Love At First Crime (Kafka X Fem Reader)

Chapter 16: Loose Ends

[Y/n's PoV]

I found myself exhausted by the events of the night as I lie down on bed and prepared to go to sleep. The entire night was filled with a great deal of frustration and confusion that I was left with, especially when I had failed to get any of the information I wanted from kafka.

Perhaps it was best to just let it slide for now as I finally drifted off to sleep.

_____

Many hours later...

My sleep was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing, causing me to slowly open my eyes and sit up.

The room was still largely dark as the sun had yet to rise on this side of the world, meaning that it was early in the morning. I was unsure of who the call was coming from, but I went ahead and answered it anyway with a slightly tired voice.

"Yes? Y/n speaking."

"Y/n."

H-huh..? This is...

When I heard the voice coming on the phone, I quickly tensed up since it was from one of the Heads who called me as I remained silent for a few moments.

"You sound tired and exhausted." The Head stated.

I then quickly realized that the Head was able to pick up on the tone of my voice, seeing as I was indeed quite tired and exhausted from the entire sequence of events that had led up to this moment.

"N-no, not at all. Perhaps I just stayed up last night gathering information about the Stellaron Hunter."

I quickly came up with an excuse for my tiredness, knowing that it was better if the Head didn't figure out what had really happened last night.

"So did you have progress any progress?"

When he asked me that, I remained silent again since this past few days, I wasn't able to fully capture Kafka.

"Ah... Well..." I hesitated for a moment as I thought about the right words to say, not wanting to admit that there had been no progress whatsoever so far.

"Y/n, I won't name drop but one of the high members of the IPC caught you talking with Kafka there in Penacony a few days back. They didn't interfere since they thought you were going to capture her after that, but to my surprise, they told me that you let the Stellaron Hunter go willingly."

"...."

My heart suddenly dropped as the Head confronted me over the situation with Kafka.

I was fully aware of what had happened in Penacony as I had indeed let Kafka slip away— many times by now. However, I did not expect for the Heads to find out about the entire situation so soon.

"I–"

"Now, this made me wonder if you are actually secretly working with them?" The Head asked.

Huh?!

"N-No! That's definitely not the case!" I quickly responded back as my mind went into a state of panic, desperately attempting to defend myself by claiming that there was absolutely no way I was secretly working with the devil in anyway.

"...You know as well as anyone else that I will never betray the IPC and all of its values. I am doing my best to fulfill my objective while also ensuring the safety of the corporation." I responded back to the Head with firm conviction, assuring him that I would never commit such an act of betrayal.

I stressed my devotion towards the IPC and reiterated how I was still doing my best to capture her. However, it didn't seem as if the Head was completely convinced with my response.

"Hmm, well without any evidence, we can't also prove that you let her go on purpose, but I believe you for now. However... if you fail to capture her within the remaining days then not only you will be demoted to P45, but your high rank status would be revoked as well."

My heart dropped once more as the Head threatened to penalize me if I failed to capture Kafka within the remaining days.

"Hey hold on a minute— when you say revoke, does that mean–"

"Yes. You are no longer qualified to work here in the IPC."

"...."

The entire world around me seemed to freeze as those words rang in my ears. The thought of being stripped of my status within the IPC was horrifying enough, but being stripped from my work entirely was something I wasn't expecting to hear at all.

"Well, time is ticking and you got yourself only two days left, so don't let yourself get distracted. I know you've worked so hard to get into your position, but now is the time to fully prove yourself worthy. I hope you won't disappoint us, Y/n."

There, I was left in a state of complete shock and horror as the call finally ended. The thought of no longer being welcome to work in the IPC filled me with a sense of disappointment and regret.

I had put in so much hard work and dedication to achieve such a status, and the idea of losing it all just like that terrified me...

I just gripped the edge of my phone tightly before throwing it to the floor with a massive force.

"Fuck!"

The sound of the broken phone hitting the floor was incredibly deafening as I realized that there was nothing I could do to undo what happened.

I finally gave in to my frustration and anger, feeling like the entire world was conspiring against me as I had just failed to capture the Stellaron Hunter with every opportunity that I had.

I felt completely helpless as I was left with nothing but rage and fear for what the coming days would hold for me.

"KAFKA!"

I let my emotions get the best of me as I shouted out her name with all of my fury and anger. She had managed to slip away from me so many times now that my anger seemed to reach a boiling point. I cursed her endlessly for making a fool out of me time and time again.

I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it within that time frame, but what was certain is that I would do everything in my power to prevent myself that sort of punishment from happening.

Who am I if I'm no longer on top of the list? I already have no past memories of myself before I became an IPC member, so what's left for there to me now if I failed this mission?

This was exactly the thought that filled my mind when I thought about the threat that had come from the Heads.

I couldn't possibly imagine myself without my status or as a part of the IPC. But now that possibility was becoming more and more real as I was left with exactly two days to capture the Stellaron Hunter and save the very core of my identity.

"The Hunt is on."