The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

165 RJC Headquarters

“What kind of masks do you want to make?” Otsuka asked when he was already standing behind the large table in the middle of the room. In that place, the table was his resting place.

“It’s just a simple mask. We wanted it to cover our entire heads and have a cover on the mouth so it doesn’t disturb us when we’re talking. But the cover shouldn’t be too big or protruding forward. Ah.. and if you can, I wished the mask is made of soft material for sensitive skin.” Emma explained thoughtfully.

“The eyes must also be covered,” Rachel added.

Otsuka nodded as he took out a paper and pencil. It was a rather troublesome request. He started to draw a sketch there. It only took him a few minutes to complete his very professional-looking sketch, and then showed it to the two ladies who immediately put on an amazed expression on their faces. They stood to his right and left very curious about what he was working on.

“Wow.. This is a masterpiece,” Emma muttered as she grabbed the paper and looked at Rachel, “What do you think?”

Rachel nodded with a smile, “That’s amazing,”

Suddenly, the basement door opened from the outside and a white-haired girl in a high school uniform appeared, “Otsuka Kun..” she said in a baby-like voice.

“Elisa-chan. Please come in,” Otsuka replied kindly. It seemed that he would only be friendly when dealing with the girl named Elisa.

“Oh.. You’re here, Rachel?” Elisa greeted by removing her backpack and placing it on the sofa.

.....

Rachel nodded, “Hi. She’s my friend who wants to make masks too.” she pointed at Emma with her chin.

“I’m Emma Hilland. Nice to meet you,” Emma held out her hand in a friendly manner.

“Elisa Lanken.” The girl returned Emma’s handshake.

“Oh.. I thought your name was Elisa Chan,” Emma said confusedly.

Elisa chuckled, “That’s a close address for a girl or a boy.”

“Ow.. I see,” Emma replied. It seemed that Elisa and Otsuka had the same culture. It seemed like Emma had never known about such a calling thing.

“So, why are you guys making masks?” Elisa asked by joining them.

“This is related to our group coursework,” Emma answered thoughtfully.

“Oh.. Did you guys major in art or design?” Elisha asked. “When I graduate from school, I will major in animation design.”

Emma nodded, “Yeah.. More or less,”

“Here, these are examples of the materials,” Otsuka took out a bundle of fabrics, united by an iron ring at their corner. He flipped through the pile of fabrics like a book and stopped at a piece, “If you want a good one. This is the best material. It’s synthetic leather on the outside and soft, thick cotton on the inside. But the price is a bit expensive,”

“It looks good too. Well, I think we can use this one. Please make everything black.” Emma said without asking the price at all. It was her habit of buying things. One of the things that made many people envy her.

“How long the process will be? Sorry, but we’re in a bit of a rush,” Rachel asked.

“You can take it tomorrow morning,” Otsuka replied flatly.

“Tomorrow morning? That soon?” Emma looked at him in disbelief.

Elisa smiled, “Believe me, Otsuka Kun is indeed very fast in his work and the results are always perfect. He used to be called the Handcraft God.”

Otsuka smiled at Elisa, “You don’t have to say that, Elisa chan.”

“Okay then. Looks like we have to go now. I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning and pay for it straight away. Is that possible?” Emma asked.

Otsuka nodded, “You can come at nine in the morning.”

In front of the house,

“See you again, girls,” Elisa said. She was taking Emma and Rachel outside, while Otsuka preferred to stay in the basement to immediately work on the project.

“Thanks for helping us, Elisa.” Rachel said, getting a nod from the white-haired girl.

“Ah, right..” Emma stopped in her tracks and turned to face the house’s front door.

Elisa who was about to close the door then stopped and opened it wider again, “Is there anything left?”

“There’s nothing left, but.. actually, I want to ask you something,” Emma said. Rachel looked at her best friend with a questioning face.

Emma cleared her throat and continued, “Incidentally, we should have made this project ourselves. If we get caught that we paid someone to make it, it might get us into trouble. So, can you guys keep this a secret?” she asked, wished that her reason was considered reasonable by Elisa.

The white-haired girl was silent for a moment, then nodded with a smile, “Of course,”

“Thank you. Have a nice day,” Emma smiled.

Then they both returned to the car. Rachel looked at Emma who was already sitting in the driving seat with a slightly tense face.

“Calm down, Emma. I think they are pretty trustworthy. Usually, people who work professionally don’t care and don’t spill the information about their clients.” Rachel said. She knew what her best friend was worried about. “I did some research about Elisa before. It seems she doesn’t have too many friends in real life. She is only active on social media by hiding her real identity as Elisa Lenken.” she explained.

“Thanks, Rachel. But, I just feel like there’s something odd about those two, especially the guy named Otsuka. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Emma said.

“Well.. If that’s how you really feel, maybe we should be more careful next time,” Rachel answered.

Emma smiled at her, “Thanks for understanding my weird feelings, Rachel.”

“Sometimes, we just can’t ignore our feeling. Someone said, every human being actually has a unique instinct within to predict something bad.” Rachel answered.

Emma smiled warmly and started her car. The maroon car drove away, but what they didn’t know was that a pair of eyes with black irises was watching from the room roof window of the house they had visited earlier.

***

A big, tall man with his hair in a ponytail walked towards a luxurious table with a director’s chair facing backwards, against the large windowpane that gave a night view of a deserted city.

“We have guests,” Kenny Brown said.

“Calvin Lee? Jita Kyoei?” Marcel Douglas guessed right away. Who else would visit if not a bunch of trouble-seeking geeks?

“No. It’s Black.” Kenny answered.

Marcel immediately turned his chair around. His expression looked surprised to hear the name, “Black?”

Kenny nodded, “He came with a friend.”

On the other hand,

Emma and Rachel stood beside the motorbike they rode to reach RJC’s headquarters. The two girls, or... the guys were surrounded by a bunch of other men who were members of the RJC.

Emma didn’t know where RJC’s headquarters was, so she approached one of RJC’s men who was guarding Redvalley Street. She said she wanted to meet Marcel Douglas, so she was led to the wasp’s nest.

Now, the partner couple was in the basement of RJC’s headquarters with dozens of men surrounding them like criminals. After a long time of waiting, a male voice exclaimed, “The boss is coming!”

Hearing the notification, all the men who had been surrounding the two men immediately opened a way in the middle for their leader to pass.

A long legs man wrapped in a casual suit, walked up to them accompanied by his assistant who had his hair in a ponytail and another assistant who had thick eyebrows and tanned skin.

“I didn’t expect you to come,” Marcel said.

“There’s something I want to talk about,” Emma replied immediately.

“Let us make sure you guys are unarmed.” Marcel moved his chin toward Black, signalling Kenny to check up the two black-helmeted men.

“I’m refused. I swear I’m unarmed.” Emma rejected quickly, even before Kenny made a move. Of course, she couldn’t let a man check-up her body. In addition to her identity as a woman would be exposed, her hand would also automatically punch Kenny in the face before his hand even touched her body.

“Refusing the arm check is one of the signs you’re not coming in peace,” Kenny said.

“You can try it if you want a fight here,” Rachel replied sharply.

“There will be no fighting here. Come with me,” Marcel put his hand on his assistant’s shoulder and looked at him with a signal to let the two guests go.

Emma and Rachel both sighed in relief. Honestly, they didn’t think that there would be a check-up like this. Luckily, Marcel seemed to trust them enough to let them in without being checked.

The two men took off their helmets and put them on their big motorbikes. Marcel who saw it was surprised because he thought he could see the face of the person behind the black helmet. But he was immediately disappointed when he found that the two men were still wearing strange masks under their helmets. It looked like they really didn’t want their identity to be exposed.

Finally, Marcel turned and walked into the building with Kenny and Renu by his sides. Behind him, the Black duo followed. He led his guests into a meeting room guarded by at least thirty men who were standing along the walls of the room with their backs to them.

“Should I ask again, what do you want to talk about?” Marcel asked with a faint smile. He looked at the figure of a man whose body was much shorter than min. He was sure it was the figure of Black who at that time had saved his grandmother.

“You’re the one who asked me to come if I have the same enemy as you. Recently, I found that we need to destroy the Creeper as soon as possible.” Emma said.

Marcel squinted his eyes, “That’s good news.” he said. “Incidentally, I didn’t know that Black was two men. Are you two have the same nickname?” he looked at Rachel.

“Think of me as his shadow,” Rachel answered.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!