Location: Downtown Velstand (Park)

Time: 13:35 4/1/08

The first person I needed to call was obvious. Father. And that conversation went so perfectly that I could hardly consider it worthy of review.

Father could solve any problem, it was only a matter of if he wanted to. If it wasn’t an order from Ren, he could be hard to motivate. I suppose I’m the same.

Fortunately, this time he agreed to follow my plan.

I needed him to be my replacement. If someone as powerful as Father showed up at the conference venue no one could question my absence. His monopoly on overwhelming strength would make the assistance of a student like myself meaningless. His presence would also clear up any claims of the building being under attack. If someone in his position were to decree that the situation was under control no one from the BAA could say otherwise.

And finally, he could justify the BAA Director’s death. I had no legal or official powers outside of being Mistress Oakley’s bodyguard. Unless it was a direct order from the Oldridge family, my authority was no different from a high school girl. But Father was a special agent-in-charge. It was within his power to use lethal force if necessary. Sure, killing such a high profile person would come under investigation, but by that point the Prime Minister should have everything under control enough to sweep that under the rug.

Thankfully I wasn’t able to kill the prince from the Pacific Empire. I wasn’t thinking straight at the time. There’s absolutely no way I could have gotten away with that.

I also requested Father take Emi Emi to the public park near the venue. That was where I planned on meeting with her and Alli. I didn’t want to leave the city, but I didn’t want to be surrounded by people and buildings.

The next call was to Alli. I lost concentration for a moment and my stigma activated, causing a second phone to short-circuit. I may have cut the conversation short, but she had time to confirm the one thing I needed to hear. For some reason, Alli was already waiting at the park.

It didn’t take long to find her, sitting alone on a park bench. I crawled out of a nearby shadow and took a seat beside her.

“Would it kill you to appear more normally?”

“I didn’t have time for that.” A few sparks arced across my shadow as I was speaking.

“There’s always time for normalcy. What’s the deal?”

“The people that you told me about on the phone, they’re going to come back for you. They’re going to get rid of you and Emi Emi. She’s on her way here. I’m going to kill whoever shows up for you two.”

“Completely abnormal.”

“I know. Sorry. I’ll get this sorted out.”

“No, the abnormal thing is you. Completely abnormal.”

“What?” Was she trying to pick a fight with me at a time like that?

“This whole time, even when you called me, you haven’t made a single joke or snide comment.”

Why was she talking about jokes?

“Now’s not exactly the time. . .”

“You’re right. This would be a completely abnormal time to make a joke, so why aren't you making one? I’ve only met her once, but I’m sure even that Emelia girl knows you’ve got no common sense and a caustic attitude. What happened to the bravado you always radiate?”

“I’m not like that all the time.”

“You are. Even when most of your personality is sealed away it slips out. So then why now are you acting so sincere? Through no choice of my own I’ve spent the last few years with you following me around, so I know you better than anyone. Do you want to know the answer?”

I didn’t have anything to say back.

“Despite your terrible personality, you’re a good person. Well, no, I can’t say that. Honestly, you’re a bad person as well. But for whatever reason, you try to be a good friend, even if you’re not wanted, even if you don’t know what being a friend means. That’s why you’re going through all this for someone like Emelia, who you were trying to kill less than a week ago. You’re trying to force something because you think you’re supposed to.”

“For someone like you, there’s only one reason you're not making jokes right now. Guilt. You’re feeling guilty about not living up to a standard you went ahead and created on your own.” As always, Alli’s voice sounded certain.

“Guilty? You know what I do. I just killed a man and tried to kill another one. I’ve done more than enough to feel guilty about.” Actually, didn’t I kill a security guard as well?

“No, not any of that. Like I said, you’re a bad person. Rather than feel guilt, you’re the kind of girl who could have a laugh after killing someone. No, you’re feeling guilty because you’re betraying the people you think of as friends.”

“I’m not. . .”

I couldn’t think of how to finish my excuse.

“You are. Why did you want to meet up in the park?”

“To limit damage to any civilians.”

I repeated a line I thought up on the way there.

“What a normal thing to say. I’m sure anyone else would accept it at face value. But from an abnormal girl like you I can only hear that line as a joke. You don’t care about causing damage. It was only a few days that you were telling me all about how excited you were to chase an innocent police officer through an abandoned amusement park, just because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“The reason you wanted us at the park, and not somewhere crowded, was so we’d be easier to find. You want the people coming after us to get here as soon as possible. That’s why you didn’t suggest a safer location. I mean, Emelia is currently under Karen Kaldsen’s protection, right? Yet you called her away from the MID building to meet in this empty park. You want them to find us.”

“Why would I want that?”

“We’ve both known the reason why from the moment you called me. Rather than play it safe, you want to end this as quickly as possible. Besides, every enemy that comes after us is one less that can go after Oakley.”

She was right. About everything. I needed to draw out the enemy. I couldn’t afford to spend all day looking after those two.

“Look, even though your method is completely abnormal, I’m honored that you want to help me. That a snarky person like you decided you were responsible for keeping me safe. But rather than me, or Emelia, there’s someone else you’re trying to get to as quickly as possible. The two of us are just a forced afterthought.”

“Is that so wrong? Fine, obviously Mistress Oakley is my top priority. Does that mean I’m not allowed to care about anything else? Just because I’m a Number do you want me to act like a machine that only has one purpose? To give up on ever being anything more?”

The scene around us grew far too bright as I unconsciously gathered all the surrounding shade. I was angry. What gave her the right to see through my plan so easily? Yeah, sure, if it came down to it, if I really had to say, my only real objective was protecting Mistress Oakley. Then why even bother with Alli and Emi Emi? Because I didn’t want to face the consequences of how easily I was willing to abandon the people I’d unilaterally decided were friends.

“I’m still going to protect you, so what’s your problem? You might not like being bait, but I’m strong enough to keep you safe.”

“Yeah, I’m sure. An abnormal girl like you could handle this situation, no problem. The thing is, you don’t want to be here. Or maybe you do, and that’s that problem. But you’ve got somewhere more important to be. So go. You might feel responsible for me, but after dealing with you for so long I’ve started to feel responsible for you as well. The only relationship you truly understand is the one between master and servant. Social relationships, friendships aren’t like that. I’m just as responsible for you as you are for me. If anything happened to Oakley while you were busy protecting me I’d never be able to face you again.”

“Then what about you and Emi Emi? I’m supposed to let you die?”

“You’re supposed to trust us. I can handle this. It’s normal to trust your friends.”

“There’s nothing normal about this situation.”

“Then for the first time in my life, allow me to proudly showcase that I’m an abnormal girl as well.”