“Stein. Frank Stein.”

  He never thought the moniker that those in Neo-Tokyo gave him – either to mock him or a fair but naive way to describe his work – would come in handy in a way.

  Jin introduced himself as such. Another identity. Another lie. Just to survive. Behind the counter, a cheerful brunette shot up a warm smile. Sweet and charming, the kind that disarmed Jin immediately.

  “What can I do for you, Mr Stein?” she asked, her smile never left.

  Even when Jin looked like he’d been flooded with toilet filth, she treated him with full respect and courtesy. Apart from the old gentleman at the park he met earlier, none had offered him the same.

  “Can you do me a favour? I need you to look up a guy. Sasaki Jin of the Cleaner Department.”

  “Sure! On it right away.” She hummed a tune while working on his request. It took her a few seconds before she came back with the answer. “I’m sorry, Mr Stein. Sasaki Jin isn’t on our record.”

  Jin’s heart stopped for a moment. “W-Why? You should have everyone’s data, right? Players and Cleaners.”

  The girl nodded. “I find it odd, too. We should have his data if he works here.”

  “Work here?” Jin’s eyebrow shot up. “Oh. He doesn’t work here. He’s from Neo-Tokyo.”

  The girl nearly burst out laughing. But she held herself well, channelling the hilarity into a bigger smile. “Then I apologise, Mr Stein. We don’t have any records outside the ACPS.”

  In a way, no news was good news. Feeling a little relieved, Jin went on with his second request. And with this request, he needed the very help that got him through the security check into the American Confederate Player Society – ACPS for short – headquarters in the first place.

  A business card. A simple yet effective tool.

  “Oh my!” The brunette’s jaw dropped. “This is our CEO’s card.” She looked up at Jin and immediately apologised. “I’m so sorry, sir. So sorry. I-I’ll provide you with a private lounge.”

  “I don’t need a room. I need a new ID.”

  Jin said, playing it cool. The security guard had the same expression when he’d shown him this business card that belonged to the old gentleman from the park. A bloody CEO. The big boss of the whole damn thing. Why am I not more surprised?

  “An ID?”

  Jin nodded. “I lost everything back in the RIFT. ID, license, money. Everything on me and more.”

  “Poor Mr Stein,” the girl placed her hands on her lips. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll reissue you one immediately.”

  “Not reissue.” Jin reaffirmed his words. “A new ID.”

  “A new ID?”

  “Yes. I fucked up. Overestimated myself. So, according to Mr George Armstrong’s recommendation, I should learn how to control myself better. And my pets, too.”

  “Pets?”

  Jin slid the ragged uniform aside, revealing not only his bare body but Viridiana, who was sleeping soundly. Bahamut then appeared out of thin air before nestling on Jin’s braided lock.

  “Oh? Ohhh? Ohhhhhh?”

  The brunette’s pen clattered to the desk.

  “Oh my-! Are they-? Can I-?” Her fingers twitched toward Bahamut before she yanked them back, flustered. “I mean. They’re adorable, sir.”

  “Adorable? Yes. Annoyingly hard to train? A very big yes.”

  “Annoyingly hard to train? Are you talking about me, Jin?”

  “It’s Vee. Not you. Besides, who needs to train a god? Now, will you let-”

  “Uhhm… Mr Stein? Mr Stein? Are you here?”

  “Ah, yes. Sorry about that.”

  Jin stroked his beard, weighing how much truth to let out. Mixed it with a sad story, and he would have a soap opera. More than enough to grease the wheels. And this girl looked like a sucker for one, too.

  “I want to start anew. But instead of being a Player, I want to be a Cleaner.”

  The girl gave him a blank stare. Surprised, perhaps. Or most likely, needed more convincing.

  Jin leaned in, his voice low. “I’ve told Mr George that I’m starting from scratch. And that begins in the Cleaner’s Department.”

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  The girl blinked. “But sir, you’re a-”

  “A nothing.” He cut her off with a smirk. “Either I learn to work together with others, or I don’t learn at all. And where do you think they teach that?”

  She hesitated. “But Players don’t-”

  “Others don’t.” His fingers drummed the counter as a gentle smile cracked on Jin’s face. “But I do.”

  “I-I see. This is unheard of, sir.” Her fingers stilled on the keyboard. But then, she nodded with much enthusiasm. “But if you say so, Mr Stein. I’ll do as you wish.”

  Jin laughed. “Finally, a piece of good news. I owe you one, milady.”

  The brunette flustered. ”I-I am just doing my job.”

  “A job well done, miss. Can’t wait.” Jin winked, and that made the girl blush even more.

  Jin had other reasons for choosing the Cleaner’s path. First, it was the quickest way to earn money for a ticket home. Secondly, it was the fact that anyone desperate enough could sign up as a Cleaner. Unlike Players that needed a detailed vetting process, there were basically no background checks to be a Cleaner. All you need were a pair of balls big enough to risk the same without equal reward.

  It was how Sasaki Jin had been born years ago in Neo-Tokyo, and apparently, the ACPS ran the same way. No cross-database meant no ties to his past; a blank slate, ripe for reinvention. A second chance at life.

  After filling in his details – only the minimum required ones – he left it for the counter girl to do the rest. With some time to spend, Jin went to the locker room to clean himself. A shower after seven years was heavenly.

  His clothes aside, now he looked more like a civilised man rather than a piss and shit soaked caveman. When he returned, the counter girl was already done with the registration. All he needed next was to take a portrait picture of himself for the physical ID.

  “It’ll take only five minutes, tops!” the girl said in her jovial mood. “But Mr Stein?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been wanting to ask you, but… but are you really forty-two?” the girl said as she adjusted the camera’s lenses and filter.

  “Oh?” Jin raised his eyebrow. “Do I look older? I know this beard and hair don’t suit me and all. But I got no choice. Or do I still smell? Like shitty kind of bad smell?”

  The girl shook her head, but her cheeks stayed flushed pink. “No, your smell doesn’t bother me. Or your looks. I’ve seen worse.” Her gaze flicked over his braided beard, lingering a second too long. “And honestly? You don’t look a day over twenty. Twenty-seven, at most.”

  Jin smirked.

  Was she flirting? Maybe. Sweet-talking? Unlikely.

  The girl was professional – too professional – but the way her fingers tapped the counter betrayed something else.

  “Guess I’ll find out for sure once I scrape together enough for a shave.” He leaned in slightly, teasing the girl. “Or are you simply being kind to a stranger?”

  Her laugh came quickly. “Strangers don’t get compliments, Mr Stein. I’m Elise Carter. You can call me Elise.”

  “And you can drop the ‘Mr Stein’. Just call me Frank,” Jin replied with a wink, extending a handshake. “Nice to meet you, Elise. I’ll be troubling you from now on.”

  Elise took Jin’s hand with a big, bright expression. “Nice to meet you, too, Frank. The pleasure is all mine.”

  With that, everything that needed to be done was completed. All that was left was for Jin to take the Cleaner’s introductory courses, which would be held two days later. But before he left the ACPS’ HQ, another surprise awaited him.

  Elise hesitated at first, but then slid two crisp hundred-dollar notes across the counter. “You look like you could use this,” she said, almost too casually.

  Jin wanted to decline. But the grumbling of his stomach drowned his pride, forcing him to accept Elise’s kindness. That and also, he had a promise to keep to a certain god with his cinnamon croissant.

  “I’ll pay you back double,” Jin said as he tried to avoid glancing at Elise as she pushed the money into his hand.

  “No rush,” she said, grinning from ear to ear. “We’re not strangers anymore.” Her fingers brushed his as she pulled away. “Pay me back whenever.”

  The man couldn’t help but smile. A bittersweet smile.

  Something about this girl reminded him of both Old Man Sid and his late wife, Elyzabeth. The former might be gruff and rough around the edges, but he was a living Buddha. And there was nothing more to add to the love of his life either.

  And here, in front of Jin, was another. A young girl, barely in her mid-twenties, who never judged others by their looks. Or smell.

  After a few more rounds of thanks, Jin exited the building. There was still much to do. As the Empire State Building– now the ACPS’ HQ – towered over the area, it reminded Jin of how the ancient relic got a new lease of life.

  It stood before the world knew the RIFT, lasted through the Cataclysm, and nearly sixty years later, still stood strong.

  Sixty years.

  The ACPS had turned it into a fortress for the desperate.

  Jin let out a grin. Looks like I’ll fit right in, after all.

  ***

  [Elise’s POV]

  “Who’s that hobo?”

  A girl, wearing the same uniform as Elise, quickly approached her as Jin left the building.

  “No one,” she said.

  “No one?” The other girl snorted. “You spent forty-three minutes and”–the girl checked her phone–“and thirty-five seconds giggling at a guy who looks like a goblin’s hairy butt and smells worse. All of us had to stay on the other side of the counter, ya know. So, spill it, babe.”

  “You can believe what you want,” Elise replied. “And don’t you call him a hobo."

  Her fingers lingered on the counter where Frank had leaned minutes ago. She had been working here for five years. Used to oddities. Especially Players. The ACPS was a revolving door of the desperate, the broken, the glory hunter, the wannabe hero, and the bizarre.

  Though their meeting was a short one, Elise felt it. Frank Stein was different.

  Not just the beard – though God, that braid was art – or the monsters – who’d have thought those could be so cute? – but more to the way he carried himself. Like a man who’d seen his world burn and crushed yet still found reasons to smirk.

  And that wink. That damn wink.

  “Hello? Earth to Elise. Earth to Elise. You alright, babe?”

  She heaved a sigh, correcting the crease on her uniform. Yet the way his hand had felt – warm, alive and yet gentle when she’d pressed the bills into his palm, still played in her mind.

  ‘You can pay me back anytime.’

  What was that? Professional courtesy? Or something… else?

  Once again, Elise exhaled and shook her head. He’s twice your age, girl.

  Or was he? She never mistook anyone’s look before, even behind a beard that majestic.

  But as she watched him stride out earlier, Bahamut perched on his shoulder like a living plushie, she knew one thing for certain:

  She’d be watching the door for Frank Stein’s return.

  “Babe?”

  A rough pat on her shoulder brought Elise back from her daydream.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  The girl said nothing, only jerking her head toward another entrance. “11 o’clock. That creep’s back. Again.”

  The moment she glanced in that direction, Elise's mood dwindled straightaway. As if the void has sucked everything out of her, energy and life especially. Again, she heaved a deep sigh. This time, for a different reason.

  How many times must I say no to this pervert? Oh, Frank. Come back soon. Before I’m forced to do something I’d regret.