Planning

Aito blushed slightly, caught off guard by the strange question.

"W-well-" he stuttered, "From what I've observed, my master certainly prefers... weak-willed women. Women who will revere him as a king, no, as a god - all to satisfy his rave for attention."

"Weak-willed women..." Kai echoed.

Aito held his hand to his chin, thinking. "As for appearance, there's not too much to be specific on. Naoki simply likes skinny, fair-skinned ladies. Anything besides those two features doesn't really matter to him." Aito gave a nervous chuckle before adding, "well, that's what I think, at least."

Kai nodded, "thank you, that will be all I need to know."

"Oh- and... master Naoki loves dark-colored tones. He simply cannot stand bright things." Aito added hesitantly. "He calls colorful, eye-catching things... fake."

Aito turned away, embarrassed - as if he were a colorful, eye-catching thing that his master had called 'fake.'

"All right, thank you for telling me," Kai responded curtly.

He and Glen would need to get to work immediately, with the information that Aito had just revealed to him. They would need a game plan... something strong and smart that would lead them to their success - to the assassination of Hideaki Naoki.

Luckily... Kai already had an idea in mind. Now, he just needed to hear Glen's say, on his rather strange plan.

As if on cue, Glen threw open the door of the inn room and gallantly walked towards them. His arms were spread to his sides as if he were basking in the moment of grand, non-existent applause.

"I have returned from forming my magnificent concoctions!" Glen announced, kicking the door closed behind him.

Aito flinched and instinctively shied away from Glen's loud entrance.

Kai, on the other hand, was not disturbed. He crossed one leg lazily over the other and turned to face his mission partner.

"So it seems. But first and foremost, I'd like to relay the information I received from Aito to you."

Glen gave Kai a cheeky grin in response. "My young grasshopper, that sounds like a marvelous idea. Knowledge on one's enemy is cru... cru... crucial for success."

He took a step towards Kai and tripped over his own foot. Glen stumbled for a moment, before regaining his rather wobbly excuse for balance.

"Did you go out drinking?" Kai asked, peering at his partner's reddened face.

"Maybe just a little... hee... don't be mad, Kai-kun." Glen wheedled, "I won't be a problem..."

Suddenly, the tip of some sort of object inside Glen's bag reflected the light above them, causing Kai to blink away for a moment.

Aito noticed too, and Kai saw him peer at the bag for a closer look.

"What's that in your bag?" Kai asked.

"Oh, this?" Glen responded, pulling out the object that Kai and Aito had noticed peeking out of the bag. "W-why, it's my darling baby."

It was a wine bottle - an empty one at that. Well, not fully empty. There was still a bit of wine in the bottle, but not a very significant amount.

Exasperated, Kai forced Glen to sit down. He had drunk nearly an entire bottle of wine by himself at the crack of dawn. Clearly, he wouldn't be in any shape to listen to what Kai had to say regarding the mission. Well, not until he grew sober again.

Glen sat down and leaned his head against the wall. Within a matter of seconds, he had passed out cold. Gentle snores escaped his mouth as his jaw hung wide open in front of Kai and Aito.

'How unpleasant.' Kai thought to himself.

How had this sad, drunk excuse of a mission partner, defeat the guild master - Iris - in a duel? It didn't seem like Glen was very strong. His pale complexion and thin build portrayed him that way, at least.

Kai glanced at the nearly-empty wine bottle resting in Glen's palm, and he reached his hand towards it. He would finish the tiny amount of wine left inside the bottle. After all, there was hardly any left, and it would be a pity to waste such a luxury.

Kai wrapped his left hand around the bottle and pulled out the corkscrew with his right, forming a satisfying 'pop' sound. Aito watched in silence.

"I wouldn't drink that if I were you," Glen whispered, just as Kai had held the bottle up to his mouth. "It's poisonous."

Kai paused and stared at the apothecary who was now smiling at him through sly eyes.

"It's best you hand that to me, Kai. It took a while to make." Glen said, snatching the bottle away from him without waiting for a response.

He tucked it safely into his bag and smiled pleasantly at Aito. "I don't think we've properly introduced ourselves! My name is Glen, my partner here is Kai, and you are...?"

"Aito," Aito replied.

"Aito. How would you like to be my guinea pig for the concoction I've just made?" Glen asked, smiling at the servant boy coyly.

"I-" he stuttered. He clearly wanted no part in Glen's twisted work.

"Aito will not be used as a test subject for your experiments. We are to keep him alive and set him free. That was the plan, was it not?" Kai demanded, interrupting Aito.

Glen's eyes hardened for a moment, only to be replaced by the same good-natured smile that he so often used.

"Of course, of course, I was just joking. I'm confident in my abilities, as well as the lethality of my perfect little wine sample." He said, patting his bag of deadly wonders.

"Good," Kai responded, eyeing the bag. "But on a more important note, I need to talk to you about the information regarding Hideaki Naoki... as well as a plan I have to beat him."

. . . . . . .

20 minutes later:

"So you're telling me that even other nobles had trouble winning against him in a duel, and you think that your flimsy little plan will work?" Glen retorted.

Kai nodded determinedly, staring his elder in the eye as if challenging him to suggest a different course of action. Glen held his gaze for a moment, then dropped it.

"Well, it seems like you really do think this will work then." He sighed.

"It will."

Glen gave Kai a skeptic look, "well, while it's true that this method is certainly... creative, and does not involve much fighting, do you really think we can pull it off?"

"I think we can," Kai replied simply. "We just need to dress up as women, put on enough makeup that will hide our masculine features, and seduce Hideaki Naoki. If we can somehow manage to poison him without him noticing, we'll be able to walk in and walk out without complications." Kai said briskly, turning to Glen for approval.

"Dress up as women, huh. Well, that would certainly be interesting. However, I think it would work better if only you went into the club. After all, I'm rather shabby looking, and do not have a young face like you," Glen chuckled.

"Yeah... you're right," Kai responded, ignoring the hurt look on Glen's face.

"Well, that means I could do something else. I could watch you from afar and alert you of any possible threats or flaws in the plan." Glen suggested. He still wanted to be useful, even if he was not in his prime years anymore... appearance-wise.

Kai nodded. "Good idea." A pause. "It looks like you're on board then?"

Glen smirked at his younger partner. "You betcha, kiddo."

Kai gave a satisfied nod, then turned towards Aito.

"Do you know of any nearby shops where we could buy clothing?" He asked.

"Well, sure. There's plenty of retail stores around here-"

"What about really pretty clothing that will get any man to fall on their heels?" Glen cut in, sharply prodding the servant boy. "Any place that sells those types of clothes?"

Kai glared at his partner, who in turn, gave him another cheeky grin. He seemed like he was enjoying frightening the poor kid. Aito, on the other hand, was certainly not getting used to Glen's harsh, and uncomfortably loud manner.

"Akemi-ten suits that description," Aito said, averting his eyes from Glen. "It's a rather fancy retail store a couple of blocks away. It's not very far from here, perhaps a 15-minute walk from where we are now. I've heard that they sell beautiful clothing for any occasion."

"Akemi-ten, huh? Sounds like that's our next destination!" Glen shouted cheerfully, already marching towards the door.

Seeing the somber, melancholic appearance of Glen, paired with his energetic personality, was definitely not something commonly seen. It almost seemed as if he were the sun, disguised as the moon, from the way he was acting. Kai sighed, and followed Glen towards the door.

"Oh, but before that-" Glen whispered.

Without any other warning, he whipped back around to face where Aito sat. He then, as quick as lightning, slid something out from within his sleeve. Kai was not expecting such sudden movement from Glen, and he turned to see his partner lunging towards the Aito.

Aito, much like Kai, did not have enough time to react, as Glen plunged a syringe into his neck.