pov 3 person
" No , there is one more thing I will be worry about . You are already big enough that it will be normal that you will start to be interested in love and that kind of thing . Now it will become my job to ward off your suitors who will want to hurt you . "
"And looking at what beautiful ladies you will grow up to be , it will become more of a 24-hour task for me . Well at least Kurumi took an interest in a young gentleman , that I will not have to worry about . "
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Emerald pov
Upon hearing those words coming out of Big Mom's mouth , my thought process stopped to assimilate the information given to me . Just like in my head , everything else in the room stood still , the only sound in the room was the old clock and big mom , who with the help of cutlery continued eating as if nothing ever happened .
' What ? '
That was my only thought when my mind had already grasped the information that Big Mom had dropped on us .
' Gentleman means it's about a guy . But Kurumi doesn't know any guy . And looking at how Kurumi behaves towards Neo I'm sure she is interested in her ? '
Thinking about it , this didn't make sense . Kurumi spends practically all her time in our presence . When I am not with her she is with Neo and I am sure that Neo with her jealousy would not allow any guy to talk to Kurumi . Besides Kurumi has never shown signs of " liking " anyone other than Neo .
' So what's the deal with what Big mom said ? '
I think in complete disbelief .
" Who is Big Mom talking about ? "
I ask unconsciously out loud , just to understand something in that moment . Stopping looking blankly at my plate , I look at Big Mom who with a sly smile , identical to Kurumi's when her plan goes perfectly , looks into my eyes . The earlier signs of sadness and tears have disappeared replaced by the eyes and smile of the old fox .
' I sometimes forget that this old woman led a large and influential crime family . '
Thinking about it I already know that I fell into her game . As for the purpose of this game .
' it is quite obvious to me ' .
I think , looking at Neo , who similarly to me from a moment ago , was frozen in place , while looking at her plate . The blank expression on her face or the thoughtful look in her eyes did not allow anyone to see what was in her head . Only a glance at her hands holding the cutlery , betraying her shock and slowly accumulating anger . Neo's hands were shaking slightly , and her grip on the cutlery was so tight that her palms turned even paler .
" Don't you know ? It's that nice boy named Flynt . The one playing the trumpet . His dad owns the store from which you take dust ."
Says Big Mom without remorse , knowing that she is putting the poor boy's life at risk . From whose father , to make matters worse we took an order , which we give back today . This means that , today we are going to collect the money to the store owned by Flynt's father . Due to the fact that it is where we always buy dust there , we already know the owner's family , which means that we also know Flynt and his sister .
Flynt is a quiet guy , with whom we have met two , maybe three times . Unfortunately each time he was too eager to make contact with Kurumi which always annoyed Neo . Kurumi also did not help in these situations by playing her " nice " personality , which ended up with her sweetening the boy . It was obvious that Kurumi was just having fun at the expense of the boy .
But yhis probably makes Neo much more likely to believe that Kurumi might have feelings for this guy , which is absurd if you know Kurumi . And I believe Neo also knew that Kurumi was just teasing the kid . Unfortunately when it comes to Kurumi , Neo loses a lot of intelligence points in exchange for increasing her jealousy level .
This makes , Neo can be easily manipulated in this way , to draw a certain action or reaction from her . Exactly what Big Mom wanted to achieve and what , looking at Neo's behavior , she achieved . As for why Big Mom wanted such a reaction from Neo ? Obviously this is about forcing or at least encouraging Neo to do something towards her feelings for Kurumi . Feelings about which both me and Big Mom know about .
Unfortunately I doubt it will end other than killing or hurting the poor guy by the unreasonable and jealous Neo . And well looking at Big Mom who winks in my direction , I know she knows it too and doesn't care too much .
Hearing an unpleasant sound coming from Neo's plate I look back towards her and see her slowly cutting through the meat . Unfortunately, she does it so hard that she draws the knife on the plate causing a screech . However, this does not stop Neo from continuing . After cutting what she wanted , Neo finally raised her head to show her thoughtful face . Looking at the movements of her mouth I can see her tongue sliding over her teeth showing me how deep in thought she is at that moment .
Looking at Neo I saw as she nodded her head to herself and ate a piece of meat , while looking straight at us . Then her typical smile appeared on her face , making her completely unreadable again . Only the weariness in Neo's eyes showed how dark her thought processes might have been at that moment . I just hope it will end in mere thoughts and not physical action .
The probability that Neo will do something in broad daylight is low due to her awareness that she will cause problems for Kurumi. However, the likelihood that she will do anything to the boy worries me. Of course if what Big Mom said was true , I would have no problem helping Neo get rid of the body . However , the fact that he is innocent means that beating or killing him will leave me with a distaste .
But I beter left those problems for myself from the near future . Sighing, I returned to my meal, not forgetting to tell big mom my displeasure via a look . However, big mom only smiled at my behavior , which also conveyed to me how much this is not her problem . This made me sigh a second time .
' At least the food is good .
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Pov 3 person
After finishing the meal and leaving the pawn shop . Emerald and Neo continued their journey on foot through the Vale . In this way , after only an hour and a half of walking , they arrived at a dust store , wchich after some time become familiar to them . The store after these years of buying dust looked the same as when Kurumi , Neo and Cooper came here to buy the first supply of dust for their bunker . Well there was one difference .
The signboard of the store was pulled down , and most of the window displays were empty . In front of the front door of the store stood a truck into which furniture and cardboard boxes were slowly packed . After a slight surprise associated with this scene , Emerald and Neo entered the store . Of course they did so while making sure not to disturb the group of people who were carrying furniture and cardboard boxes out of the store .
" What's going on ? "
Asks Emerald as she and Neo approached the Counter of the store , at which sat the same cheerful man who at their first meeting told Neo and Kurumi with great pride about his daughter . But now that joy had disappeared replaced by traces of fatigue and stress . Although he did not look young before , he had now aged another few years . However , hearing Emerald's question , the dust seller found the strength to smile .
" Thank you for doing the job " .
Says vendor in a whisper , pulling an envelope from under the counter .
" I as well as the other dust stores owners , wanted to say thank you . "
Says vendor, after which he moved the envelope towards Emerald and Neo .
" Are you closing ? "
Asks again Emerald seeing how empty the shelves and dust containers are .
" Unfortunately yes , I am moving the business to Atlas . Although I doubt that I will create a new dust store . I will probably take up selling shoes , like my brother . "
Says salesman holding back tears .
" But we took care of this guy SDC ? Didn't that help ? "
Asks Emerald in a whisper not understanding what was going on .
" The guy just bought out the stores , unfortunately his disappearance did not change the fact that the prices for dust for stores out of SDC control has tripled . I am just unable to hold out against competition ."
Says vendor with obvious heaviness and fatigue .
" Together with other dust sellers we collected this money with the hope that after the disappearance of the representative something will change . Unfortunately it was only an empty hope . What was going to change ? "
Says the vendor tightening his lips .
" Sorry girls . Great job on your part . This is an agreed payment . "
Says the dust seller looking at Emerald and Neo with pity . Apparently the fact that he commissioned this task to children who are similar in age to his own weighed as heavily on his heart as the fact that he commissioned the assassination , which means that he is complicit in the deed .
As to how this order came about at all was quite a strange story . The seller obviously did not know and did not suspect Kurumi , Neo and Emerald of doing this kind of thing . Hence when he and the other dust sellers came up with the whole idea , they were looking for people to perform it in a rather ridiculous way . They walk around the dark parts of the city asking random , suspicious people about who would do such things .
They did not do it in an obvious way , they were rather quite funny and pathetic in doing so . Of course because of this , some of the people who actually dealt with such things avoided them or kept quiet because of uncertainty . A few others threatened the vendors , making them send someone else every time to avoid getting in trouble . The last group withdrew immediately when one of the vendors reminded them that the purpose of the task was someone high up from SDC .
So in the end the vendors failed to hire anyone for the job . Fortunately for them , no one reported on them . Besides that , ther attempts brought them to the attention of several homeless people , who contacted Lotus . He contacted Kurumi out of curiosity if she knew anything about it .
Only later did it come to light that the vendor , who had been selling Kurumi dust for a long time , was one of the people asking . Then Kurumi decided to dig deeper into the matter with the help of Lotus . Once she knew what the problem was , she quietly contacted the seller . At first she used illusions and clones for fear that it was a trap , only then after checking security did she contact in person .
As for revealing her identity , it came to light when the seller recognized them . What give out Kurumi was surprisingly her voice , which the man recognized . Revealing the identity made Kurumi had the idea of killing him , but eventually she gave up and decided to threaten the seller .
And well the argument that " he orders the assassination and that she is just a child and no one will believe him " , worked well enough to establish a partnership . Recalling this rather funny situation , Neo looked at the envelope and pressed her lips together . Looking at the almost empty store , Neo shook her head and sighed soundlessly.