Location: Hospital Room

Time: 5:08 PM, January 4th, 2108

“Kazu?”

Kanon addressed the man in the window.

“Kazu? Who’s he supposed to be? Someone you know, Cannon?”

“Yes, he’s one of my relatives, Kazuko. Father set him with me for support. I’m really hesitant to use this term, because I can predict how you will react, but in an effort to save some time, let me just say what you will eventually assume on your own: he’s essentially a ninja.”

“Wow! A ninja! Veir, did you hear that? Cannon brought a ninja! Awesome!”

The Chief had the reaction Kanon was expecting.

“Yes. I hope you’ll forgive me for not telling you earlier, but he was supposed to keep himself hidden.”

Kanon wasn’t trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. His entry into the city was probably less than legal, at least, it probably wasn’t as official as hers. She was probably worried about the punishment for doing something like that. Fortunately for her, there’s not a single member of the ARA that would even think twice about such a boring legal detail.

“Sorry, sorry, some things came up. Good old Alec will be able to fill you in on the relevant details. No reason for an outsider like me to interrupt a meeting like this, I just wanted to let you know that my existence was exposed. While you’re looking for Enki, Hassan Hakim, through government channels, I’ll do what I can to find him through less official methods. Now that they know about me I can’t really hang around with you anymore. Maybe I’ll have to ask Miss Emin for a tour through the slums. I’ll let you guys know if I find anything. Sayonara.”

Kazuko leaned back and fell out of the open window.

“This is the fourth floor, isn’t it?” The Chief sounded more confused than concerned.

“Don’t worry about Kazu. He’s always acting like that.”

That seemed to be a pretty good reason to worry in itself.

“Curious. What are all of you doing here?”

While we were all focusing on the open window a young girl entered the room. Even if you ignored her blood stained monochrome style it was easy enough to recognize her by that unusual speech pattern.

“I could ask you the same thing. I had a pointlessly busy day because of you.” The one to approach Hana was Vier. He flicked her on the forehead, and she flinched; probably expecting the impact to be more powerful.

Vier was probably the only person alive that could casually flick a super weapon like that.

“Envious. If Father is unsealed I want to be as well. Understanding. It would be a bad idea. My body is too worn out. My power would almost certainly be out of control.”

I was glad the daughter had more sense than the father.

“Curious. You still didn’t say. Why is everyone here?”

“A meeting, or something like that. You? A blood transfusion?”

“Shameful. Among other things, yes. Today I failed at keeping my blood loss within predicted levels. Self-indulgent. My body is still tired. I will sit as well.”

Hana walked straight toward the chair Emelia was using and sat down on her lap.

“Uh, hey, someone’s already here.”

“Humorous. Oh? Sorry I didn’t notice.”

“Right, right. So you gonna move?”

“Humorous. No. I assumed you would be glad to be useful, even with such a degrading job. Mocking. Perhaps you have a future in being furniture.”

Emelia looked unsure where to take the conversation from there, and it didn’t seem like Kanon was going to bother telling her not to sit there.

“Hey, this is great and all, but can I go home?” Oliver was the one to get things moving again.

“Almost, I just want to say a few words now that we’re all here. Good work today everyone. I feel like we solved some stuff. Everything got resolved and wrapped up nicely.” The Chief sounded far too accomplished.

I couldn’t let that stand.

“What are you talking about? Sure, we handled the symptoms, but we didn’t do anything to solve the root cause of any of this.”

“Eh, let’s not worry about that. Dealing with that kind of stuff was never our job.”

“The Chief is right. I’m only here to work ten to five.”

“We work eight to five, but Oliver has the right idea. Once the day ends we’re off duty.”

Those two seemed intent on writing us out of any sequels.

“So basically, dismissed. Work is over, you can all go home.”

“Seriously? You made us come here for that? Whatever, see you tomorrow.”

Oliver was the first to head toward the door, but he stopped as we heard a woman’s scream coming from outside.

“Excuse. Technically I’m only permitted to protect Mistress Oakley, so that’s not my problem.” Hana wasted no time in using a perfect excuse.

“You know, we can probably just ignore that. I mean, she might have just been surprised.” Even though I was injured I couldn’t shake the feeling the Chief would make me deal with it if I didn’t come up with an excuse as well.

“Please, I need someone’s help”

We heard the woman’s voice a second time.

“As an augmented in a foriegn city, I’m not allowed to involve myself in things that don’t relate to my mission.” Kanon looked conflicted.

“Yeah, and we’re only supposed to get involved with dangerous augmentations. I don’t want to put Nora through unnecessary paperwork by getting involved with something we shouldn’t.”

Nora nodded along with what the Chief was saying.

“Oh, god, he’s an augmented!”

Someone needed to stop that woman’s screaming.

“Hey, we all just heard what the Chief said, we’re off duty.”

“Um, I, I think Oliver is right. I already submitted today’s report, so, um, I can’t go back and change it.” Even Nora was trying to talk her way out of dealing with it.

“Anyone, please! I’m not sure how much longer I’ll last.”

We were quickly running out of excuses to give. If she had one more scream like that we might have been pushed over the edge.

“Honestly I don’t think you guys want me to go help her. If she saw my face I’d probably traumatize her.” Emelia decided she needed an excuse as well.

Vier walked over to the open window and took a look outside. The lights flickered off as he launched an electrically changed knife out the window before closing it.

“Problem solved. Don’t ask any questions. Just let the phantom knife become an urban legend.”

“Is that, really okay?” Kanon still looked conflicted about the whole thing.

“Sure, why not. It’s the middle of winter after all. What if Andre gets heatstroke?”

“My name is Alec, but thanks for the concern.”

“Alright then, case closed. Let’s go home. And Alec, I’ll give you one day off, but I’m expecting to see you again Friday morning. If you don’t come to work until Monday I’ll definitely forget you.”

“Get some rest, Lec. Next time, do better. I might not be there to save you. And even if I’m there, I might not want to.”

The Chief left with Vier following close behind her.

“Nice break, Abel. Enjoy your day off. And if you aren’t back on Friday I’ll drag you to the office myself.” Oliver called out to me as he was leaving.

“Based on how often you get it wrong I’m assuming you already know, but my name is Alec, no Abel. And you’re the last person I want lecturing me on slacking off.”

“Um, slacking off isn’t good, but you’re hurt, so, you should, you know, get some rest. Make sure to um, sleep lots.” Nora shuffled out the door before I could respond.

“As comrades that can’t ever get a win, let’s do our best to not die.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Boredom. I can’t remember your name, guy, but I’m leaving with Emi Emi.”

The two high school aged students left, leaving only Kanon.

“We haven’t known each other very long, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“I kind of forgot, but this was your first day, wasn’t it? How’d it go? Is the ARA as bad as everyone says? I hope we didn’t make you mug any senior citizens or beat up any elementary students.”

Kanon’s face tensed up.

“Of course, everything went fine.”

She was lying. I don’t know anything about Kanon, but people aren’t that hard to read.

“Get some rest. I look forward to hearing what Kazu was talking about on Friday.”

Kanon was still showing a serious expression as she started to leave.

A better person might’ve stopped her. He might’ve asked her ‘what’s wrong’ and tried to help.

But I’m not that person.

I knew something was bothering her. I knew she wasn’t fine, but that doesn’t change the fact that she told me she was. That’s why I hate lies. She pushed the burden onto me. Just because she wasn’t able to tell the truth I had to agonize over what to do. Should I have pretended to believe her lie or should I have confronted her with the truth?

Well, I didn’t agonize over anything. I just ignored the whole thing. If you start with a lie you shouldn’t expect anything from me.

Kanon stopped once she reached the doorway.

“Alec, is something wrong?”

“What do you mean?”

It’s not that I couldn’t think of anything, but there were so many things that went wrong I needed her to be more specific.

“I haven’t known you for long, but ever since you woke up you’ve seemed off. Something is bothering you. Something to do with why you woke up so suddenly?”

“I’ve seemed off? I feel like I’ve been acting perfectly fine.”

“Exactly. You’ve been fine, but it feels like you’re acting.”

Her instincts were scary. She was the kind of person I’m least equipped to deal with. It would have been easier if she just ignored me.

“There’s nothing wrong. I’m just tired from everything that happened.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, so you can stop being concerned. I mentioned it before, but I’m not sure how to react with someone like you being so worried about me.”

“Who’s worried? I wouldn’t be concerned, even if your appendix bursts.”

“Sorry, but I already got it taken out.”

“How should I know? I don’t care at all about what happened to you during the ninth grade.”

“If you remember when it happened you were clearly listening.”

“Who cares? I hope your intestines burst instead.”

"I don’t think that’s medically possible."

Kanon stuck out her tongue before storming out.

Cute.

She was undeniably acting cute, but that’s exactly why I couldn’t trust her. We’d spent a few hours together over the course of one day. And I’m not the kind of person that would make anyone believe in love at first sight. She didn’t have any reason to show such a side of herself to me. Once we were alone she was clearly acting differently.

A lie. She was probably thinking I’d be easy to fool. Maybe she was right. I couldn’t deny that she made my heart skip a few beats.

Actually, for a man in a hospital bed that’s a poor choice of expression.

Irregular heartbeats aside, there’s a difference between noticing a trap and being able to avoid it. Even if I sidestepped it, she might not give up so easily. I couldn’t make any predictions without knowing what she wanted from me in the first place.

I wasn’t sure what it was, but somehow I figured into her plans. I couldn’t imagine she'd be interested in anything other than finding Enki, so she had to be thinking I’d be useful for that. Despite his words, Kazuko could have already reported to her about what happened.

No, it had to be something she was cognizant of before that. Thinking logically, the only reason Kazuko was there when I met Enki was because Kanon already ordered him to stick with me. She wouldn’t have given up her best card without a good reason.

But even then, it’s not like I knew anything that could help her. For that matter, I don’t think anyone involved with us could help with anything.

If you’ll allow me to speak frankly for a moment, I’m not entirely confident in the people we’ve got protecting this city.

A leader who does what she wants, completely ignorant of the big picture.

A man with unbridled power and questionable morals.

An incestuous slacker who pretends to take nothing seriously.

A woman who’s either asleep or too nervous to talk.

A teenager that’s been marked by her family’s crimes.

A caustic girl who managed to inert her father’s worst qualities.

A foreigner who’s only focused on finding one person.

And a self-hating coward who’s constantly lying.

Even as I approach the end, with saviors like that I can’t help thinking that nothing has ended, and things are less than settled. Expecting something conclusive? That’s not going to happen, at least not here. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise. From the beginning to the end, this has been nothing more than a conclusion on lies.