The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

“Then take your time. But you have to remember, Levi. Time won’t wait for you. You have to chase it. Just like the tide, you can’t take time for granted. It looks calm at the first, but you’d know you are fucked up when the big waves are in sight.” Emma said.

Levi chuckled, “You get wiser at night,”

Emma just snorted, “You are a nuisance all day.” she replied before yawning widely.

“Looks like the princess should go to sleep now,” The man chuckled. His voice no longer sounded like he had a fever.

“Stop making fun of me,” Emma snapped with a snort.

“All right. I’ll remember what you said earlier. I’ll hang up the phone. Get some good sleep.” Levi said.

“Well,” Emma replied.

Then the call was ended, placing Emma back in the silence of the room. It created a sudden empty feeling in her chest.

.....

“Doesn’t he always come and go as he pleases?” Emma muttered to herself.

On the other hand,

Levi lowered his phone. The wind blew against his face. He grabbed a white box next to him and took out a cigarette.

After the cigarette was lit, Levi took a sip and exhaled the smoke into the air. He followed the smoke and his eyes landed on a large round, shining brightly object. The moon, the stars, and even the scent of the wind had given the colours of spring now.

“What a lovely moon,” He mumbled with a faint smile on his lips, “Is Emma staring it from the house too? Well.. looks impossible. She must be sleeping like a corpse by now,” he found it funny himself by remembering when Emma slept on his shoulder without being able to waken up.

“Is the insomnia coming again?”

Levi turned back at the voice source. He smiled briefly at Lukas who paced closer to him from inside the house in long night pants and a black long-sleeved shirt, “How about you?” he held out his cigarette case.

Lukas shrugged before pulling a cigarette out of the box. Then he stepped next to Levi and sat on the same bench, “I was just in the mood for a smoke,”

“Without a cigarette?” Levi chuckled.

“I knew you were here,” Lukas replied.

“Ha.. Of course, you do,” Levi just nodded slowly.

“She’s a sweet girl. Is she your type?” Lukas asked with his face still looking ahead at the collection of cypress hedges a few meters from their seats.

Levi smiled faintly, already expecting that Lukas had come out on purpose to find out what he was doing, “She caught a little of my attention. That should be fine.”

“You sure? I thought you had a phobia of women,” Lukas chuckled.

“I think so and still hope it was true. Maybe that girl healed me? I’m not sure,”

Lukas chuckled while exhaling smoke out of his mouth and nose, “What I said that time didn’t just pass through your ears, did it?”

Then Levi turned to Lukas with raised eyebrows, “Should I repeat it for you?”

“I’m not trying to meddle in your personal life, Levi. I’m just worried it might have a bad effect on you.”

“I won’t harm us, much less myself. You needn’t worry, Lukas.” Levi answered.

“Including her?” Luke raised his eyebrows.

Levi nodded once, “Including her.”

***

“I’ve broken into their accounts, Emma. Right now, I’ll be a parasite that lives in there and will rise in time.” Kathy rubbed her palms together with a big smile.

A few hours ago,

Kathy worked on her computer. Hijacking other people’s accounts was her forte. It was a tiny thing to her.

To launch her attack on Troy and Calvin was not difficult at all. All she had to do was send a short message containing a link to a fake free meal voucher advert at a restaurant. As Kathy had expected, the two of them instantly fell into her trap.

But Kathy must be more careful to trap Marcel. As Emma had told her, Marcel was the leader of a huge, strong group. With him knowing how his own men were able to break into Oscar Chopper’s bank account with the works of a Hacker last time, Marcel would definitely become warier of things related to the internet.

Although Marcel was Kathy’s crush, when it came to work, the beautiful green-eyed girl would turn into a professional. Even though from the outside Kathy looked like a girl who was willing to do anything for the man of her dreams, she would in fact be a totally different girl when in work mode.

In order to trap Marcel, Kathy had to think hard about how to trap him with just one throw of a fishing bite. After racking her brain for half an hour, she finally found a way.

Marcel didn’t need a free meal voucher because he already had a lot of money and could eat wherever he wanted. But of course, he would be interested in everything to do with his grandmother. Kathy could see the good grandson loved his grandmother so much. While apologizing to Lilian in her heart, Kathy designed a fake website.

An advertising message entered Marcel’s email that Kathy had tracked through his phone number. It happened that Marcel was quite active in checking his email because he took care of all the necessities and expenses at his grandmother’s tavern. For the family’s stuff, he would not leave them to anyone and would handle everything himself. He paid all bills online which were always related to his email.

Kathy designed a website for an online store that had promo ads for a package of elderly supplements that had claims of extraordinarily attractive long-term health benefits. As Kathy had expected, it didn’t take long for the trap ads link to be clicked open by Marcel. He even tried to register an account on the website to be able to see other products. But after he did that, the website would be an error.

Emma, ??Rachel, and Poppy had no idea that Kathy could finish the job in just one night.

“Thanks, Kathy. We weren’t wrong to count on you,” Rachel said.

“It’s a small thing for me.” Kathy lifted her chin with her hands placed on her back head in a relaxed position.

Emma pulled out a black box containing slim black headphones from her bag and handed it to Kathy.

“What this for?” She asked.

“This is the device we’ll need for communicating later. It’s like a phone connected to the devices Rachel and I are wearing.” Emma explained. Then she gave two small black things to Rachel.

“Thanks,” Rachel said while accepting an earphone and a small microphone which she would embed inside her mask.

“With these things, I hope our mission will go smoothly,” Emma said.

“Anyways, Emma. Where did you get these things from?” Poppy asked.

“Oh.. It’s someone I’ve known since a kid. He’s my father’s man,” Emma replied with a small laugh.

“These things seem expensive, Emma. So are our masks and clothes. I’ve honestly been thinking about this for quite a while. But don’t you feel heavy with all the expenses?” Rachel asked.

“Oh.. that...” Emma rubbed the bridge of her neck with a faint laugh, “Actually, I did dig a little into my pocket. But you don’t have to worry about the money. Everything will be fine,”

“You know we can’t let you dig into your personal pocket for too long, don’t you?” Rachel said.

“I know, Rachel. But I’m serious that we don’t have to think about it. Now, we can focus on the mission first,” Emma answered.

***

The group of men gathered in a big field. Jita Kyoei called all his members there. Even Calvin had no idea that Jita Kyoei had members outside their Judo club. It turned out that all this time, Jita Kyoei had not really died. They were like zombies sleeping underground acres of burial land and ready to rise again on Halloween day. It was various men from other colleges and high schools in Handway City.

With cars and motorbikes, a group of men drove towards RJC’s headquarters. But when they hadn’t got there yet, half of them turned to the other way with Nicko Coffey at the helm.

The sun had set and the orange scenery had almost faded away in the darkness of the night sky. The group led by Troy Roner who was in the front line arrived at a half-round-shaped building like a cinema.

On the other hand,

“They’ve arrived.” Said Kenny who was standing beside Marcel’s chair.

“Then we should welcome them,” He replied.

Troy already knew that there was no way Marcel would let his guard down after their last time bicker. As soon as the tall gate of RJC’s headquarters opened, a group of men in all black revealed from behind it, walking casually and led by a man with red hair and a man with a wound on his lips.

“Damian Jamin and Vico Hustle. They put out two of the best street fighters on the front line, apparently.” Troy muttered. At his right and his left, Frank Duk and Louis Rough were standing.

“Just leave them all to us. Stay in your spot,” Frank said.

Troy nodded, “Don’t forget to check your phone when it vibrates.” He showed his cell phone briefly and puts it in his trouser pocket.

Frank blinked slowly, “I know.”