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Sitting at the edge of the helicopter, I look out towards the horizon. The sea is so sparkling and a pretty turquoise blue. Approaching quickly is Inkopolis in all of it’s glory, with various bright lights and species of all kinds bustling about. It’s just as beautiful as they say.
Everything that I dreamed about in that prison cell down below is now within my grasp. I can finally be...a normal teenager.
Marina suddenly perks up. “We’ll be arriving at the city in a few minutes so be prepared to get off. Are you excited, Agent 8?” She clasps her hands together as she looks to me with joyful eyes and a happy smile.
Nervous because of the sudden attention on me, I slightly stutter. “U-um, yeah...It’ll be nice to see the true world and h-hang out with you guys.”
“Yo, Eight! When you finally get situated at home we got to have a turf war together. Me, you, Marina and maybe even Agent 3 over there!” Pearl pipes up from her pink-feathered mini loveseat.
On the other side of the helicopter Agent 3 sits on a crate not looking at us. Hearing the entire conversation, she only grunts in response.
“I’ll take that disgruntled noise as a yes!” Pearl snuggles deeper into her seat.
Unknown to her, Agent 3 slightly scowls at her then goes back to contemplating inside her head. She closes her eyes as she further scoots away from us.
“Maybe I should visit Callie and Marie soon. It would be nice to take a break with my grandchildren,” Captain Cuttlefish strokes his beard as his looks up to the sky.
“Maybe you should, Gramps! Then you’ll be able to work on those disastrous rhymes!” Pearl pops up from her chair with a huge smirk directed at Gra- uh, Captain Cuttlefish.
“You whippersnapper! You don’t know what rap is until you hear my sick bars!”
“Oh, pleeeaaaasse! Your rhythm is as old as your age. Also what’s with that outdated slang, old man?”
With his wobbly old man legs, Cuttlefish stands up. “The young lady is so adamant in her opinion that I’ll have to show her what real music is!”
“Bring it, oldie!” Pearl also gets up and takes out her microphone.
“Oh, jeez….” Marina shakes her head and sighs as she looks at the remaining distance to Inkopolis.
While Pearl and Gr-- Cuttlefish, start their silly battle I look back at Agent 3. She’s still looking directly at the corner with her arms crossed. Not even making any attempt to interact with us.
I wonder what’s her deal.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Here’s the keys and all and any information. Help Agent 8 get settled into her new home, ok?” Marina hands Agent 3 various items as I stand behind her curious.
3 softly hums as she puts them into her bag. For the brief moment of exposure I notice the many energy drinks 3 has. The many drinks she has.
“Yeah, 8 we’re just a few blocks down so feel free to visit us for fun or help,” Pearl does double finger guns with a smirk.
“Oh...thank you so much!”
They’re so nice to me ♥.
Slapping her bag shut tightly, 3 immediately walks off towards the station with a lazily hung goodbye wave. Standing there awkwardly, I stare at Captain Cuttlefish.
“Is she...always like this?”
“Agent 3 usually is not very talkative nor ‘friendly’ per se. She’s been this way since I first met her,” Cuttlefish chuckles at the old memory.
“Ah….” She’s not as nice to me...
Mulling over the information, I try to make sense of this new person I’ve just met.
“Yo, dude. I think she’ll leave you if you don’t catch up to her,” Pearl squints after 3 noting her far she already was.
“O-oh! Thank you!” Taking after 3 full speed, I prepare topics to talk about on the train.
Behind, Marina casts a worried expression. “Do you think they’ll be alright? Agent 3 seems distant and Agent 8 a talkative mess that’ll set off an anger bomb.”
“Naaaah, they’ll be just ok. I’ve met Agent 3 for exactly 5 minutes BUT I don’t think she’d be the type to disrespect my girl 8,” Pearl puts her hands behind her head as she jubilantly smiles.
“That only makes me even more nervous given your poor ability to judge at first glance,” Marina stares down at her friend with an amiable smile.
“HEY!-”
“I think you should trust your short friend. I’ve known Agent 3 for about 2 years and she means well. Distant, cold stare and quiet most of the time, yeah but she unshellfishly saved Inkopolis and also saved me and 8,” Cuttlefish adjusts his hat as he smiles after the pair.
“Well, I guess if the Cap knew 3 for this long then he must be right! Though after 2 years and you still don’t know 3’s real name? Kinda a dealbreaker, dry bones,” Pearl starts walking off towards a different station line as Marina follows.
“Hey. I did say 3 was a distant person.”
Reaching the edge of the station platform, I finally make it next to 3.
“Wow...you know you kinda walk fast?” I slightly huff as I try to make small talk.
“...”
“...Y’know. I’m excited to finally be in Inkopolis! I can’t wait to experience everything!”
“...”
“U-um...since it may seem that we will together for a while, I thought that we should get to know each other first!”
“...”
“W-well...Captain Cuttlefish and the two nice girls called me Agent 8 but I definitely remember that my name was Hachiya! What’s yours?”
Pulling up quickly, the train whistles with air as it stops right in front of us. The doors open and streams of people come out in large crowds. Finding an opening Agent 3 immediately goes inside and I follow her. The train almost empty 3 finds a seat near the exits. I take the seat next to her as I clasp my hands in my lap. After a few seconds the train starts moving and now the only sound is the steady humming of the moving vehicle. Looking out the corner of my eye I see Agent 3 once again staring at the wall opposite of me with her arms crossed.
She doesn’t seem angry….yet she doesn’t seem happy either...I wish she would talk to me.
Desperately wanting to be friendly, I speak about the first thing that comes to my mind. “Since I’ve told you my name, I was wondering if I could find out yours?”
3 continues staring at the wall as if she didn't hear me.
Did I do something wrong?
Deciding to let her have her space, I occupy myself in my head. The first thing I think of is Calamari Inkantation, the sweet melody that saved me from DJ Octavio’s evil military. Just as I did before every night I went to sleep in that awful place, I let the song play out in my head exactly like the eventful day I heard it. Closing my eyes and slight bopping my head, I hum the lyrics softly.
Next to me Agent 3 slightly shuffles then turns her head towards me. “...What are you humming?”
Half startled I stop and look at her surprised. “H-huh?” She suddenly just spoke out of nowhere.
“That's Calamari Inkantation, right?” Her ice cold stare slightly lowers in intensity as she unfolds her arms.
“O-oh, yeah. It's...um, my favorite song actually.”
Not like I was allowed to listen to music anyways…
“Figures,” Opening her bag, Agent 3 takes out a strange device and two long connected wires. “I have the entire Squid Sisters' album on my phone. You...can listen to it if you want to,” She holds out her phone while simultaneously looking in the other direction.
After staring at her hand for a few seconds, I hesitantly take the so called ‘phone’ with a smile.”Ah...thank you…”
Agent 3 lets out a mumbled ‘you’re welcome’ and continues looking in the other direction. Looking down at the phone and wires, I feel a sense of helplessness.
“How...do I use this?”
3 looks at me with an expression of surprise but it quickly goes away. “Here.”
After Agent 3 shows me how to use her phone and a pair of earbuds I blast the Squid Sisters’ wonderful voices for the rest of the ride.