Chapter 361
“So? How’d it go?” Stupid Mira smiled at me with that stupid smile as soon as I left the stupid counselor’s office.
”It went.” I beelined it for the elevator without waiting to ensure she followed me. The sooner I got out of here, the better.
Mira hopped up and chased after me. “C’mon, you gotta give me a little more than that.”
“He just kept asking how things made me feel.” Over and over. It was like the guy was a broken record looping through, ‘how did that make you feel’ and ‘this is a safe place’. I was pretty worried and anxious going in, but it turned out to be a complete let down.
”Thats pretty standard, I think.” Mira stepped past me and pressed the call button for the elevator.
“It was also pretty—“ useless. I cut myself off before I could finish that thought, though. Mira still had her appointment coming up, and I’d rather not scare her off of it. Just because it didn’t work for me, didn’t mean it wouldn’t work for her. “Uncomfortable.”
Mira nodded like a wise old sage. “It’s supposed to be. If dropping your walls was easy, you wouldn’t need a counselor. It’ll get easier after a few more sessions.”
Damn, how many times did she want me to come back to this quack? Maybe I could do four or five more sessions and then claim to be all better? Would that even work? No, she’d see right through that, wouldn't she?
The elevator dinged and we slid into it. “Speaking of dropping my walls, are you sure I can trust that guy?”
”Aaron came highly recommended by Pa.” Mira frowned and leaned up against the back wall of the elevator. “Did something feel off?”
The opposite, actually. Aaron did seem like the trustworthy sort of guy. A bit like Saint in that regard. I would’ve been worried it was some kind of mental ability afflicting me rather than just a good impression, but Flora’s Daughter should completely protect me from stuff like that.
Aaron really wasn’t that bad in hindsight. He only asked me how stuff made me feel a couple times near the end. For the most part, it was just getting to know each other on this first session. Or, more accurately, him getting a gauge on what was wrong with me. Spoiler alert—I was perfectly fine and healthy.
“No.” I huffed and looked away from the smug grin spreading across her face.
She looked like she was going to say something, and then seemingly changed her mind. The halo pulsed lightly and the smug grin faded away. “I am proud of you, Shiro. Thank you for doing this for me. It really means a lot.”
“Ch-chek, well, no problem. I, uh, I probably needed to come to someplace like this at some point.” The last year had been a lot all things considered. It was a surprise I hadn’t collapsed after the whole Mother incident. Rage drove me better than anything else after that, though.
The elevator ground to a halt, and a group of punks stepped in. Our conversation likewise stopped. The rest of the ride down was relatively silent. It was only near my bike that Mira spoke up. “I’m going to stay here. The office for the Troubleshooter test isn’t too far off.”
”You sure?” I nodded to my bike. “I can drop you off. Or we can get something to eat, if you want.”
”Nah, I’ll be fine.” Mira brushed a layer of snow off her poncho and flicked her hood back up. “This will give me a chance to stretch my legs before the practical.”
“Call me if you need anything.” I straddled my bike and flicked the switches and buttons to start the flyer back up.
“I will.” Mira took a few steps away and then twisted around back toward me. “You going to see Luna?”
”Chek?” It was about time I took care of that mess. Not to mention I needed to test out Perfect Donor and see if that worked for Iris.
“Tell her I said hi.” Mira’s halo pulsed brightly. “I’m going apartment shopping tonight, too. I’ll move in with Pa till its ready so she can stay with you.”
“I—right, that might be for the best.” She couldn’t stay with Nael after Iris left. Err—she probably could. I doubted Nael would say anything other than offering her another blanket. It would be for the best if she didn’t, though.
I’d have to get an apartment for Luna too at some point. I did promise I’d take care of housing and all that… that’d take some time, though. I could just put a bed down in the speakeasy for her, but this would be a good chance to deepen our relationship beyond just passing ally. At least, until I got somewhere else for her setup.
“Then I’ll see you in a couple days, I guess.” Mira waved and headed off deeper into the parking garage.
I watched her go and then tapped a couple buttons on the Roughrider’s control console. In mere moments I was back out under the snowy sky.
— - —
Absolom Clinic was as popping as ever. This time around, there was an entire group of mercs scattered around the place. All of them were moderately chromed, and getting more from the looks of things. I just activated my Perks and slipped through the main space without stopping to talk with Nael. I was here for Luna, anyway.
I found the white-haired girl exactly where I expected to. She was still sitting by Iris’s side, and looked significantly worse for wear compared to the last time I stopped by. Her snowy hair was thinner, and her lips were all torn up from what looked like stress chewing.
She spoke without even looking up from her screen, “You c-coming out of the shadows, Shiro? Or are y-you going to just keep watching me?”
“I wasn’t intentionally hiding from you.” Illusive dropped, and the shadowy cover I’d been using faded away. “How are you?”
”H-how do I look?” She finally glanced up from the deck’s screen. Her eyes were almost entirely red and she looked like she’d been crying recently.
A pang of guilt shot through me. I was supposed to be looking out for her. And yet I’d been so busy with other stuff that I… well… I felt like a neglectful pet owner looking at her cat. I must’ve been spending too much time with the eidolons. “How’s she?”
”Still sleeping.” Luna closed her deck and rested her hands on it.
I summoned out Crow’s Canteen of Chaos and waved it around. “Got something we can try. I, uh, I don’t know if it’ll work.”
Luna flinched, though her eyes glimmered with curiosity. “T-the hell is that thing?”
”A canteen.”
“N-no shit.” Her eyes twitched. “I totally thought it was an elephant.”
”It’s a Remnant.” I shrugged and gave her a brief run down on its ability to reproduce liquids. Speaking of reproducing liquids, it was set to pump out my blood into one of the canteen’s four chambers.
“Cool… wh-what is it you’re going to test?” Luna glanced at Iris’s sleeping face. “It’s not something e-expiremental, right?”
Expiremental… as in I was still experimenting with it? Then yes. If she meant as in an unfinished product still being tested and developed, though, then no. “It’s a healing serum.”
”Never h-heard of something like that.” Her eyes narrowed, though she hesitantly nodded. “S-should we wait for Nael?”
I moved over to Iris—actually, she had a good point. Just in case something went wrong, it’d be best if he was available. Instead, I shifted and took a seat next to Luna. “When Nael’s done out there.”
”R-right.” Luna popped her deck back open and went back to clacking around on the keyboard. After a moment, she ejected the drive and offered it to me. “Here’s the autopilot. I incorporated my own I-ICE, so it should be safe from anything short of a c-corporate runner attack.”
I banished the canteen, took the offered drive, and slid it into my pocket. That should be the second to last thing I needed to start sending out Roughriders. “Thanks.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes and went back to working on her deck. “How’s what you promised me coming along?”
”Nova. Part of why I’m here, actually.” I said. “If this doesn't work, we’re moving Iris to Medtech. We’ll get her the tier three package. Should be enough to keep her safe and stable.”
“R-right.” Luna’s expression twisted and fell. “W-what about me?”
”I figured you could stay with me till we figured something else out.” Now that I had an opening, at least. It felt a little weird with a revolving door of people coming and going from the apartment. I really needed to get somewhere else set up, but I was just so busy these days. ‘Sides, it wasn’t like Saint would be crashing in my place after Luna left.
“A-and what if I don’t want to live with someone I barely know?” Luna cut to the core of the issue without dancing around it. It was clean-cut and honest. Kinda refreshing, actually.
”That’s… fair.” I wouldn’t want to stay with a stranger either, even if they were as cool, friendly, and charming as myself.
“I j-just—sorry. We’ve only worked one job together.” Her voice quieted and turned slightly defensive. “One. And even then, we were forced to work together by circumstance.”
”I’m not asking you to sign the lease.” I sighed. “Just not to keep sleeping in the clinic.”
Luna’s eyes flicked to Iris. The machines beeping around the sterile walls of the place filled the momentary gap in conversation. “… he said I can stay as long I need.”
”Nael says that to everyone.” It was part of the reason I was worried enough about him to design the entire Foundry. Good souls like him were exceptionally rare. “He probably also hasn’t slept a full night in a decade.”
“So?” The bratty tone that filled her voice roused an innate irritation in my chest. She crossed her arms defensively over her chest. “T-that doesn't mean he’ll kick me out.”
“I didn’t say he would.” He’d probably let her stay here for months if she really needed to.
Luna met my gaze for a moment with trembling pupils. “Th-then why are you p-pushing me? This works, doesn’t it? W-why are you even still trying?”
Woah, that felt surprisingly terrible to be on the receiving end of. It was so clearly not working. She looked like a hollow fragment of a person. I could clearly recognize the way she was disappearing and burying herself into work.
“I said I’d help you. I don’t like breaking my word.” Even if I’d already failed in that regard. What would Iris say? I didn’t exactly owe it to her… but that didn’t mean I couldn’t still try.
Her eyes sharpened and the trembling faded. She looked at me with the intensity she usually reserved for her deck. “I-is that the only reason?”
”No. It’s the only part I can explain without sounding weird, though.”
“Too late.” Some of the tension across her body lifted. “Wh-what if I refuse?”
“Then I help you find something else.” I shrugged. “I’ve got a couple spots, but it could be anywhere. Even a spot above a noodle shop with questionable wiring if you really need it.”
”You’d still help?” She looked more surprised by that than anything, including my canteen appearing from the shadows.
”I promised Iris.” There were other reasons, of course. Big ones. She was technically my first employee of Cold Moon Solutions. That was the main one, though. “You don’t owe me loyalty, but please try to trust me just a bit.”
My words stung after I said them. Who was I to talk about trust? My trust issues were notorious, and here I was claiming that I needed someone barely above a stranger to trust me. Someone, by the way, who was exceptionally vulnerable at the moment.
She nodded her head slowly. “If I stay… it’ll be temporary. J-just until I get my feet under me once more.”
“That’s fine.” I expected nothing less. ‘Sides, while I didn’t exactly mind her sticking around for a bit, I was just about to get my own space back. “I’ll help you find a place in a week or so.”
I didn’t exactly have the time, or rayn, but a week from now? The Crusade would hopefully be off my back—if they didn’t try to arrest me for being an imposter by then. I’d have some cashflow from selling the Roughrider to that knight, and I’d be ready to start up production for a line of commercial Roughriders. Money would hopefully stop being an issue.
”I-I need to make a new FIBB account first, anyway.” Luna’s eyes twitched and she looked away. “O-our assets are still frozen. I don’t think we’ll be getting them back.”
”We’re in no rush.” Or, at least, I wasn’t in too big of one.
”I d-don’t like this…” She sighed and her head fell. “But I don’t like my other options even more.”
No kidding. Her options were exceptionally limited at the moment. Especially with her search for Kaynis still ongoing. ”So you’ll stay with me for a bit?”
”Y-yeah. For now.” She didn’t meet my eyes. Her worry was so strong apparent I didn’t even need Cues to see it.
“Nova.” I leaned back in my chair. She wasn’t the only one feeling uncertain. Was this really something I could do? Mira was—she was pretty autonomous. I could deal with that. I had a feeling Luna would be quite a bit different to live with, though. Or maybe not. It was hard to get a read on the girl.
Regardless, that took care of one pressing issue. I just had a mountain more of them. Not to mention I had to go back to work with the Crusade in about an hour or so. That was going to be… fun. Especially now that I suspected they knew I wasn’t really Zuku.
I shifted around in my seat. “Help me set up a Medtech account for Iris. I don’t know any of her info, so…”
“Right.” She tapped around her deck, closed whatever she was working on, and opened up Medtech’s site. While we waited for Nael to finish up out front so we could test my blood, we handled all the preparations for Iris just in case.