FOUR

Kai P.O.V

I walk into Reina’s shop and it is the biggest mistake I ever made, it is packed to the brim and everyone in here has powers, the place smells awful because of the many different dishes that all have a very pungent aroma. How can these kids even stand to eat in a place like this, or any of the food, it looks as bad as I assume it tastes

“Hey, that guy looks like Kai Riden, doesn’t it?”

“Man this is so good, stop checking the guy out man.’”

“Piss off I am not checking him out, but isn’t he like an enemy or something?”

“Dude, are you going to eat that?”

“Koin, how did you find out about this place? Boss Man is going to be pissed we know about his kids.”

“Why would he? The food here is genuinely good man.” Koin speaks with a mouth full of food and he is still piling more on top of that. That is disgusting, how can a person be that repulsive? My goodness I have walked into a pig sty

“You are such a pig.” A girl cringes. I absolutely can relate to that. If he were in my organization I would kill him on the spot, from the looks it, in here is Toya’s youth division. All these kids are obviously in school, there are grade schoolers too, I have actually seen the one in the corner at Kaiya’s school.

“Says the actual Pig.” Koin eats his food and reaches for his friends plate, the boy won’t stop looking at me, but I should have expected some changes to this place now that Toya’s members know about the twins, even if Hiryu is not confirming it, and majority of the world is calling him a hero for taking in kids with powers, only those of us in the business know the truth.

The twins are not random kids he is helping, they are his flesh and blood, he really did a number on that journalist to have turned someone so close discovering Hiryu’s syndicate and exposing it, to getting her off his train and marking him as a prince to the people all around the world.

I turn my head, a sweet scent that is overpowering the strong aroma is coming closer, it reminds me of a masked dancer I once watched on a business trip abroad, it is strong, but does not irritate the nose, it is not overpowering to the extent I would have to get out of here.

Reina walks towards me, “Mr. Riden, how can I help you? Kaiya is not here, the boys have been hijacked by their grandfather.” She is the source of the smell? My goodness, I could follow her anywhere just to inhale her scent day and night, it feels so relaxing.

“I just wanted to check on you actually. I am aware the boys are not here.” I look behind her, and all around me, the loud place was instantly silent with all eyes on me, I don’t know if my words came out wrong or what, but I certainly just stepped on some toes here. Which is perfect, because that is exactly what I came here to do, while my man have an easy time outside taking back the territory. Hiryu took all his best men to Royal city where his sons are based, and I heard rumors it could be for the whole month, so his territory has only the weaklings and a bunch of kids, but I am not underestimating these kids, which is why I am here in person, I saw their individual files, and the things they were trained to do, I am going to hold Reina hostage without her even knowing it.

Reina smiles, “Oh, that is so sweet of you,” she slouches slightly, “I am exhausted, I was not expecting customers,” she waves her hands around dismissing herself from saying something, but in the end says it anyway, “I thought with the boys gone, I could get some sleep, but uhm … for some reason I have customers.” She spins on her heels so gracefully, I wonder if she is the dancer, this scent is too familiar.

I look at her, “I thought the purpose of this place was to have customers.” I am not surprised it never has any, and the only reason it has customers is because of Toya, it is an absolute dump.

“Yeah … “ She winces, “But I had gotten used to a handful of customers a day, I really wanted to sleep in. I haven’t slept a wink in 5 years.” She laughs awkwardly, she almost looks pained saying that.

“What about Rae? Your sister?” I ask, finding out she is related to someone who works for me, but she is the mother of Toya Hiryu’s children makes me uneasy, and now that I think about it, Rae has been behaving suspiciously from day one, I eventually just assumed it is her character, but maybe I should have trusted my instincts, I want to know more about what is happening here, does Toya have spies in my ranks, like I do in his?

Reina gives me a confused look for a bit, looking offended for a minute, but she turns to me to answer, she has a very expressive face, “We are not close, I was the adopted daughter in the family, so when I got powers and she didn’t, the already broken relationship fell apart. She’s been obsessed with the tetragram since.” Rae turns to Koin, “Goodness child, buy a drink.”

Koin empties his pockets. Can I child so young really be the killer the report says he is? He does not look like he could hurt a fly, are the deaths even intentional? Because that is what the stories assume, but he is a child, it might not be the case.

“Alright punks, drinks on the house, but don’t come back tomorrow.” Reina walks away and grabs a key, opening the vending machine and leaving it open.

“Oh wow, thanks miss Reina.”

I walk towards her, “I actually want to talk to you about your sister, see she works for me, and from the sound of it, she made it seem like you were close, and she has been pushing the tetragram search I once brought up as an attempt at humor, she is really pushing for the idea.”

Reina nods, “Because I got my powers by touching the Tetragram, I was born ordinary. It’s real.” She says that like it’s nothing and walks away.

I raise a brow, “You have to be joking.” That thing is just myth, only fools believe in it, she must be saying that for the children around here, it is nothing but madness that she is speaking.

“No, I am not. I was 9 years old, my family was at an auction and the tetragram was for sale and since I was not really liked no one noticed when I slipped away, I went out back, and I saw them switch out the real one for a fake after a buyer had bet 3 million for it. I was a dumb kid, it shined so attractively, like in the movies how they show gold glowing with an aura around it. I touched it, and I felt power transfer from it to me, and I heard someone coming, so I switched the real with the fake. The man who had bought it, was my father. That 3 million was the last of the money he had left, he spent everything to get his hands on that thing, and he was in so deep he was willing to go all out at the very end. Even though he was not sure it is real or not.”

I look at her, “Does he still have it?” her story sounds convincing, but I don’t believe it, that thing is just a grand mothers tale all kids with powers were told at some point in time, to convince them they are no different from ordinary children, even I told my daughter the story when her powers suddenly manifested and it worked on her.

“Of course not, the tetragram is not something you own, you use it for your purposes and let it go. That is what he did, he got the power he wanted and sold it for 3 billion to his best friend. He was filthy rich and still is.” Reina looks at me, “Last I heard, it was at the museum, that one looks like the real deal, it just feels right.” She shudders ominously like the connection she feels just hit her right now.

I cross my arms, “So you got your powers from the tetragram, and your sister did not, even though her father, had it?” that sounds fishy to me, how could that happen? Especially after she stated she was not much loved by the family and Rae certainly acts spoiled.

Luna winces, “That may have been my fault, I didn’t want her to have powers too. I drugged her up and locked her in the closet and went to her father pretending to be her, she was such a diva back then, he didn’t think it suspicious at all when I walked in wearing a gold mask with my hair colored. So I was exposed to it 3 times.”

Interesting, the first time is when she touched it out of curiosity, the second when she touched it switching the fake and the real tetragram, and the third time when she pretended to be her sister, “That would make you the only person in existence to have 3 powers.” There is no way Toya would not know about this.

“Bingo, but I never said the tetragram gives powerful abilities. They are all pretty useless. Someone who got their powers, could never be an equal to someone born with their powers.” She clears the bar table and starts neatly packing the glasses in the sink.

Why did she answer that like she read my mind? Is that one of her powers? But if so ... she would know why I am here and would not be acting like this, “But you can make wishes come true.” That’s what I heard at least.

“It sounds more powerful than it really is, I can wish for things I can physically touch and there’s a scale limit, it can only be really small things.” She smiles at me.

“Diamonds are small.” I comment. Her father is wealthy after all.

“Do I look like the kind of girl who could ever get close to a diamond Mr. Riden? If I ever did get close enough to touch it, why would I be here?” she walks to a table and clears it.

“Let me help you with that, I’m actually looking for an after-school job.” The girl who was asking floats all the dishes at the same time.

“Don’t float the dishes your reach is sloppy.” Luna comments almost like an expert, “Don’t take Koin’s food he hasn’t eaten enough.” She looks at the vending machine, “I am not hiring students, or anyone at all. Where the hell did you kids come from?” she exhales, I felt the exhaustion in that single loss of breath.

“What is he doing here?” I notice a hot head at a table directly behind me, what is his problem?

“Hitting on the boss’s wifey. When she goes out back, I’m offing that bastard.” One even hotter than the first comments, I don’t recognize these 3, they must be new.

“Cool it man, he heard you.” A nerdy looking boy tries to calm his friends, he is so frail looking.

“Good, he should not be here.”

“He’s outnumbered, he won’t try anything stupid, and the boss will kill you if you make miss Reina suspicious. We can’t do anything to him in here, that’s why he was bold enough to come here in the first place.

He may be frail looking but he is certainly the smart one, I hate the smart ones.

“What if his goons are out there right now?”

“We don’t go into any of the action without orders, we’ll get our chance stop being impatient, and if I was you, I would worry about finding that missing loot, you know Kyle will kill you if your money is short.”

“How did you lose it in the first place?”

“That bitch, someone told her the drug gives ordinary people powers, she took all of it. That moron thinks she can get powers, and it will just kill her, I’m waiting for the news about her dead body. I know she is out of town, it won’t be traced back to me.”

“It might, she posted a video and said your name, she told everyone you deal this stuff and where to find you, what if she was an undercover agent? They use kids these days.”

Do they really? No way.

“Look, to avoid problems, we’ll put our money together to make up for the bit he lost. He already earned 80% of the required amount, no need to panic.”

I turn my head when there’s an explosion. I watch the teens looking around confused, they have a choice to make, go out there and fight, leaving me with Reina, or stay, to watch me, but their territory will be lost. If my daughter loves coming here, than I am taking this entire district.

Reina comes out and I order a drink.

“What’s going on out there?” Reina jumps when there’s more noise, I don’t get how she could be related to Rae, that is not how her sister would have reacted.

“Reina, I would like my drink with ice.” I remind her

“We should go help.” Hot head number 1 stands up and runs for the door.

“No, you idiot. We’ll only get in the way.” Frail nerd follows, ill give him props for not being a coward.

“Of what? Everyone is in Royal City, there’s nobody but us to defend our territory, didn’t you get the news?” Hot head number one, I thank you for saying that loudly enough for everyone to hear you. Now everyone is looking at each other with a serious decision to make, stay or fight?

The hot headed one leaves in a hurry, and half of them follow, the other half are glaring at me I am uncomfortable with being left with their strongest ones, but it is going to take all of them to push back my men outside, I should avoid a fight in here, I don’t know their powers well enough to just start fighting, I will prioritize my main goal.

They have to choose to sacrifice one thing today. Their territory or Reina.