Chapter 18 Quoth the Raven “Nevermore” Part 5

“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;

But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,”

“Basically just don’t commit any major crimes,” Rick answered, “even if you go cowl it’s a guarantee the military police will know who you are, they just pretend they don’t because most cowls make themselves more useful than their upkeep cost. Keep collateral damage to a minimum but if you do go overboard an ‘Anonymous Donation’ will contribute greatly to keeping yourself out of jail.”

“And of unlicensed power work?”

“Same thing,” the man continued, “they officially don’t condone it but won’t stop a helpful citizen that does competent work.”

“But don’t expect to be paid for unlicensed work, correct?”

“Legally at least,” Rick answered, his hands steepled, “however do note any reputation you build up will carry with you into your professional career. Which can be either helpful or detrimental depending on your actions.”

Aiden bit his thumb, “So in a way, it is a lot like freelancing, no… perhaps the best way to describe it is a freelance internship?”

Rick chuckled, “That isn’t a bad way to describe it, I might steal that actually.”

“You are surprisingly open for someone talking about clandestine activities,” Ranpo remarked, his attention drawn from a bauble in the room.

“Of course, I finally managed to get rid of all the listening devices after all,” he spoke with a sigh of relief, “you wouldn’t believe where they can hide the stuff.”

Aiden only raised an eyebrow.

They spoke a bit more after that, Rick recommending an organisation that did money laundering and promising him to pass a recommendation for a local hero team as a ‘sidekick’. Which was literally just an unpaid internship.

Aiden accepted, if only out of politeness, to at least attend the interview.

“In the end it just all sums up to ‘Be less trouble than you are worth,’” the crow observed as they left.

He nodded in return, hands clutching a piece of paper which the man sneakily handed to him as they left.

Finding an empty bench behind the gym building, he sat and read it.

Rip and bury after done.

Paper is 100% biodegradable and will seed a nice flower.

On it were a few short paragraphs, each with a name, a brief description and a location.

“The actual recommendations I suspect,” Ranpo murmured beside him.

Criminal gangs and organised crime. There were longer descriptions of the larger gangs, some Aiden recognised from Bu’s memories.

“Are you going to take this?” Ranpo asked.

Aiden bit his thumb, thinking for a moment.

“No,” he finally decided. “I want to keep to legal means, if only out of societal obligation.”

The crow nodded, and Aiden pocketed the page.

“But you are keeping the paper?” Ranpo asked.

“I want to be a decent person,” Aiden answered mildly. “I need to make a thousand a week.”

The crow simply closed his dark beady eyes, “If you say so.”

“I do,” Aiden said as he stood up. There were students coming now, entering the soccer field behind the gym.

He began to leave but paused as he spotted a figure. “Is that…” Aiden trailed off as he squinted his eyes and adjusted his glasses.

“Is that who?” Ranpo asked, glancing towards the same direction.

“No one,” he answered, shaking his head. There was a person who looked familiar for a passing moment, but it wasn’t her. The boy wore a white fox mask that covered his eyes and nose, with a sun symbol on the forehead. His hair was black and ended in yellow tips. “Might be a brother or something.”

And most importantly, he moved too slowly to be Jun.

“Let’s go,” he murmured.

The final day of orientation happened around noon.

They met up and got their pictures taken. A student card was produced and given. There was a fee to replace it, but that was it. Aiden’s face was a bit scuffed since the bruise from the goblin bullet was still fresh but the picture came out alright.

The last part was a tour around the school led by Rick, Aiden had already seen most of it, just lacking the staff. The librarian was a three headed chimp, each head’s brain was exposed and they occasionally reached into a jar to change their minds, but they were one of the least weird things.

Aiden said hi to Dr Oliver and Hasan again, they did a cursory check on his bruises but let him go.

Then Aiden was a tree in the middle of the schoolyard. Aiden appeared to be a normal oak tree, around two centuries old, but within close proximity he could only be referred to in the first person. Aiden was told that he was ultimately safe to be around but that he should avoid himself as repeated exposure to himself over the years made the effect he had on himself longer lasting.

“God I was a real mindfuck,” Alexis muttered.

“You’redoingitagain,” Jun replied. “I’mfuckingwithyourheadtoomuch.”

“You’re doing it as well,” Ranpo mildly noted, “it seems my proximity effect lingers even after leaving.”

Aiden raised his eyebrow, not bothering to say that all of them seemed to still be under effect of… He decided he wasn’t going to finish that thought.

He saw the wall again, all the names written on it going back who knows how long. Then there was the classroom where time completely reset two minutes after someone entered.

Finally they entered the gym, it had a combat simulations room underground, that could throw out a bunch of robot dummies and change its terrain slightly, in a way similar to the ever shifting obstacle course outside.

Jun and Alexis were playing around with the simulation room, apparently they needed teacher supervision to use it, and Rick was conveniently available. Meanwhile Aiden opted to explore the rest of the gym with Ranpo.

On the ground floor was a normal gym court, with the usual basketball court and gym stands for spectators. Attached to the side was a smaller multipurpose room, which led upstairs to a bunch of normal gym equipment. Bicycles, weights, punching bags… treadmills.

“Are you alright?” Ranpo asked, glancing at Aiden, who had suddenly paused in his steps. His face appeared neutral as normal, but he seemed to be paling, his gaze fixated on something. Ranpo glanced around, seeing what Aiden was suddenly staring at. A girl running on a treadmill, someone he knew perhaps?

“Ranpo,” Aiden asked, his voice calm. But it was the wrong kind of calm, Ranpo noted. Not of someone genuinely calm, but of someone who killed every other emotion other than calm.

“May you lead me to the toilets downstairs?”

He glanced curiously at the man. “Sure,” the crow replied, flying down and landing onto his shoulder. Gesturing with his beak towards the stairs.

Aiden wordlessly followed his directions, entering the gym bathrooms, which smelt almost offensively of cleaning products and lemon.

Ranpo noted that now Aiden was clutching his stump of a hand.

Aiden took a brief look around, as if making sure no one was inside with them. No one was, they were truly alone, yet Aiden entered a stall, locking the door behind him.

He gently lowered the lid of the toilet, then sat on it.

He sat on it and clutched his stump with his left hand. Eyes boring holes into the door in front of him.

“Is something wrong?” Ranpo asked, now perched on the toilet paper dispenser.

Half lidded eyes slid towards him. When he squinted, his eyes appeared almost hawk like, but here and now, they simply had the look of a dead fish, left out to die and choke on dry land. Aiden let out a short bark of laughter.

It was unsettling, as if man wasn’t meant to ever laugh this way. It felt self deprecating, finding mirth in failure.

“My hand hurts,” Aiden answered simply, his grip on his stump tightening.

Ranpo’s eyes narrowed. “Your left or…”

“My right,” he answered, leaning forward, almost tucking his arms into himself, “it hurts like hell, but that isn’t even the worst part.”

Dark dots bore into the ground before him, “Pain… pain I can deal with. I’ve always dealt with it, so my hand hurting is barely noticeable… So I’ve ignored it until now… It’s just…”

Aiden laughed again, that same, unnatural self deprecating laugh, “It sounds stupid, idiotic, to the point it is nothing but funny. But when I saw that girl running on a treadmill, when I saw her running… I…”

He paused, as if it were difficult for him to speak the next few words, but he shook his head and forced them out anyways.

“I saw Jun, running and crying, tripping on a rock she’s been running next to for the past minute. Failing to make even the slightest bit of progress away from that thing. I feel a fear of death so great I believed myself already dead.”

And he laughed again, “It’s stupid that some fucking treadmill can do this. Beyond idiotic.”

Ranpo was silent, as his creator laughed at his own weakness. As he clutched his stump tighter and tighter until his nails drew blood.

“Perhaps you should seek help or counsel on this?” Ranpo asked.

There was a wry smile on Aiden’s face as he shook his head, “No, not for something this dumb. Not for something this stupid. No one would want to help for something this idiotic.”

And he stood back up, already wiping the scabbing cuts on his stump. “Please pretend that didn’t happen Ranpo. It was just a momentary lapse.”

Ranpo was silent, as he followed the man out of the bathroom. There was commotion above, as suddenly a flash sped down the stairs to the upper floor, rushing past them.

“Jun!” Alexis yelled from above.

“What happened?” Aiden asked, head turning towards the open door.

“I don’t know, she just suddenly ran off!” Alexis answered as she slid down the railings.

And Ranpo watched, as they searched the school for the girl. He helped, looking from the sky as they went around the entire school.

Ranpo spotted her first, running laps all around the school, running as if she were fleeing something. Until she collapsed on a bench, breathing heavily, dead tired and spent. Ranpo directed the three to her, but Aiden got to her first, being the closest.

And when Ranpo landed beside the two, he heard Aiden speak calmly and quietly, but genuinely with concern, with worry, asking what was wrong, all the while Jun was almost silent, brushing off questions with a stock answer that she just needed some fresh air.

And Ranpo thought then, ‘Human hypocrisy is a strange and curious thing.’