Chapter 29: Chapter 29

Jin’s POV
   At long last, the forensic team that were working on an antidote for the worgs have succeeded in making one. Jin could have make things much easier by dealing with the effects of the mysterious liquids himself by casting Dispel. The only problem with that is Dispel comes with a price: part of its caster’s life force. Jin vowed only to used this spell as a last resort. Turns out he didn’t have to cast it after all.

   All the worgs have been placed inside specially made cages. When Jin got there, all of them are on their best behaviour. None of them are causing a ruckus and look rather content on being locked up. He wastes no time in approaching the cage where the leader is locked up.

   “How are you and your pack faring?” he asks him.

   “We fine now. No longer feel like killing everything in sight. We also get fed with meat.” the leader answers.

   “That’s good to hear. By the way, do you remember anything before all of you attacked the place where you met me?”

   “No. All of us tried hard. We only remember being told to cause ruckus after hearing whistle. Don’t remember how we got there, don’t remember where we were before that, nothing.”

   Drat, so their memories were erased too. This is going to make investigations difficult.

   “What about the offer I gave you right before you lost it?” Jin asks next.

   “You talking about the one about working with humans? Yes, we thought about it.”

   “And your answer is?”

   “We accept.”

   “Great. I’ll talk to the people out there and see what they have to say.”

   Jin goes outside the room where the cages are and talk to Sergeant Wakaba.

   “The worgs have agreed to work with you. What about your side?”

   “I have talked to the Chief of Police, and he agreed with accepting the worgs into the police force. They’re to have the same duties as our police dog.”

   “You look troubled, sergeant.” Jin points out.

   She sighs. “I’m thinking about the backlash we’ll receive once we implement it. The public will definitely not be happy about huge talking wolves being part of the police force.”

   Jin shrugs.

   “You can just release the worgs on them.” he suggests.

   “...You’re joking, right?”

   “Of course I am. Well, I’m off now. Thank you for your hard work.”

   “Likewise. Thank you as always.”

   On the same night, Jin got a call from Audrey. That surprised him. Out of all the people whom he exchanged contact with, she was the last person he expected to call him.

   “Good day to you, Minase-san. I hope I have not inconvenienced you in some way.” Audrey begins when Jin answered the call.

   “Not at all. So what’s your business in calling me?”

   “Well, I, um, rather Al, um…”

   “Did something happened to Aldenia?”

   “Yes. Can you come over to the dormitory of Kitajoshi once the school is over? It’s right next to the school.”

   “Sure. I’ll be there.”

   “Thank you. We shall meet tomorrow, then.”

   Jin is kind of concerned about the worgs, so he decided to watch the news on his phone during lunch hour on the next day. Sure enough, the Chief of Police Hayashi Tetsu had a press conference so that he could address this subject matter.

   “As some of you might have known, we have caught some talking canine commonly known as worgs few days ago. Now we have decided to enroll them to be part of our police force.” he told a bunch of news reporters.

   “Was it an order given by Silver Wolf?”

   Jin had to hide his grimace when he heard the voice. He recognized it in an instant, and even saying that he loathes the owner of the voice is an understatement. It belongs to Maebara Takuma the journalist.

   Hayashi didn’t even bother to hide his disdain towards Maebara. He’s looking at the journalist with an absolute look of disgust.

   “It wasn’t an order. He wanted to give those worgs a chance to live, and we have agreed on it as well.” he tells him.

   “Why only those worgs or whatever? Didn’t you all kill lots and lots of otherworldly creatures? I believe you have committed acts of discrimination against all those other species!” Maebara cries.

   “Anyone else with a question?” Hayashi asks while ignoring Maebara.

   “Hey, I’m not done yet!”

   “Anyone? Ah, how about you over there? Yes, you.”

   “If I may, are the worgs going to be joining the police dogs and be trained to sniff out drugs and other illegal substances?”

   “That is our plan so far. After all, the worgs have excellent sense of smell as well. To top things off, they can speak human languages. That will make things so much easier for everyone.”

   “Does that mean that the police dogs will be made redundant?” a third reporter asks.

   “Oh heavens, no! We’ve been accepting the help of our loyal friends all this while. There’s no way we’ll abandon them just like that.”

   “That’s what they want you to believe as they put those poor mutts to sleep!” Maebara says in a loud voice.

   “Any other questions? You over there. What’s your question?”

   As promised, Jin heads to Kitajoshi once school hour’s over. Audrey is already waiting anxiously for him to arrive. Whatever that happened to her half-sister, it must be pretty serious for her to be this impatient.

   Audrey curtsies at Jin with the usual grace.

   “Good evening, Minase-san. Once again, I thank you for coming on such short notice.” she greets him.

   “It’s fine. Now then, what exactly happened to Aldenia?”

   “May we talk as we walk?”

   “Sure.”

   “Right this way, then.”

   Audrey brings Jin inside the dormitory. As Jin has expected, even their dormitory is very luxurious. Its lobby is like the lobby that belongs to a five-star hotel. The tiles on the floor are made of marble, and there are huge chandeliers being hung on the ceiling. There are some sofas for waiting visitors, and they look like they’re made of expensive leathers.

   “Nice place you got here.” he compliments.

   “Thank you, although all these were made possible by the parents of some students.”

   “Are there even any students who live here apart from the two of you?”

   “There are indeed. For instance, those who are from foreign countries. They have nowhere else to stay, so they would have to be part of this dormitory.”

   “Huh. And here I thought that the parents of rich girls are usually overprotective.”

   Jin then sees a blonde student entering the dormitory while being surrounded by eight bodyguards.

   “…Never mind, I spoke too soon.”

   “I would love to give you a proper tour of this place. Unfortunately, there is still the issue with Al.”

   “Well, let’s go see her then.”

   “Yes. Right this way.”

   Audrey brings Jin to a hall with lots of elevators. She then presses the ascend button right next to one of the doors. The door opens immediately, and they enter the elevator. Audrey then presses a button that goes to the sixth floor.

   “So, what exactly happened to Aldenia?”

   “Have you ever heard of the term BL?”

   A pause.

   “...Where did you learn that word?”

   “From Al.”

   “And where did she learned that word?”

   “According to her, she learned it from some of her classmates.”

   “Hold on, are you saying that those classmates of hers just approached her and introduced her to, well, that?”

   “Al told me that she was reading a manga about maids when those classmates talked to her.”

   “And that’s when she was exposed to the particular culture.”

   “Yes. And she had become addicted to any form of literature related to it ever since. Novels, mangas, you name it.”

   She looks down at the floor dejectedly.

   “I have no idea on what to do.” she mumbles.

   It was then when the elevator reaches their destination. They step out of it before the door closes.

   “I need to ask you a few questions before I give you advise.”

   “Of course. Please ask away.”

   “Is her newfound hobby affecting her studies?”

   “Not at all. Her grades are a bit worrying, but at least she has never failed any exams so far.”

   “Is she so into it she changed her personality and became a horrible person?”

   “No, she didn’t. She’s still the kind and cheerful Al I know. Her tendency to be rude whenever she’s nervous is still there, but still.”

   “Is her classmates giving her the cold shoulders once they find out that she’s into those kind of things?”

   “I went to check on her a few times. Rather than shunning her, she’s being approached by a lot of her classmates and discuss about the subject matter.”

   “...It’s rather worrying that her classmates share the same interest, but I guess that’s besides the point.”

   “What am I to do, Minase-san? I’m at the end of the road here.”

   He shrugs. “Just accept it.”

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   “You heard me. It’s not affecting her daily life, right? If it isn’t, there’s no reason for you to ban her for doing what she loves.”

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   “But, there’s no way I can do that. The things depicted on those products are unnatural!” she cries.

   “Do you find Aldenia unnatural?”

   “I most certainly do not. How are these two things related?”

   “It totally is. If you find her hobby unnatural, it’s like you’re implying that she’s unnatural too.”

   Audrey lets out a gasp of horror.

   “I was not thinking that at all!” she objects.

   “You might as well be. Have you ever tried to put yourself in her shoes and read or watch those things?”

   “No, I have not. As I said, I find them too unnatural.”

   “Look, I know they’re unnatural, and I’m even grossed out by them. But that’s not the problem here. The problem here is that you’re not trying to understand Aldenia.”

   “I understand that they’re influencing her in a bad way.” she insists.

   “Are they? From what you said, I can conclude that they did no such thing. By contrast, Aldenia made lots of friends after she got exposed to them.”

   “...Well, it is true that prior to this, Aldenia often complained to me that she’s not really getting along with her classmates. Now, she always comes to report to me happily that her number of friends have increased.” Audrey confesses grudgingly.

   “See? They’re actually helping her out.”

   “Still-”

   Jin sighs. He doesn’t want to bring up this part of his past, but he doesn’t want to see their relationship being ruined either.

   “My parents were exactly like you when I started playing video games. They’ll keep on nagging me that I’m just wasting my time and that I should spend my time on better things like studying.”

   “I don’t want to offend you, but I’m afraid that they’re right.”

   “...Do you know why I started playing video games in the first place?”

   She shakes her head.

   “Stress played a major part in it. I was too stupid to get good results in exams. I was constantly worried and got bummed out by my lousy results.”

   “I don’t wish to barge in on your personal problem, but you should have talked it over with your parents.”

   He scoffs loudly at that.

   “Oh, I talked it over with them, all right. They didn’t care one bit, not even when I told them that I had suicidal thoughts.”

   Audrey’s eyes widened at that.

   “You had suicidal thoughts?”

   “Well, it was just a one-time thing. Back when I first started my part time job, I made a huge mistake at my work. As a result, I got really chewed out by my manager. I was very depressed. I told my parents about it, and what did they do? They just laughed it off. They’ll probably laugh even more if I ended up offing myself for real.”

   “Please don’t make assumptions like that. I’m sure that your parents didn’t mean it.”

   “Well I meant it when I first had that thought, and they didn’t take it seriously. Ever since then, I stopped trying to rely on them and tried to solve everything myself. That’s why I exposed myself to video games. That’s how I intended to relieve my stress, and it worked wonders on me. They’re much better than smoking and taking drugs too. To make things even better, even someone who’s socially awkward like me managed to make friends when I’m playing games together with random strangers online. Sure, I met some bad people too, but I was smart enough to stay away from them.”

   Jin grits his teeth as the next part makes his blood boil every time he recalls the memory.

   “But what did my parents do? They sold off my games consoles and my computer without my permission. The games consoles and computer, I might add, that I bought using my own money that I earned from my part-time job. I finally had enough and moved out of the house. I haven’t been in contact with them ever since.”

   All this while, Audrey was only listening intently.

   “To cut a long story short, my parents didn’t try to understand what I’m going through and just decided on they’re own that video games are evil. That make me hate them and thus ruined my relationship with them. Do you want the same thing to happen to the two of you?”

   She shakes her head vigorously.

   “I most certainly do not!” she tells him firmly.

   “Good. Look, I’m not trying to pretend that I know Aldenia, but she’s probably trying to fight her demons in her own way. Even if she’s not, you should try to be open-minded about it. The two of you are family, right? If you’re not there for her, who will?”

   Audrey closes her eyes for a moment. When she opens them again, her different-colored eyes shine with determination.

   “I’ll talk to Al right now.” she declares.

   “Sure.”

   Audrey walks to Aldenia’s room with Jin following her from behind. Once she’s there, she takes a deep breath and knocks on the door.

   “Al, it’s me.” she says.

   Jin hears the sound of things falling over coming from the inside.

   “P-P-Please wait for a while! I, um, I have to clean up the room for a bit first!” Aldenia yells.

   “Of course. Take your time.”

   It took Aldenia a few seconds to open the door. When she eventually does, she looks very flustered and out of breath. She suddenly notices Jin.

   “Oh, hey there Minase.” she greets. “What are you doing here?”

   “Your nee-san called me here.”

   “She did. What for?”

   “That’s not important right now. Rather, she has something to tell you. Right?”

   Aldenia looks at Audrey curiously.

   “May we come in first?” the elder Graylock asks while looking a bit nervous.

   “Of course. Please do.”

   Jin sees a single bed inside her room, which means that she’s not sharing it with anyone. Even so, the size of the room is as big as his apartment unit. There’s a huge king-sized bed on one side of the room, a closet big enough to place thousands of clothes inside, and a really expensive-looking study table. The only thing that’s out of the ordinary in this room is the presence of a sandbag.

   “So, what is it that you want to tell me, nee-san?” Aldenia asks Audrey.

   “Well, it’s about your love on BL.” Audrey begins.

   Aldenia flinches at that.

   “Nee-san, I know you find my hobby disgusting, but please don’t ban me from enjoying them!” she begins to plead.

   “Let me finish what I’m saying. I’m here to tell you that you can continue to do what you like.”

   Aldenia looks stunned after hearing that.

   “Do, do you really mean it, nee-san?”

   “Of course.”

   Aldenia hugs her sister excitedly.

   “Thank you nee-san! Thank you!” she cries.

   “All right, all right. You’re suffocating me.”

   Aldenia let goes of her sister at once.

   “One more thing. If you’re ever troubled with something, don’t hesitate and come talk to me, okay? We’re family, so there shouldn’t be any secrets between us.” Audrey adds.

   “Got it, nee-san. Um, nee-san? Would you like to read some of the BL book that I bought?”

   “...All right. I’ll try reading one. But please give me something really, really tame. Like level one tame.”

   “Of course. I have just the right one for you.”

   “Just give me a moment. I still need to escort Minase-san out of the building.” Audrey tells Aldenia before the latter heads toward her bookshelf.

   “Of course. By the way, what are you doing here in the first place, Minase?”

   Audrey starts to send multiple eye signals towards Jin. Looks like she doesn’t want Aldenia to know.

   “I had a sudden urge to take a look at the dormitory you girls live at.” Jin thought up of a random excuse.

   “But, you’re not surprised when nee-san brought up my love for BL!”

   “I am surprised. I just didn’t show it on my face.”

   “Oh, right. You’re pretty much devoid of emotions most of the time. No offence.”

   “None taken. I’ve pretty much left my emotion back at Ifezan, after all.”

   “Well, see you on our Cultural Festival.”

   Oh, right. Kitajoshi are doing their Cultural Festival one day before Yokosuka. They decided to do it on different dates so that the visitors don’t have to get a headache on which school to visit. And it’s tomorrow too.

   “Yeah. See you.”

   “I can borrow you some of my collections if you want.”

   “...If you’re talking about your BL collection, then forget about it.”

   With that, Jin leaves Aldenia’s room together with Audrey.

   “Thank you for making up an excuse back then.” the elder Graylock tells Jin after they’re quite some distance away from Aldenia’s room.

   “I don’t really mind, but what was that about?”

   “The thing is, I would prefer it Al continues to see me as the perfect elder sister that doesn’t need help from others to in order to solve problems.” she replies rather sheepishly.

   “So it’s about the elder sibling’s pride?”

   “You can say that.”

   Jin shrugs. As an elder sibling himself, he couldn’t fathom having such pride. He could care less about whether Shino respects him or not, and neither does he want to make an effort so that she will. Even so, he’s not going to stop others from doing that.

   “Well, your secret is safe with me.”

   She smiles gratefully at him.

   “Thank you.”

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