At the same time, in the southern part of the city, inside a run-down apartment unit in an industrial area,
"Huaaaah."
A beautiful girl with shoulder-length black hair and blue eyes, wearing a hooded sweater, raised her arms and stretched, yawning. She lowered her arms and went back to typing on her keyboard. In front of her was a sophisticated computer with three monitors side-by-side.
The monitor on the right showed CCTV footage from outside her apartment, while the one on the left showed the movements of stock and index investment graphs. She herself was typing some kind of program on the center screen, which seemed to be used for hacking something.
Click, she hit enter hard, and the monitor's display immediately showed a stream of text scrolling upward like a program.
"Nice, now I just have to wait for the money to come in," she said, spinning around in her high-tech chair.
Knock... knock... knock, suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She immediately turned to the monitor on the right and saw a food delivery guy standing at her door. Because he was wearing a hat, she couldn't see his face. Sring, she drew a short katana. She got out of her chair and walked slowly toward the door.
Klek, the girl opened the door a crack, keeping the chain on, with her hand holding the hidden sword behind the door.
"It's me, Brad," the delivery guy said, taking off his hat.
Klap, Naomi closed the door. Klek, then she unlatched the chain and opened the door. Her hand shot out, pulling the delivery guy's jacket until he was inside the apartment. Klap, the door was shut tightly again. Thud, Naomi pulled off the delivery guy's hat, and he landed on his back on the floor. She then sat on him.
"You took your time, Brad," Naomi said.
"Sorry, I had a little business to take care of," Brad replied.
"Mmmh," Naomi leaned down and kissed Brad passionately, but Brad pushed her away. Plop, Naomi's lips came apart from his.
"What's wrong?" Naomi asked, confused.
"Can you put that away first?" Brad asked, pointing at the sword Naomi was holding.
"Oh, hahaha, my bad," Naomi said, putting the sword away.
Naomi's hands went up, and she took off her sweater. It turned out she was wearing nothing underneath and was completely naked. She leaned down and kissed Brad again, her hands moving to undo the belt on Brad's waist as he got busy taking off his own jacket. Naomi stood up and took off her pants, then she turned and sat back on Brad's stomach. Naomi lowered her body and kissed Brad passionately.
***
After thirty minutes of intimacy, they got dressed again. They sat on the floor and opened the meal Brad had brought. They started eating together. Every now and then, Naomi glanced at her computer monitors, which were still running. Brad stood stunned and held his food container. Then he looked up at Naomi.
"Naomi," he called.
"What?" Naomi asked, scooping up some food with her chopsticks.
"Don't you want to come back to the clan?" Brad asked.
Naomi went silent. Trek, she put her chopsticks down and took a gulp of the soft drink can next to her. Then she picked up her chopsticks again.
"You already know my answer," Naomi replied.
"But if you don't, eventually I'll be the one ordered to hunt you down, and I don't want that," Brad replied.
"I know, but I won't go back just to be killed. Sorry, but I'd rather live alone here than go back and face the elders," Naomi said.
Kaaak, tuk... tuk, they both looked at the window. They saw a crow perched on Naomi's apartment window. A letter was tied to its leg. Brad stood up and opened the window. He took the letter from the crow's leg and read it. The crow flew away. Naomi put down her food and gripped her sword.
"What does the letter say?" Naomi asked.
"I'm sorry, Naomi. I can't refuse. It's a shame you can only live to be 16," Brad replied.
"Hehe... really? I'm 17 now. My birthday was just yesterday. Go ahead and try," Naomi replied, secretly holding a kunai.
Tring, Brad suddenly threw a shuriken at Naomi, and she immediately blocked it with her kunai. Sring, Naomi drew her wakizashi and immediately attacked Brad, who had drawn his katana from his bag. Trang, their swords clashed.
Trang... trang... tring, they fought at a fast pace, occasionally throwing shurikens and kunai at each other. After an intense fight that destroyed everything in the room except for Naomi's high-tech computer, which she protected with her life, finally, a shuriken lodged in Brad's thigh.
Naomi immediately got behind Brad as fast as lightning and crossed her sword at Brad's throat, so he couldn't move. Brad smiled. Then he glanced back at Naomi.
"I love you, Naomi," Brad said.
"Same here. I love you too, Brad," Naomi replied, smiling.
Craaaas, Naomi immediately sliced Brad's neck, sending a spray of fresh blood across her face. Blugh, Brad fell forward and lay facedown on the floor. Naomi stood up and walked to her computer. She saw a sum of money deposited into her account and smiled. She looked at Brad's body lying on the floor behind her.
"Too bad, Brad. If you had refused the order, I would've taken you with me and lived with you at the antique shop. But it seems you were more afraid of the clan elders, huh? I'm sorry I didn't get to ask you... and... sorry, I don't even know what love is, hehe," Naomi said, smiling.
Naomi walked to her closet. Sreeg, she slid the door open and took a brown envelope with a folder inside that contained her grandmother's will and the letter in the white envelope she had just opened. She took the key from inside the envelope and smiled.
"It doesn't have to be Saturday, right? It should be fine if I go now," Naomi said to herself, looking at the key.
After that, Naomi opened the next closet and took a towel. She took a quick shower, then changed her clothes. She grabbed her pre-packed backpack and walked to her computer. Klak... klak... klak, her hands began typing on the keyboard. Klek, she hit enter. A countdown started on the middle screen, beginning from five minutes.
Naomi went to Brad's body one last time and lifted his head. She kissed Brad's forehead, then stood up and walked out of the apartment unit. She pulled up her hoodie and put on a mask. After going down the stairs and walking out of the building, she turned to look at her apartment. Blaaar, the entire apartment exploded.
Naomi turned and put both hands in her sweater pockets, then walked away, leaving the exploding apartment behind.
"Goodbye, my apartment that housed me all this time. Hello, Grandma's antique shop, hehe," she said to herself as she walked. Then Naomi took out her smartphone and ordered a rideshare.
After the rideshare arrived and she got in, she called Mike and told him she was moving to her grandmother's antique shop today.
"Hey... but what about school?" Mike asked.
"Oh," she remembered her uniform that was left in the apartment and had just exploded along with it. "Hahaha... I think I forgot my uniform, Uncle," Naomi said cheerfully, scratching the back of her head.
"What's wrong with you? Well, fine. You'll be transferring schools with your siblings anyway," Mike said.
"Do I really have siblings, Uncle Mike?" Naomi asked.
"Yes. You'll find out soon enough. I've already asked them to come on Saturday. If you want to go to your grandmother's now, that's fine. I'm at the hospital now," Mike replied.
"Oh, how is Grandma?" Naomi asked.
"She's the same. All right, I need to see the doctor now," Mike said.
"Okay, Uncle. Thanks a lot," Naomi replied.
The call ended. Naomi lowered her smartphone and looked ahead. Her eyes were teary, but she was smiling. Then she wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
"I have siblings... I have a family... I won't be lonely anymore... hehe," she murmured to herself.