The windows were closed, the curtains were drawn, and yellow color lights were turned on in Onogi's room. He was sitting on his chair behind the table with an angry but sad expression on his face, and a glass in his hand when he heard a knock.
He ignored it at first and was about to tell the person to go away on the second knock, but when the servant outside knocked for the third time, Onogi dropped his glass on the table and opened the door.
He waited till the servant was in his sight, then said, "What do you want? How dare you knock three times on my door?"
"It is because of an emergency, sir…"
"If it is an emergency, you should better hurry."
"Gigi is dead." Those words slipped like a skate on a skating ring.
Onogi dropped his head and sighed. "It was going to happen. Let him rest in peace. Away from the pain and misery of this world."
The servant bowed and turned to leave. Onogi grabbed his glass, and took a sip– it was empty. He sighed as he reached for the two bottles.
The servant stepped near the door and it slid open, he put one step out when Onogi called him, "Come back here. I need to discuss something with you."
The servant was amazed. He glanced over his shoulder, then turned, and walked back to the center of the office. "What might it be, sir?" he asked.
Gigi was cursed, he could not make plans with him, but he had Kuzu at that time. He discussed the business with him. And now, after Kuzu was killed and Gigi died, he had no one to talk things with.
Onogi's current focus was on refilling his alcohol glass. He poured the drinks and placed the bottles on the table.
"What plan do you suggest?" he asked. The servant was surprised, so much that he stuttered.
"W-What p-plan, sir?"
"You know, that little mage bastard. And his friends. Who killed Gigi and Erabu."
"Oh, oh, sir," he said, and fell into deep thought. He looked at Onogi and said, "Do you have a plan, sir?"
Onogi took a sip and nodded. "I do."
"What plan do you suggest?" He asked.
"Enter their side and attack them, the best, I suppose."
"That would not be the best, sir. After the previous attack, they have increased the security around the border and created spy holes in the border walls."
"Hm," he said and took a sip.
"And the… news of an invasion is still in the air. They are refusing to believe it was a mage, we are refusing to believe it was a scientist. The tension is not right, a small mistake and—"
"I got it," Onogi said, "I got it."
The servant noticed Onogi was not happy to hear it, so he dropped his head, nodded, and waited for Onogi to say something. Or to at least tell him to leave the office.
Onogi thought for a while, sipping on his drink, and said after he was done thinking, "We will just have to wait for the next expedition event then. Just like the previous time."
The servant lifted his head almost instantly. He had a tensed look on his face, a more troubled look than before. "S-Sir, you can not," he said, "you can not for two reasons."
"I can't? What reasons forbid me from—?"
This time, it was the servant who interrupted him, "We have no guarantee the mages will conduct an expedition, even if they will they will ensure their students have invigilators on them."
Onogi found it rational. "And what is the second reason?"
The servant gulped. He dropped his head again and muttered, "Onogi-Sama…"
"What?" Onogi prompted him to repeat.
"We can not, sir, around that time…"
"And why the fuck is that?" Onogi leaned forward and threatened to bang his glass on the table.
"Because your father…" he gulped again, this was hard. "Your father, Onogi-Sama, is coming back from their year-long dungeon expedition from the Osaka island."
Onogi did threaten to bang his glass, but not this way: when he heard his father's name, the glass slipped out of his hand and banged on the corner of his table. Then it shattered into pieces, fell on the floor, and the alcohol spilled half on his table, half on the floor.
The servant lowered his head, he was trembling in the fear of the unknown. Every time Onogi knew his father was coming back, he and Kuzu would go on a rampage for the day. Girls, alcohol, music, and beating innocent people. They said it was for their last day of freedom.
Onogi's mouth dropped. A feeling of hopelessness took over him. What was he supposed to do? His father would take out his frustration on him, and this time he does not even have Erabu with him. How was he supposed to survive?
"Do I need to call the 'guests' the day before?"
Onogi, still staring into the space wide-eyed, shook his head. "Forget it," he said, "and leave."
The servant bowed and raced out of the office. Onogi waited till he was out of the office, then jumped into his seat. He grabbed his head and groaned.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck! What the hell is wrong with this old man's timing?" Onogi wanted to pull his hair apart. He wanted to shoot himself, he wanted to beat someone, and he wanted to destroy something– or things.
He raised his fist and punched the table. He continued punching it till his knuckles cracked. Then he screamed to let out his anger, knowing that he can not do anything about his father's arrival.
"Erabu, oh Erabu, at least you were here with me to share the misery. Fuck that Kamiya bastard."
He plucked a patch of his hair, the front hair, and threw it on the floor, in the alcohol. Then he grabbed his forehead and pulled the skin around his eyes back.
His eyes looked like the eyes of a doll, bulging white eyes. "I will complete it. I will complete it and join you. We will create our own heaven."