Day 5
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On the corridor outside, I'm greeted by a cold breeze that seeps into my coat immediately, and am almost blinded by a set of white ceiling lights, which force me to shield my eyes and hug my coat closer to my body for a good second or two.
Even so, they reflect from the deeply cleaned, white tiled floor and walls that sure rival Astero's lab, with only a few spots breaking the pattern in blue, those that, in a careful look, are revealed to be mostly guiding lines that end on other doors that go along it, like the one I got out of now.
Besides that, the path extends pretty far ahead before I can notice the first turn.
Turning to one of the doors and squinting my eyes, I can make out one of the room's numbers: minus two, room three zero nine.
People walk past us at different speeds, some surging from behind us and dodging my unmoving body hurriedly before their anger is replaced by curiosity, clear as day by how I catch some studying me up and down.
A considerable amount move along, not overflowing the place, but not making it a walk in the park to move either; it reminds me of our local grocery store and how at the end of every month when people get their pay, how they rush to get the best stuff before they are out of stock and everyone needs to wait for a week to go there again when they eventually manage to restock.
The people, at first glance, resemble normal humans one would find walking around pretty much anywhere, but some end up catching my interest, more yet, when I notice a few with pointy horns poking from a few strands of hair on top of their heads, various types of tails growing and swaying from their lower backs—some fluffy and warm-looking and some scaly and sharp—and other supernatural features that I can't comprehend in time before they are out of sight.
Some wear medical coats, and others dress themselves in suits and ties; all confusing my already hurt mind.
Yui, who starts to walk forward on the corridor, looks back and notices that even as I follow automatically their form, my eyes wander around the many different things I see, which slows me down considerably.
They laugh out loud and slow down, enough for us to end up side by side, and then they bring me back to the present, placing one hand on my shoulder and stealing my focus with their big grin.
"It sure is funny the face you're making, but don't mind them; most don't bite—I think." Their comment doesn't exactly help, and for some reason, I start to understand that maybe it wasn't meant to anyway; frowning at them, they are quick to laugh it off and continue talking. "You don't need to be so nervous about their stares, detective. The thing is that a human coming down here is rare, well, minus JB, so when they see one, they get a little too excited. But relax; if anyone tries to bother you, I'll be your personal bodyguard."
They smile proudly at the end of their words, trying to show their biceps, which either are too small to be seen bulging against their flannel shirt or are well hidden in them.
One thing stands out from what they said, and I decide to ask about it. "What do you mean humans are rare around here? Weren't there supposed to be at least a handful of human agents considering I am being forced to be one?"
"Well, yes, but that's not the point; you are more in our shoes now than any other human." Seeing the confusion on my face at their last remark, they smile. "It goes like this: humans can choose to join the agency or go on with their lives and do something normal, which is the popular pick, but that isn't a choice to demons, for example, who have big ass horns atop their heads signaling what they are. A hat doesn't exactly fix their problems, so they are more or less forced to be part of the agency as workers. Not exactly forced; there's a bunch of good things that come with being part of this. For some, it is being able to live mostly normal lives among their own kind, and for others, it is the purpose. Now, think for a moment: What normal, sane human would choose to be among us when they can instead live a normal, stable life?"
"..." I stay silent, absorbing the information.
Yui waits until we reach the turn at the end of the corridor to direct my attention to a large window wall that gives sight to a training area.
More of the same beings I saw before walk around the extending area; some I see teaching a group of horned guys how to throw someone on the ground and use their weight to immobilize them, reminding me of the training I took to join the force; others fight on a designated area, hand against hand, as one woman holds a pocket watch and walks in the small path that separates one fight from another.
Joining my side once again, I catch their gaze on mine on the reflection of the glass, and that makes me turn my head to look at them properly.
"This life of being part of a unit is risky; you saw that fucking fang back at your place and how he can pack a punch, or, well, make others pack a punch for him, so yeah." Something in their eyes catches my attention; they seem to be really focused on how I'm reacting to all of this information, and my suspicion turns true when they open their mouth to ask me something. "No pressure or anything, but I want to ask: knowing all of this, what choice would you make? Like I said, most humans choose to forget and go on with their lives, but, what about you, detective?"
Their question sends me down a spiral; even as every instinct of mine tells me to answer the obvious—the look on their face as they ask, the expectancy, the fear of what I'll say—it is enough to make me lose any resolution I could dream of having any time soon.
"...I...I don't know."
I try thinking of what more to say, but I'm unable to as I cowardly look away from their gaze.
"Yeah, that's expected; I mean, I know I'm being a little unfair right now, so it's okay. You don't need to force yourself to answer." They put up a confident smile and pet my shoulder, pulling me to walk again. "Now, let's put that frown upside down, and let me show you the best area in this whole place."
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Just like that, the question is left to be forgotten, or that would be if this was a perfect world; I'm left to think silently about that a little more.
True to their words, the agent guides me by yet another extensive corridor; only this time, it becomes easy to notice the change in the type of people who walk past us. Instead of suits and ties, the dressing norm increasingly becomes more and more casual, reminding me a lot of Yui's own day-to-day style.
Then, the walk abruptly ends as they come to a full stop when we reach a normal-looking door, and, with a smile, they start turning to look at me, giving me just enough time to notice a name and text on the door: Yui, Unit 0.
"I know that you might have noticed how boring and repetitive the corridors and other rooms look, but fret not, because even in a corp place like this, I was able to create a fun space for myself; no need to applaud, though, I would not mind some feedback about it."
They smile brightly, genuinely, as, with their shoulder, they push the door open, revealing the room to my wandering eyes.
Small and cozy; the room isn't bigger than a simple square, and the amount of things thrown from left to right doesn't help make it feel any bigger, but it sure is, as they said, a fun space.
An old tube TV on the ground, surrounded by three consoles that are connected to it at once, alongside a bunch of DVDs and games on the floor, and to comfortably enjoy it, there's a well-placed bean bag that, with no mistake, is marked by Yui's form.
On the other side, a simple-looking bed with nothing special about it besides maybe the few snack bars lying atop it catches my eye momentarily.
And lastly, to its side, there's a workbench with a soldering iron, a bunch of electronic components separated in many plastic containers, and some tools that are left so close to the edge of the table that a gasp of wind could bring them down.
On its wooden surface, I notice something hidden by a piece of cloth, but, not wanting to be rude or push the limits, I refrain from asking anything about it and focus on the rest.
Entering the room further, I examine a little further the workbench and notice how it holds many use marks—scars—ranging from burns to cuts; lingering a finger on them, I feel it has a lot of stories attached to its material.
"Well, oh well; I see you're dying to ask me about my side hobbies, aren't you? That's fine; let me tell you how incredible I am."
Yui makes sure to enter my field of view, leaning their back against the workbench while grabbing a device very similar to a pen drive but somewhat bulkier. "This little guy may not look so impressive, but, despite its small size, it can do big damage; if I were to, say, put this on your PC, I would be able to copy and upload to my personal server all your files and passwords and, if I were to feel a little inclined to, infect other devices, like your phone, given the right access. Here, have a look yourself."
Handing me the device, Yui expectantly observes me, watching as I confusedly try to make any sense of it and fail miserably.
"I'm not going to lie; I can't make sense out of this thing, but I believe you when you say this can do some impressive stuff." I hand them the device back and notice how carefully they place it back on the bench, prompting me to ask. "Is this something you have been doing for a while? Just creating things and dealing with electronics in general."
"Oh, no, no, I actually was never good with this type of stuff until recently. Like, those consoles over there by the TV, they are very old, and because of that, the best way to use them nowadays is by modifying them." While taking, they take one of the tools in hand, an old, rusty screwdriver, and start to play with it. "One day, I just needed to reset the bios of the thing, and to do so, I had to solder some stupidly hard-to-find connections, and that led me to spend a good time researching online, then I had to hack another component, and the same thing repeated, which led me to build my first server, a very shitty one, and so on until I had a good grasp at manipulating electronics in general."
"Wait, so you're telling me that you learned how to hack stuff just because you wanted to play some games?" I ask, tilting my head to the side in a mix of confusion and admiration.
"Yeah, pretty lame, huh? I mean, it sure must sound pathetic for you to hear me talking about it; Colette thought the same thing when I told her the first time, but then JB and Dalia said I should invest some time into it, for the team and all, because, if you can't tell, we are not the best agents around. Actually, we are the worst unit."
"No, I don't think it is pathetic, not at all; the contrary actually." In a gentle motion, I place my hand on their shoulder and give it a reassuring squeeze, which in turn drags an interesting reaction out of them; their eyes widen in surprise. "I'm serious, for you to learn something so cool all because you wanted to play the games that you like so much makes it all more admirable. It goes to show how far you'll delve for the things you want. I'm not ashamed to say that I don't know if I would be able to do it myself."
Interestingly, a scene that feels very rare happens so out of nowhere that I'm left confused; Yui's pale skin lights up in a pinkish color, not so strong, but I can recognize a blush fairly easily nowadays.
Noticing it seems to only fire up this reaction of theirs, to the point they are forced to look away to recompose before returning to me with a grin—the fangs that I once had thought so dumbly to be only sharp teeth shine, almost enough to hide the fact they are desperately trying to play it cool.
"I don't know how you did it, but nice work, detective; I'm feeling my fangs trembling at the thought of biting your pretty shoulder right here and now."
Instinctively, hearing these words moves my body to take a step backward; being bitten by a vampire—if anything supernatural teenage dramas have taught me is that it never brings anything good. Seeing my motion, they raise their hands and begin to try to correct the mistake. "Wow, my bad; it is easy to forget you're new to this; what I'm saying is that this happens sometimes when I get too excited about something. I don't drink blood; not that I can't; it's just that I chose not to. Instead, sweets do the deed for my stomach. Actually, that's why Doctor Yavia said I'm sleepy all the time, believe it or not. I promise you, I would never bite you if you weren't on board with it beforehand."
What they wanted happens, and I'm able to calm my instincts down and go back to normal, which brings back their toothy smile. "Sorry for scaring you, detective."
"No, it's fine; I'm okay." I take in a deep breath and lean my back at the workbench like them before meeting their eyes again; something in them draws my attention, and I decide to say something about it. "But, are you? I didn't mean to sadden you by my reaction."
"Cute of you to notice, but I'm fine too; don't worry about it, no offense taken." I'm not given time to study their reaction to see if the words are true as their attention goes straight to their pocket as it vibrates. Pulling their phone out, they seem to check on a message before widening their eyes once more. "Oh fuck, I forgot about the damn ghouls."
Hurriedly, they look at me and start apologetically moving their head. "Uhm, I have to go now; JB needs me to help the medical team find the ghouls from yesterday. I kind of hid them and forgot to tell anyone where." A dry laugh escapes their throat as they nervously fidget with the phone case. "Hey, look, it was cool hanging out with you, so, would you be on board if we maybe could repeat the dose next time?"
I nod my head and lightly laugh in response. "Sure, I wouldn't mind that one bit."
"Cool, next time we can talk about your hobbies then, and, if you want, we can play some party games together. Anyway, I gotta go, bye."
In a flash, Yui runs out of the room and disappears among the people walking in the corridor while I munch on what I just agreed to.
"Next time, huh?" I answered so naturally that I forgot about what accepting it involves.
A new day, a new and worst headache to deal with, truly impressive.
...
Not now; it isn't time to think about it. First of all, I need to find Dalia and ask about the next steps going forward with the investigation. Yes, that's a good plan, and with that in mind, I wearily leave the room.
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