The bus stopped at a bus station, Trout walked out of the bus, clothing completely worn out and stank, his eyes were tired because he didn't get an ounce of sleep for two days while doing the mission. He set his tired feet towards the library, now his temporary home. As he set his hand on the doorknob of the library and opened it, Sal was sitting at his table, tapping on his device and sorting out something.
"Hello, I'm back."
Trout said politely, knowing how much he owed Sal.
Sal kept working but replied
"no need to be so polite, pal. We'rr friends yeah?"
The joy in his tone was always there, supporting Trout in his hard time. He took his trench coat off and went to the bathroom.
"I will clean the coat and give it back to you later. Thank you for offering me to stay"
Sal stopped typing for a moment and looked to Trout before shaking his head and going back to work.
"I told you not to be so polite. I might have something to talk about later, I did some thinking while you're gone so just know that I'm working on something right now. We'll talk later."
Trout nodded politely then walked to the bathroom and turned on the van, starting to soak the trench coat and clean it off with some soap, it was so dirty the water turned gray almost immediately. After an hour, he hung all the clothing on the door of the bathroom and walked out to the hall of the library again, wearing his hospital rag that he worn when he first entered, it is clean and less worn out but still looks like a rag.
Sal already finished working on his device and is now reading a book. Upon seeing Trout walking out, a grin set on his face instantly.
"you look like you are a beggar who just came out of a tragic story"
Trout shook his head.
"enough with the mocking, if you mind."
Sal giggled a little and put the book down.
"your humor is as missing as your memories huh."
Hearing the line, Trout couldn't do anything but sit down in front of Sal and look for a book on the shelf to read, knowing he owned Sal too much to complain.
"ignoring me and looking for books to read? I would love to leave you alone so you can read peacefully, but today is a special day. We need to talk a little"
Sal said and snapped his fingers in front of Trout's face, gaining his attention. After confirming that Trout was listening, he looked right at the person in front of him, Sal's voice slowly turned from jolly to calm as he say.
"first question, what is that headwear of yours. Can you take it off?"
Trout did not expect to be investigated by Sal, he looked up to Sal and down to his hand, fingers starting to tap.
"I don't know what this helmet is, I don't feel like wearing anything at all, like it's been fused with me and became one with me. And as for your question, no. I tried and I couldn't take it off."
Trouts finger tapping become faster each sentence he said. Being questioned all of sudden must be so unexpected to him.
"I see... let's change our subject then!"
Sal's voice broke the silence, he knew that his investigating is putting weights on Trout but he had a reason to do this.
"about your debt"
His voice is no longer solemn but instead back to the unserious and joyful tone he always had.
"how bad is it? Organ-selling bad? No will to live bad? Or soul-selling bad?"
The question was straightforward but not so direct that it could be uncomfortable for other people.
Trout finger tapping stopped, looking up at Sal, wondering what is this person seeking when they ask such a personal question. The silence hung on the air, Sal chuckled once again breaking the awkward silence.
"You know, I'm a person who is good at making friends but not really good at keeping them, so just tell me whatever's happening because I don't want to see another pal dying due to whatever reason there is, we are friends and you must remember that. So, tell me pal, tell me your state so I can help you out. I'm not losing this friend so easily."
Trout couldn't say anything. He knew that Sal was being all honest but he felt like he couldn't just open like that, Sal was being nice to him yet he can't set his mind at ease. Thinking Sal would kick him out if he learnt how bad his debt is. Sal saw the look and the avoiding eyes of Trout, he stood up.
"I will go brew some coffee. I shall leave you alone for a while to think about it, you prefer vanilla or dark?"
Sals tone was caring, calming Trout, he pushed a book about currency's value over
"Just read and learn how bad your current situation is yourself if you have no idea about the value of our currency."
He walked to the back, the brewing sound of the coffee machine starting up. Trout sat alone in the main hall of the library and breathed heavily, he was considering telling Sal the truth about his debt, but what would he do with that information, he thought. Sal is an information broker, he could be selling Trout's current situation for other people, those who need to do dirty work, Trout will have no choice but to accept but he doesn't want to take any job of killing people, it's his moral line that he won't bother passing. Why does he feel like he won't harm any person, he doesn't know but he believes that this rule must be so important to him that he couldn't forget even though he have lost all of his memories. Trout picked up the book Sal slid over for him and opened it up, the book was titled 'The blood of the world' , it's a perfect title for a book about money because in this world, everything exists for financial profit.
Upon opening the book, he saw that the book is marked with some highlighter, the highlighted parts were mostly about debt and value of currency. A warm feeling filled Trout. He knew that Sal didn't hand him the book randomly but marked the important parts of the book for him to read while he was doing laundry. His hand gripped the book gently, a little chuckle escaped him and he focused on reading the book while listening to the grinding sound of the coffee machine. After a while, Trout understood most about the currency in this world. For short, the currency used in this world is called Ahn. You can live a full day with about 100 Ahn in your pocket and you can live a life of luxury for a day with 10000 in your possession. Money is not carried but often stored in cards and flow under the care of big corporations. With the amount of money he owned being two hundred million, he could live not one but two full lives of luxury. Knowing this only made he feels worse, but now at least he knows that his previous job is an extremely low paying job, he gained 50 Ahn from his last job which only allowed him to get 2 meals a day for almost three days of survival while the job took two days itself to complete. He put the book back on the table and leaned his back on the chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling.
He closed his eyes but opened them back instantly upon feeling a tap on his forehead or rather the upper front part of his strange headwear. Sal was already standing behind him, observing him for who knows how long but there was a smirk in the corner of his mouth.
"Whoosh.... You finished it all, the book only has around 120 pages but I'm impressed that you didn't stop midway instead of actually reading it in one go, this is why I like you"
Sal said and put two cups or coffee down the table, both were steaming hot and carefully brewed.
"Dark or vanilla?"
Sal asked the question he asked before but didn't get an answer. Now seeing Sal asking again, Trout finally decided to open up to his friend, beginning from the smallest details.
"I prefer dark."
Trout said, his voice was calm but not the calculating and cautious calm, just the kind of calm people have around friends.
"Nah, it's both vanilla"
Sal said, broke the heart warming moments in pieces or at least that's what Trout thought.
"I asked and you didn't give me an answer. How could I give you what you want if you don't open up and talk to me"
Trouts body straightened up, it went still but he slowly gained back his motion, shaking his head with some chuckles
"That's you, I know that I have to trust you and I have decided to, you don't have to do this to me you know."
He said but the way he talked completely changed, he no longer thought anything too deep about Sal, completely accepting him as a friend. He held his hand out, pointing at the coffee.
Sal shook his head then put the cups down the table, pushing Trouts hand back.
"It's obviously steaming hot and you're not wearing a glove like I do, don't recommend holding the cup you know."
Before Trout could say anything, Sal took a pair of gloves similar to the one he was wearing but with different colors, his were white but these were black. He handed the pair of gloves to Trout, not explaining any further. Trout was impressed at Sal's blunt but subtle action.
While drinking coffee, Trout looked at Sal for a few times but all the time Sal was just sipping on coffee and reading peacefully, after a while Sal looked up at Trout. His eyebrows were raised like he's telling Trout to go ahead and say whatever he wanted to say. Trout looked at his eyes and started to say
"Do you still want to learn about my debt? I suppose you asked for a reason but I was too cautious to tell you before."
Sal closed the book but put a finger at the page he is reading, marking it so he can read it later, after putting a bookmark instead he closed the book entirely. His eyes were now fixed on Trout, not saying a single word but his gaze was telling that he's all ears. Trout took a deep breath while Sal took another sip of coffee. Trout slowly said.
"Two.... hundred millions Ah-"
Upon hearing the number, a feeling of warm water is getting sprayed on Trout's face or at least it's what he feel after the headwear, Sal completely choking then he strongly put the cup down, looking straight at Trout. His eyes scanned up and down then open his mouth.
"ah, you-are-done-for kind of bad. Cool, cool, cool. You know... I was at least expecting like a few thousand or almost ten thousand are bad enough, but no you own them that much? No wonder you were so desperately looking for a job with high payment back then."
His voice is always joyful but this time it's caring, Trout's muscle tensed as he saw Sal's reaction but relaxed when he confirmed that Sal wouldn't leave him alone. Sal handed him his handkerchief, shaking his head trying to laugh this one off.
"My apologies, but that's one huge chunk of money you would ever hear someone mention in this world, the coffee on your face is making your glowing helmet a bit weirder, haha..."
Trout took the handkerchief, he still remained calm as always, wiping off the coffee on his face and returning the handkerchief back to it's owner. Sal suddenly looked down at the sheet of cloth then back at Trout.
"How do you eat? All I ever see is you with that creepy helmet with the center glowing dim white, it covers your whole face so I wonder how do you eat or taste."
The question also made Trout wonder, he never felt the helmet was on him and ate as normally but he had no Idea how the other view him. Taking the cup of coffee he hasn't touched till now and taking a sip, it was absolutely terrible but he owned Sal too much to complain about anything, after putting the cup down he looked back at Sal. He saw that Sal was completely silence now, looking at him then using his hands to massage his temple, he slowly pat Trout's shoulder.
"Never. eat. in. public. You might traumatize normal civilians."
Trout shook his head, not knowing what Sal was talking about. When he ate the bread a few days ago Sal didn't react like this, suddenly he remembered that he shoved the bread in his mouth while Sal was laughing and closing his eyes so there's no chance he would've seen it. Looking up at Sal, Trout said
"So....how do I eat?"
Sal looked really tired but said it anyway
"The cup when through your mask like some kind of hologram, come back out while the helmet ripples like some kind of jelly, just... don't do that in public, that's weird"
Trout was speechless. Despite knowing it wouldn't look so pleasant but this was too weird, even for him.
Sal nodded in agreement. Trout couldn't imagine how awkward it must have looked, after drinking only half of the cup of coffee in silence he stopped because he couldn't take anymore of the sourness, he stayed silent waiting for Sal to finish his. Sal was just reading an book about coffee making, he seemed like he is very focused in this, sipping on the coffee and analyzing details in the book. After a while he finished off the coffee and saw Trout's cup still had half left, the cup was just a standard tea cup, realizing Sal's attention with the cup, Trout quickly picked up the cup and drank it all in one go, the sour and bitter taste filled his tongue. His helmet's light suddenly changed from white to green but quickly to white again. Sal caught the change but just put it in the back of his mind
"None of my business for now, this guy has tons of secrets that he doesn't even know so it's best not to ask and confuse things"
He thinks to himself and takes both cups to the back to clean it, saying back to Trout.
"Stay there, I still have something to tell you."
Trout sat there looking at the gloves on his hands. Wondering did these really belong to Sal since their hands were different in size and his were a bit rough than Sal's tender looking one. He set his mind off it because he would never doubt his friend again, sitting and tap his fingers on the table slowly. After another while of waiting, Sal came back but don't go to the table immediately but went to his desk and pulled out some papers them went to the table.
He put the papers In front of Trout and sit down beside him, pulling down one and put it In front of Trout.
"The main subject I wanted to talk about. I want to help you out a little since I don't have much to do anyway, you're a grade 10 so your average payment is about 40, I'm a grade 6 so the gap is really big. I decided to take to you to a mission with me so we can cut the salary 50/50, how does that sound."
Trout was tearing up inside, he was going to own Sal even more. Sal noticed the look at snap his fingers
"I already own you enough for what you're providing. Never think you own me anything, remember? The reason I'm helping you is extremely personal so don't even mention it. Just take the help and repay the favor when you can or even don't, we are friends. When talking about work I'm your senior so guiding you is my responsibility, so you can stop that look and focus on yourself alright?"
Trout's helmet light changed slowly to yellow and stayed like it. Sal noticed that this guy's helmet emitted light depend on his emotions, he always acts calm and doesn't talk much but the light is really selling him out. He scoffed and came back to his talk.
"The gap between a grade 10 and a grade 7 is not that big. But from 7 to 6 is, for your information, my average payment for each Mission can be from 700 to 1000. The risk of the mission increases but so does the payment. I will take a mission using my grade status and you will take part in the mission also. Therefore I can split the cut with you."
Trout nodded, he knew that a single 'thank you' could never comprehend the amount of gratefulness he is carrying, his helmet glowed brighter with yellow, showing that he no longer needed to suppress his emotions around Sal anymore. He said
"So, what kind of mission are we going to do?"
Sal answered instantly, pushing a sheet of paper over
"Assassination. It been a while since I get back into combat, spent too much time reading here I think I'm all rusty now."
Trout heard the word and look down to read the paper, it's a request for assassinating a rebellion leader who's holding a rebel against a corporation. The light on his helmet changed from yellow to white again and slowly to purple, he looked right at Sal's eyes
"I will not kill, I don't know why but I'm disgusted by the concept of killing another person with my hands, I'm sorry."
Sal looked like he heard the most funny thing he ever did, he slapped his thigh and laughed very hard. His laughter was loud but slowly lowered and completely shut, he looked at Trout right in the eyes.
"Are you dead serious with me. What are you, a Saint? A tool who won't kill? You are trying to make a joke right?...right?...right...."
He shook his head and had some thoughts then snatched the paper from Trout's hand, handing him another one.
Trout took the sheet and read, it's a mission about abandoned facilities of a corporation that got wiped out during a war. Their mission was to go in there and search for any suspicious activities or abnormal things, while looking for files about technology and bring it back to R corp. He looked up at Sal and ask
"What does R corp stand for?"
The question was very innocent, Sal giggled a little. Taking the paper back
"We will talk about this later, you're doing this? It can't break any moral code of your little baby heart, if you don't care about copyrights"
Trout shook his head, accepting the mission. After the signing was done. Sal took the file and burnt it
"Why?"
Trout asked, Sal just shook his head
"It's the rule of the job, we burn the files after sending a copy to the overseers, that way we can't change anything on the contract. It's required for contracts from grade 7 and above. The contract we took is a grade 3 one so we have to burn it immediately. Don't ask why I got a contract with a higher grade requirements. Just know I have some contacts from information selling."
The last phrase of the line was completely a 'shut up and don't think anything'. Putting his trust completely in Sal. He decided to accept the help and nod to everything. Sal nodded then suddenly took off his clothing, only leaving a thin shirt and a long pant on him. Trout stayed still but his insides were burning in confusion. Sal looked at him and smirk
"What, little blushing? Too bad we're just sleeping because we will take our leave at 5."
The sentence brought Trout back to reality
He was not gay but just confused because the amount of outside clothing Sal had, a long pant outside, a work office sleeve covered all in a working vest with the top opened up to reveal the sleeve inside, all of them were covered with a trench coat that always be worn like a cape overall the whole 'structure'. He observed as Sal laid on the couch near his working desk, it's obvious that Sal has been living in this place for years without any going out. He was glad that a bookworm like Sal decided to come out of his safe zone just to help a friend like him, he knows that he owns Sal but he's been told not to mind.
"What kind of providing was Sal talking about?"
He wondered, but his back slowly rested on a chair and laid asleep. Tomorrow would be the beginning of a brand new day, the day that he can finally put his trust in a true friend. Due to the tiredness he quickly fell asleep, the light on his strange helmet dimmed weaker as he took out all of his cautiousness and took a good rest.