The next morning, I didn’t want to leave my bed. I had no clue why. Everything was going pretty well; I had a friend helping me with investigating the source of the cheating, Ultarian Festival Week was likely going to start winding down which meant less unsanitary conditions at my first job, and I’d gotten a new perk in [Detect Cheating] which would make my life a lot easier.

 

Maybe it was the idea that I had to interact with a traitor which kept me frozen in place under my warm covers. I’d already committed to being as passive as possible with him, and just collecting information. That wouldn’t bring any trouble my way. Yeah. But why did I still feel so anxious about today?

 

Eventually, the sound from my alarm grew so annoying that even if I did give up and go back to bed, I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep.

 

“Fine,” I grumbled to myself as I hit the off button and headed to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

 

A quick shower and teeth brushing later, and I was out the door with my tool case headed towards my first job.

 

[Skill Level Up! Tinker lv 11 -> 12]

 

Hmm, only a single level up. To be fair, I didn’t have to do as much “dirty” work today as I had this past week, so it really wasn’t that bad of a power up.

 

After heading back to my apartment to drop off my tools and wash my hands very thoroughly, I got in my car and headed to Goldshanks’ casino for the tournament semifinals.

 

---

 

I got there forty five minutes early. The casino looked the same as yesterday, with the smaller grouping of tables in the center and expanded bleachers for the audience lining the left-side walls. The stands were already starting to fill up, no doubt for the action the penultimate day promised.

 

While most of the other casino staff were patrolling the play area for cheating devices, I made my way to something much more important.

 

A new day, a new catering table. And just like yesterday, it was filled to the brim with the best foods Mr. Goldshanks’ money could buy! But unlike yesterday, the bagel sandwich I piled for myself didn’t have any suspicious ingredients. Plain cream cheese, tomatoes, salmon-

 

“Hey Mike,” came a sharp, yet non-hostile voice from behind me.

 

After all the trouble I faced yesterday with getting my sandwich into my mouth, I was ready to ignore the woman behind me and begin eating. But I recognized who it was. And if she wasn’t here to pick a fight, I’d eat another gorgonzola toilet bomb.

 

“You talked to Beatrice yesterday,” Kamila began. Her eyes were sharp, but the focused edge they normally sported wasn’t aimed directly at me. “She told me about it.”

 

“Oh yeah,” I said with a nod. “She’s nice.”

 

“Looks like you’re not interested in making smalltalk either, so let me just get to the point. She vouched for you.” Kamila looked into my eyes. “She’s got a sharp eye for judging peoples’ characters, and it let her avoid a lot of trouble at her previous jobs.”

 

“But trouble still found her.”

 

“It finds all of us, that’s why we came here. And her judgment of character was what led her here, to Mr. Goldshanks. That's also why she trusts you. So as hard as it is for me to admit, if she says you’re good, then I think there’s merit to it.”

 

My mouth automatically curled into a smile, but I had to fight back my eyes to keep it from turning my expression into a sneer. That feeling of smugness lasted only for just a second thankfully, and it was soon overwhelmed by a genuine softness. “Thank you,” I said in a soft whisper.

 

“I don’t think we’re going to be fast friends, though,” Kamila said with a shrug. “And I’m still going to keep an eye on you because of that stunt you pulled on your first day here.”

 

My eyes lost a touch of their previous glow, but my voice held strong and steady. “I understand, I’m just glad you’re giving me a sincere second chance. The day we met, something else was speaking through my lips. Something not human; it’s really hard to explain. But as soon as I realized what was going on, I shut it up. And I’ll make sure it stays that way while I’m in these walls or talking to any of the others. Or anyone else innocent.”

 

“I don’t really understand what you’re trying to say, but you sound like you mean it, which is more than I can say for most peoples’ excuses. I still expect you to keep to that promise.”

 

“I will.” The fire was back, and I knew Kamila saw it when her lips twitched upwards.

 

“But it’s still going to take another two months for me to really see if that’s the case, so don’t think you’ve gotten off scot free just yet.”

 

“I don’t. But even if we can’t be friends, could we at least be a bit more cordial towards each other?”

 

“I already am,” she said with a slightly confused look.

 

I opened my mouth for a second, but decided not to push it further. She really was being nicer to me than before. And even if I wasn’t on the same level as one of her gal pals, it was good enough.

When the ensuing silence between us went on for several seconds, I gave her a curt nod and made my leave.

 

I got several feet before bumping into another employee. Or rather, he walked into me and made me drop my sandwich over his shirt.

 

“Gah! What the hell, Mike?!” shouted Todd, the head of security. He tried to wipe off the slices of tomato and deli meats off his shirt, while wiping away the bits of mustard with a handkerchief. “Watch where you’re going!”

 

“Oh shit, sorry!” I quickly shouted while trying to help him out. My apologetic tone quickly dried up as I registered his words and tone. “But you’re the one who bumped into me, you should be careful too.”

 

There was a flash of red in Todd’s eyes, and it wasn’t just the fact that they were bloodshot. His lips curled into a snarl and eyebrows narrowed downward as his mouth opened to reveal a row of clenched teeth. But before he could say a word, he let out a drawn out breath and mumbled something.

 

“What was that?” I asked.

 

“I said sorry,” said Todd, now only barely audible. “I’ve been up all night, a lot of work with packages.”

 

I nodded in response. “Yeah, I get you. I’ve been running around on a wild goose chase myself, but I got some help partway through, so it probably wasn’t as bad as yours.” I figured the security manager was also running after the cheater, and by his attitude, he probably couldn’t catch them either.

 

“Yeah,” Todd said with a nod while trying to put his handkerchief away in his pocket. It got stuck however and he tried to roughly shove it in, his hand looking more like a chicken pecking the ground at how he kept shoving it up and down while in his sleepy state. In fact, he ended up grabbing at the contents in his pocket and accidentally pulling it out.

 

My hand reflexively shot out and grabbed the small tube that began to fall. Too hard, apparently, as the cap slipped off and a bit of the sticky contents fell onto my hand.

 

“Make sure to wash that off before today’s matches start, the stuff stinks.”

 

“Thanks for the advice,” I said as I absentmindedly lifted my hand to my nose to give it a quick sniff.

 

I reeled my head back as the strong scent hit me. And then something bigger hit me: the smell was familiar. Very familiar. From last night in fact, it was the same smell that was on all of the packages.

 

“Hey Todd,” I began. “What is this stuff anyway?”

 

“It’s glue. What of it?”

 

I looked over to the tube’s label and saw that it was specifically advertised to work with cardboard boxes. “Why do you bring a tube of glue with you to work?”

 

“It’s from last night,” Todd said with a shrug. “You know, with the boxes?”

 

I looked right at him and asked, “And what were you doing spending all night sealing up packages when you’ve got a big day at the tournament today?”

 

A flash of anger went through Todd, but I could’ve sworn the fire turned into ice-cold fear for a moment. It was gone as soon as it appeared though, and he was left sounding annoyed. “I don’t see the need to worry when you’ve been responsible for catching all of the cheaters, it shouldn’t make a difference.” He gave me a quick smile.

 

I didn’t budge and kept staring at him, silently demanding an actual answer.

 

“I was sending out early Christmas presents to my family,” he said, turning around and walking out towards the back rooms to his office.

 

“It’s August,” I said as Todd walked out of earshot.

 

I wanted to push him further, confront him and bring everyone together for this while digging into his story. But… I didn’t want to betray Kamila’s trust if I was wrong about this. She said that everyone came to work for Goldshanks to escape the worst aspects of this world. They were all the same as me, we were supposed to be brothers and sisters in shared suffering, I wasn’t going to betray that bond! But at the same time, the evidence was mounting. And so was the fire in my own veins.