"Mr. Gege… are you okay?" one of his students asked, staring at him with concern in her eyes.
Gege laughed nervously and scratched his neck. "Of course I'm fine. As a realtor you must be ready for anything!"
He tried to act brave, but Kyle could see the lingering effects of the assault in his eyes.
The rat had been vicious…
The realtor had a bandage on his nose and a few stitches around his bruised face, all from many scratches and one nasty bite.
Kyle's mind went back to how they had to physically pull the rat off him, then he stifled a laugh.
'He has been acting cocky all day, but all it took was one rat to shatter his ego.'
Well, he couldn't blame him…
Kyle relaxed his back on the chair and breathed out a sigh.
"That was one fat rat…"
Sakura turned to face him. "It wasn't a rat… that was a trash panda."
"Trash panda??" both Himiko and Kyle asked simultaneously.
Sakura smiled lightly, realizing her mistake. "A raccoon…"
"Oh." Now it made perfect sense why it was that big.
Sakura shifted nervously as all attention turned to her.
"There are a ton of them circling my house and shuffling through the trash at night, that is why I recognized them at once."
"That explains your experience. I was surprised when you pulled it off his face. I could never touch that little beast…" Himiko said, shivering for a brief second.
"I was surprised as well, great job Sakura," Kyle added, patting her head on impulse.
She acted far too young for her age, so he had accidentally treated her like she was younger. But Sakura didn't seem to care.
Sakura laughed lightly, while Himiko pouted, placing Kyle's other hand on her head.
The students who noticed it couldn't help but smile at their friendship. But Gege was furious, his eyes were twitching and his finger tightened on the steering wheel.
'Look at him, snuggling up to those girls with his fabricated lifestyle!'
His legs twitched and a crazy idea found its way into his mind…
Then out of nowhere, he stomped on the brakes, causing the car to jerk in an attempt to throw them off balance.
But Kyle held Sakura back with ease, while Himiko was tossed to the side, falling safely into his arms.
As for his students… their heads bounced against the chair in front of them with so much force that they were sure to have a pounding headache.
"Mr. Gege!"
"Watch the road, sir!"
They angrily complained while Gege put on fake sympathy. "I'm sorry… the person in front of me is a terrible driver!"
'Damn it! I only made it worse…' Gege cursed internally.
He banged his horn, as though the driver in front was at fault, and was about to continue when two colorful lights flashed in his rearview mirror.
Followed by a police siren…
Gege pulled over and rolled down his window as a large, sweaty police officer walked up to his window.
The man looked furious.
The policeman looked into the Sienna and slowly shook his head as he saw that it was a full house.
"Risking the lives of so many people with your garbage driving skills."
"Sorry sir… I seem to have—"
"I don't want to hear it! You SUV drivers are always pulling off crazy shit on the road like you are in some sort of Porsche."
"Is this a Porsche?! Is this a fucking Porsche?!" The policeman leaned closer, his hot breath slamming into Gege like a truck.
"Why aren't you answering, huh?!" he breathed out.
Gege's eyes began to water.
"N-no sir!"
"I can't hear you!"
"No SIR!"
"Good!"
The police officer wrote him a ticket and shoved it into his hand before leaving, while muttering under his breath.
"Pulling that stunt in a fucking Sienna… people are getting bolder these days."
The rest of the journey continued in relative silence.
•••
The next building they inspected was a three-story building with five office rooms, a lounge area, and an underground basement.
It was large, by far more spacious than the last one, and was extremely new. In fact, it was too new…
Kyle was planning to use the excuse of renovation to build secret rooms.
But he could do that when he was converting the lobby to a café as well, so it was fine.
Sakura stared up at the shimmering lights and smiled. "This place looks great."
Then she tugged on Kyle's shirt as she motioned to the area in front of them.
"We can build the reception over there, and then we can make this the rest area. What do you think?"
Kyle gave it a little thought.
It was perfect for a café, but the main purpose of the house was to build a secret base underneath it.
He folded his arms across his chest and turned to Gege. "Let's check the basement…"
Gege smiled smugly. 'He's probably looking for another excuse to escape paying… I won't let you off the hook easily this time.'
When Kyle got to the basement, he flicked the lights on and took a long look at the space. It was small, but it didn't matter.
His plan was to expand the basement to an underground chamber that would have a gym for training, a tech room, as well as a panic room just in case they had to keep anyone…
Or use it as a prison.
"It's not bad."
Gege grinned from ear to ear as they began walking up the stairs.
"So, is the house to your liking?"
Kyle nodded. "Everything is just about great, do you have a contract with you?"
The realtor frowned as he watched Kyle suspiciously. "Are you saying you want to buy it?"
Kyle nodded. "Yes, or is there any better one available?"
Gege slowly shook his head. "Okay… let me go get the documents," he replied in disbelief.
While he went to get them, Himiko pulled Kyle to the side.
"What's up? Do you have any problems with the place?"
Himiko glanced at the room before speaking. "It's not that it's bad, there is just one problem."
Kyle furrowed his brows. "Which is?"
Himiko pointed up.
He followed her finger and stared at the decor above them. "The ceiling?"
It wasn't as great as the first house, but it was not bad either.
"No, the roof. If you're going to spend this much money, won't it be better if we got a building with a flat rooftop?"
She paused briefly, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"Since it's for the base… if we used a flat roof, we would have a clearer aerial view of the city, and we can just land there and enter instead of landing on the floor and risk being seen."
Kyle slowly nodded after she finished speaking as he thought it through.
"You're right…"
If he wanted to sneak into his room, he often had to use a window, but having a rooftop access would have been a far better option.
Getting a building with a flat roof would not only allow this, it could also act as another easy exit point if they were ever attacked.
Just as they finished speaking, Gege arrived with the papers in his hand.
"Alright, I've gotten everything we need—"
"Sorry, but do you have any other buildings? Preferably something with a flat roof?" Kyle asked.
At first, Gege seemed angry, but his anger melted away as a smug smile appeared on his face.
He laughed shortly then folded his arms across his chest.
"A flat roof… that the new excuse now right?"
Kyle was about to speak but he was swiftly cut off.
"No need to pretend, we all know you are incapable of purchasing this building, or any other building for that matter of fact."
"Just admit it, and stop fooling those girls with your lies."
His students seemed to be shocked by his bluntness, but other than that, they were definitely in agreement with him.
Now everything made sense…
Kyle smirked and placed his hands in his pocket.
'So that is what this is about… shall I teach this guy a lesson?'
Then Himiko stepped in front of him with a smile that promised trouble.
..
..
A/N
Seasons greetings! There will be a Christmas mass release soon :)
[Probably around Christmas Eve or the 21st]