Striking while the iron was hot, Levi concluded it with, “That’s why being intimate with me is ok.”

But then, feeling he hadn’t been clear enough, he added, “Being intimate with others is not!”

Noah’s eyelid started twitching, he felt like there was something wrong here, but he couldn’t quite put into words what exactly.

Still feeling that his words had left room for error, Levi sternly clarified, “By ‘being intimate’, I mean kissing, hugging, caressing the head…” Levi’s list of ‘family-only’ acts went on and on.

Noah listened to the other's earnest recitation in a daze.

It seemed to make sense. His brother-in-law was being protective like a good older brother but... but... Why did he still have this feeling that something wasn't right somewhere?!?

Wait, wait, wait!

Noah’s body shook with a sudden realization! He knew where this feeling of ‘wrongness’ came from!!

How did his lecturing of his brother-in-law about his inappropriate behavior turn to the other lecturing him instead?!?

This bad, bad brother-in-law had deflected his attack and turned it around on him!!

(ノ꒪Д꒪)ノ︵ ┻━┻

Blackie : (눈_눈) ‘…really? That's what's bothering you the most right now? Not the fact that your brother-in-law’s list of family-only things included seeing each other naked, bathing, and sleeping together?’

In Noah's defense, his pure mind translated those to bathing your younger brother and sleeping together in the same bed with your younger brother. He took care of the younger kids in the orphanage too once upon a time. He knew how it was like to be an older brother.

Put in ‘taking-care-of-a-younger-brother’ context, all of Levi’s strange behavior sounded much more reasonable. And once Levi’s role of elder brother was established, it was hard for Noah to break out of that perspective and view what the other did as anything else.

Finally running out of things to list out without entering some strange kink territory, Levi stopped to ask Noah’s confirmation, “Understand?”

At this point, Noah had long become numb. Wishing nothing more but to put this embarrassing matter behind him as soon as possible, he nodded stiffly.

He should… should just concentrate on more important tasks at hand, such as not running late for their meeting with Fynn.

Yeah, if his brother-in-law was gonna be childish, then it was up to him to be a proper adult. And as a proper adult, he should be perfectly aware of their current priorities, which did not include having a lengthy discussion about the meaning of life with his silly brother-in-law!

And besides, it’s not like his brother-in-law was taking liberties with him. He just didn’t know better.

When put into perspective, though embarrassing, the previous matter was just a minor accident not worth fighting over.

***

Fynn’s background checks didn’t come up with much, but he did manage to draw various connections between the two cases that might be or might not be relevant.

For example, when checking rival pharmaceutical companies that had attempted to recruit the Fluxer, Fynn managed to find several employees of those companies that also had a connection to the Blazer.

Fynn had also looked at the name list of people who weren’t on good terms with the Concordia city lord and found some of them held shares at those pharmaceutical companies.

To be honest, searching for connections was like finding a needle in a haystack. But they had to start from somewhere. After all, if one wanted to dig out gold, one had to start digging. Even if the place you started to dig at was wrong, you still had a higher chance of finding gold digging there than if you didn’t dig at all.

Besides the search for connections, Fynn had gone back to the scene of the second power rampage.

Since the officer capable of tracking people by scent couldn’t enter the restaurant due to the overpowering stench of vapor, Fynn had asked him to sniff around the restaurant.

They had wanted to try their luck and see if the Fluxer and his companion had left their scent in the vicinity of the restaurant. If yes, they might be able to backtrack their steps.

In the end, they didn’t manage to lock onto their scent, but they DID stumble onto something interesting.

“Do you remember the sniper from the first incident? When we sent our guy to sniff him out, he couldn’t pinpoint which scent belonged to the sniper because the bar had been filled with too many scents.” Fynn started.

Noah tilted his head, “Yeah?”

Fynn leaned back in his chair, “While sniffing around the restaurant, my man caught a scent that he had also smelled in that bar.”

Noah snapped to attention, “Are you saying that the sniper from the first rampage was also at the scene of the second?”

Fynn nodded then shook his head, “There was definitely a person that was on both scenes. However, we still can’t confirm whether it was the sniper or someone else that coincidentally just happened to be present.”

Trey, who usually kept quiet unless spoken to, opened his mouth, “The windows of the restaurant were facing open waters.” Noticing Noah and Fynn’s encouraging looks, he continued, “Since there had been a sniper last time, I paid special attention to prevent sniping this time. I checked the line of sight of every window and door. The sniper might have been at the scene, but it would have been impossible for him to shoot at anyone in the restaurant.”

“That might be why we weren’t shot at this time,” Noah pointed out.

“If we pursue this line of thought, a lot of clues start to add up,” Fynn cupped his chin in thought, “Terrorists want to turn their target into a bomb that will explode with devastating consequences. The sniper is working with the terrorists, and the person who he shot at in the first incident was Trey because he was containing the Blazer’s rampage.”

Fynn paused to take a breath, “When you blocked his line of sight to Trey, he changed the trajectory of the bullet to avoid hitting you. He couldn’t kill you because you were a part of the plan – a high ranked Soother capable of reverse-soothing.”

Noah continued Fynn’s train of thought, “In the second incident, it’s not that he wasn’t there to interfere, it was just that he couldn’t interfere. He couldn’t enter the restaurant because that would put his own life on the line due to the rampage. And he couldn’t snipe from a distance because of the circumstances.”

“That brings us back to the question, why this restaurant?” Fynn looked at Noah, “The location was inconvenient for sniping and didn’t even contain many people.”

“Perhaps it was an accident.” Noah offered, “Perhaps they had planned for the power rampage to happen before they arrived at the restaurant, but they failed to administer the drug, or its effects didn’t show until the Fluxer reached the restaurant.”

“Or their real target was within the restaurant, which unluckily happened to be snipe-proof,” the usually silent Levi spoke up. “Either way, instead of chatting here, we should be looking for the Fluxer’s companion.”

Noah nodded and looked towards Fynn, “Did the Fluxer wake up?”

Fynn shook his head in denial. “Let’s go ask around at Pharmath.”