After spending years as a member of the underworld, she has discovered a common pattern: betrayal. People who claim they are your friends for one moment will not hesitate to betray you.
How many times has she watched friendships fall apart when one person in that group rises to the top and gains more favor? It is the same no matter what society. But for the underworld, this sort of betrayal hurts more.
Sumire recalled it clearly like it just happened the other day. When she first joined the holy knight, nobody wanted to partner with her. But there were missions she could not do alone, so they had somebody much lower rank pair with her.
That girl, at a glance, seemed naive and innocent, but she always sensed something off her. It turns out she was right; on a mission, that woman ran off and left her to fend for herself.
'I saved her after she became a hostage, but she turned her back on me.'
How does it feel looking at the person who hurt you covered in scars and being beaten? For her, it felt very satisfying.
When Aki learned what happened, he punished her severely, and she left the group. Since then, she has not seen any trace of that woman, but Sumire's gaze fell on the woman who had just dropped her textbooks.
Her entire face was pale, and she was trembling all over.
"Luna." Sumire trailed off. "You go to this school?"
Katakura Luna, age seventeen. She is a year older than her. At a glance, she still has that innocent vibe about her. But this girl is strong; otherwise, she wouldn't be a member of the underworld.
"S-Su-Sumire." Luna seemed startled seeing her. "What are you-"
"Sumire-sama do you know her?" Asahi said curiously.
"An old acquaintance, perfect timing. Since you're here, you can help us out."
"P-please spare me. I already left-"
Sumire's gaze dimmed. "Do you think just leaving will get rid of your sins?"
Actually, she doesn't care about what this girl did anymore. Back then, it hurt a little, but most of her emotions were numb by then. The last few years have made her worse, and she no longer has a shred of mortality left. She can commit such despicable actions without a second thought.
To be loved and to be hurt. No matter which one, it will leave scars behind.
Truthfully, there was a time when she felt attached to this girl. Nobody else wanted to pair with her. But according to Aki, the one who volunteered at the end was her. It wasn't a random match-up.
She didn't understand why the girl wanted to befriend her. She tried for a long time to figure out her intentions, and at some point, she became attached. Whenever Luna got hurt, or somebody insulted her, she would get angry on her behalf.
If only she had noticed sooner. This girl pretended to be a good person so she would defend her. But doing that only led to more people disliking her; it led to her creating more enemies.
That's why Luna pushed her into the enemy's hands on that day and didn't hesitate to trade being hostages. She pointed the gun at herself. It was right then when she understood how fickle people's relationships how fickle friendships could be.
'I could have pulled the trigger and hurt her myself. But because I felt close to her, because there was friendship before, I chose to hurt myself. I told Aki to stop hitting her when he punished her too.'
She was naive. But just because somebody betrayed her, she doesn't want to inflict the same pain.
That was the case before and seeing this girl now. Sumire was going to give her a chance to redeem herself. But, her gaze fell on the textbooks. Sheets of paper that had been clumsily attached with a paper clip had fallen out.
It was a profile of people close to her and a hit list.
Tachibana Masaru - The boss will handle him
Senna Masato- Getting a group of people who dislike him to beat him up.
There were detailed instructions on what to do with her dear friends.
Sumire's gaze dimmed.
"Hey, you!" Asahi exclaimed. "What on earth is this?"
"Haha." Luna burst into maniac laughter. "How does it feel? How does it feel having something precious to you being hurt because of your foolish actions?"
"You did this?"
"Of course I did! Did you think you showed me mercy by stopping that mad man from killing me? What you did only made the situation worse."
"What are you talking about?"
"My friends! The ones who took me in as a child. Overnight, Aki obliterated them because of what happened between us. They wouldn't have been affected if you let him take his anger out on me."
How stupid does this woman truly think Aki would do something like that just for her?
"Then I will enlighten you since you seem to be incapable of using your brain."
"What?"
"The people who took you in as a child belonged to an illegal traffic ring that has been on the run for years. They came to star town and took advantage of the growing presence of the underworld to hide. But they didn't know that Aki was already on their trail and that the police had entrusted him with the job. They didn't know the one the police hired was Aki."
"Y-your lying- they took me in-"
"They took you in so they could use you as a spy in the holy knight's group. But when they heard about the incident, you served your purpose. When you came back that night, they weren't helping you escape but leading you to merchants who wanted to buy you."
"Your lying; you have to be-"
Seeing the girl fumble with her words, Sumire understood. She isn't completely brainless; she must have sensed something was amiss too. But she still dared to do something like this.
"What you wanted was to take revenge on me. Don't use those people as an excuse to justify your behavior. As my former friend, you knew what would hurt me the most."
"Of course, I knew! You acted stubbornly, but I saw how much they meant to you. Friend? Don't make me laugh. I was only using you. I wanted to climb to a higher position. I wanted to be the one beside Aki. You have no idea how it feels to be a beggar on the streets; every day was a battle for me.
If they hadn't taken me in, I wouldn't have died long ago. Yes, I knew something was wrong. But so what? Aki scouted me, and I managed to become a member of a respectable group. I thought if I could climb higher, those people wouldn't discard me."
"But I was in your way."
Luna's gaze darkened, and she exclaimed. "Why was it you? Why is it a girl like you? You were born with a gold spoon in your mouth even though you lost your family fame. Why did people still cling to you? It's unfair! You already had everything after losing that stuff. You should have fallen even lower. Why did you get a second chance so quickly?"
Sumire already had enough listening to her. It seemed like Asahi was growing irritated, too, but she stopped her friend. There is no use having Asahi handle this. This is her issue; she should never have shown this girl a shred of mercy.
Because of her poor decisions, both Masaru and Masato got hurt. Before there are any more victims, she has to end it herself.