End of Mission (3)

Just as she said she would, Annaleigh left Star Stream Academy after that day. The explanation given by the academy was that her family's situation forced her to move, but as the students understood how the world worked and knew that Annaleigh aided Liella during the recital, the main rumour going around was that Annaleigh had escaped because of trouble with enemies of Liella's father. Liella would glare at anyone who dared say something like in earshot of her, but besides that she didn't make much of an effort to erase the rumour because she knew it would die down eventually.

Liella didn't think Annaleigh would ever return to the academy, but she wasn't discouraged. She would use the time until they reunited to better herself so that next time, she would be the one to protect her friend.

...

In the same hotel room that they met in last time, Shui faced the client. He was in his regular masked attire, but the client couldn't imagine what was truly behind that mask after hearing about how he acted inside the academy. He originally thought that Faceless would maintain a casual relationship with his daughter while performing his role, but not only had he managed to enter the Asteria Dance Club, which the client couldn't force with his influence, Faceless had also grown close enough to his daughter for her to trust him. As he knew that his daughter had grown up in an environment that made her wary of forming interpersonal connections, he was impressed by Faceless' communication skills.

As for Shui, his reluctance to accomplish this mission was stronger than anyone expected. Although he still recalled the fights that he was in to protect the target, he only allowed a summary of the other details to remain in his memory. Usually it was more difficult to seal memories than erase them due to the experience remaining, but Shui had accomplished it by designating a separate container for those memories and experiences within himself.

Shui had created a persona known as 'Annaleigh' to operate within Star Stream Academy, and left all decisions while he was dormant to her. As this new persona was created to be a female and he used Mutation Control to turn himself into a teenage girl, the persona was able to act in the role that was required even better than he could, and without any need to be ashamed. The new persona was also given limited access to his original memories so that it could complete the mission. Shui still had to be careful not think about it too much, and there was a chance that the emotions of his other persona could leak out, so he wanted to get this over with quickly and put the incident behind him.

"You did better than expected. Thanks to your intervention, my daughter wasn't aware of any of the night attacks and your performance made her dance stand out even more than I thought possible. If you agree to a few conditions, I wouldn't mind employing you after you return from Heavenly Territory."

"Thank you for your generous praise, but an assassin like me wouldn't be fit for such a honorable role."

"Hmph, very well, I have no intention of forcing you. You may check your reward."

The client then handed Shui a space expansion bag. In the bag were tickets for the airship along with documents to prove that Shui and his companions had permission to enter Area B and the section where the airship was, along with a couple gifts such as spirit gems and pills.

"I have received the payment. It's been nice working with you."

The client nodded in response and allowed Shui to leave. He had been wary that Faceless would attempt to use his relationship with his daughter to extort additional benefits and had prepared to turn the tables on him, but it seemed that was unnecessary. However, that didn't mean he was completely relieved. In a sense, he would have actually preferred if Faceless had tried to blackmail him as that would prove that he had impure intentions in getting so close with his daughter. However, he now had two possibilities to worry about. Either Faceless was planning on using his connection with Liella to secure future benefits, or he was serious about her.

The client hated the idea of leaving potential danger alone, but he wasn't confident that he could take care of the talented assassin even with his power as director of Windwave City. On the other hand, he wasn't sure about taking Shui in as a son-in-law. Although he would certainly be a valuable asset, the enemies he had likely made considering his profession might cancel the benefits.

Unaware that the client was stuck between eliminating him and wedding him to his daughter, Shui left the hotel. Once he was outside, he immediately noticed a smiling spirit flying towards him. He didn't ask how she could find him, mostly because he expected her to, but also because he was wary of her playful expression.

"Have you finished your work?"

"Yes, but why are you so happy? Did something good happen while I was gone?"

"Well, I suppose you could say I got to see something very interesting. But before I go into that, why don't you tell me what happened on your mission?"

"It was nothing special, I just protected a pampered young lady for a week. I had to do some acting to fit into my role, but everything ended well."

"Hehehe..."

"You're being creepy you know."

"You don't have the hide anything from me, I won't judge you. I might laugh, but I won't judge."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh you, fine, I'll be honest. I saw you while you were on your 'mission'."

"I see, then why didn't you say anything?"

"Huh?"

"Hmm?"

Alia took a close look at Shui's expression to find a flaw in his mask of tranquility, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't spot it. Even so, she wasn't about to give up on using this high-quality teasing material so she kept going.

"I saw you in your disguise, you know. Are you okay with that?"

"Was a it a good disguise?"

"Well, yes."

"Then I'm glad."

"..."

Alia had simulated several hilarious reactions that Shui might give her, but he was so bold about his crossdressing that she didn't feel like trying to tease him anymore. If Shui tried to figure out why Alia was acting this way then he could likely get close to the answer, but he ensured that such thoughts were immediately discarded or redirected.

After having given up, Alia slowly rested on Shui's right shoulder and so he asked a question.

"By the way, how were the twins?"

"There was little to no trouble. I followed them to the concert and though they didn't become hardcore fans like you, they enjoyed themselves."

"Good. Thanks for the help. We have a few more days before it's time to leave so I'll be looking around to see how much of this city's technology I can comprehend. What about you?"

"I've been doing too much lately so I'll just take a nap. Wake me up once we reach on the airship."

"Got it."