JULY 23rd, 2014.
As Kat and Seth reached the cafeteria, she raised her hand, waving him off while turning around and walking in the opposite direction without saying a word.
Seth waved back as well, though he knew she didn’t see it, as it felt wrong to not do so.
She throws me into the crappiest situations… actually, maybe that’s Liam’s fault.
Seth slumps his head down, sighing, before walking forward as he approaches the entrance to the cafeteria’s hall.
“And? What about you? You were quiet for most of that fight.” he asks aloud, cocking his head toward the ceiling. Talking to himself, though he hadn’t realized that yet.
You do know I can hear your thoughts, yes?
Seth stops walking forward, silently embarrassed as he blinks in shame to himself.
I… I knew that.
To answer your question, how do I put this…
Yggdrasil’s voice trails off, rattling around the inside of Seth’s brain. It's still a very unpleasant feeling as he shakes his head while wondering if he’ll ever get used to it.
…Have you eaten a food you humans call ‘popcorn’ before?
No, I’ve never had it. It’s not cheap.
But you do know how, often, it’s eaten while watching a movie?
Well, yeah. I’ve heard about it before.
Yes, it was like that. Talking while enjoying your entertainment is rude, Seth.
Seth pauses his walk once again, as his eye twitches in annoyance. Did Yggdrasil really have the audacity to lead him on like that? For a simple question? The first time Seth had ever thought to ask the spirit how it felt about anything?
Yes, of course it did.
…Why did I even bother? Forget it.
As he began to continue his stride, Yggdrasil let out a light chuckle before falling silent again. Nearing the edge of the cafeteria hall’s entrance, he noticed that nothing was out of place. Of course, there were around twenty agents, give or take, getting food and talking around the tables. No interesting tie colors he hadn’t come across yet… nothing much of interest at all.
That is, until he turned the corner a little further in, and spotted a young woman with very soft pink, almost white, hip-length hair styled into twin tails sitting at one of the tables initially out of his field of view. Having cyan-colored eyes, and wearing a plain suit that was missing a tie, she sat there eating something… though he couldn’t make out what.
That didn’t matter to him, though.
On her head, curiously, were mechanical-styled headphones that appeared to have cat ears jutting out of them. They weren’t just glued on top, or anything. No, these were clearly metal and hand-crafted to fit the form of the gutted headset, with exposed detail and wiring lining the outside above the cushion that sat against the top of her head. She turned to look off to her side, and that’s when Seth realized he was way too far over his head.
Cat ears? Sure, eccentric without a doubt, but manageable.
But no, on top of that, she also had… paws. Nearing the bottom of her legs, it looked like she had two prosthetics, metal feet, potentially more than that, but they were designed like paws. Of a cat, of course. Complete with claws and everything. If it wasn’t so off-putting to see out of nowhere, without any context, Seth would’ve even been impressed by the craftsmanship on display here.
He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in, and then releases it as an exhale.
Alright. That’s… fine. Just don’t stare at any of that.
He walks forward, raising his hand and awkwardly approaching her table. Despite his experience as a young, private detective… Seth lacks skills in the social area, from time to time. Researching through files to find someone? You’d have a hard time finding someone better. Need to hear the latest rumors someone’s spreading? He’s the person you go to, really. Even informants in the Outer Layer had relied on him. But people…? He found those hard to deal with, outside of clients. Flashy, attention-magnet type people especially so…
“Hey… Liam told me to come meet with you,” he said, as she noticed him from the corner of her blue eyes.
Of course, that was a lie. Kat had been the one to tell him, earlier, but it was probably best if she feigned respect for Liam for as long as possible. In response to his entry, she audibly, and as Seth thought, obnoxiously, gasped in surprise.
“Seth?! You mean… the one who fought that Archangel…?!”
His eyebrow twitched as, for a moment, he wanted to look behind him to act as if she called out to someone else… saving himself the embarrassment. He knew she was referring to him, though, and figured he’d look more stupid if he acted like he didn’t.
Oh, no… you’ve got a fangirl.
What?
Don’t worry about it.
“Sure…” he trails off, looking around the room to avoid eye contact with her. She’s attempting to stare right into his soul, her eyes open wide in awe. “...That’s me.”
In a move that Seth could’ve never expected as soon as he said that, she muttered some kind of light gasp and then brought her hands against the table, swinging her legs over and then shortly after having the rest of her body follow as she sat underneath it.
Hiding from him.
Uh…?
You frightened her.
Did I…?
“Are you… okay?” Seth leans over the side of the table, checking on her. She’s… covering her face with her hands, crouched down completely underneath it, looking completely and totally embarrassed. Through her stuttering, she begins to speak softly.
“I— I thought I could… Handle this… I’m sorry, I… I’m not good with… people…”
Seth crouches down beside her, though keeping his distance off to the side behind the seats. She almost reminded him of himself when he was younger, always scared to interact with anyone who wasn’t Rena or Gabriel.
Huh… In this situation…
“You’re fine,” he begins to say, trying to reassure her, “I’m not all that different. I just hide it better.”
He exaggerated just a smidge, as he wasn’t this bad, but thought it was okay to say given his past. She turns her head at a snail’s pace, still mostly covering her face with her hands, opening her fingers to peek through them.
“...You aren’t?”
“I’m not. So don’t worry about it. Also,” he points down at her twin tails, which are touching the floor. It’s not the cleanest, as someone would expect from a cafeteria. “...Your hair’s going to get dirty.”
The woman gasps, picking up her hair with her hands and quickly standing up, hitting the back of her head against the table.
“O-ow…” she mutters, holding the back of her head with one hand.
Seth stares in confusion, as he’s not sure what to do in this situation. He knows he can’t laugh, but he can’t really look disappointed, either.
Today’s… been interesting. Ah, I just want to lay down…
Slowly backing out from underneath the table, Seth couldn’t help but notice the offset weight of her legs, visible even through her black dress pants. The metallic steps ring out against the floor as she awkwardly shifts back into her seat. But these weren’t prosthetics any medical professional would sell. Trying to hold back as much as he can, his curiosity finally gets the better of him as he opens his mouth.
“Are those… custom-made?”
As soon as he said it, he regretted it. Hell, he didn’t even know her name yet, and for all he could’ve guessed, there’s a possibility it was a sensitive topic. But, despite his worries, she looked down at them with a smile, placing her hands on the two mechanical thighs.
“Yeah, actually… I… built them myself.”
“Woah.”
Oh, damn.
He hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but he couldn’t help but express how impressive that was. There was no way she was much older than him… but she was definitely more skilled. She lifts her head and brings her right hand up level with her shoulder to show him a peace sign.
“My name’s Asuga… It’s nice to meet you.”
That’s an oddly enthusiastic intro for someone who just hid from me a few seconds ago, but… I’ll take what I can get.
Seth copies Asuga’s peace sign with his opposite hand, gently smiling and chuckling with the back of her right hand resting in front of her mouth. He’s not great at forcing those, but he did a good enough job with this one. Her eyes widen a little bit before she smiles, definitely feeling more comfortable around him now.
That’s… good? I think? Actually, with my luck, she’ll just turn out to be some crazy lunatic who wants to kill me.
After a prolonged moment, her chuckling begins to darken as she presses the back of her hand against her mouth, which startles Seth. It wasn’t anything like cutesy chuckling, it was more like a light laughter… one that felt oddly sinister. But at the same time, notably exaggerated.
“...Hm-hm, you fell for it…” she says under her breath, though loud enough for him to hear it behind a grin.
Eh…? What was that?
She raises her peace sign and spreads her hand out, her fingers acting like shutters in front of her eyes as she shows off a wide grin.
“You gullible fool… you fell for the ‘Oh, no! It’s my first day and I’m soooo nervous, help me, popular guy, help me!’ act…”
I knew it. I genuinely knew it. As soon as I doubt the universe, for even a second, it shows its true colors.
She raises her eyebrow, taking on a smug, matter-of-fact look.
“So understanding… did you enjoy having a helpless girl asking you for assistance, hm…?”
Seth, understandably so, takes one good long look at her expression— entirely full of herself— then turns around, and begins to walk away.
“H-hey! Wait, wait, wait!”
She exclaims, reaching out and grabbing the back of Seth’s jacket, pulling at it. As he turns around, he glances at her from the corner of his eyes, noticing that she’s completely lost the smug look she had a moment ago. It’s replaced by one of regret and embarrassment, as she tries to claw her way out of the hole she just dug.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
“It’s a joke! A joke!” she pleads, tugging at his sleeve.
I’m sensing a recurring theme with this place…
Seth fully turns around, sighing out of exhaustion. He’s pretty much given up on trying to resist events like this, they come and go as they please. With that in mind, he walks over and sits at the table across from where Asuga sat, as she returns to her own seat, bowing her head in apology with her hands pressed together.
“I’m very sorry, please forgive me,” she states in an unnaturally deep and quickly paced voice.
“Ehh…? Alright, okay, fine. But I want to know… what are those for?” Seth can’t help but point at the headphones with the cat ears built into them. Actually, he thought they looked pretty cool with all of their visible mechanical detail, though he would never wear them himself. Most likely.
“These?” she asks, pointing to her head with her index finger. “My hearing’s kinda messed up. The ears act like microphones that I listen to through these.”
She taps the side of the right side of the headphones, gently clinking against the plastic with her fingernail.
“Huh… what kind of shop would build something like—”
“Mine.”
Asuga cuts him off, pointing at him with a straightforward glare. Due to the shock of her sudden switch earlier, he had forgotten she looked to have the skills of an engineering master.
“I made these… and the legs, too.”
She rolls up her right pant leg with both hands, revealing a glossy black, slim, and compact lower leg that resembles less of a human’s and more of an animal’s. They’re digitigrade legs, with an additional ball and socket joint located around 3/4ths of the way down what would be her shins. Approaching the thigh, both were more or less the size of a normal human’s, so it was safe to assume that the rest of her legs were normal in their form. Seth also noticed that the pawed feet resting on the ground split into two three attached segments, and he figured it was to boost her running speed. All of it was cast over with a pristine shine— no bolt, screw, or part damaged in the least. She was incredibly proud of these, and it was obvious in how she presented them.
“Wow…” Seth manages to say, still looking in awe at this very random mechanical wonder in front of him. Prosthetics technology hadn’t advanced nearly this far… though she was a signer, so he was sure that had something to do with it. “...These are insane. The legs, they’re like that so you can run fast, right?”
“Not just fast,” she smirks, pulling her pant leg back down, “I’m the fastest. That’s why Keith took me in. He said my soul burned bright… and that was pretty cool.”
Uh-huh… yep, that tracks. Of course it was him.
“But enough about me!” she exclaims, waving her hands in front of her, “What about you?! You’re like… a Midnight King…”
“...What?”
Seth doesn’t even move, only staring at her as he rests his hand against his right cheek, his elbow pressed against the table to support his tired body.
“You know! It’s from a season of—”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Seth trails off, putting his other hand up, and closing his eyes. “I’m going to stop you there. I don’t… watch anything.”
Asuga tilts her head to the side, dumbfounded by his answer.
“You… don’t?”
“I don’t.”
“Seriously…?”
“...Yeah.”
She looks disappointed as her eyes drift downward, but then her mouth gapes as she has a ‘eureka!’ moment. Almost as if stars appeared to twinkle in her eyes, she raises her fist in a sign of premature victory.
“I have every season of Cycle Fighters! We can watch it together!”
Yes, I agree. The woman is speaking my language.
S…seriously? Are you messing with me?
No. I enjoy human entertainment… usually. Recently…
No, I don’t need to hear your thoughts on the state of the entertainment industry, thank you.
Seth searches around the room, appreciating the lack of scenery or really anything interesting to look at in this given moment that he can point to, to distract the both of them. Eventually, he slumps his shoulders and gives in, lowering his head in defeat.
“...Sure.”
Admittedly, he found it hard to deny Asuga, who looked like she was just having fun as her eyes lit up even more, excited to hear the news.
“Awesome! Maybe Saturday? Or Sunday, if that works? I’ll have to teach you all about—”
Seth places his palms on the table and pushes himself up from his seat, standing up straight as he interrupts her.
“That sounds good! Now, let’s go talk to Liam. He said earlier that he wanted to speak to you.”
This was also a lie. But a lie that worked, as Asuga happily stood up, followed again by the clinking of metal against the floor, as she began to walk next to Seth’s side.
“Sure! But then, after…”
She continued to discuss her plans to force Seth into a twelve-season-long watch-through as they headed over to meet with Liam. Yggdrasil was increasingly intrigued by the premise, making Seth the equivalent of a medium between Asuga and the spirit. He was not very pleased by this, but it was better than being hunted down by someone wanting to kill him, so he decided to just leave things be.
Though, of course, with Asuga unaware of Yggdrasil being able to talk to Seth, she was just happy at how interested he sounded.
I just… want… to sleep… please…
He forces himself to sluggishly continue walking, while Asuga keeps talking on and on about the history of the season she plans to start him on.
. . . . .
Knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock.
Seth carefully recited the rhythm of the knock that Yasu had first shown him.
"Hm? Come in," Liam states from behind the wooden door, coming across as if the knocking had interrupted a train of his thoughts.
As Seth opens the door to let the both of them inside, Asuga takes on a much more formal figure, adhering to ready and willing body language. She puts her arms to her sides with her hands straightened against the sides of her tights, stepping past the doorway as Liam over his shoulder from in front of the wall of bookshelves.
Dressing to impress, huh...?
Seth notices that he's holding a manila folder rather than a book, and that, for the first time, multiple of the books had files placed between them. They were barely visible... most likely a decision made on purpose. Liam waves his hand upward, almost dismissing the two of them as he continues to browse through the folder.
"Oh, it's the two of you... have a seat, have a seat."
Asuga and Seth do as they're instructed, sitting in the dual chairs in front of Liam's desk. Asuga appears slightly restless as she can't stop moving her right leg up and down, the metal clinking softly against the wooden floor. Liam notices the sound, of course, but attempts to bear it for as long as he can. After a good few moments pass, however, his patience gives in.
"...Please refrain from doing that," he kindly states with only a sliver of annoyance audible through his voice.
"O-oh... right..."
She hadn't even noticed she was doing it.
"Your eyes are glued to that file," Seth begins to say, glancing up at Liam while scratching the back of his head with his left hand, "Did something happen?"
Liam sighs, walking over to his desk and placing the manila folder onto it, for the both of them to view.
"Yes, it's a little more pressing than just 'something'..."
As the file hit the desk, Asuga's eyes widened in disgust and Seth grimaced. Contained inside were brutal pictures of various men and women who had been murdered in horrific ways. The locations differed... one was at a convenience store, a few were in alleys, and a few were in what looked to be someone's apartment or motel room. Though some of it was censored, as even an official would have a hard time viewing such an abhorrence, the implications were clear:
These bodies had been severely mutilated, past the point of recognition, even, as their organs, their skin, and even their muscle fibers were splayed out. It was as if they had been turned into some horror show attraction, not one from the mind of an underpaid carnival worker, but rather, the demented, twisted thoughts of someone or something that only thought of this level of cruelty as entertainment. Seth scanned the photos, though his eyes begged to look away, as he noticed text written in blood behind a few of the victims. It was sloppy, not easily intelligible from the shakiness of the photo... making it clear that the one who took it was feeling sick to their stomach.
"...What are these letters? Some kind of message?" Seth asks, pressing his hand against his chin.
"They started like this, however..."
Liam leans over his desk, spreading the photos out across the open folder with both of his hands, revealing more underneath. They were close-ups of the text, with the victims bodied having been moved away to fully read the ones they had covered. Seth stared at one in particular, as it read:
not seen, not heard
the bug is squished
no one remembers
Even for writing with blood, and using one's hands... this was done sloppily, as if they had swiped their arms violently around to create a message that contained nothing but chaos.
What could this be referring to...? A 'bug'...?
Liam notices Seth's silence, and subsequently his theorizing, he points to another photo to give him a hint. It reads:
they lie, you wake
they breathe, you take
they die, you fake
which is the bug?
Lying, waking, breathing, taking, dying, faking... it sounds like a cynical view of humanity, if I had to guess. Not unique when it comes to psychopaths, but there's something about this...
"This one in particular..." Liam trails off, interrupting Seth's thoughts as he begins tapping the photo again, "...Was found alongside three corpses. Whoever this is, they were only murdering one by one, but it seems that's no longer the case. The most concerning one..."
Liam taps his finger against a photo over to the corner, containing more bloody text. Once more, it reads:
bugs ruled by bugs
the system laughs
the bugs are ruled by bugs
but the bugs were created
by yet another bug bug bug bug bug
And as the words trailed off, becoming more and more deranged in their form as they did, there remained writing just below.
I AM A BUGGY ANGEL
I WILL GROW WINGS AND FLY
It sent chills down Seth's back. Those words, though he had seen psychopaths before, something about this was far too vague. The way those final two lines were written, it was as if they were punched into the wall. Like someone had been screaming, continuously losing their mind as they wrote them down.
"Who would... do something like this?" Seth asks, his voice barely coming out as a light rasp. He was anything but unfamiliar with death, but this was far more than that. It was the glorification of death.
Bugs are ruled by bugs, and those bugs were created by another bug... It's obvious this is talking about humanity, but why? And that message...
He reads it aloud in his head again, pondering over what it could mean.
Who is this 'buggy angel'...?
Liam sighs.
"It seems like no one knows who this killer is. They've been active, at least from what we know, for less than two months now."
His hands spread out the pictures once more, tapping a picture of more bloody text across the walls of an alley.
"The Gatekeepers found this one yesterday. Not a single body was able to be ID'd."
He slides the photo toward Seth with his index finger, as it reads:
WHO KILLED POOR ALICE?
Seth was taken aback by this. Not because of the level of brutality he'd seen so far, just to be continued, but because this message was so different from the others.
"I don't get this," he begins to say, scratching his head, "If this is the M.O. the killer's chosen, why break it this early on? No 'bugs', no metaphors referencing humanity... Alice could be an obvious reference, but somehow I doubt it."
"Yes, I had considered that as well..." Liam trails off, reaching underneath the rest of the papers inside the folder to pull out yet another image, one that had seemingly been hidden from the rest. Seth raises his eyebrow as Liam begins to speak in reference to it.
"...But that changed earlier today. This is the newest victim."
Seth's eyes widen as they meet the scene, practically bulging out of his sockets.
This is... No, that can't be. That doesn't make any sense.
It showed a man propped up with various trash bags and cans, discarded boxes in a brick alley. His hair was dark brown, and his puffy white clothing, resembling religious wear, was stained in red. His jaw was wide open... and as he was slumped over, most of his body remained intact. As to be expected, there was another message surrounding him. In horror, Seth's eyes began to study it.
if only you knew
for I am an angel
a task appointed to me
Below, the words became larger as they trailed off to the left side of the mostly clean corpse.
erase
every
single
bug
Seth could feel a sickness rising through his stomach, begging to be let out of him.
Begging to be thrown up in front of him, to cover this scene that he couldn't bear to look at.
He knew the man who sat there in that alley, covered in his own blood.
It'd be impossible to forget him, as...
You...? Why... were you alive...?
...The man in the photo was someone Seth held dear.
Julio...?
A ghost brought back to haunt him.
A ghost he had failed to save.
He was none other than one of the caretakers at the old orphanage.
A man whose life was taken by the fire all those years ago.