Under the Veil of Night

Kanae was barely able to walk after the intense training with Master Rudy. He basically told her to keep up with him the entire time. Mind you, men's physical strength was mostly stronger than women. In addition, he was far stronger than her. Asking her to run around so much made her feet sore.

"Can you walk, Rei?" the young man saw Kanae's condition and wondered. It was already 2 AM, but Master Rudy still didn't let this girl go.

"I'll… be fine after a bit rest," Kanae answered. Her voice was mixed with pants as she still felt rather tired.

Her special phone suddenly vibrated.

"What is it?" she asked in a low voice and walked away from the place.

The young man saw Kanae already walked like usual. His brow furrowed as he noticed how well she masked her condition. Even though she was completely beaten up, not a single one of them showed on the surface.

"She's very formidable, isn't she?" Master Rudy walked over with a smile plastered on his face.

"Master," The young man answered softly. His eyes landed on Kanae. "Yeah, I think this is the first time I see a woman like that."

Master Rudy laughed. "I wonder how she'll fare when facing with the turmoil in the clans not far from now."

The young man frowned. "Master, do you plan to involve her into the clans?"

"Who knows?"

Seeing the nonchalant smile on his master's face, he felt rather troubled. He knew that Master Rudy was having fun in training with Kanae, but she would be feeling exhausted. Internally, he hoped that Kanae could bear through the practice until it was finished.

"Oro, why are you calling me this late?" Kanae held the urge to yawn.

"There's a mission for us, but the time limit is quite close. I'm wondering if you have the time for that."

"Does it have to be me?"

"You'll understand if you listen to our explanation. We're in the clinic right now."

Kanae hanged the phone and sped up her pace. Her feet were screaming in pain, yet she kept a moderate pace. If she slowed down, she wouldn't be able to reach the place before it was too late at night. Yet, it still took her longer than her usual time to arrive in the clinic.

"You're taking quite long," Tommy commented when Kanae arrived.

"I'm still tired after my practice with Master Rudy," Kanae answered annoyedly. "What is this mission?"

"It's a mission to make a deal fail," Jason answered. "The deals happen in a nearby mall as an ordinary talk between two men in a shop. They'll only make a short contact, but the paper is something that we have to destroy after the deal happen."

Kanae frowned. It wouldn't be easy to steal the paper from them. Considering Jason's grave tone, it would mean that their power should be rather powerful.

"Why is this paper so important?" Kanae asked.

Jason didn't immediately answer. "I can't tell you the detail, but it contains harmful information, so we're tasked to destroy it."

"It's from your friend?"

"Yes."

"Then, it's time for us to work."

Shiro sighed. "Let me clean up the place first. You all crash to someone place too suddenly."

"This is rather sudden. We only have three days to complete the planning this time."

…

Ryukalin Clan

"Mike, what are you doing getting up so early in the morning?" Neo asked while yawning. "You don't seem like you're heading to train."

Mike nodded his head. "I'm going on a date."

"Oh," Neo recalled that Misae did say something to Mike yesterday. It seemed that the two of them have promised to have a date. "Good luck on your date and happy birthday."

"Thanks Neo."

Neo merely raised his arm as he yawned. It was still too early. He wanted to have more sleep as he still felt rather sleepy.

On the other hand, Mike felt rather nervous. This should be the first time he has ever gone to a date with a woman. Usually, he would be around Kevin and Neo when he went everywhere, so he was unsure about what he should do later.

"Wow, Mike, you're going on an errand?" the Old Man asked in a surprised tone.

"Not at all, Old Man," Mike laughed. "I'm going on a trip today. Just ask Boss to accompany him. It's also rare that I see you awake."

"I want to drag the brat to wake up. He's skipping his training again," the Old Man scoffed. He got a message from the other elite core member that Neo skipped his training. Although he knew that Neo was not as strong as the others, he would never let this brat skipped his practice.

"Good luck, Old Man. I'm sure Neo already hides again."

"That brat!"

The Old Man scoffed and stormed to the other building. The only place Neo could hide within the clan was limited, so he guessed that the brat should be near. When he found that boy, he would be up for a good thrashing.

Mike smiled slightly as he saw the Old Man already fuming with rage. With a light step, he got into a different car than the one he used with Kevin. Although his status was quite high, he still couldn't use Kevin's car however he wished. Thankfully, he had his own car, albeit a little old since it used to belong to his father.

Driving the car carefully, he recalled the map route that Neo showed to him before. He had never gone to Misae's house before, so he could only rely on his memory about the route from the map.

"Excuse me, which one is the route to North Garden?" Mike couldn't bear it when he noticed that he already lost direction several times.

"It's not far from here, Sir. You just have to…."

The passerby answered his question amiably. After getting the answer he needed, Mike gave that person a little bit of money as thanks.

Finally, he arrived in front of Misae's house.

"Mike, you're early," Misae walked out from the house the moment Mike parked the car in front of her house. She was dressed in a white short-sleeve blouse with a mini skirt. Her long hair was tied in half to her back, showing her beautiful face with light makeup.

Mike was stunned when he saw her getting dressed up. Although Misae usually wore makeup to the school, it was only a mild one to keep her appearance tidy. Now that she fully dressed up, he found her to be more captivating than ever.

A bright smile was formed on his face. It seemed he had fallen so deeply to her that he found her to be very beautiful every single time.

"I'm afraid that I'll be late," Mike laughed. He woke up extremely early and got into the wrong direction several times. At least, he still arrived faster.

Misae smiled. "Where shall we go?"

"I already bought tickets for a new movie in the mall," Mike answered hesitantly. To be honest, he was unsure about what a girl would like during a date, so all he could do was trying to find some fun things for them to do. The only one that came up to his mind was watching movie and eating.

Hearing that, Misae beamed. "Tell me more about it."

"I can do that in the car. Have you bid your farewell to your parents?"

"I have."

"That's good."

As the two of them departed, Clara peered from the window curiously. She rarely saw Misae got ready so early in the morning during Saturday. It surprised her even more when she saw him with a boy. That lass! She should have told them if she got a boyfriend.

"She's moving quite fast," Clara commented.

Kano laughed. "It's better than the two of us. It takes you so long to accept me into your life."

"What are you talking about? It's you who's so slow," Clara scoffed.

"Don't spout nonsense," Kano moved his gaze back to the newspaper on his hand. "Anyway, we can ask her more about it when she got home later if you're worried about her."

"I'm worried," Clara answered, "Especially if that person is someone from the clan."

"Misae would never get close with anyone from the clan, right?"

"Usually, yes, but what if he didn't tell her the truth?"

Kano frowned. "If he dares to hurt her, he will have to get over my dead body."

He would never allow anyone to hurt his precious daughter, no matter who it was. Even if the other person was someone of high above, he would use whatever means he could to make sure that he got what he due.

Clara nodded her head.. Did she worry too much? Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that Misae might get hurt.