“Yeah, it’s true. Sounds unbelievable, I know, but apparently, I was saved by the one and only Pellmond Varlozzi. That bloke was seriously strong. He took down a big buff gorilla-man with a gun using just his bare hands. He was moving so fast, I couldn’t even see what he was doin’. Then he snatched the gun off the gorilla-man in a flash, fired a warning shot, and then quick-drew and put one right in his shoulder. Watching that big fella turn tail and run was a bloody good laugh. Hah!”
“...Ah, right. I see.”
“And you know, he was so cool. It was the first time in my life I’d heard a proper, killer one-liner.”
“…”
“After he shot the gorilla-man’s shoulder, he said, all casual-like, ‘Next time, I’m aiming for the space between your eyes. Oh, and just so you know, I never miss. Ring binders, chalk, bullets, I’m a hundred for a hundred!’ He said it with this big grin on his face, which made it even scarier! Ahaha, hehe… Gyahaha!”
Neil, wrapped almost head to toe in bandages, roared with laughter as he told the story.
He had been like this ever since he was admitted. The medicine must have had a bad effect on him, making him high and turning him into a giggling mess.
“Nah, but seriously, Alex, I owe you one. Really, I do. But still, why’d you come to save me? Especially the day after you told me we were done.”
Neil laughed again. In response, Alex showed him the email she had received yesterday. As soon as Neil saw the text and the photo of himself, his expression changed.
“…’Cause this message was sent to me from your address. A picture of you all bashed up, and a threat. Couldn’t just ignore it, could I?” Alexander said.
“You didn’t go to the coppers or anything, did you?”
“As if I would. Not that lot. Right, Dad?”
Alexander glanced at her father, who was standing beside her. He nodded and began to speak.
“On that note, Neil. I finally managed to get in touch with your mother. She said she just finished work and will be coming straight here instead of going home. Also, my sources tell me that a certain Patrick Lerner is also on his way.”
“...Crap. P-Patri—?!”
“Honestly, to think you were being used by the ASI. Right under our noses, as they say. …As the Senior Technocrat mentioned, you’re still young. You have a future. You shouldn’t be getting involved in dangerous things, and above all—”
Her father glanced away from Neil for a moment, then cleared his throat.
“Neil, you’re not cut out for this. Even just now, when I mentioned Patrick Lerner’s name, you blurted out ‘Crap’. This applies to Alexander as well, but you can’t keep a poker face. You have the ability to get through a single moment, but you can’t keep piling on lies. You feel too guilty about lying, and eventually, you’ll slip up.”
“…”
“The kind of person suited for this is someone who can lie as part of their daily routine. Someone who feels no guilt about it. Someone like Patrick Lerner, for example. That man is a true devil.”
At her father’s words, Neil’s expression soured. You think so too, eh, sir? he muttered with a strained laugh.
Just then, there was a knock on the hospital room door. The door opened to reveal a remarkably short man dressed sharply in a grey suit.
“I am of the same opinion, Mr. Colt. Neil Archer is a terrible liar. Which is why I am not grooming him to become an ASI agent. I believe he has an aptitude for being a special agent with the ABoI, so I’m having him acquire the skills to at least get him into the academy there…”
“Could you just get to the point, Mr. Lerner?”
Her father cut off the man who had appeared at the door—ASI Deputy Manager Patrick Lerner—and clicked his tongue at him. Seeing her father’s blatant wariness and disgust, both Alexander, standing beside him, and Neil, on the bed, were slightly taken aback.
However, the man called Lerner merely looked exasperated. He shot Alexander’s father a look that seemed to say he had more to say, then began to speak in a long-winded, teasing manner.
“My, my, you sound just like that damn hook-nose, Mr. Colt. It’s Pellmond Varlozzi’s favourite phrase, you know. ‘You’re rambling, get to the point.’ Honestly, to be told to summarise idle chit-chat, trivial nonsense… I mean, what’s one to do? You say get to the point, but trivial matters don’t have a point to begin with. And another thing—”
“I have no intention of making friendly small talk with you. I’d prefer it if you left as soon as possible. So, could you please state your business and be done with it?”
Her father’s expression grew even grimmer. His face, now like that of a demon, made Alexander involuntarily hold her breath.
But as if he paid her father no mind, the man named Patrick Lerner kept a smile on his face. And he continued his long-winded speech.
“Oh, I generally agree that I’m a devilish sort of person. I think so myself. I’m an expert at tempting and trapping people. And I love it. That look of tragic despair on a person’s face the moment they’re betrayed is my absolute favourite. You could say I do this job just to see it.”
The perversity of his every word began to fill Alexander with a growing sense of revulsion towards Patrick Lerner. Neil looked awkward, scratching the tip of his nose, looking completely out of his depth.
Patrick Lerner was exactly as her father had described him the other day. A baby face, short stature, thick eyebrows, and large, double-lidded eyes… He had such a youthful appearance that one might mistake him for a boy of thirteen or fourteen.
But contrary to his looks, he seemed to have a truly awful personality. His nature was utterly rotten… —something that could only be described as demonic.
To think this person is Mrs Jane’s younger brother. Alexander’s brow furrowed. At that moment, she also felt a sense of dissonance.
“...However, who was the fool who fell for this devil’s poison, I wonder? Eh, Mr. Colt? Haha.”
Mrs Jane’s skin was brown. On the other hand, the skin of Patrick Lerner, said to be her younger brother, was as white as a boiled egg. Did that mean that although they were siblings, they were not related by blood? Was he adopted, perhaps?
However. Their facial features were very similar. The width of their double eyelids, the shape of their eyes, the thickness of their lips—they all looked the same on Mrs Jane and Patrick Lerner. It was not out of the question that they were blood-related.
And so, the questions swirled endlessly in Alexander’s mind, but for the time being, she pushed them to the back of her thoughts.
“That said, Mr. Colt, my job is to talk and talk and talk to distract the other party. So please don’t take it personally.”
Patrick Lerner, still talking, rummaged through the briefcase he was carrying. He took out a bundle of papers and showed it to Neil, who was lying in bed.
“Right then. This is all I came for. Archer, just fill out the necessary parts of this document, chop-chop.”
With that, Patrick Lerner handed the bundle of documents to Neil as if thrusting it at him. Next, he handed him a pen and urged him to fill it out right there and then. And even as he handed over the pen, he continued to chatter away.
“Address, contact details, date of birth, and so on… Once that’s done, you’ll be all set to become a candidate for a special agent of the ABoI. Congratulations. Well, that’s after you graduate from uni, of course.”
“Eh? U-u-… Uni?!”
“That’s right. I’ll pull some strings for you, so you’ll be enrolling in the law faculty at Central Victoria University. I’ll support you with the tuition fees, so you’ll be studying hard there for four years. After that, it’s the special agent training academy. You’re going to be a public servant, dedicating your life to the country. You’d best be prepared for it. Unlike Alexander, you’re in a position where you can still turn things around, so you should make the most of that position and make the best possible decision.”
Contrary to his gentle, smiling expression, the tone of Patrick Lerner’s voice changed, becoming sharp and thorny, as if concealing a number of fine needles coated in a deadly poison. Though his words were not direct, his attitude was laid bare—the cold, condescending manner of someone casually dealing with a slow-witted child.
But contrary to that attitude and tone, if one were to look only at the words themselves, it sounded as though the man named Patrick Lerner was, in his own way, concerned for Neil’s well-being.
What an utterly incomprehensible person, Alexander thought. At the same time, she tilted her head at the words that were implicitly directed at her.
—Neil can turn things around, but I can’t?
“Come on, Archer, sign the required sections. This is a necessary measure to protect you. So hurry up and write.”
“You can’t just spring this on me…”
“Archer, this is a done deal. You don’t have the right to refuse. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t interfered with my mission to make contact in the first place. So write it here, now. I heard your leg is broken, but your hands aren’t. You can still scribble a few words, can’t you? Come on, hurry up. I’m a busy man, so make it quick. And this is all your fault anyway. You reap what you sow.”
“…”
“All I ordered you to do was to watch Miranda Jane. I never even mentioned the name Colt in front of you, yet you go and eavesdrop on people’s conversations and do whatever you please. But I can’t just abandon you here. So, sign it, quickly.”
Patrick Lerner, rattling off his words in a rapid-fire manner, practically forced the pen into Neil’s hand and urged him to write faster. Realising he could not win, Neil finally gave in and obediently signed the documents.
As soon as Neil had finished, Patrick Lerner snatched up the bundle of papers and shoved it into his briefcase. As he was leaving, he bowed deeply to Alexander’s father and said one last thing.
“Please, keep this matter confidential. Senior Technocrat Pellmond Varlozzi is still officially missing and would not appear before civilians. No one knows his whereabouts, and what you saw last night was nothing more than a group of Western immigrant thugs from the lower class, and Neil, who was unlucky enough to be attacked by them. …Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
“...Getting our stories straight, eh? This is why I can’t stand you ASI types.”
Patrick Lerner quietly left the room, briefcase in hand. Alexander’s father watched him go with a glare. Once he was out of sight, Alexander spoke up.
“Hey, Neil. What was all that about?”
“W-w-what was what about?”
“Patrick Lerner only ordered you to watch Mrs Jane. What’s this about you spying on me and my dad on your own?”
“Ah, well, um, you see, it’s like this…”
“So, you did do it on your own, then?”
“...I’m really, truly sorry. Seriously.”
Alexander glared daggers at Neil, who averted his gaze and plastered on a strained, fake smile. I couldn’t help it, he said, then offered his excuse.
“I overheard them. Mr. Lerner was talking to someone about a group of people who are after you. So, I couldn’t just leave it alone.”
“Hah, you’ve got to be kidding me. So, what then—…”
Having finished his excuse, Neil looked down awkwardly. Alexander gave him a hard stare. Just as she was about to continue, her father stepped in.
“Alexander, that’s enough. Neil was thinking of you, too. If you keep on at him, it’ll be too much for him.”
“But Dad!”
“I understand it feels bad being spied on. But, Alexander, in this country, the citizens are practically under constant surveillance by public authorities and what have you. That’s why this country is so peaceful and easy for civilians to live in. …Though it’s only a superficial peace, with none of the root problems solved.”
With that, her father let out a heavy sigh, his face grim. A silence of several seconds descended. But it was broken by the sound of panicked footsteps and a door being thrown open with force.
“What has my idiot son gone and done now?! Causing trouble for you, Alexander, and for you, Mr. Colt… —Honestly, this moron!”
The shouting was accompanied by the arrival of Neil’s mother. Her face was contorted with anger, red as a chilli pepper. But in contrast, her hands were so pale they looked as if the blood had drained from them.
She brought her flushed face close to the deathly pale Neil’s. And right in front of his face, she yelled.
“What happened, Neil?! Explain yourself properly!!”
“...Um, well, it’s just—”
“Why did you go all the way out to the suburbs, to a place like the Sunrays Research Institute?! Do you have any idea how worried I was?!”
“Please, Mum. Just calm down, will ya?”
“You idiot! Who could possibly be calm in this situation?! There’s no parent who wouldn’t worry when their precious only son gets seriously injured and ends up in hospital, is there?!”
Neil’s mother was getting progressively more worked up. She grabbed the collar of her seriously injured son, lying in bed, and began to scream in his ear.
Faced with his mother, Neil wore a bewildered expression, as if there was nothing he could do. Seeing this, Alexander’s father subtly threw him a lifeline.
“It was a group of Western immigrant thugs. There’s a slum near the Sunrays Research Institute ruins where immigrants like that gather. Unfortunately, Neil didn’t have what they were looking for, so he got on their bad side and ended up in hospital, just like this. …You’re still a minor, so you need to be careful when you’re out at night. And don’t go carelessly near dangerous places. Understand, Neil?”
This old geezer. He just lied through his teeth.
Just as Alexander was about to say those words aloud, her father quickly covered her mouth with his hand. Neil nodded silently, and his mother slapped him on the head.
A sickeningly painful thud echoed from Neil’s head. Then, his mother turned to Alexander and her father and bowed deeply. For Alexander, it was the second time she had seen such a sight that day.
“I am so sorry for the trouble my son has caused. I really don’t know how to thank you…”
“It’s quite alright, Barbara. My own not-so-cute daughter has caused you plenty of trouble on occasion. We’re even, let’s call it quits.”
“But—”
“Well then, we’ll be on our way,” her father said with a slight nod to Neil’s mother. Still covering Alexander’s mouth, he dragged her out of the hospital room.
Alexander was then bundled into the car, and for the entire journey home, she was subjected to a continuous stream of her father’s nagging: ‘Don’t say anything unnecessary,’ and ‘When on earth did you do something to get the ASI’s attention?!’
“When did I do something to get the ASI’s attention?! That’s what I’d like to know!!”
“You probably stuck your nose into something you shouldn’t have without even realising it, didn’t you?! Tell me the truth, what did you do to Mrs. Varlozzi’s daughters?!”
“I told you, I didn’t do anything! I was just being a normal friend to them, so why is this happening?! I don’t get it!”
“I’m the one who doesn’t get it! You reckless fool, take a moment to think before you act! It’s about time you learned that every single one of your actions has consequences!!”
“Fine, I get it! I’m just your not-cute, stupid daughter, aren’t I?!”
To think the rookie cop who cried on someone’s doorstep is now a respectable father.
Time seems to have passed much faster than I thought.
“...is what he said.”
“And ‘he’ is almost certainly the Senior Technocrat?”
“Yeah, him. I’ve been wondering for a while, what’s the deal between you and him, Dad?”
As she helped with the washing up after dinner, Alexander asked her mother. Standing to her left, drying the clean dishes, her mother hummed in thought and closed her eyes.
“...I could tell you, but I wonder if I should,” she murmured.
“Which is it?”
“It’s a little… embarrassing for your father. What should I do?”
“If it’s embarrassing, that makes me even more curious.”
“I suppose so. Oh, well. An old geezer over fifty has no dignity to lose, does he? Ohohoho.”
With a squeaking sound, her mother wiped the moisture from a plate with a tea towel. Alexander stopped scrubbing the grease from a dish and squeezed the worn-out sponge in her right hand. Small bubbles of detergent frothed out and drifted past her mother’s face.
“You know, don’t you, Alex? That when your father was in his twenties, he worked for the Boston Police Department.”
“Yeah, sort of. And he was in charge of that case at the hospital, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. That was his first big case. So, he was really eager. At the time, I was a nurse in the pediatric ward on the fourth floor of B-wing, where the incident took place. But the incident happened on the third floor, in the maternity ward. As a pediatric nurse, I had no direct involvement, and I was only briefly questioned once by a detective who looked like a real veteran.”
What, you were a nurse? In pediatrics? —That was the first Alexander had ever heard of it. But her mother did not dwell on her nursing days and spoke only of the incident.
“So, I wasn't particularly interested in the case, and I felt I shouldn’t get involved, so I kept my distance. But, you know, I kept a close eye on your father, who kept coming back to the hospital again and again, even after the investigation was closed. I suppose that’s how it started. I’d ask him how his solo investigation was going, and before I knew it, we’d become close. Then we were dating, and then we were married.”
“What kind of a love story is that?! …And that’s not what I was asking about right now.”
“You’re right, I got side-tracked. As for the connection between your father and him, it’s not actually that big of a deal. The day after the investigation was officially closed, your father, driven by guilt, apparently went to his house alone to apologize. Well, as you can imagine, someone bringing that kind of news wasn't exactly welcomed, and he was apparently turned away immediately.”
“Huh…”
“And the story goes that your father was so frustrated that he burst into tears right there in front of the door. Crying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ over and over again.”
“...That’s so embarrassing.”
With a look of disgust, Alexander squeezed the sponge harder. More bubbles frothed up, this time drifting past her own face. Her mother sighed as she wiped a new plate.
“He used to be a cute, honest, hot-blooded boy. But now he’s just cynical and twisted in a weird way. A real cantankerous old man. And on top of that, he earns next to nothing. I’m sick of him. Hah, I want a divorce.”
There was the hard click of plates stacking. A cute, honest, hot-blooded boy. Alexander tilted her head at her mother’s words and rinsed the soapy plate under the water.
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