I set my boxes down by the door as Feras finished gathering up the last of his stuff. “Zuku! Just who I was waiting to see…”

“Are you finally moving out?” I looked him over, feeling a bit unsettled. I swear his gaze looked off for some reason.

He smiled brightly and slung his bag over his shoulder. “Just about. I can’t keep leeching off you forever… my pay?”

“Right.” My heart ached as I transferred the twelve hundred and fifty Rayn I owed him.

His smile brightened substantially as he checked his phone. “Thank you, boss! And thank you for giving me a place to stay. I think it's high time I get a move on though.”

“Yeah.” It definitely was. I couldn’t wait to have the apartment all to myself again. My Perk Points needed spending, and it would be nice to shower and sleep without any stress once more.

He stuck out his hand. “It's been… nice. If you ever need a grifter, or just some help in general, you have my contact.”

I froze for a moment before taking his hand. “Yeah… you have plans?”

“Yep! Some of my contacts finally got back to me, so I’ll be back in the flow soon. And I’ve got a bead on a place to stay. You?” His excitement was as evident as his smile was bright.

“Relax for a week or two while I wait for another gig…” I couldn’t wait till my bed came in and I could truly relax in its embrace.

“Exciting… well! I’m off. Don’t be a stranger, Zuku.” He headed for the door, pausing at the frame. “Hey… you want to go get some food? I still owe you some ramen.”

Oh? Was he trying to befriend me? What a los- actually… It was kind of nova? Assuming this wasn’t a trap or anything of the sort… never can truly tell in this damnable city. Still… I checked my guns. “Sure.”

There was no obvious reason to turn him down, and being around someone else was a good experience for me… and it could be looked at as another networking chance. Right, it's not like I was going just because I wanted a new friend. Gah, I really was pathetic.

I took a breath, trying to relax in the comfort of my own home once more. I had just returned from the meal with Feras. It had been… preem? It was so weird being around someone willingly and not because a gig demanded it. In the past, only Mira has come anywhere close to a similar position.

I stared at the wall, feeling a bit… lonely? That wasn’t quite right. I didn’t even like Feras much in the first place thanks to his nature as a grifter, there was no way I was feeling lonely that he was gone…

It was the fox. Right. It was the fox sprites that I missed, not the Magus. No longer would I be able to appreciate their adorable snouts and cute little paws as they padded around my apartment.

My gaze shifted of its own free will. I tiredly rubbed at it, almost seeming to force away the oddness. Thankfully, it worked. I grabbed the eyedropper from Nael and dripped a couple of drops onto my eye, feeling the soothing sensation ease my vision back to the right place.

I sighed and settled down against the wall. I couldn’t wait for my new furniture to come in, but until then- Perks! I waited a couple hours to make sure Feras didn’t come back before I allowed myself to be pulled into the pavilion once more.

Sleight of Hand was first. I already knew what I wanted from the last time I picked a Perk for it, so I wasted no time.

「Ambidextrous - You can use both hands equally well.」

I pulled the scroll off the shelf, the flickering flame above going out as the rest of the scrolls turned dark once more. I stepped across the moonlit pavilion on light feet, taking my time to enjoy the view of the sakura tree.

I didn’t know what the process of obtaining Ambidextrous would be, so I took some time to mentally prepare myself as I enjoyed the view. Eventually, however, my waiting had to end. I turned to the easel and entrusted the Perk scroll to it.

The scroll instantly unrolled by itself, revealing a painting of two feminine hands. They were painted in a perspective as if a person was looking down at their own hands. A moment passed… two… I raised my head to look around, immediately feeling a strong sense of vertigo as I realized I had been transported to a different place at some point. The hands I was staring at, had, in fact, been my own.

I stood in the dark corner of a library, the space seemingly full of books and yet I couldn’t focus on any of them. A desk sat in front of me with several sheets of paper and pens. The papers weren’t blank- no, they were covered in writing exercises for children who had yet to learn their letters.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

「Complete the task.」

I didn’t immediately move to the desk like I did with other challenges. The library was quite intriguing, so I stepped away from the desk to look around. I reached for a book on one of the shelves, but a shock of electricity smacked my finger away before it could make contact.

A frown creased my face as I tried again, only to be hit by a significantly stronger shock just shy of electrocution. I jolted back and rubbed at my hand. Note to self; books are dangerous.

I moved away from the bookshelves as the notification flashed into my view once more. I lightly ignored it and moved on. After a few cases, the surroundings grew incredibly dark, as if the very light had been snuffed out. I could still see shapes in the darkness, but they made a chill go up my spine. They almost looked like faces, familiar ones at that.

Something about the darkness beyond felt… off. The chill spread throughout my body as if only death awaited me if I were to head into it. Or worse, being lost in this place with no way back.

I slowly backed up, my heart pounding as I returned to the desk and took a seat. Might as well follow the instructions.

I shifted slowly against the wall, feeling my joints creak and pop from a couple days of not moving in the slightest. I slowly stood up, my bones grating against each other due to the awkward way I had been sitting since starting the Perk process.

Crow’s Canteen of Chaos entered my hand in the next second and I gulped down water, drinking about half of it in one go to ease the agony in my throat. The soothing liquid flowed down the path of glass, refreshing me as I leaned against the wall. Then, just because I could, I swapped hands without a hitch.

I stretched and made myself as comfortable as I could before looking through the missed notifications on my phone. The first message let me know my stuff had been delivered down in the mailroom of the building. Then there was the text from Ishimaru thanking me for exposing the Savant Lab. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was in his debt now that he helped me out.

Last but not least, Mira texted me about an hour ago. ‘Hey! Pa just got his new deployment orders. We’ve got a month before we need to go, so I figured we should go ahead and celebrate your birthday. I went by your container, but you weren’t in…’

That sucks… I was hoping they’d stick around for a bit longer this time around. Orders were orders though, and the FSA rarely let Uncle Ezra have a long time off. ‘I moved. Here’s the address.’ I sent her my new apartment’s location. ‘My birthday isn’t for another two months, so don’t worry about it.’

‘Still…’

After texting Mira, I headed out of my apartment and down to the first floor. Getting the boxes of furniture out of the mail room and up into my apartment was a pain in the ass. It was made far easier thanks to the elevator, but still an annoying process. The stuff was heavy, and the landowner didn’t have a dolly I could borrow, so I had to slowly move the boxes while taking the occasional break.

What made it worse was the gonks around me. I could feel their gazes on me as I rubbed at my eyes and carted my stuff to my apartment. Their gazes felt judgemental as if they could tell I bought the stuff with blood money.

Once everything got moved up into my apartment, I started to put it all together. The tables were definitely cheap as I set them up, and felt as if they could collapse at any moment. The one I planned to eat off of didn’t matter so much, but the other one worried me. It would seriously suck for it to collapse under the weight of whatever I was working on.

Since they were cheap, they looked more like mere scraps with rough screw mounts than actual pieces of furniture. In fact, most of the legs didn’t match at all, seemingly pulled from random other bits of recycled furniture. The work table itself had a massive dent on one side, which was still better off than the mess of dents covering the dinner table. I swear it looked much better in the photos from the seller.

I also set up the 3D Softworks Printer, which was surprisingly painless. Everything snapped together rather flawlessly, and even the materials had their slots to be easily exchanged. I just needed some practice actually making stuff with it, and then I’d be good to go.

The bed wasn’t as painless, but eventually, I tightened the last bolt and screwed in the final screw, turning the place one step closer to homely. Once everything was set up, I jumped onto the bed, feeling the soft mattress embrace my body. It wasn’t top-of-the-line, but the bed was far better than the mattress I used back in the shipping container. I could just fall asleep on it-

I shook my head and cleared away the drowsiness. I had one more Perk to spend before I fully got to relax, so I allowed myself to be pulled back into the pavilion once more. As soon as this was over, I could take at least a couple of days to relax and decompress. I really needed it.

I wasted no time before heading for a shelf that I hadn’t seen yet: deception. The scrolls were laid out just as neatly as the rest of them, allowing me an easy viewing experience as I looked through them.

Deception had some… interesting Perks. There was a particularly high amount of them that would allow me to use my body to better sell what I was saying. Unfortunately, most of them were the kind I wouldn’t want. It took a bit to read through them and narrow down the options, but one in particular stood out to me: Honest Face

「Honest Face - Others will perceive you as a more upright and innocent person, allowing you to be ‘honest’.」

A light chuckle escaped my lips as I pulled it off the shelf. Innocence. Ha. Like I would ever be innocent again. I looked down at my hands as I walked to the easel, feeling reminiscent of a younger me. One without quite as many crimes upon her shoulders.

I threw the scroll on the easel, half expecting to be sent out of the pavilion and back to my bed similar to Hidden Hands thanks to the description. Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. As soon as I stared at the scroll’s masterful painting, which depicted a joyful child unaware of the cruel truths of reality, I was pulled into another place entirely.