𝓛𝓲𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓼 | ʜɪɢʜ & ʟᴏᴡ

Chapter 6: Black Envelope

"It's basically blood and death now."

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

Hiyori had run out of patience. She can't just sit prettily at the diner without doing anything while she has free time on her hands.

The girl told Naomi that she will go out, but the latter didn't ask any questions and just told her to take care. Hiyori then ran out of the diner.

The girl walked back to her apartment as she pulled a black hoodie and a black baseball cap on. She locked the door of her apartment and looked at her surroundings with caution if there are people following or looking in her direction.

When she felt she was safe, she immediately walked toward the familiar neighborhood in the northern part of Sannoh. The girl put her hands on the pocket of her hoodie as she felt shivers run down her spine.

As if someone's watching her from afar.

Hiyori just shrugged it off and speed up her pace a bit. When she reached her grandpa's old house, she took a walk a few meters from the house.

"Sawada-san!" she called to the widowed woman who just stepped out of her house with her three children.

"Hiyori-chan!" Sawada Mina smiled at the girl. She gasped and looked at something inside the shoulder bag she was carrying.

"Aneki!" Kazuto called with a smile on his face.

"Aneki? You're making me like some kind of a gang leader," Hiyori chuckled and patted the boy's head. She also patted Haruto and Minato's heads. The boys groaned in annoyance making Hiyori laugh at their reaction.

"Here's the key to the house and I was supposed to give this letter to you," Sawada Mina told her as the widowed woman handed her the keys to her grandpa's house and a white envelope.

"What's this?" Hiyori asked.

"Something from the bank, I guess," Sawada Mina said and shrugged unsure of what was in the envelope.

"Alright, thanks," the younger girl said.

"All right, we need to go. We have booked for a two-day trip," the widowed woman said.

"Oh, have a great time you guys!" Hiyori told them.

As soon as the Sawada family left, Hiyori stepped toward her old house and unlocked the door. She entered inside as the girl looked at all the boxes that were covered in a large white cloth.

The girl sighed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Where shall I start, then?" she muttered as she took off the white cloth that was covering all the boxes. The girl coughed when the dust of dirt flew in the air.

"I shouldn't have done that," Hiyori said as she fanned her hand to get rid of the dust.

The girl opened one of the boxes that were filled with her grandpa's stuff. Pictures of her and Yoichiro are in it. She stared at the image of her smiling while wearing her middle school uniform. Her grandpa had his arm on her shoulders and pulled her closer to his side.

She missed him so much.

The man who raised him to be the strong person she is today.

She remembered how her grandfather taught her how to fight. He didn't hold back and genuinely hurt her and even broke her arm once so that she can learn.

It was hellish but it paid off.

Yoichiro even taught her how to use a gun and a dagger. It was only for self-defense and the girl didn't even have the chance of using a weapon against someone. It was always her fist and her brute strength that clashed with her old enemies.

She missed her grandpa Yoichi.

Hiyori sighed and wiped a single tear that escaped from her left eye. She sniffled and put back the photos on the box as she went to another one.

Just like the other box, it was filled with her grandpa's things that reminded her of him.

Even that one time when they had a fight. When Hiyori fought some guys without any reason. Yoichiro was furious at the girl that he yelled at her and reminded her that she should not fight without having a good reason. She should not lay a fist on anyone out of nowhere.

After that, the girl did not do it again.

Hiyori was like Murayama and Hiroto when they were younger when she was around fourteen and fifteen. She fought guys here and there. The girl got almost arrested when she was part of a riot between reckless teenagers back then.

It was her rebellious phase and just like anyone, she had grown mature by now. Especially when Yoichiro died, the girl became independent and had to survive by herself.

Hiyori put her grandpa's old clothes back in the box and sighed in frustration.

There is basically nothing in there. She couldn't find anything. Only that Kuryu pin and nothing else.

What if it was just a coincidence that the pin is in the box and it has nothing to do with her grandpa?

Maybe she's just being paranoid.

Hiyori roamed her eyes in the house as she turned her head on the sides and spun her whole body to carefully scan her surroundings.

She must have missed something in there.

But unfortunately, there is nothing in there. She spent almost three hours looking at all the boxes but they were just filled with old stuff from when she was younger or her grandpa's stuff.

She took the stool on the corner and sat down on it as she let out a huff. The girl then put her palm on her lily necklace that's wrapped around her neck. She breathed a sigh to calm herself.

She took out her necklace and stared at the white lily pendant. Her brows furrowed as she tilted her head.

"Pure and innocent, huh?" she recalled how her mother had given her the necklace because Hiyori reminded her of the lily flower that symbolizes purity and innocence.

"It's basically blood and death now," she muttered. "And lots of fighting."

Then the girl turned her head to her left side and stared at her reflection in the mirror. She squinted her eyes when she saw a part of the ceiling was opened above her. She looked up and saw the black envelope that she was about to grab when she fell on the stool and cut her forehead.

Hiyori swallowed nervously. She placed the necklace on top of one of the boxes on her side as she stood up on top of the stool. She grabbed the black envelope and jumped down from the chair. The girl stared at the envelope for a few seconds until she opened it.

She took out a brown folder and with a frown on her face, she opened it.

There are pictures of a factory and some newspaper articles about Kuryu that were cut out.

Hiyori skimmed through the contents of the folder but she still couldn't understand any of the information there. The girl then heard the glass of the window shatter as something rolled a few steps away from her. The girl widened her eyes in fear as she realize the small rounded object that was rolling on the ground.

It was a grenade.