Chapter 43

“Go! Drive! Today’s not a workday!”

J2 said with a smile as he pushed Denzo towards his kart to join the other guests driving around the newly paved race track. The whole place was packed with people, which surprised Val as she never knew they had this many regulars from Jack & Barry’s. Truthfully she is slightly annoyed with this as her whole point of an invite only event was to limit attendance to a small few, but it was a welcome surprise nonetheless, with this giving her a pleasant awakening on how popular her small illicit hole-in-the-wall had become.

One of the people affected by this surprise was Denzo himself. He arrived feeling conflicted with how Yukino had dismissed his dealing with Neil and was looking to talk to her about it, but upon arriving, he quickly got lost in the sea of people inside the garage, most of whom he had never seen before inside Jack & Barry’s.

‘Those are our patrons from other schools.’ J2 said while patting his back to get the lost boy’s attention. ‘Most of them had already graduated into different colleges and such. We only get new blood from St. Rita’s because of our connection with Yuki’s family but with other schools it’s much different. They aren’t as active in introducing this place to newcomers unlike those friends that you have.

Which makes you very lucky.’

He said as he led him to the karts.

In the back of his mind Denzo wanted to tell the truth, but then again it wouldn’t be tasteful to tell J2 he snuck inside on his first day at the J&B.

He felt that this was a secret he would carry to his grave. As long as Val doesn’t spill the facts.

And as he slips on his helmet he loses all care for the matter, seeing all the cars zipping around the track outside, getting his blood pumping and his adrenaline going. He steps on the pedal and beams himself out of the garage to join them. Leaving all caution to the wind.

J2 looks on to the boy with a fulfilled smile on his face as he watches him going around the track with a certain pep in his driving, thinking he must be having fun driving around the track with other people around.

After all this would make it the first time that he’s driven with anyone.

He always drove alone.

Though not long after sending Denzo out. A spine tingling chill ran up J2’s spine.

‘He arrived already?’ Val’s cold voice echoed into J2’s ears.

The music was blasting and the guests were having a good time chatting around the garage, but still for some reason Val’s sheer presence had cancelled out the background noise as his ears instantly picked up her voice. Such is her power.

J2 cautiously turned his head around to meet her gaze.

‘That dumbass... Doesn’t he know any manners? I’m his boss. I was expecting a greeting.’She coldy declared.

‘Val… come on, the kid had just arrived, there’s lots of people having fun. Can you just set aside formalites? Just for today and let him drive or whatever?’ J2 reasoned on Denzo's behalf.

Val raised an eyebrow after hearing J2 defy her face to face. Impressively, J2 stood his ground.

‘Fine… let him do whatever. Also we have “that” meeting afterwards. Don’t you forget.’ Val said as she walked away to join Lorna’s circle near the pool table. J2 exhales and nods, turning his attention back to the action on track. He himself wishes he could join them. The main reason he had stuck with Val for so long was so he could drive around in fast cars himself.

Sadly, his condition wouldn’t allow him.

…

…

-Lap 12-

Denzo has been at it for the past 10 minutes driving and passing various other drivers and even though only a handful gave him a good run, most of them were just moving roadblocks, but nonetheless it was still an enjoyable feeling getting to race around with other people.

But after crossing the line for the twelfth time he starts to notice a couple of karts pulling into the pits, leaving the track ahead, void of any competition.

Then, out of nowhere, somebody bumps into him. Hard.

He was approaching the first hairpin, thinking of taking it slow as he thought to pull into the pits along with the others when this had happened. Turns out someone was still raring for another go around the track and Denzo had impeded him.

Or so he thought.

The driver of the kart pulled out to his side to pass him at corner entry. Flipping him the middle finger as he sped past.

It was Pete.

Denzo smiles behind the visor of his helmet as he decides to stay and race around for a couple more laps. Or at least until Pete gives up.

He kicks down the gas pedal. The sudden acceleration throws the kart sideways as he wrangles his kart in full anger to catch back up to him. As he comes up from behind he slows his pace and keeps his distance reasonably behind him, judging his opponents pace.

It wasn’t bad compared to the others. Pete drove around using proper racing lines around the corners. He was on cue on where he should be applying power and where he should brake. In fact if Denzo didn’t have any knowledge of the track layout, he might be running around the same pace as he.

But this was his major advantage.

‘Good but not as good’ He said as he observed him taking the basic lines around the course. By this time he was starting to get annoyed keeping pace with a “slower” driver and decided to retaliate back as they approached another hairpin.

‘The fuck?!’ Pete shouted as he felt a sudden jolt from the back, making him lose control, which almost threw him into the barriers as Denzo passed him, flipping him the middle finger as payback for the early bump.

‘So that’s how you want it huh?’ Pete menacingly smiles as he stomps on the gas pedal with gusto, wanting to catch back up to him so he could slam him into the tire barriers as a way of “settling” the competition.

They zoom past the start finish line to start the thirteenth lap.

First hairpin: Pete sizes himself up to hit Denzo back like he had done so the lap before, thinking it would be the same. But when the hairpin came, Denzo didn’t slow down the way he used to, as Pete backed off the pedal to slow down and make the corner.

Second hairpin: Pete assumes the fact that Denzo may be weary of his bump and run tactic and instead formulates a plan to hit him again. After the first hairpin section, a series of tight corners follow as the both of them go underneath the crossover section of the track which leads to the next hairpin, where he planned to make his move.

However for some reason between the first and second hairpin Denzo had increased the distance in between them, rendering Pete frustrated. He didn’t notice how Denzo managed to increase the gap, and he didn’t bother to as he was now gungho in trying to close the gap enough to launch a hit, hard enough to slam him into the barriers.

But his plan for the second hairpin was a failure as the gap was too much to launch an attack.

Third hairpin: This is the most dangerous corner in the track as the asphalt slopes steeply downhill after traversing above the crossover, and at the bottom of the decline lies a tight hairpin turn where only those with the bravest of hearts will dare push themselves to take it at a high speed. Pete, for some reason had suddenly reeled in the gap the Denzo had created in the first part of the lap as they approached the right hand turn going up the crossover. He had seen other drivers slow down significantly before this corner and knew for a fact that Denzo would also do the same.

He knows because other drivers had done so.

Also because this was the part that had the broken asphalt during his first visit.

And so because of this, he was totally shocked when Denzo completely disappeared by the time he came over the crest. For a second Denzo went out of sight behind the crest of the overpass but he expected him to be there when he crossed it himself.

So he was surprised that when he eventually arrived;

He was gone.

This further enraged him. Asking himself repeating questions. What had happened? How did he get away? What was the difference? All of those questions were repeated over and over as he tried to push himself further and further with each and every lap that passed by.

And to make it even more frustrating, Denzo would inch out the gap ever so slightly with each passing lap, that no matter how much time Pete had gained by pushing himself the lap before, Denzo would immediately negate it with ease.

This had went on for several more laps until for some strange reason when Pete approached the first hairpin and commanded his limbs to brake and turn;

His body didn’t respond.

…

...

‘That is what we call… running out of talent.’

Val smiled haughtily with her arms crossed, smugly looking at Pete as he took his helmet off after parking inside the garage.

‘Shut up.’ He glared. ‘What are you, a kiddie kart expert or something?’ Pete responds spitefully as Val pops a couple of veins on her forehead.

‘Careful… I own the goddamn place you brat…’ She glared back, but it was different from Pete’s spiteful stare. There was a certain bloodlust coming from her gaze that had somehow resonated with his senses, and before his conscious mind could process it, his subconscious had reacted. Freezing him in place whilst quickly averting her gaze.

She walks away with steam coming off from the footprints where she had walked, as if her body was engulfed in flames.

‘Hopefully you don’t get used to that…’ Denzo said after taking off his helmet. ‘If she berates you; just let it happen… I got my fair share of bruises trying to learn that lesson.’ He continued. Pete on the other hand stares in awe as Denzo walks past him. In his mind he couldn’t believe that the boy had experienced that death stare before and dared to provoke it even further. He is either brave or dense… stupid perhaps... Pete thought.

There was already a commotion building in the middle of the garage area as Val disappears in her office at the mezzanine with Yukino’s sister, whom he met back in the mountains, and J2. There were also two more people who followed suit but before he could get a good look at who, Aida pulled him over to join them.

They were all gathered by the pool table, which was now covered with a big tarp that they were supposed to use as promotional material, but got scrapped by Val at the last minute, saying it was “not classy” and “cheap”. On top of it, are a boatload of alcoholic drinks and various fruit juices that the “St. Rita's group” were drinking.

Everybody welcomes Denzo in as Aida snuggles up beside him. On the far end of the pool table, sat Yukino with Tisha and Nica flanking her sides.

Pete took his seat beside Tisha and Casper sat beside Nica while Julian sat between Pete and Aida shoving her lightly aside as he forced himself to sit at that particular side of the bench. For some reason, Denzo felt that, knowing how rudely weird the two are, this was an intentional move, as the duo faced each other directly on their seats. This forced Denzo to move to the other end of the table where he now sat across Yukino, flanked by Aida and Pai.

At the moment where the seats had been settled, Denzo saw a swift glimmer of a smile come off from Yukino’s lips. Once again he was washed by the feeling that this was planned, but then again, in his mind, even if it was, it mattered little to him, as he shrugs it off.

Upon settling down he was immediately handed a pitcher with some pink colored drink inside of it, with Aida pouring him some, filling his plastic cup to the brim. He takes a whiff of it and it smells strongly of alcohol, with a hint of peach. ‘Not bad…’ He thought, as he took a gulp to start.

‘Hey don’t just drink it straight.’ Aida comments after the way he just almost downed his entire cup. ‘Here have some!’

She hands him a platter full of finger foods.

‘What’s this?’ He asked.

‘It’s Chicken Satay.’ She said as she offered him the plate filled with skewered chicken meat that was still steaming hot off the grill. ‘Tisha and Keeno stopped by the carnival next door to buy some. It’s still freshly cooked!’ She urges him as Denzo takes a stick from the plate.

‘Try it with the peanut sauce. It’s nice!’ Aida said with a smile as Denzo takes a sauceless first bite to get a taste of the chicken on its own. The grilled taste of breast meat fills his palette as the savory bitterness of the chicken coats the surface of his tongue, making him yearn for a refreshment to cool his throat. It was a filling bite as he takes a sip from his spiked drink, its cool frosty taste makes him feel the winter’s chill for a brief moment as he sees his breath fog up from the frostiness it gave.

Immediately he sets down his glass and takes another bite from the chicken, but not before trying out the thick brown sauce that lay in the middle of the platter. Upon taking his second bite the soft sweetness of the peanut sauce envelops his senses as it balances the bitterness of the charred chicken whilst elevating the savory sensation.

‘Wow, yeah I like it.’

He finally responds with a matter-of-fact tone, noticing that Aida was watching him endearingly while he eats.

‘I'm glad.’ She said smiling.

‘Why aren’t you eating?’ He asked as he snatches another stick from the platter;

And two more for good measure.

‘I’m full.’ She halfly lied. Truthfully she pertained to her eyes and not the stomach.

‘I already ate while you and Pete were still driving. ‘She said. Continuing her lies.

Denzo nods, not really making a big deal out of it as he keeps on munching on his skewers.

‘Hey Denzo!’ Yukino shouts from the other end of the table. ‘How did that thing with Neil go?’ She asked as everyone turned their attention to him for the moment.

‘Oh! Yeah, weren't you supposed to come with him?’ Tisha follows up as she takes a sip from her cup.

‘Well… I was but…’ At this point Denzo had the sense to pause and read the room. There were two ways he could put the words he was about to say out to them. Either say it factually that Neil was acting suspiciously strange. Or by exaggerating it by antagonizing him.

In truth, he never really liked the guy. From the moment they had met, Denzo had felt this disingenuous aura emanating out from him. The kind of shady sincerity one would feel from a used car salesman. The words and actions that came out from him looked surface level and he could never tell whatever his true intentions were no matter how passionate he sounded.

At first he shrugged it off as he thought better than to judge him immediately and instead gave him the benefit of the doubt, but after the incident with Aida and his fading presence in that group, he started raising his suspicions.

And those suspicions were highlighted even more when he approached him about Casper at the school’s rooftop. His actions seemingly felt desperate and forced that he couldn’t take his words seriously to oblige him. And after doing his own investigation himself, the more questions about Neil arose in his mind.

Also, when he visited Neil’s room earlier that evening, it was the first time he felt something genuine emanating from his presence. Even though he looked disheveled and worn, for some reason at that moment he felt that he could take his words at heart.

‘They’re your friends now…’

Even though it was disheartening to hear.

And with that he knew exactly what was going on. As he recalled what had happened.

And made sure they hear;

How sorry and pathetic his current state looked.

[Sorry Neil... Politics] He thought

…

…

‘Is everyone here?’ Val asked as the people around her took their seats around her office. Val had gathered everyone involved in the zigzag road intrusion so they could debrief what had happened then. She thought it would be a good time to do it whilst having the opening party on the same night as she figured that there are a lot of high profile people weighing in on the merchandise they had stolen that night, which included her former boss “Mr. Asia”. She figured, with all the noise going on downstairs, any listening devices and surveillance equipment that might be planted anywhere inside the garage would be rendered useless.

With that said, she hopes that the meeting would shine a clearer picture on what had happened that night, knowing that out of everyone inside the room right now, She and J2 have the least awareness of the details that had happened.

Although, unbeknownst to everyone inside the room, Miles had already secretly briefed her on the basic info right after she disappeared that night.

She had tracked her down and funnily enough, she found out that Val only made a lap around the highway that ran around the mountain only to enter the zigzag road on the opposite side.

Finding her by the balcony of “The Pitstop” with an early morning coffee in hand.

What was said in those moments, is what spurred Val to take a sudden trip to face her old foes and settle unfinished business.

But there was also another objective imposed on her.

And now she was keen on finding out why.

In the center of the room sat Valentina Fe on her desk with J2 standing behind her flank and Lorna Loran sitting on the chair in front of Val’s desk. Further to her right, sat the two detectives, Lando and Bert, making themselves comfortable on the sofa.

‘Yeah everyone’s here.’ Lando said as he spread his arms on the backrest.

‘Miles?’ Val asked.

‘Uhhh… I dunno… but she’s quick witted. We can start ahead.’ Lando answered.

‘How rude.’

A dismembered voice had spoken which sent everyone, except for the two detectives, in shock; thinking they might be dealing with something supernatural.

And by all means that thought was proven correct. As Miles slowly rendered herself into existence in the corner of the room as if she loaded herself in from a computer game.

‘Wow. Fuck.’

Lorna responds with her mouth agape along with J2. Val on the other hand looked half as smitten with her sudden materialization as this was the second time she’d seen such a sight, with the first, when she tracked her back that night at the pitstop balcony.

‘Anyways.’ Val interjects to pull the conversation back. ‘I gathered everyone here so that everyone will be on the same page with all the happenings since the time we held the last race.’

She opens the discussion as everyone quiets down and lends their ear to hear what Val had to say.

‘I also know that every person in this room has not been properly acquainted yet courtesy of Lorna’s impromptu scheme so to start…’ Val pauses and takes a deep breath.

‘Good evening everyone. I am Valentina Fe, former associate of Mr. Asia and owner of this establishment.’

She then looks to Lorna, cueing her to speak.

‘Lorna Loran, also a former associate of Mr. Asia and co - owner of this business that Val here runs.’ Lorna paused and looked as if she was about to pass the baton to J2 but she opened her mouth once more.

‘And I am also serving as a middle man for both our police partners here ever since I had inherited PetroChem, our family owned company.’

Upon hearing, Val darts her eyes towards Lorna in shock.

‘Lor? You working with the cops all along?’

Lorna nods.

‘Ever since I returned.’ She said as she shifted her gaze from Val towards the two detectives. ‘I actually inherited the contacts of these two detectives over here. I was just as surprised when I found out but… It turns out these two men are his best kept secret.’

Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

‘Why the hell would your dad need moles in the bureau?!’ Val demanded. As Bert raised his hand to explain.

‘Well how else would you be able to operate Jack’s without getting raided?’ She counters.

‘I thought your dad paid off prying eyes from my startup. Never knew he had his hands this deep in shit.’

‘Hi Detective Bertrand Ramos!’ Bert interjects. Sensing the sparks starting to ignite. ‘And this man here is my partner Detective Lando Sulit. Her father and us two go way back, when her father was just starting in the fuel business.’ He continued.

‘Oh really?’ Val replied with a tone of sarcastic suspicion edging out from her voice. ‘And what did you guys do back then? Personal lackeys? Hitmen?’ Val spitefuly asked.

Lando was about to blow his top when Bert held a hand to stop him. Continuing to speak in his stead.

‘Back then Dante, her pops, was just a Petrochem shareholder during his mayoral days but several well placed investments in the cryptoverse suggested by yours truly, netted him… some extra pocket change.’

‘And this answers what, exactly?’ Val protested.

Bert held up his hands in response. ‘Hold on… Now back then our duty was just to relay any insider info on who’s trying to oust who within Petrochem. That’s all we did. None o’ that dirty cop shit, just digging dirt on dirty people.’ Bert said as he leaned back on the sofa. ‘But anyway we did his gig for some extra moolah and with the intel we supplied he propelled himself into higher positions and for some amazing reason it all snowballed into him getting elected as Senator. Honestly we are just friends helping each other up whilst thinking it would be a laugh to try and mess with the corpos. Never knew he would end up beating them in their own game.’

‘So before all this gas bullcrap, you two, along with her dad, were just public servants?’ Val responds.

‘Correct.’

‘Interesting…’ She answered, still with an air of suspicion.

‘Think what you want to think little missy but that’s how we got to where we are. Honestly I’m supposed to be retired by now but Bert here got pulled in by that knucklehead’s daughter and here we are.’ He replied amidst Bert’s restraint as he looked at Lorna accusingly, making her raise an eyebrow to his statement.

‘Hey! I didn’t pull anyone here! You had a choice and you agreed. Besides, when I asked Bert about this matter, I just thought it was just a group of wannabes trying to join in the fun I was trying to make. Never knew it went this deep, which was why I felt the need to join in’ Lorna retaliated.

‘Yeah about that…’ Lando responds as he turns his face towards Bert. ‘You knew didn’t you?’

‘Knew what?’ Bert asked.

‘That she’s the one driving that Lambo.’

‘Oh no really. I didn’t. I was just as surprised as you were when she arrived with Yuki in the Lambo.’ Bert replies while Lando squints his eyes, not trusting his words.

‘God… so much banter you two… Is it MY turn now?’ Miles butted in getting increasingly annoyed by the two old men arguing like a married couple. The two detectives quickly zipped their lips shut as they backed off to let Miles speak.

‘I almost forgot about you. For a second there I thought you became… invisible.’ Val quipped as Miles darted her a sharp stare.

‘Miles Kadena. Just think of me as 007 and get on with the main topic.’ She answered uncaringly, staring at her nails, looking bored.

Both Lorna and Val looked annoyed as Val made the first response. ‘You know you’re the one wearing that mystery super suit thingy and fought the guy with the same shit as well as the one with access to intel all of us never knew… And you’re cutting off who the fuck you are?!’

‘It’s classified Honey…’ Miles responds as J2 quickly had a shocked expression as he heard the last word, nervously turning his head towards Val, awaiting what her response will be. He sees her shoulders rise and drop, hearing a sharp sigh before answering her: ‘I don’t give a fuck. My office my rules --“Honey”--’

Miles looked at her with bloodlust in her eyes as the two detectives suddenly looked pale after hearing what Val had to say.

Suddenly, Miles punched a hole in one of the steel drawers that were near her. Everyone closed their eyes, startled by her sudden outburst, and when they all got back to their senses, she was gone.

‘That fucking bitch!’ Val slams her hands on the table as she stands outraged by the broken file cabinet rendered useless by the old lady. ‘That thing cost me money! And I’m already running a tight budget here!’

‘I’m still here y’know.’

A dismembered voice rang out of nowhere as everyone turned their heads around the room, trying to locate where it came from.

‘Hey! The fuck was that about!’ Val shouts, her face slightly redding from anger.

......

‘The car, Val, is it clear?’

‘Car?! Fuck you! You’re gonna smash my office and expect me to ans--’

…...

Another loud bang cuts her speech as Miles crushes a second drawer.

…...

‘The car.’

‘Fuck - your - car.’

……

Another one gets smashed. This one being a bit nearer to where Val was standing.

……

‘I didn’t come here for an interview. I have better shit to do so get on with it.’

‘I would've already told you if you just did what I asked.’

‘And what you asked is Classified.’

‘I-don’t-care.

You made me do your bidding, and now I want answers. So let’s start with who the fuck--’

……

Both Lorna and Val jumped out of the way as her table gets crushed suddenly as Miles, renders herself once again out of thin air, appearing in full view, donning her exosuit.

……

‘Fine.’ Miles concedes. ‘Consider the table as payment. And a warning.’ She said calmly as her eyes were piercing through Val’s face, rendering her unable to move. ‘If this leaks out remember this table. I’ll just scale the destruction towards everything you own.’

Miles stood face to face with Val as everybody remained frozen where they were. As Miles starts to give everyone a proper introduction.

‘Bio Weapon production number one-three-five, Graduation number 13, Chosen name: Miles Kadena.

I am the top ranker of my batch out of 150 created subjects.

I have no parents and no nationality.

Born out of science and created for a single purpose.

My affiliation with these two are through a shared mission two decades ago and have remained in contact since.

I am here because of Carbine and the person responsible for notifying me is your old boss.

An old friend.

Now can we get on with it?’

The full mechanical suited woman crossed her arms in a show of contempt as she looks down on Valentina Fe, who continued to glare back at her defyingly.

For a couple of moments the room was completely silent, as tensions rise with sparks erupting in between their gazes.

‘Uhh… Hi… My name is J2… and I…

I work here…’

…

…

The whole highschool table was abruptly silenced after hearing a loud banging noise from above. However the silence didn't last that long as Yukino clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention.

‘So! Anyways sad story aside, thanks Denzo, you tried. But since things are partially being uncovered by now, with some people here getting some chunks of the puzzle together, I think it’s the right time to tell the facts, once and for all.’

Yukino said whilst standing up as if she was about to propose a toast. She took a deep breath to organize her thoughts and as she opened her eyes to face the people at that table, she smiled before uttering her first words.

‘Neilsen Paras is the videotaping pervert.’

‘...’

‘...’

‘...’

‘I had a feeling he was…’

Nica said, breaking the stale silence around the table. Everyone, though a bit shocked, looked calm as if something had been finally cleared up for them after all this time. However, two people seemed to be heavily affected by this. The first was Pai, who considered Neil to be one of his good friends, looking at Denzo in disbelief, as he has a hard time connecting the dots between the Neil he knew and the revelation that Yukino had just mentioned.

The second was Tisha.

Everyone was shocked as to why she had suddenly burst into tears. But looking at the people that surrounded her, Denzo could tell that the matter was something of a positive thing for her, seeing Yukino and Aida smiling meekly as they put their arms around her.

On the other hand, Pete looked annoyed. ‘He’s probably thinking Tisha has some sort of sympathy for him…’ Denzo thought as he wished he was near enough to Pete to give him a good slap at the back of his head but thought better of it. Hoping that Tisha would do the scolding for him.

‘I’m sorry Tisha, it seems I might’ve overextended the setup…’ Yukino apologized as the whole table squinted their eyes towards her. Tisha on the other hand looked furious, as she squeezed her hands into a fist as tears flowed down her reddened cheeks.

‘Setup?’ Pete asked, having no clue that something was even happening around him, involving him.

‘Today is supposed to be the day we held the intervention…’ Yukino said with a solemn tone. ‘However… Life seems to always have something else on its mind.’

She sits down and takes a sip from her cup to dampen her parched throat as she begins her revelation on the matter.

‘Tisha and I, together with the investigation committee, already knew all along that Neil was the culprit. Both she and I had suspected him from the start, and when I say start, I meant two years ago when the first videotaping incident happened.

When it happened again this time, the same modus was used to commit the crime and I immediately ran to the higher-ups to tell them about my suspicions. However since there was lack of any evidence, we placed that on the backburner.

When the investigation stalled, me and Tisha had a quick meeting on how to get the ball rolling and thus we came up with hiring students to assist.

And that’s what led us to you guys.’

She said as she darted her eyes towards Casper and Julian.

...

‘Oh yeah… why us by the way? I remember the selection process being too quick for it to be a fair decision.’ Julian responds.

‘You can thank Pai for that.’ Aida butts in as somehow she was able to piece some of the story together. ‘Pai was opening up sooo much during that coffee date about how cool you two are.’ She teasingly said as Pai became red faced and the duo looked back at him with disdain.

‘Pai, I thought we could trust you?’ Julian said, annoyed at what he had just heard.

‘Well-- I--’

‘It’s a minor leak Jules… but we seriously need to talk, Pai…’ Casper chimed in, looking disappointed. Pai couldn’t find the words to respond and simply hung his head down feeling like a traitor. However Denzo placed his hand firmly on Pai’s shoulder, trying to console him.

‘Pai… You a Simp! Good job!’ He said whilst holding a single thumbs up, egging him on as he shook his shoulder with the other hand, drowning him in his sarcasm.

‘Anywho…’ Yukino interjects. ‘Though it might sound corrupt, but for the sake of speeding things up, the decision was rigged in your favor and that’s how you got the job.’ She continued as both Julian and Casper responded with an “understood” look on their faces.

‘That in itself was successful, cuz Neil came rushing into the investigation. Am I right?’ She asked as everyone nodded. ‘He played right into our hands, acting all guilty that his toys were being busted one by one. And the funny thing was he found a convenient way to join in--’

‘By blaming me?’ Casper butts in.

‘Yup!’ Yukino answered with an affirming smile.

‘Waaiiit!’ Tisha cuts off the conversation as she calms her sobbing. ‘I don’t get this? With all the plans that were made, what made you think Pete should be involved?!’ She continued, barely making her voice coherent as she fought in between hiccups just to get her voice out loud and clear.

‘Oh we’ll get there.’ Yukino replies. ‘Anywho I told Casper to watch where Neil was positioning himself as a clue. It was a gamble based on basic psychology but… well… it worked!’

‘Wait really?’ Casper asked. ‘I thought you had it all planned out?’

‘Nope! I just thought Neil might give out subtle signals but I wasn't really counting on it. So I was surprised you got all of them a hundred percent of the time.’ Yukino answers looking surprised at the outcome herself.

‘What psycho stuff did you tell Casper?’ Denzo curiously asked.

‘Nothing special really. I just told him to watch where he stood and where he was looking when he snooped around. Besides that, it was Casper who did the finding.’ Yukino answered proudly.

Amidst the conversation Julian raised his cup towards Casper as he rallies a toast after hearing what the lady president had to say. Which sets up a reaction around the whole table as they all raised their cups to Casper for clearing up the campus of those peeping cameras. Meanwhile Casper looked uncomfortable seeing and hearing all the praise they were giving him, feeling it was undeserved.

‘Yeah… but Keeno, you were in my ear the whole time weren’t you?’ Casper blurted out.

‘I was, but I only spoke in times when Neil was getting out of your sight. Besides that I was just watching you do your thing from afar.’ She replies as Julian throws one of his discarded skewers towards Casper’s face, telling him to just accept the accolades.

‘Anyways, Back to topic!’ Yukino said after everyone had their refill of food and drinks. ‘Casper!’ She said with a loud commanding voice as Casper looked at her and froze mid bite on his skewer. ‘Remember that time when you asked to leave early from the investigation site?’ She asked.

‘Y-yeah.. I had to pick up something for my stream. The delivery guy mixed up the orders with another guy in Raon. The dude was kind enough to untie the mix up but since I needed the tech asap, I just made arrangements with the guy I got mixed up with. So… Yeah I left early so I could make it there before sundown.’ Casper said as he twiddles with his half finished skewer.

‘And lemme guess… that delivery guy delivered that package directly at school that day. Around lunch?’ Yukino asked.

‘Oh… Yeah… How’d you know?’

‘Me and Neil have friends living in the walls of the school…’ She playfully replied. ‘Anywho when I found out about it, I came to check it out, and guess who I found hiding near the gates?’

‘Neil?’ Tisha answered sourly as Yukino gave her an assured nod.

‘After that I was truly, Truly, convinced he was the suspect. It was obvious to me he was looking for a scapegoat to pin the breadcrumbs that you guys were finding, and he was using the fact that you have experience with cameras against you.’ She said as Casper slumped back on his seat in disbelief. Just like Pai earlier, He was in shock after hearing how Neil had plans to use him and dump all of that scandal onto his shoulders.

‘That sucks…’ He whispered under his breath as Julian pours him another cup full of spiked juice.

‘Hey screw the guy.’ Julian said. ‘You still got me and Pai. Okay?’He continued as he handed his cup back to him.

Casper nods and takes the drink, as he slumps back into his seat thinking how close he was from being the target of everyone’s hate, and not to mention, close to being expelled.

‘So to continue… After knowing what Neil was after, I had my sister send a text to Neil. Thankfully Julian knew where you were going, Cas, or else it would've been a bust. I sorta relied on your friendship there.’ As she said the words, everyone around the table suddenly gave her a confused look.

‘What? I’m not an all knowing calculating god. C’mon… I’m human too…’

‘No not that!’ Aida quickly corrects her as everyone can see the cogs inside Yukino's brain start to turn.

‘Uh..Oooh...I-I know some of you might not know, but Neil has actually helped the police in their investigation with “The Raids” and one of his anonymous contacts was none other than my sister. Which was hella convenient in this scenario.’

‘Wait what? Neil did that?’ Aida looked shocked at Yukino’s statement along with the whole table. It seems that none of them knew about Neil’s involvement with the police. A fact that sent some questions brewing in their minds.

‘Yeah, just…’ Yukino held her hands out as she felt a plethora of questions coming her way. ‘Just hold on okay? I promise it’s really, Really, hella convenient.’ She replies as she takes another breather before starting her speech once more.

‘So! Anyways you were there at the center of it all. Did you notice anything when you made the exchange?’ She asked Casper as he tried to recall the time he was inside the area.

‘Uhh… nothing much really… I made the exchange and went home. I didn’t feel like I was being followed or something…’ He recounts, still looking gutted with how things had almost turned out for him.

‘Hmm… Interesting…’ Yukino responds. ‘But, anyways he called me while he was stalking you. He made me fully aware that he was chasing you, after all he did ask my permission to tail you.’

‘Fucking hell?!’ Casper reacts, looking deeply upset. ‘He asked for SC approval?!’ He shouts as everyone in the room stopped.

‘H-How close was I to being kicked out?’

‘Far.

Very Very Far.’ Yukino reassures him.

‘I have a strong suspicion that Neil was the culprit so anyone who appears to have some connection to the incidents, I, along with Tisha, all try to trace the clues towards him.’ Yukino continued as Tisha gave her a dirty look. ‘I know Tish… I’ll get there.’

‘Anywho… where was I?’

‘He asked permission…’ Nica said.

‘Ah yes, thanks. So… I tailed him.’

‘Wait really?’ Pete responds. ‘You tailed him while he tailed him so you both were just tailing each other’s tails?’ He chuckles as Tisha smacks her knuckles at the back of his head.

‘Maybe we should’ve made you take the fall for this one?’ Tisha menacingly dictates.

‘A-n-y-w-a-y-s!

Back-to-story. I tailed Neil and he called me while I was just a few feet away in my dad’s service van, thank goodness he didn’t notice… or maybe he did but!--’ She paused suddenly to get everyone’s attention.

‘After the call he put down the phone thinking he’d be following Casper, but he went somewhere else. That got me curious so I had my driver follow him and guess what he saw…’

She pauses again to build up suspense as not only the table but the other groups from other schools were also secretly listening in, waiting for the reveal.

‘What?’ Aida impatiently asked.

‘This.’

‘I knew it…’ Nica said as she stared at the object that Yukino pulled out of her pocket.

It was a simple, ordinary ball point pen.

‘That’s the same one I smashed inside my room…’ Nica said as she took a closer look at the object that Yukino held. ‘I had a hunch it was him, cuz he lent me that pen when we had class once. Never knew it was something he could use to spy on me.’

‘How long did you have that pen with you?’ Yukino asked.

‘About a month, then I don’t know how… But I somehow ended up placing it on my shelf with a good view of my room.’

‘No you didn’t Nica.’ Yukino cuts her off as the pen sprouted out propellers from its side as it flew off from her grasp. ‘It placed itself there.’ She continued as Nica was shocked in complete terror at the sight of it flying.

She quickly remembers some of the links on the site she had explored. Some of the labels claimed to have some footage of her in different places of their home. A thing that she dismissed as fake as she knew Neil couldn’t have infiltrated their home after the raids with all the security posted around their property. But as she gazed at the pen that flew discreetly in front of them, she felt a sense of terror that there might be some captured footage of them and the insides of their home floating around the web.

‘Nica.’ Yukino said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘There’s nothing to be worried about. The servers with the video were wiped and dismantled and the source in Neil’s possession was all but fried just recently. Right? Denzo?’

‘Yeah…’ Denzo replied. ‘When I got there earlier, his room smelled like burnt hardware, like something had shorted or something. I got a peek at some of the things that were smoking and I saw stacks and stacks of hard drives with wire coiled around them.’ He continued as he crossed his arms whilst laying back on his chair. ‘He was magnet wiping the drives from the looks of it. I didn’t know why but after hearing this, he’s destroying evidence.’

‘Correct.

But here’s the thing Denzo…

Have you met the people inside the place he was living in?’

Denzo tilts his head back to recall. ‘Uhh yea.. His sister and his foreign looking aunt came to greet me, hoping to get his dumbass out of the room.’

‘Hmm… foreign aunt?’ Yukino thought as she looked up from where they sat as she points up at the figures standing by Val’s office window. ‘You mean her?’

‘Yea-- what?! The fuck’s she doing here?’ Denzo asked.

‘That place is a lot similar to Jack and Barry’s in that it has some “un-legal” operations behind closed doors. So you can think that such a place would have a hard time existing because of its “thing” right? So how'd you guys think places like that survive?’ Yukino asked.

‘Hush money…’ Denzo responds.

‘Bingo.

Though I wouldn’t dive any deeper than that but that woman right there is friends with cops. I dunno how, it’s just what my sister tells me.

Anywho that thing where this all is convenient? That’s because of them… Neil was helping them cuz they live somewhere near. And they all know of the stupid shit Neil was doing, In fact they traced the crumbs together around the same time we did. And they didn’t even investigate it.’ She said as she recounted what was going to happen onwards.

‘So you’re saying Neil’s gonna work for them under probation?’ Denzo asked.

‘Yes… He will, discreetly.’

‘No way!’ Casper objects in fury. Slamming the table as he stands up to oppose Yukino’s decision.

‘It has already been decided Cas.’

‘I almost got expelled!’

‘Cas. Calm down… She already said--’ Julian butts in but Casper still insisted.

‘No! I was this close into getting everything destroyed! What if Keeno didn’t knew? What if no one had the answers and Neil was left alone to do as he pleases? What then?!’ Casper said in outrage.

‘Then it’s bye bye Jetta Vee Dubs then…’ Denzo answered with the most deadpan tone in his voice.

‘What the fuck are you--’

‘What? Go complain all you want but in the end this is the reality. Honestly this talk was fun until you had to go drama on it all of a sudden. You’re fine-he’s fucked, if I were you that’s all I need to think about.’ He said as he sees the flame within the pupils of Casper’s eyes burn stronger.

‘You really wanna fuck up this party?’ Denzo responds as he tightens his fists into a ball, ready to throw at moments notice.

-SLAM-

‘What’s my involvement here?’

Pete cuts in as he slams his palms on the pool table, the force was enough to topple a few empty cups over, with some of the plastic cutlery jumping about an inch up from the surface. Thankfully it was enough for Julian to pull Casper down to his seat to calm him.

‘So Pete. You know why you were involved?’

‘Yeah… the fuck’s that about that it made Tisha here cry?’

Yukino takes his cup and pours him a drink. As she hands it back, she tells him the reason why.

‘Politics.’

‘What?’

‘Politics.... Nothing more nothing less.’

Tisha and Pete stared at Yukino with angered eyes as she was being cryptic about the answers once more.

And at this moment, suspense was the last thing they wanted to experience from her.

‘Keeno I swear to God, even if you’re president i’ll cut you down with a fucking box cutter!’

‘Okay okay okay!’

Yukino concedes, jumping back from her seat just to get some distance from her and Tisha as she looked like she was about to burst in pure demonic rage.

‘Listen, I know for a fact that Neil and Pete are good friends.’

‘Meh… yeah but I really couldn’t care less…’ Pete answers as Yukino smiles wryly at his reply.

‘U-umm...so… yeah and I also know that Neil has eyes for Nica, which was one of the reasons for him doing the damn incident in the first place.’

‘Wait one of the reasons? What’re the others?’ Aida asked.

‘You and Denzo…’ Yukino answered, smiling smugly at the two as they visibly recoiled after noticing how close they sat from each other.

‘Anywho, I needed to get the ball rolling as the pace was somehow going too slowly for my liking, so during one of the initial investigation meetings, I pulled Neil aside to tell him what I thought.

And I told him two things:

One was that Nica would have to move away as her Family is always in danger of ambushes because of her Father’s work.

And the other;

Was that, it was highly likely that Pete would be the primary suspect in all of this, since he has after hours access to the gym lockers, with him being the varsity captain of the B-ball team.

And I believe he told you all this when you had “that” incident?’

Tisha’s face glowed red knowing exactly what she meant as she nodded in disbelief.

‘You thought of all of that?’ Nica asked, looking just as surprised as everyone else.

‘Nope! I’m just good at pushing people's buttons.’ She said, giving everyone a sly wink as the whole table was finally able to sit back and digest what had happened within the past few weeks.

But one person in the group still has anxious feelings lurking within his chest.

It was Pai.

…

…

‘So that’s what you’re planning?’ Val responds, suspicious of everything she had heard so far from Miles.

‘Pretty much. Now that you have clearance from the old prune we can get your beloved car back.’ Miles said whilst she leaned on one of the cabinets she destroyed earlier.

‘Still I don’t get why we needed his permission just to take that car out. The only eyes he has on us is through Jun…’ Val questions. ‘I can easily overpower that toothpick.’

‘Well I’ll tell you what the car doesn't have.’ She spoke sharply. ‘It doesn’t have a remote that triggers an electric shock that cocks up the ECU and stalls your engine. It also doesn’t have a GPS tracker to track down where you are, which, depending on where you're taking it, can prompt him to trigger the shock if he catches the car going in the wrong direction.

It also doesn’t have autopilot.

That we could’ve used, if the tech was given to us but he still has the reins on it.’

‘Well fuck…’ The only words that Val could muster after hearing all the things the car “lacked”.

‘Don’t worry, just stick to the plan, everything will go swimmingly. Assuming you can swim.’ She quips. ‘Anyone here still confused about their roles?

“NONE!”

Everyone answered, except for Val.

‘And you?’ Miles notices and confronts her.

Val just shrugs her shoulders at her while she sighs, thinking of how bothersome the plan was that needed doing.

‘I’ll see you next week.’