Peace, New Problems

Asher looked at Mei's serene, sleeping face. He wiped his own tears from his eyes as he wormed out of her arms.

Unexpectedly, he had cried too. The therapist cried along with the patient. Mei's connection with Bellecote was simply too much for him to handle.

Too sweet, too bitter.

He felt like a new facet of Mei was shown to him today.

Putting that aside, Asher pondered if he actually wanted to sleep with Mei as Sophie tonight. However, since there was no good excuse for why 'Asher' would switch places with 'Sophie' in the middle of the night, he decided to stay.

But before he went to bed, he silently stepped outside. [Bystander] was activated, in case any eyes were out at this time of night.

Soon he gave up what he was trying to do: to obtain a headcount of the people that had moved into the apartment today. Quite obviously, the doors were-

'Wait, only the rooms with people inside them are locked!' A brilliant idea. Asher walked along the halls of his apartment, gently testing the doorknob.

For exactly nineteen of them, just under half of the units of the apartment, there was a resistance to his turn of the doorknob. Nineteen families have moved in during the short span of one day.

Asher felt a strange sense of guilty privilege for having a place to stay the nights with Mei. He scoffed, tossing the thought to the back of his mind.

His eyes became heavy as he stumbled back into Mei's room. He was so sleepy, he realized. Elena had attacked him early morning, before the sun even rose. And along with the funeral yesterday, he had only slept about 4 hours over the course of twenty-four.

Asher collapsed on the bed, out like a light before he could even pull the blanket over his shoulders.

...

"Good morning, sweetie. Staying for breakfast?"

Asher awoke to Mei, who was brushing the hair out of his eyes.

But now was a dire situation. Pete and his friends would obviously check up on Asher first thing in the morning. He had to leave and come back as Asher.

"I have to leave now. Asher will come soon." He checked Sophie's phone, flinching as Mei gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Feel free to sleep here whenever you want... Maybe even when Asher is here too~" Mei gave him a wink.

'Dear god...' So Mei thought Sophie was romantically interested in Asher. He sighed in the back of his mind; it was his own fault, after all. He had just said the words that seemed most likely to work at the time.

Maybe his lie could work if he was able to split himself in two. But right now, Sophie and Asher could never be at one place at the same time. Which might be suspicious, considering their supposed closeness.

But that was for another time.

Asher walked out the door, sighing in relief as Pete and his friends weren't in the hallway.

A few minutes passed.

Asher turned off [Bystander], desynchronizing as well.

He knocked on the door, smiling as it was flung open.

And Mei dived into his arms. It was a funny situation, considering that he was both Asher and Sophie.

The woman didn't know that Asher was by her side the entire night.

"I missed you, Ashy~" She smushed his cheeks as he halfheartedly tried to wiggle out of her grip. The smile on his face told Mei that he didn't hate it, despite his weak struggles.

The efficiency of Sophie's 'therapy' was confirmed. Mei was back, as lovable as ever.

But then her face pouted.

"We need to 'talk'..."

Mei drawled out her voice in a manner much too cutesy to be serious, which only made him more confused. What was there to talk about when he had just come back?

'Is it about where I went last night?'

But no, Mei trusted him enough to not ask.

Instead, she made a pose, pointing at him in an accusatory, exaggerated fashion.

"You. Sophie. Yan. Spill it. Your feelings." Mei spouted out words from her mouth, and Asher could get the gist of what she was trying to say.

After all, he did imply that Sophie and Asher had a 'special' relationship before he supposedly got amnesia.

His lips twitched, unsure whether to smile or frown.

"Sophie's a friend of mine, I suppose." Mei deflated.

"And as for Yan, I don't have feelings for her anymore." This time, Mei's head shot up, her hands landing on both his shoulders. It came as a shock to her, as she believed they were already a couple.

"Are you comfortable... explaining it?"

Asher sighed in relief, shaking his head. Because it involved a story of Proxies, Messengers, and the true reason for Bellecote's death.

Mei was fine with his refusal. Realizing they had been standing in the doorway for quite a while, she pulled him inside, effectively ending their conversation about this other side of his life. Which was good; he didn't quite feel comfortable talking about it.

"Breakfast's gonna be done in a few minutes~"

Asher nodded, taking Sophie's phone out of his pocket as it received a notification.

He sighed. It was a message from Aiko to Sophie.

"Good morning, how are you?" She said.

"I'm doing fine."

Aiko sent out a little sticker in response, the word 'Me Too!' written in a colorful, ballooned font.

"Mangchi and Pete say good morning, too! Captain, anything you want us to do today?"

Now to the real topic of conversation... Asher figured that 'Sophie' should appear today. Simply put, he thought 'Sophie' was a bit more useful than his body, because she had more useful abilities. That, or maybe he had gotten too used to acting like Sophie over the days.

"Go to the top of the roof in half an hour, I will join you today. Asher is busy today."

Aiko agreed immediately.

Asher thought about whether to invite them to breakfast, since they didn't seem to have any, but decided against it in the end. He could buy something for them in the Neon Streets later.

Breakfast went by fairly quickly. Sushi, and of course it was pretty good. Was it supposed to be eaten for breakfast? Eh.

Mei gave him a hug before he left.

"Stay safe, dear."

Asher could feel the loneliness in her voice. Right, she had nothing to do now that HamHamPangPang was gone. But she smiled, seemingly guessing his thoughts.

"Nah, it would have been closed today either way. It's Sunday, after all. You go have fun out there, okay?"

Huh, it was Sunday. First week anniversary in this cursed world.

Only one week?

'Fuck, my life's hell...'

...

Pete and his friends sat on the gravelly rooftop, waiting for Sophie to arrive.

"Mangchi, you seem a bit different nowadays. Anything wrong?" Pete nudged his friend's shoulders, but he responded with a negative gesture of his hand.

"Nah, I'm fine. Life's just changed so fast, right?"

They fell silent. Indeed, life has changed.

"And just saying, but we're super weak right now. Hell, I don't think we could have even beaten those thugs Asher killed yesterday. At least, you guys couldn't."

"So what do you think we should do today?" Aiko stepped into the conversation. Contrary to expectation, Pete was not the real leader of the group. Although Pete was the most outgoing, it was actually Mangchi who they relied on most; the boy's cold rationality had helped them past many years of struggle.

Mangchi closed his eyes, deep in thought.

Before he could speak again, however, a finger tapped his shoulder. The boy flinched to his feet, giving a hasty salute as his Captain's figure coalesced.

"Captain!"

"Eh, stop being so formal, Mangchi. So, what did you want to do today again?"

Pete and Aiko shot an odd glance at their friend, who was shivering slightly under Sophie's gaze. A thin mask of calm laid on his face.

"Well," he whispered softly, "since we're so weak, I feel like we should train first. Or else we'll just be a burden to you and Asher."

Sophie nodded, and Mangchi heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed that his Captain had the same idea.

But not quite. He still had something else to add.

"...So I was thinking you could contact Sayako-"

Aiko let out an incomprehensible moan of anger.

"Bro, could you just quit it?? She tried to kill you! I never thought you would be someone like... like this!" She spread her hands out in exasperation.

Pete agreed with Aiko. Mangchi really had changed since that day.

Asher thought about this situation. Mangchi wasn't the type to be swayed by emotion, so what gave?

Something deeper was hidden inside the boy's words.

Sayako, the Dark Cloud Blade. Although she was no match for Yan, she still held the title of a woman who received the attention of the Sottocapo.

Perhaps Mangchi subconsciously knew that 'Sophie' was no match for Sayako in a physical confrontation, and only won due to her monstrous transformation.

And training under such a powerful individual would definitely lead to rapid improvement. So Mangchi's idea, though crazy at first glance, made slight sense.

Their argument was interrupted by a ringtone. Pete and Aiko's jaws dropped as their Captain put her phone next to her mouth, already dialed to Sayako.

Only a few seconds passed before the phone picked up. Pete and Aiko subconsciously leaned back as Sayako's voice came from the speaker.

But Sayako's tone shocked them speechless.

"Miss Sophie? Is there anything I can help you with?" Her voice was soft and subservient. The usual seductive drawl she had was gone.

"I have plans today. Can you look after my Fixers for a few hours? They say they wish to train under you-"

A male's pained scream echoed from the speakers.

"Hold for a few seconds. I am... taking out the trash." Her voice turned cold with her usual arrogance as she dealt with whatever business she was doing.

"Lick the floor for me~!" A bit of her seductiveness came back as she lost herself in the bloodshed. The faint sound of several people retching could be heard on Sayako's end as they attempted to complete her commands.

Aiko paled, reaching to tug at Sophie's dress.

"Hey... can we... not meet her? She's from the Thumb, right? We're Fixers, we shouldn't do this."

"Wasn't your dream to join a Finger? Let's see her first, then you guys can decide." Asher wasn't very fond of the Fingers, but ever since the last punishment something changed inside him.

'[A strange ruthlessness courses through you.], is what the System said. Does this mean... these actions are being influenced by my future self?' It was a scary thought, but not one to be humored. For his own wellbeing.

A deafening silence fell upon them as Pete and his friends tentatively waited for Sayako to speak again.

After what seemed like decades of listening to wails of agony...

"M'kay, I'm d- ...Where should we meet up, Miss Sophie?"

"Go to the roof of the building where you held my Fixers hostage."

Sayako gulped as Sophie's emotionless voice commanded her.

"Yes, Miss."

...

"Captain, I really don't think we should be doing this," said Pete. "I mean, Aiko's right. Sayako was literally just torturing some people a few seconds ago."

Still, the boy wasn't very confident in his words. It was Mangchi and Sophie's words versus his and Aiko's, so he felt outclassed.

He started to question himself. Was he the one that was wrong?

"-!"

"C-Captain!" The three of them pointed behind Sophie, wide-eyed.

Sayako's presence loomed behind Asher, seemingly appearing out of thin air. Although he kept his expressionless act, inwardly he was afraid.

By all means, the victory he had against her last time was entirely luck, taking advantage of her childhood trauma to incapacitate her.

Now, all that mattered was if Asher could solve this ticking time bomb behind him before it decided to kill them all.

But turning around, Asher found that his thoughts might not have quite hit the mark.

Sayako's gaze was lowered, and she bowed as his gaze touched her.

"Miss Sophie. I would be glad to look after these three while you are busy."

Asher looked down at the black-leather glove covering Sayako's withered arm, a permanent reminder of their clash. He blinked. Could Sayako be... traumatized by him?

'Should I treat her like I did with Mei and Yan?'

After thinking about it a little, he ultimately decided against it, for now at least. He wasn't sure what would happen if Sayako was released from her trauma. Would she revert to her old, vengeful self? He had to test her a bit.

The test?

'Well, Mangchi said he wanted to train...'

"My Fixers wish to train under you for a bit. I'll be watching from the side."

Sayako nodded, gingerly picking up her sword. Her gaze followed Sophie until the ash-covered girl took a seat on the edge of the roof.

"So... is there anything I can do for...?" Sayako's voice was carefully respectful.

Mangchi stepped forward. He said he was going to get stronger, and he would do anything to stop being a burden, to become able to protect his friends. Even if it meant using this absolute monster in front of him.

"Take me as your student, Dark Cloud Blade."

Sayako blinked. He knew her title?

She thought that was kinda funny. Years of experience made her hand instinctively twitch toward the hilt of her blade.