Adopted Soldier

"You came back a bit earlier than I anticipated, as expected of my dad . " Alex continued doing his regular maintenance of his guns while talking to Carlo .

"Alex I already know that Seiji Amamami is in this room, so are you going to give up now?" Carlo was looking around Alex’s room, while Simon the head butler was outside the room, guarding the exit . A maid was also directly below the window of Alex’s room, just in case, one of them decides in that route .

"Why should I give up? The bet was if you could capture the two Amamamis, before the time limit . So as long as you haven’t captured Seiji Amamami, I can still win . Seeing as you have only a few minutes left, victory seems to be in my favor . Don’t you think so dad?" Alex calmly replied to his dad, without even looking at him .

Carlo smiled at Alex’s actions, he wasn’t looking at him, in fear of giving away the position of Seiji Amamami . How come he came to this conclusion, simple because this was the first time, Alex didn’t look him eye to eye, as he was talking to him .

Carlo hadn’t much time, and it seems like Alex wont willingly give up .

"Hey Alex can you stop doing that for a moment, and look at me . " Alex ignored Carlo .

"That’s an order . " Carlo didn’t want to do this, but victory and defeat depended on this . Alex who heard Carlo say it was an order, placed his gun down . He set aside his things and looked at Carlo eye to eye .

"So Alex, where did you hide Seiji Amamami . I already know his in this house alongside your friend right? Sayaka Mutsu was her name correct?" Carlo looked at Alex’s eyes which shifted for a bit when Sayaka was mentioned .

"Are you trying to interrogate me dad? You do know that wont work . The only possible way to get the information out of me, is if you ordered me to do it . But seeing as this is part of the annual bet, you wouldn’t do that would you?" Alex as per usual calmly replied .

"I know that . . . Do you know a funny thing I learned when I heard the last name of Sayaka, which is Mutsu . The Mutsu’s were very famous craftsmen in the past, yet their abilities are best remembered when making masks . I’m sure you friend Sayaka is part of this bloodline, seeing as Mutsu is a very rare last name to have . " Carlo noticed every time he mentioned Sayaka, Alex’s eyes would shift .

"Why are you telling me this?" Alex asked Carlo while looking at the time .

"Nothing much, I just wanted you to know I finally understood how you got Seiji Amamami here inside the mansion . The Alex I talked to awhile ago, told me he was a different person, and was simply wearing a mask of your face . At first I thought that was a delaying tactic, or you simply said it to confuse me, but in truth what he said was true . He truly wasn’t Alex my son he was Seiji Amamami wearing a mask of your face, you told him to tell me those things to confuse me . What happened afterwards were all simple delaying tactics, weren’t they? And I fell for it hook line, and sinker . I got to hand it to you Alex, you have improved in the art of deception . Well I guess you owe that to the various social interactions you currently have . "

While talking Carlo headed towards the place where Alex kept on looking at, upon mentioning Sayaka Mutsu’s name .

"So Alex you most probably stealthily entered the mansion, while your friend Sayaka and Seiji hid in your room . That’s why the last tracker I placed which was attached to Seiji’s back was always blinking in this room . You had two trackers on you, one you gave to that friend of yours Kei, and the other to Sir Lyner . Of course the tracker on Kenzo was still on him, since you hadn’t enough time to disarm the explosives I placed inside the tracker . So the final tracker which was on Seiji is here, meaning his here correct?"

When Carlo said those words, he opened the closet Alex kept on looking at . Once he opened the closet he saw another Alex sitting in it .

"Here you are Seiji Amamami, I caught you meaning I won correct?" Carlo held the fake Alex, and announced his victory . No one responded and after a few seconds the alarm Alex and Carlo set when the game was over rang .

"No dad I won . " The Alex, Carlo caught responded, and he stood up . His height was exactly the same height as his real son Alex, which was impossible . How did this happen? If this was the real Alex who was the one sitting over there?

"It can’t be you’re Seiji Amamami? How is that possible, the motions you used as you did gun maintenance was exactly the same as Alex’s"

"No dad that’s not him . " After Alex said those lines, the Alex on the bed, grabbed a portion of his skin by the neck and pulled it revealing a smiling girl . The girl was Sayaka Mutsu .

"How was my impression of Alex? Perfect right?" When Saya said perfect right she was imitating Alex’s tone of voice which was truly shocking cause it really sounded like him .

"Then where is Seiji?" Carlo was bewildered at everything that was happening .

"He’s under my bed . Come on out Seiji . " Once Alex spoke, a boy came crawling out from under the bed .

"Heh, impressive my son, you really did improve a lot . You actually tricked me all through out the bet . Who knew you could plan something like this . Simple yet at the same time, complex . " Carlo who was stunned moments ago, was now smiling .

"Actually this plan was inspired by Oliver . I wasn’t sure how I could beat you, since I knew you would be using my surveillance team, and with that you would be able to monitor my every movement . So because I promised Lilitth, I couldn’t lose this bet, so I called my friends for advise . "

Carlo seeing Alex, say friends with that stoic expression made him wanna laugh .

"So I called Oliver, and told everyone the current situation . We then started to brainstorm, and Oliver said that this reminded him of a mission he had back in the day . He needed to hide from enemy soldiers, so he picked the best hiding spot . Do you know where that best hiding spot was located? It was inside the enemy’s HQ . The moment I heard that, it gave me an idea, which was to hide one of the Amamamis in the mansion . "

"So what I planned next was all delaying tactics, I just needed you out of the mansion going on a wild goose chase . But how do I fool you into thinking not to look inside the mansion yourself? The answer was to go back willingly, and the front entrance without hesitation . Still how could I sneak one of the Amamamis into the mansion was also a problem, which Saya gave a solution to . " Alex gestured at Saya who waved her hand merrily .

"Saya then told me about her family’s business which was making masks . "

"Well obviously we improved as time went by, and I already made a bunch of masks of my friends back when we made the club official . " Saya responded with her usual cheerful tone .

"I also got my clubmate Emily to hack into some of the cameras I placed all over the city . Knowing the ins and outs of the system, I was able to easily support Emily into hacking . So once we met under the tunnel, everyone was grouped into teams of three, well except for Sir Lyner, since he doesn’t really need a team . I drove home, with Saya and Seiji, Saya then proceeded to wear the mask and coat . Now looking exactly like me, she went and talked to you . "

"She distracted you long enough for me to be able to sneak Seiji into the mansion . Of course even with my skill that would be hard knowing the mansions defense system, if I was alone I could probably get in and out with no one noticing, but I had some baggage that needed to be carried . So I asked for help, there was one maid I knew who would side with me, instead of you . She helped me bypass the security system . "

"After that everything was pretty easy . I knew after what Saya said, you would think she was simply delaying you, which was partly true, but at the same time she made you overthink things . Knowing you, the next course of action you would take was to double check things . So you ordered the sweep of the mansion, which I anticipated . The maid who helped me get in was also the one who was assigned to check my room, since the head butler thought it would be less awkward if he sent someone I know . So every time she checked the room, she would simply report nothing to the head butler . She didn’t even really check the room, she simply came in and reported to me about your current status . "

"I was also hoping that once you got to Sir Lyner, he would take up all your time, because as he told me, he would want to play with you . I knew Sir Lyner’s play involved a physical confrontation, but there was a chance that once he saw your prosthetic leg, he might not want to fight you . So of course I planned for that as well . The next people you would go after was either Oliver’s group or Kei’s group . Kei was headed to the very limit of the city, which would most probably eat most of your time . Then once you got to Oliver, I told him to have an extensive talk with you . He was also accompanied by Niel, who would distract your men, while you talk with Oliver . "

"Then just in case, you figure out the ruse, faster than anticipated I had one final trap laid, which you fell into . " After hearing Alex’s very long explanation on how he tricked him, Carlo clapped his hands .

"Well done, really well done . You finally won one . As we agreed upon, the Amamamis can leave this mansion . We will forget that the events of today ever happened . "

Carlo accepted his lose whole heartedly, as he heard Alex’s whole plan, it made him feel better . The plan that he made wasn’t a plan were he would do all the work, he actually planned with other people . He cooperated with others that weren’t his Aunts and Uncles in the mercenary squad .

. . .

After the events of the bet, Kenzo and his son Seiji were sent home safely . All the mercenary club members also returned home .

Alex was lying down his bed, a bit tired by the whole shenanigans that transpired . It was at this moment, for some reason as he remembered how he and the Mercenary Club cooperated with each other, the face of one person flashed in his mind .

He couldn’t understand why he thought of her . . . It might be because he actually missed her, or it could be because they did something as a club, and she wasn’t there, he really couldn’t tell . So instead of just thinking of an answer to a question that has no answer, Alex called Rachel .

"Hey, this is the first time you ever called me, what’s up?" Rachel answered immediately . Her voice was a tiny bit flustered .

"Nothing much, I just kinda want to talk to you . " As usual Alex’s tone was indifferent one, but to Rachel it sounded like some sweet mutterings .

"Why do you always do that?" ’Why do you always say such things, while my guard is down . ’ Rachel of course didn’t say that out loud, and simply thought about it .

"Do what?" Alex oblivious of what was happening with Rachel asked .

"Nothing? So how’s school? Did you call cause you missed me?" Rachel tried to fire back at Alex with a bit of teasing of her own . Yet this plan of hers immediately backfired .

"Yah . . . I guess I do miss you?"

When Rachel heard what Alex said, she almost dropped her phone .

"W-w-w-what did you just say?" Rachel started to stutter a bit .

"I miss you . . . It feels a bit weird walking to school without you there . "

"Oh that’s what you mean . . . Well I too missed walking to school with you, beats being with my crappy father . " Once Rachel talked about her father, the awkwardness, and embarrassment she was feeling disappeared .

Alex listened to Rachel’s stories about the events in her so called family vacation, and somehow felt comforted hearing Rachel’s voice .