As the gust of wind cut through the stillness of the night, Claude's ears pricked up, attuned to the sudden disturbance.
"What on earth are you up to?" raked Claude's ears. As he gingerly removed his earpiece, his brows furrowed in confusion as he strained his eyes to discern the figure advancing towards him. The stranger's footsteps echoed through the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, adding to Claude's unease, yet he kept still. The dim light from the moon and the glittering metropolis, along with the bright glow from the rooftops of the other buildings, barely lit their features enough to recognize them.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Claude? Are you doing some illegal stuff or... doing your main character moment?" Claude's gaze shifted rapidly as he considered his reply, keenly conscious of the gravity of the moment. Despite the frigid gusts and the unanticipated nature of the situation, he managed to maintain a composed demeanor, all the while his mind raced as he sought a means of extricating himself from this perplexing confrontation.
"Maybe you are the one who's doing illegal stuff, wandering around, meddling with someone's business." Claude took a calculated breath before continuing. "Mr. Sarion Bosch Sawyer," the man greeted him with a smile that concealed his dark, intense pupils, which were soaking up all the light that entered them. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of unease, yet he was quite familiar with that inscrutable Cheshire cat grin.
"I find this event just interesting. The new Metro Fest will begin in a few moments. It's interesting to see folks come in from above." He strolled towards Claude, looking down at the sea of red carpet on the ground as press agencies flocked to its sides.
"Claude, have you heard this lore going around?" He ignored it yet his ears still kept hearing them. Something he can't just avoid. He forgot his earpiece to shut the sounds out.
"There's an arrogant man who has been looked upon by other people. He was nothing, a mere blank state, he had nothing about himself and nothing to present himself as. He progressed like others but when the time he had to know it he never missed anything when he had shot in whatever they did yet when he aims to miss it he does. Was it a sign of perfection? Or just him blending in the normalcy? Or Was it because of people's suggestive things they desire to see to him? He doesn't know. Other people took it as an achievement but he abhors it. That made the god who gifted this slate find it annoying that he was turned into a crocodile and opted to collect all items he could find as the epitome of beauty. He once thought that eating up. Laces and ribbons were just two of the things he found that satisfied the god. Then he met this girl who the man likes and he kept dragging those ribbons just to get her attention. The woman hated it. The man then pleaded to the god who punished him to bring himself back to being a human. He thought if he was punished for not acknowledging himself, not loving himself the god who punished him might be the god of love. He pleaded for days but until the god got tired and accepted it. Making him back to being a human and eventually getting the girl. But that god he talked to and the one who punished him isn't the god of love as he thought, it's the god of vanity." Sarion exhaled heavily. "On the wedding day, the god of vanity gave him a present still. Upon stepping at the altar he told him to open his gift. The man began unbuttoning his shirt. The girl even tried to joke about it but as soon as he pleaded to help him she started helplessly pulling his clothes but only was stopped by a flash of colorful light coming from his stomach as the color of laces shot out bursting the from him striking the girl together. Upon people looking at that, they thought, that those might be a gift from their god as the woman was running for the position of his dad in his government. And her dad ran all the sides of the government including things that are sensitive to talk about. As soon as it shot out, there was a flashflood that wiped off, and then something shot out."
"Do you know that tale?" he shrugged his head.
"Was that the legend of the rainbow? I read that from a story book but that's slightly different."
"You know, the organizer of this event seems too interested in art. For some person who should care about the profitable things that benefits the community. It's rather strange he prioritizes these." Sarion rubbed his own face. "I don't blame him though. To get to feed a thousand mouths you have to exploit everything you have both the good and the bad," he leans his back on the wall. "The good and the bad according to the mass is just insane. In any case, seems like this will be a good rainbow for the artists or couldn't even be a sign it will bring more rain." His eyes were still fixed on the man's intense gaze, and he couldn't shake off the feeling that there was more to this event than what meets the eye. "I hate addressing things as metaphors yet people disregard things that are already in front of them and just focus on the things they'll hear from the speaker. Claude, I've thought about him a couple of times, have you known this event's sponsor?"
"I have no intentions to know them."
"No plans?"
"A few of the artists from Southeast Asia got stuck in the hotel in the U.S. I don't want that." Alessio, that man packed up everything, and immediately he went to take a trip to the United States after I said that it ended there. What a cheat. "Besides that, I'll be the attendant in this event, SP personally asked me to do it."
"Hmm… speaking of the quarantine event in Estados Unidos, it seems familiar, right?" Claude just shrugged that comment off wether or not he relates to it. It was his to keep and only his to tell. He continued taking photos of the people below getting the 'right' shots for the localized art deco motif from the theater. "Hmm, you're still working for him and not for Alessio?" A wry smile played at his lip. "You know you don't have to do anything just to repay him. You do not owe anyone. If they helped you out in your past it is because it is their choice.
They reopened it once more as the cinema and theater once more with slight modern adjustments.
"You were also hesitant about this idea, yet with the sounds like you immediately ran like a dog to his master. You and your master think the same as if you were driven by the impulse you have in your veins." Sarion took a couple of photos from above, with different subjects: the moon, the people below, the city lights, and even Claude.
"So, you're not participating in that event?"
"Why would I? I'm already done with joining contests like that. Besides, I prefer to enjoy the scenery and some observation." He then fished out some bubbles and blew on them as they glowed in rainbows and pops. Claude reached for one transparent bubble, and it burst with a gust of strong wind, which made him look away from it.
"Fascinating. Did you know bubbles pop in seconds?"
"Your skill." The strange man grinned and blushed as he saw it. "It truly compliments me and Alessio." He looked back at Claude, who was still covering his eyes from the wind. Sarion then pops one bubble as confetti starts raining down below. "I can't wait to see the scenery and the events on the train."
"Train?" Claude turns back to face him.
"That's one of the biggest highlights, seven wonders if you will. I've heard there are a lot of popular artists there with them, rich people, and apparently politicians are one of them." Sarion pulled out a vape and started to smoke, which filled the air with a burnt caramel scent as the smoke mingled with the bubbles he blew.
"Put that e-cigar down. You're still a teenager." Sar stepped his foot on the side of Claude as he placed his other foot on his other side. Claude responded by pulling himself away from the edge and onto the safer side. Sar licked his lips at how Clause reacted when he held him tightly between his legs. "What the hell are you doing?! Stop getting yourself killed!"
"I'm not afraid." Sarion puffed the smoke into an O shape and slashed it into two. "Claude, you seemed to listen to the author of the game." He bent down and pulled his pink-colored bangs together, combing them and pulling them towards the side of his face. "Good thing you did something that the author will remember. Now, what could be your fashion style? Everyone looks similar; the author can't remember you if you look like a random NPC." Claude rolled his eyes at Sarion. "You don't seem too fond of the concept of going with the flow, especially when it comes to fashion trends." Sarion flicked his finger on Claude's leather vest with amusement. "So, you're actually interested, huh? Sarion raised his eyebrow in question.
"And I can think of many reasons... I mean, the writer of the game is so obsessed with this idea. Fashion, the arts, and... fluff? I bet you're one of those people too. He required this stuff anyway. I don't know the story, but I can tell you the premise of the story." His head tilted back towards the sky as he inhaled more of the vapors and then exhaled the vapor through his nostrils.
"Maybe you should change your clothes? You won't blend in with the crowd with that outfit." Sarion stood up straight and adjusted his hair, which fell onto his forehead. "The author of the games will not notice you and take interest in you, and what I mean by interest is in playing with you, Claude, he whispered slowly. "Besides, the name you go with... don't you know every Claude in a fictional story has some supernatural powers? It might awaken the skill you're hiding." He swatted his hand, and Sarion pulled away and walked away from the edge towards the air, which made Claude's eyes wide.
"Alessio's butler, Claude, do you plan on competing with your boss?" Sarion's steps on the air looked like they were on the floor, as his steps were joined by the loud tango music below him. For a moment, he thought he saw all the bubbles gathered below at Sarion's feet.
"You're not planning to defeat him, are you? Crush his dreams." Sarion paused and looked at Claude. Claude could hear the smirk on Sarion's face, but he didn't say anything as Sarion kept talking. "Don't worry, I won't judge." Sar winked and blew more smoke into the air as Claude sat in silence. "I thought you'd say something like 'I've already beaten the great Alessio, and he has no power over me,' instead of 'I'll beat him.'' Sarion smiled at Claude, which made his cheeks cover his eyes.
Sarion stopped dancing and leaned forward. "Claude, what is your goal in coming here?" That smile wasn't a friendly one; it was a threatening one. Sarion turned to Claude, a slow smile spreading across his face. But something about the smile seemed off. Sarion stepped closer. "Claude," he said in a muffled voice. Claude stiffened, an uneasy feeling coming over him as Sarion spoke. There was an edge to Sarion's voice that Claude could not place, and with that unchanging smile, he was clearly expecting an answer. Claude hesitated, anxiety pooling in his stomach as he struggled to determine Sarion's intentions from his expression.
"What did you think about the exchange, Sarion?"
"It happens, and it happens all the time. From the beginning of the world, when Eve took the apple, there was already an exchange, or when Charles Darwin published his theory of evolution, there was a new exchange of body parts." Sarion stepped further until he was standing only inches away from Claude. Claude flinched as he saw his eyes gleam in red for a second and his pupils dilated. It took Claude a minute to try to regain his composure.
"Sarion. Did you talk to the author?" Sarion just kept smiling as he shook his head. "Bosch, did you kill the author?" Sarion didn't respond and just stared into Claude's face as Claude tried to decipher Sarion's expressions. There was a glint of malice within those crimson orbs, Claude noted as he shivered. "Sarion, I'm asking you as—"
"As your friend, blah blah blah," Sarion continued mocking Claude. "The one from above is watching. Don't you like to keep your mouth shut for a bit?" A loud thunder echoed through the night sky, followed by a flash of lightning that struck the rooftop. Claude jumped a little from the unexpectedness of the lightning, and Sarion just chuckled. "You're very good at dodging, Claude. It seems like the author wants you to stay." Sarion reached into Claude's pocket and pulled out a small notebook. As Claude reached for it, Sarion flipped it open, his finger tracing the edges of the pages. "I guess the author gave you this." As he opened the notebook, a screen popped up in front of him where a quest was written in cursive font on the first page. Sarion smirked and showed the notebook to Claude, saying, "The author's instructions for you to complete your mission." Sarion flipped past the first page and read a portion of the content. "Well, well. Look at this. Your mission is simple, isn't it, Claude?" Sarion grinned as he watched Claude's face contort in disgust. "I'm sure I can give you some tips regarding how to complete your mission successfully; don't worry. You just have to do what they say." Sarion laughed as Claude remained silent. Sarion continued reading the note and tapped on the last line.
"Mr. Claude, whenever the bubbles are there, you can talk to me if you need me," Sarion whispered behind his back as he disappeared with the bubbles, and that's the only thing he saw as he turned back. As he looked down below, he saw Sarion waving, dressed in his best suit, to attend the Metropolitan event as a guest.
"What is this?"
"Don't escape your fate, Claude. Don't escape the author. And you should catch up with his flight. I bet the author will cause a scene."