Paperwork

Araki, barely holding on himself, pulled me up.

“I have absolutely no clue what just happened, but you may have just saved the entirety of Honshu. Keep it up, kid. Hey, are you alright? You seem in way better shape than just now, I mean.”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just relieved.”

“You are? That’s good, because this little adventure isn’t over yet. We’ll have to file the proper forms for documentation of the entire encounter. Have fun with that, because I’ll be out of commission for a while. I’ll have to recover from the hell my wife’s gonna raise when I get back home, after all.”

“Agent Araki? Are you coming or not?” One of the many masked agents yelled through a megaphone, still not quite managing to fight against the helicopter’s engine heating up.

“Come on now, you too.” He grabbed my hand, a slight shiver still rippling through his body. “Yeah I’m coming, and we’re taking the rookie, too.”

“Of course, sir, as you wish.”

The helicopter ride back was brief, but it perfectly captured the cataclysmic chaos Matsumoto had caused. Still, I wondered how an explosive power such as that could possibly be woven into a realistic narrative for the public.

The girl seemed to have escaped, choosing not to attack any further after getting pushed into the ceiling. I briefly pondered what would happen to Matsumoto now, since she was in the same situation I was in, with no rights. Adding to that the fact that she was currently out of order, they may just decide to kill her now to avoid further damage.

“The look on your face says it all. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine, unless she can’t push through transport. I’m sure you enabled her to do that, though. It’s an arms race, kid. She’s one of their strongest weapons; they’d never let her die. And based on what I’ve seen you just do back there, you might just join her in those ranks sooner or later, when you manage to actually properly control it.”

An arms race with whom, though? I doubt he’ll answer any more questions.

Before I managed to ask him anything else, we had already arrived back at base.

I felt like at least an entire day had passed down there, but it was still only barely evening. The sun hadn’t even set yet, but my body was as tired as if it had just pushed through a hundred consecutive hours of unpaid overtime.

Araki quickly dashed away as soon as the helicopter landed, waving me a quick goodbye. Wasn’t he just limping a minute ago?

“Please follow me, Ma’am,” the same masked agent as before said, the engines behind us slowly winding down. “I’ll lead you to your quarters immediately.”

Is he some kind of attendant? Then why does he carry a rifle? Why would he lead me anywhere in the first place?

“Sure, just lead the way.” I still hadn’t gotten any more familiar with the labyrinthine layout of the base, so he was a welcome guide. All the maps I could find inside were just confusing me further, layering multiple floors over each other, while the corridors almost always began intertwining into some inconceivable mess.

In only two minutes after descending in the elevator, we had already reached my quarter.

“There you are, Ma’am. The proper files for your report will arrive shortly.”

He left as quickly as he had appeared, leaving me to fend for myself. After days of constant tension and pressure, maybe I could finally wind down a bit myself. How hard could it possibly be to file a report?

It turned out to be, in fact, not easy.

I took a nap for a single hour, readying myself for the calm and quiet of the usual office environment, minus the cubicles and other people. Maybe I could file the paperwork while lying on my bed, giving my legs some much needed rest after constantly being tormented the past two days.

After an hour of shallow sleep, my door was suddenly ripped open. I saw someone carrying three boxes filled to the brim with files walk into my room, accidentally dropping them as soon as he entered through the doorframe.

“Apologies. Those are all the forms Agent Araki redirected to you. Most of them are the separate filings for collateral damage. About ten pages each. You’ll figure it out. It’s due two days from now.”

Left speechless by the sheer amount of paperwork, I quickly fell back on the bed, grasping my face with both hands.

You have to be kidding. Redirected? That old man. He caused most of it, why do I have to sign them? This’ll take ages. Farewell, sweet rest. We shall meet again one day.

I stood back up and tried to pick up the first box, only to find that it was much heavier than anticipated. My hands slipped, spilling its content across the floor in its entirety.

“When we meet again, Araki. You’ll pay for this; I swear it on everything up there in heaven!” I shouted, slipping on a piece of paper while crouching down to pick up the pieces.

Before it could even start, my much-needed rest was cut short by this bureaucratic nightmare of an organization. If only I had just told him to kill me at the start, all of this could have been avoided.

I would much rather be anywhere else right now. Germany, for example. With Yuri.

On the list of horrific experiences this right here would have easily been in my top three, maybe even be one of my worst days ever from the paperwork alone. With this week’s lineup, though, it couldn’t even cut the top ten

I got to work picking up the endless flood of paper, diligently sorting it on my desk for hours until the files finally made sense again. They didn’t even give me a single paper clip to work with, much less a stapler.

This will take more than just tonight, won’t it? I’ll get that bastard back, for sure.

The pen in my right hand clicked with tireless excitement as I filed through the literal mountain of paper.