SILENT WIND |°་༘♡| blue lock

04. TERRIFIED IN THE WRONG WAY

✾_________ ׂׂૢ.˚______°་༘♡

✾_________EGO JINPACHI was never one to notice the mess around him. It didn't bother him, so why should he bother getting rid of it?

What he did notice today, however, was how Anri didn't seem to mind the mess either. Usually, she would be the one running around, collecting his unwashed dishes and laundry, making the place look less like a garbage dump.

But today, Anri simply sat at the table in the makeshift bedroom-turned-temporary office, typing away at her laptop.

At first, even Ego didn't pay it much attention. But after stacking his fifth bowl, which once contained his favorite noodles, and nearly toppling the pile, he grew slightly intrigued. Not enough to bother asking Anri any questions, but enough to make him wonder for a moment. This was the first time something like this had happened in the month they'd been working together in the office.

"The building should be finished in another two months or so," Anri was the first to break the silence. "I just got an email from the construction company. We're going to have to manage our budget a bit better from now on."

Ego didn't bother replying, but Anri knew he heard her loud and clear. After she finished responding to all her emails, she spun around in her chair, sipping the hot coffee in her hand.

When she finished her drink, she stacked the cup with the others on the table. If it was odd to Ego that she didn't clean up his mess, it was borderline bizarre that she didn't clean her own.

Anri was obviously a bit of a neat freak, but today she seemed like a completely different person. It was ironic-just yesterday, she had lectured him about not throwing his dirty socks on the floor, yet now she was acting worse than him.

It was almost as if she was trying to make the place seem dirtier than it was.

After another hour or so, Ego finally got the answer to his unasked question.

"Just a reminder, my sister is coming in today," Anri hummed, breaking the silence again. Everything clicked for Ego. He'd already heard about her. Although she wasn't of any particular interest to him, Anri found a way to mention Kiomi in at least one conversation a day.

She had also mentioned a week ago that her sister would be joining for work studies at Blue Lock. Ego wasn't sure what position she'd take, but it didn't matter to him.

He just hoped Anri wasn't bringing in someone incompetent simply because they were related. Anri didn't strike him as that type of person, but in today's corrupt times, one could never be too cautious.

"She'll be here in fifteen minutes," Anri continued. "If there's a part of the project you don't want to share with employees, tell me now."

"As long as she doesn't go around babbling to the local newspaper, I don't give a shit," was his blunt response.

Anri was slowly getting used to his rude and somewhat vulgar responses. After all, she didn't have a choice. He was her last hope, and she was already in too deep.

When Anri's phone buzzed, indicating a message, she quickly sat up and went outside. She was smiling a bit too much today, a bit too deviously. It was an odd look on her face, nothing like her usual bubbly grin.

To Ego, it was obvious what she was trying to do. Her tactic might have seemed questionable to him, but he had to admit, it had potential.

Bringing a teenage girl from an elite school-one where they teach kids to clean before they even learn to write-into a room stacked with dirty food containers and an overfilled laundry basket was practically telling the girl to turn around and run away.