TBBD

The media (if u can see it) is sth I drew of Baba since I gotta share the love ;)

If u can't see it go to mah ABOUT ME book on the drawing-Baba entry

Miki's PoV

When I woke up again, I was lying on a cold, hard metal surface. My surroundings were pitch dark. I felt something restraining my wrists.

My eyes widened when I realized they were hand cuffs. When's the last time I've worn these...?

Distant noises could be heard, when suddenly a bright light shone on me. I squeezed my eyes shut.

"A young, healthy Japanese girl!" a loud voice rang through speakers. The only thing I could see was the light shining on me, because of that, I can't see anything else around.

"We'll start the biddings at 10 million!" someone, whom I assumed was the auctioneer, announced. Ten million...er...am I being replaced as a sales object?! Just because I stole a 20-million worth gem? Not worth it...this is so not worth it....

"12 million from #39!"

I didn't thought they'd go as far as human trafficking!

"15 million from #5!"

Hold up, what might my future be...if some greasy old pervert bought me?!

"16 million from #81! Going once!"

Memories of the stories mom had always told me since small started coming back. Let's see...an innocent woman accidentally got put up for black market auction, she was really scared when a bidder of #100 bought her, but as time went on, they fell in love.

Something about that bidder being her true prince in shining armor?

"25 million from #100! Going once, going twice!"

One hundred....

"Sold! To seat number one hundred for twenty-five million yen!"

Pretty soon, the curtains closed in front of me. And the cage I was in was pulled back stage.

"Hey. Come with us." I look up to a man wearing a mask speaking to me. My hand subconsciously patted my side, and realize that the gem was still there. One of the two masked men must've noticed this gesture, he stared at where I patted for some time.

The two of them led me up the hotel until the fifty-first floor. A door opened revealing a very luxurious penthouse lounge with two other scary-looking guys inside, sitting on the sofas.

My eyebrows lowered down and my lips were pressed into a thin line. I've been to many black markets, but this one was the first that I've actually been caught, not to mention actually sold.

"We bought you." The man whom I recognized as the world-famous business man, Eisuke Ichinomiya, said with a cold stare.

"Hm, seems so." I hum and gave a nervous small smile, while my head spun rapidly to think of some sort of plan.

"Huh, I really expected you to say things like 'this is illegal! I'm gonna call the cops!'." Someone said from behind me, the masked man took off his mask. I recognize him as the artist who was literally on the cover of every magazine, Ota Kisaki.

I smiled at him too. I can't call the cops because they'll surely send someone I know here. Illegal? Don't make me laugh.

"You're quite the quiet one, aren't you?" the other masked man takes off his mask as well. Okay, now this guy looks familiar in a whole other level. I didn't really pay attention from when I first met him, but now I have a clear view of his face.

"Hey...aren't you the so-called modern day Lupin?" I point out, "Ayase always talks about you, Mitsunari Baba, right?"

"You know Aya?! Wait...you know me?!" he nearly jumped back a step.

"Mm...met him a couple of times."

"So you're that girl he's fuming all day about?" came a low voice saying lazily at the corner of the room. I tilt my head a little to look past Ota, there was Detective Mamoru Kishi, smoking on a cigarette.

"Oh hey! Nice to see you, Mamo!" I put up a hand in a small wave, which he didn't return and just didn't do anything.

"Hold on...slow down, what's happening here?" I set my eyes on whoever questioned that, and almost flinched when I saw the guy with the much more intimidating aura than Ichinomiya sitting at the side couch with his arms crossed.

"She's a thief, Soryu." Mamoru said lazily.

"What?!" Ota exclaimed and stared at me, though he just showed curiosity and shock, nothing else.

I did a little curtsy before saying: "I'm Miki."

"You don't seem bothered by it at all." Ota remarked. I shrugged, causing my shoulders to shift my jacket up then down. I sense someone frown.

Before I know it, an agile hand slipped into my jacket, even its inner pocket and snatched the gem out.

I cursed under my breath as Baba examined the crystal in his hand, then his eyes widened: "you were the one who stole this??"

All the others were visibly surprised as well while I say nothing. I need that gem no matter what.

"You really are a thief." Ota says, irritation was shown in his eyes. "I feel sorry for your mother, whoever she is." He stuck his tongue out at me. I felt myself face him fully and I was radiating anger for what he just said.

"But who knows? Maybe you'll steal something else one day." He smirks as he took my hand. This guy.... Slipping out of his grasp, I got a grip on his wrist and twisted it. Then, I raised my knee and kicked him where the sun don't shine.

"OWWWW Why did you do that..!" he says dramatically after falling sideways onto the ground.

"You deserve it for sexual harassment, Kisaki." Mamoru replied in his usual lazy tone of voice.

"Well at least she knows self-defence." Ichinomiya commented. I laughed at how nobody was worrying about Ota's current state on the floor.

"And um...I kinda, really need that." Back to business, I pointed hesitantly at the gem in Baba's hands.

"Oh? And why's that?" he asked, obviously not convinced.

I didn't like sharing my personal problems with other people because I didn't want to be viewed as 'different' in people's eyes before they even got to know me. I didn't want any 'sympathetic' gazes from them. But he wouldn't do anything unless I say it right now.

"My mother is in the hospital and I need thirty thousand dollars for the last week before her checkout." I say while looking right at him. He seems a little bit taken aback.

The room was silent other than Ota still whining on the ground, it took some time before Baba said: "Hmm, this gem is worth 20 million yen. That means you still have 5 million to pay back. You can talk about that after you've paid back the five million yen."

Though I half-expected it, I still couldn't believe he actually said that. Then I have less than a month to pay him back 5 million yen, then I'll need to find some other way to get thirty grands, fast. My fists were clenched when I agreed: "Fine."

"Great!" as if suddenly relaxed, his carefree persona came back, "you can call me Mich, Micchi, Mitsi, whatever you like!"

"Er...I think I'll stick to Baba, thank you very much." I reply with a hint of sarcasm. Something flashed through his eyes that I didn't have time to catch before he smiled again: "okay then! Follow me."

As I walked after him deeper into the penthouse, Ota was finally able to speak, he says out: "avenge me..!"

"Shut up, idiot." I heard someone say after him.

I observed the large, luxurious suite. When I looked at him again, the gem was nowhere to be seen. Either he hid it somewhere or just simply shoved it in a pocket.

He briefly showed me around, and the bedroom was the last one. I spot two beds neatly folded in the room.

"Ah sorry...there's only one bedroom." He said. I feel irritation rise in me. "But don't worry, I won't do anything...unless you want--"

I side kicked him in the shin before he could continue.

"OW! You're a feisty one, aren't you?" he chuckled a little while walking to the closet. At first, I spot varieties of costumes and clothes. Just like my closet. He needs a lot of disguises.

But then he took something and pointed it right at me. A-A gun?!

Under reflexes, I backed up a few steps. I-Is he going to kill me..? I bet someone rich like him can just cover a murder with no problem at all.

*bang*

I froze up until I saw the little flag that popped out of the gun instead of a bullet. Baba laughed as he withdrew the toy gun and waved the flag at me. Which printed 'gotcha'.

I sighed both in relief and in annoyance.

"Don't worry! I won't kill you after I've just spent twenty-five million on you." The look on his face was scary for a second before he tossed the toy gun back into the closet.

"Oh right, you said your mother was in the hospital, right?" he turned back to face me, "what about your father?"

"You tell me." I muttered. He took the hint quickly and changed the subject: "so...you have school tomorrow? You're in what grade?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm first year in university."

"So..." he counted down on his fingers, "you're about eighteen years old? Turning nineteen?"

"Actually I'm seventeen this year." I say nonchalantly since my birthday past several months ago this year. "I skipped a grade."

"So you're like a genius?!" he asked energetically as he took off his fedora hat and placed it on the coat hanger as well as his suit coat.

"No...just a workaholic."

"I see, well don't over work yourself." He says simply, "anyways I'm going to go change in the bathroom, and I'll call room service for extra clothes for you."

I nod back at him before he disappeared into the bathroom.

How exactly does he want me to 'repay' him?

I'll have to get up extra early tomorrow to go to my house and get my stuff for school.

Ugh, life problems.

Very soon, someone knocked at the door. A woman looking in her late twenties put a stack of clothes onto the bed and bowed before she left.

I quickly change into something comfortable for the night, then chose the bed near the windows. Pretty soon, sleep washed over me.

Baba's PoV

When I got out of the bathroom again, Miki was sound asleep in Arian's old bed.

I sigh a little as I got into bed myself. She speaks like Arian, this is gonna be hard for me.

And she's even got that little feisty attitude Arian has. I wonder if she knows her?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yush early update again~~

༒࿈a༙྇l༙྇s༙྇o༙྇, t༙྇h༙྇i༙྇s༙྇ f༙྇o༙྇n༙྇t༙྇ i༙྇s༙྇ c༙྇o༙྇o༙྇l༙྇ r༙྇i༙྇g༙྇h༙྇t༙྇?!࿈༒

Edited: July 16, 2016