Marc heard a noise from outside. Jin slowly stood up. Sanchez was sweating profusely. Christina knew who they were. It was none other than the members of IGA. Her brothers and sisters from the orphanage she'd left behind. Someone rang the doorbell.
"I'm coming in, Mr. Sanchez.
A young man in a black suit calmly entered the room. He had a lock of hair in front of his eyes and a scar on his face, but despite everything, he was rather handsome. He stared at Marc and Jin as they advanced towards the millionaire, while the two remained seated quietly. Then he met Christina's gaze.
"Hi, Chris."
"Arthur."
Christina held his suit tightly and crumpled it up. Sanchez seemed to have regained his composure.
"Oh, so you're the famous Arthur from the story."
Arthur didn't take his eyes off his former comrade.
"She was just telling us your story."
Still with his cold gaze towards her, he continued talking as if nothing had happened.
"Our story, Chris? You mean your happy princess story. Malvin would be pleased. Look where you're at. With another man. Besides, he looks underage."
"Arthur, you..."
"Say. Why do you call him Chris?"
Arthur finally turned his gaze to the man speaking to him.
"Didn't she tell you? That's what we called her in the IGA. She was stronger than the men and beat everyone so people started calling her Chris. It sounded more monster-y and then it was shorter than Christina."
"I can confirm that."
"But tell me, you look pretty calm for someone who's just beaten the IGA monster and is now facing King Arthur."
"Is that your name over there?"
"Yes."
"Well, I can tell you that you're no king at all."
"I'll knock you out now or I'll wait a second."
"You'll be dead before then."
In a flash Arthur drew his weapon, but quicker Jin grabbed him by the face and led him outside.
"I don't want to be disturbed."
"Yes, master."
Jin threw Arthur out. He cumulated sideways before straightening up as if nothing had happened. The ground was wet and Arthur pulled out an umbrella.
"You stained my suit."
"That was on purpose."
"We were hired to kill you because you were endangering Mister Sanchez's life, but I changed my mind."
"Why is that?"
"You look like someone I hate."
Jin had to brace himself because the attack he was about to receive wasn't low-level. At least, that's what Arthur thought. He took out a rifle from his umbrella, more than a meter long, and started firing at Jin, who dodged all the bullets.
"You amaze me. Just like that bastard last time. What's your name?"
"Jin Ichimaru."
At these words, Arthur's expression changed. First surprise, then anger, then he began to laugh.
"AH. I see. All the more reason to send you dirty to hell."
Jin realized it once more. He was giving off an aura too. Weaker than the monster's, and blue in color. He also noticed the presence of others nearby.
"Bring yourselves back at once. The master doesn't want to be disturbed."
Marc sat back in his chair and drank more tea. Sanchez couldn't believe it.
"Carry on."
"But your friend is up against the whole GIA. You should..."
"Carry on."
Marc knew Jin had no chance of losing.
Christina awoke suddenly in a white room with blue tiles. Her body was covered in bandages. She could hardly move. A uniform lay on her bed.
"Are you awake?"
She looked with panic at the door and saw Ichimaru posed against the door ledges.
"I'm going to ask you a question and your fate will rest on your answer. You die or you join us..."
"I'll join you."
A silence settled over the room. Ichimaru hadn't expected her to answer so quickly.
"Well, well, well. Welcome. Take this uniform and get ready to go to room 2H."
Barely finished with her sentence, Christina was already ready.
"But that's nonsense. You don't even know who we are or what we do, and you haven't even thought it through."
"Yes, but I don't want to die."
It was an obvious reason. Ichimaru understood it completely.
"Your boyfriend didn't react the same way. He yelled at me and then asked if you were alive."
"I know. Malvin's like that."
Ichimaru looked at the little girl with his fake smile.
"You don't have to smile like that. Everyone here has forgotten how to smile."
"Except you, right?"
"Hm?"
"I've seen you smile a few times and you've spared me. You still have a good heart, don't you?"
Ichimaru looked at Christina with a cold stare before letting go with a big smile.
"No."
It was the first time Christina had seen someone with better acting skills than her. She followed Ichimaru to room 2H, where her family was waiting. There were only five of them left. Arthur, Lori, Rachel, Malvin and her. She cried at the entrance to the room as they came to cry with her. Malvin hugged her tightly and Lori embraced them all.
"We're together at least."
Ichimaru looked at them. It had been a long time since he'd received a selection that had survived. He was watching them all squeeze together when Mathilde entered the room.
"Let go. This isn't a family reunion."
Ichimaru got to his feet as if nothing had happened with panic and began to hiss.
"You weren't getting emotional, were you?"
"No. I was going to tell them to line up."
"Right."
She entered the room and brought a cold one in. All the children gave her the evil eye. The one who was once their mother. She placed a briefcase on the table and began to speak.
"Well. I'll teach the class. You're future assassins we're going to train. We chose you because you looked promising, so don't disappoint us. I don't feel like talking to you about all the blah, blah, blah, so since this gentleman will be taking charge of you, he'll do it right away. Isn't that right, Mister Ichimaru?"
"Without fail."
"Good. I'll be off. I'll say goodbye when you deserve it."
She quickly exited the room and slammed the door behind her.
"Whew. She's scary isn't she? She got here after me and yet she doesn't like me at all."
Ichimaru had said this to calm the mood, but no one had reacted. The hatred they had for him was too great to disappear under the slightest joke.
"Ah. You're still mad at me, aren't you? Sorry, it's my job and I don't like it. I took care of your orphanage just so she wouldn't kill you all. Originally, only Malvin and Christina should have survived. She's notoriously heartless, so I took care of it. Please forgive me."
None of the children forgave him. But deep down, Christina knew she'd been right. He had a good heart.
"Well. Perhaps a joke will cheer you up? What goes nioc-nioc? A duck that talks backwards."
Nobody laughed for a long minute, but Rachel's smile wouldn't go away and her face made Arthur smile in turn which caused Lori to laugh intensely which made everyone else follow suit. Ichimaru smiled too.
"Well, there you go. "
"Your joke sucks, sir."
"Then why did you laugh?"
It took them a while to calm down.
"Good. I'll tell you what's going to happen now. I'm going to train you to become the best you can be, so that this woman never scares you again. You might even kill her one of these days. But for now, you're too weak, so you'll have to pull up your socks and conquer the world of the strongest. And since I'm the strongest, everything will be all right. Are you with me?"
He'd said so enthusiastically that the students found it hard to follow. But since he had no choice, they all raised their fists high in the sky as he had done.
"All right. Let's go kick some gigo."
They trained with Ichimaru for years. The results they achieved were exceptional, and the whole agency couldn't believe it. They quickly became the most promising assassins, rising through the ranks under their master's tutelage. Unfortunately, the day came for their first assassination. Arthur and Lori had succeeded with some difficulty. Malvin had forced his hand. Rachel had done it, strangely enough, without a care in the world, but Christina just couldn't do it. She always left her victims at death's door without ever killing them. She didn't like blood or killing, and the whole agency could see that. One thing was certain for Malvin: they were going to kill her if she didn't do her job properly. Christina often spoke with Ichimaru and that day, she had cried a lot for an assassin in the arms of the man she considered her new father.
"I just can't do it. Malvin won't talk to me. I feel like they're going to kill me if I don't manage to kill someone. I'm going to die and I won't see the others again. Who will be the executioner of my sentence? You or Mathilde?"
Ichimaru remained calm and tried to console her. His face was very serious.
"I know what you mean. There's only one way to resolve this. Let's have a fight."
"What? Mister Ichimaru."
"It's the only way to reveal all that's in your heart. Come, I'll wait for you."
"But sir..."
Before she could continue, she received a tremendous blow in the stomach.
"If you don't come, I'll come."
Ichimaru was dead serious. Christina stepped back briskly and drew her gun and katana. She'd adopted her master's same fighting method, just like Malvin.
"I won't hold back then."
"You think that scares me. You're too weak to do me any harm. That's why Malvin left. He's become a real man."
Tears rose to the level of Christina's eyes.
"You're going to start crying again. What difference is it going to make? Whether you cry or not, they're dead. It's not your tears that will bring them back."
The first blows were exchanged violently. Ichimaru remained at a slightly higher level than Christina, who began to see cracks in her fight. The blows multiplied and bullets began to pierce the wall. A small crowd had gathered in front of the glass viewing window and Malvin was in it. Ichimaru was very serious.
"Why are you like this, sir? I thought you had a good heart."
"Nonsense. This is a world of assassins and you think I have a good heart? You can't survive here if you have a good bottom."
Christina wouldn't understand. She felt like she was fighting the master she'd always known, who as usual was playing a role. But this time, it was a role she'd never seen before. Gashes began to appear on Christina's body as Ichimaru continued to press his pace. He was clearly on another level.
"Christina, you don't understand."
Christina was falling into despair. The atmosphere changed again.
"I'm going to kill you."
At these words, Christina's body trembled.
"Like I killed your family."
Ichimaru charged, piercing Christina from all sides and shooting her in the leg. The combination of gun and katana was perfect, leaving nothing to be desired. Christina collapsed to the floor bleeding.
"Sir."
"You were too weak Christina. Too weak at heart, and you were from the start. I said I was going to train assassins not weaklings, Chris."
Ichimaru stood over what looked like Christina's corpse for a long time. His cold gaze searched desperately for a breath of hope. After thirty seconds, he turned and headed for the door. Everyone was talking about the fight. He met Malvin's gaze. He was going to kill him. Suddenly, everyone let out a small cry of surprise. The people at the agency knew why this little girl was called "The Monster". Christina rose from the dead.
"No, this isn't her. But it'll do."
Malvin had understood Ichimaru's plan. Ichimaru turned around with a smile on his face.
"Bring it on, IGA freak."
Christina picked up her gun and katana from the ground. She loaded the bullets and turned back to her master. She wasn't smiling. The monster hadn't smiled in a long time.
"Come, Christina Leya."