Under the Veil of Night

Shiro's Clinic

"How do you think about my appearance?" Tommy asked. He was wearing the clothes that Neo delivered to him for his job as the bodyguard. It was dark blue suit, which looked pretty good.

"I can only say that even a toad can look good in proper clothes."

"Are you comparing me to a toad now?"

Shiro laughed. "Don't get angry too often, you brat. You're going to become a bodyguard, so you have to study how to properly conduct yourself. If you act like this, it won't be long for them to kick you out of their residence because of your misconduct."

"What?"

"Don't you know that without proper conduct, it's possible that bodyguard is killed?" Shiro asked amusedly. "Your life is in the hands of your employer. If not dying to protect them, you'll die in their hands."

Tommy listened to Shiro's words attentively. He never knew that bodyguard job would be this difficult. When he accepted the job from Neo, he only thought of how he would be able to stay by Alice's side.

"What do you mean die in their hands, they're not going to kill me, right?"

Shiro rolled his eyes. "It's possible for you to die in their hand because it's stated in the contract that everything that happen to you is not their responsibility anymore. Some bad employer might exploit the contract by treating you badly and kill you in the process."

"…I'm having second thought now."

"Idiot, Ryukalin Clan is not going to use that kind of underhanded method, but you still need to know the rules of these clans," Shiro placed a stack or paper in front of Tommy. "I searched the rules for you, so you better memorize them. One more thing, you have to be respectful in front of the core members and never call them by their real name."

Tommy's jaw dropped. "You mean, I have to call Kevin with Boss and Alice with Miss?"

"Yes."

"…" he felt as if he would defect from Fiore Group to Ryukalin Clan this way.

Shiro laughed when he saw Tommy's expression. "There's no need to worry so much. It's not like you're truly become part of Ryukalin Clan that way."

"You say that, but I'm still worried."

"Nah, you're still part of Fiore Group unless you want to quit. Also, if you have a problem, you can just contact the other members. If we have time, we'll surely help you out. Now, stop bothering me and start memorizing, I want to study this new medicine that they make again," Shiro said as he turned his attention to his paper.

Tommy nodded. "Got it, thanks Shiro."

"No need for thanks."

…

Nolen School C

"It has been some time since we have joint sports together," Laura remarked as she pulled her sleepy sister.

Alice nodded while giggling. "That's obviously because we hadn't had school in a long time. At least, you can have fun on the court today."

"I doubt it," Kanae yawned. "There's no one who wanted to challenge me anymore."

Both Laura and Alice could only smile wryly. If there was anyone who dared to challenge Kanae, they would feel that it was weird instead. With how Kanae used to duel against Kevin back then, it was clear that she has quick reflex and speed enough to match with the boys. Many of them couldn't even be compared to her, so who would dare to challenge this lass?

"It's kind of lonely, though."

"Lonely?"

"Yeah. Our friends are disappearing one by one," Kanae spread out her arms as if saying that their surroundings have changed.

Alice fell into silence. Now that Kanae mentioned it, it was true.

Back when they were still in first year, they always gathered together with the three of them. And when Kanae was pulled into Student Council, their group increased to eight people. But it didn't last long as their number decreased one by one and now, there was only two of the original members.

"Time has changed; we all have different paths in our lives. But I'm sure there'll come the time when we all gather together once again, though," Alice smiled brightly.

"Yeah."

"Let's just play basketball together. The court is empty," Laura suddenly said.

Kanae arched her eyebrows. "I thought you don't like to play basketball, Laura. What makes you change your decision so suddenly?"

"Rather than reminiscing in this hot weather, we should just play together. It's more fun~."

"Actually, staying under the shade is…"

"Let's go, Alice."

With the two girls pulled her along, Alice could only smile bitterly. It seemed that her hope to stay behind and just watched the two of them played together was impossible. Feeling the glaring light of the sun from the sky, she felt like crying. It was so hot!

"Sis, please go easy on me."

"That's not going to happen," Kanae grinned as she passed the ball to Laura.

Laura clicked her tongue. "So, I'm guarding first, huh?"

She dribbled the ball and attempted to move suddenly. She hoped to catch her sister off guard, which didn't happen. As soon as she moved, Kanae followed and blocked her path from the front.

"Alice!"

Laura jerked her hand and passed the ball to the back, right where Alice stood. After receiving the ball, Alice dribbled to the other side to avoid Kanae. Unfortunately, it only took a moment for Kanae to catch up and blocked her path.

Alice tried to pass the ball to Laura, but Kanae intercepted it beautifully.

"Block her!"

"She's too fast!" Alice wanted to cry. Just as she said that, Kanae had dribbled to the center of the court and attempted a three pointer. The ball went smoothly into the basket without any shook.

Laura clicked her tongue. "You don't even have mercy for your cute little sister."

"It's obviously because you're too cute that I don't have any mercy."

"That's a blatant lie," Laura stuck out her tongue. She picked up the basketball and dribbled it while Kanae chased after her.

The three of them played 2 vs 1 for quite some time and Laura only managed to get a single point after 10 consecutive baskets from Kanae. Even though they played two against one, the advantage Kanae had was too obvious.

"I'm starting to doubt that your sister is human, Laura," Alice wiped her sweat. She had started to feel tired after playing for some time.

Laura clicked her tongue. "I tell you, she's not human. She's a cat."

"Cat?"

"Laura!" Kanae chided her little sister.

The other two just laughed when they saw Kanae complained. As other students also wanted to play, they got out of the court and rested on the bench once again.

"It's really fun to play together again," Laura relaxed and lied down on the ground.

"Hey, it's dirty."

"I'm too lazy to move."

"The others are looking."

"They're busy watching the next one. Come on, let me relax a bit. It's so hot out here," Laura refused to move.

"And who's the one suggesting to play basketball under this weather?" Kanae said amusedly.

"I don't know."

Alice and Kanae just laughed at Laura's answer. Kanae sat down on the ground and directed her gaze to the gate. Her eyes widened when she saw a familiar person standing not far from the place.

"Alice, Laura, I'll be right back."

"Huh? Ok," Laura tilted her head and saw that her sister was heading to the gate. She saw an unfamiliar person not far from their school gate.

"Who's that?"