Castes
2

Back to the present.

Plants and chairs wet outside exposed to residual rainwater overnight. Alvan, Vladimir, and dozens of Alvan's men have been gushing gas toward Chain's funeral.

The streets are still full of water. Fresh inhaled air. The rain was so heavy last night that some trees on the side of the road collapsed, causing traffic jams along the way.

Alvan's black sedan car splits through the crowds of Chain's tomb. People's eyes were fixed on Alvan's car. Their faces were curious, "who is this person? Who came with a very large group." roughly like that their question.

Alvan opened the car door, no journalists were interested in interviewing Alvan, journalists were only interested in celebrities and public image imaging.

Vladimir opened the black umbrella, covering Alvan's head. The other men sent the people aside, paving the way for Alvan. The distance of the gate and Chain cemetery is about 30 meters.

When he arrived, Alvan could only stare at the tombstone blankly. He did not expect friends when his teens died horribly. Vladimir gave me a tissue, Alvan refused, he's fine. Alvan asks for flowers and flower water to be sprinkled. Vladimir told the men who brought flowers to be given to Alvan immediately.

Alvan sprinkles flowers, slowly. Hands shaking. Television reporters were not interested in taking pictures, they thought Alvan was just an ordinary society or businessman who often dealt with Chain.

No one recognized Alvan at the funeral, they just whispered, "is he the head of the organization that often makes the troublemaker?"

Alvan made the pilgrimage not long after, he turned right as soon as he saw the officials starting to arrive.

"where are we going now?" Vladimir immediately asked when Alvan had entered the car after buying a bottle of water.

"prison."

Alvan's men are allowed to go on another unfinished task, only Vladimir is asked to accompany Alvan to prison.

The black sedan car speeding up rapidly split the wind. The prison warden immediately opened the gate, they already knew Alvan because Alvan had often visited or helped free his men from prison.

The chief warden immediately went down to meet Alvan in the prison hallway. "loh, why don't you know first?"

"there's no time, Kaven." Alvan answered briefly. Kaven invites Alvan to talk in his room, Alvan refuses, he is busy, there is no time for trite talk, he has to meet someone.

"i want to see Baskara."

Kaven remained silent. He knew that if Alvan wanted to meet with Baskara it meant something very important. Kaven takes Baskara to the den.

Baskara is a 34-year-old man sentenced to life in prison for serial murder. Baskara decided to form a prison organization to prevent commotion in the prison as well as a source of income that would later be used to pay the prison warden.

Baskara's organization was one of the fourth largest organizations because it was not just one prison he controlled. Baskara was once transferred and moved around the prison to expand power.

Alvan and Baskara spoke four eyes. Vladimir checked the cell room where Chain hanged himself or rather was killed.

"did you do it?"

Baskara did not answer, she stared out the window.

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU ASSHOLE!"

Baskara this time looked at Alvan coldly.

"i didn't do it, Van. Lately the prison organization is falling apart, there are so many bastard traitors. Yesterday my men found three men trying to kill Kaven. We've managed to prevent it and punish them, but it's just a diversion, it turns out that what they're after is Council 4."

"who is that traitor?"

"we've tried to force them to answer but they remain silent, they choose to die defending their organization rather than being a traitor."

Alvan took a long breath. If not Baskara, then who?

"let's ask Elias, he should know about this."

"Elias? He doesn't even care about other organizations' problems."

"he does look unconcerned but he is always secretly investigating even a case like this."

Alvan nodded. Alright. Alvan thanks Baskara and Kaven.

"say whatever it is then I'll help him from behind these bars, Alvan."

Alvan smiled, he did not need any help from Baskara, not because he was arrogant but because he did not want to trouble Baskara who was in trouble facing many problems in prison.

"did you find anything?"

Alvan asked Vladimir who was driving.

"some guards would not open their mouths even when given cigarette money they would not say a word, I don't know, Van. They're like they're scared of something."

The large black gate opened slowly when the doorman saw Alvan's car.

"is Elias really going to say something?"

Alvan did not answer Vladimir's question, he had no other way, this was the only way.

Alvan's private jet lands seamlessly at the airport. Down there are already some Lev spit members who are ready to pick up.

The black sedan car split the rainwater that covered the road. They had already arrived in front of Lev spit's residence.

The large teak door was opened by two Lev spit members. Elias's workspace is on the second floor, the first floor is a space to receive guests not specifically. The room was very spacious with a soft and smooth carpet.

Alvan and Vladimir went up to the second floor to meet Elias immediately.

Elias sat at his large desk. The papers piled up next to him. The business he doesn't mess around with, the property, the stock, is everywhere, that's the reason he doesn't really care about the problems of other organizations.

"let's just say the point, I don't have much time."

The 50-year-old man seemed to be very busy struggling with every letter and document.

"this is Council 4, Elias."

"then get out, I don't have time to discuss the cowardly desperate men."

Two of Elias' men had already pushed Alvan and Vladimir towards the exit.

"he was murdered." Elias's eyes lifted, looking at Alvan's eyes.

Elias tells his two men to release Alvan and Vladimir, letting them both in.

"what's the evidence that Chain was murdered?"

Alvan throws a file at Elias' desk.

"Chain had problems with other organizations, he never even thought of suicide in the slightest. This organization knows, if Chain is free, then he will continue to make trouble and when Chain is in this prison it's a golden opportunity to kill him."

"And he's the one who got Chain in jail?"

"Yes, more or less like that."

Elias opened sheet by sheet of document paper, not much, there were only 3 sheets and 3 photos. The document sheet displays the words of the source nomads, which are prisoners who want to open their mouths.

The photo provided shows a picture of Chain hanging rigidly in an isolation room, multiple wounds on Chain's body, and an isolation cell room.

The room is spacious, leaving the sound of air-conditioning.

"True, he was murdered."

Elias rubbed his hair which started to gray a little. His facial expression was a little agitated.

"But didn't we benefit from Chain's death?"

Vladimir spoke up after a long time of not opening his mouth.

"We benefit a little, the rest lose."

Elias answered.

"Loss?"

"Chains deal with organizations not only to be enemies, but also to be sources of profit. Chain is an important property in the world of organization, he once drove out market thugs that we are very difficult to handle. We have clashed with them many times but they continue to exist, again and again."

"Chain came, scolded the market thugs, then told the police to arrest the whole thing to its roots so that we could easily go back to running the business without any interference from the little thugs."

Alvan agreed with Elias. Although a small thug, it was a big problem for Elias because the one who met directly with the thug was not Elias but his men and the employees of the company. The thugs had been repeatedly beaten, expelled, and even clashed many times had happened all the time, but still, the little thugs remained. One dead, one thousand growing.

Chain is also beneficial for the organization, on the outside it looks like it is detrimental, arresting every member of the organization, reluctant to be bribed, even always noisy once you see the existence of a wild parking lot.

"I don't know about this, Alvan. If this perp is an elder of Sog then I don't want to deal anymore,"

"It's not the elder Sog."

Elias looked at Alvan not understanding

"Did a businessman like you not know? Last night I just met with elder Sog, discussing business. He said he's not interested in any business in our country other than spices."

This time Elias understood. Elder Sog was indeed not so concerned with the affairs of the neighboring countries, he only cared about business, profit, and loss. What's with Chain business elder Sog affected? Of course not, many businesses are scattered throughout the world, not just in the country of Alvan. Chain disorder was just like a passing fly to elder Sog.

"Who is the culprit of all this?"

Elias's office is open. Alvan rubbed the sweaty pelvis. "The only organization that loses because of Chain is Pagata." Alvan just remembered something.

"The only organization that got a loss because of Chain. The last big loss Pagata made was the closing of the night bar, which was Pagata's only major company. Chain closed it on the pretext that if it continues to be opened there will continue to be social problems that arise, such as *** free, road violence, and the existence of drug transactions."

Elias tapped his fingers at the table.

Alvan is not wrong, Pagata is the only organization that gets a loss from the existence of Chain. Many Pagata companies have closed due to Chain. It wasn't entirely because of Chain, because Chain didn't know it belonged to Pagata, which Chain knew was an Italian company.

Pagata is also less strict and strategic in putting their company more focused into service business, not products.

"Do we need to ask Kara?"

Vladimir gave the proposal.

"Alright, we're going to Pagata's headquarters."

Pagata's headquarters is on the island of Sebrang. Alvan and Vladimir boarded a private jet after returning home from the headquarters of the Lev spit organization.

"Are you sure the culprit is Pagata's organization?"

"No, Vladimir. I'm not sure."

"If it's true that Pagata is the culprit, what do you want to do?"

"We're going to fight tonight."

Alvan looked out the window, beautiful scenery, the sun began to sink in the eastern horizon, this scene made the dark time back.

****

Alvan read his father's book until morning. A very wise book, the right sentence, a beautiful arrangement of words. Alvan only found out that his father was a non-fiction book writer.

"Did you like that book, Alvan?"

Grandpa Alvan appeared in the frame of the room door.

Alvan did not reply, immediately packing towards the school. Grandpa Alvan could only smile, he knew Alvan liked his father's book.

"Are you not having breakfast?"

Grandpa Alvan flicked the newspaper, staring at Alvan who was passing by the dining room.

"No need, I'll have breakfast at school. Today I'm going home late because there's a martial arts match."

Alvan's gone from behind the door. Grandpa Alvan smiled back, maybe it was a beautiful smile for the last time.

Alvan to school riding a red bicycle, modern fixie model.

The school gate is almost closed by security. Alvan pleaded with security to be allowed in.

"I beg you, sir. It's still 07:59" Security named Slamet let out a long sigh while opening the gate.

"Hey, Alvan!"

Chain called out from the second floor hallway. Alvan looked up while pushing his bike towards the parking lot. Chain smiled. The school bell rings an entrance sign.

"Are you late again?"

Alvan just threw his back, Chain already asked.

Is there a day when Chain stops talking? Alvan murmuring.

"Thank God, if you get caught too late again, our math teacher, Mr. Lianto, goes on a rampage, calling you off the field to come down."

The incident Chain said had really happened. Mr. Sulistianto or commonly called Mr. Lianto knowing that Alvan was 5 minutes late. Mr. Lianto rampaged, shouting at Alvan from the basketball court, telling Alvan to come down. The entire eleven-year-old student did not dare to go out. Alvan was forced by Azizah the class leader to step down before things got worse.

Alvan was increasingly urged, which was only ordered by Azizah now told to go down by a force. Whatsapp Alvan keeps bringing up notifications.

"Heh, moron. Cepetan go down, Mr. Lianto call."

"Eh, you don't know if Mr. Lianto is angry, let alone students, the president he is against."

Alvan was increasingly urged by his friends. Finally after a few minutes, Alvan dropped out of the classroom.

"Well, that's dong. Sana stood in the field, not long, just rest."

Alvan did not look sad, quite the contrary, Alvan did not need to listen to the babble of the teacher in the classroom which was very boring until the break arrived.

It happened 3 months ago.

"Are you a match, Alvan?"

Azizah asked while working in a group. Alvan nodded slowly, not answering. Alvan is busy with his work.

"What time did you start fighting?"

Chain asked.

"Three o'clock in the afternoon."

Alvan answered short, still busy with his work. Master's workshop assigns group assignments. Making useful things from used goods. Alvan who had not cared was forced to care because he was forced into the Azizah group by his teacher.

Azizah's group decided to make a fruit basket from a used wooden board in Azizah's house. Alvan was given the task of decorating fruit baskets with watercolors.

"Who are you, Van?"

Now it was Azalia's turn to ask, class treasurer.

Alvan breathed. Look at his friends one by one.

"I'm going to fight Iky."

All his friends looked at each other. Alvan is back in the fruit basket.

"Yyyy?! Are we the martial arts class? The black belt tiger?"

Chain couldn't believe it. Iky is the big sister majoring in Social Sciences, she is the number 1 martial arts champion in school, she has won a gold medal in inter-city fights. There was once a new child in the pretentious martial arts club, without a stale Iky immediately slammed it until the child did not dare to martial arts anymore.

"Yes, who else is Iky?"

Azizah replied, Alvan is still focused on his work.

"Are you sure you're gonna win, Van?"

Alvan nodded. Iky is not a tough opponent, for him Iky is just an ordinary human who often exercises physical and martial arts, the same as himself.

After a few minutes, Alvan finally finished his task, decorating the fruit basket. All his friends looked at Alvan and then looked back at the fruit basket and then again at Alvan, they could not believe what they had just seen. A decoration with 3 colors can be this good? Flower patterns, and a little beautiful batik swerving.

"When have you been able to paint?"

"Since I knew how to paint."

Alvan wiped his hands with a cloth.

"What time is it?"

"Three hours is less than ten minutes."

Alvan stood up.

"Where are you going?"

Chain asked.

"To school."

"Well?"

Alvan did not answer, immediately went to pick up his bicycle in front of Azizah's house.

"Good, thanks for the food."

Alvan waved his hand, saying goodbye.

Chain and Azalia stared at Azizah.

"Ehem, there are flowers whose heart abis adadahin same ayank Alvan." Chain mocks Azizah.

Azizah's face was red.

"Loh, even though it was just a sponge cake, but already smiling with Alv-"

The paint brush had landed on Chain's face before he finished speaking.

Alvan pedaled his bike quickly. The distance between Azizah's house and the school was quite far, it took ten minutes to arrive.

"Where have you been?"

Sensei Arzu was already standing in front of the warehouse while carrying his martial equipment.

"Sorry, sensei. I just finished the group's job."

Sensei Arzu did not reply, again lifting the equipment.

Alvan is not much of a reason, he will prove it on the mat later. The match starts after the participants have finished warming up. Alvan has installed a bodyguard, the same as Iky, he is also more than ready.

"No attacks to the head, no attacks to the face, just the body and legs."

The referee stands between the two participants explaining the rules. Alvan nodded in understanding. They both put up horses. The referee raises the hand to mark the match.

The audience was very crowded, even if only from the school but they were very excited watching the two ferocious beasts fighting. Iky is nicknamed the black belt tiger and Alvan is nicknamed the beltless wolf. There are several reasons why they are both nicknamed that way.

Iky the black belt tiger because she is very agile, has a black belt and always shouts when training her juniors.

Unlike Alvan the beltless wolf, Alvan is very quiet when fighting, looking for gaps when his opponent starts attacking first, and Alvan doesn't have a belt at all because he's lazy to go through a belt-up test, which doesn't mean Alvan is weak, alvan is very strong because he often exercises in the mountains and forests with his grandfather every Saturday and Sunday.

Alvan and Iky stared at each other intently. It had been 2 minutes they were silent, just twirling around on the mat.

Iky jumped, he saw a gap in Alvan's right, unfortunately it was just a trap from Alvan. As Iky kicks, Alvan quickly catches him and kicks Iky's other leg, Iky the black belt tiger slams down on the red mat.

Sensei Arzu clenched fists, relieved. His students can get the first point at the beginning of the round.

The match started again. Now Alvan attacks first, carrying Iky's chest. His kick was like the wind then, invisible at all.

BUKS. Iky's been bouncing back. All the spectators were silent. Langgang field. What the hell just happened? Why did Iky fall? Audience wonders. Although no one saw him but the referee who was closer can be sure if Alvan managed to kick Iky's chest.

The match was 3 minutes, 2 minutes left. Iky has put up the steady horses. Alvan stood back and forth without horses. Sensei Arzu rubbed his face in disbelief. "What is this stupid boy doing? Does he want to act?"

Iky jumped, his kick slammed into Alvan's shoulder, sending Alvan bouncing to the left. The referee stopped the match. Alvan was in pain, his hand was broken.

The nurse came with a stretcher. Alvan raised his left hand, he did not want the match to be stopped just because of one hand he had broken.

"But.-"

The nurse was worried about Alvan.

"It's okay, I still have my left hand and two legs,"

Alvan stood firm. The audience shouted hysterically, Sorai's cheers were heard all over the corner of the field.

"What does that crazy boy think?"

Iky's friend doesn't stop thinking about seeing the stubborn Alvan.

"Maybe he wants to die before his grandfather, hahahaha."

Another friend chimed in. Iky did not comment, she knew Alvan was a very heavy enemy to her, breaking one arm was more than enough.

The match starts again. Without further ado, Iky had already run to Alvan releasing his fist towards Alvan's chest.

Alvan lowered his head, his hands not clenched, but opened. When Alvan's index finger hit Iky's stomach, Alvan immediately clenched his hand, his fist came off, completely hitting Iky's stomach. It was a one-inch punch technique from Bruce Lee.

Iky slammed far out of the mat. The field again left the sound of Iky's growling that was mehan sick.

Before long the audience applauded.a landslide victory for Alvan.

"I LOVE YOU ALVAN!"

"ALVAN BULL SURVIVED YES!"

"AAA...ALVAN..!"

Azizah was just him in the cafeteria watching Alvan being mobbed by female students, whether it was a younger sibling or even a upperclassman.

"hi, how come you're pouting?"

Chain sat in front of Azizah carrying a bowl of noodles.

"oh.jealous...."

Chain nodded in understanding.

"ish what is it."

Azizah glares.

Chain put down his bowl of noodles, got up from his seat, then went towards Alvan who was being mobbed by female disciples.

"HEY! LOOK THERE'S MR. LIANTO HERE WITH A TISSUE AND SCISSORS! THE RAZIA!"

all the female students ran away in a mess. They were all afraid if Mr. Lianto did a razia of sponge skirts and lipstick.

Alvan breathed a sigh of relief.

"thank you, Chain. If you don't exist maybe I'll stay here without taking off this heavy martial uniform.

Chain patted Alvan's shoulder.

"just relax."

Alvan and Chain go to the cafeteria following Azizah.

"hai, been here a long time?"

"new."

"oh, have you eaten?"

"belom."

"want me to go?"

"no need to."

Alvan scratched the head of the behavior salag.

Chain whispers Alvan if Azizah is jealous.

"happy for whom?"

Alvan asked in a loud voice.

"hey! I'm not jealous! Idih, so unclean, why jealous people smell so dry." Alvan laughed, this time he understood.

Alvan looked at the beautiful evening sky, letting Chain and Azizah fight. Birds flying in the sky through the clouds.

Maybe the beauty and happiness is only a moment for Alvan, I don't know what will happen tonight.