Chapter 24:

Ikuchi wouldn't give up so easily. He'd probably die before doing it.

It's possible I was being pessimistic. I wouldn't know until I knuckled down and tried. But first things first.

"Argo, I'm going to need your services again," I said to her, scratching an eyebrow in thought, "Uh, if I remember right, the vault is somewhere in the Wastelands. That's where we got the keycard from the previous owner. While Serena works on things on her end, I'm going to need you to scope that zone out. If she can tell us where Ikuchi's searched already, we can cross-reference that info with what you dig up and hopefully pin down a location."

"Long as ya got the credits, ya got all my info at your fingertips," Argo said while leading us back to the rooftop access door and down the stairs.

"Info's not the only thing I want," I stopped at the stairwell landing and turned to her as she descended. "I want you. Noya too."

Argo blinked with a flat look. Then she reached up and fiddled with a lock of her hair like some bashful schoolgirl, "Jeez, this is all so sudden. Ya didn't even ask me out to dinner or nothin'."

"Not like that," I groaned. She apparently didn't hear me.

"On top of that, ya want to get in on Noya too? Who'd thought you'd be such a player?" Argo leered. Behind her, the man in question shuddered.

"Agh. I mean, I need you as an extra gun," I clarified to her. "The pros are coming out of the woodworks now. Things could get messy."

Argo didn't reply until we made it down to the apartment building's entrance. There wasn't a trace of her usual snarky attitude when she did. "Sorry, I'm an info broker, not a bodyguard. Gettin' shot at ain't in the job description."

"The best businesses evolve all the time," I clasped my hands together and gave her a small shrug.

"There ain't gonna be any evolvin' done. I ain't got the kinda manpower you'd want and I'd be at risk for losin' my stuff too." Argo replied.

"Just two people is all I need. We don't need to fight if bullets are flying, we just need to survive," I shrugged. "Safety in numbers."

Argo still didn't look convinced. She exchanged glances with Noya, who merely shrugged in response. "Word might get out if I'm helpin' a wanted man. If the other brokers catch wind of me protectin' their meal ticket, it'd be a nightmare to deal with."

"We're all taking risks here, Argo. That one's yours." I said. "Plus, I think we can both agree that these are extraordinary circumstances."

She raised a single golden eyebrow, "That so?"

"Your friend is involved for one," I tilted my head towards Sinon. "In fact, this whole thing started because Ikuchi has it out for her. In the grand scheme of things, I don't matter in this equation. So if you won't do it for me, then do it for her."

Argo considered it for a moment, "You expectin' it to be free?"

"No, I'm willing to pay," I assured her. She sniffed with her little button nose and crossed her arms.

"That's assumin' ya got the credits to do so," she said. "You're alright. Really, ya are. But I can't play favorites right now. You're gonna have to pay like everyone else and intel plus bodyguard duty is about as expensive as it can get."

I nodded in understanding. There was a reason she was laying this all out for me. I could pay for her intel or her protection, but she knew as well as I did that I didn't have the money for both. I wasn't a rich player. I sure as hell wasn't a high-ranked one either. Before all this, I made my living as a monster or treasure hunter, scrounging up valuable pelts and items and then selling them off. While it offered oodles of excitement, it didn't exactly pay well if I didn't, ya know, find anything worth selling.

Which I hadn't. Because I was too busy being hunted down.

She knew that. I expected her to know that. Which was why I already planned ahead.

"So you want a lot of money for this," I said, taking a few steps away from her. I chewed on my lip for a moment then met Argo's steady gaze with one of my own. "How's 15 million sound?"

The room got so quiet there was only the sound of the building's subtle creaking.

"Your bounty," Argo said.

"I gotta get rid of it somehow," I spread my arms out wide. "Once I raid the vault and the keycard's useless, you can have it and turn in my bounty. You get paid, I get off scot-free, Ikuchi gets suckered, everyone's happy." I took a step forward and added, "And if you do join me, you might find out all kinds of info concerning what's in that vault. That can fetch a high price all on its own."

Now to seal the deal. I reached into my jacket, behind my back, and grabbed the smooth wooden grip tucked in the waistline of my pants, pulling it out. Charon gleamed in the moonlight bleeding through the front doors as I held it out to Argo, handle first, "If that's not enough, the bonus you'll get from this will make a pretty nice cherry on top. Consider it a down payment."

I could practically hear the ka-ching go off in her head. Argo belted off a raucous laugh and her business persona slipped away in an instant as she slapped me hard in the back, "Sinon, I like your partner. He's smarter than he looks!"

Something akin to unease touched Sinon's features. She didn't speak. Her mouth tightened like she was trying to keep herself from doing so.

Argo didn't wait for a reply. She took Charon into her hands like it was a precious, delicate thing then it disappeared under the flaps of her cloak. I won't lie. I choked up a little. Charon held a lot of sentimental value to me but sacrifices had to be made.

Besides, Ikuchi would lose ten times more because of it.

"I'll give ya a call when I got somethin'. Lookin' forward to workin' with ya." Argo gave me a curtsy then headed towards the exit with Noya in tow. "By the way, don't forget that ya owe me the story about the two of ya. I'm feelin' generous so I won't come to collect until ya got some breathing room again. But you better be ready when I come knockin'."

With that she left, snickering all the while. Sinon still didn't say anything. She kept her arms crossed in a tight knot. I didn't sense anger from her. There was no scowl or grimace on her face, but it didn't take a genius to figure out something had troubled her.

I gave her a light pat on the arm to grab her attention, then said, "Walk with me? There's a cafe not too far from here. All this scheming makes a man thirsty."

The place I had in mind was a cozy hole in the wall by the name of Mugs Cafe. The entrance was down a small flight of stairs that led to the basement of an ammo store, away from the hustle and bustle of Glocken's main streets. Unlike most of the places I visited in the past few weeks, it had a tame, relaxing atmosphere, and apparently, the cheesecake was to die for.

The interior was sparsely lit, with less than a dozen sphere-shaped lamps hanging from a low ceiling. Sawdust covered the red cedar floor, its unmistakable smell mixing with the aromatic scent of freshly brewed coffee. Several TVs were secured on pillars spread intermittently throughout the main floor with their volume turned down to a low murmur

Sinon and I sat down in a corner booth, away from the few other people around as their conversations blended together into a sea of quiet voices. A popup menu appeared as I settled down, showing a list of various beverages and pastries. I picked a fruit smoothie and a tall glass appeared in front of me as soon as the menu closed out.

I tilted my glass towards her with a slight frown. "Y'know, we didn't really finish our conversation from last time."

Sinon had picked a milkshake and stirred it with the straw. A pregnant silence fell between us until she sucked in a breath, "Are you really okay with giving Charon to Argo?"

The change in subject threw me off for a moment. "Well not really, but what could I do?" I shrugged. Giving up a valuable weapon would be challenging to anyone and Charon had been my very first exotic weapon.

It saved my life more times than I could count and with it, I could level the playing field against even the strongest of enemies that came my way. Now by giving it up, it could save me one last time. I was content with that.

"You're going to be up against the best of the best. They'll slaughter you unless—"

"Eww, facts."

" — Unless you're using Charon," Sinon said.

"So what did you want me to do?" I questioned.

"You could have asked me to deal with it. I have more than enough," she said.

"No. No thank you," I replied, tapping my fingers in a smooth rhythm on the tabletop. "This bounty thing is my problem. You've already done enough for me by watching my back. Any more and I start feeling like I'm taking advantage of you," I leaned back into my seat. "Besides, even if this whole keycard thing goes away, Ikuchi will just put another bounty on me for my gun."

"That's true, but…"

"It's the only valuable thing I have, Sinon," I said to her. "Once it's gone, Ikuchi won't have anything to use against me. No bounty hunter in this game is going to come after me for a bunch of common rarity items. Not after the fight, I've been putting up."

Sinon bit her lip. "I see. You are taking your chances though."

"Life gets pretty dull without taking a chance every now and then. What's the harm in living a little?" I asked with a lopsided grin.

Sinon rolled her eyes, making a sound that was half-laugh, half-sigh, and said, "You remind me of Yuuki."

"Oh yeah?" I asked. I took a long drink out of my smoothie, smacked my lips just to buy myself a couple more seconds, then asked the question that had been sitting in my mind for a while, "Can you tell me about her?"

Sinon's crystal blue eyes met mine before shying away. "Well...I met her in January at a cookout back in ALO. Right around the time, I met you come to think of it."

I nodded along, beckoning her to continue.

"She was a nice girl, full of energy and life, it was hard to believe she was sick. It's like she never let it slow her down. We played ALO together a few times and the way she carried herself was...admirable. She had such a carefree attitude," Sinon breathed, a small smile on her lips. "I think you would have liked her."

"I think so too," I said, keeping my voice down. "She sounds like she was a wonderful person,"

"She was. She never let anything stop her from living her life. That kind of strength is something that I ...," Sinon tensed and looked away. "That I wish I had."

I frowned. She mentioned something like that before, about wanting to be stronger. Not in the usual way one assumes when playing a VRMMO either. It had been a goal for her since before we met, along with finding friends to rely on when the going got tough.

Maybe in some way, Yuuki had been both for her. A friend who could offer help and a source of strength for her. A role model to aspire to. But she was gone now.

"You'll get there," I said to her, putting on a small smile. "May not seem like that now, but you'll get there."

"I thought that too, but..." A sigh escaped her lips. Sinon rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms. "What have I been doing all this time? Nothing. I haven't moved on at all."

The smile slipped off my face as Sinon grit her teeth in a pained scowl, "I hate this. I hate this feeling. I can't even bear to look at my friends anymore without my chest hurting. How am I supposed to deal with this when I don't have the kind of strength Yuuki did?"

Everything she said brought more questions I didn't know the answer to. What couldn't she move on from? What was so distressing to her that she couldn't be around her own friends without feeling hurt? The two were connected somehow. They had to be. And if her friends were wondering why she wasn't around like Argo said, it pretty much confirmed they didn't know what was going on either.

The internal debate I had before flared up again. I couldn't ignore this. No way in hell. Whatever was going on was eating away at her and I'd be damned to let it happen.

But at the same time, her emotions were tangled up in this. Things get a lot more complicated when emotions are involved. One wrong step and Sinon wouldn't just be annoyed at me, she'd be delirious with rage. Our friendship would be over. Not 'might' or 'possibly'. It would be over.

I was risking a lot of things by this point. My GGO career, my weapons, Argo and Noya, Serena too. Was I willing to risk my relationship with Sinon on top of all that?

I don't know. But I did know my friend needed help right now. I could do that at least.

"You're doing better than you think," I told her. "Sure, you may not be as strong as you want to be, but who is?"

"But I-"

I leaned forward, enunciating every word. "Nothing worth doing is ever easy, Sinon. But you're here, you're still breathing, and you know you want to change. That's enough to get going. You may not have the strength you want right now, but I know you have the drive to get it."

Sinon shot me a hard glare. Little by little, it melted away until a tired, worn expression was all that remained. "W-what makes you so sure?" she mumbled, wiping a closed eye with her thumb. I shrugged.

"Nothing. But if you end up proving me wrong, I think we'll both be pretty embarrassed so let's make sure that doesn't happen, alright?"

Sinon coughed. Her mouth twitched like she tried to laugh but couldn't summon the energy. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Did it work?"

"A little," she droned. Heaving a sigh, she propped her elbow on the table and rested her cheek against her open palm, "I'm sorry. I've been doing nothing but complaining to you all day. You must be getting sick of it."

"It's alright. Everyone has their off-days," I allayed her concern with a small wave of my hand. She nodded then took her milkshake glass, raising it up to her lips.

"Thank you. For talking with me. It helped," she said.

I cracked a soft smile at her. She noticed and watched me with curious eyes.

"What?" she asked.

"I was here for you, wasn't I?" I questioned. Sinon tilted her head to the side and gave a tentative nod. "And you felt better afterward, right?"

Another nod.

I fell back into my seat with my hands open and fingers spread. "I told you. Just being there for your friends is enough. Sometimes that's all you need to get through the hard times."

Sinon froze. Realization dawned on her face. Then an actual, honest to god, a smile broke through. Not the small ones. Not the ones she tried to hide behind her muffler. A real, warm smile so wide and natural she looked like a completely different person.

My heart thumped like a drum against my chest. My throat tightened with nervous energy.

She looked beautiful.

"You really are something else, you know?" the sweetness in her voice was like music to my ears. Sinon shook her head, that gorgeous smile never leaving as she giggled. "You idiot."

I laughed with her. She wouldn't get any argument from me. Maybe I couldn't fix all her problems, but right here, right at this moment, she was happy.

That was enough.