Jay awoke from his dreams to find his vision obscured by a green Post-it. He removed it from his face then held it up with his hand and squinted as he read the note written legibly in very small letters.
"Good morning Jay! I'll be going back to my Division Branch today. It might be a long time until we see each other again unless fate has other plans. I already took my keys back but I left you a spare for the apartment. That's right, you're going to be staying here a while. The Paladin wants to meet you at the his office this afternoon. Please try not to be late again. Love lots! Try not to die until I see you again."
~Myse
Who knew that Myse had this side to her? Jay thought to himself. If he ever told anyone about this side of her, no one would believe him and he would probably be taken away to undergo a Psych Eval. After a few more minutes of staring at the ceiling, he got up from the bed with a groan and placed the note on the nightstand.
As Myse had stated in the note, the bundle of keys were now gone from the nightstand save for one. Jay sighed to himself as he thought about how he failed to detect Myse entering the apartment despite his heightened senses.
Even when asleep, his body was trained to be always alert and on the lookout for presences that would enter his range of perception. And despite that, Myse managed to go about and do her business in the apartment, and she even managed to post a sticky note on his face without rousing him from his slumber. Had she been an enemy, Jay would have been very dead. He could only stand amazed at the drastic difference between their level of ability.
Jay decided to take another shower despite taking one last night. He yawned as he stretched his body and proceeded to do warm-ups and exercise to maintain his level of fitness. After a few minutes of exercise, he entered the bathroom and noticed condensation on the bathroom mirror, another piece of evidence that Myse was indeed here. He drew a smiley face on the glass and gave a light chuckle as he stepped into the shower.
After the hot shower, Jay inspected the clothes he wore yesterday and gave them a sniff. "Agh, as expected, they smell a bit."
Tossing them at a chair, Jay walked around the apartment with only a towel covering his lower body. He wandered around, looking for a dresser or closet of some kind that would undoubtedly contain Myse's clothes. "Based on her personality, I'm pretty sure that most of her clothes are ones that are usually worn by guys. She wouldn't mind if I borrow some of them."
He finally found a door that leads to somewhere like a storage room. To be honest, Jay wouldn't be surprised if Myse stored her clothes in a place like that.
"Hmm, I wonder if any of them would fit me. Myse did look like she gained a bit of weight. Guess I'll just have to- HOLY SHIT!" Jay screamed as he closed the door with a speed 3 times faster than when he opened it. His cheeks were flushed red in embarrassment and his breaths came in uneven intervals. It took a while before he could finally calm himself then pushed whatever he saw to the darkest corner of his mind.
"Okay! Reusing clothes it is!" He declared to no one in particular and sauntered off to grab his discarded clothes. His uniform, which he had placed on a hanger the night before, was surprisingly ironed and neatly folded when he found them placed on top of a small table, presumably the work of Myse.
He inhaled their scent and found that they didn't smell that bad. His only problem lay in his underwear. He immediately grabbed them from where he tossed them earlier and made a run for the shower. There, he he rinsed them under the shower and manually washed them by hand, using body soap as a terrible substitute for detergent.
After wringing the water out of his clothes, he immediately tossed the wet clothes into the dryer and turned it on, finally sighing in relief as he leaned on the washing machine while waiting for the items to dry.
"Oh?" He came to a sudden realization as he looked down at the appliance he was leaning on. "Motherf-"
Jay finally got out of the apartment wearing the same uniform he wore yesterday. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he scanned the area around the complex as he balanced himself on the guard railing.
He plotted his course from the apartment to the shopping district with his eyes while deciding what to do or buy there.
Finally making up his mind, Jay grinned as he hopped off the iron railing then fell straight to the ground. He immediately bent his knees and rolled to lessen the impact after touchdown, praising himself for pulling it off without making a sound.
Jay got up and dusted himself off before walking away as if jumping down from the third floor was perfectly normal.
He didn't have a watch, but he estimated the time to be around 9 AM based on how high the sun was in the sky. After over 2 years, Jay finally had a morning where he didn't need to rush over to somewhere. A smile crept on his face as Jay finally relaxed and enjoyed the walk.
A platoon of regular soldiers jogged past him in cadence while chanting along to the drill sergeant leading the way. Birds chirped and sang to each other happily as they flew from branch to branch, and tree to tree.
Jay sighed in wonder as he quietly enjoyed the cool shade provided by the trees planted in regular intervals at the side of the road. He never really had free time to take walks in parks and if he did, there wouldn't be any in the city he was currently assigned to, so he was taking in every moment right now.
The sidewalks and the streets gradually grew busier as he approached the shopping district. Everyone he saw there were either off-duty personnel or on break, eager to get food better than the ones they usually served at the canteens.
The peace and tranquility that accompanied Jay on his walk disappeared in the hubbub. He huffed in annoyance as he realized he still hasn't eaten breakfast, so he half-heartedly selected a small restaurant that seemed like it had the least number of customers and went inside.
His surroundings immediately fell quiet as he shut the door behind him, the change was so abrupt that it was as if he had entered another dimension. Jay couldn't help but look around in awe as he noticed the temperature inside was just right and the pleasant smell of food tickled his taste buds. The lighting wasn't too bright and there were only a few decorations other than framed scenic photos and a couple of potted indoor plants.
Jay sat himself at a table for two and picked up the menu, quietly browsing through it with his eyes while discreetly scanning his surroundings out of habit.
There were only a few customers seated at tables across the restaurant, silently eating their meal with a dignified bearing. Most of them were civilians, which was not that surprising since this sector of the compound was where the entrance was and acted as the connection between the base and the city.
A waitress arrived to take his order and then immediately left after writing it down.
Unable to sit still for long periods, Jay absent-mindedly began tapping his finger on the table as he thought about what else to do with his free time.
He looked at the restaurant's wall clock and clicked his tongue in annoyance as he saw that it was broken. And before he knew it, his mood was becoming worse for no particular reason. He frowned at the sight of a sweet couple at the next table, grimaced as the chair squeaked every time he leaned back against it, and gnashed his teeth in frustration at the indescribable feeling welling up from his gut. His blood boiled as he fought the urge to do something, anything, as long as he's doing something.
"Here is your order sir." the waitress interrupted his thoughts with her cheerful smile as she placed his food on the table. Letting out an exhausted sigh, Jay slumped into his seat turned to the waitress.
"Thank you." he smiled at her as she left then looked at his order. It was an omelette filled with with cheese, bacon bits, and mushrooms; a simple combination, but Jay loved it after inhaling its aroma and began to eat in silence.
A crash sounded behind him, and Jay's instincts suddenly went haywire. He immediately freed his pistol from its holster and took a firing position as he aimed it at a terrified looking waitress sitting on the floor while holding an empty tray with broken plates and glass around her.
Realizing what he had just done, Jay hastily put the firearm away and tried to help the frightened waitress, but she shied away from the helping hand he extended towards her. He felt all the eyes in the restaurant look at him, and he instantly felt ashamed of his behavior. "I'm very sorry miss." he mustered an apology and turned away.
"Why am I getting jumpy?" he murmured to himself as he prepared to leave without finishing his meal. After paying for the meal and leaving a generous tip for the waitress as an apology, Jay once again found himself wandering around the streets of the shopping district, saluting the higher ranked officers he met and in turn, getting saluted by NCOs.
And before he knew it, Jay had already found himself in front of the thick oak double doors of the Division Headquarters. He let out a sigh as he walked past the Sentinels standing guard and made his way inside the building.
The halls were less busier today compared to when he came here yesterday, but it was still filled with people.
He navigated the corridors to Commander Myse's office and stood in front of the door. He knocked on the wooden door hoping for the slight chance that Myse was still there. A few minutes have passed but the door still showed no signs of opening.
Jay loudly exhaled as he accepted the fact that his venture was in vain. Just as he was about to leave, the door's lock suddenly clicked open. As he returned his attention to the door, he noticed that the door was already ajar.
"Commander Myse?" he called out. No reply came. Jay looked around and found that the hallway where he currently is was devoid of people. He could hear the sound of people from the other hallways but nobody seemed to pass by the one he was in.
His instincts were screaming at him to struggle for his life like what it did back at the restaurant. Slowly, he reached for the door with one shaking hand while he took out his pistol from its holster with the other.
He pushed the door open and then tensed as he scanned the room with his weapon at the ready. When nothing jumped out to tear him to shreds, Jay eased up a bit but still heightened his guard when he noticed that could no longer hear the sounds of people from other hallways. It was if he was isolated from the outside world.
Clenching his teeth to hide his nervousness, Jay stormed inside the office, weapon always pointed in front as he scanned the room. The door slammed shut behind him, but he had already expected that cliché to happen, so he wasn't surprised.
He felt the presence of someone else moving around the room, but he couldn't pinpoint their exact position. Jay was starting to feel afraid, but he didn't let it show, focusing instead on locking on to the mysterious intruder.
Through a combination of intuition, calculation, and sheer luck, Jay managed to accurately guess where the intruder was. He quickly aimed his pistol at their direction then opened fire.
He heard the sound of ricocheting bullets and immediately felt the intruder close in on him despite not being able to see them. The pistol was knocked out of his hand and Jay was sent flying to the wall as something hit his midriff, causing him to cough up blood.
Jay was dazed from the impact but managed to regain enough senses to draw the two combat daggers strapped to his wrists.
"Lesser Healing." Jay casted the highest healing spell he could cast with his ability on himself. He nearly let out a sigh of relief as the mana transformed into healing energy that soothed his wounds and mended what broken bones he sustained from slamming against the wall.
"Lesser Gift of Wind Lightning. Stone Fortress. Lesser Flame Blessing..." Jay then casted support and enhancement spells on himself in quick succession, finally finishing within three seconds.
The intruder finally revealed himself to Jay, seemingly materializing out of thin air in the middle of the room. The only thing that Jay could see clearly was the longsword the intruder single-handedly held in his right hand. The intruder however, was unrecognizable; sometimes appearing as a woman, an old man, or a young soldier, constantly changing clothes and appearance multiple times within a single second.
Just looking at the intruder gave Jay a headache, so he decided to stick to what he would always do; knock the dude out then ask questions later.
Jay darted forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, appearing blurry to an average spectator as he moved towards his opponent.
Flashing in front of the intruder, Jay slashed his daggers, but the intruder just casually leaned back to avoid the path of the incoming blades.
Suddenly, Jay seemed to be able to see everything move in slow motion. He watched in horror as the intruder clenched their fist and see the mana from the air converge around it and then ignite into blue flames.
"Silent Casting?!!" Time resumed flowing normally and the fist that was at the intruder's side suddenly found itself buried into Jay's stomach. Jay's eyes widened as searing hot pain assaulted his pain receptors.
Jay quickly kicked off the ground in an attempt to distance himself but the intruder was much faster. The intruder followed after him and swung their long sword.
He had just barely blocked the attack when Jay saw the same sword coming from the other direction. "Bloody hell." Jay cursed as he lifted his other arm to block the attack with his other dagger.
The blow carried more force than he anticipated, resulting in him having his direction forcefully changed while in midair.
Jay angled and adjusted his body properly in order to land on the ground properly, but felt his stomach sink when he saw the intruder waiting for him at the place where he was about to land.
"Wind-Lightning Stride!" Jay yelled as he cast the spell. He suddenly disappeared from the air with a crack of thunder as he broke the sound barrier and seemingly instantaneously appeared behind the intruder with daggers at the ready. Lightning trails crackled while a fierce gale blew inside the room, highlighting the path Jay traveled as he moved with an unbelievable speed to get behind the intruder.
Just as he was about to bury the daggers into the intruder's back, Jay gasped in pain and looked down just in time see the blade of the intruder's longsword disappear through his chest and out his back.
He weakly let go his daggers as he listened to the sound of his blood dripping onto the tiled floor of Myse's office. His head drooped down in defeat but then his hands suddenly shot out to grab hold onto the intruder's arms.
"I'm not dying until I at least do a number on you." Jay spat a mouthful of blood and grinned as the remaining mana inside his body began to run wild.