Chapter Twenty Four
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate. - Amos 5:14
* * * *
Selina sighed for the umpteenth time as she took out her cellphone once more and stared at the screen, but no message arrived, and no call came for her.
Yuri who was sitting beside her in the swivel chair at the bar counter of Starlight’s Hall sighed.
It was about an hour or so before the opening of Starlight’s Hall, and both girls were having a drink at the bar as they frequently did ever since Raven’s Gate had gone quiet for nearly a month.
Everyone was nervous, as they had absolutely no idea what Raven’s Gate was now planning. But knowing how that organisation works, it’ll probably mean trouble for them. A lot of trouble.
“The Elder or the captain would inform us if there is any news on them, Selina,” said Yuri calmly, and Selina turned towards Yuri with a slightly startled look. Was she really that easy to read? Yuri glanced at Selina as she took a sip from her glass.
Selina rested her chin on the palm of her right hand. “No news equals bad news,” she stated, and Yuri silently agreed with Selina.
The ringtone of Selina’s cellphone sounded just then, with some unfamiliar English song as her ringtone. Yuri raised an eyebrow in amusement as Selina jumped like she had just been shot, and Mizuki who wasn’t standing too far away cleaning a glass with a damp cloth, smiled to himself in amusement.
“Hello?” Selina answered her phone quickly, and she then frowned as she listened to whatever the person on the other end of the line has to say. “Captain?” She raised an eyebrow. “They’ve appeared again?” She then smirked. “Understood.”
Selina then shut her phone before finishing off the contents of her drink and turning towards Yuri. “Sorry, but I have to go,” she said apologetically.
Yuri nodded in understanding. “Mission?”
Selina nodded. “Raven’s Gate appeared again,” she said. She then frowned. “Or at least, the captain thinks so. The person that they’re sending me after is suspected of involvement in Raven’s Gate.”
Yuri knew what that meant. “In other words, your mission target is one of their lackeys?” she stated more than questioned, and Selina nodded. “Be careful.”
“I always am.” Selina replied before slipping off her stool and leaving the bar. The bell tinkled somewhere in Starlight’s Hall as Selina pushed opened the door before leaving.
Yuri then twitched as she eyed Selina’s empty glass, then to her empty seat.
“She didn’t pay for her drink.”
* * * *
Two days later on a Thursday morning, Yuri was in her bedroom, sitting up in her bed reading a new novel with soft soothing classical music playing from her stereo. There hadn’t been any missions scheduled for Yuri, Tohya and Ren of late, and the girl is taking the chance to relax, as she had a gut feeling that they wouldn’t have the chance to relax soon.
The door of her room flew open with a crash just then, and Yuri looked up from her novel in surprise and saw a panting Tohya standing at the doorway, looking like he had just ran a marathon. The teen then walked into the room, and Yuri closed her novel.
“Have you ever heard of a little something called ‘knocking’, Tohya?” Yuri asked sarcastically.
Tohya took in deep gulps of air to catch his breath back before coughing slightly. “Never mind that!” he said quickly. “Yuri, come with me to the recreation room! The television!”
“Huh?” Yuri stared at Tohya like he had suddenly grown two new heads. Television? “I’m not really in the mood to watch the television right now, Tohya.”
Tohya growled low in his throat. “It’s not that!”
Ren walked through the open doorway of Yuri’s room just then, wearing a serious look on his face that practically spelt out trouble with a capital T. Yuri felt alarm bells going off in her head immediately.
“Yuri, come with us for a moment,” said Ren seriously. He ran the fingers of his right hand through his hair. “There is something on the news that you have to see.”
Yuri stared at Ren for several moments before nodding. She had a bad feeling that something had happened. Quickly, she followed the two boys out of her room, and locked the door behind her before heading down to the recreation room via the emergency staircase.
Yuri, Tohya and Ren entered the recreation room which was packed with what seemed to be more than half of the Drifters from Hati. And all of them were focused on the television which was suspended from the ceiling in a corner, their eyes glued to the screen.
A Drifter turned towards Yuri, Tohya and Ren, and saluted them. “Sir.”
“Turn up the volume.” Ren instructed, and the Drifter responded immediately by turning up the volume of the television. The voice of the news reporter filled the entire room.
“—and it has also come to the attention of the media that a mysterious terrorist organisation has been going around killing prominent members of the government, as well as high ranking employees of highly influential companies in the country of Japan. The motives of this organisation are unknown. However, a company that is highly concerned about this terrorist organisation has recently attained a tape which had captured one of the members of this terrorist organisation on video. Several sections of this tape are censored due to certain issues…”
Stolen story; please report.
Yuri felt her blood turn cold the moment that the news reporter had mentioned a ‘mysterious terrorist organisation’. And she is ready to bet everything that she had ever owned that the news reporter is talking about Hati. And she nearly suffered from cardiac arrest when she saw the contents of the tape on television.
The tape showed a dark room, almost as if it was being taken with a hidden camera. The room itself had its lights dimmed out, but Yuri could see the silhouettes of the people in the room. One was a man who had his back to the camera, and there were only a few moments before the door slowly opened, and dim light streamed in before another figure slipped into the room silently.
Yuri narrowed her eyes as she could tell from the physique of this newcomer that the person was a girl. She had a really bad feeling about this. Yuri narrowed her eyes as she saw that the girl walked up to the man sitting in the chair and wrapped one arm around his neck, with the other hand grabbing his throat. There were several moments as the man struggled with the girl before he went limp.
Yuri frowned slightly. The way that the girl had killed her victim…it is awfully like how Selina has always killed her victims in a stealth mission.
The camera zoomed in just then before focusing on the girl’s neck, and the tape then paused, showing a black butterfly tattoo with spread wings on the side of the girl’s neck. And on either side of Yuri, Tohya and Ren froze.
The view on the television then switched back to the news reporter.
“We suspect that the tattoo that could be seen in the last part of the video is something that identifies the members of this terrorist organisation – a mark of some sort. All members of the public are to be careful when facing suspicious individuals, and—”
Zap.
Tohya had picked up the remote control of the television and turned it off, producing complete silence in the recreation room. Yuri felt like screaming as she realised the implications of the current situation, and turned towards Tohya and Ren.
“Tohya. Ren. Come.” Yuri made a gesture with a slight tilt of her head before walking out of the recreation room with her left hand unconsciously rubbing her tattoo. The two teens obliged, and Ren closed the door of the recreation room behind them before all three turned to face each other.
“Alright, how in the name of kami-sama did the media get hold of that tape?” Yuri asked with a snarl. “And I think that both of you know as well as I do that that was Selina on the tape earlier!”
Tohya nodded dumbly, having come to the same conclusion, fighting the urge to wince at Yuri’s obvious anger.
“If the words of the media could be trusted, some company had given that tape to them,” said Tohya slowly. “The question is, what company is it?”
“Venar Enterprises, one of Japan’s richest companies.” Ren replied, much to Yuri and Tohya’s surprise, and the two turned towards their friend. Ren was looking particularly grim, not that anyone could blame him. Ren then sighed. “I’ve finally figured out which company had been backing up Raven’s Gate financially, and I was about to report to the Elder and the captain about my findings, but…” He trailed off.
“Venar…?” Yuri repeated slowly, wheels slowly turning in her head as she translated Raven’s Gate’s name into English inwardly, and rearranged the letters of the first part of their name. She then froze. “Damn it! It’s Raven’s Gate that is behind it! ‘Venar’ is an anagram of their name!” Yuri groaned. “Why the hell didn’t I realise it in the first place?”
Ren frowned. “Where is Selina now?” he asked, and Tohya shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But it’s a good thing that they didn’t get a good look at her face.”
“Yeah. But I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing, and if we should be relieved about that,” said Yuri darkly. “It is an ominous sign that Raven’s Gate isn’t done with us yet. I really should have guessed that they’ll try to pull something like this with us sooner or later!”
Tohya and Ren winced at Yuri’s anger, even though it wasn’t them that Yuri was angry with.
But a more pressing issue was on Ren’s mind, and he frowned. “Hey wait,” he said, and both Yuri and Tohya turned towards him. “How the hell did Raven’s Gate even know about Selina’s mission in the first place?”
Yuri raised a brow.
Ren did raise a very good point. The missions of Hati are kept deeply secret, and even more so if it is a Phantom. The missions that the Phantoms undertake are kept top secret, and not even the other Phantoms knew about the missions that their fellow Phantoms undertake.
Yuri then frowned as a sudden thought struck her mind, and her face darkened considerably.
If it is him who has betrayed them…
Well, Yuri didn’t know what she might do, but whatever she does to him won’t be pretty, that is for sure.
“Can the both of you accompany me someplace?” Yuri asked with slightly narrowed eyes, and both Tohya and Ren exchanged confused looks. “I know of one person outside of the Phantoms and Hati themselves who might know about Selina’s mission.”
* * * *
Both Ren and Tohya were surprised when Yuri led them all the way to Kabukicho, and brought them along a familiar path that took them to the entrance of Starlight’s Hall itself.
“Yuri? What are we doing here?” asked Tohya uneasily.
He didn’t like that look on Yuri’s face. No one liked it when Yuri was angry, as she could make one feel as if they were five years old again, and scolded by their parent or teacher.
Ren frowned. “This is no time for a drink, Yuri,” he said, only to be taken aback by the look on Yuri’s face.
“Take a closer look at your surroundings, you two,” said Yuri with a low growl. “It has already been an hour since Starlight’s Hall opened. And yet, there is no one standing at the door.”
Ren and Tohya blinked before taking a closer look at the entrance of Starlight’s Hall only to see that Yuri is telling the truth. Where was the bouncer?
Tohya shifted uneasily on one foot to another. “You don’t think that Mizuki-san is ill?” he suggested, and the looks on the faces of both his best friends told Tohya what they thought of that idea.
Ren shook his head. “Even if Mizuki-san is ill, he will still keep the bar open,” he stated. “He couldn’t afford to lose even one day of business.”
Yuri walked towards the door of the bar and tried the lock. She frowned as the door knob turned easily. “The door’s not locked,” she muttered before pushing the door open.
The bell tinkled as all three Phantoms entered the bar, and Tohya frowned at the pitch black darkness. Mizuki always has some lights turned on in the bar to prevent his customers and employees from tripping over something in the dark.
Something is deadly wrong.
Somewhere behind him, Ren fumbled about for the light switches in the dark before finding it, and he then turned on the switches. Light immediately flooded the entire bar, and the eyes of all three Phantoms went wide at what they could see before them.
The entire bar was completely trashed.
The tables and chairs of the bar were all overturned, and several of the chairs and tables were damaged beyond repair. The drinking glasses usually hanging above the bar counter were all smashed. Several bottles of liquor were also smashed, while the liquid contents soaked the carpet.
Tohya was the first one to find his voice, his eyes wide with shock. “W-What the hell happened here?” he asked, pointing one finger at the mess within the bar. “Did Raven’s Gate get to him or something?”
“Something like that, I guess,” said Yuri grimly. Her worst fears had indeed come true. She sighed at the looks that Tohya and Ren have both given her. “Selina was with me in Starlight’s Hall two days ago when she had received that mission call from the captain. Mizuki-san is the only one who could have known that Selina had a mission assigned to her on that day.”
“It can’t be!” Tohya protested. “Mizuki-san wouldn’t do such a thing!”
“No…” Ren muttered, his eyes focused on something that he could see on the wall just above Tohya’s shoulder. “He has.”
Blinking, both Tohya and Yuri turned to see what had caught Ren’s attention, only to see a drawing of a raven with spread wings in front of a gate drawn onto the wall with black ink. Yuri growled in her throat.
“It’s really him…” she growled. “Mizuki…you bastard…”