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Marcus's POV
"Have you guys seen Saya?" Maria's head appears from behind the door.
Billy, Petra and I look at her, confused.
With the exception of festivities, no member of the Soto Vatos ever comes up to the roof, much less Maria.
Something about reputation and the reek of having no real allegiance.
"No, sorry. " I say, raising a brow when I notice she is out of breath. "Haven't seen her in a while, actually."
The girl doesn't think twice before running away, down the stairs.
"Man, these cartel kids are getting weirder and weirder every day." Billy makes a face. "But, I didn't see her either. Saya is usually very good at turning invisible. Maybe she really turned see-through. Could you imagine how cool that would be?"
"Doesn't Master Lin send her in missions all the time?" I wonder. "That may be the case."
It is no secret that Saya is his favorite. She is smart, honorable and I'm still looking for something she can't do. It was hard for a faculty member to dislike Saya Kuroki. But Master Lin trusts her.
The two have an unspoken bond of mutual dependence that leads to her knowing of things most don't.
Is a well-known fact that Saya disappears and comes back days later. She would never confirm nor deny, but it is even more common knowledge that she leaves to do Lin's dirty work.
"What do you think she does out there?" Billy lays down on the floor, watching the sky turn orange with a cigarette in his mouth. "I would be really surprised if it took her two days to get his dry-cleaned."
"Maybe King's is just a shell company for his ancient Japanese knives contraband." I suggest. "And she is delivering them to his buyers."
"Bullshit. There is no way." He lets out a cloud of smoke.
"Do you know where the money to fund this school came from?" I ask, not knowing if it was a complete joke question myself. "Back when he started it all."
"From the students' parents." He says, matter-of-factly.
"Or..." I wait for him to catch up.
He furrows his brows at me, then, his jaw drops.
A gasp.
"Or from his contraband business!" His eyes are wide, and he looks around like he is seeing everything for the first time. "Than that means all the knives in his office... No, that would be too obvious. Wouldn't it? Master Lin is too careful to leave stuff like that out in the open."
I laugh. Maybe I let this joke go on too long.
"He would never do that..." A pause. He sits up. Another gasp. "Or that's what they want us to think!"
I definitely let this one go on for too long.
"Hey, hey, buddy. I was kidding." I pat his shoulder. "I think he asks her to track other possible students."
I genuinely think Saya is Lin's go-to recruiter. She tracks young infringers of the law in need of guidance and lures them here. By this logic, she is most likely the one who found me.
"Yeah, you're right. He's probably into some darker stuff with his family. Old, conservative families give me the creeps. Especially his." He laughs. "Right, Petra?"
I forgot she was here with us.
She barely looks up, seemingly intrigued by the floor.
"What's fuzzing inside that goth brain of yours?" He sits by her side and puts one arm around her shoulders. "You usually go cuckoo when we talk conspiracy theory."
She says something, but the ringing of the bell sounds over her voice.
"What was that?" He asks again, jumping up and grabbing his backpack.
"I don't think she did it." Were the first words to leave her mouth in a whole hour.
"What?" I ask, an odd feeling rising in my bones.
"Who are you talking about?" I'm not the only one confused.
"Jun Kuroki." She walks ahead to the stairs like that statement wasn't at all absurd. "I don't think she meant to do it."
I scoff. "She practically admitted it."
I was there, she was there. Everyone that wasn't, probably heard about it by now.
The image of her running away from Brandy picked at my brain. She didn't say a word to defend her case and just left like a fucking coward.
"Oh, I don't doubt she did. What I'm saying is that I don't think she meant to torture them like that." She descends the steps in front of us. "I just don't think she's capable of doing it. You've seen the girl. She's a goddamn doormat."
"Then, what?" I never thought I'd be having this debate. Much less with a cynic like Petra. "Those people poisoned themselves?"
"I don't know, something went wrong."
"That poison takes weeks to be prepared." I begin to feel slightly annoyed. All of us are here to stop people like Jun. We don't defend murderers. "It wasn't an accident. People don't torture on accident, you know that."
She shrugs. "She might be getting framed."
"Occam's razor, remember? The simplest answer is usually the right one."
I hear a huff and Petra suddenly stops. I stop just in time, but Billy collides with my back.
She turns to me.
"Since when did you regress into a Neanderthal?" She spits, before turning her back and continuing. "They used to think you murdered all those kids in your home, remember that?"
I'm taken aback.
"Fuck you." I tell her, and shove Billy off when he tries to hold me back. "The death of those boys was blamed on me. But Jun Kuroki is a killer. Don't come at me with that bullshit."
Without any warning, someone bolts pass us and soon after, a whole mass of students runs in our direction.
"Go back into your fucking rooms!" Saya's voice is a loud roar amongst the chaos. "NOW!"
