"I'm so tired."

You said that aloud to no one in particular. You were snuggled under a fluffy blanket (gifted by Amas) in your bed with a book in hand. However, your mind was too preoccupied with what happened earlier today to focus on said book.

Shen's kiss on the palm, the several instances of hand holding—dude. It was so much physical contact to where you weren't even sure if you were flustered or not.

"Does he like me?"

Those moments with Shen were straight out of a romance novel; however, the guy was strange when it came to emotions. Was he confusing his feelings? Was he experimenting? Did he realise that his beauty could be used as a weapon?

Well, there was definitely some level of attachment. But you sure as hell weren't going to assume he loved you and end up embarrassing yourself because you were wrong.

Your stomach grumbled. Damn, and you already had dinner with Finn as well (you face timed Cecil and Caleb during it because they said they were feeling lonely). The strenuous fight against Shen worked up an appetite. You parted ways with your blanket in search of something to shut your stomach up.

The building you were staying at was smaller than the main AEI building, but the quality was still there. One complaint was that there was no library. Oh well, internet fanfics and otome games kept you company (Finn almost caught you reading smut at one point).

You turned a corner and walked past a glass door to a balcony. Well, you would've walked past it if you hadn't spotted a familiar muscular brunet.

"It's Finn..."

The young man was looking off to the distance, exhausted orange eyes too distracted to notice you. There was a wisp of smoke that parted his lips, and between his fingers was a lit cigarette.

Oh. I caught him smoking.

Unexpected, right? It was something that caught you off guard when you first found out in the game. You wouldn't expect someone so friendly and warm to engage in an act so self-destructive.

What should you do in this situation... In the game, Amias approached him out of concern since he assumed Finn was grieving Caleb's death. Clearly, Caleb was alive this time. You could just leave Finn alone, but this rare opportunity wasn't something you intended to miss. You could learn more about him.

You slid the glass door open and a frigid gust of wind enveloped your skin. You almost turned right back because of how cold it was.

"(Y/n)?" Finn was quick to put out his cigarette. It was done so smoothly you almost doubted the scene you just saw before. "Did you need something?"

"I thought you might've wanted some company."

"Oh." He laughed. "Do you want to go somewhere else and talk?"

"Here is fine."

You stood next to Finn. There was a moment of silence, but it wasn't one that forced you to break it. But you had a feeling that you'd need to be the first to speak up if you wanted any conversation going.

"So... You smoke?"

God. Someone just threw your social skills out the window.

Finn chuckled at your awkwardness. "Why do I get the feeling you're not all that surprised?"

"I mean, I don't know much about you. So it's not like 'omg, you've never told me this before and we've been friends for fifty years', you know?"

Which was somewhat true. Finn was one of the characters you were less acquainted with in terms of your knowledge on his backstory and motives.

"Makes sense. We've only known each other for around a month," Finn said. "Want to get to know each other a little more?"

"Who can turn down quality bonding time?" You joked, earning another chuckle from Finn. "Is it okay if I ask how long you've been smoking for?"

"I'll say the first time I smoked was when I was ten?"

That information was still just as surprising as the first time. That shock probably translated to your expression because Finn was smiling in amusement.

"Want me to elaborate?"

"Yes, please."

"Let's see... When I was younger, my parents were usually in a bad mood. It was hard to talk to them," he said. "However, when they were smoking, they were always a lot happier. So, I took up smoking to join them. It took a couple of tries because I couldn't handle the smoke. At times I thought my throat would bleed because of how much I coughed. But one day, I was finally able to join them."

With a subtle curve of his lips, Finn's gaze grew distant and reminiscent. It was as if he was detached from the conversation and began living in the memory again.

"We shared fun conversations. I learnt that my mother wanted to be a florist and my dad wanted to be an exorcist. They even asked me what I wanted to do."

Talk about heavy. This was similar to what Finn told Amias. What's with the Anomalous cast and having horrible parental figures?

"It wasn't healthy, but I didn't know any better when I was younger."

Man, you did not know how to play therapist right now.

"How do you feel about it now?"

"Well, I know the health repercussions of smoking, but the habit's already been ingrained." Finn laughed softly. "Don't worry, I don't smoke often. It just happens when I feel like remembering my parents."

Some people might wonder 'wow, it was pretty easy to get Finn to open up'. Truth is, Finn never really bothered to hide this side of his. It wasn't like 'oh I'm pretending to be kind but I'm actually some sad boy' kind of thing. He was genuinely the kind and caring individual he displayed to others. But if you happen to see him in a vulnerable state, he won't exactly lose an arm and limb to hide it.

What else could you learn about him? Was there something to Finn crucial to the plot you were unaware of?

"Do you miss your parents? I'm assuming they..."

Finn was quiet for a moment, but he answered your assumption that his parents had passed away with a nod.

"I don't know if I miss them. It's... very complicated." He turned to you. "Speaking of parents, are you comfortable talking about yours?"

Ah. Your parents. This was going to be an interesting trip down memory lane.

"My parents weren't terrible. Food, shelter, money for hobbies and to hang out with friends. They provided it all like any other family."

Finn nodded. "But I'm assuming there's more to it?"

"Hm..."

You've never talked about your parents with anyone, so you weren't sure how to go about this. In fact, you wanted to just not talk about them at all. Finn would understand, but it wouldn't be fair.

"There was no love. None between them and none given to me. My parents got together because it was beneficial to them and their families. They were logical and realistic," you said. "And they had a child who had completely opposite beliefs."

A bitter feeling began rising to your throat, but you swallowed it.

"That sparked... a few arguments. I'm not sure if they ever loved me or if they took care of me because I was their child and logically they needed to provide for me. I felt like a thing they needed to make sure didn't break. When I grew up, I cut ties with them and they hardly batted an eye."

You've never rambled so much about your parents before, so it was interesting hearing your thoughts out loud. You weren't sure if you felt better or worse.

"We're pretty similar, huh? Both of us were deprived of our parents' attention in some way," Finn said. "What are they up to now?"

You mumbled, "Who knows?"

Which was true in many ways. Back in your world, you cut all contact with them so you had no idea if they were even living in the same home. And your parents in this world? No idea.

Finn nodded. "Hey, what do you think of the speciality force?"

The question was a little out of the blue, but the answer came easily to you.

"You're all family to me."

"I feel the same way," Finn responded. "I don't have anyone blood related to me anymore, so I treasure those I consider my family. That includes you as well."

"Me?"

"Of course. If you're not here, the speciality force won't be the same." Finn leaned against the railing and stretched his arms out. "And we can't have that. A family sticks together, right?"

There was something off about his words.

"What do you mean––"

Your stomach growled and you wanted to do a backflip off the balcony at how loud it was.

Finn muffled an amused snicker. "There's still leftover pastries. They should be on the table."

Dammit your stomach really ruined this for you. Well, judging by Finn's quick transition in topic, you had a feeling he wouldn't have answered the question you wanted to ask anyway, or at least with the detail you were seeking.

"I will be helping myself to that. Wanna join me?"

"In a minute." Finn smiled kindly. "I just need a moment to myself."



===



"Big sister!" Sam tapped your leg. "Are we going back home today?"

Yup, all the apparitions were out of your book. Prior to asking you the question, the twins were running around playing tag (they were unsuccessful in convincing Copper to join), Mochi was keeping an eye on said twins, and Alastor was playing chess against Copper.

"Mhm." You zipped up your suitcase. "There's gonna be an important announcement."

Alastor looked up from the chess board. "Let me guess, you know what it's gonna be about."

"Hah."

Alastor raised an eyebrow. "And you're not telling me?"

"It would be more dramatic if you experienced it for yourself."

"I'm impatient."

"Ironic considering you're currently playing chess." You chuckled as Alastor scoffed. "You're totally the type to read novel spoilers rather than wait for a new chapter of a webcomic to release."

"You're not wrong."

You rolled your eyes. "Remember when I told you about the time I first met Shen?"

"What's this have to do with anything?"

"Patience, child. I'm building context."

"I'm eighteen."

"A child in my eyes." Alastor huffed as you moved on from your victory. "Shen broke out of the lab when I first met him. But here's a question, what's the lab even for? What's the technology design even making?"

You paused for dramatic effect and Alastor suppressed a groan because he knew very well that you'd only increase the length of the pause if he complained. Didn't mean that he was good at hiding his annoyed expression, though.

"Weapons." You finally said. Even Copper muttered a 'finally'. His attitude was seriously mirroring Alastor's too much. You were a concerned mother. "And it's nearing completion."

"Weapons?"

"Not everyone's an exorcist. With the increased apparition activity, the AEI can't help everyone in every situation. So there will be instances where people need to defend themselves. Or at least buy enough time before help comes," you explained. "The announcement will be related to that. And––"

"Wait." Alastor narrowed his eyes. "Someone's coming."

He disappeared into your book like second nature. After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door.

"(Y/n)?"

"You can come in."

The door opened and revealed Finn. Mochi happily barked and ran over to Finn's side, wagging his tail. Finn looked incredibly torn that he couldn't pet the wolf. Meanwhile, Sam ran to Finn whilst forgetting the fact that she was an apparition. She ended up phasing right through Finn's leg.

Finn looked like he wanted to help, but he physically could not. You picked the child up with ease and fixed her hair for her. Her face was red with embarrassment as she mumbled a 'thank you'. Alec sighed (probably trying to copy Copper, who was trying to copy Alastor) and reprimanded his sister.

"You could have accidentally gone underground!"

Sam pouted. "But I didn't! I just feel and big sister picked me up!"

Finn's eyebrows creased slightly. You knew exactly what he was thinking about.

"Yeah, apparitions have to constantly float since nothing here is physical for them. Apparently some actions require less effort to remain afloat."

"I never thought about that."

"Me neither."

Finn walked closer to your apparition companions. "Sam, Alec, Copper, and Mochi right? How is everyone doing?"

For the past week, Finn has grown decently close to the apparitions. He really was like a parental figure to them. You had to ask him for advice because your knowledge on dealing with kids stemmed from the one time you took on a babysitting job in highschool because you needed the extra cash to buy a new book that came out. Heck, Finn even got Copper to treat him nicely! That kid still shows you attitude!

Alec asked Finn. "Are we leaving now?"

"Soon. I was just checking up on (Y/n)."

"I'm almost done," you said. "I just need to pack away some books."

"Perfect. Come down in around an hour, that's when our ride comes."

"You got it."

Finn bid goodbye to everyone and closed the door. You heard his footsteps progressively grow fainter as you finished up the last bit of your packing. Everyone else returned to the book when you did one last survey of the room.

Oops, almost forgot to close the window.

But when you went to the window, you were met face to face with a very familiar pair of purple eyes. You blinked and it took a moment for your brain to finally work.

"Kein?!"

Luckily, you only whisper shouted his name. Unluckily, you stumbled back and tripped. You were quick to get back up on your feet. The dude was suspended upside down from who knows where with his long blonde hair swaying ever so gracefully with the wind. Even nature was on his side, huh?

"I finally found you!"

How many failed attempts has he had?

"Can I have a moment of your time?"

"Wait, huh? Why?"

"Quick! You need to leave soon, right? I want to talk about something."

You had no idea what the hell was happening, but you loved Kein so it was fine.

"Uhm, okay. We can talk on the roof."

"Oh! No need. We'll just crash your room."

"I guess that works––wait, we?"

A crow suddenly perched on the window sill. Your brain was loading as you tilted your head to the side in confusion. Within that 0.2 seconds, the realisation finally sunk in. But it sunk in too late for you to mentally prepare yourself.

"Pardon the intrusion."

A tall figure casually phased through the wall and into your room. When he turned to you, you saw emerald green eyes that reminded you of Caleb's, but with a touch of maturity that gave him a more distinct look from his brother. His lips curved into a charming smile, drawing attention to the single beauty mark beneath them

WHAT.

"James????"

He laughed. "You seem awfully surprised."

"No sh––"

"I'm here as well."

Oh hell no, you knew that calm and collected voice. You felt chills on a physical and metaphorical level when a particular apparition with white hair entered your room.

SHEN?!

You did not expect to meet him again so soon. Let alone with Kein and James. You were being introduced to very unfamiliar dynamics.

Kein smiled brightly at the company and jumped through the window and into your room. You frantically looked to the door as if someone would suddenly come in and catch you with very suspicious company.

"Don't worry about someone coming in," Kein said. "Shen took precautions."

"You guys know his name?!"

Kein looked adorably confused. "Is that a bad thing?"

You felt utterly betrayed as you dramatically said to Shen, "I thought we had something special."

James raised an eyebrow. "Are you head over heels for him or something?"

"Downbad at times."

"...Interesting information."

Shen gave you a confused look. "What does downbad mean––"

"You don't need to know."

James raised a hand. "I can explain."

You grabbed his raised hand and put it down. "No you don't."

After that, you sat on the bed and needed a moment to absorb everything that had just happened. James was leaning against the wall, Kein was politely sitting down on one of the couches, and Shen chose to sit right next to you. You could feel the cold air he naturally emanated.

There was an impalpable tension that draped over the air. You almost had to check if you were still able to breathe properly.

You crossed your arms and sighed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to talk to you about something," Kein replied.

You looked over to James with a doubtful look. The dude shrugged.

"Gonna be honest, I tagged along just because."

Kein stood up to pat James on the shoulder and shoot you a thumbs up. "Don't worry, James is not a bad guy. I only needed to say please once to convince him to join me!"

You thought back to the time where James almost killed you, and resisted the urge to squint your eyes. Kein looked so innocently trusting, so you didn't voice your doubts. But you did shoot James a subtle 'I do not buy that one bit' look, to which he returned with a 'fair enough' shrug.

By this stage, James was already exorcised, so his actions now were going to be new to you. Why would he tag along with Kein? Was it only because the two were teammates and friends?

It has to do something with Caleb.

"You want to go against the chairman, right?" Kein asked.

You snapped out of your thoughts. Oh dear, it was time for this discussion. A reminder to not go against the chairman.

"I'm here to convince you again!" Yup, you were right. "Don't even think about doing something reckless."

You took a moment to appreciate how cute Kein looked when he was trying to reprimand you.

"I don't mind giving you information I gathered to keep you updated and feel at ease," he said. "But don't get directly involved."

"Uhm, so what if I used the favour I won from the challenge to let me in on this?"

Kein gasped as if you had formed some master plan and executed it flawlessly.

"That's..."

You couldn't help but laugh loudly. Shen seemed surprised at your sudden outburst.

Did Kein come all the way here with James and Shen just to warn you about the chairman?

That's my favourite character for you.

"Now that we've finally established that," Shen said. "Let's move onto the main discussion, shall we?"

Kein gaped. "You knew this from the start?"

Shen returned his question with a confused frown. "It was quite obvious, wasn't it?"

"Was it...?"

"..."

You and James were already aware of the kind of person Kein was, so you both weren't surprised by his oblivious nature. Shen had a lot to learn about this lovable blond.

The silver apparition cleared his throat. "After some investigation, I found out that there's something important going on. Weapons, an announcement."

James narrowed his eyes at the information and Kein nodded, a serious expression on his usual cheerful face.

Shen looked over to you. "Seems like you knew about this, (Y/n)."

Well, it was a pretty crucial plot point. Shen's antagonist debut was basically during this arc.

"What are you getting at?"

Shen exchanged brief glances with Kein and James. "Us three mutually agreed that we will be 'interrupting' the announcement together."

Huh.

"You three working together?"

You couldn't hide the thick layer of doubt in your voice since you were unable to connect the strings on how their motives would match.

"I doubt our ideologies align; however, our goals do. Expose the truth behind the weapons," Shen said, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "Is that not yours as well? It's a difficult task alone, but with us four working together the success rate increases significantly."

Hah... He has a point.

In the original game, Shen was unsuccessful on several occasions in his endeavour because he lacked certain resources––allies. Sheer power alone slowed his progression and Amias stopped him in the end because of that.

You shook off your thoughts with a nervous laugh. "What is this? Team apparition? I'm not even an apparition. Wait, Kein isn't as well."

"Well, you can touch us like Kein," James pointed out. "Close enough to an apparition."

"She can touch you guys too?" Kein asked.

"She kicked me," Shen said.

James perked up. "You as well?"

Kein looked at you. "Are you a violent person, (Y/n)?"

Oh, c'mon. Shen literally summoned a snowstorm at your face and James would launch a tornado at you for fun.

"It was all in self defence."

"We're getting off topic," Shen said. "(Y/n), are you willing to work with us?"

You swallowed. Well, this certainly wasn't part of your plan. You planned to work with Cecil, Amias, and Kein for this upcoming arc. After all, you made that whole deal with Cecil for a reason. Amias was always with you by default, and you made the challenge with Kein.

But working with Shen and James as well? That's a whole new direction that could open so many possibilities for beyond this arc.

But if you helped Shen out, there could be a chance his ambition would interfere with yours. You could also get caught and be marked as an enemy by the public eye, compromising your position in the AEI.

Before you knew it, your nails were digging into your skin at how hard you were thinking. You quickly caught yourself before any blood was drawn.

"(Y/n)? Are you okay?"

Aw, Kein was worried for you.

"I'm fine."

Kein opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself. He was quiet for a moment, searching for the right words.

"If you're uncomfortable we can leave. I realised that I sprung this on you suddenly." He laughed apologetically. "Sorry, I'm a little slow at these things sometimes. I didn't mean to stress you out."

Kein's concern brought a smile to your face, but from the corner of your eyes, you thought you caught a glimpse of Shen narrowing his eyes. But when you turned around to him, he had his usual indifferent expression.

"You're fine working with Shen?" you asked.

"I'm not sure what his motives are, but if his plan is to expose the truth about the weapons, then that's all I need." Kein grinned cheerfully. "The more the merrier, right?"

Such an earnest way of thinking.

Kein's motive was to reveal the truth about the weapons, about the chairman. There was an unjust system in the AEI he wanted the public to know. In the original story line, his main purpose was to access information that would be impossible because of the surveillance cameras. Plus, he was the main source of information that introduced a new plot point. The main one being, why and how was he forced into this condition in the first place?

There were many reasons for you to refuse, but also many reasons for you to not. Besides, having Kein here made you feel a little more peaceful. There was something about his trusting nature that eased your overthinking.

Oh well. No point backing out because I have doubts. I just need to trust myself and my knowledge.

"I'm in," you said. "But I'm assuming that doesn't mean we're all automatically allies. We're working as a team for one small common goal."

Shen nodded. "You worded it well."

Kein frowned. "Aw, but I wanted to be allies with you."

If you want anything all you need to do is ask and I shall deliver.

You managed to hold that thought in. After all, your unbending loyalty to the blond will be very questionable to Shen and James.

After a little more discussion, you three agreed to meet up some other time to elaborate on the details. You did have to leave soon, after all. Kein cheerfully said goodbye to you when he left. Shen's gaze lingered on your hands and you almost thought he was going to give you a kiss goodbye, but he simply excused himself.

Before James left, he glanced over his shoulder. He seemed hesitant about what he was going to say next.

"How's Caleb doing?"

You were surprised at the question and by how quiet James's voice was. Now that you thought about it, he was acting a little quieter than usual ever since the start. Was this question weighing his mind the entire time?

"He's doing better."

James nodded. And with that, he left your room.

You spent a good minute staring blankly at the wall before falling backwards onto your bed. You let out the longest and loudest sigh you could muster.

The fuck just happened.