Day 13
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["She was so sad that she had to leave her dear friends behind, so she came up with a brilliant idea!"]
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3rd POV

He hadn't quite properly registered the words Angela spoke before her departure. Most likely it was because he was too preoccupied in his thoughts to actually hear what she had to say. Sitting here for who knows how long after she had left, the room that the Manager's office was located at was empty and silent. Leaving him alone with only his crushing thoughts to keep him company.

Taking a very much needed deep breath, Xavier slowly rubbed his eyes to clear away whatever stress he could relief himself of. Which did very little as he had a lot on his mind as of late. The severe casualties from yesterday was something that he didn't fully process until now, much less how poor his managing skills actually were.

Maybe it was because it was during the moment or perhaps it was due to how preoccupied he was till now, but the fact that nearly an entire department of staff were killed under his supervision  had nearly slipped his mind was both terrifying and concerning. He could've blamed it on the adrenaline he felt or the wave of relief that washed over him when he completed the day, but Xavier knew deep down within him that he subconsciously knew what he was doing.

'The Energy Quota was nearly finished!'

'If I went back, then all of that progress would've been for nothing!'

'Did I really want to go through it over again knowing it wouldn't change a thing?"

These were the whispers that he kept hearing, trying to justify what he did. Even despite knowing that such words were in vain, they kept coming and coming to ease his mind. Yesterday he slept a good rest, as if he hadn't just allowed an entire section of his staff to be butchered when he could've prevented it. A single push of a button was all it took to undo the massacre that was yesterday, and yet he hadn't thought to do so when the ever so blissful feeling of relief intoxicated him to sleep.

His words from before could still be heard in his head, promises and vows to better and differentiate himself from the rest. But who was he trying to fool? All that talk of keeping everyone safe and sound, now look at him. A liar and a hypocrite was what he had become, and it was weighing down on his consciousness. Was this who he was? A man who stumbles and falls into temptation for the littlest of reliefs? He wanted to do what was right, yet his mind and body naturally ignored such thoughts and intentions the moment his "job" was complete.

Only Xavier could answer his own questions, but even he didn't know the answer to them. But at this point it was beginning to seem like it wasn't answerable in the first place. Perhaps he should start seeing different alternatives? Giving up would be one, but that's simply him dropping he guillotine above his head down on himself.

Drink? Should be just drink his problems away? From what he's seen from Netzach it sure seemed to be a better way to go out. Or perhaps.......should he just accept it? That he's nothing but a liar and a hypocrite, ready to toss his own workers into the jaws of an abnormality just so he reach the daily quota? Just a heartless man who is no different from A—

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

Before he could despair into his dark thoughts any further, a familiar sound startled him as he reached his hand into his lab coat. He was almost thankful for such an interruption, because he wasn't sure how much his mental health was going to be able to take from his self beating. It almost made him wonder how the other Manager's were able to deal with this.

The beeping sound became more clear once he pulled out the device that he almost forgotten he even had. He couldn't lie, Xavier was nervous and uncertain as well about this entire thing with this 'B' person. Sweat began forming in his palms as Xavier stared at it, not knowing whether he should even consider using it. Unfortunately, it wasn't up to him to decide that.

"-el-o? H-lo? Hello, can you hear me?"

The same voice as last time rung out from the device, causing him to hitch his breath as he listened intently. As the static mixed in with his voice began to clear, Xavier could only speculate as to what this 'B' person could have to say this time. Just like the last time, the man on the other end of the line didn't hesitate to continue despite not receiving an answer.

"I apologize in advance if none of what I am about to say makes any sense to you. Perhaps you will brush aside my words as those of a lunatic without a care in the world. But for the chance that you are wishing to understand the circumstances that you have found yourself in, then please, listen well. I can only afford to say this once."

Xavier bit the inside of his cheek as he nervously sat up straighter on his seat. He could feel the palms of his hands slowly be drenched in even more sweat as he tightened his grip on his chair. Not even letting him mentally prepare himself, the voice continued.

"The first truth I wish to tell you....is that the AI at your side is not to be trusted. Before your confusion sets in, allow me to explain. In this day and age, most AI possess an intellect of at least ten regular people combined. Some can even imitate human emotions with ease."

Of course, that didn't shock or even surprise Xavier. It was a logical conclusion to arrive at when even computers and other tools created by Man were able to process things faster than their creators. Besides, the imitation of human behavior was something that he dealt with first hand, especially regarding the Sephirot. It did make Xavier wonder whether or not all the Sephirot were even AIs to begin with on more than one occasion. The only thing stopping him from fully believing that, however, was their perception and morality regarding others.

So then the question was; from this information, what exactly made them untrustworthy?

"However....they can do things you are not aware of yet.....or perhaps you have but simply choose not to acknowledge it. For example, some can lie, twisting their words and withholding information. Perhaps your definition of a 'lie' may be different from mine.....but in the end it can't be said that it is a good thing."

Scenarios, images, entire conversations with each Sephirot played through over and over in Xavier's mind. Remembering their words and actions as best as he could, he couldn't even tell the difference from the truth and lies, if there even was any, in their words.

"Another example.....If the controller of an AI were to give the order to not share specific information, then it has no obligation to tell the truth to anyone, other than that controller. More advanced AIs may even exploit such an order to tell lies, reinterpreting the meaning of the command."

"....and since I'm not their controller....they potentially have no obligation to tell me anything remotely true, even if I'm the Manager..." Xavier whispered to himself as a look of horror, and even a slight hint of betrayal, appeared in his eyes. Unable to control himself, he turned his attention back to the device, his stoic face struggling to contain his emotions. "How do I know you're telling the truth?" He unintentionally raised his voice a little after a small moment of silence, the strain in his tone showing how unnerved he was.

All the effort, hard work, mental straining that he had poured and gone through during his days here could have been for nothing. What was true and what wasn't, at this point he was losing himself in the chaotic mess that was his short life. But even then, was this even his life to begin with? No memories to go off of, alone and frightened with no clarity of what was and what wasn't, not even a name to be called on other than a letter as if he were simply a tool in a toolbox. Who was to say that his efforts weren't already in vain?

"How do I know that I can trust anything that you're saying?"

He asked once more, his stoic mask still in place but his words and eyes still contained the same intensity and uncertainty as before. Trust....was not something given but earned, and at the moment this 'B' person had done nothing to earn his. Words weren't enough to reassure him, something that they both knew, which is why 'B' had to tread carefully with his next words.

"I've programmed an AI before...well, participated in the programming, to be exact. It may not sound much, but I assure you that it was enough for me to know for a fact that an AI will not necessarily tell the truth if it doesn't have to."

Xavier's breath hitched as the implications of what he said entered his ears. His suspicions only continued to grow. After all, if he helped program an AI, who was to say that said AI wasn't in this facility right now.

".....I understand if you have your doubts regarding this, and I don't blame you for having them, but allow me to prove you otherwise."

A small clicking sound drew Xavier's attention to the device as he narrowed his eyes. In a sudden motion, a small opening suddenly appeared as a small rectangle object ejected out of it and onto us desk. Carefully leaning forward, Xavier's eyes locked onto the glistening object before he quickly realized what it was: a USB.

"Within that USB is a program that I, myself, have developed. At the moment, I wish for you to hold onto it, but when the time comes you will need to connect it to your monitor for it to serve its purpose."

"And just what exactly is its purpose?" Twiddling with it with his fingers, Xavier still held onto his gut feeling that something about this wasn't right. It felt as if there was something else he wasn't being told. Something that would both shatter his reality but still connect everything together like a puzzle set.

".....Once the program is transferred to your monitor it will serve as a key for you. Much like Pinocchio when his nose lengthens from a lie, your monitor will flash red when anyone within the vicinity fails to tell the truth. Unfortunately, it is merely a prototype, so it can only be used once and it lasts for a duration of a single minute."

The Manager swallowed the lump in his throat as he glanced at his palm that held the USB. Already suspicious, there was no way of knowing what exactly it did without actually using it. And if the words he heard just now were to be true, then he had no room for errors, especially when he couldn't see if it worked or not. With that in mind, another question had surfaced in his mind relating to the matter at hand. However, just as he glanced back up to his desk, 'B' spoke first cutting him off with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Apologies, it seems my time is up. Though our time was short, I hope you will keep what I've said in mind. Remember, don't tr—"

The last portion of his departure was interrupted by a sea of static that drowned out his voice. As if to indicate that it truly was the end of their conversation, the device released a click sound before it fully turned off. The silence that followed after left Xavier in a state of disbelief and frustration. Disbelief because of how sudden his words had been cut off, and frustration because he was still left with far more questions than answers.

Though he couldn't say that he trusted the words told to him, Xavier couldn't lie and say that it didn't make him pause and think. He already had a vague idea of just who he was going to use the program on, but his hesitation was coming from the fact that he didn't know who to trust: his assistant who he has known throughout his short time here or a random 'insider' who he hadn't even spoken much to just a day ago.

With his elbows plotted onto his desk, Xavier silently stared at the USB in his hands while fiddling with it slowly. Watching as the light glistened off it, and as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was waiting for his assistant to come back to guide him once more.

For once, he was wishing that the start of the shift would come quicker, simply so he could get his mind off things. More specifically, the guilt hanging over his head that only seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.

And maybe, just maybe.....he was considering accepting Angela's suggestion on drinking some wine together. Perhaps even getting Y/n or the other Sephirot to join in as well for a night to relax.

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???'s POV

I begrudgingly jotted down my observations as my fingers ached due to how long I've been doing this. Seconds, minutes, hours, days even, it all passed by like a hazy blur that I couldn't comprehend. I hated being here, around these insufferable people that continued to irritate me nonstop.

Chasing after a goal that only a lunatic could conjure from their pitiful dreams, damning all of those around them simply to satisfy their own consciousness. If they thought that I would follow them without a second thought, then all the more reason to question the sanity of these people. Despite my thoughts on the matter, I still continued working here while keeping up the facade I had adorned.

Watching these...... "things" move about within their cells was intriguing to say the least, making this job bearable due to how unique they are. Out of all of these creatures that I've been tasked to observe, I would have to say that this one caught my attention the most. A creature made of flesh and bone, all jumbled to form an incoherent mess that can be barely identified as a living being.

Though its appearance was questionable and intriguing to the mind of one who lives for science, I was more fascinated by the creature's actions and "goal". Makes me wonder, why would something as grotesque as this want to become anything close to resembling a human? Humans are disgusting animals, driven by desire and greed to pillage from one another to satisfy their hunger for purpose.

I should know, I'm one of them.

Using my connections, wealth, and even my own family's business to come as far as I have now, knowing that it was only for my own sake that I've done so. Though taking into account how the City was, I suppose that I wasn't that special in that regard. But it still didn't help get rid of the sour taste in my mouth when I thought about leaving the family business to my brother, the egotistical bastard.

The creature within the cell blinked its many eyes as drool leaked from its mouth. Staring at the wall as if it found something interesting, I questioned myself if what I thought about it previously was actually true or not. Perhaps it's due to the feeble mind that this creature possesses that makes it think that becoming like us would make an improvement to its life. Or maybe, it was simply trying to adjust to its surroundings and is simply a predator wishing to infiltrate the herd it sees before it.

Due to being lost in my thoughts, I was startled when the creature was suddenly closer to the glass as it slammed one of its appendages against it. Startled, I immediately stepped back while swallowing nervously. For a moment, I was concerned that the reinforced glass wouldn't be able to contain it, but when the third slam didn't leave a crack, I sighed in relief.

Behind me, the sound of the door opening caused me to turn as the multitude of safety measures were disarmed. Still, I made sure to keep the creature in my line of sight just in case it tried to do anything again. As the metal locks turned and hissed out air, the door finally opened as a figure appeared behind it and stepped in.

Seeing them clearly, I wasn't surprised to see who entered as I had expected him to come by sooner or later. His lab coat, similar to my own, fluttered in the cold air as he stepped closer to me. With a smile that could light up the night sky, he presented me a cup of steaming coffee.

"Heyo!~ Did someone order a cup of coffe!~"

He spoke in a friendly manner in which I could only scoff at. I could feel my face twist and turn in a clear sign of irritation, and yet he didn't seem discouraged as he continued to step closer. I eyed the offered cup of coffee while debating whether to take it or not. After realizing that my throat was indeed in need of hydration, I slowly grabbed it from his hands and took a sip.

'Disgusting.'

I thought to myself while staring at my own reflection within the cup. No matter how many times I bring myself to drink it, the taste only churns my stomach as I instinctively feel myself become nauseous. It had nothing to do with the actual drink itself or anything like that. It was simply because it wasn't his coffee that I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it.

Glancing away from the cup, I noticed his smile seemed to grow as he watched me accept his offer. Ignoring the sourness swelling within my throat, I eyed him while silently questioning why he was here. As if he could understand what I was asking, he cleared his throat while nervously scratching the back of his neck.

"Haha, don't look at me like that. You've been working nonstop, I bet you haven't realized that it's now an hour, almost two, passed midnight?"

Blinking owlishly, I indeed hadn't noticed the time fly by as I spent my time down here. Checking the clock hanging on the wall, it's hour hand ticked as it struck one forty-six. Now that he brought up the mentioning of time, I realized that my eyes indeed felt heavier than what they normally felt like. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to relax for just a moment.

".... I suppose you're right. I haven't had proper rest in a while..." Opening my eyes again I saw that he lost the nervous look and was adorning a more proud one, as if this was his goal from the start. Which it may as well have been if he's always bothering me like this. "*Sigh* If that's all you've came here for, then I'll be taking my leave."

"No problem, no problem~ You go ahead and rest up, I'll take over in the mean time."

Nodding at his words, I began cleaning up the documents and notes that I had written down. Leaving some of it behind for him to use for his own work, I started making my way past him to leave.

"Good night!~"

He called out to me, causing me to stop in my steps. At first I wasn't going to respond, but thinking back on this weird relationship that we've had since my first day here made me question if that was the best thing to do. Slowly looking over my shoulder, the man had his back turned to me while seemingly focusing on the Abnormality behind the glass.

In that moment, I saw passed the naive and carefree persona that I've gotten used to. Facing him from the back, his appearance was that of someone who looked lost and confused. Despite the bright smile that his reflection had on the glass, I saw that the same brightness didn't quite reach his eyes as he stared intently at the creature within.

"Oi!~ What are you standing there for? Do you need something?"

I didn't know how long I had been staring, but it must've been a long time if he had turned and noticed. When his voice calling out my name finally reached my ears, I blinked before regaining my composure as my eyes met his. Those orbs that seemed to devour any form of light within its sight, conjuring me to stare at them even more.

".......No, it's nothing."

Muttering quietly in reponse, I was finally able to glance away before I became too infatuated by them. I could see him smiling even more out of the corner of my eyes, most likely in amusement. Though I still couldn't help but notice the constant dead look in his eyes.

"Good night.......Lennan."

With that final whisper escaping my lips I turned and walked out, the darkness devouring my vision along with my silhouette.

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3rd POV

The clicking of heels echoed as a certain AI made her way down the hall leading to the medical section of the facility. The employees that passed by her glanced away or kept their heads straight forward lest they attracted attention to themselves. For once, the usual stoic look on Angela's face was gone and instead was replaced with a frown and furrowed brows. Fortunately for the ones around her, her closed eyelids spared them of the piercing gaze behind it.

There were many things occupying her mind now that she's taken into account the events that occurred the past few days. For one, the Manager's behavior was something she had long noticed was different from the previous ones. If anyone were to compare the past Managers to the one they had now, they wouldn't find that many differences. But Angela wasn't just anyone, no, she was an AI who was built with the sole purpose of analyzing every detail of every single speck around her in mere nanoseconds.

So it was no surprise that she was able to notice the subtle differences that the current Manager had compared to the others. The way his body tenses whenever an Abnormality breaks loose. Or the way he kicks his leg up and down when under stressful circumstances. His ever growing interest and attachment to the small cactus on his desk. Going out of his way to try and make it through the day without any casualties despite knowing the impossibility of it.....though the last one seems to be dwindling.

If it were the previous Managers, they would've hardly acted the same way as he did. If an Abnormality broke loose, they would've paid it no mind. Whenever they received gifts from employees, they would've disregarded or trashed them at the end of the day. The employees were their pawns, their tools, their resource to be used with the sole purpose of meeting the quota of each day.

And they didn't hesitate to do so.

Despite all of this, Angela hadn't done anything in response to the habits that the Managers had expressed during their time here. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with what they were doing. In fact, Angela had actively commended them for being as efficient as they were. Even if it left a sour taste in her mouth when voicing it, though if she were to be honest the indifference and dismissals they gave stung much worse.

But that was long ago, far into the depths of her memory to ever pain her as much as it did the first instances. That wasn't to say that they weren't still vividly present in her mind to remind her each passing second.

Feeling her mood instantly plummet, Angela quickly tossed those thoughts aside for later as she noticed her target destination just up ahead. Trying to keep a neutral and presentable look, it was all for naught as she entered the room before finding herself frowning again at the scene in front of her.

"And what exactly do you think you are doing?"

If her mood wasn't already near rock bottom, then this surely was sinking it to the point of no return. The person who she addressed the question to didn't even acknowledge her presence as they kept gazing at the unconscious man lying next to them. Running their finger in circles across his chest, the smile plastered on their face seemed to widen a tad bit more in amusement when he suddenly groaned in his sleep.

Of course, who could the person be but none other than Shina while the unconscious man on the medical bed lying right next to her was Y/n. All of this was analyzed by Angela in under a second as the frown she had disappeared as quickly as it came. With her poker face set once more, she slowly paced herself into the room as she homed in on them.

However, before she could voice her displeasure once more so it could be known, a figure walked into her peripheral vision. With a frown of his own, Renold made his way towards the AI assistant from the opposite side of the room. It seemed that she had failed to spot him upon entering the room, making her question what exactly realize just how much the scene had affected her.

She made a mental note to refrain from letting such a thing happen again in the future. Ignoring the other two in the room, Renold marched his way towards her. Only once he was at a decent distance for a conversation did he speak.

"I would like to have a word with you, Angela." His tone said it all, he wasn't here for pleasantries and was certainly not taking a 'no' as an answer. Before she could reply, Renold quickly spoke while glancing at Shina and Y/n from the corner of his eye. "Alone, preferably."

Raising a brow, Angela followed his line of sight and noticed it was directed towards the two on the medical bed, or more precisely Shina. With an irritating, goofy smile and maniacal look in her eyes, she looked far too occupied in tracing circles with her finger to pay either of the two any mind. But to the analytical eyes of an AI, Angela noticed the slightest twitches of her ear.

She was listening......

Not that it bothered Angela in any way, for she could care less whether or not she was. The same couldn't be said for the red-headed individual who narrowed his eyes at her, silently telling her that he had nothing else to say unless they were out of the room. Not saying another word, Renold brushed past her before leaving. No doubt waiting out there for her to follow.

Though she intended to oblige his request, Angela at the moment wished to at least finish what she came here to do. Which was checking up on a certain unconscious patient that had occupied her mind far more than she would like to admit. As if just now noticing her presence, Shina propped her head on her hand as she turned towards her before flashing a bright teasing smile.

"Oh hey, it's the walking fleshlight!~ Didn't see you there, how have you been?~" Even when Angela ignored her and interacted with the console next to them, Shina's smile remained as she chuckled to herself. "The cold shoulder treatment, huh? Well, no biggie, you're not fun to talk to anyways."

With that, she want back to doing what she was doing before. Not bothering in entertaining her, Angela was able to quickly finish her diagnostics in no time. The slight disappointment and irritation that she felt within her for the current scenario was surfacing each time Shina's shit-eating grin flashed in her mind. The fact that she could vividly remember it wasn't helping. Fighting the urge to simply walk right out, Angela finally gave Shina her attention once she was calm enough.

"I have an assignment for you." She spoke in a clear and neutral tone, causing Shina to look at her once more. "One that, need I remind you, should be your top priority until it is finished."

"Oh sure, an 'assignment'~" If the sarcasm in her voice wasn't showing off her amusement, the air quotations that she made with her fingers did. "Is that what we are calling favors now? Because need remind you that favors need to be repaid with favors~"

Angela steeled her face as she showed no reaction, making Shina frown a bit in disappointment. Releasing an exasperated sigh, she rolled her eyes before nodding her head. Though reluctant, she knew that they would get nowhere if she kept this up.

"Fine, I'll do it. Same thing as always right?" When she saw the slightest sign of a nod, she rolled off the bed and got to her feet. Stretching until her joints popped, she then began making her way out of the room though not before giving Angela one last cold glare. "Though I know you won't care, let me just say this. Pull another stunt like yesterday and I'll scrap you just like the rest."

"I have not the slightest idea of what you are talking about." Her response only caused the glare to sharpen, but she brushed it off. "It seems the injuries you sustained have caused you to become delusional."

"Tch! You know damn well what you did....whatever, I hope you're ready to return the favor when the time comes."

Stepping out of the room, Shina ignored the look she got from Renold as she walked past him. He was, for some reason, in a foul mood ever since he woke up from his nap, so she knew he wouldn't bother confronting her today. Though either way, the look she had was far from the usual one she wore, making it obvious she wasn't in the mood to talk either.

Thinking about what she was about to do, Shina could already feel the sour taste in her mouth that was building up the more steps she took. As she descended down the elevator, she stared at her palms with a far away look. Her teasing and lighthearted demeanor completely gone as she noticed how they were subtly shaking.

From fear? Anxiety? Anger? In all honesty, even she, the person herself, didn't know. Regardless, this wasn't the time for such trivial things. Silently, she squeezed them tightly into fists to get them to stop.

"I'm losing my touch, aren't I?"

She whispered to herself as the doors opened, allowing her to step out.

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3rd POV

Training Department: Main Room

Sipping their cups of coffee at a table were three individuals. One was a young man with short black hair, his bangs barely reaching over his eyes. Beside him was a similar looking young woman, her long black hair tied in twin tails. These two were the newly assigned members of the Training Team, Ryu and Ruki. Though similar to one another, they weren't twins but simply brother and sister, they couldn't be anymore different in anything but appearance.

At the moment, Ryu had a frown as he stared at the other person sitting at their table while Ruki was simply glancing around the room as if analyzing something. The old man sitting with them, who was the last member of their Team and appeared to be in his sixties, simply sipped his drink unbothered by the heated look.

"What are you doing here.....Boss?"

Despite the clear aggression that he was showing physically, Ryu spoke in a respectful manner to the man. The response he got was a snort as the man continued to finish his drink. Only once the cup was empty did he clear his throat to speak.

"Still calling me that? Just call me Gustav at this point, because last I remember you no longer work for me." His voice, despite just having a drink, was dry and coarse. He glanced to the side as Ruki finally brought her attention back to them. "Neither of you."

"Well, what can we say, Gramps? Not often you get accepted to work for a Wing." Ruki nonchalantly responded while shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, the pay wasn't cutting it during our time together."

"An opportunity landed before us, and we took it. Isn't that something you taught us to do, Boss?"

Gustav narrowed his eyes at the two, yet they kept their facial features calm despite how unnerved they felt. After all, they were the ones who left of their own accord, so it wasn't that far off to say that they didn't necessarily expect their former employer to be at their new occupation. Which showed in the instances of respect that was almost instinct to Ryu and the casual way Ruki spoke to him.

"Taught you to do? Funny, I also remember teaching you that debts should be repaid in full. So use that thing you call a brain and figure out why I'm here yourself."

Ryu struggled not to bite back a remark as he racked up his brain like he was told to do. It seemed that he wasn't able to get rid of the instinct to obey since their departure. Ruki sent him a worried look as she could see how much he was struggling with this sudden reunion.

"Hey Ryu, let's just leave."

She stood up and was ready to leave but stopped when she noticed her brother releasing a loud sigh. Turning back, she saw him waving his hand for her to take her seat again. Reluctantly doing so, she fiddled with her sidearm as a way to pass the time. For a moment, Ryu saw Gustav's eyes glance at the firearm before looking back at him. In that moment, it clicked in his mind what their former employer was here for, but instead he decided to keep it to himself and play ignorant.

"I can only presume that you're here for us to repay you for saving our lives back then. Though allow me to be blunt, Boss. I never thought you would be a petty man as you are now."

As they stared at each other, Ryu couldn't lie and say he didn't feel hurt by the look of disappointment in Gustav's eyes. But as sudden as it had appeared it was quickly replaced with one of intimidation.

"There is much you don't know, boy. But yes, I'm here for the two of you. It would be a shame to lose the two assets I've invested large amounts of time and money over the years to develop."

Ruki grimaced at being seen as a simple thing to invest in, she was closer to him than Ryu was. Most evident by her nickname for him, she saw him as something close to family. Unlike her, however, Ryu made sure to keep the man at arms length just in case. Because of that, it made it easier for him to play off how he was actually feeling.

"Tch, even after a year away from you, I don't know why I expected you to—"

The buzzing sound cut off Ryu's words as they all glanced towards the source. Ruki's wrist watch continued to buzz before she looked at it and saw her first assignment: 'Insight: O-01-67'. Taking the opportunity for what it was, Ryu quickly stood up as he tugged Ruki's sleeve.

"Sorry, Boss, but I will be accompanying Ruki to her assignment."

He fixed the tie of his suit while also straightening his armband, his own firearm attached to his hip by the belt. Not waiting for a response, not that he expected one, he began walking out of the room with her following right behind. Because of that, they weren't able to see how hard Gustav was clenching his fists.

What was surprising was that it wasn't from anger but from distress. Leaning back on his seat, he stared as the two siblings left the room side by side. He quickly averted his gaze when their silhouettes resembled two similar, but smaller, ones. When the door closed behind them, he grunted to himself as he tilted his head up to stare at the rusty ceiling.

'A year, huh? Either this has been the longest year of my life, or you two truly don't know what you've gotten yourselves into....'

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3rd POV

As Ryu and Ruki made their way to the southern hallway of the Training Department, the male was thinking back to their short conversation with Gustav. His sister seemed to had already moved on from the encounter, but that was to be expected as she didn't necessarily do much overthinking to begin with. So just like their younger days out in the Backstreets, it was up to him to be the brains of the duo that questions every little thing.

But unfortunately that was easier said than done.

There wasn't much he could go off of and most of the theories were just baseless assumptions. He could question everything all day, make all the plans he could to deal with Gustav, but still end up with nothing to make up for it. So with this predicament, the best thing to do was to simply keep their distance and observe.

"Ruki, avoid the Boss as much as you can." He muttered to his sister who froze mid-step to look at him. "If it comes down to it, you know what to do." Seeing the serious look that he gave her, she slowly nodded before resuming their walk.

As much as they would have liked to trust their benefactor since their childhood, they both knew better than to be naive into thinking that he wasn't here for his own benefit. Though the same could be said about them as well, he bit the inside of his cheek as the irony of it wasn't lost to him.

It would be after a few more steps that they both arrived at their destination. A heavily enforced steel door that was no different than many of the others they passed by. Only, this one had a designated resident that could most likely kill them should they put their guard down.

"I'll be waiting for you right here." He informed her as he leaned against the wall beside the door. Ruki, who was grabbing the mop and cleaning equipment turned to him with an unsure look.

"And if you aren't?" She asked while closing the equipment closet and getting herself ready to enter the room. "What if they assign you a task, do you want me to wait right here for you to come back?"

Ryu didn't respond at first as he rubbed his chin in thought. After a few seconds he just sighed heavily before shaking his head.

"No. If I'm not here by the time you are finished then just wait for me back in the main room. It'll be easier for the both of us that way." Receiving a nod from his sister he watched as she carried the cleaning equipment in one hand while her other hand was free and stayed close to the holster on her hip. 'Good,' he mentally praised, 'at least she knows to not let her guard down.'

As she entered and the door closed right behind her, it was as if the higher ups were waiting for this exact moment as his watch suddenly buzzed to life. He brought his arm up and looked at it, 'Attachment: Snow Queen', before gritting his teeth as he glanced at the door that his sister just entered through. The locks hissed out air, as if to dissuade him of the thought of entering, before they fully secured the door shut.

With no other choice, Ryu reluctantly turned around and began making his way to his assignment, though he made sure to take small steps in case he heard his sister cry for help. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he didn't.

——————————————————————————

Ruki's POV

Walking into the containment room was more difficult than it seemed. The cold air that I submerged myself into was like walking through a wall of ice. I couldn't tell if it was simply because of how nervous I was or because of how alone I felt, regardless, there wasn't much I could do about it. Armed with my only form of protection in one hand, I slowly scanned the room I was temporarily stuck in.

It was mostly empty as far as I could see, excluding the very creepy little girl staring right at me. Dressed in a red dress with pink frills and sleeves, the little girl's pale skin glistened in the light as if she were made of metal. Her dark grey hair was accompanied with a red bell hat with a black pattern. The way she constantly twitched caused the yellow rusty bells at the end of her hat to jingle a muffled noise. If none of this didn't alarm me enough, the way her eyes shifted and moved at different intervals and directions surely did.

Ryu always pestered me about the dangers that this job would present to us, and no doubt the "manual" provided by our Sephirah would reinforce his words

Ryu always pestered me about the dangers that this job would present to us, and no doubt the "manual" provided by our Sephirah would reinforce his words. But even without his warnings of caution, I would've kept alert. I knew I didn't necessarily have the wits that my brother had but I still had my survival instincts to keep me alive.

And right now, they're telling me to stay as far away from this "child" as I can.

I didn't exchange any words with the Abnormality, focusing more on cleaning and getting the job done than trying to figure out what exactly this thing was. It wasn't human, that's for sure. Perhaps if it wasn't some creature posing as a child I would've found it cute and possibly even adorable, but the feeling in my gut was enough to keep any positive emotions at bay.

It didn't take long for me to wipe the floors, though it was mostly because I only cleaned the side near the exit. I wasn't taking the chance in going near the thing if I didn't have to. Something that I had noticed is that there is never supposed to be a situation in which you should willingly interact with an Abnormality. The lessons, the manuals, everything that was told and given to us each had the same intention of keeping us, the Agents, from seeing these Abnormalities in a positive light.

'I guess that's one way to keep us safe.....not that it matters much in the long run.'

I couldn't help but think that while taking note of the creepy behavior the Abnormality was showing. It's eyes would look in opposite directions but it always had one of them looking directly at me at all times. At times after blinking, I couldn't help but feel that it somehow was closer than when I first entered. Which only caused me to grip the weapon attached to my hip even tighter, the only form of protection I had at the moment.

 

"6 PE-Boxes Acquired"

 

The robotic voice of a woman sounded out. I nearly jumped in fright while frantically pulling out my gun. The door several feet behind me hissed as it began to unlock itself. Not wasting any time, I slowly began backing away while keeping eye contact with the doll. When I felt my back hit the wall, I dropped the cleaning equipment before blindly reaching out for the handle. When I couldn't find it, I began to fling my hand around frantically in search of it.

'Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?!'

The longer it took for me to find the handle, the more I could feel the pit in my stomach growing. It was to the point that I couldn't help myself and turned around, only to find that the handle that I had been so desperately searching for was actually to my right rather than my left.

'You have got to be kidding me!'

Completely forgetting about the thing behind me, I quickly switched hands and opened it with the intent to leave. Fortunately I was able to make it out without a scratch, despite turning my back on the Abnormality. Unfortunately, however, that meant that I had failed to see it close the distance between us.

"Holy moly—!!" Seeing its freakishly large eyes staring directly at me from the door frame, I could feel my heart thumping in my chest from surprise. It's constant twitching only made me more jumpy.  "G-Get back you!!"

The vocal and visual threat that I tried to enforce did nothing as it held out a crude, red object in the shape of a heart. Where exactly did it get it from? I neither knew nor wanted to know as I tried to forcibly slam the door shut.

Instead of the relieving sound of the door closing, a loud metallic thud reached my ears as something prevented me from closing it. I peaked through the crevice and saw the crude heart being forcibly wedged into the door, by the Abnormality no less.

"Oh come on!" I could feel the pit in my stomach drop at the revelation, the door slowly creaking against my efforts wasn't helping either. "No. No, no, no. Don't you dare do this to me!"

I glanced my head around frantically looking for Ryu. When I couldn't find his figure, that was when I knew that I was truly alone. Pushing down the urge to scream for his name, I continued to try and push the door close with all the strength that I could muster.

I'm sure it would've seemed cartoonish, comical even, to anyone watching me struggling my hardest to keep this door closed with all my weight only for it to open slowly regardless. Although I wouldn't call myself physically strong, I was pretty sure that this wasn't supposed to be happening given our size differences. But then again, these are Abnormalities, so it should've been a given.

So what I did next was what any normal person would do: I started panicking. The moment I realized that my actions did nothing, I knew this was something entirely out of my league. So I booked it. My legs bolted as my hands released whatever hold I had on the door. I didn't look back, not that there would be any point since it was most likely going to escape anyways.

Now imagine my surprise when the sound of the door closing on its own reached my ears as I'm halfway across the hall. Of course, my full on sprint slowed down to a jog as the tiniest pinch of curiosity started to form in my mind. When I heard nothing else, more specifically no footsteps chasing after me, my jog trailed off into a walk. Soon I was just standing with my eyebrows creased in confusion.

Glancing over my shoulder, I took a peak to see what was happening. The answer: nothing. The hallway was empty aside from the cleaning equipment I had left on the floor. No sign of the creepy girl anywhere, in fact, it didn't even seem as if she took a single step out of her room.

"Huh......Well that's just confusing." Turning back around, I shook my head while making my way back to find Ryu. Despite this false sense of safety, I couldn't help be feel a lingering gaze upon my figure that only made me increase my speed. "I could've gone without being scared out of my mind though."

I ignored the fact that I left a mess on the floor. I would question my own intelligence if I went back just to clean up some wet floors. Especially knowing damn well that the Abnormality could be waiting just behind that door. The risk wasn't worth it, hopefully my Sephirah would understand that. If not, then I wouldn't be surprised if they downed my paycheck.

3rd POV

As Ruki made her way out of the hallway, a small silhouette could be seen making its way towards her direction through the shadows on the ceiling. Perhaps if she had spent a little more time looking she would have noticed it, but of course that wasn't what happened, so the day continued on without incident.

——————————————————————————

Y/n's eyes snapped open suddenly as he jolted up from the medical bed he was laying on. With erratic gasps, he clutched the front of his shirt tightly while staring straight ahead. It took a while for him to process his surroundings, but once he did, he immediately started turning his head side to side in confusion. His confusion came from the fact that he was alive and in the medical bay. The last thing he remembered was seeing a blade descending upon him before everything became a white blur.

Despite not knowing what had occurred after, Y/n still had a lingering feeling that he shouldn't even be here........alive. Glancing down at his chest and shoulder where he was subconsciously clutching at with his hand, he let out a shuddering breath as he realized that he was still whole. Yet, even though there wasn't any sign of harm on him, Y/n still winced as he tried to sit up properly.

Once again, he looked around the room and realized he was in the "infirmary". In his opinion it wasn't exactly qualified to be called as such since there was very little that indicated it. At a first glance anyone would assume this was simply a normal room but just bigger. Until they spot the rows of medical beds and the low quantity heart monitors that barely seemed operational that accompanied them. But even then, the absence of any medical equipment and tools would give the impression that this was simply a big room with beds.

Seeing how empty it was, he brought his eyes back to himself and the state he was in. Cold sweat that he hadn't registered yet was noticeable as his white dress shirt clung to his body all around. The sound of the heart beat monitor continuing its duty caused him to have a small headache before he quickly detached the wire from his left wrist. He immediately regretted it as the machine released a long dead tone that was usually correlated to the unfortunate, further worsening his aching head.

Just as it was getting to the point that his ears were ringing, it mysteriously shut off on its own. As much as Y/n wanted to bring his attention to that, at the moment he had other priorities. Swinging his legs off the bed, he slowly pulled himself off of the bed. Y/n's legs wobbled a bit, shaking as if he were still in the cold wasteland that he still vividly remembers he was in. Using his hand to support himself up, he realized that it wasn't just his legs but his hands as well that were shaking nonstop.

In quick need of warmth, he spotted a new set of clean clothes by the bed side near him. Quickly removing his soaked clothing, he was able to find some resemblance of warmth under the new coat that he adorned himself with. When the sound of his radio hitting the floor brought his attention, he stared at it for a moment or two.

"BongBong..." When he finally remembered why and how he had became this way, he immediately snatched the device off the floor while ignoring the burning of his muscles. Frantically turning it on, he quickly turned the dials to the frequency commonly used by the little girl. "BongBong! Are you there?! Answer me, please!"

The radio was silent, only the echoes of his voice throughout the empty room accompanied him. Silence wasn't the response that you would get if you couldn't connect to the other line, usually that would be static. So to hear nothing at all was concerning. He was about to speak once more, but flinched when it released a jumble of high pitch screeches.

He was expecting it to last only for a seconds but instead it seemed to only be getting louder and louder the longer he left it on. Even changing the frequency to a different channel and turning it off and on seemed to have not done a thing. Just as it was getting to the point he thought that his ears would bleed, he threw it across the room with all the strength he could muster.

With a wincing glare, he watched as the rectangle object smack against the floor before bursting to pieces. The circuits and components shattered as well, leaving the high pitch noises to finally settle down.

"Fine, I'll just check on her myself!"

Fighting the urge to sit back down and tend to his unseeable wounds, he stumbled his way to the doorway before leaning on it to catch his breath. He didn't expect it to be this difficult when he first woke up, only minor straining and a small headache, but it seemed that it wasn't the case. His fingers flinched whenever they touched the coldness of the walls, making him want to stuff them into his pockets for warmth. But he knew that if he did so that he wouldn't be able to catch himself from falling if his legs gave out.

When Y/n finally made it out of the room, he glanced at his wrist watch and nearly choked in surprise at the time. Ten minutes passed two; he was not only late for the shift but also in no condition to be applicable for Abnormality duty. That much he could tell with how much it was stressing his body to walk a few steps.

Yet, he still pushed himself to walk out.

It was hard to tell how long it took when your whole body ached, but at some point Y/n had made it to the Training Department. He appreciated the worried glances he got from the few employees he saw walking by, but their worry was for naught as it seemed that as the more time went on the more Y/n was able to ignore the pain. By the time he made his way to the portion of the room where BongBong usually was in, the pain became an afterthought as he scanned the area for the top of a certain girl's blue head.

Focusing his eyes, he was able to notice something odd. There were far too few staff present to efficiently maintain the Training Department. Counting himself, there were only twelve people here and most were clerks. A tap on his shoulder made Y/n flinch a little before he turned with a startled and pained look.

"S-Sorry! I didn't mean to sneak up on you Y/n!" Hod timidly spoke while giving him a worried look. Seeing that it was simply her, Y/n allowed himself to calm down before flashing her a smile. He made sure to take a step back in case she got more physical.

"You're fine, Hod. I was just thinking about something." Her eyes still held that worried look in them, most likely from seeing him distancing himself from her, but the rest of her body seemed to have relaxed a bit. "Anyways, was there something you needed from me?"

"Huh? Oh, no! I was just wondering if you were alright. You're supposed to be resting, you know?" Her question caused him to inwardly grimace but other than that he didn't outwardly react. "Renold came by and mentioned how you wouldn't be present today, so I'm glad to see you are doing alright but please take it easy."

"Ha, don't worry yourself over me! I'm doing just fine, nothing a little rest couldn't help." Although he was able to play it off perfectly well, Hod still seemed to be troubled by something. To which Y/n rose a brow at. "Is there something wrong? You look troubled."

"I wouldn't really say that, I don't think it's my business to meddle with but you do worry me." Seeing the confusion on his face, she decided to simply come out with it. "It's just, you looked a bit lost for a moment. Not in the sense of being directionally lost but more so.....sorry, I can't really put it into words...."

"It's fine, I understand what you're trying to say....guess I've been having a lot on my mind lately......"

".....Is there anything I can do to help?"

"There isn't anything in particular...." Y/n trailed off a bit as he pondered for a moment. Since Hod was BongBong's Sephirah, it wasn't illogical to say that she would know where she was at.  "....well actually there is, I suppose. Could you tell me where BongBong is? I haven't seen her since yesterday's.....incident..... and I would like to know if she's alright."

"BongBong?" She asked with a look of confusion while tapping her chin, making Y/n give her a look, but it quickly morphed to one of realization. "Oh, BongBong! Yes, don't worry, she's fine! I gave her some errands to run for me as I didn't want to overexert her after what happened yesterday."

A small sigh of relief escaped Y/n's lips at her statement that the blue-haired girl was fine. Though he was quite unsettled by Hod's earlier reaction, making him doubt her credibility. But as much as he wanted to bring it up, the soreness in his knees made him aware of the poor condition he was in. He very much needed to take a seat, but there was something else that got his attention.

"......That's a relief. I appreciate you taking her and my well-being into account."  A proud bright smile was the response he got. "But I have to ask, where are the rest of your staff?"

Just like that, the smile strained a bit as she looked anywhere but at his eyes. "O-Oh! W-Well, there were many, many, casualties yesterday. Most of which were due to the Abnormalities ." Her gaze fell to the tips of her shoes, a look of remorse was on her face as she clutched her shoulder with her hand.. "I-I wish I could've done more to help them, but my position as a Sephirah prevents me from doing so."

"......."

Silence was the only thing Y/n could respond with as he honestly didn't know what to say. He wasn't in a position to criticize or scold her since many of those who "work" for him were but names on a piece of paper. Almost never is there a time for him to actually associate with those who he can call "colleagues", excluding a few. But, that was besides the point, while he may understand the reason as to why her staff weren't present at the moment.....it wasn't exactly a valid one.

"But still if that's the case, why haven't you requested a replenishment of staff from the Reserves. I know that I may have been out of commission yesterday, but surely Shina or Renold would've approved of such a request."

In fact, it was mandatory, a basic procedure, for the Sephirot of each Department to report if such a situation occurred. If they didn't then they would be understaffed, and it was exponentially better to have at least some form of helping hands than none. This was especially true when dealing with HE level abnormalities or higher. So if the amount of employees were this low and there was still nothing done about it, either Hod forgot to submit the report, which was very unlikely, or she did submit one but someone purposely neglected it.

"Well, actually, about that...I may have or may not have decided to refrain from submitting my reports yesterday." She sheepishly smiled while not meeting his eyes. Y/n chuckled out loud, thinking that she was simply joking and trying to lighten the mood. It quickly drifted off when he noticed that she wasn't, his eyes staring at her in bafflement.

"Excuse me.....What?" He asked after processing what she said causing her to shrink back a bit from his reaction. "What do you mean you didn't give your reports? How could you neglect to do something so important?"

Although she wasn't the last person he thought would forget doing something, given her personality he was certain that she would prioritize anything that would be helpful for the people she worked with.

She was just that caring of a person.

Which was why it was as shocking as it was to hear that she purposely didn't do what was considered to be her job. Seeing the distress on his face, she quickly waved her arms in front of her as if to blow away the negative emotions.

"I-I didn't think it was necessary! I was more worried about you at the time and I thought that maybe it would've been fine just this one time!" She exclaimed while holding a tone that showed she fully believed in what she said. "And b-besides, this way makes it so that less people are put in harms way."

Y/n closed his eyes as his head quite suddenly felt dizzy from all of this nonsense that he was hearing. The only thing stopping him from making a reprimanding remark was the good will and intentions that Hod had behind her words. If these words were said by anyone other than her, he would've already left after the first few sentences.

But even then, Y/n couldn't wrap his head around the logic that Hod had running through her head. Sure, having less people actively attend to a Department's necessities would lower the casualty rates, but that was only on paper and it also doesn't take into account the other Departments.

If the Woodsman breaks loose again and slaughters the remaining staff of this Department, who then will suppress it and keep the situation under control? Not the other Departments, that's for sure. Unless ordered by the Manager himself, they have their own problems to deal with that they can't afford to neglect it.

All of this and Hod still didn't seem to notice anything wrong with what she had done. Perhaps she was fully convinced that this was a helpful gesture, or maybe it was an excuse she made and is simply acting so that he wouldn't report it. Regardless, Y/n had to do something about it, lest he wants today to be the day of his early retirement.

"You're right, that does make sense." He lied as he opened his eyes to look at her. Despite the guilt he felt and the urge to glance away, not once did his eyes stray away from hers. "Wow, Hod, I'm impressed. I never thought of it like that."

Her demeanor completely changed as she beamed a bright and proud smile. Every doubt she had simply flew over her head and left her completely oblivious to the lies he was saying.

"Well, since it seems you've got everything under control...." Y/n slowly began inching his way to the nearest exit. Despite how much his body was telling him to take a seat and rest, he ignored it in favor of getting out of here while he still could. "I'm going to take a guess and say that today's training and counseling will be postponed till further notice.... So, see ya!"

Quickly turning, he began to speed walk his way out. Since he had began moving ahead of time, he was able to just barely dodge the hand that reached out for his sleeve. Pretending to not notice the attempt, he gave Hod a closed eye smile while waving goodbye. The stammering Sephirah could be heard trying to form a coherent sentence to stop him, but it did little to his stride.

It was rude of him, Y/n won't lie about that, but he quite honestly didn't want to further prolong the discussion. The longer they spoke the more likely that he would slip up and say something he wouldn't intend. Plus he didn't know how long his legs would keep him up. Though he did feel like he was starting to do a lot of walking away mid-discussion, more often then he would normally as well.

Once out of the room, Y/n heaved out the air in his lungs while clutching his chest. Leaning against the door that closed behind him, he slowly began sliding down against it before finally his shaking legs gave out and dropped him on the ground. Having ignored the condition he was in, the little adrenaline he had was gone as the pain and soreness of his limbs came rushing throughout his nervous system all at once.

"W-What's going with me?" He asked simply to avert his mind from the pain. No one answered much like he expected, yet that only served to emphasize his confusion. Gritting his teeth and taking a sharp breath, Y/n slowly began to crawl back up to his feet. "Hah.....hah.....dammit, hah.....maybe I should've stayed in bed today."

Despite his words, not once had the thought of staying put entered his mind. It was quite strange how he didn't think of that. Maybe it was because he was too preoccupied with finding out BongBong's whereabouts to actually consider taking a break. But if he were to be honest, Y/n would admit that something compelled him to get up and attend to his work despite how difficult it may have seemed.

In fact, even now he could feel this unknown pressure that overwhelmed any thoughts of rest. His body shuddered and quivered, yet his legs forced himself to stand tall and proud. He didn't know what he planned on doing for today, but he just hoped that it didn't require him to exert himself more than he already had.

Unbeknownst to Y/n, small specks of ice began appearing near his neck and cheek. It silently crackled before it began receding back as his skin returned to its normal look. It was almost as if something was preventing it from staying. This continued to occur over and over before ceasing after a few tries, letting his skin return to its natural appearance. Y/n was oblivious to this as he slowly made his way down the hall and he let fate take him to where it wanted.

——————————————————————————

Control Team: One Sin's Containment

A fidgeting Mike could be seen cleaning the thorny crown of the skull abnormality called One Sin. His nervous demeanor had nothing to do with the abnormality itself, but more so with his thoughts on a certain subject.

Lately, for the past couple of nights, he's been having the weirdest variety of nightmares that he's ever had. Now, Mike wasn't new to these types of things, he had to deal with a ton of them when he found out his own Office's unfortunate demise with his very eyes. So the issue didn't lie there, though he was already self-aware that he wasn't mentally the same after that.

But no, this was something entirely different.

It was best to say that what left him unsettled was the fact that despite how blurry and scattered his nightmares were, they felt real enough to the point where he questioned if they really were a dream. Waking up frantically, grabbing certain limbs as if he were in pain, and outright screaming in terror were some of the few things that happened after such deep sleeps. The only thing stopping him from outright thinking that they were real was the fact that it always involved people he didn't know or situations that he'd never find himself in.

Hanging out while talking and discussing with strangers as if they were long time friends. Their faces were always blurs, ones that looked like someone tried to erase pen ink with an eraser. Their voices were so familiar and distinct, yet they only filtered into his ears as broken syllables and letters. Their fates......the less said about it the better. Trying to remember it was enough for Mike to pale from head to toe, so he avoided doing that as much as he could.

Suffice to say that the past few nights were not too generous to the man known as Mike. Of course, being the kind and caring individuals that they were, Dana and Roxie were quickly able to notice the changes in his tone and mood lately, especially in the mornings. Though that might also be due to the fact that he wore his heart on his sleeve, he's an honest guy in nature so it was impossible to try and lie his way out when asked what was wrong.

But that didn't mean he was willing to just outright admit his troubles to them. Half-truths were what he would give them them, a simple and short answer was all he could give to them. Despite how close the Control Team had become in terms of bonds after that day of Dana's vulnerability, Mike was not comfortable in sharing his pain and doubts. He would rather jump into an abnormality's containment cell than spill out his fears to them, the last thing he wanted to do was to trouble them.

They've had enough on their shoulders already with this job, there was no need to add more weight to it.

Keeping this stuff bottled in, however, would only cause him more harm than good. That much Mike knew. So an alternative was what he needed, one where it wouldn't be an inconvenience to anyone. The solution came to him as a random idea that soon turned into a weird daily occurrence. Which is what he was currently doing right now: he was letting it all out on One Sin.

"I mean, come on? It doesn't make any sense! I'm starting to think I'm going insane the more I go to sleep!" He exclaimed in worry, not even expecting an answer from One Sin as he spoke his thoughts out loud. One Sin simply floated in silence. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe I am just overthinking it a bit. But that still doesn't make me feel better though!"

*Sigh*

Releasing a heavy sigh, Mike stopped cleaning before he slumped his shoulders in what seemed to be defeat. Subconsciously his hand drifted upward to pet the weird flower attached to his scalp from Beauty. It's texture was both soft and bushy as his fingers weaved between the buds. Though he was alarmed at the beginning, he slowly grew to admire it when the first few attempts to take it off failed.

Dana and Roxie had tried to help him but neither could find a way to get it off. Scissors would snap in half when trying to cut the tiny stem. Trying to pull it off only gave him a massive headache as his head felt like it would split open. Roxie proposed burning it but Dana strongly refused saying that it would most likely end up hurting him more than helping.

Soon, they simply gave up on the idea when, in their last ditch effort, they asked Malkuth about it. They should've saw it coming given how she had been the past few days because instead of getting any noteworthy advice, they instead got scolded and yelled at for "thinking of useless things" and "slacking off".

In the end, it was suffice to say that he was most likely stuck with it permanently. Whether for good or for bad, it was up to debate.

It was at this moment that the intercom notified him that his task was finished. Walking out, Mike barely cared about the results of his work. One Sin never caused any trouble, even when the results were bad, so he didn't see any point in caring.

"What am I even doing? Talking to an abnormality about my problems, like that's going to do anything." Grumbling to himself, he started scratching his head in frustration. He suddenly stopped when he noticed several of the clerks nearby looking at him in worry. He smiled sheepishly before quickly walking away from them. "Idiot, look at you making them worry about nothing."

With the occasional wave to whoever passed by, Mike simply wandered around his Department. He would've went back to the Main Room but the chances of running into Roxie or Dana made him reluctant to do so.

"Maybe I've got the right idea, just the wrong.......person?" Muttering such a thing to himself, he sought out the only other person who he could potentially talk to. Though he didn't have to walk far as the person himself was already coming his way. "Dexter! Just the guy I was looking for! You got time to spare for a chat? I really need someone to tal—Woah, are you okay?"

Dexter, the Information Team's captain, trodded his way towards him. The bags under his eyes seemed more darker and prominent than Mike last remembered, making him worry a bit about his health and well-being. He wasn't even holding his E.G.O. properly as he let the spear drag on the ground behind him as it scrapped against the floor.

"Hello, Mike."

He finally greeted back once he was near enough to speak. His enthusiasm for today matched the way he looked, and if the Control Team agent didn't know him any better, he would have thought that he was annoyed. But this was simply how he was, it just seemed to be a bit worse today.

"Unfortunately, I don't think I have the energy to spare in holding a conversation."

Hearing that, Mike's expression slowly lost its brightness as he nodded his head in understanding. During their short talks, Dexter explicitly mentioned the workload he's been burdened with and his annoyance with his teammate's antics. So he could understand Dexter's lack effort put into anything but work. Though he still felt a bit saddened at the fact.

"Ah....yeah, sure thing. Sorry to bother you."

With the bright and chipper voice gone, in its place was a low and quiet voice that somehow gave off the feeling of a kicked puppy. Ironic, given how he was a few inches taller than the other. But still, it was something that Dexter quickly picked up on before he bit back a sigh and stopped in his tracks. This action didn't go unnoticed by Mike as he curiously tilted his head to the side, though a small shine of hope appeared in his eyes.

Not having the energy to tell him what he wanted to say, Dexter simply grunted while rolling his eyes. Somehow the message was able to be understood by the other Agent as he smiled broadly and took a spot in his left. Resuming their walk, Mike carefully explained his situation regarding his nightmares to the Captain of the Information Team. With each passing second Dexter's eyes slowly began to lose their tired look. After a good ten minutes or so, his eyes were wide awake as he furrowed his brows.

"So? What do you think?" Mike asked while chuckling with an embarrassed look. "I know that I'm probably overthinking it, but somehow they feel......I don't know, genuine?"

The only answer that Dexter gave to his questions was another small grunt. Whether it was of agreement or of dismissal, Mike didn't know, causing him to become disheartened at the lack of a response. However, contrary to what he thought of it, Dexter's silence wasn't due to him being dismissive of it but instead him going into deep thought.

When asked about his condition worsening, Dexter would always blame the paperwork or Bella and Vinera. In actuality, he was experiencing the exact same thing as Mike. It was odd, strange even, that such a phenomenon was occurring between two people in the exact same way. Especially the remark he made of waking up in the middle of the night in fright. The cause could simply be the bottled up stress that they have due to circumstances of their jobs. But Dexter wasn't into chalking it up as just that, the fear and paranoia felt far too real.

'Could it all be a side effect of an abnormality?' He asked himself while hefting his spear on his shoulder. 'If it is, then it's a hell of an annoying one.'

"...Right.....never mind." Mike muttered under his breath after noticing that he wasn't going to respond. Instead he quickly changed the subject to something that he was curious about. "So what brings you up here, Dexter? Manager's orders or just taking a relaxing walk?"

"Mike.....if I wanted to take a relaxing walk, this would be the last place I would think of." He glanced at the man who gave the foolish question, receiving the look Mike could only chuckle sheepishly. "And yes, I'm here by the Manager's instructions. Repression work on Beauty And The Beast."

"Beauty?" Mike repeated out loud while raising an eyebrow. "Well, that's funny, because—"

"—you're heading the wrong way."

A female voice spoke just behind them finishing his sentence. They both turned their heads over their shoulders to see a woman that seemed to be in her thirties. She had long brown hair that was tied into a single bun at the back of her head. Brown eyes stared at them behind a pair of glasses at the bridge of her nose. Her plain attire let them know that she is a clerk for the Control Team who seemingly overheard their conversation and decided to jump in to assist.

"Beauty's containment cell should be that way, up the stairwell, to the left." She said while pointing in the direction behind them. Turning back to the two Agents, she furrowed her brows in confusion. "Don't know why you're all the way over here."

"I was wondering that too. I was just following you but if you were heading towards Beauty you could've just asked you know?"

Dexter pinched the bridge of his nose while fighting back a sigh.

"If I had known that a Wing would provide faulty equipment such as this," he waved his arm showing the watch, "I would've done that already." Giving Mike a small glare, he huffed in annoyance before walking off in the direction the clerk pointed in.

"Sheesh, not even a thank you? Talk about rude." The female clerk spoke while rolling her eyes. Eventually her eyes landed on Mike who had yet to move as he stared at Dexter's retreating back. "So, what's the deal with your friend? Woke up on the wrong side of the bed?"

"Hahaha, sorry about that. I guess the stress is getting to him more than I thought. But Dexter isn't a bad guy, today just doesn't seem to be a good one for him."

The female clerk raised an eyebrow at that while scoffing.

"When is it ever a good day for anyone here? I've got a shit ton of things to do before Malkuth tears my head in two, but you don't see me glaring and grumbling about."

He couldn't deny the truth in her words, so he instead looked to the side to avoid looking into her eyes. Her annoyance didn't last long as she placed a finger under her chin in thought.

"Though now that I think about it, things have been a little weird." Her words were loud enough to reach his ears causing him to glance back at her. As if guessing the questioning look he had on, she pointed to his wrist and the device attached to their hips. "These things right here are what I'm talking about. Lately, it's becoming an ongoing occurrence for them to act up or not even work at all. Starting to think that your friend isn't far off regarding them giving us faulty equipment."

"That's......true, I guess. Though I will admit that I haven't paid it that much attention." He stated while frowning a bit, trying to remember when such things occurred. However, not before doing what he thought to be an important step in keeping a conversation with a stranger. "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. The name's Mike."

"Funnily enough, I already knew your name, Mike. Agent Dana speaks fondly of you to us clerks when you're not around." Smirking a bit at the look of interest on his face, she decided to tease him a bit. "Must be nice having such a caring girlfriend. If only I had someone to speak fondly of me like that."

"G-Girlfriend?! We aren't like that! S-She's just a friend." He exclaimed in a hurry, showing just how embarrassed he was at the thought. The clerk showed a look of surprise, not really expecting him to react in such a way, before beginning to laugh. She certainly found this more interesting than she first thought. "H-Hey, what's so funny? Y-You were lying about her saying stuff like that right? Like there's no way she would think of me in that way, right?!"

"Hahaha, oh my word! Who the hell reacts like that nowadays!" The clerk struggled to keep her laughter down while out of breathe. "Oh geez, I'm so sorry, but that was just too hilarious!"

"Glad you could get a laugh out of this..." Mike muttered bitterly, disappointed in himself for reacting the way he did. "If you're done, don't you think it would be best to go back to what you were doing before Malkuth says finds out?"

"Gawk!"

She released a sound that resembled a combination of both a gasp and a hiccup which effectively killed her laughing fit. The mere mention of the Sephirah's name was enough to cause anyone who associated with her to freeze in their tracks.

"Fine, you win, I'll get out of your hair.....for now." Saying so, she began walking past him but stopped a few steps away before turning around with a smile.

"Before I forget, the name's Sarah. Or Zeta-9916, if you prefer going by ID's. Try to stay alive, I would miss your cute reactions if you died anytime soon~"

Without waiting for him to respond, she walked away while happily humming a tune to herself. She didn't seem that worried about Malkuth, making Mike a little worried of the repercussions that she was going to face. Though since he couldn't do much, he decided to leave it out of his mind for now. Sighing a bit, he turned to follow after Dexter but was stopped when he felt something collide with his abdomen.

"What the?" Taking a step back, he glanced down to see the top of Roxie's head as as she silently rubbed her nose. "Oh! Hey Roxie. Sorry, I didn't see you there."

Ignoring his apology, she pointed at the watch on her wrist with an impatient look before grabbing his sleeve and tugging him along with her. Although reluctant, Mike wisely decided to not resist as he followed behind her. The flower bud attached to his hair like an accessory shivered for a moment before resting silently.

As they traversed back to the Control Team's main department, the small frown on Roxie's face didn't seem to be leaving anytime soon. If Mike had better hearing, he would have heard the faint clicking of her tongue in annoyance. His earlier conversation with the clerk still bounced around in her head the entire way

As if something were clouding her judgment, Roxie ignored the fact that it was being voiced by what seemed to be a woman that she neither never met before nor knew.

———————————————————————————

The vents of the room let out a stuttering choke as it began to filter out the smoke and ash in the air. Coughing was soon heard as Y/n waved his hand to clear the ash in the air away from his face. Grime was present in various parts of his face and suit, showing just how dirty the containment room had become after a few hours of neglect.

You know, when he decided to let fate take him to where it wanted, he didn't expect it to be here. Y/n thought to himself such a thing while standing a distance away from Scorched Girl. The child of ash and flames remained slumped against the floor while staring blankly at him with her eyeless white sockets. Her hands were stretched out as she held a small unlit match in his direction, once again signaling him to take it.

But just like before, he refused to take such a thing knowing how unpredictable and dangerous it could potentially be. His refusal, however, only caused Scorched Girl to start to sniffle and hiccup in sadness. Unlike before, however, Y/n found himself coldly ignoring it while he focused all of his attention on doing his duty.

Maybe it was because of yesterday, or maybe it was due to this unnatural coldness he was feeling within himself, but Y/n was becoming aware of how careless he actually was being regarding the dangers that came with this job. Most of which he had barely realized he was doing, almost like he subconsciously pushed aside such matters like they were nothing but an afterthought.

He wondered to himself how long it would have taken for him to have gotten killed with the way he was acting. Such carelessness would surely have upped the chances of it occurring. A small part of him felt that it wouldn't have taken a day either for it to happen.

Taking a moment to clean himself up, Y/n picked up a spare rag and began wiping his face and hands. The grime, while difficult to take off at first, slowly began to clear from his skin. Once he was satisfied, he began to collect his things and wrote his observation report.

He didn't add much since at this point most of Scorched Girl's behavior patterns were already documented. Having the same thing be written over and over would simply be a waste of resources. So he gladly took the rest of the time in here to ponder.

The sores and aching of his body had lessened considerably as the day went on. He wanted to think it was due to the regenerators fixing him up but knew that this was most likely just the adrenaline running through him. He could still feel a slight sense of tiredness whenever he stopped to rest from even the most trivial of tasks.

At this point, he wouldn't be surprised if he fell asleep the moment he touches his bed. Perhaps he should've stayed in bed like he was meant to.

"Gah, why is it so hot?"

The complaint slipped through his lips as Y/n began to feel sweat stick his shirt to his skin. Glancing at Scorched Girl showed that she hadn't moved any closer than before, yet the temperature around him seemed to gradually get hotter.

Adding more to the discomfort, he also began to feel an irritating itch on his neck. Thinking it was due to his sweat and the tightness of his collar, Y/n unbuttoned it and loosened his necktie. However none of it seemed to be of any use in relieving him. In fact, it seemed to only bring more awareness to the fact that said itch existed.

A simple scratch would ease it, he thought to himself. Bringing a single finger to his neck, he scrapped it back and forth across his skin. What was supposed to be a quick look of relief turned into a confused stare as he scrunched his brows.

He was sure that he was scratching it, he could feel his finger right on it. It laid just under the tip of his fingernail, he was just barely missing his target.

Confusion turned to frustration, the itch was building up the longer he continued to scratch. One finger became two as the sound of his nails scraping against his skin could just barely be heard amidst the cries from Scorched Girl.

Unbeknownst to Y/n, the abnormality that took the appearance of a little girl was also increasing the intensity of its cries. Almost as if in response to the neglect that it was experiencing, the more Y/n continued to grunt and scratch, the harsher it's sobs became. Soon, he was scratching without restraint while Scorched Girl was on the floor in a fetal position shivering ever so often.

All four fingers and his thumb were being used. He ignored the wet substance that was sticking underneath his nails as he continued trying to dig into his own skin in order to reach that one spot. It proved to be of no use as it continued to squirm and dodge it's way across his neck, unbothered by the attempts he made to get rid of it.

Y/n's mind was focused, narrow-minded on the sole purpose of releasing himself of this torture he was experiencing. At some point he began using his other hand as well to complete this task. With both of them now desperately clawing away at his throat and cheek, he failed to notice the gradual lack of air he was getting.

His vision was becoming hazy. The smoke around the room was blending in with the dark shadows in the corner of his eyes. Yet he continued moving his hands nonstop, not because he didn't want to but because he couldn't stop them if he tried. They were moving on their own, as if of their own free his hands desired to rid him of the irritation.

Just as he was beginning to think he was going to pass out, something grabbed both of his arms and quickly restrained him.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!"

A voice spoke just to the left of him, most likely the owner of what he presumed to be the arms restraining his own. Y/n's head immediately went limp in their arms as the energy from his body was sapped out of him. Dangling his head, his eyes could barely make out the hazy figure of Dana cautiously keeping her distance from Scorched Girl.

"Get him out of here!" Another voice, most likely hers, spoke as two sets of footsteps moved in a hurry.

Y/n could faintly register her figure trying to console the child of ash as he was dragged out of the room. The metal door abruptly cut the scene short as a clerk closed the door right as they made it through, leaving Dana to deal with the hysterical abnormality inside.

"Hey man! Are you alright?!" Someone, a male it seemed like, called out to him as he was laid down onto the ground. "Oh geez, oh geez! You're bleeding! Hey guys, he's bleeding!"

"I know that! I got it all over my shirt if you couldn't tell!" Another male voice responded in annoyance. "Harold, what the hell are you doing just standing there?! Get a med-kit or something!"

"R-Right!" A timid voice meekly said back before footsteps began thumping to the right.

The panic was evident in their tone, making Y/n wonder what was going on. He wasn't left in the dark for too long as he sat up a bit and noticed the sticky substance on his hands. The one who was bleeding was in fact him, but rather than be alarmed Y/n was too busy trying to understand why this happened to actually care.

"Woah, woah, woah! You need to lie down!" A pair of hands gripped Y/n's shoulders and forcibly pushed him back to the floor. "J-Just wait a moment, I'm sure that we'll get you fixed up in a jiffy."

Taking their words into account Y/n reluctantly laid back down as the man began to apply pressure to his neck. He didn't know how bad of a condition he was in, but judging from the fact that they were quite jumpy, he didn't think it was that great.

Soon the man, Harold if he could recall, came back with a metal box.  Placing it onto the ground, they began opening it and taking out its contents. Though timid, Harold seemed to be quite efficient in applying the disinfectant and bandages.

It wasn't long before Y/n was finally allowed to sit up with bandages wrapped tightly around his neck and lower cheek bones. The stinging in his neck kept his mind off from recalling that 'itch' he had earlier. But the stains on his hands was a grave reminder.

Perhaps noticing his gaze, one of the clerks decided to ask the question that was most likely on all their minds.

"What the hell was that, man?"

The one who spoke was a man with brown hair and similarly brown eyes. He looked quite young for someone to be working here, but age never mattered to a 'Wing'.

"I know working here is stressful and all but you don't have to resort to self-harm, you know?"

Y/n frowned when he heard that. He didn't like the implications of that statement but couldn't refute the reasoning. He at least wanted to clear up the misunderstanding and explain that not even he understood what happened, but before he could one of the other clerks spoke up.

"Don't bother trying to reason with the psycho." The clerk with an attitude had raven hair and a pair of black eyes. Square glasses laid on his nose as he pushed it up with a frown. "It's obvious that he's not right in the head."

"Woah, what? Come on, that's a little bit harsh! It could be because of that abnormality, you never know! I've heard all sorts of things from Dana, those things are unpredictable!" The brown-haired clerk responded back with a frown of his own.

Ignoring him, the raven haired clerk shook his head in exasperated disbelief and began to walk away. "This will be our first and only meeting regardless. Harold, do me a favor and educate these hooligans for me." The timid clerk flinched at that before nodding his head at his retreating figure.

The brunet felt his brow twitch at that while Y/n took a deep breathe and began to stand up. Harold had enough manners to at least wait for the man to fully stand before saying anything else.

"Are you alright? If I were you, I'd take the rest of the day off."

Harold suggested with a worried look. The brunet found himself nodding in agreement as he supported Y/n with a hand on his back. Y/n took those words to heart as he too thought that it wasn't of any benefit to continue working any longer.

"Yeah, I'm fine. And I think I'm gonna follow through with that."

"That's great! it's important to keep your health in mind at all times." The brunet cheered with a toothy smile.

"Indeed, though I would like to say that you should probably check in for mental corruption. Mental health is just as important as physical health."

Y/n refrained from nodding his head due to his injuries, but didn't miss to send a look of confirmation. He felt a little iffy being told such things by clerks, it wasn't like he didn't know what to do. But the mention of mental corruption caused him to halt.

When was the last time he checked in for a mental diagnostic? He couldn't remember if he were to be quite honest. Being so busy the past week or so, Y/n simply forgot about it. Though he was pretty sure that they were supposedly a daily thing, so the question was: why hadn't anyone notified him of missing them?

"I hope you don't take what Clime said to heart." Harold's voice caused Y/n to snap his attention back to him. "He doesn't really take into consideration of others and their problems. So he might come off as—"

"A douche?" The brunet finished for him. To which Harold only offered a sheepish smile in response.

"I was thinking of something along the lines of short-tempered, but we could go with that."

"What's with this Clime guy calling him a psycho and all that jazz?" Directing his attention back to the wounded man, Harold also shifted his gaze towards him.

Awkwardly laughing to the side, Harold seemed reluctant to answer.

"I don't want to say anything I shouldn't, after all it's not my place to give out personal information. But I can at least tell you that we are both old colleagues and used-to-be medical students."

"So what, you're both doctors?" The brown haired man questioned.

"No, we were about to be doctors. Our professions were cut short once we were invited to work here. I guess you could say that's one reason why Clime is in a foul mood."

"Foul mood is putting it lightly. If you told me that he had a stick up his ass I would've believed you." Y/n jokingly commented underneath his breath before gripping his head as he began to feel a dizzy.

Luckily, the other two didn't hear or see him as they were soon caught up in a discussion about something along the lines of a "nest". Y/n didn't fully understand why they would be talking about birds now of all times but it seemed to be getting them quite heated at the moment.

Frowning a bit at how loud they were becoming Y/n shook his head and prepared himself to leave before they could involve him in it. Whatever the conversation had turned into was not his business anymore, so the faster he left the less he would have to worry about.

"H-Hello, excuse me, can you help me with something?"

His departure came to a sudden stop when he felt a tap in his shoulder causing him to turn around and be greeted by a woman nervously waving her hand at him. She had long black hair tied into twin-tails, the standard suit that agents were made to wear, and a brown armband on her shoulder.

They stared at each other for a few seconds in silence. The gears in Y/n's head turned as he tried to quickly come up with an excuse to not help. If he were to be honest, he was very tempted to just dump whatever work he had left onto an unfortunate clerk and then take the rest of the day off.

Y/n ignored the curious glances that she was giving his neck as he turned his gaze to the two men still arguing. Their loud voices had lost some of their original heat, but the tension seemed far worst than what it was before. Which was surprising given how it was all friendly at the beginning.

Whatever the case was, it would be best to not draw their foul mood in their direction.

"Depends on what you need help with." Y/n finally spoke after bringing his gaze back to her, just barely fighting back a sigh.

"Oh, it isn't that much! I just need help finding someone by the name of Y/n. Do you know where I can find him?"

Taken by surprise, Y/n could only stare at her with confusion as he had no idea why she would be looking for him. He could only chuckle humorlessly at the coincidence of this happening.

"It must be your lucky day cause you're looking at him." His words came out in a tired tone. He could've simply lied about it and go about his day, but the possibility of this being important made him falter. "I'm Y/n, just Y/n, nice to meet you Ms?"

"Ruki is fine, no need for Ms or especially Mrs." She spoke in a friendly manner that clearly had a hint of awkwardness, no doubt from the situation she was witnessing just a few feet away from them.

"Nice to meet you Ruki, now what can I do for you?"

"Ah, Hod asked me to find and bring you back to the Training Department. She said she needs help with something about a presentation?"

"A presentation?" Y/n questioned before thinking about what she could possibly need him for. She was already capable of doing presentations in her own. "Sorry, but gonna have to say no to that. If you couldn't tell, I'm completely beat."

Despite saying it in a sarcastic tone, Ruki winced a bit as she could see that he wasn't lying about how he looked. His suit was disheveled, his hair was a mess, and the bandages covering the entirety of his neck didn't help his image one bit.

"No kidding, you look like you've seen better days. Well, hopefully you have." Her comment got a dry laugh from him before he started walking past her.

"Sorry in advance if you get in trouble. Though I doubt you will since it's Hod we're talking about. The most you'll get is probably a scolding."

"Are you sure you don't want to tell her yourself about this?" Ruki asked in concern. "If she's as easy going as you are making her out to be, couldn't you just ask her yourself to be let off?"

Hearing the question, Y/n mulled it over for a while before shaking his head. She probably would, but in the chance that she doesn't? Well let's just say that he can't say no to her when she uses her adorable pout and 'pleases'. He hated to admit that he was weak to such things, perhaps that's why BongBong could win almost any argument with him.

"No, the quicker I get some rest, the earlier I can start working again." His words came out with a sigh as he mentally berated himself for even getting out of bed today.

Ruki didn't say anything else except give a nod and a friendly wave of goodbye. Y/n waved back before leaving the area in the direction of the nearest elevator for his dorm room.

Watching him leave, Ruki uncomfortably fidgeted in place before swirling around to observe her surroundings. The two clerks were still arguing, not once taking notice of her arrival or Y/n's departure. She ignored that and instead focused on the dreadful feeling of being watched that she had felt throughout the entire day.

Her eyes wondered to the corners of the room and spotted several cameras. When she noticed that they weren't looking in her direction, she shifted her gaze to the other side of the room.

She found nothing.

Yet, the pair of eyes that laid upon her figure still persisted and she couldn't help but be afraid of what was happening to her. Not wanting to stick around any longer, she quickly took off to the opposite end of the hallway and left to tell Hod about what Y/n said.

All the while the feeling of being watched never once left her.

Unbeknownst to anything regarding to their surroundings, the brunet and Harold had finally reached the end of their little quarrel. Their lungs pumped as they breathed heavily in gasps of air. The kind look that the Brunet had was long gone as a look of disdain made its way into his eyes. Harold wasn't much better as his timid personality was gone and in it's place was one of disbelief and anger.

"Tch! Whatever, you Nest Dwellers are all the same!" The brunet growled angrily to which he only received small glare in return.

"You wouldn't understand what we have to go through. You think that you are the only one with misfortune in their life?" Harold spoke grimly as his eyes narrowed, a small hint of hurt laid beneath that exterior of anger.

"No, but I sure didn't get to live one full of luxury like you two seemed to have gotten!"

"I think you've got the wrong idea of what it is like in the Nest."

"Oh sure, yeah you're right. I'm too much of a plebeian to understand how privileged you are. So sorry, your Highness, that such a piece of trash like myself could try and fathom what you're life is like."

Harold tightened his fist

"Hey, Y/n! Are you alright?!" Dana's figure came rushing out of Scorched Girl's chamber. Her head turned back and forth before locking on the two of them before she began moving towards their direction. "Carlos, Harold, where are Y/n and Clime?"

The brown haired clerk turned his confused gaze to where Y/n was supposed to be standing at as Harold did the same. Now that they thought about it, they noticed that they hadn't heard any input from him in a long time. Only now did they realized that he must've slipped away while they were talking.

The two of them stayed silent for a moment. Neither knowing how to respond as they too didn't gave an answer. After a moment of seeing Dana's questioning stare, Carlos was the first to speak.

"Y/n was just here a minute ago." The brunet shook his head with a shrug, not really giving her any form of comfort.

"And Clime left to finish his reports for today." Harold lied to cover for him, something that Carlos noticed as he sent another glare his way.

If Dana noticed the tension in the air she didn't seem too keen on commenting on it. Alternating her gaze between the two of them, she simply cocked a brow before sighing.

"Well, glad that everyone is fine. Either of you mind telling me what happened to Y/n?"

Carlos immediately had a guilty look on his face as he completely forgot about him. Harold only frowned as he placed a finger under his chin in thought.

"Well, we didn't exactly get to verbally question what happened to him. But I do have a hunch."

"Oh? What's the hunch dOcToR HaRoLd?"

Dana sent an apprehensive look at the brunet as she silently questioned what had happened to have him act like this. Harold ignored the snarky and mocking tone to his side as he instead stared at Dana with a uncertain look.

"Don't take my words to heart, I'm not too sure myself if this is the reason. After all, it could be an Abnormality at work here. But if it isn't, I'm seen symptoms similar to patients I've seen in the past."

"Patients? What, are you saying that he's sick?" Dana looked at him with concern as she really hoped that he wasn't. Though she was relieved when she saw him shake his head.

"Sick could be used to describe them but I would better describe it as a condition." He stopped as he looked at the both of them. Debating on whether or not he should say it, he finally decided to when he noticed their probing gazes. "For the record, the patients I've worked with were not as severe as what I saw today, but I can that this Y/n person was displaying certain symptoms of withdrawal."

"Withdrawal? You mean that he's a drug addict?" Carlos asked confusingly to which Harold nodded his head slightly.

"The scratching, the vast amount of sweat, constant twitching and aches, disorientation, slight tiredness, these are all things I saw from him when we were bandaging him up."

"You didn't think at any point at all to just, you know, bring it up before he left for God knows where?"

Hearing that, Harold sent Carlos an annoyed stink eye.

" I would've if someone kept their emotions in check. Besides, I thought that you would've known what he was going through."

"Wanna explain what the hell you mean by that?!"

Before either of them could continue, Dana stepped right between them and placed a hand in each of their shoulders to create distance between them.

"Calm down both of you! I don't know what's gotten between you two but this needs to stop!" She reprimanded them like a mother would her two children. Neither seemed all too happy about that but both of them understood that she wouldn't let them continue. "Harold, how about you go and report to Sephirah Malkuth about the condition of Scorched Girl's meltdown. Carlos and I'll see if anyone else around here needs assistance."

Carlos was close to speaking up to argue but stopped when he saw that Dana was giving him a look of disappointment. In all his time working in the Control Team he had not once seen her have such a look be directed at him. Usually it was Malkuth who did so, but it never mattered as she did that to everyone. The fact that it was someone who was always caring and so motherly to everyone, it only made it hurt that much worse.

Seeing his deflating anger, Harold too ceased any of his previous hostility. Looking at Dana, he slowly nodded his head before muttering a meek "sorry" underneath his breath as he began to leave. Whether that sorry was for his inappropriate behavior or for something else entirely, she didn't know.

When it was finally just the two of them, Dana didn't mutter a word as she readjusted her EGO in her back and began walking away. Carlos followed behind her silently, too ashamed to even say a word. He made a mental note to himself that he would have to apologize to her later.

Only to her though.

His anger for the other two still hadn't quite been quenched. After all, as long as they were from the Nest he would hold no sympathy for them. Just like how they would to him.

———————————————————————————

Middle Layer: Briah

<A Few Hours Later>

Mindlessly jotting down words on the report sheet in his hands, Renold unenthusiastically nodded his head to the words of the little child in front of him. The calm and soothing sound of their voice entered through one ear and out the other, something that they noticed very quickly but didn't seem to find worth bringing up.

Instead of paying attention, Renold's golden eyes raced side to side as he skimmed through the faces of those who he could see. When said faces weren't the ones he was looking for, he began looking at the color of their hair. Brown, black, blonde, gray, none of them were the one singular color he had hoped to see. It didn't help that the location that they were in was a large room.

If you could call something as big as this that.

The "room" was plastered in a yellow/golden look with white marble flooring. The walls were decorated and color coated in a theme similar to an opera theatre, ironic given the circumstances everyone was in. Renold would've thought of a distasteful remark if he wasn't so preoccupied at the moment.

Perhaps having enough of the scene before him, the third wheel of the two loudly cleared his throat. The child stopped mid-sentence while Renold finally tore his eyes away from his surroundings. They both turned to stare at the man giving them an amused look. His long black hair was loose as it reached his hips, his bangs closely reaching his brows. The letter 'T' was visible on the armband wrapped around the sleeve of his suit as he reached into his pockets to fish something out.

This man was Fa Zhang, Captain of the department that they were currently in and the most cooperative one out of the three in the Middle Floors. Something that was appreciated by anyone who spoke to him, which is why Renold gave him the privilege of having his attention.

After a moment or two, he finally found what he was looking for before pulling out a lighter and a cigar from his pockets. With their attention on him, he casually lit the cigar. The end burned bright as it quickly caught on fire and seemed to be getting larger. But before it could, he quickly snuffed it out with his fingers and brought it to his mouth while taking a deep drag. Holding it in for a moment, he then slowly released it from out of his nostrils while giving them both a relaxed smile.

"Pretty cool, right? Learned that a few days ago from Jammie. Unfortunately, he got splattered all over the walls just last night before he could teach me anymore of his tricks. How cruel this world is."

Fa Zhang shook his head with obvious fake remorse, but it seemed that either the child didn't realize or chose to ignore it. Favoring to also show a sad look at the words he spoke, the child nodded his head in agreement.

"Yes, it is quite unfortunate that such an event had occurred. Jammie had a lot of potential and could have proven to be a valuable member for our department."

"Hah, I'm sure he would have been happy to hear that, Young Sir." He replied while waving off the sad look he was receiving. "But don't worry your little head on it too much. I'm sure that we'll find another person like him in the near future."

With another drag from the cigar, he placed his hand on the kid's blonde hair before playfully rubbing it. The kid didn't show any resistance as he nodded his head with a smile. Though the smile didn't last long as he then turned back to Renold who was silently watching them.

"Ah, Mister Renold, since it seems I have your attention once more, I would like to start where I left off. It seems that our E.G.O. equipment has been severely damaged due to our recent activities this past week."

Glancing at the clipboard in his hands, he then frowned a bit after reading it once more.

"Lady Gebura seems to be the one in most need of E.G.O. repairs while Mister Chesed's department is in the least need. Fortunately, due to the efforts of the Welfare Team, there are no issues in regards to our staff's morale or mental corruption."

At the mention of the Welfare Team's Sephirah, Renold slightly squinted his eyes and stood a bit straighter. Something that Fa Zhang noticed while nonchalantly keeping the cigar in his mouth. In his head, however, he sighed to himself as he noticed that nothing seemed to have changed this time around as well.

"It would be best to prioritize the repairs for each department in the following order; Disciplinary, Central Command, then Welfare." He finished before looking back up at Renold for any of his personal inputs. To which the man only subtly nodded his head in response. "Although I understand that it may be too much of me to ask, it would be of great benefit to us all if you were to begin immediately."

"With much due respect Sephirah Tiphereth, my schedule will unfortunately be full. The Manager this time around seems to be one of the more.....unique ones."

He paused for a moment as if letting them catch up with his words before resuming.

"Therefore my top priority will vary depending on the circumstances that the Manager finds himself in. Of course, the repairs will be done whenever I am able to, though it would be best to get the easiest of them out of the way first."

Fa Zhang's eyes glinted for a moment in a sign of interest as he eyed Renold amusingly. The implications of what he said wasn't lost on him as the favoritism was in plain sight to anyone listening. Tiphereth, on the other hand, only tilted his head to the side in confusion. Not really understanding the logic behind his decision, he gave him a questioning look.

"That doesn't sound very optimal—"

"I have already discussed such matters with Lady Angela. The Manager is to be top priority, especially given the time restraint we are currently under in regards to the supervision of the Upper Sephirot."

There was no hesitation as he responded immediately. Despite his words however, there was not even a slight sound of interest in his voice. Resulting it to sound as if he were casually dismissing the conversation, almost as if he had rehearsed the response long before they had been spoken. Though that last portion seemed to be more directed at Fa Zhang than it was for Tiphereth.

Seeing that he wasn't going to budge, Fa Zhang decided that it would be best to simply end their conversation there. Putting a hand on Tiphereth's shoulder, he slowly ushered him in the direction of the nearest exit.

"Khm! Maybe it would be best for you to go now." Clearing his throat of the smoke he had just breathed in, Fa Zhang smiled reassuringly when he saw the reluctant look on the child's face. "I believe that the Young Miss might need your assistance in her reports. Though stubborn,you're one of the only ones who she will receive help from, so I'm sure she will appreciate it."

Tiphereth's eyebrows creased as he went deep in thought. After a second or two he finally nodded his head appreciatively. His eyes held a sense of trust and optimism in them that it almost made him wince, but he didn't as he still held the same smile.

"Then I will it to you, Mister Zhang."

"Like I said, don't worry your little head on it. I'll take care of Renold here for ya."

Seeing Tiphereth leave, Fa Zhang's smile slowly turned flat. The cigar in his mouth burning bright as he took a deep breathe, but never once did it decrease in length. The smoke of ash filling his throat with a coarse taste sat there suffocatingly. Only when Renold finally spoke did he release it from his lungs and replaced it with a batch of fresh air.

"If I remember correctly, I thought that you despised children."

Turning around with a small frown, he snatched the cigar from his mouth and flicked it at Renold. It flew in the air in his direction and just before it could hit him in the eye, it stopped as Renold caught it within his palm.

"Excuse me for the disrespect, but I would appreciate it if you could quit with these mind games already. The Young Miss? Sure, you could say I have a strong dislike for her. But him? We both know that he's anything but a kid. Especially with what he's got in that little noggin of his up there."

Ignoring his words as if he were never interested in the first place, Renold carefully began to peel the wrapping of the cigar. Dropping the flimsy material to the ground, he held out his hand and revealed what seemed to be a bundle of sticks taped together. Said sticks continued to emit smoke before finally coming back to life with the sudden fresh air it received.

"I believe I also remember telling you not to treat EGO's lightly."

Any further protests died at that moment. Averting his eyes, Fa Zhang clicked his tongue in mock annoyance at being caught red-handed. Not that he expected to even get away with it in the first place. He could always sneak back up there and get some more anyways, that is if they don't straight up "retire" him before then.

Though now wasn't the time for such thoughts because from the piercing look that Renold had, it looked like he wasn't too happy from his exploitation. Or maybe he was just annoyed for interrupting his little "search" earlier? Who could say, definitely not Zhang.

"What? It's called being optimal with my resources. Think about it. A cigar that never wilts away. We could be making a profit if we sold this in the City. Besides! It's not like it's hurting anyone, other than my own lungs that is."

Signaling a clerk to him, Renold handed them the bundle of matchsticks from Scorched Girl before telling them to lock it up. The clerk looked at the matches skeptically before shaking their head and doing what they were told to do. Flipping through his reports, Renold gave him a side glance while tapping on a certain page.

"Inappropriate use of EGO's is a third degree violation of employee and workplace safety. Such actions can and will result in demotion, expulsion of your position, and—"

"Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I get it. No need for the dramatic explanation. This isn't like you to worry about the little things, so just get to the point please. I think we both know that this isn't what you're worried about."

Though rude, Fa Zhang knew that such things weren't really matters that Renold would concern himself with. Hearing this, Renold quietly closed his mouth before the edges of his lips curved upwards to a rare smirk. His tapping ceased as he slowly brought the clipboard down to his hip. For a moment the two of them simply stared at each other; one with a look of appreciation and the other a skeptical gaze.

Renold wasn't one to smile often. In fact, there were very few things that could get such "positive" reactions from him. More often than not, the causes were far from what others would consider pleasant. Which was why it was more concerning than anything else when it actually appeared.

Slightly unnerved by the look, Fa Zhang coughed into his fist to clear his throat. Perhaps taking that as the signal to move forward with the conversation Renold's smirk turned flat before speaking.

"Good, I will admit that it is quite nice having someone as perceptive as you." The compliment did little to loosen the man's tense mood, it even seemed to be doing the opposite. "I've come to bargain for your cooperation in dealing with our, as Lady Angela calls it, 'rat' problem."

"Ah yes, the 'rat'. I completely forgot about the little fella. If he's still scurrying around would I be right to say that the Records Department isn't up and running yet?"

"Indeed you would be correct. Maintenance has been halted until the Sephirah is activated."

"What a bummer, would've liked to have my crew back before anything crazy happens." Kicking the floor with his foot, Fa Zhang glanced around while thinking for a bit. After a second or two he finally stopped before sighing. "Fine, I'll help you. Though I can't promise you that we'll find him. After all, this place is like a maze within a maze."

"That alone is satisfactory enough. The time limit is three days, any sooner will cause unnecessary setbacks. For your cooperation, I'll overlook your abuse of EGO this time around."

Stretching his free hand towards him, Renold calmly offered a handshake while staring at him intently. He could see the small glimpses of hesitation in Zhang's eyes, most likely weighing the benefits of accepting his words. But as quick as it appeared it vanished as he clamped his hand over his, bringing their talk to a conclusion.

"Highly appreciated." Zhang muttered under his breath while releasing his grip. Rolling his shoulders, causing them to pop, he glanced at his watch to notice that a few minutes had gone by since Tiphereth's departure. "If that's all you needed from me, I think it's time for me to get moving. Make sure you get those repairs done too, might need them soon at the rate that the Disciplinary Team is going."

"How troublesome. I'll see to it that it is done."

Receiving a nod in return, Renold silently watched as Fa Zhang made his way through a crowd of employees. Only when his figure disappeared did he tear his gaze away before settling it on a specific door on the other side of the room. He stared longingly at it, as if waiting for it to open and someone to pass through. Unfortunately, the truth was that no matter how long he did, it remained completely still.

'Patience.'

He reminded himself while turning away, eyes filled with determination that wavered just a tiny bit.

'I must have patience.'

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Xavier's POV

Releasing all my weight onto my chair, I leaned back while closing my eyes. Staring at a screen, especially as long as I did, was putting a strain to vision. I was sure that this wasn't healthy in the slightest, but there was nothing I could do to alleviate such a problem. Despite this, I was feeling quite relieved at the moment and even a bit proud of myself. Opening my eyes a bit, the cause of such feelings was present on my screen.

A bluish-green text box with the title 'Management Report' at the top took up a majority of the screen. The entire thing was segmented into four parts that summarized the day: Promotion, History, Rank, and Timeline. Every day I would receive this exact same text box whenever the energy quota was met and I ended the day, making it a routine for me to glance it over.

My eyes ignored the promotion and timeline segments before I immediately honed in on the history and ranking. Although history and timeline seemed to be similar at first, the former was far more detailed than the latter as it didn't simplify any information.

Rank was, to my guess, a ranking system on my overall performance. This most likely included how well I coordinated the Agents, how well I suppressed any anomalies that appeared, and et cetera. Which is why I was proud to see the letter 'S' as the ranking, signifying that my efforts weren't in vain.

History was a bit more complicated than I had originally thought at the beginning of my "career". At first it seemed to simply be a documentation of the events that occurred during the day. Sounded like nothing special at first.

Of course, that was until I went back and checked the past week or so's reports and noticed that it included events of both before and after any resets that I had done. Including certain events that are no doubt the stem of my uncertainty and self-doubts.

One wouldn't put their mind in it for too long as it didn't seem to be that important. I would've done the same if I hadn't gotten an epiphany just at this moment.

To put the TT2 Protocol in the simplest terms one could call it time travel, because for all of its intents and purposes it was simply just that. The act of reversing time, making the events that were happening become events that will happen if no precautions were made to prevent them.

However, if that were the case then that in of itself brought on its own questions. Like the reports I had just seen for example. If the TT2 Protocol was undoubtedly the act of reversing time, then why were the details of the events still present and documented for me to read. Shouldn't they have been overwritten or replaced with the latest loop?

It wasn't the case since the evidence was in the system itself, recorded and most likely archived. I might have to go back and review them again to make sure I didn't miss anything. Though now that I've come this far, another thing to think about has earaches my mind. Wouldn't there technically be records of the previous managers' reports within the system for me to look at?

Logically speaking, if they had gone through the exact same thing as I have, then there should be some form of files to look at. As much as I have come to hate paperwork, I wouldn't mind spending some time looking through some of them if that were the case. After all, there could be some useful information that could make my life just a little more easier.

I couldn't lie and say that a small part of me wanted to simply quench the thirst of curiosity I had. It wouldn't harm anyone in knowing a little bit more about the situation I'm currently in, or at least that's what I'm hoping for.

Deciding to stretch my legs for a bit I slowly stood up as my joints popped, making me release a satisfied sigh. Once my knees were ready to move I turned and glanced at my assistant who had not once spoken after her greeting. Tapping away at her keyboard, it made me question why an AI like herself who need to do such a thing when she was quite literally connected to the system.

Perhaps I had been staring for too long in thought because her fingers suddenly stopped as she shifted her head up slight from the monitor to my direction. I don't know why, but my eyes instinctively looked away to avoid any eye contact.

"Is there something you need, Manager?" She spoke a moment before the silence began to drag out. Her tone flat and in a businesslike fashion as always.

It scrapped the inside of my ears despite the distance I was from her. Putting my hands into the pockets of my lab coat, I subconsciously gripped the hard drive that laid within it as if it would provide me comfort. It was for naught since it only caused my hand to drip in sweat instead.

I don't know what it is about interacting with Angela that makes react this way, but if I were to be honest it was getting quite annoying. I haven't forgotten the words 'B' that spoke to me about, and although I can understand the possibilities of what he said, I couldn't bring myself to be convinced just yet.

Who was to say that this 'B' person could be trusted to begin with?

Who was to say that Angela could or couldn't be trusted?

Who was to say that anyone, let alone those two, had my best interests in mind?

No one, that's who. In the end, didn't it come down to me on whether said person was trustworthy or not? To judge their character was something I had to do for myself and myself alone. If I judge wrong then it will simply be a consequence that I must face.

For now, however, it was just a matter of knowing how much trust to place on them. Feeling my heart beat increase in rhythm, I forced my eyes back onto Angela's. Though it may sound rude, seeing those closed eyelids instead of her robotic gaze helped me calm my nerves.

Finding strength to calm my beating heart, I steeled my resolve and relaxed my fists. Gulping whatever saliva accumulated in my mouth, I opened my mouth to speak.

"Yes, in fact I do."

I wondered if she expected me to deny it because it took her a while before she fully turned in my direction in her chair. It made me wonder what circumstances would make her think so but I put it in the back of my mind as I noticed she was giving me her full attention.

"I was wondering if any file reports from the previous managers existed or not, and if possible, whether I could have a look at them in my spare time."

As the last part of my sentence left my lips, I subconsciously held my breathe awaiting for her answer. I knew it was a gamble. If I were to believe that Angela, an AI, could lie then it would've been optimal to use the program within the hard drive to catch her in the act. Unfortunately, I couldn't have possibly prepared it before hand without knowing if it worked, let alone knowing what questions I would even ask.

If Angela replies that 'yes' they indeed have records and I could access them then that would be that. Nothing to worry about and her trustworthiness would be solidified for now. If she says no, however, that such a thing doesn't exist then I wouldn't have no way of knowing if she were telling the truth or a lie.

I also wouldn't even be able to bring it up again in the future since in doing so would imply that I was skeptical of her answer and honesty. This would simply make the rift between us much more larger than it already is, something that I genuinely don't want to happen despite how I subconsciously react to her.

It is something that I am hoping to fix as soon as possible.

Perhaps that's why I found myself expectant on her reply. Deep down I know that I have no real reason to react the way I do when I'm around her. Even I can notice the oddity of being repulsed by a person I barely interacted with.

I thought that I simply had a grudge against robots or the like, but that wasn't the case when I felt no such things for any of the other Sephirot. Such feelings of disgust were only ever triggered by Angela and Angela alone. It wasn't natural nor was it reasonable, and yet it remained in my instincts to do so as if it were implanted in my very being.

"Khmm!"

Hearing the sound of someone clearing their throat immediately snapped me from my thoughts. Judging by the slight furrow of her brows, I realized that I was too immersed in my own thoughts to actually hear what Angela had said. I cursed myself for doing so before trying my best to give an apologetic look, even if she couldn't see it.

"I...I apologize, I didn't quite hear what you said, could you repeat that?"

If it were anyone else right now they might've voiced a complaint on being ignored, yet Angela simply nodded her head without a trace of anger. Leaving me to wonder whether or not she was annoyed with me.

"As I have said, there is indeed an archive located in the lower floors that houses information regarding your predecessors. As the manager, you have access to them with the exception of a few.

Angela's words left me dumbfounded for a moment as I began to process them. Her answer wasn't a 'no' but a 'yes', meaning that I didn't have to worry about any deception.

For now at least.

I also didn't miss that last part of her sentence regarding something about "exceptions". If even I, the Manager, didn't have permission to access those files then who did? From her words it sounds like the place where they are being held at is a physical place I could go to.

Would it be possible for me to visit such a place in the near future?

Food for thought, I suppose. Unless that was a li—no, I can't keep thinking such things. Those intrusive thoughts and doubts were what I was supposed to be wary of. Only causing me to be indecisive and skeptical, my relationship with Angela, quite possibly with everyone else too, wasn't making any progress because of this. Despite knowing that, the desire to change the status quo is far from what I am trying to make it to be.

'But it never hurts to try.'

A tiny voice, so small that I could've ignored it for the passing air in the vents, spoke in the back of my mind.

'To try a bit harder.'

Once again I heard it. This time, more clearly than the first. I should've been alarmed, confused at least, to be hearing such a thing. Yet, I instead drew a blank, couldn't even think of how to react to something like this.

'To try for a little while longer.'

Amidst my confusion I couldn't quite put a finger on it, but it sounded familiar to me. That familiarity alone was enough to force me to scour through my empty head to find out how I knew it.

'To try for a bit further.'

But no matter how deep I dug, I could only come up with nothing. Not a single thread of remembrance to grasp on and as quickly as the voice came, it left. Leaving me to ponder what exactly had happened to me.

One thing that I noticed, however, was that those thoughts that held me by the throat were far less overwhelming than earlier. As if their tyrannical hold over my conscious had lessened a tad bit.

The tapping of keys brought my attention to the fact that Angela had resumed her work. Probably thinking that I was satisfied with her previous answer, she most likely assumed that it was all I wanted from her.

It wasn't.

"Could I trouble you in bringing me a few copies to look at? Physical ones, would be most preferable."

My tone was noticeably different from just a few minutes ago. Rather than cold and distant, it was now a bit more soft and meek. If she noticed it, which is highly likely given how perceptive she's shown herself to be, she didn't show it.

"Of course, it will be ready for you by tomorrow. Though I will have to mention, if you desire to examine any of the earliest documents, it will require some time for me to sort through and organize them for you."

I nodded my head in response, even if I knew she wasn't looking, and prepared to leave for the night. My footsteps carried me to the door in a slow and mechanical way, if I were a machine I wouldn't doubt that my joints would be creaking. But I forced myself to stop.

There was one thing I wanted to do before leaving.

"Angela."

I called out to her as confidently as I could while looking over my shoulder. No reaction whatsoever. Regardless, I knew that I had to start somewhere and at the moment I was willing to at least take the first step now that I could.

"Just wanted to say good work today. Have a good night."

If I wasn't paying attention I would've missed the way she slightly tensed up. It wasn't the reaction that I expected, in fact I expected her to not react at all. Whether if it was for good or for bad, I didn't know. But at least it was something.

Though I couldn't help but cringe a bit at how I had said it.

Without bothering to wait for a response, I quickly made my way out of the room. I began to notice the slightly new oddity that I was feeling in my chest. It wasn't my heart thumping in joy nor was it the usual twist of disgust in my gut. It was as if someone was trying to tickle my stomach but instead of trying to make me laugh they wanted to watch me squirm.

Proceeding down the hall after putting some thought into it, the word seemingly popped into my head: embarrassed. A new feeling that I haven't felt before, that's why it was so difficult for me to recall it. Who could blame me though? I don't have much to go off of so of course this would be completely foreign to me.

Coming to the realization that I was simply embarrassed, I stopped in my tracks as I could feel the blood in my face heat up. Releasing a sigh I leaned my head on the metallic wall to cool it off. It didn't do much.

'Gah!! Out of all the things to worry about, why am I getting embarrassed from saying a simple good night?!'

After who knows how long.I went straight to my room for a night of rest.

Not before silently screaming into my pillow for a minute.....or two.

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