The two blue irises were seen moving to the right and the left. The owner was standing lean on the white wall outside the building. He was waiting for someone.
Finally, the figure he had been waiting for had passed. A girl in a maroon mini dress with a plaid coat and thigh-high boots. She looked very beautiful with her jet black hair flowing softly.
Roger came out of his hiding. Then, he walked in the girl's footsteps. As usual, always followed five steps behind her. He took a deep breath, then crushed his frozen tongue.
"P-Poppy!" He called.
The girl suddenly stopped in her tracks and froze. For a very long time, she never heard that voice call her name again. Poppy turned around slowly to find the guy standing five steps behind her.
Roger felt his throat freeze. He continued to try to breathe normally, as in the exercise he had been doing for the past three hours. But now, he more looked like someone who was seeing a ghost. His tongue groaned and his mind went blank.
Poppy knew Roger had something to say to her. Something important. But the girl would not let that happen. Poppy had crushed everything with her own two hands. And she didn't want it back, "Don't follow me anymore!" she said, her eyes were quivering.
What came out of Poppy's mouth gave Roger goosebumps. It was as if an iron golf club was hitting hard into his stomach. But somehow, the too-soon rejection actually felt like an adrenaline injection for Roger. It gave him a handful of courage.
"I'm not going any closer. Like you'd said.. five steps away. I'm not getting any closer than that." Roger said by raising his palms in front of his chest.
"Why do you keep following me?! I beg you to stop your stalker-like behaviour!" Poppy's eyes began to water. Her voice trembled.
"Y-you.. you know?" Roger stuttered.
Poppy turned her face to the side. The cavities in her nose ached as she held back her tears in the cold air. Then, she glanced at the figure of the guy in front of her, "No matter how my life is, it has nothing to do with you. Please don't mind me. Remember everything I've done to you."
Roger didn't think that all this time Poppy had realized that he was always stalking her. But why was she always silent? Ah.. so that's it..
"To you, I'm just a shadow. Always near you, but never getting your attention." Roger smiled sadly.
"What other nonsense are you talking about?! What a freak!" Exclaimed the girl again.
"You're going to ruin your life, Poppy. Stop. I'll help you. I promise I'll take it all for you."
Poppy clenched her jaw as tears finally flowed uncontrollably, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?!!" she shouted until her throat, which had become accustomed to her soft voice, became sore.
"You should hate me! You should want to kill me! Roger! I've ruined your life! Open your stupid eyes and brain! Why do you still want to help me, huh?!! Why do you still care about me?!!" Poppy fell on her knees.
Her tears kept flowing out and dripping on the cold snow, "I don't want to be helped by you.. I hate you. You are a loser.. I want to see you care about your own life.." She muttered in her cry.
Seeing Poppy crying like that made Roger's heart break. No matter what Poppy did, she was still the same Poppy in Roger's eyes. He wanted so badly to hug her, to whisper to her that everything would be all right. But Roger couldn't do that.
"About what happened on Jen Marrie Street, let's pretend it never happened. I ask you not to come near me anymore. Just stay.. keep five steps away from me."
Those were the words Poppy said when she passed Roger in a deserted place. At that time, even Poppy was reluctant to look Roger in the face at all. Roger just nodded slightly, and after that, Poppy walked away quickly.
Roger was a slave to love already. His love for Poppy was too great, so what Poppy said was a command for him.
"Poppy.. I promise this is the last time I'll talk to you. But please stop this all,"
"It's too late! It's beyond repair. I'm stuck. And there's nothing you can do about it," Poppy looked into Roger's quivering eyes.
"There is," said Roger, "I can do it. You don't have to worry. I'll save you,"
"You're just seeking death! Who are you?! What can you do?!" Poppy growled. Then, she got up and brushed off the remaining snow covered her front boots, "If you want to get into trouble, it's up to you. But remember, don't bring up my name!"
Roger could only stand limply by staring at Poppy's back which continued to drift away.
"You don't have to be afraid, Poppy. I'll protect you.. even from your back."
Emma shifted her body to hide behind the wall again. At first, she wanted to look for Troy or another Jita Kyoei member who was said to be in the next building. But unexpectedly, her intention to go through a more long and quiet back way, actually made her able to witness this crazy incident.
So, Roger and Poppy actually knew each other? They knew each other very well as if they have had shared the same past life. All this time, they both pretended to not know each other. No one knew that Poppy, the popular girl with a cute innocent face on campus, actually had a relationship with Roger the loser.
"What's with all this madness? Does Roger know what happened to Poppy?" Emma muttered. She peeked again and found Roger had disappeared from there.
***
"Porn videos?!" Martin's eyes widened.
Ian burst out laughing. In his life, only Emma, a girl he heard asking such a frontal question to a group of boys.
"Hey, Emma. Why do you want to know that?" Troy asked in surprise. He still wore his Judo uniform with the black belt.
"My younger brother asked me. Anyway, it's a long story. Do you know where to find it other than the DVD smuggler?" Emma asked impatiently.
"Well.. About that, just ask Martin," Frank replied casually.
"Ah!" Emma hit her right fist on her left palm, "Back then, you said he was downloading porn, right?! I just remembered. So, where did you download it, Martin?" Emma asked quickly. (Chapter 32)
The others couldn't help but laugh as Martin seemed to be scrambling to answer Emma's question.
"It's ok.. Just tell her anyway. There's no need to act embarrassed. Everyone already knows what kind of guy you are." Nicko said to his friend whose face was now bright red.
Emma didn't care about the noise the men were making. She kept looking at Martin with a hopeful face. He was the key for her to help Poppy.
"Th.. that. Eum.. There is a website that is not blocked by the government. But we have to pay if we want to enter into it." He answered.
Emma immediately clenched her jaw. It turned out to be true as she expected. It's impossible if all ways were closed, but there were still shooting practices as Poppy did. It's even clearer now, with the fact that the website Martin says was a paid site.
"Can you tell me what the name of the website is?" Asked Emma again.
Ian smiled, "Tell her, Martin. You know it's the website you used to watch in the middle of the night." then they laughed together.
"Damn it, Ian!" Martin threw the bottle cap lying on the table at Ian's head. But quickly the man caught the blue lid that almost pecked his forehead.
"Are you guys watching from there too?" Emma asked them all.
The four men immediately fell silent, "Of course, not. We're not that perverted, to be willing to spend a lot of money just to watch a video like that." Nicko replied with a blush on his cheeks.
"Oh.. Then you guys must be brought contraband DVD like Calvin." Emma pointed it lightly.
"Shh.. Nicko, are all girls like her?" Frank whispered to Nicko ears.
Nicko shook his head, "I don't know. But my sisters aren't as confrontational as her."
"Can you help me, Martin? I love my little brother very much. Even my parents don't love him as I do." Emma gave a puppy eyes that instantly melted Martin's heart.
Because of that, Martin told himself that..
'Daring to open your cards to the girl you like is the manliest act not just any man can do.'
After receiving information from Jita Kyoei members, Emma immediately rushed home. This time, she wasn't going to ask Kathy for help. Emma planned to investigate it herself. Because by involving too many people, the possibility of her identity would be exposed was even greater.
After bathing and eating, Emma went straight into her room and opened her laptop. Then, she went to the browser page and type in the website address that Martin said to her earlier.
'catlanguagedictionary.com'
Then, a boring page appeared with a box in the middle to enter an email address and password. Emma tried to register with one of Jonas' email addresses. Incidentally, because the man was a member of his father's special mafia, he had hundreds of Email addresses for his work purposes. Most of these email addresses have been abandoned after one use.
Even Emma had not even managed to enter the site, she had been asked to fill in her account balance to be able to continue to open the main page of the site.
As shaking her head in disbelief, Emma filled the virtual balance in her account on the site using her credit card.
Finally, the main page of the site opened after sucking up Emma's account balance. The girl's eyes instantly widened, "Oh my.. They really made this kind of website?"