Side story: The convenience store

After two in the morning, there was hardly a living soul in the convenience store in Hethereau City's Bridge District.

Jin'en crouched in front of the freezer, holding a plastic bag containing three cans of black coffee and a pack of discounted rice balls.

Porsette stood beside him with her hood pulled low, her fingers hovering over the compartments of oden without reaching down.

"Just take one skewer," Jin'en said.

"Which one?"

"You don't even know which one you want to eat?"

Porsette tilted her head to glance at him, her golden eyes showing beneath the brim of her hood, her face expressionless. But her fingers moved back and forth between the daikon and chikuwa twice before she finally picked up just one skewer of daikon and put it in a paper cup.

Jin'en didn't rush her.

He stood up, set the plastic bag on the counter, then picked up a carton of milk from the shelf and pushed it toward her.

"Daikon won't fill you up."

"I'm not hungry."

"Then why were you standing here choosing for so long?"

Porsette picked up the milk, checked its expiration date, and set it back on the counter without pushing it away again.

The two of them left the convenience store, and the Bridge District's night wind poured into their collars, carrying damp air from the harbor.

Porsette tugged her hood lower, holding the paper cup in her hands. Steam rose from the daikon and washed over her chin.

"Brother."

"Mm."

"Why did you come out to buy coffee in the middle of the night?"

"We ran out at the mansion."

"Big Sister Unica said there's more in the kitchen. It'll be restocked tomorrow morning."

"I can't wait until tomorrow morning."

Porsette didn't reply.

She took a bite of daikon, chewed twice, then took another bite.

They walked back along the Bridge District's alleys, the streetlight sliced into segments by the wires overhead.

Jin'en walked on the outer side at an unhurried pace. Porsette followed half a step behind him on his right, holding the paper cup in front of her chest as the daikon's steam gradually dispersed in the night wind.

At the corner of Halfwidth Street, Jin'en paused.

His Spatial Perception had picked something up, not far away, just behind the row of trash cans at the end of the alley.

There was a slight distortion in the spatial structure. It wasn't large, but it was highly unstable, as though something were repeatedly trying to "open" something and failing.

Porsette stopped too.

She didn't ask anything, only shifted the paper cup to her left hand and pulled her right hand out of her cloak pocket.

"Behind the trash cans," Jin'en said.

They walked toward the end of the alley.

Jin'en led the way, keeping his footsteps very light.

Porsette followed behind. She had already set her paper cup on a step at the base of the wall, and her right hand hung by her side.

A cat crouched behind the trash cans.

A very small orange cat crouched among a heap of discarded cardboard boxes and plastic bags, its fur standing on end. Before it was an extremely thin spatial rift, about a finger wide, its silver edges flickering with unstable light as it sprang open and shut like a spring that might explode at any moment.

Jin'en crouched down and raised his right hand, palm up.

Dark light seeped from the lines of his palm. He didn't use the black rod, only compressed that devouring power into an extremely thin membrane and laid it over the edges of the rift.

The rift jumped twice, caught within the membrane, then slowly closed, finally shrinking to a line and disappearing.

The orange cat looked up at him. It neither ran nor meowed.

Porsette peeked halfway out from behind Jin'en's shoulder.

"Did it open that?"

"Doesn't look like it." Jin'en reached out, scooped the cat out of the pile of boxes, and turned one of its hind legs to inspect it.

There was an old wound on the inside of its hind leg. It had already scabbed over, but the fur around it had fallen out, exposing a small patch of skin bearing extremely faint traces of spatial distortion.

"Something cut it and left spatial residue in the wound. It couldn't suppress it itself, so the residue seeped out. Once enough seeped out, it forced open a rift."

Porsette crouched down and looked the cat in the eye for a while.

The cat squirmed out of Jin'en's hands and jumped to the ground. It didn't go far, circling over to Porsette's feet and rubbing against her boots.

"Does it know you?" Jin'en asked.

"No." Porsette reached out and stroked the top of the cat's head. The cat narrowed its eyes without pulling away.

Watching her pet the cat, Jin'en remembered how she had shrunk into herself whenever she encountered anyone in the corridors during her first few days at Red Letter.

Now she was crouching beside the Bridge District's trash cans, petting a stray cat, and reaching out quite readily.

"What do we do?" Porsette looked up at him.

"What do we do about what?"

"Its wound."

"Take it back." Jin'en stood up and dusted off his hands.

"The residue's suppressed, but the wound needs treating. Take it back, put it in a cardboard box, and have Unica find some veterinary medicine tomorrow."

Porsette picked up the cat. It curled into a ball in her arms, its tail looping around her wrist and hanging down.

"Brother."

"What now?"

"Are we allowed to keep cats at the mansion?"

"No."

"Then where do we put it when we take it back?"

"Your room." Jin'en was already walking toward the mouth of the alley, carrying the plastic bag. The coffee cans clinked together inside it. "Don't let Mother see."

Porsette followed with the cat in her arms, then doubled back after two steps to pick up the cup of daikon from the step at the base of the wall. She rested the paper cup on the cat's back. The cat looked up but didn't move.

"Are you feeding the cat daikon?"

"It's for me."

"Then why put it on the cat's back?"

"It's easier to carry."

Jin'en said nothing more. He switched the plastic bag to his other hand, took the cat from her arms and tucked it under his arm, then freed his other hand to pass her the cup of daikon.

Porsette took the paper cup, sipped the broth, and followed him toward the mansion.

It was two forty in the morning when they returned to the mansion.

They entered through the concealed door in the side corridor. The corridor's wall lamps were set to dim, and both kept their footsteps very light.

Porsette headed toward the third floor with the cat in her arms. Jin'en paused at the foot of the stairs.

"The cardboard boxes are on the back row of shelves in the storeroom. Don't turn on the main light."

"Mm."

Porsette went upstairs.

Jin'en headed for his room. As he reached the junction by the courtyard, Broken Rainbow's door opened.

She leaned against the doorframe, barefoot, with a braided cord wrapped around her wrist and her untied hair falling over her shoulders.

"You two went out for coffee and took almost an hour."

"Something came up on the way."

"What?"

"A cat with spatial residue on it. Porsette brought it back."

Broken Rainbow tilted her head.

"Little Red Riding Hood holding a cat?"

"Mm."

Broken Rainbow didn't respond, but the corners of her mouth lifted. That curve was different from her usual smile when she was enjoying a show, fainter and briefer.

She turned and went back into her room, leaving the door open a crack.

Jin'en returned to his room, set the coffee cans on the desk, and sat on the edge of the bed.

The silver markings on his right wrist were quiet. Suppressing the spatial residue on that cat hadn't taken much effort; he hadn't even formed the black rod.

He leaned against the headboard and closed his eyes for a while. Very soft footsteps came from the corridor.

Porsette came down from the third floor and paused at his door.

"Brother."

"Come in."

Porsette pushed the door open but didn't come inside, staying outside the threshold.

"The cat's in the cardboard box. It ate half a piece of daikon."

"Cats eat daikon?"

"It came over on its own." Porsette paused. "Can I leave the mansion a little later tomorrow morning?"

"What for?"

"To change its dressing."

Jin'en looked at her for two seconds.

"Talk to Broken Rainbow. She's the one taking you out."

"Will Big Sister agree?"

"Go ask her."

Porsette said nothing more and turned toward the third floor.

After two steps, she stopped again and looked back at Jin'en.

"Brother."

"What now?"

"That cat might have exploded tonight if you hadn't noticed the distortion in the alley."

"Mm."

"Why did you notice it?"

Jin'en leaned against the headboard without answering right away.

"My perception picked it up," he said. "I'm used to it."

Porsette nodded, asked no more questions, and went upstairs.