HIM AND ASSASSIN SEASON 1

THE AGREEMENT WITH THE GANG MEN

•••

A CHUBBY, cheeky little boy and a skinny little girl, seriously walking together through the school corridor. The two are wearing the same maroon cloak but the only difference about it was that the boy has crossed swods called Crest in his insignia. And curly twin blades called Rakuyo on the girl's insignia.

“I knew it, that’s it… I told you already Kage, there will be a surprise for us today,” the girl genuinely said with full of excitement.

The two walk together in the same rhythm creating a stamping sound on the corridor’s ground as they step with their brown well-made boots.

“Alright alright, Callypsu you keep on saying that since yesterday… Okay… Cal, let’s just say that there will be a surprise, but what?” the boy named Kage replied and stopped, his face shows a bit annoyed by this girl whom he called Callypsu. “Could it be some sorting errors? Updates about Shuhai Vengeance? Or some changes about our classroom setups? What else it could be?”

The two had their conversation not minding the other students around. Unknowingly, someone was listening behind them.

“Or it could be the Customised Convention.” A curly-haired girl who was listening from behind said and unexpectedly inserted herself in between the two kids conversing with each other. “Hehehe.” She then left the two dumbfounded with giggles.

They stopped for a moment as they absorb what just the girl said to them. “Customised Convention?” Callypsu astonishingly mumbled with her eyes are still on the figure of the curly-haired girl as the figure enters a room. “Is it the—“

“Yes, it is Cal.” The boy abruptly replied.

After that, they continued walking and turned to the room which was the girl with curly hair entered earlier. It is unusual for the two with different insignias to enter the same room. The room was filled with many students with four divisions. The two kids separated each other as Callypsu joined the crowd with the students who have the same insignias as her. The division area was tagged with the words, ‘Ado Dynasty’. Meanwhile, the chubby boy, Kage, mixed up with the four kids, they also have the same insignias which is a crest and their area was labeled with, ‘Fuei Dynasty’. And there are two other divisions at the back that are labeled with ‘Zhuge Dynasty’ — those students who have whip insignias on their cloak, and ‘Yang Dynasty’ — those kids with a shuriken (a piece of iron sheet with four sharp endpoints) in their insignias. All in all, the room consists of four divisions namely Ado, Fuei, Zhuge, and Yang Dynasty, and the area labeled with ‘Fuei Dynasty’ has the least number of members.

Every division is full of murmurs. Each group formed a circle to talk to each other, and no one from the group dared to talk to other groups as if they hated them.

In the middle of the noises that they created through buzzes, a balded head with one-eyed eyeglass entered the room. No one noticed him until he shut the door close, the door suddenly banged which makes every kid look at the doorway.

So at once, the room becomes silent.

"Good morning… students." He greeted the kids, not to mention his deep husky voice that delivers authority and superiority throughout their ears.

"Good morning master Jiang." Though intimidated, they still manage to greet him back while standing. They then lowered their body to give a respectful bow to him. Yet these kids have learned good morals after all.

"Before I could make three consecutive breathes, I want everybody to take a seat in your respective dynasties," he added. And so every student finds their seats hurriedly before the newcomer could make three breathes.

After they took their seats, the man they called master Jiang started to walk around with his hands rested on the pocket of his maroon and white stripes trousers. On his upper is a neat dominant maroon suit with a brown inner in very finely made fabrics. Everyone in the room couldn’t deny how the light perfectly reflects on his shiny balded head. And that is somewhat funny to the eyes of the kids around five to six years old, but they must grasp their emotions, otherwise, everyone will suffer the consequences.

As soon as all the kids comfortably sat in their seats, the man starts to speak, "Is there anyone wondering why the four dynasties are gathering together in one room?" he stopped and walked back and forth. Every word he says is equivalent to the appearance of a wrinkle on his face, stretching down the bottom of his long but not pointed nose. "As we all know, Kuadulipton, a school for chosen assassins, has four dynasties. We have the Yang Dynasty, we consider them as marksman as they owned the longest ranged weapon of assassins, the Shuriken. Zhuge, the second dynasty that has a whip. The assassins under this dynasty are called to be the crowd control as they can whip around to wipe out his opponents." he continued while moving his right hand around like he's holding a whip. And he was like, “WAPOW!”

"My brother's from there." someone mumbled.

"The next dynasty is the Ado, it is you," at this point, master Jiang pointed to the group labeled with Ado Dynasty. "Ado Dynasty, they are the closest range among assassins because their weapon demanded it. Their weapon is twin blades twelve inches long each. They are called tank as they are the protector of every assassin belonged to the last dynasty which is the Fuei." and so he faced the left sitters which are the five-membered group.

While the master walks around, a boy from the back stood up. "Master, may I ask a question," he asked and the master nodded. "Among the four dynasties, which of them is the strongest," he asked.

The master looked at him for a while before he parted his both thin lips and answered, "Which one do you think?"

"It’s us for sure." a kid from the right division inserted.

"No way, we, Zhuge Dynasty are the strongest." inserted from the back.

Then the room filled with their noises again. But it didn’t take much time when master Jiang stared at them in the eyes and everyone shut up. He then used his hand to gesture at the boy who was asking to continue.

"I think, it’s the Yang sir." He said.

Everyone could see how the two eyebrows of master Jiang met, "Why?"

"It's because the Yang dynasty has the longest range. They can kill their target without getting near to them like shuuk shuuk shuuk shuuk shuuk." the boy added while acting like he was throwing a five consecutive rakuyos.

"Lou Yin, you're right. Yang is the longest-ranged assassin but it doesn't mean they are the strongest." master Jiang explained.

"Who is the strongest then master Jiang?" another student asked from the Yang dynasty.

"Okay… let me answer that straight to the point… the strongest dynasty based on history is the Fuei. Even if they are short-ranged assassins but their weapon has its own way. Their weapon is the strongest among the rest." he continued.

After they heard the explanation of master Jiang. The room filled with silence again.

Then the boy named Lou Yin from Zhuge Dynasty broke the silence. "Is that so sir, if I want to be the strongest, is it possible to transfer to another dynasty?"

"NO!!" the master answered with an intense voice and that makes Lou Yin sit down. Imagine a deep husky voice being delivered intensely, it would be like a slap of a baseball bat. "Students, I want you to absorb this to the deepest of your heart… being an assassin is easy, but to be a real and powerful one is almost unattainable. Not all people have the opportunity to be one. Hence, the existence of the Kuadulipton, school for assassins. Because it must be selected and you are lucky Lou Yin, the holy whip picked and chose you to be part of its dynasty. The four weapons of each dynasty – the dual sword or crest, the twin blades or rakuyo, shuriken, and the whip, exclusively have the right to choose where you must belong. And if the whip chose you to be part of Zhuge Dynasty, you have no choice but to live with it with all your heart… and be glad." He explained very clearly and so everyone understood that.

After satisfaction, Lou Yin sat down, and at the same time, the girl who walked with Kage in the corridor named Callypsu stood up. "What will happen if someone holds a weapon that doesn't belong to him, master?"

"Well, if that happens intentionally... the weapon will burn that person," he answered coldly and he lowers his head. “… TO DEATH! But of course, it limits to the intentional only, if it’s unintentional nothing will happen. Remember, those weapons have feelings, they are not holy for nothing.”

After hearing the last statement of their master Jiang, the room suddenly filled with gasps.

"And in this generation, the weapon of the Fuei Dynasty which is the crest only chose five worthy kids to be the next heirs of the great Fuei Dynasty." he ended while staring at the five students.

————————————————————

“I knew it, you won’t let your friend be in danger, won’t you?” a masculine man provoked with his not-so-good-looking devilish smile. This is the man that seems to be the boss in the gang. But Himerald just replied with a deadly glare. He took off the helmet and shade and walked towards the gang men.

“At least for how many days of hiding, you show up. Do you think you can run from us that easily? Hey kid, let me remind you… we are the strongest gang in this town, you can’t hide from us. Hide anywhere, we’ll still find you.” Another masculine man said.

But Himerald just stared at Dime. He is thinking that if something bad happens to him, he could not forgive himself.

“Let him go, he has nothing to do with me,” Himerald stopped in front of his friend Dime, “Take me instead.”

“Hahaha… That’s it, we just use your friend as bait so you could surrender yourself to us willingly… anyways he’s just a traitor to you after all.” The man that seems the boss stated. Himerald’s eyes that were on Dime turned at the man speaking, he was confused about the last statement of the man.

After a moment, the man just stared at Himerald’s face and he realized, “Ow… this kid seems unaware that his friend here revealed his secret escape, HAHAHAHA.” He loudly said facing his men with hard laughs.

Himerald secret escape was the path he used to take to escape from the school all the way to the hospital where his aunt is currently confined. Through this, he could always go to his aunt freely. But surprisingly, four days ago he was on his way with this secret path when he, unexpectedly, was blocked by these gang men, but fortunately, he made his way back to the school, hence, he slept there for four days straight.

After Himerald could able to absorb what the man meant. Realization hit him, about someone must let this gang know about his secret escape.

But Dime is definitely not that someone. He thought.

“Hmm… as if I’ll believe you.”

“Dare to ask him yourself.”

In truth, even if Himerald did not believe what the man said, he still wants to ask Dime to hear that he did no such thing. But Himerald’s mouth chose to remain shut and he just stared at his friend.

Dime was still on the grips of the two masculine men. Looking worriedly, Dime just lowered his head, and the next thing he did stupefied Himerald at the place as he says, “I-it’s true bro.”

Himerald stunned body remained for a few seconds. He just cannot accept what he just heard. His friend just accepts the accusation and that disappoints him.

“Why?” Himerald muttered, his voice shows no anger or something like that. Deep within, his question is more for why did he not deny the accusation, and not for why did he betray him.

A moment passed, there was no response coming from Dime. His being silent shows guiltiness and that pissed Himerald even more.

He then felt like he was being fooled all this time, and by just this morning when Dime asked him why did he sleep at school again, where Dime should be the first one to know the answer to that question.

The more he thought about what he had been through these days, the more it hurts him. “Dime, you are aware of the debt. A-about the debt I couldn’t able to pay for.” A lone tear fell upon Himerald’s cheek. This time, he broke his composure. His voice is no longer calm. The thought that he was not able to spend his four nights with his aunt, where he could able to give her high frequent energizers so that she stays alive and where he could stay with her is like a dagger stabbing itself to his heart. And that is because of Dime’s betrayal. “Y-you already know how much I needed to stay with my aunt, Dime for goddamn’s sake she’s sick! She’s the only one I have had since I was just a kid. And they won’t let me see her if they caught me unpaid.”

Himerald wanted to cry out all the pain he is feeling right now. The pain from betrayal, the pain from longing, the pain from overthinking about his aunt’s situation. But no matter how much he wanted to run from this scenario, he cannot. The entire gang encircled him already, and there is no way to escape anymore. He cannot help but be bothered about the aftermath, he would be in the gang’s cage where he will be forced to fight with someone, and they will never set him free until someone fully paid the debt — that was the condition they gave if he failed to pay within the given schedule. But he was helpless at that time, he needed the money for his aunt’s treatment, and so he accepted the risk and took the loan.

He feels hopeless. So he just lowered his head, as that was the only thing he could do at the moment.

The men around saw the entire show. So one of the men took the advantage to piss Himerald off. “Do you feel now how to be fooled around huh? That’s what we felt when the first day you avoid and left us like a cigarette’s butt.”

At the moment Dime saw how Himerald lowers his head. He felt the pain already, he heard enough. His friend suffered enough. “F-forgive me Himerald. It was… it was your aunt who forced me to tell them about your secret escape.” He reasoned out that rang the bell inside Himerald.

A moment of silence.

Himerald raised his head slowly. “My aunt?.. What do you mean?”

“Yes Himerald, she told me to betray you. I insisted at first but your aunt said, bad things will happen to you if you will not stick your feet at school. I’m sorry bro, I didn’t mean to betray you.” Dime sincerely stated.

Himerald just stared at him while starting to flinch his face. “Dime… f*cking sh*t you’re unbelievable!”

“Himerald, lying is not my thing and you know that, otherwise, I should have lied and denied their accusation about me betraying you.”

That statement of Dime hit Himerald. Yes, it is true, lying was never his thing when he was with Himerald, and if he is, he should have done that in the first place where he was accused as a traitor.

The gang men around were left astounded. Their head take turns every time Himerald and Dime spoke.

“And why would she do that Dime mhmm? Tell me… how to believe the words you say,… how could she do such thing that would put his nephew in danger.”

“You’re right… but believe me or not, I also asked those questions in my mind many times. Do you think it was easy for me to set you on fire? Do you think I was sleeping very well all these days without even thinking about your situation? Damn it Himerald! I even sneaked out in the night to look out for you.” Dime bawled out to Himerald with his cheek starting to get reddish. He then raised his head like he was trying to keep his tears up from the socket of his eyes, but the amount of liquid is getting larger, and wants to fall down. Until he could not stand his tears up, so he closed his eyes causing his tears to flows down to his chin. Again, he faced Himerald, “But despite everything… here I am, still the liar one… the traitor of your perfect story.”

After hearing such, Himerald blurted out, raised his right arm, and acted like he was going to punch Dime in the face, but he cannot because he’s his friend after all. He has been good to him since they went to the same school.

If Dime suffered from keeping his tears up, Himerald too as well. Deep inside, every word of Dime hits him perfectly. It makes him believe Dime and yet, he cannot accept the meaning of his words.

That was too absurd. He thought.

“Enough.” Himerald just said with his low tone.

“Okay, don’t believe me now Himerald… But once you know the truth… remember that there will be no Dime in your side… not anymo—.”

“I SAID ENOUGH!”

Then again, silence filled the roadside. All you could hear were the sounds coming from the vehicles that are passing by. And for the civilians, with curiosity, they even stopped and listened to the intense conversation. But they stood away from them as they all know how fearsome these gang men are.

Seconds past, the boss-looking man broke the silence.

“Okay, time’s up!... Let me finish this once and for all.” He announced. “Kid, don’t be doubtful with your friend… I bet he’s saying the truth. Your aunt also did unexplainable things for us too. And that is… we actually lent you what your aunt gave us. She said that you will come to us to borrow a big amount of money for her treatment. It was confusing but she gave us two hundred thousand pesos, we gave you the half disguised as loan and she gave the other half to the gang men.”

After hearing that, Himerald becomes more confuse. He remembered how his aunt suggested being in debt with these gangs. That is why he chose to take a loan with them. If what this guy is saying is true, it would explain why the process was so easy. Nonetheless, all he knew was that his aunt was not capable of having that much money. He wanted to ask many questions to these men, but not a single word wants to come out of his mouth.

“You bastard!.. If that’s true why are you keep on chasing him!” Dime rebuked and forwarded to kick the man, but failed to do so as he was still under the tight hold of two masculine men.

“Because that’s part of our agreement.”

“What agreement?” the ending of this conversation is still blurry to Himerald. Yet, he wanted to know everything now. First, Dime talking about he was forced to betray him, and now these gang men saying that they were also in agreement with his aunt — that thought craves him and wanted the tea to spill out some more.

“To keep you away from her… She told us, when the time the given schedule for the debt runs out, we need to start chasing you and put an act about asking for the payment. But at first, we succeeded in forcing you to stay out from her, but the next few days, your aunt called us and said that you could still manage to visit her at the hospital. Turns out that you have found a secret way out. And that’s maybe he used Dime to get some information about how you can still be able to visit her.”

From what just the man narrated, the first statement hits Himerald the most. He feels like the burden of this planet just chose to sit on his shoulders. And so he felt the burden as well. His heart does not have at least an inch to accept what they are saying. But it was also unreasonable to come up with such statements.

After all,

Why would auntie wants me to keep myself away from her?

After a moment of thinking, a realization hit him. If truth, his aunt could be making a way to set him away from something that could hurt him or them both.

“Himerald, she was also the one who told me about your favorite foods that I brought to you every day… remember the pineapple pie earlier? I actually don’t know that you like them, since you are never picky when it comes to food, and you never told me about your favorites as well.” Dime was then inserted.

“Hey kid, and just earlier. Your aunt called us… to set you free. Your burden with us ends here.” Another masculine man said.

After hearing that, Dime looked at the man who just spoke. He stared at him for a bit with his most deadly glare.

“You are a legit bullsh*t! If his aunt told you that earlier, you should have let him go and he should be with his aunt right now. And you shouldn’t have captured me in the first place!” Dime rebuked again. He was completely pissed off by this nonsense scene, nonsense to the extent of capturing him for nothing.

“Sorry for that, we just really need to talk to him. We need to clear our names in him, that’s all. Doing this thing… loaning service is not really our thing as gang men.” He explained. “We did not hurt you, didn’t we?... Okay, boys loosen up, we are done here.” After that, the hard grasps of the two men holding Dime have finally loosened up and left a mark on Dime’s shoulder and arm. And at last, the masculine bodies that encircled Himerald has finally opened as well.

Himerald gives his blank aura back again to them. He walked closer to Dime and punched him in the chest. “You owe me one.” The latter just flinched his face. After that Himerald turned back and walked out to the motorbike. He started the engine and rode himself through the road after he wore the helmet. Leaving Dime and the gang men behind.

He wanted to disregard those words they have said earlier about his aunt. Worries filled his heart, as he got to the conclusion that his aunt must be into something that either could put her into danger or put him into danger, or it could be both. That is why his aunt wanted him to keep away from her because if not so, what could be the possible reason for doing such?

“Auntie, why do you have to do that?” he mumbled to himself worriedly. Despite how worried he is, he did not let himself drive recklessly.

The thought of being with his aunt again excites him. The few days that he could not be able to see his aunt seems like a year ago. In this situation, he wouldn’t want to separate from his aunt anymore for even a day because any time of this month his aunt could pass away as he was aware of her condition.

The sun was completely settled down to its sunset and the moon already took its place when he arrived at the hospital’s parking lot. With his backpack, he immediately followed the path to his aunt’s room. Before he could finally jerk the door open, a sweet smile escaped from his perfectly curved lips and he stayed at that smile as he turned the switch on.

A figure of his aunt lying on the floor appears before him, wet by her own blood.