Mastermind | Chuuya Nakahara.

FORTY.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
CHAPTER FORTY:
You belong to me.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Four days.

It had been four days since Chuuya had last seen Aki with his own eyes, but that didn't mean she wasn't in his mind. He'd thought about her every second of every day, obsessing over every interaction they'd had, no matter how small. He was analysing everything—analysing her. She'd came straight for him from the very beginning, showing exactly how cunning she was. She was an assassin, yes, but she was also extremely calculated. Chuuya was the best hope of protection that Mori had—his strongest soldier. And she had known that. Which was exactly why she had grown close to him, why she had faked every moment between them.

Part of him almost admired her devotion to her mission—the other part hated her with everything he had in him. She was wicked, truly and completely wicked. She had used him as a pawn in her little game. Long gone was the feeling of fondness he had felt for her, replaced by pure vengeance. He was going to make her pay for what she had done—for the things she had made him feel. Of course the first woman he had truly fallen for would be a pathological liar. It just made sense.

"It doesn't make sense," Gin was saying from where she was pacing in the lounge, tearing down the carpet with every step. She had been doing it for twenty-minutes straight. "I can't believe she would do this—I won't believe that she would do this." She was speaking about Aki—because of course she was. They had only just been informed of Aki's betrayal and none of them were taking the news well. Even Hirotsu had sighed and rubbed at his head when it was revealed. Kouyou had frowned deeply and left.

Chuuya glanced upwards from where he was standing by the window, a cigarette between his lips. He'd went through many packets within those four days, "You better believe it," He began saying. "It's the truth. She was never one of us. She was never—"

"It's not right!" Higuchi exclaimed. Her hair was down, resting just above her shoulders. She had been yanking it out constantly from stress. There were a few lose strands stuck to the material of her black blazer. "She wouldn't do this out of her own free will—she wouldn't." She insisted, having full faith in the woman she had called a friend.

Tachihara sighed heavily, "I'm telling you, it's that chip in her head, man," He spoke up, sitting beside the woman on the couch, his knee jittering anxiously. "They're using it to control her." He insisted, feverishly nodding his head along to his own words.

"You're wrong," Chuuya said, making all heads snap towards him. He stared at the lit end of the cigarette between his fingers. "You didn't see the look on her face. There wasn't an ounce of regret. She was completely okay with what she was—"

"I don't believe it!" Higuchi exclaimed, balling her fists. She swivelled to face the redhead man. "How the hell can you believe that? You knew her the best! You have to know that deep down, she wouldn't do this to us unless she was forced to. She was one of us. She was a part of this fam—"

"No, she wasn't," Chuuya spoke over her, swivelling to face the woman, his eyes wide. "She had a job to do. That's it. That's the only reasons she was here. She fooled all of us into thinking she was one of us but she wasn't, but she never was—"