To Live Again, For the First Time!

Giovanni's eyes widened like saucers.

He was being overpowered.

His insight told him in mere instances that this was not the same person as the previous kid, likely to be the other kid's teacher or something.

But at the same time, Master Giovanni questioned that claim in his mind.

There were too many things out of place.

If that kid had such a powerful teacher, why would he still be so inexperienced? (Mainly because Theodore doesn't often go looking for trouble.)

Not to mention, though there were some semblances to their two styles, it was a little too much to say that a teacher and a student could have styles that were not even overlapping by 20%.

When fighting with the first person, Giovanni felt like he was fighting with a little lion cub.

The instincts were on point, his genetics gave him a strong foundation, but he was still, just a cub. 

Undeveloped, inexperienced, but with great potential to become the king of his territory.

As for the second person, he was much like a trained assassin.

Silent and deadly.

At times Giovanni felt like there was a knife to his wrists as his hands staggered for a second at the person's unperceivable movements.

They could be partners, but it was also rather unlikely that two people with such disproportionate skills would work together.

That led Master Giovanni to another point.

No matter what their relationship may be, it would now be at least 10 times harder to recruit the kid.

He sighed in despondency as he really had no right to be worrying about such things right now, there were clearly much more pressing matters at hand.

His typing sounds had become much louder, his fingers subconsciously tapping harder on the keys in a panic.

Thankfully his years of experience allowed him to calm down much faster than many others who faced off against those much stronger than themselves.

He had one major advantage in this fight.

Since he was attacked first, in truth, just defending himself would be counted as a win, meaning that both a tie and a win from his side were really in fact his win, while the opponent would have to really defeat him, wholly and completely, to reach his goal of obtaining Margo's information.

But such hope-filled thoughts did not last very long.

Master Giovanni didn't smash his mouse in frustration nor did he hit things in rage.

He just sighed.

He lost.

Completely lost.

He hadn't even lasted over 20 minutes, and worse of all, he had to be told by the opponent that he had lost.

In fact, if his opponent hadn't told him, he would still be going around in circles, thinking he was using his current to stop the other.

It was like lake water, thinking it was moving around when in reality, nothing was moving according to its will.

Giovanni felt quite presumptuous.

He was reminded of the two adjectives that he himself had thought of earlier.

It was both sad and satisfying how accurate those two adjectives were.

Silent and deadly.

2 minutes ago:

On Master Giovanni's screen, a line of text popped up along with a mechanical voice that read those very same words, as if worried that he could not read.

[I have no ill intentions, do not worry. I just checked the files just now, since we have not really crossed paths and our work does not butt heads, shall we part ways here without grudges?]

"..."

"..."

"..."

No one in the room dared say a word as the animals of the zoo looked, pretending to have heard nothing, lowering their presence to a minimum.

In their heads, they all thought: 'TWO is really being a little too overbearing!!!'

There were just too many things wrong with those two sentences.

'No ill intentions? Then why the fuck are you here! Because you were bored and have nothing better to do?'

To be fair, Master Giovanni was also clear that even if the other side had ill intentions, he probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

But what if this person was only saying that they had no ill intentions to lower his guard?

But then again, what for?

No matter how bored the other person was... it wouldn't be to this degree, right?

Master Giovanni ended up determining that they probably really didn't have any malicious intent, or at least there wouldn't be enough to make an enemy out of their family.

Now the second point.

'If our paths don't cross, why are you hacking us and reading our files?'

Giovanni had no clue how to approach this point as of this moment.

He would have to collect more information later.

In order to confirm, he would have to ask his younger brothers as well as his niece whether they had done anything that would warrant such an attack.

Though it was clear that the matter probably wasn't that big of a deal, at least for the other side.

This could be seen from how the opponent had sent out the weaker hacker of the two to start out the attack.

Allowing them to be caught in the act.

Giovanni was sure that if it were the second hacker, they could have come and gone, and chances were, Master Giovanni wouldn't have even known.

At this point, Master Giovanni felt like his title of Master was almost mocking him.

And this got him to his third point.

'You've pretty much just trampled on my pride, yet you want to part without grudges?'

This was a little excessive.

Truly a little excessive.

Giovanni had to bite the bullet. 

Master Giovanni also realized that even if he had grudges, so what?

What could he do about it as of right now? Nothing.

He didn't know whether the other person was really mocking him or not, but he sure felt like they were.

Though Emilin wouldn't know this due to her lack of interactions with outsiders, as for her family, of course, they would still have times where they would play around with each other, but was there even such a thing as serious grudges?

Well, maybe a little, but they were all grudges settled in a playful scenario rather than a business, serious one.

And even then, just how hard-handed could this family possibly be towards their little princess?

It was already a miracle that she wasn't spoiled to the core! 

And this was mainly because she knew of the pains of suffering, she knew how to be grateful, and she knew that what she had was not because of how amazing she was, but rather how lucky she was to be born with a kind family.

Still, being spoiled for years had its effects.

It made Emilin a little willful at times, doing whatever she liked and then leaving a mess behind without even realizing that she may have done something wrong.

In fact, that was the case with many of her businesses, but seeing as those earned her money, she was a little more gentle when settling them.

Even when she lost interest, there would still be someone taking care of things since Emilin couldn't really just abandon this source of income.

Or else, it was very likely that Emilin would make a name for herself and then throw that gig away leaving all her customers baffled to no ends.

Then again, the only reason Emilin could do this was the fact that there were people who wanted to work for her, people who would do anything to keep up production, people who wanted to earn money, and people who were willing to wait in line even if their number was in the thousands.

Though the scenario had changed, the situation was really no different.

Master Giovanni had to give this other person face, and so he could only swallow his grievances.

He also didn't need to question whether the other person was trying to bluff him, wondering if they really had access to his files.

Though Master Giovanni couldn't find any traces, the very fact that they could display text on his computer showed how his system had been hacked into.

What was more, it was even scarier that he couldn't find any traces, meaning the other person was on another level.

At this point, he had already pretty much given up on the idea of getting the little cub to be his disciple.

He felt unqualified.

It was then, another text popped up along with its corresponding mechanical-sounding audio.

[If you don't mind, could I ask you for a favor too? Would you consider teaching TWO? He too is a hacker, the one that went up against you in the very beginning.]

The mechanical voice clarified to this person.

Knowing that he (Master Giovanni) was an expert, Emilin was sure he would understand what she meant, also being sure that he could differentiate between herself and her brother.

Master Giovanni's first thoughts were… 'THIS PERSON IS BEING ABSURDLY UNREASONABLE!'

'You mock me in front of my students and then you still have the face & guts to ask me to do you a favor?!'

Half a minute later after he cooled down… 'Oh wait, wasn't this what I wanted?'

And it was even better since the other side was the one to make the proposition first. He could. Even make his own demands, those were obvious.

He had to get the cub to be his real disciple!

As for Master Giovanni's real disciples, they weren't nearly as excited as he was...

***

I'm sorry I have to do this to you but skip this part if you don't want to hear the worse realization ever... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

SERIOUSLY, BE WARNED!!!!!!!!!

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You know, assassins are just like farts.

If they're silent, then they are deadly, and if they are loud then they are not.