Sunday, April 29, 2007

Tabula Rasa

Chapter 2

"Where's the fun if the target isn't even dangerous?"

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"So what is this place?" I ask Malice while walking down the hallway.

"This place has a real name, at least I think it does, but no one remembers it. So we call it The Office" says Malice while we go past a long line of what looks like bookcases. They're full of folders, blue and red ones. Otherwise the place does look like a normal office building.

"No need to think about the details, you have the rest of eternity to think about those."

That stops me.

"THE REST OF ETERNITY???"

Malice shrugs and keeps walking. I'm half-jogging just to keep up with her. "Well I've been here for a long time. Feels like eternity, but at least I'm not doing paper work. Those pile up too you know, but I just gotta write the report after every case."

"So what are these "cases" anyway? You said something about lost souls and M.O-something."

"M.O.O.R. It stands for Mostly Out Of Reach, all the cases we can do almost nothing about, except to kick them out of the human world. Kinda like lost souls, but a lot nastier" she replies while we enter a room filled with desks and folders. There are some people doing what looks like the paper work Malice mentioned before.

"And the lost souls are...?"

"Souls of the people who have killed themselves or were too persistent to not go to Heaven or Hell and things like that." She sounds like she's been telling the same stuff about a thousand times before.

"Yo, Malice! The report for the 24th May case is still late!" yells one of the people in the room.

"Yeah, yeah and I told you I’ll get it done by next week" Malice yells back and keeps walking. The guy yells something about "the boss".

"For the record rookie, the reports all have deadlines. The Boss is the guy who handles this section." We're still not stopping.

"This section? So there are more than this one?"

"Sure, what, you really think that a few people can take care of all the lost souls of the human world?" Malice grins and shakes her head like she's explaining something very simple to a 5-year-old who just won't get it. We get to the other end of the office room and enter an elevator. Malice presses a button that says F1.

"Where are we going?"

"We’re going to Kyoto-"

"WHAT?!"

"Not the city, schoolgirl. Kyoto is responsible of all the cases of this section and of who gets to do what."

"Oh...so he's the boss?"

"Thank Enma, no. Kyoto needs someone to keep him on a leash or we'll be all doomed." The elevator stops and we get off. Now we're in a hallway full of windows. The sky is blue with no clouds.

"Back to the point, we'll get our case, do some research on it and get it done. And you'll be the one to write the report." So she's already being the boss.

"Why me?"

"Because I'm older, prettier and I've done this job far longer than you have. I've written about a million reports so now it's your turn to suffer." She smirks. "Ah, we're here." We're standing in front of a door. Simple brown door, no details. Malice opens the door and walks in. "OI! Kyoto, what've you got for me and the schoolgirl?"

"Malice, polite as always. And the rookie hasn't asked for a transfer yet? She's sure got guts."

We're in a room filled with piles of folders and papers. In the middle of the piles is a young guy with a shoulder-length black hair and dark eyes. He's wearing all black. He has a smirk on his face which scarily reminds me of the smirks Malice does every five minutes (at least it feels like it). He's playing solitaire on the floor.

"Or it's because she hasn't seen the best of me yet. You said something about a case?" Malice leans closer to get a better look at Kyoto's cards.

He pulls a heart 7 and puts it on top of one card pile. "Sure." He waves his hand towards one of the folder piles. "DH-67-J1" and the second he ends the code a folder is flying into his hand. He hands it over to Malice and returns to his solitaire.

"No casualties? Where's the fun if the target isn't even dangerous?" Kyoto raises his head and looks at Malice.

"Did you bother to read the whole text? No casualties YET. The first victim might as well be our rookie here", he waves his hand towards me. Good to know they have so much faith in me. Kyoto puts the cards away and stands up.

"Alright, I get it." Malice sighs. "So how's Kaoru? You two still not talking to each other? Other than the casual insult of course." It's Kyoto's turn to sigh. "How about you focus on the rookie and the case instead of the Houshakuji family's issues?"

"It's still hard to believe that the two of you are twins. OK rookie let's get going." Malice waves at Kyoto and steps out the door. "We have a case to take care of."

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A/N: Sorry if the chapter was a bit short, but I felt that it was better to stop there.

Also, the new chapters won't come out every day or anything, they'll come out when I write one. I might also post some poems between the chapters. But there will be more chapters, don't worry.

Now if you have any questions about the story, the writing process, characters etc. feel free to ask. I'll have a FAQ-section (Friendly Asked Questions) at the start of every chapter from now on. So just put your question/s in the comment box and I'll get to them.


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