Chapter 382 - Not possible

Yang clicked his tongue. "Then that confirms it, it must be that creepy guy."

Even if Yang says that she has no memory of him whatsoever. Still, he looks so serious so it must be something bad. "Could you tell me about him?"

….

A deep sigh crossed sigh escaped her lips when Chauncey Long finished explaining things. It seems like she will have to rethink he original plans. She thought this from the start but whenever Chauncey explains anything, the mood turns sour in an instance. Maybe because of how serious he is or the negative words he attaches to the end.

Jack the ripper imitator is somebody they knew? Yang had left the library to fetch some old albums from the house to jog her memory. Setsura slumped on the couch by the window.

Whenever she wants to investigate anything it ends up like this. Her thoughts broke off when Chauncey placed a drink on the table.

"I am surprised that Yang is cooperating."

Her sweat fell when she heard those words. "I have been meaning to ask, but that incident aside do you two just not get along?"

Setsura noticed it a while back but she did not say anything due to the current situation. She had so many things on her mind then. But since she returned to the future, it is becoming more obvious to her.

She won't lose anything by asking, so she might as well ask.

"How much do you know about the town?"

"The town?" Setsura repeated.

"To be exact our families."

Ah.. "To be honest, I only heard a little bit when I first came here. I know that you, Akito and Victor all come from prominent families."

"To be exact all three of us come from mafia families."

Setsura blinked when she heard those words. Sure she suspected something like this with Akito. But wait, huh? "Victor…?"

Chauncey looked away for a moment and she noticed a strange expression appear on his face. "When you spend time with Victor, do you not notice anything strange about him?"

"Something strange?" Setsura asked. 

"Like uh.." Chauncey coughed. "Lets just say that he isnt as nice of a guy as you make him out to be."

Huh, is that all?

"Well even I noticed that."

"No uh…"

Setsura sighed. "I realized it when he first took me to practice shooting. I would catch a cold expression in his gaze. Ah this person has been severely hurt and scarred by an incident in the past too. The three no four of you have all gone through something painful. An irreversible past."

Moreover Victor smiles a lot. This was one of the things she noticed when they first met. A long time ago somebody advised her that men who smile a lot are the ones hiding something. She brushed it off as foolish advice before but after she met Victor she understood.

At that comment Chauncey sighed. "Well I guess there is no need to hide things. When I say Victor isnt a good man, I dont mean his personality. He is a good person. But when it comes to how he deals with the mafia business, he is a lot more serious than most people. He is the type who would do anything for the sake of the family, even if it means sacrificing innocent people."

At the cost of innocent lives…? 

Chauncey continued. "Victor is my cousin as you know, so he is part of the LOng fraction."

"Fraction?"

"Yes, the mafia business is split into several groups. There are those who name their groups using their family names to promote their business. But there are those who use other groups. Akito's group is called vizconde and Yangs is Xianjing."

"Yangs group is official?"

Chauncey sighed. "Despite what it may seem like yes, their group is official."

How peculiar.. "When I first met them I simply thought of them as a group of thugs." Setsura trailed off. "It does not help how they continued their hostile behavior towards me."

"Those men are slightly unrestrained unlike the other groups. They most likely try to imitate their leader that is why they behave that way. It is only normal for group members to follow their leaders footsteps."

"I see." 

Yang is a brute and cruel. These days when he kisses her, he keeps his eyes open.

Who was it that told her not to trust a man who keeps their eyes open when they are kissing?

"If Victor is part of the Long fraction, does that not mean he is also Toumas subordinate like you?" Setsura wondered.

"Indeed, that hasnt changed now."

"Eh? But he is so supportive of Akito."

It cant be?

Chauncey looked troubled but he nodded. "I am afraid so. Just to let you know, Victor is most likely closer to Touma than I am. I believe it was Touma that helped him with his studies abroad and they formed a rapport there."

So when Victor mentioned that he owed somebody a huge favour he was talking about Touma and not Akito? It seems like she is learning a lot of things today. Setsura thought she already understood everything about these people but it seems like that isnt the case here.

"So Victor is like that huh?" She trailed off. "Then why does Akito behave that way?" Setsura could not make sense of Akitos behaviour. If Victor is supposedly the enemy then how come..

"In the end of the day the three of us are still childhood friends."

So it is due to their friendship? Setsura did not understand this mind set very well. Then again she only feels this way because she has never formed such a close bond with another person before. Her gaze fell towards Chauncey Long, it seems like she was right about this person after all.

The smiling Victor and the cold eyes Chauncey Long, their roles have reversed. No from the very start Setsura knew who the good person was. Victor is always smiling and he is always talking to her. He is kind and considerate and drags her of to shooting practice. But if she looked at it another way, he smiles a lot because he is hiding something. 

He takes her too places, but he does not ask her what she wants. Taking her to shooting practice? He wants to asses her skills.

Chauncey looked at her with a worried expression. "Are you okay? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere…"

Setsura sighed and leaned forward. "I heard many things about you but like I thought. I will judge people with my own eyes instead of listening to rumors." She trailed off. "I apologize for my behavior this entire time, I know it is too late to make amends but could we be friends?"

"Friends?"

Setsura nodded. "Mm friends."

"I don't think that is possible."

Huh--? To her surprise, Chauncey suddenly closed the remaining distance causing their lips to interlock. He kisses her softly and rather clumsily. Wait..what?