Book III: A Familiar Face

The next day Jin told Liza about his plans to go to Central City. She offered to come with him, but he declined, saying that her parents would be worried about her if she leaves home for a long trip. With that, Liza ran up to her room and didn't even come out to say good bye to Jin. Jin didn't know why, but he bid farewell to Liza's family and called a cab to the train station. He bought his ticket and found his seat on the train. It was midday when the train attendant announced that lunch would be served in the dining car. Feeling a little hungry, he made his way to the dining car. He picked a single seat near the corner of the dining car. He ordered a sandwich and a cup of tea. Just then, another person sat down in the seat beside him. There was a faint smell of cherry blossoms. Jin recognizes the scent and looks up at the person to confirm his guess; and he was right.

"Mei?", asked Jin.

The person turned around, it was a young girl about the same age as Jin was. She had hazelnut colored hair and black eyes. Instead wearing the traditional clothes like Jin, she had worn office lady attires. The girl's eyes widened as she saw Jin's face.

"Jin?! What are you doing here?"

"I'm…"

He had to think fast to make a lie that will convince her.

"..here to study Amestris alchemy. It's sort of like a exchange program thing."

The girl seemed to believe him, so Jin asked her,

"What have brought you here?"

"I'm going to my job at the embassy in Central."

Jin nodded and couldn't think of anything else to talk to her about. Mei was Lang's cousin. Mei's parents are both high ranking officials in the court and she had been brought up like a princess. Jin knew that his status did not allow him to even speak with her, but his friendship with Lang often allowed him into the Forbidden Palace, where all the royal family members live. The first time he had seen her, she was like an angel, from the heavens. His heart pounded up and down, and his body would not listen to him. He finally got to know her officially when the Emperor awarded him the rank of captain of the Royal Guards. It was a pretty decent rank, but nothing compared to the ranks of Mei's parents. However, it was enough for Lang to host a celebration party for him and invited all his friends and family friends, which included Mei. Lang introduced them to each other, but after Lang left them two alone, they could not start a conversation. Jin thought she would never even put her eyes on him.

"Sir, your food."

A waiter had brought Jin's order, and Jin had the excuse to not talk. He quickly ate his lunch and gave an official military bow to Mei. Mei giggled at this. Jin blushed and sprang out of the dining car. Jin reached his seat and sat there for the rest of the trip. The train arrives and he didn't want to be discovered by Mei, so he ran to the road and called for a cab. A cab pulled over and he go on.

"Where to?"

Jin thought and said,

"A hotel near the First Central library."

The cab driver turned around and looked at him.

"Alright sir, you don't look like you are from around here. Why are you interested in the First Central Library?"

"I'm here to study Amestris' alchemy.", replied Jin.

"Too bad."

"Why?"

"Well, the First Library was robbed yesterday, several of the most valuable alchemy artifacts were stolen."

Jin was shocked at this news. He asked,

"What was stolen?"

The cab driver seemed like a pretty nice guy who is pretty talkative.

"Do you know the Blood Talisman? The artifact left behind by the Legendary Full Metal Alchemist? That was stolen. As well as some alchemy books on the Philosopher's Stone were stolen. The police said the thieves used some type of unknown alchemy."

Jin listened and asked,

"Why do you say thieves?"

"Well it's impossible for one person to have taken all that stuff and knock out all the guards in just ten minutes."

Now Jin was sure that he knew what alchemy was used by the thieves. It was a traditional Xing martial arts called Wind Walking, combined with Renjitsu. Wind Walking allowed the user to travel extremely fast and in silence, while Xing alchemy could be used by sending projectiles at all the guards at once, to knock all of them out. However, there weren't many people who could master Wind Walking. It was a technique passed down from the great martial master of the South. The only copy of the technique manual is located in the Royal Palace. The cab stopped and broke his train of thoughts.

"Here we are. Central's finest. The Grand Ritz Hotel."

Jin paid the cabman and entered the hotel. A bellboy immediately carried Jin's bag for him and led him to the front desk. A smiling employee greeted him,

"Good afternoon sir, can I help you?"

"I need a room for one, for three days."

Jin thought inside his head the cost of all this, but he remembered that Lang had given him the password to the Royal family's bank account reserved for officials traveling abroad. He thought that might as well enjoy himself, so he added,

"Make that a Suite room."

"Certainly sir."

The employee handed Jin his room key and beaconed the bellboy to show him his room. The room was on the top floor of the hotel. After the bellboy had put his bag in the room, Jin tipped him and closed the door. He looked at his clothes and realized that he needed to blend in more with the majority of the population. He called front desk and asked for directions to the nearest tailor's shop. Several minutes later, he arrived at the tailor's shop. He ordered a custom suit to be made for him and after measuring his body size, the tailor said that the suit will be delivered to his hotel in 2 days. With that, Jin left the shop and wanted to go see the First Library. He walked to the front doors of the library and notices the crowd of police officers there. They were circled around a single person. The person was drawing a circle on the ground and pressing his hands on the circle. The circle gave out a blinding amount of light and after the light ceded, the surrounding ground had sank. The alchemist explained,

"I removed the top layer of the ground to find the foot prints that were left here yesterday. Although they could have covered their prints, they cannot cover the force exerted into the ground when they step on it."

The alchemist points out at the newly appeared marks on the ground. There was only a pair of marks leading to the window of the library. Jin knew that he had been right. There was only one culprit. The policemen and the alchemist continued to investigate the area, but Jin got his prove. The culprit was from Xing.