What shows up on the screen is clearly an auction that could be worth hundreds of million for one piece of art, sculpture, statue, and many more. But the thing that makes the tigers confused is what they are supposed to do with it? Are they telling them that they are going to rob this auction? Or offering the mission to Sapphire Tiger instead? Since all of the members stay silent and probably a clear expression of confusion, it makes the woman groan in frustration again. “Gosh.. this is going to take forever!” She says irritatedly and pinches the bridge of her nose. Continuing right behind it, someone scoffs and shakes his head lightly in disbelievement. “And these are the people that I’m going to work with? Bunch of clowns?” He says with sided eyes, the first time that new person lets out something from his mouth. Irritated? Absolutely, especially for the three of them, the new members of Sapphire Tiger. Based on how this person talks, his accent, how his face and body structure, definitely British. Sapphire and Aquamarine might still be getting used to it so they can take control of the other three. “Shh.. shh.. Calm down, okay?” Heliodor tells them to be quiet without getting emotional at all. While feeling emotionally irritated, Elio’s mind is still working on how and why this person is always acting like this. He is literally the only one that acts and takes everything like it’s just a joke or game which makes him get more irritated. Looking at the room’s situation and atmosphere that the other two just made, it totally only gives the tigers pressure yet he is still all smiley in front of everyone. “Come on, Citrina … you already watched them before!” he says with a desperate look alike sound, looks like he’s trying to convince and take the members’ attention. So her name is Citrina… Finally I know what her name is. Get two of them, probably they are the most important people here. Only one left. Elio glances at that British male. Up until then, Elio thought there were only these two people yet this person comes out of nowhere which makes him start to ask himself again. Are there any other people beside these three? The woman only clicks her tongue and crosses her arms, looking all annoyed. The other man doesn’t change anything, left elbow resting on the table, and avoids eye contact with the people who are sitting on the opposite seat from them. “Well.. I haven’t” he replies coldly with a mocking voice “and don’t care too.” he adds before giving Heliodor another chance to convince them. Now he is the one who lets out a sigh of frustration and shakes his head lightly. While the Tigers don’t let out any word as they all know that nothing can change and probably only make it worse. “Alright.” he changes his voice tone into a serious one and the aura that he used when he was testing Elio for the first time. “If you guys don’t want to work with them, the door is over there.” His sentence totally caught the tigers' surprise and it sounds unbelievable that he is going to kick his own members “It only happens for almost half a decade and it’s up to your option of wanting to join or not.” He pulls his collar suit and puts his arms inside his pockets “I promise for those who don’t give any contribution, they won’t get anything.” That’s it. That’s the threat to make the other two pay more attention than before. The other two who just look like ignorant people, finally looking at him even though with their annoyed expression. As for the woman, she lets out another sigh, not crossing her arms anymore, instead putting it on the table. A smile appears on his face and the intense aura starts to disappear. Wai- what? Did he just say contributing? Finally Elio snaps out of it and his brain always works without resting the whole time from yesterday, giving him a hint of what they are going to do next with the auction. It could only mean one thing which Elio doesn’t want to happen for the next few days or weeks. “Good. Because the most important thing that we need right now is…” he turns to face the tigers “teamwork.” Exactly like what Elio’s brain just told him a couple of seconds ago. They, tigers and lions, are going to work together for the first time to rob the legendary auction. Unexpected and mind blowing suggestion or idea from him which needs a lot of force to finally take a ‘yes’ from the other two lions. Sapphire doesn’t react much to what he just said about working up together. Aquamarine looks at them weirdly with one of his eyebrows raised. Howl and Spec more or less have the same reaction, their jaws drop and their expressions share the same energy. Meanwhile, as always, Elio has that flat poker face but something is off for him. If he is going to have this kind of plan as working together with the tigers, doesn’t he need to talk or confirm it with Sapphire first? She is the leader after all. Or is it just a form of force from him to make the tigers be their pawns while they are doing the mission? That’s not quite right because he just said that everyone who contributes will get the reward which means any kind of effort will get the prize even for just the slightest. But if it’s true it works as simply as that then… Elio takes a glance to look at his leader who is sitting the farthest from him. She probably has talked about this plan or at least knew about this auction from the beginning, right? Another thing that gets across his mind is ‘bring all the members’ which can have two meanings. It can be as simple as additional information as if Sapphire would forget about bringing the members. Or there is a message that is only for her since she is the only one who receives the message from the lions. At this point, Elio starts to feel regret that he didn't ask the details or tries to interrogate her before. But at the same time, he also feels irritated that his heart, his feeling is starting to be hard to bear and control. It looks like a tiger who lost the sharpness of its fangs. Why am I like this? He asks himself irritatedly. The tigers are occupied with their own minds while the lions are upset that they need to work together which leaves the room completely silent. Not so long until Heliodor clears his throat and starts to speak up again. “Did everyone get it?” he says “I want to hear each of your voices.” he adds, not letting anyone only give a simple response as nodding their heads. “Citrina?” He starts it off from her. As always before answering it, she rolls her eyes and lets out a sigh. “Sure…” she replies half heartedly. “Zircon?” He continues, ignoring or just letting her sulking like that. “Just don’t get in my way.” he says still with his annoyed voice tone like the previous one. His reply makes him chuckle and smirks while looking at Elio. “They won’t. Trust me.” he says and looks back at Zircon. Zircon doesn’t say anything instead just raising his right hand like it’s giving sign ‘whatever’ Zircon.. It’s complete then. Elio says inside of him while still observing them silently and refers to it to know their codenames. “Sapphire?” Now, it’s his turn to look at the tigers’ seats. “Understood.” she answers casually with her serious voice. “Aquamarine?” “Roger that.” he answers it like he’s in the military or something similar. “Howlite?” “Yes.” same with Sapphire. “Spectrolite?” “Affirmative.” more or less the same. In Elio’s turn, he starts to show his smirk again and looks at him playfully. “Finally can work with you, huh?” he says with the same voice when he tested him from Onyx to Tiger before. It sends him shivering down to all of his spines and freaks him out that this person is actually looking forward to something that he never asked for. What he just said also draws everyone’s attention to look at him with a confused face, except for Citrina and Zircon. Citrina doesn’t bother to look at him while Zircon gives him that ‘you gotta be kidding me’ face then ends it with a scoff and shakes his head lightly. Another moment of silence fills in the room and once again the leader of this meeting needs to break it. Even though he actually waits for Elio’s response, Elio doesn’t say anything, only staring at him with his lifeless expression. “Alright. Let’s continue discussing our plan.” he says and changes it to show the auction’s location and detailed map. "The location is right in front of the Colosseum. What makes it more beautiful is that the Arco di Costantino will be as if it’s the entrance of this wonderful event. And.." he looks at Citrina, signaling her to reach his suitcase. She gets it and takes out something from it. Tickets. There are four in her hand as she is giving it to Heliodor. "Here are our tickets. Only four of us can get in with these VIP tickets." He says proudly with a smirk. Four tickets which means that there are 4 other people who will not be going inside. In Elio’s prediction, the one who is going to take the VIP tickets must be Heliodor, Citrina, Sapphire, and this one could be Aquamarine or Howlite. Based on their job and how these people assign them on their test, the others will be the backup members who are going to help them in an emergency situation. But that’s not all in Elio’s thought, there is one question that is sticking inside his mind that he always wanted to know. How? How can these people get these things? How can these people always get a privilege for such a thing? This must be a very important auction with only limited and invited people can join in yet they got it. In addition, it’s not only just for a couple but for 4 people which makes Elio thinking again as the question evolves to be what and who are these people in the first place? At this point, he might get a hint about them by asking his leader but again, somehow, weirdly, he always fails to ask her these questions. “Without any further, let’s get to the team matching.” Heliodor says and it snaps Elio from his deep thoughts again. The screen changes and shows who and who is going to be partnered with. What Elio is seeing right now is different from his prediction and it doesn’t even cross his mind at all. “The ones who are going to get these tickets are Citrina, Zircon, Sapphire, and Aquamarine.” He continues and hands the tickets to those people. One by one of them takes the ticket from his hand and sits back on their seat. “Backup members, as always prepared for the worst, will be Howlite and Spectrolite.” He says and looks at them as waiting for their response. They respond with a nod. “Lastly,” when he looks at Elio, this smirk always appears on his face “Tanzanite is going to be my partner.” Every word, every sentence that this person gives to Elio always gives him this kind of pressure that he planned something for him. And once again, there is no need to admit it, he is once again one step ahead from Elio and Elio can’t even think of how to counter it. Is it because of their position? He is the higher one so Elio can’t surpass him now matter what he is going to do or think about? No. That doesn’t sound quite right and there is no way that it will be as simple as that. There must be something, something behind him, something that he has done to him, all this time without Elio knowing anything or slightly about it. Elio doesn’t react much and just stares at him with his lifeless expression. The way Elio stares at him makes him scoff and before he can say something, someone interrupts him, it’s Sapphire. “Sorry, sir. May I ask something?” She says and Heliodor immediately faces her. “Of course.” He replies and smiles at her, it reminds Elio of how fake it looks like with his partner Citrina when he first met her. “I don’t know if I’m in the position to ask this. Why didn't you come inside on this mission?” She asks and her voice is full with hesitation. “You know your place already yet you still want to ask? Pfft.” Someone who is sitting right in front of Sapphire replies to her question without giving an answer. Who else it could be beside Citrina who is always mocking them. Citrina’s reply makes the other lion scoff as well and he shakes his head lightly in disbelievement. Heliodor who gets the question also chuckles and walks as getting closer to Sapphire’s seat with his hands in his pockets. “Why do you think it is, little sister?” He asks and sits on the table in front of Sapphire but not that close. Sapphire gives him that confused look, showing that she clearly has no idea what he is thinking and what his plan is. “Sorry, sir. No clue at all.” She answers firmly without hesitation or scared of getting mocked or negative thoughts from the others. From this moment, Elio understands that this side of hers is showing the reason why she has been chosen to be the leader of Sapphire Tiger. She can be tougher than she looks yet knows the timing and time when she needs to be soft with the members or the others. Her emotions’ control is totally something that needs to be admired about. “After all this time, you always play a big role in every mission and this is the only time that you chose to stay away from getting inside the building. Sorry if I’m being rude.” Sapphire explains as she expresses her confusion. Her explanation makes the woman, who just mocked her, give a deadly glare that she wishes if she can throw a knife, she will do it gladly. Of course her bereavement needs to be appreciated but something is off from her explanation, don’t know if she notices it or not. It gives Elio another hint that his leader knows about their missions and probably they had worked together previously. Does that mean this is not the first time for them to work together? Before getting into his deep thoughts, another chuckle comes from Heliodor and he glances at Elio who is watching them intensely. “Well… to make it easy. Just say that this mission is a movie of something.” he replies and walks back to infront of the screen “The main lead of this movie is Citrina and you, little cub.” he continues. About Citrina being the main lead is something might be possible to come but not her, not Sapphire. This is insanely strange that never happened before which makes Sapphire and Aquamarine surprise as their eyes almost come out. “Me?” again, Sapphire asks with her face becoming more confused than before. “May I remind you that main leads always have their partners, right?” Heliodor continues, ignoring Sapphire’s confusion “So in this movie , the partners will be Zircon and our precious Aquamarine.” When Elio looks at his two seniors, he totally can tell that they never thought something like this would happen to them. Their faces full of disbelievement and looks terrified at the same time of getting a big role in such a legendary auction that is only held once in half a decade. “They will be the side characters.” he continues again and looks at the other two tigers' face. Howlite and Spectrolite don’t show anything about their thoughts or feelings because they are already terrified from the beginning knowing they are going to work together. Finally, one last member that he hasn’t mentioned, one last member which makes everything so confusing. “And… Did you guys know that behind every movie there are staff working behind the perfect scenes?” He asks Elio with that grin on his face. This question is supposed to be for Elio so he just responds with a nod. “That’s us!” He says excitedly and slams the table which makes all the tigers flinch “The movie can’t go on without us, right? They need help from us who are working behind the scenes!” Anything he does, whenever he expresses his excitement, it only makes the other more terrified of him. At this moment, everyone becomes so quiet that no one dares to say anything just to break the silence until Heliodor steps back and puts back his hands inside his pocket. “Is that answering your question?” He asks and looks at Sapphire with his smile yet it’s enough to make everyone scared looking at him. “Yes, sir. Thank you for the explanation.” She replies and bows down a little bit. “Good. Then we are moving on to our plan.” He says and changes the screen into their planning explanation. Their plan is so detailed that they can get to know every weak point and area of this auction as well as how they are going to get inside later on. The way they get, think, and plan these all out is leagues better than from how they have done it before. Because of the 3D technology they are using? Well it must not be that easy. To get these kinds of blueprints, detailed ones, they must do something extra beyond their knowledge and need the access of getting into it. That is the part where their team is missing, easily can get access through it. Full of perfection, so detailed that if Elio is on the opponent's side, he can’t think that he might notice their plan or how they are going to rob this. “That’s all of our plan.” Heliodor says as they finally reach the last slide of their meeting. “Any question?” He asks. It’s too clear that there is no need for anyone to ask questions anymore. “Alright. Thank you for coming, guys~” He continues and waves at them with a smile. Same smile yet different atmosphere because of how he controls the meeting previously. As everyone stands up from their seat and gets out of the room, Zircon stops Elio from leaving. “Except you.” Zircon says and stands up right in front of Elio, separating him from the others. Once again, the attack from lions still didn’t stop until the meeting was over. Sapphire looks at Heliodor for getting a signal if this is his order or not and he just gives her a nod. The servants tell and accompany them to get out and close the door right after they leave. Now the room only fills with four of them and a totally different atmosphere, probably becoming more intense because it’s only him who is left behind. Elio turns around only to look at Heliodor who is looking like he is waiting for him. He walks slowly to his previous seat where he is sitting between Citrina and Zircon. “Let’s talk, shall we?” he says intimidatingly.
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