Inai Ni Yami ((Within Darkness)) {{FINISHED}}

Inai NI Yami ((An Original Story)) Chapter 34

Chapter 34

“Daisuke’s dead.” I shot out of my chair at the news, eyes bulging as I stared down at Rio. He looked grim, but not as much as he should’ve been. This was Daisuke we were talking about! “He died in the early afternoon of yesterday, just after lunch. His funeral’s to be held within the week.” Rio paused to look up at me and frowned. “Shouldn’t you be happy? Daisuke Shiroi is dead. For that, won’t it mean that ShiroTech will be easier for us to take down?”

“Oh... Yeah, I forgot that his name was Daisuke too,” I grumbled, falling back into the chair of my desk. Rio chuckled, seeing then what I’d thought he’d meant when he’d said the ‘Daisuke’s dead.’ “Well, I guess that should be a good thing to us, but it’s not. Think about it; who’s next in line to take over the company after Daisuke?”

Rio turned it over in his mind before his eyes - ice blue eyes identical to my own - widened. “Rio…?” But of course, he didn’t mean himself. He meant the other Rio, the one sitting on the throne of Shiroi’s company, ShiroTech. “Damn it, how could I have already forgotten about him?” 

“It’s easy. You don’t want to accept that there’s another Rio, so you forget him. Anyways, when’s exactly will the funeral be? Where? And if you can, find me an exact time. We can use this to our advantage, if everything’s done right. Also, call Zakiya and Rika over here. I’ll need them to start strategizing a plan. Tell Daisuke to prepare his equipment for the mission, just in case. Also, can you ask Yuki if she can give me a quick report on Eve?”

When Rio said nothing, I looked up from the many paper’s on my desk. His eyes were narrowed as he watched me, and I had to raise my eyebrows in question. “You’re exactly like the real Kuro, you know? You’re always in control, or you have to be in control. And you order everyone around so that you can get the right outcome.” 

It was my turn to narrow my eyes. “And you’re point is?”

“Haven’t you…” he paused, and then shook his head. “Never mind, alright? I’ll just do as you asked, almighty master.” He saluted me then with dull eyes and walked out the door. I grinned, leaning back in the chair, but his words snuck back into my head. ‘Almighty master.’ Was that how everyone viewed me as? Some sort of Kurai master to the Dorei’s? I frowned, contemplating how this thought even came to my mind, when someone knocked on the door. 

“Who’s there?”

“Zakiya! And Rika’s here with me. You wanted to see us, right?”

I pushed the papers away from me and called out, “Come on in.” They did as asked, Rika sitting down on the chair in front of my desk while Zakiya stood to the side. From there, I explained to them what had happened with Daisuke and of my plan. I explained to Zakiya mainly what we’d been planning originally and how he came into our plans.

“Do you have any questions?” 

Zakiya looked at me for a moment, his eyes wary before muttering, “What if I say no?” 

“I’d ask why?”

“And if I said I couldn’t tell you?”

“Again, I’d ask why?”

“And if that, too, was a secret?”

“Then I’d have to ask you what the hell you’re doing here? I’d have to ask you to leave. And I’d also have to ask you to give up on whatever little idea you have that we won’t find out anything about you and you’re other half. We know. We’ve known. So now tell me, will you or won’t you?” I was threatening the kid, I knew. By that point, it was obvious I shouldn’t even let him stay in the mission. I actually expected him to say that he’d stay and carry on out with the mission but…