"Y-You—"
With a hand and a glare, Rinne held back her tongue as she sat back down. She squeezed her thighs as she glared at Anya. Thinking that my attention was still on Rinne, Anya gave Rinne a sly smirk.
What good came from provoking a child?
Anya noticed my passing glance and turned back to me with a stern expression. Was she being serious, or was she simply here to mess around? Margaret would never have allowed her to come to me with a job like this. I am not an assassin nor a hitman. But seeing how she continued to stare at me with unwavering eyes, it dawned on me that she had nothing else to lose.
Like a star being swallowed by the ever-expanding darkness.
I felt like I had that conversation recently before.
"What made you come to this conclusion?"
"You said it yourself." She said. While her eyes stayed glued to mine, her hands shook in her lap. "You told me there was something foul done to her."
Her? No, that's not what's important. I told her something last night, something that forced her to believe the only solution to her problem was to spill blood. She tried to steal one of the daggers I made for Rinne, and now she's asking me outright. What did I tell her while I was drunk?
"Who are you?" I asked. I figured I might as well start with the basics. Anya tilted her head, breaking her intense look.
"I told you, my name is Anya, just Anya."
"I don't care about your name." Her eyes widened at those words, and she looked away as if hurt. "How do you know me?"
"You came to the Brass Light, a host and hostess club that I work at. You and that sheep of a man."
Sheep of a man? Was she talking about Muller? What did he do to deserve that insulting title?
"After he left you to me, I kept giving you drinks…at your request." She continued, "I told you my problems, thinking you were too drunk to remember, and you told me there was a chance that she was brainwashed by that piece of shit."
Her hands trembled near her crotch as she squirmed uncomfortably around. Rinne's glare melted as she lowered herself. She placed a hand on her chest.
"Tell me from the beginning."
"My friend, my closest friend, who means more than anything to me. I tried to protect her from coming to where I work. Protect her from seeing that man. But in the end, my efforts were useless. After one visit, she kept coming back. At first it was once a week, but now it's every other day. It's not unusual for customers to visit often for a host or hostess they like, but when every female customer comes to visit a single host, it draws eyes."
She stopped for a moment to drink some of the tea I had given her. Her hands were still trembling. After finishing the cup, she placed it down and resumed.
"I went to ask her why she kept visiting the Brass Light. But her response…she denies ever doing it. And she wasn't lying…she really had no memory of anything that happened while she was there."
I can't deny the possibility that there was a chance that she was brainwashed. But at the same time, her friend could simply have been a good liar. Judging by the way she places her hands on her lap when mentioning the man in question, I think it's more than just her wanting to protect that fuels her desire to want this man dead. There has to be something more that made me think it was brainwashing.
"You…you said after seeing her walk past you towards the stairs that she had a dead look in her eyes. That she moved like she was a doll, like a buddy of yours that you said was captured."
"Rinne, Sara, get dressed," I said, prompting a surprised look from both Rinne and Anya. This trail was hot. If our target is this close to us, goddess only knows how much time we have left. Though there was no guarantee that this man was Ritair, something in my gut told me it was. If there was a chance, I'd take it.
"Okay!" Sara was the only one to speak as she stood up.
"Are you really taking these kids with you?" Anya tried to voice her concerns, but I simply shut her down.
"So what of it?" I said. "Go get your friend and have her meet us at the cafe near the central fountain in the Middle Inner Ring in about an hour."
"Wait, so you'll do it?" She grabbed my hand with a dark look in her eyes. I pulled my hands back forcefully. Her hand lingered in the air awkwardly as if still holding onto mine.
"Depends. I won't be a tool used in your revenge plan. But if this fellow is who I think he is…"
Then killing him will be my pleasure.
"Scary," her voice came out as barely a whisper.
I saw Anya out the door as the girls made their way down the stairs. One look at the table was all that Sara needed to make a beeline for her weapon. While she admired it, Rinne walked next to me. It was hard not to see the worry on her face as she placed a hand on her chest.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"What woman, she seems…"
"Broken?"
"…Yeah," Rinne nodded.
Anya seems to have passed the point of no return. Having someone watching to make sure she doesn't make any hasty moves will be the best course of action. Even if I managed to kill the man behind it, there's no telling that her friend…or Kelly will return to normal.
The last second seat we fought…he ordered all of his followers to lay down their lives for him. Muller's men were forced to kill every last one of them. So if this Ritair fellow that Rinne and Muller fought were to be backed into a corner, would he do the same?
My hand found its way to Rinne's golden hair. "Will you stop doing that?" She shouted. "It's creepy and weird, like those old men."
"The difference being," I ruffled her hair a little. "I won't try to abuse you as they did. But relax…I'll make sure that every here gets a happy ending."
"Hollow words for what we are going against."
My words failed to ease the worry that weighed on her mind, but she seemed less scared. I shouldn't undermine the blood flowing through her veins. Like with Rinara, Rinne's gut feelings should be trusted more than anything.