Mastermind | Chuuya Nakahara.

THIRTY-NINE.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE:
It's obsession. 
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

               The cellar was the coldest place in the Double A Headquarters—though, the entire building had a chill to it. Aki sat with her back to the wall, her knees brought to her chest, arms wrapped around them for warmth. Her chin was resting against her knees as she stared straight ahead. The room was dark, with only the light from the flickering lightbulb in the centre of the room, hanging from the ceiling. There was a toilet seat and a sink in the corner of the room, though they were rusty and cracked. It smelled earthy, so deep underground it might as well have been one with the earth. Aki could feel those walking on the floors above her, as well as cars that drove by the Headquarters. It was all she could do. There was no way to pass time in the cellar, so the only thing she could do was feel everything around her, making her feel slightly less alone.

                  She had been in the cellar for four days, her thoughts rattling through her skull. How had things come to this? She found herself laughing bitterly, the sound knocking off the bare walls. Of course it came to this. She'd never had the things she wanted in life, she wasn't so lucky. So, of course, the moment she got a grasp on those things, they would be taken away from her. She was so foolish in the first place to believe that she could have had everything she wanted. I'm a fucking machine, nothing else, she reminded herself. As long as that chip was in her head, she was nothing more than a robot.

                   The steel door on the opposite side of the room clicked open, some light flooding in from the hallway. Aki rose her head, a breath escaping her lips. The pink-haired girl entered the room, "Damn, you look like absolute shit." Was the first thing she said, looking Aki up and down, her nose crinkled up. The cellar had never smelled good—it was pure earth, pure filth. Every member of the Double A loathed the place.

                   Aki scoffed, "Yeah, no shit, Worlds Greatest Detective," She hissed through her teeth. "I haven't showered in four days."

                   Kana stepped further into the room, holding a bottle of water in one had and a store-bought sandwich in the other, "I didn't mean on the outside," She said. "From where I'm standing, it doesn't look like you're doing too well mentally." She concluded, chucking the bottle of water and sandwich at the woman sitting in front of her.

                   Aki caught them in each hand, a laugh falling from her lips, "Have I ever done well mentally? Has any of us?" She rhetorically asked. Kana couldn't argue with that. Each assassin of the Double A were at least a little crazy—like Mad Hatters formed from human skin. Hell, they had to be crazy to withstand the lives they led. Any sane person wouldn't be able to hack it.

                    "Okay, smart-ass," Kana grumbled, taking a few steps closer before crouching down in front of the woman who was opening the water bottle. She didn't guzzle it down like she wanted to though, and instead, took small sips. Kana's eyes softened in realisation. "Aki, do you think you deserve this punishment?" She asked her, tilting her head, one side of her pink hair pushed behind her ear.

                   Aki swallowed the water, her eyes landing on the woman's pretty face, "Don't I?"

                   Kana sighed, "You know, after I failed to kill you for a second time, Boss had me in here until the moment you came back. I was only let out so that he could put you in," She began saying as Aki watched her carefully, wondering what she was trying to get at. "The truth is, that man is going to punish us no matter what we do. He doesn't want you dead and he doesn't want you alive—and yet, no matter the outcome, I would have been put in here either way." She explained, her eyes diverting to the dirty floor.