Chapter 21 - Fellow Recruits (1)

The cheesy shrimp-ball tteokbokki was delicious.

In the end, I spent the night at Yun's house. The commander-in-chief didn't come home. Ami showed me to the guest room beside the front door and served me tteokbokki in a green bowl dotted with white patterns.

I ate it wearing the T-shirt and joggers Yun had given me—["Just keep them."]—and missing my demolished cabin.

Riccardo left without even having any tteokbokki. When I apologized again before he left, he waved a hand without looking back and disappeared. His main concern was getting as far from his boss's house as possible.

"I'll replace the things that blew away," Ami, the light and salt of my life, said as we ate.

"We've got plenty of money, so don't worry about it. Look at my brother. He's picking his next car like he's deciding what takeout to order."

"They say it won't be in stock for a month," Yun grumbled, his brow creasing ever so slightly. "I'll have to buy another brand to tide me over."

Shameless as it was, I decided to accept what they offered.

It was a heavy night. The truth my seniors had confirmed weighed on me. I tried desperately to remember my past.

It was an agonizing process. The harder I tried to recall the past, the hazier it became.

I kept feeling my way through the scraps of memory that had surfaced. Who had spoken to me in that memory when the butterfly approached? The voice was different from the one that had spoken to me on the rooftop. Yet it wasn't unfamiliar.

Would the day ever come when I remembered everything?

I wrestled with questions that had no answers, and when I opened my eyes, it was morning.

* * *

It was nearly three in the afternoon when I finally reached the Badger dorms.

I'd spent the morning shopping with Ami. Ami was the light and salt of the earth. After buying essentials with her at an outlet mall, we had lunch: rice bowls topped with fried eel.

We polished off our lunch, had coffee, then headed to the dorms in her car.

She said this was where the Badgers lived. I'd be on the same floor as the other recruits who, like me, had yet to work in the field.

The blue car entered Sector 1 and stopped on a nearly deserted street a short distance from headquarters. A plain ivory building came into view.

"The old building," Ami said brightly, getting out and shutting the car door. "Nine floors in all. They said your room's on the third floor, Hilde!"

"Thank you for driving me."

"No problem. Let's go up together."

Everything fit into two large duffel bags. I took the one Ami had picked up out of her hand and entered the building.

We stepped out on the third floor. A quiet corridor stretched before us, its plain ivory walls stained ocher in places with age.

"Here we are."

Ami pattered ahead and stopped outside Room 304.

"They say it's got everything you need, except a bathtub."

She flung the door open. I followed her and peered inside.

The scent of a fresh breeze drifted through the open window.

The room wasn't as cramped as I'd expected. A bathroom beside the front door. A plain bed beneath the window. I took off my shoes and stepped inside, spotting a sink and a small refrigerator. There was a chest of drawers next to the fridge, too.

As Ami had said, it had everything I needed.

"Oh, right. For washing and drying, use the laundry room beside the elevator."

"This is nice."

I set down the duffel bags and looked around.

"Much nicer than I expected. Thank you so much for everything."

"Don't mention it. Let's unpack."

Ami plopped down beside a duffel bag and unzipped it.

She began whipping things out. I sat on the floor and opened the other bag. Toilet paper, dishes, pajamas, toiletries. I pulled out whatever came to hand.

We busily spread everything across the floor.

We were about halfway through when I sensed someone near the open front door.

"Um..."

Ami and I turned our heads.

A red-haired man stood there. He had pale skin with faint freckles, blue eyes that gave him a quiet, gentle look, and long eyelashes.

He stood hesitantly in the open doorway, wearing gray sweatpants and a white T-shirt.

Ami's eyes widened in welcome.

"Tom! Hi!"

"Ami, ma'am."

The tension eased from his face. He'd looked nervous standing there, perhaps shy around strangers. He smiled down at her as though she were a little sister.

"It's been a while."

"It has. How have you been?"

Ami stood up.

"Perfect timing. I was going to introduce you later. Tom, this is Hilde. Hildebert Taleb. Hilde, this is Tom Hurson. He's a new recruit like you. Tom, Angela told you about Hilde, right?"

"Yes. She said he was moving in today, so..."

The man called Tom glanced at me.

I quickly got up and bowed my head a little.

"Hello, sir."

"Oh, no. You don't have to call me sir."

Tom sounded a little flustered.

"Um... I heard you received your enhanced body before we did. So you've already finished your adaptation training, right? Strictly speaking, we'd be your juniors. But Badger seniority goes by when you start fieldwork, so I've been told we're effectively in the same intake."

But I'd only just...

"That's right."

Ami lightly trampled my internal muttering. Standing between Tom and me, she settled the matter.

"You're in the same intake. So drop the formalities and relax around each other. The closer you are to your fellow recruits, the better. And Tom, Heshy lives here too, right?"

"Yes. He's out in town visiting his family right now."

"I see. Could you introduce him to Hilde when he gets back?"

Tom smiled at Ami and nodded. Then he raised his head, met my eyes, and glanced away.

He seemed very shy around strangers. I rubbed my neck as I watched the curly red-haired man stare at a spot on the floor. It felt awkward to be the first to drop the formalities, but being overly polite would probably embarrass him.

We stood awkwardly with Ami between us. She swung her head from side to side, looking at each of us in our discomfort, then turned to me.

"Hilde."

"Yes!"

"Say, 'Looking forward to getting to know you, Tom.'"

Oh, so this was how we were doing it?

Wearing a peculiar smile, I hesitantly began.

"Looking forward to getting to know you, Tom."

"Huh? Oh, right... Me too."

"Shake hands!"

Ami reached out and grabbed my hand and Tom's right hand. She pulled them together, urging us on.

"Shake each other's hands!"

"Shake hands."

"... Nice to meet you."

I smiled a little as I said it and offered my hand, and Tom took it. Like a pair of elementary school kids, we shook hands under Ami's supervision.

We sat in the room for a while, chatting among the scattered belongings. We talked about the outlet mall we'd visited that morning and good places to eat nearby. Restaurants and cafés near headquarters, shops near the dorms.

Ami only left once the two of us were talking a little more comfortably.

* * *

Still a little shy, Tom showed me around the dorms.

"Here's the vending machine and the ATM. The ATM's available twenty-four hours a day, but the fees are a little high."

"Got it."

"We're the only ones on the third floor, so you can use the washer and dryer whenever you like."

I nodded to show I understood.

Standing in front of the vending machine, my fellow recruit turned to look at me. His blue eyes held my yellow ones before he said quietly, "Um, that about covers the tour."

I gave him a faint smile and thanked him.

"What room are you in?"

I asked to dispel the awkwardness. Tom readily answered.

"307."

"That's close. Um... Does the other recruit, Heshy, live on this floor too?"

"Yeah. Heshy's in 301. He should be back soon..."

He looked up at the clock above the vending machine. It was a little past six in the evening.

"He suggested ordering pizza with you."

"Me?"

My voice rose a little with the question. How had that come up? I'd never even met this Heshy.

Seeing my confusion, Tom explained.

"We already knew you were moving in today. Our training officers told us."

"Oh. Right. You mentioned that."

"Heshy really loves people... He suggested we get to know each other over pizza. He said he'd be here around six. Let's wait a little longer, and if he doesn't turn up, I'll call him."

"Sure."

I nodded as Tom took out his phone.

"How about we wait until twenty past before calling?"

Tom nodded. Then, as predictably as clockwork, an awkward silence settled over us.

How was I supposed to fill this silence? I racked my brain for something to say. Yun's silences hadn't made me uncomfortable, but this one felt suffocating, perhaps because it came from awkwardness.

Thinking I might as well look at my phone, I took it out.

Huh? I had a text.

Who could it be? Probably not Ami, since we'd only just parted. I didn't even want to imagine it being the commander-in-chief... My training officer? He'd said he'd at least leave me alone on weekends.

Nervously, I tapped the envelope icon. A message appeared on the screen. It was from an unknown number.

[Congrats on coming back! Today's my birthday :D]

What was this?

I stood there looking down at my phone. Suddenly, I felt strange. I couldn't quite identify the feeling or what had caused it.

Who had sent this? Was it spam? Or a message sent to the wrong number?

Probably the latter.

After staring at the smiling emoticon, I replied.

[I think you have the wrong number.]

[Aren't you going to wish me a happy birthday?]

What was with this person?

I stared at the screen in disbelief, then moved my fingers.

[Happy birthday. Though I don't know who you are.]

[Let's meet the day after Christmas.]

The reply made no sense.

[I'm planning a grand birthday party then!]

They'd said their birthday was today.

Christmas was still a long way off. Was this person crazy? Feeling foolish for responding to these incomprehensible messages, I closed the conversation.

At the same moment, I heard Tom's voice.

"Heshy!"

"Tom."

I turned to see a man with short brown hair and the look of a soldier. He strode toward us with long steps.

"Sorry I'm late. Is this the Hildebert I've been hearing about?"

"That's him."

"Ah, pleased to meet you. I'm Hildebert Taleb."

"No need to be formal. I'm Heshy Lyle."

He thrust out a firm hand in greeting.

"There aren't many of us in this intake. Let's get along."

What a hearty fellow.

I took his callused hand and nodded. As we exchanged brief greetings, I shook off my thoughts about the strange texts. At the suggestion that we order pizza in my room, I nodded and started walking.

* * *

"Why did you apply to be a Badger?"

Heshy abruptly posed the question as we ate pizza. Caught off guard, I looked up while catching a long string of cheese in my mouth.

"Huh?"

The truth was, I hadn't applied to be a Badger. I hadn't had a choice. Besides, I was already agonizing over my status. The commander had said I'd do well in the end, but with so much about me that could cause trouble for others, could I really manage?

In any case, I couldn't just blab the truth.

"Well, you know..."

I dragged out the words, my mind racing.

"My life was never very stable. Then I happened to hear they were recruiting..."

Wait, how did the Black Badgers normally recruit people?