Chapter 40

So there I was, enjoying the Christmas break like any other person. Relaxing in my own home, yes, home near Tokyo and not the dorms in academy city.

A bowl of tangerines within reach, swaddled up in thick cozy clothing as I say under a kotatsu. Gentle orchestral music filled my ears as me and my pseudo-conscious tsukomogami companions enjoy the ambience.

It was supposed to be relaxing, especially after the loosely coined Christmas party thrown by class. --Whose bright idea was it to sneak alcohol anyway? It wasn't the good kind either.-- A period of time where we unwind, gorge in unhealthy food and fatten up as the new year come closer.

But as they say, the wicked does not sleep.

"Glad ya can pop in so quick." Cen started. "How's the holidays going for ya?" She said with her usual lackadaisical attitude, hands behind her head and legs up on the desk.

"It's fine. Normal, even." I shrugged. Picking a seat across from her as she set her feet down. We're in the usual office at the other side --Not mirrored Tokyo but one of the many supernatural hideaways-- as per the request.

Looking around, Reiko-nee is the only other person currently here. Not even a shadow --heh-- of busybody Mugi-chan could be seen but I did notice an extra desk that was fixed up and repurposed.

Cen followed by gaze and saw where I was looking at. "Oh, that." She grinned, unconsciously displaying a mouth full of sharp fangs. "New recruit. Found 'em on the streets shivering like a leaf and walkin' were the wind took 'em."

"Less of a recruitment and picking up a stray, more like." Spoke Reiko-nee as she passed by us with a stack of papers in her hands.

Cen acted as she was insulted --Knew it was faked from the emotions-- and 'lightly' threw a rock in her direction. The woman in red simply sidestepped the speeding projectile without turning back and sat down on her desk as if nothing had happened.

Seemingly unspoken banter was made as pebbles were flicked next one after another in rapid succession and deflected by a pair of scissors. --Regular office scissors and not Reiko-nee's main weapon.--

I was content to continue watching the exchange of controlled strength and precision but one of the pebble coincidentally ricocheted back to Cen. She was caught off guard and her head was nudged slightly from the hit. From her emotions, she wasn't hurt but rather embarrassed to forget about me and be seen in an 'unleaderly' way. She coughed once and reached for under her desk to pull out a a few pieces of paper.

"As I was sayin', the new kid has some serious beef with shady an' crooked corpos." She said in all seriousness as if trying to coverup her earlier bout of mischief. "Ah, an' he did say that he wanted to thank ya for yer help with the breakout."

"Breakout?" I haven't been doing that kind of active 'under-the-table' stunts lately.

"Yeah. Am certain that it was sumthin ya'ved done before the Halloween."

"Huh? That was months ago!" It's been a long time now and someone still remembers. Wait a minute-

Seemingly understanding my thoughts, Cen spoke out. "Doesn't matter if it was long ago. What matters is ya done and saved a guy. Or tried ta' at least."

"But-"

"None of that. I ain't hearin' it." She cut me off with a twitch of her eye. "Point is, it's a small world out there an' the newbie I picked up is your acquaintance, period. In otha' words, it's been months as ya'ved said so stop mopin'."

Cen gave a huff and all but said that the matter has passed. Reiko-nee didn't even bother to look and is keeping herself to her own work but I'm sure that she kept an ear open.

The blonde loli then audibly tapped her finger on the pieces of paper laid on her desk between us. "See here? This, is why I called ya over." I took the files from the desk and skimmed over the details. "Newbie's got a hate-boner for all things human experimentation. Once Mugi showed 'em the ropes, he's been provin' to be a real wicked spy."

"I don't think he's from our side, though? And isn't he just a kid?" I questioned with a raised brow.

"Eh, doesn't matter." She shrugged. "I gave 'im a choice and he made one. 'Sides, kid's got the talent and drive." She then gestured to the papers in my hands. "What ya've there are some prime time dirt ready for usin', so use 'em. Pull another stunt like before or send 'em to the rat uncle of yours, just use 'em. But-" She snapped her fingers to get my attention. "If I hear anatha word of spreading yaself thin and ragged, then ya've anatha thing comin'. Am I clear?"

Her golden eyes bore through me with great metaphorical weight and I can only manage a single word in response. "...right."

"Good." She nodded and the weight disappeared. Cen leaned back into her seat with her hands behind her head as the atmosphere relaxed. "Now, I understand that ya got roles to play on both sides, so I'll just give ya a heads-up." I listened in as I carefully tucked away thee papers into the inner pockets of my capelet. "The gang's gonna head out overseas again. Europe this time. Somethin' 'bout the Fae causing more than their usual spot of mischief, so we're gonna count on ya to hold the fort 'ere."

"Isn't Europe kinda, y'know..." Cen burst out laughing as if I just said the funniest joke she has ever heard. It was loud enough that Reiko-nee threw one of her scissors in annoyance, hitting Cen off her chair.

To be fair, I genuinely think that it takes common sense to know that Europe is major church territory so I wasn't getting the joke if there was any.

When Cen finally finished laughing, she made her way back to her seat and simply said: "As if those daft sods can make heads 'n' tails 'bout a fickle Fae! Forget the talks, they'd sooner start another war!" And went back to giggling and cackling.

"Yeah, I get that they're sticks in the mud and all but aren't you still going over enemy territory?" I asked with concern. Cen was still occupied so Reiko-nee was the one that clarified for me.

"Don't worry." She assured me. "The ones that requested for our help is a direct child of old an friend of ours. They're a part of the more modern witches and decided to call our aid for the fairy scuffle as a neutral third party."

Cen chose this moment to take over the conversation again. "The Fae got this succession drama, see? The whole thing is a power keg waitin' to blow so they were hopin' that a few familiar faces can dampen the old cots." She shook her her head and shrugged. Don't really get it much but all ya hafta do is keep up the usual work, yea?"

"Sure." I said as I stood up from my seat. "Is that all?" Cen gave me a thumbs up as her other hand reached below her desk and grabbed a block of metal. "Everything else is on the papers." She said.

Saying my quick goodbyes, I left their office and found myself under the skies of the perpetual night.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I made a quick stop at a convenience store to pick up some snacks. I had a feeling that it's going to be a long day just to read the files that Cen gave me. The parts that I skimmed through on the first page alone would tell me as such, bust so has the word Cen have said.

I am already past the point of 'moping' as she calls it. At least, I believe that I have gone through the blunt of it by now. I suppose that suddenly hearing about the child that asked for my help has opened old wounds somewhat but I digress.

It's not as if I wasn't glad that he's alive. Rather, I do not think that I have the face to look at him considering my... Subpar performance, that day.

A problem for the future me. I shall set aside the matter for now.

Arriving back at home, I sent a swarm of head throughout the house to check the rooms, every nook and cranny, look the windows and close the drapes before finally using a full house scan on my six sense.

A necessary precaution, considering that what I am about to read is classified information pertaining to both sides of the world.

The supernatural side is what I read first.

So far, every major event from this side is happening overseas. The succession scuffle of the fae, political nudging and schemes of the vampires, a war and civil unrest among the sea folk, etc.

Local players, I.E. Japanese supernaturals are quiet. Perhaps they are making subtle moves, I wouldn't know for sure. The news that made it to my hands from overseas are effectively high profile, it wouldn't be weird that there aren't much to report.

As for the mundane side: there are signs of unusual disappearances, ones that don't involve the supernaturals.

Humans kidnapping other humans, and the reason is because of a suspected project relating to the quirk enhancers called 'Trigger'. These only happen to more populated areas, as the disappearances would be more obvious in less crowded spaces but the fact that the amount of people going missing and not raising alarms is a suspect for more foul play at hand.

On another page, there are rumors and crumbs of evidence pointing to illegal full-person cloning.

Partial cloning is expensive but can be legalized. Emphasis on 'can'. Not only is it highly expensive, there is also a good chance of failure due to quirks. Even cybernetics would be a tad but more reliable.

For some reason, even if a cloned organ is made and given to the same person, rejection should not have happened but it still does. Despite the exact same DNA match being a perfect replica of what was lost, the body rejects it anyway. It was also the reason why All Might didn't get replacements for his injuries, it is a pointless endeavour.

But here it is in my hands now, the possibility of actual full-person cloning.

I couldn't help but give out a grim chuckle at the thought of world war three being fought not with nukes, but with clones. It would make for a devastating sight.

If I recall correctly, in Toaru, Mikasa was the one who was cloned for a project to create living weapons. But now that quirks are common place and the level system is nonexistent, I doubt that the cloned would be limited to her.

Goosebumps came over me like a wave a the thought of the world's strongest heroes being replicated but I take comfort in the fact that it would fail. After all, partial cloning would not work, why would full-person clones? And even if they did, they would not be as strong.

Though the reason why still eludes me, it would do well to send these over to Nezu.

For a smart as a man he is, Nezu's hate for all things live experimentation is quite well known. The ones that commit such act work with the reason that so long they cover their tracks, Nezu wouldn't fund them as such a high-profile individual couldn't move too many forces with so many eyes on his actions.

A sort of non-spoken agreement between us is that I send him this sort of information, and he wouldn't ask where they would come from. Truly, I am glad to have both his trust and friendship because I shudder to even think of having him as an enemy.