Emilia came to the Gangsta’s Paradise before her mission started, she grew up there. Coming there to see her uncle, Skadi, before she went on another dangerous mission.

  She went through the back entrance into the food truck, she didn’t need to go through the normal one as she had keys. Immediately, the big gut, tattooed man known as Skadi sensed her presence. Dropping his spatula after flipping off some burgers, he came to her, “Princess, right on time!”

  “I am not here to run any errands, you old fart,” Emilia didn’t hesitate to tell him off. Dropping her bag onto a cart and looking around.

  “This errand is on you though,” He put his arm around her and brought her to a window. Pointing out a familiar boy who was releasing a depressive but powerful pressure.

  “What’s Kayne doing here?” Emilia voiced lowly; a bit happy to see him. She was aware that he and two other detectives would come to the Gangsta’s Paradise often. Since it was a no-fire zone. Being Detective Clawer and Detective Screen.

  ‘”He’s been stinking up this place and running away my customers all morning,” Skadi growled and clenched his fists. A few monsters occupied seats extremely far from him due to fear. He was eyeing his cleaver from time to time.

  “You hardly get customers anyways,” Emilia rose a brow at him and laughed. Leaning against the counter and wondered why he was here.

  “Go deal with it!” He grabbed her by her collar, lifted her up and threw her out of the truck.

  “Why do I have to deal with it!?” Emilia yelled at him but, she was already outside. Pretty close to Kayne, he didn’t notice.

  “Because you got a big fat crush on him!” Skadi yelled back and immediately Emilia became flustered. Evident in her pink cheeks, she was thankful that Kayne didn’t hear.

  “Don’t talk so loudly!” Emilia felt like marching into the truck and tearing his spine out.

  “Emilia and Kayne sitting in a tree!” He brought in his childish teasing which attracted attention to them.

  Emilia threw her purse at him, he ducked in time to avoid the heavy hit.

  “Hey! It’s a no-fire zone!” Skadi yelled at her.

  Emilia stood over him and took in his every detail. Ridiculously tall, dark skin with freckles along his nose, his hair was black. She saw as he rested his head on the bench and slowly fed himself fries. Seeing the tears in his eyes.

  At first, she was going to leave him be. Emilia knew her tongue was harsh and thought it wasn’t the best time. Then, she flashbacked to what happened at the Red Panda District. Remembering what he and Lauri were, she had to take action. Not willing to lose him to some conniving girl.

  Emilia sat down beside him and flicked his forehead, which he immediately sat up straight too, “What’s up, idiot? Why are you releasing such a deadly pressure?”

  His eyes were wide until he saw Emilia. Kayne calmed down, thinking that Emilia found him disgusting, “Oh… I didn’t realize… I am sorry, I’ll stop.”

  “I didn’t ask for your apology. Clearly something is wrong,” Kayne noticed her being very touchy, she spoke as she pinched his cheek. By her past behavior, he assumed she hated him. He couldn’t blame her if she did. Emilia smiled with him, “Tell me what’s wrong…”

  Kayne wanted to speak about it badly, especially with the letter that he got from Carla. He didn’t know who to trust. He took her hand off his face and held it dearly. Emilia blushed intensely, resisting the urge to slap him.

  “Emilia… You’re a monster, right?” He asked vaguely, while looking in her eyes.

  Emilia wondered how to respond. No matter how much she was attracted to him, he was a Detective-In-Training. Remembering how he interacted with her group, she thought it would be okay, “What? Are you blind to pheromones?”

  “Then I guess it should be okay to tell you…” Kayne released her hand, to her disappointment, and rest his head on the table. He looked for the words to say, “Today… Is my mentor’s funeral.”

  Emilia thought long and hard about it. Realizing who his mentor was, she exclaimed, “Giseuppe is dead!?”

  Everyone in the Gangsta’s Paradise turned to their table in shock. From their pheromones, you could tell of grief, anger and joy. What did Giseuppe mean to these people?

  “What are y’all looking at? Get back to eating!” Skadi exclaimed, which reminded them to mind their business.

  “You knew him?” Kayne asked in surprise. He still wondered how friendly he could be with this girl, knowing at any moment he could snap.

  “Of course I did. Giseuppe knew that it was better for us to know how to use our powers than being brainwashed…” Emilia remembered his actions since he was like a neighborhood hero. “He was more of an ally to us monsters than to the Confederation. But he knew that he couldn’t beat the Confederation on his own…”

  “So, he did what he had to and helped us where he could.”

  “Why do I have to learn about this now…” Kayne sobbed lowly, wishing he heard these stories from Giseuppe himself. Rather than learning after his death.

  “Look, Kayne… You’re going to have to face this sadness later today at his funeral, Gisseupe would want you to be happy.” Suddenly, Emilia covered her face with both hands. Completely blocking it from Kayne. As per usual, he interrupted it wrong. “So, let me… distract you for a bit.”

  Emilia couldn’t believe she was being so bold. If he didn’t play along into it, she would beat him.

  “Distract me?” Kayne was confused by that. Oblivious to her attraction since he found himself so pathetic.

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  “Yes, idiot,” Her voice became higher pitched. She made a little gap in her fingers to see his face. Which was evidently confused. “Wanna watch a movie with me?”

  “A movie? Okay, let’s do it,” Kayne had a few more hours till he had to say goodbye to his father figure. He wanted to be happy for some time at least.

  “Yes!” Emilia couldn’t contain her excitement, launching herself until Kayne and hugging him. Their faces were inches away from each other and she got flustered again. Standing up and dragging his hand along, “Let’s go!”

  “Where are we going? To the one in town, right?” Kayne only knew of one theatre, which had movies controlled by the Confederation. “I’ll drive.”

  “Nope, those movies are meant to brainwash us into perfect little citizen. I’ll show you somewhere better,” She turned and smirked at him. Kayne was just noticing how incredibly beautiful she is. “You can still drive though.”

  They went a few blocks to the parking lot where they saw Kayne’s precious scarlet GTR.

  “Where did an idiot like you get this baby!?” There her harsh tongue spoke without her realizing. Kayne was starting to realize that she just spoke that way but, didn’t take away the negative thoughts about himself.

  “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Kayne muttered lowly. As they were walking, he was seeing her in a new light. Emilia standing by his car was a new level of beauty to him, “Your hair matches her color… Maybe that’s why I…”

  Emilia marched up to him with a flustered face upon hearing his words. Tipping and being seconds away from his lips, she stopped herself. Pointing a finger at him, “You’re playing a hard game… Aren’t you…”

  “What?” Kayne asked in confusion. Unaware of what he did.

  “Ugh come on before they get rid of all the good movies,” Emilia said. Hoping into the front seat and Kayne into the drivers.

  As he laid his hand on the gear stick, Kayne panicked internally. Recalling on his birthday when he bought this car, how Giseuppe and Carla made him cruise them around town in it. How he made Gisseupe faint because he was speeding.

  “Kayne, you don’t need to be sad right now, idiot,” Emilia awoke him from his thoughts, resting her hand on his. “I’m with you right now.”

  Kayne almost cried, controlling himself. Putting the gear into drive, he revved the engine, “Thanks… I won’t make you worried anymore…”

  He sped off! Tearing down the street with no remorse, in contrast to his meek personality. Burning asphalt, his muffler raged. Throwing up Emilia in her seat as she tensed up in pure panic,

  “Slow down, dumbass! You don’t even know where you’re going!”

  ~//~

  Emilia pulled Kayne out of the car and dragged him into an entrance underground. Emilia told him to wait as she went to buy two movie tickets and brought him inside. He was shocked to see a huge, dark venue. Showing multiple movies at once, movies he didn’t recognize, and he was sure weren’t authorized by the Confederation.

  And there was a decent number of people there too, it wasn’t deserted. And as assumed, they were all monsters. They weren’t doing any bad. They were enjoying themselves and getting snacks for their movies.

  “What is this place…” Kayne muttered; he didn’t see a sign anywhere.

  “Somewhere we monsters go to see some actual good shit. Not some ass-water brain rotting shit the Confederation puts on to keep us in check,” Emilia gagged as she spoke, recalling the extremely generic media they fed them. “Here, you can see genuine comedy.”

  “Who made this place?” Kayne was meek with his childish awe but, it was apparent. He didn’t think he’d ever see things like these unless he rose in power.

  “Elijah Roth did, you know him,” Emilia answered him. Holding his hand dragging him to their movie, she walked forward so he couldn’t see her joyous face. “He works for Naohiko, you saw him at the Red Panda District.”

  “He used to be in Dirty Flags,” Kayne recalled the very important file he read while he was on a cleanup mission.

  “Yup, and unfortunate for him, he’s the only survivor. That’s why the idiot has so much money,” Emilia controlled her expression and faced him. “Enough about work. Focus on me.”

  She felt so panicked, wondering how Lauri was able to be bold all the time. Emilia sighed, “And the movie.”

  “Okay, you’re right,” Kayne stepped forward, still holding her hand, still oblivious to the signs she was sending. “What are we watching?”

  “I’ve seen it a million times, but I have to get your uncultured ass educated,” She proudly whipped out two tickets at the screen entrance. With a proud smirk on her face, Emilia turned to him, “We’re watching White Chicks!”

  Buying popcorn and two large sodas, they rushed to their seats to watch their film.

  “You hold the popcorn! I like to get comfy when I am watching something for an hour,” Emilia demanded, placing the popcorn in his lap and giving him both sodas. She huddled up in her seat and leaned on Kayne.

  “But… I won’t eat a lot-!” Kayne was going to argue but, she spoke over him.

  “Shh, the movies starting…” Emilia hushed him with a teasing smile. Kayne sighed and went along with it, since he was enjoying himself.

  As the movie progress, Emilia drank off her soda and took Kayne’s. Kayne felt bittersweet after that, it reminded him of Luluwa. He desperately searched for Luluwa, to that moment he still had no signs of her.

  The movie was nothing like what Kayne expected. The obscure jokes and references, the dark analogies and humor. In his 18 years of life, he had never seen comedy in that form. He could tell why the Confederation bans it; it brought such emotion to him. Happiness, embarrassment and more joy.

  And Emilia’s warm chuckles and smile made it even more worth it to him. At some points she would straight cackle and start kicking her feet, tossing popcorns into the aisles on accident. The movie ended and the exited the screen room.

  “That was actually amazing, I have to come here more often,” Kayne felt comfortable with her enough to talk casually. He still won’t overstep his boundaries. “Thank you, Emilia.”

  “Duh, as if I would have shown you some trash. Tell me when you’re going so I can tag along,” Emilia held her hands behind her back and turned away from him.

  “Look! A photo booth! Let’s take some!” Kayne knew he couldn’t deny the girl but, she dragged him on either way.

  Sitting down in the booth, Kayne read the notes on it, “Looks like we get 10 photos for just 5 Credits.”

  “Kayne, would you want to hang out again?” Emilia built up the courage and asked. Folding her arms and looking away.

  “I definitely would want to,” He answered, taking out the money to pay for the pictures. He didn't without hesitation, Emilia was going to pay it herself since she came up with the idea. She decided not to nag him as to not ruin the moment.

  “So… we should exchange numbers then?” She suggested. The timer came on the screen, telling them to prepare.

  “I already have your number,” Kayne obliviously opened his phone and showed her the contact, “Able gave to me.”

  “That sly rat bastard…” Emilia muttered, reading the contact's name and just knowing it was him, saved as "Redhead Option”. Another realization came to her head, “Wait, why didn’t you text me!?”

  “I didn’t think I should have, I thought it was a joke…” Kayne muttered. The countdown now reaching the final moments, “You told me back then that you found me pathetic…”

  “No idiot, that’s my fault since I don’t know how to hold back my mouth,” Emilia eliminated the distance between them and held his face. “It’s actually the opposite.”

  “I can’t get enough of you.”

  Pressing their lips together, it set off fireworks in both of them. As if they were both wanting it for a long time, the reality around them melting away. Forgetting that pictures were being taken, they passionately kissed each other. Until the last flash of light and then coming to their senses.

  Suddenly, Emilia’s phone started to vibrate. It was time for her mission, there was no way that she’d answer a call from Able around Kayne.

  “Shit! I gotta go!” Emilia hopped out of the booth and went sprinting off. Lucky for her, they were nearby since it was the slums, “Make sure you call me!”

  “Wait! Emilia! I can drive!” Kayne yelled out to her, she was too far to hear.

  Kayne could feel his heart beating intensively. It wasn’t like this with Lauri. With Lauri, it was purely lust on both sides. But, for some reason, with Emilia it felt more than lust. As if he could see a future with her. One where he confides in her, and she confides in him.

  The photo booth dispensed their captures, and he picked them up. Seeing how both of them were drunk with infatuation in every picture. He held his head, leaned on the photo booth and slid down. Almost toppling it over from his massive size,

  “I guess I… should give her the half of the photos later.”