Chapter 17: first murder?

We meet up with Maurin and Velaris to discuss our plan, if we had any.

"So what are we gonna do with Tabo Mayonaka? Kidnap him along with Tanaka?" Jasmine asks.

"No. I'll deal with him myself. You guys just focus on getting Katana guy." Maurin orders.

"I caught sight of Tanaka. He was chatting with some men by the buffet table. I'll get to him." Velaris proposes while he moves the wine glass in hand (it was later that I found out, Velaris doesn't drink wine. He had apple juice in the wine glass which sounds pretty funny.)

"Jasmine, go along with Vel." Maurin orders her.

"What? No! I'd rather work with you." She protests, clearly desperate for his attention.

*Sighs… "I'd rather you help Vel out. You're quite a competent woman and I'd feel confident leaving the Kanata guy to you. Do me a favor, love." He gave her a gentle smile which was quite surprising. I've never seen him smile so gently. And she instantly agrees and moves on before Velaris to take care of the mission.

Velaris puts his arm around Maurin and talks in whispers, but loud enough so I could hear them, "Way to rid yourself of her and dump her on me. You're quite the manipulator."

"Haha.. She's competent and useful, sure. But she's annoying. It was the best way to deal with her." Maurin rolls his eyes, the devilish smirk back on his face. "Adrenaline, I've got another job for you. Come with me."

Velaris leaves and now Maurin gives me new instructions. "Your job is to get rid of that guy with the french moustache."

"And who's that?" I ask him.

"You know, that guy we were just talking about. The japanese guy, the one in the grey suit and cane."

"Tabo Mayonaka? You seriously need to get people's names right. But didn't you say you'd deal with him?" I asked him.

"I can do whatever I want. Besides this is the time to prove yourself. I need you to lure that man and kill him. Bring me his head back."

My eyes widen and I instantly jolt and glare at him. "Murdering someone was not in my job description tonight. I'm supposed to work as a translator."

"Stop being such a stick in the mud. Do you really believe we follow rules? And your objective is to gain power and get the river, isn't it! Well then, this will take you a step closer. That mayonnaise or whatever old man has been a thorn on our side. He's the one who killed our men in Japan. He broke the truce and yet he dared to step foot in our territory. So he had this coming. And Adrenaline, if you're going to survive and make it to the top, you'll need to rid yourself of your morals or at least bend them a bit. If you're having a hard time killing a random man then perhaps letting you that he's someone deserving of death will lessen the guilt."

"How so?" I asked him, avoiding his gaze.

"He's one of the leading human traffickers within the crime world. He mainly deals in sex trafficking of young women and organ trafficking of young children. Although I don't mind all that since I'm also a criminal but Is that enough reason for you to kill him now?"

It's crazy how Maurin has figured me out enough to know that I would kill if given enough reason. I would never kill innocent people but jerks like Tabo Mayonaka deserve to die.

"Alright, I'll do it. But I could also get killed in the scene. I thought you guys couldn't afford losing a translator?"

"You've been trained by Vel and he's the best fighter we have. I'm sure you'll manage. Besides I know that you can't afford dying either. You are too stubborn to do so, love. You've got a lot to lose." He reached out his hand and twirled some strands of my hair around his fingers. He's having fun, once again. He seems to enjoy putting me in situations that leave me no choice. I glared at him, slapped his hand away and walked away. I hear him chuckle behind me.

I loiter around the desserts table for a while wondering how I should approach my target, as I stuff my mouth with the delicious chocolate truffles. "They've sure got high class food!" I notice Mayonaka leaving the party hall and I wonder where he's going. This might be my chance to follow him and finish him off. But if he's leaving to meet with some people. I'll need to be extra careful. And so I slowly and naturally follow him out of the hall. I follow him across the corridor and see him enter a room. He leaves the door slightly open, so I can eavesdrop on them. Clichè, how the door was coincidentally left open for me but it works. I eavesdrop on them and see him meeting with another man in a black suit. A Japanese man who has quite an imposing aura. He's got this serious look on his face. I don't usually judge people based on looks but he sure has the face of a villain. They speak in Japanese, something about…

"We've got the money—Our job is done, let's leave—The women and children sold for a great sum. The man who'll give you the money is waiting in the forest close to this mansion."

And then they laughed wholeheartedly. They were about to leave the room so I hid and after they left I entered the room and found some pictures and documents lying on the table. They were terrifying photos of women and children, beaten up badly, tied up with ropes and their eyes blindfolded. I could feel the fear and helplessness through these photos and it made me feel sick. And a video on a tablet which when I played showed the contents of hostages, victims crying and begging for mercy. How can people do such horrible things to others? Do they not feel pain? Do they not have a human heart? All this fueled my anger and my desire for vengeance, and so I decided I would kill this man, no matter what! For the first time in my life, I actually desired to kill someone with my own hands.

They say 'violence is never the answer'. But the thing is, there are times when you need to be loud and violent in your resistance against violence.

I heard some footsteps in the room. I had no idea someone was still inside! So I narrowly made my escape through the window cause if I had walked to the door, someone might have discovered me. I found myself in the balcony on the second floor, now I needed to get off of here. From the balcony view I can see Mayonaka walking off towards the forest.

"How'd that old man get down so fast?!"

I try to climb down the balcony,

"I'm sure I can do it. It's like the rock climbing or mountain climbing activity I used to do back at home except that this time my life is on the line."

I talk to myself trying to distract myself from the ridiculousness of this situation. It takes me some time but I miraculously reach the ground safe and sound. But I did land on my butt at the last minute but it wasn't anything dangerous. I walk into the forest, searching for Mayonaka. I feel the cold night breeze blow gently, brushing its loving invisible hugs across me. The trees rustle in the wind making music—music without rhythm and yet so harmonious. Among the nature I feel like I belong, I feel at home. The silver moonlight as my guide, I trace the path that seems like it was recently walked upon. And suddenly the wind blows stronger and violent, like warning me of an incoming calamity. I hear the flap of bird wings flying away and just then, the swing of a sword from behind me, as I reflexively dodge it and am suddenly facing a hostile enemy.

A man dressed suspiciously, like he was hiding his identity beneath his cloak. And right behind is Mayonaka with a briefcase in his arms, I'm guessing that's the money he came to get.

As the man swings his katana once again, I duck and dodge him, while I'm down, I quickly grab the gun which was tied on my ankle and aim at him, "Don't move!" I yell out but of course he doesn't care and I have know idea what move he pulled but it was elegant and it also resulted in me getting my arm grazed. I shoot at him but being the great shooter that I am, I accidentally hit Mayonaka and not the man fighting me.

"Oops! Sorry. Oh well, I need to kill him anyway."

As the gun was of no use to me (I'm terrible with a gun, I got a terrible aim), I pulled out my sword—which is a "ken", a double-edged Japanese sword. (I picked it up right before I left the party.)

My heartbeat is rising and I'm slightly panicked, "It's okay, Reina. You've practiced mortal combat with Velaris, it's just going to be the same." I try to calm myself down.

I get my posture straight and in a fighting stance, just like Velaris had taught me. The man's hood had fallen off and I could see the slight surprise in his eyes,

"Hey! Whom did you learn that from?" He asked me.

I don't quite understand. Learn what? I haven't even done anything. But he swings at me again and I successfully guard myself and even cut him slightly. I read his movements, the next blow will come from my left side and I duck in time. I use this chance to slash his legs making him lose his balance but he stabilizes himself anyways. We exchange some fierce blows and he's got the upper hand on me. I may be good with the sword but I'm still a beginner. He's slashed me uncountable times and I've lost some blood. The pain in my slashed up arms makes me go numb and I'm exhausted and out of breath already. I stagger for a moment and he gets close enough to send my Ken flying. He had me pinned on the ground and he stood on top of me.

"Who sent you?" He asked and I didn't reply for a second. He pierced the katana through my upper arm. "Ahhhhhh" I scream in pain, gasping for air.

He kneels, gets closer to me, "You've been trained by Velaris, haven't you? Did he send you? You are a good fighter but not enough to beat me." He pauses and then says, "you're a pretty woman. It would be such a shame to have you killed." While he's distracted talking to me as I lie there helplessly, I quietly pull the pocket dagger out from my pocket using my free hand.

Trying to keep him distracted so he doesn't notice me pulling out the knife, I say, "Oh there's a simple solution to that. Don't kill me." I smile.

"Your charms won't work on me. I have a policy, I always make sure I kill my enemies." He replies as he pushes the katana deeper in my arm making me let out a painful groan.

"Hah! Seems like you and I have something in common." I say through painful and raspy breaths.

"What—" he lets out a painful gasp.

A stab to the chest, splatters of blood all over my white blouse and face. He collapses on top of me and I push him aside. Now the worst part wasn't being almost bathed in blood, it was that I had to pull the katana out of my arm and that was going to be extremely painful. And it was, as I forced myself back on my feet and pulled it out, "Aughhhh…*huff *huff *huff"

The man wasn't yet dead since a stab to the chest doesn't exactly kill a person in seconds but it kills you slowly and painfully. So this time it was me who had the upper hand and I stood there and pointed his katana at him.

"Let me tell you another commonality. Life and death also have something in common. It is that they both strike when you least expect it." And then I slash his neck, just to make sure he'd die. Otherwise I would have been anxious all the time. Now it was time to deal with Mayonaka. He was crawling by a tree since I accidentally shot his leg back there.

"Spare…spare me, please." He pleads

"And why should I do that?"

"Why…why do you want to kill me? I don't even know you. What have I ever done to you?"

"You might not have done anything to me but you've done enough to be deserving of the most gruesome death. Tell me, how many times was it that your victims begged you for mercy, begged you to spare them. Did you?" He was silent, trembling in fear, fear that he might get killed. "So I guess, to people like you, life is only precious when it's yours, huh? Even a thousand deaths wouldn't be enough to account for the atrocities you've committed."

"Damn it!" He yells out. "How the hell are you any different from us?! I bet you're just another assassin doing this dirty job to earn some money."

For a second there, I thought he was right. I'm here committing a murder. How am I any different from them? But then I say, "At least I don't ruthlessly murder innocent people."

And just as I was about to end this useless talk by stabbing him with the katana, he screams, "Ahhhhhh noooo! Wait! C'mon you must relate to me? Haha…you…you can have all my money…cmon! Anyone can fall prey to their devilish desires. The devil tempted me. Everyone has a devil that they succumb to, right…." He laughs nervously. At this point he was spouting any nonsense he could to have his life spared. He was pissing me off so I stabbed him in the thigh, making him scream in pain.

"The devil tempted you into it? Oh dear, let me tell you something. The devil can only whisper into your mind and tell you or guide you to do evil. But he cannot grab you by the hand and force you down that path. The one who actually chooses to walk the path of the devil is ultimately you!—yourself!

So in the end, you can't even blame the devil for what you did with your own two hands, Hehe.

Humans can be so ridiculous sometimes, it's almost funny. They never want to take responsibility for their actions. If things go south, they will blame it on someone else, if not, then they will blame it on the devil and if everything else fails, they will curse fate. Stupid creatures! Do you really not realize? This was simply what YOUR OWN hands earned you!!!

So you only have yourself to blame. After all, you did choose to walk this path. Didn't you? See~You can't even deny it!"

I pierce through his heart and force the katana all the way through. I'll never get used to it. The feel of flesh as it pierces and cuts beneath my weapon, my hand. The metallic sound of the sword slashing the meat and the blood which squirts out like a broken tap. I pull out the katana and more blood gets on me. Across my beautiful outfit which was now dyed scarlet, my face splattered with drops of blood and my hair a nest-like mess. I try to breathe, take in deep breaths because I can feel myself suffocating.

The night which was so beautifully illuminated and decorated by the silver moonlight and the gentle breeze was no more. And it was all my own fault. I shed blood and ruined it. The fresh scent of the forest was gone and a strong disgusting stench of blood covered it. The moon was no longer the sweet, pale shade of silver sugar, it was more ominous now. And the gentle breeze only blew violently. It could have either been resenting me or it could be screaming on my behalf because I really wanted to scream out the pain, the suffocation, the disgust but I couldn't. I stood there, mute.