Record #24

A blowgun on her hands. Face hidden with a different mask, the upper part of her face covered. She turned and helped Baba stand up. Baba was still in shock. Her trembling hands lifted to her saviour, but her eyes never left the Chimera upon her feet. I saw them speak to each other.

She couldn’t be alone. She was one of them. The enemy. So why choosing on defending a citizen when The Slayers never care about Arbem’s society safety unless they were helpful to their purposes?

I had hope. That she didn’t support The Slayers ideals fully.

My steps came by slow and slow. My eyes never leaving them as they talk quietly. When Eunji turned her eyes, our gazes connected. I felt scared and curious. My heart raced with wonderment and my eyes blinked multiple times. It didn’t feel real. It felt funny to see a person with the same characteristics as me, even behind a white neutral mask.

Eunji took off her mask as soon as she acknowledged me. Baba didn’t look surprised and smiled.

“Eunbyul, we finally meet,” Eunji spoke as she held a gentle look.

I nodded.

Baba held my hand and Eunji’s too. She put mine on hers and Eunji protected mine with her free hand. Baba let go and my eyes went from her to my sister.

“I bet you want an explanation for all that’s been happening,” she breathed.

Anri was checking people around us. Most were safe and the minority had injuries. Anri noticed me standing with Eunji and she held an intrigued look, which later her eyes got round and came running.

Her left held her bow and her right had her arrow loaded. She looked around and sniffed. “Eunji, right?”

“Yes, that’s me. Nice to finally meet you, Anri,” Eunji nodded her head towards Anri, who was surprised to hear her name out loud from my sister.

“You guys must know a lot from us,” Anri added.

“You bet we do.”

“Eunji, if you don’t attack us, I won’t. Deal?” Anri smiled and put away the arrow.

“Deal,” she answered returning the smile.

My eyes wander from Anri to Eunji. Baba was just looking at us, observing us. Even I had my own suspicions about Eunji, my own sister. And Anri was talking with her freely as if they met each other before.

“I’m sorry if what I’m going to say might sounds offensive to you, Eunji,” my sister shook her head and held my hand softer as I spoke, “but, Anri, don’t you mistrust her?”

Anri laughed as she heard the funniest joke ever. “Oh, c’mon. You guys have the same look in the eyes. As cold as to not be able to kill a fly.”

Eunji burst out laughing and I bit my lip from doing the same. Even I hear Baba giggling.

“Well, I don’t know about Eunbyul, but I had killed a fly before. I was planning to let it live as long as it could, but it was bothering me around too much I couldn’t stand it anymore,” Eunji admitted almost tearing up from Anri’s joke.

“Well, your sister, obviously, hasn’t.”

That’s right. I haven’t.

“I already took care of the other ones,” a voice came from our backs. As soon as we turned, Anri had her bow up ready to shot to this person.

The dark aish hair color gave him away. I had my dagger in hand ready to shoot him.

Even if his features weren’t detailed in the camera footage, I got a glimpse of his. He wasn’t wearing the fox mask. Surprisingly, his face wasn’t covered at all. Small but rounded eyes, thin lips and a wide perfect smile.

He stopped in shock as Anri’s bow faced him. His eyes turned softly to me and got even wider. He kept glancing back between Eunji and me, and he knew I was prepared to attack him too.

“Ehm, Eunji, a little help here?” he asked with hands raised in defense.

“You said you knew Anri,” Eunji crossed her arms. “Why is she acting so defensibly if she does?”

“I don’t know. Ask her yourself. For goodness sake, please tell them I mean no harm.” He looked so scared we might do something.

“It’s good to know you still remember I can blow your head at any minute, Mark,” Anri’s bow went down. “Nice to see you again.”

Once a hear her acknowledge him, I put my dagger away and relax my tensed arms.

“Oh god, Anri,” Mark breathed in. “Don’t ever do that again, please.”

“It was priceless to see your shocked face. I’ll definitely try it again if I have the chance,” Anri smiled innocently.

Mark shook his head with a grin. He finally lifted his eyes to me. “I guess you are Eunbyul.” I nodded. “I’m Mark. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you personally.”

“I guess I do too,” I whispered with a neutral tone and eyes, which Mark did notice.

He laughed softly. “I don’t expect you to trust me immediately. I bet you remember me better with the mask and my other partner. Am I right?”

“Right,” I assured.

“It was part of the mission though. I didn’t plan to scare you nor kill you, but Haejin got a little bit excited even when I told him not to murder anyone. Once he settles on an idea it’s hard to change his mind.”

I assumed Haejin was the one with the wine colored hair. The scariest one.

“The original plan was to lure you out of your comfort zone,” Eunji said.

“Even if it meant destroying the entire building?” Anri eyed them carefully.

“Like I said, it’s difficult to tame Haejin. If you want to blame someone, he’s your person,” Mark admitted.

“And what exactly were you searching for?” Anri asked.

“We weren’t searching for something specifically. They just wanted to remind you of our existence,” Mark added calmly. “It was their idea to scare you at first, but they found out information about your group. Details I try to hide from them, but somehow they managed to get. The guys grew interested of your abilities and how you passed unobserved all this time. If you wonder, we did sent the Chimeras inside. And you proved yourselves worthy when we attack BHE, killed all the Chimeras and escaped out of our hands. And, now, more than ever, they want you.”

“They rest grew fascinated when we found Jun and Dose’s bodies,” Eunji added sadly. She wasn’t please with her members reaction. “No Hybrid had ever been this close to eliminate us, but your group has done. And they are sure they want to test you themselves.”

“I get it,” Anri said, head up straight. “Baba has told us the others are away. What’s the main reason for your visit?”

Baba was quiet all this time. But her eyes and all