Falling Upwards - Arknights

Chapter 9: Closing the Distance

- 0345 hours -

For a short while, Exusiai, Mostima, and Torrent conversed on the rooftop, sharing stories of adventure, surprise, and danger. The cool breeze of the morning in Lungmen hit their skins while they sat. Mostima allowed her two childhood friends to ask what they want answered by her.

Being the intelligent as she is, Mostima craftily evaded the more sensitive questions that the two asked her and Torrent knew there's nothing he can do about it.

Exusiai soon succumbed to the effects of the alcohol and she slowly fell to her side with Mostima catching her and putting her head on her lap. Torrent can only smile at the sight.

"... Nnng..." Exusiai blabbers as she starts to fall asleep.

"She gets drunk and makes trouble. But she sure is quiet, isn't she? A little sister to be proud of." Mostima asks not only Torrent but also someone else with them on the rooftop.

Torrent nodded, but he soon caught the tone of Mostima's voice and realized that she knows someone else is among them.

The person reveals themselves and he recognized her to be the same person Mostima was talking to in secret before. She is the person assigned by the Notary Hall to watch over Mostima.

"I don't care about her or her sister. But you need to stop both her and him from digging any deeper into that stuff. We don't need that trouble." The familiar woman replies to Mostima's question. "Not to mention... Weren't you just telling not to talk in such a roundabout way?" The woman finishes.

"You..." Torrent mutters, seeing the familiarity of the new person. "I don't remember your name." He says to her.

"You don't need to. All you need to know about me is that we used to clean the entire Arts field after the prank you pulled on the principal." The woman answers Torrent who brightens upon remembering. He chuckles.

"Yeah, I remember that. And it's not my fault you got dragged into it." He tells her. "But I still don't remember your name." He says.

"... We were never in the same classes." The woman simply says.

"And what do you mean? Isn't it scarier how apparently you can hear everything we say all the time? Did you bug the place or something?" Mostima muses at the woman with a smile, pointing out her knowledge of their conversation earlier.

"You should always remember who made me your keeper." The woman answers Mostima, giving Torrent several hints as to why she's watching his friend.

"... Okay then, Miss "Keeper," what are you calling yourself these days?" Mostima asks curiously.

"Why do you ask?"

"It's time for your routine report, isn't it? I've been waiting all night. The big shots up top don't have any new ideas?" Mostima says.

"Why should I tell you?"

"I have a right to know. We're colleagues, aren't we? And I'm personally interested in the way you change your duties each month." Mostima tells her. The woman sighs and relents.

"Fine. We would need codenames to refer to each other in case something happens." The woman says. "I'm under the Notarial Hall this time. The usual. Independent special operations. Duty name... it's..." She hesitated to answer.

"What's the name?" Torrent asks, similarly interested.

"... Suffering." The woman, now knows by her code name as Suffering answers after another moment of hesitation. The three of them went silent.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Um. What? Why?" Mostima asks, very confused.