Honk Honk!
Himiko was seated in the driver's seat of the new Sienna, playing with the steering wheel like a child would often do.
Seated beside her was Sakura who folded her arms across her chest.
"You really played that man, now I somehow feel a little bad for him."
Then she tapped the car's dashboard.
"Then again… this was a good deal! Now everyone can move together if need be, great job, Himiko!"
Himiko chuckled devilishly. "I knew you would come around," she said as she fist-bumped Sakura, the two of them chuckling in excitement.
Kyle sighed as he watched them. 'She is corrupting Sakura…'
As the girls chatted amongst themselves, playing with the several buttons on the dashboard, a middle-aged man walked into the compound.
"Hello, I'm Takeshi, I heard you needed an engineer?"
Takeshi was an experienced engineer who specialised in renovating homes. He also had a team that worked with interior design and finishing.
He was Tsumi's personal recommendation, so Kyle had no doubts that he was good at his job.
Even as annoying as Gege was, Kyle had to admit that his buildings were top notch.
Kyle smiled and directed Takeshi towards the house. "Come on, let's go, I have a lot of stuff to show you."
At the first floor, Kyle pulled out his phone and showed him an image of the current cafe, telling him the things that had to be there and those to replace.
Unlike his last café, he was hoping for a more homely feel this time; he even planned on getting a couch and a few games.
The cafe would have a bottom floor for regular customers, and a VIP section on the second floor.
He had no input in creating the last cafe, since he only recently transmigrated into this body…
But as for this one, his plan was to make it a major business in order to have it fund Blood Reign.
The cafe had three floors, so the final floor will be the living area, where Solvane and other Blood Reign members can stay.
Then as for the basement, Kyle's plan was to expand it into a large underground chamber and then seal it off from regular access.
Instead, the only way to get to it would be through a secure, concealed elevator that ran from the top floor down.
Kyle explained everything to the man and he smiled nervously.
"Wow… that is quite a lot, it is almost as if you are building some sort of lair or something…" Takeshi chuckled.
Kyle smiled and leaned a little closer.
"What are you—?"
It was already too late; he had been pulled into Kyle's crimson gaze and locked in a trance.
"You will forget the more secretive parts of this construction each time you leave this building, and you will not tell a single soul of it."
Takeshi slowly nodded.
"Everything going on here seems perfectly normal to you…"
Takeshi nodded.
Then Kyle smiled and pulled back, snapping him out of the trance.
"So, what materials are you looking at?" Takeshi asked as he began walking towards one of the walls, completely oblivious to what had happened.
'This is a very useful skil…' Kyle mused.
Now all he had to do was compel every other staff that would be working here…
'What a pain.'
The quirk took far more energy than most of his other quirks.
Kyle placed his hands in his pockets and began walking towards the man.
"Off-white paint should do, but make sure it is patterned. Can't have a boring design, right?"
•••
The renovation of the building took about two weeks to complete, after which everything was perfectly finished.
The cafe was spotless and classy, the underground chambers were fully equipped with a gym, tech room and other spaces, the bedrooms were also completely furnished.
Everything was perfect…
Kyle and the rest of his workers had come to set things up for the grand opening the next day, but while Akiko was working with the movers to get the new equipment into the cafe, he pulled Sakura to the side.
"So, what did you want to discuss? Or do you want more blood?" Sakura asked boldly.
The girl that would shake just at the mention of her name was long gone, and a more confident and healthy-looking Sakura had replaced her.
She was no longer coming to work limping or looking like she was seconds away from collapsing.
Her confidence had even gone up a notch, although she was still relatively shy.
Kyle had thought about this for a long time, and now he was coming to a conclusion.
"Sakura, what did you major in again?"
She adjusted her glasses. "Hmm? Computer science…"
As the words left her lips, Kyle leaned on the wall and folded his arms across his chest.
Then hummed lightly as he contemplated.
He needed an IT specialist to run the tech part of Blood Reign. There would be times they would need to hack into systems, and times they would need to sway public information through good ol' propaganda.
Ideally, he should have been searching for the best, but Blood Reign was basically an illegal organisation as it was.
Sakura already knew he was a vampire, so she was an ideal candidate, and he trusted her to keep the secret even if she didn't join.
'Do I have any better option?'
"Kyle?" Sakura called, pulling him out of his thoughts.
He smirked. 'There is no point in overthinking it.'
"How would you like to join Blood Reign?"
It took a few minutes for Kyle to explain the scope of what he was opening the organisation for and other things associated with it.
After he was done, Sakura didn't even seem too concerned about all the potentially illegal things he had said.
Instead she smirked and held her glasses. "Does that mean I will be getting a bonus?"
"Well, I guess so—"
"Then yes!"
Kyle blinked.
'Just like that?' His eyes narrowed slightly. 'It was the same when he told her he was a vampire…'
Sakura at that time was only interested in the money she would make.
While Sakura was smiling at the potential new earnings, Kyle was beginning to doubt her morality.
He cleared his throat.
"Anyways, that was just the first part."
Being their tech person came with risks, and to handle that risk, every member of Blood Reign had to be immensely strong.
"Sakura," Kyle said, his voice a bit more serious. "Are you willing to become a vampire?"
— — - — – —— — - — – —
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We have Akiko, Kyle, Himiko and Sakura. More soon!
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