Maths After

Victory. To someone so acquainted with victory as Todd, it would not have occurred that every win was different.  

It was now the afternoon after the giant vermin incident and Todd was still scrunched over, shivering, in front of his almost completed stack of paperwork. Contrary to expectations, he was no stranger to paperwork after a battle, but more so to the idea of working two days in a row. He shuddered even more at the thought that he would have to wake up early every week, Monday to Friday. "Paperwork also saves lives," the sentence from Rodrigo echoed in his head as he picked up the next form, and immediately sneezed all over it. Todd cursed that hard-nosed Rodrigo in his heart. It would not have been so bad if it were not frozen like a crypt inside this warehouse turned makeshift-office. Twice he pleaded with Rodrigo to be generous and turn on the heating and twice he had been rejected:

"Nonsense, you're a fit young man," said Rodrigo. "You blew up an entire neighborhood yesterday and have not paid a cent. Don't you think that's generous enough?"

Todd supposed Rodrigo had made a fair point as he filed yet another insurance claim. He picked up the last packet of documents for the day with a sigh of relief, which was an expenses list he simply needed to review and submit to the government. Todd flipped through it whilst wondering what to eat for dinner tonight, and decided to treat himself for a hard day's work: Munitions, emergency services,  medical supplies... Pretty standard. Perhaps I will have the fried chicken from the convenience store again. Media management, loss of cultural heritage. Or actually I'd like to try the oden. Damage to infrastructure. Compensation. Grand total. Boy, this is no small sum huh? 

Something about such an egregiously large total for so small a suburb, more pricey than the hole Void Man had blasted in the Bank of Japan when fighting Tanuki Man, aroused Todd's suspicion. One by one, he carefully tallied the costs across each section on his calculator. The total was correct.  He went back, re-examined the sections in detail, finally squinted at the compensations. Back and forth, back and forth he ruffled the pages until at last he realized what he had expected to see, what his intuition had told him, was not there. At this Todd frowned. He stood up, walked out of the room, file in hand. Then paused right in the doorway. 

Todd took a stretch and waited for the dizziness from standing up too fast to dissipate. In the corridors of the old warehouse, rays of afternoon sunlight twinkled with dust particles dancing through the air. His wristwatch whispered 5 o'clock. 

Quietly going back inside, Todd collected the rest of his documents, and headed for the file room; he really had no business in the coming and going of this money, so it could probably wait until tomorrow, or slip under the rug altogether. On the way there, he passed by the green-haired Sayuki who seemed to be getting along with the team strategist, a teenage girl named Huda. The two engaged in silent conversation while Todd wafted through.

In the little storage room, Todd noticed his hands felt a bit warmer, and he credited this to the excitement at the prospect of finishing up. He sorted the files into their proper places. As he did so, Todd noticed too a gentle humming coming from a corner of the room, behind the last shelf. And when he rounded the corner to put that last file away, there he stumbled upon Ruby sitting alone by the soft glow of a portable heater, leaning back in a plastic chair, gazing off into space. In her hand dangled an empty can of beer and a magazine. Ruby stared at Todd with an empty expression, before her senses kicked in:

"Oh, hey Todd. Whatcha doing here? I mean, uh, don't mind me." said Ruby with a shy giggle. They both looked at the heater in the corner, before crossing gazes again.

"Everything alright?" asked Todd.

"Well, you know, it just gets so cold 'round here once in a while. I just come here to take a little break. Did you get all the paperwork done? You can always leave some for tomorrow if you're feeling tired. Hey, Todd. Do me a favor will ya? Don't tell Rodrigo."

"I won't. I understand."

"Thanks, pal. He doesn't come in here very often. Most times he sends Huda in here to file all the invoices and budgeting business. I'm sure Rodri has very good reasons for not turning on the heating; I wouldn't hold it against him. Money's gonna be tight with two new hires. Don't get me wrong, of course, we're very fortunate to have y'all on the team. But anyway, a gal can't work in the cold. I'm just not used to this type of weather where I'm from."

Ruby forced a grin. Not wishing to disturb his new employer any further, Todd bid Ruby farewell and left the room, still holding onto the questionable expenses form. He figured he might as well show it to Rodrigo.

In the armory where weapons peeped at him from behind locked cages, Todd found Rodrigo busy at work.

"Excuse me, Rodrigo," said Todd. "Would you mind taking a look at this?"

Rodrigo did not bat an eye, "Ah, Todd, perfect timing. Look at this. A lasso I weaved from the vines of the Elderweald, supposed to inhibit magic abilities. Where is Ruby? I ought to show this to her."

"She's, uh, um," Todd hesitated, "out. Out shopping."

Rodrigo turned away from Todd to hide a sly smirk. "Oh? Is she now? Did she say when she would return?"

"Y-yes. And no."

"Lying to protect my wife. I can respect that," said Rodrigo. "But be careful, Hermano. You will have to do better than that in the future."

Todd gulped. "You knew?"

"I've known for a while. But what can you do? She is to be my bride. So, what is it you wanted to show me?"

"Here." Todd handed Rodrigo the expenses sheet. "The compensations seem to run much higher than the individual sectors would suggest. The math doesn't add up."

Rodrigo turned his back to Todd again as he looked at the paper. The stale air carried the residual scent of plants and gunpowder. 

"Government accounting rarely does," said Rodrigo.

"But three-hundred and sixty million yen?"

"What can I say, property prices are through the roof."

"Almost worth more than lives?"

Rodrigo gave no response. Then he gave a sigh that acknowledged everything.

"How many?" asked Todd.

"Three. I filed those myself, even left them out of the casualty report. I was trying to protect the team. What would Sayuki think? What would Ruby think? What are you thinking now, I wonder. I don't know how you knew to look. I only know that if Ruby found out about this, she would be... "

"Sad?" suggested Todd.

"Perhaps. She would blame herself and her irresponsible recruitment scheme. But it's not her fault, you see. It's not any of your faults."

The two men stood for a while, soaking in the silence.

"Listen, Todd. Do me a favor, would you? Let's keep this a secret between us. Not exactly how I wanted to welcome you to the party, but..."

Walking back home from the station, with the sobering evening wind blowing and carrying the golden ginkgo leaves along the street, Todd kept glancing at the faces of strangers beneath street lights as they passed by, never to meet again. In the convenience store check-out, Misty the cashier asked her former co-worker and regular customer how he's been, but did not receive a response; Todd was mesmerized by the television and its fuzzy static, black and white, white and black. "Three more, huh?" Todd whispered under his breath.

And the fishy oden tasted a bit off that day.