Chapter Text
Waking up another day always seems like a miracle when the land you live in is in constant shambles due to trash beasts and falling debris from the sky, but [Reader] didn’t seem to mind, except during those days where it felt like hell leaving the bed and torture to have to stand. Still, they persevered, got up today too and headed to the cafeteria where a bunch of the other Cleaners had already gathered for breakfast, watching Mymo on tv for the weather broadcast or chit-chatting between each other.
[Reader] felt like death warmed over, still the smell of coffee and breakfast was enough to move their body as if on auto-pilot, picking up a tray and heading to fill it with enough caffeine to kill a trash beast the size of a city and heading to sit down to whatever spot was available. The room seemed to be even fuller once sat, not that [Reader] minded usually, they had slowly grown accustomed to the loud noise of banter and eating, their anxiety blending into more of a spacing out type of deal, which was oddly comforting and just what they needed in the morning.
That’s when HE entered, that fuckass blondie with a loud mouth. [Reader] had joined the Cleaners from a while, but they had only been at HQ for a few months now, on request of Corvus since they needed more people stationed there, which meant that they also had to get used to the loud leader of team Akuta, Enjin. I mean, he was a cool guy all things considered, but sometimes [Reader] would want to smack that grin off his cheeky dimpled face. His hair looked spikier than usual, like a depressed porcupine, likely not having styled it after the shower; he approached [Reader] with a relaxed demeanor and leaned into the chair to ask: 《You’re [Reader], yes? From South Branch? Mildretta and Meriege mentioned you a few times when we were there a month ago or so. Chose a team at HQ yet or…?》 [Reader] turned towards him:《Mh? That’s me, and as for the team choice, not really. I’m supposed to talk to Corvus later about it, why?》 Enjin moved to stand by the chair instead to look at [Reader] more clearly:《Just curious, as leader of team Akuta, ya know?》 He rolled his eyes, looking away with that smug grin he got. Just to fuck with him, just because, [Reader] decided to lie:《Well, I was thinking of joining Eager actually, Tamsy seems nice》《Eager? Really? Tamsy is an airheaded brat》《Yeah? Maybe, but him and Delmon have a fun dynamic, plus I’m used to my old team anyways, no shade》《That so? Well, my own team ain’t short on the teasing either, ya know? I reckon you’d have a good time in Akuta, plus we’re a little short and could use more backup》
At the mention of Enjin’s team [Reader] stopped for a minute to think. Akuta is the team with that Spherite kid Rudo that Mildretta told them about, it’d be a good chance to learn about it without looking too awkward, so [Reader] kept the idea in their mind:《I see… I suppose I could consider the idea, how many are you in the team?》 learning about the team would likely grant advantage when out in battle and at HQ in general, the more people known, the easier to either blend in or seem less awkward, not to mention it’d be good to know the potential team’s members:《Well, there’s me, Rudo, Riyo, the one we stopped at Southward for, Zanka and our three supporters Gris, Tomoe and Follo; pretty good team I’d say》 he grinned again, like a devil offering a deal:《Ah, pretty decent size team I’d say, you sure you need backup? Especially with a supporter like Gris on your team? Heard he threw a trash beast into another with his bare hands》 Enjin shrugged and continued:《Ah well, we often get more adventurous missions, so we do need all the support we can get. Come on, you know you wanna join》.
Now [Reader] was REALLY suspicious if they weren’t before. Why was this guy so obsessed with the idea of them joining team Akuta? Would his reasons be another element to consider when joining a team? [Reader] knew that the best option would likely be to ask Semiu and Corvus, since not only did they have to talk to both later, but they’re in high enough roles and interact with others enough to know where to place them. Again [Reader] felt like when in school you didn’t decide on a partner for the project so you either did it alone or asked a teacher:《Ah, I’ll uuh… think about it.》 [Reader] didn’t know what to say, sure, the blondie was attractive, but he seemed suspicious and weirdly forward? Hell, [Reader] didn’t even know how to categorise his ass with how he behaved, maybe asking their best friend, who also transferred from the South branch, would be a good idea.
Which led [Reader] to ask themselves… where the fuck is Thayef?. That’s when the guy entered the room and sat in front of [Reader] with his coffee:《Damn, five minutes late to the time we set up to have breakfast? That’s early for ya Thif》 the guy grinned almost proudly, seeming much too proud of himself and took a sip from his mug:《Wanted to leave a great first impression》 he chuckles, that smile of his always so charming, of course [Reader] stopped minding him being late after all this time being used to it.
He not so quickly moved down to sit, realizing from [Reader]’s face that something had happened:《So uh… what’s with the face?》 ah crap, [Reader] forgot he could read them so well:《Leader of team Akuta came to ask me if I had a team yet》《And…?》 [Reader] decided to not hide their thoughts from Thayef since they were friends, so after telling him about Enjin, they also mentioned that he looked much too eager to ask them about the teams, like he had something up his sleeve and was suspicious as hell. He looked at [Reader], teased them a little about it before leaning in:《It does seem rather suspicious that the leader of Akuta himself would do that, uh? I mean, did he mention something else or…?》《Yeah, that Mildretta had mentioned me once or twice》《Ah, wait, so they’re the team that stopped with that red head girl our branch months ago》《Yeah, maybe he heard something about combat skills or such?》
[Reader] tilts their head lightly, both out of curiosity and as a habit to look behind him discreetly, it was always something useful in more lowkey missions, not to mention they could see that Enjin guy from here. He wasn’t staring like [Reader] expected him to, that’s nice, maybe he really does only care about their combat skills, [Reader] half expected him to behave like a creep after that introduction:《That’s likely, Cleaners do talk amongst themselves from what I’ve seen》《Right, I forget you didn’t join that much ago… damn, to already be moved after so little… how are you feeling about it?》《Ah well… surely doesn’t make it easier…》 chatting with Thayef was always fun, [Reader] hasn’t known him for years but a few months and some hardcore missions really managed to make them bond with each other, not to mention their similar tastes in music, mostly listening to Too Lily lately, yet also enjoying others.
Time had passed and it was time for [Reader] and then Thayef to meet up with Corvus and Semiu, she had already used her jinky on them, but Corvus wasn’t present and maybe after some time out of SouthWard they’d have some general idea of what team or what tasks they’d prefer. [Reader] walked towards Corvus’ office with a small (not so small) amount of anxiety in them, what if he was a strict man? What if he was loud? Or touchy? Or stressful? What if he was the type to yell? [Reader]’s anxiety was showing a little. They were already a Cleaner, but still, Corvus was the big boss and this is HQ, not the South Branch. What if he got mad and banned them from the Cleaners?
[Reader] finally reached the door, took a deep breath, cursing under their breath before finally knocking, silently praying that boss would be away like he sometimes happens to be. Unfortunately it wasn’t their day, since Corvus himself opened the door, likely having been close to it to grab something:《Ah, [Reader], good morning, you’re early, I was just grabbing your file》《Ah, I see…》 [Reader]’s voice almost went a little too high from the panic chewing them out from the inside:《Good morning sir》《Ah please, Corvus is fine》.
He looked kind, behaved like it too, which eased [Reader] into the conversation as Corvus offered them some coffee:《Thank you for offering to move out here, I understand it’s a strain to move areas, especially the climate and different teams》《Yeah, from having a humid place like Tori, to having Penta which is so dry it’s uhm…》
[Reader] didn’t exactly know what to say. This was awkward so maybe making easy conversation would ease them up, not to mention that this way they could show they knew their geography eheh:《I see, I’ve heard good words about you from your branch, I take it you’ll adapt well, yes?》《Yeah, yeah. I’ve never been sent to HQ as support for a mission or such, but I’m ready sir》《That’s good to hear》 he smiled in a relaxed manner, which helped [Reader] relax, he was very unlike the bosses they’ve had in the past or on other jobs, like when they worked at a restaurant. Sure, being part of the Cleaners was dangerous, but being in customer service could also be, not to mention the mental strain:《I take it you’ve had time to meet some of the others?》《I- yeah! I managed to talk to a few others around while settling in》《Any team to find particularly interesting?》 ah fuck, it’s time. Choosing a team isn’t exactly easy, considering the fact you could end up being sent as support on other teams’ missions it’s not like you’d never work with other people anyways. Team Front was immediately out, too much stress of being directly under the boss, Child mostly has kids and sometimes [Reader] needed their alone time, which is something not all kids get, not that it’s their fault. This left Eager and Akuta:《I was thinking Akuta or Eager, would that be ok?》《I see, yes, Semiu did say something akin to this》《She did? Oh uhm, did she happen to say which one would be best?》《She said you’d likely enjoy Akuta more》《Ah.》