For the remainder of their time, after Ed and Al helped Manami past her tears, they found themselves sitting back down on the couches and catching each other up on the newest developments in their journeys.
Manami had escorted the Ambassador to and from Xing, having returned just yesterday morning. Meanwhile, Ed and Al were journeying to achieve their new goal: to get their original bodies back. They had just returned from Resembool with knowledge that Doctor Marcoh's notes were located in the First Branch of Central HQ's Library. "But…" Al trailed off.
"Someone had burned the whole damn building down." Ed groaned.
"We met someone who claims to have remembered those notes perfectly, and they even offered to replicate the notes for us, so we were going to see what she came up with today." Al concluded.
"Until we had to come here and get you." Ed snipped, glaring at Manami for a second before giving her a small grin. He was just joking.
"Blame the Colonel." Manami turned her head.
"Nope, blame's on you." Ed patted his knees before standing up. "It's gonna take some getting used to, but we gotta put this behind us to move forward. You're here now and you're here to stay." He said, his expression stern.
"I'm flattered." Manami sighed and rubbed the back of her neck.
"We all done in here?" The door opened to reveal Roy.
"Yeah, we're done." Ed said as the trio turned to face him, but Ed started to walk.
"Alright, because I had a few—" "No time, we gotta go!" Ed passed him to walk through the door. Roy was taken aback for a second before turning to watch Ed walk, followed by Al, and then finally Manami.
"Hello?! Your commanding officer—" "We'll be back." Manami held up a hand like she was apologizing as she made her way out after them. According to the document, she and Ed had to be attached to the hip as much as possible... so wherever he went, she had to follow.
"Y-You better be!" Roy yelled as the door shut.
"Geez… why did I have to be in charge of babysitting…" He muttered to himself, but then turned his head to look back at his desk.
The gift box was still there.
"..." Roy glanced back to the door for a few moments to make sure the kids didn't come back.
Okay…
He slowly stepped towards his desk and grabbed up the gift as he went to sit in his chair and cross his legs as he looked it over. The box was about the size of his palm, wrapped in a red paper with a gold stripe. He went to rip off the wrapping and opened the box to find a small statue. It looked like a cat. There was some foreign lettering on it. He noticed a folded piece of paper inside the box and he set the small statue down on the desk to grab the paper. He went to open the paper but noticed the statue's arm started to wave on its own.
"Oh..!" He watched it for a second before going to read the paper.
"They call these Manaki-Neko. They're supposed to bring good luck to their owners. Thought you could use some luck.
-Manami"
"Huh…" Roy looked back to the statue and chuckled to himself as he went to set it on a better spot on his desk, on display.
"Guess it really works."
He expected Manami to kill him before he even made it to his lunch break, after all...
The trio arrived at a small apartment complex.
"So, this is the place?" Manami asked as she looked over the building while Ed went to ring the doorbell.
"Hello!" A gentle, feminine voice greeted them. Manami looked over to see a girl with hair similar to her own, but the differentiating qualities were that this girl had glasses and she was a bit older.
"I finished every— Oh, hello," She noticed Manami and extended a hand. "I don't think we've met. I'm Sheska."
"Manami... pleasure." Manami smiled softly as she shook her hand.
"A friend of yours?" Sheska asked Ed, who shrugged. "More or less." He replied simply as they all went inside. "She's my partner for the time being."
"Another young state alchemist..?" Sheska looked back at Manami, who nodded. "I-I'm sorry, it's just so impressive! Anyway..." Sheska stepped to a desk that had piles of documents stacked. "These are the duplicates of Tim Marcoh's research notes. I'm sorry it took so long, there were so many volumes."
"She really did it..." Al gasped as they all blinked in shock.
"And these are really Tim Marcoh's notes?" Ed asked as he stepped to the desk to look over the stacks.
"Yes! No doubt!" Sheska adjusted her glasses. "1000 Flavors For Today's Menu!"
"... huh?" The trio looked back at her in confusion. Manami was the first to pick up one of the stacks and read it over. "A splash of water added to one tablespoon of sugar..." She looked up to Ed. "This is a cookbook..." Ed had already picked up a stack himself and was looking over the paper carefully. He was quiet for a brief moment.
"I-I'm sorry, is something wrong..?" Sheska asked, feeling herself start to waver under the pressure.
"You're positive that this is what Tim Marcoh wrote, word for word?" Ed finally asked, lifting his gaze from the papers to look at Sheska.
"Yes! One hundred percent!"
Edward grinned. "You're incredible. Thank you." He immediately went to grab at the piles. "C'mon, you two. We're taking all this back to Central Library!"
Manami finally realized what Ed had already concluded. These were indeed Tim Marcoh's notes, but as any good alchemist would do with their notes... they were coded. In the form of a cookbook!
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Ed reached into his breast-coat pocket to pull out a checkbook. He scribbled onto a page before ripping it out and handing it to Sheska. "You have our thanks!" He waved with his only free hand as he bolted for the door, Al quickly following. Manami still had to get used to this habit of theirs: immediately bolting out of a room.
"Nice meeting you!" Manami barely had time to say goodbye as she struggled to keep up with them.
She could swear she heard Sheska screech from behind them as they walked down the street.
The trio managed to get themselves a spacious room reserved so that they could do their research in peace, with no interruption. Two guards were also posted at the outside of their door, Ed and Al knew them as the soldiers assigned to be their escorts upon returning to Central a few days ago, before Manami came into the picture. These two were Second Lieutenant Maria Ross and Sergeant Denny Brosh.
"So, you picked up on it, too?" Ed asked Manami as they finally finished dropping all the documents on the table.
"Hmm? That the notes are coded?" She asked him as she put her hands on her hips. "Yeah. That means there's something that the general public shouldn't be seeing in here." She looked over the stacks. "But... where do we even start?"
Ed chuckled as he went to take a seat. "On page one." He held up a stack that had the number 1 on the bottom right corner. "With a little knowledge and a lot of patience, I'm sure that the three of us can manage to crack the code."
"I think we kind of lucked out with notes that were modeled after culinary research." Al said as he went to sit across from Ed. "After all, they say that alchemy was born in the kitchen."
"I guess I need to build my stamina to fight against all odds, huh?" Manami chuckled as she went to sit at one of the ends of the table.
"Oh yeah," Ed laughed. "We fight everything to the very end."
"Alright then," Manami nodded. "Let's cut the chit chat and get to work!"
A week passed.
Everyone was laid out across the table, staring blankly into space.
"It's... too hard..." Manami whined, her forehead resting against the table.
"Can't we just ask Doctor Marcoh, brother..?" Al asked, looking over to his brother.
"No! He wouldn't tell us anyway! That's the point of him sending us here to find out ourselves!" Ed growled. "We'll solve this, no matter what!"
Suddenly, the door opened. "Excuse me..."
The trio looked up to see Sheska.
"Sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I just wanted to thank you... it's thanks to you, Edward, that I was able to put my sick mother into a hospital that will care for her needs. I didn't know how else to thank you..."
"Don't worry about it," Ed replied, waving his hand dismissively. "This data is worth way more money than I gave you."
"Have you finished decoding the notes?" Sheska asked hopefully, earning a weak groan from the trio...
"Let's change the subject... did you find a job?" Al asked, in turn earning a groan from Sheska. "L-Let's change the subject..." She whined.
"A-Anyway, I should get out of your hair." Sheska bowed politely. "Thank you very much. I'm happy someone as useless as me could be of help to you."
"You're not useless..." Al said quietly. "I think you have a wonderful talent, and your passion to always do your best with it is admirable."
"... thank you!" Sheska grinned from ear to ear.
"YO!" Someone else barged in, making Manami gasp in surprise. Maes?!
"I heard from the Major that the Elric brothers were here, so I had to drop— Ah!" Maes noticed Manami and ran over. "What are you doing here, Manami?!" He asked her excitedly. "U-Uh..."
"You know Mr. Hughes?" Al asked, noticing how Manami looked nervous.
"Know her?! Heck, we're practically family! Manami lives at our estate!"
"Really now..." Ed looked over to Manami, only making her more nervous.
"You didn't tell me that you were hanging out with the Elrics! How do you know them?" Maes pointed to the Elric brothers with his thumb.
"Uhh..." Manami swallowed. "I-I was assigned to be a partner with Ed..."
"She's also known us since childhood." Ed added quickly, unimpressed by her initial answer. She must not have told Maes...
"Huh?!" Maes's jaw dropped. "We'll talk this over at dinner. You boys are invited, too!" He grinned to Ed and Al as he patted Manami on the back.
"Ahh, I can't wait! I should have taken a longer break! Not that I could if I wanted to. Ever since the first branch burned down, we can't seem to catch a break..! We're still trying to recover what was burned in the fire, but it's just too much!"
"..." There was a pause in the room before the trio collectively looked over to Sheska, who happened to still be in the room.
"Huh?!" Sheska jumped in surprise.
"Huh?" Maes asked, not getting the unspoken realization.
"How about her?" Ed quickly asked, gesturing to Sheska. "She's looking for work and happens to have a photographic memory!"
"I-I did read and remember military detective records, but..."
"YOU'RE HIRED!" Maes squealed in joy as he grabbed Sheska by the arm and began to drag her out. "We'll have you start today! We pay very well, and..."
"Th-Thank you..!" Sheska managed to cry out. "Thank you so much! I'll be more confident and keep doing my best..!"
The trio smiled and waved as the door closed, leaving them in the room full of silence again.
But Ed's smile faded.
"You really didn't tell anyone, did you?" He looked to Manami, who only sighed.
"The Colonel knows the most. And that much up until now was, 'don't talk about my existence ever.'"
"I see..." Ed sighed. He had to let it go.
"You've been living at the Hughes' Estate?" Al asked, earning a nod from Manami.
"Maes offered me their guest room to stay for a little while, but I got closer to the family until they considered me a part of it, I guess." She explained, and the Elric brothers nodded.
"We gotta get back to work." Ed said quietly, picking up his pen.
Manami could only think about having to tell Maes her story at dinner tonight.