Chapter 72 - Hostage

"Young miss, we're being followed." Marie reported after taking a glance at the rearview mirror. Ayami opened her closed eyes, she asked softly, "How many?"

"There's only one car. It seems like they just intend to follow us."

Who are they? Is it the matermind's?

Ayami furrowed her brows and clenched her fist. She looked behind and saw a black car keeping their distance constantly. A normal person would not be able to discover that.

"Shake them off." She ordered.

This seems familiar…

It kinda reminded her of a situation in her past life. A memory where Kayden was holding her as the car being driven by the professional driver sped past through the road while they were being chased by five cars, who were also raining bullets on them. Unknowingly, her lips curved upward making her features feel soft and gentle like an angel.

But… this situation was safer than before. There was no Kayden, no chauffeur who mastered the skills of driving, no raining bullets or four more cars chasing after them. For some reason, she felt an empty feeling inside.

Was it because it wasn't as thrilling as before?

The car kept their distance and didn't attack them or rain bullets on them which somehow disappointed her.

Soon, they arrived at their destination, Neon City. It was the neighboring city of Gold Spoon City, the capital and where Ayami and her family lived.

They were currently in the bustling downtown of the Neon City. As they were still being followed thanks to Marie's skill, the both of them had to be careful. Ayami had already changed her clothes inside the car.

Ayami was wearing a gray denim jacket over a black t-shirt, coupled with a navy blue skinny jeans and blue denim shoes. There was a black belt bag slung onto her shoulders. Ayami lowered her cap and adjusted her glasses.

As if they had a silent agreement the two glanced at each other, with the other nodding their head. Ayami separated from Marie and walked into the crowd to blend among them, in that way, they would have difficulty in trailing her. 

"…"

Ayami walked through the crowd silently, her gaze heavy, feeling uncomfortable from the lively atmosphere. She walked past a couple of stores. She wanted to enter a clothes store but unfortunately, she doesn't have enough money for that. Her family would find out that she skipped classes once she used the card.

'Ugh, I should really open my own account.'

After walking a while, she found a cafe from an inconspicuous corner. She took a look inside the cafe and saw that there were only a few people there, making it even more perfect.

She ordered first before sitting down in the corner, enjoying the quiet and peaceful atmosphere inside the shop, unlike the outside, which was bustling with people.

Ayami sent her location and waited for Marie to come. She sent Marie off to serve as a distraction, only when she completely shakes them off would she be allowed to return to her side.

"Marriage, hm…" Ayami mumbled to herself. She was thinking about the three days deadline. 

She has no way of escaping that old man, so she considered breaking off the engagement if she was coming back. She thought, why not take this chance to break off the engagement?

The problem is that she could not just pick any random person and force them to marry her, then drag them to her family affairs. She had to prove that she really loved the lucky person she picked to the point of marrying them at an early age. 

I wonder who is a good candidate?

As she was thinking, two men entered the shop with one of them looking nervous as they fidgeted. The man beside him acted normally. The duo was weird. 

Ayami could sense something wrong, but instead of leaving immediately, she waited for something to unfold. Ayami took out her phone secretly.

"Hurry up! You might miss something interesting." Ayami happily tapped 'sent' and the message was delivered to Marie.

The duo were behaving suspiciously, she could tell as their eyes were moving around to the point that it was unusual. Amateurs.

After the calm man reached the counter, both of them took out their guns and fired a warning shot, creating a loud bang. The hands of the nervous man were trembling as he held the gun in his hand and held a hostage in his other hand pointing it at the unlucky customer, which was Ayami.

Ayami coldly glanced at him while thinking, 'Why me?'

"Nobody moves! If anybody dares to call the police, then I'll blow their heads up." The calm man shouted. The customers in the shop were frightened to the core after hearing the gunshot and the threatening shout of the man. They trembled in fear, with some of them even weeping and begging.

The nervous man dragged Ayami near his partner. He pushed her to his partner, while the calm man catched her and roughly tied her up. "Tie the others and collect their phones, rookie."

"Y-Yes!" The nervous man hurriedly tied the others, some of them were sloppy. If they tried then they could have removed it, but so what? The other party had a gun on them. 

"You, call the police." The calm man said to the staff that was trembling over the counter. 

"H-huh?" Earlier, they said that they will kill the person who calls the police and now they're saying to call the police? Isn't this too contradictory? Is this a trick question? Would they be killed once they call the police?

"Just do it!" The man roared, making the staff intimidated. Though confused, the staff still did what he was told. Even Ayami was confused as she didn't expect this development.

The staff dialed the police and soon it was picked up. "Hello, how may I help you?"

"Say what you want to say. Ask for help or something. Just get the police here. Make it seem big."

"P-please… *sob* h-help us…*sob*" The staff bursted into tears. The person on the other side tried to calm the staff. "W-We're being held as hostages!"

The staff told them the situation and the place. The peace was destroyed as soon as these two entered, making the atmosphere turn glum. 

"Uh, can I eat?" Ayami calmly asked under the threatening situation. She didn't want to waste the food she ordered. The calm man laughed and then he tossed Ayami to the ground. Ayami hissed in pain as she fell on her butt.

"Little Missy, I don't think you understand the situation here." The man pressed the gun to her cheeks while looking at her coldly.

"Obviously, I don't." Ayami rolled her eyes. 

"Are you f**king serious?"

"Don't shout on my face, your saliva is spitting out. Gross." There was a disgusted expression on her face and her eyes… it was as if she was looking at a bug that could be crushed in a second.

"Hahahaha! Very fun—!" Ayami kicked him in the stomach before he could even finish his sentence. The man writhed in pain as he clutched his stomach. She already told him not to shout and yet he had the audacity to laugh loudly in front of her face. Disgusting!

Before the man could recover, she kicked his hand that was holding the gun. Then, she quickly removed her rope easily before retrieving the gun. 

"Hey, you!" His partner, who just watched the whole thing in a daze, jolted in shock and pointed at himself with wide eyes. "Give me your gun."

The nervous man immediately handed her the gun with trembling hands. Then she ordered the man like it was natural. "Free them all."

Ayami turned around and saw the calm man who was still in pain rushed to her with a knife in his hand. She calmly fired a shot to his legs with great precision. Then she mercilessly kicked him in the crotch repeatedly. The male customers and the nervous man hid their crotch in reflex. Just watching it made them feel it.

Ayami started beating him black and blue. After beating the man, she turned her head and looked at the nervous man fidgeting around. She grinned at him. "You, come here."

The man knew that it was his turn, but what can he do? He could only let himself be beaten up by the girl and be humiliated.

Ayami decided to change location after beating the both of them up. She left the cafe with no hesitation after she was done.

"W-wait, m-miss! May I know your name?" The staff blushed as he asked her. Ayami lowered her cap as she thought of a name. She definitely could not tell this staff her real name or else she might get caught. 

"I cannot tell you my name." After saying that, a wind suddenly blew almost taking off her cap. Ayami lowered her cap in annoyance and left the staff who was in awe.

By the time the police arrived at the scene, the duo were on the ground with their faces swollen.