Chapter 88: Played

“Hello, Jonathan. May I help you?” I called him as soon as school was over.

“Yuri, my dear. Can we talk? It’s about yesterday.”

My cheeks suddenly went hot when he called me dear. Does that mean I’m important? No—this is just him sweet-talking me. I have to be strong! Where are my clones when I need them?

“Of course he’s just sweet-talking you, Lily! How could you be so gullible? Remember, he threw away your cookies without a care! He’s an asshole! Don’t forget that!” my clones shouted through my consciousness.

“Maybe we should change our personnel. She’s already this disturbed even though he’s only begun talking,” another clone commented.

“Hurry up and answer! Remember, we need to pay him back for the innocent cookies he threw away! You must not be swayed by his words!” My clones rallied behind me.

“What do you need to talk about, Jonathan?” I replied as calmly as I could.

“I’m currently outside your school. If you could, would you please meet me here?”

I quickly snapped my head toward the window, searching for Jonathan’s car. True to his word, he was there—standing and holding his phone.

“Don’t get overexcited! Walk slowly! Don’t run!” my clones whispered from my heart. My heated emotions cooled instantly.

I picked up my bag and walked slowly. I must walk slowly.

“Pick up your books...” one of them reminded me.

“We are so dead. Our Yuri has lost all her brain cells to love!”

“What’s so good about that man anyway? He’s a womanizer! He plays with women!”

I returned to my desk and tidied everything up with a sigh. After double-checking that nothing was left behind, I calmly headed to the exit.

“Wait, we need to go to the toilet first.”

“What now!” I almost shouted to myself inside the school building. They were so irritating.

“Your face is red. Maybe you should wash it?”

I did as I was told. I’m a total pushover—even against myself. I’m certainly hopeless. When I looked at myself in the mirror, my face was indeed red.

Twenty minutes later, I had finally regained my composure. My phone rang again.

“Yuri, are you busy? Can’t we meet today?” Jonathan asked.

“I’m on my way. Sorry, I had something to do. I’ll meet you right now.”

“Great. I’ll be waiting,” Jonathan said. “Thank you again, Yuri.”

A few moments later, I met Jonathan at the parking lot, and he brought me to a restaurant.

“Here, as a thanks for our reunion!” Jonathan said, handing me a glass of champagne.

“Don’t drink it! It’s alcohol! It’ll hamper your already small brain!” a clone whispered.

“No, I don’t drink alcohol,” I answered. Jonathan didn’t press the issue and instead ordered fruit juice.

“Well, the day of the exile is getting closer. You said you’d let me in on it, right? Do you know which port and which oil rig is the destination?”

“Don’t answer! Say you don’t know,” my clone whispered urgently.

“Hm? But if I say that, won’t the conversation end right here?” I replied internally.

“Say only Black Lily knows!”

“You only want to speak with him, right?” one of the clones accused the other clones.

“No! I don’t! This is all part of the plan!”

While my clones made a ruckus inside my head, I weighed my options. I wanted to get inside Enra’s office and plant my mana eyes. I could do it either as Yuri or as Black Lily—but I figured it would be easier as Black Lily. If things got physical, I could rely on my teleportation ability to escape.

“Erm… I don’t know,” I finally answered.

“Eh? You don’t know? Was yesterday’s talk about how Francesca would escape a lie?” Jonathan looked flabbergasted. His expression showed clear disbelief.

I felt guilty immediately. A desire to talk it over washed over me. But I persevered.

I need to get this done.

“Um… It’s a secret,” I answered.

Then I immediately felt stupid. Why did I say that? I was supposed to redirect him to Lily right away. Why am I hesitating? I should’ve just said Lily has all the info…

“Come on, are we really saying that at this point?” Jonathan giggled, then turned to me more seriously. “I’m serious, Yuri. I want to save my brother. I’m willing to do anything I can. Even now, I’m begging you. Are you really going to ignore me after everything I’ve said?”

“Your order has arrived! One special apple juice!” the waiter interrupted at the worst possible moment.

“I… I don’t know. Lily was the one who knew the details. She mentioned it during one of our talks,” I finally said.

I said it! Good. Hopefully, I sounded convincing enough.

The real reason I hesitated earlier was because I was scared Jonathan might get suspicious of my intentions.

“I see. Well, if you think about it, there is no reason for Lily and Kageyama to speak to you about it. It's not like you are an executive or a magical girl after all. My apologies, Yuri, for thinking you were lying,” he said calmly. “I’m sorry to ask this, but could you call Black Lily? I really need to speak with her.”

“Um… well, here’s her number.” I handed him Lily's contact number, which I’d prepared beforehand.

“Ah. Please try to persuade her too, alright? This is really important—for my brother,” Jonathan said, looking genuinely concerned.

“Alright…” I nodded.

“Great. I’ll call her now.”

In preparation for this, I had already summoned a clone in the bathroom earlier. She was ready to receive the call. However, Jonathan just stared at his phone, not dialing.

“Hm… I think you should introduce me first, Yuri,” he said. “Sorry to ask again, but could you tell Lily that I want to talk to her?”

“... I don’t want to do that…” I hesitated. Talking to my own clone in front of him would be embarrassing.

“I’m really sorry to make you do this, Yuri. But please, I’m begging you. You already did it for Francesca, right? What’s one more?”

“Ugh… alright.” I pulled out my phone and messaged her. A few minutes later, Jonathan’s phone rang.

“Hello! Is this Jonathan, the womanizer?” my clone said through his phone. Since she was my clone, I could hear everything she said.

“What the heck? Are you five years old?” I scolded her through telepathy.

“Yeah! Who opens a conversation like that?” another clone chimed in.

“Shut it! Why don’t you try it then?” she snapped, silencing us both.

“Erm… yes. I’m Jonathan. There seems to be some misunderstanding,” he replied, shooting me an accusatory glance.

I felt my cheeks heat up instantly. He must think I told her to say that.

“Hm? Aren’t you that Jonathan who was dining with other girls when your fiancée came to visit you in NewMesa?” my clone continued, smug as ever.

I immediately ducked behind my bag to hide my burning face.

“Ahem… yes, I’m that Jonathan,” he answered. His flustered voice was oddly cute. Normally, he’d lash out or go silent, but not this time. We had the upper hand—he needed something from us.

“So, I heard from Yuri that you want me to save your brother from exile?” my clone said, all haughty and self-important.

“Yes. Um, is there a place where we can meet, Miss Black Lily?” Jonathan asked, trying to stay polite.

“Why would I do that?” Lily replied coldly.

“Please. My brother’s life is on the line. I’m begging you. I’ll do anything. Just let us meet,” he pleaded.

“Alright. Why don’t you park your seinjet in the lot next to the school? I’ll come to you in ten minutes,” she replied, clearly making it up on the spot.

“Eh? Ten minutes?” Jonathan sounded taken aback.

“What? Are you assuming I don’t go to school?” she added, sharp as ever.

“Hey! Why are you antagonizing him?! We’re supposed to butter him up so he’ll take us to Enra’s office later! This wasn’t the plan! And why send him back to school? How are we even going to get there in time?” I scolded her through telepathy.

“But if we showed up next to him right after, he’d get suspicious, right? And I can’t let him take the initiative. Once Jonathan leaves, you can just teleport here, right?”

“That teleportation ability is only supposed to be used when your life is in danger,” Felicia commented. “It wasn’t meant for this kind of thing.”

“Yes. Don’t you remember the last time we used it?” I added.

“Yes. Our aura was depleted for, like… an hour?” one of my clones answered.

“We could die!” I said, exasperated.

“Of course not. If we use it while at full health, it’ll only drain our aura,” my clone replied. Felicia confirmed it with a nod, so I couldn’t argue—but it still hurt a lot.

“Alright, you win. I just don’t see why we need to pull this kind of stunt,” I muttered. Then a question popped into my head. “Wait—who’s going to meet Jonathan as Lily?”

“You, of course,” my clone said flatly. “I don’t want to get close to him. And who’s going to plant the spycams when we visit Jonathan’s office later?”

“Ugh!” I groaned at her answer.

Jonathan then closed his phone, glancing at me awkwardly.

“Um… that’s what she said. I’m sorry, Yuri, but I need to go now. She asked me to meet her in ten minutes. Once again, I’m sorry for leaving you like this.”

He stood quickly and picked up his jacket.

“Yes. I understand. Sorry about Lily,” I said politely.

He gave me a sweet kiss on the hand before leaving. I didn’t forget to stick a mana eye on the cuff of his jacket to keep spying on him.

“Whew. That was unnecessary. Want to see the recording?” Felicia asked.

“Give it to me,” I muttered. My mood was foul, so my tone came out sharp.

A blue screen appeared before me. Jonathan hadn’t even left the restaurant yet.

“Fucking bitch. If it weren’t for the company, I’d put that bitch in her place,” Jonathan spat.

My embarrassment vanished instantly as I watched him badmouth my clone.

“Wow. He flipped real fast,” one of my clones commented.

“Merely a D-rank bitch, and she dares call me a leech and a womanizer? Oi! Get me back to that bitch’s school—there’s someone I need to meet.”

Jonathan stormed into his seinjet and barked at the driver, who nodded silently. As the vehicle lifted off, Jonathan dialed his brother.

“Oi. I got in contact with Black Lily. What next?”

“Hm? You sound annoyed. I thought you’d be bragging a little more about your achievement.”

“That bitch told me to meet her at the school like I was some gopher! She even dared to insult me.”

"Who? Yuri? I thought you were on a date?"

"Not her. Black Lily. Yuri didn't know anything."

“Well, you’ll have her kneeling soon enough. If she's known to be opposing the Zenith, even Guardians won't let her off easy. She’ll get downgraded—just like that Guardian from the Salemni company. But you know the next step, right? Offer her a place at NewStar. Threaten her. Say we’ll report her illicit conduct to Zenith. Then she’ll have no choice but to bow.”

I no longer felt embarrassed. My heart no longer skipped a beat for him.

Instead, a chill crept up my spine. Fear. Cold clarity. I am no longer lovestruck. Even while staring at Jonathan’s face and hearing his voice, I felt nothing but disgust.

“He’s a total ass,” one of my clones muttered. I fully agreed.

“My heart no longer beats for him.”

“Me neither. So, what do we do next? Feed him fake information, right?”

“But... can we fool him?”

“We must. We’ll withhold everything until we get inside NewStar. Only after planting enough spycams throughout their HQ will we give him anything at all.”

I stabbed the steak in front of me with my fork, dark aura flaring unconsciously as I glared at the screen showing Jonathan’s face.

A frightened waitress approached, trembling.

“Um… Miss, I apologize, but the bill hasn’t been paid,” she said, her voice shaking as she held out the receipt.

I stared at her for a second, then pulled out my wallet and tossed a sleek black card onto the tray—plated with gold and embossed with the insignia of the Zenith Central Bank. A card reserved for Guardians or conglomerates.

“I-I will process this right away,” she stammered, bowing and backing away, her eyes wide with fear.

“I need to use the restroom,” I muttered.

I stood and walked off, not even sparing a glance at the card.

This disgrace… I will pay him back. I’ll teleport back to school and face him again.

I will have the last laugh. I swear it.