Uncertainty

Pushing past the crowds of loiterers, Asher finally made his way through the doors of the 6th Street Mercenaries.

The inside was yet another open courtyard, only this time square in shape.

Along each edge square, excluding the one touching the outside of the street, were doors that led inward. There were nine doors in total, each with a small portion of text posted beside their doorways.

Asher looped around the square, reading the information posted on the walls.

As it turned out, the doors led to the workspace and meeting area of each member of the group, nine members in total. The words on the walls gave the information of the mercenary behind the door, including title, specialties, and minimum asking price.

Near the corner of the squarish pavilion was the name Asher was looking for.

'Royal Night.'

Asher tested the sliding door. It was locked.

He shrugged.

Truthfully, he didn't care much about this place.

Little Red was more of a lone wolf, checking this place out was merely to satisfy her curiosity. After all, this was one of her possible rivals now considering what her plan was.

"I've seen enough. Let's go."

Asher nodded, attracting many odd glances as he did so. He was talking to himself as if there was another soul inside him.

He could have communicated with her mentally, but something made him choose otherwise.

"It's late. Should we head to the hotel?"

They didn't have anywhere to stay for the night, so Asher didn't have any qualms about using the hotel as a temporary base.

Just a few buildings away from the 6th Street Mercenaries was the hotel that Asher had gleamed from his conversation with the dessert shop's worker.

'(Heaven's Gate).'

Shining above the hotel sign was the strange 'moon'.

On the moon's pale surface, he could make out a thin, orange seal that lied beneath its skin.

A faint, glowing pentagram.

[Warning! Emergency protocol activated-]

Before Asher could react, his vision faded into nothingness.

...

"Alright, madam, here is your key card. Hope you enjoy your stay!"

"Hey-!"

Asher flinched, tearing away from a card that someone's hand held in front of him.

Then he blinked again.

No one was in front of him, though he was sure that there was before.

"Asher? What's wrong?" Little Red growled, startled by his sudden outburst.

Asher whirled around himself, taking in the new surroundings. He was in a spacious hallway, with luscious crimson carpet underneath his feet.

Faint torchlights illuminated either side of him. Gothic columns snaked the walls.

His fingers clenched the plastic keycard in his palm.

In front of him, an oak door stood in ominous silence.

Hung by the doorway was a sign labeled 'Room 481'.

"W-What happened? Why am I here?"

Little Red fell silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice held a tinge of concern.

"You... We booked this room. Two days for three-hundred, don't you remember?"

Asher clutched his head, landing heavily on his knees. What? No, he didn't remember!

He took in a deep breath, calming down enough to stagger to his feet.

"Give me your memories."

Asher closed his eyes, processing the memories that Little Red had experienced.

In her perspective, he had entered the building, talked to the receptionist, and obtained a key card to the room in front of him.

"...But how come I don't remember any of that? This is too weird, we're leaving." His voice was firm. Asher recalled the glowing seal hidden just beneath the skin of the moon.

His instincts told him that something was wrong.

Little Red scoffed.

"First: We already paid, and second: We don't have anywhere else. This place may be weird, but it's the only place we can stay for now."

Asher shivered. Thoughts raced in his mind, yet the System had no comment.

No, that would be incorrect.

[Authority Insufficient.]

That was its comment.

Asher paled.

Those two words were more telling than anything else It could have possibly said.

This, was this the first time that an '[Authority Insufficient]' had been given in the real world?

"No! That's it, we're leav-!"

Asher blinked.

[Attempt Failed.]

With a roar, he clawed the heavy blankets off of himself.

"WHY AM I IN BED?!?"

His chest heaved as he flung the soft, velvety pillow across the room.

Little Red snarled, her voice fed up with his nonsense.

"You literally walked in! Just sleep!"

Asher let out a shivering sob from his throat. What was going on? Was he going insane?

"I DON'T REMEMBER!! I DON'T REMEMBER!? I-"

He looked around himself.

[Attempt failed.]

Light peeked from the drapes outside.

It was morning.

His fingernails dug into his palm, as if to burrow into his bone marrow.

A scream built up in his throat.

[Emergency hibernation enabled.]

Then, it suddenly died away. His fingers relaxed.

Asher's mouth curled into a triumphant grin.

"Morning, Red."

His eye flashed, revealing an orange seal in his pupil for a fraction of a second.

A glowing pentagram.

...

The wielder of the orange seals rattled with sickening thrums of blackish bones. Its attention was directed to a new guest of 6th Street, a woman cloaked with crimson.

It was sure it had sealed the woman's consciousness. Yet, why did it still sense one... No, two souls left inside that body?

One soul held an undercurrent of unchainable rage. Something similar to it, a twisted being from 'Outside'.

That soul might be able to fight against its influence.

The other soul was... Asher.

Its hand fell down, and its thoughts died away.

A true devil.

"Thanks, Pluto." The figure flinched as the woman in its vision spoke its true name aloud. An unsettling familiarity was contained in her tone.

In a layer deeper than reality, she stared directly into its eyes.

Pluto, Yesterday's Promise.

'Asher' grinned.

One of the Nine Distortions. One of his companions, in his previous life.

...

Mangchi's eyes flung open. He sat up in his bed.

His head snapped to the left, piercing dozens of miles of concrete and into the other side.

An orange seal glowed on his chest, just below his heart.

"Hm, Mangchi? Bad dreams again?" Pete muttered, shifting his body to a more comfortable position. The two of them shared a bed, with Aiko setting her station on a couch in the living room.

"...Yeah." Mangchi checked his phone, dismissing the strange, tightening feeling in his chest. "Time to get up."

Pete groaned a complaint behind him as Mangchi left to use the bathroom.

Within a few dozen minutes, the three of them were ready.

Ready for another day as Fixers of Chimère Office.

*Knock Knock*

Pete rapped on Mei's door. Before he could withdraw his hand, the door opened, revealing their Captain.

However, her expression was strange.

"Captain... Is there something bothering you?"

Sophie flicked her hair back dismissively, yet the uneasy tension in her eyes stayed.

"No, it's nothing at all." She cleared her throat, changing the topic in a heartbeat. "Today, you will attempt your first Urban Myth missions. I suspect you guys have better things to do than Canards."

The girl led them to the roof as she explained. Hearing that she deemed them fit for combat, the three Fixers nearly burst with pride. And gratitude toward Sayako, their mentor.

"So, any questions?"

They lounged on the roof, overlooking the morning scenery below. Wind swept past their hair. The morning atmosphere was especially clean, at least when compared to the night.

Mangchi noticed that Sophie seemed to be staring at somewhere far away, beyond her vision. The same direction he felt that faint connection to.

6th Street.

'Asher...' Her lips motioned who was on her mind.

Her mind was brought back to reality as Aiko coughed into her fist.

"Is Sayako going to supervise us again?"

Sophie's eyes turned blank.

"You are becoming quite attached to that Urban Plague." Her cold stare quashed the response in the Fixer's throat.

Today, Sophie's voice was especially thin.

"I'm disappointed in you three. No one will follow you forever. Leave."

Pete and Mangchi filed out of the rooftop, almost sheepishly.

Aiko, trailing well behind the other two, seemed to shrivel up at her Captain's words. As the girl looked back, a single tear ran down her hollow expression.

Sophie didn't notice Aiko's reaction, instead letting out a plume of mist with an exhale.

Her mind was entirely focused on her partner, Asher.

Asher was acting different, like a different person. Little Red was ignoring the clear signs of... strangeness.

"Dammit." Sophie cursed under her breath, a behavior completely unlike her. She wanted to go there herself. Slap some sense into her partner's new Synchronization.

She couldn't believe that Little Red had simply ignored Asher's breakdown. The Synchronization had welcomed the increased confidence the fake had. And that ominous orange seal in Asher's pupil...

Yet, the new personality her partner switched into felt oddly familiar...

Her phone buzzed. Sayako was calling her.

"Hey, Sophie~ Was just wondering if I could drop by today? How are our Fixers?"

Somehow, the woman's drawl was exceptionally annoying today.

"'Our' Fixers? Remember your roots, Dark Cloud Blade. Don't you have more pressing matters to attend to?"

In a way, Sophie's words made sense. Sayako had been stuck to her Fixers like glue for the past three days now, was there nothing the Kurokumo Clan needed her for?

A moment of silence stretched for an eternity. Behind the phone, Sayako's words were knocked from her mouth.

"O-Oh... Um, okay!"

Click.

Sophie buried her head in her arms. The callous tone of her words was all but forgotten. Her attention had been stolen by what was happening dozens of miles away.

She could see through Asher's vision, and hear through his ears, yet the disconnect between them seemed to grow until it was unbearable to her.

Asher refused to communicate with her through their souls' connection, going dead on the line, ignoring her voice. But through the way his smile widened, she knew that he could hear her.

Sophie stood up abruptly.

Should she go there and check up on him?

"Dammit!"

Then, she paused. In her connected vision, Little Red and 'Asher' were outside, discussing their plans.

Sophie knew that 'Asher' was not the boy who she knew. The manner in which the fake presented himself with was more mature, more confident.

And Little Red couldn't even figure it out, after all the warning signs!

Only after a few minutes could Sophie calm herself down. The plan that 'Asher' was discussing with Red at the moment still seemed to follow their original route. In the end, Little Red and the fake chose to set up posters in the real world, advertising as 'Little Red', an independent mercenary.

How... normal.

"...Am I overreacting?" Sophie could have sworn that 'Asher' was a fake.

Was she overreacting?

She looked down at her phone.

A few days had passed since her Fixers and Camille put up posters along their street and in the nearby alleys. Her phone was bursting with messages from countless clients wishing for cheap services. After all, the starting price her posters advertised was insultingly low.

A few days were needed for publicity. Only then could she raise the price.

Sophie scrolled down the tasks, picking a suitable one to blow off some steam.

The assassination of a Syndicate crony. A man who, under a larger Urban Legend Syndicate, had no direct Hana associated bounty.

She texted the client a location to meet.

Her left eye saw through Asher's; her left ear heard from Asher's as well.

But for now, she should be productive.

She would grow this Office that her partner made.

One death at a time.