Chapter 20 – Spill the (Coffee) Beans

Sai Summers

Kid and I skipped lecture and ended up at the coffeehouse following my outburst in the hallway. I had a mug of black coffee in a white mug, but Kid went without anything. We sat at the same table Stein and I did on our previous trip here.

I stirred my coffee with a white plastic spoon. "Do you have any idea why he's here?" I asked quietly. I then left the spoon on the black wooden table.

Kid shook his head. "I haven't heard anything about any of the other Death Scythes being called in, so I'm assuming it's an assignment that would be best suited for him. Might not be anything important at all." He shrugged.

"I assumed Justin gave up his Shibusen ties when he entered the church." I sighed.

Kid cocked his head to the right. "You can't do that. Once you enter the Death Scythe status, you're a permanent member of my father's team." Kid eyed me. "You weren't aware of that?"

It was my turn to shrug. "No. But I guess if Shibusen is going to devote itself to your training, it makes sense."

"You make it sound like my father trains hunting dogs." Kid stated flatly.

I pushed my coffee cup to the left. "We are all hunting dogs on some level." I glanced at a group of Shibusen students I recognized, studying. "But I think some of us are better off being left back at the ranch. The rebellious ones."

Kid scowled. "Are you insulting my father's decisions? He would never have let you in if you weren't what he was looking for in a Meister or Weapon."

I shook my head. "No, and that 'or' is part of my problem. What am I, Kid?" I looked at him slightly mockingly.

"I don't know." He started, looking somewhat dejected that he had no answer as of yet.

I watched my cup. "I'm insulting myself anyway, not Shinigami-sama." I told him, hanging my head. "Some of us don't want to be confined or be lead around. The ones who want to run free. Being here might be the best for me to learn, but I really don't know what I want in life yet – and I don't know if I can sit around here to wait and find out."

Kid crossed his arms across his chest. "Maybe that's exactly the reason he admitted you. He must know about this. But what does this have to do with Justin?"

"Justin pretty much confined me at a remote location to 'improve' my abilities." I made quotation marks in the air at the idea of improvement. "Though more like contain the bad ones."

He chortled. "Iceland's not that remote."

"I should have specified. I meant a remote place in Iceland. I spent very little time in Reykjavík itself while I was with him. He was busy trying to suppress my Eater abilities out in the wilderness." I paused. "The 'bad' Eater abilities, I should say."

"Hey." I heard from above and behind me.

It was Soul. He leaned on the back of my chair with both arms.

I looked up. "Speak of the devil…"

"And he shall ask you to buy him a coffee." Soul finished, rocking on my chair.

I dug in my right jacket pocket, pulled out my wallet, and handed him a five dollar bill. "I want my change, by the way."

"Yeah, yeah." He muttered, walking to the front counter. "Cheapskate." I heard him complain as he walked away.

"You're welcome and I heard that." I yelled back at him, while he ordered.

Kid redirected my attention back to him. "Anyway…"

I looked back at Kid. "Anyone born in our families who possess Weapon abilities is dubbed as having an 'Eater' ability. The item of consumption is usually souls, which makes sense. But sometimes things get fouled up genetically."

"Hence you not are able to consume souls."

"Not in my current state, like the Professor said. My Eater ability is the consumption of people in whole."

"But only Meisters." Kid reminded me. "And you've never used it."

"No one knows, and no one wants to take that chance. That equates to murder. And I don't know, but I think that was why Justin just opted to isolate me. If it is just Meisters, then he couldn't be consumed. The ability remained latent, which is the reason I was able to even apply to Shibusen. Justin did help me improve my focus and my non-Eater ability techniques, even if I don't want to admit his influence. I need no Meister for them as a result. He knows all of the tricks, for some reason. But…" My voice trailed off.

Kid appeared confused. "Then why do you hate him so much?"

"The dog analogy. I didn't get to have much of a life for the last five years. Imagine teaching a dog to do nothing but hunt. I don't know if I can continue to live such an existence again. Forget that, I don't want to live like that again. Being with everyone here lightens my view of the world so much. I don't even mind dealing with the problems I have at Shibusen." I paused, and then eyed Kid. "Like when a certain someone becomes a little overbearing in public."

Kid coughed politely and I let it go.

I gesticulated with both hands, palms down. "And then he just…left…leaving his dog without any other sense of existence." I sighed. "He abruptly left around four and half years ago, and entered the Church of Iceland, I was told.

I hadn't seen him since then, before today. I had to make it without much help for those six months before I was able to get my papers approved for Shibusen. I was taken in by a local family, but they wanted me to move on as soon as possible. People in Iceland have trouble handling the Meister and Weapon's concepts. They still equate the abilities with witchcraft."

Kid was quick to either correct my mistake, or to try and confirm my life. "You said it took two years before you were able to get in."

"I was denied entrance the first time, and then I had to wait a number of months to apply again. I don't know why I was denied the first time. I was accepted the second time, but being in Iceland made getting the entrance procedures done difficult and time-consuming. Took around six months for that to happen. If I hadn't had the support of Soul's side of the family, and Shinigami-sama aiding in the financial expenditures, I would still be stuck in Iceland right now."

Soul returned to our table, and set his mug and saucer down on mine end of mine and Kid's table. I stood and assisted him in pushing a second two-person table next to the one Kid and I sat at. He took a seat in the half-booth to Kid' right.

Soul stirred his coffee with a brown, plastic coffee stirrer and watched the mug. "What's the topic of conversation?"

I cocked an eyebrow at him."I'm surprised you're not going to ask about the outburst earlier."

Soul shook his head. "I don't have to. I know why. Did you try and tell him?" He asked, nodding in Kid's direction."

"I tried, but it's something buried under a lot of other garbage, so I have trouble putting the emotions to words." I told him with a shrug.

"Tsk. Ms. Eloquent fails." He laid the stirrer on the table next to his mug. "I'm shocked." He giggled moronically.

I rolled my eyes at Soul. "Ha ha." I paused. "But in all seriousness, Kid, seeing Justin reminds me of being that dog, the one lead around in the choke collar. My mother once said on one of her 'good days' that my father used to rebel like that a lot when he was in school. Wanted to run free and see the world." I scowled. "And look what it got him."

"Where is he?" Kid asked, appearing curious.

I noticed he skipped asking about my mother, but I opted to avoid the issue myself.

I slouched in my seat. "No one knows. He's just listed as 'missing.' Maybe he ran away from this life too."

"What do you mean?" Kid looked confused.

"He was a Meister at Shibusen." I muttered. Soul looked up at me, and then returned his eyes to his mug quickly.

Kid looked genuinely concerned. "Have you asked my father? He might know something"

I looked out a nearby window; I decided to answer matter-of-factly. "No. It's not worth bothering him about. Papa's probably dead, anyway."

Kid looked mildly disgusted. "You don't sound too concerned about it."

"He disappeared when I was five months old, even if I found him…" I sighed. "Oh well…let's not talk about Papa anymore, okay?" I scratched my head in discomfort.

Kid nodded and seemed okay with letting it go for the moment. "Alright."

There was a moment of silence and both Soul and I drank from our mugs. It was Kid's turn to watch the pedestrians onside the window at my left.

Soul sat his mug down on the table with a clink. "Does Stein know about what happened with Justin? I'm sure he'll have a lot to say about it."

There were foot steps behind me, but I didn't bother to look. It had been noisy in the coffeehouse for the last ten minutes or so.

I took a second drink, and then returned mine to the table as well. "I'm sure he will. I'm sure it'll be all bad too." I looked up at Soul from the coffee cup.

The noise of footfalls stopped.

Soul's eyes met mine, moved to above my head, and then met mine again. Kid watched me with a grimace on his face.

I groaned, and then looked at both of them. "He's standing behind me, isn't he?"

Soul and Kid slowly nodded in sync.

I sighed. "Geez, I thought things like this only happened in ani…"

A heavy cloth-bound book smacked me on the top of the head, front or back cover down. Someone proceeded to grind the book into my skull by shifting it back and forth with both hands. I could feel my hair begin to stick to it from the static the book generated.

It was Stein, and he was none too happy with finding me at the coffeehouse. "So you're late for school, make a huge scene in the main hall, and now I find you skipping school! A shining example of a Meister you are!"

I squirmed in my seat trying to avoid the book. "Profess-ss-sor! Sorry! Sorry!"

He stopped grinding the book, and instead leaned on it, pushing it into my head. I could see his shadow cover my half of the table. "Didn't I specifically tell you not to make a scene?"

I hissed, and grabbed at Stein's lab coat sleeves. "I wasn't prepared for seeing him. A little warning would have been nice!"

Stein acted annoyed, but it didn't appear to be very serious – but he did go back to grinding the book for a moment. "You're asking me for something! You're the one taking all of my time already!" He must have grown bored of harassing me with the book and I felt the weight lift from my head.

I sighed; I had no better response for him.

Stein pulled one of the black wooden chairs from a kitty-corner table, flipped it around, and sat it down at my right. He proceeded to sit in it backwards, but with it leaning against the table itself, he seemed unlikely to fall forward as was usual for him. He seemed to be frustrated, but I couldn't be particularly surprised about that.

He sighed. "In all seriousness if I had known this was going to be such a serious problem with Justin, I would have warned you. I don't want you to fail to perform due to his influence."

I looked at Stein. I wasn't going to mince words on the subject. "Do you know why he's here? I'm coming to the conclusion there's some specific reason, but that no one knows the actual reason."

He cocked his head to his right. "Why don't you ask your boyfriend? I bet his father knows."

"I already asked K…" I cut myself off. "Hey! Darn you, trying to trick me." I complained.

Soul snorted a laugh. "You walked into that one."

Kid's cheeks flushed red and he watched the table.

"Ha!" Stein grinned, and appeared pleased with himself. He smacked the table with his left hand. "But in all honesty, I don't know. I assume it's nothing important." He raised and lowered his shoulders.

I narrowed my eyes. "The fact that people are assuming worries me."

My idea seemed to hit Stein. "If I find out anything I will let you know, but keep things under wraps about you and Justin for now." Stein eyed Soul and Kid. "Who else knows?"

"Besides us? Just Maka. Soul and I had a talk with her about it when I first arrived back in the U.S. I was kind of a frazzled mess and she's perceptive."

Stein nodded. "I'll concur with that. Just try and keep this between the four of us, alright?"

I gave him a slight nod. "Yeah."

"'Yeah'? How about something I little more concrete sounding considering the last time I asked you to do something you failed within a week."

"Don't worry, Justin's the last person I want to discuss." I replied, rolling my eyes.

"Except your father." Kid muttered, still looking scarlet-faced.

I stared at Kid. I wasn't sure if he was trying to upset me or not.

Stein made a sour face. "That's…we will have to have a discussion about that."

Soul looked at Stein thoughtfully. "You don't know something do you?"

He leaned against the back of the chair. "Not yet, but we might in the near future."

I pounded my right fist on the table. "Is that why Justin's here?! Why is he getting involved in my family life?!"

"Relax. I told you, I don't know.When I do, and if it involves Edward, I will tell you. I promise."

I sighed. Everyone stared at the table in a moment of silence.

I broke the silence. "If it's alright with you Professor I'd like to have a civilized conversation with Justin. I need some answers from him on a few things."

Stein shifted in his seat. "I assumed that. Are you going to do it alone?"

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't have much to hide at this point, so it'll probably with a few of us there. Maybe at the apartment."

Soul looked up at me. "We can do it tomorrow. I think it'll be alright with Maka if he comes by." Soul looked at Kid. "I'm sure you're welcome as well."

Kid eyed me, and then lowered his eyes. "Thanks for including me. This seems to be a difficult issue for everyone to handle. If I can be of any assistance…"

I smiled at him. "Your support is enough."

Kid's face flushed again.

Stein made a gagging sound and rolled his eyes. "For my sanity, would you lovebirds stop making gooey eyes at each other?"

I scowled at him. "Oh, be quiet. You're ruining the mood."