Parallel Vol. 6

Chapter 3: Genaco's Trap

"A trap?" Taiga looked at Ayumi and Suzuki, who seemed to have read each other's minds. Wait, why did this scene seem so familiar? "What are you guys talking about? No, wait. First of all, who's the goddess, and how do you know her?"

Suzuki snapped back upon Taiga's reminder. He pointed at Ayumi and said, "She's Adachi Ayumi, an old friend of mine. You know her better as Leila Lightwood, though."

"Leila?" Taiga's eyes widened in shock. "You're Leila Lightwood!? Our real guildmaster!?"

"Our?" Ayumi's brows creased as she began to match Taiga's personality to a certain vampire. "No. Wait. Are you—"

Taiga grinned. "Syel, the devilishly handsome vampire prince? Yeah, I am he." He made a show of bowing and then suddenly wrapped his arm around Saeko and pulled her close. "You probably don't recognize her with the blouse and skirt, but this is our resident bishoujo* Prince Shoko. By the way, we're kinda going ou—oof!" A punishing elbow to his solar plexus made Taiga collapse in pain.

While Taiga desperately struggled to suck in mouthfuls of air into his lungs, Saeko smiled and nonchalantly continued the introductions, "Nice to meet you in person, finally. It is an honor to meet one of the strongest women I have ever known." She then gestured to Jade, who was munching on a pocky with a thoughtful expression. "That's Yuhi Jade, and the guy trying to sneak away is someone I'm certain you'd love to meet."

Saeko looked over her shoulder and flashed a teasing smile at Usman, who slowly turned around with a look of betrayal. "Saeko, meet Usman Taki, better known as Miote."

Several emotions flashed through Ayumi's eyes as she observed the wry smile on the retreating middle eastern youth. "You're Miote?"

Usman wished he could find a hole to hide. If there was one person he did not want to meet in real life, it was Leila. How could he dare when he constantly hounded her with more work, especially regarding the funds required to start up several projects he and Kashi dreamed up on the fly? Usman, or rather, Miote, was one of the significant reasons Leila often found herself in the palace negotiating loans or projects instead of hunting or clearing dungeons like most gamers.

If Usman were in Leila's shoes, he would have strangled himself at least once to release his frustration.

In a desperate bid for self-preservation, Usman turned and raised his hands in surrender and winced before declaring, "Before you say anything, keep in mind that Miote and I are two separate entities. His decisions are not mine, and mine are not his, so please don't judge me by his actions."

Silence followed. Ponderous, Usman slowly opened his eyes and was met with looks of equal parts horror and amusement.

Taiga, in particular, walked up to the spy and patted his shoulder in admiration. "Congratulations. You are officially one of the most shameless people I've ever met!"

Usman wanted to cry. Nothing good came from earning this psychopath's admiration, not to speak of for such a stupid thing. *cough* *cough* Usman lightly coughed to clear his throat and then turned to Suzuki. "You were saying something about a trap?"

In awe at this point, Taiga gave the young man two thumbs up.

Fortunately, Suzuki was not interested in teasing Usman. Instead, he looked at James. "This assessment. Did you design it?"

"Hmm?" James, who had been munching on popcorn, looked at Suzuki with wronged eyes. "Why do you think I'm the one who designed it?"

"Because you're the only one he knows who can design such a messed up test," answered Ayumi.

James looked from Suzuki's emotionless abyss to Ayumi's cold gaze. "Haa~ I hate working with intelligent people. You guys are too analytical. Where's the emotion? If you're going to accuse me, you should at least be a little angry or upset, right?"