Tiol was walking through the slum city in the middle of the night. When he arrived at his destination, he readied his rifle and stormed through a broken door. The flashlight equipped on his rifle provided vision in that pitch-black room as he checked all 4 corners of that room. But he found no one, he clicked his tongue and took out his information terminal, immediately made a call with a grim face.
"Hey! She's not here either! All the information that I got from you are false, aren't they?! Are you sure that information that she's living here is correct?"
A woman's voice came out from Tiol's terminal. Unlike Tiol who sounded desperate, that woman's voice was the exact opposite.
"Well, she should have been there at least a week ago. Freshness is important for information, it's normal to encounter something like this out of old information."
Tiol's face twitched with anger, he then shouted at his terminal.
"It's normal to encounter something like this?! Are you kidding me? You do know the situation that I'm in, right?"
Not being concerned about Tiol's anger, that woman replied with a light threat.
"I'm not kidding here. In the first place, are you taking this seriously? You didn't pay anything and demanded me for information, then to top it off you still complain to me? Don't get ahead of yourself! In all honesty, I don't really care even if you die."
That was enough to immediately shut Tiol down. He sounded scared and desperate at the same time as he said.
"I-I'm sorry… But I did explain to you my situation, right? I'm in a really bad situation, I was the one who brought those attackers to the base, you know!? In the worst-case scenario, I might get kicked out of the gang! So if I can find and drag that pickpocket who Akira is looking for, I might be forgiven. Otherwise, this is really really bad!! Dammit! Why did this happen to me…"
Tiol was pulling his hair out. But then the woman gently said to him as if to cheer him up.
"Just keep following my instructions from here and on. If you do, I'll give you some good info."
He replied as if he was begging that woman.
"Please, I'm relying on you, this is my only hope."
"Well then, for now, just look around the room. You might be able to find some clues about where she's living now."
"Alright."
Tiol started searching the inside of the room just as he was told to. He did not notice that he was actually being used.
***
Akira and Sheryl went to Shijima's base since Shijima said he wanted to meet Akira.
Sheryl was wearing her refitted old-world dress while Akira was in his augmented suit and was fully armed. They looked much different compared to when they came there for the first time.
The guards who saw Sheryl and Akira approaching the base could not help but feel nervous. Both of them showed that they had the money and the power. That guard was originally still looking down on Sheryl and her gang, but seeing them now, he could not afford to look down on them anymore.
That man kept his guard up as he said.
"Akira and Sheryl, right? Boss is waiting inside, I'll take you to him. But I'll need you to leave your weapons with us."
Akira swiftly replied.
"No."
That man frowned and tried to intimidate Akira.
"We're not kidding here."
Akira did not wince back at all, he just casually replied.
"Neither am I. I keep getting attacked lately, so I'm being more careful than usual at the moment. Sorry."
That man scanned Akira's equipment once more. AAH and A2D assault rifles were dangling on his waist, while on his back, he was carrying CWH anti-material rifle and DVTS minigun. He obviously did not come in peace.
That man could not help but to make a grim face when he imagined the damage that would result if the gang fought Akira.
"…Good grief, you came here with all of those weapons, are you planning to fight us or something?"
"No, I have no intention to fight any of you. Although, it's completely out of my control if something were to happen that might cause a fight."
That man gave up trying to convince Akira and shifted to Sheryl.
"Are you really okay with this?"
Sheryl seemed a bit troubled as she replied.
"Since Akira said no, it's not like I can do anything to change his mind. And he is here to protect me too. So if you say that we can't pass unless we give up our weapons, then it can't be helped, we have no other choice but to leave."
The man clicked his tongue.
"…Wait here for a bit."
He then went into the base, gave his report, and returned back to Sheryl and Akira.
"Boss said that it's okay. Follow me, and don't try anything funny."
Judging from that guard's face, it seemed that they actually did not want to let Akira and Sheryl into the base.
Akira and Sheryl were guided to a big guest room, Shijima welcomed them with a suspicious smile.
"Thanks for coming, come and sit."
Sheryl went and took a seat on the sofa, while Akira stood near Sheryl and scanned the room, registering everyone inside the room in his mind. He could see there were some people behind Shijima and they were all armed.
Shijima noticed what Akira was doing there and said to him.
"Don't worry, it's just to be safe. And since you're armed too, I won't accept any complaint, okay?"
"…It's fine."
Akira saw some familiar faces among them, it was Carol and Viola. Carol was fully armed too, she smiled at Akira and lightly waved at him, while Viola was sitting casually next to Shijima.
Sheryl saw that small exchange between Akira and Carol. She tried her best to hold the emotion that was welling up inside her as she barely kept her calm and her usual smile.
Sheryl then asked Shijima a question.
"So then, what kind of business do you want to talk about today?"
"Well, first things first, I heard that some people attacked your place. I'm glad that both of you are okay."
"Thank you for your concern… We lost some people too, so I can't really say that we're totally fine. But thanks to Akira, I believe that the damage was kept to a minimum."
"Selling relics is really profitable after all, so it's no surprise that some people would target you. And also, it seems that more and more people are gathering around your territory. If your gang that is maintaining order in that area is gone, it would cause trouble for us too. So I'm glad that you're fine."
Shijima and Sheryl sounded like they were talking about mundane stuff from the outside, but behind that, they were actually probing each other's real intentions. They were trying to probe for reactions when they brought up different subjects and then they would guess each other's intention judging from the reactions they got.
Akira thought that if it was only mundane stuff like that, they could just talk about it through a call. He did not think too deep as he was listening to their conversation, but after Alpha explained what was going on between those two, he lightly nodded.
"…I bet they're trying to do something like that at the moment."
"…So gang bosses need to be able to even do something like that, huh?"
"Both of them are maintaining the outside and the inside of the gang with power after all, so it's important for them to be careful. Especially for Sheryl since her gang got attacked. Although she has you supporting the gang, there's a need for her to take care of the aftermath. As for Shijima, I bet he thought that Sheryl's gang was nothing but a small weak neighbouring gang. But then that gang has started selling relics and earning enough money to even get targeted by robbers. And if you have money, you can hire people and get good weapons. So in this case, it would mean that the gang that Shijima thought of as nothing suddenly transformed into a well-growing and expanding gang. So it's understandable for him to get information on that gang."
"…Being a boss for a gang sounds like a lot of work."
Akira mumbled as if it had nothing to do with him when most of Shijima's and Sheryl's worries were mainly caused by him. It seemed that Akira simply did not know about that at the moment.
Sheryl and Shijima spent some time talking about mundane stuff while probing each other's intention, that was when Viola suddenly interjected.
"It's all good and fine if both of you want to build up your friendship. But it might be a good idea to get into the main subject soon."
Shijima frowned and made a grim face, he looked at Viola without saying anything as if he was reproaching her. Sheryl seemed a bit confused while she was checking Viola and Shijima. In that situation, Viola was just smiling confidently there.
Viola still looked rather relaxed when she continued.
"If it's hard for you to bring it up, I can explain it in your place, you know?"
Shijima took a small pause, it seemed that he had to make his resolve before replying.
"…Alright, go ahead, please."
Sheryl, who saw that, thought.
[…Shijima is intimidated by that woman? Are they acquaintance or something? I don't really know what's going on here, but what exactly do they want to talk about?]
Sheryl raised her wariness as she shifted her focus to Viola. Viola reacted with a smile that somehow broke Sheryl's poker face. Sheryl could not help but to make an uneasy expression.
Viola's smile was covertly expressing a provocation toward someone inexperienced. So Sheryl stiffened her expression as to not break her poker face any further.
Viola shifted her gaze to Akira, she smiled at him and said.
"To be honest, it's actually something related to Akira."
Akira frowned.
"Me?"
"Yep, you. You've been targeted by pickpocket lately, right? I'm sure you've been dealing with a lot of those pickpockets who bought a particular piece of information from some information broker."
Akira's expression immediately changed, he looked slightly annoyed.
"…So? What about that?"
"About the source of that info, it's actually us. We're sorry."
Since Viola just laid it out straight at him like that, Akira needed a bit of time before he processed it. But the moment he fully understood what she said, he instinctively replied in a low voice which reflected his real feeling.
"…Oh."
Akira's mood suddenly turned for the worse. His face turned expressionless and was filled with hostility, his casual standing posture also slightly shifted so that he could reach for his rifles and jump into action anytime. It was rather amazing that both of his hands that were lowered had not reached for his rifles yet, while at the same time, it was also visible that he was holding himself back from reaching for his rifles.
Everyone else in the room immediately tensed up. Shijima's men immediately changed their posture so that they were ready to fight anytime, but no one was reaching for their weapons yet. If any of them had grabbed their rifles and aimed at Akira, there was no question that Akira would not hesitate to open fire. Bullets would have filled the room before anyone could try to calm the situation down. Shijima signalled his men to calm down.
Viola was still smiling like usual. Although she was also equally surprised by that unexpected reaction from Akira, she was able to hide the shiver that ran down her spine. She then casually said.
"I want to continue my explanation if you're okay with it."
Akira replied with a calm but cold voice.
"…I would be thankful if you can refrain from saying anything that might cause a misunderstanding. Even if you can properly explain everything if I listen to you until the end of your explanation, I can't guarantee that I'll calmly listen to your explanation until the end."
Akira was stating that he had no confidence he could listen calmly until the end. After hearing that statement, Viola continued while trying to keep her face from wincing.
"Alright. In that case, let's start with the overview. It ended up pretty badly purely by coincidence, we did not mean you any harm when we did that. We do feel sorry for what happened, so please calm down and listen to our explanation. It all started when you caused a ruckus in Shijima's territory with your gun out, so from there…"
Viola explained what was going on to Akira. Back then when Akira pulled out his rifle as he was chasing Alna, they were actually in Shijima's territory. So Shijima wanted to know more about the Hunter who caused that ruckus. Then he found out that Akira pulled back when he was confronted by a young Hunter, and that was the biggest reason why incomplete information about Akira spread around. Because of that, the piece of information that misevaluated Akira spread among the information brokers which eventually gave the final push for those robbers that attacked Sheryl's base.
Viola and Shijima admitted their fault and explained that they had nothing to do with those robbers. They did not say anything to those robbers who attacked Sheryl's gang. They gave their detailed explanations slowly to make sure that Akira understood everything.
Akira listened to Viola's explanation without saying anything. But there was no sign of change in his mood even after he finished listening to the explanation.
Viola smiled at Akira and continued.
"So basically that's everything. I did my best to not cause any misunderstanding, to say it clearly, we have no wish to be hostile with you. So, do we understand each other here?"
Akira did not say anything back. Everyone in the room started to tense up. There was no questioning that if someone made a suspicious move there, they would immediately break into a fight. Although all of them had different thoughts running on their mind, that was one thing which everyone agreed on.
Viola tried to hide the cold sweat running down her skin as she shifted her gaze from Akira to Sheryl. She then smiled gently at Sheryl and said.
"Since it's also related to your gang, if it's okay, can you let us know your opinion too?"
"…My opinion?"
"Yes. You lost some of your men during the attack. So I want to know your opinion as the boss of the gang. It would be great if you can understand that we have nothing to do with those robbers, but if you can't believe us, then we understand that too. Which in that case, I want to discuss the incident with you, to be honest, we want to resolve this peacefully. Of course, I'm okay with it if you want to discuss it with Akira first."
Sheryl frowned. She needed extra courage to talk with Akira in his current mood. She also had no idea how far he believed Viola's explanation. She did not know how much it would worsen his mood if she defended Viola. In the worst-case scenario, Akira might think that she was defending an enemy and it might cause him to abandon her. Even if she said that she did not know what to do, that in itself might be a bad decision. After all, Akira might think that it should have been an obvious decision and there was no need to think about it any further.
Sheryl did think of not believing everything that Viola said, but she immediately ruled out that choice. After all, if she did that, that would mean that Akira's bad reputation pushed the robbers to attack Sheryl's gang. So in short, Akira was dragged into more trouble because he was involved with Sheryl's gang. And that would be enough of a reason for him to abandon her. So of course, Sheryl could not afford to do that.
Viola was pushing Sheryl to make her decision even though both of them were equally bad decisions for her. And most likely, even if Sheryl chose to not say anything, Viola might have a plan to use that for her own benefit too.
[…That woman called me here together with Akira in order to talk about this subject in front of Akira. If I have to make a guess, it's in order to hold Akira back. Both of them had no plans to check if we're okay right from the start… But in the first place, why would they bring this up? Is it to reduce the damage if Akira finds out about it later? Or is it to check how much I can affect Akira's decision? Or is it for something else? I-I really have no idea at all, I don't understand what this woman is thinking.]
Thinking about it only caused Sheryl to become more suspicious, and that suspicion gave birth to nervousness. Sheryl's poker face was slowly crumbling. Viola was smiling, as usual, it seemed that no matter which answer Sheryl gave, she would be able to make good use of it.
Akira's mood was pretty bad. He was ready to take action if anyone made a suspicious move. Although he understood that his stance only made the situation tenser and more dangerous, he was not able to try to calm himself down.
That was when Alpha smiled and casually said to him.
"Akira, you got a call from Shizuka."
"…From Shizuka-san?"
"If you want to answer it, at least say something first. If you try to pull out your information terminal in this state, they might misunderstand and think that you are trying to reach for your rifle."
Akira's expression did not change and his voice was still as calm and cold as before when he suddenly said to everyone.
"…I got a call from a friend, is it okay if I answer it?"
Normally, people would scorn him and tell him to just ignore the call since they were in the middle of an important discussion, but in order to improve the mood there, everyone agreed not to tell that to Akira. So Viola replied as the representative of everyone else in the room.
"Sure, go ahead."
Akira slowly reached for his information terminal and answered the call.
"…It's Akira."
"Hello, it's Shizuka. There's something I want to ask you, is it a good time… Or at least that's what I want to say, should I just call again some other time?"
"…No, it's fine."
"Is that so? If you're busy, I can just call again later, you know? It sounds like you're in a rather bad mood over there. If I called you at a bad time, I'm really sorry."
"…No… I'm sorry, can you please keep the call open and wait for a bit?"
"Hm? Sure."
Akira pulled his information terminal away from his ear, he then took a deep breath and did that several times in front of everyone. After he forced himself to calm down to some degree and his expression was mostly returned back to normal, he then continued his call with Shizuka.
"Thank you for waiting. Do I sound better now? Or do I still sound pretty bad?"
Shizuka gently replied to that question.
"It's okay, you sound like the usual you now."
Akira actually had not fully returned to his usual self. Shizuka only said that since she thought that it would calm him down. And in reality, it did calm Akira down. Akira then apologetically said to her.
"I'm really sorry, it's just that something bad happened and it really annoyed me. Like, you know, there are a lot of things that I have to deal with when I'm working as a Hunter."
"Don't worry, I know how hard it is being a Hunter."
Akira was relieved, it seemed that Shizuka did not mind. With that, his mood had mostly returned to normal.
Shizuka then returned back to the real reason why she called him.
"Well, let's return to the main subject then. You asked me to help you choose your new equipment, remember? I actually came up with some suggestions and so I want to check them with you. I'll send the data to you so take your time and check all of them… Or at least that's what I want to say but… Some of them are only available for a limited time, you see."
"For a limited time, huh?"
"Yep. After all, your budget is 400 million Aurum and expensive equipment are usually available for only a limited time, you see. Moreover, some of the merchants who are worried about their revenue might be willing to give a big discount if you pay for their goods soon. As in matter of fact, some of them are only available for the next 2 hours, that's why I hurried up and called you."
"I see, thank you very much."
"Likewise, thank you very much for entrusting our shop with such a big deal."
But then Shizuka's business-like voice immediately changed to a very gentle one.
"…I don't know what just happened to you, but as I said before, I can at least listen to your worry, okay?"
"…Okay."
Akira sounded a bit happy when he said that.
"Well then, see you next time."
Shizuka sounded relieved as she ended the call with that remark.
Akira then put back his information terminal and realized that everyone in the room was looking at him.
Although they had different expressions, it was more than obvious that everyone was looking at him. He found that weird, but he then remembered that he was in the middle of a discussion with Viola.
"Ah, right, we were in the middle of a discussion, right? I have no plans to cause an unnecessary fight either. But if there's something else that you want to talk about regarding the gang, like maybe the peace money, then you can just talk it out with Sheryl. I don't want to have anything to do with the war between gangs. As long as Sheryl doesn't ask me to get involved, I have no plans to get involved. You okay with that too right, Sheryl?"
Sheryl flusteredly said.
"Eh? Y-yes. I'm okay if you say so, Akira."
"So there you have it."
Akira looked at everyone and casually said so.
Akira's bad mood was completely erased. As a matter of fact, he sounded rather happy as if everything that happened until now was nothing but an illusion. The mood in the room had completely relaxed.
Except for one person, Shijima still had a stern expression plastered on his face. He remembered what his men reported to him when Akira came to his base for the first time. Akira dragged the corpse of one of Shijima's men, Wataba, all the way to Shijima's base, and Akira was the one who killed Wataba.
Shijima then heard the full report of what had happened from one of his men. It seemed that the moment Akira killed Wataba, Wataba said something about threatening Akira's acquaintance. According to that report, when Wataba was about to mention a name, Akira did not hesitate at all and quickly shot him.
[…From what I heard, that person is the owner of a weapon shop. And judging from the conversation just now, it seemed that it's about buying some equipment. So in short, there's a good chance that call was with that shop owner, and that alone was enough to fix his mood. I bet that Akira likes that person and thinks dearly of that person. So, is that person the same person who Wataba was about to mention…? In the first place, why did Akira kill Wataba? Is it really because Wataba threatened him? But if that's really the case, he should have killed Wataba way sooner, right…? Don't tell me that he killed Wataba because he was about to mention that person's name?! Did he really kill Wataba just to stop Wataba from mentioning that person's name!? Just so that other people won't know about that person!? Is that really all the reason!?]
Shijima's face puckered in. That was right when Viola opened her mouth.
"Akira, who was-"
Shijima could imagine Viola asking Akira who that was since Akira seemed to be enjoying talking to that person. And if it was okay with him, Viola also wanted to know that person's name. So Shijima could not help but instinctively interject her.
"Viola!! Akira said so too, so let's just proceed with the discussion!! You've already decided what to do to apologize for causing so much trouble to Akira, right? So let's proceed with that!"
Viola was both surprised and confused since Shijima suddenly cut in while half-shouting, Viola did not expect that at all. Shijima looked intensely at her. She understood that Shijima was trying to tell her not to ask any unnecessary questions.
Viola tried to change the mood as she smiled at Akira and Sheryl, and said.
"Ahh, you're right. First of all, I'll exaggerate the information about you killing those robbers and spread that information around. That way, no one would look down on you and Sheryl's gang."
Sheryl smiled and replied.
"Thank you for that offer. A lot of my men are worried about it, so I'm sure they'll be happy to hear it."
"To be honest, that would only help Sheryl's gang. So for our apology to Akira, we'll help you take care of that pickpocket whom you're searching for."
Akira thought that it was rather strange for Viola to bring that up.
"Take care?"
"Yes, you asked Sheryl's men to look for that pickpocket, right? I'm sure that we have a wider net to look and kill that pickpocket compared to if you're working alone. Although, of course, we can't help you much if that pickpocket runs to the inner wall or to a different city."
Akira thought for a bit before replying.
"No, that won't be necessary."
Viola did not expect that at all.
"Oh my, what's wrong? If you want to kill that pickpocket yourself, we can secure that pickpocket alive, you know?"
"That's not what I meant. If you do that, then if something troublesome were to happen later, you have an excuse to blame that on me. That's why you don't need to do it."
Viola thought for a sec.
"…But you won't tell me not to do it, right?"
"Even if I tell you to do it or not to do it, either way, that will be enough reason to blame it on me, right? So as I said, I won't tell you anything."
Viola took a few more seconds to think before opening her mouth again.
"I see. In that case, we'll just do what we want to do. Even if we spread that information around, as long as that pickpocket is still alive and still roaming around somewhere, it might cause some contradiction with the information that we're about to spread. So we need to make sure at least that pickpocket is not around the area. You don't mind if we do that, right?"
"I'm in no position to tell you what to do and what not to do. So you decide by yourself on what to do."
"Alright."
Shijima sounded a bit arrogant as he said to Sheryl.
"That's all that we want to talk about with you today. If you have nothing else to say, you can leave now. It's rather troublesome to have someone as heavily armed as you inside my base when you're not a part of my gang. So now that a bigger problem than that is over, it would be great if you can leave quickly."
"Very well. We'll take our leave then."
Sheryl stood up from the sofa and lightly bowed at Shijima.
Shijima did not say anything as he just signalled one of his men to escort Akira and Sheryl out of the base. Akira and Sheryl followed that man and left the room.
As Viola confirmed that Akira and Sheryl left the room and closed the door. She immediately looked at Shijima and confusedly asked him.
"So then, what was that just now? I bet you have a reason why you cut me back there, right?"
Shijima lightly sighed before saying anything.
"It's just to be safe. Just think of it as me saving you there. I don't mind telling you, but you'll owe me one for that."
Viola thought for a bit since owing a favour to someone meant a lot for her. But for the current Viola, that did not outweigh her curiosity, she wanted to know why Shijima did that.
"Sure then, I owe you one favour. So, why was that?"
"Very well then."
Shijima looked at his men without saying anything and his men immediately left the room.
Viola then looked at Carol.
"Haah! It can't be helped then, don't blame if you get killed when I'm not around, okay?"
Although Carol did not like that idea, she also left the room while half-jokingly said that to Viola.
***
Akira escorted Sheryl back to the slum city.
Sheryl's dress was rather conspicuous there. She was still somewhere not too far from the base and was already gathering a lot of attention from the people around.
She was not trying to hide her expensive dress under a coat or anything, she walked confidently through the slum city. It was also to let people know that Akira was still alive. It could be said both of them were children of the slum who reached success. People looked at them with amazement, envy and jealousy as both of them walked through the slum city.
Sheryl glanced at Akira who was walking next to her and thought.
[…Who was Akira talking to back then? Is it someone that he cares that much? Even a short exchange with that person is enough to cheer him up. Who is exactly that person? And what is Akira's relation with that person? It must be someone dear to him that Akira would even answer her call in that situation.]
She could just ask Akira, but she did not want to.
And even if she did, Akira might just give her a random answer. Something like, it was his acquaintance and nothing more. As Sheryl thought so, even if she pressed for an answer, it would only worsen Akira's mood and he might only tell her not to ask him that question.
In the end, Sheryl could not ask Akira anything since she was scared of the difference between herself and that person.
[…I still have a long way to go.]
Although Akira was there within her reach, to Sheryl, his existence was someone far away from her.
***
Even after hearing the explanation from Shijima, Viola was smiling amusedly.
"That was a rather interesting story. It was worth owing you a favour."
Shijima looked both alert and exasperated as he said.
"I don't care what you are going to do with that information, but just don't drag me into your mess. I have no plans to be overly antagonistic against that boy."
Viola's smile towards Shijima was also saying that she found it rather unfortunate.
"Oh my, I can say the same too, you know. I have no plans to be overly antagonistic against that boy too."
Shijima understood that although both of them said the same thing, there was a subtle difference in their meanings. He looked at Viola as if to silently warn her not to get him involved. He then sighed and changed the subject.
"…So then, what's your plan with this Alna?"
"Of course, I'll look for that pickpocket and kill her. That's our plan right from the start, right? Akira also did say that it's okay for us to do it as long as we don't mention anything about him, right?"
"To me, it sounded more like 'don't do anything unnecessary' though."
"Is that so? I guess that's a matter of interpretation. I don't mind if you want to stay away from it since you interpret it that way, but I'll decide what I'll do according to my own interpretation. But if after all is done and Akira comes after you, who did not move a finger to do anything, believing you're mocking him, don't come crying to me, okay…? So, what are you going to do?"
Viola smiled smugly, in contrast to that, Shijima looked rather troubled.
"…Alright alright, I'll send some of my men to help you. Although, to be honest, I really don't want to help you with your plan. I heard that you cheaply bought a debt bond of a Hunter that Akira has his eyes on. If you can use this chance to make peace with Akira, the worth of that debt bond will return back to normal and you'll be able to sell it to get extra profit, right?"
Viola smiled rather annoyedly.
"Oh, you know? Keep it a secret, okay?"
Judging from her expression, Shijima knew for sure that Viola had other reasons in her mind, but he decided not to ask any further since he did not want to get dragged into her mess. So to make sure that he had nothing to do with it, Shijima changed the subject.
"By the way, I heard that Sheryl is Akira's lover, do you think that's true?"
"It might as well be, or at least, according to the information that I gathered, it seems that it's true. I heard he did buy her an expensive dress and took a bath together with her, he's basically taking care of her. Well, with that being said, there are many kinds of relationships that you can simply express with the word lover. Some of them are dating out of love to each other, some of them are dating because it's beneficial to both of them. Some relationships are one-sided while others are just straight predatory. Like I said, there are many types of relationship that you can express with the word lover, so I don't think there's any problem with that."
"Well, that's true when we're talking about possibilities. But I'm talking about Akira's real intention here, Sheryl is… What can I say, she might be just a decoy, you see. Although he seems to be extremely angry with that pickpocket who stole his wallet, he didn't seem that angry about those robbers that attacked Sheryl's base. Back then, even when he had his lover next to him, he didn't show any worry in that situation. I believe that it's not an exaggeration to say that Akira doesn't care much about Sheryl. But even so, he did buy her an expensive dress and protected her gang from robbers. From this point of view, it can be said that Akira thinks dearly of Sheryl. So if you think about these two contradicting things…"
"He might be just protecting Sheryl to make her a decoy, huh. Being a Hunter means that you might earn some grudges from other people, and everyone would love to get a good Hunter under their thumb. There might be people who would take his lover hostage to threaten him too. So Akira's real lover might actually be that person whom he was talking to back then, that's what you want to say, right?"
"Yeah, that's my guess."
Shijima thought that if Sheryl was only a decoy, he might be able to use the gap in that relationship. But Viola casually replied.
"I don't think there's anything you need to worry about though. The most important thing is how you'll treat Sheryl. Even if Sheryl is really just a decoy, if you do anything bad to her, I'm sure Akira would do something to make sure that you won't think of her as a decoy. As long as you don't do anything to make him your enemy and don't even think of taking Sheryl hostage, I'm sure that it'll not affect you that much."
"…You're right about that."
Shijima agreed with what Viola said and stopped thinking any further about that subject. He had no wish to be hostile against Akira. But Viola just would not let that subject go.
Viola smiled as if she just thought of something good, but her expression was immediately replaced with her usual mysterious smile.
"Let's cut the silly talk here and talk about how are we going to get that Alna."
"Alright."
Viola and Shijima stayed for a while inside that room to talk about the details of their plan.