A/N: To everyone, I'm sorry if some of you guys find my English so bad that it's unbearable. I'm going to make this clear, I ain't a native speaker and my grammar suck ass. I don't have a beta-reader, and grammar-fixing tools only made my fics even more unbearable, even for someone who's supposed to be bad at grammar like me. So, those who have been reading this and haven't complained till now, thanks for the support, and sorry if I can't deliver a story with decent English.
Also, to some of you, it's better not to say 'I don't wanna be rude' when criticizing, because, ironically, it makes you sound rude. And to new readers, I don't translate fics because, as I said earlier, my English suck ass.
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"Tch...luck truly isn't on my side," Zhao mutters as she reads through the file she had received from Caelus earlier while eating her carrot. After dropping off Caelus and his friends, Zhao drove away from them as far as possible. The primal fear she felt keeps her restless, and the mistakes she made didn't help either.
The biggest mistake she made so far is to blurt out 'I'll do anything' to a literal devil.
"M-Mmmph..." Zhao turns to see a man getting his body squeezed by a giant hand emerging from a portal while shakily typing something on the computer with only one hand.
"Stop moaning and quickly do your job, unless you want to face worse consequences," Zhao says with an ugly frown. She had thought that dealing with a human wielding a bomb in the palm of his hand was bad enough, but when she dug into this man's dirty laundry, it only made her mood sour. "You're lucky that we didn't take any drastic measures and even gave you a chance to reduce any punishment you deserved."
"MMMPPPHH!!" The man moves his finger quickly as Zhao groans in annoyance. After the man finishes his job, he receives a chop on the back of the neck and is knocked unconscious. From the shadow, a young woman with black and white hair, holding a hula hoop in her left hand and a telephone in her right hand.
"When you call me to help you with business, I was expecting us to punish a lot of people since you tend to do things alone and make yourself look even more valuable," The woman says as she puts the telephone on her back. "I wasn't expecting this to be such trivial stuff."
"I drag you with me because of all the complaints we receive from all the customers, all of them are about you. The boss specifically requested me to drag you away from the office to avoid you from touching the customer service for a while." Zhao says with a dry tone. "And since it was from the boss herself, I can't exactly refuse her request, can I?"
"Yes, but I believe you may lie about a few things, Senior," The woman says with a sly smirk, subtly pointing at her ears as Zhao huffs.
"Believe whatever you want, and just do what I asked, Dialyn," Zhao says as the woman, Dialyn, giggles.
"Did you forget? I already did," Dialyn notices Zhao stiffen a bit as she rubs her forehead, silently groaning in frustration. "You know, I never got to ask this, but you seem to be even more frustrated than before, which is weird given how you successfully did your job, senior."
"I'd rather if you don't ask, our jobs have gotten even more complicated since the higher-ups had to deal with even more trouble after the Canvas Street incident," Zhao grumbles.
"Yeah, a lot of TOPS' allied companies had to deal with troubles ever since Perlman got captured and the disappearance of his accomplice." Dialyn muses as Zhao looks at the man and starts dragging him away.
"The sooner we deal with this 'Exaltist', the less work we get..." Zhao mutters, which startles Dialyn as she wasn't expecting her, of all people, to complain about more work.
"Okay, what is going on?" Dialyn asks in disbelief. "Who are you and what have you done with the real senior Zhao? She would never wish for fewer works."
"...did I make an impression of a loyal employee who's eager to overwork myself?" Zhao mutters in confusion.
"With how much you desires for seeing more valuable to the organization-," Dialyn pauses upon noticing Zhao's subtle flinch. "Okay, now you're acting even weirder than before. Why are you flinching?"
"..." Zhao glances away as she distracts herself by staring at the unconscious man. Ever since the Legwork family got exposed, her mind hasn't stopped thinking about the incident.
The first thing that keeps playing in her mind is Phil, who is known to be very valuable to his 'family'. Being from a poor household, she, along with her relatives, desires money, and her parents have this rule of 'whoever gets more profit gets more to eat'. Being adorable and small made her an easy prey, and her relatives have abandoned her as they labeled her as worthless.
She had believed those who have value deserved to be seen, and everyone would pour everything for them because of it. But, seeing how the Legwork family made her question everything.
When she first met the Legwork family, she was honestly jealous of how the Legworks described their son, and she was a bit angry at how Phil took things for granted. He had gotten everything she desired, and he tossed it away just because he had lost some freedom.
But, upon meeting him, she can't help but notice how he wasn't acting like someone who received privilege thanks to his values. She notices how he acted like a scared child, the speech that mirrors her and her relatives' mentality, and how the valued person isn't as blessed as she used to think.
Then, she reads the files. She had thought her family was worse for abandoning her for being worthless, but somehow the Legwork managed to prove her wrong. That was the first time she was horrified when digging into people's dark secrets.
And speaking of horrifying, she can't stop thinking about Caelus out of her mind. That man is terrifyingly abnormal and not in a good way. His presence alone manages to scare her to the core, and her animal instinct prevents her from thinking of a way to deal with him. It's one of the reasons she recklessly offers him to do 'anything' for an information that's not even worth that much. If she wasn't overtaken by her primal fear, she would offer an equivalent exchange, but after everything, she can't pull her words back.
It didn't help that Caelus made sure to record her words. She was ashamed to admit that she had underestimated the young man, as she wasn't expecting him to display intelligence while letting anger control him. But then again, it was her fault, as it was obvious the young man was still in control when he chose to simply bitchslapped the Legwork instead of killing them.
If it wasn't for the 'deal' she made and being overtaken by fear, she would have been laughing at the scene.
"Senior?" Zhao snaps out of her thought as Dialyn calls the rabbit Thiren. "You okay? You're not answering my question."
"...I'm just stressed at how difficult it was to just get some information," Zhao grumbles, trying to not to reveal her actual thoughts. "Trying to gather something without a lead isn't ideal at all. You'll feel like a headless chicken running around a crowded area."
"...that'll explain why some of your fur turns white..." Dialyn mutters quietly. Zhao grips the man tighter, pretending that she didn't just hear her senior calling her old.
"...whatever..." Zhao mutters as she and Dialyn walk out of the university while dragging the university's dean out of the empty building.
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Meanwhile
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"..." A black-haired woman with a pair of long fox ears stares at the television while silently eating a plate of melon. The television displays news about the Legwork family being arrested while keeping the reason behind their arrest a secret.
"To think the Legwork family would get arrested in the middle of the night...I wonder what's the reason behind it..." A pink-haired woman with glasses mutters with a frown while twiddling the pen in her hand.
"Ugh, can I leave now? It's already 11 pm..." A man with black hair and a yellow headband groans as he slumps into a pile of paperwork.
"Well, if you hadn't slackened off during the office hour, all of us would have finished our work earlier." The pink-haired woman says in annoyance.
"How am I supposed to know we got a pile of reports about potential recruits!?" The man whines.
"It's your fault for not preparing for the unexpected," The pink-haired woman scolds. "In our line of work, you should expect the unexpected, like the unpredictability of the Hollow, the sudden appearance of a mysterious criminal group, and so on."
"Hah..." The man sighs as he buries his face in the pile of paperwork. "Why did I even take this job again? Oh, right...money..."
"Gosh..." The pink-haired woman rubs the bridge of her nose before glancing at a young child with spiky white hair, a pair of horns, and blue skin sleeping next to her. She lets out a sigh before smiling at the child.
"...I know Soukaku is a child, but I feel the treatment I receive is slightly unfair..." The man mutters as he notices the scene.
"We could talk about how you were treated once you find a way to turn yourself into a child," The pink-haired woman says in a deadpan manner.
"..." The man could only pout. The pink-haired woman rolls her eyes before she picks up one of the papers from the pile, and she blinks upon seeing the content.
"..." She takes off her glasses before using a napkin to wipe the lenses and putting them back on. She blinks again before rubbing her eyes and taking another look.
"...okay, clearly I may have overworked a bit..." The woman mutters, getting everyone's attention except the sleeping child.
"Yanagi, are you feeling tired? You should get some rest. Training without rest will only bring harm," The fox-earred woman says as the pink-haired woman, Yanagi, shakes her head.
"Ah, sorry Chief Miyabi..." Yanagi says as the fox-earred woman, Miyabi, slowly approaches her while holding a plate of melon. "I think my eyes are acting up again because I saw a report of a potential candidate having a 100 Ether Aptitude."
"...yep, you really need some rest." The man blinks at the statement before he uses it as an opportunity to convince her to clock off. The man needs his sleep.
"Let me take a look," Miyabi says as she glances at the paper. "Hmm, no. Your eyes are perfectly fine, Yanagi. It is truly stated that this young man called 'Caelus' has the 100 Ether Aptitude."
"Wait, Caelus? As in that 'Canvas Street Hero' Caelus?" The man asks in surprise, catching both Yanagi's and Miyabi's attention.
"Did you know about this man?" Yanagi asks as the man blinks.
"...you guys have watched the news, right? I mean, it was mentioned for a few weeks already." The man says in confusion.
"Oh...right, I forgot..." Yanagi mutters as she looks away, slightly blushing in embarrassment.
"...you really need a rest," The man says with a hint of concern in his voice.
"...maybe I did," Yanagi mutters as Miyabi gently takes the paper away.
"Let me finish the paperwork for you," Miyabi says as she glances at the paper. "You, along with Harumasa and Soukaku, should get some rest. Perhaps, taking a few days off might be ideal given how much work you have done these past few days."
"...But, that potential recruit is the last one on the list..." Yanagi mutters as Miyabi gently pats her shoulder.
"Then, let me deal with this," Miyabi says with determination. "As your chief, I order you to take a few days off."
"...you always use the 'chief' card like this..." Yanagi mutters with a sigh before she gently carries Soukaku.
"Um..." The man, Harumasa, sneakily appears next to Miyabi. "Chief, may-?"
"No."/"No." Both Miyabi and Yanagi say in unison, causing Harumasa to slump down.
"You guys didn't even let me finish..." Harumasa sighs before walking away, and Yanagi follows suit. Miyabi watches them leave the office and stares at the paper.
"...why would an HIA candidate end up in a list of potential HAND recruits? Did someone mistakenly put it there?" Miyabi mutters as she looks into the reports. She turns to the next page, and she blinks upon noticing that a lot of people from the HIA game club and even someone from the Defense Force have vouched for the young man, which piques her interest.
To be continued