ã€ŠSwept Away.ã€‹


 1.Tsunami Night. v2

    So.

    This could be considered a resurrection story.

    Even though the actual ?ressurection? part is coming like half-way into this story.

    Honestly, it''s such a mess, I don''t really think it''s quite right to say it''s a ?resurrection?. I don''t even switch world, get overpowered, or destroy evil dragons (yet).

    But let''s cut the intro short, it''s gonna get complicated quite quickly so hold on, and let''s begin.

    These kind of stories usually begin with an explanation of who I was, what I was doing with my supposedly shitty life, and finally a heroic rescue of a kid before getting run over by the most deadly magic truck in existence.

    But this isn''t going to be like that.

    You see there are multiple aspects of reality preventing these classic occurences of storytelling from happening.

    First of all I''m not really unhappy with my current life, so damn, can''t not feel bad about dying. Second of all, magic trucks don''t exist, and normal ones are actually pretty easy to dodge as long as you''re not on a highway, or related to a deer. Even when tackling someone who can''t distinguish his left from right it''s fine. Also most kids don''t cross streets like dumbasses in the middle of the night, and even if they did, honestly, who am I to go against Darwin?

    ...

    ...I''m kidding don''t worry, and sorry in advance, my humor is pretty dark.

    Oops, gonna have to keep my rambling in check, let''s get to the point.

    Basically, Truck-kun couldn''t kill me, and saving an ungrateful drunk businessmen doesn''t feel nearly as good as saving a poor kid.

    Still. Nothing is preventing me from telling you who I am. So I''m gonna begin with that, I can''t destroy all the cliches after all, that would be terribly rude. Can''t have that in Japan.

    So yes this story happens in Japan, but I''m actually not Japanese. I''m an overseas student, I went here to learn the language, basically from scratch, having watched my fair share of anime, but not knowing anything about how they actually speak it in the country. To be honest I also went there so I could use my deep blue eyes to their full potential. Girls love them. But asian girls really love them. Unfortunately for me, I understood on that particular bar trip I went on that night, that asian boys also really love them. My effeminate nature and let''s say particular taste about clothing (I like classy hats and old-timey costumes) apparently sent wrong messages to some very enthousiastic young men.

    I have no problem with homosexuality in general, but the pill in my drink was seriously not welcome. I thought I understood how women felt, having studied sociology and psychology, where I was like, one of the four male in most of my classes for five years, but it feels really different when someone tries to abuse you and not a friend of yours. My guard was completely down. I had never heard of such things happening to a man, especially in such a prude country as Japan.

    Yeah laugh all you want, but the tentacle rape loli birthing Japan, is actually terribly prude.

    So how did I escape the unfortunate fate of being dosed? Well they were pretty obvious about it and I got a tad bit lucky too.

    So let''s side-track back to the beginning of the fateful day. I finished my courses at the international school, studied a bit about sealife vocabulary, went and bought a light novel at a bookstore nearby before finally deciding to explore the nightlife. Usually it''s only bars and izakayas but this time I found something new.

    My research led me to a building in a pretty hype part of Kyoto.The buiding, previously a quite large traditional bar,became quite different. It now looked more like a futuristic sci-fi club house. I hesitated but finally decided to go in. I had no problem getting past the bouncer, being white in asian countries has that kind of perks. It''s sad, I know. Barely five meters inside, I got ambushed by two perfectly normal looking japanese guys. They insisted on me having a drink with them.

    I had a hard time understanding what they were saying to me, even though I didn''t act like it. The music was pretty loud, and my japanese only three months old. One of them was called Haruto, but I didn''t quite catch the name of the other one. I''ll blame that on the music.

    I initially refused, they weren''t my target audienceafter all (I mean girls).

    And before I continue I need to be clear about something. I wasn''t there to get a quick fuck, pardon my language, I was actually there to try to have a nice chat with a nice girl. I know it''s hard to believe with everything I said before, but that''s just my macho side talking, I studied psychology, talking is basically my thing, and I was getting lonely, all my friends having stayed back home.

    So after they forcefully introduced themselves, I looked at them more closely, quickly seeing that under their apparent typical japanese looks, something about them felt off. Their basic jeans and t-shirt, in dark colors, with writings hard to decipher in the low lights of the loud bar/club we were in, were the definition of normal. They looked nice enough. Even though their smiles were pretty fake. It''s easy to tell when you''ve studied basic human expressions, you see the sides of the mouth going up, but the eyebrows staying perfectly still. It doesn''t mean anything though, most people do those kind of smiles to someone they never met before. I was doing that exact thing at the moment. Doesn''t make you a psycho.

    So even though my instincts told me to be careful, I didn''t pay them heed, as I had no proof my fears had any ground to be true. What''s more, I never had any problem with any japanese. They aren''t mean, they can only be too nice. Or so I thought.

    I decided to follow them, I was getting uncomfortable anyway, being a bit shy in such a large crowd. It was the first time I went to such a high-tech bar, which looked more and more like a club the deeper we went in. I can handle myself in a group, but if they get too big I get shy and overwhelmed. Their invitation actually gave me the courage I needed to really get into this ocean of flowing bodies dancing to a a really loud-sounding wave of what was supposedly music.

    They made me follow them up some stairs, passing what looked like an angry, big american special forces soldier, who barely looked at us. Compared to the bouncer at the entrance, this one was a scary monster. Muscles protruding out of every possible place his suit let them.

    They must''ve been some bigshots, cause I was pretty sure that meant we had just climbed to the VIP section.

    Up this second floor were multiple private booths on the right wall with a few high tables in the middle giving view to the dance floor.

    I looked at some of the girls there, and damn, they were hot. Not all of them were japanese, but all of them were exquisitly dressed, and different enough that you could choose between really cute, or really hot, or a mixture of both if you wanted to.

    My new ?friends? brought me to a booth with two girls and another boy. I would like to describe them a bit more but that''s where my memory gets a bit fuzzy.

    I remember clearly the drink, which I didn''t like cause it tasted weird. That was my luck, I''m really difficult about alcohol.

    I barely touched it.

    They asked me some questions, my name, where I was from, etc...

    I also got a few compliments for my accent, spoken like a true japanese they said.

    That made me smile. The benefits of having learnt three languages when I was a child was that I basically sound like a native, even if don''t know the language. Never had an accent I couldn''t reproduce to some degree. Islandic is hard though.

    The rest of the group quickly got bored about asking me things. I think I had been invited for the same reason as one of the girls, who looked like a brazilian : to look good. Strangers at your table means you''re cool I guess.

    I tried to decode what was being said next, but I quickly zoned out, they spoke too fast. I laughed when others laughed and looked serious when the others acted serious.

    A pretty boring evening.

    I didn''t even register the one japanese guy I didn''t know the name looking at me with glee.

    That was my last thought for the hour. I don''t remember anything afterwards. Bribes and echoes at most. I think I went to dance with the latina girl and I remember a trip to the horribly complicated toilets of the club. With like male and female signs that make no sense and you basically have to guess which door to take. And afterwards you have to know which button to press on those technological nighmares of japanese toilets. Urgh.

    Even through the obvious drugs I was given, It still traumatised me.

    Water spewing into your...

    I think I got my bearings after that trip though. Trauma for the win yeee...

    So I didn''t go back up to the VIP lounge. I stopped in my tracks, realizing out of those hellish toilets that something definitly wasn''t right with me.

    I had barely touched my glass, and I just had a one hour black out.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    The initial feeling of unease I had had with my young japanese hosts seemed to have been justified after all.

    But I was still conflicted.

    Their eyes had been mostly on me, barely on the girls. But I couldn''t be sure, not in my state of mind. Was I the only one who had been drugged?

    If I left, would I leave that nice latina chick on her own?

    I remembered something about her eyes. A dark brown, pretty nice, but more than that, they looked sad.

    ?Shit? I exclaimed to myself.

    I climbed back up the stairs, the crazy buff american bouncer looking at me strangely but nonetheless letting me pass.

    I looked at my two japanese hosts differently. The third guy wasn''t there anymore. Believing someone is nice, or knowing he is dangerous makes that someone physically different in your eyes. I had direct proof right now.

    They watched me sit back down. The one sitting in the back of the booth, whose name I hadn''t understood, looked suprised, probably not expecting to see me again. That one felt really eerie. The other one, Haruto, looked rather pleased, and drunk, and definitely interested in me: his gaze lingered on my butt when I sat.

    Well I knew what they were after now. Or at least one of them. To push this point even more, the creepy guy made a sign to the latina girl and her japanese girl friend, who immediately got up and left together.

    I had just got back up there for nothing.

    I sighed.

    It wasn''t the first time I had been in a shitty situation, but it was the first time I had to defend my ?innocence?.

    But I believe the easiest way out is the best way out.

    ?Oh!? I exclaimed touching my pockets.

    ?Sumimasen! Sumaho wasuremashita!?

    Contrary to what I just said, I didn''t forget my phone. But it let me get back up pretty naturally.

    Not-Haruto guy seemed to want to say something, he was beginning to understand that the drug hadn''t had the expected outcome. The confusion in his gaze was quickly fleeting, being slowly replaced by very bad news for me if I had to guess.

    But I wasn''t going to let him realize it, I almost fled out of the booth and ran down the stairs.

    I got cut off by the mountain that was the bouncer.

    ?Everything alright?? He asked with the heaviest american voice ever.

    I answered in my most well acted american accent.

    ?Sure, nothing wrong, I just need to take a call, and I can''t hear anything in here.?

    He looked puzzled for a moment.

    ?Wait you''re not...? You''re American??

    I smiled. Instincts told me not to lie would be better. But that didn''t mean I had to tell the truth either.

    ?Oh uh...my mistake, sure go through.? He continued.

    And my way was clear.

    I don''t know why I felt I needed to trick him, but it worked so I silently thanked my gut feeling and got out of the club.

    The fresh air made me realize how spinny the world looked inside. It made me feel so much better. My fear transformed in anger.

    ?What the fuck was in that drink?? I mumbled out loud.

    And what would have happened if I finished it? I thought.

    I walked, looking at my phone. It wasn''t even midnight yet, I could still catch the Kyoto metro back to my appartment.

    This night was crap, but it was saturday tomorrow, I would call my parents, tell them what had happened and feel better at hearing them freak out in my place. Well at least, I would feel better hearing my father freak out. My mom would probably ask why I didn''t just bash their skulls in.

    Nope, not thinking about it!I''d remember this as a good memory I decided!

    I would look back at it and think ?I got out of a bad situation, without anyone getting hurt, look how good I...? I couldn''t finish my internal conceited sentence as I began to violently gag.

    ?Wha...? I exclaimed before sending the contents of my stomach on the ground.

    ?Fucking karma...? I exclaimed between two gags.

    After a few minutes I felt better again.

    I looked around me but the road was clear except for a drunk old japanese businessman standing like a dumbass in the middle of the road.

    ?¤¬¤¤¤¸¤å! Aho! Gurossu!?

    I didn''t catch the first word, was it foreigner? Nah that was Gaijin... The last two were pretty clear though. Idiot and gross.

    It was a big no-no to pollute the public place in Japan. So I wasn''t angry at him, I knew why he acted like that. I actually repressed a chuckle. While insutling me, his furious hand movements had catapulted the beer he held in on of them five meters away. He hadn''t noticed.

    The ?crash!? had been pretty obvious though.

    That was when the truck appeared.

    It was probably because I wasn''t wearing my glasses as I don''t need them except while driving, but the vehicle seemingly popped out of nowhere. It''s headlights were off, and fortunately it wasn''t driving quickly.

    Honestly it was all very strange.

    But I didn''t think about that at that moment.

    I just ran to the unfortunate fool in the middle of the road who was still insulting me.

    Things went really fast.

    One moment I was refraining my laughter, the next I was on top of him on the sidewalk opposite of where I had been.

    ?Sumimasen? I said like an idiot.

    The guy looked at me funny then pushed me off, with no real violence.

    The truck was nowhere to be seen.

    The businessman got up, well, after four tries, but still got up. He was silent, a confused look on his face.

    He then tried to say something, but babbled an incomprehensible mess, then left.

    I was still on my back, feeling bad again, but without the vomiting part.

    Tackling that guy got the wind out of me and I was catching my breath.

    I think I never ran that fast.

    I don''t think he would''ve died, the truck was going slowly, but he wouldn''t have been in a good state, that''s for sure.

    Did I just save someone?

    That thought felt... weird.

    After a while I finally got my bearings back, and I inspected myself for injuries.

    Nothing visible at least.

    Except the screen of my phone was cracked.

    ?Well shit.?

    I sighed.

    I wanted to go to bed now.

    So I did.

    That''s how that day went, the way back to my small appartment almost bizarrely uneventful.

    But that day was a turning point for me. And contrary to popular belief, they are really rare. No, actually scratch that, they don''t exist. It''s always a ?turning month?, or a ?turning year?. Events never change you radically, it''s what you make of these important events that truly make the change.

    But as I would quickly figure out, the next morning in fact, that shitty day truly fucked my life over.

    My name was Sias, and my family, the Jourdin were really shitty people. Except for my dad and my aunt.

    They were the only ones of the Jourdin I had any contact with, I was much closer with my mother''s family, even though I was supposed to be the last true heir of the Jourdin. Whatever that meant.

    This wasn''t happening.Was my first thought the next morning.

    I had always been a ?pretty? boy, not really masculine, but a boy for sure.

    The Jourdin didn''t like that, they liked confidence, in appearance and personality.

    Well damn, t''was almost funny.Was my second one.

    I wanted to do psychology since forever, I liked people after all. My grandparents refused categorically.

    They wanted either a soldier, or someone who worked in the family business.

    Should I laugh hysterically?I think I said that out loud.

    Cause in the mirror of my small bathroom, I was looking at myself.

    And something had changed.

    Not much, just a bit.

    But enough to be noticed easily if you knew my face well.

    I didn''t look like a ?pretty? boy now, I looked fucking androgynous. I could easily pass for a girl.

    That was definitely new. And impossible.

    So here I am, looking at the reflection on what is undisputedly me, but is also not.

    Asking myself what I had been given to drink the night before.

    Maybe it wasn''t my "innocence" they were after.

    I felt scared at the simple idea of undressing, but even more than that, I was scared thatsomethinghad just caught up to me. Something that should have been buried deep, deep underground.

    And finally. In the most vain and narcissistic self-defense mecanism you could think of, I just said:

    ?Well I definitely look cuter...?

 Tomorrows are always as bad as Yesterdays. v2

    I had to sit down.

    The two chairs that made up half of the furniture of my apartment were too far away for my wobbly legs, so I sat down on the edge of my small bathtub.

    My brain, usually in perpetual overload actually shut up for once.

    I don''t know how long I sat there, my head down, my hands holding it.

    It may not be glorious, but I wanted to call my mum.

    But my phone was KIA. After yesterday''s fiasco, it didn''t turn on anymore.

    Being a hero is definitely overrated. You get no recognition, and you break your stuff doing the heroics. Nothing good about it.

    Well you don''t have to look at a dismembered body. That''s a plus I guess.

    Oh ! It seems my overheated brain got back in action.

    I got up and went to the balcony, really small, but the best part of where I lived, the pinnacle of my apartment, a sixth floor outside terrace, with a nice view of a park surrounded by buildings. It was usually super sunny too. Except that the weather decided to resemble my current mood. It may not have been raining but it couldn''t have been more grim.

    Having taken a new breath of fresh air, I got back inside, it was too chilly for me.

    I proceeded making myself a cup of tea and a bowl of cereals. Like nothing was wrong.

    No drug-induced body transformation, nope, nothing to see here.

    I opened my laptop, it showed me that I had overslept.

    Of course I had, my alarm was my phone.

    ? Eleven PM ? Shit am I nineteen again ? ? I mumbled.

    I saw my reflexion in the screen.

    I closed my laptop.

    Not facing it would be worst.

    I knew it, I studied it, and I had said that very same thing before to a depressed friend, like a condescending University/College student who believes he knows everything better than the actual person concerned.

    I frowned.

    Self-depreciating wasn''t helpful either.

    I had to act, not stay in shock like a cute hamster.

    Cute.

    The vision of my face flashed in front of me.

    ? Fuck. ? I cursed.

    I was gonna act, fine.

    But first I was finishing my tea, priorities right ?

    I cleaned up my breakfast before going back to the bathroom. A five minutes delay before facing reality. Every second was good to take.

    I looked at the small mirror. Same face, but not quite.

    I noticed something new though. Something that wasn''t quite right. I was sure I had a light stubble the day before, I didn''t shave everyday, and I didn''t yesterday. But my face was now devoid of any semblance of beard.

    That was impossible.

    I knew the sex-change drugs, heard about them from friends. My best friend had transitioned when she was a teen, and another girl friend had become a guy friend while I was studying. She, erm he had answered my questions about the different types of medicine given to him. What they were, what they did, I found it pretty cool and researched about it too. Estrogens, Testosterone, or derivatives of those particular hormones, that''s what you used in those particular cases.

    But even in a crazy amount, no drug could remove hair. It could prevent it from growing sure, but not make it dissapear.

    Motivated by my new findings, I quickly undressed.

    Nothing had quite changed, still not muscly, but thin and slightly toned. I sighed of relief at my chest and penis, untouched. Wait that sounded wrong...

    I got cut in my thought, my body hair was almost completely gone.

    ? What the... ? ?

    Was I getting crazy? What other explanation was there? Hairs are still something, things don''t vanish, not without heat propagation. Enough heat to create a mini-sun in fact.

    My apartement had not become hell on earth, so I think that theory was out.

    ? Phew, I didn''t get dosed with female hormones! I''m only fucking hallucinating ! Yaaaaay ! ? I said sarcastically out loud.

    But another idea popped in my mind.

    I got back to my bedroom/living room and inspected my bed.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ? Eww... ? Was my first reaction.

    A pile of body hair was littering my litter. I mean my bedding. That was a bad joke, I chuckled anxiously anyway.

    At least that part of the mystery got solved.

    But answered questions only brought new ones.

    ? What fucking drug causes your body hair to fall overnight and makes your face slightly more feminine ? ?

    What if it wasn''t the drug ? A genetic disease ? Crazy ideas were popping in my head.

    So you know what I did ?

    I took an appointment to the doctor.

    It was 1PM, I shouldve been hungry, but my unusually recent breakfast was still currently satisfying my stomach. The smell of antiseptic and the white room wasn''t good for my appetite either. This was probably in my top three worst places to be. The inside of a coffin was 1, number 2 was sewers or related foul places. And number 3, medical cabinets and hospitals.

    I was nervously fiddling with my fingers.

    There had been two elderlies and three children with their mom before my turn finally came.

    I would be delighted to write my conversation with the doctor in japanese, but erm, you definitely would not understand. We don''t want that right ?

    It has nothing to do with the fact that my kanjis are horrible and I can barely recognise them, let alone write them.

    Seriously.

    The doctor was a sweet looking mid-aged woman in white clothing. She wasn''t really beautiful, but she gave an aura of gentleness that was making me miss my mom.

    Even though that one is more like an angry wolverine.

    It wasn''t the first time I met with Doctor Hisaya. But looking back at it, the bad sushi last month were pretty trivial considering to what was happening to me now.

    ? J?rudinu-san, how are you ? ? She immediately asked me.

    Why did doctors always have to begin with that kind of question ? What would happen if I answered ''Oh, I''m perfectly fine thank you, what about you ? ''.

    I let the thought float away. Never a good idea to antagonize the one who was supposed to help you.

    ? Erm, well something bad happened to me yesterday, and I feel pretty strange right now. ?

    ? Bad sushi again ? ? She asked.

    She definitely already knew that it wasn''t sushi, but I think she wanted to show me she remembered me.

    I did not really care about that, so I responded truthfully, trying my best to answer in my most comprehensible japanese.

    ? No, I think I got drugged, I vomited a lot, and I lost all my body hair this morning. ?

    She looked at me quizzically, probably trying to determine if I had made a language related mistake, or if I was still drugged.

    I decided to remove the upper part of my clothing. Better to show than to tell.

    As I looked down on myself something seemed weird, but I couldn''t quite pinpoint what.

    The doctor studied me for a bit, looking a bit lost.

    ? I am sorry to ask, but is this a joke ? ?

    That was an obvious reaction if there ever was one. I sighed.

    ? Nn, nn ? I answered ? I promise you, I am not pranking you ?

    It looked like she believed me.

    ? And you vomited yesterday night ? And got drugged ? Did you call the police ? ?

    ? Yes and yes, and erm no, I have no proof, and I barely remember who they were. ? I think I could find them again if I wanted to, but I certainly didn''t want to involve the cops.

    They looked like young rich japanese kids in their early twenties and I am a stranger barely a few years older. Hoping the police would be able to do anything to them was naive.

    She didn''t push the subject.

    ? I see, I would like to take some of your blood so the lab can run some tests to find out which kind of drug they injected you with, did it make you feel anything else ? ?

    I explained about my black-outs and how I felt after having that drink. I had to use english when it became too technical, but fortunately it looked like she understood.

    She scratched her head with her pencil.

    ? It is most unusual. I believe the drug could be something like GHB, and you had a strange reaction to it, but I honestly have never heard about body hair loss as a result of a bad trip. I am really sorry to ask, but are you certain you did not take the drug yourself, do you really have no idea what it was ? ? She had an anxious expression. She knew these questions usually brought really bad reactions. But even so she asked, because that was the professionnal thing to do.

    I respected that.

    ? I would have told you if I knew, really. ? I answered with a smile.

    But internally I hesitated : did I want to talk about the strange feminization effects ? She had not noticed, so maybe it wasn''t as obvious as I initially thought ?

    It would show up if there was Estrogens or some kind of strange hormone in my blood, so I didn''t add anything.

    I payed her, and finally got out of the cabinet.

    I was none the wiser, but at least I would be getting more info soon.

    And anyway, things would probably get back to normal once the drug got out of my blood.

    I had nothing to worry about.

    My gut feeling was telling me the complete opposite.

    Nothing to do about it though, so I just dismissed it.

    I stopped by a 7/11 to buy some groceries, stopped at a library and got myself a nice book even though I didn''t finish the previous one, and went back to my apartment.

    Regaining your normal lifestyle after a traumatic event is really important.

    Even though it''s not that traumatic.

    I could have been put in a coffin for two days, that would have been really traumatic.

    I was almost joyful when I entered my room. I decided to walk the stairs instead of taking the lift, and I was a bit sweaty.

    In the shower something felt weird. I had felt it in the doctor''s office but had not been able to put my finger on what was wrong.

    But as the first droplets of lukewarm water fell, it dawned on me.

    My pecs, my chest may be normal in appearance, but in truth, the muscle was pretty rapidly transforming into fat.

    The now warm water on my back couldn''t prevent the horrible shudder going through my body.

    ? What the fuck is happening to me ? ?

    I tried to forget this new incident by sending a mail to my parents, quickly telling them what had happened, and saying that my phone was broken and that I would try to find a store to buy a new one tomorrow evening. I tried to be as reassuring as possible and was pretty vague, I would tell them in more details when I was gonna be able to speak to them.

    For the rest of the day I read my book, finished it, and began my new one.

    I made myself a quick meal at 7PM, and ate it in front of my laptop, looking at the local news. Best way to improve your hearing skills in a foreign language if you can''t speak to a real person.

    Rice and cooked salmon, nothing fancy, but oh so delicious. I''m a pretty good cook if I can say so myself.

    I smiled, my fucked up body wasn''t far in my mind, but at least I pushed it back a bit further.

    I didn''t smile for long as my laptop showed me the latest news.

    A clinic and a lab had been burnt down in the beginning of the evening.

    A clinic in Kyoto.

    A familiar face was beeing carried to an ambulance. She wasn''t looking good.

    ? Hisaya-san ? ? I whispered softly ? What the fuck is happening ? ?

    I stood there watching my screen.

    My meal was getting cold.

    And for some reason mythroat was aching.

    I guessed what it was.

    I could still see the corpse being buried. Made sure of it. Multiple times.

    But I knew. He may be dead, but his legacy was not.

    "Shit."

    My instincts are terrifying. Because when it''s about something bad, they are never wrong.

 Love Hotels hurt my eyes. v2

    I should have been in shock again.

    But old memories came crashing down my mind''s doorstep.

    "CRISIS! What do you do Sias?"

    "Leave the emotions, take a step back." I answered.

    Sharp pain in my stomach. I was now on my knees, catching my breath.

    I smiled, I had not screamed this time.

    "That was N¡ã2 Sias. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

    "Instincts..." I managed to say "I react first, I think second, when I''m safe, and I may only feel when the crisis is over."

    I looked up.

    My grandfather was smiling at me.

    "Yes... better to dodge the punch first before thinking about it right?"

    I acted like I was in auto-pilot. One hour later I was in a Love Hotel at the other side of the city with only basic necessities. I still took my computer. It could have been tracked but that was truly unlikely. If I really was in danger, and the incident at the lab and the medical cabinet really was aimed at me, it made no sense my computer was compromised.

    If it was it would have been my apartment up in flames, not the doctor''s office.

    I sat down on the heart shaped bed. I thought I didn''t care about which room I had to pick, as long as it was a cheap one for the whole night. Looking at the room now, I would''ve preferred something less pink.

    But I was safe.

    I needed to think now.

    I didn''t think about the pain in my throat, it was quickly fading away anyway.

    Was I targeted? Or were those coincidences really only that?

    That wasn''t the right question.

    Could I take the risk?

    Parano?a wasn''t good, but if it prevents your death, it''s the worst of two evils.

    First, a strange meeting with normal looking japanese men. I thought at first they wanted my ass, literally, but it seems I had been mistaken.

    Or maybe they weren''t in it for the same reason?

    One of them, Haruto boy, looked at me with clear intend in his eyes, but the other one... Now that I thought about it, his actions did not make sense if he wanted to get in my pants. Wasn''t he taking glimpses at the cleavage of the brazilian girl?

    And he seemed surprised when I got back from the toilets.

    Was I not supposed to? Or maybe I should not have been able to.

    I remembered how I felt. I drank so little and still felt so horribly bad.

    What if I had taken more of the strange drink?

    Maybe it was actually poison.

    What if the poison was sex hormones?

    I looked it up: Estrogen Side Effects.

    "Shit"

    Nausea, Vomiting, Breast tenderness,... and in too high quantities, blood clots, and heart failure.

    That was eerily reminiscent of my health state those last 24 hours.

    It didn''t explain everything, the feminization for example, but it answered my first question.

    The risks where definitely too high to be taken lightly. Coincidence or not.

    I got invaded by a multitude of unwanted worries.

    Did I get injected with an experimental drug, just to see what it would do?

    Their test subject having fled, did they try to cover their tracks and destroy the clinic?

    Or was I facing assassins, engaged for whatever reason to kill me?

    Making me change sexes then murder me was definitely the perfect crime. A random dead woman, no-one who knows her, found in the male toilets of a club.

    Nah, the change was too slow, I could still be ID''d, even now.

    I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath.

    I took my soundproof headset and concentrated on the music in my ears.

    Sigur r¨°s, you''re the best.

    Those theories are a waste of energy. What I need is a plan.

    I have to leave the country.

    If I get back home, the crisis will be averted.

    To do that I need to act, and fast.

    First, contact my parents. Explain what has happened to me, even the embarassing part about my everchanging physical appearance.

    So first things first, tomorrow, buy a phone. Wait, maybe I could use the one in the hotel. I think you can ask for that bonus. I''ll try that.

    In the worst case scenario, at least my parents will know what to look for if they lost their son. They''ll look for a daughter.

    A dry laugh.

    Second, contact my international school and tell them I''m sick.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    If there are people after me, and they were able to almost immediately trace back the results of the lab, it is logical to assume their connections are large. Finding a european boy in his twenties learning japanese in Tokyo wouldn''t take them too long to find. Even more with my particular name, Sias Jourdin. If Not-Haruto poisongiver guy was involved, my name will be out there.

    It would be really suspicious if a student went missing, it''ll help them in their search heavily. Private information are tightly secured in those schools, but I would not take any chances.

    Step three was a choice. Either find a plane back home in Osaka, or take the shinkansen (High-Speed Train) to Tokyo, and go to one of the two airports there.

    I liked the second option more, the airport was much bigger, and I would be much harder to spot.

    Another thought popped in my mind, one I immediatly hated. Even if I was pursued by hyper intelligent conspiracy theory Illuminati that decided to sacrify me to Cthulhu, my physical changes are only known by myself. They were not much, at least if they did not get any worse till tomorrow, but they could easily be enough to become a ghost.

    If I did something I really did not want to do.

    "Why am I even thinking about it..."

    "You''re allowed to feel Sias, of course you are... in private, when nothing bad can happen to the Jourdin. Feelings are important, we need them. Rites that try to supress them always fail, the Jourdins are better than that. So accept them, but learn to accept them when you need them. For example, when you''re trying to sound honest. Or you want to make yourself desirable. Put feelings in. But you know that already, don''t you Sias?"

    Grand-father looked at me, through me. He was peering inside something that scared and fascinated him. He wanted it for himself.

    "You do know that right Sias? You do remember what you did to..."

    My eyes opened, I shook off the memory. I was sweating and breathing heavily.

    " I need a shower" I said out loud.

    I almost panicked.

    "Ah, Ah, aaaaaah" I said quietly, testing my voice.

    It was one or two pitches higher.

    My throat, the pain,...of course.

    I palpated it with my fingers.

    My Adam''s apple was gone.

    I almost threw my headphones on the ground, but they fortunately landed on the bed, and proceeded to run into the kitsch hotel''s bathroom.

    It had a full height mirror, the edges coated in fake, pink, gold.

    "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, s?, verdammte ScheiBe, godverdomme, merde, merde, merde, blyat,..." said the androgynous boy-girl with a cute voice in the mirror.

    Six languages did not give me enough ways to say poop at that moment.

    I undressed. My hips were slightly larger, something unwanted was blossoming on my chest and bad things were happening to my balls. The other part of my genitalia still looked untouched.

    "But for how long..." I said with desperation, before getting angry. "What the hell was that drug!" The clear sound of my voice didn''t help with my temper.

    Deep breaths, deep breaths Sias.

    My hand were shaking, I was on the verge of a panic attack.

    I couldn''t have that now. The crisis was not over, far from it.

    I went in the shower, waiting for the water to get unbearably hot before breaking down in tears.

    I almost never cried, but holding my head in my knees felt good.

    After half an hour, my skin one of a lobster, I got out of the shower with newfound resolve.

    So what if I was forcefully getting changed into a trans girl/boy. It didn''t matter. I would not dye my hair pink and force people to be politically correct. My humor would still be a horrible mix of dead babies and Syrian refugees trying to find the Atlantide.

    Actually maybe it would be better, it''s only when white men say it that it''s bad right?

    Fanny, my best friend who had transitioned would be furious. I could call her an "It" without her being able to use the "mysogynistic white man" card. Not that she really cared, she was my friend after all. She''d probably answer with her second favorite one "And you''re a too hairy trapboy". Or not, damn.

    Still, some of her LGBTQ friends heard me say it once and I immediately became persona non grata in their bar.

    "It needs some wine." Wasn''t that bad...

    Fanny stopped going there too, so fuck them.

    Yeah, I could get over it. It was a piece of cake actually. Nothing similar to getting stuck in a coffin for two days.

    I smiled.

    I had plans to make.

    First contact my parents. I could not wait for a new phone, if my voice got any more feminine, they could be doubting me. I couldn''t have that. I needed them on my side.

    I sent private messages to my few close friends on facebook, telling them what had happened, and telling them I was going to Osaka seeing a specialized doctor. Maybe some of them would believe it was a joke, I was capable of such bad quality ones after all, but at least they would know something strange was going on. The Osaka bullshit was a red herring.

    My friends couldn''t do anything with that info, but if it got out, it would benefit me.

    I hoped my pursuers were good, it''s much easier to anticipate intelligent actions than stupid ones. Facebook had to be the first thing to monitor in this day and age after all.

    Do you think it''s too much? Do you think I''m overexaggerating? Of course I am. But if It''s about surviving, I''ll be parano?d all the way.

    I called my Mum. It was 10PM home, she would answer. She would not recognize the phone number of the Love Hotel, but she always answers.

    "Hailey." Said a cold, calculating voice.

    "Kaa-san." I said with the best male voice I could manage. Viva my accent training, it sounded pretty convincing.

    But you don''t know my mum.

    "That''s strange, I don''t remember you sounding like that Sias." She said unfazed.

    "Long story. Let''s just say I believe I may be in deep shit."

    "Deep enough to finally contact us? Do you know how your father was when he read your email this morning? You got drugged yesterday, and you don''t even call?" Her voice almost didn''t flinch, but years of experience on Mom-speech told me enough. She was seriously pissed.

    "Erm..." I began.

    "Shut up. You want me to come bring you back? Fuck that. I''ll lift you with the skin of your butt back to the airport myself."

    "... beautiful is that Sias..." I could hear my dad in the background.

    He should have been at work. He must''ve been so worried to death that he refused to leave the phone.

    It was still Mum who had answered first.

    "You shut up too, good for nothing husband. I''m having a talk with our dumb son."

    My dad is working at CERN, yeah, the HADRON Collider. Not a big shot, but a good scientist. It''s always funny when my mother calls him a good for nothing. But this time, I didn''t even smile.

    "Mum?" I tried again, without making my voice deeper.

    I always made stupid mistakes around her.

    "Sias, was that you?" She sounded worried now.

    "Ermm..."

    "Talk to me, what happened? You talked about potential side-effects in your mail."

    "It seems the drug was really bad" I didn''t try hiding my voice again, cat was out of the bag. And she had recognized me already, she would believe me.

    "Makes me, uhm, change, somehow."

    "Change? Like Fanny?" It was my father talking. Looked like my mom had been nice enough to put the phone on loudspeak.

    How the hell did he guess that so fast? With just my voice?

    "No. Much weirder honestly. I think it was supposed to kill me. Well that or I''m getting completly crazy parano?d."

    "You always have been crazy parano?d, but smart though. You don''t believe in stuff that doesn''t exist. Maybe the drug fucked your brain a bit. That would be nice, you and your dad are much too sciency for me."

    "M''aan..." Mothers always bring you back to when you were eight. Well even though...

    "So, what''s your plan." It was Dad. His voice was heavy in undertones. We both knew what that meant. I don''t think he ever told my mum, but she was really good at guessing. She never asked.

    "You first. Well, relocating and false trails first. School second, ghost third, airport fourth."

    The order changed a bit, but I had decided to put Ghost operation in place.

    I was so gonna hate it.

    "Alright don''t say any more, I can''t know about it." Simply answered my dad. "You know that''s gonna kill me right? I''m gonna stay in bed until you come back home, not knowing what you''re doing, crying myself to sleep with your mother insulting me the whole way through."

    That made me smile.

    "Yeah. Better that way though."

    "Yes."

    "Mum''s not there anymore?"

    She wouldve said something by now.

    "Erm no, she got up and left, dunno what she''s thinking. Probably going to give some calls, you know your mother."

    "She sounded really angry."

    "She looked really angry Sias."

    "I''ve got a bad feeling about this."

    And as to answer that statement "Oh!" A surprised cry from my dad.

    "What is it?" I almost sighed.

    "She''s packing up... honey are you leaving?" I heard him shout.

    An unintelligible answer.

    "Well, you''ll have to get to Narita quickly, she doesn''t like to wait, you know that."

    I cursed.

    "If the call was being listened to, they know where I''m going now." I stated matter-of-factly.

    "Oh yes, certainly." My father didn''t sound bothered by it. I knew why, but he continued anyway.

    "But your mother will be there. Oh, and don''t worry about school, I''ll contact them, there''s nothing else I can do anyway."

    "Thanks dad."

    "Try to come back home quickly ok? I''ll be lonely here on my own."

    "I promise."

    And I hung up.

    First objective done. I had backup coming to help.

    Second objective. Taken care of. My dad would have the most beautiful explanation of why my dissapearance should not be reported anywhere.

    Third objective...Ghost. It sounded so much cooler than what would be happening in reality.

    Well shit, I was gonna have do it.

    "It''s the fucking worst."

    I''m going to have to do some shopping.

 Assassins. v2

    There was blood all over my new dress.

    Dress.

    ...Do we really have to talk about the dress?

    Really, it failed anyway...fine. I shouldn''t have mentioned it in the first place.

    ...sigh...

    Look, if you''re looking for a person, and they''ve given you a photo of a young man, saying "that''s the guy, that''s the one you need to find".

    What do you believe occurs when the expected male target is actually dressed like a girl and looks like one?

    Yeah, no one recognizes him.

    In movies they make you believe spying and dissapearing in crowds depends on the quality of your disguise. How realistic the fake beard is for example.

    But it''s not. Simple clothes, different from the ones you usually wear is enough. The rest is about confidence.

    My face was recognizable, but that didn''t matter. No one was gonna look at me. Well a caucasian tomboyish cutie in a long velvet cotton dress was bringing out stares sure. But no one was looking at me.

    The dress was of high quality, undeniably feminine. I bought reddish flats of the same color, and a new white scarf was warming my neck.

    The whole set nearly cost me 40 000Y. But it helped me create this new me, the new over the top, stylish european tourist me. I walked confidently in the streets of Kyoto, like I owned the world, always looking at a recently acquired phone, looking like I was feeding myever hungry Instagram or Twitter account. In truth I was transferring my old contacts from the old to the new mobile device.

    The perfect disguise. Or so I thought.

    What saved me was my instinct. Again.

    "Shit..." I looked at my hand, almost completely covered in red.

    I thought I was being way too parano?d.

    No, I had not been enough.

    Fortunately the cut in my neck stopped oozing blood. There had been a moment where I expected to just bleed out in the dark alley I had been holing up, but the knife didn''t go deep enough.

    The question "How?" pummeled my mind.

    What happened was impossible.

    No not impossible I corrected myself.

    Just so unbelievably unlikely I''d rather believe in magic.

    After a rough night in the love hotel, I immediately went and bought my new outfit, I didn''t inspect my body again, I never undressed further than my boxer and T-Shirt. I could feel that things were still changing but my new motto was, "If you don''t see it, it doesn''t exist". Afterwards, I went and bought an express ticket for the Shinkansen and a new phone.

    I decided to wait the rest of the morning in another love hotel, I had two hours to kill before having to go to the train station.

    Maybe that was my mistake, maybe I should have waited in a busy cafe, but I was certain I had not been followed, I really believed I was safe. I just wanted to try to get some more sleep.

    It was a girl, barely sixteen, classic long black hair and brown eyes. She was pretty and wearing a rather short school uniform.

    I eyed her out, not knowing if I found her sexy or sad.

    Standing close to a love hotel, what she was doing was obvious.

    Enjo-k¨­sai.

    Compensated dating.

    She looked at me.

    That was strange, with my current appearance I didn''t think I was what she was looking for.

    Something else was bothering me.

    It was 11AM, way too early, or way too late for what I thought she was doing.

    But before I could decide what to do about her, she closed the distance. Way too naturally to be natural.

    "Do you have a smoke?" She asked me. In a decent English.

    Well, a Japanese with good english. Now I was sure something was amiss (Politically incorrect jokes here we gooo!)

    One of her hands was hidden behind her back.

    I could feel it. The strange, the situation that can''t exist.

    In that one sentence I knew what she was, what she was here for.

    Death. She was there for a kill.

    So I reacted the way I had always reacted.

    "You understand Sias. What you are. Right?" said the ghost of grand-father.

    I smiled. My act pushed to the extreme, I was my persona, adding the trustworthy american accent to my answer without thinking about it.

    "My boyfriend''s got some if ye can wait a few ''nutes." I said while staring down at her, the meaning obvious: You''re too close.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    I am the bitchiest american tourist ever. That''s who I am.

    Doubt filled her face. She stepped back a bit and opened her phone to check something.

    That was when I decided to run.

    The moment I tried a flash of silver went to my neck. I could barely take a step back. Too close.

    She looked almost as surprised as me.

    The knife in her hand barely showed any blood, but it was definitely mine.

    "First you react."

    She had automatically attacked me when I tried to flee, but could not understand why.

    I got her really confused with my act, I made her believe I wasn''t her target, and yet she still tried to kill me anyway. She was dangerous.

    But as good as she may have been, she could not avoid my foot in her face. Her inadvertence helped but having Hailey Skr?skind as your mother has it''s perks too.

    Lucky for her I hadn''t considered heels.

    But I had no time to think. No time to check the wound on my neck. I didn''t look down at her squirming on the ground, where I could hear grunts of pain.

    I just ran.

    And that''s why I''m in this shithole of a creepy alley, asking myself if the knife was poisoned, or if the blood loss was gonna finish me off.

    But my wound was not life threathening, and I needed to plan for my trip to the train station.

    I did a quick check up first.

    ... Well good job me, the velvet dress was a good pick. You can''t spot the blood.

    The scarf was dead though. I trashed it in a nearby dumpster.

    My backpack with most of my possessions and my normal clothes had been spared.

    And about my throat, well, I dunno what''s weirder, the cut or my recent loss of an adam''s apple, but when you face a crazy assassin yakuza teenager, honestly, you could be worse off than that.

    Also good news, I''m not crazy! There are mad individuals with large amount of ressources trying to kill me, for no obvious reasons! I''m not paranoiac!

    Yaaay... (This is fake enthousiasm, FYI)

    Maybe it was naive to think that going to Tokyo would get some of the heat off my back, but I needed to have an objective. I needed to go forward.

    In those kind of situations, it''s stopping that kills you.

    Well that or assassins. But they''re weak to kicks so don''t worry about them.

    Still, I couldn''t feel like I had made a mistake somewhere along the way. But what else could I have done? Give up?

    I''ll cut the part where I anxiously prepared my walk to the Shinkansen, because when your plan takes into account raptor attacks, it''s just getting too ridiculous.

    Maybe I am sightly paranoiac

    ______

    My throat was chilly. I sneezed. The makeshift bandage, slightly red, with the velvet dress was making it seem like I was doing a cosplay, but it wasn''t warm enough for the japanese winter.

    I checked my phone for any news about mom. Nothing since the latest message an hour ago, which was succinct, to say the least.

    "ETA 4h. Narita. Don''t make me wait."

    How you could find a flight to the other side of the world in less than two hours was beyond me, but I stopped asking questions when it was about the two times woman''s fencing gold winner who was my mother.

    Even ten years after retiring, she still had contacts with the highest of the high.

    Well it''s understandable, she doesn''t even like fencing swords and still won. Just watch her fight with a classic bastard sword. You''ll see her viking ancestry right there and then. All of that made her have a certain following, even now. She got rich just with ads. Without counting the rumours about underground deathmatches.

    I tried to resist touching the aching spot at my throat. I failed. The sharp pain made me wince. My aisle neighbors looked at me funny. Well as funny as Japanese dare look at you. It''s still like super polite.

    Even though they had good reasons to be curious, the red spots I couldn''t wash in the bathroom and the obvious cut behind the bandage were pretty strange-looking.

    Because yes, if you didn''t catch up, here I am, in the Shinkansen, half an hour away from Tokyo.

    Plan worked, no problems arised.

    Small miracles are always welcome.

    I arrived in Narita airport two hours early.

    I looked for a bathroom again. I recieved mean looks from the men going out as I was trying to go inside.

    Not caring one bit I entered a stall and changed back to my male clothes. As I went out I faced the mirrors and had to find out, with a somber acceptance, that I looked more and more like a female me.

    The sight made me dizzy. It could also have been the blood loss.

    I decided to find a flight home.

    Five minutes later my phone ringed.

    My mother had sent me another message.

    "I''m bringing you back. Don''t worry about it."

    "Oh yeah, I forgot you''re a psychic..." I said out loud, exasperated.

    She wasn''t, at least I''m pretty sure she wasn''t.

    Well let''s find a nice full and busy cafe that begins with S and ends with Tarbucks. I''ll watch dumb cat videos, and wait for the viking fleet to pillage the coasts.

    I found a nice looking crowded place twenty meters later.

    I sat down at a table outside, looking at all the persons running around trying to catch their flights in a hurry.

    "Things are gonna be alright." The words escaped my lips.

    I immediately regretted saying it out loud. I just brought death flags on the whole operation.

    "Sumimasen!" Said a polite voice.

    What appeared to be an airport security guard was standing 10m (32 ft) away from me.

    He had come to answer the call of the death flag.

    I got up.

    "Yes?" I answered in my best japanese, trying to become the embodiment of innocence itself.

    "Erm... Miss?" He began.

    I could not actually stop myself from wincing at that.

    He smiled in response.

    I fucked up.

    Really? In the airport? With thousands of people around?

    No way.

    But my gut-feeling told me to run.

    He drew out a gun from a hidden holster.

    A fucking gun, in Japan.

    People immediately shouted.

    A couple sitting next to me fell of their chair, the husband tried to drag his wife out of the way.

    A kid looked at us, puzzled, not grasping what was happening, his mother took him in her arms and fled to the emergency exits.

    "React."

    Yeah no kidding gramps I thought while running at him, as I was seeing the chaos expanding around me.

    Yup, at him. I was in the open, the closest way to safety was to remove the gun from his hands.

    I didn''t think the chances of that happening were high.

    No time to think about chances. The gun was already pointed at me, and his expression had become stone cold.

    "You''re gonna aim at my chest!" I shouted, with an expression of pure confidence.

    A bluff. To destabilize, to gain a few seconds, a few steps forward.

    Unknowingly, he changed his aim for my head.

    One step.

    I did not look at the weapon, only his eyes. I waited for the flicker in them.

    I saw it. I sidestepped.

    The bang exploded throughout the airport, making the shouts of the crowd intensify exponentially. People were running everywhere.

    I took two steps.

    In his eyes I just dodged a bullet.

    But even though he was surprised, even though that should have made him hesitate, he didn''t.

    He was just gonna shoot again, I could feel it. And now I was only three meters away. He wouldn''t miss.

    And I was out of cards to play.

    I would have to tank the next bullet.

    I still ran towards him, waiting for the sharp pain to arrive.

    I saw his neck move before the rest of his body followed. A horrible sounding crack echoed out of him.

    The fake guard flew five meters before crashing down like a creepy doll, right on to waiting chairs.

    Blue eyes looked at me, anger burning inside them. Same color as mine.

    "Amateurs." Almost spitted my mom.

 Mother talk. v2

    My mother was tall, even compared to other swedish woman. She had inherited what most would consider the perfect heritage of northern looks: beauty was a weak word to describe her. Even the practical training clothes she was almost always wearing couldn''t hide that fact.

    At fourty years old past, she still looked thirty.

    Still, most men steered away from her. It was her way of being, her "aura". She didn''t seem attractive, instead she felt dangerous.

    As I looked at her I felt that danger once again. But right now, she was way more than just her normal "dangerous".

    I only sensed her that lethal once before.

    A day that had been a turning point in my life.

    How fitting to see her the same way today.

    "Sias. Is that you?" She looked at me, unable to hide her shock.

    "Well, how many dumbasses do you think run at the guy with the gun?" I answered with a weak laugh.

    She sighed.

    "Are you sure you''re not a long lost sister or something?"

    "Well, I think you''re in the best position to answer that question? Do I have lost siblings mom? I thought I was an only child!"

    She laughed.

    "Come here child." She brought me to her arms, hugging me tightly. "Oh my god Sias, you''ve got tits."

    "MOM! Please, not now."

    She studied me for a moment.

    "We''ve got two minutes to leave the airport, that''s how much I could get. The building''s security has been compromised, obviously." She said while looking at the inert corpse she had launched through the terminal. "We need to get you to a safe house right now."

    Without waiting for my opinion, she began to move. Away from the exit.

    "Erm, mom, exits are not..."

    "I''ve got a plane, now stop dilly dallying and follow me. Did the boobs replace your brain?"

    That hurt. I closed my mouth and followed the ogre/mother.

    Most of the crowd had fled, but some stragglers remained. One particularly courageous teen had filmed the whole scene from behind one of the fountains in the middle of the terminal.

    My mother passed next to him without a glance.

    I caught up to her.

    "Won''t that be a problem?"

    "No. In fact It''ll be definite proof I acted to save you."

    "Is the guard...?"

    "Not important. He''s out of the picture and that''s all."

    I looked at her, a sad look in my eyes. She was still a few centimeters taller than I, but that I had gotten used to. Her sometimes coldheartedness, not so much. That was one of the reasons I decided to study human minds.

    She catched me glaring at her.

    "Sias, you know..." She began.

    "STOP!" a voice shouted.

    We both turned around.

    A few security guards were looking at us, clearly misunderstanding the situation.

    One of them stepped forward. He looked like the security chief.

    "Sir, M''am" He tried to explain in a stammering english. "Exit other way, incident is say be here. Danger."

    Hailey examined them.

    "I expect four of them to be normal law-abiding citizens, one of them should be a sleeping agent. Sias, which one is it? Do your magic." Ordered my mother.

    Almost six months without training with her, but I had not forgotten that tone of voice.

    "Yes sir."

    "This one is the spy." I immediately added in japanese, pointing at a random guard.

    No-one moved.

    Four japanese security guards looked at me, puzzled. One of them didn''t seem puzzled. Not the one I pointed at, but that had been a bluff. I just wanted to see who would be grinning at my failure.

    "Le plus ¨¤ gauche." I informed my mother in french. The one who had smiled for a fraction of a second did not react in time. My mother''s knee impacted on his nose. The moment his head hit the floor, she doubled up with a kick to the temple.

    "Nani!?" shouted the other security guards. But before they could do anything, my mom had gotten a gun out of the hidden holster of the downed assassin.

    She removed the magazine and popped the bullet in the chamber out. She handed the unarmed gun to the head of the security detail.

    He looked, perplexed, between the gun and his employee.

    We just left.

    A private jet was waiting for us on the tarmac.

    I seriously underestimated my mother again...

    "Erik, we''ve got five minutes before the army intervenes. Are we ready to leave?" My mother asked the familiar blonde man who was waiting in front of the plane.

    "Sure Hail, who''s that with you, weren''t we looking for... wait... Sias?"

    "Since when can you pilot jets cousin" I asked instead of answering.

    He looked at me, then at my mom.

    She sighed.

    "We have no time for this, yes it''s my son, and you.." She pointed at me "You haven''t met my side of the family for five years, Erik''s changed plenty since then. Now stop wasting my time, we''re leaving."

    I didn''t try to argue, and just climbed up the plane.

    Erik wasn''t so wise.

    "But he, she''s a gi..."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Erik." My mother interrupted. "NOW."

    "Yes M''am."

    The plane was empty except for us. The three of us went to the cockpit.

    "Aircraft V55678 an incident has occured, you are not authoris..." Erik cut off the radio.

    "This could get fun." He said while looking at us with a smile.

    Fucking Vikings, almost ten centuries later, and still bloodcrazy. The genes were also flowing inside me, but I never felt the need to rape and pillage.

    "Get us out of here Erik."

    "To France!" He sang.

    Nothing stopped us from leaving the country. I half expected fighter jets to come hunt us down, but no.

    Erik looked disappointed.

    Once outside japanese air, my mother visibly relaxed.

    Erik was still inside the cockpit. I think air safety measures says that there has to be two people in the cockpit at all times, but following rules wasn''t on our top priority list right now.

    The jet was luxurious, the things you expect rock stars to travel with. I was currently enjoying a rather big leather seat. I almost fell asleep but my mom got a bottle of wine out of a cubboard and sat in front of me.

    "You hate alcohol."

    As to prove me wrong she poured herself a glass and drank it in one go. She looked disgusted.

    "That''s not how you drink wine."

    "Shut up you french aristocrat."

    "I''m not french, I''m a..."

    "Jourdin. I know, and no you''re not, not since long ago, that name is dead."

    She stared at me.

    I felt uncomfortable. I knew what she was looking at.

    I hadn''t looked at myself since the bathroom trip in the airport, and I had barely seen my face.

    I could feel my chest pressing tighter on the fabric of my T-shirt. And something felt wrong in my boxers.

    "We almost lost you." Said my mom. Cutting my thoughts short.

    "What?"

    "I had information about what was given to you. It should have killed you."

    "How could you know anything about...?"

    "It''s linked with Jean-Paul."

    That was my grandfather''s name.

    "You know what you have done Sias. She''s dead. How does it feel to be the one...?"

    "He''s dead. You said it yourself, the Jourdin''s reign is over." I stated matter of factly.

    "His heritage isn''t."

    "That''s ridiculous, Dad was the only male heir and the Jourdin''s name is the only thing he kept. I''m obviously not elegible. And aunt Helena would refuse it, even if we payed her to take it."

    "Legal procedures finished five years ago. The Jourdin estate and everything else is going to be given out to a Japanese businessman."

    "What?" I almost shouted, dumbfounded. This was ridiculous.

    "We weren''t aware of it, without any heirs Luc thought it would be given out to the french government and sold, so he forgot about it." She sounded slightly angry about it. Beeing careless was one of my father''s trait, but when it was about the Jourdin, he had never made a single mistake. She was angry at him because she believed he was lying to her.

    I thought so too.

    "When things started to go south for you, I asked a few friends of mine what they had heard."

    She grabbed a file. She took out a few documents and pushed them in front of me.

    "Jean-Paul prepared a will in secret, in case something happened to him. I don''t know how he managed to hide it from us, but you can trust your grand-father to be a pain in our ass even dead."

    I looked at the will. If he dissapeared in a violent fashion, this will would be distributed to some of his old partners, no member of the family could be involved. If those partners accepted this contract, they would obtain everything.

    "This is crazy. What are the specifics of the contract?" I asked as the file wouldn''t say.

    "I know two things about that. Most certainly there are a lot of other clauses. But those are the one I am sure of. First you need to be out of the picture, and apparently only you, Luc and Helena are safe. And the second part is even weirder, you need to be given a specific drug before your... death." She didn''t like saying it.

    "The thing I got given at the club." I guessed.

    "Without much of a doubt. Thing is, they were sure the drug was there to kill you. Jean-Paul''s way of revenge, a gruesome end etc... Sias, they tested that thing before giving it to you. It was..."

    My mother looked disturbed. Skr?skind are not easily disturbed.

    I didn''t let her finish, I understood.

    "And instead of that, I''m getting the ultimate relooking. I don''t know what''s best."

    "Sias, don''t say that. I''m lucky to have you here."

    Tenderness showed on her face. She took my hand.

    "Thanks kaa-san."

    Her face got serious again.

    "That businessman, he''s a big shot. Same level as Jean-Paul was, bigger even."

    I gulped.

    "And he wants the Jourdin''s assets, for whatever reason. Probably to get even fatter, even richer, you know those people better than I do."

    T''was kind of my job to know after all. Narcissistic perverts are really interesting, and are really great to study some aspects of the human psyche.

    "Do you know more about him?" I asked.

    "Yes, that''s the second file. He''s pretty discrete. And honestly, he scares me."

    That didn''t bode well.

    I looked at the second document.

    Younger than what I expected, the fifty year old looking japanese man gave out a jovial smile.

    Kakeshi Takehiro.

    Takehiro.

    That second guy at the club, his name was Mahasashi Takehiro. I finally remembered.

    "His grandson, maybe his son, I met him at the club."

    My mom nodded, and wrote it down on a blank sheet of paper.

    "I''ll ask my contacts."

    "Can I know who those are?"

    "Oh, an old hacker who I met when he tried to get into my computer to get nudes, the CEO of an old company your dad owned and a friend of mine teaching karate classes."

    I immediately blanked out at that first statement. I wanted to know nothing about that.

    "Dad owned a company?" I changed the subject.

    "Of course, you can''t get into the CERN easily you know."

    "How is that related."

    Her only answer was a shrug.

    I knew my family was mental, but this was getting out of this world. And how was a karate teacher even involved in all this? Whatever.

    "I''m too tired for all this shit."

    "Yup, you skipped training too much."

    "Wha, I barely slept in those last 48h, I ran through half of Japan, got drugged, attacked twice, and the reason I''m tired is ''cause lack of training?" I mumbled, annoyed.

    She shrugged again.

    "I hate you."

    "You love your mother Sias."

    I didn''t retort anything, she was right after all. I read a bit more, the document was pretty short. Fifty-five years old, a few nicknames, information about his eductation, his family. A traditional one, with ties to the Yakuza. He took the head of the family at barely thirty-two. His father and grand-father, the two previous family heads disappeared that same year. Police found their bodies two years later, deep in the Tokyo Canal.

    Another terrifying fact was that he was the last individual participating at my grand-father''s contract "game".

    All of them began to mysteriously vanish five years ago. The last one died of a heart attack one month ago.

    I knew what that meant. Why this was happening now.

    His competition dead, he could finally concentrate on the big prize.

    My head.

    Still, he may be powerful, but that didn''t explain how he found me. How he found the clinic, how the assassins found me not once, but twice, with knowledge about my impossible physical changes.

    I read his file again.

    Something felt wrong, the usual feeling of my instincts prickled my stomach.

    "His nickname..." I said out loud, shuddering.

    "You mean the Mage?" Guessed my mom. "He''s got plenty others, but yeah, this and Onmyouji, pretty creepy."

    Mahoutsukai.

    "It''s not possible right?"

    "Sias, you may be a scientist first and foremost, like your dad, but you know it''s not the only truth of this world. I believe this Kakeshi isn''t entirely human."

    "You can''t be serious."

    Her eyes were dead serious. She changed the subject.

    "Try to get some sleep, we''ve got ten hours of flight ahead of us."

    I dropped the file on the table, seeing the wisdom in her words. Nothing to gain worrying about it.

    "Yup, viva my noise-cancelling headphones."

    "They survived all this?"

    "Of course, and my computer is fine too."

    She pinched her nose.

    "You dragged your computer all the way from Kyoto?"

    "Well yeah... I thought it could be useful."

    "Well I''m happy your physical changes didn''t disturb anything important. Like your sense of priorities."

    "Ey!" I shouted, a smile betraying my apparent indignation.

    "Get some sleep Sias."

    But the comment about my physical changes still perturbed me.

    "Maybe I should check myself in the bathroom first."

    I tried to stand up but my mother held me down, a hand on my shoulder.

    "Sleep first, we''ll face that new aspect of yourself together. We''ll ask Fanny to help when everything settles down. Whether you are a manly boy or a really feminine one, it''s not important."

    "I''ve got the feeling it''s doing more than just changing me externally mom." That feeling had been constantly nagging the back of my mind. I said it for the first time, and I could sense how it felt like the truth. It made me scared shitless.

    "Sias." My mother held my shoulder tighter. "It doesn''t matter, you know that. It doesn''t change who you are."

    I looked in her eyes.

    "Yes. Of course I know that. It''s just... a lot."

    "I can''t imagine. But for now, sleep." She ordered.

    And that time, finally, I did.

 The house of unwanted memories. v2

    I woke up six hours later, feeling refreshed. I could barely hear the engines of the plane.

    No wait, I actually couldn''t hear them at all.

    I jumped out of my seat.

    ? Sit down, we''re only refueling. ? Announced my mother. She was sitting down in front of me, watching a video on a tablet.

    I could see two fighters hitting each other violently on the screen. One of them took a nasty roundhouse kick to the face and stayed down.

    ? What a ridiculous move. ? Commented my mother. ? He showed his whole back doing that kick, and this guy couldn''t counter it, couldn''t even dodge it! ?

    ? He... ? I paused. The sound of my voice wasn''t something I was gonna get used to soon. I ignored my discomfort and continued.? He couldn''t have shown his back more than a second, how is that ridiculous. ?

    She snorted.

    ? Plenty of time to step back and cut him open. ?

    ? Are they armed with swords now ? ?

    ? His enemy could be for all he knew, he didn''t even look him up before the fight. ?

    ? They are at the Olympics mom... ?

    ? Bunch of pu.... ?

    She got cut off by Erik getting back inside.

    ? We''re ready to leave. ? He told us.

    ? Are you alright cousin ? You must''ve been flying for almost 24h straight now. ? I was slightly worried about our only pilot going unconscious mid-air.

    ? Nah I got some sleep while Hailey was waiting for you at the airport, I''m fine. ?

    Not adding anything more, he entered the cockpit. The engines turned on quickly therafter.

    Waiting ?

    I made the math, and looked at my mother.

    ? You arrived way earlier than you said. ? I stated.

    ? Mh, I wanted to prepare the terrain before your arrival. And the messages were being traced. ? She answered me half-absently, still watching the taekwondo finals.

    ? Seriously ? ?

    ? Yeah, your phone card apparently. ?

    ? Wait what ? ? I immediately took my phone out of my pocket. ? Why didn''t you tell me earlier ? ?

    ? Cause I want Takeshi to know what our next move is. ?

    I looked at my phone disgusted.

    ? I''m bait ? ?

    That made my mother laugh. She looked up to me.

    ? You''ll never be bait. You expected it right ? It''s the only explanation why they could follow you so closely. ?

    I frowned.

    ? Yes, but satellite tracking is shit, nothing like in the movies, so I didn''t believe it was the case. It takes time, you lose the signal all the time, grandfather never used it. It has to be something else, cause it''s way too imperfect to explain everything that happened.?

    My mother nodded.

    ? True, even with an army satellite, and I don''t think even a man like Kakeshi can get his hands on this kind of tech. ?

    ? So ? ?

    She didn''t answer. She looked back at the screen.

    ? Mother. ? I insisted.

    She sighed.

    ? You''re not gonna like it. ?

    ? Oh fuck you''re not gonna say he used my phone and some kind of voodoo bullshit right ? ?

    ? Onmy?d? to be exact. ?

    The plane began to move on the tarmac.

    I sat down, with an exasperated moan.

    ? It''s like, uhm, exorcism or something I believe ? ? Continued my mother.

    ? Yeah, I watched a few animes about it. ? I answered numbly.

    ? So there you have it. ?

    ? How the hell would you even know that. ?

    ? He''s actually quite public about it. Most people believe it a rich guy''s eccentricities and nothing more. Luc''s friend told us otherwise. I tend to believe him, he''s trustworthy. ?

    ? I don''t question that. His sanity though... ?

    ? Honestly so much doubt about magic coming from you. You and your crazy sixth sense. ? My mom shook her head in disbelief.

    ? It''s just my brain analyzing information before I can register it consciously. ?

    ? Call it however you want. I only believe that, when you can foretell a car crashing into a store, and calmy explain to the shopkeeper why he should leave his counter before it happens, that that''s called magic. ?

    ? Something felt off about the traffic lights outside... ?

    ? Yes Sias, you''ll always find rationales to explain it. You and your dad always have been the champion of excuses. ?

    ? Maybe It''s better that, than actually never apologizing for anything. ? I said, angrily.

    My mom jumped out of her seat, and took me by the collar.

    ? I do apologize. But only for one thing. I shall always apologize for that. ?

    That calmed me down. Her eyes were filled with pain.

    ? Sorry. You know I forgave you about that. ?

    ? I didn''t. ? She said. ? Sit down and put your seatbelt on, we''re taking off. ?

    She still hadn''t forgiven herself. I couldn''t hide my pained expression, so I looked outside the porthole so my mother couldn''t see it.

    I didn''t notice when the seatbelt notice went off.

    I tried to go back to sleep, but I was fully awake at this point, and not tired at all.

    My thoughts wandered a bit.

    I thought of my old home. My parents lived not far away from the CERN institute, my father brought most of the money home now that mom only teached martial arts and didn''t compete anymore.

    Switzerland was a nice country, but way too neutral for my tastes. Their doubtful bank transactions and gun policies also bothered me.

    But then I finally remembered what Erik had said, well sang actually before leaving Tokyo.

    ? Wait we''re going to France ? Do we need to land in Paris ? Can''t we get in Bern ? ?

    My mother looked exasperated.

    ? Oh could you shut your brain for a bit, I would like to watch this ! ?

    I stared. And I stared some more.

    ? Fine. ? She finally admitted ? We''re going to the Jourdin''s estate. I want Kakeshi to know. I send him a message, he will be coming there. The house is bait, we''re the trappers. ?

    My mouth opened. I closed it. It opened again.

    ? It''s still around ? The house? ? I managed to ask.

    ? Yes. It''s in the will, so it''s atually been taken care of those last ten years. ?

    And I was certain Dad had played a part in all this, right?The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ? And what did you tell Kakeshi to be so sure he''ll have to show up. ?

    ? Oh simple. If he wants something in the will to still be standing, unburnt, he''d better show up. So, basically, I made a counteroffer. ? She smiled.

    The devil was in that expression.

    I gulped.

    When we landed at Charles-de-Gaulle, we left Erik with the plane.

    ? You sure you won''t have a problem with your boss ? ? My mother asked before leaving.

    That made my cousin laugh.

    ? What ? No, she was fine with it, and I promised her a meal with you after all. ?

    ? You didn''t mention that to me. ? She looked slightly annoyed at those news.

    He shrugged.

    ? You didn''t mention mafia bosses and a sex-changed cousin, am I complaining ? ?

    She sighed.

    ? Say hi to my brother to me. ? She turned and walked to the terminal.

    ? Sure, take care aunty. ? He turned his attention to me. ? Sias, I have to say, you look hot. It''s a bit weird as I can still recognize you behind that cutie face, but damn.?

    I showed him my middle finger.

    ? See you around too. Coming at Christmas next year ? ? He added, unfazed.

    ? You know what. ? I answered ? If I get through this assassin killer ninjas bullshit, sure, I''ll come. Promise me no lobsters though. Just seeing them makes me sick. ?

    ? No way, it''s the best part. ? He concluded with a smile.

    That was how ended my reunion with my viking cousin.

    My mom and I took a taxi and drove out of Paris.

    The Jourdin estate was one hour away from the city. The trip in the car was silent, our driver fortunately was the non-talking type.

    We got off in front of the large alley, beeches opening a way to us, a direct route towards my old nightmares.

    We walked in, but as we arrived in front of the old renaissance castle, I had to stop.

    ? Sias ? ? My mother asked.

    The big house, Versailles style, only brought painful memories back. Even the ones of my grandmothers cakes were filled with a depressing nostalgia.

    ? It''s almost like it has been frozen in time. ?

    ? Yes, it definitely has been taken care of. ?

    ? Shouldn''t we be expecting company ? ?

    ? Unlikely, they could not have arrived here before we did. ?

    With some effort, I moved again.

    The front doors were closed. But the locks were still the same as ever.

    I fiddled a bit with the handle.

    ? I''ll try to find a way in back... ? Began my mother.

    The doors opened.

    It was rare that I managed to surprise my mother.

    ? What the... ? ?

    ? Special locks, you don''t need the keys if you know how to open them. ?

    ? That doesn''t seem safe. ?

    I had a dry laugh.

    ? It took me more than a thousand tries to get it right the first time. It''s safe I assure you. ?

    A painful expression passed in my mother''s eyes.

    ? I never asked, I don''t think I ever will. But whatever happened in this house , I''m sorry Sias. ?

    ? I know you are, and as I already told you, It has been forgiven. You couldn''t have known. ?

    This place was exactly as I remembered.

    ? There should be swords at the end of the corridor on the right. ? I told my mother.

    That brought a smile to her face, she stepped forwards... and stopped right in her tracks.

    ? I can smell perfume. ?

    I looked around, but saw no indications we weren''t alone.

    ? Probably the caretaker. ?

    She nodded. ? Stay on your guards anyway. ?

    ? Yes sir. ?

    After exploring the house for an hour, we concluded we truly were alone in there. We took position in the training room. Strangely enough, the floors had been set with tatamis, which looked weird in the french aristocratic decor. Still, this was the way I had been trained. The mixture of martial arts required this kind of oriental set-up.

    There were a lot of mirrors in here, and it was making me anxious. I was trying my best not to look at them.

    ? Should we just wait for the assassins to come ? ?

    That brought my mother out of her current action, which was the sharpening of her newfound toys.

    ? He won''t send anyone, he''ll come himself, well he''ll have bodyguards, a secretary and all the other shit these men need in their empty lives. ?

    ? What ? ?

    ? We''re here to discuss a deal, not a fight. ?

    ? Wouldn''t it be better in a public place then ? ?

    She laughed.

    ? How would I be able to kill them if the deal fails then ? You want your mother in prison ? ?

    I sighed.

    ? Can''t you be serious for a second ? ?

    ? I believe Miss Hailey is perfectly serious. ? The voice of a man with a thick japanese accent echoed around us.

    Me and my mother immediately got up.

    We didn''t hear him arrive, but he was already in the room.

    What the...

    We thought he would be surrounded by associates/underlings, but the well-dressed small middle-aged salaryman stood there alone with us.

    ? Takehiro-san I presume ? ? Said my mother calmly. In truth, I knew she wasn''t, she had been as surprised by his quiet arrival as I was.

    ? Miss Hailey ? He moved towards her, holding his hand out. My mother shook it. ? I insist, call me Kakeshi. ?

    ? I believe, if my son teached me correctly, that that would be incredibly rude Takehiro-san. ?

    That made him look at me.

    WRONG. RUN.

    I had to stop myself from puking. That feeling, my instincts, they had never called to me as strongly before.

    His gaze was deep, penetrating. Promises of death, pain, a final end.

    My mom visibly tensed.

    And then just like that, it stopped.

    ? Yes he is right. But we are not in Japan, we''ll use french traditions in France. ?

    I put up a bravado to hide my trembling knees.

    ? You would need to kiss her cheeks if you wanted to do that then. ?

    He looked at me, then at my mother.

    ? Oh, it seems I am not as cultivated as I thought, I will definitely need to visit France again soon to remedy that. ?

    The small talk was visibly getting to my mother''s nerves.

    ? Could we cut to the chase ? ?

    ? Oh yes of course. You use legal means to get me the heritage without having to kill your son, and I obviously, stop trying to kill him. ? He said rather simply.

    That was the plan ? I was dumbfounded. Was that even possible ?

    ? Yes. ? Just answered my mother.

    ? Can I ask how you would manage what my legal team couldn''t ? I may be a harsh man, but I would not fall so low as to kill an innocent bystander if I could do so otherwise. ?

    Meaning he would kill anyone who stood in his way without a second thought, but he''d rather not because it costs a lot of money.

    He was a textbook psychopath. Only the third time I met one.

    You may believe I met them while studying psychology but you would be wrong. The first one was my grandfather, and the second was my dad''s surgeon for his appendicitis. A great surgeon. The emotions were in the way of his job so he got rid of them.

    Psychopaths were not necessarily killers, actually most of them are not.

    Kakeshi Takehiro though, definitely was.

    Everything in his demeanor, his false smiles, his way of speech, spoke of a shark. One that loved nothing more than fresh meat between it''s numerous teeth.

    But my mother didn''t even flinch. Her answer an unmovable rock.

    ? No. ?

    He seemed to like that answer.

    ? Of course, as long as the result are there I would not care. ?

    Things seemed to be going well.

    Oh no, I just raised a giant everything''s going to go to hell flag by thinking that.

    ? Unfortunately, it seems I have been misled. ?

    My mother clenched the fencing sword in her right hand harder.

    ? How so ? ? She asked.

    ? Well I am not really interested in all of this ? He gestured the whole room, the whole estate.

    ? But Jourdin-san has had something of mine for awhile, and I would have truly liked to get it back. An artifact he won fairly from me. This contract was the way of getting it back fairly too. ?

    Oh no, I could smell some kind of bullshit magic thing miles away.

    ? You don''t strike me as the kind of person to care about fairness. ? I told him.

    He watched me, thoughtful.

    ? No, you are right, truly terrifying how you could know that about me in such a short meeting. My family has been respected for it''s honor for centuries, but I, as an individual, am not. In the case of this particular object though, fairness, is essential. ?

    ? You''re doing all this because of one object ? All those killers, those resources to find me, over one object ? ?

    He only answered me with a smile. He turned towards my mother.

    ? We will not be able to strike a deal. The object has been used already, and as such, I have no need to kill your son, or should I say soon to be daughter. As such I believe you will let me leave peacefully, yes, oh swordmaster of the North, murderer of Jourdins ? ?

    The title made my mother wince, but she nodded.

    He began to leave, but turned around and questioned her again.

    ? Before I go can I ask how it feels to come back to the place where you singlehandedly destroyed one of the most powerful families of Europe ? ?

    I could almost hear the sword in her hands cry in pain from her tightened grip.

    Her knuckles were sharp white from the pressure.

    ? Takehiro-san. ? I tried to get his attention away from my mother. I also need to be sure of something.

    He looked at me. Unease gripped my stomach again, but it was much more tolerable than before.

    ? Yes, Jourdin-kun ? ?

    ? This object you talked about got used on me. What does it do ??

    He genuinely looked surprised.

    ? Impressive deduction young ma... erm... impressive ! ?

    ? What does it do. ? I repeated.

    ? Well it wouldn''t be fun if I told you right ?? He began, but then like on a whim, he changed his mind and began aswering me.? In all honesty though I''m not sure. But I may say that it has nothing to do with your current state of... body. That was my fault, I trusted your grandfather to take revenge normally, but he apparently had something else in mind for you. If I may recommend something, do not try to change yourself back to a man, the drug''s side effect would kick off in a rather unpleasant fashion. ? He blinked, looking slightly confused for a few seconds, before stepping out of the room.

    And with that ominous statement we were left alone in the house I hated the most in the world.

    Hailey Skr?skind was furious. I knew why. She knew why.

    He had come alone. He had come to kill me. He wanted to ? clear ? the contract fairly, not strike another deal. Why ? I had no idea. In the end, he had no reason to do any of it, as by looking at me, he understood this object already got used on me. How he figured it out, I had no idea either. How I had known, well, I deduced it from an old conversation between my father and my grand-father.

    It had been simple, really. He told us everything we wanted to know. With his words and his stares.

    But this meeting had teached us one important, terrifying thing.

    He had dared to come alone to face one of the greatest swordswoman in the world, maybe even the best.

    And my mother was furious.

    Because she would have lost that fight.

    We had both felt it.

    In the end all was good. I was safe. So I had only one thing left to do.

    I looked at myself in the mirror.

    And barely recognized the young woman looking back at me.

 A Respite. v2

    I saw a figure sobbing on the ground.

    My surroundings were foggy, like deep, troubled water.

    Only the figure in front of me was clear.

    A familiar woman. With long blonde hair flowing, touching the gray, discolored ground.

    ? I''m so sorry Sias, I should never have let you go, I should have been there. ?

    ? Mom... ? I heard myself say, with a deep, younger voice.

    But she wasn''t looking at me.

    ? I''m so sorry. I''m so so sorry. ?

    ? Mom, I won. ?

    A young Hailey looked at me.

    ? What ? ?

    ? This fight, it''s my win. ?

    She looked at the sword pointed at her neck. Her own weapon was nowhere to be seen.

    She stared at me with disbelief, then anger, and finally fear.

    ? Sias! You ! How could you... ?

    ? I''m sorry. But I need your help... ?

    The scene changed, an old man was looking at me, rare terror inhabiting his eyes. But hatred and anger quickly took it''s place.

    ? You ! How could you do this to us, to me. All that I have given, sacrificed, and that''s how you repay me ?! How could you ! ?

    My grandfather accused.

    ? Sias, you''re a monster. ?

    My fifteen-year old self answered.

    My tone was chilling, like silver and iron incarnate.

    ? Non grand-p¨¨re, le monstre c''est toi. ?

    As I watched his chest being impaled by my mother''s sword.

    I gasped awake. My nights were rough since my return from the Jourdin estate a week ago. I was back to my family home in Switzerland. My father was thrilled to see me.

    He barely commented on my physical changes. I knew he wasn''t the kind of man who cared about those things, but still, I found his almost complete lack of reaction strange.

    He reacted way differently when I told him I wanted to go back to Japan.

    That had been around the dinner table the night before.

    ? Sias, you''re having a forced sex change, assassins tried to murder you and a crazy Mafia boss who''s supposedly a black magic practitioner almost scared you and your mother to death. You need to take a break, see a professional, talk about it. Not go back there and live on your own !?

    I moved my hair out of the way, it was tickling my face.

    ? Dad. I don''t want to be passive. I want to go back, live my life like I used to, and handle those new, aspects, of myself on my own. Talking about things never helped me. I''d rather train with mother for two days. ?

    ? Are you interested ? ? Asked my mother.

    ? No thanks, I would rather not. ? I answered immediately.

    She pouted.

    My father looked at her like she was doing the cutest thing in the world.

    He was the only one I ever saw looking at my mother like that.

    She looked back at him lovingly.

    Aaaaand they were flirting with each other.

    I always forget why I needed to leave this house, but not even seven days with them and their persistent lovey doviness was already unsufferable.

    ? So no, I refuse, I won''t let you go. ? Insisted my father, pulling his gaze away from my mother.

    ? Dad, I''m an adult, you can''t refuse me anything. ?

    ? I don''t remember you having enough funds to buy yourself a ticket back to Kyoto on your own. ?

    Damn.

    I''ve been had there. Switching plans to convincing then.

    ? What if I don''t go alone ? ?

    That seemed to pique his interest.

    ? That''s actually a great idea ! I think your mother wanted to introduce you to one of her students. ?

    Shit, matchmaking dad just activated.

    ? I was more like thinking about Fanny and Henry, they always wanted to go to Japan but never had the money. I''m sure you could persuade them to accompany me for a month. ?

    ? What about their work ? ?

    ? Well Henry is a graphic painter, so it doesn''t matter. Fanny still can''t find anything sooo maybe she''ll have more luck in Japan ? ?

    She was a really good teacher. But known transsexuals around kids, that was a big no no for most parent''s associations.

    ? We could agree on that, but I really would like you to meet Frei. I saw her train, she would make a pretty good bodyguard. ?

    My mother chuckled at that.

    ? He... erm... Sias needs a bodyguard ! What if that Kakeshit guy changes his mind. ? Insisted my father.

    ? Sias shouldn''t need a bodyguard, she..., urgh I''m gonna have to get used to that... ?

    Me too.

    ? ...She wouldn''t need a bodyguard if she actually got serious for once, and resumed his, her, training. But Sias, your father is right, Frei is a great girl, and as long as you''re refusing to defend yourself, she''ll be perfect. ?

    Wow, actual praises from mom ? Shit I didn''t have any choice on the matter then. I tried anyway.

    ? I managed to handle myself pretty well against two professional assassins, I don''t think it''s right to say I''m not defending myself ! ?

    ? The last one you didn''t handle, you almost got shot. Anyhow, were you ready to kill them ? ? My mother asked.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

    ? Of course not ! ?

    ? You know what I mean then. You''de rather get shot than actually try to save yourself. You can''t be trusted with your own protection.?

    I looked at my father, but he looked resolutely on my mother''s side. As usual.

    ? What about her ? Why would she accept ? ? I tried to reason.

    ? She''s actually looking for a job too, she''ll be overjoyed to work as a bodyguard .?

    ? I''m pretty unbearable, you sure about that ? ?

    ? You''re just too smart, and can''t shut up about it. She''ll make you shut up. ? My mother stated.

    ? I don''t think that''s the purpose of a bodyguard. ?

    ? Let''s say she''ll be my employee, and that she will do what I ask her to do. ?

    ? No actually, she''ll be my employee, I''ll be the one paying her after all. ? Intervened my father.

    That made him recieve a furious look from his wife.

    He shrugged his shoulders, barely looking apologetic.

    ? Anyway. ? He continued ? First of all she needs to accept, and you need to talk to Fanny to organize her new unnanounced holidays. ?

    That idea was pretty scary. I still hadn''t told any of my friends about my physical transformation.

    ? You need to have a talk with Fanny. And if you don''t I will. She''s the most experienced to help you with your transition. And if you don''t talk about it to anyone, you can forget about going back to Japan. If you do, we''ll take care of your reinscription in school and the changes in paperwork you''re gonna need with your new appearance. Do we agree on this ??

    ? Fine. ? I felt like sixteen all over again.

    I don''t know if was because of that feeling of being a teenager again, but those dreams, those old memories resurfaced that night.

    It had been years since I last dreamt about my past.

    I got out of bed and roamed to my small bathroom.

    My father had placed a full body mirror inside it yesterday morning.

    ? You can''t flee from yourself forever. ? He told me.

    We had went to the doctor the day before.

    I didn''t feel any different for a few days now.

    It was because my transformation had stopped. Well, more like finished.

    The doctor didn''t understand why I had come, as I was a perfectly healthy looking young woman.

    Yeah, as I had horrifyingly realized three days prior to this, everything about my manhood had dissapeared.

    We let the doctor believe what he wanted, but asked if we could have a DNA test.

    Would there be one or two X chromosomes, that was the new waiting game.

    How deep down the rabbit hole did this drug bring me ?

    I know DNA change shouldn''t have been possible, but my gut-feeling told me otherwise.

    My father looked pretty ok about it all, even when I confessed about those fears.

    ? So ? Is it important ?? He asked.

    It was a so obvious yes answer, that his question actually took me aback, and I didn''t know what to say.

    He had watched my silence, almost dissaprovingly.

    And the next day, this full-body mirror had appeared.

    I was facing it for the first time this morning.

    My old Jaws T-shirt didn''t hide much in terms of figure, and my boxers were too tight on the hips.

    I looked really hot. My swedish genes apparently expressed a lot of feminity through my new female self.

    My face hadn''t changed much, but all the angles were now round, and my original boyish looks made me actually look cute now.

    I had the sudden desire to flee, like all the other times I had watched myself in a mirror since the change, but something this time stopped me.

    I realised it was a mix of curiosity and arousal.

    Well shit.

    I got excited looking at myself.

    Well, you know, I am, well was a boy, so the things I did next were pretty self explanatory.

    ...

    ...

    Ten minutes later Fanny entered my bathroom without a care in the world.

    The mirror hadn''t sufficed, my father apparently didn''t consider a 24h leeway to call my friends acceptable.

    ? Sias, you there ? Your father told me you went and got genderben...Oh. ?

    That must''ve been the most awkward exchange of stares we ever had.

    And that is considering she had shown me her new boobs after a much too alcoholised party, where we fell asleep with them on my face. The next morning wasn''t even half as embarrassing as this.

    ? Erm, wow. ? She was too shocked to leave, but apparently not enough to not eye me out. ? Sias is that you ? ?

    ? Obviously. Would you be so kind to fuck off? ?

    That seemed to make her react.

    ? Yes, of course, erm, sorry about that. ? And she left.

    I put my pyjamas back on, washed my hands, and entered my room.

    My friend was fiddling around with a pen on my desk. She was also bright red.

    As she saw me coming out of the bathroom she jumped out of her chair.

    ? Sorry again Sias, I rushed in without a thought when I heard about it all from your dad. ?

    And immediately after apologizing she got angry. Great.

    ? What the hell Sias ! You didn''t say anything ! And what''s with your message: I''ve got problems nanana going to Osaka, don''t worry if I''m not answering my phone... bla bla. Really ? And then you come back home in a hurry, in a hot smoking body that could rivalise with Miss Skr?skind ! What the hell ! ? She repeated again. ? I''m so jealous ! ?

    The young woman in front of me looked perfectly normal. No one would guess about her being once male. She had begun her transition really early, when she was thirteen, so you couldn''t really tell. We had been friends since we were 12, so I had seen her changes. I knew that from her point of view it was a bit unfair. I also knew she wasn''t really jealous, as she looked more worried about me than anything else.

    That made me smile.

    ? I don''t think you''re supposed to say that last part. ?

    She bit her lower lip.

    ? I''m damn well gonna say it. Do you know how much transitioning costs ? How fucking horrible the hormones make you feel ? And you go and do that in a week with no side-effects, and from what I could see, you look like to be a perfectly functional young... ?

    ? Except I didn''t ask for it. ? That didn''t help her calm down.

    ? Well who wouldn''t ask for that... ? I didn''t like what she was pointing at.

    Let us change the subject before she gets out of control !

    ? Where''s Henry ? ?Talking about her boyfriend usually worked.

    Aaand now she was shouting about her boyfriend being an ass and how he wasn''t so worried about me, and how he just said he would come and visit next week, as he had an opportunity in an art exposition this weekend.

    Well this failed.

    Plan C.

    Direct approach.

    ? Can you stop being such a stereotypical hysterical girl please, I''m not the one who barged inside the bathroom of my best friend masturbating. I should be the one pissed off. ?

    She was stunned for a bit. Then she laughed, and visibly relaxed.

    ? You never change. Even with that new piece of ass. You''re right though, sorry. ? She was looking at my butt a bit too much to my tastes.

    ? Are you checking me out ? ?

    She had tastes for both woman and man, but she had never looked at me like that before when I was a man.

    ? I''ve always had a crush on your mom, and well, you definitly have her genes. ?

    ? Hey, eyes up here. ? I joked. It was nice to know that some things did in fact, never change.

    My best friend Fanny. A bit of a bitch, but always there for her friends. Also quite the pervert. It was a miracle how she went a got herself the sweetest boyfriend ever.

    She fixed her bright blue dress as a way to stop gazing at me.

    ? Sorry. So I''m here for the day, your dad let me in, and we''re supposed to go shopping. ?

    ? Oh no he didn''t. ?

    ? Yes, yes, he even gave me money, like a lot of it. Does working at CERN pay that much normally ? We need to fill your wardrobe with more appropriate things for you to wear... ?

    She paused, looking at me again, at something on my chest. I could almost see her drool.

    As I realized what she was staring at, I actually acted the girliest I ever had. I hid the hardened parts of my anatomy while blushing furiously, and I''d like to believe I imagined the high-pitched yelp that got out of my mouth.

    She continued, averting her gaze with percievable effort, and only managing approximatively. Here eyes were coming back to me pretty frequently. She was also refraining a laugh.

    Bit of a bitch I told you.

    ? ...because, male clothings may be really good on you, but it may make you a bit too sexy. I would like it if you didn''t seduce Henry,... or me. ? She added.

    ? Fan ! ? I shouted, actually getting angry for real this time.

    ? I think I''ll wait for you to get more appropriate clothing on. Then we''ll go do some shopping and you''ll tell me about that Japan trip your father will supposedly be paying us. ?

    ? Yeah. Now fuck off my room you degenerate macho fakegirl. ?

    She ignored my insults completely, but started to walk away.

    ? So does everything work, erm, normally ? ?

    ? Yes. ?

    ? Lucky ! Erm well, in a way, you understand ? ? She was looking at me sheepishly now.

    My anger fell flat.

    ? Yeah, yeah, it could be much worse, I know. ?

    ? See you downstairs, I''ve brought waffles for breakfast. ?

    And she finally left.

    Well I still had a shower to take.

    And I had to try to find the most nun-like clothes possible. I wouldn''t survive the day with her harrassing me constantly.

    But at least there were waffles. The day couldn''t get bad after waffles right ?

    Right ?

 Transitions. v2

    "I think I hate you" My breath was ragged. My transformation didn''t touch my muscle mass, I think, but even at my best physical condition, this would have been hell.

    I should have gone and trained with mom.

    "Aren''t you supposed to have done rigorous army training when you were younger? We''ve barely been here for four hours." Fanny didn''t even look winded.

    "You''re crazy." I managed to exhale.

    My legs may be giving out soon, but the worst was my mental exhaustion.

    I thought the black jeans and green cotton Uni sweatshirt would be enough to escape my friends sexual harassement, and I was mostly right. But it made her think I urgently needed a full rework of my whole wardrobe, and so she brought me to nine different stores, to try out what felt like two-thousand outfits. I was currently carrying four bags full of clothes, some of which I had not given my approval to buy, not to mention wear. As you may remember, my friend is a pervert, and I think the last two outfits were only there if I wanted to reorient my professionnal career into erotic modeling. Or worse.

    "You never know." She had tried to reason with me.

    Alright, why the second one then, I asked.

    "In case the first isn''t appropriate." She had answered.

    The second one was way worse than the first.

    That''s when I had a hunch she was simply using this shopping trip as revenge for me not contacting her about my problems.

    I thought it was fair, but then came the last two stores, and those had put the final nail in my coffin. It wasn''t fair anymore.

    If you have ever been dragged to an underwear shop as a guy, you would only be grazing the torture I had to experience. Because even then, you wouldn''t have had to actually try the lingerie inside (I hope).

    I tried my best not to check myself out in the changing booth''s mirror, but Fanny didn''t feel the same restraint. All saucy comments I may have dodged before, came back crashing down hard in there. She also forced me to give detailed opinions on every single one of the underwear sets, so I had to watch the mirror and ignore the unwanted arousal invigorating my new nether regions.

    And here we were, going for the third time in a row, to the "last store".

    Shoes.

    My brain may have shut down for some time, I just remember going out of the second shoe shop with a fifth bag filled with different kinds of brand new torture devices.

    Well no, most of them were flats, work shoes, city shoes, but I resented my now ex-best friend about the two pair of medium and high heels.

    I''d die before those got on my feet again.

    Fanny stayed for dinner that night, and Henry unexpectedly joined us. My parents were overjoyed, well my father was, my mother stayed mostly impassive.

    Henry was Belgian, two years younger than me and Fanny, but devilishly smart. Not intelligent like my father was, who seemed to know everything and was an expert in molecular chemistry, no Henry was a genious in art, and strangely in politics and economy. I think he sold four paintings in total in five years, and two-hundred graphic drawings. Pretty much nothing right? They were all perfect, and not only in my opinion. With one sale, he made enough money to buy himself and Fanny a small house near Bern.

    Honestly he is one of the most interesting people I know.

    That''s why I was so surprised to see him out of it, outside my home''s front door.

    "Henry! What a pleasant surprise!"

    No reaction.

    "Henry, you okay?"

    My brown-eyed friend smiled anxiously.

    "Erm? Am I okay?" He didn''t seem quite sure himself. He looked at Fanny who had appeared behind me. "Chaton who is this girl looking an awful lot like Sias?"

    Oh the bitch, she didn''t tell him.

    Wait, I should have been the one to tell him.

    I looked at my best friend behind me.

    "You deserve him to be angry at you" Her eyes were saying to me.

    "Fan..." I began menacingly.

    She cut me off.

    "Well sugar, it is Sias, but I think I better let HER explain what happened to HER, HERSELF, don''t you think."

    And she left to help my father with dinner.

    "Is it Henry?" I heard him say.

    "Yup, I hope he breaks your ex-son''s face."

    "Henry wouldn''t do that. He needs his hands for work."

    Oh, that was the problem alright?

    I was the one with impossible new worries, but I was the one getting bullied.

    U N F A I R

    Henry was the one who came to my rescue. The sweetest guy, I tell you.

    "I guess you didn''t tell Fanny either?" He asked me with a grin.

    "Nope, I was gonna, but dad made a preemptive strike."

    "Were you really?" He asked me. There was no judgment in the question, just curiosity.

    "Yeah... I would''ve waited a bit though, to get my bearings more and so on."

    "Your dad did good then, the more you''d wait, the more she would''ve hated you for it."

    That made me laugh.

    "Yup, fair enough."

    "So...Sias right?"

    "Yup that''s me."

    "Did you go to Thailand instead of Japan?" He waited for me to answer but he looked slightly hurt.

    "Oh" I understood what he meant. "No, no, I didn''t lie to you guys, you know I wouldn''t do that. I did go to Japan as I said. Let''s say I got experimental''d drugged, things went to shit for a week or so, a crazy magic businessman wanted to take back a thing from grand-father, that he apparently gave to me without anyone knowing anything about, me included."

    He scratched his head. "Erm, I didn''t get all of that, you''re gonna have to explain all of it in more details in front of a beer, or maybe sake, did you bring some sake back?"

    Japanese fan he was. Fanny was worse.

    "Nope sorry, didn''t really have the leisure to bring back souvenirs. But on that note, I need to tell you about a proposal I have for you and Fanny."

    His mouth opened, no sound came out.

    "What?" I asked.

    "Well, with how you look and sound now, you''ll need to be careful about how you say some things."

    I was confused.

    "You sounded really sultry." He explained.

    "What!?"

    "Yup, you''ve always liked those double innuendo sentences, but well, let''s say that now, it''s way more effective."

    "Oh, fuck me."

    "Nope, can''t say that either."

    A short silence.

    I saw sparkles in his eyes.

    I began to laugh, and he joined in with me.

    "Well come on in, we''ll discuss it with my parents and with Fanny, I didn''t actually manage to explain anything to her while we were out shopping." I turned around and got inside.

    "Oh" I heard Henry exclaim, and after a few seconds. "So that''s where you got those black panties from?"

    I looked back at him in horror.

    "How could you possible know?"

    "Your new skirt is crooked at the back."

    Did I really have to embarass myself in front of all my friends today?

    I fixed it, mortified. Acting 100% too feminine for my tastes again.

    Then a thought came to mind.

    Wait a second...

    Fanny barged out of the kitchen. The culprit always comes back to the scene of the crime after all.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    "Sias, I told you not to seduce my man!" Her anger was faked, mine only partly.

    "Fan. Did you perhaps play with my skirt when I was welcoming Henry? You were behind me if I remember well."

    She gulped. I didn''t smile like that very often after all.

    "(?¨R?¨Q) Teehee~! " She finally answered.

    Henry laughed furiously behind me.

    I sighed.

    "I want new friends."

    "Knowing you, they''ll be even worse, you''re lucky to have us." Fanny commented.

    I sighed again.

    "Yeah."

    That evening was one of the best breaks I had. I felt back home for the first time, and I realized I had missed it. Henry was really supportive with all that had happened, and accepted to go back to Japan with me. Fanny didn''t even bother answering, she actually felt insulted I had to ask.

    "You would do it in a heartbeat if it was about me." Was the only thing she said.

    Now my parents were another story.

    New paperwork, passport and identity card would take a few weeks, so they insisted I went to my mother''s classes.

    "Miss Hailey''s right, you need to get used to your new body in other ways too." Fanny added.

    "Ooh?" My father commented.

    My mother coughed.

    "Fanny, when you were fifteen I found you in your bedroom with..." I began threathening her.

    "I''llshutupandnevertalkaboutthismorningeveragainIpromise." She rushed.

    "Honey, there''s nothing wro..." Began my father.

    I stared. He shut up.

    An awkard silence surrounded the dinner table. Broken by the muffled laughter of Henry.

    Unexpectedly, it was my mother who first giggled uncontrollably out loud.

    Everyone quickly joined in.

    Even I began chuckling.

    The morning after, I prepared for bootcamp hell. A full week at my mother''s arena, dojo, special ops training room, however you wanted to call it. That was the deal for me to go back to Japan. To start my life again.

    I changed in my new sports clothes, Fanny had followed my mother''s recommendation to the letter about the sports clothes, but couldn''t resist addingher touch afterwards. I looked at the cute girl in the mirror. I was a bit troubled by the sports bra underneath my form-fitting shirt, and those shorts were definitely too short to be called decent.

    Oops, I almost went and did something embarassing again, and I didn''t have time for that. To be honest I think I would have otherwise. The first taste of it yesterday had been horribly addicting.

    I put on a loose jogging, and the same sweatshirt as yesterday.

    My mother was waiting for me downstairs.

    "Hurry up, we''re gonna be late, you''ve got fifteen minutes to eat and get ready."

    I looked at the clock over the kitchen''s sink. 9 O''Clock.

    "Isn''t your first lesson at 11? I''ve got plenty of time."

    She clicked her tongue.

    "We''re not going with the car, we''re going for a run. Fourteen minutes Sias."

    "Oh fuck m...well shit, yes sir..." I groaned.

    ...

    Well thank god for the sports bra, it was life-saving. The swedish genes really didn''t help with running.

    The small modern building in front of us was situated in a wooden area, a small parking, empty for now, stood next to it.

    It wasn''t far away from the national road. But it felt like it was hidden deep inside the woods because no other structures were allowed to be constructed here.

    The reason was that we were in a national park here, and that the building also served the purpose of a park ranger outpost.

    If there was a waterfall nearby, it would have been the most caricatural training camp location ever.

    There were showers though, and that''s where I was headed.

    "Sias." My mother called out to me.

    "Yes?"

    She pointed to the sign over the shower room door.

    "Erm?" I didn''t understand. What was it about the stick figure of a man that... Oh.

    "Seriously?"

    My mother shrugged her shoulders.

    "You are gonna have to get used to it."

    "There is no one else here!"

    "There will be in ten minutes. I don''t want to have to explain why there is what undoubtebly looks like my daughter in the men''s shower room."

    "Please don''t make me take a shower with you." I pleaded.

    She laughed devilishly.

    Damn swedes and their absence of body privacy.

    I will never talk about what happened afterwards. Let''s just say the woman''s tile floor is rather well-maintained.

    No one was there when we finished showering.

    My mother was whistling innocently.

    We entered the dojo.

    You could see it was truly being cared for, the place looked beautiful. A boxing ring was standing on the eastern side of the big room, the left was a more classic tatami squared training ground. I knew there was some gym equipment in a back room somewhere and a track dedicated to running outside that circled around the forest.

    But most of the martial art equipement was here. Training swords and a few real ones were hanging from the wall. They were all locked tight to the wall, and you needed a special key to unlock the real ones. One I only knew my mother to have.

    She took the key out, unlocked the real swords, and threw one towards me.

    She had taken a medieval longsword. Per usual.

    My weapon was a katana. I unsheated it naturally, old habits taking control, and checked it out.

    "Is this supposed to be a joke?"

    She looked at me, unfazed. In apparence, I knew her well enough to knew she was having fun.

    "I thought that you would rather use this, you wanting to go back to Japan and all."

    I put the sword back in it''s sheath.

    "Please. The blade''ll break after two parries, and it''s way too dangerous without adequate protection."

    They may be real swords, but they were dulled, as such a hit would hurt, a lot, but probably not cut you. Except the katana, it was fragile, but it could still cut through unprotected flesh.

    "You think you''ll touch me?" My mother''s tone was dead serious.

    Instincts called out to me.

    I studied her posture. Her tanktop didn''t hide much of her strength. And I could almost see the energy wanting to pour out of her muscles. She wanted a fight.

    "Really?" I asked, despair filling my voice.

    She answered with a grin.

    I didn''t unsheath my sword again. I needed the scabbard to protect the blade.

    Hailey Skr?skind ran towards me, passion filling her eyes.

    I hated training with my mother.

    The first hit was a test. She wanted to judge how good I still was. So I faked being really shit.

    Wasn''t that hard.

    The poke at my left side wasn''t too bad, but the hit still winded me out.

    "Do you think I''m stupid Sias?"

    Something bothered me at the corner of my eyes, a presence, but I couldn''t be bothered right now. I had pissed my opponent off with my failed bluff.

    Her sword always stood if front of her, the hits were quick, not strong. To be that fast with that big of a sword was almost inhuman. It also meant that to attack her, you needed to go through more than 1 meter of steel.

    I parried stab after stab. Dodged some too. She was trying every spot in my defence, trying to break my balance with every strike. I held my ground, falling back and advancing whenever I needed to.

    I was waiting. I steadied my breath, concentrated. I was waiting.

    For the one step too far.

    The one mistake.

    After maybe five minutes of this constant flurry, I saw my chance.

    It came when she suddenly stopped stabbing and went for a slash towards my right arm.

    I stopped it with the point of my scabbard, the shock vibrated through my bones, I let it pass. I unsheated my blade.

    My slash, almost a blur, went straight for her stomach, it would be a shallow cut.

    I fell on my butt.

    "Fucking hell." I said while holding my cheek.

    "Language on the training ground!" My mother reprimanded. Her sword was down, pointing to my forehead.

    I pushed it aside, and grabbed her held out hand to get back up.

    Before my slash had even got close to her, she had puched me in the face.

    Simple, effective, perfect.

    "You''re not that rusty after all, t''was a good strike." She observed.

    I only grunted back.

    "We''ll continue later, give me the sword." As I did as instructed, she looked behind me and shouted. "I hope everyone ran and warmed up before coming in here!"

    "Yes M''am!" I heard ten or so voices answer simulteanously.

    I looked behind me.

    My mother''s students, obviously, were watching me with curious stares. I recognised some of them. Top athletes I only saw on TV, and some old ones I met before. Four I didn''t know. One of them actually didn''t look at me with interest, but with jealousy... and excitement? She was cute, and with obvious mixed heritage in her traits, she was pretty much my type. I would have to guess japanese and dutch.

    She was also the sole person training while wearing a kimono, a black belt and a Hakama.

    "Begin with regular exercices! Also this is Sias, she''ll be here to get back into shape for a week. If I see you being nice to her, I''ll personnaly handle your training next." This wasn''t the promise of fun, far from it. I just got handed over as meat to be hit constantly. "Frei come here." She concluded.

    Everyone quickly went to what looked like their designated positions, they moved around like a well-oiled machine. The kimono girl came towards us.

    I had guessed that would be Frei.

    "Yes sensei?"

    "Follow us we have something to discuss."

    "Sensei if I may?"

    "Yes?"

    "Didn''t you have a son called Sias?"

    I looked at the ceiling.

    "Yes."

    Frei looked at me, then at my mother, perplexed.

    "Come in the office, I''ll try to explain the best I can."

    "But she has bigger boobs than I do..." Said Frei quietly.

    I was seriously questioning my potential bodyguard''s sanity if that was what she couldn''t believe in this whole story.

    "They''re C-cup, not that big, I could have been like mom, that would have been soul-shattering." I felt obligated to say.

    "We''re in the dojo, don''t call me mom." Corrected my mother.

    "Y~es" I said cheekily.

    "Also, I''m pretty surprised you know your proportions already."

    I pinched my nose, those questions should officially be banned between a mother and her son/daughter.

    "I went shopping with Fanny, what do you think happened?"

    Frei, who looked so aggressive in the dojo, was being extremely timid right now. She looked like she wanted to say something, but didn''t dare interrupting us.

    I helped her out. Her squirrel look was putting me off, I think I prefered her angry stares.

    "Frei, you want to say something?"

    "Erm yes." She began "So you have been drugged and became like this" She looked a tad bit too long at my breasts "But you want to go back to Japan and need help in case someone still wants to hurt you?"

    "That''s it." Nodded my mother.

    I had a doubtful look at the young girl, she looked barely twenty, and was smaller than me, way bigger than a normal japanese girl mind you, probably due to her mixed genes, but still not tall.

    She bowed her head. I hadn''t seen anyone do that since Kyoto.

    "I would be honored to help, Miss Sias, oh should I say Mister?"

    "Sias."

    "Sias then, I have, unfinished business, in my home country. As such, it is an opportune proposal that I want to accept. Nonetheless, I saw how you looked at me right now. I saw how you fought with Skr?skind-sensei (Her pronunciation of the swedish name was perfect) I would like to prove myself to you.

    "Sensei?" She looked for my mother''s approval.

    My mother was obviously waiting for that.

    This test wasn''t needed, honestly. I may have looked at her like that, but it was more of a bad habit than anything. My mother praised her. That sufficed for me.

    I knew what would be coming now.

    I held my throbbing cheek. The pain from the last sparring session hadn''t ended, and here I was going for another one.

    Joy.

 Going back. v2

    Frei had pulled out a wooden bokken and a men* from her belongings in the changing rooms. She waited for me on the tatami floors.

    The medium sized training sword was something I was well accustomed to.

    I took one similar weapon from the training rack, and stood in front of her.

    As usual, I didn''t put any headgear on.

    She looked towards my mother, waiting for her to say something it.

    Hailey didn''t notice, and began explaining the rules: "Surrender or first killing blow. I''ll judge."

    Killing blow meant a hit that would have killed or incapacitated, nothing as final as you''d think.

    I looked at my opponent. Indignation had flared inside her pupils. Not wearing protection could be interpreted as a ''you''ll never hit me'' taunt. It wasn''t the case, but if it pissed her off, It was gonna help me win, so I let her believe it.

    "Start!"

    Gone was the shy girl. Determination and anger was the only thing I felt from her right now.

    We circled each other for a bit.

    I was checking for weaknesses in her stance, in her grip.

    As expected, none were to be found.

    She had been training with my mother after all.

    I took a defensive posture. She was the one that had to prove herself after all.

    I even cheekily smiled at her.

    She stepped forwards. Three quick strides.

    A Sho Men. One of the most notorious vertical strikes in swordfighting.

    Fast, and unexpectedly strong too.

    It had to have been perfected ten thousand times or more to obtain such a perfect slash.

    S~caary. She had not hesitated one second even though I didn''t wear head protection.

    But it was a bad move against me. It was bad luck and she couldn''t have known.

    I took a step to the right, pushed the pommel of my sword into her stomach.

    Her wooden blade didn''t even graze me, and she had to quickly fall back to catch her breath.

    I hadn''t hit as strong as usual.

    My new female self did lose some muscles after all.

    I sighed.

    "Am I boring you Sias-san?"

    I pissed her off even more unadverdently.

    I didn''t like to talk and train at the same time.

    I did a slight bow of the head, apologizing silently.

    I shouldn''t have, her getting emotional would be benificial for me. But I honestly didn''t want to get on the bad side of my future bodyguard.

    My mother was circling us, and threw a few advices for my opponent.

    "Frei! Don''t let him take the advantage, if he rhythms the fight, you''ll lose."

    Him. A slip of the tongue.

    A few of the students who were watching us gave questioning stares at their teacher.

    But I couldn''t be bothered right now, Frei had listened to the advice that was given to her, and she was currently unleashing a myriad of strikes, slashes, kick and punches.

    I wasn''t as used to her personal techniques as I was my mothers, and it was damn hard to keep up.

    She managed to land a shallow hit on my leg, and would''ve badly scratched my cheek with another strike if it was a real blade.

    Exhale.

    Inhale.

    One moment was all I needed.

    Her feet got slighlty tangled in the hakama on a pretty aggressive piercing stab.

    This was it.

    I broke her rhythm.

    I countered the stab with an old french fencing move. The tip of my blade flew to puncture her grip.

    Her blade sprung out of her hand.

    I grinned.

    My next strike with the blade, my first real attack, went towards her temple, she had protection after all.

    I got careless.

    I forgot what her kendo-style moves most likely meant.

    I grunted painfully as my own strength got used against me. My arm was twisted to the ground. The rest of my body had to follow if I wanted to stay in one piece.

    Of course she was an a?kido practitioner. I''d even bet on it, but disarming her had blinded me.

    She was now using a rather painful nerve technique to lock me in place.

    "Ow ow ow, I yield." I said out loud as she was pushing harder on my wrist.

    "Frei won. Barely." Announced my mother with a depreciating expression.

    My tormentor released me.

    "Barely?" She protested.

    "The strike that hit your hands to send your sword flying would''ve rendered them useless, no way you could have done that counter technique, you''ve won here, you would have lost in a real fight. So, barely."

    I got up, and exclaimed my dissaproval. I hated this warrior philosophy.

    "But it was an exercise, and you won with the rules that Miss Skr?skind gave you. Well played." I held out my hand.

    Frei gazed at it a bit puzzled, then shook it.

    "Thank you Sias-san, but honestly, why do you need a bodyguard?"

    "Please, we fought against each other, and I already asked for you to let the honorifics go, call me Sias." I tried my best charming smile. Except I wasn''t exactly a charming man anymore.

    I think I failed horribly.

    She looked at me, clearly troubled, her cheeks got a bit red.

    "Of course, Sias, why do you need a bodyguard?"

    "Ask mom." I said while pointing at Hailey.

    All the students shouted in surprise.

    Shit.

    One of the older ones, Jakob If I remembered correctly, immediately put the dots together.

    "Wait mom?.... Sias? SIAS? Last time I saw you you were the quietest teenage boy ever! What happened!?"

    My mother scratched her head.

    I got surrounded immediately, bombarded by questions and commented on my new assets.

    "Why did you transition to pussycat? Not that it looks bad, honestly your doc must''ve been crazy good."

    "Sias, wow, you got better, almost beat our ace there!"

    "She didn''t only get better with the sword if you know what I mean."

    "What a waste..."

    Nothing is worse than being harrassed by big macho athletes.

    Well no, I lie. Fanny is worse.

    Even the new students who never heard about me came to see what was all the commotion about.

    I returned home wiped out. We had trained until early this evening, and I had to dodge all the questions about where I did my supposedly sex-change.

    I only remember a phone call from Fanny that night, telling me that having to do all the paperwork for Japan in one week was crazy and that she would only do it in exchange of another shopping trip in Tokyo.

    I believe I may have answered rudely: I hung up on her and went to bed.

    The next six days were pretty much as bad.

    Running, training, sparring sessions.

    I faced every student multiple times, and I did win against most of them.

    None against my mother though, and only once against Frei.

    She was good, crazy good in fact. She was only 22 too.

    The initial anger that I felt out of her quickly went away. I think we actually hit it off pretty well.

    But I was a girl now. My friendzone power before was already pretty high before, I don''t think I had any chances left.

    I thanked the training and the whole ''trip back planning'', because without them, I think this would have seriously depressed me.

    I never managed a long term relationship before. Some one-night stands, sometimes weeks, but with my family history, and let''s be honest some aspects of my personality, it never went further than that. It came to the point I was sometimes jealous of Fanny and Henry''s relationship, and I hated myself for feeling that.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    So it was good I had a lot to do. I didn''t have to think about it.

    Still, me and Frei quickly became friends.

    As far as I could tell, she was extremly timid out of the training grounds, like a stereotypical Japanese girl.

    But she was extremely outgoing during them, like a stereotypical German girl.

    Yeah I was wrong, half Japanese, half German, not Dutch.

    In any case, I liked those contradictions in her. It made her interesting. Those two worlds that collided. We had that in common I guess.

    The last day of our training together came sooner than I expected.

    She had just signed the contract to help me as a bodyguard for six month in Japan.

    "Do you have all paperwork ready for the trip?" Asked my mother while putting the document away.

    Frei smiled meekly "I don''t need it."

    "Oh, of course."

    "What?" I protested jokingly. "How is that fair?"

    "I have the double nationality Sias."

    "Impure blood!" I playfully snapped back with false disdain.

    She looked at me innocently. Not reacting.

    Boo not fun.

    My mother sighed.

    "You should just shut up sometimes."

    "Hey! I''m your daughter~ish!"

    "Nope, you''re my daugther. Get used to it, it''ll make it easier for me."

    Frei giggled.

    Way too cute.

    I pouted.

    The trip was happening.

    It took three extra days, because of an administrative mess at the city office about Fanny''s passeport, but all in all it went ok.

    Mom had said goodbye to us at my home, looking sadder to lose her best student than her own offspring. Dad had insisted accompanying us to the airport.

    "A taxi''s fine dad."

    "Non. Hors de question."

    So he brought us there. He was supposed to work, I sometimes wondered how he didn''t get fired already. He was always taking unnanounced holidays for the most dumb reasons.

    "You''ve got everything?" He asked me in front of the terminal gates.

    "Yup, now stop embarassing me in front of my friends."

    He nodded.

    Fanny and Henry politely gave us a bit of room, but Frei stayed close. She looked inconspicuous, but I could feel here gaze regularly fall back to me, then my surroundings.

    She was already in professional mode.

    First things when we arrived I promised myself, was to convince her this bodyguard job was more to reassure my dad than anything else, and that she should take it easy with us.

    "I shouldn''t let you go Sias, you''re not coping with what happened to you, you''re only fleeing it."

    He was acting strange.

    "Dad, I''m not fleeing anything, I''m trying to get my life back in order." I objected.

    But my words didn''t reach him. He held my shoulders.

    "Sias, it''s not over, you know that don''t you? You can feel it."

    He was right, there was unfinished business waiting to happen, my gut-feeling was definite on that subject.

    But how my father knew, that was another question.

    "Dad, are you not telling me something?"

    That made him step back. He let my shoulders go and dusted his coat.

    "No, no of course not."

    I stared at him.

    "You''ll tell me when I get back. I''ll be back, I promise."

    That made him smile.

    "You will, you''ll always do. Remember, strength is gained by failing. Control by loving."

    And he left.

    "That was weird." Dropped Frei. She put a hand on her mouth, ashamed of having said that out loud.

    "Tell me about it. He''s hiding something. He always is. He is the eldest son of the Jourdin after all."

    "What does that mean?"

    I peered into my friends eyes.No emotions in my voice.

    "Oh, bad things, but don''t worry about it."

    Kyoto, here we are again.

    All in all, our first day on the land of the rising sun was tiring, but nice. All the paperwork, relocation, keys, new language school (It wouldn''t do to show up like this to my old one) took most of the day, and jet lag was hardcore.

    But at least no one tried to kill me.

    We had two apartments next to each other in a pretty classy part of the city. My dad invested way more money on my friends than when I was on my own. It didn''t bother me. He had given me what I needed and nothing more. The extra luxury was there to accomodate the others.

    "Sooo biiig!" I heard Fanny shout through the thin walls. Japanese walls always were. Only exceptional ones didn''t suffer from that problem.

    "Fanny! Hush, we can hear everything!" I shouted back.

    "E~verything?"

    I didn''t hear what she was doing, but I could hear Henry gasp.

    Better ignore them.

    "Sorry we couldn''t get you a private apartement Frei."

    She was in front of me.

    The apartement was pretty big, we even had a terrace, two single beds, a nice kitchen, a big bath, and a four person table, where we were currently sitting.

    "Sias-chan, it is no worries, it would be pretty hard to do my job otherwise."

    I winced."Chan?"

    "Well you are definitely beautiful enough to deserve a chan."

    Urgh. Friendzoned much?

    "I hope you won''t mind if I keep calling you Frei? I like freedom without the social rule behind it."

    "Ie, Ie."

    There was an awkward silence.

    After a minute of staring, it looked like she wanted to say something.

    "Yes?" I encouraged.

    "I told you I had unfinished business here right?"

    "Erm yeah, when we first met right?"

    "Would it be possible to do that tomorrow?"

    "Do I need to be there?"

    She had a contrite smile. "I would prefer if you didn''t leave my sight."

    "I can handle myself, you don''t need to be on edge. It''s mostly my dad overreacting."

    "Maybe. But your mother still insisted I take care of you. Also, I already saw two suspicious individuals looking at you at our arrival in Osaka, and then Kyoto."

    "Shit. Nice job spotting them I guess, you had a real bodyguard training?"

    "Yes, it is linked to what I need to do here. You don''t seem to be doubting anything I said?"

    It almost seemed to bother her.

    "Wha...?" I looked at her open-mouthed "Of course not, why would I?"

    Before she could answer, something about what she said finally made me realize something.

    "Wait a second. A bodyguard training and a martial one here, in Kyoto?"

    "Yes that''s right?"

    "What''s your family name again."

    "Shiwazaki? You didn''t know?"

    "Skipped my mind... oh shit you''re Shiwazaki-sensei''s daughter."

    It was her turn to open her mouth in surprise.

    "You met Otou-sama?"

    I wriggled in my chair.

    "Erm you could say that."

    Realization enlightened her eyes.

    "You never stopped practicing."

    I caughed.

    "I did, just not as much as my mother believes."

    "That''s why you were barely rusty, and knew how to use Iai* against Hairley sensei. And how you dodged my Sho men so easily."

    "Yup. Pretty used to that technique by now."

    "Why did you lie to your mother?"

    "I didn''t exactly lie, she just believes I stopped practicing, and I''m not correcting her. She''s the one not asking."

    "Why?"

    I sighed.

    "To win our next fight."

    That surprised her.

    She laughed.

    "What is it?"

    "You went to train with my father to beat your own mother, and I went to your mother to win against my father. It''s a pretty crazy coincidence."

    "Ha ha, looks like it yeah. But nah, it seems pretty logical when you think about it, not a lot of masters of that level in the world."

    "I guess."

    A dark thought broke this happy moment.

    "Your father isn''t a nice man Frei, I wouldn''t want to challenge him." I felt obligated to tell her the truth. I heard how she called him -sama, extreme respect. Way too much than he deserved.

    Frei stopped laughing too.

    "No,... no he is not a good man. I am surprised you went to him honestly, you don''t seem like one of his regular students."

    I smiled weakly.

    "I am not, but I know how to act like one since forever. What''s more I was not a woman at that point. To be perfectly honest I stopped going weeks before my new predicament."

    She nodded.

    "Let me guess, he couldn''t help you anymore."

    "In a way, yes. I thought he would be stronger, and maybe he is, but as a teacher he''s just a good bully, nothing more. I apologize, I''m being rude to your father."

    "Don''t be, it''s why I want to fight Otou-sama, I want to show to the world he''s a fake."

    "I wouldn''t say he''s a fake. He did beat mom once."

    That made her snort. Gone the usual timid Frei, German Frei had arrived.

    "In a tournament, with restrictive rules that made a woman vs a man match completely unfair."

    I didn''t agree.

    "Still, she lost. He''s not bad, far from it. He may not be as strong as my mother sure, but he''s not far from it."

    "Do you think I''ll win?"

    I looked at her. She was tense, my answer was important to her. In less than a month I had become a figure she respected in a fight. Maybe even outside one. It should have made me happy. It didn''t.

    "With standard rules, maybe. But if I understand correctly, it''s not a match, it''s a challenge you seek. That is gonna be harder."

    I thought about the violent, almost sadistic middle aged sensei, who made me remember another figure of my past.

    To be honest, I didn''t leave because he couldn''t teach me anything anymore. I left to avoid repeating an old mistake.

    "But I still have a chance." My new roomate asked with hope.

    Budding anger bloomed inside me.

    "No."

    "..." She looked at me with shock.

    "Not in your current state of mind. What you''re looking for can''t be found in a fight. If you go in like this, you''ll get shredded. He''s not the kind of man who''ll pity the defeated, even his daughter... am I wrong?"

    "No. It''s true but... but you want to do the same to your mother!"

    I got up my chair, I couldn''t stop myself.

    "It''s NOT the same. I''m not seeking revenge, just proving a point! Showing her I can do it! It''s a way to give her forgiveness. I''m doing it for both of us. And I''ll succeed, I know it. Not today, I''m not ready yet, but in a few month, with a bit more training, I know I''ll get there. But you! You want to use violence to prove you''re right. Exactly like he does!"

    She looked at me, flabbergasted.

    I saw it. The unparalleled violence of unhidden truths.I had said too much. I began apologizing...

    We heard knocking at the door.

    Frei immediately jumped up, on the ready.

    It was only Fanny.

    "Guys you alright? We can hear you shouting over our moans it''s a big turn off."

    Henry coughed violently. I knew my best friend was trying to calm the situation down in her own special way. I loved that about her. I hated it too.

    I exhaled.

    Calmed down.

    "Come in, it''s open."

    I stared back at my roommate.

    "I''m sorry Frei, it''s just... what you''re doing, what you want, I went there before. It didn''t go well. For no one."

    Her fists were closed.

    "I would still like to go there tomorrow." She insisted.

    I sighed.

    "Alright, I''ll come with you. But not to stay there as your VIP. I''ll be there as a friend. If I get recognized though, you''ll have to protect me from judgemental stares."

    Something special appeared in her eyes. Something I didn''t recognize.

    "You girls going somewhere?" Henry asked. Both he and his girlfriend joined us around the table.

    Frei looked down.

    "We''re going to say hi to her dad. She can tell you more if she wants to." I explained.

    "I''ll tell Fanny-chan and Henry-san tomorrow."

    Henry lifted a plastic bag, seemingly out of nowhere.

    "Way too heavy conversation. You two may not be, but we certainly are taking a holiday. Holidays mean drinks. So here we go."

    He pulled out two bottles of sake.

    Frei made a disgusted stare.

    Henry looked appaled at her reaction.

    "It''s supposed to be your heritage!"

    "I prefer my Bayern one if I had to choose on that account."

    I laughed. "Where''s the beer?"

    He reluctantly pulled a six-pack out of the bag.

    "Don''t mind them honey, we''ll look sophisticated while they look uneducated." Fanny comforted him.

    Frei grabbed a beer, her timidity forgotten, and began to drink it from the can.

    I did the same.

    Henry poured himself and his girlfriend a glass of sake.

    "To the uneducated who pay for this trip!" He said, raising his glass.

    "My father is paying for this trip, and he''s currently working at the CERN, as such, I object to that statement." I raised my can.

    "Oh shut up Sasss." Fanny teased.

    Frei lifted her can in silence, then took a gulp.

    One hour later Henry was already saying crap, Fanny sleeping in his lap.

    "Technically, I''ve got myself a harem now! Three girls to myself!"

    "Very roughly, yes." The sake was stronger than expected.

    "Fwy weer you so mean with me Siass, I though we were gettiiing closser." My bodyguard asked me. Her job a bit forgotten.

    She only drank two cans of beer, but unfortunately for her, she most certainly got the asian genes about alcohol.

    "I was beginning to l..like ouu."

    "Yeah, yeah. I was mean. I cared, I''m always mean when I care."

    "That''s stupid." She said back.

    "Yeah she''s right!" Fanny shouted her eyes still closed, throwing an arm in the air. It fell back flatly.

    But not before hitting Henry in the chin.

    That sobered him up a bit.

    "Erm, we''re gonna go to bed, see you tomorrow." And he dragged my best friend away with him.

    "Siiiiiaaaaaaas..." I had my own drunk to take care of.

    "Yeah, yeah, let''s get you to bed."

    "Let''s take a bbaath togtogefdbxcx" Her eyelids just closed.

    "Very tempting sure, you''re drooling." I noticed.

    "Rghmph."

    I sighed, took her in my arms and layed her on her bed.

    I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and went to sleep as well.

    I could hear Frei slightly snoring a few meters away.

    I liked sleeping with friends around, It always felt peaceful for me.

    That feeling shouldn''t last though.

    Tomorrow, I had to take my life back.

    But Kyoto wasn''t finished with me yet.

 Strange words. v2

    "You''re sure you want to do this?" I asked for the third time.

    "Yes. It''ll be fine." Answered Frei, slightly annoyed by now. Her timid facade was getting thin.

    We were getting strange stares from the people in the subway.

    Well I was a very occidental looking young woman, looking like she got out of a classic/punk model show. That wasn''t of my own volition by the way. I had a really hyper-excited friend who loved dressing me up.

    I was super uncomfortable, the shorts-jeans I was wearing were giving away way too much leg for my taste, and the shirt with the leather jacket were way too fashion-heavy.

    At the least the shoes were practical, more like boots really, giving away the punk vibe.

    But I wasn''t the one getting the most stares.

    Frei was currently wearing her kimono and hakama, and carrying a wooden bokken. She wasn''t really bothered by the onlookers, she was focused.

    We were a strange looking duo to say the least.

    Someone even tried to touch my ass in one of the wagons. His hand got violently struck by a wooden sword before it even came close.

    I silently thanked Frei. That wasn''t a novelty of my body I wanted to try.

    Shiwazaki-sensei''s dojo wasn''t far away from my old apartement, which meant it was pretty far away from our new.

    After one hour of public transportation, and fifteen minutes of walking, we arrived at the old dojo, situated on a classic japanese sacred mountain. With a traditional temple on top. The building was used for the training sessions.

    We passed next to three relatively young burly men running up and down the hundred stairs to the bottom. They must''ve arrived late for the lesson, as they were obviously being punished.

    I recognized most of them.

    They didn''t.

    They looked at me pretty carefully too.

    Yeah, now that I was in the other sexe''s boots (literally), I saw how blatantly men could look at woman.

    They didn''t even notice Frei. She was making herself discreet. Wasn''t really difficult when you were accompanied by a 5 foot 8 (178cm) swedish-french girl.

    When we arrived close to the top, we could hear multiple "Heeeeiiiiii!" being shouted repeatedly.

    It was a nice day, they were training outside.

    Reiki Shiwazaki, the fifty year old teacher and father was circling around ten or so japanese martial arts students.

    He immediately spotted us appearing out of the staircase.

    "Pfiuuuu." I exhaled, a bit winded by the climb.

    I saw my old sensei walking towards us.

    "What are you two girls doing in my school?" He asked us aggressively, almost spitting the word ''girl''. His english was perfect. "Those grounds are not authorized for sight-seeing." He looked at me, seemed to almost recognize me, but only got confused a bit.

    Frei stepped forward.

    He stared at her for a bit, before realization struck him.

    "Mizuna?"

    "Frei" My friend corrected. "Ohay? Otou-sama."

    That seemed to anger him even more.

    He began to quickly speak to her in Japanese, which I could barely follow.

    He asked her about Frei''s mother, to which she responded that he only needed to give a call to know. Then he asked what she was doing here, that she should have stayed in Germany. To which she responded very coldly, that she had left Germany five years ago and trained with Hailey Skr?skind close to Bern.

    He clenched his teeth at those words. He pointed the wooden sword that never left his side towards me.

    "Sore-wa?" Roughly translated, he just asked me what I was.

    "Tomodachi-desu." A friend, Frei answered. She lowered his sword with hers.

    That felt nice, she considered me her friend too. I would have rather been something more but hey, I knew the friendzone was an impossible wall to climb in my current state.

    He looked at me, my face was familiar and it was disturbing him.

    He finally faced his daughter again.

    "So, what are you doing here?"

    "I want you to apologize to me and mother, I challenge you."

    He looked perplexed, then began to laugh.

    The students stopped training and looked at us inquisitively.

    "You!? My little fleeing girl comes back to try to bite her own father? You''re juste like your mother, I knew it was a mistake."

    Frei looked hurt for an instant. I saw it, and Shiwazaki-sensei did too.

    It made him smile.

    He clapped his hands and instructed everyone to make a circle.

    "Bring me two sets of protection gear, even though she''s the only one who''s gonna need some."

    Arrogance and hate was almost the only thing flowing in his blood.

    It made me sad to realize that even his own daughter couldn''t bring something else in this man''s soul.

    Kendo-gear was brought to Frei and Shiwazaki-sensei. After they put it on, they faced each other. Everyone was staring silently. Most of the students didn''t know what was happening, but most likely never saw a private match with the ''great'' Shiwazaki-sama so were very interested.

    I stood alone, closing part of the circle on my own, standing behind Frei.

    "Till one of us surrenders." The master swordsman announced.

    That wasn''t good, she should have refused, but my friend nodded.

    I grimaced.

    "Let''s begin... father." She said in english.

    And the fight began.

    Like our first match together, Frei and her father circled each other. Looking for flaws, errors in stance or grip.

    Then without warning, he jumped forwards, striking a violent Sho-men towards his own daughter. A strike that even with head protection, could leave you with a serious concussion.

    But she wasn''t surprised by it, she expected this level of violence from her own father.

    She actually did what I had done to her. She dodged and planted the pommel of her bokken in his stomach.

    That made me grin. She only saw me do it once and had copied it to perfection. Geniuses are scary I tell you.

    A painful grunt could be heard from Shiwazaki-san, and he immediately tried to back off.

    But unlike me she didn''t wait for him to catch his breath, and went on the offensive.

    I may have underestimated her, she was making this fight pretty one-sided.

    Some "Oooh''s!" could be heard from the public. Some didn''t seem to believe this tall (relatively) japanese mixed-blood was cornering the great swordsman.Stolen novel; please report.

    Woman weren''t allowed up here. Most of them just couldn''t have followed up with the rigorous training exercise, but the worst was the blatant sexism.

    I had quickly understood how much inferior Shiwazaki-sensei thought woman to be. It still baffled me he could have been in a relationship with something other than his own muscles.

    As I was dozing off for a bit, lost in my thoughts, I almost missed when Frei managed to pause her blade inches away from her opponent''s throat.

    "I won" She stated simply.

    I cussed. She had misunderstood something.

    "Frei dodge!" I shouted.

    This fight wasn''t to the killing blow, it was to the surrender. That meant unconscious or yielding.

    Frei looked at me. My voice only distracted her even more.

    Shiwazaki-san pushed the sword on his throat aside and stabbed her with the point of his blade with extreme violence.

    She bent down, managing not to vomit.

    She lost her advantage, and he was now striking her repeatedly. She was barely able to soften the blows.

    She didn''t utter a sound, but I could hear her bones barely holding on.

    She finally fell down, but still didn''t say anything. I knew from our conversation yesterday how far she was willing to go, and that dumbass wasn''t going to yield.

    I felt my feet move before my brain ordered them to.

    I got between them before Shiwazaki-sensei could kick her on the ground. He wouldn''t have hesitated.

    "Stop this, she''s down." I told him in japanese. "The way you won was dishonourable."

    He mocked me, hatred filling his voice, easily heard through the armor, and answered in english.

    "You strangers don''t even know what honour means. She came to humiliate me in front of my students, but couldn''t even follow the rules I set for the match. She''s as dumb as her mother is."

    He wasn''t talking about the match anymore. He was resenting something old.

    "...you were making all the rules, without anyone ever agreeing to them, who do you think you are to decide how we live?" Frei said softly, her tone was sad and pained. She was still trying to catch her breath.

    "I make the rules because I am your father. I know what''s best for my child, but you and your mother couldn''t even accept that. I don''t need idiots incapable of recognizing this."

    I saw Frei clenching her fists on the ground, not from the pain.

    I sighed, I was going to do something stupid.

    I had always been chivalrous with women I liked, it''s horribly stereotypical I know. You may believe otherwise all you want, you are aways influenced by the world you live in. And I was no exception. I''ve always tried way too hard to be a gentleman. I get friendzoned a lot, yeah, I wonder why?

    "Frei, give me your sword."

    She removed her head protection and stared at me. She had beautiful brown eyes, didn''t notice that before.

    "It''s my fight."

    "I only want to get this prick''s head out of his ass. And I too have a score to settle."

    It didn''t look like I had convinced her. I wasn''t exactly telling her the truth so it was no wonder.

    Shiwazaki-san laughed.

    "Do we know each other? I think I remember you from somewhere. I don''t care. Little girl, you shouldn''t meddle in things you don''t know anything about and go back to your shopping and make-up, you will get your pretty ass bruised. I''d give you to my students first, I''d bother fighting you second."

    I didn''t like what he meant by ''giving'' me to his students.

    "Little girl?" I smiled at him. "Well then you must be a little man then. You already beat a woman once today? What''s stopping you from beating another one? Tell me, coward."

    He didn''t laugh anymore.

    "You should shut up bitch. If you want it so bad sure. Someone bring this whore a sword and a mask." A student immediately got up and went looking for what the master requested.

    "Sias-chan..." Frei whispered my name, fortunately I was the only one to hear her. "Don''t do it, I''m the one supposed to protect you, you won''t beat him."

    I knelt in front of her. An old, sad feeling, crept inside my bones.

    "Did you know I liked magic tricks when I was a kid?" I told her.

    She looked at me quizzicaly.

    "Promise me you won''t tell my mother." I asked.

    "Sias-chan?"

    "Please."

    Something in my expression changed her mind. She gave me her sword.

    "Good enough I guess." I halfheartedly smiled, got up, and faced my old sensei.

    "You still need the protection." He noted.

    "I don''t wear head protection."

    That made him flinch. He should have known, right now and then. But he was too close-minded to see the truth. I was gonna have to change that.

    "I had a student... an arrogant bastard much like you who said the same. You two related?"

    "You could say he''s my brother."

    "That bitch''s Skr?skind had another child? A girl to boot? I take back what I said, I''ll enjoy facing you. I hope you''re better than your brother, he was a real wuss."

    One of the reasons I left. I didn''t handle him badmouthing my mother well.

    I didn''t want to do something I regretted later.

    Well I was definitely going to now.

    I didn''t even put a stance up.

    "Remove your head protection, you won''t need it right? It''s not a match we''re having. It''s a fight."

    He boiled. Furious wasn''t enough a word to describe how he looked.

    He threw his helmet towards his pupils, it hit one of them straight in the face. The poor guy, looking barely 16, yelped in pain.

    "You can''t even handle a basic stance? And you DARE? Look!" Reiki was talking to the crowd around him. "You''re gonna see me break a bitch in half and then you''re gonna take turns raping her!"

    One or two student seemed enclined to obey that order, but most of the young japanese martial artists looked horrified.

    I smirked. I didn''t even need to try. He was already destroying his reputation himself.

    He ran towards me.

    "They''ll take turns because you can''t."

    He froze.

    "What?"

    "Well yeah, since her mother left you for another woman, you coudn''t get it hard however you tried."

    "You? YOU! BITCH HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?" Now he was literally exploding, salivating in rage like a rabid dog.

    He launched a furious assault against me, trying very hard to kill me.

    I dodged, his stance was full of openings, his strikes way too unbalanced to pose a real threat to me.

    "You told me. Well not with words... That''s why you hate women so much, you felt betrayed."

    "SHUT UP, DIE!" Some of the students were actually trying to stop us now, but couldn''t really get closer without getting knocked out. I saw a few hesitating to call the cops. Frei had backed off terrified for me but unable to get on her feet. The sight angered me a bit.

    He did a vertical strike towards my right temple. A killing blow without head protection.

    I deflected the hit and glided my sword on his neck. Without any strength. Just a clear message.

    If the fight was with steel, your head would be on the ground.

    He fumed even more.

    "AAAAAAAAAAAH!" He shouted while unleashing blow after blow, trying to break my arms, my ribs, my head.

    I didn''t even bother moving most of the time, using my sword to redirect all that strength in other places. Like the ground.

    He fell hard on the stone tiles of the temple.

    "CHIKUSO, SHINE!" He yelled while getting back up.

    That was really not nice. You never said that in japanese. I also censored the next sentence about pussy, just know it''s one of the most vulgar things you could ever say.

    "You couldn''t accept she would leave you. So you couldn''t accept your own daughter. And so she left too. And here you are,... a coward. Who''d rather hit his own daughter than apologize."

    I dodged a vicious kick to the shinbone. He couldn''t even talk anymore. But he still heard me, at each of my words he grunted, same as if I had hit him.

    I continued my monologue. "You''d rather die before that won''t you? You don''t want to believe it''s no-one''s fault. And you can''t accept it could be yours. So you hate everything and everyone else. Like the weak man you are. "

    His next strike wasn''t as strong as before. He was getting exhausted. It was a pathetic, desperate stab.

    It was time.

    I saw Sias-chan dodge every strike like it was nothing. She wasn''t scared. She was simply beautiful. I only saw such grace in a fight once before.

    She was her mother''s daughter after all.

    My friend never showed any of this during the short training sessions we had together. No. I corrected myself. She wasn''t doing anything special. It was her opponent''s fault. He was making absurd mistakes.

    She had never shown such confidence and control.

    Otou-sama, he was not in control right now. He was so furious he had lost any semblance of reason. He couldn''t understand how she knew.

    I didn''t either. She shouldn''t know about my mother. Even Hailey-sensei didn''t.

    Still, Sias knew.

    And she hurt him with it.

    More than it should have been possible with mere words.

    My father was being deconstructed, brick by brick, a sentence at a time.

    He couldn''t talk anymore. He looked old. Broken.

    He tried a piercing hit in the stomach, like he did to me.

    She simply took his sword away from his hands and held her mouth close to his ears.

    She whispered something.

    My father''s fury was replaced with horror.

    He tried to struggle. In vain.

    She held him close.

    She continued whispering.

    "Please..." Pleaded my father.

    She let him go.

    He fell limply on the ground.

    No one moved. No one uttered a sound.

    There was only terrifying silence. Broken by quiet sobs.

    "I''m so sorry... I''m so sorry... please..."

    Shiwazaki-san looked up to his daughter, who was looking at me with an undecipherable expression.

    "Frei... I''m so sorry... I..." He seemed to realize something. He got up and left the temple.

    I winced. That probably meant he failed. I was gonna regret what I''d done. Even though it was his decision. His choice. I would have to live with the fact I had forced it on him.

    "Frei, are you alright?" I asked.

    "Yes, yes, nothing''s broken I think." She answered halfmindedly.

    "Good. Let''s go. You''ll talk to you father later. He needs to process a lot of things. We''ll come back I promise." I held out my hand.

    She grabbed it, and muffled a cry of pain.

    "We''re going to see a doctor."

    "Sias-chan... I''m fine really."

    "I need my bodyguard in top condition."

    That seemed to shut her up, and we slowly climbed down the mountain.

    "Sias?"

    "Yeah?"

    "What did you say to him?"

    I looked at her.

    I''d never seen such intensity in a gaze, such an expression. Something old looked at me. Through me.

    "The truth."

 Meeting. v2

    Frei had convinced me she didn''t need a doctor. I was not happy with it, but she had gone into Panzer-Frei Mode, and I couldn''t yet stop tanks with words

    .

    Right now, the rumble of the subway train moving on the tracks constantly echoed inside my head. I was getting an adrenaline down, and was feeling the beginning of a headache.

    "You OK?" Asked my way too serious bodyguard. Like she wasn''t the one who got hit everywhere.

    "Yeah, yeah, don''t worry, often happens after those kind of fights."

    I could see her biting the insides of her cheek. She was still unaware of the stares she was getting from the other people in the subway compartment. They looked at her even more than before, after all, she was now a bruised kimono-dressed girl with a wooden sword.

    She fidgeted on her seat, not saying something.

    "Frei, what is it?"

    She immediately responded, like she had been waiting for my authorization.

    "What have you done to my father? He''s an asshole, sure. But..."

    "I told you already, I just spoke some truths into him."

    She looked at me, irritated.

    "What does that mean?"

    I scratched my head.

    "It''s complicated."

    That irritated her even more.

    "I''m not an idiot, I''ve got a physics degree."

    That surprised me. Not that she wasn''t an idiot mind you.

    "Really? Wow! You never told me. Where did you study?"

    "Don''t change the subject."

    I pouted, it honestly interested me.

    "Sias, don''t think this face is gonna get you out of trouble."

    "Wait? Unhappy face?"

    She still looked angry, but blushed slightly.

    "I forget you''re not used to...well, you." She paused. "Yes, thisface is definitely going to help you get what you want most of the time. Not this time though."

    I pouted again.

    "Tell me." She insisted. "How did you know so much about him? And about my mother? "

    I sighed.

    "I didn''t, not really."

    "You''re not making any sense."

    "No I''m not, I''m well aware... And it''s not going to get better if I explain anything. That''s why I''d rather shut up."

    "You''re not going to."

    Well it didn''t seem I had the choice.

    "... It was a guess, Panzer-Frei."

    She was pissed off now.

    "Don''t call me that. And stop lying to me."

    I stared at her.

    "I don''t lie" I exclaimed too loudly. I got wrathful stares from the japanese commuters.

    Frei didn''t care.

    "You can''t guess things like that!" She almost shouted.

    "Shhh... we''re disturbing everyone..."

    She looked around, finally realizing we weren''t behaving as we should in japanese public transportation.

    "Tell me the truth!" She whispered angrily.

    "I am!" I answered in the same tone of voice.

    "There is no way you are!"

    This was getting tiring.

    "You never talked about your mother. Still, I can say that all of this stupid duel idea, you did it to defend her."

    That shut her up.

    "How...?"

    I continued, explaining my line of thoughts.

    "How do I know? You tensed when he asked you about her. You only got really angry at him when he insulted her. Also, and this is the biggest clue, we may have met just a few weeks ago but I don''t believe you''re the kind of person who does all this for a personal vendetta. Conclusion: everything is linked to someone else, with your father''s clue, easy to guess your mother. But you never spoke of her. Why? Maybe you''re a bit scared of telling me something about her?

    "I''m NOT sca..."

    I interrupted her.

    "Let me finish. I knew Shiwazaki-sensei from before. I knew his outlook on women. This thing he has against them isn''t just because he''s an asshole, it''s personal. He got betrayed."

    "My mother DID NOT betray him, he''s the one..."

    "Then he felt betrayed, all the same to him. He got hurt, badly, and like the big macho patriarch he is, he refused to bandage the wounds."

    Frei tried to say something, but actually calmed down. She had a pensive look.

    "Yes. That seems like him, true enough. Yet it doesn''t explain how you know my mother is a lesbian, and how he has erectile... Even I didn''t know about that."

    "I took my chances. I saw how he reacted once, when students brought yuri mangas to the training ground. He was almost as pissed off as he was today."

    She didn''t seem convinced by my explanation.

    "And about his erm... dysfunction ?" She didn''t seem at ease speaking about her father''s sex life. A pretty universal feeling to be honest.

    "Well as his former student, I know enough about him to make this a rather easy assumption."

    She looked at me quizzicaly.

    I sighed.

    "He''s a drunk. Never drinks during his lessons, but often smells of alcohol before training. Add to this his relationship problems, his perfectionism and unbendable personnality, and his age, and you can conclude without much doubt that he''s suffering from it."

    "That''s so farfetched... It''s like you''re playing Sherlock Holmes."

    I laughed silently.

    "Nah, nothing similar at all! Sherlock Holmes sees things no one else sees. I got all of this by talking and listening to things everyone already knows about. I''m not the one who thought he had a problem with lesbians and alcohol, it''s just one of the numerous rumors his students have. I''m merely linking all those pieces of information together, and making a cohesive picture of the situation. I''m good at discerning good from bad information."

    It didn''t look like she was completely believing me, but at least she calmed down a bit.

    "So it has nothing to do with a magic trick then? You told him things that you believed were true, and got what? Lucky?"

    "In a way yes."

    "What did you say to him to make him crumble like that at the end? What could you possibly have guessed that would push him down on his knees?"

    I grimaced.

    "I don''t think it''s ok for me to say."

    "What?!" She shouted again.

    Lucky for us we were going out at the next stop, the judging stares were getting unbearable. Making noise in public in Japan was extremely frowned upon.

    "I told your father some truth he was fleeing from. Memories, feelings, that he''s keeping inside until it kills him. I just opened the lid and let him smell how rotten it already was. I showed him how long he''d survive if he didn''t do anything about it."

    "Why can''t you tell me though?"

    I squirmed on my seat.

    The train was stopping.

    I got up, but Frei held my hand. It felt nice.

    Shut up brain.

    "Why?" Frei looked at me pleadingly.

    "It is a magic trick Frei. I can''t show the magic, it would ruin the trick. He needs to understand and act by himself. I gave him the tools, now he needs to decide if he''ll use them or not. Telling wouldn''t help anyone. Especially not you."

    The doors opened.

    "I don''t understand." But even as she said that, she let my hand go and stepped out of the train.

    I joined her.

    "Is it gonna change things?" She asked her back turned towards me.

    "Yes. Maybe in a good way, probably not." Not with how he reacted. How he left. Fled.

    I could see her nod. We were slowly walking towards the main exit.

    "Why can''t I tell Hailey-sensei?" She finally asked.

    "It''ll make her sad. I would rather not make her remember unpleasant memories. Last time I did this, she was there to witness it, and it didn''t go well." I answered truthfully.

    She nodded again, and while climbing the subway station stairs, changed the subject.

    "Don''t you think my mother is disgusting? Leaving her husband for another woman." Her voice broke briefly.

    I snorted.

    "Please, people do what they want. I only wish it hadn''t hurt your father so much. Once every so often, he can be nice, you can distinguish some remains of his true self. But I suppose it is this rare because he couldn''t accept it."

    She turned around. Looked at me.

    Hey eyes were swollen.

    "I apologize Sias-chan, you''re not a liar. I''ll believe you... But you shouldn''t have meddled. I know you tried to help but you''ve done something really risky. Fighting a master swordsman while counting on mere guesses to win. If you were wrong about something, you''de be dead, and my father would be in prison. My job is to protect you and you just went and did that."

    I felt a ting of guilt, she wasn''t wrong.

    "I know Frei, I know. I''m sorry. I knew it was a bad idea but letting you get hurt like this was something I just couldn''t handle. I like you a lot you know." I touched her shoulder.

    A timid smile appeared on her face.

    "Let''s get back to work then. I''ll be your friend/bodyguard, and you''ll go and try to get your life back together, like you wanted."

    I smiled in return.

    "Yeah, while trying to handle a crazy pervert ambushing me with dresses and shoes."

    "There is a pervert following you?" She asked, suddenly on edge.

    Ah yeah I forgot. She hadn''t met this side of Fanny yet.

    "Yeah, she even stalked me from Switzerland, touched my ass, watched me naked and everything."

    Frei looked a bit confused now.

    "What? Why didn''t you say anything? ...Wait a minute...you''re smirking... are you making fun of me?"

    My grin got wider.

    "Slightly. Fanny is a huge pervert."

    "Fanny-chan? She''s got a foul mouth, sure, but she''s really sweet."

    Haha, Fanny sweet? Fuck me. Ah shit can''t say that anymore I forgot.

    "I assure you. As my bodyguard I must tell you, my virginity is at stake. She is evil. She will corrupt my purity."

    For whatever reason she blushed. Reaction explained by her next question, definitely a slip of the tongue :"You''re a virgin?"

    She closed her mouth and reddened even more.

    "Well, technically I guess? In this body at least. Does it work like that?"

    Her tomato cheeks were cute.

    "Ermm..."

    "You didn''t seem that bothered by sex talk yesterday night."

    "I was drunk, I barely remember anything..."

    This was too fun.

    "Really? So you don''t remember asking me to take a bath together?"

    "Sias-chan. Stop. Please. I do remember. I''m horrified."

    "Horrified? At the thought of taking a bath with me? That''s mean." I acted hurt.

    She looked at me, annoyed. She knew perfectly well I was just teasing her.

    She walked faster towards the subway''s exit, and payed her ticked fare, leaving me in her dust.

    "Hey! You''re supposed to protect me!" I shouted as I was following her. Making a few people in the station turn around to watch me.

    It was hard not to lose Frei in the crowd.

    But before I could catch up, someone took my arm.

    Shit. Really?

    A tall occidental man in a long leather coat was holding me in a firm grip.

    I began to panic and thought about different escape plans, but he immediately showed me a strange-looking badge, interrupting my thoughts.

    "UNODC, M''am would you answer some of my questions?"

    What the fuck. He felt like a cop, but I never heard of that organization.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    "Sias-chan, is something wrong."

    Frei had suddenly appeared besides me, the fakest smile ever pursing her lips.

    The man had a brief grin. He was barely surprised by my friends presence, or her clothes for that matter of fact. He was smiling at something else.

    "Sias? That''s a rather... peculiar name... would you be related to miss Hailey Skr?skind?"

    How the fuck.

    "I''m sorry but I don''t know who you are."

    "Oh of course." He finally let my hand go. I could see Frei hesitating to attack (Panzer-Freiiii). But she was still hurt from the previous fight. I made a sign for her to stay calm. Frei didn''t move but she wasn''t letting the stranger out of her sights.

    He gave me his badge and a business card.

    "Detective Kendrick, Hajimemashite."

    I looked at them both carefully.

    ''Private detective M.Kendrick said the card. The badge was filled a lot ofinformation: Detective Maxime Kendrick affiliated with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Bla bla bla, special division... bla anti-terrorism...anti-corruption... the list went on.'' I read silently.

    It also had the NATO and the UN sign on it.

    An International detective? What the hell was that?

    "Could I get it back? It takes months to get a new one from HQ."

    HQ?

    I looked at him more carefully. He was hiding his burly physique. My arm stinged where he had grabbed it. I wouldn''t have guessed he was that strong if he hadn''t stopped me.

    He looked nice. He definitely wasn''t. His eyes had seen death, and not only once. But he wasn''t aggressive, and only seemed to want to talk.

    "I could bring the police into this, but I''d rather not. Could we speak privately Miss Sias?"

    "Can my friend come?"

    He quickly eyed Frei out.

    "Sure, if your rather strange bodyguard can be trusted, she ''s free to come."

    Frei almost snarled.

    He was observant, that''s for sure. He didn''t even hesitate calling her my bodyguard.

    A brief pause before I continue :

    WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON NOW?

    MY NORMAL LIFE WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?!

    Alright, let''s get it on now.

    "Sure, you''re paying us a nice tea then." I answered, with my best pokerface hiding my despair.

    "Well. It seems pretty fair." He acquiesced.

    We followed him from a safe distance. He was walking confidently, not even looking if we were still behind.

    "Sias-chan? My ankle won''t let me run away if we need to. Is this really smart?"

    "Aha! I knew it. We''re finding you a clinic after this new quest event."

    My japanese-german friend grimaced.

    "Sias... could you please take this seriously."

    I sighed. I was sighing way too much these days.

    "He''s a pro. Out of our league. I''m sure if he wanted to kill me, I would be dead. He didn''t need to give me his badge and everything. He took me completely by surprise. Which means he''s really here to talk. And more info means we can prepare better, which means I''ll be safer. So I''ll take his offer."

    "I don''t like this. He could just be trying to kidnap you."

    "Duly noted."

    She frowned.

    "I think I want to hit you."

    "I knew my bodyguard wouldn''t resist my superior personality. And mom who didn''t believe me."

    "I think I''m beginning to pity Hailey-sensei."

    "Dont be mean now." I smiled at her.

    She blushed.

    Well, this new killer smile was seriously effective. I''d have to remember it.

    Our new companion stopped in front of an old traditional bar, everything was written in kanjis and hiraganas.

    "I hoped for a Starbucks honestly" I stated.

    Detective Kendrick grunted in dissaproval.

    "You asked for tea, not poison."

    Well he definitely fitted the foul-mouthed detective stereotype.

    I looked at the prices on the front door card.

    "I didn''t know detectives were payed that well."

    He didn''t reply, and simply entered the bar.

    A gulf from the air inside gushed out, it was heavy with smoke and booze.

    Frei stared at me with a "Let''s not go in, please" look.

    It didn''t seem like the most secure place in Kyoto that''s for sure.

    I still stepped in. If I was still being followed or watched, like Frei had told me I was, I needed intel.

    The bar was almost empty except some obvious regulars having a drink at the counter, looking like shadows in the dark and misty athmosphere.

    Detective Kendrick brought us to a table in the back, closed off by room dividers.

    He went there before then.

    Someone came to take our orders, an old disheveled looking man. Our host talked with him in japanese, he was speaking well even though his accent was pretty bad.

    They definitely knew each other.

    He ordered a japanese whiskey.

    I took a green tea and Frei a coffee.

    He began by bringing out a mallet, not waiting for our orders to arrive.

    He opened it in front of us.

    Frei tensed noticably, but only documents were inside. He pulled out a few photos and put them face down on the table.

    He pointed to Frei.

    "You sure you can trust her? She could change her mind about her contract."

    "I won''t betray her." My friend answered with conviction.

    I nodded. I believed her.

    "Yup." He turned the pictures around.

    Three bad quality images, most certainly from a security camera. Both my androgynous face and my mother could be seen on them.

    "Almost two weeks ago, a potential terrorist attack occured in Narita airport. The perpetrators were two newly hired security guards. But the situation got defused without any innocent victims, because of the intervention, as reported by the other guards, of Hailey Skr?skind and her son Sias Jourdin. A video clip showed this on youtube, as I''m certain you''ve seen by now."

    Oh yeah the kid at the airport. I totally forgot. Also, I didn''t do anything, my mother took care of them singlehandedly. Adding to her legends on the net I''m sure.

    "What?" Exclaimed Frei surprised. She knew about the airport, I think, but not about the video, I had forgotten about it myself.

    The detective continued, imperturbable.

    "Miss Skr?skind was interrogated in Bern yesterday, but her son was harder to find. Until she gave us her cooperation and told us where, and who to look for."

    If she really told them, it meant they could be trusted. Relatively. I could feel Frei arriving at the same conclusion as she noticably calmed down.

    "Your recent sex-change really slowed our search down, but here we are. I''ll need your testimony on what occured in Narita airport last week. Depending on your answers I may have to bring you to the nearest police-station to be extradited back to Switzerland. You did flee from a crime-scene after all."

    I cursed silently. I barely came back!

    "Why the informal setting then?" Frei noted.

    She was right. If I was a suspect, I should not have been questioned in a shady looking japanese bar by a badass-supposed-to-be-detective.

    "Well, for reasons we don''t know, and that is what''s honestly bothering me the most, no official governemental investigation has been pursued. We have been asked informally by the airport''s security team to investigate this. UNODC has quite a lot of power internationally, it''s the reason why I was mobilised here. But my workplace is also a bureaucratic shithole. Pardon my language. It would take ages for us to get autorizations to involve japanese police."

    He pulled out a cigarette and lit it. Adding to the already pugnant air around us.

    "Let''s cut to the chase, I don''t really care about you and your mother getting involved in all this shit. I just wanna know why and how a potential terrorist attack has just been pulled under the rug."

    "You''re not a normal detective are you?" Asked Frei.

    Yeah that much was obvious. His strength, his choice of words. I couldn''t really tell where he was from though. His english was pretty accent-free.

    "Nope. I''m the best detective." He grinned.

    "Well mister Thebestdetective, what do you want me to say?"

    "Call me Max please, it''s an informal investigation after all."

    We stopped talking when the server brought our drinks. After he left, and I warmed up my body with the warm tea, he continued talking.

    "Who were those two men? They don''t fit into the religious zealots or indoctrinated misfits category."

    I thought about what to answer. I didn''t like lying, and I was considering if it was actually worth telling this guy what was going on.

    He looked capable enough, and could help us deal with our stalkers, and no, not the perverted types ones.

    I decided to trust him.

    "Assassins sent to kill me, that''s who those two men were."

    That seemed to shake him up a bit.

    "Really? Mhh interesting, so the terrorist lead was just us seeing what we wanted to see then?"

    Timid-Frei sipped her coffee quietly.

    "Yup." I answered.

    "So your mother didn''t prevent an attack, but just helped you get out of there?"

    "You don''t seem to doubt me." I stated.

    He hunched back in his seat.

    "Nah, this whole story seemed too weird for terrorism. Makes way more sense this."

    He said that like terrorist attacks where a daily occurence for him.

    "So why were you being targeted." He asked.

    "Family heirloom."

    "Oh your grandfather''s contract? People took that seriously? Shit."

    He knew?

    "You know about it?"

    "Yeah, asked some contacts of mine when I researched you and your mother two days ago. I thought it was fake honestly. No way this could have been legal."

    "It was."

    "Now that makes me wonder who your grandfather was, that he could get this kind of crazy contract approved by French law."

    My response was emotionless. "He''s dead. Let''s say it''s all that matters."

    "So who wanted to kill you? Shikami?"

    "Shikami? Who''s that?"

    He cursed.

    "Sorry, I was sure it was him so I said his name. Better you forget about it."

    "Well, Frei here is pretty sure I''m being watched, not all the time, but way too much to believe I''m 100% safe. I would like to know anything that could help me prevent another hit on my head."

    "This informs me you are not being targeted by the previous golddigger anymore?"

    "No, we arrived at an arrangement. Could you tell me who Shikami is? Please" I tried my best pleading eyes.

    It made him look at me uncomfortably.

    "Shit girl. If I didn''t know you were a man before, I would believe you just flirted with me, and my professionnalism would have gone right out of the window."

    Uergh. Baiting forty years old wasn''t the point of this.

    "I''ll tell you though. You deserve that much I suppose. Then you''ll tell me who tried to kill you and hid the whole mess afterwards."

    "Un ¨¦change de bons proc¨¦d¨¦s." I said out loud.

    "Sorry what?"

    "I''ve got no idea how you would translate it." I honestly told him.

    "Basically you give me some, I give you some." Frei intervened.

    I looked at her astonished.

    "You could speak French all this time?"

    She stared at me, annoyed.

    "I lived in Switzerland, they speak French there too, I know the basics and some expressions at least."

    It looked like she wanted to say more, but went back to sipping her drink.

    The detective coughed, put out the now cigarette butt in the ashtray and pulled out another.

    "So wanna know about Shikami or not?"

    I put my attention back on him. I knew I''d have to have a talk with Frei about this, I could sense some hidden tension growing in our relationship, but it would have to be later.

    "Yes go on."

    "Honestly it''s more of a codename. Not much is known about him. Definitely one individual, really sneaky, going around doing things really old-school. Nothing passes through electronics, cash is sent hand to hand, with a clever way to not get caught. Thought to be a young japanese businessman, working in weapon''s trade."

    "Why would he be related to my case?"

    He took a long gulp of his whiskey. Almost half of it dissapeared.

    "The incident at the bar you went to, which led to your current physical state." He explained.

    He knew about that too? Even though he was wrong about it being the reason of my physical state. No one knew what had happened there.

    "What about it?"

    "I got access to the drug components that were given to you."

    "Really? How?" That was seriously impressive. I thought everything burned down with the medical cabinet and the lab.

    "Nn, Nn" He moved his index finger left and right. "That''s not part of the deal. Can''t give out my sources after all. What you need to know is that Shikami is working in weapon''s trade, he moves around a lot, is untracable, and specializes in biological warfare."

    He closed in.

    Frei clenched her hand on the wooden bokken hiding underneath the table.

    I unseemingly took her hand. I didn''t want her to do something rash.

    Kendrick couldn''t notice any of this, so he continued talking normally.

    "What was in that glass should have killed you. Your mother apparently saw what it should have done to you... but she couldn''t have known about this: this drug seems to have a particular trait, it only reacts to a specific gene mutation."

    "Really?" I may have been mistaken. Maybe someone did know how I ''transformed''. Maybe that person was in front of me.

    "I''ll give you that info. For free. After you tell me what truly happened to you.

    I clenched my teeth.

    He had me. I needed to know this.

    So I related to him everything I knew about Kakeshi Takehiro, and explained how I escaped two assassination attempts.

    "Interesting. Takehiro Kakeshi eh." Detective Kendrick had listened to me silently the whole time. Only asking me to wait a bit whenever he wrote something down in his absurdly derelict notepad.

    "I wouldn''t exactly say interesting is the best word to describe my situation but sure. Now what about this drug is so special?"

    He finished his beer.

    "Wait. First off, I''m not really buying in this ''Kakeshi wants your heritage'' stuff. I know the guy. He''s an excentric untouchable asshole, sure. But he''s quiet, doesn''t like waves at all. Doesn''t fit his MO."

    "MO? He''s not a serial killer." I corrected.

    Maxime Kendrick gave me one long stare.

    "So, as I was saying, it doesn''t fit, not for heritage money."

    I gulped, I got the meaning behind the stare. I let it go and answered him.

    "Not the heritage, a specific, very desirable heirloom. That he had apparently owned at some point in time."

    He nodded.

    "Yeah, old possessions, that fits with that crazy magician wannabe...So what is it?"

    "The object? No idea, don''t really care, it''s gone apparently. It was ''given'' to me."

    "You were given an item you know nothing about, and never saw?"

    "Yup."

    "That makes no sense."

    "I know. That''s the problem with crazy japanese psycho millionnaires who believe magic is real. They don''t make any sense. Now, info, please."

    He grumbled and wrote something down. For a moment I thought he wouldn''t tell me.

    But then he did.

    "The drug, currently named Eve''s Kiss, or DJP-EK152, is well-known now, it exists since like the 1980''s or so. It''s a pretty bad bio-weapon, and wasn''t used much. It can only be used when ingested orally, which limits it''s uses, it costs a shit-ton of money to produce, and it acts way too quickly and is non-contagious."

    "Acts way too quickly?" I asked.

    "Yes, I''m not an expert, but apparently, if you want a biological weapon, you either want it to be a slow-acting highly contagious airborne drug, or a slow-acting non-contagious contact or oral lethal poison."

    "To either kill a crazy amount of people with only a little poison, or one person for sure. Why must that last one be slow though? Wouldn''t it be better to kill your target fast so he wouldn''t get an antidote?"

    "It''s so the assassin can get away with it." Frei unexpectedly answered.

    The detective nodded.

    "The young girl is right. Fast-acting poisons are usually just to send a message. Because they are messy. And this one sure is falling in that category."

    I thought about it.

    Grand-father wanted my death to be messy, a message. To whom?

    "All right, I got poisoned by a really hipster drug. Yay me. Why am I alive then?"

    "Well the drug specifically attack organisms with Y chromosomes."

    What?

    "It only works on men?" I translated the genetics speech.

    "Yup, gives a bad headache to women. Doesn''t pop their eyeballs out though."

    "I don''t understand."

    "Well it''s the feminists final solution I guess." He laughed by himself at his horrible joke.

    I think I would''ve joined in if I wasn''t so confused.

    Frei tried to help, she didn''t find this funny at all either. She put a hand on my shoulder and asked in my stead.

    "But Sias only changed after that. And he should still be a man genetically now. Your info doesn''t fit with what happened."

    The detective grabbed his chin pensively.

    "My info comes from UNODC Anti-bioattack scientists. They''re pompous fucks. But really good pompous fucks. The drug that was given to Mr, sorry Miss Jourdin, is DJP-EK152. Her blood results are definite."

    "But..." I couldn''t speak. I could feel what was coming. But it was impossible. This gut-feeling had to be lying to me. The reason why I expected the DNA test I took in Switzerland to show me an XX result was coming. I knew.

    He confirmed my doubts.

    "It means one of two things. Either miss Jourdin was having a special, never seen before, blend of spontaneous sex change preceding her ingestion of Eve''s Kiss, protecting her from the effect of the attacks. And I find this explanation... let''s say statistically unlikely."

    No. Things didn''t happen out of thin air. That wasn''t it.

    Shut up instincts. I really want to believe in magic right now.

    "Or." He continued. "Miss Jourdin was a woman all along, with a rather common hormone and gene anomaly, making her a perfectly normal looking man from the outside."

    Fuck.

    This was the simpler answer. And those were more often than not the right ones.

    Truth.

    I held my head down. This was a lot to swallow.

    "But... what about the sex-change... or should I call it the physical remodeling then?" I tried.

    "Well about that, it''s only a theory, but one of the scientist at UNODC believes this drug could be responsible. It''s pretty unlikely, but DJP-EK152''s initial design could be medicine to cure a defectual X chromosome. If you want to know more about it, I could send you the researchers report. It''s not confidential or anything, it''ll be published next month."

    Something didn''t feel right. But I didn''t want to know. Something else was creeping up the back of my mind.

    And then it was clear. I made the link.

    "Fuck." I said out loud.

    Why didn''t my father seem bothered by my appearance, by my sex-change?

    Frei misunderstood.

    "Come on. It''s a lot to think about but it''s not that bad. You''re not having a genetic disease and dying in ten years. You''re just a woman. A lot of people are women. I think they live through it pretty fine."

    I smiled softly.

    "Yeah. But that''s not why I''m cursing."

    I looked at the detective.

    "Thank you for the tea. Could you leave us?"

    He grinned. Showing yellowed teeth that you so often saw on heavy smokers.

    "Sure. Call me if something else comes to mind. I''ll do the same. I think you''re in a deep mess, and not quite out of it. You''re innocent, that''s obvious. As a cop, I''ll help you if I can."

    Innocent. Hah. If only he knew.

    I made a mistake somewhere, my expression maybe, because he looked at me suspiciously for a split second.

    "Thank you." I answered quickly.

    He put his coat on and left the enclosed room we were in, without a look back or a word.

    "Sias? What is it? It''s not just the ''You''re a woman, Luke'' talk, is it?"

    "No. Frei, my dad, he knew."

    "What?"

    "Yeah, my mother doesn''t, she can''t lie for shit, but he, he can. And he knew, it makes perfect sense. To his eyes, when I came back, it just meant his daughter got ''cured'' from her genetic disease. So he wasn''t surprised, he was just happy."

    "You can''t know that for sure."

    "Oh, I will be sure. He wanted to tell me something before, I bet it''s that. And remember, he''s a renowned geneticist, do you seriously think he wouldn''t be aware of a chromosomal anomaly in his own son? Or well, daughter?"

    "Sias..." She didn''t know what to say.

    I wouldn''t either. And it was supposed to be my job to know what to say to people.

    I knew my dad.

    To think he would actually betray my trust like that.

    I was angry, furious. But I only wanted to confront him. Shout at him for a bit.

    I could guess why he had done it, so it helped me understand. Not forgive though, not yet.

    I had forgotten that he too, was a child of the Jourdin.

 An old Acquaintance. v2

    "Wait so, you think you''re a girl?" Fanny asked.

    We were back at the apartment, Fanny and Henry had joined us for a late-day lunch. We were waiting for my bodyguard.

    "Duh." I answered, pointing at my body.

    "You know what I mean."

    "Sweety, be nice, Sias must be more shocked about it than we are." Henry tried to calm her down. She was freaking out.

    I could hear Frei turning on the shower. I still believed she should see a doctor, but she firmly refused and just went into the bathroom. She barely talked to me on the way back. I had pissed her off, I''m pretty sure, but how, I was not certain yet. Aaah women... Can I say this without being sexist now that I probably was one? Difficult to say.

    "She doesn''t look shocked!" Fanny argued back.

    "Fanny. Please. It''s only the middle of the day and I''m tired already." I explained. "You know me, I''m not an expressive person."

    "I know that. But you got lied to by your father and your life just got fucked over! And there you are, barely reacting at all!"

    "T''was pretty in shambles beforehand I assure you. And well, I''m coping with it by not thinking about it and preparing for my first lesson next monday."

    Henry looked worried.

    "That''s not coping." He said "That''s just dodging the problem. It''ll come back in your face twice as hard later."

    I stayed silent.

    "You know I''m right."

    Yes, I did. I didn''t answer though.

    He continued.

    "You already got on the nerves of Frei, you''re definitely not doing fine."

    It didn''t seem to bother him that I also got on the nerves of Fanny. That was normal I guess.

    "Really?" She asked her boyfriend.

    "You didn''t see her face when we came in? She was pissed, that was obvious."

    I sighed, but Henry insisted.

    "Go talk to a specialist about it!"

    "I did, I''ll be certain next week, when the test results come back." I finally said.

    "That''s not what I meant. You need to talk to someone about all this. You know better than all of us what happens to people who let things go sour before seeking help."

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. Even that didn''t feel the same. My nose was smaller now.

    "Yeah, but I don''t trust japanese therapists. Most of them believe drugs solve everything. And I don''t want to go back. I''ve just arrived."

    Fanny intervened, serene, with a soothing voice I only usually heard her use with children.

    "Sias... your family has money, you could go back and learn the language later, maybe it''s not the right moment now. Even before all of this you probably shouldn''t have left, but we all agreed because we thought it would do you good. Henry''s right and I''m sorry but, you''re not in your normal state. If you were supposed to get better, I don''t believe it''s working."

    I snorted.

    "Well, if I''m not mistaken, I''m in my normal state now. I just never was before."

    Henry took my hand.

    "Sarcasm isn''t helping you."

    It all annoyed me. They were right, sure, and it was exasperating.

    "I''m not fine! Yeah great. Who would''ve thought!? I got sex-changed, attacked, intimidated, stalked and finally, I learned I didn''t get sex-changed, just lied to my whole life."

    "You''re not sure about that yet." Fanny stated.

    "That''s why I''m gonna wait. I need some time."

    "Do you want us to leave?" Henry asked.

    Fanny didn''t seem to like that idea very much, she looked at him with a ''are you crazy?'' look.

    It made me smile a bit.

    "No. No, you''re pissing me off right now, but that''s fine. I know you''re trying to help, and well, you''re the only ones with mom I can truly trust right now."

    Fanny clicked her tongue in anger.

    "Of course you can trust us. Now do you really think going home isn''t a good idea? Is it because you''ll have to face Luc?"

    "Partly, I want to be sure first. Have the results. Then I''ll see."

    "And he needs to fix what he did to my dad first." Frei had entered the room.

    She was dressed lighty, a tight T-shirt and sport shorts. I could see some dark blue spots on her arms and belly. She also had an impressive six pack.

    Fanny got up, worried. "Oh my god Frei? What happened to you? You''re hurt."

    "Nothing''s broken, just need some rest. But some dumbass got protective, and took crazy risks just to get herself hurt in the end."

    Oh so that was why she was angry. And still in Panzer-Frei mode.

    "Frei..." I began.

    "Shut up." She cut me off. "I can''t imagine what you''re going through, and I still think you as a friend, so you don''t have to apologize. You didn''t do anything I wouldn''t have done myself. But my mom would have slapped me and told me to stop being a fucking altruistic idiot all the same. So I''m furious for your sake, because you aren''t. And also because you didn''t bother asking me about anything, just went and did your suicidal info grab! I''m supposed to be your bodyguard! You''re not listening to any security advice I give you!"

    Well I didn''t know what to respond to that, so my mouth stayed shut.

    "Damn Frei!" Fanny added approvingly. Ruining it a bit.

    "Let''s eat." Frei said. And with that, the conversation ended, and I strangely felt a bit better.

    "Urgh"

    "What is it now Sias?" Fanny asked.

    We were currently in the Shinkansen towards Tokyo, for the promised shopping trip. Only two days had elapsed since my fight with Shiwazaki-sensei, which made this day Thursday. My first lesson was in four days.

    I sat down on my seat next to Fanny, Frei did the same next to Henry, she had followed me to the toilets.

    Bodyguard duty, nothing else.

    I showed my childhood friend the note I was just given.

    She took it and inspected it. Henry would''ve been curious too, but he was currently sleeping. His head resting on the train window.

    "You got a phone number? In Japan? Does that happen?"

    "No." Simply answered Frei. "Way too shy. Usually. Or they use Line."

    I hid my face in my hands.

    "I''ve never been so embarassed in my life."

    "You sure? More than that morning..." Fanny began.

    I pointed an inquisitive finger towards her.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    "Fan..." I said menacingly. "That, never happened. Remember?"

    She shivered a bit.

    "Yup. Never happened. Sorry. Too tempting." She apologized.

    Frei seemed curious.

    "What is this all about?"

    "Something no one will ever talk about again." I insisted on the ''ever''.

    Frei laughed.

    "I''m even more..." She stopped talking. Her smile fell.

    That smelled like danger.

    "What is it?" I asked.

    "The girl in the seat diagonnally to you." She whispered.

    I turned around to look at where she pointed

    What looked like a schoolgirl was sitting in one of the seats of our almost empty train compartment, not looking out of the ordinary at all. She was listening to some music with headphones. I couldn''t see her face as she was sitting the other way, but something about her seemed familiar.

    I turned back towards Frei.

    "What about her?" I said softly.

    "She wasn''t there when we left for the toilets."

    "Erm so?"

    "Did the train stop during our time there?"

    "No".

    "Guys what''s happening?" Fanny asked anxiously.

    Henry got woken up by her tone of voice, and looked around half-awake.

    Frei didn''t bother answering her and continued.

    "So why would she just move seats here, while the train is almost empty at this hour of day. And what would a fucking schoolgirl be doing here? Now? Alone in the shinkansen?"

    I wasn''t remembering something. It was on the tip of my tongue. Well brain.

    "I don''t know. One of my usual suspicious followers?"

    "They never came this close, always far enough so I couldn''t be sure. But her position, it''s perfect to attack you from behind, not to watch you."

    I looked back again.

    What Frei said was true.

    Because I just remembered her. And I noticed no sound was coming out of her headphones.

    She turned around.

    The girl was looking back at me. She waved and smiled. A cute Japanese brunette, she would have been even more if her nose wasn''t bandaged, clearly recently broken.

    "Shit." I cursed.

    "Ohayooo? Jourdin-san, et?ooo Jourdin-chan ka? Minna ni Kikoeruuu." My previously met assassin told me.

    Everything happened fast.

    She pulled out two knives from under her extra-short schoolskirt (Don''t ask I don''t know) and jumped towards me.

    In the same movement I dodged by pushing myself and Fanny forwards.

    My best friend pierced the silent compartment with her shriek and fell into Henry''s arms who wasn''t yet aware of the danger.

    Frei didn''t take me lovingly in her arms. Aw.

    She dodged me and moved to intercept my attacker.

    I couldn''t see the first exchange of strikes but when I turned back I could see the surprised face of the fake schoolgirl as one of her dagger went flying a few meters away. The other one was stuck in one of those small headpillows.

    I watched helplessly as the fight went on. I couldn''t do a thing as there wasn''t any room in the train cabin for me to intervene.

    Frei forced her back at first, but the schoolgirl''s shock quickly dissapeared, and she used her remaining knife to get back the advantage.

    Frei wasn''t back in her top shape yet. I could tell she was still hurt from her previous fight.

    "What the fuck?" Henry shouted, confused as what was happening.

    "Get that bitch!" Encouraged Fanny. It seemed her fear had transformed into anger.

    I was thinking about how I could help my bodyguard get out of that situation. She was unharmed, weapons were supposedly impossible to carry in Japan, rules were extremely strict.

    My crazy japanese hit-woman obviously didn''t get the memo, as she pulled a smaller knife out of her boot and cut into Frei''s clothes, a fraction of an inch away from her abs.

    "My jacket!" Complained my mixed-blood friend.

    She was getting pushed back. I needed to help. A quick plan formed inside my head.

    I climbed over the seat to get behind enemy lines.

    But the assassin wasn''t going to let that happen.

    She threw her knife towards me. I saw a vicious smile break through her cold, emotionless face.

    "Sias!" Shouted my friends simultaneously.

    But the throw was sloppy, she didn''t have time to aim and put strength into it. It was going straight for my chest, but not that fast.

    An easy catch. I grinned. Remembering something old. A good memory.

    A wooden knife hit my chest, I shouted in pain and threw my arms down in defeat.

    "What''s the point? Catching knives and arrows? U-W~ow! It''s gonna do me real good when not-a-moron is gonna shoot bullets at me."

    "And that Sias, is why I don''t want you to go to the states. Most other countries don''t have as many guns as they have humans."

    "That''s definitely you making things up! And this is boring as hell!"

    "It''s this training, or you go back inside the dojo with your grandfather."

    "F-iine. Don''t need to go all death sentence on me."

    "It''s not a death sentence Sias."

    I laughed. A young laugh. One coming out of the mouth of a young teen, who believes he knows everything. Even when talking to someone who lived five times longer.

    But on this. I wasn''t wrong.

    "Grand-m¨¨re. He''s not the same anymore. He changed. So it is, in a way, a death sentence. I feel like I die a bit inside every time I get out of there."

    "It can''t be that hard."

    "The physical part is manageable. Not the rest." I shuddered.

    My grandmother looked at me, doubt filling her eyes for an instant.

    "Really?..." She seemed to think about something, but then stopped. Focused again."It doesn''t matter for now. If it is as you say, I''ll take care of it. Right now, you only need to catch my knife. Don''t dodge. Catch. I made you cr¨¨pes for later."

    "Ahaaaa! I''ll be good!"

    My caretaker smiled tenderly.

    I held the handle of the knife firmly in my hand, it''s blade inches away from my heart.

    My attacker didn''t believe her eyes, and got distracted.

    Frei was as surprised as her opponent, but she had been trained by Hailey Skr?skind so she didn''t even hesitate. She just hit her opponent''s nose and temple in the same, gracious movement, left palm right fist.

    The hit was so powerful I could hear the crunch of the girl''s nose breaking again.

    I winced.

    The assassin stumbled backwards and dropped the third and final knife on the ground.

    "YOU FUCKING BITCH." She was holding herself up, grabbing on the nearest seat, but was pretty much out of the fight.

    Frei didn''t take any risks, she tackled her and locked her in place face-first on the synthetic carpet.

    That grapple was inescapable without sacrificing an arm.

    The fight had taken less than five minutes.

    I looked around, a couple of japanese elderly had gotten up, and were looking at us with terrified looks on their face. They were the only ones with us in the compartment.

    The old man was talking to someone on the phone. I couldn''t hear what he was saying, but that was most certainly the police.

    Good, I didn''t want to see that girl a third time.

    "Who are you working for?" Frei asked.

    I cringed. This sentence is too clich¨¦! Yamete.

    "I work for my self-interest bitch. It''s bad for my self-interest...." She began to answer in english.

    She got cut through by Fanny, definitely venting some anger, as Fanny walked onthe back of her head, crushing the girls already well broken nose on the ground.

    "That''s for scaring the hell out of me and trying to kill my friends."

    A series of disgruntled sounds came out of the fake japanese schoolgirl, a mixture of pained cries and anger-fueled insults.

    Frei looked at her, telling her with a gaze not to get involved.

    "What? She wasn''t answering you either way!"

    I took the knife still in my hand and plunged it deep into a seat. Out of reach of anyone.

    Henry, finally completely woken up, exclaimed dissaprovingly:

    "Hey! The seats didn''t do anything to you! No need to add destruction of public property to our potential long list of offences!"

    Oh yeah. Right.

    "Oops."

    "Don''t ''oops'' me! Now what the fuck just happened?"

    I pointed towards the girl on the floor, trying desperatly to squirm out of Frei''s grapple. She was only hurting herself.

    "Henry, meet assassin N¡ã1, or as I will call her from now on, teenage prostitute Voldemort."

    "What?!" Shouted our prisoner, moving her head to look at me.

    "Well yeah, your nose, you know..." I explained.

    "I''m so going to kill you..."

    The train stopped. We could hear the ''clunk'' of the electromagnetic rails touching it again.

    "No you''re not, you''re going to prison." I inspected her in more details. She was cute, but felt... fake.

    Frei was tired of our small talk, and pushed harder on the girl''s arm. "Who''s paying you?"

    The girl on the ground cried out in pain, but stubbornly refused to answer.

    I intervened.

    "Frei stop, she was doing this for revenge." I guessed.

    "What?" My friend stared at me.

    "Obviously. Look at how she dresses, all this make-up, the obvious breast augmentation and all the other types of plastic surgery I can''t really put my fingers on. She''s the fucking vainest assassin ever, and I fucked up her job, which must have been good money, and more importantly, I fucked up her nose. She''s not being payed by anyone, she just wants revenge."

    "You don''t know anything about me you dipshit drag-queen! To look like that you must''ve poured way more botox inside than I did!" Screamed the assassin.

    I didn''t bother listening. Her expression was enough. My words had struck home.

    I heard japanese voices speaking loudly.

    Police had just arrived.

    And we were going to spend a lot of time answering questions... yeeeeeh.

    At least I would be spared the mall trip, right?

    But nope, they knew the girl, a famous minor proposing her services to lure and kill unsuspecting victims. She was apparently named Yuki. They released us two hours later with thanks. One of them even proposed to drive us to the nearest clothes mall when Fanny told them about our plans for the day.

    She didn''t say no.

    I silently cursed my whole existence in the back seat of the police car.

 Closets. v2

    "You were reckless again." Frei was looking mildy displeased.

    "Oh please! Are you serious? We''ve just settled, I''m exhausted, can we have that talk later?"

    Fanny had released me. We were finally back in Kyoto after our two-day trip to the capital.

    But it was the first time I was alone with my bodyguard/friend since then. My best friend and her boyfriend had finally left our apartment to get back to theirs.

    "I''ve held on it for long enough, don''t you think?" Frei was right. And unfortunately for me, avoiding the conversation would not be possible in our shared space.

    I grumbled in response. I sat down on my bed, if I couldn''t escape from it, at least I would face it comfortably.

    "You took risks in the train, you weren''t supposed to put yourself in danger." She unnecessarely explained.

    "Yeah I get it." I said firmly. "But what you need to understand is, I''m not defenseless, and if I can help, I will."

    "I''m not sure your mother would agree..."

    "Not talking about her. And It''s my father who''s technically employing you so she shouldn''t even matter." I told her. But mentioning Luc put a bad taste in my mouth. I still hadn''t gotten my gene results. My Japanese lessons would begin in two days, and I''m wasn''t sure I would ever manage to get there. I had a funny feeling I wouldn''t.

    Frei didn''t notice my grimace.

    "Still, I''m supposed to be your bodyguard first, and you''re not making it easy."

    I sighed.

    "I know, but that won''t change. Best piece of advice I can give you, get good enough so I don''t feel the need to help."

    She smirked.

    "What a terrifyingly patronizing thing to say. You''re right though, which definitely makes it worse."

    She was mocking me. I glared at her.

    "Please, I told you I''m tired, if you want me to put gloves on I need some rest first."

    "Fine, I can''t convince you. But you can be certain of one thing, you''ll be training with me. Better we learn to fight together than you getting in my way."

    "I''M getting in your way? I believe I made you win our last encounter."

    "Sure you helped, but you should have been skewered on the train''s window, and if our assassin wasn''t so young, she wouldn''t have lost her bearings when you actually managed to block her attack... And who the hell knows how to catch throwing knives in this day and age?"

    "I''ve had an unconventional family."

    That made her think for a minute.

    "You weren''t trained my Ms Sk?rskind were you." It wasn''t a question so I didn''t answer.

    She continued.

    "There are similarities, but your styles are different. I didn''t understand why before. But she wasn''t your first teacher."

    That was a painful memory, even now, even though I had forgiven her.

    Frei noticed. She went in timid-Frei mode for a moment.

    "I''m sorry, I didn''t know it was a sensible subject."

    "No, no, it''s not anymore."

    "You''re sure? I never saw you make such a face before."

    I sighed again.

    "Yeah well, Hailey Skr?skind pretty much abandoned me when I was one year old."

    "What?" Said my friend, disbelieving. "She would never do that!"

    I smiled sadly and looked her in the eyes. She swallowed loudly, and silently sat down next to me.

    After a few moments, she talked again, softly.

    "She wouldn''t right?"

    "She was a renowned, top athlete. She was young with a great career in front of her. To take care of me she would have had to sacrifice both of those things."

    "Oh..." She understood. Her hand touched mine on the futon.

    "Yeah, you know her. At the time it was even worse, nothing got between my mother and her sword. My father didn''t. Not even I did."

    Silence again.

    "What about,... what about him?"

    "Well their relationship wasn''t supposed to leave any strings attached, so it was pretty much the same thing with him. He had just begun working and his career was important to him and the family. He tried to visit every week-end though."

    "So, if not Hailey, who trained you?"

    "My dad''s family, well my grandfather mostly." I paused. "Sometimes my grandmother, hence the knife-catching." I smiled saying that.

    "Your grandparents were martial-artist?"

    "More like ex-military." I didn''t want to delve deeper in the subject. She felt it in my tone of voice.

    "Ok." She simply nodded.

    We stared at each other silently for awhile.

    "You can stop holding my hand now." I told her jokingly.

    She blushed bright red, removing her hand immediately.

    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to, I didn''t even notice."

    "Nah don''t worry, it''s nice, but you should remember, I was still a boy a few months ago, I could have misinterpreted that."

    She gave me an undecipherable look, seemed on the verge of saying something but then stopped.

    It looked like multiple emotions had hit her at the same time. Surprise, anger, and a few others I couldn''t see.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    "Erm, you remembered right?" I still said with a smile, but a bit more seriously.

    "Yes. Yes." She quickly answered. "It''s just, erm. Well it''s easy to forget with how you, well, look."

    "Aouch." I was not getting used to that any time soon.

    "Yeah, sorry, I know it mustn''t be easy for you. But well, that''s why I held your hand, I wouldn''t have done that if you weren''t a girl." She seemed to insist on that.

    "Erm well yeah?"

    She wasn''t making a lot of sense.

    "Oh for fuck''s sake." She was getting angry now. I''m not sure if it was against me or herself.

    "Erm Frei? You alright?"

    "Oh stop being so damn nice, worry about yourself, you just told me you had been abandoned, and you''re still trying to fix me. Damn fucking psychologists."

    "I''m not trying to fix you! And I''m not technically a psychologist, haven''t done any..." I defended myself.

    "Oh shut up. You''re just being dense yeah, and I''m chickenshit."

    "Ermm?"

    "I am done, you''re tired, me too, let''s just go to bed." She ended the conversation abrubtly by fleeing in the bathroom.

    "What the hell happened?" I said out loud.

    Monday.

    "One minute!" I heard Fanny shout behind her apartment''s door.

    Frei was still looking at me with an apologetic expression.

    "It''s not that bad, you needed a break anyway."

    "No I didn''t. And stop saying that please."

    She was trying to recomfort me since I had to leave the japanese school this morning. It was almost noon now and...

    Frei opened the door, looking flushed, breath ragged, hair discheveled and still in her pyjamas. Either she had a rough night or she was busy with something else.

    Urgh, having good perception is a curse.

    "Sias? What are you doing here? Problem with the school?"

    I grinded my teeth.

    "Yup, they enrolled me but not Frei yet, and I''m not ''authorized'' to attend anything without her. She''s only beginning next month because of an ''administrative'' mistake. Dad''s meddling I''m like 60% sure."

    "Oh." She reajusted her bra strap. Henry appeared perfectly dressed out of their bathroom. His face was also pretty red, but he wasn''t as obvious as his girlfriend.

    "Cool!" He exclaimed. "Let''s be dumb tourists for two weeks then, you''ll be doing stuff and we''ll all have fun together.

    I couldn''t help but smile at his optimism.

    "Yeah, sure. What were you guys planning? Any space for two lost girls?"

    Fanny answered.

    "Henry wouldn''t mind." She winked at him.

    "Mh, I think you would be the one that doesn''t mind." He countered.

    "Pervert." I whispered.

    "I heard that!"

    "How many times did you touch my ass in those changing booths."

    It didn''t even make her flinch.

    Frei gasped loudly though.

    Fanny continued, laughing diabolically.

    "I did no such thing. I''m perfectly pure."

    "Do I need to remind you what you two were up to right now?" I argued.

    That shook her up.

    "How?... Oh fuck I always forget about you superpower."

    Henry looked at the ceiling. Fiddling his thumbs.

    "Sias has a superpower now?" Frei asked.

    "Yeah she can always tell when you are having a private time."My best friend explained.

    "It is not true! And it''s definitely not a superpower!" She was the one supposed to be put in a difficult spot not me! I looked back at Frei, who was gazing at me with horror.

    Or was it Guilt? Shame?

    "No I didn''t notice you masturbating in our bathroom." I guessed.

    Her cheeks became extremely red.

    "How would you know that then?!"

    "Well, you made it pretty obvious just now."

    Ah ha! I wasn''t the one getting the short end of the stick right now!

    Henry tried to help her.

    "Don''t react like that, Sias and Fanny''ll love that, they''ll try to bother you just for a laugh."

    "No I don''t!" Fanny and I said at the same time. Before laughing simultaneously.

    Timid-Frei was fuming.

    "Well yeah! Who wouldn''t be in my situation! Sleeping next to..." She put her two hand in front of her mouth.

    Erm. "Wait what?" I said.

    "Ahaaa!" Exclaimed Fanny.

    Henry facepalmed. "Why is it always turning like this..." He said out loud.

    Realising the cat got out of the bag, or the closet in this case, Frei continued, getting redder by the minute.

    "Yeah, you! You don''t wear pants inside, no bra, only a shirt and panties, and you look like my idol but younger and cuter. I''m still in my early twenties and you all never stop talking about sex. It''s fucking hard!"

    "Pfrrr." Fanny childishly laughing at the ''hard'' part.

    I was completely flabbergasted.

    "But, I''m a girl now..."

    Fanny laughed even harder, even Henry grinned and mocked me slightly.

    "Sias, you really didn''t notice?" He said.

    Nooo I was the one being made fun of again.

    "I''m a martial-artist, I''m idolizing Hailey Skr?skind. Aren''t you supposedly super perceptive?!" Frei almost shouted.

    "Wait you..." Oh I got it now.

    Frei looked expectandly at what I was going to say next, so well I couldn''t resist.

    "...you have a muscle fetish?" I told her with my most serious face.

    Her expression was priceless.

    Henry began laughing out loud, while Fanny was almost down on the floor.

    "What?!" Frei exclaimed. "No! How the hell could you even..."

    She paused. Looked at me with dark eyes.

    "I''m not falling for it."

    "Yes you did." I was having a broad smile,my first since long I believe. "But honestly, you could have told me, you know about Fanny, I don''t care about stuff like that, which is also the reason why I don''t notice."

    The aforementioned Fanny finally stopped laughing. "Yeah, even if you wear rainbows as a scarf and a I am Gay pin on your fluorescent pink jacket, he, she barely notices. T''was fun seeing Sias confused at how you acted sometimes."

    I simply scratched my head at my friends statement, I really couldn''t deny that. That exact thing had happened. I could spot a psychopath in a single exchange of stares, but I couldn''t tell if someone was homosexual or not most of the time. By the way, a perfect example of why I don''t believe I''m perceptive : I don''t see things, I just feel what''s inside.

    "Are you serious!" Frei exclaimed. "I almost believed she was doing it on purpose."

    "Hey!" I protested "I wouldn''t do that. Sorry about the clothing, I''ll be more careful in the future."

    "No wait, I didn''t say you had to stop..." She intervened.

    Fanny couldn''t resist.

    "Yeah I understand, would be too bad to get rid of such a view eh?" She ostensibly looked at my ass.

    "Fan..." I threatened.

    But the one who finally finished the conversation was Henry.

    "Honey, could you please not gaze at someone else''s bottom when I''m around? And to answer the initial question, which I believe all of you clowns forgot by now, we''re going for some sightseeing, you''re free to join us."

    Frei cleared her throat and tried to get back to a professionnal appearance. Hard to do when you confessed ogling your client.

    "I''d like to have your map then, I''ll need to study it while we''re going there. Sias, behave."

    "The nerve of you woman! You should be the one behaving! I''m not a damn piece of meat." I answered in fake outrage.

    Her serious expression crumbled a bit.

    "Sias please, now you know, could we not talk about it anymore?"

    "Of course."

    She sighed in relief.

    "For the next hour at least." I continued.

    Henry laughed at that.

    I left first, letting a desolate Frei behind.

    Fanny gave a compassionate pat on the back of my mixed-blood friend.

    "She''s holding grudges hard our little Sias."

    "But I didn''t do anything!"

    "You didn''t tell her about yourself, and even hid something."

    "I didn''t hide shit!"

    "That''s not how she sees it, but she knows she''s partly to blame, so she won''t be too mean, not like I would at least."

    I couldn''t see what Frei did in response but it seemed to make my best friend laugh.

    I only heard her call to me.

    "Sias, stay here! I''m supposed to protect you goddamnit! Stop going ahead!"

    "Nooope, I promised my mommy to never listen to perverts."

    I could only hear her exclaim "Argh!" before getting inside the elevator.

 The best liar. v2

    If I had to be honest with myself, I would have to admit that coming to this strange country that was Japan while inhabiting an estranged body wasn''t the smartest idea. I was feeling half in the moment, half away.

    Still, even without the japanese courses to keep my mind away from things, I had my friends, and the daily training with Frei. She found a training room to rent close to where we stayed, and we trained there every morning. Often not talking at all, exchanging all we needed to know through stares and our bodies.

    It sometimes felt strangely intimate, but the training was paying off. I felt more at ease with my new muscle distribution and balance, and was beginning to win our multiple jousts more often than not. Which was severly annoying Frei, but also sometimes making her stare at me with awe.

    I felt a strange mixture of uncomfort and joy at that, as it had to be the first time anyone ever expressed amazement at my techniques.

    The rest of the day after meeting up with the other two, we mostly followed Frei, who knew a lot more about Kyoto than she initially led to believe.

    It wasn''t so bad.

    Two weeks passed, Thursday.

    My courses would only begin in a bit more than one week''s time, but it felt like it would never come.

    I had just finished showering after our morning routine when Frei shouted something from our living room.

    "Sias? You''ve got a message!"

    Who could that be? Fanny and Henry were next door, they would have knocked on the wall.

    Which only left my mom and my father. A message from the first one never meant anything good, and I didn''t want to hear about the second.

    I took a bath towel and covered my body with it before going back in the bedroom.

    Frei was waiting for me to finish, watching the television currently showing a crazy japanese host show where they had dressed idol stars as... sexy dinosaurs? How the hell is that a thing?

    Not trying to understand this almost expected asian nonsense, I went for my phone on my bed.

    Frei looked at me distractedly from the corner of her eyes, before blushing and forcing her eyes back on the big screen.

    "Sias, really?"

    "Mh sorry" I answered distractedly, usually I would have been pretty amused by her reaction but I was concentrated on what my phone was showing me.

    A little icon with "Papa" was blackening the little luminous square.

    I opened it, realising that my father rarely sent textos, he''d rather be old school and call me.

    The message was rather cryptic.

    Dates, locations, one today, one tomorrow, and three others next week with number and associated images linked with them. The only sentence was at the end, and I felt a chill run through my body as I read it.

    "Le dieu de la mort ¨¤ eu echo des affaires de p¨¨re, je disparais un certain temps avec ta m¨¨re, voil¨¤ une Liste."

    A List, my dad just sent me a List.

    "Fuck." I said out loud.

    "Sias? Something wrong?"

    I looked at my now pretty close friend, even though we only met slightly more than a month and a half ago.

    But I couldn''t, not even her.

    What was the best way to lie?

    Don''t.

    "Pretty bad, we''re going to have to go into hiding for a while. That guy the detective talked us about, Shikami? You remember?"

    "Yes" Frei shut the tv down.

    "Seems like he''s finally showing his hand and isn''t as reasonable as the previous friend from grandpa. He sent us hitmen, and they don''t look the type to have an agreable nature."

    "Shit." She immediately jumped on her feet.

    "Yup, I''ll talk to Fanny, stay here, prepare our stuff, as I don''t believe you''ll let me go on my own"

    "You''re guessing right." She looked at me, there was no doubt in her eyes.

    I sighed loudly. And left the room still half naked. Fortunately the corridor was empty, but I didn''t have to go far anyway.

    "Oooh, why the treat?" Said Fanny opening the door almost immediately after I knocked.

    "You''re taking tomorrows flight to wherever in Europe, I don''t care where, as long as you''re away from here." I told her without emotion.

    My autoritative tone never bode well with her.

    "Sias what the hell! Of course no.."

    I cut her mid-sentence.

    "You are, or I''m knocking you and Henry out and shipping you through mail."

    "Why are we being threatened?" Henry appeared behind his girlfriend.

    "Henry, you know I wouldn''t ask if it wasn''t the only solution. I need to go into hiding, Frei is good enough to help, you guys aren''t and would just put us in more danger than you deserve."

    "No-one deserves to be in danger! You don''t either!" Fanny almost shouted in anger.

    "No, but sometimes, things you do have repercussions you cannot avoid. I don''t want to have to think about your protection. Pack you bags, you''re going as soon as you can."

    Henry looked at me and whispered something in Fanny''s ear, who went into the room, giving me a deadly ''you''re gonna pay for that'' stare."

    Ah I was definitely finding shaving cream in my shoes again.

    Henry waited for her to leave us alone before looking back at me.

    "You''re doing your Sias thing again. You''re not saying everything."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

    That was the problem with people knowing you too well: they knew you too well.

    I answered, as vaguely as possible.

    "You won''t be safe, not if I have guessed who the guy in charge is correctly. I''ll have to do something extra so that will be the case. I won''t tell you what it is."

    He looked at me with a sad expression.

    "If you won''t tell us, I can pretty much guess what it means Sias, I know you, there is almost nothing you wouldn''t say."

    "Henry please."

    He faced me, his gentle gaze almost entierly gone.

    "We''ll do what you ask Sias but, I don''t want to see you again before you handle everything. And I mean everything. I have to think about her first you know?"

    I knew this was coming, but it hurt a lot more than I had expected.

    "Yes, of course I understand."

    "Goodbye Sias, take care eh? Don''t forget you''re a good guy, well girl."

    "Crazy how good girl''s meaning is not even close to the good guy meaning." I half-heartedly joked

    He chuckled and I joined him.

    But both of us weren''t smiling.

    Frei said a quick goodbye to them one hour later, but wasn''t in the mood to be emotional so cut our final meeting short. She was already trying to find multiple safe houses, and didn''t like our best choice.

    Her father''s Dojo. As a professionnal martial artist and bodyguard trainer, hiding in his estate was probably one of the safest places you could be in such a quick notice. Unfortunately that would mean convincing him, and even if he agreed, actually living with the unsufferable man.

    But feelings had no place right now.

    We had already packed our bags, and I was convincing Frei to go on her own to convince Shiwazaki-san.

    "There is already someone here in Kyoto according to your father! I can''t leave you alone!"

    "Frei, I agree, but we need this, and I will not be a sight your father is going to enjoy, I assure you, not with what I said to him. He may not look like it, but he still cares, if you ask, and you really need it, he''ll act as a father, I know it."

    "You seem to know my Tou-san better than I do."

    "Nah, I just know people better than you do."

    "You unbearable arrogant bastard."

    "Yeah, yeah. Go quickly, every minute counts, I''ll be staying in Fanny and Henry''s apartment I promise, I won''t leave the building."

    Frei finally nodded.

    "Fine." She stopped a moment thinking about what I said. "I hate it but moving next door will give you an undeniable advantage. Don''t try anything stupid." She told me with an inquisitive finger aimed at my chest.

    "Frei, leave, you''re wasting precious time, as soon as we''re in your father''s dojo we''ll be safe for a while."

    "I still believe you should follow me, it doesn''t make any sense for you to wait here, why you couldn''t wait in a nearby cafe."

    "We don''t have time to argue Frei."

    She looked back at me angrily.

    "Fuck, why are you so stubborn about it. You''re not making sense."

    "Frei..."

    "Yeah, yeah, I''m going. Ittekimasu."

    "Itterashai."

    And the front door finally closed.

    I sat down quietly.

    I drew my phone, I didn''t have much time. First the detective.

    "I was waiting for your call." Answered almost on the first ring a coarse voice.

    "Kendrick?"

    "One and only. I heard about a sudden arrival of some very nasty people. What the hell have you done to get him so riled up I dont know, but well, shit."

    "Yup I know, thanks for the tip about Shikami, gave me a nice headstart. Well to my dad at least."

    "No problem, I''ll do anything to help catch that son of a bitch." As I expected, he had a personal history with the man behind the sudden chaos.

    "Could you help me contact him?"

    "No, as I said before, old school, doesn''t even use a phone. And even if it was possible, I don''t believe talking to him would help you. You need to go into hiding. I could help you with that."

    That made me think. Would that be reasonable? Leave Frei behind? She would hate me but she would be safe.

    "Kendrick, answer me honestly, if I disappear, is Shikami the kinda guy who''ll go after my..." I wanted to say family or friends but he didn''t let me finish.

    "Yeah."

    "Then no, I''m going to have to try something else. And I promised I wouldn''t leave the building."

    "That doesn''t seem smart."

    "Oh it unfortunately is."

    He stopped talking for a while. I felt like he was talking to someone else close to him.

    "Miss Jourdin, I did some digging after talking to you."

    I smirked. He wouldn''t have found anything.

    "I found enough to get the idea. I have here strange footage of a young effeminate boy accompanying known peace mercenaries."

    My smile fell.

    By his tone of voice, I knew he wasn''t bluffing. I underestimated him again.

    "Miss Jourdin?"

    "Yes."

    "Could you tell me where you are right now? I believe your plan is..."

    Shit.

    I hung up.

    I was going to have company. I needed to hurry up or more innocents would get caught in the crossfire.

    I phoned one of the numbers that my father sent me. The first on the list. I knew a dark haired, short japanese man would answer me. Murazaki Shin, Ex-Yakuza, one of the rare who got away from the mafia after eliminating his own clan. Apparently sold them out, to get an out.

    He changed vocations, but with a not so distant job.

    The most famous hitman of Osaka.

    It took some time before a cold, knife-like voice answered me.

    "Dare?"

    "Murazaki-San? I have to ask you not to kill yourself."

    The man switched to an horrible english, barely understandable through his thick accent.

    "Miss Jourdin? Well, that is a surprise. I do not understand what you mean though, are you threatening me?"

    What I was doing was ridiculous, but I had to, to not become what I had been accused of being.

    "I am being honest with you. You are throwing yourself into a place you shall not come back from. I am not who they told you I am."

    "You''re a cocky brat eh? I think I shall enjoy you before..."

    I didn''t let him finish, I didn''t want to forget the human behind the demon.

    "Murazaki-san. You will die if you go to this address."

    "What?"

    I hung up for a second time, and sent him my coordinates.

    I had two hours.

    Two hours to remember my first and last lesson.

    "Grand-p¨¨re?"

    "Sias. Viens ici."

    My younger self walked close to the man I once admired as much as I feared.

    "Today we''ll talk about a special lesson."

    "I''m going to school?! Enfin?"

    "No, not yet. You''ll go later."

    I heard a moan coming from the wooden door behind him. The forbidden room. Next to the training room where I had to study all kinds of martial arts. And out of where my grandfather always came.

    But I stayed focused on what my grandfather told me.

    "But I''m 12 already, normal children have to go to school at my age!"

    "You''re not like the others Sias. You''re much, much better than them, you know that right?"

    I didn''t know that, for I had never met another kid. I could see them, on the television sometimes, read about them in books. They didn''t feel different from me there.

    Except I was always alone, without friends.

    I heard a cry now. Sobs and scratching. A terrible noise, something that could not come from a human, should not.

    But my grandfather didn''t look worried, so I didn''t feel like I should be.

    "But then? What''s the lesson? You''re already teaching me the Arts. The other teachers too."

    The man in front of me, barely in the middle of his fifties, looked back at me with an almost childish expression.

    "A lesson of Balance Sias. What needs to be done in this world sometimes to outweigh the evil and corrupted. It''s hard, but oh so necessary."

    It didn''t look that hard looking at him. He seemed joyful.

    "But let me show you."

    And he opened the door.

 Cursed. v2

    I was alone, my back to the two mattresses I placed on the wall separating the bedroom and the bathroom. The room, even though almost identical to my own, felt strange with the mirror I placed on my right, letting me see the open doorway behind.

    I tried to dust off the white dust on my clothes but it was in vain.

    So I looked through the balcony, at the black clouds showing specks of strange vibrant colors. Yellow and gray sometimes peered through the darkened sky.

    It was mesmerizing.

    I realized I could be waiting for a while, so I pulled a chair and sat on it.

    The clock on the opposite bedside table showed me I had managed to organise my friend''s old room in only half an hour. I didn''t want to imagine all the things Fanny and Henry did on the beds behind my back.

    But time passed, neither slowly nor quickly.

    I stopped looking outside, I watched the mirror in the middle of the room. If I had to guess, Frei would be back in two hours, one hour before Detective Kendrick, and...

    An inconspicuous japanese man passed in front of the opened apartment entrance. He looked at it with an unconcerned stare. Unlike the five previous persons who passed through the corridor with quizzical expressions.

    I wouldn''t have recognized the hitman without that distant reaction, even with the picture my father procured.

    I heard him stop in front of my old apartment. He paused. I could feel him think.

    He came back, calm, resolute, with a silenced 9mm drawn out.

    How did all those guys manage to get guns in Japan ? I sighed.

    I began speaking. In Japanese, I didn''t want to suffer through this man''s english.

    ? Konnichiwa Murazaki-san. I wouldn''t recommend you coming in. ?

    He looked back at me through the mirror, he saw my lips move, because he definitely didn''t hear me.

    He pulled one of his earplugs out.

    Silenced guns still do a hell of a noise at close range after all.

    ? You''re a strange target Miss Jourdin. Maybe my strangest yet.?

    Miss. No mockery. Either he was really open minded or he wasn''t well informed. And well, have you ever heard of open minded professionnal killers ? Add to this his Osaka dialect, his demeanor, his tatoo peering out of his left sleeve. I knew enough.

    He stepped inside.

    ? I would recommend you don''t step further inside. ? I repeated.

    ? Sure. ? He said with a smile. I saw him aim, he had guessed my position with the mirror.

    I didn''t flinch when he shot.

    Even though the silencer almost completly blocked out the echo of the bullet, the explosion of powder still made a hell of a noise. It resonated throughout the large apartment.

    The 9mm bullet easily went through the wall, but was stopped in the layer of the first mattress.

    ? That was more dangerous than you think. I wouldn''t do that again if I were you. ?

    The killer snorted, and stepped slowly forward again. When he arrived just in front of the bathroom''s door, I questioned him.

    ? How is the prostitute you definitely don''t love ? ?

    His expression didn''t betray anything. A real pro. But he stopped moving. And that was enough.

    ? I don''t see what you''re talking about. ?

    ? The girl, the one who you always ask for. ?

    His face finally showed something else than calm. Anger it was now.

    ? You''re bluffing, you don''t know shit. ?

    ? Because no one is supposed to know ? Because not even you really know how much she means to you? ?

    ? I don''t know who told you about Yuna, but I''ll be getting that info out of you. It was supposed to be a clean job, you just made it messy. ?

    Yuna, what a clich¨¦ name.

    ? It would... ?

    But he didn''t let me continue.

    ? And I''m completely in love with her, I know exactly how much she counts. You fucked up little girl, you''re clearly not that well informed, she''s not called Yuna. Which means this is just a bluff. ?

    Ah shit, didn''t expect that. People always amaze me. Still only sorrow grieved me. This man was smart enough to realize the bluff, but not enough to realize the real threat.

    ? Please don''t step forward, I don''t want to hurt anyone. ? I pleaded.

    He snorted again.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ? That''s the strangest way of saying ''please don''t kill me'' ?

    And he stepped forwards.

    ? Do you know what you can do with flour ? ? I asked sadly while pushing the button on my phone.

    That girl was crazy. Contacting the man who was supposed to kill you. But it could happen, to beg, to give a counteroffer. But never to give away your location. Not that he needed it. Shikami gave him everything in that usual pink letter of his. Shin Murazaki never betrayed his payer''s trust. It was bad for business. And bad in this business meant drowned in Tokyo Bay. Even though he knew Shikami had other ways of punishing his employees.

    Still, Shin didn''t like this mission at all. Seven hitman had been engaged. To kill one young adult. A real shame considering her face. But that''s not why Shin didn''t like this.

    It was overkill. Even more so to ask them to attack at the same time.

    That he couldn''t agree with. Asking killers to work together always ended in blood. It was the best way to fail a mission. So he went early, his target was closest to him after all. It only took him one hour from where he was. But he needed to prepare, make-up, disguise, he was known from the police force after all. Even though the job shouldn''t take long. Better be safe than sorry.

    Still his feeling of ? something''s wrong ? never really left him.

    Even more when he realized his target had changed location. To the apartment next door.

    It didn''t make any sense.

    What''s more the door was open. Begging him to come in. This and the white cloud coming from underneath the closed door of what had to be the bathroom. And finally this mirror in the center of the room, letting him see where she was, letting him talk to her.

    He did something unprofesionnal. He would talk with her, even though he knew it wasn''t a good idea. But it was just for an instant. Just to hear this strange suicidal creature''s voice. Understand what those lips in the mirror were trying to tell him.

    Once this strange compulsion had passed he shot.

    Three loud noises.

    He was certain he aimed perfectly through the wall.

    Still, his target, Sias Jourdin, was still sitting in her chair, unfazed. At least that was what he was seeing in the mirror she had placed in front of him. He understood that she had placed mattresses behind her, and that it seemed to be enough to stop the short rounds of his gun, but even still, her lack of reaction.

    It was unnatural.

    Shikami had hidden things about her, he was certain of it. She wasn''t the young heiress of an old family. She wasn''t the sheltered princess he had been informed of.

    The girl was still asking him to leave. To walk away. Even involving Vanessa in this, how she would know about his prostitute girlfriend, that he didn''t know. Still, it was a bluff, as the girl didn''t react at the fake name he had given her.

    He had to finish the mission. Getting the pay of six other hitmen was pretty alluring after all.

    Still, his unease was getting even stronger. Something was wrong.

    The girl, he realized, was white. And it wasn''t the color of her skin, she was white . Extremely so, way too much. Like she had bathed in cocaine.

    Bathed. The word echoed in his head, like it was supposed to tell him something else.

    He couldn''t figure out what the hell this meant. And the sad woman in the mirror, the face of someone grieving, was distracting him.

    He had a mission to finish, he repeated like a mantra.

    He stepped forward.

    ? Do you know what you can do with flour ? ? The crying monster asked.

    Click.

    Click.

    The white powder coming from the room on his left.

    ? Shimatta. ?

    I always liked cooking cakes with my grandmother.

    It was a calming, peaceful experience in this crazy world that was the Jourdin family.

    But I could always count on grandfather to destroy childish illusions.

    I couldn''t do much with eggs, but I knew how to create a bomb with multiple sacks of flour.

    Simple, but incredibly messy and only possible in enclosed spaced. Well if you wanted it to be really effective at least.

    Like a closed bathroom for example.

    Dust explosion.

    I pressed the button to launch the ignition and pressed my head between my legs.

    I heard Shimizake say ? Shimatta ?.

    Then silence.

    A ringing in my ear.

    A terrible rumble through my bones.

    One minute passed, the automatic fire sprinklers washed away the flour on my clothes.

    I stood up. Wobbling a bit without the help of my ears to balance my body.

    The mirror had shattered, as did most of the room''s windows.

    Parts of the wall behind me had become shrapnel that had pierced through most of the furniture in the room.

    The mattresses though, held on. The second one at least.

    I walked to the entrance.

    Murazaki''s body was shredded. Part of the bathroom door had exploded right next to him. I picked up his gun and drew something on the wall with his blood.

    It was disgusting I know. But I needed to pass a message.

    ? Shikami sent you to your death. He lied. ?

    That would be enough.

    I took multiple pics of the scene with my phone and sent it to the four other contacts my father gave me. If there were more... well I would hope they get the message somehow or another.

    This all took three minutes. I could hear security and people finally reacting to theexplosion that had happened.

    I went next door to take Frei and mine''s luggage.

    I texted her. Saying I would come to her and she didn''t need to come back. That she was right, that I shouldn''t stay here alone.

    She would be pissed I moved on my own but at least she''d think I finally saw reason.

    My phone rang immediately, but it wasn''t her. I recognized the number. The detective.

    I didn''t answer.

    As I went out of my room, I could see multiple people in front of Fanny and Henry''s old apartment on my right. Someone had apparently fainted and was getting gently smacked on the face to regain consciousness, while the manager was trying to stop american tourists from taking pictures of the body inside.

    ? Police is coming. Sumimasen do not take foto ! ?

    I passed through the commotion, acting vaguely intrigued at what had happened.

    No one even noticed my wet clothes, and the ? sploosh ? sound I was making at every step.

    I didn''t have the luxury of time to change my clothes.

    I caught a glimpse of my assassin.

    I sighed.

    He wasn''t a good man. But I still felt bad. Every step I made to ? defend ? myself from people like him, only made me closer to the monster my grandfather cursed me to become.

    It was a fate I had and will always reject.

    But today, Grand-P¨¨re had won the battle.

 Emotional Bias means resignation. v2

    I was looking at the young woman waiting for me under the unbudding sakura trees. She was sitting down at the bottom of the stairs that led to the old temple that served as Shiwazaki sensei''s dojo and house. She was anxiously looking at her phone.

    I watched it like I would watch a painting, a strange feeling growing inside me. I could almost see what it would look like with the pinks blossoms falling from the trees.

    She looked up, anguish filling her eyes.

    And the painting suddenly breathed life as she stood.

    ? Sias ? Are you alright ? ? Frei asked me.

    ? Yup, a bit tired and anxious at the idea of getting all our stuff up this hill. ? I answered calmly, showing all the bagage I had had to move from subway to subway.

    ? I mean, dad told me somtehing had happened in the hotel we were staying at. I looked at your message and tried to contact you, but you didn''t answer. ? She watched me closely. ? What''s all this on your clothes ? ?

    If I told her the truth she wouldn''t be worried, she would be furious.

    ? You tried to contact me ? ? I looked at my phone, trying to dodge the subject, and saw multiple phone calls I had missed. I didn''t notice them, my ears were still ringing a bit.

    ? Sorry, I didn''t hear them. What happened at our hotel ? ? I asked innocently.

    ? An explosion, they said they found a dead man in an appartement. You want me to believe you were not involved in this at all ? ?

    I grimaced. I hated lying.

    There was a long silence. I was pondering what it would mean to hide the truth. What it would mean to our relationship, our friendship.

    But how could I ? In front of those eyes ?

    I sighed for the hundreth time this month.

    ? It was one of the assassin. He won''t bother us anymore. ?

    Frei took a step back.

    ? Did you... ? ?

    I stared at her.

    ? Do you really want me to answer that? ?

    That made her shut up. She thought for a while.

    ? I told you you should come with me ! ?

    ? Yes, but I couldn''t go away without showing were I was. They were going to go after my friends and my family. Now that I got their attention, they''ll only go for me. I know how those people operate, you need to make them act out of emotions, whether it''s anger, fear, or curiosity. Never let them think. ?

    As expected, she was getting angry.

    ? Did you EXPECT this to happen ? ?

    ? I planned for it to happen ?.

    A gust of wind made my hair fly in front of me, something I wasn''t used to, maybe I never will.

    I cleared my vision, passing my fingers through my long hair.

    I saw my friend change expressions multiple times.

    It finally settled to calm, which was probably good news for me.

    ? You could have lied to me. ?

    I didn''t see her point.

    ? Yes. ? I simply stated.

    Silence anew.

    ? Why didn''t you involve me in your plan ? I''m supposed to be your bodyguard. ?

    ? Yes, not my hitman. ?

    ? What do you mean ? ?

    ? I wasn''t ready to let you kill someone on my behalf. ?

    ? We could have fled ! ? She was getting angry again.

    But someone else answered before me.

    ? No you could not. ?

    Shiwazaki sensei was going down the last few stairs of the Japanese Hill temple.

    ? Tou-san ! ? Frei exclaimed surprised.

    I bowed politely to my ex-professor. Not liking someone didn''t mean you had to be rude.

    He bowed his head slightly towards me.

    I didn''t need to ask Frei how it had gone with her father. Looking at his unusual calm and tired demeanor, he had most obviously, somehow, agreed to take us in.

    Still I was slightly surprised to see him as relaxed as he was.

    ? Don''t look so amazed shitty student, I can see my mistakes when they are thrown in my face. ?

    Well, well, seems I was mistaken about Shiwazaki-sensei.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ? Arigat?u gozaimasu. ? I told him.

    ? Why are you thanking me ? ? He countered, annoyed, not really awaiting an answer.

    Frei looked silently back and forth between the two of us, awaiting a potential catastrophy most likely, but seeing it wasn''t coming, she asked her father a question.

    ? Why could we not have fled father ? ?

    ? Because you don''t flee from people like the ones who were sent to kill him. ? He pointed at me.

    Frei was still a bit puzzled.

    ? You completely forgot your lessons with me girl ? Assess the threat. Clearly they sent multiple armed professionals in a peaceful country, in a highly protected area. What does that tell you ? ?

    Frei took a while to get her bearings back. It seemed she wasn''t used to her father speaking to her like this. But it didn''t seem to bother her, far from it.

    ? High threat... I think in the GBA classement, it means a C+ threat ? ?

    GBA ? What the hell was the game boy advance doing in this conversation...

    I didn''t dare ask it out loud, they were having a moment, I wasn''t going to butt in.

    ? Yes good. You remembered. ? Shiwazaki-san nodded.

    Frei almost looked proud.

    You may hate your parents, but you always look for their approval.

    Still, Reiki Shiwazaki was getting better, more than I could have hoped for, he had changed a lot this past week, and I couldn''t blame being happy to be approved by this current individual. I thought I would destroy him, but apparently what I said helped him instead. As someone who tries to help people cope with mental illnesses, this was actually pretty gratifying.

    ? What''s more, they probably have all the info in the world, seeing they are being employed by Shikami. ?

    That made me panick a bit, did Frei tell him about the assassin''s employer ? But before I could do anything, Frei jumped in between me and her father.

    ? How do you know that ? ? She asked.

    ?The name Shikami? Well, I got an offer to kill the shitty student, in a nice pink letter. Lot''s of money too. T''was signed by this name.? He showed us the letter.

    ? Mizuna. ? He continued. ? Move out of the way. ?

    ? I thought,... I though... ? Began my friend.

    I looked at him. Was I wrong ? Did he accept a killing order for my head. But the only thing I read inside him was... amusement.

    I put a calming hand on my friends back.

    ? Frei calm down, he didn''t accept the contract. ?

    ? He obviously has ! ? She answered nervously.

    ? I have not. And I may deserve so little trust, but it still hurts coming from my own daughter. I wouldn''t kill a friend of yours. ? The old teacher calmly explained. ? I would also come with a real sword, not with this. ? He showed us his wooden bokken.

    That seemed to calm Frei a bit. ? Sorry, but I am already failing my job on multiple levels, I won''t let my VIP get killed by my own father. ?

    Shiwazaki-san waved his hand up and down. ? Yes child, I know, still if you were supposed to be his bodyguard, you shouldn''t have personal feelings in the matter, so you fail anyway. ?

    Frei made a surprised sound at that statement. I couldn''t see her expression, but if I had to guess, it would be the timid, pensive gaze she sometimes had.

    It was time to end this charming father daughter reunion.

    ? Sorry to bother y''all. ? I began with an exaggerated accent ? But what did Shikami tell you ? ?

    In a perfect motion, my ex-teacher threw me the letter before going back up the stairs.

    I caught it easily. The throw had been perfect.

    He was not a fake martial arts master. In his current state, I was happy to have him as an ally.

    ? He could have helped with theluggage. ? Exclaimed Frei dissaprovingly, once he was out of sight. But she was interested in the already opened letter. She pressed herself on me, reading behind my shoulder. Which wasn''t unpleasant, but a bit distracting.

    I focused on the japanese symbols, simple ones fortunately for me. My hotel number, simple instructions and a million yen reward for my dead body, as long as it was in a good condition. It also told about a coordinated strike in two days time, with all seven individuals involved. A simple picture and name of all the concerned members and myself of course. I recognized the ex-living-ex-Yakuza in the lot, but was suprised for a moment as I didn''t see Shiwazaki-san anywhere on there. Neither his name nor his picture.

    What the hell did that old fox do again... ?

    Then it hit me.

    I laughed.

    Frei, who finished reading the letter behind my back, lifted up an eyebrow at my ridiculous reaction.

    I turned around to see hers. As she didn''t move away from me, she was mere inches away. If she wasn''t going to move, I wasn''t either.

    She had a fierce look. It was like her timidity and assertivness had mixed into one strange brew.

    ? What''s so funny about your dead pristine body being asked to be brought back in a plastic bag ? ? She asked with a half smile.

    ? Well, it means your father lied. ?

    ? What now ? ?

    ? Look ? I said as I was showing her the only hitman''s name without a picture. ? He didn''t recieve the letter, he took it from this guy. ?

    ? How the hell could you assume... oh... ?

    ? Yeah, you don''t need a picture if it''s your name. Your father probably knew this Hayashi Sakura, heard him talk about the hit, and decided to intervene. But, as the proud strong man he is ? I said with irony ? He couldn''t admit to our faces that he actually helped his daughter and his ex shitty student out of sheer good heartedness. Had to make us scared for a while and pretend to actually be on the gangster list of one of the top criminal bosses of Japan. ?

    ? He''s hopeless... ? She concluded.

    ? Nah, it''s actually pretty sweet if you ask me, one of his long forgotten good sides. It''s nice it''s re-emerging ?

    ? Well, I think it''s dumb. Still your words seem to have changed him. ?

    ? No, that''s not right. He changed himself, what I told him was just the catalyst. ?

    She was really close, and was resolute not to move. I decided I lost whatever game we were playing and tried to step back.

    ? Thank you anyway. ? She said while putting a kiss on my left cheek, making me change my mind.

    I felt giddy inside for a brief moment, and as usual when overwhelmed by my own emotions, couldn''t resist teasing. My bad personnality rearing it''s ugly head.

    ? Hey, that''s not fair, my other cheek is jealous now. ? I joked.

    A strange glow passed through my friends eyes, this strange mixture of emotions getting more vibrant ?

    Maybe I shouldn''t have poked the sleeping dragon... ? But before I could finish my thought, she circled her arms around my neck and pulled me for a kiss, which definitely was more french than german or japanese.

    After what seemed a really short time, she left the embrace and finally stepped back.

    As she did, she gave me the most cheeky smile ever. She had some nerve, as her blush betrayed how embarassed she was.

    ? Finally made...you shut up. ? She taunted.

    I licked my lips as my only answer. It was true I could not talk right now, but she wasn''t getting away from this unscathed.

    My tongue seemed to make her boil a bit more, her cheeks going into an even deeper shade of red, and she could only stammer her next sentence out.

    ? I..I''m not your b-b-bodyguard anymore. I quit. So you can''t leave me hanging again...You...you...don''t have that excuse anymore. ?

    She took two of the suitcases, and fled towards the stairs.

    Well this was surprising. The rare kind I could actually get used to.

    I touched my lips with the tip of my fingers.

    That had been...especially soft.

    I stood there for awhile, before remembering I had something important to do.

    I opened my phone and sent all the info I had just gotten to my dad and detective Kendrick.

    I hesitated for awhile. Should I break the phone? No. I decided on just shutting it off. I''d turn it on every hour or so to see if something new would pop up

    Still, I had only one week to resolve this mess if I wanted to go to school again.

    I know, priorities, priorities.

 Growth. v2

    If I had had my doubts about living with Murazaki-san, those quickly went away when he made it clear he wouldn''t ever show up in front of me again. His previous appareance was actually his last. I could sometimes see him train in the back garden, or give lessons of bodyguarding and A?kido to his different student in front of the old shrine. You would usually use the magnificent dojo, full of expensive tatamis, situated just next to the shinto temple, but it was currently where me and Frei were sleeping. His actual house behind the shrine beeing way too frugal to have guests. In any case, he barely used the Dojo as it is, he found the tatamis made you careless about your falling techniques.

    Hard, irregular stones being way less forgiving.

    We had a sole heater to heat up the 75m2 room, so me and Frei were forced to sleep next to each other. Which brought quite a lot of problems. Frei had become Timid Frei after the kiss, and could barely look me into the eyes outside of training. She hadn''t made another move and I hadn''t either, probably both feeling like the impending doom of professional killers wasn''t romantic enough to go the step further.

    To be honest, even if I was way less obvious than my friend, I was also pretty disturbed by the whole situation. It had been a long time since I cared about a romantic relationship. Scratch that, it was probably the first time.

    As such we came back to our no-talk, lots of training routine, which meant we were physically close the day, and the night. After 1 week, I actually began to have doubts about my self-control, which I usually am pretty confident about.

    One specific night, an asleep Frei went and looked for the warmest place in the room, which apparently was my futon.

    That night I learned she usually slept with big plushies. I won''t tell you how I got that information, I think the context speaks for itself.

    So considering the cold and thatyou wouldn''t be surprised if I told you I barely slept.

    After a week, the psychological torture got a bit better by the re-emerging of Frei''s Dad. He was still barely looking at me, and didn''t utter a single word, but I understood the silent message that we had to train with him. I think he would''ve rather only trained with his daughter, but I had nothing to do, as there was no Wi-Fi here, and I was already way over my mobile internet data limit, so I forcefully tagged along. He actually joined us in the dojo.

    Frei didn''t notice but I knew why he didn''t let use taste the hard and cold rocks outside.

    Those old school males and their pathological ineptitude in expressing their worries and emotions. I would know about that.

    Still it meant me and Frei could finally get away from each other. A dad between us was doing the trick perfectly.

    But it only made the nights even worse.

    At first the new training meant I was too exhausted to think about anything in the evening, I was eating my hundreth onigiri of the week, this one with tuna inside. It wouldve been good if they hadn''t added mayo. Frei and I had tried almost every meal sold inside the little conbinis (convenience stores), and I assure you, there are a lot. What''s more they are actually pretty healthy. Still, as it was either rice or rice, with the occasional sandwich, I was getting fed up with it all. I didn''t want to walk too far away from the Murazaki''s Shrine, as some of the cameras of the city and stores could have been hacked to spot us.

    The convenience store closeby had no cameras, and was a safe spot to go to. Some other restaurants were also without surveillance, and almost two weeks after we went into hiding, me and Frei had decided to try a steak bar two streets down.

    It was horrible.

    Not the food, no, the non-rice meal was a nice change, at least to me. Maybe it was her genes, but Frei didn''t feel any discomfort in eating almost exclusively only rice for the last month and a half.

    No the problem was the setting.

    It was a date spot.

    I tell you, there was a lot of tension before, but that night was the worst.

    I couldn''t even tell you who did the first move, we came back, sat in our beds in silence for a while, Frei looking at her phone (She had been more sparse with her 4G). But as usual her face gave everything away, she was definitely not paying any attention to her screen.

    I think I bumped her leg with my foot. She actually squeeked, like a cute squirrel yeah, and that was it.

    We found ourselves panting at sunrise, not having slept a wink.

    ? Fuck. ? She said softly through a long breath, seeing the first rays of the sun out of the top rows of little windows.

    ? Not again... ?

    ? Not funny. ?

    ? A bit. ? I smirked.

    ? Sias, my father always comes shortly after daybreak. ?

    I saw her naked body more clearly now that the light of the sun had appeared. She had truly white...

    ? Sias, are you listening to me ? ?

    ? No. Your ass is way too enticing. ?

    She pouted.

    I stood up and straddled her, not paying any attention to her fake shrieks of protest and kissed her.

    After awhile, she pushed me away.

    ? Seriously, you know how he feels about lesbians, he''s gonna kill us. ?

    ? Nah, he''s gonna kill me. ?

    She pouted again.

    This time my self-control actually won. Yay me, I was getting myself back together.

    ? Don''t worry, we''re the 25th today, it''s the Kitano market today, he''s not coming back until noon. ?

    ? How the hell... did you prepare this in advance ? ?

    I wasn''t sure what she meant by this, but I could guess.

    ? Erm well no, I slightly expected the romantic date and thought it would be better to be safe. ?

    ? To be safe ? So you knew this would happen ? ? Her eyes betrayed her fake anger.

    ? No, I was hoping for it. ?

    She seemed to think, playing a mean game of ''I''ll make you feel guilty'', which didn''t work at all as I had seen through it all.

    ? Same thing here. ? She finally said, grabbing my waist between her legs, and with an old judo technique,she pinned me under her.

    Ah dang, I had just woken up Tank Frei. I wasn''t sure I would be able to handle that Frei with my current...

    ? Haa... ? An impossibly cute moan came out of my mouth.

    ? You bad girl. ?

    And my brain shut down.

    After that day, we slept even less than before. But I was definitely sleeping way better.

    Still, with light there is always shadow. A week later, at dawn. And as usual it came from a Jourdin.

    ? Seems you effectively removed every threat on our back. Nice job. Go to Gion next week for a meet. You''ll have the usual back-up. ? Signed Papa.

    I immediately deleted the message.

    Another one came, with a full address of the place. It wasn''t written in kanji, it would be pretty hard to find.

    I softly bit my lower lip, annoyed.

    ? I should be asking you what''s wrong but I think I''m just going to kiss you. ? I heard my not-sleeping anymore neighbor tell me.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    I looked at the half naked figure that was looking at me. I wasn''t against the idea.

    The effective but oh so short break was bringing me peace, but now a ting of guilt was ruining the aftermath. Frei still didn''t know me, not fully. I had hidden that dark part of myself, not really well, but just enough, to make her believe otherwise, that it wasn''t so bad, that I was just in a dark, emo mood all the time. She was nice like that after all.

    I couldn''t expect our relationship to end well if she didn''t know. My grandparents had showed me that in the worst lesson ever.

    All relationships ended, one way or another. Touching her lips, stroking her hair, I decided I wanted to try another way.

    ? Frei ? ? I asked softly, I felt my voice stagger, but it held fast.

    ? Mhh ? ? She answered, her eyes still closed.

    ? Next week, It''ll be over, you''ll come with, right ? ?

    She sowly opened her eyes, turn around to face me.

    ? What does that mean ? ?

    ? I know where Shikami and his lackeys will be. We have a meet, courtesy of my dad. My little stunt at the hotel apparently gave him enough freedom to get in touch with our old family contacts. ?

    Her smile fell, to be replaced with her more german expression.

    ? I won''t like what will happen there will I ? ?

    ? No. But I don''t see how else it will end. I''ll try my best to change the outcome, but I can''t make any promises. ?

    ? I still don''t understand Sias, what are we going to achieve by going to the most obvious trap ever ? ?

    I felt a tinge of guilt again, the ? we ? made me feel happy, even though it shouldn''t have.

    ? One of two things, either the same thing than with your father, make them give up, or... ?

    I couldn''t finish my sentence as the dojo''s door opened.

    ? What are you two still doing in... ?

    Shiwazaki sensei had just entered the scene.

    And we weren''t dressed. Like at all.

    And Frei''s hand was on my waist. When did that get on my waist ?

    ? I''m going to kill you. ? He said, blind anger in his eyes.

    Frei jumped to some clothes.

    I just stood up.

    ? Shiwazaki-san stop that. You knew the moment we showed up in front of your home. ?

    Unexpectedly, it worked, he immediately calmed himself down.

    Internally I was shocked. He had changed. It had succeeded. The man I knew was so hot-tempered he would have taken days to calm down.

    Externally I was cold. I was naked after all.

    Not that it seemed to bother the master in front of me.

    ? You are right, Sias. ? This must-ve been the first time he directly spoke to me since our last fight.

    ? That doesn''t mean I accept this kind of behaviour under my roof. ?

    ? Otou-sama, please, it just happened, we didn''t mean to be unrespectful. ? Frei intervened, only dressed with a pull-over.

    That was sexy... no not right now Sias, get a hold on it.

    But as much as this sight was exciting me, it was calming my old sensei even more.

    ? Frei, so you too... well at least he was a boy. ?

    Still homophobic though. Dang.

    He looked at me again.

    ? I won''t give my daughter to anyone, first you have to beat me. And not with your petty tricks and your sweet words. An honest fight. One where you show me what you''re really worth Sias. I could always feel you holding back, since the beginning. ?

    ? Otou-sama ! ? Frei shouted, angry. She went into panzer-mode and began talking in japanese at a crazy speed. I didn''t understand a single word.

    ? If you don''t agree, you''ll leave this Dojo. ? Shiwazaki continued, unfazed by his daughter''s screams.

    ? I can''t believe this. Sias, let''s go. I can''t stand this... ?

    ? Fine I agree. ? I answered my old sensei.

    That stopped her in her tracks.

    ? What ? Sias you can''t... ?

    ? Sure I can. Can I put on a Dougi ? ?

    Shiwazaki-sensei didn''t even bother to answer me, he stood in front of the old picture of Morihei Ueshiba, and bowed. It was the first time I ever saw him do it, one of the oldest traditions in A?kido.

    This fight would be hard.

    The man named Reiki Shiwazaki wasn''t lost anymore.

    After a short time dressing up, I stood in front of him.

    ? Put on your Hakama, and this. ?

    He threw me a black belt.

    ? You are a 3rd Dan, fit to teach. Wear it with humility. ? Not like myself, he said without speaking.

    I made a decision. I would show Frei my past, now only a glimpse and next week all of it.

    This, but also to honor a man who showed me once again what human''s were capable of.

    How even the worst human, so lost he just became a shadow of his former self, was able to become something better, greater.

    ? No weapons. It is not to the death. I don''t want to hurt my daughter. ? He told me.

    I exhaled. ? Arigatou Gozaimasu Sensei ? I told him while I bowed.

    ? Why ? ?

    ? Because that is what we say to one who teaches. ?

    ? Sias, you still don''t have to. ? Frei intervened. ? Let me do it. It''s my father. ?

    ? Sorry Frei, you''ll have plenty of occasions to train with your father now. This is a goodbye between a student and his teacher. ?

    I assumed a normal stance, right foot in front of me. Core in front of my partner in sparring.

    Shiwazaki-Sensei did the same.

    ? I hope we''ll be equals afterwards. ?

    He grinned.

    ? You''ll have to seriously impress me boy. ? He took the same stance as I did.

    ? Do you seriously have to go all macho on me... ? Frei sighed, before kneeling in Dogeza, watching us in silence.

    The cold air blowed through the small gaps of the Dojo.

    The soft tatami stood firm under our weight.

    An old F?rin chimed in the distance, ringing with the March wind.

    He stepped forward.

    I waited.

    He began with a kick. Taekwondo. Unexpected.

    A first move filled with intelligence.

    We had sparred many times before, knew each other perfectly. Knew our rhythms. I knew he never used his legs to attack, and rather used them to keep a perfect balance at all times.

    This was a splendid attack, unexpected, precise.

    But I was a Skr?skind.

    I didn''t even flinch.

    I just stepped back.

    His leg swiped void.

    We were out of reach of each other again.

    I stepped forward this time.

    I threw a punch. Terribly simple. But with so much practice behind it you would have to be a master to even react to it in time.

    He was one.

    He deflected it with his palm before throwing the exact same punch towards me.

    I immediately switched to an A?kido technique, by reflex, and stepped through the attack. But that was a mistake.

    Reiki Shiwazaki wasn''t going to be beaten with A?kido.

    I got flung away, almost five meters. But falling techniques were almost as natural to me as breathing. And such a long throw was actually beneficial to me.

    He wasn''t quick enough to close the distance and use the time I was on the ground rolling.

    ? You are still holding back... ? He accused me angrily.

    ? I actually want to enjoy this. ? I answered.

    He looked at me, not angry, his gaze was piercing.

    ? Are you arrogant or modest ? I want to know. ?

    I bowed.

    So be it.

    I took the same stance. But my hand were open, palms to the sky.

    ? Is this what your old man taught you ? ?

    ? Yes. ? I answered again.

    He grinned.

    He soared through me. Punches, grapples, A?kido, the flurry of attacks was never ending.

    He wanted to see, but he sure as hell wouldn''t let me use the techniques as I wanted. I was going to have to go through all of his techniques, all of his experience to show him my worth.

    ? Often, we wait for the error, to strike the enemy, this can be good but can also be a mistake. Feints can be used, or maybe what you though was an error, is actually a technique you didn''t know about. We cannot take those risks, even if it works one hundred, one thousand times, you only need one failure to be dead. No, perfection is when the Jourdin strike.

    When it is impossible, when everything is lost, when the enemy shows his best, this is when he is the weakest. This is when we use his perfection against himself. Making it impossible to dodge, to react. ?

    An unholy mixture of martial arts and army techniques. One only possible by the alliance of multiple worlds, all being brought together for one sole purpose. To kill.

    But it didn''t have to be.

    Just like the man on the picture of every A?kido Dojo, those methods of killing could be altered, ever so slightly, to become something on the opposite side. Light in darkness.

    Shiwazaki-san''s strike was a sword, a sudden rush of wind. It rised, straight for my plexus. Most men would break their fingers, but his wouldn''t. This was a finishing blow, a tornado of a technique, a killing one.

    And so I became a wave.

    His strike flew past, touching without hitting. Getting catched by my Dougi without hurting me.

    And while his hand veered, my right hand rushed in.

    He tried to dodge, but he couldn''t.

    My strike coursed in.

    He tried to block with his other hand but this just made him more unbalanced.

    My strike gushed in.

    And my right palm, without a sound, delicately hit the nerve on his neck, a trickle really.

    A specific point, only known by chinese acupunturers.

    It wasn''t much.

    It wouldn''t hurt.

    But it would clog all of his nerves, a sudden paralysis, just for an instant.

    Not long, half a second at most.

    But for me.

    ? Just long enough to break the neck. Puncture the eyes. Shatter the bones. Or just punch the nose inside the brain. ?

    Not this time grand-father.

    Another ring of the wind chime.

    My fist had stopped in front of his face.

 An old story. v2

    "The fight is over... Sias wins." It seemed Frei had come closer to us during our fight. Probably not content passively watching on the sides, and getting ready to intervene, as futile as it would have been considering the speed at which we were sparring.

    "As it would seem." Grunted Shiwazaki-sensei. "You are bleeding." He added.

    I looked at where he was pointing, his last piercing stab, that I thought I had perfectly dodged, actually scratched my left boob.

    "Ah shit, didn''t take that into account." C-cup damn you.

    Part of my shirt under the dougi was torn, and blood was coming out of a small cut underneath it. Everyone would assume that had been made by a knife. Scary old man.

    "Aaaah!" Shouted Frei, concerned.

    "It''s fine, I barely feel it." I reassured her.

    "Your perfect boobs!" She continued, not paying any attention to me, before forcefully opening my clothing and inspecting the wound.

    "Is that what you are worried about? Seriously?" I responed, outraged.

    Shiwazaki-sensei coughed.

    "You may have won, but if you continue your flirting in front of me, I will bash you skull in."

    Frei stopped gazing into my bossoms, and stepped back to look at her father.

    "This technique could''ve killed her!" She shouted at him.

    He answered in japanese.

    "Daugther, you should be more concerned about me than about him."

    Still calling me with masculine pronouns... It was fine with me but made me think he was denying everything concerning my particular situation.

    He was right though, Frei should''ve noticed the potential lethality of the technique I used. I purposely did it to make her understand that about me.

    "Why should I care if he bashes your face inside your skull? Not long ago you hit me when I was on the ground." She vehementely argued back.

    He didn''t actually do it, but I didn''t correct her, he was going to anyway.

    And well, Panzer Frei was definitely not caring one bit about my old techniques, I will probably need to wait a bit to see if cute Frei would think any differently.

    "You needed to be taught a..."

    I clapped my hands together. This conversation was going nowhere.

    "Well, Shiwazaki-sensei, I won, your daughter is mine, thank you very much. We''ll be leaving next week. I recommend you patch things up with her while you''re still able to and don''t say unnecessary things. Frei, let''s go take a walk while we let your father digest his loss. I need a bandage too, it hurts."

    Both of them turned to me, ready to retort acrimoniously, before restraining themselves, in the exact same manner. I restrained my self not to laught at these mirroring responses. I didn''t think it would help my case.

    "Fine.""Fine." They said simultaneously.

    I let a smile slip through.

    They didn''t notice, having gone back to a staring contest daughter-father style.

    I was sitting on a bench outside Shiwazaki-sensei''s Dojo. Me and Frei had gone to buy more disinfectant and better bandages at a closeby pharmacy.

    She was currently treating my wound, which, considering it''s location, was embarassing for both of us.

    Good thing there were none of Shiwazaki''s pupils in the backyard with us.

    Only an old grandma was there, I didn''t know her name, but she was often helping with the taking care of the old Dojo.

    I don''t think I ever saw her open her mouth to be honest.

    Except if you counted the dissaproving looks she was throwing at us.

    Frei who was unaware of our audience, began asking the questions I was already expecting. Her light shame in undressing me in plain sight had activated the Timid Frei.

    "You won. How?"

    "You know how, you saw everything."

    "You''ve always held back."

    "No. Those techniques have no place in martial arts, so I never used them when we sparred."

    "You definitely could''ve used some of those techniques, I don''t see why not."

    I sighed.

    "What you have to understand is that those attacks have one purpose and one purpose only, to make sure the person in front of you doesn''t stand back up, ever. The technique in itself is a whole, with the way I was taught, I wouldn''t have been able to use it without finishing it."

    My lover frowned, showing me her pensive face, all emotions surfacing on her features with perfect honesty.

    I smiled.

    "What made you able to stop yourself this time?" She asked next.

    "What do you think." I believed she knew already.

    "Our training. What you used was a mixture of different martial arts, by mastering them, you were able to surpass those ninja skills."

    "Erm ninja? What are you talking about? I''m not doing any Kage Bunshin you know?"

    "Shut up. You don''t know what real ninjutsu is about?"

    I had honestly no idea what she was going on about.

    She sighed. "Honestly, how can you be so smart, and still believe ninja''s are what you see in Naruto... "

    "Etooo..." Dang, it had been a long time ago since I had been ridiculised. But no, honestly I knew about a lot of martial arts, but ninjutsu was a lost art if I remembered well, only practised by westerners who wanted to feel cool. Maybe I was wrong. Well definitely if I had to guess.

    "Ninjutsu also had one purpose and one purpose only, to assassinate their target. Kuno?chi used their body, poisons and hidden blades while some ninjas actually trained in killing blows and hiding techniques. I don''t know much more than that, as it''s not really used anymore, but I saw a master of that once, and the only reason why he lost was that he actually wasn''t allowed to kill his sparring partner. This is the flaw, in most fights, you are actually not trying to kill your enemy, even in war settings, dead people are way easier to take care of than wounded soldiers."

    I looked at Frei, mouth slightly agape. Even though I knew most thing unrelated to ninjitsu, I was slightly taken aback by the fact that she would know such dark knowledge about war.

    She saw my expression, and had the cutest pout, completely opposite of the topic at hand.

    "My mother is a war and war strategy historian. I learned it through her."

    "Oh, impressive."

    "You arrogant bastard."

    "You know that''s not what I meant."

    "Still if I don''t say it, you won''t be careful when you do it with other people."

    "Didn''t we have this conversation already?"

    "You clearly haven''t learned then."

    I laughed quietly.

    "Will you stay with me knowing my past? I wonder."

    "If you don''t tell me you will never know. Even though I don''t want to, It''ll make me leave, one day or another. I won''t be able to live with someone I love, if I cannot truly know who I love. But you know that already."

    Yes. I said without talking. I know, of course I know, you are not the kind of girl who can live in darkness, blissfull ignorance of everything and everyone, to never have to face the truth of life. You are Frei, sometimes scared and timid, unsure about yourself and who you really are, but with true gentleness and care, and you are Frei, strong, fearless, facing her problems even if you shouldn''t, shouting at the world even though it won''t stop turning. A living paradox, like every human being, but mine.

    I kissed her. Softly. She tasted of strawberry.

    After awhile she broke the kiss "Sias." She asked. Kneeling in front of me. Waiting.

    I looked at my bandage, hiding my breasts, protecting my heart. Oh so opposite as what I was feeling.

    "When I was a few months old, Hailey abandoned me as I told you. Or I should say, she left me with her parents, the Skr?skind. I don''t remember them so I wouldn''t be able to tell you much about them."

    I looked at the grandma leaving the training grounds and entering inside. Probably cleaning there next. Even though it was sunny outside and temperatures were getting warmer, the wind was cold.

    "Maybe we should continue inside."

    "I''m not cold." Frei answered, before taking my hands in hers.

    I sighed.

    "When I was three, or four, my father surfaced. He had heard about me through my mother while she was drunk."

    "Ermm." Frei gave me a quizzical look.

    "Oh yeah, I should tell you, my parent''s relationship was pretty much friends with benefits, I told you right? When my mom was going back in Europe after her tournaments, they met, got drunk together and fucked. One of those time, I arrived. She didn''t tell my dad, anyone in fact, as she didn''t know she was pregnant until I came out."This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    "Oh, pregnancy denial?"

    "Something like that, in this case I would rather say it was a ''I don''t have time for this shit.'' pregnancy."

    Frei stood up and sat by my side.

    "Wow, you survived for 9 month inside Hailey Skr?skind while she was training for tournaments?"

    "9 months 12 days, baffling-ne. Must explain why I''m a moron sometimes. Infancy brain injury and all that."

    "Nah, you''re not getting a pass because of that."

    "Damn."

    Short silence. A gust of wind. I involuntarely squeezed closer to the woman at my side.

    "So?" She pressed gently for more.

    "So when I arrived she panicked I guess, left me with her parents and continued with her life like nothing happened. She even continued her relationship with my dad for a few years before she let it slip. He wasn''t happy."

    I looked at the sun high in the sky, then at the ghost of the moon at the horizon.

    "After a short while the Jourdin''s servants arrived at the old family home of the Skr?skind in Sweden. They took me away, and I arrived at the Jourdin estate. It''s my first memory actually, meeting my dad. I remember I was extremely happy that day. I finally met my dad and he was super nice, even better than everything I had dreamt about. After that I remember a lot of tests, questions, blood tests, even physical ones."

    I felt Frei tense up besides me.

    "Oh no, nothing bad, a long doctor''s visit at most. And as my dad was with me the whole time, I was extatic really. If this bothers you already maybe I should stop."

    She pinched my cheek, I gazed inside her eyes, faking I was hurt.

    Then I looked at the little forest surrounding the temple we were in, vegetation thick enough to create a natural barrier between here and the outside world.

    "Problems began when I met my grandparents. My grandmother convinced my dad to let them train me, while he was gone on the weekdays at work. Later she convinced him I didn''t need a school and that their private tutors would be more effective to teach me than the french educational system. She was definitely right about that, I was at the same level as a french university student when I was 13."

    "Yeah, not impressive." She jokingly added. "Barely means a 7 year old Swede."

    "You''re slightly exaggerating."

    "Slightly. Still, that must''ve been lonely."

    "Terribly so, all my teachers were scared of me, my grandfather barely talked to me and scared the shit out of everyone me included, and my grandmother, even though very nice, was the reason of my suffering. Still, as my future self learned, I wasn''t exactly in a horrible situation either. 10Km2 playing grounds with everything I wanted, I was spoiled. Things began to change when I was around 6 years old."

    "Old enough to hold a wooden sword."

    I laughed.

    "Was that what happened for you?"

    "Yup."

    "Well, for me it wasn''t a wooden sword, but it''s the same idea. I began learning from multiple martial arts masters, my free time only came on the week-ends with my dad. But what truly changed was that my grandfather finally payed attention to me."

    "Doesn''t sound like a good thing."

    "Jean-Paul Jourdin, my grandfather, was a monster, of a kind you cannot write in a fiction because it would seem too unbelievable, not realistic enough."

    "You sound scared."

    "Am I? Well that fear has been deeply ingrained inside my bones after all."

    "He''s dead though isn''t it?"

    "Yes. Even though I have this firm belief that he will still be present as long as a Jourdin walks this earth."

    "You''re being overly dramatic."

    I smirked. "Maybe. Testament of his legacy I guess."

    "He''s the one who taught you how to kill?"

    I nodded slowly.

    "Not only how to kill. He made me practice killing."

    Silence. I didn''t want to look at her.

    "My grandmother taught me how to defend myself and how to survive in every possible situation, her training began when I was 8. But my training with my grandfather began when I was 6 years old. First it was to expand on the techniques I was learning with the other masters. Then he made me spar with lots of different people. Always adults or teenagers. Sometimes he brought unexperienced fighters and ordered me to uncapacitate them the fastest way possible. I believe some of them died because of this. I was unaware at the time, but some of the things I did just so I wouldn''t dissappoint him..."

    "You can''t blame a kid for his caretaker''s mistakes." Frei cut me, almost angrily.

    "I''m not. That''s the worst part I think. It isn''t doing me anything. I know what I did is wrong and that people probably died, but because I know it''s my grandfather''s fault and not mine, I actually don''t feel any guilt. And that''s what I''m feeling guilty about."

    Frei scuffed. "That... actually makes sense uh..."

    "Really?"

    She searched for my eyes, I stood her gaze for a while.

    "Yeah." She answered.

    I looked away.

    "In any case, it got worse and worse over time. Still my relationship with my dad was getting better, and he had convinced my mother to come back and take care of me. I was soon going to be freed of this nightmare, they were going to get married, take me in, we were going to be a normal family. He knew what I was going through, he had managed to flee the Jourdin life because of his intellect, and know he was trying to get me out of it too."

    "He got away from it?"

    "Yeah, by making an undetectable explosive when he was 7 years old."

    "Uhm."

    "It impressed my grandfather enough to prioritise his education over everything else."

    "Fuck me..."

    "Later."

    I saw the corner of her lips go up.

    But silence came again.

    "What is the Jourdin family Sias?"

    I didn''t know what to answer.

    "Let me finish first, maybe you''ll get it then." I decided.

    "Mh".

    "So the dream my father promised wasn''t to be. He may be smart, but hell, he''s bad with people. When my mother arrived and saw me, she actually felt horrible. They showed them the beauty of the estate, the fastious meals, the quality of the education. She felt ashamed. The semblance of motherhood my father had awakened in her was used by my grandfather to make her wish she dissapeared and never faced me again."

    I smiled.

    "Still, my grandfather had underestimated something."

    Frei chuckled. "Let me guess, an arrogant bastard who doesn''t know when to shut up?"

    "Yeah."

    "I know what you did." Frei said.

    "Really?"

    "Simple really, you asked her for a duel."

    "Dang, I''m not feeling that smart about myself anymore."

    "How old where you at that time?"

    "I was supposed to be in my first year of high school I think, so 12? 11 years old?"

    "Pretty impressive, understanding a woman you barely met and acting accordingly when you''re 12."

    "Well, I was following all of her achievements, journals, videos, when the internet began, pretty much anything about my mother in the media I knew about. That''s when I learned about the strange relationship between her and my dad too."

    "You always hoped she would come didn''t you."

    "And I was damn well not going to let my grandfather have his way again so easily. So yes, I challenged her to a duel. My grandfather immediately understood what I was trying to achieve and tried to stop it, but this time my grandmother''s enthousiasm outplayed even himself. He couldn''t stop it."

    "You lost the duel."

    "Of course. But I asked for a rematch. So she had to come back."

    "Shrewd Sias."

    "So from then on, during one year, I battled my mother once a week. Lost every time, but got closer to her, began showing her the rotten innards of the house I was trapped in."

    I stopped. The next part wasn''t something I ever told anyone.

    "Sias, are you alright? We can stop if you want. We have time."

    "Yes we have, but I won''t stop. I want show you what I have done, I want us to be a real couple you see." I smiled to her without happiness.

    She squeezed my hand, not saying anything anymore.

    "So while I was trying my best to convince my mother to get me out of there, I was doing the same with my grandmother. My father would help me, I had no doubts about that. Still if I wanted to be truly freed, I needed to stop grand-p¨¨re in his tracks, make it impossible for him to try to get me back. I thought my grandmother would be able to reason with him."

    I took a long breath.

    "One day, for our survival training, she didn''t show up. I knew right there and then, she was dead."

    "He killed..."

    "She had come in the way of his greater plan, where I had the critical role of being his future, the future heir of the Jourdins."

    "He liked you?"

    "In his own twisted way. You have to understand that he wasn''t like villains you see on televisions, or those we recently met. Those are bad, but honestly, the damage they can do is limited. Fundamentally, they know that what they are doing is wrong, the give out excuses to live their lie as comfortably as possible, but one day or another truth comes around. Even the worst hitman has a story, family, reasons of why they do what they do."

    "You seem awfully sure about that."

    "Well the Jourdins have a section if you could say it like that, that focuses on the dark sides of the world. They took the role of a peacekeeper of some sorts. They manage conflicts so it doesn''t go out of hand."

    "This doesn''t seem that bad."

    "Let me phrase it differently. As long as you''re not delving into nuclear, bio-chemicals, or advanced mass murders, the Jourdin let you be. If you begin to threaten the litte structure the underground has built, you get a small commando army in your back door, and everyone dies. Your friends, family, your neighbors, your lawyer, your gardener, everyone. There are entire villages that have dissapeared. Ghost cities, with no-one to testify, no-one to take revenge. This side of the Jourdin has organized genocides, just to maintain the system it had created."

    "You''re being overly dramatic. Right."

    I looked at my lover.

    She was scared.

    Good.

    "No."

    She gulped.

    "But that''s not..."

    "It is. I was on three of those missions. To learn."

    "But..."

    "But nothing, to be fair I didn''t do anything, I watched as everyone died around me. While the people I knew where laughing about the whores they''ll fuck the same night."

    "Sias... I''m..."

    "You don''t have to say anything. I didn''t enjoy any of it, and I would like it if my past didn''t change your perception of the present me. But I know it''s impossible. Just take your time to digest it, I''ll wait for what you have to say afterwards. Right now I''ll just finish the story."

    I took a deep breath and continued, scared of watching the expression on Frei''s face.

    "So after the third time, I couldn''t cope with it anymore. My grandmother was gone, the session were increasingly cruel and violent, soon I arrived at a point where my grandfather wanted to teach me interrogation techniques."

    "Oh no..."

    "Yeah, you know what that means, I recently learned those things are way too imprecise to be useful, but I guess no one told my grandfather. As crazy as he was, he actually adored the scientific method, if he knew he would have found another, probably as cruel, method to obtain what he wanted. But, anyway, those new lessons forced me to change my strategy."

    I remembered the anger. My first thirst of blood.

    When he showed me the inside of the room. A fateful day.

    There she was, alive, barely.

    My grandmother.

    "Sias?"

    This I wouldn''t tell her, I would keep that one to the grave. No one had to know, should know this kind of twisted, cruel joke of fate.

    "SIAS?" Frei almost shouted.

    "Mh? Yeah sorry I was lost in thoughts."

    "I thought I lost you there, you seemed, angry. Dark."

    "Emo-me surfaced, sorry." I joked.

    She didn''t laugh. Only seemed more worried.

    I continued.

    "So I changed my plan. For one my grandfather would be proud of."

    "Sias..."

    "No I''ll finish it. First, I beat my mother."

    She laughed, a sour laugh. "That one I don''t believe."

    "I won, I assure, because I needed to. So I used my biggest strength, the truth. She dropped her sword so I won."

    "The thing you did with my father."

    "Something like that."

    "And then?"

    "Then I watched her take revenge for me. The fourth time."

    "I don''t understand."

    "Hailey Skr?skind, I used her to get my revenge."

    "You used?"

    "Manipulated, convinced, however you want to turn it."

    "Oh Sias. No you didn''t..."

    "I did. I realized what I had done when my grandfather breathed his last."

    Frei didn''t say anything.

    "I had just become what he wanted to, I created a strategy, a plan, to destroy, no to annihilate my enemy completely. I was his perfect heir. So I made a promise to myself. That I would do my very to beat him. I wouldn''t become him. So I left, went to school, and learned, not the lessons but the people. That''s where I met Fanny, she taught me I wasn''t the only one with crappy situations, every one, in his own way had some, the only difference was that there were some who couldn''t beat it, and some who could. I learned many things to be honest. And today finally I could use what I was taught, and use it in my own way, not to destroy but to grow."

    I watched as the sun was swlowly setting. Soon it would be to cold to stay outside.

    But for now I waited for the tears of my lover to stop falling.

    Something was softly touching my heart as after every drop of water, I felt it lighten a strange weight on my shoulders.

 An old business associate. v2

    "At least let me take my father''s katana."

    "I''d rather you don''t." I answered my girlfriend.

    "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

    Was she using bad words more often since we met? I clearly didn''t remember her using ''fucking'' so much before. Was I a bad influence?

    "Sias?"

    "Sorry Panzer Frei."

    "Do NOT call me that."

    "S''xcuse me M''am."

    She shouted in rage, her voice slightly echoing in the empty dojo.

    A bunch of weapons and clothing were disposed on the tatamis in front of us, clearly disrespecting the Dojo. But thinking about it, we did way more disrespectful things in the Dojo before.

    And as we had only 24 hours before our meeting with Shikami, I didn''t think Morihei-sama would have cared that much.

    "No weapons. Really?" She repeated.

    "Yeah, sorry. Could you listen to my explanation before you use that scalpel you''re brandishing since the last five minutes."

    "Talk!" She said without dropping the scalpel.

    What was a scalpel good for anyway? Where did she find one? Shiwazaki-sensei? What would he be doing with a...

    "SIAS."

    Now that one was pretty scary I''ll admit.

    "If everything goes to plan, we won''t have to move a finger. I''d rather not tempt Shikami and his goons to shoot us on sight because we look armed."

    She took a deep breath, thank god. Still had the scalpel though.

    "What should I expect."

    "I told you I won''t tell you."

    "Sias..."

    "Fine, I''ll give you something, you know about our family''s old deathsquad right?"

    "The miniature soulless army? Maker of ghost-towns?"

    "Yup."

    "Shit."

    "Yeah."

    "Didn''t it get destroyed by your mom?"

    "Oh no, they were not technically part of the family, just long term business associates. They have nothing to do with the old Jourdin''s bodyguards."

    "Those are all dead."

    "Yup." I stated again.

    "What have I gotten myself into."

    "You can still..."

    She pointed the scalpel at my neck.

    I shut up.

    "No problem taking the bulletproof clothes then." By her voice, it didn''t seem negociable. I didn''t add anything, not wanting to get scalped, but also because she was right. There was no reason we shouldn''t take the clothes. Especially considering their high quality: protecting chest, thighs and neck. Quite on the heavy side, but not so much considering the large range of protection they offered. It wouldn''t stop an assault rifle, but considering we were in Japan, we should only be expecting small calibers. What''s more, they were relatively hidden, we''d need to wear thick clothing, but with the beginning of spring, it wouldn''t seem all that strange.

    "Tou-san gave them to us." She added.

    I had guessed already, but nodded nonetheless. Bodyguard teacher and all.

    We dressed in silence, we would scout the area of the meet tonight. Our plan had been established throughout the week. I hadn''t told Frei what to fully expect during the meeting because I wanted her to geniunely feel uneasy. I didn''t trust her acting. I actually told that straight to her face two days ago. She agreed with me, but not before beating the shit out of me in training.

    "Ikou." She told me, her eyes full of fire. Probably coming out of the engines of an old german tank hidden somewhere inside her blood.

    "Allons-y!"

    "Did you just quote the Doctor?"

    "Who?"

    The meet was at To-ji, one of the most touristic spot of Kyoto, which, considering the number of them, was pretty impressive. Still, what was more impressive was that it had been closed for tomorrow, as a closeby poster informed us.

    Me and Frei shared a quick glance when we first saw it. Knowing full well what it meant. Shikami wanted to be undisturbed on our meeting. This wasn''t boding well for our chances of resolving the conflict without violence.

    Well it''s not like this was unexpected, and it just made me sigh.

    We couldn''t get inside the temple, or shrine (I never knew which was which) as it was closed for the night, but I went to the place in the past.

    Kyoto didn''t have any tall buildings, a law preventing skyscrapers of ruining the beauty of the old city. As such, there was no risks of snipers. To-ji being surrounded by a park, there was no line of sight. This was actually good and bad at the same time. We wouldn''t have to deal with snipers, but it would also mean my father wouldn''t be able to deploy some of our own.

    All in all, it meant our scouting was cut short, and we rested at a nearby net caf¨¦.

    It was certain we would be spotted there, but that was the point. We were innocent, weak and dumb little girls, hiding in a place full of cameras.

    If we didn''t take into account my slight intimidation with the message in blood at the hotel, the first bodyguards had been taken down by my mother, the crazy teenager had gone AWOL and the Osaka killer had died in a mysterious dust explosion.

    Well, if it was me I definitely would review my danger rating of the target, but what I understood of Shikami was that he was far different from Takehiro Kakeshi, the old japanese "magician". As much as Kakeshi was calm, calculating and crazy manipulative, Shikami seemed temperamental and prideful. Still he wasn''t to be underestimated, to avoid any kind of retribution by the law, he had to have at least the same number of contacts as the old onmyouji.

    Frei was sleeping while I was thinking. Her head resting on my shoulder. It made me feel giddy. I didn''t even know I could feel like that. Still something was bothering me, it was pretty hard to have such a large network, two different people, two japanese ones at that, using that kind of network to kill me. Something was off. Still they were definitely two different individuals. Takehiro had shown his hand already, and proved he could win whenever he wanted. There was no reason to use this kind of action for him.

    Pensive, I unconsciously began stroking Frei''s hair. This was slowly becoming a habit. Good. Next I studied her face, this too was getting a regular thing.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    No way you could see any german engineering within her resting face.

    The thought made me smile.

    Four hours until sunrise.

    I woke up two hours later, the lit screen of my smarthpone disturbing my sleep.

    Frei was, as usual, snuggling to me like I was a big teddy bear.

    I managed to free myself without waking her, well at least partially enough to read the message.

    "What the..." I whispered.

    An unknown number had sent me a message.

    ''When light rises First,

    come to the place of the mass,

    recieve help from Order.''

    "What the hell." I blurted out.

    That woke Frei up. I saw her emerging from sleep, which looked comfortable, and her cute face slowly growing aware, pensive and concentrated.

    "Greetings angel from the deep, have you come to reap my heart or steal my soul."

    It seemed she was trying to show annoyance by my flirting, but only managed to look cuter.

    "You definitely have something mixed up in that sentence."

    "Hardly, I just made it up seeing my world brigthen up as you stood up."

    "Shut up" She said, kissing me next. "You''re a horrible flirter."

    "It would seem I''m a pretty good one considering I got exactly what I wanted."

    She made half a facepalm, and decided to ignore me completely and read the message.

    "Is this supposed to be a Haiku?"

    I re-read my message.

    5-7-5?

    "Is it?"

    "I think, it''s really bad though."

    Ah, I finally understood who sent it to me.

    "A weapons dealer and an artist is pretty incompatible after all."

    "You know who that is." She stated.

    "Yeah thanks to you. I know only one guy who sends those kind of poetry-fueled bullcrap. Erm, Bodaway Kuwanlelenta is his name, or codename, if I remember well."

    "What kind of name is that?"

    "Native American I think. He looks like one too. He always freaked me out when I was younger."

    "Why?"

    "Well, he''s the reason why I''m not against the idea of Kakeshi Takehiro actually being a real onmyouji user."

    Frei didn''t add anything.

    "Basically it sometimes feels like he sees the future."

    "I know another person who does that time to time." She sarcastically added.

    "I don''t see the future."

    "But you damn well can guess someone''s past with two sentences and a handshake."

    I rolled my eyes.

    "Yeah sure, and that is why Japan is hell, not one person to handshake, such tragedy for my powers."

    "You know what I mean. I''m pretty serious too."

    "I can''t see a person''s past Frei."

    "Just continue telling yourself that."

    I sighed.

    "Anyway we''ve got a meeting with Bodaway in..." I looked at the time on my phone. "Less than two hours, at what I guess is a conveniece store near To-ji..."

    "You think the place of the mass is a convenience store?" She said after re-reading the message herself.

    "Feels like that to me. By mass he means the masses, which to him are no better than animals shitting and eating. The place where you do that in Japan is convenience stores."

    "Could as well be a Ramen shop."

    ...

    "Yes."

    "You didn''t think about that did you. So we''re supposed to find a guy in a convenience store or a ramen shop, or an izakaya, or anywhere really, around one of the busiest places of Kyoto."

    "Yes." I repeated blankly.

    It was Frei''s turn to sigh.

    "Are you sure we can trust this guy? He''s part of the deathsquad right? Looking at how he sees groups of human..."

    "Yeah, you definitely need fucked up views of humankind to justify those kind of actions. To him a normal human has no more value than a cow. Still, he considers the Jourdin as some of the exceptional people, fighting against chaos, worth the sacrifice of everyone else."

    Frei nodded. "I got it. So we''re out to meet a crazy native american seer who kills people in the name of the natural Order."

    "It is a nice summary of the situation, yes. He only sells weapons though."

    "Only." She sighed again, and got herself dressed.

    It seemed my first guess had been correct. As we found a crazy native american guy dressed like a japanese businessman, reading the pornographic magazines inside the conbini closest to To-ji.

    "Sias, it has been too long." He told me without looking away from the busty japanese girl in a swimsuit at least two sizes too short.

    "Bodaway."

    "I call myself Bukishogun now." He said, turning the page to see another japanese girl, as busty as the previous one but this time wearing a school uniform no school had ever sold.

    Frei gave me a hard, long look.

    ARE YOU SERIOUS.

    I raised my hands and shoulders.

    "Erm since when?" I asked.

    "Since I arrived in this magnificent country."

    "And you arrived...?" Asked Frei, her voice hardly hiding her tremendous annoyance.

    Her voice made him turn around, looking at us both, he stared Frei a few instants, like he was gauging her price on a meat market, before answering.

    "Well I arrived two days ago. I was supposed to only land this morning, but I heard so much about this place, I had to take a few days for myself."

    Frei pinched her nose.

    This conversation was going to have to end quickly.

    "So...Bukishogun? What do I owe the pleasure, you don''t actively participate in the group''s events right?"

    "No, of course not, I only create the metal and fire, and lend them in exchange for the life''s essence."

    Translation: Money.

    "So I repeat, what do I owe the pleasure."

    We were stopped by a sudden gust of wind.

    A japanese businessman had entered the conbini. He saw me and Frei first, then looked at the erotic book, before giving the greatest condescending stare ever at the person holding it.

    In response, the latter just turned to another page.

    Strange how much clothing had dissapeared from the schoolgirl, with the exception of the actual school uniform.

    The japanese man clearly outraged ''at those disgusting gaijins'' left for the back of the store, leaving us to our ridiculous conversation.

    "Bokishogun?"

    "Bukishogun." He corrected.

    Then he changed. The aura around him went from a nonchalant, empty feeling, to one filled with danger and something else, something old.

    "I have something you shall recieve." Said another voice, still coming from the same man.

    "Sias..." Frei had felt the change in athmosphere too.

    "I shall? No options given?" I asked carefully.

    "They didn''t give me a choice, you shan''t have one either."

    "They? Sias, what is this guy talking about?" Frei was getting slightly freaked out, as was I if I was honest. Things always happened around Bodaway Kuwanlelenta, but never like this.

    I had a vague idea whoThey were but now wasn''t the time.

    Bodaway Kuwanlelenta drew out a knife. A rather small one, but filled with unreadable inscriptions. It''s blade seemed coated with something.

    We immediately readied ourselves, but he didn''t wield the weapon.

    He let it lie in his palms, blade facing us.

    "Mrowendalanagi." He chanted.

    Without him moving a finger, the knife flew out of his hands, clearly going straight for my jugular.

    I didn''t have time to react, too surprised by the impossible act, but Frei did.

    Without any hesitation she pushed me away from the blade''s trajectory.

    "Frei, no...!" I shouted, falling, understanding what was going to happen as I was going to hit the ground.

    She was now in the knife''s path and she wouldn''t be able to...

    But nothing happened.

    Frei was still standing up, and I was on the ground. Dumbly watching the knife in the Native American''s hands, having not moved an inch.

    "It seems you are not deemed chaotic. Both of you. As such this knife is now yours. I thought having been the one to kill such a Paragon of Order as was the b¨¬''¨¢t''¨ªn¨ª Jourdin would have made you the final recipient of the bee na''anish¨ª, but it seems I was wrong. Sias, let us see each other soon." He said, his aura having changed back. He turned around and continued to read his magazine.

    Frei helped me up.

    "What the hell happened." Her eyes were fixed on the man''s back. "What''s more he didn''t give you the bee naaan thing anyway, what is he thinking."

    I winced. I wasn''t hurt, it was what I felt under my clothes that made me react so.

    I quickly checked.

    A knife had found it''s place in a hidden holster next to my heart. A holster I didn''t own and a knife that was still supposed to be in Bodaway''s hands.

    "Sias, you''re alright?"

    "I have the knife."

    She turned around to look at me.

    "I have the knife" I repeated, looking her in the eyes.

    Once more, a sudden gust of wind cut our talk short. The convience store''s doors had once more opened.

    But no one came in or out.

    And as we looked back at the store''s adult section, Bodaway had vanished without trace. If not for a missing magazine.

    "I don''t like your old pals."

    "Me neither."

 Deathsquad. v2

    "Well, this is unpleasant."

    I don''t if it was I or Frei who said that, as it clearly expressed both of our feelings of the moment.

    We were at the entrance of the beauty of Kyoto, the tower of To-ji. Some tourist were trying to get closer, but none dared pass through the make-shift barrier blocking the real metallic one further down the road.

    We did though, and inside the little house next to the main entrance, where a guard should have been posted, only a splatter of blood on the window welcomed us.

    "Let''s get moving." I said.

    "Shouldn''t we..." Frei began, even though she knew the answer perfectly well.

    I just passed the metallic gate without answering.

    She followed me closely, making herself as unthreathening as possible.

    "This sucks."

    Around the tower, there was only a big open space.

    As we circled around, we found a podium, one you would sometimes see in the street for small bands or idol meets. Six men waited around it, two placed at it''s base and four on top, clearly protecting the young man standing in the middle of the scene. He had his back to the tower, his sides were hidden by the concert structure, and nothing but thick trees were in front of him. That and a what seemed like a 40 cm glass wall. He wasn''t underestimating us as much as I would have hoped.

    That and I immediately recognised 5of his goons from the documents my father sent me. Which wasn''t good.

    They were also armed with military grade equipment, 3 M4A1 and 3 SCAR-L.

    What the hell Japan. Do your job.

    No point in our bulletproof clothing now.

    Frei tensed up behind me. She had come to the same conclusion. Whatever we expected, this Shikami guy was either more intelligent or more cowardly than I first thought.

    And looking at the guy in the middle I would say a bit of both. I knew him, didn''t remember his name, but I sure as hell wouldn''t forget the guy who most likely slipped the fateful drug in my glass.

    Immediately being spotted as we arrived in front of them, the five guards I recognised aimed towards us, their weapons security off.

    No finger on the trigger though.

    Yet.

    The guy I couldn''t remember the name got up of his... throne?... with what looked like a champagne glass in hand.

    Well, scratch my previous thought, this guy was definitely stupid. What''s with the throne. Did the guy think we were in Game of Thrones?

    How much did he pay to get a fucking throne illegaly into a heavily guarded area?

    What''s more, now that I looked at him again, his face was similar to someone else.

    "Welcome Sias-chan!" He began in Japanese. And after a dry snort. "I''m happy you came, tasuketa-yo!" I blocked off the rest of his evil speech to concentrate on what was bothering me. I couldn''t understand most of what he was saying anyway.

    Two individuals, same nationality, gigantic networks, both similar objectives, one who should have been caught by the cops ages ago and another who will probably never even get bothered by them, what''s more even their facial features were similar.

    "...finally proving him he''s..."

    "You''re Takehiro''s grandson." I cut him off.

    That seemed to have a slight effect. He immediately shut up and stared at me, scared for a second.

    A coward then.

    "His son." The selfproclamed Shikami told me, switching to english.

    "I trust you know what you''re doing Sias, but please be careful." Frei whispered behind me.

    "I promised I would try my best." I whispered back, before addressing myself to Shikami again.

    "My bad, his son. Do you think he''ll finally respect you when you get our heads?"

    I had pulled him out of his little grandiose theater play, and he went back to what I remembered him to be, a creepy young adult, struggling to be responsible, rather using his parent''s money to forget the problems troubling him.

    "I...I...yes, it''s the first time he failed to get what he wanted, if I succeed where he failed, I''ll be sure to..."

    "You''re mistaken Shikami."

    "I''m whAT?" He snorted again.

    "He didn''t fail, he was just too late, the object he wanted to obtain has been used already. But I guess he didn''t tell you so he could test you."

    "What are you talking about?"

    "He''s not happy about you is he? You''re a pain in his ass, always having to clean up your messes. Me for example, you couldn''t even get me in Japan like he told you, so he had to come himself to France. A rather large waste of money. He even had to destroy a clinic to hide your failures."

    "You don''t understand anything." He seemed more and more like a child with a tantrum.

    "Of course not, still as I am not going to help you in any way, could you let us go?"

    "And why would I do that?"

    "I believe this is the test he created for you. Would you respect his wishes, and spare me like he did, or will you dissapoint him once again?"

    The young man snorted one more time. Whether that was a normal habit or one due to an abusive consumption of cocaine, I couldn''t tell. But if he was consuming hard drugs, this was gonna get messy. His brain would be too damaged to take the right decision.

    "Well I think I''m big enough to take my own decisions, he''ll respect that...right?"

    He turned to face his sixth bodyguard, the one closest to him, and the only one not aiming at us. I couldn''t recognise him due to his paintball mask, but his demeanor, they way he shrugged his shoulders.

    "I don''t know." He answered in a perfect british accent.

    "You''re useless, I''m just going to..."Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    "Hi Dan." I told the bodyguard.

    The guard turned to face me, cutting into his boss''s speech without a care in the world.

    "Sias, rather displeased meeting you again in those conditions. Still, you look more lovely than I remember. If you were like this before, I would have been extra careful in protecting you."

    I could see the grin under the mask.

    "Daniel, what are you doing?" Asked Shikami.

    "It''s an old friend, can''t have a chat before gunning him down?"

    Of course Shikami wouldn''t let that...

    "Sure, do as you please..." Said the young man before sitting back on his throne.

    Oh. OH. Jackpot.

    "So Daniel, how''s Takehiro''s paycheck?"

    "It''s Kakeshi-san to you Sias."

    "Sorry, having a hard time respecting a man who want''s to kill me."

    "Understandable."

    Frei held my hand, feeling something had changed. I had, imperceptably, taken control of the situation, courtesy of Jean-Paul Jourdin and his gigantic web of relationships.

    "So, you didn''t get the memo?" I simply asked.

    You could see the tension suddenly gripping the old killer''s body.

    "The memo?"

    Shikami seemed to wake up, not able to accept anything could happen without him for two minutes.

    "What''s he talking about Daniel."

    But Daniel Vortenga didn''t answer him.

    "I went dark five years ago, and after Kakeshi-san, I didn''t have the option to get in touch with my old contacts."

    "A shame." I stated.

    "Sias..."

    "I''m rather unpleased Daniel." I cut him off.

    He shut up.

    "I don''t remember giving you the right to stop calling me Master Sias."

    "You cheeky..." He laughed.

    "How''s your daughter."

    He stopped laughing.

    "DANIEL, I order you to tell me what he...she''s talking about!"

    Now even the other guards had lost their composure, even though the assassins were all experienced, the boss here was for sure Daniel. None had his skills after all.

    And Shikami wasn''t his employer.

    Which meant the real person I should talk to wasn''t the snotty brat, but the man payed to protect that snotty brat.

    "You don''t know anything Master Sias, you''re bluffing." Daniel answered.

    "The fact you just called me Master again seems to me you don''t really think that."

    One of the other goons pulled down his gun and addressed the old hitman directly.

    "Vortenga what the fuck are you doing this kid is just..."

    Before getting shut up by two bullets in his chest and one in his skull.

    In a swift movement, Daniel had drawn a semi-automatic pistol and shot the guard.

    The assassins turned around, not knowing what to do anymore.

    Frei and I winced at the dead body.

    If they didn''t heed my warning, they would die. I was feeling sorry for them, but that was how it was going to be. They wouldn''t get as many options to leave as the Osaka killer, but I would damn well make sure they had one more.

    I addressed every single one by their name before saying to all of them.

    "You can leave now and you''ll live. I give you my word as the Jourdin''s true heir."

    Daniel removed his mask. Letting me see his burnt lower lip and the deep scar on his right cheek.

    "Shit. I should just shoot you here and now."

    "DANIEL. WHAT ARE YOU DOING." The shocked Shikami seemed to finally understand what had happened, and drew out a phone from his pocket, before talking the fastest japanese I have ever heard.

    Daniel let him do all that without arching an eyebrow. Much to my regret. They were going to have reinforcments.

    The old hitman was only concentrating on myself.

    "How many?" He asked.

    "Probably 20. It''s me we''re talking about after all." A slight bluff.

    He snorted, ignoring my bluff. He was concentrating on something else "Shit. The grass. I knew something was off."

    I had no idea how the grass seemed off, but well, he was more experienced than me on those matters.

    Daniel was pensive.

    "Is my daughter...?"

    "Of course, you''re a friend Daniel, I only guessed after you told me you went dark."

    "Yeah, of course, well played..."

    "Fuck this, I''m out." Suddenly said one of the other assassins. Shikami opened his mouth like a enormous whale.

    The remaining three began talking to him in different languages.

    "Mais de quoi tu parles?" Asked one of them. (What are you talking about).

    "The fucking grass...look."

    "SheiBe" Another, younger sounding assassin said. "Ich zulle him Shiesse, schweinen..."

    The german guy drew his gun towards me, clearly intending to shoot.

    Except Daniel and I, everyone flinched when his gun shot the ground.

    The last spasm of a dead man.

    One moment he was alive, and now he was dead.

    I looked at the dead body. One more that could have been avoided.

    The other assassins silently took their equipment and left. Not trying to understand any of what had happened.

    Daniel stayed. He climbed down of the podium, leaving a terrified and now mute (thank god) Shikami.

    The last remaining assassin checked the german guy.

    "A fucking blowdart." He noted. "Blow is there?"

    Silence answered him. It seemed to be enough.

    "My employer won''t be happy." Was Daniel''s final words before leaving.

    Shikami looked at me like I was the devil itself.

    "Well, you told me we wouldn''t have to lift a finger." Noted Frei behind me, notably calmer.

    "Yeah, well, to be honest I didn''t think it would go that well. Still not good as it could have been."

    "What are you talking about Master Sias, shit went great."

    Seven camouflaged men got out of the ground like nothing special was happening.

    "Fuck me, I hate those stake-outs, my back hurts like hell."

    "Tu pourrais faire comme moi et prendre un coussin."

    "You''re crazy, it almost made Daniel spot us."

    "I''m surprised he didn''t." Said an african giant, making their sudden appearance even more unbelievable. "He''s getting rusty."

    "He just triple-jacked a pro in a heartbeat. How is that rusty?"

    I was really only watching one of them. The Leader. "Blow".

    Many made a joke about a blowjob with the south-american, 1m60 man''s name.

    Once.

    He rarely spoke.

    He rarely moved.

    He tilted his head slightly, looking back at me.

    I did the same.

    "So, seems like the tables have turned." I said to Shikami.

    It was over.

    He had a nervous laugh.

    "I''ll be fine I called Tou-tou..."

    And now he was getting delusional.

    "Sias." Frei intervened, clearly shocked about everything that had just happened "This is crazy. I think I walked on one of them. Still, kid here is right, we should expect company."

    At her words the elite mercenaries just laughed, except Blow who seemed on edge.

    I sighed.

    Blow tensed up.

    The air changed.

    This atmosphere was eerie. It told me I was mistaken.

    It was not the end, just the beginning.

    With a speed similar to the one of my mother''s Blow grabbed his blowdart...

    But it was too late.

    "Do not call me so in public Aho." Said a voice I could never forget.

    Just like the Jourdin''s deathsquad had appeared out of nowhere.

    Kakeshi Takehiro, without as much as a whisper, had come into existence behind me and Frei. Behind all of the soldiers who had revealed their position.

    None of them moved. Blow was stuck in the forever still motion of him pulling his signature weapon out of it''s holster.

    "Get out son. I don''t want to see your face. Do you know how much this Kami costs?"

    Kakeshi Takehiro told his son.

    "Tou...Otou-sama, gomenasai, demo..."

    "Miss Jourdin here even had the courtesy of giving you multiple outs! You disappoint me once again, and now, as usual I will clean up the mess.

    The dumb kid ran away, no one moving a finger to stop him.

    As much as the Jourdin''s team seemed stuck in time, Frei and I were free of our movements, we didn''t try to stop him because it would have been futile.

    "Things didn''t go as planned."

    "Really Frei? I hadn''t noticed."

 The end of an era. v2

    Fact is, we were in deep shit.

    We could move sure, but against someone who just immobilized seven hired gunman who made even professionals look like beginners, I didn''t see how that would help.

    "Should we run?" Frei asked.

    "Sounds like a great idea."

    "So, you''ve got a better plan?"

    "Kikoemasu..." Said the monster in human skin.

    I had forgotten the effect of his voice, making my skin crawl. A strong desire to vomit.

    It seemed to be just me, as Frei was still looking for outs, but I knew. I knew we wouldn''t reach 10 meters.

    I turned around, looked at the middle-aged japanese businessman, dressed in a lemon colored Kenzo suit. Even though it should have been ridiculous, the craftmaship made it magnificent, I would have loved to own such a suit when I was still a man. In his hands he held a small notebook, very ancient looking. It seemed to have been burnt, ripped apart, immerged in oil, and then roughly stitched back in one piece again with different colored strings. It would have been a splendid piece in a contemporary art museum.

    All in all, he seemed even more charismatic and powerful than the time I saw him in the Jourdin estate.

    Maybe we should have taken our chances there and then.

    But what I was looking for in the semblance of a man wasn''t there. A weakness, something I could use to destabilize, take control of the situation.

    There was only one man who had ever managed that.

    And he was buried 50m deep under the Jourdin estate.

    But still, I promised I would try my best.

    "Kakeshi-san, I can''t say I''m happy to see you." I introduced.

    "Me neither dear Sias-chan, what terrible circumstances to meet again. I would have hoped we could have done it around coffee or tea. And here we are, facing each other again. I was such good friends with your grand-father, how sad."

    He softly caressed the cover of his book.

    I heard one of the deathsquad''s man grunt in pain. Still no movement from them.

    "Before you begin using whatever is in your book, could we talk a bit?"

    That made him stop for a moment and he seemed to think about it.

    "Really Sias?" Whispered Frei. "This guy gives me the creeps, and he just time froze everything around us..."

    "Any better idea?"

    "I don''t see how we get out of this alive to be honest. You go east, I go west?"

    "Nah, no point, he''ll catch up." I told her. Then quietly, out of Kakeshi-san''s reach I added "Protect our backs, chances are he hits us there."

    Not seeing his weaknesses didn''t mean I couldn''t guess how this guys mind would work.

    I had lived with such a man for a long time after all.

    Frei nodded, smiling.

    "What the hell are you smiling for."

    "We are finally fighting together."

    Was this really the moment? I didn''t know but I guess I smiled back.

    Our opponent finally seemed to get out of his thoughts and watched me in the eyes.

    "Well, with this smile as payment, how could I say no?"

    "I wasn''t going to kill him. Your son I mean."

    Kakeshi-san smiled sadly.

    "I know dear, I followed your recent achievements, as long as he was unarmed, which he was, you would never have killed him in cold blood."

    "So why the standoff?"

    "Well, you are not the problem, the problem is everything around you. Luc Jourdin, your father, has awakened the Jourdin again. He shouldn''t have, as you are the true heir. As such, even though he sould be the one punished, it is you who has to take responsability."

    "He has what?"

    "You didn''t think bringing them back wouldn''t have consequences did you? All the sides of the Jourdin who had gone dark have begun awakening. All my efforts in taking control of some of them have fallen flat on their face. I rather enjoyed the competition when I was young, but now, truly, I cannot be bothered to have an enemy such as you in the future. My son wouldn''t survive, and most likely my businesses outside of Japan would not either."

    Papa... what have you done... I couldn''t hide a pained expression at those news.

    I knew my father was a Jourdin, and as such I could never truly believe he only cared about his research and his wife.

    He was manipulative and had more hidden agendas than even my grand-father. Still most of them were to do good. At least I believed he was a good man.

    But with the Jourdin family, it always had been ambiguous. Sure he hated his father, maybe even more than me. But he never expressed any dissaproval for the family in itself.

    And I think this was proof. He didn''t want power, that I was sure of. No, what he wanted was me. He wanted me to take my "rightful" place.

    This meeting with Takeshi-san too.

    "You do know you are doing my father''s bidding." I asked Kakeshi.

    His ever-present smile slightly dipped down.

    "How so?"

    "He didn''t make a mistake in reawakening the Jourdin''s network you know. Nor did he not imagine that doing so would make us enemies. It''s the point, to regain the influence we lost, what better way than to destroy the strongest man in Japan."

    He scuffed.

    "Ridiculous, your father is not..."

    "Is more manipulative, controlling and strategic than even Jean-Paul. Do you really call yourself his friend if you don''t believe that man wouldn''t be able to do all of this."

    "He is not Jean-Paul, and even if he was, Luc-san made a mistake, he didn''t take into account I would react so quickly. It is true that you could become dangerous, but right now, you are still a chick." He grinned. "End of the talk. Look at the impossible and marvel at the end of your life."

    "Frei." I announced.

    "I know." She answered.

    In a swift movement of the left hand, the book began elevating in the air, like being pulled away by invisible strings.

    At an incredible speed, the Onmyouji began reciting what seemed like an old buddhist chant.

    At the same time, the book opened, and like a bad game animation, the pages began turning on their own. Wind began blowing out of him, coming from nowhere, with such strength it made it impossible for us to get closer to the crazy magician.

    Fuck, magic was real. And I didn''t even get a ressurection cheat before facing my first boss.

    "You''re way too old to aim this correctly." I felt the need to say.

    Kakeshi-san, hiccuped, for some reason surprised, but continued chanting like nothing happened.

    His eyes though, were now fixed on me.

    "Sias? What have you done?"

    "First of all a mistake, it doesn''t seem like the first move is gonna be coming from behind. Get ready to dodge."

    "That''s not what I was talking about it and you now it. Still, dodge what exactly?"

    "How the fuck should I know? But if I had to guess with the fair amount of anime I''ve watched in my days, I would guess..."

    The book floating in the air ignited, rapidely transforming in a yellow, red, then blue and white ball of fire.

    "...a fireball." I finished.

    "ARE YOU SERIOUS." Shouted Frei.

    The heat, even from where we were, was rapidely getting unbearable.

    Frei was the first to react to this, she jumped towards one of the deathsquad, the african 2m20 giant to be precise, and pulled out the handgun out of his holster and his machete.

    Damn she shouldn''t have taken his machete, he would be super pissed off if he ever woke up.

    She took a knee on the ground and began shooting a full magazine at the figure behind the molten core. At the distance we were, it was impossible for her to miss. And she didn''t, it''s just that the magical ball of death and destruction sucked all the bullets like a miniature black hole.

    "Shit."

    "SIAS, this is not a SHIT situation, this is a fucking DISASTER, what do we do, wait for him to transform the whole place into summer California?"

    "Ha! Good one!"

    "SIAS!"

    "I DON''T FUCKING KNOW."

    "Great."

    But there was no plan to be made.

    His chant ended as quickly as it began.

    And the hellish magic unleashed thousands of little bees of light and heat, exploding towards us.

    "GET DOWN." I shouted unnecesarely, as Frei had already ducked.

    The sound was an abomination. The heat was unbearable. My sleaves began spontaneously combusting, and I was really happy Frei and I didn''t wear any synthetic materials as it would definitely have melted on our skins.

    Still I couldn''t see how Frei was faring as I had to close my eyes to endure the immense burst of light.

    Fortunately, it didn''t last more than a few dozen seconds. And I was still alive. I quickly removed my sweater and stomped on it to put out the flames.

    Fanny was gonna kill me. She liked that sweater. Probably because it accentuated my boobs.

    Frei?

    I looked around but I was still partly blinded. She was somewhere behind me, and looked ok.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    She put up a thumbs up.

    We were alive.

    Great.

    "Your hair is burning Sias."

    Shit.

    I cut the burning lock of hair before it could do any damage to me.

    The knife in my hands felt weird. Alive.

    My senses slowly came back to me.

    The knife.

    The hilt was as cold as ice.

    The blade was red from heat.

    "Shinjirarenai? Ikiteru?" Spoke an astonished Kakeshi-san.

    I looked around me.

    Kakeshi-san was standing at the border between green and burnt grass. Everthing in front of him was burnt. The To-Ji tower was catching fire. The podium was gone.

    Except us and the deathsquad, still standing like dumbasses in the middle of the burning field.

    Our survival coudn''t even be qualified miraculous. It was impossible.

    And still here we stood.

    It was the first time I saw the Onmyouji lose his cool. He seemed pensive.

    Frei, as usual didn''t hesitate, she reloaded the gun she stole, and shot.

    Kakeshi surprised, still managed to open his book, the one that should only be dust as it was in the middle of the hell, but was currently only smoking, and tore away a page.

    The moment Frei pulled the trigger, the torn page took life, and dissipated into mist.

    Frei stopped moving, the bullets too.

    The japanese man cursed, completely out of character.

    "TWO Kamis, TWO Kamis for this shitty son. I''m gonna teach him a lesson. I swear this is unnacceptable. Still what happened... I couldn''t have missed..." His face showed sudden understanding.

    He looked at me.

    "Tell me Sias-chan, can you move?"

    As I was moving towards Frei to see if she was okay, I didn''t feel the need to answer.

    "Interesting." He continued, talking to himself.

    Frei looked like the others, stuck in time. Still she was aware, she could move her eyes, and was looking at me in terror.

    "Don''t worry, I''ll get you out." I promised without much conviction. Then I saw her eyes. "I trust you. " I said.

    "We fight together." I added.

    The man behind me laughed. Eerily.

    "Subarashii! Subarashii! I finally understand what the Blood on the Lance does! How terrifying."

    I looked at him. He had a crazed smile on his face.

    I circled around him, I didn''t want the paralysed Frei to stand behind me.

    He closed his book with one hand. A big puff of black smoke spewed out of the pages.

    I moved closer, stopping a few meters away. I didn''t dare get closer.

    "Sias, do you know? Do you know what beautiful gift you have been given."

    I grimaced.

    "I''ve got a vague idea. Well enough to try my best to never use it." I answered honestly.

    In a theatrical villain move that would have made the Joker proud he pulled out a small ppk handgun out of his pocket.

    "Look!" He said while aiming at me.

    I closed my eyes as he shot. No way I would be able to dodge that.

    He emptied the small clip of ammo.

    Only one hit me. It struck the bulletproof vest. The small caliber made it feel like I had gotten shot by a paintball. I didn''t even react.

    "Magnificent! I''m obeying you! Mostly." He said before proceeding to laugh again.

    The bullets had whizzed past me, hitting one of the soldiers behind me, as a low grunt informed me. I couldn''t check who had been hit. First I didn''t care, it wasn''t Frei, second whoever it was wasn''t going to die with that kind of gun, and third, honestly I didn''t have the luxury to be distracted.

    "It seems the order only lasts a little while, then slowly loses all power. Still, a ridiculous achievement Jean-Paul." He though, seemed to believe he could get distracted.

    Well.

    I held the knife I had been given in front of me, palm towards the sky.

    I was getting desperate but after all.

    Maybe crazy magic was exactly what I needed right now.

    What did Bodaway say again?

    "Sias? What is that?" Asked me a now curious Takeshi-san.

    "A gift from a man named Kuwanlelenta, disciple to the Order."

    And for the first time the monster in front of me showed his humanity. He showed fear.

    He pulled out his book once again, trying to rip a page once again but...

    "Mrowendalanagi." I chanted.

    The knife flew out of my palm. So fast it slightly cut my hand and dissapeared from sight.

    Kakeshi-san ripped the page, which began turning into mist...

    The knife reappeared inside of it, seemingy slowing down, but not stopping.

    The magician surprised to see his magic not stop the knife completely, failed to dodge in time.

    The weapon pierced his flesh, missing his heart but fiercly penetrating his shoulder to the hilt.

    The middle-aged man couldn''t stop a shout of pain from escaping his lips.

    "AAAH, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE..."

    He pulled the knife out and threw it on the ground. He quickly chanted something and with a quick snap of the fingers, the knife got swallowed by the ground.

    He began chanting something else, but this time, I didn''t let him.

    The moment I had seen the knife fly away, I had followed it.

    I wouldn''t let the monster recover.

    I punched straight for his chin, but even wounded and disturbed by what had happened, Takehiro Kakeshi wasn''t to be underestimated.

    He easily dodged it and tried to reach for his book.

    But this I expected, with a roundhouse kick that would have made my mother enraged, I kicked his magic tool out of his hands.

    "You little...know your place!" Out of nowhere Kakeshi Takehiro made a katana whisper into existence, and tried to put out the distance between us.

    But I wasn''t afraid of a sword.

    My mother was Hailey Skr?skind.

    And no-one could best her in a swordfight.

    Except me.

    His first attack was a classic vertical strike. Most likely a reflex, as this was so deeply ingrained in kendo training that it was what you always used when you didn''t know what to do, how to act. Showing that more than an Onmyouji, he was also a master martial artist.

    The strike was perfect. But it showed his despair.

    He was wounded. He lost his book.

    With my right hand, I very subtly waved his slash away. I turned my waist, I pushed forwards instead of backwards.

    The sword whizzed past me, not even grazing me.

    I too, did a simple technique. Aikido.

    He was now on the ground.

    I was now holding a katana.

    He managed to get some distance by rolling away, but his book was behind me, out of his reach.

    This short break was, unfortunately, everything he needed.

    He stood up and quickly dusted away the dirt on his clothes, slightly ridiculous considering the blood pouring unnaturaly out of his wound.

    "You are truly terrifying Sias. I understand what Jean-Paul meant when he thought he had created a monster. I believed it to be an old man''s ramblings but no, you truly are monstruous."

    "Coming from you, I''ll take it as a compliment, thank you very much."

    "Oh but please, do. Now, I don''t think I could beat you in a swordfight so I apologize but..."

    He snapped his fingers again, and the sword in my hands was gone.

    "Fuck."

    He smiled in response. "Now, you who think you can destroy an era with ignorance, come meet it''s maker!" He made a swirl with his hand, and the magic knife came flying out of the ground into his hand.

    The already burnt grass around him got even darker, like every single speck of life left inside was being sucked out.

    From his right arm, a tatoo in the shape of a snake crawled around his skin, showing his head before coming back into the Onmyouji''s costume.

    "Erm. No?" I answered, resolutely staying my ground.

    "So be it." The snake in his hand reappeared, and he threw the knife. It would have been a simple throw if the living tattoo didn''t do something to the knife. Something definitely evil, wrong.

    The knife flew, not as ludicrously fast as before, but fast enough to be undodgeable.

    I caught it by the hilt.

    Mhhh. That was easy. It was as if the knife wanted to be caught.

    Kakeshi-san clicked his tongue in annoyance.

    "I forgot about Margaux, she always liked to do that."

    My grand-mother.

    "You knew my grand-mother." I stated.

    "Oh I know your grand-mother, I even know how she died." He had a cruel smile.

    He liked it, he found it funny. The way she died. This man needed to vanish of existence.

    I stepped back.

    "If you don''t move to attack me, maybe I''ll just target the girl standing behind me." He threatened.

    Shit.

    That''s why he dodged away from his book. I was cutting him from it. But he was cutting me from Frei.

    I exhaled. I inhaled.

    Calm yourself. He''s rousing you up.

    But I''m unparalleled at pissing people off.

    "Sure, I''ll come into your circle of death. But could you stop with the speeches? Please? Like seriously? To destroy you era with ignorance? Could you get more ridiculous? It makes no sense."

    One step back.

    "You''re a child, and you dare tell me I''m ridiculous. As I was saying it''s just you not understanding anything!"

    "Bou. Hou. The next generation is fucked, look, they are all so dumb. It was clearly better in my time... Could you get even more clich¨¦ grand-pa?"

    "You..." He was furious now.

    I smiled. Another step back. I could feel it on my feet now.

    He looked at me.

    "What are you planning you rat. Getting me angry won''t make me dumb you know, it''ll just make your demise more painful. Maybe I''ll begin with her." he said, pointing towards Frei with his head.

    "Oh how ironic." I answered.

    And I threw the knife towards the ground.

    The blade pierced the book like it was nothing.

    Takehiro Kakeshi looked at me in disbelief. Then anger. Then true murder came to be in his eyes.

    "What have you done? Do you even know how much this costs? How long it takes to create? Oh, I''m gonna make you..."

    "Suffer? Cry? Call your mommy on me?"

    "Oh fine, I see." He said while moving towards me, away from the black circle that formed around him.

    The ground rumbled.

    He snapped his fingers again and again and thousands of papers flew out of his colored suit, moving around him. Shaped like men, some began bursting into flames, some began spouting visquous liquids of blackness like dark rotten pus, some gained a metallic, sharpened aspect. All of them seemed bad news.

    And all faced me.

    When the enemy show his strongest. His most perfect technique.

    He gets confident, sure of himself. He''s unbeatable.

    And that is where the Jourdin strike.

    "You era is destroyed, but by your own ignorance. Please, give up Kakeshi-san." Even to a man like this, I still felt the pain. The pain of a life lost. The curse I had been given.

    Takehiro Kakeshi, caughed, clearly strained by the monstruous technique he was using.

    "What the hell are you talking about."

    He was not giving up.

    "I''m not alone." I explained to him.

    And his skull burst in half, slashed open by a machete.

    "Urgh. Gross." Said Frei.

    And as the Onmyouji''s body slumped on the ground, so did his creations, rendered useless paper once and for all.

    I ran towards my girlfriend.

    "You okay?"

    "No. I''ve got blood and brains all over my clothes."

    "I can promise you a shower."

    "I usually don''t like your promises, but I''ll enjoy this one."

    "Hey, It worked."

    "Sure, great. Destroying the book destroyed it''s magic. Could very well have been definitive, and make me stuck forever."

    "Unlikely, but I had another plan had it not worked."

    "Of course you did. You''re supernatural, admit it."

    "No I''m not."

    "Tch. Why are the others not out of their stasis?"

    "Probably getting unstuck in the order of which it was cast."

    "You have no idea."

    "I read lots of fantasy stories."

    "Great."

    I decided to kiss her, regardless of her bloodied state.

    After a short while, we heard whistles coming from around us.

    "Fffiuu nice bonus pay. Can we get a show too?"

    I pulled my finger towards the african giant, who was taking back his machete out of the body of the dead monster.

    "I''ll let this pass, t''was fun little girl." He told Frei, who didn''t understand anything because of his accent.

    "Just une vid¨¦o? Une photo?"

    Frei pulled away from me, cheeks reddening. Ah timid Frei is back.

    "Fuck off." I told the french guy.

    "You saved us." Said the quiet voice of Blow.

    "I guess."

    He bowed his head.

    I did the same.

    "See you around Sias!" The group of deadly killers began. I didn''t even notice the one who had supposedly been hit by the ppk''s bullets. Crazy bastards.

    This time again, the people on the Kyoto metro didn''t look at me at all, even though I was barely dressed, had part of my hair burnt and looked like I was given a whole bunch of drugs.

    The blood that stuck on Frei was proably responsible.

    It was a miracle we didn''t get arrested.

    "Sias?"

    "Yeah?"

    "I wanna go away from here, for a short while. I know you wanna learn japanese and all but well..."

    "Nah I got it, let''s take some holidays."

    "Good. I know a nice monastery in germany where they teach about the supernatural, could be worth a look."

    "That''s no holidays."

    "Don''t you wanna know what you are."

    "I know what I am."

    "Really, and what is that."

    I opened my phone, and looked at the latest message.

    "Papa" was written on it.

    It was the third time I read it, but I had still to show it to Frei.

    Should I? Would it be better not to?

    That wasn''t important.

    I trusted her.

    "Here." I told her.

    "We are awaiting for your return Master Jourdin. Many things have to be organized before your re-institution, and as such, you can take your time. Still, you have to be aware that chaos still reigns, and the world still needs order to balance it out. I though, have the firm conviction you will show us how we can achieve this, without having to use the ways of old.

    I''m hoping to see you soon,

    With love,

    Luc J."

 Jourdin

    "You have called for me father?"

    "Luc, come here, sit down. I heard you''re getting close to a rather interesting woman."

    "Yes, it''s true."

    "Do you want some help with her?"

    "No, I''m fine father."

    "She would make a nice wife for our family. With the right guidance, she would become one of our best..."

    "Father please, you know I don''t like getting involved in that part of the family business."

    "Yes, yes. You do what you do best. Still Blow has asked for some help on a particular chaotic individual, could you...?"

    "Of course father."

    As the young man moved away from the mahogany desk, ready to leave the magnificent golden room, he suddenly stopped.

    "That''s an interesting object you have there father." He was looking at a strange coin, of roman origin, but entirely made of iron.

    The illuminated room suddenly darkened, the light from the sun blocked by a rain-filled cloud.

    "You shouldn''t bother with that, Luc."

    "Oh but I insist, how long ago since you played chess, dad?"Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    "Luc, I have heard enough of your impert..." But the middle-aged man couldn''t speak another word, as if gripped by an invisible hand.

    "Sorry, father, but you know the rules, even though you thought I didn''t. It''s the only reason why you let the coin in such a visible space isn''t it? How long are you going to underestimate me for?"

    So prideful and pitiful, he thought.

    "Luc..." Jean-Paul Jourdin managed to say.

    "One game of chess father, if I win, the Lance is mine by right of Tet."

    "S...s...o...B...e......it." Said Jourdin senior, as if he was being strangled by an invisible force, before finally breathing again.

    "You''re weak dad"

    "I have no time for these kind of childish things. Have the coin."

    "Thank you."

    Once again, Luc Jourdin headed out for the exit, rain beginning to drizzle down, then quickly pouring down the angry sky. This time it was Jean-Paul who stopped him.

    "What are you going to do with that? No one knows how to use it, it only has this strange rule to it."

    "Oh father. This is so much more than that. You just have to use it without greed, it has to be given."

    "Given? Who are you going to give it to?"

    "Oh, I met such a promising woman, you know. I really love her dad."

    Usually those words would have angered the middle aged man beyond belief. But the way his son talked about love.

    Thunder cracked the sky open.

    Light illuminating the young man''s face, so similar to the one his son would have all those years later.

    "I''ll have her. And with this, I''ll make our family the greatest one on earth."

    Jean-Paul Jourdin, maybe for the first time of his life, shuddered. Fear gripping his heart. But he wouldn''t admit it, never.

    "If it''s for the family son, go ahead." He said instead.

    "Of course father. Please, have a nice day."

    And silence reigned in the Jourdin mansion. Only broken by the thundering of summer''s weather.