The Team Leader's Proposition
The ride in the smoothly moving vehicle was as comfortable as its price tag suggested. That didn't mean I felt at ease sitting here, though.
"Is there anywhere you're uncomfortable?"
"Not really... I'm just not used to being in someone's debt."
She kept her eyes on the road ahead, yet somehow still found the time to glance my way.
"This is just a small favor. We're heading in the same direction anyway. If I hadn't offered you a ride, I'd be the one feeling guilty."
"I suppose that's true..."
"So relax. I pull plenty of all-nighters at the facility anyway, so it's not like I can give you rides all the time."
After she put it that way, the stiffness in my body finally eased a little. It seemed I'd grown closer to the team leaders than to the regular staff. No, it wasn't just a feeling—I really had.
Even though staff members weren't supposed to reveal their names or have private conversations with one another...
"..."
I stole a glance at her profile while she drove, pretending to watch the morning traffic. Her hair, dyed a bright yellow... If she bleached it that often, I worried about the condition of her hair, but it didn't look dry or damaged at all. Maybe she received the same high-end care celebrities got. Her hair now reached just below her chin, swaying gently, and the vivid orange eyeshadow paired with long lashes stood out even more from the side. Being this close to her made my heart skip a beat for no reason.
The provocatively red lipstick and the nail art she wore every day while gripping the steering wheel seemed like her way of rebelling against the stiff office attire she had on. I admired how she never neglected taking care of herself even in the middle of her busy schedule.
"...I can feel your stare. It's making it hard to focus on driving."
"Ah, sorry. It's just... I was admiring you a little."
"Admiring? Me? That's sudden. What part of me caught your eye?"
What part? Ah...
"Do I have to say it?"
"If you do, it'll cheer me up a bit."
She chuckled and nodded as if she were ready to listen. I hesitated, but the seatbelt was firmly fastened and we were still far from the art museum, so there was nowhere to run.
"...You've been through a lot with work, but now everything seems to be going well. You look confident, and you never give up easily no matter how busy you are."
"Mmm~"
She let out a pleased hum through her nose and nodded, clearly wanting me to continue.
"You said you're still doing basic training, and you have a lot of responsibilities on top of that... yet you still find time to help me. I don't know how you manage it, but you always look after your hair, nails, and makeup. I'm a guy so I don't really get it, but I think it's impressive."
Now that I thought about it while saying it, I wondered if she even got proper sleep.
"So that's how I look through your eyes? I am busy, that's for sure. Styling myself is more of a hobby. I just want to enjoy the things people my age enjoy while they're still young enough to do so."
"..."
"...Hearing it out loud makes me a little embarrassed."
I felt the same way. Compliments were something I'd only received as a child, and this was the first time I'd ever voiced someone's good qualities to their face. Still, I had to admit it felt pretty good.
"Ahem. In that case, let's change the subject for a moment... I found her."
"Found who?"
"Dorothy. She was working as a tour guide at the Everglades National Park where Harpy was first discovered. Her full name is Isadora Brie."
"...I didn't think you'd actually find her."
"Right? I never expected her to be working there. But that probably means she doesn't have a bad impression of meeting Harpy, don't you think? If she did, she wouldn't have stayed at that place."
She was right. I was genuinely happy to have good news to share with Harpy. The thought that her childhood friend was doing well now and might still be waiting for her... Of course, the chances of taking Harpy all the way out there for an outing were slim, but I believed an opportunity would come someday. That is, if I could clearly prove as her counselor that Harpy was... harmless.
"Thank you. For looking into this."
"If you're really grateful, come shopping with me again sometime."
"...Ah."
The painful memory from that day resurfaced. All the gifts she'd given me—each one worth more than everything in my old apartment plus the deposit—were stored away in the warehouse room. It hadn't been the physical exhaustion that wore me down so much as the mental fatigue.
"...What's with that reaction?"
Her sharp voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I raised both hands and shook my head in protest.
"N-no...! If you just let me buy my own things... then anytime."
"Anytime? You said it? Then at the very least you'll have to wear something that suits me. Are you confident?"
Confident? That was a harsh demand for someone who'd only been properly employed for less than six months. It was true that this was the time to push forward with nothing but passion and determination, but I had no confidence in matching her impossibly high standards.
"I'm not confident... but I still have the clothes you gave me as gifts, and I've been thinking about paying more attention to my own wardrobe from now on."
"Hehe... Then we'll just pick things out for each other. After all, the opposite sex tends to have a more accurate eye for fashion."
Watching her already excited at the thought of shopping, I swallowed a worried sigh in secret. Of course her choices would be far more stylish than mine, but I could only hope she'd go easy on the prices. This... wasn't a mistake, was it?
*
"...The truth game really does seem like a good idea the more I think about it."
After finishing another smooth counseling session within the allotted time and stepping out of the black room, the team leader greeted me with a smile as she removed her in-ear and terminal.
Honestly, all we'd done was have a deep conversation disguised as a truth game, so I wasn't sure if it deserved this much praise.
"Haha, it's all thanks to Rav showing interest."
"No. Thanks to you, Ung-ssi, we've secured a lot of information. We've already observed multiple instances of her struggling between her instincts and her newly emerging sense of self."
She seemed unusually pleased for some reason.
"Well, unfortunately we still haven't pinpointed her exact feeding cycle and conditions. But if we continue like this, we'll figure it out eventually."
"...By the way, Team Leader. What happens if we can't find an alternative to her feeding conditions?"
Since the topic had come up, I decided to ask. After all, finding something to replace her meals had been the condition she'd mentioned.
I was curious. If she truly needed to absorb human vitality to survive... then as long as it didn't threaten her life, maybe I could somehow...
"It'll move to the disposal experiment phase."
"Excuse me?"
"You weren't thinking of providing her meals yourself, were you?"
Even as I grew flustered by her calm tone, I chewed on the word "disposal" and let my resistance and doubt show on my face. It wasn't the most appropriate reaction, even I knew that.
"...Judging by your expression, it seems you were. Why? Did you forget while you were laughing and chatting with her during counseling? That thing has already devoured hundreds of people."
"I... know that. But—"
"Of course, back then she was just a mass of anomaly without a sense of self, so holding her responsible is difficult. But the being sitting in front of you inside that black room is a disaster beyond human understanding."
Even as the team leader crossed her arms and let out a small sigh, I couldn't relax my stiff expression. I couldn't meet her masked gaze the way I had before, either. Because there wasn't a single thing wrong with what she'd said.
"I do think your kind heart is an excellent quality for a counselor. That's why I've left Harpy entirely in your care as well. But don't misunderstand. Good intentions don't always lead to good results."
"...Still, I'll always treat them with good intentions."
"Of course. I'm not criticizing that. However, I'm the management team leader, and when weighing the survival of my subordinate Ung-ssi against that of a containment subject, your safety takes priority."
"..."
She meant there was no merit in continuing counseling if it exposed me to that level of danger. In the end, she was saying this for my sake... but the reason I couldn't easily accept it was clearly because, through our counseling sessions, I'd taught her various emotions and built up feelings that were hard to shake off. At some point, without realizing it, I wondered if I'd been charmed by her. Yet she hadn't shown any threatening behavior toward me since I'd given her a name. Of course, awkward and embarrassing situations occurred frequently during every session, but just as I'd once explained the merits of having a name to her, the time we'd spent together had accumulated, and it seemed I'd already given her a small space in my heart.
As if reading my thoughts, the team leader added casually,
"That said, given the nature of the experiment we're currently running, if she clearly recognizes the value of life and shows a friendly attitude, we won't move her to the disposal phase so easily."
"...!"
"It all depends on you, Ung-ssi. I'm also telling you this in advance out of concern that you might be too trusting and get deceived by the cunning and vicious ones you'll eventually meet."
"Haaah..."
Just when things seemed to be going well, this sudden announcement... My fragile heart couldn't handle being jerked around like this.
"Anyway, you worked hard today. Are you heading straight home?"
"Ah... yes, right home."
"The team leaders are having a month-end meeting and dinner tonight. The President will probably be there too."
Yes, but... I was just about to go home, so why was she suddenly telling me this...?
"Ah, I see..."
"So, would you like to come along?"
Ah, I see... At that point, I'd already given my answer, but the team leader—who surely understood—pushed her burdensome mask closer, demanding the response she'd already decided on. Still, I had something left to say. She'd clearly called it a month-end "meeting" and dinner.
"The meeting between team leaders probably contains things I shouldn't hear, so—"
"Well, it should be fine, right?"
An immediate answer with zero hesitation. ...That was far too irresponsible. And she was already speaking as if it had been decided that I was going.
"No, no. That wouldn't be right. Haha, how could I possibly—"
"Come to think of it, the President has an overseas business trip scheduled around next month."
"...Yes?"
Why was she suddenly bringing up the President's trip...?
"She travels by private jet. If you ask nicely then, maybe you could bring Harpy along too? The President does seem quite fond of her."
Looking at the team leader speaking as if she knew everything I'd been worrying about until this morning, I realized something. The person who had installed wiretaps or cameras in the response team leader's house and car—at least the one responsible—was the team leader herself. Of course, for security reasons, only the team leader could monitor other team leaders... which meant she'd heard everything we'd talked about in the car this morning. My face suddenly grew hot.
"Showing your face at this kind of gathering would earn you some points before you even ask. I'll help you out too."
"..."
It was a tempting offer. The President had seemed difficult to approach at first, but now she gave the impression that if I asked sincerely, she'd grant permission without fussing over details. Still, if I came home late without saying anything... Nero would definitely give me an earful. And I hadn't even properly cleared up the misunderstanding from this morning. ...But given the current situation where I hadn't done a single proper thing for the lonely Harpy, the team leader's proposal was undeniably attractive. She knew that, which was why she'd used it as a condition.
"What will you do?"
This... I had no choice.
"If my presence won't be a nuisance... then I understand."