Mr. Jarvis’s math class passed without too much of a hassle. Once again, Torren was pulled away by some weird circumstance, leaving me wide open for Sean to come and mess with me. I passed notes with him, this time far more subtle than the last. Other than that, I half paid attention and half wandered around my brain. Really, that’s how most of the day passed.

I couldn't be blamed. Honestly, there was just to much on my brain. What was this ‘Circle’ that the Inquisitor was so keenly interested in? What was their connection to the principal? What was the bigger game here? Who was behind the mass disappearances? And what should my calling card be? I was still stuck coming up with something good, but I had several ideas in mind.

Oh, and I couldn’t stop thinking of the gala. I was… excited? I guess? I wasn’t excited for the event itself, having to keep up a facade and act all noble got real tiring real quick, but more so for the things I wanted to do during it. Mainly gather information.

After my first hour, most of the classes zipped by. During that time, I took the opportunity to nudge up to my primary suspects as best I could and hit them with the BED. It was surprisingly easy. The students had the danger sense of a snail, so that combined with Lethargic Presence and Hidden Hands made things not even a challenge.

Classes were about as boring as always. The teacher of Marketing and Business Management went on and on about proper methodology to get the most out of your workers, which I mostly ignored. It’s not like I would ever be in charge of a corporation or anything similar…

Corporate History was the same bullshit as always. Sentinel was apparently the savior of humanity and wanted nothing more than to rule all of the planet to protect human interests and history. Or something like that. It was hard to pay attention with Tristen bothering me.

Social Studies also came and went, this time the teacher focused more on propaganda than in the past. We had a deep analysis of ads, what was effective, and keeping with the times. Thankfully, the bell cut him off before he could get into another hour-long tirade about how Sentinel’s advertisements could be so much better if he was in charge.

Then came lunch. Once again, Torren split off to the cafeteria line with Claire. I paused at the door, looking around the place as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do. Christine and Co were back laughing at their table, and my original one was still overcrowded with faces I didn’t really want to bother with.

But having them in the same place was such a good opportunity... gah, the sacrifices I make. I would be better off just hanging out with them and trying to glean any kind of information since that was my job... I just really didn't want to...

Still, that didn’t mean I had to go over immediately. For once, I decided to take advantage of my privileges and headed for the food side of things. After waiting in a brief line of chattering students, I was at the front.

A chef, wearing the typical white clothes and hat I would associate with someone in his position, smiled at me in that normal corporate way. “What can I get for you?”

Damn, probably should’ve thought of this beforehand. “Um- maybe a smoothie or something? Something healthy.”

The chef stared at me for a moment before nodding. He yelled back to the kitchen in a language I didn’t quite catch. Maybe Sovet? Then he motioned me toward the end of the line before moving on to the next student behind me.

I passed through the rest of the way, another chef placing a large cup out as I arrived at the end. She bowed to me slightly. “Sentinel Supreme Supplement. Made with the freshest of ingredients guaranteed to give your body the right conditions to maximize growth. Enjoy, miss.”

“Th-thank you!” I grabbed the cup, slightly taken aback as I looked down at the drink. I just wanted a smoothie, not- well, this. Sentinel Supreme Supplement, huh?

I left the cafeteria line, looking out at the rest of the room. Torren sat close to the line, already half scarfing down a mountain of various kinds of food as Claire watched him with large, adoring eyes. He paused mid-chew and met my eyes as he tilted his head.

I nodded to him and skipped past to find Feras sitting with a bunch of guys. They were all quite… large? They looked like bodybuilders or something- no, that wasn’t quite right. Maybe guards? But they were in student's uniforms. Maybe a similar situation to Torren? What was going on over there? Should I- should I help him?

Feras met my eyes, shaking his head slightly before he turned his attention back to the people around him. Guess not then.

Finally, I looked at my original table. Sean eagerly stared at me from across the room, Tristen following his gaze several moments later. I gave one last glance to Christine laughing and having a good time before moving to the dreaded table.

About halfway through my supplement smoothie, which tasted oddly like those peanut butter banana sticky brown cows my parents used to get back when they were around, a rather interesting conversation started up. Sean pointed his fork to the male twin. "I know you know what I'm talking about. I heard they're already thinking of moving the Supercarrier out."

"Good!" Aaran smiled, an imaginary tail wagging behind him. "It will calm some tensions."

Jayce frowned. "It will make us look weak. What about Raijin's - what was its stupid name? - Raiju? Are they going to leave it in the city?"

The male twin, I still had yet to get his name, shrugged. "Probably. My father said they needed it elsewhere though, so whatever they were doing with it here would have to be put off."

The female twin nodded in agreement. "He seemed pissed. Whatever they were doing here must've been important."

I felt sweat coalesce all over my spine but otherwise decided not to comment. Eventually, Sean looked at me before shifting subjects to one a lot less... pointed.

The rest of lunch passed uneventfully. I felt the normal tinge of Insight that I had been feeling ever since I entered the school, but other than that it was fine. Rather boring, but fine. The people around the table got into a one-up contest that lasted the entire lunch. By the end, I highly doubted they were telling the truth. I refused to believe that Sean actually hunted down a Raijin Ninja all by himself.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I kept my attention focused on Tristen throughout the entire time, slowly starting to pick up some deeply hidden Cues and motions. It took some effort, but since I knew what to look for it was relatively easy. He had the same mannerisms I would associate with Feras, though to a much less refined degree. It became easy to look through his cocky guise and see the scheming and cool rationale behind every word.

I was happy to get away from him once lunch ended.

— —

After school, I drove my bike around the city, making sure to take plenty of twists and turns as I ducked through alleys and side streets. Not necessarily the smartest decision considering the plethora of gangs that would be happy to feed me a bullet and klep my shit, but I wanted to be sure I didn’t have a tail. It has been a worry ever since I started attending SPS. I had yet to actually notice one. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

I drove the long way through Old Town to the south of the Corporate Quarter and looped around through East End to get back to Little Yukoto. It was a time-consuming process, but one I’ve done several times by now just to be safe.

I stopped by my apartment, grabbed my gear, and changed into far more comfortable attire. I also restocked my bag with my guns and the SB-17 rifle. Finally, I headed for Mortas Motel just on the end of the Rye Container Yard.

Mortas Motel took up the bottom five floors of a megabuilding. It sat hidden behind several other stores, roughly shaped like an L. It had its own parking lot only accessible through a back alley into the hollowed-out space of the building. Several supporting pillars sat spaced out around the area. The only way into the area was through the alley, which was just… great. Feras really knew how to pick ‘em.

As I pulled in, I couldn’t help but notice just how- well- how dark the place was? Sure, it was back off the street and entirely out of the sun, but the entire place was done in black and dark shades. Ghostly shifts of paint were everywhere, giving the entire place the feel that something was watching me. Skeletons sat on benches around the place, and other decorations I would associate with Hallow’s Eve were scattered about everywhere.

Still, they weren’t the biggest discomfort about the place. That honor belonged to the people everywhere. Dozens appeared as ghosts, vampires, and skeletons. And it wasn’t like they were just dressed up- no, several of them had Chemskin, Light Tattoos, and other more permanent fixings to appear as the creature of choice. A poser gang maybe?

The typical chill of Insight followed me around as I looked around, several gazes pulsed specks of cold through my body. Was this even the right place? The parking lot was so desolate it was easy to spot Feras’s moped close to the building.

I looked around, seeing Feras half slumped over between two skeletons. A rather large fox sat on his lap, glaring around at its surroundings. Did he fall asleep-

My eyes caught blood seeping through his shirt. I didn't waste too much time approaching the guy. Hopping off the bike and grabbing the medkit I had yet to bring back into my apartment, I rushed over to his side.

The fox on his chest, a materialized sprite by the look of things, looked at me with happiness in its eyes. And yet it didn’t back off as its tail straightened out with an apologetic look. I got the message. “Feras?”

“Ah, h-hey Zuku. H-how are you?” His eyelids fluttered as his eyes cracked open. “S-she’s with me.”

The fox calmed down, its pure joy radiating through as it bounced off Feras and gave me access with its tail wagging wildly. It watched me for a moment before the aggression returned and it stared out at our surroundings.

“Idiot,” I muttered, kneeling beside him. The chills of Insight only intensified as I knelt beside the hurt grifter. Was this a trap? No, of course, this was a trap. Damnit, Shiro!

‘Get here now!’ I sent to Torren as I drew my pistol and set it beside me. Insight’s warnings lessened, but they were still present. If I had to guess, they were still in the wait-and-see phase of deciding if we were worth the effort of robbing.

Hell, it was surprising Feras hadn’t already been robbed considering his condition. The materialized sprite must’ve kept any potential threats at bay, though foxes weren’t exactly terrifying. Bear and Wolf had that going for them a lot better.

I pulled up his shirt, pausing as he let out a hiss. There was- well, there was a lot of blood. Everywhere. I was no medical professional, but that was bad. Really bad. A bandage was half pressed onto his side, though it was sloppily done and blood pooled around it. “Did you get a room yet?”

“N-no. I’m fine. Really. Let me just stand-”

I held the idiot down as the cute fox looked back towards us. “Stay. What happened?”

Feras coughed lightly. “A- uh, a disagreement. Had a knife. S-summoned sprite too late.”

“He stabbed you?” I asked as I cleaned off some of the blood with a bottle of saline from my kit.

Unfortunately, it was only a small bottle so I almost ran out before stopping it back up. I had yet to introduce it to my canteen, or any other medicine, which was really stupid. Sure, I healed quickly. The same couldn't be said for my coworkers.

“S-she nicked me in the s-side. D-didn't think i-it was that deep.” Feras turned over slightly and passed his hand down to his side, just above his hip.

With most of the blood cleaned up, I could see a rather long gash just under his ribs. I poked it slightly, blood oozing up as he hissed. “Sorry.”

“N-no you aren’t.”

“Hmm…” He'll have to get stitches to completely stop the bleeding. I dunno if I can do that with him sitting like this though. Hell, I don't think I can do it at all-

An engine roared as a Dioni Aria sped into the parking lot. It whipped around, its headlights flashing past us as it pulled into a parking space across the way. The car barely turned off before Torren jumped free of it, his feet heavily hitting the asphalt. He looked around, an aggressive look on his face as he stared at the people out and about.

The fox looked like it was about to attack as I called out. "He's with us." The fox backed off, though it kept its eyes peeled as it started to walk a perimeter.

The warnings from Insight receded. They didn’t leave entirely, but fell back. As if plotting. Planning. This was bad. Should we leave? The booming of engines drew my attention to the exit. The only exit. Five cars pulled in, blocking the way out. “You picked a bad spot, Feras.”

The grifter coughed. “Y-you said a m-motel. Th-this one was ch-cheap-" His head lulled, his entire body going limp as he slumped down onto the bench.

I checked him over. His pulse was weak. Lost too much blood? With only a brief hesitation, I pulled free the canteen and hid it as well as I could below my jacket. I caught a few drops from him as well as the saline solution. Unfortunately, my canteen was full of the haze liquid and by the time it refilled, it would already be too late to use the new stuff.

I called over my shoulder to Torren. “Get us a room. Any room.”

“Should I rent one?” Torren asked as he moved over to us.

“What? No.” I looked around, eyeing the multitude of nutjobs in costumes gathering around. There were only a few cars around. I highly doubted this motel was even active anymore. “Kick one open or something.”

A door on the far side of the motel opened. A man dressed like Frankenstein came out armed to the teeth. Several of the costumed people headed in, returning just as armed as the first.

“Shit.” Torren moved to the closest door and kicked it. For such a big guy, he had a shit ton of muscle. The door popped open, the lock splintering in a spray of wood debris.

I wrapped a temporary bandage around Feras as best I could and carried- tried to carry him. My lack of muscle finally caught up though, and I barely moved him before Torren plucked him from my back and stepped into the room. The fox hustled after, pausing at the door to look at me.

I gave one last glance to the gathering storm of freaks before following the two in.

This?

This was going to be rough.