.
Mangchi looked at Sophie.
And Sophie only shrugged.
"I have no idea what happened. Who was that? You guys know him?" The girl remembered how her Fixers slowly backed away from the man in orange.
"Wha- you don't know who just took her? That was Taein, the Captain of Hook Office!" Pete caught Aiko as her feet buckled, sighing a breath of relief as he realized no one was hurt in the confrontation.
Contrary to their expectations, Sophie didn't react at all, just nodding her head plainly.
Their Captain truly was shrouded in mystery...
An awkward silence descended. Throughout the day, Sayako had proven to be an important pillar of theirs. She knew the ins and outs of combat and the best methods of training, simply due to her strength and age, even though she was probably at most only a decade older than them.
Now that her presence was gone, they did not pick up their weapons again.
Good thing they didn't have to wait too long. Soon enough, a young woman hoisted herself onto the roof.
Almost immediately, Pete and Aiko were drawn to the woman's mesmerizing pupils, subconsciously loosening their guard.
Mangchi was more captivated by her strange attire. Something resembling a muzzle hid her mouth from view, and nearly a dozen chains hung from her belt, each with a blade attached to its end.
It must take a lot of skill to walk around like that.
But then they squeezed closer together. Because this woman fit a description that they were all too familiar to them.
Sophie didn't have any of her Fixers' thoughts. She opened her hand for a handshake, to which the woman only glanced down at with a plain expression.
"My name is Sophie. Yours?"
"Let's wait for my partner to arrive before the introductions." Despite the muzzle, the woman's voice was surprisingly clear, and perhaps even melodic.
The woman sighed as the alley next to them began to clamor with noise.
"I'mma jump up there now! Cover ya skulls-!" With a bellow, a man leapt onto the roof with a single, clean leap.
Was it just her imagination, or did Sophie feel the ground tremble slightly as he landed?
The giant stumbled as he caught his footing, grinning beneath his mask (that was also grinning). He lumbered over to his partner's side, creating an odd pair of heights, with one more than a quarter-meter taller than the other.
"Nice to meet you, Sophie. My name is Naoki, of Hook Office." She shook Sophie's outstretched hand, her politeness leaving a favorable impression on the girl.
"And I'm McCullin!" The giant took her hand as well, smiling beneath his mask. Despite their unorthodox outfits, they seemed fairly normal.
"I see. Your Captain left in a hurry with one of my friends. Do you two know the reason why?"
Naoki shrugged.
"That's his personal business. We're just here to ask some questions, if you may allow us."
The knives on Naoki's waist clinked. She swayed her hips, leaning forward in a cutesy manner completely unfit for her attire.
Pete and his friends huddled into a tight group behind their Captain, conflicting emotions rising in their expressions. The Dual Fang and the Shark all too well known to them. Back in their days as homeless 'rats', it was Hook Office that had the most notoriety in their vagrant communities.
Hopefully Captain doesn't do anything rash, Pete thought.
But thankfully, Sophie had no reason to refuse. She nodded, taking a seat by the edge of the roof.
"So what questions brought you to me?"
Despite the obvious difference in age, Naoki felt an odd pressure from the girl's blank stare. An incomprehensible thought crossed her mind: that stare contained more than one lifetime of wisdom.
But that only made more sense in the end. Whoever could make that monster in the video their subordinate would definitely not be simple.
She glanced at her partner, and he understood the message in her eyes. They sat down with their guards up.
"One of your Fixers is currently not here, correct?" Naoki glanced around her, as if the person they were looking for would suddenly appear.
"Yes, he is not."
"Gahaha, then is he dead?" Naoki shot McCullin a look as he burst into relieved laughter. How tasteless.
But she felt the same sense of relief. Someone like that was too dangerous to be ali-
"No, he is not."
The two of them froze.
Sophie brushed off a bit of ash off her sleeve as the layer of char on her dress began to snake around her body like writhing serpents.
Her expression was dangerously flat.
"You want him dead?" The girl twirled her wrist, and a knife appeared in her hand.
Naoki leapt to her feet, but McCullin's hand pushed her back down with force. His usually mirthful demeanor was gone.
"Of course n... Do you understand the reputation your Fixer has now?" McCullin's voice was calm, yet timid.
The knife in her hand disappeared with a sleight of hand.
"Did you see the video in the forum then? I do not understand how that would change his reputation."
Naoki didn't know why the girl was acting so clueless.
McCullin voiced her thoughts for her.
"The video of the actual fight. We came here to check if the little starlet who killed a Capo was still alive."
Pete and his friends shivered as McCullin's gaze swept over them. But they also had a shared thought. A video of the fight itself? They hadn't seen anything like that.
Sophie nodded with understanding.
"I see. It has already been leaked. Yes, he is alive."
A silence descended on the pair of Hook Fixers. Damn... their Captain was right. Usually fatal wounds were nothing to someone on the level of a Capo-
"Then, is Stella still alive as well? Did he capture her?" Naoki looked at the building beneath her feet. Maybe the woman was being tortured in a room down there or something.
But Sophie shook her head.
"No, the Capo is truly dead. She was a respectable foe."
So the Capo died while Asher lived. Naoki and McCullin took some time to process that information.
In reality, their thoughts were a bit far from the truth. Stella fell from the twelfth floor onto her stomach, while Asher was caught by a web of hands. If he was the one that fell unassisted instead, he would have certainly been made into a crude mash of human flesh.
A few dozen seconds later, they stood up, satisfied by what they have learned.
"Thank you for your time." Naoki flashed them a smile of courtesy.
However, Sophie called out behind them before they could jump off the roof.
"What about the woman your Captain took away? She is important to my Fixers."
"..."
Naoki could only shrug before leaping off. Hopefully their Captain wouldn't do anything too rash.
Making an enemy of this Office would be a nightmare.
After the Hook Fixers disappeared, Mangchi was the first to speak.
"Video of the fight? Is it on the Forum or something?"
Sophie shook her head. A video of the fight would be far too gruesome for her Fixers to handle. Best to just keep it away from them for now.
Though she was sure they would find out in the end.
"I'm going to the Warehouse District to find Sayako. Asher is there, too. Stay here for now."
With that, Sophie vanished into the smoke.
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