Chapter 10
Ultimatum


"So, what's the next step, chief?"

I rolled my eyes toward the questioning tone of my roommate, letting a puff of air flow through my nose in an exhale motion. The question wasn't offensive, nor annoying...I simply had no idea how to answer it.

We were back in the safety of my apartment, the place being dimly lit by a rusty, dirty lamp on the nightstand beside the couch in the living room. The curtains were drawn open, allowing the moonlight to shine inside the small space for a small dosage of additional visibility.

I sat on the couch with one crossed leg, a medium sized novel in my hands just begging me to plunge into it's sci-fi universe. Sadly, the intense gaze of the "fearsome" Gawr Gura, who was sitting upside down on the sofa next to me, was blocking my potential immersion as she waited impatiently for her question to have an answer, her shark appendage tapping with a tense tempo to signal her building irritation.

"Ya know, silence is not a good reply to what I asked. In fact, it's just annoying." The passive aggression in her words seemed to copy what her body gestures were signalling to me, the tapping of her tail not stopping once. I decided to not respond, nor move, holding back my second sigh of exasperation.

There was a reason I was currently trying to lose myself in another world with a book. We had finally discovered the identity and species of our mystery Myth, and yet, the further we discovered, the more intense the headache would get. It seemed every step we took, the question of what to do next would only get bigger and stronger. Which is why I wanted to take a break from this whole mess and read a good story...At least, I hoped it was good, but I haven't read it yet.

Constantly banging my head on a brick wall until it broke would definitely work, but I would obviously suffer damage, and not to mention, it would take way too long to destroy. It was preferable that I take a few steps back, gather the tools I needed in my own head space, and then take a swing at this pesky obstacle.

Yet, even with this plan in mind, my thoughts were in complete disarray, unable to filter anything past confusion and shock. I needed a distraction…

I needed a good book.

"Tik tok, I need an answer or I'll...clock...uhh you?" However, the energetic shark girl beside me was apparently not an enjoyer of literature. She was probably a common fan of TV or something.

"Nice save, Shrimp. Keep it up and you'll be the greatest poet our world will know." I mindlessly retorted back, closing the book with a thud echoing in the apartment. I carefully laid my given up, delayed-for-another-time fiction on the arm of the couch, finally settling my sight on Gura.

"Yeah yeah, you smart, me dum, Now, answer please?" She dismissed my jab at her with a wave of the hand, staring at me expectantly as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. There was no escaping this conversation, huh?

"There's no answer, because I don't know what the hell to do." I decided to "Director Cut" the entire chase and just tell her the conclusion instead, rubbing my face with my hands as I let out a sigh of frustration. "Technically, I should report to Enma and forget about it...but…"

"We can't do that with a good conscience…" The Atlantean finished for me with a nod, scratching the back of her head as sapphires looked away in guilt.

It was just as she said: Our "good" conscience wouldn't allow us to reveal who and what the myth was to Cover Corp, if you could even call it good. It certainly wouldn't feel great, no matter what choice we decided to make. Hell, that part was already established the last time we tried to have this specific conversation.

"Do we need to tell Enma about it?" Gura asked with a hopeful expression on her face, her lips hesitant to smile at the prospect. That hope quickly died an ugly death as soon as she saw my lips purse in discontent.

I had thought of doing the same, but the instructions were clear and precise: To report back the existence of the Myth. Their magic tools would allow them to know if I said the truth or not, so I couldn't ignore the problem. Pretending to be terrible at my job was also not an option, as Cover Corp did not tolerate incompetence.

"Everywhere we go, it's a fucking dead-end...At this point, our only choice is to ruin her life and have her join Cover Corp." I admitted with shame, unable to come up with any other solution no matter how hard I wracked my brain cells around. It seemed to be the same for my roommate, as the guilt in her eyes pooled around once more.

"Hey...Hunter...we're not the good guys in this situation...right?" Gura whispered meekly, her entire body oozing with negativity. I inhaled a sharp intake of oxygen, shaking my head solemnly.

"You don't have to worry about it. I'm the caretaker, so if anyone is ruining any lives here, it's me. Even if you provide really good help, it's my responsibility to hold." I chuckled with mirth. It sounded weak and unamused, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. The ex-citizen of Atlantis frowned at me with an unknown emotion dancing in her expression, my brain not capable of discerning it.

"What if we tell her to run away? I mean, there's gotta be something else, right?!" The shark girl was starting to lose her composure, getting up from her seat with a forceful movement. I couldn't blame her, part of me wanted to get angry and throw a tantrum like a child right here and there...but alas, that part of me simply blocked any unreasonable decision like that to be made.

In any case, running away wouldn't work for the phoenix Myth. Cover Corp has massive reach, able to track Gura and I down with complete ease. They had magic tools and other Myths at their disposal too, and who knew what the hell they had to corner us. Even if we picked a spot with no cameras to tell Kiara, there would probably be witnesses listening to us...

Hell, for all we knew, maybe they were listening to us from the beginning and knew what the hell we would try! Enma was dangerous enough on her own, so the whole company must be completely insane! And what if-?!

"Stop overthinking every single little detail, Hunter. No amount of mental gymnastic will allow you to see the future...sometimes, it's better to let the flow of life take over…"

The building anxiety and stress suddenly came to an abrupt stop, crashing into a set of words from...someone. Whether it was the work of magic, hallucination, or even my subconscious didn't matter. What mattered was what I'll do with this interruption. A person dear to me told me those same words a long time ago...they were…

"You know...we're not the good guys…but we don't need to be the bad guys." I spoke up with new found confidence, getting up from the couch with a smirk. Gura glanced at me with a raised eyebrow, her face indicating that she thought I had lost it.

"Uhhh, I don't know how it works for you guys up there, but in Atlantis, the opposite of good guys are the bad gu-"

"Gura, if you finish that stupid sentence, I'm rolling you in the nearest bed sheets I can find and throw you in the closet for the night." I threatened with a low grumble, to which the brat answered back with a roll of the eyes.

"Then oh please, take the stage, your majesty." She faked bowing in response. This little shit…

"I'll ignore that one. Anyway, we have two choices right now. Either we force her to join Cover Corp with the help of said stupid company...or we tell her to run away." I started as I leaned my body toward the table, the shark girl's attention successfully gained. "...but what if...we simply let her decide for herself?"

Silence. Immobile. Absolutely nothing. At first, I thought I had unlocked the power to stop time or something of the like, before Gura's eyes slowly widened with surprises...before not moving again. After a good 20 seconds of no motion, I had to wonder if I had missed the cue to bring the steamroller in the scene before I was interrupted by something I did not expect.

"You're an idiot." Okay, maybe I lied a little when I said I didn't predict this result, but I didn't think she would actually say it.

"Okay, fair ass-"

"You'll let her decide? How the hell is that any better?! We're still the bad guys, except instead of snapping our fingers to delete half of the universe, we're fighting the power rangers!" She yelled loudly as her little body trembled with anger as much as it allowed her to.

"Okay, you don't know how to surf the internet, but you know power rang-"

"Hunter!" That was not the right reply.

"Sure, it's not better, but do you have a better solution?! At Least we're giving her a miniscule amount of freedom in this damn situation!" I shouted back as I raised my arms to the sky, dropping them down with a sigh.

I was aware that this wasn't the best solution. After all, it's not like God himself brought the damn plan in my hands as I cried tears of joy...this whole idea was cooked in the asylum known as my mind. It was understandable that Gura would think it was stupid to act so confident about it.

"Look...I-"

"No...you're right...there's not much we can do...well, there's not much we can do that isn't insane, but ya know…" The Atlantean interrupted my explanation as anger seemed to completely fade away from her being, looking at me with understanding in her eyes. Despite probably not having the same overthinking brain curse as me, she had reached the same conclusion as me...at least, that was my theory. "So...I'll ask again I guess...what's the next step, chief?"

"I can tell you...but you can't come with me, and before you scream at me, I promise you that it-" I did my best to avoid another barrage of screaming at me, but surprisingly, I got...well, surprised for the second time in the same hour.

"I get ya...as long as you have a good reason to not bring me, I'll trust ya." She kindly smiled at me as she walked toward the table where I was leaned on, grabbing a seat next to me. "Better not screw it up though...so, tell me all about it."

Even if the entire world was against us, even if every decision we took would lead to disaster, I had a feeling that everything would be okay. Maybe I had given up, maybe it was because of the words of that person I had heard in my head, or maybe it was Gura's carefree demeanor that allowed me to feel that way. One thing I knew for sure, however…

We'd get through this, even if the results were bad, we would get through it.

"Okay, here's the next step…"


"God dammit, if I don't stop shaking, I'm seriously gonna blow a fuse…"

They say that people only project what they want others to see. Even if it's the opposite of who we actually are, we'll do our best to put in display the qualities we wished we had, no matter how ridiculous they are. Did this make us natural liars? Are we all fakers walking around? I didn't have the answer, and even if my overthinking brain wanted to chew on this, now was not the time to go on a retrospective journey of my soul.

The reason I couldn't help but bring this up was because I was trembling like a leaf, and the temperature had nothing to do with it. Despite doing my best to act normal on the outside, the asylum known as my thought process was everything but normal.

The prospect of my grand plan did a great job of making me shake all over the place. I wished that I was capable of staying calm, smooth, and cool...but the truth of the matter is that I was in a situation outside of normalitude. I couldn't rely on the persona that I had crafted carefully in events that I hadn't envisionned even in my wildest dreams. Which resulted in stress, anxiety, and fear bullying my poor body, even with all the mental encouragement in the world to stay calm.

At that moment, I was a walking contradiction.

Yet, only me seemed to notice or care about...well, me.

I sat on the smooth stone of the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, watching the citizens of New York chat and catch up with their loved ones as the sound of liquid pouring complimented the chatter. The weather was it's traditional self, a clear blue sky with a fair amount of clouds, lazily blocking the sun rays from the ball of fire high up in the stratosphere.

This time, I was by myself. No shark girl to accompany me this time around, only me...which felt odd. Despite our short time together, I was so used to having Gura's endless energy at my side. Now that she wasn't here, time felt tranquil. Everything was moving slowly, sounds made sure to overstay their welcome, and life seemed to be stuck on one specific paragraph of it's script.

It was necessary, however. I had to tell the Atlantean to stay home today, to not accompany me. If I was to gain the trust of our immortal myth, I couldn't risk scaring her off with the fact that we outnumbered her. An additional person wasn't much, but any possible caveat was a no go for the plan to work.

This whole scheme of mine was a huge gamble. I had no idea of the outcome, no idea of the reaction, and hell, no idea of the risks included. It could barely be called a plan, as I was simply throwing myself out there with my eyes shut. I was going with the flow of life...and that was something that I was not used to.

Thank god I hadn't told Gura about the voice recommending me to ride the wave, otherwise, she would've called Enma and had me locked in the nearest psychiatric hospital for the mentally deranged.

Why of all time did I start thinking about him...what flag did I trigger to cause these memories, these words to pop up in my subconscious...and why wasn't I afraid of following his suggestions?

Why did I start thinking about my-

"Is this the part where I act surprised about seeing you here? Or is it the part where I call the police for harassment?"

For what seemed like a daily routine now, a voice crashed straight into my train of thoughts, derailing it for the next journey through the webs of my hypocrisy. Raising my gaze upwards revealed the person I was waiting for, with the features of someone who was annoyed with my antics.

"you would bother the police with such trivial matters?! Why, Miss Kiara, I am shocked!" I dramatized my line with the best practiced expression of shock on my face, enjoying the way her eyes narrowed at me for joking in such a manner.

For some oddity, I had imagined the phoenix to come in her silly KFP outfit, forgetting like a buffoon that people had lives outside of their work. Instead, blue jeans and a pink cardigan with long sleeves was what greeted me. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, sunglasses adorning the top of her head. Over everything was a pale open brown coat, completing the look but also signaling that the temperature was getting colder and colder.

It was a very casual look for the KFP manager, a look that was fitting for Fall. It wasn't the most fashionable outfit I had ever witnessed, but compared to me, she sure had the look of a high class citizen. Black pants, a random shirt that I hadn't taken the time to look at and a crimson oversized hoodie. Fashion was not my friend. They simply cannot stand comfortability, and well, I couldn't handle it for this relationship.

"Who knows what the police will say when I'll show them the evidence of an ominous note arriving at my workplace?" Kiara decided to play the role of the clueless maiden getting stalked, her surprised and questioning tone clearly fake as she smirked at me while raising the so-called ominous note. "Come to the location in the back of this paper, unless you believe the phoenix to be a mere fairytale. Care to explain before I accidently slip up and call the authorities?"

"First off, I'd like to know where that so-called evidence is? All I see is you brandishing a piece of paper with no signature whatsoever." I shrugged with nonchalance as I made sure to recite every word without choking or stuttering. I had no confidence in my abilities to keep it cool, but I could fake it til I made it. I had to fake it. "Besides, what's so ominous about it? I don't see the threat in here...unless there's a certain word in here that makes you feel uneasy?"

Her smug expression did not budge. In fact, she seemed more relaxed than ever. Years of experience thanks to her immortality would definitely help her with the one thing I was struggling to keep in check: nerves. Yet, her pink, sharp eyes managed to spin a completely different tale.

She was definitely irritated.

"Oh, before it was a journalist, now you're playing the detective? I think you should try your hand at being an actor, since you definitely like putting on a character." Her response was laced with venom, the kind you did not want to probe further. Alas, my cruel destiny forced me to put myself in the splash zone.

"You can jab me all you want with your passive aggressiveness, doesn't change the fact that you coming over here just proves my point. Especially after we had that wonderful talk about Myths yesterday." I decided to stop building up the suspense for the sake of calming my nerves, taking out two items from my pockets. "But hey, we can still pretend that you don't know what I'm talking about as you act increasingly more bitter when I show you the evidence I have against you. Let's just go straight for the final act, What do you say? Kiara The Phoenix?"

In my hands were two objects: The photo of the old KFP crew, and the feather Watson had found. Paper and a literal feather, yet somehow, their weights in my hand were crushing. Despite the large number of people in central park, the tension between Kiara and I was enough to silence my surroundings.

My eyes sneakily darted around her silhouette to notice any odd movement, any sharp motion that would indicate an attack as I tried my absolute best to control my breathing. My heartbeat was trying to beat the record of the fastest BPM a human could naturally produce.

"Can I sit?"

"...yeah…"

Instead of flames consuming my body, an explosion propulsing me in the sky or the ground eating the entire park...Kiara simply asked a question...and proceeded to sit next to me. At that moment, embarrassment embraced my being with crushing strength, my entire body cringing at how much of an idiot I had been.

Yes, Myths could be dangerous, but that didn't mean that all of them were killing machines. My short, painful meeting with Enma had left me subconsciously traumatized, that I had associated my pain with the general concepts of Myths.

Everybody, please let us slowly clap in realization that Hunter Bell was a complete moron!

"Should I interrupt your mental funeral or do I come back another time?" Seems like my inner struggle hadn't been hidden too well, as the woman beside me raised an eyebrow at my changing facial expressions. I could only sigh in defeat as I shook my head in response. "Ignoring that, congrats, you found my real identity. Would you like a free coupon for a barrel of KFP?"

"Hilarious, truly, look at me rolling on the ground in complete hysteria. I'll assume that your oh-so-witty reply means you admit it."

"What do you want me to do? It's not like I'm gonna attack you or something of the like. Besides, even if I wanted to, I bet you picked this spot just so that there would be too many witnesses...or casualties." The Myth responded with a slight frown, her eyes focused on mine. She had figured out easily why I had decided to meet up here of all places...well, she had figured out one reason.

The other reason was simple: I did not want to look like a creep as I invited her into some dark abandoned building or some place even shadier.

"Yeah yeah, I'm a bad, but cunning person. Any more thinly veiled insults you wanna throw at me? I kinda want to get to the main point of our meet up." I grumbled with a miniscule amount of annoyance seeping through my lips, crossing my arms like a child. A smug smirk plastered on the face of the phoenix was part of her answer.

"Really? No questions of how it is possible, what are you doing here, or why don't you look like a giant chicken?" For once, Kiara seemed to be genuinely shocked at me accelerating the pace of our rendezvous, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"Not gonna lie, that last question is pecking at my curi-"

"The bird form was my first form, after that, the "phoenix" part of me is my soul. Happy?" She quickly replied, interrupting me to dismiss it as swiftly as possible.

"How many times?" I asked with a slight chuckle.

"Too many." She sighed back, massaging her forehead as if it would help her avoid a headache. I was ready to bet anything that this exact reason would resurface back if she was to make a thesis on "why immortality sucks hard.". I couldn't help but wonder if it was too late to take back my previous chuckle.

Come to think of it, I was probably not the first person who had found out about her real identity, and something told me that I would probably not be the last in the far future.

"So, what kind of trouble did I get myself into this time?" The phoenix asked with barely any curiosity or interest shown in her face. That sentence had practically been thrown in the air as if it meant nothing. Even her posture as she sat beside me was laid back, her guards from before completely disregarded.

"The kind that's called Cover Corp." I sighed out, keeping my defenses up compared to the woman beside me. "You might know them as Hololive, but they're the ones who technically...hired me? Made me sign a contract by force? Fucked up my life? Doesn't matter. What's important is that they're after you now."

Kiara stared at me with a raised eyebrow, trying to analyze the words I had just spoken. After what felt like an eternity under her scrutinization, she finally closed her eyes with a small moan of despair.

"Let me guess, they're a company trying to 'protect' society by hiding people like me from the public, forcing them to live inside some protected compound with whatever they want in exchange of their will and freedom. Am I right or am I right?" She proudly stated with complete confidence, crossing her arms as she smirked at me with defiant eyes.

"Wow, you pretty much got it right. Well, there's a few details wrong: the protected compound is changed for a regular place and they're not exactly stuck in that place forever, just watched a whole bunch, but yeah, you ain't wrong." I whistled smoothly with fake amazement, flashing her a grin of my own as I leveled my own look into pink. "Let me guess, it already happened before?"

"Wow, want a second coupon?"

"I'll give you points for trying that dumb joke again, still not funny though." I groaned at her second attempt at amusing/insulting me, looking back in front of us as the crowd of people never changed in size. It reminded me of a river: always in movement, constantly flowing.

"So, what's your part in this, exactly? You're the one who finds the uhh, what do you call them again, Myths?" She dismissed my criticism of her poor sense of humor, throwing another interrogation at me instead. I simply flashed her a small smile, standing straighter with my chest puffed out a little for more dramatic effect.

"Hunter Bell, caretaker of any Myth under my wing at your service." I introduced myself for the third time, except this time, it was pure honesty and truth. The fire-based Myth seemed to understand this as well, as the usual doubt swirling inside her pink eyes were missing.

"Aah, the company comes with a babysitter. That's very nice of them." She grinned as I couldn't help but glare at her. However, whatever comeback or insult I wanted to snipe her with was blocked by the very clear image of a certain shark girl...I wasn't a babysitter...I wasn't!

"Look, my job is to find who the Myth is, tell it to the manager, and then they take care of you. Either you take their offer and you get to live with one of their caretakers and other Myths...or…" I couldn't finish what I was about to say, as my brain got paralyzed by a heavy realization.

If Gura hadn't accepted the contract, she would've been sent back to Atlantis...but how would've they done it in the first place? It's not like they know where Atlantis is...and it's not like they can have the Atlantean on surveillance 24/7. Even Cover Corp doesn't have that kind of resources. Does that mean they would've done something different?

Plus, what can they do about someone like Kiara? She's not from an ancient lost city, as far as I know. She's a phoenix, an immortal being who can cheat death with ease. Even if Cover used force against her, death would not stop her from coming back...so what would they even do?

It was these moments that I cursed my overactive imagination.

"I can tell that the second option is not the one I want to pick." The KFP manager mumbled with an uneasy chuckle, her entire body language almost sympathizing with me. It didn't take years of immortality to figure out that the latter choice wasn't one that anyone would willingly pick.

"Yeah...which is why I'll introduce more options to the table." I quickly said, getting up from my seat as I rearranged my clothes. Once again, I did not want to waste anymore time running around ideas and unruly thoughts, especially with Cover Corp's weighting on my mind the longer I was staying here. "I don't need to tell you that joining Cover Corp will make you lose your fast food chain, which you might not want. Which is why I won't force your hand."

"What do you mean?" Kiara asked with surprise written all over her face, curiosity escaping through with intensity. What do you know, even an immortal being could still be impressed.

"That whole good end, bad end type of deal only happens if I tell my manager that I know who the Myth is. If they haven't figured it out yet, and I hypothetically didn't figure it out either...nothing's stopping you from, let's say, running away." I shrugged, turning my back to her with a smile creeping up my face. I didn't need to face her to know that she had gotten up on her feet, focusing her gaze on me with incredible precision.

Takahashi Kiara was an immortal phoenix, someone who had seen her fair share of characters. Judging by her words, it wasn't the first time someone discovered her identity, which means she was also extremely familiar with people trying to utilize her like a tool. Humans can be fascinated by the special gift to avoid facing death, so fascinated that they can perform disgusting acts.

Right now, it was only safe to assume that she was trying to calculate my next move. Behind her bubbly and extroverted personality hid a being who thought...a lot. While I had a tendency of overthinking and losing myself in my thought process, Kiara had an actual goal to all this brainstorming. She wanted to know what I was gonna do next. She wanted to know why I was doing this. She wanted to know my goal for letting her escape.

"I can't guarantee that everything will go well, no matter what you choose. No matter how much I plan things out, there's too many elements for me to tell you which choice is the right one...but atleast...you get to decide your fate in some way." I breathed out with guilt apparent in my voice, still refusing to face her. No matter how much I wanted to paint myself as the savior, the cold logical facts stared back at my soul with fury. I was the villain here, the one practically ruining her normal life.

How ironic.

"You're risking so much for someone you barely interacted with. I don't see any way you could gain from something like this, even if it's some sick twisted strategy to get me to join your zoo. Tell me, what's the point?" The undying phoenix decided to stop kidding around too, going straight for the million dollar question. I could hear the build up in impatience, the pure bewilderment over my actions in her vocal chords. Unfortunately for her, I had a feeling she would not like what I was about to do. "Hunter...why are you doing this for me?"

Why was I doing this? It was the right question to ask. The only question to ponder. Sadly, it was also the only question to have no clear answer. I took a few steps forward, only to be stopped by Kiara following my rhythm.

"Are you seriously gonna leave without answering me?! You can't just tell me that some secret company is gonna chase me, that you work for them...and then just leave by telling me to run away!" She shouted with anger defined in her tone, but mostly disbelief seeping through the cracks. "It doesn't make any sense! You...You don't make any sense!"

The sudden bout of rage was definitely unexpected, but predictable nonetheless. No matter how experienced someone was, dropping a bomb of intel on them and leaving them with a confusing choice that benefits them too much would make anyone blow up in anger. When people's brains are overloaded with puzzlement, they tend to lash out with the first emotion they can get a grip on.

I looked behind me to see Kiara's sight directly gazing at my own, pink reflecting so many emotions at once. It was overwhelming, so much so that I was afraid to blow a fuse in my cranium. I swiftly shifted my head back to the crowd in front of me, taking a deep gulp of oxygen through my nostrils.

"I-I'd like to have an easy explanation for you. Hell, the ones you suggested would be the easiest of them all. Too bad that I'm too stupid to think of them. I'd love to say that I'm a good person and I'm doing this for your own good, but I don't think I have the dignity to stroke my own ego that way." I rambled off, letting the first words that came to the front of my mind escape with no intention of holding back. I didn't know what to say or think. It was almost as I was figuring out the solution of the enigma on the spot. "Truth of the matter is that I'm not smart or the hero type...I-I can't even say something cool at all."

A silence reigned between the two of us as I searched for anything worth saying. Anything to save face and give the woman behind me some hope. Alas…

"Guess you could say that I'm too scared to make the decision myself. I'm...gonna throw that responsibility on you. Sorry about that."

Just like that, I decided to leave the location. I didn't even turn my head to face her, didn't look her in the eyes as I practically threw all this weight at her. Intense self-loathing and guilt devoured me from the inside with each step, yet, I never stopped my momentum. Just like that, I was running away like a coward.

As my body went on autopilot, my thoughts were in complete chaos. I had made a plan, which had gone somewhat smoothly. Most of the gritty details had happened just like predicted...but much of them had been unexpected, throwing me for a loop. Despite my best effort to keep my cool, I choked up at the end, stuttering my words as I did my best to give her some sort of conclusion to this whole situation.

Correction: I had made a plan, which had gone horribly wrong at the end.

So many questions bounced endlessly in the walls of my head. Did Cover manage to find out about our meeting? Was Kiara gonna run away? Or keep working at KFP? Would she attack Cover Corp? Or even Gura and I in complete frustration? Did she resent me for throwing her under the bus...or was she so used to it that she felt numb to my last minute cowardice?

Before I knew it, I had walked in an alley, again, with a smoke in my mouth. Looks like the stress had gotten so bad that I subconsciously decided to relieve some of it through the stick resting on my lips. Digging for the lighter in my pockets, my eyes scoured the alley for any...suspicious cloth on the ground. Wouldn't want to bump into another shark.

Too bad I still attracted other types of weirdos no matter how careful I was…

"How long have you been following me, Watson?" I groaned out as I lit up the cigarette with a swift flick of the thumb. With perfect timing, the silhouette of detective Amelia Watson made its appearance at the exit of the alley in front of me, the girl resting her back on one of the walls with a smile.

"Sharp reflex, expected nothing from someone hired by Cover Corp!" She nodded proudly to...no one in particular apparently, crossing her arms over her chest. I squinted my eyes with a raised eyebrow as I inhaled a puff of smoke.

"You realize that you're wearing a yellow attire and look like you walked out of the 30's right?" I asked with honest wonder, letting the fumes out of my mouth with a small sigh. Watson opened her eyes in small shock, before frowning at me with a grumpy pout.

"Truly, you ruin everything."

"Sorry about your feelings. Now, I gotta take care of my goldfish, if you don't mind." I shrugged as I continued to walk toward the narrow path, hoping to skip another lengthy encounter.

"So, that's what you two decided huh? Let her choose what she'll do...you sure about yourself?" The complete shift in tonal direction made me stop in my tracks, keeping my focus in front of me. Her words had a razor-like sharpness to them, threatening to gut me like a fish if I dared walk away from this interrogation.

I should've been surprised at the fact that she had spied on us. Keyword: Should've. However, after learning about her knowledge of Cover Corp and Myths, I had a feeling a "simple" trick like this one was a piece of cake for her.

"You allowed her to choose what ending she'll pick...but you're also the one that forced her into that route. I kinda wonder, do you consider yourself a good person...or a bad one right now?"

I could not answer, once again. Another cannon ball had been launched at my system, unable to put up any guards or defense mechanism against it. The smoke in my mouth continued to burn, clogged ash falling on the ground silently.

"Does it matter?" I finally breathed out, grabbing the cig between my fingers, slightly shifting my pupils to where Watson was. "I had a choice to refuse to work for Cover Corp, or to be their slave. Of course, one of them clearly had a poisoned apple in it's package. Can you really say I had a choice?"

"Trying to avoid the blame?" She quickly shot back with what seemed to be amusement...or was it? Right now, the detective was the most mysterious person I had ever talked to. I simply raised my shoulders in defeat, chuckling with mirth.

"Maybe? Maybe I'm trying to rationalize this whole mess to feel less guilty? Again, does it matter? I had to choose, just like she has to do now. Whether that makes me a good person or not all depends on how she sees it, what will happen and many other factors that I can't be bothered to think about."

"Seems to me like you can't handle being a caretaker."

"Can you blame me?" I had to laugh at the jab thrown at me, my laugh having every known emotion other than joy. Maybe I was going insane. "Not even a week ago, I was trying to lead a normal life, not attracting any sort of trouble whatsoever. Now, I deal with Atlantean, Phoenix, secret organizations and of course, last but certainly not least, weirdos like you. You'll have to forgive me for sounding lazy, but I'm not a Superhero."

Somehow, as soon as I had spoken out my explanation, the heavy guilt diminished. It did not vanish...but it felt lighter. I couldn't figure out if this was a good result or a terrible one, but my brain certainly liked it.

Thinking back on it, it made sense. My name was Hunter Bell, not Clark Kent, and I had many weaknesses other than some green mineral. Last time I tried to play the good guy, I got my ass kicked seven ways to Sunday. That ugly scar on my left arm was a pretty good reminder of my half-assed attempt. This was the only thing that a normal human with limited knowledge on Myths could do at the moment.

This was the only thing that I could do for now…

"She's right, you definitely are weird." I heard the distant, occupied voice of Watson bringing me back to the world of the living. She? What was she talking about now?

"Talking to yourself now? Sounds like you need some medica...tion…" I attempted to joke as I finally faced her, but what greeted me instead was an empty alley. No signs of Watson, nothing. Did I imagine her? Was I the one in need of medication?

"...could've let me finish my punchline at least...rude."


"I wonder if we did the right thing…"

I lowered my current reading material to have a good look at the source of this nagging question, my brows furrowing in annoyance. That source was called Gawr Gura, sitting at the table playing a portable console that was supposedly in my bedroom. Not that I would know.

It would be irrational of me to scold her for asking this, hell, it'd be irrational to react negatively in any way. It was a simple question, but it had overstayed its welcome inside my head that just hearing it was driving me crazy.

I turned my head to the window, the early sun trying to burn us through the curtains with vigor. The rest of the previous day had flown by so quickly after my meeting with the phoenix, mostly spent inside the insane echo chamber of my thought process. The flow of time had been all over the place, any notion lost to the tangle of infinite queries about the past events.

Whether I would ever see Takanashi Kiara would remain a mystery until fate decided to collide our paths again. Even if she decided to comply with Cover Corp, I wasn't guaranteed to be informed about it. For all I knew, Enma could always hide such information from me. I wasn't anyone special in this corporation. Just a caretaker.

"We did what we could. As much as we hate it, that's all we could do without risking everything. It sucks, but we'll learn…" I answered with a small exhale of the nose, stretching my legs over the couch. My eyes caught those of Gura, which were focused on the portable device in her hands. Despite being focused on the task of winning whatever she was playing, the same intense reflection seemed to be stuck inside sapphires.

"Yeah...I just hope we'll learn the right things…" She mumbled quietly to herself, pupils never shifting from the small screen of distraction she was holding. Worry and guilt soon consumed the emptiness of the room we were in, bringing down the mood even more.

It's not like we could help ourselves. The two of us had researched everything, devised plans to find out the identity of our secret Myth...and sentenced the phoenix to give up her current freedom. We were the one who had caged this Myth, it was only reasonable that we would feel bad about it.

"Yeah...me too." I sighed out, returning my book to eye level...only for the doorbell to go off. Who in the hell would ring that devilish thing this early in the morning?

A familiar figure entered the room, her footsteps echoing inside the small apartment like always. Gura and I glanced at each other with a light grimace, already knowing that today wasn't going to be any more pleasant.

"Good morning you two, I've come bearing some news about your current investigation." The voice of Enma immediately slashed through the intensely depressing atmosphere, her aura reverberating in the small space. I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow to her statement.

"You know, entering without consent kind of defeats the point of ringing the doorbell." I reprimanded the woman with a casual scowl, to which she generously sent back with a harsher one. It would've been one tense scene if it wasn't for the constant beeping of Gura's console. "No matter, what's this about my investigation? I haven't sent my report yet."

"No need, it has already been resolved."

Panic instantly seized my being, my throat feeling impossibly dry. My hands were gripping the cover of the book I was reading tightly, the pages slightly getting crumpled from the act. My eyes quickly shot to my roommate, who seemed to be in a similar state of hysteria as me.

Did they already find out? Did they do something to Kiara?

"What do you mea-" I quickly springed out as I got up on my two feet, the book being tossed to the side carelessly. I didn't even have time to finish mouthing a demand for an explanation, as I was interrupted by a second figure coming inside the house.

"Kikkeriki! Good morning you two!"

A woman with familiar orange hair cascading down her figure arrived with a loud greeting, catching the Shrimp and I by complete surprise. This time, she was wearing a hoodie that matched her hair color perfectly, combined with hot pants that hugged her lower half.

My eyelids were practically non-existent, my eyes wide open in shock as a barrage of sentiment assaulted my sanity. What the hell was she doing here?! What was going on?! Why was Enma here with her?!

"What the fu-"

"Heeeeey, what the heck are you doing here?!" The Atlantean interrupted with furious anger, confusion, and...too many reactions to describe them all, jumping on the chair she was sitting on with a pointed finger. The katana wielder briefly glared at the shark girl, before clearing her throat as one of her hands gestured toward the newcomer.

"Hunter, I'd like to introduce the new Myth under your care, Takanashi Kiara, the phoenix. She arrived at our Hololive building, almost set fire to the place and threatened to burn this entire world if we didn't bring her to a caretaker called Hunter." She spoke up with stern professionalism, like nothing was wrong with this scene. The two of us switched our focus to Kiara, our stare begging for an acceptable reason as to why she was here. "As for you, Miss Kiara, I thought I told you to mind your volume."

"So, this is the place where I'll be pampered like a proper princess, huh? Heh, could be worse." The phoenix paid no mind to the manager, rose-colored eyes too busy scanning her new environment with glee. Needless to say, she was also ignoring us.

"W-wait, just like that?! I didn't even have time to prepare anything!" I yelled out in a rush as I shook my head in denial, not fully comprehending what I even shouted. My response was Enma flicking her glasses back up on her nose, handing me a folder containing a number of files. "Seriously…?"

"Next time, I'll attempt to contact you in advance. For now, you'll have to deal with it to the best of your capabilities."

At this point, the fear and adrenaline had slowly faded back in the deepest part of my brain, my body slouching in defeat. Why was the damn world against me at every opportunity? I slowly approached the manager as I dodged the two Myths having a conversation, extending a tired arm to grab the folder.

However, instead of handing me the document, Enma immediately closed the distance between the two of us by grabbing my arm. I attempted to yell out in protest until a throbbing pain crawled its way from my arm to my shoulder, courtesy of the woman clenching my limb like a mere toy.

"We'll let this one fly by since you are new and managed to bring the myth to us...however, if you ever attempt to pull a stunt like that again, you will face the consequences." She whispered close to my ear, sending another jolt of pain with a squeeze. I was left speechless in a mix of fear and anger, powerless to do anything about this predicament.

Just as fast as she had closed the distance, she quickly returned to her previous position, letting go of my arm to hand me the folder. I forced my hand to close on the heavy document as I glared at my attacker, almost dropping it as I gritted in pain. How much strength did she use?!

"Believe it or not, I would like to keep a good relationship between the two of us. So please, don't test the limit of your contract. I don't enjoy doing this." She continued with a neutral expression, always wearing a mask to avoid any sign of weakness. I shifted my gaze to the floor beneath my feet, not daring to refute anything. "Additional information will be provided by demand. Please send us an accurate report. That'll be all."

With that, my boss left the vicinity, leaving a confused caretaker with loads of additional problems on his plate. With a growl of frustration, I tossed the pile of paper on the table, rubbing my eyes with one hand.

Now, it was time to get my explanation.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why would you go to Cover Corp of all places?!" I did my best to keep myself calm, but I could feel the volcano boiling inside of me. What I did not expect was for the KFP manager to send me the most radiant smile in the world.

"Well, you gave me a choice...and that was my pick!" She answered instantly, almost with pride even. I could feel my brain cells slowly packing their things and leaving for permanent vacation, my right eye twitching uncontrollably.

"Clearly, there was a better option between the two! What about KFP?!"

"Meh, it was getting boring. Sure, it's fun and all, but there's only so much you can spice things up serving chicken to clients." She shrugged casually as she plopped- excuse me, threw herself on my couch with a satisfied moan.

"Did you really threaten them to burn the entire world?" Gura needlessly added with childish curiosity, her tail swishing left and right energetically. A toothy grin was her reply, which only fastened the pace of the midget's appendage.

"Don't encourage her dammit...Seriously, why would you give up your freedom for...this?" I gestured by throwing my arms in the air, indicating the small average looking apartment we were in. Kiara's playful nature carefully morphed into one of tranquility, locking her eyes with mine.

"I...I've experienced a lot of things, Hunter." She softly began, positioning herself more properly on the couch. Her tone was gentle, so gentle it caught me off guard. "I've done many things, done many professions...and I've been on the run many times before. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit exhausted from that last one. However, I've never been taken care of by my capturers! So, that's a new experience I wanna try out!"

With one floaty hop that almost seemed to defy the laws of physics, she bounced on her feet and made her way to the two of us. One hand quickly rested on the shark girl's head, said shark showing no protest against the improvised head pat. Her other one carefully laid itself on my cheek, warmth spreading at an impressive pace over my face.

This gesture wasn't a rude one, a sensual one, nor a patronizing one. It was a gentle, caring one, like a guardian taking someone under their wings. A phoenix sharing the heat of her flames, to be more in theme. Despite my caretaker title, I felt protected by her actions.

"Besides, you two seems like interesting people." She continued with a kind smile, shifting her eyes filled with compassion between the two of us. She finally let go of us as she walked away, my body immediately aching for the warmness of her touch as cold slowly crept back up. "Now, let's set up my arrival and have some fun, shall we?!"

"Hey, wait up pal, there's only one room and you can't have it, it's mine!" The Atlantean called out to her, rushing towards the phoenix with tiny hops.

"Then let's share it!"

"W-what!?"

"It's just the two of us, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"Then it won't be a problem!"

I could only stare at the two Myth already acting like buddies, the immortal being squishing the aquatic one's cheeks with reckless abandon. Mutters of protest mixed with squeals of compliments filled my home - our home. Somehow, I was perfectly fine with that result.

Just like that, Kiara Takanashi was part of our little group. Her reasoning made some logical sense, but most of it was awful. However, emotions and the heart would sometimes triumph over any logic. Why? Because it could, simple as that. Which is why I accepted such motivation for choosing the worst option possible.

After all, calling her out on it would be hypocritical of me, considering there was a time I did the exact same thing for a certain midget.

"God, this place is gonna need some serious decorating! Why is it so ugly?!"

...Guess we'll both have to deal with the consequences of picking the worst option.