Chapter 25

"I'll see you all next week, same time! Stay safe and try not to die!"

Haruki Feliano waves at the webcam, before cutting the live stream off.

"What's for dinner?"

He turns to his cousin, Milette, who stood in the doorway, her arms crossed.

"When did you get here?" the young man asks, putting his headphones on his desk.

"About thirty minutes ago, but you were too busy yelling at the zombies on your computer to even know I entered the house." Milette replies, rolling her eyes.

Shrugging, the 23 year-old man quickly orders a pizza, before putting his phone down.

"Well, being a full-time gamer is very hard work. Anyway, find anything new lately?"

Milette nods and sits down in her cousin's hanging chair.

"Khristina-Bella isn't staying with either of her brothers anymore. She's staying with a detective."

Taking a sip of his root beer, Haruki raises a brow.

"Who is he? What does he look like?"

"Kazimir Cizetto. Fair skin. Red eyes. White hair. Lean build. Tall." Milette replies, turning on the young man's T.V. "Quite attractive, if I do say so myself."

"Red eyes and white hair? Wait a second, that was the same man who came here around two weeks ago with his bastard of a partner to interrogate me!"

Haruki slams his fist on his desk, causing Milette to jump.

He slowly begins to laugh and walks over to his bookcase, reaching for a drone that sat on the top shelf.

Inserting three batteries, the young man presses the "on" button and the machine starts to make a whirring noise.

He smiles and begins to fly it around his room.

"Are you positive this is going to work?" Milette asks, switching through the T.V. channels. "I mean, you saw what happened to Ian and Roger."

Haruki sighs and jumps on his bed.

"Milette, that was just a coincidence. Felker and Brookstone already had half the citizens in this city against them. You can't possibly think Alexei had something to do with their deaths, do you?"

She shrugs.

"I don't know, but it's just weird how a week after Amir was murdered, Ian and Roger were found dead, too."

Haruki sighs.

"Like I said, it's a coincidence. Nothing to stress over."

He lands the drone back on top of the bookshelf and smirks, cupping both of his hands over his mouth.

"Well, detective Kazimir Cizetto. Looks like it's your go now."

--- 11:38 P.M. ---

"Mr. Kazimir!"

The young detective yawns and turns to his left, seeing Khristina with a worried expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Khristina?"

He sits up and she screams, tears falling down her face.

"Khristina, what's-

A loud gunshot rings through the room and the young man clutches his chest in pain.

Kazimir falls from the sofa and onto the floor, watching as Khristina was quickly taken away by an unknown man.

"MR. KAZIMIR! PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE!"

Taking a deep breath, the young detective sits up, clutching his heart and looks over at his clock which read 12:23 A.M.

He quickly gets off of the small sofa and runs down the hall to his former room, which was now Khristina's for the time being.

Opening the door, he sighs in relief as the small girl happily slept safe and sound in her bed.

"It was just a damn nightmare."

Closing the door, Kazimir goes back to his place on the sofa to sleep, before being awoken by his alarm six hours later.

"Good morning, Mr. Kazimir!"

The young detective looks up from his pillow and yawns, resting his chin on the armrest.

"Good morning, Khristina." he says, as the young girl hugs his head.

"Can we have cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate for breakfast since it's snowing outside?"

Kazimir smiles and nods, lifting his chin from the sofa's armrest.

"Of course."

The two quickly brush their teeth and get ready for the day, before heading out to buy the items.

"I'll just get us a taxi, it won't-

"No, Mr. Kazimir! Let's walk!" Khristina interrupts, spinning around in the ankle-deep snow.

The young detective sighs.

"Khristina, it's a bit cold out for walking."

She shakes her head and frowns.

"But then we can't talk to each other about who likes who at each of our jobs 'cause the driver might be listening! And besides, it's fun walking along with you, Mr. Kazimir!"

Kazimir chuckles and nods.

"Alright. We can walk."

Taking her hand, Kazimir leads Khristina to the store, the energetic girl hopping every step of the way in place of walking.

Suddenly, she gasps and the young man looks down at her as she points to something.

"Look, Mr. Kazimir! A small spiky ball!"

He watches as Khristina runs over to it, before lightly gasping.

"Wait, Khristina! Don't touch that!"

He runs over and the girl stops herself from picking it up.

With his gloves, Kazimir picks up the small thing and shakes his head.

"This isn't a ball, it's a hedgehog. I think it's hibernating since he's still warm."

Khristina's eyes widen and she smiles.

"Can we keep it?!"

The young man shakes his head.

"I'm afraid not, Khristina. It's better to keep him out here in his natural habitat."

The small girl quickly frowns.

"But how'd he end up on the sidewalk? The sidewalk isn't his natural habitat!"

Kazimir sighs and nods.

"I guess you're right. Maybe keeping him with us until the winter months end couldn't hurt."

Khristina smiles and clasps her hands together as the young man puts the small animal in his coat pocket.

Continuing on, the two walk into a grocery store and Kazimir looks around, taking his gloves off.

"Hmm, where's the snack aisle again?"

"It's over here!" Khristina replies, running into the large aisle. "Look, Mr. Kazimir! They have chocolate chip cookies, donuts, cake pops, cherry-

She bumps into someone and turns around, a taller male looking down at her.

"Hello there." he says with a smile.

The little girl points up at his eyes.

"Are you a prince like Mr. Kazimir? Your eyes are really pretty, Mr.! It's like the seaside! But why do they look like that?"

The man chuckles and squats down to Khristina's height.

"Well, I have a condition called leukocoria in which my pupils are white instead of black like the majority of Earth's population."

Khristina smiles.

"Is that why you wear glasses? My oldest brother wears glasses, but he just does it for the style. Please don't tell him I told you 'cause then he'll get mad at me!"

He softly laughs and nods.

"Yes, that's why I wear glasses. And you don't have to worry about me telling your brother that you said his glasses were just for being stylish."

Making his way over to the young girl, Kazimir picks her up.

"Good morning, Caio. How's Nia?"

"She's doing well as of now." the older male replies, smiling. "I practically had to beg her to take another day off."

Kazimir watches as Caio grabs a package of chocolate pretzel sticks from the shelf.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to her. See you in a few, Mr. Cizetto."

He walks out of the aisle and Khristina reaches for a box of cinnamon rolls, accidentally hitting Kazimir in the temple.

"Sorry, Mr. Kazimir!" she says. "Would you like a kiss to make your boo boo feel better?"

He smiles and shakes his head.

"No thank you, Khristina, I'm fine."

"Does the Caio man like the Nia lady?" the young girl asks, as Kazimir grabs a box of hot chocolate packets.

The young detective nods.

"Yeah, he's made it known a couple of times."

"Is she pretty, Mr. Kazimir?" Khristina asks, as the two make their way over to the check-out.

"Yes, she's a beautiful lady."

Khristina sighs as the young man swipes his card.

"Mr. Kazimir?"

"Yeah, Khristina?" He replies, grabbing the bag from off of the counter.

"Am I a beautiful lady?"

Walking out of the store's exit doors, Kazimir smiles and nods, gently pinching the girl's nose.

"Yes, Khristina. You're a beautiful little princess."

The young girl frowns.

"But I'd feel more beautiful if I could wear hair ex-expensions and make-up." she replies, stumbling over the mispronounced word.

The young man frowns and raises a brow.

"Khristina, you're 6 years old. That's way too young to wear hair extensions and use make-up."

She shakes her head.

"No it's not 'cause most of the other girls wear it and they're the same age as me or even just 5 years old!"

"That sounds like they're being conditioned into that and are forced to be happy." he replies, as the two enter the apartment complex. "Little girls like you should just worry about playing outside or with toys."

Khristina shakes her head.

"No, Mr. Kazimir! It's good to be busy! The other kids always tell Laurenté that they have a very tight schedule and that none of us have any time for homework."

Kazimir sighs, as he unlocks his front door. Turning the light on, he puts Khristina down where she hops onto to the sofa.

"Most of the other kids are only busy playing dress-up, video games, eating, and sleeping. Only a few are probably helping with the household. And besides, who the hell is Laurenté?"

The young girl smiles as Kazimir hands her a cinnamon roll.

"My cousin Laurenté! He's my teacher and all the girls say they're going to marry him in the future! Except for me 'cause that's weird!"

He squats down in front of Khristina who happily eats her cinnamon roll.

"Khristina, I want to tell you something. If I had a daughter, it'd make me sad how society is pressuring her how to feel. Now, you like to wear pretty dresses and large bows, correct?"

She nods.

"Then that's final. You shouldn't let others pressure you into doing something you're not seemingly comfortable with. It's very rare to be unique, especially during this century where no one can actually come up with a style of their own."

Khristina giggles.

"Mr. Kazimir, that's not nice!"

"Well, Khristina it's the truth and the truth can hurt sometimes. You're a beautiful little girl just the way you are and you don't need another person's validation to confirm that."

Khristina shyly smiles, looking down at her feet.

"Thank you, Mr. Kazimir."

"It's no problem, Khristina." he replies, standing up. "Now, how about we start making our hot chocolate?"