Kurumi pov
Entering pawshop, I am met by a scene in which Big mama and Emerald together sweep glass from the ground, but what catches my attention is the bandage on Emarald's thigh.
' This is what big papa meant when he said rescue .'
I think when big mom and Emerald finally turning their attention to us. And while Emerald simply glances at me and then she silently goes back to work , big mom puts down her broom and walks over to us .
" It's good that you are all right " .
Says big mom hugging me and Neo .
" Yes everything is fine ."
I say returning the hug .
" So you have information who did it ? "
Asks big papa to which I look at him in response .
" If we are talking about the Xiong family then yes, yesterday me and Neo ..."
I say with the intention of continuing when big papa with his cough interrupting me while turning my attention to him . Looking at big papa's face I see his eyes move towards Emerald who is sweeping the floor from the side .
Knowing that I understood his message , big papa walked through the store entering the living area as I , Neo and Ash moved behind him .
" Emerald continue cleaning . I'll be back in a minute "
Says big mom towards the still silent Emerald then she follows us .
" What about her ? I heard that you rescued her , but she is something awfully quiet ."
I ask noticing Emerald's silent behavior .
" She had a close encounter with death ."
Says big mom . Which completely explains it , after all I experienced it myself . Although I was not so quiet I understand the feeling that forced me to scratch someone's eyes out of their face .
"When did she come here ? "
Asks Ash pointing out that she was not here until he left .
"Right after you left to pick up Kurumi and Neo . Emerald come here with an injured leg . There was a group of men running after her and when they got her in front of the store I shot one of them ."
Says Big papa with anger in his voice .
"And what happened next ? They ran away , fought back ?"
I ask confused as big papa mentioned a group of people , making me doubt that they left like that .
" They had batons and I had a shotgun , besides Copper ran to me with his gun . Those there shit their pants and ran away ."
Says big papa when we reach the living room where Copper is sitting watching TV in which the news is shown . However, as soon as we arrived he turned off the TV and looked in our direction.
" So now tell me what do you know ?"
Asks big papa again when my mouse took out her scroll after which she put it on the table .
" Last night thanks to Lotus we came across an exchange of people from the warehouse , with another group . "
" They mentioned that they want to get rid of Xiong , they said something about access to dust . With our skills I was able to smuggle a scroll into the meeting record it and save it . There is video and Audio ."
I say realizing that maybe if I had passed the information right away maybe it would have prevented what happened today.
' No, the attack occurred a few hours after that , by the time I would have reached pawn shop it would have been an hour . In the end it wouldn't have mattered .'
I think when everyone in the room is silent looking at the pink mouse scroll . In that silent moment big papa reached for the scroll and with Neo's non-verbal acquiescence he searched the scroll for last night's recordings . Watching in silence big papa watched the recording while the rest of the room listened to the audio recording .
" Gray and his group . A bunch of unbridled idiots . However, this explains from where these bombs "
Says Big papa in a cold tone handing the scroll to Ash ..
" The question is whether it is just him planning against Xiong or his father too " .
Says big mama looking at big papa .
" Who is Gray ? "
I ask not knowing that name .
" His father make weapons , bombs and anything that kills and is not legal for ordinary citizens to own . "
Says Ash making me realize that this group with such abilities is really dangerous .
" What now ? "
I ask again to which big papa despite his anger shrugs his shoulders .
" Nothing , we pass on the information and wait . The war has officially started in Vale as I doubt that Xiong forgives anyone now . Gray's father will also certainly not leave his son alone even if he himself does not have the strength to knock down Xiong ."
" However , knowing life , Gray has allies . Even with the support of his father his grup Has to be small in proportion to Xiong so either they are so desperate to fight or Gray has strong support "
" Possibly from the spider , at least given the presence of this woman . They will start a war devastating the Xiong family and other smaller or larger families in the Vale , and then they themselves will kill the weakened groups . But there is no evidence of the participation of other groups or the support of Gray father . "
"But It's possible that the boy is doing what he wants without anyone's knowledge or consent and he will now play hit and run tactics with his bombs . And this spider woman is just trying to make money . But ultimately Hei and his son Junior will figure it out themselves ".
"Because I know nothing about the dynamics of the situation . Perhaps it is a big conspiracy or this just happened . This information despite the fact that it does not give light on the matter is within the content of the contract . So the task is done ."
Says big mom to which big papa simply nods as Ash taking Neo scroll with him , leaves the room most likely to use the computer to send data .
" Really and what about your old families . Won't this implicate Ash , Copper me or Neo ?"
I ask knowing that I am now a member of the Xiong alliance family .
" Why would it affect us ? Because we have an alliance with Xiong ? First of all this is not how De Rose works . A full-fledged group consists of ten people , the rest of the people like you or Neo are appendage members , contractors " Task takers ". "
" You are a member who takes orders . You can belong to other groups , gangs or even have a normal business or family . You just have the right to access the main hideout and assignments . When the main family is in charge of sorting out the orders you guys do them . So we act at most as mercenaries because that's what our main way of operating consists of."
" The only problem will be when both sides of the conflict issue a job . We will of course be on the side of Xiong because of the compromise and settlement between us .Of course everyone can accept the job if Xiong issue it or not if they don't want to ."
"So those who will be afraid of the consequences don't do the tasks , at most the main members can go to fight but rather we stick to defense when the assassins and mercenaries are doing their thing . Xiong knows this so he will not force anyone to fight ."
Says Big mama making Kurumi more aware of the situation .
" As for my old gang . They mainly deal with real estate and debts . They don't get involved in any conflicts .Besides, it's all the decision of our deputies . We are already retired ."
Said big papa ending this topic .
' With the money from this task I was going to start looking for a gift for Neo birthday , but these plans are unlikely to work out too much now .'
I think when big mom notices my further concerns .
" Is there something that continues to worry you Kurumi ? "
Asks big mom looking at me .
" When will this matter quiet down ?"
I ask remembering what happened that night . But surprisingly I don't care too much about the people, I know that a lot of people died but what should I do about it ? If I had more influence over what is happening I would do something but I don't so my own interest is what is important to me now .
" It depends , but rather soon . When the hunters and police are around doing purges , such intense fighting is no longer possible . And looking at the sheer numbers of both sides it won't take more than two days before Grey's men even with the help of his father are slaughtered ."
" However, there are also smaller gangs fighting so maybe with three days . In the worst case there will be a standoff and division of Vale between the groups , the so-called cold war which is nothing new in Vale ."
Says big papa smiling reassuringly when I am surprised by the time in which this conflict is expected to pass .
" What did you expect . It's not a battle of kingdoms just two criminal groups . Grey may have the ability to produce weapons but without dust he has no ammunition and bombs . Obviously from here this situation with your task , he has people who provide him with it but is it enough ?."
"If he doesn't have a really good supply network outside of this one group then I doubt if he still has dust at all and this whole situation is not just one desperate attack with which he aimed to kill certain main targets ."
" Grey group is also not large If you count his father maybe he has three hundred people . And they are fighting the Xiong who have around one thousand people not to mention the gangs that are with them . And they control the dust and becouse of that they having more firepower and influence ."
" Unless at least the greater half of the groups and smaller gangs get behind Grey, there is no chance of overthrowing Xiong. Especially since Xiong have allies ."
Says Big papa to which as I nod .
" But looking at these lunatics , many unrelated people will die in the crosfire , if many have not already died . "
Big papa says making the silence fall in the room.
'All the way I saw only one body in the alley but I was not in the outskirts or in the poor streets and honestly I don't want to go there just to see a corpse .'
'The attack occurred at night so most people were at home . The bodies Ash spoke of must have belonged to homeless people or those who were unlucky enough to be outside at the time . Looking at the situation in the pawn shop the people in the houses must have been at risk too.'
' If I had not been where I am now and continued to be there in the street I would not survived this . While I hadn't thought about it for a long time, after meeting Emerald I realized how lucky I was , rather I always remembered it but she reminded me that I might not have had it .'
Thinking about it I flicked my tongue , instinctively grabbing the hand of my pink mouse which grabbed mine . At the same time Ash returned to the living room and putting it on the table moved it towards us .
" Payment should be tomorrow because of obvious reasons. I will go with you tomorrow to pick them up ."
Says Ash to which I can only nod my head . Knowing that I will finally have a day off with Neo , we both gather to leave however we are stopped by big mom .
" Where are you going ?"
Asks big mom looking at me and Neo .
" Task finished , me at Neo go home because I doubt the ice cream shop will be open " .
I say looking at the sighing Asha .
" It is dangerous are you sure ? I will not hold you , but let you walk In this situation Cupper or Ash can escort you . "
Says big mom .
" We will manage on our own . See you tomorrow ."
I say when I am about to leave but this time I am stopped by Ash .
" Try not to use Aura , at least not today . Everyone are sensitive to aura signatures because of bombs ."
Says Ash to which I just nod my head to show that I understood . On my way out of the living area with the pink mouse I again encounter Emerald continuing to sweep the floor and seeing her silent attitude I move on but just as my hands are about to touch the door handle I hear footsteps approaching me .