8 - Double Agent

“There wasn’t a single shed of information that told us you would be here.”

“And somehow, you are. And you’re a soulful too.”

“And you’re involved in the same shitshow that we are involved in. You were talking in front of a camera, and what we thought was gonna be another PR disaster turned out to be a miracle.”

“So you better explain yourself!”

“Nothing much to explain, Sakuto.” Yuta sighed, feeling careless enough to not give Sakuto’s interrogation much thought. Despite having his hands tied up to a chair and locked in a hotel room he knows nothing about, he was completely relaxed.

“So you know this guy?” Oskar asked.

“Yeah. We used to be in the same martial arts gym.” Sakuto replied. “I had no idea he was a soulful.”

“Can you get rid of these ties? It’s not like they’re doing much anyways.” Yuta asked. “I’m not gonna run off.”

“Yuta, what the hell did you do?” Sakuto asked. “Can we even show our faces around?!”

“Yeah...” Yuta sighed. “Neither of your identities was exposed, not even mine. I just spoke to the right people at the right time, said some things that seemed to have hit the sweet spot. The incident was reported as a terrorist attack by Jackal Kagerr that was halted by GSC-allied forces.”

“He spoke to the Shellerist media.” Oskar said. “Are you also working with Mr. Kamiki?”

“Technically I’m working with Jackal.” Yuta replied. A brief and awkward pause later, he continued. “What, you’re not gonna kill me because of it, are you?”

“We’re not gonna kill you, dude.” Sakuto said, approaching the back of his chair and untying him. “But you better explain to us how what you did makes sense.”

“What’s there that doesn't make sense?” Yuta asked, a little irritated. He got up. ”I work with Jackal and Mr. Kamiki. It makes a little too much sense, matter of fact.”

“You throw the guy you work with under the bus?” Oskar asked.

“If you need to keep a door open, do you stay by it for hours and hold it yourself? Or do you put a rock down that is meant for that purpose?” Yuta asked. There was no answer.

“Fine, I’ll try another metaphor. Uh...if you’re angry, would you rather beat up a punching bag or your wife and kids?”

“People tend to do the second one more often.” Sakuto interrupted him. “Just get to the point. You’re bad at metaphors.”

“My point is, Jackal can be thrown under the bus as much as is needed. That guy has no regard for what others think about him or any of the complicated bullshit we’re entangled with. Everybody knows what he does and how he does it. But we, on the other hand, need every single ounce of reputation and credibility. We’re up against a monster of a force, that being the BSBM and all of its lapdogs.” Yuta said. “My job is to take advantage of that, to make sure that when Jackal does his thing, he indirectly helps us by getting rid of some pretty annoying folk, and sets up opportunities for us to look like heroes.”

“Falls in line with our task to kill him.” Oskar added. “Shutting down a terrorist will boost us a lot. And it looks like that’s exactly what happened.” He turned the television on, switching it to the news channel. Instead of panic and sights of devastation, there were celebrations.

“God damn...” Sakuto said, amazed. “So what happens if Jackal finds out you’re a double agent?”

“Might get off the hook, might be my last day breathing.” Yuta shrugged. “I’ve spilled enough. I’m leaving, I have plenty of work to do and a girl that’s starting to think I don’t care about her.”

“You’re not leaving.” Oskar said. “Until you tell us everything about Jackal and what you yourself do with him.”

“I handle logistics and supply.” Yuta replied.

“Really?” Sakuto asked, knowing damn well it was a lie. The clock in the room was competing with the silence as to which one of them would be excruciatingly loud for the next ten or so seconds.

“Fine, I kill politicians. The ones that are annoying, that is. I need Jackal’s trust and a way to get my anger out.” Yuta said. “But no civilians. I only kill politicians.”

“Sounds reasonable enough.” Sakuto said. “Tell me more about Jackal.”

“What is-huh?” Yuta seemed a little surprised. Even Oskar was taken aback. “I thought you’d kill me in the name of humanity and peace. Damn, you changed, Sakuto.”

“The question was about Jackal.” Sakuto reinstated. “And I never changed.”

“What is there to know about him? You fought him already, you know about his ability, and there’s nothing about his personality that can make much of a difference.” Yuta rambled. “He’s a psychopath obsessed with the idea of freedom, which, for him, means destroying anything that bothers him. Guy believes that you can take a piss in the middle of the street just because you can and want to. That’s all there is about it.”

“Fair enough.” Sakuto sighed.

“He seemed to be worth much more when he tried to talk to me...”

“Even in his shadows, I could sense something more.”

“In that case, take care. I’ll bounce.” Yuta said, heading straight to the exit. Suddenly, he stopped. “Sakuto, I forgot to tell you. My condolences.”

“Huh?”

“I heard about what happened to Kouta.” Yuta said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t visit his grave. This place...is a deep enough shithole to keep me attached to it and have me busy all the time.”

“Could’ve at least called.” Sakuto said.

“Hey, it’s fine.” Oskar said. “Yuta, you can leave.”

“Right.” Yuta said, exiting the room. Oskar locked the door behind him. A small silence engulfed the place.

“Nothing’s fine.” Sakuto said. “Don’t assume it is.”

“Huh?” Oskar was confused.

“Whatever.”

...

“The guy’s dangerous.”

“He said I looked like a corpse. But...”

The night was dark. Eerily dark, in fact. The smog lingering in the sky concealed the beautiful parade of constellations far away. For Sakuto, the sight of a starless sky outside had a deeper meaning. It didn’t help that the view itself actually conflicted with his true emotions. In the darkness, he couldn’t see the star that captured his mind, but he felt its presence. It clashed with his belief that he shouldn’t see anything but darkness.

The loud noises of cars outside, accompanied by the occasional loud pedestrians. Distant music fading in and out. A gentle night wind that caressed the place, spreading the chilly and smokey city air. For a few moments, even a helicopter could be heard. All of those sounds, in Sakuto’s ears, were entangled with a static. One that drowned him in rather undesirable thoughts.

“You gonna finish this?” Oskar asked, pointing at the box of fried chicken on their coffee table.

“Don’t know.” Sakuto said.

“Right.” Oskar said. He reached for the seemingly endless box and picked up a juicy wing. He took a bite. “God damn, these guys have no reason to make fast food this good.”

“They make a shitton of money doing it.” Sakuto said. He picked up his cup of tea, finding it difficult to take a sip. “And they make even more money by selling medicine to the people who get way too fat eating this.”

“It feels cold...” He thought as he put the cup down.

“I feel like I’m gonna throw up...”

Sakuto got distracted by his phone.

“It’s the group chat.” Sakuto said. “Ichika’s calling, Ausra’s probably with her. I’m picking up.”

“Hello?”

“Hey.” Ichika said, from the other side. Ausra’s greeting could also be heard from a distance.

“It’s her again. I feel strangely excited to talk to her this time.” Sakuto thought.

“Hold on, I’ll put you on speaker.” Sakuto said. “Oskar, stop drooling over the chicken.”

“The first thing you do after munching on chicken at home is munching on chicken in America? Is there something you’re hiding from us?” Ausra asked, annoyed.

“Be proud of me instead. There’s so much fast food here I don’t know where to choose from.” Oskar replied. “Also hello.”

“You’d be better off going to steak houses or...something. I don’t know.” Ausra continued. “You have an infinite budget anyways.”

“Sounds like someone’s jealous.” Oskar teased.

“Why would I be jealous...you’ll end up obese.” Ausra sighed. “Sakuto, what about you? Alive and kicking?”

“Pretty much.” Sakuto said. “Couldn’t get the job done, but the more I think about it, the better it is. The next time I catch his ass, I’ll have an even bigger advantage.”

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“Can you store an adaptation process as well?” Ichika quickly asked, surprised and impressed.

“Apparently, yeah.” Sakuto said. “I really got lucky with my kit.”

“Ausra, what time is it for you?” Oskar asked, wiping his greasy fingers on the table and getting closer to the phone.

“Four. Ah shit...” Ausra sighed. “It’s my turn to hit the store today. Ichika, what do you want?”

“Anything works...” Ichika said. “What can you bring?”

“The whole store is up for grabs.” Ausra said, annoyed. “I can get premade curry, or some chicken, or beef stew...or I could make my own stew...or I could get some shrimp since I know you love it when I make fried shrimp.”

“Ooh! Get shrimp!” Ichika said, excited.

“Fine...” Ausra said, heading out. “I’ll be back in thirty. I wanna breathe some fresh air too.”

“Lucky you. The air here is utter shit.” Oskar said.

“That’s...not good...” Ichika said. In the background, the noise of the door shutting was heard loud and clear.

“I’m tired...” Oskar said, yawning. “I wanna sleep. It’s only 11 though.”

“Of course you’re tired, you just ate an entire chicken bloodline.” Sakuto said. “Go on, get some sleep.”

“I’m also tired...”

“And I feel strange.”

“Wake me up if Jackal decides to kill us.” Oskar yawned, heading to the bedroom. “And you better make it to breakfast tomorrow.”

“If you wake up early, you better wait for me.” Sakuto said. After hearing no response, he accepted the risk of potentially missing out on an all-included hotel breakfast due to bad sleeping habits. The living room was quiet. He and Ichika remained devoid of conversation for a little bit...

“Sakuto, are you really alive and kicking...?”

“Nope. I got messed up pretty badly and almost took an arrow to my throat.” Sakuto interrupted Ichika. “Sorry, I didn't want you guys worrying too much.”

“Yeah, I figured it out.” Ichika said. “Ausra’s the most panicky anyways.”

“And I’m the one who got scared the most.”

“So I didn’t even lie in that case. My case is clear.” Sakuto said.

“You lied. You were probably worried about me...”

“But why...?”

“Why would anyone...?!”

“Sakuto?” Ichika asked during the brief silence.

“Sorry, got carried away with thoughts.” Sakuto replied. “But my wounds are fine now. I sealed them and I’m letting my body do the rest.”

“You do that sometimes.” Ichika said. “You get lost in thought a lot.”

“Yeah, I guess. My soul presence apparently got really high when it happened, but I worked on it-”

“No, I meant, even recently. Before you left.”

“Yeah...”

“I...I’m sorry if you don’t feel like talking about it. I just thought that...”

“Nah, it’s fine.”

“...”

“Hey, Sakuto...”

“What is it?”

“You know when you’re coming back, right? Is it after the election?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Once our job here is done, I’ll get back to you guys as fast as I can.”

“You should...Ausra’s really not as great at cooking as I thought she’d be.”

“Really?!”

“Well, it’s like...she can make fried shrimp, right? Which is my weakness. So that makes her a good cook for me. But in reality, she messed up breakfast a few times, and yeah...she doesn’t know what to do.”

“I see. You never told me you liked shrimp, though.”

“Sorry! I thought it’d be too much of a hassle to make.”

“Why would you think that? I love shrimp too. I could’ve made it every day if I knew this. Ausra wouldn’t torment you any longer.”

“Ugh, Ausra is tormenting me all the time. Every damn hour she’s shoving a glass of water in my face, she thinks I’ll die if I don’t drink constantly.”

“Hey, she’s just looking out for you. You know that drinking water removes headaches, right?”

“Yeah, but what removes it better is sleep. Hold on...it’s eleven for you, right?”

“Mhm.”

“Get your ass to sleep then!”

“Nah.”

“Huh?”

“No, I don’t feel like sleeping. I can only sleep when I’m tired, which I’m not right now.”

“I guess...your voice does sound pretty energetic. Ausra’s making sure I go to sleep at ten.”

“Ten?! What is she, a daycare worker?”

“More like a psych ward worker. To be fair, I have pretty bad insomnia sometimes, so I gotta work on it. I can’t just rely on staying up and taking things to help me sleep.”

“I have it too sometimes. It’s pretty annoying. When I went to school as well it messed me up quite a lot.”

“Right...well, I started getting insomnia when I left school, so I never had to worry about failing tests or something.”

“Damn, I forgot I even went to school...”

“Do you miss it?”

“Nah, I hated it. None of the subjects were interesting, the people sucked, and the teachers were dead set on thinking I’m something that I’m not.”

“Sounds pretty awful...”

“It was. Skipping too much wasn’t an option since my records were checked up on quite a lot by the people giving me money.”

“Ah, right. I forgot that was a thing too...I don’t know, I kinda didn’t care about school.”

“Did you get good grades?”

“Sometimes. With things like arts or language study, I always managed to get top grades. I mean, how do you not get top grades in art class? Math was hard though.”

“Depends on how it’s taught to be honest. My teacher was good, but once he passed away the woman replacing him was like a piece of cardboard.”

“Your old teacher passed away? Damn...”

“Yeah. He was Kouta’s tutor as well. Pretty chill grandpa, he was passionate about maths and never really cared about grades and stuff. He had a cardiac arrest.”

“Sounds awful...I remember back in middle school, one of my teachers was charged with murder.”

“Really? How does that even happen?”

“No idea. Rumors said she killed her husband. But middle school kids love making up bullshit rumors.”

“True...yeah, that’s actually true. I know that first hand.”

“...”

“Hey, Ichika...”

“Hm?”

“Remember the first time we fought together?”

“Which one? You mean against Hwang or Matteo?”

“Does Hwang really count? I mean, I was only there for a fraction of the fight, and I didn’t do too much. I wasn’t even a proper soulful.”

“Haha, yeah, well, it doesn’t count then.”

“So it’s Matteo then...damn, I wonder, how would the fight go if it was the current me and you against him. I probably fought awfully back then.”

“You fought pretty well for someone who just became a soulful...you adapted to it pretty fast. Heh...adapted...”

“See? Even that was a part of my expression. Realistically, right now I’d probably kill Matteo without a second thought. I freaked out when I did it, though...”

“Yeah...killing someone for the first time messes you up...”

“...”

“Hey, Sakuto...”

“Yeah?”

“You still didn’t give me a good enough answer.”

“An answer to what?”

“Back then, why did you save me?”

“Ah, well...if I say it, you might get disappointed.”

“W-what is it?!”

“It’s the same as what I said before. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

“But...why?”

“What do you mean by ‘why?’, though? Did you...not want to be saved?”

“I don’t know...”

“...”

“Man, the view outside is so shit...America is a disappointment so far...”

“Well, considering how bad the air is for you...”

“Not just the air. Everything is loud and annoying. The air just takes the cake. I mean, really...if you look into the sky, you won’t see a single star.”

“Well, once you’re back, you’ll get to stargaze as much as you want.”

“I guess...never really got into stargazing, but it feels nice looking up and seeing stars.”

“Yeah, I like it when the sky is all pretty.”

“You haven’t tried stargazing either?”

“No, but it sounds like a good time.”

“Well, once I’m back, we can give it a shot. Maybe being a soulful can’t pay the bills so we become astronomers instead.”

“Hehe, the bills? I think we’ve got that covered for as long as we can walk and occasionally punch people. I can’t be an astronomer...”

“Maths and physics are too scary?”

“Exactly! I want nothing to do with them...at least, the side of them that is used for work...”

“I guess...I’d never imagine myself working in any sphere.”

“You never had a career choice?”

“Nah. I thought if life continued as usual I’d probably get into trade or something.”

“I see...I planned to go for an arts degree, but that thing is pretty worthless. So I settled with trying languages...”

“But I guess we won’t need those anymore.”

“Yeah...”

“Was that...?”

“Yeah, it’s Ausra. Damn, it’s already been a while. I’ll go and help her out. You should go to sleep.”

“Yeah, I will. Take care, Ichika.”

“I’ll try. Good night, Sakuto. Stay safe.”

The call ended.

Sakuto slowly put the phone on the table and laid on the couch.

“I feel dead tired. I might just doze off right here...this couch is so nice.”

“Despite feeling tired...”

“I feel refreshed.”

He slowly closed his eyes. As if instinctively, he grabbed on the couch’s fabric, trying to hold the whole piece of furniture.

“I feel like I don’t even need to sleep anymore, it’s like I could’ve talked with her for hours...”

“...”

“Something’s off. Something has to be off.”

“For some reason, I’m scared of the fact that I’m enjoying talking to someone. Especially if I’m excited to talk to them more.”

“And especially if it makes my stomach feel weird and my heart beat faster.”

“I’m scared because I don’t trust that type of thing.”