1.2 | The Prince of Thieves

Chapter 51

A/N: How's everyone? I hope you're doing alright! I have exams next week so it's unlikely I'll be updating BUT I'll be opening my Instagram for M A F I Y A characters to answer your questions :D

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Hana couldn't wait to start. She couldn't wait to root Keiji out from where he'd been hiding. What was the sense of hiding anyway? They'd dig him out from his hole kicking and screaming, and string him up as an example for the world to see. No one would be able to think they could just 'take over' the Kei-Shiragata. How ironic, she thought as she pored through the floor-plans of the club. First, we dealt with Uncle. Now, we deal with his son. Their pride and their anger blind them from the possibility of their own death.

There was no one to do a countdown, no one to tell her when to act. Their plan was to be carried out based on pre-arranged timings and trust alone. The next afternoon, Hana dashed home from orchestra practice to shower, take a nap, have a quick bite of dinner, then dress herself up. They were still going about their own daily lives, to draw as little attention from would-be watchers. Leon was still at work, so she had all the time in the world to struggle into her corset without anyone to bother her.

Hellfire's concept ran true to its name. Girls were sorted into Angels and Demons, and Hana had been placed into the former. The Angel's outfit consisted of a white button-up shirt, a white corset and white shorts. The corset was made of a synthetic leather held up by frames running down the sides and under the bust. It took her a while to get the ribbons through the eyelets, and she sweated and grumbled as the corset slipped down her frame with each tug. In the end, she resorted to sitting at her dresser to suit herself up. After some experimental tightening and loosening, she managed to get it to adhere to her curves without having her life squeezed out of her. She could acutely feel the frames digging into her flesh as she breathed.

Once done, she looked up to study herself in the mirror. She blinked at her reflection. Then she frowned. She was far from angelic.

And Leon would have many things to say.

'Huh,' she muttered to herself as she arranged her shirt so that it fell neatly over her shorts. Her nude safety shorts peeked out from beneath the hem of her white shorts, and for a few panicked seconds, she tugged them frantically out of sight. So much thigh! she thought with a scandalised air. Okaa-san would never let her leave the house with such skimpy bottoms.

'Huh,' she said again as she held her arms out to the light and observed how they showed up as flesh-coloured ghosts through the white sleeves. The ribbons at the hems of her sleeves fluttered limply.

'Huh,' she said the last time as she brought her attention unwillingly to her bust. The fabric of her shirt moulded itself to her curves, accentuated by the fact that the corset began just below her breasts. Just a bit of black lace peeked out daringly from her shirt, and she pressed the fabric down grimly. This corset, as innocent as it had been by itself, now drew attention unwittingly to her chest.

It was a good thing her husband wasn't home, she thought as she left the house, bundled up in a long coat to hide what little clothes she wore. He would have a hundred fits and many things to say indeed.

~

Hellfire in the night was different from Hellfire in the afternoon.

The sign casted a harsh yellow glow on her skin, momentarily blinding her eyes, and made the scarlet doors a shade more menacing than they were in the day. Hana had the impression that she was entering a dungeon, the glaring lights a last warning to turn away and desist. But it was too late for them. Their plans were made and they would see it through. Darkness and a rush of cold air greeted them as she passed through the doors with Jin Ling by her side, and she shivered, not from the cold but from the sensation of eyes on her back.