(A/N: Bonus chapter as promised.)
"Breaking news! CEO of multi-billion dollar company Massive Electric has just been arrested under suspicion of economic fraud!"
My spoon of cereal dropped into my bowl when I was suddenly blasted with this news in the morning.
Damn it, Ryoma!
How the heck did you get caught with the amount of money you have?
Were you being stupid leaving your documents around in a coffee shop or something?
I shook my head in disappointment at his failures.
But jokes aside, I sincerely doubt that Ryoma was that incompetent. In truth, even if he literally shouted out that he was a fricking money launderer in the middle of the streets, he would still get off scot free.
So that meant one thing.
He offended someone.
But the problem is now…
Was that person Cocolia, or someone else?
For now, I'd use the hypothesis that it was her and not someone new involved here.
If it was her, then it would make sense. After all, she sent Bronya to infiltrate first. Her idea would have been to get Bronya to catch Mei off guard after the Eruption that she would cause.
But now, since Bronya clearly wasn't going to be on her side anymore, she was changing things up.
I guess Ryoma got the short end of the stick for that.
Well… too bad I guess.
With the connection of these few dots of information, Cocolia being the culprit was the most likely here.
In that case, however, it was a bit disconcerting how quickly Ryoma got blasted after Cocolia's more subtle approach got ruined.
I clicked my tongue.
There were more important things to worry about right now.
Since he's out of the picture…
What happens to Mei now?
I immediately got properly dressed and ran to the door. As I did so, I ran into Kiana who had just woken up at this time.
"You're noisy as hell, man… I'm trying to-"
"Mei's dad got arrested."
"HA??!!!"
—--------------------------------------------------------
I landed on the compound of Mei's mansion with Kiana in arm(literally).
Thankfully, Blue's teleportation was really handy for moments like these.
Looking around, I saw the girl in question standing frozen in front of her mansion. She seemed to be watching a group of people lugging furniture out of Ryoma's house.
A frown appeared on my face as I let go of Kiana.
They move really, really fast.
Does Ryoma not have any allies? What about Siegfried and the family behind him?
Was the man left out to dry?
Or perhaps they couldn't even properly protect themselves right now…
So many questions.
But not enough answers.
"Mei! Are you alright?" Kiana shouted as she ran over. Seeing that, I ran over as well.
"K-Kiana? Gojo? When did you guys get here?"
"Now."
"But how? The place was locked down…"
"Teleportation."
Kiana gave her a quick once over. "It's okay. We're here now. We'll figure this out together, alright?"
Mei looked down, then shook her head.
"Don't…"
"What? What are you saying, Mei? These guys are raiding your home!"
"I… I don't want to get you guys involved with my issues…"
I chose to cut in at this time.
"If we don't get involved, this won't stay your problem for long."
"Huh?"
"I told you." I let out a breath. "There are people after you."
"Wait…" Mei's eyes brightened. "Do… do you mean that my dad was framed?"
Oof…
How do I tell her?
Thankfully, I didn't need to.
"Of course! There's no way your dad did anything wrong! It's gotta be that Cocolia lady who did all of this!"
Err wow.
Kiana… you're pretty dang sharp actually.
Hearing that, a determined expression appeared slightly on Mei's face before she nodded.
"They're… taking everything…" Her voice cracked slightly. "I'm not even allowed to take anything…"
"What? That's insane!" Kiana shouted in anger. "There's no way we're gonna let them do this right?"
Seeing this, the purple haired girl's breath hitched as she grabbed onto Kiana before she could charge.
"Don't… you'll get arrested too."
At this time, one of the movers decided that it was a great time to drive the knife in a bit deeper.
"Ms Mei?"
"Ah… yes?"
"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to hand over the jewelry in your possession."
"Jewelry? But that belongs to my mother!"
"Please don't make this difficult for us. We're just obeying orders."
Orders huh?
I looked at the man's face.
A sneer appeared on my lips.
Kiana stood in front of Mei in defence.
"You scumbags are already taking almost everything away from her! Can't you bastards just leave this one thing?"
"Who are you? Obstruction of duties is punishable by law."
Mei's body trembled slightly. Hesitantly, she grabbed onto Kiana's arm.
"Just… don't Kiana. It's… just a piece of jewelry…"
With trembling arms, she removed her necklace and took off her bracelet.
But just as she was about to hand it over…
"Hey…"
My voice was deep.
It reverberated through the entire compound, causing everyone to halt in their steps. Even those that were busy carrying things out of the mansion paused as they looked over.
"Another person obstructing? You are liable t-"
"I remember you…"
The man froze.
"I- I don't understa-"
"Weren't you there when Ryoma and I were getting rid of the bomb?"
Silence
Pure, unadulterated silence.
Tension filled the air. It was so thick that it could be cut with a knife.
"Get out of here… all of you…"
"Before I gut the lot of you like fishes…"
At once, everyone dropped what they were doing and scrammed to the exit.
Only the man, who wanted to take what belonged to Mei and threatened Kiana remained in front of us, legs frozen and unable to move.
A smile appeared on my face as I placed a hand on his shoulder.
"How nice of you to stay behind to help us!"
His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
"We'll talk later! I'm glad that you're so enthusiastic about this."
I gestured to Mei and Kiana who were dumbstruck there.
"C'mon guys! Time's a wastin'!"
But as I turned around, a thought couldn't help enter my mind.
About what the Herrscher said about Mei that day…
Something that shouldn't make sense due to the situation here…
And yet, it kept floating in my mind.
Coward…
(A/N: How was the chapter? Please give powerstones and comment. Do review if possible!
I'll be transparent about my release schedule here as well. I try to post 6 times a week so yeah. See you guys next week.)