Chapter Twenty-Seven: Life in Jail I

Hayley's POV

"Oi, oun-na. (Not sure for the right term but it is woman in Japanese)" I was stopped in my tracks as a woman, older than me, pulled my collar to make me turn at her, making the food in my tray fell down the floor.

I looked down at my food, not glancing once to the older woman. She looks like the age of her late thirties with a good build and funny face. Her red hair tied as an embroidery of many tentacles as it keeps on poking randomly from her scalp.

"What a waste," I said.

"What?!"

I glanced at her. "I said it's a waste," I repeated, making her face scrunched.

"You..." Her hand-formed into a fist and was about to plunge it on me when a strike of straight light came, and in less than a second, my feet were been kissed to the ground, and the older woman pooled with blood.

I glanced at the direction where the bullet was and saw a man walking towards the crime scene with a gun in hand.

His hair was white, spiky as it seems. His gun was an ordinary Caliber-45.

As he stopped by my front, he looked at me and smirk. "Yo, Hayley-kun."

I closed my eyes and let out a sigh. "You shouldn't have done that," I said and turned my back to him, taking the messed-up tray and picking up the waste food.

"Oh, come on, Hayley-kun. I just helped you out in a trouble."

I glanced at him and gave him a glare. "Tomaki Serio-san, you are giving yourself much more burden to your crimes." My eyes turned into slits. "I can do it myself alone when it comes to the physical battle. You shouldn't have done what you did today."

He sighed heavily. "Mou, mou, Hayley-kun. Aren't you going to be nice to me? I just helped you and your comment was too intensely cruel."

I stood up before looking at him. "And so what, Tomaki Serio-san? You are just my roommate in jail, nothing more in our relationship than rotten criminals."

Yes, I met him for the first day in jail. Tomaki Serio's his name, a professional targeter with an incredible skill for illegal things. Jail Status: Forever been jailed; Crimes: Too many to count; Years: 20 years since his childhood.

The ruckus keeps on following me until I came to the main small cafeteria of the jail. Once I finished eating, I go out of the stinky cafeteria.

It has been two weeks since I was caught by the police with my other subordinates, including my parents but Mom got free when the evidence is lacking for her.

Well, Mom isn't an ordinary criminal. You don't know if she's on your team or a foe.

I can't control her but her words stuck in my mind. It has been bugging me ever since, especially about love.

"Hayley, someday, you'll understand what's important and what purpose do we have aside from those feelings you have for him."

"Is your feelings for Dad the same as I feel right now, Mom?"

"W-What?"

"Is it the same feelings, Mom? I mean, those feelings couldn't be just for business matters, right? I mean, you're both in the same team and you fight as a team."

"Oh, dear. You'll never understand my feelings for your dad."

"Huh?"

"For now, focus on our purpose. Someday, you'll understand what I mean."

"Focus on what I...want?" I sighed as I go back to my room—or more specifically, my cell, and plopped down the dirty, old cranky bed.

"Woi, woi, ojou-san. Why are you gloimmy there, hmph?" I looked up and saw Tomaki Serio leaning in the doorway.

"Did you follow me again?" I asked him and stood up, facing him. "I told you! I don't need entertainers!"

"Calm down, dude. I was just asking as a friend," he said with a wide smirk on his lips.

I clicked my tongue and plopped down the bed again. "So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked him as I crossed my arms. "You're not bothering me when you have no intentions. What is it?"

"Your mother, Vermouth, asked me to send an important hint to where she is right now and also, an information on how could you escape this cellar without any complications."

My eyes widened and looked at him. "Really? How?"

"Woi, woi, ojou-san. Let me finish first, will you?" he said teasingly and cleared his throat. "There's a condition to make the plan work out as planned."

"What is it?"

He smirked. "Three days," he replied.

"What?!"

"I'l give you three days to found out what is behind the message I'll give to you and we could get out of jail for as long as you want."

"We? I thought it was just only for me?"

"That's wrong, ojou-san." He clicked his tongue numerous times. "You don't read between the lines, do you?" He puts the caliber back to his pouch and crossed his arms. "The plan would only succeed when one of the trusted people of your group leads the jailed Princess out of the Dragon's Cellar, meaning I'll be your knight-in-shining armor slash assistant as you escaped the jail, with the condition that I must stay alive and also escaped the jail with you, deary."

"Who cares about the condition?! I'll do anything to escape this jail. Now, give me the message, bastard!"

He sighed. "Fine, fine. As the princess wishes," he said and looked straight in the eyes. "The message was forth being like this, 'Still, thou not there, seek the path where the stones crumble and the dirt gets old; Through the next path it takes to lead the Princess in the Land of Spices and the Pirate's Lair'."

"Huh?" I frowned, tilting my head to the process as I recall what he said to my brain. "I understand the first sentence, but the second one seems to be a little bit complicated."

"Well, it seems that your mother doesn't want us to know where the crafts so easily. We need to find it in our own."

I sighed as I looked to the outside world through the cracks of the concrete. The crescent moon is peeking out of the darkness.

What I want... Huh?