The journey to the hotel was very calm; that on the interior of the vehicle, outside was another matter. It was approaching the time when children would go out with their parents asking for candy. The streets were crowded with people running from side to side and traffic jams long enough to have no idea if they would leave the place today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow.
Fortunately, there were traffic officers who helped decongest everything, it's no wonder it's a very celebrated holiday, especially in Latin American countries, where the party and rumba were taken to other levels.
We all went in 3 different vehicles provided by Kalika. The Tanaka family had many businesses around the world, it was not uncommon for them to have different properties and luxury cars. She only used what they could offer her for business dealings; although it was different for her place of residence, no matter how much she wanted to, she would never stay in a property that her family owned, it disgusted her, and she didn't feel safe.
By chance, or maybe not, I ended up in the same car as her. We were Caleb, Cloe, Kalika, and me. The space in the car was not small at all, there was room for another person, and although I told the guys and Rudolf that they could accompany me, for some reason when they saw Kalika, they backed away and said they'd rather go in the others.
"Was the trip difficult?"
She asked without looking back, hoping someone would answer.
"No miss, although we had some ups and downs, it wasn't a serious problem"
Caleb was confident in himself, showing strength and courage, but when he spoke with Kalika, he was quite careful with his words.
I simply analyzed his behavior to get an idea of his relationships, despite my intention, she changed focus and showed her interest in me by loading the reflectors with her questions.
"Heiss, I have heard much from my subordinates, it seems you are someone with great faculties. I'm impressed that you were able to escape the district being just a mere man"
Without a hint of decency, she threw the first blow, to her unfortunate idea, I would respond differently.
Personality #4: "Is that so?, I only got out thanks to the plan we made with my team, it's nothing to brag about"
I preferred to shield myself in teamwork.
"Hm", she nodded slightly.
"But if I understood correctly, those companions only followed you after they found themselves in trouble with the district, only with your guidance were they able to come out with their lives, that and with my men, whom I thank deeply"
Personality #4: "It may have been my plan, but without them I couldn't have even come back with my life, in fact, it's because of them that I'm still alive. Your men were merely a formality for the attempt to help me in the hotel bombing"
"You're welcome, it was a plan they already had covered with Miss Ana anyway, so I didn't really do anything"
Caleb and Cloe listened while looking from time to time and in others hiding their faces out of shame for having violated the privacy of some events, Heiss simply ignored their attitudes.
Personality #4: "I see you got along well with Ana, she's a good girl. I suppose she gave you the papers"
The imperturbable face of Kalika finally had a reaction, when she heard Ana's name without realizing it she furrowed her eyebrows, then smoothed her expressions again.
"Yes, I met Miss Ana, very capable; she left me with a great impression"
Personality #4: "Jaja, really?, well the same happened when she spoke to me about you"
The tension in the car increased. Caleb and Cloe had no idea who Ana was, although they had the perception that each one had already had interaction at the hands of someone else while their journey progressed.
Heiss's words were quite playful, almost a joke to him, although Caleb and Cloe knew there was something about the topic of his personalities, it wasn't something Kalika knew; they all affirmed keeping it secret for a matter of trust, and although Heiss didn't care particularly, they knew that telling Kalika would brand them as allies at the moment they were informants without a bit of tact.
"I have the papers you requested, review them and tell me if you need anything else"
The change of subject was notable, even so, Heiss simply took the folder that Kalika was holding and started reading the information.
The first thing he saw was a photo of the person he asked to search for, without hair, with brown eyes and with a scar on one eye, a tattoo on the neck.
The tattoo presents a stylized cypress, tall and vertical, inspired by the Kashmar Cypress. Its roots emerge from a partially hidden skull and an open book, symbols of knowledge acquired through death and revealed truth. The composition is balanced with laurel branches on the sides, reinforces the idea of moral victory and eternal legacy, all executed in black and gray.
A symbol that truth cannot be silenced.
Cloe looked with curiosity at the file he was holding while turning page after page.
Personality #4: "If I were you I'd be careful about what I'm looking at, you could end up observing things that someone above the waterline shouldn't see"
Cloe was surprised; although it didn't prevent her from seeing the file, it did give her a warning that what that person was hiding was really very serious.
"What I don't understand is, if you have so much ability to get information, why did you ask me to search for him; with your contacts it should be an easy task, or do you really expect me to cooperate with you after putting me in that pool of corrupt information"
Ignoring what was happening in the back, he spoke about what really mattered, 'What does he want from me?'.
Personality #4: "¿Mnh?", he looked forward at the position where she was, with a question mark marked on his face.
Personality #4: "Expect me to cooperate?, why would I need something from you? You're the one who needs me, not the other way around"
The driver who was a subordinate of Kalika was about to intervene upon seeing the lack of respect, but Kalika stopped him with a hand and gave him instructions to just focus on driving.
Heiss's words were sharp blades, he wasn't wrong, she needed him for her plan. Now knowing what he was capable of, it was much easier to get what she needed without the bother of training him, she wouldn't have to wait more than a year to manage to tear her family apart.
"So what's the file for?"
She swallowed slowly, knowing that anything she said would be an obstacle or an easy way to cooperate, so she swallowed those words, after what happened with Ana, she no longer had the upper hand, she had to be patient and take the best opportunity without losing.
Personality #4: "That's for two reasons, one for trying to get me involved in your family affairs by threatening Ana, that really made me angry, although not as much as it did Ana"
"And the second?"
Personality #4: "It's because of what's coming, you'll have to make a much more important decision than the stupid future of a family"
'Stupid future of a family?', were the words that passed through her when the crystal green eyes transformed color to garnet, very similar to the crimson color he showed with Ana, only more intense. The anger at his words, family, that was everything she wanted, and he had just called it stupid.
Immediately she turned to confront the man of those despicable words; however, she found herself with an even more chilling scene.
Personality #2: "That's what it is and what it will always be, nothing will exist if you let everything crumble before you start"
Heiss's posture was straight, leaning forward, showing himself as he was before Kalika, but what were his slightly green eyes had changed to an intense ruby red. His face was no longer cheerful or relaxed with his typical carefree and living madness, now he was a different person, his aura, if you can call it that, was completely different. He imposed respect and sovereignty, his eyes were as if they observed all truth, as if they couldn't hide anything.
Kalika hadn't thought about it before, but now a fleeting thought crossed her head, one she hadn't taken into account; 'weren't his eyes black?', they were when she saw him at the hotel, although before they were pale green, now they were an intense red.
She didn't understand anything of what was happening at this moment, and above all, what surprised her the most was the behavior of Caleb and Cloe. Before they would have come out to defend her from any disrespect or attempted threat, but they didn't move, each one was disturbingly still, as if their world was paralyzed.
Their gazes fixed on the floor of the vehicle, not moving an inch, their eyes disturbingly nervous, opened and dilated, and yet they didn't move even to move the offender.
Each one was sweating, and if one observed carefully, it was as if they were trembling, although trying not to move to alert the hunter.
Kalika had to stop before she could muster any words, she could only contemplate the ruby-colored eyes and feel vulnerable for the first time in a long time, or not so much, since Ana had also managed to break through her defenses. Even though she had been left in a bad position once, she didn't think she'd feel with her hands tied in the same way.
She felt the same or worse than when she met with her 'grandfather' and had to gather the courage to face that strange existence that seemed to govern everything.
Personality #2: "Let's talk when we arrive, there are several things you need to be aware of. The civil war in this country will only be a brief preface to what will come, and even Japan won't be able to escape unscathed"
Her breathing stopped for a moment, for some reason it was hard to swallow, not even the driver dared to look in the rearview mirror, his voice was enough to make him feel nervous.
"I..It's fine"
She couldn't refute, the rest of the trip continued in silence, observing how children appeared with different costumes and buckets in the shape of pumpkins.
What would be a sight for the rejoicing and festivities of the young, became one of unrest that made the car feel with more pressure than when they entered.
At 7:20 they arrived at the hotel where they would stay.
***
"They've been talking for 15 minutes, how long do you think it will take?"
As if the nerves got the better of her in a bad way, she was biting her nails insanely, Emily had bad habits when she got nervous or when something made her very happy.
"…I don't know, it's a delicate subject, not everyone tells you that the world will go to hell in 2 years"
Ethan answered, intertwining his hands, thinking about the possible consequences and, above all, what his master would do from now on.
"You shouldn't worry, the boss will make her see reason. It's not for nothing that he's the best"
"It's fine that your other companions say that, but you… are just a 17-year-old boy, Jesús"
The words were returned like a club by Ethan.
"The boss is my same age, only a few months older than me and he managed to drag all of you, so don't come to me with the age thing"
The fight between the two was growing, and with it the tension of each one was decreasing inversely proportional; making them think, 'Why am I so tense if he's so relaxed?'.
A advantage of human ignorance or trust. At the same time, Marcus and Emily risked it by entering the conversation; at one point they got to the topic of who would be stronger, Heiss or Kalika.
"Heiss already defeated all of you in a 1 vs 4. Tell me if your lady is capable of that?"
"¡Ha?!, just because we're weak doesn't mean our boss is, in fact, if the first inquisitor were here, she could have tied with your boss, can't even compare with Miss Kalika"
The fight continues to the point where it was heard throughout the hallway outside the office.
Meanwhile, inside was a more pleasant and relaxed conversation than the one they had in the car.
Personality #4: "Do you hear them?, they say you're stronger than me. If they say so, it must be because they have some confidence in you, Kalika"
"They're just nonsense from our subordinates, do you doubt that I'm stronger than you?"
Most of the topics had been covered, but they hadn't touched on the main idea, cooperation.
Personality #4: "Let's stop being unproductive and focus on what's important. I want you to join us when the time comes, on my part, I feel that your guys won't be ready either for what's coming, so we can do joint training to help each other. I'm not asking for help immediately after the 2 months of training, however, by the year of this conversation, it would be helpful to me your men"
"Are you aware of what you're asking?, the war for succession in my family will happen in two years, and you're asking me in one year, throwing off the previous plans I could make against the Tanaka. For you it may be a family and nothing more, but for me it's the goal of my life, I'd rather die than not take revenge on the people who damaged my life"
Personality #4: "Is it more important to you to let your subordinates, friends, or even partner die than to help me prevent the world from being wiped out?"
"What are you talking about?, it's obvious I care about them, I have enough to want to add you to my plan, to want everything to go well, and not have to sacrifice mine"
The tone kept rising more and more in the aesthetic office.
Personality #4: "Ah, but sacrificing me seems fine to you, doesn't it?"
What seemed like mutual understanding turned into an argument.
"¡I'd rather sacrifice a stranger than those I care about!"
Personality #4: "¡At least you have someone you care about, those I wanted are already dead!"
Those words stopped Kalika cold, who couldn't respond to his argument, one because she wouldn't know what to say and another because he didn't let her empathize just because of the situation.
Personality #4: "The districts took everything from me….., you don't know what it feels like to see your brothers die without a clear objective, and even with one, they would only take us as disposable objects. You have no idea what the district is planning, I already told you that a death in genocide is approaching, but before that there are inhuman plans for their plan to succeed. I don't plan to stand by watching the world fall apart when my brothers could have tried to stop it"
"…How many more of you?, I don't see supporters willing to help you in this fight against the districts"
Personality #4: "You should worry more about what you can do than what others can. You asked me why I looked for information about Jouska with you, that's because I couldn't do it on my part, not without alerting the district about my search with my sources; that they can move doesn't mean they have so much freedom, not at the moment"
"And what do you want from us then?, how we'll be helpful in a year and not from now"
Personality #4: "Would you lend them to me now?, I give you the time of 10 months so you can move everything…..once done, they will help my subordinates in the pending missions….after two months after the year, you'll be able to use me mostly once you leave your men doing the tasks I ask, including those currently in Japan. The inquisitor who is not available…you can keep him under your command. I don't think I'll need him until the moment of the first confrontation with the district, I would only call him a few times so he can be in order with us, I suppose you'll be the one in charge of making sure he's ready when the time comes"
"…..First I have to see how capable you are of leading my men, don't expect me to let them go with you without any security, right?. I don't think I have many options when you say the end of the world is approaching, but that doesn't mean I'll ally myself with someone weak"
Heiss's face wanted to fall at what he believed was a proposal to fight, from the moment they got off the car, entered the office, and talked, his eyes had never changed from garnet color; it was noticeable his desire to break her jaw with blows for the words said in the car.
Heiss stood slowly from his seat and walked toward the door.
Personality #4: "Take it for granted, where do you want it to be?"
"Mmmh, there's a gym on the floor below, there's a training room, we can use it, it's quite spacious"
Personality #4: "Good"
"Clanck"
Opening the door slowly, he prepared to leave, everyone fixed their gaze on whoever was leaving through the door, but before continuing, he stopped, letting the door open fully.
Personality #4: "…By the way, I didn't ask, but what do you need me to do in the war against your family; you didn't tell me why you need my help"
"….ah, it's simple….."
Although she said it was simple, it was as if her jaw came unhinged at the words she was about to say next.
"…I want…to enter my family and achieve what I need, I want you to become my husband"
The sound waves traveled to the hallway through the air, where everyone managed to hear her words.
Personality #4: "¿Ha?"