Rivalry with Aftercare

Raven woke up in her cardboard bed. Her sleeping situation owed not to any financial troubles, but only to my taunt yesterday. I criticized her for talking big while being wealthy enough to own three properties. She took the bait so naturally that maybe I should demote her status from bird to fish.

The corner in her spacious living room that she chose was a perfect location for me. Close enough to the bedroom window to give my spirit enough strength, but separated from the bedroom by a wall so Junk-o couldn’t hurt Raven.

“I told you I could understand how the homeless feel,” she said with a proud smirk after her good night’s sleep, not a clue what had happened.

Commenting on how out of touch she was would be a waste of effort, so I changed the topic. “How could you have hated Ueshima Hideka since before you had met her in person? That was unnecessarily petty.”

“I thought you knew everything? Have you seen her articles? How often she repeats the talking points of the government? She’s basically the government’s unofficial spokesperson. Mom had always said that accomplices of evil are no better than the evil itself.”

“And you are now her disciple.”

“I’m infiltrating their circle. It doesn’t count.”

Another dead end in the conversation. But I’d rather face this awkward tension than Raven interrogating me with unhelpful questions. Of course, wishing annoyances away wouldn’t work. If wishes were horses, beggars would ride, as the saying goes.

It didn’t take Raven long to find the small holes lined across her bedroom walls. She brushed her finger against them, testing whether they were real. I had plucked away the grass and flushed it down the toilet. Alas, modern plumbing couldn’t repair the damage that Junk-o’s frenzy left behind. However, this room still looked less battered than the best room in Raven’s orphanage.

“You are totes responsible for this.”

She was right. But I didn’t appreciate the accusatory tone. “What happened was that you painted the wall so black that you couldn’t notice the wear and tear it suffered.”

Knowing that I was responsible for the damage wouldn’t change anything. She couldn’t expel me from her body. And I expected her defiance either way. It was annoying though, hearing her speak as if I hadn’t saved her life last night.

Luckily, the doorbell interrupted her.

“Who is that?” Her question was imbued with a spark of sincerity that had been absent the whole morning. If only she would stay off that high horse and let me take the reins instead.

“You might want to answer this.” No one likes spoilers, after all.

She did, but not before grumbling about it first. Her eyes widened when she saw two police officers outside. And I refrained from telling her that she wouldn’t have to worry about the government going after her. They were only here to take a routine statement, because they had found a dead body from a presumed accident.

“Excuse me. Are you Midorikawa-san?” one officer asked.

Raven wasn’t a complete idiot, so she at least knew to rub her eyes and yawn, pretending that she’d just woken up to lower their suspicions. “I am. How can I help you?”

The conversation lasted only ten minutes. Raven played her role well. But right after closing the door, she had to butt heads with me again. “What was that?”

“Looks like someone died. That’s tragic.”

Life would be simpler if Raven believed me. I wouldn’t count on it, so before she could bother me with another question, I took hold of the conversation. “Hideka is collecting information down there on the streets. This is your chance to get closer to her.”

“You can’t just hand-wave this off. Answer me.” She crossed her arms as if I didn’t know how frustrated she was already.

“I can always stay silent, while I’m sure you can get Hideka to spill the beans.”

Once again, Raven had to follow the path I laid out for her, and I would keep on paving this road, not ending it anytime soon.

***

The area was still covered with police tape. Junk-o’s body had been removed, but a few passersby still stared at the spot they thought the corpse had been, mesmerized by the idea of death. I could never get the appeal.

Hideka wasn’t here because of morbid curiosity, but instead, she followed her journalist’s intuition here, trying to determine if there was a story here. Of course, she wouldn’t find anything worthy of writing about. Ironically, she ran into Raven, the origin point of the series of events leading to Junk-o’s death.

“Oh, hey, Ueshima-senpai. Fancy seeing you here.” Raven greeted Hideka with a bright smile.

This unexpected appearance startled Hideka. “Midorikawa-san? Why are you here? I didn’t accidentally call you to come, did I?” She would have been a much better host than Raven.

“That’s not it. I live here.”

“Oh? I didn’t know you lived in such a well-off neighborhood.”

“I got it from my mother. She left it when she passed away.”

“Sorry for bringing it up.” Hideka lowered her head, genuinely apologetic. How Raven would interpret this was another story. She would brand Hideka with a few more sins just for speaking.

“Um… do you want to get breakfast? My treat…” Hideka squeezed out this request while avoiding eye contact.

Raven, being at least ten times richer, shamelessly agreed, not even giving it much thought. They picked the tranquil coffee shop a block away. The smell of the beans and the window wall overlooking the morning street gave the idea that the place was far removed from the rest of the city. Heavenly almost.

“How are you holding up?” Hideka asked once she got to their table and handed the cup of mocha to Raven.

Raven took off the lid and poured in a whole packet of table sugar. “What do you mean?”

Hideka watched Raven with fascination, and no, it wasn’t because of the sugar. “Someone just di… passed next to where you lived. It must have been scary.”

“Oh…” Raven emptied a second packet. “No, it’s not like I saw the death. I’m not even sure what happened. Do you have any deets to share?”

“Are you sure you want to know?”

“Always. It’s the journalist’s duty to know, right?” Raven stirred her drink as if dispersing the sweetness would help.

Hideka nodded, convinced by this corny rhetoric. It didn’t take long for her to tell Raven everything she knew. It was information gathered from the police and from the witnesses. Unreliable, of course. No one actually saw me push Junk-o off, and from going through the limited security footage, the police could only conclude that no foul play was involved. Raven stopped stirring and listened intently. Not that she would get anything useful from what Hideka had said.

“And that is pretty much it.” Once Hideka signaled the end of her explanation. Raven absent-mindedly reached for another sugar packet.

“Do you want to turn your blood into caramel?” I shouted into her mind. Technically, this was my body too. I wasn’t about to let Raven ruin it with diabetes.

My sudden interjection made Raven flinch and pull back her hand. As if in a hurry, she gulped down her coffee, which had lost its heat to the air conditioning. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and continued with another line of questioning. “Cool. Do you have any other juicy info you can share? Like… for instance, the rumors of an underground magic trade? I’ve seen it mentioned online a few times, so I got curious.” Not the smoothest segue, but Hideka didn’t mind.

“Hmm… There’s a lot I can’t tell you, but my contacts have mentioned a name. Maybe you can investigate and tell me what you find.”

Raven straightened her posture. “What’s the name?” Excitement was clear in her voice. I wondered whether she even put any effort into hiding it. She really needed to stop letting others… read her like a book, as the saying goes. At least she didn’t act suspiciously in front of the police.

Hideka lowered her voice as she told Raven a name that so many had already spoken of before. “The Robin Hood.”

Dramatic, right? But she couldn’t give Raven much information beyond that name drop. My quasi-omniscience wasn't much help, but it didn’t matter. The most important point was that I got more ammo to tease Raven with.

“You seemed to have fun with the, and I quote, ‘bitch who sells out so much she needs to start selling her organs.’” I said after Raven took her leave.

“Yeah… she's more normal than I thought.” Raven didn't seem to realize what she had even said. Her every step sank, and even in the open streets, the clank of her heels against the pavement seemed to be echoing.

And then, her mind returned. “Hey, Death-san. Are you really not telling me what had happened?”

“About what?”

Raven sighed. My lies were transparent, as there was no need to hide. “Tell me more about yourself. Will you?”

This time, I judged that even answering her would be too generous with my energy.

“Fine, then. I’ll find out myself.”

By that, she meant moving in with Pestilence that afternoon. To that, I could only say, Good luck getting anything other than inappropriate remarks from Pestilence.