Chapter Text
‘I don’t remember any of that,’ Chief says, scratching her cheek.
Not expecting this memory to have been protected from Chief’s amnesia, I hum in acknowledgment. I wonder if it was the shock of the incident that had triggered my transformation weeks later. I’d always been a bird, and only a bird before then. I was pretty sure. Unless I had my own case of memory loss…
‘It all sounds pretty crazy.’ Chief stares at her empty plate, food all eaten.
Having just finished the last bite of my carbonara, I place my fork down. ‘You were a brave kid.’
Chief chuckles. ‘Or I was really messed up to be smacking someone over the head with a brick…’
‘I never did thank you properly for saving me. So… thank you.’ Curious, I ask, ‘Do you regret it?’
‘What?’
‘Doing what you did.’ My heart is beating too fast.
‘Saving you? No. I’m glad little me did that even if I can’t remember it. Is it strange to feel proud for a choice you’ve made that you have no memory of?’
My heartrate calms.
‘But hurting that guy?’ Chief continues. ‘It… it would have been nice to not have required violence.’
Blood on anyone’s hands is never good. Even worse on a child’s. It was best not to tell Chief about how that terrible man didn’t survive from his injuries. That’s why the officers came knocking on Chief’s door. MBCC followed having seen an opportunity to seize a kid with high potential. One thing led to another, and Chief ended up joining their ranks.
She didn’t have much choice. It was either that or having to deal with the law for murdering a man like any other citizen did. MBCC promised Chief a bright future. And what a fantastic future it sure was, being worked to literal death and back. I sometimes wonder if the reaper has a soft spot for her. That’s the only reason she’s not dead yet. Or maybe it’s the opposite, and death wanted her to stay away. To live through life and suffer instead of resting in peace. Did death even truly come with peace? I halt that train of thought before getting further lost in it.
‘I wouldn’t be here,’ I say. ‘I’m only here because you chose to hurt someone to save a random bird.’
‘And I’d do it again.’ Chief looks straight at me. ‘Even if I don’t want to injure someone, I’d do it again.’
‘Because of your love for animals?’
‘Because I love you.’
My heart stops, then restarts, pounding much faster than it should.
‘A-as a friend, I mean,’ Chief says, ‘and colleague. You’re my adjutant so…’
Oh. Right. And here I thought my feelings were returned. I keep forgetting I’m foolish. Breathing out slowly, I try not to be disappointed. The silence is loud between us.
‘And then…’ Chief says softly, blushing and avoiding eye contact, ‘there’s the fact that I like you. I care about you.’
‘Thanks.’
‘As more than a friend.’
I raise a brow. ‘You just said that you loved me as a friend. Now, you’re saying that you like me as more than a friend… That’s a little confusing.’
Chief’s blush darkens. ‘Let me try again.’ She gulps. ‘I love you, Nightingale.’
‘As a frie—’
‘More than a friend.’
It takes a moment for me to process her words. She likes me. She loves me. More than a friend.
‘N-nightingale?’
‘Yes?’ I answer.
‘Should I not… love you? Is it a problem for you? We don’t have to—we can pretend I never said any of this and—’
‘Please don’t. I don’t want us to regress.’ I smile at the confusion on her face. ‘I quite like progress in our relationship. Especially in this direction.’
‘Does that mean…’ Chief looks unsure.
‘Ask me.’
Her eyes widen for a brief moment, then she takes a long blink, and her confident self is back. ‘Will you go out with me?’
‘Where to?’
She cocks her head to the side.
My smile widens.
‘Oh.’ She chuckles. ‘Anywhere, really. Will you be my girlfriend?’
‘Yes.’