The new recruit

I somehow ended up in my room with a fresh wearing a fresh pair of clothes. I looked around and saw Arianne reading a magazine.

“How long did I sleep?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. “Also, you didn’t change my clothes right?”

“You slept for 20 hours,” Arianne answered, “and why would I want to change your clothes? You wouldn't want to change my clothes if I fainted, right?”

“Do you want to know the answer?”

“Forget I asked,” Ariane said, slowly rubbing her forehead. “Now that you’re awake, you can continue the work at Out’s Inn.”

“Wait, did I mishear what you said, or did you misspoke? You promised that if I finish the trial, I didn’t have to work.”

“You heard me correctly,” Arianne smiled, “if I remember correctly, I told you that you didn’t need to work eighteen hours a day. Not to mention, all the members of the resistance group need to work here at Out’s Inn.”

“Why have I never seen Harrison working here?” I asked.

“Let me correct myself, all members of the resistance group with the name Anthony need to work here at Out’s Inn.”

“I hate you.”

“You’re welcome,” she responded kindly.

“Last question, why is this inn called Out’s Inn?”

“Why not?”

“You’re useless,” I sighed.

“It’s actually because this city is called Outridge City so my ancestors were lazy so they took out from the city and that became the name of the inn. So where are you from?”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? Everyone in my city is dead.” I replied, remembering my city burning up in flames.

“I’m sorry,” Arianne said, trying to comfort me.

There was silence for a moment until Arianne spoke again.

“I’ll introduce you to the other members of my resistance group after you’re done with your work today.”

“How long am I working?”

“Nineteen hours,” Arianne answered.

“Haha, very funny.”

“Just help out when you’re needed.

And so, we traveled downstairs and I started working. Knowing from past experiences, it would be a tough day for me.

Time passed surprisingly quickly and before I knew it, it was already nighttime.

“How was the day?” Arianne asked, showing up behind me.

“What trick are you playing now?” I asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "The work was way too easy. It was nothing like a few days ago. It’s almost like the work a few days ago was an additional test to see if I qualify for the trials.”

“Wow,” Arianne exclaimed, “you’re smarter than you look! Which isn’t saying much since you’re not very attractive.”

“That is very insulting. Still, why would you immediately consider recruiting a random person found on the streets? It’s illogical.”

“Maybe you’ll find out one day,” said Arianne, “let’s meet the other members.”

And so, I was brought to the kitchen. When we arrived, the kitchen was empty.

“Are you sure we are at the right place?” I asked. “Don’t tell me there is a secret location where you pull out a book and a doorway appears.”

After saying that, Arianne just stared at me.

“You got to be kidding me,” I sighed, “how many movies have you seen to build something like this?”

Arianne ignored my question. She pulled a cooking manual out of the shelf and a rumbling sound began. The shelf began rotating and before I knew it, a doorway appeared.

“Follow me,” Arianne said. Leading me down the stairs.

We walked down the stairs and entered a large room.

“You took your sweet time,” Harrison said, as he saw us walking through the entrance. “Should I introduce him to the others or do you want to do that yourself?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Arianne replied, “you can join us if you want.”

“Who do we start with then?” Harrison asked, “the Maniac, the Joker, or the Mascot?

“Let’s not scare him off right away,” Arianne sighed, “let’s start with someone normal.”

I did not understand a single thing they said and before I knew it, I was led to a girl wearing glasses.

“Hey, Joanna,” Harrison called, “This is our new recruitment, Anthony. Anthony, this is our organizer Joana.”

“Hi,” Joanna said, greeting me.”

“Hi,” I replied.

“She’s the organizer in this group,” Harrison explained. “She sets up activities and plans out the group’s course of action. She just happens to be forgotten pretty often. Otherwise, she is the most normal person in this organization”

“Okay?” I responded.

“Hey Harrison, Arianne, how is it going?” A voice came from behind us, “and who’s this person?”

“Hello Peter, this is Anthony,” Harrison greeted, “Anthony, this is Peter, also known as the Joker. And no, he’s not from Batman. We call him the Joker because we never know what he is thinking and love to do unpredictable things. Oh and one last thing, his main job is to recruit people to join our group.”

I shook hands with Peter.

“Why did you guys recruit Anthony without me knowing?” asked Peter.

“I also want to know the answer,” replied Harrison, “apparently Arianne decided it was time she made a decision herself.”

“That’s surprising,” Peter replied. “Arianne, why did you recruit him?”

“I have my reasons,” Arianne replied.

Peter shook his head, “I hope you made the right decision.”

“Oh? New recruitment?” A girl walked towards us.

“This is Jessica, the Maniac.” Harrison introduced, “she’s called the Maniac because, well, she’s a maniac. Jessica, this is Anthony.”

“Don’t listen to him.” Jessica restored, “call me Jess. They started calling me a maniac after I constantly defeated them in an online card game.”

“The other reason would be because you’re addicted to playing that game.” Peter joined in, “you also happen to be the only one who enjoys playing that certain tormenting game.”

“What game?” I asked.

“It’s better if you didn’t know,” Harrison said. "Ignorance is bliss.

“She’s also the treasurer of this organization,” Peter said, “although we’re not quite sure which person in their right mind would appoint this role to her.

“What are you talking about?” asked Jess. “We still have money left.”

“I hope you haven’t forgotten that you lost more than 90 percent of the group’s savings by buying on the stock market.”

“That was just a fluke,” Jess explained. “I can win it all back if you guys allow me to use the rest of the money.”

“We want to live, thank you,” Harrison said. “We still need to introduce Anthony to the last person here.”

“The mascot?” I asked.

“Yes, let’s meet her."

We left Peter and Jess arguing and went into a nearby room. There, we saw a girl dressed in a Doraemon costume playing a first-person shooters game.

“As I said, she’s the mascot of the group.” Harrison commented, “as simple as that. Nat, this is Anthony, our new member.”

“Hello,” Nat said. “Oh shoot, I died again.

“Another thing you should know about her is that she is terrible at shooting games.”

“Is this all the members?” I asked.

“Let’s see here,” Arianne pondered, “there is Gus who’s the scout in this group. He’s probably somewhere finding information on the government”

“There’s also this crazy member, Leo, in our group,” Harrison said. “He’s somewhere running his Asahi business. Are we forgetting someone?”

“You forgot the most dangerous person in our group?” asked Peter, entering the room.

“Her? She’s not dangerous.”

“Of course she is. Anyone capable of taming that beast is a monster.”

“Who are you guys talking about?” I asked, confused about what they’re saying.

“I forgot about our researcher,” Harrison said. “To the library, we go.”

Upon entering the library, a girl was reading a book.

“This is our researcher, Michelle,” Harrison said. “Michelle, our new member."

“Hello,” she said, continuing her book.

“Hi,” I replied.

“Hello Peter, why are you hiding behind the doorway?” amused Michelle. “Not like something will attack you.”

“You know perfectly why,” retorted Peter, “is the creature here?”

“I don’t think so,” Harrison said, looking around.

“Then I should be safe,” Peter said walking into the library.

“Go Miko, attack!” Michelle suddenly commanded. A golden retriever appeared out of nowhere and lunged at Peter.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Peter yelled, running out of the library with a dog chasing him.

“As mean as always,” Harrison observed, “just don’t bully the new guy too much.”

“We’ll see,” Michelle smiled, “what job are you assigning him?”

“I’ll think of one tomorrow,” Harrison replied, “I’m starting to get sleepy.”

“What do you think of all this?” Arianne asked.

“This is a new experience,” I answered.

“You’ll get used to it eventually.”

“Sleep now,” Harrison said, with a smile creeping on his face, “there will be tough training ahead of you tomorrow.”

“You’re being too strict with him,” Michelle said. "He might not survive it.”

“I always believe in the phrase ‘no pain no gain’. Enjoy your last night of sleep Anthony, you’ll miss it.”

On that note, Harrison laughed his way out of the library, making me wonder if he was or was not an evil villain planning on destroying the world.