She got away from him and walked towards the entrance of the house. She was looking at him with her cold gaze again. She didn’t know what to do about it anymore. There was no way to find out his secrets if she would be far away… right?

Kaito looked at her and saw she was upset again… He had to find a way to tell her the real reason behind his actions. Maybe Kanae and him thought it was not a good idea, but their reasons were completely different. And that’s why they disagreed with each other; well, Kaito made his intentions clear while Kanae only showed him she liked the idea of keeping her away…

He sighed. “Jia, I am not doing that to keep you away, okay… All I want is to help you train your powers. You have the energy, you have a lot of potential and I know it. I just want you to discover your hidden talents, okay? Here’s the thing, I am a very impatient person and I am very clumsy. I am not a good trainer… I need someone that is qualified to do this job in order to help you. As for Kanae… Yes, she is the one who wants you out of here.”

Jia closed her eyes. She inhaled deeply and held her breath for a few seconds. Then, she exhaled sharply and made a few steps closer to him.

“Fine, I get your point. You are reasonable this time. But your sister is a bitch. A fucking bitch.” she started.

“Language, little lady!” giggled Kaito. He let out a soft laugh before whispering: “Yes, she is a bitch. A bad one!”

They both laughed cutely. Jia couldn’t help but to jump in his arms and enjoy the warmth of his cuddles. They stayed there and did nothing, but then, Jia got a bit of an idea; Rather appetite.

“I’m hungry now…” she continued.

Kaito smiled at her. “Alright, why don’t we go to the fanciest restaurant in Skynet so you can enjoy a nice meal?” he suggested.

Jia agreed. Her eyes sparkled with joy at the idea. She jumped on him, hugging him. He lifted her up. He told her to close her eyes shut. He snapped his fingers and they teleported to the city of Skynet.

They were now walking down the crowded street and talking about food. Little Jia was very hungry. After all, she hadn’t eaten all day; it was late in the afternoon.

As they made their way to a restaurant, a strange silhouette appeared right in front of them. It was a tall man who had his body covered by a long cloak. When Jia’s eyes met his, a cold chill ran through her whole body. The evil smirk on his face and that spark of evil from his turquoise eyes made her want to run away in fear. Yet Kaito smiled at him and waved his hand in a friendly manner so as not to startle the little girl or make her feel intimidated by that mysterious man’s presence. The man approached them and leaned close to Kaito.

“Mister Skay is dead. You better do something about it, Vantablack. You don’t want his little daughter here to find out who did that, do you?” His voice was low and he had a bit of a hysteric tone. He giggled evilly and pat Kaito’s shoulder. “Oh, how should I call you now? Neo? Xen?” He was literally making fun of him, but he made it sound quite suspicious.

Little Jia just heard their whole conversation. Well, maybe that man spoke clearly enough for her to hear as well… She was shaking. The first question that came in her mind was what was Kaito’s real name. She felt like he was no longer someone she could trust that easily. The fact that he lied to her all that time made her feel strange, like she was finally experiencing betrayal; the betrayal of a very close friend… He was not ‘Kaito’. She began to think about the way Kanae called him that day- Neo. That man did too. Was he that Neo Vantablack guy…? Was he the Devil Killer her father was working for…?

Kaito narrowed his eyes and groaned in anger. He was trying to intimidate the other man, yet he was not able to succeed. That strange guy would just sit there, staring at Jia with a rude gaze. It was clear that he felt the same as Kanae about her. There was no difference in their eyes; that same spark of disgust as he was analyzing her.

Seeing the little girl was already beginning to feel bad again, Kaito pushed the man aside and walked away, dragging Jia by her hand. They stopped by at a small bar for a little break. He ordered a coffee and some hot chocolate for the kid. They sat at a small, round table and Jia began assaulting him with questions without a second thought:

“What was that man talking about? Who is he? What is his deal with my father?!” Again, it was not curiosity but rather the despair, that urge to know…

He sighed. He knew this was an unavoidable subject since that man managed to creep her out and now, all she needed were answers. Yet things were not as easy. The story behind every question was a complicated one and he couldn’t just tell everything to a seven years old girl… He could, but what would she understand? She was just a child…

“Listen, Jia, he’s a guy I am collaborating with… Apparently, your father got involved in the business and tried to help, but something came up… That disaster that occurred in your town… I was out there because I was asked to investigate. That’s when I found you…” He decided to give her quite a simple answer, yet very deep. Jia understood all of it now. Or so she believed… Her mind couldn’t wrap around the truth. The real truth. She was still too young to make sense of it. Because it would have all been obvious if she was a more careful analyzer. Well, that didn’t mean she was stupid, of course she managed to get at least the most insignificant detail out of it…

“That means… You are Vantablack…? That guy my father said he was working for…?” she muttered.

“Yes, that’s me.” He responded with a monotone voice.

He sighed. He could no longer hide that truth… Not from Jia. It wasn’t because he was afraid of her figuring out his ‘plan’, but because he didn’t want her to live in a total lie all her life. He was tired of her suspecting him for such little things like a name. After all, why did he even hide that in the first place? Why didn’t he tell her his real name from the very beginning? He couldn’t possibly expect her to run away from him even if he told her he was Vantablack, right? And then again, why exactly did he call himself Kaito? Jia found it cute since it was her father’s name. But she was unable to tell why he would call himself that. After all, he did just confess to her that Kaito Skay started working for him. It was clear that they knew each other… It didn’t matter to him as long as Jia didn’t realize. But now, it was different. He didn’t seem worried about her figuring him out… He was, in fact, going to tell her himself…

“My real name is Neko Vantablack. This is our little secret, alright?” he continued.

Jia was unable to respond. She was very shocked and her heartbeat accelerated. She was feeling mad, but at the same time, she appreciated his honesty. And now that she finally knew him and got to witness his pain, it seemed impossible for her to see him as a threat. He didn’t turn out to be as evil as she imagined he would be. He might have been suspicious about a lot of stuff like the raid against Xankaria, or now, but she couldn’t bring herself to hate him anymore. That was strange. As if there was something like a bond between them.

A few moments passed since she started overthinking, but she snapped back to reality when she heard him ordering for another coffee. She looked at him with that same innocent face. He smiled at her.

“Hey, actually, Neko sounds very cute… I am not mad at you… But everything just starts to scare me… Is there anything else about this situation…? Like anything you haven’t told me yet?”

“No, this is everything. Everything you should know. Umm… Now, why don’t we go eat something fancy, just as you like?”

Jia agreed and followed him all the way to that fancy restaurant.

It turned midnight when they arrived back to Neko’s mansion; they were caring a lot of shopping bags. He had taken her to the shopping center again because she ‘demanded’ him to repay her for hiding all that stuff from her; a compensation. He promised her that morning he’d make it up to her after all.

Jia was tired, but still able to smile big. She went to her room and took some of the bags with her. She bought lots of fit clothes and a lot of candy. Lastly, her favorite, the huge stuffed, white cat with big, pink eyes. That toy was almost two times bigger than her! She carefully placed it on the bed and jumped on it. She hugged it and rolled over, falling from the bed. She let out a huff of frustration. Then, Neko came in her room. He was wearing his pyjamas now… He looked so cute. That black shirt was quite large for him and he had a neon green cat pattern on it. As for the pants, they were short and also had neon green stripes on them.

Upon seeing him, Jia smiled.

“I absolutely love this cat! I will name her Neko-chan.” She giggled. She named it after him, finding that cute. She loved him as well, there was no doubt. She got up and hugged Neko. He lifted her up and sat on the bed. Jia was now on his lap, looking at the cat on his shirt. They both seemed to love cats. As she kept looking, she got a cute idea.

“Will you tell me a bedtime story?” she asked. Her mother used to tell her bedtime stories about cute cats and beautiful places. She loved them and fell asleep really quickly, dreaming of nice things.

Neko smiled. He nodded and patted her head. He didn’t have any parenting skills, but he was going to try his best to find a catching story to tell. Jia made herself comfortable in his arms and waited for him to begin. He cleared his throat.

“Well, the story began a long time ago, when NEON was still evolving. Everyone enjoyed an easy and peaceful life until the God of Destruction and his powerful, evil dragon came to destroy the planet…” he began.

Little Jia had a confused expression on her face and she didn’t seem pleased. “Okay, what story is this…?” she whispered.

Neko giggled. “Oh, it’s a legend that not many people know, so… Argh, I suck at this, don’t I?” he responded.

Jia looked away, then asked him to continue. He sighed.

“Well, everything seemed helpless and the people thought their end was inevitable. That was until the Goddess that protected NEON showed up and defeated the evil God and sealed the dragon far away from the human civilization, in a dangerous place known as the Unknown.”

Jia’s cute laughter interrupted him. She gave him a quick look. “Known as the Unknown? That makes no sense! If it’s the ‘Unknown’, how would you know?” she laughed.

Neko flashed a smile and exhaled. “Well, never mind… You know how all legends have a seed of truth in them, right? So, it may be real. The God of Destruction might return and yup, the end will be inevitable because the Goddess self-destructed. The end.”

The last phrase gave Jia chills. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to fully believe all of it. Neko didn’t know what else to say, so he kissed her forehead and wished her goodnight. He laid her on the bed and walked out of her room, closing the door behind him. Jia could tell he was a bit embarrassed. The story he told was not what she expected, but learning the fact that not many people knew this actually left her thinking about it. Well, not many, but those who knew clearly had a lot more to say about it… Neko though seemed to have just summarized it for Jia to understand and he was indeed embarrassed that it didn’t go as planned, making her laugh instead of fall asleep, but there was something more he had to say. He just didn’t want to frighten her with silly legends of a distant past or else she might not dream nicely.

She went to bed without getting dressed in her night clothes and fell asleep in a few minutes. It looked like it hadn’t been the best bedtime story, but the many thoughts on it got her quite tired.

As for Neko, he went back to his room, at first floor. He expected to just jump in the bed and sleep, but he was shocked to see his younger sister there, posing like a freak, dressed in a freaking sex suit… He felt like she was trying to seduce him… After all the chaos and madness they’ve been through all along and after how mean and sadistic she had been all the time, she just had the audacity to go into his room like that without any thought on anything…? There was no way to tell what was wrong with her and what wasn’t, there was no hope in reasoning with her. That woman put him through hell for days, probably years, since they were siblings and now she just thought that a bit of sexy would help with something, whatever that was. He knew she was crazy and lazy and an absolute menace, but he never thought that after several days of tormenting him with her hateful words and being nothing more but a burden to him, she would resort to this measure. Not in a million years would he have thought that she was ‘that’ mentally unstable.

“Kanae, what in the Heaven Realm is wrong with you?!” he whisper-shouted.

Kanae smiled at him and gestured him to lie down, next to her. Neko sighed. He walked towards the bed and gripped Kanae’s hair. No feelings towards it. Literally no hard feelings, just disgust and confusion… He pulled her off the bed and dragged out of his room, ignoring her yelling of pain. He gave her a cold look before shutting the door right in her face. He let out a huff of frustration and lied on the bed. He closed his eyes, but he couldn’t fall asleep.