Under The Veil of Night

Kreet!

"You should have realized that I put the ’close’ sign in front of the door, right?" Shiro asked in annoyed tone. He was dressed in black color with a large sport bag on his right hand.

Kanae glanced up. She grinned. "Of course, I see it. But I think you wouldn’t mind if I pay a short visit since you’re not doing anything."

"I have a lot of work."

"You can postpone them."

"Tsk, you’re so forceful," Shiro placed his gun into his secret compartment and locked it. He turned to look at Kanae with question all over his face. "With your fighting prowess, I’m surprised that you’re still wounded."

"My senior is a bit of a monster," Kanae rolled her long pants, showing her wounds. There was a trace of bandage, but it has turned red again. "It’s not that big and I already treat it back then. But it seems, I make it open again."

"With the way you moved before, I can’t say I’m surprised."

"Come on, help me a bit."

Shiro rolled his eyes. He knew that Kanae was more than capable of treating her wounds by herself. She must have another reason as to why she wanted to visit him today.

"Tell me, what do you want?" Shiro took out his equipment. He pulled Kanae’s legs up and opened the bandages again.

Kanae grinned. She tapped her communication device and cut off the line. "Let’s keep it to both of us."

"How rare," Shiro sighed. "Don’t you need to hear the progress of the matter?"

"There’s no need. I already hear the complete report from Brother Jason not long ago. Besides, my little sister will give me another report after she returns back from work."

"How convenient."

"I have great friends and sister."

Shiro shook his head and cut off the communication line. This way, both Tommy and Jason wouldn’t be able to hear whatever Kanae wanted to say to him. He took out a bottle of alcohol and pour it on Kanae’s wound.

"Hey, be gentle! You’re treating a woman!"

"I can’t see you as a woman," Shiro replied flatly. "You’re just a little kid who can’t rely on yourself when you’re wounded."

Kanae pursed her lips. She knew that Shiro was talking about when she was wounded so horribly that she was already at the death’s door. "I need your help, Brother Shiro."

"Why am I not surprised? No thanks."

"Come on, you haven’t heard the detail."

Shiro took the bandages and started bandaging Kanae’s legs. "You’re asking help from the wrong person. You should know better than anyone that I don’t really have anything in this city. Either connection, money, or even properties, I have none of them."

When the two of them met, he was just a poor student, unable to properly fed himself. He had to resort to open an illegal clinic just because he wanted to continue his study.

"You have the skill," Kanae pointed to the bag at the back. "After all, you have been using it in your entire life."

Shiro sighed. "Fine, what do you want?"

"I need you to watch over my little sister during the second hearing. You know, the one in Nali Family Hall. If anything happens to her, you’re allowed to open fire and kill them."

The tone that Kanae used was as cold as ice. Compared to the hesitation this little girl has when she had to accept killing mission, it was as if she wanted all of them to die instead. It was truly a stark contrast.

"You can’t go in, can you?"

"Even if they allow me to come in again, I doubt that I can get inside," Kanae looked back at Shiro, who had just finished bandaging her legs. Her pupil flashed with sadness and grieve for a split second. "Can you do me this favor, Brother Shiro?"

Seeing Kanae’s sad glint, Shiro sighed and scratched the back of his head. He had heard what happened to Kanae right before this little girl met with the three of them. It was something that he himself couldn’t accept if it happened to himself.

Even after she met with them, she still has to face those people. Her position back then didn’t allow her to be free of them.

"I truly wonder why you still allows Nali Family to exist now. If I’m you, I’ll kill those elders until nothing remains."

"Not all of them are bad," Kanae smiled wryly. "Besides, I think this is a good chance for us to take back the Nali Family."

Her sister was the next in line for the position of the Family Head. If it truly fell into Laura’s hand, it meant that the one the elders shunned just around three years ago were the one who would be taking over the family. Seeing the large family fell into the hand of someone they hate, should be more painful than just losing it, right?

Shiro smiled when he saw the cunning smile on Kanae’s face. "If this happens sooner, you can be the family head instead."

"Nah, it’s impossible."

"Why?"

"Because I’m part of the Underworld. Do you think those people will not take advantage of this fact and try to push me down? If I didn’t keep the secret well, they would surely find out how I manage to keep my little sister alive all these years."

It was not really a secret that she must have participated in the Black Street. The detail might not be known, but it didn’t require a genius for them to realize this. Once they found out, they would make a lot of trouble for her.

"Is this why you let your sister be the one to take it?"

"I wonder about that. Do you think I would have known that Sakura will die before Laura reach the age?"

The real plan was to take the two of them out of Nali Family, away from the elder. And once they no longer have any connection, Kanae would destroy them completely using her power as the leader of Fiore Group. Now, her plans have to change because there was something unexpected happened.

"Right, you won’t know about it," Shiro smiled bitterly. "But I’m sure you have an inkling as to who might be the one to be responsible for Sakura’s death."

"I have," Kanae admitted. From what she knew, Sakura should only come into contact with a limited number of people. Each of them were influential, but only a handful of them would know about her relationship with Sakura. Plus, they shouldn’t have known that this mansion belonged to Laura and her.

Only one person seemed to be suitable for this description.

"Will you do anything to her?"

"Why should I?" Kanae flicked a glance and stood up. "I already make enough move to her because of Laura. For this matter, I’ll just let her clash with Frank. It’ll be more satisfying. Anyway, thank you and good night."

"Don’t forget to pay."

"Aye."

In but a moment, Kanae had disappeared from her place. Even though there was no need for her to hurry-well, maybe she did need to hurry or her sister would search for her, there was no trace of her at all. Shiro shook his head at the sight of Kanae’s disappearance.

This made him recall the sight of the girl just now during the fight with the prisoners who escaped. At that moment, a thought appeared inside his mind.

"If it’s under the veil of night, not even ’his’ shadow can be seen."

Even from faraway, he had trouble just to see this little lass.

Shiro shook his head as he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind. He looked at the coins that Kanae left on the table as he smiled wryly. The amount that Kanae gave him was only enough to buy cheap short bandage on the streets. That little lass was quite stingy.

’She really needs to start changing her habit of being too frugal.’