The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

320 Meet RJC as Black Swan

It was a room with five bunk beds – A room in shades of purple and dark blue with lots of LED lights on the walls and glow-in-the-dark stickers in the shape of stars of various sizes.

Inside the room, several beds were filled with sleeping girls. One of those girls was Emma Hilland. She didn’t feel like going home, so she chose to sleep at the headquarters after the event with Levi which made her heart fall apart again.

Emma looked at the silhouette of the stars and moon moving around from the night lamp on the nightstand, while still holding the pendant Levi had given her. Today, Calvin actually asked her to go out. But she refused because she thought meeting Levi was more important because she wanted to thank the man who had given her a lot of advice.

It was late and she had to go to campus tomorrow. Emma didn’t know what would happen tomorrow – whether Dragger members were looking for her and the girls on campus or not. But she was sure she and all of them could take care of themselves. Plus, Calvin and Jita Kyoei also said they would be keeping an eye on them just in case.

Suddenly, the bedroom door opened slightly so that the light from outside filtered in and was followed by a girl who stepped inside on tiptoe so as not to disturb the sleeping girls.

Emma turned to the girl who seemed to be looking at the beds. She narrowed her eyes to see better in the dim lighting of the room. Because she couldn’t see the girl’s face clearly, she turned on her cellphone screen and covered it halfway with her palm to prevent the light from spreading too widely.

“Poppy?” Emma called in a whisper.

“Ah, there you are, Emma,” Poppy answered in a whisper.

“Do you need anything?” Emma sat up.

.....

“Sorry, did I disturb your sleep?” Poppy sat on the edge of the bed.

Emma shook her head. “I haven’t slept. Is there something?”

Poppy nodded. “Can we talk outside for a minute?”

“Sure. Let’s go outside,” Emma immediately got off the bed and walked out the door.

After arriving outside the room, Poppy immediately gave Emma the Black Swan cell phone. “It’s RJC,”

Emma took the cell phone and read its contents.

‘Black, we already know who you really are. At the last war, we sent a man to see what happened. We have something important to discuss with you. I hope we can meet soon to clear things up.’ –RJC

Emma let out a long sigh. She didn’t expect that there was actually an impostor who witnessed their fight. However, she wasn’t too worried because everyone would find out eventually. Creed himself had seen that Emma was a girl. It was very likely that he would be loudly telling his allies to burn their spirits because Black was actually a group of girls they could definitely beat.

“Is Rachel here?” Emma asked Poppy.

The girl in pink bunny pyjamas shook her head. “She went home tonight, and so is Kathy,”

“Mm...” Emma nodded.

Poppy looked at Emma questioningly. “Did... something happen, Emma? You look tired,”

Emma smiled faintly at the sweet girl. She took a deep breath and then replied, “You are my best friend who can read my feelings the best,”

“Is it the same man as the last one you told me about?”

Emma nodded. “This time it is over for real even though it hurts my heart,”

Poppy hugged Emma warmly. “You can get through this, Emma. I’m sure you have chosen the best. I know you are a wise girl,”

“Thank you, Poppy,” Emma answered.

Then Poppy let go of her embrace. “Then, what are our answers to RJC?”

Emma stepped into the gathering room followed by Poppy. “Of course we have to meet them. Tell them I’ll be there. Tomorrow afternoon after college, I’ll take Rachel to RJC headquarters.”

“I see,” Poppy replied.

Emma arrived at the gathering room. Because it was so late, it became very quiet there. There were only two people sitting in front of one of the computer monitors showing the hidden camera footage that Emma had previously installed at Dragger’s headquarters.

Emma and Poppy approached the two of them. They were Nicko Coffey and Britney Jassey.

“Hi,”

Emma’s arrival surprised the two of them. It seemed that the conversation they were having was so exciting that they didn’t even notice that someone was standing behind them.

“Ups... Sorry, did I startle you?” Emma chuckled.

“Hahaha.. There wasn’t anyone here before, so we were surprised when you suddenly appeared,” Nicko replied awkwardly.

Britney nodded in confirmation. “Th-that’s right. Anyway, is there something, Emma?”

Emma shook her head. “Nothing. I just wanted to check things out for a bit. Anyway, why are you in charge here Britney? I thought Nicko was in charge today with Frank?”

“Frank has some important business to attend to and can’t come here. It happened that the boys couldn’t replace him too,” Nicko answered for Britney.

“Actually, Nicko can do it alone, Emma. But I just can’t sleep so I accompany him,” Britney explained.

Emma and Poppy smiled faintly. Maybe in the future, there would be Black Swan’s girl dating Jita Kyoei’s boy. Emma wouldn’t mind that because, she certainly would respect and give freedom of privacy to her friends. There were no special rules here.

“I see. If you need anything, you can look for me on the second floor – the Stars room.” Emma said.

“Ok,” They answered.

***

Emma and Rachel rode a black motorcycle to a building they had visited several times before. The large building that was once looked like a luxurious and magnificent empire now looked like an abandoned building.

They entered the gate of the semicircular building and drove into the parking basement which was now quite dark because only a few lights were turned on.

Three men seemed to stand there waiting for them. Emma’s motorbike stopped and she turned off the engine.

Seeing the two people who were Blacks that they had known all this time, made Marcel Douglas, Kenny Brown, and Renu Khan held their breath. Now they knew that behind the helmet and all-black clothes was a woman.

Emma and Rachel got off their motorbikes and finally... took off the full-face helmets that covered their entire heads. Now, there was no longer a mask behind the helmet, but their beautiful faces were displayed.

Even though they already knew the truth, the sight of the two beautiful girls made the three men’s eyeballs seem to jump out.

Emma smiled at them. “Long time no see. Well… So, the RJC became like this, huh?” She looked around.

Well, from the way Emma spoke, it gave confidence to the men that she really was a Black leader who had an annoying sharp tongue. However, for some reason, their irritation couldn’t be triggered as easily by the sound of robots they usually hear. Her signature light and smooth voice had a huge effect overshadowing her sharp words.