Chapter 25

I wasn’t sure what time it was when my phone buzzed with an incoming call on the SatoChat app. All I knew was I’d been interrupted from an exceptionally pleasant dream about… well blast, I couldn’t remember what it was about anymore. I didn’t even check who it was as I swiped to acknowledge the call.

“This had better be bloody important,” I growled.

“Hi to you too, dick,” said the feminine voice on the other end. “Guess you’re doing okay.”

The phone nearly slipped through my fingers. “Kiyo?” I checked the screen and realized it was a video call. I wasn’t sure where Ms. Jones was, but it was clean and well-lit. The slim girl was dressed in a familiar white and green cadet uniform, with her silky black hair tied up in a side ponytail. Exactly as I remembered her, except that her snow-white skin was redder than normal.

“Hiya Magpie…” Her easy smile vanished and she straightened up. “Hello, Cadet Marlowe.” Her eyes narrowed. “What is it?”

“You…” I gulped, trying to think of something else to say besides ‘I miss you’ or ‘who’s this Australian boy Kowalski mentioned’. “You forgot to wear sunscreen.”

“Hey! I’ve been bathing in, like, SPF three million lotion,” she protested. “It’s just that I burn if I think about the sun.”

“It would be about summer down under, wouldn’t it?” I sighed. “I wish I could trade assignments with you.”

“Yeah I bet, after more terrorists tried to kill you,” she said. “Sounds like they got close, too.”

“You should see the other guys,” I replied. “You know, being a little ruddy is a good look for you. Maybe it’ll turn into a tan? That would be absolutely fetching.”

“Stop it,” she said, fidgeting in her seat.

“Stop what, my dear?”

“That right there! Stop talking like nothing happened,” she said, jabbing an angry finger at the camera. “You aren’t allowed to call me your dear, or say I look fetching, or whatever bullshit you always told me before. Got it?”

I let out a long breath, feeling my growing good cheer flow out with it. “Alright. I suppose I deserved that.”

“Yeah, you did. Anyway, what did you do this time?”

I held up my hand. “What makes you think I had something to do with it?”

“Because you’re you,” she said. “They said they were… hm, is SatoChat recorded? Like on servers and stuff?”

“You know darned well I’m not the one to ask about that,” I retorted.

“Well, it was in the news that they were cutiemuffins… I mean, demonkin,” she said, accidentally slipping into our old codeword for demonkin. I felt a smile cross my lips at the memory of better times. “So I guess it’s safe to talk about. Old friends of yours?”

“Old friends of Mr. Maki,” I said, hesitating a moment. Oh, what the Hell? She already knows the worst about me and hasn’t squealed. “They seemed to have some insider information on me, though.”

Kiyo was using the app on her laptop, so she was free to put up her hands in an approximation of horns. “This something?”

I nodded. “I’m still not sure what’s going on. Cutiemuffins are a strange lot, and neither made it out alive.”

“Man, that’s gotta be terrifying for you,” she said, slumping back in her chair. “Must really suck to have people you thought you could trust turn on you without warning.”

“Your point is made,” I groused.

“I hope so, I’m being pretty blunt.” She rested her cheek on her hand. “Is Mariko alright? She said she was up there in Iceland with you.”

“She’s fine. Wasn’t anywhere near the battle.”

Kiyo sighed. “That’s a relief. I know she’s kind of a wimp about fighting.”

“Wimp is… a word you could use. Have you been talking with her?”

She nodded. “I’ve been keeping up with my friends. Not too many of those to worry about, after all.”

I felt my shoulders droop. “And I suppose I don’t qualify anymore.”

“Nope,” she said, delivering a verbal slap in a deadpan tone. “Oh, uh, Hiro and Yukiko said hi. When I said I was calling you, I mean.”

“Tell them hello back,” I said. “I suppose I owe them a call, don’t I? Should do that before the League decides what to do with us; who knows if I’ll get the chance afterwards. But enough about that. How’s Australia? I’ve almost forgotten what warmth feels like.”

“Everyone here’s nice. It’s been quiet, so I’ve been breaking in my new rifle. Lots of target practice.”

“Oh, Lucile’s replacement?”

She shook her head emphatically. “Nobody can replace my Lucile! But, uh, I do have a new gun. Her name’s Bernadette.”

“An… interesting name. You have a flair for it.”

Her eyes narrowed again. “That sounds an awful lot like you trying to flirt with me.”

“That isn’t possible,” I said. “You just told me not to ‘bullshit’ you, and I imagine that would qualify.”

“Yeah.” She played with her ponytail a moment as she considered her next words. “It’s… not completely awful seeing you.”

“I’m glad to see you’re in good health,” I said. “I’ve worried about you; you’ve been on my mind all the time.”

“Stop being so sweet, that makes it harder.”

“Should I shout at you instead?” I demanded.

She winced, looking away from the camera. “God, I almost miss you sometimes. You know I keep seeing something that I think you’d like, or thinking of a joke, and then I remember that you’re… you. You always will be you.”

“That’s a lovely tautology,” I said, grinning again despite myself. If Kiyo couldn’t admit that she missed me, I had no problem confessing I’d missed her particular way of expressing herself.

“Mariko even says you found some local girl already. Must’ve been in the first couple days.”

“Ms. Yamada’s been free with the details of our little trip, hasn’t she?”

“Why shouldn’t she be? Is it a secret that you like screwing around behind people’s backs?”

“Not to you,” I said. “Though it sounds like there’s some Australian boy who keeps showing up in your photo feed?”

Her sunburnt face found a way to turn redder. “How do you know about Kyle? You’re blocked on there!”

Another verbal slap. “Kowalski clued me in on it,” I said.

“Kowalski? Oh, Rafal. Yeah, he cyberstalks me; likes my posts as soon as I put them up. Never comments, though. It’s kinda weird.”

“He isn’t a stalker; he says he follows everybody from our old class,” I replied.

“Then he’s weird with everyone.”

“Stop changing the topic. I caught you! You moved on too! Stop casting aspersions my… way.” Nearly slipped up and said my dear again.

“Kyle isn’t anything,” she said. “Well, I mean he’s an okay guitar player and a better surfer. And he likes video games. But we aren’t anything.”

“Well, if he can’t see what’s sitting in front of him…”

“One, stop with the flattery bull. Two, who says he didn’t ask me out?”

I felt my stomach sink. “Huh?”

“I said no. I didn’t want to, but it’s because of you.”

“What about me?”

“You were wrong. I haven’t moved on. I’m still raw inside.” She squeezed her eyes shut, clutching a hand to her narrow chest. “It doesn’t get any better, Magpie. What’s wrong with me? Why can you go chase Icelandic babes a month later and I’m back to… y’know. Being me?” She opened her eyes, and her dark eyes bored into me.

“I’m not a good measuring stick,” I said. Balancing my phone against my feet, I repeated her demon horn gesture back at her. “Remember? I’m half human, half awful.”

“I guess,” she replied. “Just… will it go away? I keep waiting to wake up and not think about you.”

“I told you I think about you, too,” I said.

“What if I’d said yes?”

“Hm? Said yes to what?”

“What if I’d said yes to Kyle, and I’d told you we were dating?”

“I… I’d be jealous, I admit. But I think you should…” Our Father Below, I couldn’t believe I was about to say it. “I think you should… go see a movie with him or something.”

Kiyo’s eyes went wide. “What, seriously?”

“I can’t believe I’m saying it myself. You aren’t the only one with regret.”

“Well, that’s nice to hear. At least we’re both kinda miserable.” She squinted. “Why is it so dark in there?”

“It’s… two in the morning here!”

Her eyes flew open. “Crap, I did the math wrong. I thought it’d be earlier there.”

“Hardly the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” I said. “It is nice to see you.”

“It’s nice seeing you too,” she said. “I wish it wasn’t. It’d be easier.”

I nodded silently, not sure what to say. I knew I’d regret any words I shared just then.

“I’ll let you go back to sleep.” She looked up, her eyes meeting mine from the opposite end of the earth. “You still… you still matter to me. You and Mariko. If those bastards are coming for you, and I can help, let me know. Okay?”

“Right back at you,” I said. “I owe you that much.”

“I dunno, I owe you like three rescues… though one of them was your attack. And you knocked me out when you met with that Dante asshole. So I guess we’re kinda close to even?”

“Never,” I said. “Good night, Angel.” My hand flew to my mouth. “My apologies, you said no…”

Kiyo shook her head. “That wasn’t bullshit. It was kinda… nice. I’m glad we talked; reminded me you’re only, like, half monster. Night, Magpie.”

She was crying when she hung up. Another effect I had on the ladies, unfortunately.