Mariko

During this night, the rain fell more heavily than usual and I was looking out the window that was illuminated by passing cars and the dim street lights filled with drunk people who probably got kicked out by the bouncers working there laying around in the streets, I was spacing out of the bar I was at. The bartender was also in a sort of trance as they were cleaning the remaining glasses on the countertop. The music that they kept playing slowly began to sound like white noise and I was able to somewhat relax as the only thing I could think about was nothing and— 

 

Suddenly, I heard a loud ring, and two men who looked pretty scruffed up stumbled their way into the bar. They both reeked of alcohol but only one had scruffy, greasy hair and a dirty beige jacket, the other looked roughly similar but his hair was bristly and he had a dark blue jacket. 

 

Oh, give me a break.

 

Almost every single time I’m here, some drunk idiots have to ruin my night. There are only so many awful pick-up lines and drunken rambling you can take before it gets old.

 

I took a long sigh before the inevitable happened. 

 

“Heyy there cutie, what’s-what’s someone like you do-doing here?” mumbled the drunk man. 

 

“Dudeee, they’ve got onion rings, I think I remembered when I ate my first onion ring. I was seven—” 

 

I could feel the bartender’s discomfort from my seat as the scruffy haired man kept nudging me. 

 

“Hey! Do you have eyes? Because I need a map,” he said as he inched closer to my face.  

 

“Dudeee,” the other man said while wrapping his arms around the scruffy haired man.

“She’s probably busyyy tooo. I liked it better when you were bent over, sweetheart!”

 

God. Jesus. 

 

“Hey! C’mon, let’s see a smilee. Give me a smile, and I’ll leave you alone!” the scruffy man yelled before grabbing my wrist, throwing me off of the bar stool. 

 

Okay. That’s enough.

 

I grabbed the scruffy man and tossed him across the bar floor. Then, I could see the other man stumbling and yelling incoherent nonsense at me. I quickly grabbed my pocket knife from my back pocket and began stabbing his eye with it over and over. The scruffy man kept staring blankly at the body on the floor as I took a pool stick that was resting on the pool table and continuously bashed his skull until he stopped moving. 

 

Then, silence filled the empty bar. All that was audible was the soft hum of the air conditioner, the gurgling of blood and the jazz music that was flowing through the speakers. I then shot a glance at the bartender.

 

“Geez, can you at least do it in the bathroom, so I don’t have to clean up the bar every time you do practice here?” 

 

I took a long sigh as I walked back to the bar and sat on the barstool. 

“Sorry, it’s just that guys who say stuff like that just get on my nerves. Is it okay if I can have iced lemon tea?” I asked.

 

“Of course, I understand, but just do it in the bathroom where I can clean it easily. Not in the middle of the bar… These are wooden floors and I don’t even have baking soda or hydrogen peroxide!” the bartender berated as they grabbed the pitcher filled with water and sugar. 

 

“I know, I know, I promise I’ll get you some so you can clean the ‘accident’ I made. But they kind of deserved it,” I answered back. 

 

The bartender gave me a smug look as they began adding the tea bags into the pitcher. 

 

“You better, or else. Now, a little birdie told me that you have another mission to go to.” 

 

I let out a long sigh. I knew this saying too well because it’s usually my father’s way of talking to me without actually talking to me. 

 

“Do I? Honestly, my dad has a bunch of little assassin mice at his disposal, why can’t he send any of them?”

 

“Because he knows that right now,  you’re the best in the business, you’re the only one who frequently goes to this specific bar and he also plays favourites specifically with his own kin,” the bartender said as she poured the pitcher into a nice tall glass. 

 

I have to admit, my dad is smart. He’s an asshole but he’s smart. 

 

“Okay. What kind of mission is this exactly?” 

 

The bartender began to reach into the lower compartment of the bar and pulled out a large stack of files with coloured tabs sticking out of them and handed them to me along with the drink. There were so many files in one brick that it looked like a full-length novel. 

 

“I’m not going to bore you with all of the details, but basically, there’s a whole bunch of new applicants this year that the AOA has to train. But, there’s way too many of them so we need some of the veterans here to make sure that we’re picking the right ones and that includes you.” the bartender said as they took their hand out and gave me a small pat on the head.

 

All right. Honestly, this wasn’t what I was expecting but I’ll take it.

 

I quickly took the files in my hands but before I left the bar, I heard a loud cough from the bartender. As I turned around, I saw a small purple frosting cupcake with tiny sprinkles with a singular candle lit. 

 

“Happy 13th birthday to the heir of a 5 star assassin and of the Association of Assassins, Mariko Sayuki.” they said as they handed me the cupcake. “What, you think I forgot your birthday?” 

 

“Thanks Kamie. I appreciate it, really.” I said with soft grin as I grabbed the cupcake and blew out the candle as Kamie grinned.

 

“Oh, so you actually appreciate something I do? Wow..” Kamie said. “Good luck Mariko.”  

 

“Haha, thanks.” I said and as soon as I got out of the bar, I began to skim each file one by one. They were filled with the usual suspects for this kind of job, people who are young and were only sent here so that they can get rich and successful quick, greedy 30-somethings that just wanted to become assassins for some sweet and easy cash. Those who didn’t mind getting their hands dirty for a couple of coins. But after flipping through a couple of pages, one particular file caught my eye. One file with the name: Sofia Jones.

 

The image imprinted on the file looked like a girl around the age of 14-15, my age. She had wavy light brown hair that went down towards her back and some hair swooped to the side that covered her forehead. Next to that image was the usual application stuff, things like name, age, skills and genetic conditions. The file looks a little something like this:

 

NAME: Sofia Jones 

AGE: 14

SKILLS: Intelligent, charismatic, truthful and very respectful.  

NATIONALITY: Polish

UNIQUE CONDITIONS: None

SEX: Male/Female

DESCRIPTION:

A very talented student. Collaborative and is always polite to everyone. An ideal student to have. 

Hmm.. did I get it wrong? Did Kamie give me the wrong file? No, there’s probably something hiding.

 

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a nearby nightclub. The kind of ones you would see in this kind of city. With the usual bouncer and UV lights— 

 

Wait… UV lights!

 

I quickly rushed towards the club, rain soaking my outfit and lifted the file underneath the UV light of the nightclub. Just as I thought, a neon purple text began to appear on the paper and the text revealed a few more sentences: 

 

NAME: Sofia Jones 

AGE: 14

SKILLS: Intelligent, charismatic, truthful and very respectful. 

Stealthy, agile, extremely skilled in persuasion.  

NATIONALITY: Polish

UNIQUE CONDITIONS: None

SEX: Male/Female

DESCRIPTION:

A very talented student with academic prowess. Collaborative and is always polite to everyone. An ideal student to have. 

 

A very skilled fighter with both stealth and prowess. Expert on persuasion and medicine if her coworkers got hurt. Durable. 

“Well if I’m being honest, this is a good candidate for this year’s new recruits. Almost too perfect.” I thought as I quickly took my phone from my pocket and snapped a photo so I wouldn’t have to rush to the nearest UV light to see the text as I got shooed away by the bouncer.   

“Well, Sofia, I hope you really know what you’re truly getting yourself into.”