Meliora - Emanate - 35

[lady_mab]

No Kaito

"Okay, on a scale of one to ten, how boring do you think this fucking evening is?" Jonas asks, flipping through his phone without the slightest hint of emotion. "Because I'm going to have to go with a twelve."

"Isn't that harsh?" I tease. "I mean, I thought I would have made it a bit more entertaining."

"Sweetheart, you're pretty to look at, but that's about it." He slides his phone into his pocket with a dramatic flourish -- though how he manages to do that with such a gaudy case and tight pants is a mystery -- and pins me with a bright pink glare. I still haven't gotten used to his contacts, and his purple curls do very little to give me something normal to look at. "Also, you're being a seven on the boring scale, so..."

I press a hand to my chest, pretending to be offended. "Me? Boring? I don't think so."

Jonas nods in my direction, and I glance behind me to see what he's pointing to. "No, idiot. I'm wondering where your other half is." He catches my hesitation because he rolls his eyes and presses a middle finger to his brow. "I mean Reject Apollo."

“Who?”

“That bro you’re always with. The one who thinks he’s hot shit.” Jonas does a moody look and runs his hands back through his hair. “Ayn’s guy.”

“What, you mean Lysander?”

He snaps and points at me. “Yes. Him. Reject Apollo.”

I still don’t quite understand the source of the nickname, but I let it slide. "Lys and Glen are on their way."

This makes him perk up a bit. "Oh, good."

"What, you're more excited to see Lysander than me?"

"Hardly. Jun asked me to keep an eye on Glen. The kid is very fun to make embarrassed."

This, at least, is true. I don't know much about him -- or Jun, for that matter, despite finally meeting her at the holiday party last month. The fact that she can get along with the twins and Jonas is a testament to her character.

I drum my fingers against my thigh in thought, uncertain of where to move next. I should dive right into my usual rounds. I've already spotted several people that I've grown familiar with over the last few months, and we exchanged waves and 'hellos' from across the room. Everyone seems to be avoiding coming up to me so long as I stand next to Jonas.

Currently, we're lurking in nearly the middle of the room. Everyone here knows me.

I even spot one of the girls that I saw with Liala at the holiday party across the way, standing with two women that don’t quite register on my ‘important people’ radar. She gives me a smile and a little wave, but doesn’t approach to say hi.

"Are you cursed or something?" I finally ask.

Jonas doesn't look up from where he's inspecting his nails. He lifts an eyebrow.

"I mean, we're in like our own little pocket dimension right now. Everyone is avoiding us."

He holds his hands aloft and shrugs in a careless manner. "I can avoid you, too, if you'd like. You just look so lonely without your sidekick."

"Okay, first off, he's not my sidekick, that's just weird. Secondly, I don't look lonely."

Jonas makes a face, and this time when he nods in my direction, I can feel someone coming up alongside me. "Reject Apollo! You made it. Tell me: You think he looks lonely?"

With a sigh and a grin, Lysander claps me on the shoulder and gives a breathless 'hey' by way of greeting. Glen stands at his elbow, quiet and curious. "What does a lonely person look like?"

"Woah, calm down there, Mr Philosopher. I didn't ask for the answers of the universe." Jonas sports a grin that can best be described as cat-like. "Having girl problems, Stud Muffin?" He reaches out and pats my cheek. "Because I can't help you with those. Ask Bro McBroseph here to help you."

I repeat the new nickname to myself, trying to parse out it with no success. "No," I say, wincing as it comes out a bit more defensive than I mean it to. "Rhys problems."

Wide-eyed delight takes over Jonas' expression and I immediately regret saying anything. He doesn't even get the chance to respond before Lysander steps in to face the both of us. "Are you arguing with Rhys?"

"No," I repeat, and it sounds just as defensive as before. I really need to work on that. "Not really."

"Didn’t you guys get lunch the other day?"

"We had a meeting for work. It was..." I trail off and quickly shrug when I realize I don't have the words to describe it. "Normal." It was far from it, of course, but I hope that my tone is convincing enough that they don't pry further.

The issue is between Rhys and myself, and while our meeting wasn't perfect, we were able to work through it without much difficulty. Well, not much beyond my own stumbling attempt to try and apologize. That didn't work too well, because I can’t decide if I am actually sorry for kissing him.

I want to talk to someone about it, but the person I would normally talk to about my problems is, currently, the source of the problem. And while these guys might mean well, they are exactly the opposite of reassuring figures.

Besides, Jonas looks more like he has something utterly delicious and gossip-filled right within his grasp.

Lysander, on the other hand, nods slowly in understanding. "Alright..." He knows both of us well enough not to say anything, at least. "Well. New year, new meeting. What did we miss?"

"Zilch." Jonas hesitates and, in an uncharacteristic bout of modesty, leans in to say, "How is Jun?"

What?

Lysander and Glen exchange uneasy looks. "She's doing better," Glen says. "She skipped out on Christmas and... I mean, Zoné didn't look too worried. But we hung out a few days ago, and her arm is bothering her. But she seems okay."

A small noise escapes my throat before I can stop it. Three pairs of eyes turn to look at me, all displaying some range of surprise. As if they had forgotten I was standing right there. "Hi, yes, hello. It's me. Kaito. You know, the one that doesn't know what the fuck everyone else seems to know."

Lysander winces and Glen stares, but I push on. "What happened to Jun?"

"Oh," Lysander says, and I hate the tone of that word. "I forgot to tell you."

"Oh," I repeat. "It's fine if you don't keep me updated about everything that happens to your team. I'm just a little worried about why three other teams seem to be involved." It's probably an unfair thing to say. Glen and Jonas are both Jun's friend.

It also serves as a reminder that I never actually told them about what happened to Rhys and Liala on the 22nd. I can't be accusing them of keeping things from me when I'm not telling the whole story either.

Glen is the one to speak up. He looks me straight in the eye when he does. "Lysander's team and my team got attacked on the event on the 22nd. I don't know the specifics, really, not even my team was telling me. But... We think it's related to cheaters, somehow."

Another noise makes its way out of my throat. "Oh. Okay. So we weren't the only ones."

Lysander's eyes go wide, and he reaches out for my arm. "Is everyone okay?"

I remember Liala's phone call, her voice trembling as she tried to speak. I remember how everything narrowed down to the sight of Rhys unconscious on the sidewalk and, for one horrifying moment, I felt my breath leave my body as the ground seemed to whirl around me. I remember sitting in muted silence with Rhys half asleep back at the twins' apartment.

"They are now," I finally say. "Rhys... Some... monster thing grabbed his arm and threw him down on the sidewalk. He hit his head pretty hard. Lia was scared as shit." I don't blame her, of course. I never saw the creature.

Lysander stares at me hard. I don't know what sort of conversation Rhys had with him back at the beginning of December, when he asked for him to check on the twins. I don't know what the twins would have said to him either. But everyone in this small group right now knows that my team is 'cheating'. Lio admitted that he and Lia had been caught, and the consequence of that was a game-wide check in.

There are no rules, and yet here we are: three teams sporting cheaters in the eyes of ALICE.

Jonas hums, rubbing a hand over his chin as he does so. "This is an interesting development."

"I doubt it, but sure. If you say so." I shove my hands into my pockets. Now that all of the truth is coming out, I wonder just what exactly made us start keeping secrets in the first place. Weren't we supposed to be about openness? Sharing information to get back at ALICE? I can't remember who said that, but the idea sticks with me.

Jonas gives Lysander a knowing look that I'm unable to interpret. "Are you two going to go off and play the socialite couple at a party they're hosting? Oh look, you even have a child with you this time, too. Nuclear family at its finest."

Before any of us can get a word in edgewise, he turns around and leaves. Doesn't say a single thing, or explain where he is going. Just about faces and heads in a random direction.

The three of us watch him go before Glen moves to step in front of us. "Aright, so which one of you is Dad and which is Father?"

Lysander reaches out and ruffles his hair. "Cheeky. C'mon, we've got questions for some of these people." And, just like Jonas, he strikes off in a direction of his own.

I watch him walk away for several seconds before hurrying to catch up.

There's a strange tension that hangs over the three of us as we begin our rounds between the different clusters of people. Now that I know that Rhys and Liala weren't the only ones to come into contact with the monsters, I try to pick up the clues on Glen and Lysander's posture that I know have been evident in mine.

The uneasy line across the brow. The tightness to the shoulders, and the edge to the smile and the glances. Jonas has termed it as 'being lonely', but I realize now that my tension with Rhys from New Years was only part of it. Perhaps because of what happened on the 22nd. It drove me to do something I wouldn't have considered doing because I had never been so scared for him in the five years that I've known him.

As we make our way around, we learn that only about six of the remaining Informants had their team run across the creatures. There was a strange mix of concern and careless dismissal of what happened. Glen's expression continued to darken.

"I feel like an asshole now," he mutters at one point as we come to a stop in the middle of the room. It's been over an hour since we started our rounds, and we've talked to pretty much everyone in the room. "You know, I didn't really care when my team got attacked. They're kind of jerks, and we're not friends. They asked me to help them out because I'm the only other teenager that works at that store."

Lysander starts to say something, reaching out a hand to reassure him, but Glen shakes his head. "Don't try to tell me it's fine, because it's not. Zoné didn't even tell me what happened to him and Jun, you know? But I saw him on Christmas with a bandage on his head and Jun told me later what had happened and I just... I was worried for them. Not my own teammates. And now there's all these other Informants that don't care about what happened to their team either. It's like, unlike me, they didn't even have anyone else that they care about in this game."

This time, he doesn't shrug off Lysander's arm around his shoulders. "Why aren't we all on the same side?"

"I was wondering the same thing..." I mutter just as Rain arrives to join us. I don't even bother attempting a smile, because he doesn't seem to be in the mood to return it. "Hey. Was wondering when you were going to show up."

Rain jerks a thumb over his shoulder. "I was talking with Jonas, but he decided to start flirting with some middle-aged dude and told me to go away."

We all turn to stare, but it's nothing more than Jonas' back and a tuft of dirty blond hair that is barely visible.

"So I’ve come to join you," he summarizes.

"Well, I'm really bored," Lysander chimes in. "School starts in a few days, and I can't believe that I have to spend the last Friday of my break doing this."

"Tell me about it," Glen groans, shoulders slumping beneath his arm. "I don't want winter hols to end."

Rain snorts, arms cross over his chest. "Oh to be young again. You're going to miss secondary school when you get to uni."

Glen makes a face and feigns gagging. "Things to look forward to, thanks."

"Alright, let's go rudely interrupt Jonas' flirting and drag him out of here by his curls." I stretch my arms over my head, sighing heavily as I do so. This meeting felt far from productive. Once again, nothing happened and we were left to our own devices. What is even the point of these, when I can run them perfectly well from my own bar and on my own terms?

We approach the table, Lysander in the lead, as the man turns and disappears into the cluster of people on the far end of the table.

"Who was the hot date?" Lys asks, grin in place. "We didn't want to interrupt."

Jonas turns to us, grumbling. "Well look who it is: Mr. Foo-Foo and the Second Rates." A tired, frustrated frown tugs at his lips. "He wasn’t much. Just some psycho involved in the same crazy-ass game we are."

I move around them, forcing some cheer that has sorely been lacking from the evening into my step as I slap him on the back. "Well, looks like we have just finished up with yet another boring ass meeting where we stood around and were social. Drinks back at the Temple?"

"I should get home," Glen says, holding up one hand timidly. "There's only so long my parents will believe the 'I'm hanging out with friends' excuse."

"As your teacher, I feel obligated to not encourage deviant behavior." Lysander says this with a shrug. I can tell that he doesn't want to end the night just yet, but he's also caught between the fact that he has to be responsible for teenagers now. He's not by himself on the road anymore.

Rain shakes his head as he lifts a hand as well. "I'll walk you home if you like, or at least as far as the station. I've got work in the morning, and some coding that needs to be finished for a project."

We head out of Les Petites Portes together, Rain and Glen taking a right to head to the station as Lysander, Jonas, and myself hang a left.

Jonas has kept silent since we joined him, mulling over something that he doesn't want to tell us about. He stops before we can all get too far and calls out to us. "The Lady and the Ghost want to do another post. About what happened on the twenty-second."

His words are aimed at all of us, but it's Rain's reaction that I find the most interesting. He tenses, and even though I can't make out his expression in the darkness, I can tell that he's on edge. "Oh? I thought they had stopped that shit after the first post."

“Nope.”

Rain’s eyes narrow, calculating the cryptic statement. “And how do you know them?”

Jonas doesn’t seem too concerned about the inspection. “I’ve got my ways. I understand your team wanted an email, right?”

When Rain’s gaze shifts to me for a brief second, my first reaction is to wonder just what sort of trouble Lionel has gotten himself in. But then his expression clears to his casual boredom and he shrugs. “If you have one, I’ll take it.”

I can't make heads or tails of that entire exchange, but Jonas nods.

There's no cheer in our merry little trio as we make our way through the streets to the other side of the district. I left the meeting with more questions than I did going in, though that seems to be the general trend of how this game has been progressing.

A game for information, they said. But it doesn't seem like we're the ones being informed.