Black Badger

There were no further words. He naturally slipped into the flow of pedestrians.

Our patrol area was in a bustling district a bit away from Black Badger headquarters. There were places that weren't bustling, too. The size of the patrol area varied depending on the Badger's proficiency, and I had heard that Jonathan Kudo was a genius at patrol work, so he covered a considerable region even on his own.

That meant a lot of walking and driving that day.

I awkwardly lowered my extended hand and followed behind him.

The road was cluttered with people rushing to work and cars.

Even while heading to work, people glanced at us in our Badger uniforms.

Ignoring the piercing stares, I stood beside my mentor.

A silence enveloped us, like a wall of urban noise shrouded around us.

He wasn't going to stay silent like this all day, was he?

But my senior kept quiet all the way through three blocks.

He didn't seem like the type to speak first.

I didn't mind silence, but staying completely mute the whole time felt off.

As I walked on the sidewalk warmed by the early summer sun, I cautiously asked a question.

"What do you usually do for lunch? Eat at a nearby place during patrol?"

Kudo's eyes rolled toward me.

His expression didn't change.

"Usually, yeah."

Silence again.

I smiled brightly at my senior.

"What do you like?"

The answer didn't come right away.

Maybe he didn't like me prying.

But he didn't show any sign of that. Instead, the delay in responding reminded me somehow of John Mullen.

Should I just keep quiet?

The moment I thought that, a flat reply came.

"Udon."

Ah.

He went quiet again, as I expected.

I turned to look at him once more and grinned.

Now I had a rough idea of how conversations would go for the rest of the day.

"Do you know any good udon places?"

This time, I didn't expect an immediate answer.

Sure enough, the response came after the usual pause.

"The udon at the shop you reach by going four blocks and turning right is good."

"Then shall we go there for lunch today?"

His dark eyes rolled toward me again.

I smiled without avoiding it. The morning rush hour was over now. The sidewalk wasn't as crowded, and the sunlight had grown a bit hotter.

My senior nodded.

My goodness.

Dealing with Creatures might have been easier than spending time with this guy.

As I thought that, I walked down the street whitened by the light.

I was surprised at how Choi Yoon seemed like someone with exceptional social skills in comparison.

*

One thing I realized while doing patrol duty was that there were more minor Creatures than I expected.

Right away, Creatures that weren't seriously dangerous. In other words, Tier 1 to 3 Creatures—I encountered quite a few of them. Core citizens knew well how to avoid them and how to report their locations to nearby Badgers. Kudo and I handled several such Creatures over a few days. They served as decent distractions from boredom.

There were days when we didn't deal with any Creatures at all. On those days, we thoroughly covered the patrol area and wrapped up.

It felt like a period of standby until a Reclamation mission came down—such mundane days.

As those days piled up, I learned bits and pieces about Jonathan Kudo. Whenever the silence got tedious, I'd bombard him with one-sided questions.

My senior answered them well.

"Do you like sushi?"

"No."

"Ah. What are you in the mood for dinner? Besides udon, what else do you like?"

Kudo liked neat Japanese food so much it was surprising he couldn't use chopsticks.

I had no complaints about Japanese food either, so we mostly ate at unpretentious Japanese restaurants.

We didn't have coffee after meals; if we were thirsty, we'd buy water at a convenience store. Kudo wasn't very picky about food. He never suggested a particular restaurant or menu.

But there were foods he disliked.

Especially after we dealt with a Creature and impulsively entered a franchise noodle shop, he furrowed his brow.

Across from me as I ate voraciously with wide eyes at the amazing taste, he sat with that displeased look.

"Why is this so good?"

Unfortunately, it suited me perfectly.

More than perfectly—it was shockingly delicious.

I ordered the basic flavor, and it was the best choice.

Is this for real?

"What is this? Why is it so good? It's this good, so why isn't there a line?"

"It's not lunchtime for office workers right now. This place gets pretty popular, though—not to the point of waits from opening, but still. The owner started with just one shop, and it took off, so now it's franchised. There are already four in the southern area, and a new one is planned for the north soon!"

Maybe we looked odd—me devouring it so eagerly and Kudo eating it so distastefully—that the part-timer who had been watching us responded to my mumbling.

She had her brown hair in a single braid and smiled brightly, holding up her index finger.

"Especially the chili pork topping is the most popular!"

"Topping? It's plenty good even basic."

"You're a bit unusual. This number one basic menu is actually the least sold."

The server looked down at me, furrowing her thick eyebrows.

Across from me, Kudo had an expression like, 'Would adding a topping really make this tasty?'

My senior eyed the menu suspiciously.

As if to counter his gaze, the server pointed to the menu on the table.

"For real. I keep telling the owner to remove the number one menu, but he won't. The shop really blew up with the chili pork topping version! You should definitely try it later. The taste changes a lot."

"I doubt anything could top the basic flavor."

It was that good.

So good that tears came to my eyes unbidden. Ignoring my senior's puzzled gaze as he observed me, I even asked the server,

"Is the owner at the shop by any chance?"

"No. The owner hardly ever shows up."

He was living a happy life, then.

"But really, who orders the basic flavor?"

*

It took a full three weeks after patrol duty started for Jonathan Kudo to bring up a topic first.

On a night assigned for night patrol.

That day, too, I joined Kudo on time and walked the patrol area. Amid the silence, as I walked the streets, I reflected on the past, checked the progress of the Territory Reclamation War via mobile news, and replied to Shu's text asking if I could get From E back soon because she wanted to see the Easter Egg.

After finishing my tasks, I walked with my hand on the sword hilt.

Then the silence grew boring.

I wanted to hear some response, at least.

I tossed out a random question.

"What do you usually do on off-duty days?"

Walking under a streetlamp, Kudo didn't turn to look at me.

After the pause I'd grown used to, he replied slowly.

"Hang out with Ricardo, or on days when Ska has time, the three of us go to a bar."

"You three must be really close."

No response meant yes.

I didn't bother asking again. I didn't crack a joke either. He wasn't the type to play along.

A chilly dawn settled where no presence could be felt.

I asked another question that came to mind.

"You three are from the same cohort, right?"

He nodded.

"That's a long bond. If you get assigned to different Cores and have to part ways, it'd feel lonely."

"...Ricardo seemed pretty concerned about you."

It was an unexpected answer.

It was the first time he had said something beyond just answering my question.

I was openly surprised. My mouth dropped open as I whipped around to face him. Our eyes met—my senior had already been observing me.

But the surprise and faint joy didn't last long.

I gave a bitter smile and turned my head forward.

"That's all old news, Senior."

There had been no contact from Ricardo since that day.

"You haven't seen him lately, then."

Kudo stared at me blankly.

It was an inscrutable gaze. Different from Yoon's sharp one, but by now I was used to this too, so I didn't mind.

The conversation was over, I figured.

It wasn't.

"I saw him yesterday."

What?

Had he seen him yesterday but not known that Ricardo had cut me off?

Were we even communicating properly?

I blinked at the incomprehensible response.

Naturally, my senior seemed oblivious to what was wrong. I was the fool for expecting more. Feeling deflated by his obliviousness, I quickly accepted reality.

A small laugh escaped me.

Even after three weeks, it still hit hard.

I looked at him and quietly asked again.

"Is he doing well?"

Kudo stared at me for a long while.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

I reflexively gave a wry smile at the response.

With my hand on the sword hilt at my waist, I gazed at the night city. The space between streetlamps was dark and distant. The path lit by the lamps seemed endless.

"He wouldn't like that."

Kudo blinked, expressing his puzzlement.

"Still, since you saw him yesterday, I'm glad he seems fine."

Afraid my senior might probe further into the topic, I mumbled and quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Senior, I've been meaning to ask— isn't that phone model from way back?"

I pretended not to notice his struggle to adapt to the sudden shift.

"Don't you upgrade it?"

"I don't."

The answer came surprisingly without a pause.

It was firmer than any response so far.

Had I offended him? It looked like today's conversation ended there.

But my senior turned his head forward, gazed at the seemingly endless street, and added one more word.

"I like this one."

It felt like an unbreakable stubbornness.

*

It had been a month since I started patrol duty with this peculiar senior.

Surprisingly, on the day before a week of patrols, I received notice that Jonathan Kudo was taking a day off.

The man who hadn't been even a minute late in a month was taking vacation.

Curious, I asked the control center handling the duty roster, and got a straightforward reply.

[It's probably his wedding anniversary.]

Ah.

Come to think of it, he had said he 'had been' married last time.

Had his wife passed away? Was he going to commemorate their anniversary in mourning? From the past tense, it didn't seem like he'd remarried.

Either way, it wasn't something to pry into, so I just acknowledged it.

In such cases, I usually patrolled alone. If a Creature I couldn't handle alone appeared, I'd request additional personnel from headquarters. If really uneasy, I could request extra manpower for a temporary partner for the day, but I didn't.

I could handle most things on my own.

If something I couldn't, I'd just call for support right away...

Thinking that, I patrolled alone calmly, only to witness a shocking scene at lunchtime.

It was so shocking that I froze in place, staring blankly.

My senior smiled.

Jonathan Kudo sat by the restaurant window, smiling peacefully with a nice shape to it.

I never thought it possible, but there he was.

And across from him, a woman in her late thirties gently held his hand.