25 - We Have Always Worked in the Office (3)

We make our way back to Parallax Plaza.

It's not the first time we end up having to sleep in the office. We all have sleeping bags under our desks for a reason.

The streets are completely deserted. A streetlight at the intersection turns green, signaling to nobody.

Addy looks exhausted, her tail drooping, ears limp.

"Sorry, Odd-kun …"

"For what?"

"You missed the train because of me …"

"Don't worry about it," I re-assure her. "The important thing is that you're alright."

"It's just my damn luck again. I cause so many problems for everyone, and the company …"

"Hey—none of that now, okay?"

"But it's true …"

We don't say anything more until we get to the front doors of the office building.

The doors are locked after hours. But it's fine as long as I have my—

—Wait.

I check my pockets. I check the inside of my jacket.

"Um, Addy?"

"Yeah?"

"So … I forgot my badge."

"… Oh."

Addy takes her badge, taps it on the reader—even though we both know it's not going to work.

… Contractors don't have after hours access.

*

We spend the next half an hour walking around the area around Parallax Plaza.

There's a business hotel across the street, but they're all booked out for the night.

No 24-hour diners or anything like that, either.

The only option available to use—the only option—it's imperative that I stress this is a last resort—is to try the hotel with pink lights but an otherwise-unassuming facade.

… Don't look at me like that. Addy's the one who suggested it in the first place!

"… You know … what kind of hotel this is," I say as we step inside, "… right?"

"What choice do we have?" she replies.

We look around in the lobby.

"There's no reception?" I ask.

"I … guess not," says Addy.

Neither of us are sure how this whole thing is supposed to work.

After all, this is the first time either of us has been in a love hotel.

It takes us a while to figure out the check-in process, but we manage to reserve a room. You basically select from a list of photos on a TV-sized touch panel on the wall.

"I guess it's all self-serve."

"That makes a lot of sense," says Addy, blushing.

The TV spits out a keycard, and we take the elevator to our assigned floor.

We enter our room.

It's, um—

It's surprisingly nice.

I have no idea what I was expecting.

To be honest, it just looks like any regular hotel room. There's a slight tinge of old tobacco smoke, and there's a few more, ahem, 'amenities' that you wouldn't find in a regular room, but overall, it's not bad.

The main thing I'm concerned about right now is—well, for obvious reasons, there's only one bed.

And there's no sofa or anything like that, only the standard-issue, obligatory 'third-wheel' chair.

As a gentleman, I offer to sleep on the floor.

"Don't be ridiculous," says Addy. She's already kicked off her heels, lying down on one side of the bed, eyes closed. "… Ugh, I feel like I could sleep for an entire week straight."

I stand there for a long time, unsure how to proceed.

Addy opens her eyes, looks at me. "… Are you going to stand there all night?" She pats the other side of the bed. "Come on, Odd-kun. Let's get some shut-eye."

Finally, I move to the bed.

Before I lie down, I remove the flower petals from my pillow.

"Addy, I don't think you took the flowers off before you put your head down."

"Huh?" She reaches behind her head. Petals stuck to her hair. "Oh. … You're right."

We look at each other for a bit. Then we laugh.

*

The two of us are lying side by side, in the dark.

… I can't sleep.

From the sounds of it, neither can she.

Which is weird, given how exhausted we are.

I've sobered up plenty by now. I was surprised at how quickly that happened.

"I don't think I've ever seen a foxgirl before you," I say.

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" she asks.

"Um—neither, I guess? It's just an observation."

She kicks me lightly. "Odd-kun, you're supposed to say something cool, like"—she pitches her voice lower—"'Good thing, obviously, because it meant I got to meet you.'"

"Good thing, obviously, because it meant I got to meet you."

"See? Was that so hard?"

A long silence.

"So what are you going to do when the Project's over?" I ask.

"Like it's ever gonna end."

"I mean, it will—eventually. Nothing lasts forever. Even a terribly mismanaged Project like this."

She turns to face me.

I turn my head to meet her gaze. In the dark I can just make out her ears. Her eyes, reflecting whatever faint light there is.

"I guess," she says, "I'll have to go back."

"… Back where?"

"Wherever I came from."

… But where is that?

For that matter, where did I come from?

Why can't I remember anything about my life before the Project?

Before Parallax Plaza?

I must have come from somewhere, right?

I can't have just worked in an office all my life, right?

"Are you okay?" she asks, snapping me out of my sudden trance.

"Y-yeah," I say. "I … I'm just tired."

"Let's get some sleep, okay?"

"Yeah. … Okay. That's probably a good idea. Night, Advent."

We both freeze.

"What—what did you just call me?"

"I … I'm not sure."

What did I say just now? … Why did I just say that?

It hurts my head to think.

So I stop thinking about it.

*

We check out the next morning.

Like with the check-in, it takes us a while before we figure out how it all works.

"Very discreet," Addy nods. "… Another thing I can cross off my list! New experiences are fun, aren't they?"

She's already back to her usual self. (Me, on the other hand? I've got a wicked hangover.)

"And I can't believe … that my first time … was with you," she says, mock-demurely, hand on her cheek.

"Stop it," I laugh. "You're going to give people the wrong idea."

And as we both step outside into the harsh light of a new day, Addy still going on and on jokingly about her 'first time', me pleading with her to stop, who else do we have the good fortune of bumping into but—

"—Uh … Hey, guys?" greets Alex, Valerie next to him.

The four of us stand and stare for a while on the sidewalk. Addy and I on the boundary of the hotel's front entrance. Our other two team members, mouths agape.

… There's really not much we can say in this situation.

After what feels like an eternity, Alex storms off, muttering, "Happy for you guys … Really … Real happy for ya," while Valerie is uncharacteristically quiet, unable to look either of us in the eye as we walk to work together.

It takes Addy and I the rest of the morning to try and clear up the misunderstanding.

*

We spend the next few months (… or years maybe, I can't tell anymore) with our noses to the grindstone.

And eventually, against all odds—in spite of all the constant setbacks, the corporate firefights, Advent's luck—we find ourselves one day with a finished Project.

… We're done.

We're finally done.

The Project is over.

The company gives us a nice pat on the back, and a pizza lunch where we get a maximum of two slices for each person. (Any soft drinks are deducted from our next paycheck.)

It's a huge load off all our backs.

… But it also means that Addy's finally rolling off.

On her last day, we hold a farewell lunch for her at a nice brunch place nearby. Just the four of us: Alex, Valerie, Addy and me.

Team Project.

When we get back to the Plaza, I keep Addy company as she waits for her ride.

It's just the two of us.

… I have no idea what to say.

Addy, normally so cheerful, seems to be at a loss as well. She stares at the ground, kicking at the pavement.

"Well—" "So—"

We laugh awkwardly, having spoken at the same time.

"No, no, you first."

"No, you go ahead."

I scratch the back of my head. "I just … It's been really great working with you, Addy."

She smiles. "Same."

To my surprise, she steps forward, wraps her arms around me.

"Thanks for everything," she says.

The twitching of her ears tickles my nose. I pat her head.

"Yeah," I say. "… Yeah."

Her car arrives. A black sedan, with tinted windows.

The back door opens to let her in.

Inside, I can see, in the dark of the backseat, what looks to be a man dressed in some kind of military coat. A peaked officer's cap. An eyepatch, I think, but it's hard to tell. One blue, limpid husky's eye.

… Have I seen this person before?

As I watch Addy start to climb inside, I realize that the mounting sense of something that I couldn't name before—a creeping dissonance that started with the appearance of the car—is none other than dread, the feeling snowballing from a barely-perceivable hum to a full-on assault on my every nerve, the panic so sudden and overwhelming that it sucks every bit of air from my lungs, sends my world spinning from under me.

My knees buckle. I have to steady myself.

I can't let her get in.

I can't let her leave with—with whoever's in that car.

My body acts on its own. I run forward, and grab Addy's hand while she's halfway in the backseat. She turns her head, alarmed. "… Odd-kun?"

I shake my head. "You can't go. Please, Addy."

"Odd-kun …"

"I think that—I don't know why, but—… I really, really feel that, if you get in … Then I'll never see you again."

Addy stares at me for a long time.

Does she feel it too? This inexplicable sense of foreboding?

She looks back to the inside of the car, at the mysterious man I either know or don't know. (… Who??) She looks back to me again.

Then, finally, she steps out of the car. She closes the door.

I let out a sigh of relief.

… And then we walk back together, the two of us, to Parallax Plaza.

*

We're hanging around my cubicle.

Addy doesn't have access to the floor anymore, so I badged her in as a visitor.

Alex and Valerie ask me what happened, why Addy's still here, with me.

"I don't know," I say. "I can't explain it. I had to stop her from leaving. You felt it too, right Addy?"

Addy crosses her arms. "… I—I don't know. I'm not sure."

I turn to the others. "Guys—don't you feel it? Something's wrong here."

Valerie frowns. "What do you mean?"

"It's like, this whole place is wrong. No, think about it. I know it hurts to do so, but just think about it. … Where are we? What city are we in? What country? How many years did we work on the Project? What does the company even do?"

Alex furrows his brow. "It's—I mean, we've always been here. Haven't we?"

My head starts to hurt. Just like all the other times, when I think too hard about where we are, or what we did before all this. If anything.

But unlike those other times, I don't stop thinking. I push past the pain.

My vision blurs. I feel dizzy. My temples ache.

Parallax … Plaza?

Parallax.

Parallax … P-point?

No. No—

Point.

Point Parall—

BANG!

A gunshot shakes me out of my thoughts. What's happening? Another corporate attack from competitors?

"A-Alex?" I hear Valerie whisper.

I look up at Alex.

A hole where his eye used to be. The bullet gone clean through.

He falls backward, crumples to the floor.

Dead.

Down the hallway behind him, a tall man with a smoking pistol.

Eyepatch.

Officer's cap.

Military coat.

… It's the man in the backseat.