Chapter 13: Priceless Cost【P1】

Sayoko

Tick…

Tick…

Tick. Tick…

Tick…

A localized rupture in the universe must have torn open right before me, bleeding time in slow motion.

Impatient grumbles swell behind me. A glance over my shoulder confirms the line is still growing.

“Is there…” I trace a circle on the counter, willing her fingers to move faster. “any way you can… not be you, perhaps?”

“Hey! I’m doing this as a bonus.” The girl’s attention flicks between me and her monitor. “But don’t worry, I consider it community service. Besides, it’s not every day I get to file an expulsion vote.” Her mouth quirks with barely concealed amusement.

“Yes, erasing people from existence—endless fun. But is there a way you could do that faster, right now?”

She peers up at me through her bangs. “If you wanted it done quickly, you should have brought a filled-out form to the Voting Bureau to start with. This doesn’t even fall under my job description.” Her fist punches the air. “But you rarely get to see an expulsion proposal in person, especially this early in the year!”

My fingers tick against the counter. “But if you can finish it within my remaining lifetime at this school, that—”

“And done!” She presses the enter key like she is sealing a royal decree. “Now, what is the name of our unlucky target?”

She slides a scrap of paper and a pen across the counter to me.

I stare at the blank slip, waiting for the letters to solidify.

…

“Is that… really needed?”

“Yes.” She deadpans.

The gears behind her eyes click back to life. “Wait, were you even—”

“No, of course not.” I dismiss the suspicion with a flick of my wrist, my hand closing around the pen.

The tip presses into the scrap paper, leaving a tiny dent. She leans closer, watching the pen hover over the paper, refusing to move.

My fingers slacken, letting the pen clatter against the counter.

I shove the paper away. “Can I not just use a description instead? I can describe him using a series of vivid metaphors if you—”

She drops her face into her hands, shaking her shoulders with an unconvincing sob. “Boohoo! And here I thought I would actually get to see the first expulsion vote of the semester.”

“Actually, I just remembered something.” I pull the paper back to me. “I wanted to expel two people today. But on an unrelated note, what was your name again?” I reach for the pen—

The paper blurs white and vanishes.

Her hand sweeps back to steal the pen, dismantling me before I can write.

“Come back when you actually mean it.” She scoffs, her head turning away from me. “I do not have time for your pranks.”

Hasumi

“...a joke?” I lift up the cucumber from my eye to take a gander.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, President.” Taro nods, so deep he almost head-butts his glass. “Fret not. I am sure the woodworkers will gather their sawdust and put themselves back together.”

“Taro, why would I want to wait for that?” I throw the cucumber, but it falls short, landing at his feet. “I am certain they have already used up every favor I ever did them. Yet it appears they cannot repay me.”

“My sources say they just went on a little excursion to test the waters.” He lounges deeper into the armchair. ”Nothing more serious than that.”

“But it should have been me!” I slap the water and surge upright, dislodging the remaining cucumber slice from my eye.

He swirls his glass as if that settles the matter.

“Gather the people.” I flick my fingers toward him. “I want a surprise submission for the upcoming vote.”

The swirling in his glass stops.

“You do understand that the Carpenter Collective will not take kindly to that.”

He grabs a notebook from his bag and opens it on his lap. “I am not sure if you should batter your already fragile ally with such… tactics. They are already flailing in your ranks, and I doubt they can take much more.”

“Ally? Are allies not supposed to help each other? This is flat-out betrayal! They knew I needed that package to be with the Lucky Lures Club, not the Pour House!” I deflate, sinking back down through the hot tub suds until the water swallows me whole.

A muffled voice reaches me through the depths. Opening my eyes to a blurry shape looming above, I break the surface only to catch him mid-sentence.

“...that is your choice. Let me handle this week’s vote. I see you are… bubbling over with work.”

He turns, his paces falling into perfectly equal distances toward the exit.

“And on your way out, tell that lousy assistant of mine to bring more bubbles to my office!”

He looks back from the threshold. “For the drink, or the bathtub?”

“Both.”

Jiro

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

The boy’s fingers fly across the keyboard, matching the rhythm of a concert pianist. The monitor’s glow paints shifting lines of text over his face.

“I, uh, don’t want to rush you.” I lean over the counter, crowding his screen. “I can come back later if it’s—”

“Sh sh.” He waves me off without looking up. “Thinking.”

“If you say so.”

Retreating from the counter, I make a small round in the quiet lobby. The overhead wall clock wages a losing war against the faster keystrokes in the otherwise quiet afternoon.

“Not very busy here? Normal for this time of day?” I glance over at him.

No response.

Guess he is not so interested in history after all.

“Ceremonial banana offerings... passion fruits heist... passionate dances...” he mutters, his voice growing louder.

I hurry over to the counter and lean forward.

“Yes?”

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Discover what happens next in: Chapter 13: Priceless Cost【P2】

Written by Limited_Infinity. Extras, official publishing platforms and updates are publicly available only on the Patreon page “_Limited_Infinity_”

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