Location: Dorm Room

Time: Tokino-48 year (2108), Feb. 13 (Mon) 22:12

There was an aggressive knock on my door. Well, it wasn’t really my door, but it was the door to the dorm room I would be staying in. Now, I know I couldn’t resist joining the ATC, but isn’t going on their field trip a bit much? Eh, don’t worry about it. I decided to treat it like a vacation.

I popped out of my chair and walked over to the door, opening it without hesitation.

Allison was standing at the now open door.

“Sorry, Acht isn’t in. He told a bad joke and left fifteen minutes ago.”

Acht was my roommate for this field trip.

“I’m not here to see Acht.”

“Then what would make me so lucky as to receive a late night visit from a beauty like you?”

I figured saying something like that would annoy her.

Why was I trying to make her angry?

Because it was easy and seemed like fun.

“Completely abnormal. Don’t presume I’m here to see you either. I have a letter to deliver to you, that’s it.”

Allison held out an envelope, but I didn’t take it right away.

A black and red pattern with a multi-colored smiling face.

It was the same style envelope that the letter telling me to join the ATC was in.

“Where did you get that?”

“A normal thing to ask. It’s from my older sister. Do you know her?”

Alexis Albright. I can’t say I was surprised. Kanon immediately singled her out as the most likely to be behind the messages, and from what I’d learned about her, I didn’t have a reason to disagree. The logo on all of the envelopes also matched a pattern that I’ve seen in relation to her.

The only thing that didn’t make sense was the letter received by HQ. At the time they received their letter, Alexis would have only been in her early teens. How could she have been planning something for that far out? And from what I’d been able to gather, her augmentation has to do with making skin to skin contact with her target.

“It still doesn’t make sense.”

I accidentally spoke some of my internal thoughts out loud.

“Exactly! Can you believe her?”

Alexis’s demeanor changed instantly. At first she was standoffish, but now she was walking into my room like we were best friends.

My condolences. Stigmas that affect behavior are rough.

“Can you believe it? I was unpacking my bags and found that letter in there. She must have snuck it in without telling me. How abnormal. Why not just ask me to deliver it like a normal person would?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yeah, how abnormal.”

I decided to humor her.

That was a mistake.

Allison spent the next fifteen minutes complaining to me about all of the ‘abnormal’ things in her life.

I decided not to mention that venting to a yakuza member who had a little too much in common with a ninja was definitely pretty far from normal.

After she finished listing all of the abnormal things that had been bothering her lately, Allison left without inquiring as to why her sister would have a message for me. As she would put it, instigating into your classmate's private lives is abnormal after all.

Once she was gone, I opened up the envelope. Inside there were a few folded pieces of paper, and a slightly smaller envelope. There wasn’t much there, so it didn’t take me long to read over everything.

To summarize.

The first page was a list of instructions. They were seemingly random, but Alexis must have had some purpose behind them. I was supposed to make sure the teams for tomorrow's game matched the order she gave me. Once the game started, I was supposed to sneak away as soon as I could and go back to the building we were using as a dorm. Then, I had to remain hidden, not revealing myself for any reason. Even if people were getting killed, I should stay out of it.

I was only supposed to reveal myself once Emily and Olivia were the only ones there. Then the final task was to direct them toward the address at the bottom of the page.

Now, none of those jobs seemed particularly difficult, but why would I do anything for her?

Well, that’s what the second piece of paper was for. Its message was simple. It said that the smaller envelope held information on Hassan’s location, and who he would target on the night of the 14th. It also mentioned that I shouldn’t open the envelope until I complete all of the steps she listed for me on the first page.

What a bad joke.

I immediately grabbed the small envelope and started ripping it open. What made her think she could trust someone like me?

But then I stopped before opening it completely.

Why would she trust me?

She wouldn’t.

I mentioned it before, but I’d never met Alexis Albright. Still, I felt like I knew a lot about her. As a person of interest, I spared no expense looking into her.

And from what I could gather, everyone’s impression of her had one thing in common.

There was nothing she didn’t know.

Even Kanon parroted that sentiment.

Then why would she do something like this?

Even a normal person would know not to trust me.

Yet she did.

Nothing was stopping me from opening the smaller envelope and learning everything that she claimed to know about Hassan. I had no reason at all to play along with her demands.

I didn’t need to worry about my reputation, or even her getting back at me. Once either Kanon or I secured Hassan we’d be on the first plane back to Japan. Alexis had to know that.

Was I supposed to believe that she set up this impossible plan that somehow involved sending a letter ten years ago all revolved around this?

That’s ridiculous. It was too insane to be true. There had to be more to this.

I put the envelope on the nightstand and took a few steps back.

Think.

Or maybe not. This could all be a trick. Maybe the point is to have me overthink things.

Maybe that list of demands isn’t legitimate in the first place. She might have included it knowing I would ignore it in order to trick me into doing something else.

Was she using me in some other way, and didn’t want me catching wind?

Then maybe I should’ve just thrown the envelope away and pretended I never read any of it.

No, I couldn’t do that.

As much as this seemed like a trap, I couldn’t deny that this was a gift from the heavens. Neither Kanon nor I had found any trace of Hassan in the past month. If Alexis said she had information on him, I had to use it.

Her character seemed suspect, but her information was always good.

At least, that’s what I heard.

So then, where did that leave things?

I walked back over and picked up the envelope.

Inside there was accurate information on Hassan.

But I wouldn’t open it. At least, not yet.

I was still convinced that there had to be something more to this. I just didn’t know what it was. That shouldn’t be surprising. Trying to figure out what Alexis was planning was more than I needed to worry about.

As I said, all of the tasks she listed were fairly simple. Rather than stress over this, it would be easy to just do them.

Feeling like a complete idiot, I stored the envelope containing the information I came to this city to find in the secret compartment built into the sole of my shoe.