The Beauty Collector

"Rika, this is Zeno Zavior-san, the handso—ah—! I mean the big boss of the Freedom Carrier company~!"

The overexcited Shizuka blushed as she almost slipped up and said something embarrassing while she was introducing the smirking Zeno, who was glancing at her in amusement, to the slightly awkward Rika next to her.

"..."

Rika glanced at her friend beside her with an exasperated look; she felt like Shizuka was too eager to show off her boyfriend to her despite the two blondes not even dating each other yet.

"And this is my best friend, Rika Minami~! She's a super cool and amazing girl, you know~?"

"Yes, yes, I'm Rika Minami, nice to meet you as well, Zavior-san..."

Rika released a sigh and held her hand out for a handshake as Zeno responded in kind. After the two of them had exchanged a polite handshake, Zeno, with a lazy smirk on his face all this time, narrowed his blue eyes slightly as his demeanor suddenly changed from a carefree-looking guy to an oppressive apex predator in an instant.

"Hmm~"

Zeno hummed softly as his smirk widened on his face while he observed Rika with a strange, unnerving gaze from his icy blue eyes, like he was looking at a helpless prey that he could toy with as he pleased, which caused Rika to be taken aback by both his sudden change in demeanor and his predatory gaze that was rudely roaming around on her body.

"Wha-what are you…?"

Rika instinctively stepped back and subconsciously crossed her arms around her breasts in a defensive manner while she was looking at the man in front of her with a confused frown and caution in her eyes. Zeno's sudden change in demeanor really spooked Rika as her heart started to pound in her chest; she also felt oddly naked and vulnerable right now under his unnerving gaze.

Those eyes… those eyes are not the eyes of a man who is currently looking at another human being…! This is bad! Have I been discovered?! Rika thought in panic as she instinctively reached for a pistol that was not there on her thigh and panicked even more when she remembered that she had surrendered all her weapons to the Freedom Guards at the shelter camp's entrance checkpoint for security reasons before she was allowed in. Rika wants to curse out loud in frustration because she doesn't believe that she can put up a fight without any gun against a group of armed guards if Zeno decides to make a move against her right now.

"Eh? What's wrong, Rika~?"

Shizuka noticed her friend Rika suddenly acting strange, got close to her, and touched her shoulder in concern as she spoke to the agitated Rika with a confused expression, wondering what was wrong with her friend so suddenly, which, strangely enough, Shizuka doesn't seem to notice any change in Zeno like Rika did.

"…!"

Hearing Shizuka's voice and feeling her hand on her shoulder made Rika distracted as she ended up turning her face towards Shizuka for a split second before she quickly looked back to Zeno, who was somehow turned back to his carefree self without any hint of both the earlier oppressiveness and the strange look he gave her. It's like everything that happened just now was a product of her imagination or a hallucination.

"What...?"

Rika felt bamboozled as she stared dazedly at Zeno's confused and innocent face. She even wants to slap her cheek to check if she is currently dreaming.

"What's wrong? Is there something on my face? Why are you acting strange all of a sudden?"

Zeno touched around his face while also asking Rika with his eyebrow rising up in curiosity, pretending like he didn't just scare the woman in front of him for fun with his malicious intent while he put up a barrier from Godblood to hide his prank on Rika from Shizuka's senses. He's basically gaslighting her right now.

Why is he doing it? That's because in the past week Zeno has been quite bored with nothing new to amuse himself with while he waits for the city to be rebuilt, and unfortunately for Rika, the little spy that was flagged by one of the spy drones on the first day she reported back to her superior, Zeno has, without her consent, assigned her as the new source of his amusement.

"It's... it's nothing…"

With no plausible answer to explain herself, Rika finally let out, as she was quite understandably confused after a minute of looking alternately between the concerned Shizuka and the seemingly innocent Zeno, who was looking at her strangely. From what she could see, there was no hint of Zeno's previous level of oppressive and imposing self that managed to spook her, so Rika began to question herself if she was hallucinating what just happened earlier.

"What was that…?"

Rika mumbles to herself and bites her lower lip in a mix of confusion and frustration as she feels like she is being a victim of gaslighting somehow, so she did what women do best, and that is blame the men as she glared at Zeno, who she thought was the source of her earlier state, which she was ironically correct to blame him for.

"Well, anyway, you must care about Shizuka-san a great deal to come looking for her even though the journey must be tough for you to travel alone from the international offshore airport to the shelter camp."

Seeing Rika glaring at him almost made Zeno smirk in amusement as he ignored her and mentioned something else to change the subject and the mood, while Rika pursed her lips slightly with some frustration and doubt still lingering on her expression.

"It's not too bad since I didn't go through the city…"

Rika replied curtly to Zeno, trying to keep her emotions in check. She couldn't help but feel her heart pounding a bit as she looked into Zeno's icy blue eyes again but found nothing like his earlier gaze that spooked her. That predatory gaze was quite terrifying, but also weirdly sexy at the same time, though she definitely won't say it out loud.

"You were also deployed to the offshore airport as a sniper unit, right? I heard from my men that the place was overrun very quickly."

"Ahh~! Such a waste~"

Zeno inquired while looking briefly at the panicked Shizuka, who accidentally dropped some chunks of her ice cream with amusement, before his gaze returned back to Rika.

"Did the situation seem to be improving over there when you left?"

Zeno continues to ask about the situation at the offshore airport despite already knowing about it, while Rika takes a deep breath to calm her heart rate as she pushes aside her doubts for the moment. At least her cover is still intact, Rika thought as she took comfort in that fact.

"It's... still bad but not the worst, I suppose."

She replied as she shrugged her shoulders. From what she has seen, those people at the airport will probably be assimilated into the JSDF as soon as they arrive.

"It's quite a surprise that they let you leave, huh? I heard from Shizuka-san that you are quite a sharpshooter in the entire Japan."

"Well, I was also surprised that they allowed me to leave…"

Zeno grinned in his mind as he teased Rika with a uncomfortable question about her "discharge" from service, and Rika felt a knot form in her stomach as she kept her voice casual while she lied. She really doesn't like this spy business, Rika thought with distaste.

"Ah, Rika~! Rika~! did you know that we are about to go to Zeno-san's company HQ, and Zeno-san will personally give me a tour also~!"

After waiting patiently for the conversation between Rika and Zeno to finish, Shizuka finally had a chance to talk as she quickly told her friend about the Freedom Carrier's HQ tour she was about to receive with excitement in her voice.

"You should come with us too, Rika!"

Rika's eyes widened slightly at the invitation, and she hesitated only for a moment before nodding, as this is the perfect opportunity to look around inside the company building.

"I'd like that."

"That's great~!"

Shizuka smiles brightly before she looks towards Zeno for his permission as he also nods his head in affirmative about Rika coming along with them.

"Let's go then; I'm sure you two will enjoy the tour. We've got quite the setup there."

Zeno smirked while wondering what he should show them in his HQ first. There are quite a few outlandish things he keeps inside his building for the purpose of blowing the minds of this era's people, after all.

As the trio made their way to the Freedom Carrier's HQ, Rika couldn't help but notice the way the survivors looked at Zeno. Some with hope and gratitude, others with fear and suspicion. It was as if he were a god that could decide the fate of the mortals on a whim, which couldn't be further from the truth since Zeno Zavior could indeed decide everyone's fate in this shelter.

Rika can't fathom how one must feel with this kind of absolute power in their hand, and the fact that Zeno is not going full murderer psycho mode on them is already blessing enough for everyone.

÷×÷×÷

After five minutes of travel by the Freedom van, the trio finally arrived at the HQ. As they got out of the van, Rika looked up at the company HQ building, as she couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to enter the lion's den.

"Well then, ladies, follow me inside so I can show you all the cool things I keep hidden from public eyes."

Zeno said, beckoning the two women who were looking around outside the building to follow him with a chuckle.

"Yeeees~"

Shizuka giggles as she walks up to Zeno with a carefree expression, while Rika walks beside her attentively and observing everything she can. The two of them were quite curious about what cool things Zeno wanted to show them, with Rika even more curious than her dizzy friend about what was inside the company HQ.

"Prepared for the surprise of your lifetime, ladies."

Zeno chuckled as he led them inside the building with a smirk, while the two women followed closely behind him with anticipation evident on their faces.