Nathan groggily opened his eyes. It had been a while since he’d slept so well. Perhaps utter exhaustion was the way to counter his sleepless nights.

Putting that thought aside, Nathan quickly analysed his surroundings and realised that Roy was missing. . . again. At least he wasn’t screaming for a change, though. Calm voices floated through the flaps of the tent, along with the fragrance of burnt meat.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nathan whispered, venturing out into the bright midday sunshine. Roy, Joy, and Curtis stood around the campsite’s built-in table. They looked worried, and it didn’t take a genius to understand why.

“Oh, Nathan, you’re up. We might’ve fucked up a little.” Roy scratched his cheek.

“A little? You turned at least a quarter of our meat supply into charcoal.” Nathan stormed over.

“I mean, at least it has a nice crisp to it.”

“Yeah, if the word ‘carcinogenicity’ had a physical appearance it would be this…” Nathan struggled to find a suitable word for the abomination in front of him. “…this.” He poked the meat with his index finger. If life were some fantasy novel, he would’ve half-expected the pile of coal to turn into a monster and gobble him up.

“I told them they were ruining it, but they wouldn’t listen,” said Joy innocently.

“Hey, you traitor!” Curtis said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. “Come on, Roy. Our culinary genius is clearly not wanted here.”

“Wait, bu—”

Curtis leaned closer towards Roy and whispered in his ear, “Do you want to clean all this up? Because I sure as hell don’t. So either come with me or stay here and clean it up.”

Roy couldn’t help but follow Curtis. “Yeah, you’re not worthy of our expertise,” he agreed.

Nathan watched apathetically as they ran away. He was mildly surprised at how well the two of them were getting along now, though. Perhaps the best way to create friends was to get into trouble with them.

“Those morons! They just didn’t want to clean up their mess, did they?” Joy grumbled. “Nathan?”

“Ah—yes,” he said, shaking himself back to attention. “Yeah. But it’s for the best. In the end, I’d have to do the cleaning anyway. They’d just annoy me while I did so.”

“Makes sense.” Joy watched as Nathan skillfully scrubbed the table and dispatched the burnt meat. “What about your wound?”

“It’s a lot better. It looks like a clean cut, just like you said.”

“Do you want me to take a look?” Joy said, approaching.

“No, thanks.”

“Ah. Well, suit yourself.” Joy’s shoulders dropped a little.

Nathan watched her closely as he started preparing more meat. He was in a tricky situation. His plan was to make Joy fall for Roy—a Herculean task. Being alone with her and knowing that she was in love with him didn’t make that task any easier. He had to manipulate her without antagonising her, and he had to do it without acting like he loved her back.

“I’m going to make some grilled chicken breasts. We’re going to need some seasoning. Would you mind getting some from that bag? All the important stuff should be in there.”

“O—of course.” Joy jumped up energetically and ran for the spices.

“You’re a pretty good cook,” she said, watching Nathan select the seasonings he needed.

“Well, I live alone with my father and I usually have to do most of the cooking, so I taught myself.”

“That’s pretty amazing.”

“I’m no cook. Anyone can make a bunch of steaks. Well, almost anyone.” Nathan glanced meaningfully at Curtis and Roy, who were chatting a few metres away. Joy chuckled.

“I think it’s pretty cool.”

“Thank you,” Nathan replied evenly. The compliment meant nothing to him.

Joy hung around silently, trying to think of something to say. “So . . . what do you like to do?” she said at last, blushing.

“What do I like to do? That’s a good question. I’m a simple man. I like to go to the gym, watch some sports, and that’s pretty much it.” Joy giggled, and Nathan failed to find the joke. “What’s so funny?”

“I just noticed how you called yourself a man, not a boy. Imagine if I called myself a woman, not a girl. That’d be kinda weird, to be honest.”

“Never thought about it that way,” Nathan said, scraping the charred mess from the grate and placing it back above the fireplace. He gently placed the meat on top and listened as it started to sizzle.

“That smells amazing!”

“Hopefully it will taste just as good.”

“I’m sure it will.”

Nathan placed the last steak on the grate, just barely squeezing it in, and sat down. He kept his eyes on the fire, not looking at Joy even once.

“Oh, I just remembered! I don’t have your phone number! Would you mind giving it to me?”

“Sure.” Nathan recited his number and Joy quickly tapped it into her contacts.

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“Do you want mine?”

Nathan thought for a second. It might be counterproductive for the current objective, but she might become a valuable asset in the future. “Why not?” he smiled, turning his head towards Joy for the first time.

“Great!” she grinned back. Then she fell into silence.

“You wanted to give me your number, didn’t you?”

“Y—yes, but I thought you’d take out your phone.”

“Don’t need it. Just tell me your number and I’ll remember.”

“Like hell, you will. You don’t really want my number, do you?” Joy pouted.

“I do. I don’t have numbers on my phone since I don’t use it that often, and if I need to call someone from a different phone, it would be impractical.” And having contacts on my phone could be dangerous if someone were to steal it, he thought.

“Do you have two numbers in your contacts, or what? How can you remember your contacts?”

Nathan suddenly realised his blunder. “Well. . . do you know what a memory palace is?”

“Is that a manga?”

“No. It’s a technique that makes it easier for humans to recall massive amounts of information.”

“How could anything like that exist?”

“I won’t go into detail, but essentially it’s using visual and spatial memory to recall other abstract concepts such as numbers. Thanks to that, I can remember all the numbers in my contacts. Thirty-five numbers, to be precise.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Nathan walked towards the meat and flipped it over. “If you don’t believe me, open your phone and go to your contacts.” Joy obliged, and once she was finished, Nathan continued. “Now, open Curtis and check if I’m correct.” Nathan recited Curtis’ phone number from the top of his head without stopping.

“Th—that’s. Wow. Okay, but you could only have his number memorised. Who else do you have in this memory mansion of yours?”

“Memory palace,” corrected Nathan.

“Yes, that.”

“I have Roy, for example. Do you have his number?”

“No, I don’t. Let’s go with someone else since I can’t judge that.”

“Of course you can. Write it down.” Nathan once again recited a set of numbers, and Joy wrote them down. “Now dial it and wait.”

She did as told and waited. A ring suddenly echoed through the forest. Joy’s head snapped towards Roy, whose head snapped towards his phone screen. He tapped the red button and continued talking to Curtis.

A bad play, Roy. Nathan had half-expected this reaction but still hoped for a little more. It looked like Roy was the type of person who wouldn’t pick up calls from numbers he didn’t know.

Joy looked back at Nathan, her mouth falling open in amazement. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You really remember all your contacts? Like, you’re got all of them in your head? I want to do that, too!”

“Anyone can, honestly.”

“I doubt it. My memory is horrible. That’s why I write everything down.”

“Actually, people with a bad memory benefit from this technique the most,” Nathan said, still engrossed in the steaks. “You can actually try it right now. Do you remember what the technique was called?”

“Memory. . . something?”

“The second word is ‘palace’. Now close your eyes and tell me what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word palace.”

“The confectionery in the capital. It’s called Palace. I visited it often with my mom when I was younger.”

“Great. Now, don’t open your eyes. Try to see the place where we are right now. Try forming a three-dimensional space in your mind that looks exactly like this spot. Got it?”

“I think so. It’s surprisingly easy. I can’t remember the details, though, like the colours of our tents.”

“Those don’t matter.” While he was instructing, Nathan took the steaks from the grate and placed them on a disposable plate. “Now, imagine me sitting in front of you, eating your favourite piece of cake from Palace. Not only the image, but also the sound and the taste.”

“Now you’re making me hungry,” Joy smiled, her eyes still closed.

“Great, now associate that image of me eating with the Palace confectionery. And any time you would want to remember what we talked about, try to remember this imagery. Does that make sense?”

“I think so.” Joy finally opened her eyes. “Is this how you remember all your contacts? That sounds like a lot of work. How exactly does it work with numbers?”

“You seem to be pretty interested in the technique, huh?” Nathan plopped a few more steaks on the grill. It couldn’t hurt to explain the memory palace technique a little further while he finished cooking, he thought. . . until he came to himself with a surge of anger. What a careless mistake to disclose that technique! He hated having to adjust his plans, especially when the adjustment was his own fault.

***

Roy kept sneaking glances at Joy while Curtis talked. He didn’t notice when Curtis broke off to watch him.

“You don’t have to be worried,” Curtis said.

“What?” Roy’s head snapped back. “Worried about what?”

“Oh god, please. We both know what I’m talking about. Your crush on Joy, of course.”

“Wh—what the hell? Who told you that?”

“Nobody. I don’t have to be a detective to see that.”

“For fuck’s sake, Nathan said the same thing,” Roy grumbled to himself. “Is it really that obvious?”

“Yeah, kinda. Kinda a lot.”

“Shit.” Roy slapped his forehead. “Nathan said that Joy hasn’t noticed. Do you think that’s true?”

Curtis looked at Joy and Nathan. “I think she hasn’t. For now. But she will. Definitely.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I hope she won’t be disgusted by me.”

“I’m sure she won’t. You’re a good guy, and you seem to have a lot in common.”

“I guess you’re right,” Roy sighed. “And what did you mean by ‘you don’t have to worry’?”

“You’re stressed about her and Nathan being alone, ain’t you?”

“Hell, either I’m transparent like a piece of glass, or you and Nathan are both freaks.” Roy smacked his head. “Get out of there, both of you.”

Curtis laughed. “I think you’re just really honest with your feelings. That’s a good thing. As for what I meant, I meant that you don’t have to worry about Nathan betraying you. I spoke with him for a while, and he has no interest in Joy. He even said he knew about your crush and he’d help you.”

“That’s true.” Roy looked at Nathan and Joy again. “I think you’re right. He wouldn’t do something like that.”

“You fought a bloody wolf last night and won. I think you should have more confidence in yourself!” Curtis said encouragingly. But for some reason, the encouragement seemed to have an adverse effect.

Roy just silently watched Joy giggle as Nathan cooked. He hoped Nathan knew what he was doing. “Curtis?”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t your father one of the seven judges?”

“Ah. . . yeah. Yeah, he is.”

“How’s your relationship?”

“Rocky.”

“Well, at least he’s not dead.” Roy laughed sorrowfully.

“I’m sorry about that. It’s pretty fucked up what happened. I’m still not sure how I feel about assassins. It’s such a sensitive topic.”

“Even after everything that happened, I can’t hate them. I mean, they’re just doing their job, aren’t they? They aren’t all bad people.” Roy looked at Nathan.

“That’s a really mature thing to say, Roy.” Curtis looked genuinely surprised.

“Thanks. I guess some people helped me come to this realisation. And you’ve helped me as well. I’ve decided. Thanks, Curtis.”

“Decided on what?”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you,” Roy grinned.

“No reason to pressure you, then. Hope it’s a good decision.”

“I think it is.” Roy looked at Nathan with resolute eyes.