Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 76: The Only Constant Is Change

"So, you want to avenge Yumi," I concluded whispering and leaning a bit on the table towards Kono. I didn't want the other girls around the lunch table to hear me. "No, Kono. Cops would come for you."

"When Yumi left, she never ratted Mirela out. She couldn't 'cos she had no proof." Kono's expression was hurt. Some years might've gone by, but she couldn't reconcile with the past. That issue had become some sort of personal demon. She had begun to play with her noodles, with zero interest in finishing them off.

"Are you still friends with her? Do you see each other often?" I asked kindly. I got back to eating my salad.

"Yeah, but it's not the same. When she sees me, she thinks of Oyster – of Mirela. Because I work here. Then, her tachycardia is back. Some days are better though, some worse."

She sounded as if she didn't forgive herself although none of that was actually her fault.

"Mirela's weak spots are pride and greed," she went on, that time with the willpower to take over the world. "We could set a trap. We could hack into the designers' computers and get proof that she steals the other designers' designs. Something like that."

"She does that?!"

"I've noticed that many designs aren't in her style, but her name is on them – usually paired with one of the other designers right afterwards on the file. Her name always comes first. I checked why this happens. She checks on their work, and makes small amendments to the original designs, and that way she can justify stamping her name on them. She merits from the other designers' work – and earns a supplement for each extra design in the system. No one has defied her so far."

"What?! That's... that's like scamming."

"Indeed, but it's legal. Her name is on the bloody file, and the other designers are too afraid to defy her. All of them hate her guts, but none is willing to speak up."

I sighed out of frustration.

"Kono, I understand, but..." I said but then my voice trailed off. "Just quit thinking about revenge, and focus on work. Look, people like Mirela shall get what's coming to them eventually. Let all anger go, Kono. Otherwise, it's gonna own you."

My kindness and serenity got mixed up with pity, and that was why Kono frowned. It was only a moment, though. Then, she chuckled and pretended to brush it off.

"You're too naïve, Daphne," she whispered back at me, but she seemed to mean that she regretted thinking that it was better to play it safe. "You sound like my parents."

"Imagine you go after Mirela, you get hurt, and Yumi finds out. How is she gonna feel?"

My question left Kono speechless.

"I worry about people I care about too, but I don't seek revenge." Daniel's face flashed for a nanosecond in my mind's eye.

"But you're hurt," she replied with a burning look in her eyes. "Doing nothing hurts, doesn't it? I'd like to fight back and burn it all to the ground because I love her, while you sit down and do nothing because the consequences on you would hurt your beloved ones. Who's right, and who's wrong?"

"Nice conundrum," I concluded after a heartfelt sigh. She was tempting me into doing something evil. Why did she sound so much like Agape?

"Love makes monsters of us both, doesn't it?" she whispered as if she was punishing herself. "None of the girls here wanna help me. Traditional human shop assistants, cleaning maids, cooks. Clone designers. None of them."