Chapter 31

Megumi looked at the room in front of her in complete shock.

There was no way Dr. Pickett was really going to bring them in here? The answer to her question seemed to come in slow motion as Dr. Picket opened the door, which seemed to give without any resistance, like it wanted them to go through it. Slowly, Megumi took a step forward after Dr. Pickett, the cold air icy as they made their way inside the anomaly of a room.

"The... accident, was cleaned up." Dr. Pickett said uncomfortably.

Even still, Megumi thought, It looks the same as the pictures..

The room was the same pristine white as the tile under the door, if not- and Megumi wasn't sure how it was even possible- somehow even lighter. As she approached the wall in an awed sort of fashion, Megumi swore she could see blurred shapes through it, as if it were translucent. and there were small pale green flakes floating around the room, that Nathan kept panickily swatting away from his face.

Megumi let her pen fall from her hand, hearing it hit the ground with a soft clatter that made both Nathan and Dr. Pickett turn to her in alarm. Megumi chuckled in what she hoped was the most sheepish and innocent way she could muster. "Sorry," She said quietly. "Dropped my pen." Megumi quickly ducked down and made to pick up her pen, gripping on to the small

Megumi leaned further down, glancing under the lip of the cabinet for something, anything, her eyes quickly scanning the smooth undersurface as she pretended her pen was just slowly out of reach. "Megumi are you alright?" She heard Dr. Pickett ask. "Uh- Yeah!" Megumi called back. "Just dropped my pen," She let out a false chuckle that made her cringe immediately, "Keeps slipping away from me..."

Just as she was about to give up the rouse and finally snag her pen off the floor, Megumi felt something under her fingers that made her freeze on the spot. She moved her fingers back slightly, her breath stilling as if one wrong move would make the marks disappear. She furrowed her eyebrows as she continued to trace the marking with her fingers, the markings feeling too intricate, too intentional to be just a few scratches.

"Why did you show us this?" Megumi heard Nathan ask.

Dr. Pickett sighed. "As a quiet warning." Megumi's fingers paused on the scratches underneath the desk. Her gaze shifted from the floor to Dr. Pickett. "What do you mean?" She asked, perhaps a bit more forcefully than she should have. Dr. Pickett didn't seem to notice.

--

A pop and the faint smell of banana bubblegum snapped Ana out of the deer-like trance she was in, looking down and realizing she was frozen stock still wiping down a table, and she had been like that for how long..

Someone clearing their throat behind her brought Ana completely back to the present.

Ana whipped around as fast as she could without tripping over her skates to come face to face with an annoyed looking Sally, smacking banana flavoured bubblegum.

"Yes?" Ana asked with a strained smile. Sally rolled her eyes which made Ana narrow hers slightly. Since when did she get so cocky? "Tony's been calling you. Says it's important." She said with such inflection that it made Ana drop her friendly façade entirely. "Uhm, Okay, sure." Ana sent Sally a confused side glance before skating over to the counter to see Tony wiping and re-wiping the counter; a habit she knew he had when he was nervous. Ana blew out a breath of air. To say she wasn't nervous too was an understatement.

The last time the two of them had talked- really talked not just gave each other work related information- Tony knew Ana was hiding something, and vice versa. Ana's eyebrows furrowed slightly as she skated closer to the counter, remembering how much she wanted to tell Tony about what had been going on these past few weeks, but with what she found out about the diner owners and their involvement with Margret, she figured it was safer for Tony to be kept in the dark just a bit longer.

Tony made eye contact awkwardly as she approached. Ana kept her chin up high despite the shakiness of her hands betraying her as she did her best to give off an aura of nonchalance.

"Sooo, what's up?" She asked, shooting him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Tony's eyes flickered to somewhere else on the diners floor. Ana followed his gaze, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Just wanted to give you a heads up that Marcus is coming in tomorrow." He said quietly. Ana's eyes snapped to his face, Tony still refused to make eye contact. "It should be at around eight am, don't know how long he'll be staying. Just take the opportunity to go on your lunch break early."

Ana's eyes darted across Tony's face, trying to reach his eyes, but he still seemed to be laser focus on one of the bright neon signs off in the distance.

Instead of asking the million questions that were swirling her mind, Ana nodded, muttering a quiet, but genuine, 'Thank you' before skating off to finish her shift.

--

"There's something off about you Megumi." Nathan said. "And I don't know what, I don't even know if I want to know, but I just gotta ask... what are you planning?" Megumi let out a shaky breath, knowing this was it, the gloves were off and she had to do something about it.

Before she could say anything, Megumi paused to think for a moment.

What exactly did he know......? Megumi thought to herself.

She wasn't stupid, and despite her.... opinions of Nathan she knew he wasn't stupid either. Stupid doesn't get into one of the best research centers as an understudy. She needed to play it cool, she had a fresh new lead to the element, and she couldn't let her nerves mess it up again.

"What are you talking about?" She asked him, feigning innocence. Nathan scrunched up his face. "You're weird." He said flatly. Megumi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second in surprise, and a small huff of a laugh that surprised both her and Nathan left her lips as she felt her shoulders relax. She could work with this. Megumi shook her head. "I've heard that one before." She said simply. Nathan seemed to relax as well. "As for whatever you think I'm......'planning'," Megumi said, making air quotes with her fingers as she lazily drug her feet over to Nathan, who backed up slightly until she put her hand on his shoulders.

"I'm just trying to get through college, man. It's not that deep." She drawled.

That seemed to be the right play, since Nathans shoulders relaxed further, and his normal playful expression back on his face. "Well! I guess we have two whole things in common!" He yelled excitedly. Megumi rolled her eyes in amusement. "With that out of the way... There's this Korean bar down the block that just opened- and y'know I'm not good at going to new places on my own..." Megumi rolled her eyes, remembering one of the disastrous stories Nathan told her about him getting kicked out of restaurants over misunderstandings she wasn't sure how anyone could make..

She stared up at him with a tired look.

Nathan smiled sheepishly at her. "I'll pay?" He offered. Megumi sighed in defeat. "As long as this isn't some effort to hit on me that's fine. You aren't my type." Nathan's face flushed. "No! Nothing like that!" He exclaimed. "I've been wanting to go to this place since it opened and I'm scared to go on my own because of my bad restaurant luck-!" With what must be the hundredth eyeroll Megumi grabbed Nathan by