To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

Chapter 64

Trivia: Who's the oldest elite?

Answer: Jiro always says he's the oldest, but in truth he's the middle one. I'm sorry my child XD you're still awesome!

Shin is the oldest, then comes Jiro and Ryuu is the last. Just so we're on track with all the characters, here's the age list:

Shin: 18
Jiro: 17
Ryuu: 15 (Ayato: 15)
Rei: 13
Emi: 11

When the elites met Emi, Shin was 16, Jiro was 15 and Ryuu was 13. Sorry if I confused you with all the numbers!
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If there's one person I hated more than anyone, excluding Mama of course, it had to be the blonde woman smirking down at me from her place behind the desk.

Good were the nights where, in a pleasant daze, my sleep deprived mind drifted off to an unknown memory of her bloody head in my hands. Her snake-like locks messily intertwined around my fingers as I worked on pleasingly stripping each and every stringlet from her scalp. The warm blood that cascaded down my limbs, and the deafening sound it produced as each drop crashed to the floor.

Fighting back my grin proved impossible as I stared at her, my hands itching to see what effect the Trinity Reaper had on a living person.

Madam A was currently blabbering about something I couldn't bring myself to listen to. My attention span was as short as Shin's patience and I quickly lost interest as soon as the woman started talking. I could practically feel the chills of an icy blue stare pinning me down, but I payed no heed to Shin's electric gaze. Although scary beyond it's own category, it still couldn't come close to Mama's. 

Without even looking I could tell he was annoyed at my lack of attention. I wanted to laugh because he was too focused on scolding me to actually pay attention himself. Besides, the soft mumbling of the boy at his side told us both that Ryuu was also long gone by now.

It was when my ears picked up a pair of familiar words that my mind decided to wake up. I attempted to fit the scattered words together, managing only to come up with an idea, not so much a sentence.

"At the restaurant."

My ears immediately perked up at the sound. A rush of excitement shot through my spine as I remembered the countless times I'd scrapped alongside Rei. The grin that spread on my cheeks made Madam A glance curiously at my direction.

"That's right. Emi, you were a scrapper." She hummed.

I felt a jolt run through my body at the words, nodding eagerly as I practically bounced on my feet. A disturbing itch spread through the back of my neck and only then did I notice three pairs of eyes trained on me. Through furrowed eyebrows I turned to Jiro who was the closest from me.

"I thought you knew?"

"We did..." He answered warily, shifting his weight to his other foot as he scratched the back of his head. "I just didn't know you'd be so happy about it."

"Scrapping is the only thing Mama trained me to do besides the circus. Rei and I were the best team." I beamed, clenching the dirty rags of my shirt between my bony fingers. "It was amazing!"

"Well, this time it's going to be even better." Madam A interrupted, her long nails clicking against the wooden desk.

"You'll be scrapping as an elite."

The huge grin I carried fell from my face, being replaced by a glare.

"Where's Rei?"

"I'm not responsible for him." She simply answered as she leaned back on her chair.