Different from the rest

chapter 7

The next day

So far nothing too crazy has happened, everyone went back home and everything seemed normal in the mansion, or at least...that's what it looked like. A certain brunet has been keeping a close, but secret eye on a specific maid, a maid that has been acting rather suspicious ever since entering the mansion, she keeps glancing over at the family with glares that looked rather sad than angry, and Tenma could swear that behind those glares there were tears of sorrow.

One day, Tenma actually caught her taking out a knife from her pocket, but something was off. Instead of taking it out fully and charging towards the family, which is what most people would do if they wanted to kill someone, she took it out halfway and it seemed like she was hesitant, not to mention her hand was also shaking, in the end she put it back inside her pocket and went back to doing her chores. That night, Tenma was left wondering and thinking about logical reasons to tie the loose dots of information in his mind

'Judging by the way she hesitated and the fact that she was shaking in fear, she's obviously an untrained 'assassin', this may even be her first time, but...why? If she was sent here by whoever's trying to get rid of this family, then they should probably know better than sending a scaredy-cat, I mean now they've escalated to even more hidden attacks, so obviously they're not dumb, but then...why would they send someone like her, without even bothering with training and the fact that she gets so frazzled with just holding a knife?' Tenma kept rolling side to side on his bed 'Is it to fool us? That would be kind of logical, I guess. But if she's so scared to even take out the knife, then why would she be doing this? There's no way she could've agreed to this, she must've thought about the consequences beforehand. Did they threaten her?' When a few dots finally lined up, new ones showed up 'I don't think I can just wait until something else happens. I may have to roll with plan B.' With that in mind, Tenma did a silent sigh before drifting to sleep.

~'0'~

The next morning

Tenma woke up way earlier than anyone else in the family, because he had some business to take care of. He went out to the garden to search for the maid, he heard that that maid had an early schedule and most of the times in the morning she's outside taking care of the plants, so he's moving his search to the garden.

Without too much effort, he found the person he was looking for. The maid was watering the white roses while humming a tune in a low voice, oblivious to everything that was around her. Tenma went up to her, tapping her shoulder to get her attention

"Oh, good morning Tenma-san, what can I do for you?" Greeted the maid politely, the brunet simply greeted back and went straight to the point

"Actually, I would like to talk to you." The maid froze and her face turned pale was snow

"Wha-what do you want to talk about?" She tried to keep as calm as possible, but her voice gave it away. Tenma did a long sigh before explaining

"Saya-san, I know you're sent here by the ones who are trying to kill Shindou-senpai's family-" The said maid did a silent gasp of horror, but the brunet merely continued "-I know this because I saw you pulling out a knife yesterday." The maid looked down in shame, her entire body was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane "But I'm not gonna give your identity away." Stated the brunet with full confidence, the maid snapped her head up with disbelieving eyes, the brunet then proceeded to explain

"The reason why is because you did not actually kill anyone, as a matter of fact, you didn't want to kill anyone in the first place, right?" The maid's eyes were even wider now, but after a split second she nodded her head "Now, first of all, I would appreciate if you could tell me why you're doing this. Cause, it certainly doesn't seem like you're doing this because of your own will." The maid showed the face of hesitation that Tenma had seen numerous times in the last couple days before shaking her head

"No, I didn't agree to this, but I had no choice..." She trailed off before continuing "The person behind it all knew that I was a gonna become a new maid here, so he threatened me to fulfill his wishes unless I wanted to see my own family dead..." Most people would be startled by such confession, but Tenma didn't seem like that all, in fact he was expecting something way worse than a 'simple' threat "As much as I wanted to protect my family, I-...I just couldn't commit myself into a crime-" She began breaking down into tears that have been held back ever since coming, Tenma stayed with her until her tears were no longer there "I-I just... don't know what to do anymore..." Her voice was filled with despair, lost within herself, but Tenma on the other hand had everything under control

"What if I tell you, I can assure your family's safety?" Saya snapped her head up, staring at the brunet

"Are-...are you serious...?" It took her a brief second to find her voice, but when she did, she couldn't believe her ears. Tenma nodded his head reassuringly, a wave of happiness and relief washed over her, but the conversation was not over yet

"But, in order to protect your family, you'll have to do me a favor." He said it with a serious face - that most people would find intimidating - to test her determination

"I'll do anything for my family." Hearing those words caused Tenma's serious mask to fall off and be replaced with a sweet smile

"Good to know..." He mumbled "My favor is for you to tell me everything you know about the person behind all of this."

"I don't know a lot about him, I only know that he's a man with white/silver looking hair-"

"Do you know his reason for doing this?" Tenma cutted in front of her, desperate for an answer, the woman looked at him, a little surprised by the sudden question

"Well, I only remember him saying that he wanted my help for his revenge."

'Revenge?' Asked the brunet on the inside, but as he was deep within his thoughts, the woman said something that caught his attention

"Oh and I remember part of his name." Tenma's eyes shot up to her face, he didn't need to say anything, because his eyes were screaming by themselves for her to tell him

"What I remember from his name was..."

~'0'~

Okay! Cliffhanger, I know! But I can't reveal this person's name yet!

It may be revealed in the next chapter, but not in this one, so don't nag me for it! >:v