The second awakening of the day, the tradition I already hated with all of my being, came in the form of Olivia’s alarm. My extra crabby, and just as sleep-deprived as I am, girlfriend cussed and shut it off.

“Want to sleep in?” I asked drowsily.

“First class is P.E.” She explained. “I can just skip it today.”

I spooned her, lightly stroking her belly, and she relaxed into my chest.

***

I actually felt sore after yesterday’s workout, in addition to being extra lazy, so after an extra hour of sleep, Olivia and I were slowly eating breakfast together. I checked the traffic map ahead, and, while it was yellow, the ETA to my girlfriend’s school was short enough to not hurry too much.

“Honey.” Olivia called out, and judging by her tone, it was something serious. Fuck. “Because of these circumstances, I, erm, think it’s better for me to spend the next few days at my parent’s house.”

Ah, so it wasn’t serious, my girlfriend just decided to act extra stupid. Ugh.

“Olivia, are you trying to make me angry, or are you just stupid?” I asked, feeling my left eye twitch.

“Neither?” The girl in question sounded unsure.

“Good. Since that’s not the case, give me one reason why you decided to offer something so moronic, then.” I deadpanned.

“Well, since we can’t have sex, there is no reason for me…” She started.

“Olivia. If you still think that is the case, I don’t think we need to see each other anymore.” I interrupted her. My words drained all the color from her face. I rolled my eyes and slowly exhaled. “Look, I won’t say sex with you isn’t something I am always looking forward to, but that’s not the first item on the list of reasons why I want you in my home.”

“Honey…” she whispered.

“So, unless you have an important enough reason, you should just obediently return home. To me. Am I clear?” I warned her.

“Yeah… Erm, I mean, crystal…” Her eyes wavered, and then she threw herself into my arms. “Ugh, I’m sorry, honey.”

I hugged her closer and stroked her back, trying to calm this silly girl. A few minutes later, I decided to play a small prank on her. Just in case.

“Anyway, if that’s so important to you…” I whispered into her ear. “Isn’t there something you just learned, and need a lot more practice in?”

Olivia froze briefly, and then smacked my chest, glaring at me with righteous fury on her face. Another moment later, and she started giggling at my bad joke.

***

After dropping my girlfriend at school, I was driving back home. I had no real plans, and when I asked Claire if she wanted to do something together, she first wrote ‘Sleep’, and after just enough time for her to get over the panic after such a blunder, she added ‘By myself’. Well, I couldn’t blame the girl after an all-nighter.

Then, exactly on time, I got my daily dose of Bella. I guess it’s a weekday-only service, as she skipped both weekend days. Yesterday's picture was, once again, of a busy and tired Bella and lacked any creativity.

Today, she decided to use my new weakness against me, and so I got a picture of my special woman wearing only a shirt. And it was her shirt, not an oversized one of mine. Ugh, she looked great, but I felt conflicted about expanding my fetish list…

***

As I got back to my apartment, my phone started ringing, receiving a call. From a hidden number. I had a hunch who it could be, so I accepted.

“Is this supposed to be a joke? I find it a rather bad one,” I heard a familiar voice of the Lady in White, her tone frigid. “If it is not, you should have put more effort into it. The thing you drew belongs to a different person.”

“With all due respect, since I got your attention, this worked exactly as it was supposed to,” I explained.

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“Talk.” This was an order.

“With all due respect, but, are you certain that’s a good idea?” I decided to ask for confirmation. “I don’t doubt the safety of your line, but can’t say the same about my current whereabouts.”

I was surprised that not a single one of my neighbors came over to look for trouble, after so many sleepless nights.

“What is your goal?” The lady on the other side asked.

“To meet the Lady in White, of course,” I told her straight.

“I will send my people to pick you up,” she declared.

“How can I be sure they are from you?” I questioned.

“I will send Yin with them,” Lady Kouzuki said and ended the call.

I looked at the device in my hand and went to change my clothes to something more presentable. As much as I liked my ‘lazy bum’ getup, it wouldn’t do to meet someone of her status. Especially someone I respected quite as much.

I guess it was pretty strange to think about Lady in Black and Lady in White as separate entities, but, in my experience, they were as good as that. Even if I never saw them in the same place together.

***

Su’s first young lady knocked on my apartment door. Her face was a textbook example of displeasure when she looked at me as I opened the door for her.

“Good morning, Yin,” I decided to provoke her even more.

“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.

“Make me,” I smiled provocatively, knowing full well that she couldn’t do anything. Not until Lady Kouzuki is done talking to me.

“With pleasure,” her smile contained enough malice to make a lesser man flinch. “Can’t wait until the Mistress will order me to do exactly that.”

“Don’t regret your words later, Yin.” I shook my head.

***

I went into the familiar black door, under the worthless, unlit sign with a simple ‘Bar’ written on it. As I entered the premises, I nodded to the same bored bartender, who returned my greeting with a nod of his own and continued polishing the glass in his hands.

I scanned the interior and right away noticed Lady Kouzuki, clad in a white kimono this time. The Lady in White had the same changes as the Lady in Black. She looked mostly the same, only her posture was much lighter. Twenty years of carrying the Kouzuki clan on her frail shoulders took a toll.

“Mistress, we arrived.” Su’s first young lady voice reported our presence.

“Thank you, Yin.” Lady Kouzuki declared her gratitude. “So, you are the one who decided to play with me. Let me tell you this right away, you look nothing like Long Chen. You are too young for that. Since you somehow managed to dig enough information about him and his son, tell me something that couldn’t be dug from something as simple as a clan tree.”

The sharp voice of the Lady in White was calm, but I could feel her ire focused on me. She wasn’t like the Lady in Black, ever so cold yet polite. This Lady Kouzuki didn’t like to play with her words.

“Hm, something that couldn’t be dug from a clan tree?” I repeated her words, actually thinking about what I should say. “Shinji.”

Much like the Lady in Black, this Lady Kouzuki wasn’t able to fully control her reaction after hearing the familiar name.

“You. You really know something about that stupid rascal Chen.” She stated the fact. “What do you want for this information? Name your price.”

“Someone already paid for this information.” I just realized that I had no idea how the Lady in White would react to the existence of the Lady in Black. “So I will tell you everything I know free of charge.”

“Who?” As expected of her, right to the crux.

“The Long Clan.” I looked at how my conversation partner had noticeably relaxed. “Long Chen is dead. And had been dead for at least five years already. He was buried under a different name, but the body was retrieved and confirmed to be him.”

I made a nod towards the third table on the right, where one of the shadows was hiding. I wonder if they were having fun with this situation as well. Except I forgot one detail, the reaction to this piece of knowledge…

The Lady in White sighed heavily, not quite able to mask the sob.

“Do you… Do you know how he died?” She asked.

“Hm, that’s actually quite the mystery. I don’t know whether it was an illness, poison, or just curses from all the women he conned finally worked. But he was completely fine, at least outwardly, and then just keeled over.” I explained, for a moment forgetting that I wasn’t talking about Leon Roah, my bastard of a father, but, rather, Long Chen, the son of Kouzuki Miya. Oops.

“Mistress, it’s obvious that he is just playing with you,” hissed pig-tailed shorty.

“Quiet, Yin.” As usual, one word from the Lady in White managed to shut up this Su. “You sound as if you knew Chen personally.”

That was the moment of truth, I guess the prank went out of control, and actually was a lot less fun than I thought it would be. Maybe Bella was right about making rash and stupid decisions.

“I never knew Long Chen.” I denied. This was the truth. “But I knew Leon Roah, the person who was buried under that tombstone. Marriage con artist, scum, and overall pretty unpleasant guy.”

Su’s first young lady tried to say something but was shut up by the raised hand of Lady Kouzuki. Her cold steel eyes were looking at me, and I felt that their gaze was able to see through my deepest secrets.

“Now that I think about it, I never asked your name.” If I had had less experience dealing with this woman, I would’ve never noticed the hint of a slight tremble in her voice.