The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

But when they had passed the two layers of cloth, the men were amazed at what they found. It was a spacious basement dominated by white colours and bright lights. It was like passing through a portal and entering another dimension.

Inside the parking lot, neatly lined up various motorbikes and cars that look clean and shiny. There were also several girls who were busy minding their business or just grouping to talk. However, the presence of the men suddenly became the centre of those beautiful eyes.

It was a very strange sensation for all members of Jita Kyoei. They had visited the headquarters of various gangster groups several times. However, the atmosphere, sights, and even the sounds were completely different from what they were facing now.

“Park the bikes here,” The girl who led them pointed to an empty corner of the parking lot. “Please park them neatly. Linda will go berserk if she sees this place in a mess.”

Nicko didn’t stop looking around. “This place is more like a Showroom than a parking lot,”

Beside him, Frank chuckled. “They’re girls, Nick. You should’ve known better,”

Nicko could only nod slightly. With so many sisters, he should understand what happened.

After parking their motorbikes, Emma approached them. She had just entered from behind a black cloth curtain after helping her friend close the fence.

.....

“You guys done? Please come with me inside,” Emma said as she looked at the row of motorbikes that had been parked neatly.

“Your headquarters is huge,” Troy walked beside Emma.

“Our headquarters,” She corrected him. “You’ve only seen a fraction of it.”

“Since when did you girls build this?” Calvin asked curiously.

“A few months ago. Previously, we only used the top floor of Poppy’s studio. However, because our members increased, we took another building.” Emma explained.

Then they entered a glass door and met a staircase that led them to the first floor and so on. Actually, Emma was inspired by all the gangster bases she had been to. The first and second floors of the building were filled with rooms occupied by the girls. Those who didn’t have a home or just want to stay overnight could sleep at the Black Swan base.

The headquarters had a bright, neat, and clean feel because Emma really cared about the aesthetics of buildings, so she made sure that the inside of a building that looked unkempt from the outside, had to be beautiful on the inside, so that all of her friends and herself would feel comfortable.

So far, The Black Swan’s headquarters had never been entered by men. Jita Kyoei was the first group of boys to enter the kingdom of the girls.

Their arrival made the girls stare at them and whisper to each other as if they had seen aliens coming. It actually made the men feel a bit uncomfortable.

Emma noticed it from the looks on the faces and the silence of the men who followed her. “Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Nicko shook his head. “I don’t know, but this does feel a bit weird,”

Calvin nodded. “Looks like we were just shocked,”

“It seems we all have the same thought,” Ian muttered with a glance at the group of girls who were watching them.

“Their stares and muttering mouths give me goosebumps,” Martin said while rubbing his arms.

Nicko chuckled. “Maybe, that’s what girls feel when they walk past a group of men. The difference is, they used to experience Catcalling. I think this is a feeling of being intimidated,” (Catcalling is a form of verbal abuse in a public space. The perpetrator calls, whistles, and teases with words to someone who passes her/his eyes. Usually experienced by women.)

“We feel that way because we have no malice here. We are not men with bad thoughts and loser brains who feel that we are above women and feel that everything we do is right.” Ian replied.

Imperceptibly, they arrived at the fourth floor which was a large room for gathering. Usually, all of Black Swan’s core team held meetings there. The floor was very spacious because it had no room. It also had lots of pretty and cute furniture.

The six men stood awkwardly at the top of the stairs. They found quite many girls that most of them they knew before. There, all of The Black Swan’s core team gathered.

“Let’s talk there,” Emma pointed at a table surrounded by several brightly coloured couches and bean bags.

“Oh, you guys finally come,” Poppy greeted with a cup in her hand. She stepped from the small kitchen on the other side of the room.

“Hey,” Nicko greeted.

“Sorry if it’s a bit messy,” Poppy said while picking up some cushions that were lying on the carpet and putting them back on the couch.

“Not to worry, Poppy. Their place is messier than this.” Emma chuckled a little.

Troy looked at Emma sarcastically. “We’re boys. Thanks for the compliment.”

Emma continued her chuckle. “Well, please sit down.”

Then the men sat down on the couches circling the coffee table. Some sat on the soft pink fur rug that lay in the middle.

“Now that Jita Kyoei is here, let’s discuss the next matter,” Emma said to her female friends who were scattered with their own busy lives.

One by one, the girls sat there. All of Jita Kyoei’s men, except for Ian and Nicko, become tense because it was not usual for them to hang out with women. In fact, Troy once said that he was allergic to girls, therefore, he had to make sure that his male friends sat on his left and right.

“Oh, hi,” Nicko smiled awkwardly when Britney sat beside him. The girl also looked awkward. The two of them tried to cover it up so the others wouldn’t notice.

“So, since we have defeated Dragger, that means Jen Marrie is ours, right?” Emma asked to start the conversation.

“It’s supposed to be like that. But I have a feeling they’re going to cheat. There’s no way they’d just give up the money field,” Ian answered.

“Behind Dragger is a group called Black Hole. Reportedly, it’s many times stronger than Dragger. Black Hole is the head of the four big groups: Hell Gate, RJC, Beast Empire, and Dragger.” Troy added.

Emma nodded. “But we managed to take down all the five groups, didn’t we? If Dragger hadn’t cheated in that battle earlier, we should have been able to defeat them even more easily.”

“Emma, ??just now, Dragger pulled all of the Beast Empire’s men into their possession. From there, we could already feel how hard it was to wipe them all out. Now, we can imagine how all the men we faced earlier will join the Black Hole group.” Calvin explained slowly.

“I see. Then, in that war, did you deploy all your men?” She asked.