The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

118 A Sad Snow

Of course, Rachel would recognize Emma. It’s not that she never heard from her grandparents about Emma who crashed her motorbike due to her grandfather crossing the road carelessly. It was impossible for the man to not tell about Emma who was dressed as a man with a black helmet riding a motorbike. That’s what caused Rachel to clearly guess that the small figure in black clothes resembling a man who had helped her was Emma Hilland.

“Ughh... How would I face Rachel on campus? What should I explain to her?” Emma groaned with a frustrated face.

***

A table was littered with scattered papers, beer bottles, and snacks. Outside the table, various items were scattered on the floor. T-shirts, cell phones, pillows, cigarette cases, socks, and others.

Yes, it really described a room filled with men. And the men were from Jita Kyoei’s group and a newcomer named Calvin Lee. Despite being in the chaos, the men seemed completely unaffected and focused on discussing their problems seriously.

“I just received the report today. Just like a squirrel belatedly realizing winter is coming, they recruit all the studio students in a rush as if there was no tomorrow. I heard, it’s not even the best studio students are being their targets. Now, the new students are being taken out too.” Nicko explained, looking a bit uncomfortable with the condition of the table, which looked like a crashed plane. Apparently, he was the only one with a bit of a clean lover soul in the room.

“Not only that. The rate of thugs that have occurred on the street has also suddenly increased in the past few days. Radio 37.1AM never even stops broadcasting the news.” Calvin added.

“What really happened?” Troy put his hands together and rested his chin on them. His face looked very confused. Even though Hell Gate had fallen, and since then, the crime had drastically reduced, somehow things get even worse than they used to now.

“Do you know what group has recruited the most studio students?” Ian asked in his relaxed manner. Everyone turned to the man with curious faces. He smiled faintly, “That’s RJC.”

.....

“Marcel Douglas,” Troy muttered. “What exactly is he planning?” he continued.

“While we thought RJC wouldn’t do any harm, it looks like we can start worrying now. Remember my mistake in thinking that Hell Gate’s business was just an illegal ship engine transaction? That was all a bunch of gimmicks. I’m not sure if RJC only runs that one lenient looking business.” Calvin said.

“Calvin is right. We can’t procrastinate any longer. Big trouble is at hand.” Ian nodded.

“So far, I’ve been spying on the strength levels of the RJC members. If I judged, their members are stronger than Hell Gate. They’ve always managed to protect their territory. They are so strong that over the past few years, there hasn’t been an opposing group that dares to touch them.” Frank explained.

“If they’re as strong as you say, it would be a problem for us to attack it during this winter break. Our group is currently lack of men.” Troy replied.

That’s right. Jita Kyoei’ men are mostly on holiday with their respective families. Even the room had felt quite calm since there was no Martin who was always the cause of the commotion. Even though he liked to be crazy and acted stupid, Martin was among the top three strongest in the Jita Kyoei core team.

“Are we that weak?” Calvin asked annoyed.

Nicko cleared his throat by holding the shoulder of Calvin who was sitting beside him, “This is not just a matter of being strong or weak. But everything needs a strategy. We can’t just move with minimal knowledge of the opponents we will face.”

“I’m surprised at you. Even though you’ve fought a lot, you still don’t understand this.” Ian shook his head.

“Tsk..” Calvin rubbed the trunk of his neck, “Come to think of it, I’ve always been attacking head-on rather than thinking of a time-consuming strategy.” he said as replayed his life experiences in his mind.

“I don’t wonder why you get trapped and beaten so badly by those thugs,” Troy said with a chuckle.

“But I also knocked down them all,” Calvin replied with a slightly embarrassed face mixed with pride.

Ian looked at Calvin with disgust, then, he leaned forward, “It’s different with Jita Kyoei. We always move with calculation. So, get used to it.”

“Never mind.. Then, what should we do?” Troy intervened between the two men.

“Hmm.. I’m thinking of spying on RJC. We have to find out first what caused them to suddenly attract studio students. While looking into it, we could also look for how many actually their hidden members. As far as I know, RJC has about two hundred members. But we can’t rely on that invalid data.”

“Then, who will be the spy?” Troy asked.

As expected, the first person to raise their hand was Calvin Lee. He did have that much spirit and tends to have a rather hasty nature in solving a problem.

“We need at least two people for this mission,” Nicko added.

Then, they all looked at each other. As Ian said earlier, Jita Kyoei was indeed full of considerations.

“Should I..”

“No.” Ian, Frank, and Nicko quickly cut off Troy’s words. Of course, the big man wouldn’t meet any of the criteria for being a spy. He was a reckless man with an explosive temper. He couldn’t stop himself from slamming people when he was angry. All plans may fail immediately at the first step.

Ian took a deep breath, “Looks like I have to be me,” he said lazily.

“Are you sure? With Calvin Lee? You both?” Troy gave an exaggerated doubtful look.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking that, indeed, the most suitable person for the task is Ian. However... the two of you were never compatible.” Frank thought by looking alternately at Calvin and Ian with his arms folded across his chest.

Calvin cleared his throat as he moved uncomfortably, “That’s fine with me. I’m not fighting him on purpose either.”

Ian looked at Calvin flatly, “As long as you can make sure to keep your attitude and don’t be rash, I’m fine too.”

“All right. So it’s clear, right? Frank and I will set things up then,” Nicko exclaimed, getting nods from Ian and Calvin.

***

A pair of eyes opened when the alarm clock sounded. Actually, Emma had been awake for about an hour before the alarm sounded at six in the morning. But the girl was reluctant to get out of bed. She felt reluctant to set foot in a world full of problems. She felt safer in her warm blanket embrace.

“This is not you, Emma..” She muttered. Then, sat up reluctantly. She rubbed her face in frustration as she sighed again. “You.. can deal with it, right?”

That morning, the sun’s rays were covered by snow falling from the sky. For the first time, Emma felt reluctant to do her usual activities. She refused to cook, practice ballet, or martial arts. It felt like she just wanted to escape from reality.

Even though it was snowing heavily, Emma decided to go out early in the morning in a thick coat and knitted scarf that rolled around her neck with the remnants hanging down to her calves. With thoughts wandering, Emma stood alone at the bus stop. Not long after, a big blue bus arrived. Then, Emma went inside.

The bus looked almost empty of passengers. In total with Emma, ??only three passenger seats were occupied. It was because they were on holiday and it was snowing quite heavily that many people were reluctant to go out on such a freezing cold morning.

Emma got off the bus stop that was as empty as the previous one. Her shoes made imprints on the snow she stepped on. She walked slowly until she came to a road that looked white with snow that had been raining down since the night. From a distance, she could see a large yellow bridge that stretches out in the sky.

Emma approached the guardrail and looked down at the small river where the water was frozen and covered in snow. There was no one there at all. Not only because it was still very early, but also because the ice skating booth was no longer operating, due to the weather being too unfriendly.

With weak steps, Emma walked the concrete steps down the river. White as far as the eyes could see. As usual, when Emma went to that place, she would sit on a wooden park bench not far from the stairs. The bench was covered in thick snow which looked difficult to clean. This made Emma choose to sit on a bed of snow with her back leaned on the wooden bench.

Because her mind was muddled, Emma forgot to put on her hat so snow could be seen piling up on top of her head. But she didn’t care about any of that. She didn’t care if her head would get bald like what people usually said. All she wanted was to get rid of the sorrow in her heart.

Emma looked up at the sky that kept dropping white grains. Even though it wasn’t as heavy as before, its presence still seemed to pierce Emma’s heart. She never liked snow. Everyone she loved left when the snow came. The cold air that blew made her whole body shiver cold. It seemed to freeze her heart which always felt cold inside.

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