"Bronya-oneechan, aren't you coming back with us?"
At the entrance of Chiba Academy, Seele, with two backpacks on—one on her back and one on her front—looked at Bronya with a hint of helplessness.
It was nearly four in the afternoon, and the western sky had turned a dusky yellow again. Bronya took a deep breath, and a cold current instantly rushed into her lungs, clearing the drowsiness that had accumulated after a full day of classes.
"Mmm, Seele, you go back first. I..."
"I know, Bronya-oneechan has a mission!" Seele smiled faintly. How could she not understand? She just wanted to hear the answer from Bronya's own lips. She was sensible and would certainly not hinder Bronya-oneechan from carrying out the mission assigned by Mama Cocolia just because she didn't want to part.
"Mmm..." Bronya hummed softly, reached out to ruffle Seele's hair, and whispered, "Don't wait for me for dinner, and don't wait for me to go to bed. Don't be silly like those other times, you hear?"
"Mmm," Seele nodded.
"Then... huh?" Bronya held Seele's hand and led her forward a couple of steps, about to let go, when she caught sight of that driver named Michael leaning against a car a few steps away, watching them with a faint smile.
"Ahem! Seele, didn't you say this afternoon that you were running out of pencils? I'll go buy you a couple."
"Eh? I..." Seele was puzzled. When did she say she was running out of pencils? But seeing Bronya's serious expression, she immediately understood and played along. "Ah... then, I'll have to trouble Bronya-oneechan."
"You go on ahead with Sin Mal and the others. I'll buy the pencils and catch up right away." Bronya patted Seele's backpack lightly and gave her a reassuring smile. Then, in front of Michael, she turned and ran towards the stationery store on the other side of the school gate.
It was just after school, and the stationery store was noisy and crowded with students, most of them from the lower grades. But with Bronya's height, she blended in without looking out of place. The store owner didn't even notice her.
"One, two, three..." she counted silently in her head. Half a minute later, she squeezed to the front of the store. She didn't walk out completely, but merely peeked out with half her face, carefully glancing at the black car with her peripheral vision.
Michael was still leaning against the car in his usual sloppy manner, as if he needed its support to stand. But he was no longer paying attention to anything else, engrossed in his phone.
"The stationery store is a good cover. Could that guy have sensed something? No, it must be a coincidence. He's strong, but unless he can read minds, how could he possibly guess my actions? But this guy is too relaxed. If this were Siberia, his level of alertness wouldn't last a day. Still, why would Raiden Ryoma hire someone like this to take care of his daughter? He doesn't seem very reliable."
Raiden Mei and Kiana hadn't appeared yet, so she still had enough time for some insignificant fantasies, mainly complaining about Michael. She had seen many mercenaries, and not all of them were like her, always maintaining a serious demeanor whether on a mission or not.
In this line of work, most were like Natasha—exceptionally serious on a mission, but it wouldn't be surprising to see them acting sloppily once the mission was over.
But that was just on the surface. Someone like Raven would keep one eye open even when passed out drunk, ever vigilant of her surroundings. How could Michael be so relaxed, still technically on a mission, and already playing on his phone?
Bronya couldn't explain why she had such a strong opinion of Michael. Perhaps it was because his hair color, eye color, and facial features, aside from his height and gender, were so similar to hers, which gave her this complex feeling—a mix of fear and an inability to stand his laziness, as if she herself were the one being lazy.
Then, Bronya unconsciously began to fantasize about another possibility: what if she had met Raiden Ryoma instead of Cocolia back then? What would be happening now?
Would it be Natasha leaning idly against the car, while she was personally protecting Raiden Mei?
Hmm? Then Michael might have become Cocolia's subordinate, and also...
"Why am I thinking this?" Bronya tapped her head lightly. "If that were the case, I wouldn't have met Seele... Ah, so my deepest bond there is because of Seele?"
Bronya thought about it. If Seele could also "switch sides" with her, it seemed acceptable. But why was she having such thoughts?
Perhaps it was because she was a mercenary who only cared about money, not people—no, that's not what Uncle Maxim had taught her. That was Natasha's style, never Bronya's. Then...
Then there was only one other possibility—deep down, she couldn't accept some of Mama Cocolia's actions, to the point where she had the thought, "If our roles were reversed, it wouldn't be impossible to be Cocolia's enemy."
Of course, she was grateful to Cocolia. If she had successfully killed Cocolia back then, what would be happening now? She'd probably still be in Siberia with Natasha, constantly killing to survive—no, she might have already died in some sudden firefight.
It was Cocolia who had given her a more stable environment, with no worries about food or clothing, only needing to complete occasional missions. Not to mention, Cocolia had taken them out of the hellish Siberia and brought them to the more prosperous and peaceful Far East.
It was because of this gratitude, or to put it less nobly—as a prepayment—that Bronya willingly obeyed Cocolia's commands.
But gratitude, obedience, even understanding—none of these meant approval.
She knew very well that Raiden Ryoma had been framed. Although, in Cocolia's own words: she was just asking Mr. Raiden Ryoma to rest somewhere else for a while, and would not harm anyone else, let alone take anyone's life. Moreover, activating the Gem of Conquest and the Gem of Serenity was something she had to do for certain reasons, and Raiden Ryoma's presence would only be an obstacle.
But was that really the case? Bronya had at least seen an innocent girl, Raiden Mei, being isolated and humiliated at school, enduring a level of malice that someone her age shouldn't have to bear.
And there was the issue of the Gem of Conquest and the Gem of Serenity... Cocolia had always kept the truth about these "gems" from her. Natasha seemed to know something, but refused to tell her anything. She could only glean bits and pieces from the conversations of the white-coated researchers—this was an experiment with an extremely high mortality rate for the subjects.
She didn't care about being a subject of the X-10 experiment herself, but what about Raiden Mei? Was she to have the identity of a "victim" piled on top of another "victim" identity? She had done nothing wrong, yet she had first lost her father, and now she was very likely to lose her own life... This was just too pitiful.
It was strange. Bronya had personally killed countless people and witnessed their various reactions to death—resolute, numb, or struggling and begging in a pathetic and ugly way. She had never wavered then, let alone felt a shred of "pity."
Perhaps it was because back then, if she didn't kill, she wouldn't survive, leaving no room for other thoughts. Or perhaps, every person she killed back then, for whatever reason, had the blood of others on their hands. A life for a life, and all pity could be erased.
In any case...
"No! Why am I thinking about this at a time like this!" She held her head and shook it vigorously, feeling a little clearer. Looking around, the stationery store had become less crowded. Most of the students who came here were from the lower grades who got out of school earlier. The upper-grade classes were released later, and few of them would come here.
With fewer people, her figure stood out a little more. Her hair color, hairstyle, and appearance were too recognizable in the Far East. But it wasn't uncommon for students to wait for their parents at the stationery store entrance, so while she stood out, she didn't attract too much attention. For most people, living their own daily lives was enough. Even if they saw something or someone eye-catching, they would just take a second look or laugh it off.
Bronya quietly peeked out. Luckily, luckily, Michael was still there, which meant Raiden Mei and Kiana hadn't come out yet.
She waited another two minutes, until the muscles in her eyes started to twitch from staring sideways for too long. Then, the shades of purple and white finally appeared in her line of sight.
"What if Kiana goes back to the mansion with Raiden Mei?" She had considered this possibility before. She couldn't rule it out, and if it happened, she had no way to counter it.
But it didn't matter. Even if that happened, she wouldn't lose anything, just waste some time. Although books said to cherish every minute and second, the truth was that life was both short and long. Every minute and second was a step towards death, but wasting a few minutes, a few hours, or even a few days wouldn't have a big impact.
Her luck seemed exceptionally good today. The possibility she had worried about didn't happen. Kiana waved goodbye to Mei as she got into the car, her smile visible even from a distance. But she just stood by the roadside until the car door closed, watching as the car slowly pulled away under Michael's control.
"Crap!" The car was coming in her direction. If Michael was observant, he might see her. Bronya quickly hid herself back inside the stationery store. She let out a long sigh of relief only after a dark shadow flashed past the entrance.
A moment later, Kiana walked past the stationery store entrance, humming an unknown tune. Bronya was about to tail her when Kiana unexpectedly took two steps back and stared blankly into the store, though it was unclear what she was looking at.
Bronya was startled by this sudden move. Fortunately, Kiana didn't linger at the entrance for too long, nor did she notice Bronya. She then went on her way.
"Boss, a set square!" To avoid arousing suspicion, Bronya casually picked up a palm-sized set square from the counter, silently counting the time in her head. By the time she paid and walked out of the store, she was about ten meters behind Kiana, not too far, not too close.
She openly followed in Kiana's footsteps, the dazzling evening sun at her back, illuminating the path ahead.
"Perfect!" she gave herself a victory sign in her mind. "This way, even if she turns around, she won't be able to see my face clearly."
But that didn't happen. Kiana's rental was close to Chiba Academy. Bronya had only followed for less than two hundred steps when she saw Kiana walk into an apartment building.
Bronya deliberately waited a moment before following her in. The first floor of the apartment was very simple, almost just an elevator lobby. Bronya watched the elevator display show the number stop at the seventeenth floor before pressing the call button.
She had to admit, her luck today was unbelievably good. Inside the elevator, she found that a key card was needed to press the floor buttons. Just as she was about to take the stairs, a woman carrying shopping bags rushed in.
The woman unthinkingly pressed a floor button first, and when there was no reaction, she glanced at Bronya.
But she wasn't idle enough to ask, and Bronya wasn't so self-conscious as to explain. The woman took out a string of keys, used a small card attached to the key ring to unlock the elevator, and after pressing the button for the eighth floor, she even softly asked Bronya, "Which floor?"
Bronya didn't answer. Instead, she took a step forward and pressed the button for the seventeenth floor herself. The woman naturally had no objection.
Perhaps in some people's eyes, asking someone else to press the floor button could reduce the risk of leaving fingerprints, but so what? This matter would never escalate to the point where the police needed to use fingerprint retrieval. Everything would be handled privately.
If it ever got to that point, the surveillance cameras along the way were not for show. Who would bother with fingerprints then?
The elevator slowly stopped at the eighth floor. The woman walked out without a second glance at Bronya.
Half a minute later, the elevator stopped at the seventeenth floor. Bronya stepped out of the elevator car to see three identical-looking doors.
"What a pain, but it's within expectations." She took out a device that looked like a miniature telescope from her pocket and, as expected, chose the middle door. She placed the device on the peephole, and when she looked through it, the situation inside the room was clear.
"Holy..." Bronya was blessed by Lady Luck again. Through the peephole, she could see Kiana pacing back and forth inside—she had guessed right again!
And her good luck didn't end there. After pacing for a couple of circles, Kiana suddenly messed up her hair and dived into the bathroom.
"Good chance!" She took out another small device and injected a putty-like substance into the keyhole. Soon, white smoke mixed with a soft sizzling sound and the smell of corroding metal emerged.
She waited another two or three seconds, and the lock clicked open with a pop. And so, there was no turning back.
Although she was very reluctant, it had finally come to this.