[https://i.imgur.com/eprWcE3.jpg]
1 day had passed.
Inside this anonymously underground base, there is a resting zone with decent facilities.
The showering zone, the private room which is a room for each agent, the conference zone, boxing ring, Gym, shooting range...and many more were all in here...
Seraphina Gilmour opened the door of her room as she yawned, suddenly, she spotted three luggage placed on the floor right in front of her.
She remembered them. They're hers.
“ Fucking, fuck, heavy piece of shit. How many stuff this woman got.”
She heard the sound of someone was complaining and coming towards her way.
And that sound was so familiar. Indeed, it was already pinned down to her brain.
she knew whose sound was... It's Mickey Mannix.
He's coming with another big black suitcase, it's hers too.
All of these were hers.
All of her belongings were here!
Mickey Mannix turns his head over and saw Sera standing over here.
“ Wakey, Wakey. Guess what time it is?”
“........”
“ Really? I just started a day and I had to face your bullshit??? ”
“ Wrong guess. It's eleven in the morning, you slothy bitch. What are you standing for? Come take your things.”
He said before about to throw the suitcase to her, Sera quickly grabbed it from his hands and put down on the floor.
“ Then beg my pardon, Why the hell you carried them huh?”
“ It's an order.”
“ From who?”
“ ....... Doesn't matter.....”
“ *sigh*.... Your people took all these from my house?? ”
“ Yes. It tends to be that we'll stay here for a ‘long’ while.”
Mickey continues,
“ And don't ask why they could enter your house. That's a stupid question.”
“ Do you think I will ask how the most powerful organization, controlling the entire world for thousands of years, can enter my house and grab my stuff? ”
“ Yeah.”
“ Go die. Fuck you.”
Sera sigh, she put in the password and checked the stuff in the case.
Her facial expression told Mickey that the stuff inside was still safe.
“ What's inside? You're hiding a nuclear bomb or something? ”
He asked.
“ Not your business.”
“ Oh, come on. I carried all this heavy piece of shit to your room. At least tell me what's inside.”
***Heavy sigh***
“ This not a piece of shit, Mannix. In this suitcase is my CHANEL collection.”
She said.
“ Chanel? What is that? I think I heard it before but can't remember...”
“.......”
He was in a thinking pose, Sera glared at him in lifeless sights.
“ Oh... Is that a bag company or-”
“ It's my makeup.”
Short answering to cut him off.
“ Sheeeeiiiitttt... Really? So it was no joke when I said your makeup is heavy...like for real, It's fucking heavy. All of that...on your face? That's crazy.”
“ You done?”
She asked, “ You can carry the corpses of people you killed but not just 1 single suitcase?”
“ The corpses do be slightly less heavy than this, Ain't no lie.”
“ Ugh, You're finished?”
Sera no longer looking at him, instead, she moved all the luggage into her room.
“ Hey. At least some ‘thank you’ would be appreciated. You know I carried all this by myself.”
“ Thanks for calling me a slothy bitch.”
“ Oh. Don't be mad. I mean no offense.”
The boy said while bringing out the plastic gloves and put them on.
She put up the middle finger, however, it has been caught up in mid-air by the boy.
That made Sera startled.
“?”
“.........”
The boy still staring at her face, it made Sera felt uncomfortable but also a little excited.
“ Hmm, I think... Maybe, without the makeup, you also look good...”
?!?!
He then released her and helped her move the luggage into her room.
“..........”
Sera was completely standing still, stunned. Her head had gone numb.
(.... That BASTARD! He did it again.... )
Her chest was pounding heavily just like yesterday since Mickey discovered her secret.
(... He doesn't have ANY FUCKING idea how FUCKING hard to fall asleep last night!!!!! )
Honestly, Sera needed to meditate to make herself cool down to be able to lay the head on the pillow. Because every time she closed her eyes, Mickey Mannix's image fades in and that made it felt incredibly uncomfortable yet exciting, so bad she couldn't sleep.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“ Hey! What the- what you doing in my room?! ”
“ Help you.”
He said, “ We have lots of things to do today. And you got up like 11...so...”
“ What-?!... NO! Get Out!!! ”
“ Don't worry. I'm wearing gloves. So when I touched your clothes, it doesn't count. You can't sue me.”
“.........”
Sera looked hesitant.
“ Or your underwear---”
“ GET THE FUCK OUT!”
He got kicked out.
.
.
.
.
.
.
In the conference room.
Syd Barrett was sliding the information on the screen. He's reading the document which was just created.
It was nothing but information about Jody Johanson, the latest Elementalist they have found.
He kept staring at that. Until...
*Knock* *Knock*
Someone entered the scene, she knocked on the wall on the opposite side of him.
It was Jody, with a mug of hot chocolate and coffee in the other hand.
He knew she brought it for him and herself.
After that Syd watched her place the hot chocolate down, while approached him and settled on the chair not very far from his position and sipped her coffee.
“ What're you doing?”
Asked Jody, sipping.
“ Sitting?”
“ Serious.”
“ I'm on Instagram.”
“ You have an Instagram account? I never know you have it. The only contact I have about you is just a phone number.”
“ I have a shitpost account.”
“ No. Really, what are you doing? ”
Syd Barrett glared up at her.
“ What? I'm on social media.”
He said.
“ Syd. What are you doing?”
“........”
“ I'm on Social media. What the fuck is wrong with you? ”
Said the boy.
However, he got goosebumps after Jody did a death-stare at him and said...
“ You know there's a mirror behind you, right?”
Syd quickly rotated his head back, there was not a mirror. It was a glass partition wall, but it can reflect anyway.
“ Fuck.”
“ Last chance, What are you doing?”
“ Why you asked If you already know it?”
Jody rose from the chair, walked closer to his table.
“ 'cause I wanna hear from your mouth.”
Syd sneakily swiped the pad away, but Jody put her finger in between the screen and his finger.
“ uh-uh-Uhh.... No swiping.”
Jody sat on the table, staring into his eyes.
“ What are you doing?”
She asked again.
“........”
Syd looked away before turning back.
“ Alright. I was checking on the information.”
“ Of ?”
“ You.”
“ Oh... I see...”
She sounds clueless, even though it's on the opposite.
“ I thought I just gave you a lecture about lying yesterday. What happened?”
“ uh about that-”
Jody chuckled,
“ I was just kidding. I know you're interested to find someone who's just like you.”
“....”
Syd Barrett was silent.
“ That's not true.”
“ Saying by lower voice? Which means it's true.”
Said Jody.
Jody can detect the change in the voice, that's the ‘Wind’ passive ability.
“ You don't know me...”
Syd Barrett shook his face, “ No one can read my mind...”
“ That may be right...”
Jody said, “ But I heard they're a few people who can do that. People who can...understand Syd Barrett's thinking process...which seems like I am one of them...”
“........”
The boy stunned.
“ Who the fuck told you that?”
“ No one.”
“ Roxxy? Or Toshi?”
“ I said No one.”
“ Don't lie to me!”
“ Like you did?”
“.... Uh... That's irrelevant.”
“ How? ”
He couldn't answer.
Jody picked a cup of hot chocolate drink and offered it to him.
“ Here. Take it.”
“........”
Syd Barrett received it unwillingly before began to swallow it.
“ How's the drink?”
“ Neutral.”
Said the boy.
“ Anyway, I would like to ask you something...”
“ Yeah…?”
“Are there many users who own the ability to disguise?”
Jody asked.
“ Like Toshi? ”
“ Yeah.”
“ Well... In my life, I know only him.”
“ So that means If I wanna find the ability user who can disguise as others in this building, I only need to look for Toshi, right?”
“.... Yes...guess you can say that...why?”
“ Then I would like to ask you to stop pretending to be Syd.”
!!??!?!?
Syd's eyes widened.
“ What do you mean? I am what I am.”
“ Yes. You are what you are. ‘Toshi’.”
With a surprise, the boy was completely stunned before his face melted down into a Japanese mask, revealing the face of the Japanese boy, Toshi Ishii.
“ And there he goes...”
Said Jody.
“ How did you know?”
Toshi asked, “ Was that the lecture part? I didn't know about that...”
“ Not entirely.”
Jody shook her head,
“ Syd doesn't read the document. He only read the mission details and objectives.”
She continued,
“ And the other thing he read is that weird stuff online.”
“ Weird stuff, you mean ‘memes’?”
“ Yeah. Whatever that calls. And he never refers to your name. When Syd is chilling, he refers to you and Mickey as motherfucker or a weeb...”
“ Really? It was just that and you could tell ?? ”
“ Nope. There's more than that. But you almost got me there.”
Jody paused, sipping her mug.
“ What is your curiosity about me, anyway?”
Gently asked Jody.
“ Oh...you mean this information? Don't worry, everyone who can access read it. Honestly, you're being watched by everybody right now.”
“ I know.”
“ But hey...you did a correct guess about one thing...”
“ What?”
Asked Jody.
“ You're right when you say I was interested to find someone who's just like me.”
“ Oh...that's right. We are the same kind of people after all. Except, I'm openly doing it.”
“ Yes... You're right. So... What do you see in him?”
Asked Toshi.
“ What does that mean?”
“ What do you see in him?”
“.........”
Jody gazed at him.
In her head, she's wondering.
Does Roxxy Tell him?
But she said she would tell no one...
“ Don't act like you don't know it. Roxxy would probably notice it before me long ago. But... I think... That you are interested in Syd.”
“.........”
Jody closed her eyes, sighing.
“ Seems like there's no point to cover it from you guys at all... Guess everybody knows it already...”
“ No...No... It's just me.”
Toshi said,
“ Or maybe Roxxy too. She's good at reading a woman's thoughts. But I'm good at reading people's actions. And your action is telling me that you like him.”
“..........”
Seeing there's nothing to hide from him, Jody decided to tell Toshi what happened between her and Syd...and the fact that Roxxy had already told her she's being aware of Jody's feeling towards her brother.
“ Oh... That's a huge jackpot tho. But Paethai never told me that...”
Toshi said.
“ You're jealous of her?”
Asked Jody.
“...... Yeah.”
He said, “ Uh...but that's true... I just realized... Your vibe is like his mom...really.”
“ What's his mom like?”
“I only met her once... But she's the real shit, I can tell you that.”
“ Is his mom the ability user?”
“ No. She isn't, but his dad is.”
“ Oh...Roxxy told me their dad left, you know why?”
“........”
Toshi shook his head,
“ I don't know. That's a personal matter.”
He said.
“ What's his dad's ability?”
“ I don't know. Paethai only told me he had. But every time she mentioned her dad, it is like she doesn't want to talk about him. So I better not ask for more.”
“ Hmm...”
“ Seems like we're both interests in the Barretts.”
Said Toshi.
“ Well. It is.”
“ I'm not interfering in any matters, Jody. But I just want to give you some advice... It's for your benefits.”
Toshi turned his voice seriously,
“ You have to have a very powerful mental strength to be with that guy.”
“ Oh...about that. Of course, I should.”
“ No.No... I didn't mean the strength to handle him being him. But the strength to endure anything that may make you go “Insane” from him.”
“ ?! ”
Jody was left dazed and confused after he said that.
“ His fire?”
“ No... But something equally worse.”
Toshi said.
“ What is it?”
“.........”
Toshi hesitated to speak.
“ You'll know when you faced it.”
He said.
“ Same as Roxxy...you both say the same thing... Then I guess I should take that advice. Thanks a lot.”
“ Appreciated....Oh...wait, what about the ‘more than that’ you said?”
“ The what?”
“ What makes you know I'm not Syd?”
“ Oh, you still wanna know?”
“ Yes, please tell me.”
“ Why should I?”
Jody picked up the mug of hot chocolate she gave to Toshi before walked away from the table.
“ So that you can improve and fool me again, Toshi?”
“ Well, probably.”
Said Toshi, wondering where she goes.
Jody then chuckled.
“ Doesn't matter how much I told you. I will still be able to tell a difference.”
She said with confidence, Suddenly, other people's entering the conference room.
It was Roxxy and Syd Barrett. This time the real one.
Toshi then realized the reason why Jody walked over there.
Because she heard the sound of footsteps of people coming here from a very far distance like a minute ago which his ears couldn't do that.
“ Yo. The fuck you guys doing in the conference room?”
Syd asked, however, Jody who's already waiting for his arrival over the door handed him a hot chocolate cup.
“ Here. Take it.”
“ Hm? What is this?”
“ A cocoa.”
Jody answered.
“ And what are you having?”
“ This?”
She showed her coffee, “ Espresso.”
She pretended like she's clueless and sipped it in front of him.
“ Jody What the FUCK. Do you think I'll drink this shit? Is this so funny? Are you humiliating me? What are you seeing me, a 12-year-old Fortnite kid?? ”
“ Uh..., *chuckles* No?”
She smiled.
“ Yes, you did. YES, you did. Just wait for my turn, I can literally make fun of your everything. See this coffee? You know what's the difference between this coffee and you?”
“ No, Syd. What is it?”
“ The coffee is less dark than your life. It doesn't have a fractured leg and a crippling depression. How's it? Its father and sister don't leave it either.”
Instead of seeing Jody get triggered, She was enjoyed playing with him. Like she doesn't care how offensive it was at all.
“ Ohhh.... That's hurt so bad ”
She tapped on his shoulder, Syd tried to shake it away but couldn't.
At this point, Toshi had come to understand.
When Roxxy said Jody was one of a few people besides his mom, her, and another anonymous who can understand his thinking process... She did say the truth.
And with her personality which reminded Toshi of himself... He knows this woman ain't gonna let anything come in her motivation. She's willing to eliminate every single thing that comes in between her and her goal.