Extraction: Infinite Hunger

Ash walked through the main academy entrance. Just outside the main checkpoint exit, a luxury car was idling. He didn’t need to know who was inside, or who was waiting for him. He could tell by the distinct twelve Shade signatures that were sitting in the same car waiting.

He slouched his bag over his shoulder and went through the checkpoint.

"Name and reason for leaving?" The checkpoint officer said, not looking at Ash.

"I’m suspended. Is that good enough reason for you?" Ash said. He ducked under the barrier gate, not waiting for a response from the officer.

The tinted window of the backseat passenger side door rolled down once Ash drew near. Lucia was waiting, cross legged, one hand holding her phone, the other adjusting her sunglasses.

"Do I even want to know?" Ash asked. "I’ve had a long day."

Lucia rolled the window back up without tilting her head at Ash.

He took one step closer to the car then stopped, deciding if what was waiting in the car was worth dealing with. He took another one and opened the trunk of the car to see it was loaded with bags from various boutique stores.

Ash sighed, slamming the trunk shut. He opened the door to the backseat behind the driver, placing his bag on top of his lap.

"Welcome home," Lucia said, once Ash was seated.

"It doesn’t feel that way. Everything is different, but nothing has changed."

Lucia’s eyes glanced down from behind the sunglasses. She removed them, addressing Ash with her violet eyes. "The least you could do is thank me before whining."

"For what?" Ash said, raising his voice. "You haven’t done anything for me."

Lucia didn’t respond. Instead, she leaned into her purse and pulled out a folded document. She lazily moved her left hand out, gesturing for Ash to take it.

He took it, and opened it up. The papers were what would have been an academy expulsion for Vivian, Sheila, and himself. It had the genuine seal of the Academy and the raised impression of Cavel’s signature. He folded it back up, letting Lucia have it.

"Thank you," he said under his breath.

She returned to her phone, answering text messages. Her fingers were either typing softly against the glass, or furiously slamming against it followed by inaudible words.

"So where are we going?" Ash finally asked.

The city he knew outside the academy had thinned behind him. In front, were unmarked streets, businesses without any signs, people walking between them without any issue. The car abruptly stopped in front of one of the buildings. Lucia was already out of the car without answering him.

When Lucia slid open the door to the establishment, the scent of raw seafood greeted Ash. It wasn’t unpleasant or fishy; it smelled fresh and clean.

Ash glanced up. Like the rest of that area of Aegis, there was no sign above the store. Walking through the door, he pushed through a light gray curtain. The person behind the counter looked up when the curtain swished back into place, and returned to what he was working on.

He had been expecting their visit long enough that the large rice bowl beside him was not steaming rapidly. It was at the perfect temperature for use. The room was small and made of pale wood. Eight seats were placed in front of the counter in a single row. All seats had been cleared, with the exception of two seats which were in the middle of it.

Lucia had taken one seat, placing her purse on a seat beside her. Ash took the seat beside her, wiping his hands on the hot towel in front of him.

The itamae drew a long knife across a block of pale fish, laying the slice over rice. He pressed down without looking at the motion, setting it in front of Lucia with a slight bow. Only when she had lifted it did he set an identical piece on the cold ceramic in front of Ash.

Two staff members behind the itamae were meticulous, making sure not a single grain of rice or drop of tea ever remained on the counter.

Ash took a pair of metal chopsticks, placing each one in-between his fingers. His sticks stopped just before touching the fish.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Can’t we share a meal without you thinking this means anything more than the value of the fish in front of you?"

"That’s hard for me to believe."

Ash’s piece was soft enough to fall apart if it weren’t carefully picked up. He caught it with the chopsticks and held it together the whole way into his mouth. Lucia hadn’t touched the piece that had been served in front of her.

"Someone has been patient with you," she said.

Ash kept eating.

The room was silent except for the occasional sound of the itamae’s knife finding the board. He alternated between several long knives depending on what fish he was slicing at the moment.

What Ash had noticed wasn’t the mouthfeel of the fish. It was his hunger.

Except for stirring once on the train back to the academy, it had largely been dormant, even before he left for the tundra.

The sound of the itamae lighting a blowtorch pulled Ash back to what he was doing behind the counter. He seared the next piece of fish until the fat along its edge browned and dripped slightly into the rice.

The man worked only at the pace of Lucia. When she stopped in-between bites, he stopped, ensuring the freshest piece of fish would be in front of her.

Finally, he set down a square egg last. It was sweet and just set enough to cleanly slice without making a mess. They ate the egg last, without another word. By the time the counter was cleared, Ash had eaten more real food in one hour than he had eaten over the course of a month. His body had gone warm and heavy.

He was still thin underneath the light beige hoodie he wore, but he started to feel more like his normal weight after eating nothing more than half ration packs.

"Still the bangs. Still hiding under a hood," Lucia said, disturbing the silence of the omakase. She set down the cup of tea and looked past Ash. "I gave up on your wardrobe in a different life."

Ash brushed his bangs out of his eyes, but they fell back to where they had been.

"They’re fine," he responded.

"I didn’t ask if they were fine." Her violet eyes looked down at Ash’s hands. They bore open wounds that hadn’t fully healed yet. "Sheila came back in one piece and told me everything already."

"She didn’t arrive in one piece," Ash said quickly. "And why are you asking me?"

"I wanted to watch you answer."

His eyes looked at the cleared counter where their plates had been. "The instructor didn’t come back in one piece."

Lucia didn’t raise her tea cup, her eyes fully focused on Ash.

"A girl opened—"

The sound of Lucia tapping the counter three times made Ash stop. The employees behind the counter bowed and went into the back, leaving the space empty for them to talk.

"Locke," Lucia said raising her tea cup again.

"You know her?"

"I knew her before she was worth knowing." Lucia set her cup down.

"She’s not how she was back in the academy. She’s—"

"Pretty, obnoxious, and an intellect someone like you can’t fathom. She is exactly the girl I told Vivian she couldn’t beat."

A manila envelope was placed between them now, one which Ash hadn’t seen arrive.

"I think she and that person I fought in the academy are connected."

Lucia smirked, placing her fingers lightly on top of the envelope. "The Crimson Workshop was boring recently. You just made it more interesting."

"And this?"

"Consider it the price you’re paying from earlier."

"Earlier?" Ash didn’t look up from the envelope. "You mean when you told me Sheila’s name and that she was your cousin?"

"Enjoy your time back home."

Her tea cup had gone empty, and when Ash looked up from the envelope, so was her seat, her heels clicking on the polished floor.

He didn’t immediately open the envelope. Instead, he stayed and finished the cup of tea beside him. It tasted much better than the tea Dane served.

The early evening had already filled the street, people walking back and forth in both directions. The warmth of the day held until a figure bundled head to foot against weather that wasn’t there passed him.

Cold.

The heat went out of the air in a band as it came. Ash’s breath began to show. The light along the walk thinned to grey where the figure crossed it. His mouth flooded, the wet turning to ice against his tongue as his Shade-sense locked onto the person.

Freezing.

The warmth of the day returned when the person joined a band of foot traffic.

Starving.

Ash finally took the envelope out of his pocket and opened it. Inside was a single sheet, with only a name he would recognize.

Tarrow.