Chapter 31: Minefield

  Ace swayed on his feet, waiting for Shiro to finish changing out of his uniform as they knocked off for the day. Usually, he would leave first and make his way to the gymnasium, but he had decided to wait. Shiro’s brows shot up when he saw that he was still outside.

  “You’re still here?” Shiro placed a hand on his shoulder, and the two walked abreast of each other. “Is anything the matter? You don’t seem very happy.”

  Ace shrugged. “I keep getting the feeling that Dante doesn’t like me,” he mumbled and tightened his grip on his bag straps.

  “Don’t say that.” Shiro gave Ace a small smile. “Give him some time, he’ll warm up to you.”

  “Is he like that around others?”

  Shiro pursed his lips. “The first impression most people get is that he’s the adult-of-adults,” he said. “He’s also my drinking buddy. I think he’s rather affable even though we don’t talk much.”

  “He’s super moody, though.” Ace ran through their last interactions. Dante neither smiled nor betrayed emotion, save for the faint irritation lacing his voice.

  “I don’t think he wants to be like that either.”

  “Did something happen in his life to make him so… gloomy?”

  Shiro did not answer his question. It was obvious to anyone that he knew something, but was unwilling to divulge it.

  Ace decided to let the question go.

  “Hm? Dante’s here to pick you up?” Shiro pointed out.

  Ace raised his head and saw Dante leaning against the body of the car. “There has been a change in plans,” Dante said tersely as they approached.

  “What are we doing?” Ace asked.

  “Outfield,” Dante answered. “I would be doing a mini-evaluation to check on your progress.”

  Ace threw his bag into the boot and hopped in, but Shiro called out for Dante. He pressed his face against the glass, trying to read their lips as they spoke outside. When Dante glanced back at the car, Ace ducked his head, pretending to tie the laces on his boots. Shit, they are talking about me!

  When Shiro’s loud farewell drifted through, Ace straightened up. The door to the driver’s seat popped open. Dante eased into the driver’s seat, not starting the car right away. His head angled almost toward Ace, eyes fixed downward, ears tinged red. “Put on your seatbelt,” he said in that ever-monotonous voice.

  “Okay.”

  The car ride was silent as usual, but something in the air had changed.

  And Ace crossed his fingers behind his back so tightly that they might snap.

  ***

  “You need to be a bit less uptight, Dante. And a lil’ more… encouraging. Don’t you remember how kindly Dr. Farid treated you?”

  The side of Dante’s face twitched ever so slightly as he thought about his senior’s words. He drummed his fingers on the wheel as he waited for the signal to change. It’s going to rain, he thought as he glanced at the overcast skies. Sure enough, fine streaks traced the windscreen, soon giving way to a gentle shower.

  “I have a question,” Ace piped up from the backseat. “Why are most of the missions carried out at night?”

  “There are a higher number of phantoms at night,” Dante replied. “Usually.”

  “Oh.”

  Dante ran his tongue against the back of his teeth and then proceeded to add to his point, “In short, don’t evaluate your life when you are tired. It makes things seem much worse than they actually are.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  He nearly smacked himself in the forehead when his voice nearly cracked. Usually, he gave direct answers and feedback, never changing topics. One at a time, one at a time. He breathed deeply and pressed on towards their destination. Otherwise, he would find it strange.

  “We will be heading to the port. There seems to be some disturbance in that area,” he added. “Water ghouls often reside in large bodies of water. It would be a good opportunity for you to practice your techniques.”

  Without him asking, Ace started to list a few of the Visions that he had accumulated. He was making good progress, manifesting a total of twenty-five distinct Visions about a month in. He looked at the rearview mirror and saw the small smile on Ace’s face as he conjured miniature Visions for him to see.

  “A lil’ more affirmation for your student goes a long way, Dante-san.”

  Dante felt his ears flush. Why did everyone like to throw Dr. Farid’s name around? Yet, his conscience compelled him to pay Dr. Farid’s kindness forward. He gulped, trying to swallow the small lump that was preventing his words from getting out. His heart quickened a bit as he tried to peel his lips open to no avail.

  “Mm.” That was all he could manage.

  Dante could feel Ace’s energy dip, and his chest tightened. The opportunity had not flown out of the window. Rather, he had taken it and destroyed it with his feelings. Later, he reassured himself.

  Dante pulled up at the port, and they headed for one of the docks. Ace shielded his head using his hand, but he could hardly care less about it. Rather, he was already thinking of how he could make up for his earlier muck-up.

  “Stop,” Dante said. “Turn around.”

  “Why?”

  Dante reached out and felt around the back of his jacket collar. He found a zip to the secret compartment that housed a hood.

  “Oh! That was there the whole time?! I must be stupid! When I get back, I have to tell the rest!” Ace exclaimed excitedly as he pulled the hidden hood over his head. The Sentient Gear shielded them from the elements, its design remaining unchanged over the years.

  Dante quickly withdrew his hand and walked off towards the speedboat without waiting for Ace to say his thanks. He touched the wet splotches on the sleeve of his blazer. His technique, Indifference, had flickered. What’s the point? Our relationship will end in two months. There is no need to get too close. Give him the right amount to give him enough drive.

  “Did you buy a speedboat for this?” Ace asked when he caught up.

  “I don’t like using anything that is not mine." Dante stepped into the boat. Indifference pushed the raindrops into the sea as it wrapped around the speedboat.

  “But you have a Regalia, don’t you?” Ace peered curiously at his ring. “I heard that the Sanctum has two more, if I remember correctly. The Nameless and the Quercitron Bolt!”

  “Mm.” Sometimes Dante wished that Ace would talk less.

  “What’s so obscure about Obscure Scarlet?”

  The question earned Ace a full thirteen-degree head turn. “I don’t know,” Dante answered truthfully.

  “But why put the word in its name if it didn’t mean anything?” Ace pressed. “It’s like giving your pet a name like Andrew Barthleomew Miles Fitzergerald because you adopted it from the rich lady down the street, but calling it Mew.”

  Dante did not respond to Ace’s remark. He did not know how.

  The speedboat tore across the dark water, its prow slicing clean lines into the waves. Spray stung their faces as the night air whipped past, sharp with salt and gasoline. Ace leaned over the railing, drinking in the glittering skyline of the city behind them. Towers and neon shimmered like a mirage on the horizon. Above them, the moonlight illuminated the restless sea with its gentle glow. “What causes water ghouls?” Dante asked as though he were giving a pop quiz. Dr. Farid always gave them pop quizzes back then.

  “Old sailor tales,” Ace answered. “Depending on the demographics of the sailors, the appearance of water ghouls or phantoms will differ.”

  “Correct.”

  “But it’s so hard to spot them!”

  “Mere excuses.”

  “But they live underwater. It’s really dark”

  “You have to be prepared for scenarios like this.”

  Ace muttered something under his breath, but Dante did not manage to catch it. When he could feel the ghouls’ presence, he slowed the boat and turned to him. "You can start when you are ready.”

  “Hybrid Vision Technique,” Ace chanted, tightening his grip around his staff. “Moray plus electric eel… Vision Manifestation: Morath!”

  Dante watched as an enlarged moray eel erupted from the end of Ace’s staff, its body crackling with electricity. It hunted down the phantom and reared its head, tossing it out of the water. Ace swung his staff and the eel leapt out of the water, its jaw clamping down on the paralysed phantom. Its pharyngeal jaw then emerged, devouring the phantom’s core.

  Incorporating martial arts into his technique, Dante thought. He adapts.

  Ace furrowed his brow and commanded his Vision to do a sweep of the area, exorcising the remaining phantoms swiftly. Dante nodded. His lips then parted. A compliment was due.

  “G-”

  The speedboat rocked beneath them. Dante crashed against the side, nearly falling over into the sea.

  Before Dante could grab onto Ace, it ripped apart violently.

  "I once had a name. It was a wonderful name."

  "What happened to it?"

  "It became someone's most precious possession even though they had not earned it."

  "And you--"

  "And I ate it. Since then, my name ceased to exist. In books, in memories, in time. But there is one thing that it cannot escape."

  "That is?"

  "Death. Death always remembers Life's gifts. And when Death utters my name, I shall return to earth."