Riley Ross-Chapter 66: A Sudden ‘Uh Oh’ Development With An Otherwise Casual End Of the Day

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: A Sudden ‘Uh Oh’ Development With An Otherwise Casual End Of the Day

"I have killed a few people, and Tomoe knows it."

Once again, Riley was the one who had shut everyone up into complete silence. All of them were already shocked by Gracey’s revelation, and they thought no one would be able to top that—but here he was again, revealing such a thing so casually.

But of course, no one really took it seriously.

"I-I didn’t know you could joke like that," Bella awkwardly chuckled as she looked at the rest of the group, "What—what are you gonna say next, that you... that you actually killed Steph?"

"Y—"

"He meant in video games!"

Tomoe couldn’t take it anymore. She shot up from her seat, cutting Riley off before he could finish the word.

How could she not, when she was sure that Riley was about to say ’yes’ to Bella’s question?

"He meant in... video games," she said again, fumbling into her bag and pulling out a handheld console. "We... we actually met on the subway the other day. I was playing a game, and he got curious, so I let him try it."

"That’s... how the two of you actually met?" Victoria blinked a couple of times as she looked at Riley.

"Wait a minute," Hannah narrowed her eyes, "Was that why you took so long that we almost missed the train?!"

Riley stared at his sister for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "No."

"Ack..." Hannah sighed and covered her face, "...And when I asked you to play Monster Hunter with me, you said you didn’t want to!"

"That was too violent for me, Sister," Riley sighed.

"Enough, enough about that!" Bella waved her arms wildly, "That’s your secret?! Give us something more juicy!"

"I like my steak medium rare, Bella."

"You—your brother’s a lost cause," Bella loudly sighed as she shook her head at Hannah.

"He... is not really one to keep secrets," Hannah also sighed, "Just ask him anything and he’ll tell it to you."

"You mean... he doesn’t lie?"

"Oh, he can," Hannah smirked, "He just finds it... extremely uncomfortable."

"Huh... that’s boring," Gracey waved her off. But after a few seconds, a grin also crept onto her face, "Then since you don’t have any juicy secrets. Then... out of all of them—who do you have a crush on?"

"Crush on?" Riley tilted his head. "I do not know what that is."

"I mean, who do you like?"

And as Gracey said that, Victoria slightly flinched and quickly stared at Riley again. And subtly, she glanced at Tomoe and Pauline.

"I like Sister the most."

"Aside from Hannah, obviously!"

"Then..." Riley looked at everyone in the room, taking a few long seconds. Finally, he lowered his gaze. "...I do believe I like Victoria the most."

"Ooh!" Gracey opened her arms wide, falling onto the others as she raised her voice and almost sang there and then, "Tell us why! Why?!"

"Guys..." Hannah rolled her eyes, "Just... leave my brother alone. He’s like twelve."

"Victoria’s also twelve, I don’t see the issue in that," Bella added.

"Yeah, and you’re also making her uncomfortable, look," Hannah sighed as she glanced at Victoria, only to see her once again holding her flushed cheeks.

"Fine, fine," Gracey relented, pursing her lips and waving her hand, "Who are you choosing to go next, our young Anakin?"

Riley didn’t point at anyone, but since his gaze was still lingering somewhere around Victoria’s shoulder, the group just silently agreed—it was her turn.

So, Riley quietly rejoined the others in the pit as Victoria stood up and made her way to the center.

"So..." she exhaled, brushing a bit of green hair behind her ear before glancing at Hannah, "...Riley already knows this, but I actually know Bernard personally."

"Oh?" Hannah raised an eyebrow, her interest clearly piqued.

Victoria hesitated for a second, then started to unbutton the collar of her shirt. Before anyone could react violently, a green pendant was revealed just above her chest.

"He helped develop this," she said. "A-Along with Whiteking, of course."

"...That’s the T-virus P30!" Gracey gasped, pointing at the pendant.

"I have no idea what that is," Victoria sighed as she buttoned up again, "But this device—it helps me limit and control my powers. I’m guessing you have something similar?"

"Sure," Hannah shrugged nonchalantly, brushing it off.

"And... yeah. I guess that’s my secret." Victoria gave a soft, sheepish smile as she returned to the group, sitting back down next to Riley. She glanced at him a few times before leaning in and whispering,

"I made sure not to slip and mention Bernard and Whiteking are the same person."

Riley gave her a small, approving nod.

"Alright then, that leaves the last one and the absolute newest member of the group." Bella stood up and pointed both her fingers at Tomoe, "You’re a really, really quiet individual—so, I’m really curious about what sort of secrets you hold."

And to everyone’s surprise, Tomoe actually stood up without any hesitation or complaints at all—her face, back to its usual robotic state. And without even batting an eye,

"I hate Megawoman," she declared. She seemed to want to say something else, but just chose to end it there and return to her seat. It all happened so fast that no one really had the chance to follow up with a question. Well, except for Gracey.

"Why... do you hate her?"

Tomoe looked down, her eyes shadowed. "Because she quit," she said quietly. "She quit when I—when people still needed her."

That silenced everyone again. Some wanted to respond, to defend Megawoman, but they stopped themselves. They remembered the scars on Tomoe’s arms.

And besides... most of them were just toddlers when Megawoman disappeared.

Fortunately, the weight of her words didn’t linger too long. A soft knock on the glass broke the silence—Diana stepped out and waved.

"Do you all want to eat before heading home? I ordered fries and burgers this time."

"Pizza... and now fries and burgers?!" Gracey shot up from the couch, her eyes wide. "Can... can you adopt me?!"

***

The rest of the Baby Crew spent another hour at the Ross residence before finally heading home. Since it was late, Hannah and Riley personally flew each of them home with the jet, landing discreetly a few yards from each house to avoid waking the neighbors.

"It’s fine—I can walk by myself from here."

"Nope. No, can do."

And when it was Tomoe’s turn, she immediately refused to be walked by Riley and Hannah.

"We walked the others, we’ll walk you to your door too," Hannah insisted, shaking her head at her, "It’s not safe."

"No," Tomoe also shook her head. "I’m fine on my own. It’s just a few houses down, and we’re in a gated subdivision."

"...Then at least take Riley," Hannah said, nudging her brother forward. Riley didn’t wait for Tomoe to agree—he simply stepped off the jet and began walking ahead of her.

Tomoe stood at the top of the stairs, watching him go. And after a moment, she sighed.

"It’s the other way."

"Oh," Riley halted in his steps, turned around, and followed as Tomoe led the way. Hannah just let out an awkward chuckle and stepped back into the jet.

Tomoe wasn’t lying; the house really was just a few blocks away. It stood out among the others: larger, newer, and clearly more expensive... yet the yard was overgrown, the grass climbing nearly to their knees.

But what stood out most was the fact that Tomoe had to ring the doorbell.

"You don’t have a key, Tomoe?" Riley asked, tilting his head.

"...No," she said softly.

"Interesting."

She glanced at him briefly, about to explain. "Yes. They don’t let me—"

And before Tomoe could finish her words, the door suddenly opened—and without warning, a hand lashed out and slapped Tomoe hard across the face.

"Khh!" And it was hard enough that it caused her to tumble back and fall onto her butt.

"Ima nanji da to omotteru no!?" A woman stormed out of the house, screaming at her in Japanese. "Ne, nanji da to omotten no!? Yoku mo kaette koreta wa ne!"

Before Tomoe could recover, the woman grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet.

"Nnh..." Tomoe winced, silent despite the tears in her eyes. She didn’t scream—she didn’t even speak. She just looked at Riley.

And that’s when the woman finally noticed him.

The woman quickly let go of Tomoe, her eyes locking onto Riley.

"W-who... are you?"

Riley stared at her shoulder first, then bowed his head and spoke clearly and fluently.

"Hajimemashite, watakushi wa Rairi Rosu to moshimasu. Tomoe-san no kurasumeito de gozaimasu."

The woman froze. The precision and fluency of his Japanese caught her completely off guard. Before she could respond, Riley straightened and continued,

"Okyakusama no mae de sono yo na koto o suru no wa, isasaka burei de wa arimasen ka."

"Ex...cuse me?" Her face twitched as she looked him up and down. "E-Erik! Come out here for a moment!"

"R-Riley..." Tomoe stepped close to him, her voice urgent and low. "Please, you need to go. I’ll be fine."

"Okay."

And without even saying another word, Riley only shrugged and started walking away, not even looking back.

"What’s going on? What the—who’s that?!" He didn’t even look back at all when another voice entered the fray, and this voice was getting closer and closer to him.

"Hey, bud! Who do you think you are to just—"

The man then grabbed Riley by the shoulder. And, well...

...that was a very, very big mistake.

"Ar—!"

The man tried to scream, but Riley turned around and immediately clamped a hand over his mouth. And how could the man not scream—when his hand was suddenly crushed in on itself like crumpled paper?

Riley blinked calmly as the man fell to the ground, groaning in pain. He then turned to the woman, whose face had gone completely pale.

Then he looked at Tomoe and whispered,

"Uh oh."

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