Chapter 9
Heart to Heart Interrogation
Between the dust and rubble, a severed arm protruded from the ground as light pierced through the ruins.
"They've… merged… Both stage four and the experimental…" Professor Yusuke said with a bleeding face.
"I asked your name, not your designation, silly!" The blonde girl said with a cheery smile.
"...May you be the fruit of all my endeavors, my prosperity, my charity, and my redemption... May you reach the stars… and be what they need… to protect the peace." The professor cried as he looked up towards the sky, before lifting up a needle with prismatic fluid.
Felix's mismatched eyes shot open as he deeply gasped, his face was covered in sweat. Those hazy memories replaying in his dreams left his breathing heavy and uneven.
He blinked a few times, scanning his surroundings: A sleek, dimly lit penthouse. Natsumi's penthouse.
The soft hum of the city beyond the glass windows contrasted with the loud ticking of a clock. Midnight.
As he tried to get up, sharp pains radiated all over his body, and a sharp groan escaped his throat.
"I wouldn't get up so quickly if I were you." Natsumi yawned, her voice muffled as her face rested in her arms atop the table.
"Natsumi… what happened to the sniper?" His voice hoarse.
"You don't remember? You jumped into the river and swam for nearly twenty minutes." Natsumi stretched out her arms and squealed, "I had to vomit after we resurfaced. Then I got a robin to drive us in circles to make sure he lost us. Had to wash gunk out of my hair for the past hour."
"River… right." He took a deep inhale to calm himself down, and then asked, "Were you the one who bandaged me up?"
"I threw you in the tub while you were unconscious, then got a raven to stitch you up. I wanted to take you to the hospital, but… I was too afraid to go outside again, and I really didn't want to be away from my bodyguard. Sorry if that sounds selfish."
"I see…" He sighed, "More importantly, how are you feeling?"
"A little shaken up, but I'll manage." She forced out a faint smile, "On the plus side, I now know why they called you Black Cat, Mister Bringer of Misfortune."
Felix looked over to the table where he saw his vest and bloodied shirt, torn with holes.
"I saw you get shot and bleed out, but according to the raven, you just had a few minor bruises."
"The concert hasn't even begun yet, and already I got myself shot." He scoffed.
"Sorry."
"What you should apologize for is fake-shooting me earlier." Felix scolded while he looked over his arm, in search for a wound that wasn't there.
"Still not over that? Sorry." She held back a nervous giggle before falling silent again.
He remembered Maria's words.
Nothing leaves a scar on us, huh?
Felix pressed his head against the sofa, half-asleep, the sudden crackle of oil slowly made his eyes open again.
"Huh?"
A mild, meat-filled fragrance began to fill the room.
"Aren't you glad? We're not wasting the food here after all." The heiress snickered, putting a kettle on the stove, "I'm heating some water, want anything?"
"Coffee, actually." Felix got up, "Do you need any help?"
"It's fine, I got it."
As Natsumi reached for coffee on the cupboards, she let out a soft whimper. "Hng...ngg!"
Felix noticed the bandages on her arm, realizing that she was sore from being violently tugged around during the struggle in the restaurant.
"Was that from earlier?"
"Oh, this?" Natsumi placed the pot in the center of the table and glanced at the bandages, "It's nothing. Come on, food's ready."
He gulped. Though he felt guilty, there was nothing he could do about it now.
The heiress brought out plates and arranged them on top of the table.
Felix changed into a gray shirt and walked towards the kitchen, sitting in the chair beside the scattered bullet shells — blanks from earlier.
"It's time to eat." She clapped her hands together.
Felix let out a bothered look upon hearing the last few words. The popstar noticed the change in his expression and asked, "Mhm, what's with that face?"
"It's just weird… that everyone I encountered so far just seems to speak in English." He explained.
She pointed her chopstick toward him, "Well, you don't exactly look very American yourself."
"I'm Chinese…"
"And yet we're both speaking English." She smirked.
Felix rolled his eyes, waiting for her to get her share. Natsumi reached her chopsticks for the pot, she suddenly reflexively pulled it back in as it starts to spasm.
Clutching the still aching wound on his chest, Felix's eyes lower slightly, "… Sorry."
"You're sorry for saving me?" She snickered.
"For not protecting you properly."
"You're the one who got shot. Glad you're still alive."
He smirked, "Get this, bullet-proof vests are standard issue."
"But didn't you say I would've killed you earlier if I'd used a real gun?"
"I said you would've shot me, likely my arm and back."
"Guess I should've aimed for the head." She jokingly remarked.
"I do have some defense for that now." Felix shrugged in reference to his new white mask.
The two sat in silence as they ate. The clinking of chopsticks on the porcelain plates were the only sound inside the wide penthouse suite. That was until the kettle let out a whistle that gradually turned louder.
Natsumi stood up from the table, "Hot water's ready."
Before Felix could stand up, Natsumi gestured for him to stay and sit in wait while she prepared it for both of them.
"Would you like some creamer with that?"
"…Two creams, three sugars."
"Ah, mhm… You're serious? You got it Captain China." She pouted in response after hearing Felix's words.
"Captain… China?" He echoed.
"You know, from American comics and movies? A reference to Captain— You know what? Never mind." Natsumi stopped as she realized the futility of explaining, and quietly prepared the two mugs.
"... Here's your coffee, princess." .
As Felix took the mug, he noticed a soft, sweet scent waft toward him, "That smell… I thought you were gonna have coffee?"
"I changed my mind, cocoa'll help me sleep easier. I didn't know you had a sweet-tooth, though."
"It's barely been one night since I got here, there's a lot of things you won't find out by reading documents." He answered.
"True. We'll have to fix that."
Windows rattled, but couldn't penetrate the glass walls of the suite.
The young pop idol takes a sip from her hot coco, "Earlier you said that an Elite Agent would've killed me, and yet you didn't. Why's that?"
"Sounds like you have a death wish." He answered, chewing on his food.
"Psh, have you not met my generation?" Natsumi snickered.
"You're the heiress to Obsidian Industries. A bodyguard killing their own charge is pretty bad." He answered bluntly.
Besides, I have a feeling that there's more to them assigning me to be your bodyguard than meets the eye.
"Nah, none of the pesky formalities. I saw you point that gun at me. You were so close to pulling the trigger, and yet, something stopped you." She stared at him with a curious expression, "What was it?"
Felix was taken aback. He stared down quietly as he pulled together his cluttered and disarray thoughts. Both of his hands let go of the mug, his eyebrows curled slightly. In the brief pause between his words, the memory of the Winter Corporation's heiress suddenly flashed in his eyes.
"…Will you be able to protect them? Will you be able to take their hand if they reach out to you?…"
Those were questions his silver-haired sister asked.
Simple questions that echoed in his heart as he recollected the shocked expression on the girl he saved from when he met his sister.
His eyes focused on his palms as he looked for an answer, while Natsumi stared curiously, waiting for his response.
For a split second, he remembered a hand reach out to him from golden fires. But he could not see beyond the fire.
— A tiny drop of blood began to slide down his nose.
The blonde girl slammed her hands on the table as she yelled in shock, "Felix, are- are you okay?"
"Ah, mhm, yeah…" He was snapped out of the deep thought and wiped the blood off his nose.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
The agent's lips quivered slightly, there was a brief moment of hesitation.
"I didn't want… to hurt a young girl." His voice dripped with sentimentality. He did not know whether his answer was what he wanted to say, but it was the only answer he found.
Her mouth once again gaped open at his response, a few seconds pass before her expression changed to a wide smile.
"What's with that?" She broke out in laughter.
The agent's kind expression quickly changed to one of annoyance, "You're pushy, you know that?"
"You have some deep baggage."
"Gross, what are you, some sort of therapist?" He mockingly echoed her comment from before.
"I'm just being kind to my friends… and… I thought that. Maybe if I had an Elite Agent protecting me, another person wouldn't have to die."
There was a small pause before Felix replied, "Is this a frequent occurrence?"
"Only on occasion, and never twice in a row. But… never like this."
"So that's why you tested me earlier."
Without words, she just smiled at him. Felix closed his eyes and took another spoonful from his plate.
"So, about that sweet-tooth."
"Is there a point to these questions?"
The young idol smiled and placed her head on her palm, "I wanna get to know more about my bodyguard. Makes him more trustworthy."
She looked at him solemnly, her eyes glistened with determination while the steam streamed out of her mug, dissipating in the still air.
"I— I see." He responded, "It's not refined, but… I can see you're doing what you can to become a suitable leader in your own way."
Felix scratched his cheek and answered her question, "It's the way my mentor used to make it."
"…You mean Luna Aster?"
Taking a sip from his coffee, Felix looks to the side, purposely ignoring the question.
"You got the Aster from her, but where did the Felix come from?"
Felix groaned and put down the mug, "You are annoyingly informed."
"That I am. I'm the heiress after all, I need all the information I can get. Siscon, huh? No wonder I couldn't get through to you."
"Siscon?" He echoed, unfamiliar with the term, "What does that mean?"
"Nothing. What about 'Felix?' I thought the Director wanted to name you Adam."
"Felix… is a memento from the day I went through hell."
"Sounds dark," She perched her face on her palms, leaning closer, "Tell me more…"
"I would, but most of that day is a blur… the only time I see it clearly is in my nightmares."
"You, sir, are like an onion — layers!"
"If this is an interrogation, you're not getting any more info out of me."
"This is an interview, not an interrogation."
"Well, what about you?"
"So, you wanna know more about the cool and sweet Yumiko Sakurazawa of Starry Sweethearts!" She loudly announced, standing up from her seat, making a peace sign between her eye.
"What exactly do you know?"
"About what exactly?" She sat back down.
"Well, for starters… why didn't you decide to go with your friends earlier?" Felix paused mid-sentence as he tried to formulate a question for her.
"They… um… they know not to come near me when I tell them I'm getting a new bodyguard."
"That... says a lot. So what happened?"
Natsumi turned to the side with a nervous expression.
"Sensitive question?"
"There've been… problems. It's happened before, a stalker pretended to be my bodyguard. Held me at gun point and tried to use me for ransom…he said to give back what we owe…" Natsumi placed her hand on her chest before taking a deep, sharp inhale.
"…I see."
"Those girls are already at risk just being associated with me. I don't think they can handle some of the things that I've been through."
She looked at his solemn expression, a glowing blue that stared quietly at her.
"But the Director told us about you. The espers. How you had gifts. How you were meant to protect people."
"Gifts… huh?"
Upon seeing Felix's reaction, she took a big chug from her hot chocolate and slammed it on the table.
The popstar wiped her eyes and popped up a bright smile, declaring, "No need to be so gloomy, you're with the cool and adorable Yumiko! Allow Yumiko to make your heart flutter with Yumi-Yumi-k—"
"Stop."
"Buzzkill."
"Well then, not as Yumiko Sakurasomething, but as Natsumi Sakurai, the heiress of Obsidian Industries, what do you know about the alliance of the twelve agencies?"
"I try my best to gather any and all intel I can get about the twelve agencies. No matter how much papa tries to hide it from me, I'll have to face it on sooner or later, as someone who will eventually be the head of one of the biggest corporations in the world. So I have a number of robins giving me info."
His eyebrows curled, "And they just give you the information you want?"
"It takes a lot of working around. Besides, an idol's charm, remember?"
"Ever thought about becoming an interrogator?"
"They're not so dissimilar."
"So what do you know about the alliance?" Felix asked in a serious manner.
"That on the surface, they appear as normal corporations. But there are espionage groups that they keep the peace in the silence and the shadows, and that they rely on favors between one another in order to promote trust." She answered in a somber tone with a calm, steady stare.
"What else?"
"That Elite Agents like you… men and women who are forgotten, or have never been known to the world, 'People who don't exist,' act in service for mankind's benefit."
"Mhm… and?"
"That… you were a human experiment. I don't know the specifics of Project ASTRAEA, so other than criminal activity. Not much."
"You got the gist of what we do. I won't get into the nitty-gritty. Any robin could probably tell you what I can."
She spun her finger around the table as she continued, "The truth is... I'm not sure if I can handle the position of being the next head. And I think it's inhuman what they did to you. I don't think I can stomach it. Or everything else. But it's eventually gonna come to me, so it's best to be prepared now."
"When that happens… I'll do my what I can to keep you safe."
"Sounds like a bold declaration. Should I call papa and have him reserve the church? Do you want me to wear a white dress. Or maybe a blue dress to fit your theme. I've never seen a blue wedding dress in person before." She teased.
"Unfortunately, you're too young far me."
"That's what you think, but idols have secrets." She placed her index finger against her mouth and winked.
"Idols also have curfews to stay fit and healthy. Go to bed." He flicked her on the forehead.
"Hmph. Fine. Besides, the new character was released earlier."
"Character?"
"Yeah, for a game called Grand Knight's Order. Anyway, good night."
"Good night."
"I'm heading to my room now. One more thing, what sort of music do you listen to?" She asked with an enthusiastic smile on her face.
"I don't really listen to music, I only really know a few classical pieces." Felix answered with his palm on his chin, thinking out loud.
"Dreary. Well, good night... and thank you."
"Good night." He waved awkwardly.
With those words, Natsumi goes to her room, her eyes stuck to the screen as she mumbled her way towards her room. The clock was at one-thirty-eight at the middle of the night, and Felix was left to drink his remaining coffee alone and in peace.
"The real mission starts now." He muttered to himself, and his perpetual scowl returned.
He pulled out his phone, and spoke "Hello chief?"
"Do you have anything to report?" The chief answered.
"I do, but before that, I have a request."
~