A Different Turn

Chapter 7

(8man PoV)

Pedaling my bike hard, I cleared some ground as I headed to the market district. Once I was a fair distance away from home, I sighed as I reduced my pace, it was not much use anyway, Haruno was bound to reach there earlier, so scratch the plan that required me to be there before the appointed time,... on the other hand, being late and making her wait, while she sat there annoyed in the mid-level establishment alone was gleeful, being late scored me a win!

As I pushed the thoughts of the female demon out of my head to try and enjoy the ride, my thoughts drifted back to the reaction my mother had given me minutes ago, that level of coldness was not something I was accustomed to, and would not like to be. She had completely transformed upon the mere name of Yukinoshita Haruno...did mom know her by any chance?

Then again, mom had been working in the news industry for years, being the editor-in-chief of the local division, she probably knew all the local politicians and their lives like the back of her hand, she wrote about them for years after all, come to think of it, mentioning the name of my clubmate, Yukinoshita Yukino had elicited a similar, if not a very controlled and mellowed down form of what I had seen just now when I was telling her about my club weeks earlier, but I had brushed it off attributing it to her mood swings, women were prone to these things once a month after all...but that was certainly not the case now.

As I followed this line of thought, I drew a reasonable conclusion, the Yukinoshitas were a rich family, with a company that earned them millions, and the Yukinoshita patriarch was a successful politician, being a member of the local diet; no one became that big without having atleast a few skeletons in their closet, it was clear to me from my dealings with the family that the matriarch controlled everything with an iron fist, meaning that she was the one who took care of the dirty business...being in the news industry, mom probably knew things about them that were not public, and probably would never be thanks to their status and power, and the same things disgusted her enough for her to be so cold at the mere mention of the Yukinoshita name. Haruno could prove a testament to that.

Letting out another sigh, I stopped at a signal, thinking too much would do me no good, if anything, I could ask mom directly if the need so arose...for now what mattered was facing Haruno, and I would require every shred of my mental, and maybe physical strength to do that. Focusing on my goal, I started pedaling again as the light turned green, I was near the market district now.

Getting down from my bike, I locked it to the railing as I pulled out my phone to check the time, 5: 56 PM, so 11 minutes late eh? Well maybe I could take a walk around and go in even later, just annoy her a bit..., but then her earlier response to my ignorance flashed through my mind, I did not want to get beaten up again, most certainly I did not want anything like that. Deciding on it, I moved straight towards my destination as I took in the sights, I was rarely out of my house except if laden by chores, or recently on those troublesome requests, so occasions like these when I was moving around without lugging bags of groceries, or doing any grunt work were rare. Then again, I was certainly not here on my free will to begin with.

Reaching my destination, I glanced at the board absentmindedly, this was the first place that popped to my mind when I was deciding on a location, if I was to face a decidedly stronger and superior opponent, I had to take every advantage I could, familiarity of the terrain of the battlefield was one, and Saize was among the few places I frequented and was comfortable with, advantages I would not enjoy if I met her at the locations she chose, the unfamiliar surroundings would only make me more uncomfortable, making me unable to gain any sort of edge I could, given the position I was in.

Finally, I entered through the glass door as the regular cashier greeted me with a wave, responding with the same gesture, I scanned the dining area looking for the she-devil who should currently be annoyed by my tardiness, seeing a familiar mop of shoulder-length hair, I moved to the table near the window and glanced, or rather glared at her as she absentmindedly looked outside. 'If only I had a gun...'