Today's menu was curry.
Golden brown sauce drizzled onto steaming white rice. Chunks of firm, pale tofu blanketed the dish, topped with fiery chili peppers as garnish.
Asher remembered that Mei said she lived alone for eight years. As expected, he could tell the food was divine simply from the aroma alone.
Mei grinned as he took a deep whiff of the air around him.
"Aww, thank you~ But I promise it tastes even better than it smells!" She tapped the seat next to her, inviting him to take a seat.
He didn't have to be told twice.
His consciousness faded away at the first bite. In the haze of deliciousness, he could faintly hear Mei cackling uncontrollably as he shoved more and more food into his cheeks, turning him into a human chipmunk.
Even when he finished (in two minutes, no less), Mei hadn't taken a single bite. She was too busy wheezing her lungs out.
"Mei? What's wrong?"
She started choking, doubling over as Asher patted her back with worry.
"No," she coughed. "I-It's nothing to worry about. That was just... hahaha! Was it really that good?"
It was only then did he realize that he had finished an entire plate's worth of curry in less than three minutes.
"Yeah..." He stared at her, crestfallen, as she gasped for air once again.
"Hold on hold on. I have to eat too, you know?" Mei took her first bite. She must've been used to her own cooking, because she only made a slight moan of contentment from the back of her throat.
Within ten minutes, dinner was over. Poor Asher was too embarrassed to say anything, merely watching her as she ate.
Mei looked at his face as she finished, a giggle escaping from her lips. Life in the Backstreets, even as an ordinary citizen, was tough, stressful work. Getting mugged in the alley, or targeted by Syndicates for perceived slights were common occurrences.
Part of the reason laughter came to her so uncontrollably was to release all the tension from her mind and move forward to the next.
Now that Asher was a part of her life, Mei honestly had no idea what she would do without him anymore.
How did she even live before she met him?
She pecked his forehead, deep in thought.
Asher didn't interrupt, though he was slightly embarrassed, appreciating the quiet moment and Mei's motherly warmth.
"Wanna take a shower, Ashy?"
He nodded.
This was their home, their space away from the cruel Backstreets. Asher hadn't realized how tense his body was until it wasn't anymore.
"You go first then; I'll be cleaning the dishes. Pick some clothes out in the closet."
Asher stepped away as Mei focused on her task. Walking down the previously darkened corridor, he marvelled at how much the atmosphere of the place changed with the simple addition of ceiling lights.
For one, he could actually see his feet.
He entered her room, carefully digging through the closet to find some clothes to change into. If there was one place in the bedroom that wasn't tidy, it was here. He shifted his hands past mountains of assorted clothes before grabbing something that he could wear.
Asher pulled out a nondescript black and grey outfit, satisfied with his choice.
Off to the bathroom he went.
By the time he came out, Mei was already on the bed waiting for him. As he approached, he saw that her towel and sleepwear were already set beside her.
"Oh, don't you look nice~?" Mei clapped softly.
Asher smirked, flinging his hair back with exaggerated flair. They both grinned before Mei stood up to shower as well.
As he settled down on the sheets, another thought struck his mind.
'There was an Association called the Liu in that post where Vermillion Cross was made a Colored Fixer, right? Associations other than Hana... how many more are there?'
The Hana app would have the answers.
Checking the forums, there was an extra information page on the side, cleverly hidden by small font and light colored text.
Tapping on it, he found exactly what he was looking for.
The Associations.
The twelve of them were listed below, each with their own general descriptions. Of course, the Hana Association was the first one listed.
'Hana, Zwei, Tres, Shi, Cinq, Liu, Seven, Vosem, Novem, Deka, Oufi, Shneym... Damn, they sound foreign.'
He didn't even know how to say half of them.
'Except for the seventh one... Wait.'
Somehow, he could also understand the meaning of the fifth one, just like how he understood the meaning of 'L'heure du Loup' in his list of names.
'Cinq' meant five. With it being the fifth Association, he began to see a pattern.
Extrapolating past that, the 12 Associations should represent one of the first twelve numbers, each in a different language.
He wondered why they felt the need to name themselves so strangely.
His eyes sped through the descriptions for each of them.
Hana was the public image of all Fixers, gathering information on threats, as well as handling Fixer registration. The blue-uniformed Zwei excelled in bodyguard and protection contracts, working solely with independent contractors rather than Hana's threat system. The Tres evaluated and taxed Workshop items for the Head. Assassination work was delegated to the Shi, also using independent contracts... that one caught his attention.
'Assassination. That's what I said Sophie specialized in.' Should he try to meet them sometime, to blend in as a regular Fixer? Perhaps. He would think about that later.
The world was a bigger place than he imagined. Even with eleven other Associations like the Hana, life in the Backstreets was still so lawless.
His train of thought was broken as the sound of running water shut off.
Mei flung open the door, finished changing out of her day clothes.
The lights clicked off one by one.
When she came back to the bedroom, she found Asher fixing the bed and rearranging the blankets into straight rectangles.
She smiled, ruffling his hair from behind.
They wordlessly crawled into bed, sighing as the mattress wrapped around them.
Cold air and fluffy sheets, perfect for floating away to dreamland.
"Hey Asher, how's Sophie doing now?" Mei turned to him as a thought flickered in her mind.
He froze, muttering an inaudible complaint under his breath. He would have to get used to this sort of thing, he reminded himself.
"She's doing great, actually. Well, she's a Fixer like me. It's been busy for us these days."
Mei gasped, as if she thought of a great idea.
"You're working together?? How's the Office coming along?"
Asher was rendered speechless by Mei's ungodly leap in logic. But now that he thought about it...
'Wouldn't that be super cool?' The logistics of having two of the same person in the same Office didn't bother him, he could figure something out. But it would make certain things much easier, since all his forms could be 'gathered' in one place.
He could head out as Asher, Sophie, or whatever Synchronizations he got down the road without gathering any suspicion, as long as he kept the office strictly locked away from the eyes of visitors.
He ran with the thought, thinking of all the scenarios that could happen with his future one man Office.
"Er... we haven't done that just yet. Soon." He hid his excitement from Mei, as explaining to her wouldn't do him any good.
"Good, good..." Mei fell asleep, muttering softly. Soon Asher followed in suit, closing his eyes.
...
*BAM BAM BAM*
Asher gasped as he shot up from bed. He felt a tug on his sleeve.
Mei had heard it too. There was someone slamming on their door.
Before they could say anything-
"Mei! Please, open the door!" A shrill woman's voice screamed in desperation. A child's wail could be heard amidst the clamor as well.
"...Bellecote?" Mei calmed Asher with a wave of her hand. The boy had already switched to his E.G.O, prepared to fight.
But she knew this woman. She was her next-door neighbor, and one of her oldest friends. They had been together since they were children.
Mei opened the door tentatively, yelping in shock as Bellecote burst through the door in tears.
"Calm down, calm down. What happened? Why are you up so late?"
The woman buried her head into Mei's arms.
"P-Prescript in- hic- in the afternoon. Midnight, h-have to-" Her voice turned incomprehensible as she hugged the small girl behind her.
The girl didn't know what was going on, but she reacted to her mother's tight, sorrowful embrace by bawling loudly. It was like her mother was saying goodbye.
But what would she be leaving for?
"KEEP IT DOWN, BITCHES!" A voice hollered at them from next door, startling them.
That only caused the little girl to cry louder.
"T-There there. I'm h-h-h..." Bellecote tried to console her daughter, but ended up simply sealing the girl's mouth shut with her hand.
Asher glanced at Mei. She seemed to know what was happening. Her eyes were glistening with tears.
Bellecote dragged in a shuddering breath, pushing the girl towards them.
"Keep her safe. Please?" She wrenched out a pitiful whimper from the bottom of her soul.
Mei didn't comfort her with words. The atmosphere was somber, like a funeral. The woman was already dead, only animated by dread and despair. Mei pulled Bellecote into her arms, hugging the usually soft-spoken librarian tightly. She grit her teeth until her gums bled.
Mei nodded grimly, pulling the girl toward her side.
Without another word, Bellecote turned away, looking at her daughter one last time before running away.
Mei closed the door, locking it securely. She took a board beside her, nailing the door shut even tighter in silence.
Asher was dumbfounded by the series of events, but he knew better than to question. Not yet. He positioned the girl onto his lap, cooing softly as he tried to calm her down. The sniffling slowly faded, and the girl fell asleep in his arms. She must have been exhausted.
"Asher. I'll sleep in the kitchen. You sleep with Alicia."
He shook his head.
"Let's sleep together, the three of us. No sense in splitting up for no reason."
Mei opened her mouth to argue, but decided it wasn't worth it. She just lost a good friend today, one she had known for nearly a decade, in a single minute-long exchange.
Asher placed the sleeping girl in the middle as both of them wormed into their blankets. The lighthearted atmosphere from earlier was gone.
He didn't know how long they stayed awake for, but it seemed like hours before he heard snoring from Mei's side, and years until his own eyes drooped shut.
Bellecote mentioned the Prescripts... What exactly happened?
A sharp scream pierced the night air. Another life, taken by the Backstreets.
The red glare of a Sweeper's visor pierced the fog. Soon, Bellecote's liquified body filled the tank on its back.
...
Early morning.
Lying in the alley was a single severed index finger beside a fish's body, a small remnant of the past.
A white cloaked man emerged from the ground. He bent down, gingerly stashing the finger in his cloak.
"Now, where is that child?"
The manacles chained on his wrist lifted from the ground as he looked upward. His gaze seemed to pierce through the layers of concrete, locking onto Alicia sleeping beside a boy and a woman.
"That's Asher, my Lord?"
"..."
"Yes, I understand."
He melted into the air, disappearing in an instant.