Around midday, between 1 and 2 PM, Maria was at home while Manabu went with Kami to Nosco Loc College and University for admissions.
Meanwhile, Taiju and Mai were talking in their room when suddenly a thought struck them—"Eh? Where's Mion?"
Taiju assumed she had gone with Manabu for admission, but Mai recalled Mion telling her that she had no interest in studying anymore and wanted to focus on painting. "Then why would she go with Manabu?" Mai wondered.
Taiju scratched his head and replied, "Maybe she just went to keep him company. What else could be more reasonable?"
While they talked, Roy pressed the doorbell. He had just returned from picking up washing powder to do the laundry. Meanwhile, he had left Noor with the kids at the orphanage.
For a moment, Maria thought it was Manabu, but she turned back and asked, "Why are you here? And where's Leon?"
Roy answered, "He went out for a job."
Maria turned to him with an unhappy expression, narrowing her eyes. She said, "Wasn't he just feeling better yesterday?"
Roy simply raised both hands in an I don't know~ sign and walked away from the kitchen.
He entered Maria's room while Taiju and Mai were talking and greeted them. Roy and Taiju wore the same style of glasses, which Roy considered a sign of friendship.
While they were talking, Taiju asked, "By the way, where are you from? And what's your full name?"
Roy replied, "Uhh… I'm from Ura (URA is a country), and actually, my full name is Roy Das. By the way, I'm 32."
Hearing this, Taiju grabbed his head like—what?? And Mai was uhhmm… confused—As expected...
Roy looked no older than 20, but he was 32? How was that possible?! Taiju couldn't believe it. Then Roy leaned closer and whispered to both of them, "Has Leon done anything to you two?"
Taiju was unsure what to say. Roy simply gave them a piece of advice about Leon: "Leon is practically a good guy, but sometimes... he does strange things. So, better stay calm in front of him."
Taiju and Mai didn't want to discuss anything about him, so they just sighed deeply and pretended not to hear.
Then Roy asked them about the pink-haired girl who had been staying with them. But neither Mai nor Taiju had any idea where she was…"Maybe, She went to complete a job."
Meanwhile, Leon was walking somewhere, his hands in his pockets, dressed in a black shirt and black jeans. But someone was following him—it was Mion.
She wore a white hoodie with the hood up and trailed behind him. Her long hair was now cut short, reaching just her shoulders. She had a knife on her; she put the knife in her hoodie pocket and started following Leon from a distance.
After following him for a while, she saw Leon enter a sex bar. Mion gritted her teeth. "Bastard."
She followed him inside. Leon entered a room, but Mion couldn't enter there. Instead, she sat outside and ordered a cold drink.
After some time, Leon finally came out, accompanied by a woman.
As they walked outside while chatting, Leon suddenly slapped the woman in the face really hard, and she fell.
He said something to her, but because of the noise, Mion couldn't hear him. Leon left alone, and the woman picked up her purse, pressed her hand on her cheek, and walked away.
But something seemed off; Mion decided to go inside that same room they had been in. She got up, opened the door, and found three dead bodies inside. Foam oozed from their noses and mouths—they must have been poisoned.
Without a second thought, Mion immediately ran after Leon, pulling the knife from her hoodie's pocket.
Leon stood outside, speaking into a tapping device, informing the officers about the situation.
But then, from behind, Mion rushed and stabbed him just beside his navel.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" Leon screamed, insanely loud.
Hearing his loud and intense scream, investigators panicked and rushed.
Mion tried to stab Leon again, but he grabbed her wrist, twisted her arm, and threw her away, then escaped. Mion got up and tried to chase after him, but the investigators grabbed her hands from behind.
She reacted instantly—kicking one of them in the balls and slashing another's wrist with her knife, leaving a scar, and escaping. Mion was chasing him, but—unbelievable! How could he run this fast?!
He was running at an impossibly fast speed, even with the injury.
The chase led them to the main road. Leon jumped over cars; Mion chased after him, carefully avoiding the cars. But then— A speeding vehicle hit Leon. He rolled over the hood, shattering the windshield, and crashed onto the ground. His mouth and nose started bleeding.
Yet somehow, he still stood up and kept running. Like a fish struggling to breathe on land, yet refusing to die. "Fucking lizard tail! "
At this point, the police spotted them fighting in the middle of the road and rushed immediately. Leon fell to the ground, suddenly numb from the accident.
Mion jumped on him with killing intent. She raised her knife to stab him again, but Leon twisted her arm, kicked her in the belly, then kicked the knife away. It flew into a nearby open manhole at a road construction site. Then he pushed her down and escaped. By the time the police caught up, they had restrained Mion. She was breathing heavily on the ground, glaring at Leon as he ran for his life…
Mion was arrested, and they filed an FIR (First Information Report) against her. The police took her to the station...
Leon reached Maria's house and continuously rang the doorbell. Blood dripped from his wounds. He was panting heavily.
The moment Maria opened the door, she saw his bloodied body and gasped.
"Leon!" she screamed and held him. Tears welled up in her eyes. She called for help.
"No! No! No! Somebody please—save Leon! Leon's bleeding." Hearing her cries, Taiju, Roy, and Mai ran over and found her carrying Leon's body.
They helped Leon to the bed.
Maria kept crying and mumbling, "I told you—I—I told you, but you wouldn't listen to me... Roy, Roy, Roy, please do something; he's bleeding—he's bleeding…"
Leon instructed Roy to Stitch his belly right here, "Stitch me up."
Roy immediately grabbed a first-aid kit and stitches from the washroom. Leon took off his shirt and lay on the bed. Maria was having panic attacks but kept repeating the same thing.
She started hiccupping while talking, "I told you, Leon, I told y—you."
Roy told him to get a grip since it was going to hurt.
(Roy, an animal doctor who also treated humans in his village, cleaned Leon's wounds and began stitching him up)
Leon bit his own finger when Roy started stitching the cut on his belly.
Maria grabbed Leon's hands, panicked—"No, no, no, don't bite—don't bite your finger...Roy! Roy! He's in pain. Please be ca—careful…"
Roy tells Taiju to pull Maria back since she gets paranoid whenever she sees blood.
Taiju and Mai pulled her back just like Roy said and tried to calm her.
Leon gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. The stab wound was severe, and his body ached from the car accident. Luckily, the knife hadn't cut through his liver. Leon screamed in pain.
After a few moments, Roy finished the stitching. But then they noticed a serious injury on the right side of his body. Leon said he had been hit by a car but insisted he was fine.
Maria got up and insisted he go to the hospital. Roy advised the same.
Maria was clearly the most worried about him. "Wh—who did this to you?" she asked.
Leon answered, "Mion."
Everyone's eyes widened in shock. "Why? Why would Mion do this?"
Things had suddenly taken a serious turn.
Right at that moment, Manabu and Kami arrived with the investigators, saw Leon, and learned everything…Kami immediately ordered his driver to start the car.
According to the two investigators following Leon:—"Leon was on an encounter task, but Mion suddenly attacked him, and then he got hit by a car. Mion was now in jail."
Kami got into the car to go to the police station. But Manabu followed and buckled his seatbelt, insisting on coming along.Kami told him to stay, but Manabu refused. And so, they both headed to the police station together.
They reached the police station, and inside the cell, Mion lay on the floor. Her face was bruised, and her clothes were dirty from the fight. Her hands had blood on them.
The moment Kami arrived, he ordered the officers to bail her out.—The jail door opened.
Manabu stared at Mion—her hands were stained with Leon's blood, yet her face showed no emotion.
On the way back home, Mion remained completely silent.
When they arrived home, she rang the doorbell.
Roy opened the door. Upon seeing her blood-stained hands, his expression changed.
They headed to Maria's room.
Inside, they saw Maria sitting beside Leon's bed, wiping his wounds and blood with cold water, while tears fell silently.
Leon had sustained deep scars from the accident.The moment Maria saw Mion, she stood up, trembling.
She asked Mion to justify herself— "Mion, w-why did you do this?! Wh-What did he ever do to you?! He was just d-doing his job! What if he had died?!" she hiccupped while speaking.
But Mion remained unfazed. "I actually did try to kill him, but unfortunately, he survived," she said coldly.
Leon looked up at her, his eyes turning red with anger.
Mion took a step closer.—"Daima killed Naomi—because of you. If it wasn't for you, Daima might have spared her life. Everything—every disaster—happened because of you... You used me to kill an innocent man. You turned me into a monster. It's you who stole everything from me."
Manabu tried to stop her, but she snapped at him aswell,— "Naomi was your friend as well. You even told me never to abandon her, but now her murderer is right in front of you, and what did you do? Nothing..."
She turned her head toward Taiju and Mai and asked the same question. "What did you guys do? Nothing... You just moved on."
Manabu said nothing. Taiju and Mai also remained silent.
Mion smirked at Leon and said— "You can't do anything to me. All you do is talk big, but you're powerless. And I've figured you out; you were bluffing about exposing our photos as well. You can't do anything, can you?"
Her voice grew louder and louder, "Manabu has found his family, Mai has her own family, Taiju has his mom. Then why only me? Why am I the only one left with no one?!—Naomi and Futaba, they were all I had! And you took them away from me, and I won't forgive you!"
She vowed— "I will kill you. I promise."
Leon raise his hand to put a stop on her and without flinching, he said— "I already explained everything to you, but it seems like I was right after all,—'Humans would rather choose revenge than redemption since redemption is a burden, and revenge is salvation.'
You realized my bluff that I used to keep you composed, but it seems like you won't stay in one place. That's why, from now on, I won't compromise. And you vowed to kill me, right? Mion, I promise you as well... YOU WILL TRY."
Mion gritted her teeth in rage. She wanted to kill him right here and right now, but before things could get even worse, Kami grabbed her hands and led her upstairs.
Manabu, Mai, and Taiju followed them upstairs.
Kami made Mion sit on the couch and demanded to know what Leon had done to them since he had no clue, and Manabu never mentioned it. "Because of fear?"
Without hesitation, Mion confessed everything to Kami— She explained how Leon had been deceiving the entire Investigation Department, even CPUS-Intelligence.
"He killed the only people I called family. He's worse than a monster. And I swear I won't leave him. I'll chase him to hell."
Kami could understand her mental state and why she's do desperate to kill Leon. She couldn't help herself. Her tears carried the pain and suffering she had been through. A misery… Funny world.
Manabu, Taiju, Mai were silent.
But then Kami spoke: "Mion, thank you for informing me about what Leon has been doing under our nose. It's a big help, but you can't kill him right now. You shouldn't kill him. Forget about everything that happened and let the department do the work."
Mion stood up and started to walk out. "It's no use, I get it... No one understands what I've been through. It's fine, I'll seek vengeance myself."
Manabu grabbed her wrist and said, "Mion, we do understand, but killing him isn't the only way... He has a family too. If you kill him, you'd be no different from a monster."
But Mion removed Manabu's hand. "That's why I must do it more than ever. To make him pay. And I guess you plan to follow your grandmother's ideology, but unfortunately, THIS IS REALITY."
She loomed over Manabu—"Being realistic with reality means adapting to the cruel ways of the world. Look at me, Manabu, do you find the old Mion in me anymore?! No—because she's dead. Only her feelings—her pain remains."
She started to walk again and opened the door.
But suddenly, Kami laughed on her words,
"Be realistic with reality."
He laughed uncontrollably,—"That sounds like Leon himself talking... You are no different, and this revenge will get you nothing."
Mion turned to Kami, narrowing her eyes. "What do you mean?"
Kami had known Leon for a long time, and for Mion's sake, he advised her to avoid him.
Mion was blinded by her anger. She needed to control herself. He explained her:
"The anger that is bursting inside you right now is because of Leon, for Leon, directed at Leon.
Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are in control of your own emotions.—How can one willingly control an emotion that has been developed because of someone else's will?—The anger inside you isn't even because your own free will.
Don't fool yourself into thinking Leon isn't in control of what's happening right now. And don't forget, he used your very own emotions to kill the principal...Was that actually your emotions? Your free will? Didn't he had to pursuade you to do something so horrible?
He knows exactly what a human needs. And what he has learned and witnessed in his life. Trust me, is barely comparable.—How could you compare the size of a ring in the middle of an ocean?
Since Leon said he won't hold back—he won't. So, Mion,"
Kami walked toward her and placed his hand on her head. "Your revenge is important—but only when you know what you're doing; what you're after."
Kami hugged her, her heart melted because of the warmth of Kami's arms. He whispers:
"Mion...For now, stay calm and take your time.
Leon is very important to CPUS-Intelligence Arms. We need him. To find the leaders of The Ostrich, Triba, Vincin, we need him along with the other criminals...And once we achieve what we desire, you can simply give your testimony and tell the court about his deeds—legally sentencing him to death right in front of you for his injustices. Or... you can kill him yourself."
He puts his on on her shoulder and said,"Or you might change your decision..." before walking out and heading downstairs.
Mion stood still, not responding. She didn't knew what to do, what to say anymore... Taiju, Mai, and Manabu looked at her with concern.
Meanwhile, Kami made his way downstairs to Maria's room to check on Leon's condition.
Seeing Leon's injuries, he instructed them, "Take him to the hospital immediately. His injuries might be serious since he was in an accident."
Then, walking over to Maria, he hugged her gently, offering reassurance. "Don't worry, Maria. Everything will be okay."
Maria didn't respond. She was clearly upset—because of Mion. But she didn't say anything. Instead, she silently continued cleaning Leon's wounds, soaking a silk cloth in cold water and gently dabbing away the blood.
Kami turned to Leon and said firmly, "From now on, you won't be coming here anymore. For anything."
Leon nodded respectfully and replied, "As you wish."
Kami left the room. Maria's eyes welled up with tears as she continued tending to Leon's arm. Leon watched her—he could tell she was worried about him.
Then, breaking the silence, Maria finally spoke. "Why do you do all this? For what reason...? Are you a criminal?... A puppet of CPUS-Intelligence? Those rumors about you... are they true? And what did you do to Mion?"
Leon looked at her face. She was scared. He let out a small sigh before answering, "Yes, I'm a criminal... and CPUS-Intelligence's puppet. Those rumors about me? They're pretty close to the truth, but not all of them. I'll tell you everything once I get back home."
He then glanced at Roy and smirked. "Give me a hand, will you? I think my arm is fractured... Haha. Cmon"
Roy remained silent. Without a word, he stood up, took off his glasses, and helped Leon to his feet. Before leaving, Leon leaned in, pressing his forehead gently against Maria's.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry. And Mion... she isn't a bad person, she's just deeply hurt. I did horrible things to them—to her... But I can't explain myself to her—Not now. Maria, look at me... I request you, don't be rude to her. She's a kind girl."
Maria didn't respond.
Leon wrapped a shirt around himself, wincing as he struggled to move his injured arm. With Roy's support, he walked out and got into the car. Roy started the engine and drove him to the hospital.