"Do you normally make-out with the people you're hired to kill? It doesn't strike me as very professional."
"Put the gun down," Gabriel panted, not answering her.
"Why on earth would I do that?"
"Because you're not going to shoot me," Gabriel rep...
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Three Years Ago
"Rin? Rin Kimura?" Ash asked the girl in the corner of the dorm lounge.
Rin looked up from her laptop, an irritated expression on her face.
"Whatever you want, I'm not interested," Rin answered dismissively, turning her attention back to her laptop.
Ash proceeded to sit down at the table anyway, staring at her expectantly. Rin's entire appearance looked like she was trying to fade into the background - chunky black bangs with long, straight black hair, a gray sweater that was at least three sizes too big for her, and plain, black leggings. She wore no make-up or jewelry, and gave off an overwhelming vibe of 'leave me alone'.
Rin glanced up again from behind the laptop that separated them. "What?" she snapped.
"My name is Ash. It's nice to meet you. I talked with the Women in Computer Science club about their mentorship program. They said you're the only one in the club without a mentee. I'm hoping I can be yours."
Rin looked Ash over carefully. "I don't have a mentee because I don't want one. I'm only in the club because my career counselor told me it would look good on my resume. But even if I was going to mentor someone, I definitely wouldn't pick a Malibu Barbie knock-off."
Ash glanced down at her pink ruffled dress. Her parents never let her wear baggy, oversized clothes like what Rin was wearing. Besides, Sun Tzu said "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." Everyone always underestimated her when she wore pastel dresses.
But she didn't want to be underestimated right now. She wanted Rin to take her seriously. And apparently the pink fluffy dress was getting in the way of that.
"I didn't come here to be insulted. I came because I need your help. And I'm not leaving until you hear me out," Ash said, her tone steely.
Rin looked up from the computer again, shutting it this time after realizing Ash wasn't going to leave. She folded her arms and slouched back into her chair.
"Let me guess. You rolled out of your sorority bed this morning and thought, 'you know what would be more fun than spending all my time color coordinating my nails and gossiping about which celebrities I would sleep with? Figuring out how to break into my idiot frat boyfriend's computer to see if he's cheating on me.'"
Ash looked at her nails, which coincidentally were a pale pink that matched her dress. Then she looked to Rin's hands, noticing that she barely had any nails in the first place. She bit them, Ash realized. She felt a slight shiver go through her as she thought about how unsanitary that was. It didn't matter though; fingernails had nothing to do with why she was here.
"My mom was a cyber security analyst with the FBI," Ash replied. "And my dad was CEO of a major tech company."
"Oh, so it's a legacy thing. That's even more insufferable. Have one of your parents be your mentor then," Rin retorted.
