Quiet Exchange, Budding Hope

Asher panted, extending his arm to lean against the wall and rest for a second.

Just in front of him was HamHamPangPang.

Just ahead of him was Yan.

He peeked through the window.

Yan sat listlessly in the corner, drinking from a cup of water. His heart ached as Yan looked at her reflection in the water, her eyes glistening with crystal tears.

As Asher entered, Mei greeted him with a nod and motioned for him to come closer.

Mei placed a paper takeout bag in his hands.

"This is hers. Go give it to her." Mei's voice was hushed and subdued; she didn't greet him like she usually did.

Asher took the bag, mumbling his thanks beneath his breath. She smiled, shooing him away.

Yan drank another sip of water as Asher approached behind her. Perhaps she didn't notice his presence. She let out a choking sob, washing away any comfort that Esther gave her by wallowing in her doubts.

Asher set Yan's order in front of her, watching her reaction. She didn't glance at him at all, feebly clutching the bag to open it. He teared up. It was like Yan's soul had been sucked out of her.

'Just what happened to make her like this? She... must have really cared about how I feel...'

It seemed that her misunderstanding in the morning made her a husk of her former self.

As Yan looked at the food she used to love, a single tear rolled down her face. She remembered eating with Asher at this place. She remembered his warmth when he comforted her.

Asher couldn't bear Yan's sorrowful figure anymore, hugging her from behind. Yan stiffened as Asher's breath tickled her neck.

"Yan."

Her eyes trembled as she recognized a familiar voice. Asher put his head on her shoulder, squeezing her as if to never let go.

Yan wept, tears flowing down her face as she experienced an uncountable number of emotions at once.

Asher didn't try to hush her sobs, letting her release her pent-up emotions.

A few customers glanced at them with impatience, but they all turned away as they saw Yan's white cloak.

Her wails slowly faded into soft whimpers. She pushed him away, her eyes bloodshot.

"Why," Yan croaked, her voice congested, "are you doing this? You hate me... Or is this a dream?"

"Do you want this to be a dream?"

"No..." Even though she said that, Yan didn't allow Asher to embrace her again. She still believed that he hated her, that his current gentle demeanor was fake.

Asher sensed her reluctance, backing off to take a seat next to her.

Yan ate in silence. Asher watched her as she consumed her share of food. He snuck a few bites of his own, which Yan didn't seem to mind.

When they finished, they looked at each other simultaneously.

Each of them wanted the other to explain themselves. Asher went first.

"Yan, what happened in the morning? I don't hate you."

"...I did something." She shifted her gaze off of him, unable to meet his eyes, unable to continue.

His hand crept onto hers as he laced their fingers together.

"You can tell me whenever you're ready, Yan. Just know that..."

They sat there in awkward silence for a few moments longer. Both Asher and Yan felt that more physical contact would be excessive given the situation. But in truth, both of them wanted, even needed it.

Asher pulled his hand away reluctantly.

"Well, do you know anything about the Shi Association?" He pivoted topics, believing that Yan didn't want to talk about her misunderstanding anymore.

"Not really, they're a bunch of assassins. So you're just here to ask me stuff, huh?" She answered him unenthusiastically, slipping a jab at him near the end.

Asher froze. Since he had nothing else to say, he stood up, preparing to leave. He glanced back at her.

"Can you unblock me?"

Yan looked up at him with a guarded stare. Her mind brightened as she saw a hope in the darkness. Perhaps Asher didn't hate her... But Yan's deeply sowed insecurity overpowered any hope she had.

Alicia's uncomprehending face as the girl wrapped her arms around Esther kept resurfacing in her memories. Alicia didn't know that the Index was the one who killed her only family. The girl was going to be brainwashed. Just like her.

In a fit of stubbornness, Yan shook her head once, turning back to her reflection in the water cup.

And that was what hurt Asher the most. Why couldn't she just explain what she did, instead of isolating herself even more?

"Please? I'm sorry Yan, but I think you might be-" His voice trembled. He wanted to console her, but it didn't seem like Yan would allow him. And he had no idea what she was upset about, either.

"Asher, get away from me. I need time to think."

Now Yan knew that something was off. If Asher knew what she did, then he wouldn't skirt around the topic like that, asking her for an explanation. So perhaps he really didn't know.

Could she take advantage of Asher's ignorance? Could she just... hug him right there, and forget about it all?

"Asher. Would you hate someone if they killed a person who you were close with?" She tugged on his sleeve, asking him one last question just as he was about to leave.

Yan overestimated the relationship between Asher and his neighbor. A slight error of words, with disastrous consequences.

Asher's mind skipped immediately to Mei as soon as Yan said 'close'. Indeed, aside from Yan, the only person really 'close' to him was Mei. Acquaintances, friends maybe. But Mei was like his mother, and Yan was... someone special.

Since Mei was still alive, he believed Yan was asking him a rhetorical question.

Yes. If Mei was murdered by someone... The thought caused his eyes to redden with madness.

Yan's breath hitched. She couldn't bring herself to look into Asher's face. This was how he felt. Even if he didn't know what she did, that rage was frightening. She was scared. She was scared that if she told Asher, he would redirect all that rage at her.

"P-Please get away from me... please..." Asher's thoughts were broken by Yan hiccuping, choking with emotion.

Asher blinked, reaching out subconsciously to comfort her.

Before he could even speak, Yan shoved him away. With a bit more force than necessary. He gasped in pain as he flew into the front counter, cracking a few ribs on the tempered metal railing.

Mei screamed as Asher coughed blood onto the ground in front of her.

"Asher, Asher!" Mei looked at the Messenger who injured the boy who she considered her son.

A growl from within her throat cut away as Yan seemed to be just as shocked as Asher was.

Yan's voice trembled as she wrung out the words from her throat.

"get away from me..." The Messenger looked at the boy she had feelings for, who was coughing on the ground because of her.

Yan looked at her hands with shivering fear. She did this. She always made things worse. She should just kill herse-

Her thoughts cut off. Yan slumped to the floor.

Even as blood bubbled inside his mouth, Asher leapt forward, catching Yan before she could hit the ground.

He winced a broken rib pierced into his flesh. What concerned him the most was how Yan's mind was unnaturally collapsed like that. So he didn't mind the pain.

At this point, everyone was looking at them. Even the cloak of a Messenger couldn't deter the customers from gossiping with heated discussion.

Yan mumbled incomprehensibly as Asher carried her up to Mei. He shifted the girl onto his back as he prepared to leave.

"I don't think it's safe here for her," Asher said, looking back at Yan. He could feel a few unsavory glares piercing through the crowd. A few of them had Office emblems stitched onto their uniform as well.

In the back of his mind, he realized that he was currently carrying a Messenger of the Index. As a Fixer.

Before Mei could respond, the first person stood from his seat. But Asher was already gone, having fled using the front doors with the first sign of movement behind him.

Mei had no idea what was happening. But now several Fixers rushed up to her, pushing for any answers they could get about the Messenger.

Although it was official that the Index was neutral with the Hana, the populace of the City had long since hated the Index and their terrifyingly random Prescripts.

Many Fixers could find unofficial contracts pertaining to the elimination of Messengers and Proselytes.

But who would dare face a Messenger in combat? So when the Fixers saw an incapacitated Messenger, few could resist the opportunity.

Mei couldn't even get a chance to text Asher as she was swept away by questions.

...

A few dozen steps in, and Asher was already gasping with exertion. Yan was unbelievably light, so that was not a problem. The weight that she put on his ribs, however, was.

He glanced at Yan's face resting on his shoulder. Her demeanor was pale and delicate, like a snowy angel. A very unstable angel.

His heart ached as he thought about the first time they met. Compared to how unstable she was now, her past self was like a calm lake.

As more and more people pointed at him and the Messenger on his back, he ducked into an alley.

He ran and ran and ran until he finally decided to jump onto the rooftops. Too many people were in the alleys, gawking at him.

By the time his feet landed on the roof, he had already turned into Sophie. A few convenient lockers hid him and Yan from outside view as he wedged himself inside one of them.

He clenched her hand before praying to the System.

"Come on, [Nostalgic Room]!"

Asher opened his eyes. Still clenching Yan's hand, he gasped as he could feel the warmth of the room beginning to heal his injury immediately.

Yan's pale complexion also began to lessen slightly. Any wound could be healed from the room's aura. Even mental ones.

Was this encounter another part of the Prescript's Will?

Perhaps, though neither Asher nor Yan knew anything of it. They were more focused on the now, rather than the strange and esoteric things beyond their imagination.

Holding her hand seemed to speed up the process of fixing her mind. They both recovered under the scent of pine and the warmth of food.

Soon, Yan's eyes fluttered open.

"Ash...er?" The memories of the outburst she had faded to grey by the nostalgic warmth of the fireplace.

She saw Asher in the form she wanted to see him as. A messy haired boy with silvery eyes, covered in a paltry disguise of streaked ash.

System? [Nostalgic room]? Prescripts? Who knew what caused her to be able to see his true soul's form, but she could.

"Yeah?" Asher stared into her eyes.

They lied on the floor, side by side, hand in hand.

But Yan wasn't too comfortable. The warm way Asher spoke to her wasn't at all what she imagined he would sound like. She had told him to leave, pushed him into a wall, and shattered his ribcage.

Then she glanced at her unfamiliar surroundings and sighed with relief.

"It's... a dream. A dream."

Yan pulled him closer to her. Closer and closer.

"I'm sorry, Asher." She had something to get off of her chest.

She pulled herself closer to him. Closer and closer.

Yan closed her eyes expectantly.

She blinked, opening her eyes as she felt a hand cover her mouth.

Asher stared at her.

Noticing the maddening blush barely hidden on the boy's face, she made a slight 'o' with her mouth.

Yan marvelled at the emotions in Asher's complexion. Emotions that she believed would never have existed in real life.

This dream was good, she decided.

In the silence, Yan rolled sideways, crawling on top of him.

She put her ear next to his chest.

The sound of Asher's heart beating seemed to fill her own heart, too.

Almost immediately, Yan fell asleep on Asher, muttering softly.

Asher glanced at the girl in his arm, chuckling as she tried to position herself into a more comfortable position.

[Host. Stop wasting time.]

The System's prompt seemed more cold, cutting through his mind like a knife. It didn't mind its host's mental well being, but he was being distracted by this Messenger of the Index. The girl was too dangerous, a lens for the Prescripts to look through.

The Prescripts could pry out Asher's secrets any time it wanted to, and perhaps the System couldn't defend against it.

The room faded away, and Asher found himself in the cramped locker with Yan. Thank goodness, she was still sleeping quietly.

Asher now knew how Yan truly felt. For some reason, her misunderstanding was so deep that she didn't want to confront him about it in real life, only showing her true feelings in a 'dream'.

So he decided to leave Yan in the locker for now, for her sake. She needed to come to terms with whatever she thought she did.

Yan mumbled cutely, dreaming about something nice.

Asher closed the locker door, hiding her inside. He stepped away, shivering as drops of rain dripped down his back.

Yan definitely needed some time away from him to get her thoughts sorted together. Asher definitely needed some time away from her to take his mind away from her sweet yet distracting presence.

So next time, they could talk to each other rationally. He looked back at the locker which she was sleeping in one last time, before leaping from the roof into a brackish puddle below.

Water splashed on his white ashen dress, turning it grey and slightly transparent near the ankles.

One thirty PM. Much of the day was still left, and he didn't plan on wasting it further.

Pulling out his phone, he searched for the address of the Shi Association. He smirked. it was only a quick walk away.

'[Bystander]'

And then he vanished.

...

Minutes later, Yan found herself in a dark, cramped locker. She sighed.

That dream was good, she decided. Her mind seemed to have lightened somehow, perhaps from the contents of her dream. How did she get in here? It wouldn't be the first time she found herself locked in a closet.

She spent a few minutes more, reveling in her imagination in silence.

Yan's time in her 'dream' caused her to realize a few things. She pulled out her phone, unblocking Asher's number.

Ultimately, she still couldn't bring herself to text him and reveal to him the truth.

But it was a start.