" Fumitan, you need something?"
Fumitan hesitated momentarily at my door, gripping the hem of her sleeves before releasing it. With that action alone, I knew I was in for a bitch of a conversation.
"I…" She paused, deciding to come in first and take a seat.
I raised an eyebrow, sending a message to Merribit to postpone our daily lessons.
"I wanted to ask you something," she finally said. Wow, I never could have guessed.
"Alright. Ask away."
Fumitan met my gaze, searching for something I wish I knew.
"…Why?"
I blinked. "Why what?"
She clenched her fingers slightly before releasing them again. " Why are you going through all this?"
Ah, okay.
That felt like a loaded question. An overarching question that I didn't really feel like or really know how to unpack. So when in doubt or trouble, deflect. " I don't see why that matters. We're already here and you've made your choice. Does knowing why I did what I did change anything?"
"It doesn't change anything," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean I don't want to know."
I hummed in thought.
Fine, if she wanted to be stubborn.
I had a few options here but I think I should go the shounen protag route. Feels like it would be best considering my whole situation and seems like a route that would endear me to the maid. "Because it felt right. It's not the most satisfying answer, I know but it's the truth."
The almost blank look she gave me made me feel as though she could see right through my answer. Maybe I should have said it was because Kudelia was my friend or something.
"…That's a reckless way to live," she finally said and I internally sighed in relief.
*I don't know if you noticed but this company started on reckless behaviour. "
Fumitan let out a small, almost involuntary huff. " And what happens when reckless behaviour gets you killed?" she asked, the tension in the room having somewhat dissipated.
" Then I die but if I was worried about dying every time I took an action, I wouldn't be a leader of a paramilitary company."
Fumitan stared at me again, lips pressing into a thin line.
"That's a foolish way to live," she said at last, though there was no real heat behind her words.
I snorted at that. " I didn't know you cared so much. Has Miss Fumitan caught feelings perhaps?"
Now that got a reaction out of her.
Fumitan's eyes narrowed instantly and if you took a microscope to her cheeks, you might just see a blush. That could just be a trick of the mind though.
She folded her arms, composure returning in full force like a defensive shield. " I care because reckless men get others killed and Miss Kudelia seems to have taken a liking to you. Not because of… that."
Suddenly, the door opened and a worried Richy came into the room. " Problem in the cafeteria. A fight."
Of course there is.
" Seems I have an issue to attend to." I say, standing up and following Richy to the cafeteria where as stated, two fights were taking place. One on the ground between Eugene and Robby.
Not a big surprise who the troublemakers were.
However, the other one was. Norba and David. David was not one to get into unnecessary fights so I guessed it was initiated by Norba.
A quick glance around revealed Andre and Harley watching from the side, money in their hands. I felt a flicker of amusement pass through me and the urge to put my money in the obvious bet. Allas, I needed to push such urges to the side as I was, in fact, an authority figure.
Robby was atop Eugene beating the ever living crap out of the boy while David was playing with Norba, easily dodging the boy's punches and throwing the occasional funny slap Norba's way.
The two boys simply had too much experience in scraps to do anything but dominate. Now, which fight should I intervene in?
Whichever fight was more vicious, which obviously had to go to Robby's.
Kicking the greasy-haired boy off the near-unconscious blonde, Robby did an almost perfect roll and bared his teeth at me like a dog.
If the boy wasn't a good engineer, he would have been an excellent addition to the assault squad.
Actually not. He may have the skill but that squad needs people who can listen and shut up when the time calls for it. Something Robby was too brain-dead to do.
" Don't bare your teeth at me. If you wanna act like a wild mutt, I'll put you down like one." I say, glaring at the boy. I emphasised my point by resting my hand on one of my pistols.
Luckily, the boy had a good memory.
Robby was a good friend of mine, but whatever gods are watching know how many times the boy allowed his anger to control him, especially in his younger years.
David, Andre and I have had to pacify him many a time, and the best way to do that is to beat his ass to the point where he regains clarity or knock him out.
A quick glance at David's fight showed that they had stopped that joke of a fight with David tripping Norba and pinning his hands behind his back.
Turning to the battered Eugene, I let out a sigh.
Poor guy.
Despite everyone but Richy having the ability to subdue Robby, the boy was no slouch when it came to fighting.
His feral nature, high pain tolerance and the basic training David and I had taught him made him a bitch to deal with in a fight.
" Now that the party is over, what the hell happened?'
" I'd also like to know that." A familiar voice said, and turning around, I revealed it to be my partner in leadership with Biscuit and Mika a step behind.
" I was just hanging out with the guys when that fucker got in my face." Robby snarled out.
" That's…a…f-fucking…lie." Eugene managed to get out as Biscuit and Mika helped him up.
" You're calling me a fuckin liar bastard!" Robby shouted, making his way to Eugene, only to be stopped by Andre, who finally felt the need to step in.
" Eugene is right. We overheard that bastard bad-mouthing Orga and told him to stop. He just flipped us off while ignoring us." Norba announced.
" Last time I checked, I can talk about whatever the hell I wanna talk about whoever the hell I wanna talk about it!" Robby snarled, folding his arms, an angry look still on display. " And you forgot to tell him that the blond incest baby decided to grab me by the collar and pull me up from my seat."
" So that gives you the right to beat the shit out of him?" Norba hissed.
" Hell yeah! You don't grab a guy's collar unless you're looking for hands. You're lucky you didn't get some too. "
" Oh yeah! I'd like to see you try!"
I had had enough of this. " Shut it!"
Silence followed as I began rubbing my temples, voice going back to being a calm low as I spoke. " Are you all mentally ill or just plain stupid? We are on an important mission for fucks sake."
I made sure to meet all the boys' eyes. " You have an issue, go report it. Otherwise, shut the fuck up and at least try to act like you weren't raised by animals. "
I pointed at the four. " You all seem to have a lot of energy. Be happy, I have a lot of shit on my plate with us nearing Earth to be busy babysitting, cause only God knows how bad my punishment would be. However, you all shall be on cleanup duty till I state otherwise."
Taking a look around at all the lowered heads and fuming expressions, it was obvious this wouldn't be the last of it.
I sighed, shaking my head. "Things are tense as it is without you adding to things. Any issues between me and Orga are only between the two of us. It's not a group project. All we require of you all is to do your jobs. Nothing more, nothing less, understand?"
Silence.
" Am I talking to myself? Do you all understand?"
A round of yes's and grumbling agreements reverberated.
I began rolling my hurt shoulder, feeling the bullet wound begin to ache." For god sake, you're even making my wound act up. Now I need to go get the bloody thing checked."
Seeing that things were sorted for the moment, I decided to take my leave, allowing Orga to say his own piece.
*******
Despite that little issue, the rest of our journey to the earth orbital stop went smoothly and since no one knew the Isaribi was carrying a high value target, we faced no battles.
Naze was easily able to rent a ship going down to Earth.
" Stop being grumpy. I mean, it's not like you'll see the blonde anytime soon considering he's in charge of the ships. I mean, what did you expect me to do?"
Robby was glaring at nothing in particular as we were entering Earth's atmosphere.
" Yeah, I'm the one who should be grumbling. I bet you would knock Eugene out." Andre squawked as he eyed Harley who had her legs up on me as she did whatever she was doing on her phone, only taking a moment to look up and send a smug smirk Andre's way.
" He's not wrong, you know. " David added as he wiped down his rifle. " Darius may be our friend but first and foremost, he's the boss and as a boss, he can't let you get away with beating people up."
Robby sighed, and his angered look lessened, but he still continued his staring contest with the window.
He'd get over it.
I had bigger things to focus on anyway. All the little changes I've made have finally caught up with me. Without the international cops on our ass, we've managed to enter Earth and shall reach our destination with few issues.
Which in turn means Biscuit is unlikely to die. Another good thing is that the old fart has nothing over Tekkaden since we won't be trapped on his island, so he can't force us to do anything.
Now we're still likely gonna still accept the deal to take the old man to the electoral house or wherever he needs to go, but we'd be negotiating from a superior position than the original and with an easier target since we're still incognito.
With two top-tier missions like that under our belt, it would ensure we had enough jobs to drown in.
Now, I don't wanna think ahead of myself, but if nothing goes wrong, we should be in the clear.
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
Staring down at the blue planet below, I felt the reality of the situation hit. The trajectory of Tekkaden and more importantly, my life hinged on what happened in the coming weeks.
" Let's not fuck it up."