None of the Shi Fixers bothered with Asher as he left; they were too occupied by their own worries. All of them seemed to smile and laugh along with their comrades, but their eyes betrayed their true emotions.
The friends they laughed with today could die tomorrow, without any warning or chance to say goodbye.
Even so, they wore the symbol of death on their body with pride.
Oddly enough, the despairing atmosphere of the Shi was almost cathartic for him. The sheer hopelessness and acceptance of death opened his mind, and took his mind off of Yan, something he desperately needed.
Asher walked out of the Shi Association building, travelling along the tunnel that led back to the alleys, stopping in front of a single-way door to the outside
He pushed it open absentmindedly.
Sophie's dress fluttered around in the wind as Asher tried to manage his blond hair.
Life sure was confusing with these different forms and synchronizations. Speaking of, what reward would the [Grave of Cherry Blossoms] give? Hopefully more Fortitude.
He checked the time on his phone, but it was only a few minutes past two o'clock.
Since Asher didn't really have anything to do, he planned to head home and do some research about creating Offices in the afternoon.
Asher wanted to keep his promise with Pete and his friends, even if that meant jeopardizing his 'one man Office' that he looked forward to.
...
Right when he got home, he took a shower. The filthy muck from the rain-soaked streets made him feel dirty.
Asher hummed as he stepped out of the shower, having desynchronized to his original body. If he were to wash himself while synchronized with Sophie... he shook his head violently to clear his thoughts.
He picked out a light denim outfit with two pockets, for both of his phones.
Fitting each of them into their respective pockets, he made a mental note to always force himself to use the phone belonging to the form he was in, which was currently 'Asher'.
It was a confusing process. If he ever got more synchronizations who became Fixers...
'I'd be the phone man, lord of all phones.' Asher chuckled to himself as he entered the forums.
A pinned thread near the top helpfully read 'TO FORM AN OFFICE'.
Using the deductive prowess from his 30 Insight, he figured that post was the one he should read.
Turned out it was fairly simple. It only required two or more founding members to show up in person to formalize the Office and get the official documents, then any subsequent Fixers could just hand in a few verification things by themselves to join the Office.
In a way, this process made it easier for him and his synchronizations to live under the same Office.
He was already planning to form the Office as Sophie, and he felt that it wouldn't be too difficult to slide 'Asher' in after that.
Sophie's phone beckoned to him in his pocket. Namely, his Line contact with Pete.
In order to not break the rules he set, he walked into the bathroom, transforming into Sophie to take her phone out.
What was all this trouble for? Asher believed that, although he already treated Sophie as a separate being, people might see through his disguise if he kept mixing his actions together. For the best disguise, not only appearance but also emotions and actions had to become completely different from form to form.
Confusing? Yes. But Asher truly believed that it would help in the long run.
He pressed Pete's contact, typing out a short message to arrive in front of the Hana Association as soon as possible.
Pete soon responded, agreeing almost immediately. Aiko butted in, stealing Pete's phone to let Asher know - with feverish haste - that they would be there in ten minutes or so.
Asher smiled, closing his phone. One casual sweep around the room to see if he forgot anything, and then he was gone, making his way to form his first Office.
When he arrived, Pete and his friends had already waited for a few minutes. But instead of impatience, their faces showed excitement at what was to come.
Asher snuck beside them, invisible to the vision of ordinary people. Raising a single finger, he tapped Pete on the back.
"Wah-!" The teen yelped subconsciously, turning around just in time to see Sophie deactivating her invisibility. Pete scratched his cheek sheepishly as Sophie stared at him with emotionless eyes.
"Thank you all for waiting. Shall we proceed?"
They all nodded, following Asher's lead as he walked them through the doors. They were an odd group of people, especially with Pete and his friends basically dressed in rags.
The Hana Fixers didn't seem to mind their appearance, but the Fixer candidates waiting to be tested certainly did. Aiko shrank back behind Asher as a few people stared at them. It was odd how the Hana Fixers didn't even bat an eye at their floors being caked with dust and muck from the three's dirty clothes.
"Oh, Sophie, Aiko. Hello there." Harold popped out of the laboratory down the hall, coincidentally finishing his work right as they were approaching the receptionist. The man noticed them immediately, waving to each of them with polite formality.
Asher waved at him in the same cordial manner, but Aiko almost fainted at the sight of the man. She was captivated by Harold's dark green hair and the slight smile he had on his face.
Aiko stammered a greeting, replacing it with a longing farewell as Harold hurriedly walked away down the hall.
The Grade 2 Fixer could only spare a moment from his work. Unlike many other Associations, the Hana Fixers worked in labs and research facilities for most of their time. They only ventured outside to eliminate threats that the Head itself had taken an interest of.
Otherwise, they hid their presence in the City, contributing to the vast amount of information available to the Fixer population. They were one of the hidden giants of the City. If the Hana sent their Fixers after a threat, even a Star... its elimination was inevitable.
Before Aiko could die of embarrassment as her friends stared at her, Asher stepped up to the reception table. He was used to the sight of the receptionist sitting motionlessly behind the table, but he couldn't help but shiver as she tilted her head at him again.
"Welcome to Section 12's Hana Association. Is there any assistance we might be able to provide?"
The same monotone voice. He'd have to get used to this too, he realized.
"I wish to form an Office with these three people over here." He bowed politely, gesturing to the three people behind him.
"Yes, Miss. The names of you and your companions?"
Pete blinked. It was this easy to make an Office?
"My name is Sophie. She's Aiko, and those two are Mangchi and Pete." He listed their names in rapid succession as the receptionist typed on her computer.
"Who will be the Captain of your Office?"
"Me." Asher looked behind him, but all the others seemed to approve.
Aiko gave him a reassuring thumbs up as well.
Then came the hard part.
"What shall your Office be known as?" The receptionist asked for the name of their Office, which none of them had thought of yet.
The four of them huddled around, discussing a suitable name.
Surprisingly, it was Mangchi who suggested the name 'Sophie's Office'.
And even more surprisingly, it was Asher himself who shot the idea down.
Though he could appreciate Mangchi's intention, it just felt too bland. There wasn't anything that stood out with the name, unlike 'Dawn Office' or even 'Hook Office', the one Yan told him about along with the Dawn Office that time.
But then something happened. An epiphany of sorts. Asher remembered, through the fog of his sealed memories, a single word.
Chimère. The mythical beast made of several different animals combined into one. It was from the same language that the word 'Cinq' from the Cinq Association was. Maybe he was proficient in the language in his past/future life.
"Chimère. The Chimère Office." A grand name that he hoped to fulfill, with his synchronizations as the 'animals' that composed the divine beast of myth.
And Pete, Aiko, and Mangchi too, though he didn't really know how they would fit in. Maybe they could be the tails?
Pete looked at his friends, then shrugged. Sophie was the one who saved them, so they didn't really have much say in the name she wanted.
The receptionist blurred with movement as she collected the documents needed for their Office, stamping and printing and doing all sorts of things in a fraction of a second.
She placed a stack of papers in front of them, still warm from the friction of her sudden movement.
"Welcome, Chimère Office. We wish only for your success or failure. The papers in your hands contain the details of your Office, which you can read in your own time. Is there any other assistance we might be able to provide?"
Asher shook his head, looking back at his new employees. Even Mangchi was a bit slack-jawed; their upgrade to stable employment came from a simple minute-long exchange. They sighed with a smile, mentally kicking themselves for falling to crime instead of becoming Fixers earlier in life.
But past their joking demeanors, they all knew the reason why they didn't become Fixers earlier.
The life of a Fixer was dangerous, no matter what rank. Forty percent of Fixers died within three years of introduction, sixty percent within the first ten. The lucrative job hid a dark, open secret. Sophie's threat was the one that provided the incentive for them.
"Let's go." Asher checked his phone. Just about three o'clock.
As they followed him out of the Hana Association in crestfallen silence, Asher ran his finger across the stack of papers the receptionist gave them.
"Want to read this thing in one of your hideouts?" Since it was still light outside, he might as well go over it with his new employees.
They nodded in agreement, wishing to know what they got into. Surely it would be better than their old life.
Aiko tapped her temple in concentration, before exclaiming out loud.
"Belyn block! We haven't used the basement one in two weeks!" She skipped off, taking the lead as she already had a hideout in mind.
Asher shrugged, following after her.
...
The Belyn block was a street of ordinary looking apartment buildings, teeming with the nameless, futureless rabble of the Backstreets. The residents here worked ordinary day-night jobs like Mei's, never having a chance to improve their life.
Many of them accepted the Prescripts, in a pitiful attempt to save money to move to a better block. Some unfortunate souls even believed they could get into the Nest, but the Prescripts only made their lives more miserable in the end.
Aiko gestured to the side of one of the apartments, which she explained had an unused basement hidden under the building.
She pointed to one of the vents on the side that led to the basement.
"So we can just go-" She froze. The rusted vent cover was lying in a patch of grass, a few feet away from the vent.
"Someone's in there." Pete hissed quietly, reaching for his knife like a monster would shoot out of the vents at any moment.
Mangchi grunted, pulling out a pair of sickles hidden inside his jacket.
Asher calmed them down with a wave of his hand.
"I'll just go down there, alright? Hold this for me." He handed the papers to Pete before fading into thin air.
Aiko looked at her friends. The two of them looked feral, staring at the vent cover with the weary experience of the rats of the Backstreets. They were used to scurrying away at the moment of danger, and preying on the weakest of society. So which one was it? To run, or to fight?
"Uh, guys... We're Fixers now, remember?"
The Pete and Mangchi blinked, hiding their weapons back inside their clothes.
Right, their Captain could handle this. She was the one who saved their lives, after all.