~2580 words
"Long time no see, Williams." Xio spoke with a smile as she sat opposite to Kiyotaka. She was dressed in a casual raiment — a sartorial choice that Kiyotaka had never seen her in before — comprising of loose pants, a casual shirt and a thick duffle coat on top. Her hair was short but looked freshly washed and coifed, appearing fluffy and a shade brighter than usual.
"It has been a long time, hasn't it?" Kiyotaka reciprocated the sentiment. He had divested himself of his smoking jacket and was sitting only in his shirt.
The main hearth of his house was quite capacious and it stayed active almost all of the time. That was why, no one except Ada was wearing heavy clothes. It was the same for the study room as well, given how heavily padded it was carpets. Of course, this was going to be an issue in summers but Kiyotaka had already thought of a method to deal with it.
"It definitely has." Xio answered. From the way she talked, it looked her her mood was really buoyant.
The door of the study room opened gently as Liv walked inside, carrying a tray with two thermos full of coffee and tea, alongside small receptacles that carried sugar cubes and milk. There were almonds and walnuts in a small receptacle alongside some freshly baked biscuits that Liv had bought before she had begun plucking grass earlier.
Waiting for Liv to arrange the cups in front of them and closing the door after her once she had left, Xio cleared her throat and began her conversation again. "I am quite happy for you, Williams. You have finally made it!"
Kiyotaka could sense the underlying nuance to her tone and realized that there was some other reason to her visit. However, since she was not making her real reason of visit obvious just yet, he did not attempt to pry deeper into it or focus his mind on it. Whatever it was, he was quite confident that he could deal with it.
"You are a celebrity now as well." Xio pressed on as she decanted herself some black tea and added small quantities of milk and half a cube of sugar. She added a few coconut biscuits to her plate and began mixing it in an elegant manner.
Given how perpetually alert and primed for action Xio usually was, it was quite strange to see her act like an actual lady—or more accurately, in accordance with the contemporary convention of a lady in the current era.
"Celebrity is a stretch." Kiyotaka replied as his eyes moved towards Fors.
She had doffed her hat indoors, causing the top of her head to look like a bird's nest. Unlike Xio, Fors seemed too indolent to tend to her hair once she had propped them already at home.
"The concept was already there. I just so happened to give a good idea to Mr. Leppard who implemented it quite expertly." As Kiyotaka took a sip from his own cup of black coffee, his lips contorted into a faint moue and spoke in a humble manner. "I just so happened to invest my last set of savings into the correct venture. Right place, right time, as Emperor Roselle used to say."
Seeing how fluent he was, Xio felt a little surprised. However, at the same time, she could tell that it was most likely the effect of Lawyer Potion.
Fors stayed taciturn as the two talked, holding the cup of coffee in both her hands. Her fingers had gotten really red and there seemed to be early signs of chilblains all over her hand. Kiyotaka noticed it from the corner of his eye.
As he and Xio talked about various things, the recent nature of crimes, they arrived at a rather strange news.
"There was apparently a terrorist attack today. We were leaving home at that time, however, due to the sudden action from police, we had to go back inside our homes. After a protracted period of police clearance and verification of safety, we were finally able to leave." Xio explained and bit down into a biscuit with raisin in it.
"I saw it as well." Kiyotaka admitted. "Are there any leads about it? Who could've done it?"
"Well, it happened not too long ago, so nothing can be said for certain. However, it seems to be the work of that Circus Clown and Plague Doctor." Xio proffered her opinion.
Kiyotaka did not feel surprised. From a certain perspective, it was quite natural to assume so. He had used his Plague Doctor persona while using Ember and had resulted in explosions before, be it during the hunt for Lanevus or against Capim's protectors.
It was possible that someone might've used that to their advantage and are committing terrorism in his name. What was, instead, surprising was that his identity was not public enough for people to use it in their schemes.
Xio knowing it was one thing, however, he was quite sure that Nighthawks had not leaked his identity. Naturally, it was almost impossible for Nighthawks to do something like this. Which meant that someone implicated in Lanevus and Capim Hunts had survived, and are now using his persona to get back at him.
But why in this way? And why now? He did not have many anti-Divination methods before. If someone had seen him, they could've simply trailed and killed him.
Why adopt such a circuitous and considerably more dangerous method? After all, perpetrating an act of terror would inevitably draw the attention of the Nighthawks, Mandated Punishers, Machinery Hivemind, MI9, and Sivellaus Yard.
There were many questions currently roiling in his mind, however, Kiyotaka did not let the silence protract for too long and replied. "Who are those? Runaways from some kind of circus?"
Xio let out an unladylike chortle and imbibed a sip of her tea. "Well, you can say so. Very dangerous circus performers though. Both of them definitely have something wrong in their heads. Deranged individuals are pouring into Backlund way too much recently."
"True." Fors added. Xio turned her head towards her and motioned for her to correct her hair.
Running her swollen fingers through her hair, Fors straightened them out and tucked a few of them behind her ear.
Kiyotaka turned his attention towards her and pushed an ashtray that was resting over his table. "Feel free to smoke."
Fors looked at him, somewhat embarrassed that her fidgety behavior was noticed by him. However, if she had an opportunity to smoke, she was not going to forego it. "Do you have something I can light my cigarette with?"
Kiyotaka took out a matchbox from his pocket and pushed it towards her.
"You two talk. I will be back. I'll feel bad smoking inside such a nice study." Fors excused herself and stood up.
"Sure. There are balconies upstairs, if you wish to smoke in open air."
"Thank you." Fors expressed her gratitude, picked up the matchbox and left.
Once she was gone, Xio turned her attention back to Kiyotaka. "Sorry about her. She has a smoking issue."
"That makes the two of us." Kiyotaka leaned back into his seat. "So, tell me more about these terrorist attacks and those two circus freaks."
Xio smiled as she decanted herself some more tea. "Well..."
*****
Unbeknownst to Kiyotaka, almost an hour had passed while talking to Xio. While the conversation was mostly led around by Xio — due to her having the knowledge about the entire ordeal that Kiyotaka was interested in — Kiyotaka still found it to be highly productive.
"So that's how it is. Given how much you are asking me all this, are you interested in it? Or do you have anything to do with those involved? I mean, is someone affected?"
Kiyotaka hummed. "Not really. But things like these definitely result in an adverse effect for business. As you know, we are still in a juvenile phase, and despite the sales being good on the surface, there is a lot of capital that went into it. It might take about two to three months of good sales for us to breakeven. Backlund becoming unsafe would be a big blow."
Xio crossed her arms. "You are right... So what do you want now?"
"I am more interested in the attack that happened just today. If not officially, I want to look into it regardless."
Xio shook her head and had a reprimanding look on her face. "You just sorted your life, why do you want to do anything with it? Let the authorities deal with it. Sigh, Williams, I feel bad. It looks like every time you come into contact with me, you revert back to your old times."
Tracing his finger along the edge of the table, Kiyotaka answered: "It's not your fault. Besides, someone who had once tasted the thrill of the streets can't let go of it that easily. Also, the case looks interesting enough, so why not? At best, we will find the person behind it. At worst, we won't. It's not like we will die."
Xio's eyes narrowed. "We might."
"Are you afraid of dying, Xio?" Kiyotaka peered into her green eyes intently.
Xio waved her head. "Who isn't? Death is a scary thing."
"There was a wise man once." Kiyotaka looked at the ceiling, as if reminiscing over something. "He said that it is not death a man should fear, but never having begun to live." Kiyotaka looked at Xio from the corner of his eye. "Choice is what gives life meaning. Remove it, and existence becomes little more than a performance written by someone else. And if the answer is no, then what exactly is there to fear in death?"
Xio thought about it for a second. When she felt her head spin, she smiled and said: "Is this the epiphany that helped you become so enviably rich?"
"There is little to envy." Kiyotaka swiveled around in his seat. "Poverty limits your choices and wealth multiplies them, including the wrong ones. The higher a man climbs, the more ways he finds to fall." As he felt the heat of his seat calm the pain his back, he admitted. "That said, it is quite nice to not worry about what to eat and what to wear."
"Mhm. Well, I think it's time I take my leave." Xio placed her hands on the table. It was quite evident that "Williams" had gotten quite hard to extract any kind of information from him. It was unsettling in it's own way, but she could understand it, and decided not to pay too much mind to it.
"Wait here for a while. I will be right back. I had something to give you." Kiyotaka stopped her.
Xio looked a little skittish as she stood back up. "I am getting late... I have to leave."
"It won't take long." Kiyotaka asserted and left her there.
Taking quick strides, he covered the space of four stair-steps at once and quickly arrived in his room.
The room was cold as the window was opened and fresh, cold air breezed through, causing the curtains to flap loudly. His eyes landed on a certain person who had her back bent as she held a piece of jewelry — or at least that's what it looked like — in her hand.
Suddenly, her — Fors' head — head snapped towards the door. Instead of the balustrade, what entered her gaze was a black shirt redolent of wood and spices.
Her entire body shuddered as the red bracelet fell from her grip. She looked up and saw Kiyotaka looking down at her. In his hand was something draped in a cloth which looked like a ball-shaped object, resembling a child's fist that exhibited a captivating blend of three colors: iron-black, dark red, and silver.
Kiyotaka bent down and picked Ember before placing it back on the table as Fors' lips worked fitfully, struggling to form words.
*****
"Ahn~ Ahn~"
A fine lady with alabaster skin and well-proportioned body — that seemed to glow from the sweat like moonlight under the muted, soft glow of candelabra — recoiled up and down as a man with a stern face was gripping her waist, ramming himself into her by controlling her body.
The old man had a fervent look on his face, as if he lost in endless pleasure. His old, military uniform was laying on the floor, the embedded medals of honor scattered all over the carpet.
The woman's breasts swayed with her violent movements as the peaks became hard and erect. The man lifted his neck, clutching them in his hands and shoved both peaks into his mouth as his tongue swirled around them, drawing a low moan from the woman's lips.
"Ugh..." The man came reached close to climax. He held her waist in place, ready to release himself into her, however, despite the force that far-exceeded that of a normal human, he could not stop her.
The woman with giant breasts kept hopping up and down as she pushed him away from her breasts and leaned on him, kissing his lips. Her tongue dug deep into his mouth, blocking his windpipe as she kept moving her hips.
The old man's face reddened, as he tried to push her away, however, the beautiful woman kept her hold strong on him. She kissed him passionately and rubbed her crotch against his.
The man's face kept getting more and more red. His limbs flailed around and he tried to remove her, however, all strength seems to have been sapped from them. He wrapped his fingers around her neck and pressed as hard as he could, but all was for naught.
His manhood had grown soft long ago as it slipped out soundlessly. Just as it did, the woman who was still kissing and suffocating him, kicked him hard under his diaphragm. What little air was left in his lungs escaped as she blocked his breathing by blocking his nose.
'A...curse... I have... no strength.'
As he tried harder to remove her, he eventually gave out. The woman removed her lips from his and withdrew her long tongue that had managed to travel all the way through his mouth and blocked his air-pipe.
She stood up and hopped down from the bed. Picking up the military uniform that the man was so proud of, she wiped her womanhood with the sleeve and then tossed it over his face.
Smoothing the silken folds of her gown, she walked through the length of the room and opened the window as a frigid draft swept inside, taking away the sweet scent of her sweat.
She alighted on the ledge and jumped, dissolving into the encroaching darkness, leaving nothing but silence in her wake... and a decorated duke whose pleasure had led him towards doom.
*****
"So? What do you think?" Xio whispered surreptitiously to Fors as the two left Kiyotaka's house.
"There is definitely something fishy... I am a little disturbed... The thing on his table was definitely a Beyonder item. But... He saw me Xio...! He saw me! What if he comes after me?"
"He won't." Xio looed down at the small box in her hand that had Parker's Sequence 8: Sheriff Beyonder Characteristic inside it. "I know he won't. Besides, I warned him about someone looking into him. He will be more focused on that. He is the same Williams I know."
As the two exited his lawn and began walking on the street underneath the gas lamps, Kiyotaka stared at Fors from behind, over his balcony. His eyes were strange and seemed to fixed on the two of them. "Her fate lies in her own hands."