I'm impressed how Mirii knows so well this city. She even confirms to remember exactly where Mr. Tarfo lives!
"In other words, you think that the Headquarters are located near Mr. Tarfo's house?" I asked.
"Correct." She nodded. "My brother told me, that this part of the city is well-guarded and luxurious."
"Wow!"
"How could this area be so peaceful, without any important building protecting it?"
"Hey, that's true!"
"Of course it is. That's why we are going near Mr. Tarfo's residence." She coughs. "Anyway, I wouldn't call that a house like you mentioned earlier…"
"Ehm… yeah, you are right about that." I scratched my head. "Houses are much smaller than his…"
"He claims to not be rich, though…"
"Really! I… I don't know… that sounds weird…"
"I'm sure there is more under this situation, than you may think."
I can imagine that. I still wonder what I'm supposed to do for him…
"We are arrived." She stops. "Can you see his residence from here?"
I stopped too: Mirii's forefinger guided my eyes towards the hou-I mean, residence! Well, what there is to say? It still makes me really wish for that huge farmhouse! I'd love to have many fields to harvest and many animals to breed!
"Gee, Mirii… is there any way to be rich in a jiffy? I'm still dreaming that huge farmhouse…"
"Unfortunately no, Hunley…" She shakes her head. "Besides, if you'd become rich the next day… you'd use your money for a much important issue."
"Like what?"
"… did you already forget?"
Forget what? What I could do with all those money, other than… AH, RIGHT! My disease… … I'm losing my breath from such awful memory.
"… I remembered."
Mirii was staring at me, so seriously…
"Hunley… let's not discuss that, ok? We have a mission to accomplish…"
I nodded in agreement. Actually, I didn't want to talk about it neither… sigh.
"So… the Headquarters are around here, right?"
"Yes. I suggest checking out that building."
I saw a very tall building: it sure appears imposing over the others!
"Are you sure about it?"
"I can recognize features, unseen in other buildings."
Really? I don't see anything odd on them… oh… maybe because I don't have much experience about this city, yet…
"Let's go, Hunley."
I followed Mirii: argh, I was almost tripping on the road! My stomach starts grumbling too… sigh! It's been a while since I didn't eat my usual breakfast meal… sniff, I couldn't wait to reach the table first and eat Chocolate Breads, before anyone else. My mom is so good at making them… sob, their aroma always reached my room…
"Hunley?"
"Ah! Yeah?"
"… are you all right?"
Why that question…?
"Yes, I'm fine."
She looks at me, examining my expression. W-what's gotten into her?!
"Are you sure? You were sobbing, before."
I DID?! … oh… I-I didn't realize I was that loud…
"Hunley, why are you crying now?"
"N-nothing! It was nothing…" I sighed sadly…
"… you'll explain that to me, later. For now, we have to examine this door."
Huh? Oh, we reached the building! I can't believe we arrived so quickly…
"Ok. So… what we do now?"
"Easy to check, Hunley." She lays down her bag and opens it. "The keycard is the only item capable of unlocking the door for us."
"Ah, because it's like a key!"
"Correct. Hence its name: keycard." She takes a card similar to my ID one!
Only now I noticed that word-play! Heh, this city is very crazy… who knows what a card can do for you!
Mirii watches the door carefully… uh? What's that?
"Mirii, what's that odd hole on the door?" I slid my finger on it.
"… you are truly a genius." She smiled.
Again with the genius! She explained that a genius is a very smart person… yet, I didn't even know what a keycard was for!
"Oh come on, I was just lucky!"
She passes her card inside that hole…
Click.
"Oh no! The card is broken?!" I asked in panic!
"That was the sound of perfection, Hunley." She puts away the keycard.
"Oh… this means we won?"
"You can say that again." She pushes the door, delicately. "Let's get inside, Hunley."
That door looks heavy… maybe Mirii needs some help! I pushed with all my strength, forcing Mirii to watch me doing the job.
"Thank you Hunley." Her smile grew more.
"Uff… you are welcome!" I took away some sweat from my forehead!
We entered inside and saw immediately Mr. Tarfo clapping his hands. At his left, there was a shorter man wearing round things in front of his eyes and holding… a log which resembles a piece of paper. Behind them, there is a crowd of people: they clapped too!
"Bravi! Bravi! I never saw such brilliance from your teamwork!"
"Thanks, Mr. Tarfo." She bows down, gracefully. "I promised my perfect performance to you… but I wouldn't succeed without the help of my best friend."
Oooooh, eh eh eh eh eh… s-shucks! Sh-she was making me all red…
"Good! Ha ha! Very good! Did you see, Mr. ToothPale? I knew they would find such effective way to infiltrate inside that pool!"
The name of that man is Mr. ToothPale? He wasn't saying anything though… is he even alive?
"Not to mention, his fighting skills saved my life… he truly deserves more praises than me."
"What?! No no, wait! Wasn't this your trial? I-I just helped out!"
"Eh eh, actually…" Mr. Tarfo grins? "… that was a planned event."
"WWWHHAAAAAAAATTT?!" We both shouted in shock!
Mr. Tarfo was laughing so much, he almost fell on the ground! That moment wasn't funny at all! Mirii even explained how dangerous those weapons were!
"What's the meaning of this?!" Oh… sh-she was gritting her teeth, with unmatched vigor! "I demand an explanation…"
"Ah ah, no need to get all frustrated. I had to hide that information, since it was part of the valuation. Aside from intelligence, the government wanted to check your physical abilities."
"So… those guns… were fake?" Mirii asked.
"They MUST be fake! Otherwise, the trial is interrupted and the culprits punished."
Her eyes were getting lost… I don't know how she reacted to this revelation.
"But why worrying? You did a pretty good that part! The man on my left is the judge of your trial: he admitted several times how incredible was your mental skills!"
How did they see us?! Is there a special technology thing I still don't know yet?!
"Not to mention, how clever you were finding our Headquarters without even following our agents in disguise! Miss Hanache, you have really done it this time!" He bowed down respectfully. "I'm honored to announce that today, you are officially an agent of the Inkopolis Security Team! Congratulations!"
Everyone clapped on us! I-I was shrugging embarrassed… at least Mirii smiled! She even looks at me in the eyes…
Not so fast, Mr. Tarfo…
Yikes! Who talked with that deep voice?! Was it a monster?! … oh, it was Mr. Toothsomething? Everyone else stood in silence, waiting for him to speak more… Mirii's smile was faintly shutting off.
"Now, it's true that the girl proved impressive mental skills in her trial… but she also proved some notable weaknesses…"
"W-what weaknesses, Mr. ToothPale? I'm sure that"
"Mr. Tarfo, if you would please let me continue…"
… th-that guy is scaring me… h-he never changed his expression! The same serious, old face… gulp! Mr. Tarfo stops talking, worried.
"Ahem. Miss Kelpshell…"
Kelpshell? I heard that name before. I noticed Mirii throwing lightning strikes with her eyes at him!
"While you were preparing yourself for the pool section, there was the battle against 5 trained agents… however, you managed to successfully stop 2 of them. The other three…"
"Mr. ToothPale, i-if you could give me"
"Mr. Tarfo, is that a sign of disapproval?"
"Bu-but of course not! I just wanted to say a little observation…"
"Request denied. Please, don't interrupt my discussion…"
Mr. Tarfo sighed frustrated… was he really trying to defend Mirii?
"Now, your fight against the three agents… it was mediocre."
"M-mediocre?!" Mirii asked: I don't think she's taking that well… "How was it mediocre?!"
"Miss Kelpshell, please admit in front of the authority, your real thoughts about that scene."
She was breathing heavily, in panic.
"If that was a real confrontation, you would have been dead a hour ago. You reacted like any average young girl would act."
"NO! THAT'S NOT TRUE!" She growled against that man! "I WAS ABOUT TO FIGHT THEM BACK! I HAD THE PERFECT TACTIC TO SAVE MYSELF!"
"… your lie is making you look bad, Miss Kelpshell." That man still doesn't change his expression… "The boy had to save you. You were covering in fear."
"NO, I WASN'T! I"
"MISS HANACHE, DON'T PRESS HIM!" Mr. Tarfo stopped her: he did a serious face too!
No one was talking… except for Mr. ToothPain? He slowly shakes his head, though…
"This weakness is too large to ignore. In the name of the government, I now declare the true results of the trial."
Oh no…! OH NO! What can I do?! I want to help Mirii! But how?! Come on, come on, what can I say to stop that man?!
…
I…
…
I don't know… I don't really know… sniff… s-sorry Mirii… I failed…
Click.
… huh? The door behind me was open… who could that be?
… GRINA AND BARS?!