MFM | Chapter 1.6

Gabriel, who had come down from the bed, nodded silently. Following Klaus up the stairs, they unexpectedly emerged into a high-end restaurant. The lights were off, making it look like it had closed early. Gabriel finally checked the time.

’11:38.’

It seemed he had been unconscious for quite a while.

When Klaus opened the restaurant’s back door, a black carriage appeared. The coachman, wearing a deeply pressed fedora, took it off and greeted Klaus. Klaus, who had boarded the carriage, leaned toward Gabriel.

“Get in. I’ll take you home.”

He extended his hand as if to say ‘grab it.’ Gabriel stared at his softly tanned glove for a moment.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m fine.”

He needed to buy cigarettes on the way. Even though it was late, they actually welcomed him visiting at such an hour, so it didn’t matter. They wouldn’t mind his disheveled appearance either.

Most importantly, he didn’t want to spend more time with Klaus. However, Klaus smiled smoothly and wiggled his fingers.

“Want to fall into the sewers and call again?”

“……”

“Besides, the cat must be hungry. You need to go quickly to feed it.”

Gabriel was momentarily frozen by the unexpected words. Even if he tried not to be conscious of it, discomfort began to creep up from his feet.

“Did you visit my house?”

Since his ID card in the wallet had his home address, it wasn’t strange if he had visited while Gabriel was unconscious. With the status of the Dark Guard, they probably didn’t even consider trespassing a crime.

“Shall we talk more once you’re up?”

Klaus, with a rather generous expression, extended his hand again. Gabriel, who had been staring at him with a hardened expression, almost mimicked grabbing his hand as he boarded the carriage.

Would it be meaningful to state the destination? When he looked at Klaus sitting opposite him with suspicious eyes, Klaus chuckled.

“There was black fur on your pants. Too thin to be a dog’s, unmistakably a short-haired cat’s. You’re not going to say your true identity is a cat, are you?”

“……Pimble Street No. 131.”

“You heard that? Let’s go.”

At Klaus’s command to the coachman, the carriage immediately set off. Klaus, leaning loosely against the backrest, tapped the cane he was holding and asked.

“Anything else you’re curious about?”

“If there’s something I need to know, you’ll tell me later.”

He didn’t want to ask about unnecessary information. On the other hand, Klaus seemed different, leaning toward Gabriel.

“Then let me ask what I’m curious about. What’s the cat’s name?”

“It doesn’t have one.”

Klaus made a pitiful expression.

“Oh dear, you didn’t even give a name to the animal you’re raising?”

“I’m not raising it.”

Gabriel suppressed a sigh.

“It just came into the house by chance and hasn’t left.”

“While you’re feeding it.”

“It’s in exchange for catching mice.”

Hearing that, Klaus lowered his head, covering his face with one hand, and shook with laughter. What’s so funny? As Gabriel kept his mouth shut, Klaus looked up and met Gabriel’s eyes.

“So you made a sort of cohabitation contract instead of driving out or harming the stray cat that snuck into your house? Judging very calculatively? And while there’s no affection, the cat has a hobby of rubbing against your leg? Got it, Gabriel.”

His tone was very amused. How did he know the cat did that all the time? Gabriel realized there was more fur on his pants than he thought. He assumed it wouldn’t show on black pants, but on closer inspection, it was embedded in the fibers.

“Let’s stop talking about the cat you ‘don’t particularly like.’ Instead…”

Klaus reached into his coat and pulled out a thin silver case. What came out of it was unexpectedly a deck of cards. The rounded edges of the colorful drawings were worn, making them look old at a glance. Gabriel was well aware of the name of the twenty-two cards.

“That’s Arcana.”

Arcana was commonly used as a tool for divination. Klaus nodded lightly.

“Yes. I wanted to do a reading for you because I like you.”

He shuffled the cards with skilled hands. Gabriel made a vague expression. Mysticism and spiritualism were old trends in Arkham. As long as they didn’t impersonate the will of the Goddess or engage in large-scale fraud, both the state and the church tolerated them.

Of course, Gabriel didn’t believe in Arcana.

“There’s no need to do this. I’m a—”

“Of course, as a rational coroner, you wouldn’t trust Arcana. But it’s fun, isn’t it? More importantly.”

He added smoothly as he moved his hands.

“The charm of Arcana lies in asking questions. Do you know the origin of the name ‘Arcana‘?”

Gabriel knew that much.

“It means secret in Old English.”

“Right. It comes from ‘arca,’ which means box. So Arcana is a box, and reaching into the box is asking a question. So you have to ask very carefully. Otherwise, you never know what might come out of the box.”

He spoke as if trying to scare a child, as if these old cards held some dangerous mystery. Gabriel declined plainly.

“Some people have no intention of reaching in.”

Klaus, who had been looking at the cards, met Gabriel’s eyes and smiled.

“Not afraid of getting bitten if you reach in?”

“……”

“You’ll have to live your life with your hand in the box from now on.”

Gabriel couldn’t help but agree with that statement. As Klaus pointed out, now that he was in the Dark Guard, he didn’t know what kind of irrational things might happen to him.

Gabriel decided to consider this a rehearsal. After all, there was no need to unnecessarily conflict with a future colleague.

“Ask if I’ll adapt well to the Dark Guard.”

When Gabriel spoke, Klaus spread the cards out in front of him. Even knowing it was meaningless, looking at them made him unnecessarily tense.

Gabriel shook off the subtle tension and drew a card. The first thing that caught his eye was the Old English writing at the bottom of the card.

‘The Fool.’

He felt like a fool. As he quietly stared at the card with the ridiculous jester drawing, Klaus laughed.

“You drew a very good card.”

“No need to sugarcoat it.”

“Really. There’s no card more fitting for a new beginning than ‘The Fool.'”

He pointed to the card Gabriel held.

“No one is as free and unbound as the jester. With a light load and eyes set high, he can go anywhere.”

As he looked at the colorful drawing he pointed to, the carriage slowly came to a stop. Gabriel drew back the curtain covering the window.

Then a familiar street came into view. Pimble Street, where the office class lived, those who could afford a detached house but not a maid, those who were somewhat lacking in economic refinement to be called gentlemen and ladies.

Gabriel’s narrow, long three-story house was at the very end of it. Mist rose from the river flowing beside the sidewalk, dampening the entrance.

“Unfortunately, it’s time to part ways.”

Klaus opened the carriage door and lightly jumped out. He extended his hand to Gabriel.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Gabriel. Sleep well tonight without any worries. I’ll contact you again tomorrow.”

Tomorrow was Sunday, when the post office was closed. So he’d probably send someone. Gabriel, who was forcibly supported as he got off, finally gave a faint smile to his future colleague. It was a smile created by the effects of smoking and ingrained social skills.

“I guess we’ll see each other again soon.”

From experience, when he made this expression, people didn’t say unpleasant things. Sometimes strange rumors spread, but that wasn’t his concern, so it had become a habitual expression. Klaus, having withdrawn his hand, placed one foot on the carriage step.

“I’m really looking forward to that day. Oh, and.”

As he hopped back into the carriage, he tapped his lips.

“Don’t smile like that.”

“……”

“It’s ugly.”

What?

Before Gabriel could reflexively retort, the carriage disappeared in front of him. Watching the carriage run off into the distance, Gabriel tasted the emotion of bewilderment for the first time in a long while.

‘What kind of person is he…?’

It felt absurd that he had been tense about him. But the turmoil in his heart soon subsided. Gabriel then turned his steps.

Meanwhile, inside the carriage speeding past him, a light hum filled the air. Klaus, with the card Gabriel had drawn wedged between his index and middle fingers, stared at it.

The Jester—one who belongs nowhere. One ignored and ridiculed by all. One placed on the periphery of the group, on the boundary of the organization, outside the realm of the average and the normal. Just like how no number is written on the Fool card.

As light as his burden is, he possesses nothing. Above all, right before the Jester’s step lies a sheer cliff. If he takes just one more step without looking down, he will fall straight off.

Klaus’s lips curled smoothly as he gazed at the card.

“If you’d asked more specifically, I would have given you a proper answer.”

So Klaus bore no responsibility.

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

Gabriel was having a nightmare. Loud and damp scenes flashed by quickly, and before he knew it, he was being crushed by a giant rock. His lungs felt heavy, making it hard to breathe.

“Ah, again.”

Gabriel opened his eyes. His body, which had been cooling down from sweat, was warming up again, and it wasn’t because of the sunlight. No sunlight ever entered Gabriel’s house.

Meow.

A large, pitch-black furball was sprawled on Gabriel’s chest, making a strange crying sound. Gabriel pushed away the burdensome rear end that was thrust at him with his hand. It didn’t matter if it was a weekday or weekend; this always happened at exactly six in the morning.

Meow. The troublesome creature cried again. Instead of getting off, the cat changed its position and made eye contact with Gabriel. A pair of yellow eyes slowly blinked open and closed. Above them was a faint crescent moon-like mark.

It was the spot where a third eye had been.

In Arkham, such things were born often. Three-eyed cats, feathered dogs, and sometimes even people. From small parts like fingers to the entire body.

There were various hypotheses, but the cause was unclear. Some said it was due to a curse, others blamed the dirty air, and some said it was just bad luck.

Until a few decades ago, Alpha females and Omega males were also categorized like that. They were unusual. Society collectively referred to them as monstrosities. Monstrosities were symbols of misfortune and were treated as something vile.

Gabriel was similar to that.

He managed to escape the strange treatment because he appeared like a Beta. Gabriel’s height, build, strength, and recovery were just slightly above the average Beta male.

He could recognize the pheromones of mutants but wasn’t swayed by them, and unless he strongly desired it, his body didn’t emit pheromones. He rarely intended to because the scent was terrible. The cold, bitter scent reminded him of the view of an operating room or the smell of medicine.