章節 37: Strobe lights

Joao didn't look back nor did he give a proper reaction to his cousin's proposal. Something was annoying to Joao on how people reacted and treated his gender, but it never stuck around for long. Upon exiting the store he went straight to the next door to get some makeup.

As was with his cousin's establishment, the owners of this makeup store recognized Joao and were ecstatic to see him. He found it very disbursing but still played along, with a bouncy personality he only showed in front of these girls. One more word and he might have even smiled. Joao took what he had come for and immediately left. Feeling as if 10 years had been sucked out of him.

As the shine of the day started to cease existence the mall became louder and darker. Mostly because people were now wearing darker colours, it was party time and most importantly, it was around this time were minors were forced into their homes to study. The policy's enforcement however didn't come into strict effect until an hour later.

Joao made his way through the crowded area and towards the elevator, he saw something that made him pause in his tracks. Tumi also noticed Joao and glared at him, he fought his way through the crowd and slowly but forcefully made his way towards Joao.

Joao escaped his temporary bondage caused by an unexpected encounter and started walking away ferociously from his pursuer. He didn't think that he was afraid of Tumi, but something turned in him whenever they met, causing Joao to crave escape. Despite Tumi's intimidating look, when Joao looked at him he saw he saw someone fragile and seeking gratification. People who were like that were the most dangerous according to what Monke had told him. People with a dream, he called them.

Joao as far as he knew, he himself didn't have a dream and if he did it will be to stay by Monkey's side and therefore he had to join Divinity. It was at this moment that he noticed that he also had something to fight for. He felt dumb and as if he had wasted a lot of unnecessary overthinking. Plus when it came to combat training he should at least be better than Tumi, right?

Tumi caught up to Joao and pinned him against a wall with a knife pressing against his stomach.

"I've missed you a lot, damsel," Tumi growled.

"You wouldn't dare murder in public now would you?" Joao said as he looked up to meet Tumi's gaze.

They looked at each other for a while before Tumi backed off. "consider yourself lucky this time around. Tomorrow I will find and end this once and for all."

"You act as if we have a history together."

"I guess what happened that day must mean nothing to you. The only way delicates like you can live a comfortable life is by leaching off of someone stronger. Even if you lost to me that day, Monkaedi probably wouldn't have gotten rid of you. I've seen and heard that you two spend an ungodly…"

SMACK!!!

Joao slapped Tumi across his face and then pushed him away. Tumi, exerting all his force, grabbed Joao's shoulders and forced him against the wall again.

"I guess I'm right on the money, but regardless of your status as a parasite I still have to defeat you to repair the hole you ripped into my pride."

"It must be a very huge one considering how you have even started stalking me."

"Wouldn't you have? When everyone who once feared you now treats you with malice and ridicule."

"No one should know who defeated you, after all, everyone you went with to the Oasis was killed."

After Joao mentioned that, Tumi paused in shock but immediately came back to normal and started laughing hysterically.

"You're right. You guys are terrible, and for that, I'll bring everybody with me." Tumi backed away from Joao and left.

Everything around Joao froze and then started to move again after a few seconds, but only slowly. Joao didn't notice this and just thought it was something that happened because he was staring with huge murderous intent at Tumi.

He decided, right then and there, that he will have to catch Tumi, but when he snapped back to his senses and decided to start moving forward, Tumi was nowhere to be seen. He clenched his fist and growled at himself for being too indecisive.

'Maybe I'm losing my touch," for now Joao had chosen to retreat and regroup with the guys. Just as everybody had expected, the car had been stolen and Kaine had gone to look for another one.

They parted ways with Monke and Joao after a long and silent drive back to their own area. From here on, Kira and Kaine were going to disappear into the darkness only to reappear if the boss was in danger.

Joao on the other hand was to go upstairs and spend the rest of the weekend with him. The air in the room suffocated Joao but Monke seemed unbothered by the awkwardness.

"Who are you?" Joao asked as he started to gather ingredients for supper. Monke did not answer and started at the television screen which fed nothing but party propaganda. It did not bother him at all because whatever the lady said was only visual noise to him. His eyes observed every inch of the gigantic wall screen as if he had hoped that something out of the ordinary would show up.

In the end, nothing did, it was the same old programing that aired every Sunday to prepare the children for a well informed start of the week. This was however not a must watch like other production related programs, but it did affect one's credit score. The more you watched, the more loyal of a citizen you are viewed as.

At the far left corner of the screen was a miniature strobe light going berserk, both Joao and Monke knew what it was for. The government was on the hunt for something, so whenever a guest entered your home all the cameras in it will scan them effectively no matter how many times they visit until they get a card to your residence.

Those people who pay attention to these things noticed that the color varied according to what kind of person is suspected to have entered your house. This led to a popular belief that one of the lights are triggered by magic users, but since the government barely makes their arrests public it is difficult to pin down which light exactly.

"What are you?" Monke asked as he turned his attention to Joao after a whole half an hour.