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Shou and Sig were in the middle of the market near Blue Research with two missions that needed to be completed in tandem:
- Restock on food (mostly because Shou said one too many jokes that drove Sarah off the edge enough to send him off to do this on top of…)
- Find a specific person that may or may not have just been invaded. According to their client, they weren’t sure who that even was. “I couldn't get a good look at their face... but they’re just weird. You’ll find em when you see em!”
“Onions…” Sig muttered.
“What?” Shou asked. “There’s more on the list?”
“I already have those,” said Sig, tilting the basket to show a small bag inside. “Though while looking, I realized something.”
“Like what? You wanna cry and need a scapegoat?”
Sig shook his head. “All living things in this universe are like onions.”
“I don’t think I follow,” said Shou as his eyes darted between an older man who stared at the same apple for 2 minutes straight and a younger woman with bloodshot eyes as she threw a few in her basket before floating off to another section within less than 20 seconds.
“They all have layers. Humans, aliens… everyone has layers beyond the surface.”
“You might be onto something. Onions got layers and can make a guy cry and cake is sweet but’s shit for me no matter how good it is!”
“Shou, this has nothing to do with cake.”
“But cake’s got its own layers.”
“All living things are onions. Now let’s get back to what we were supposed to do."
Shou blinked. The man with the apple looked straight at him.
Shit.
-+-
There weren’t any aliens involved this time. The guy was, as the client said, just weird and for once there was a straightforward end to a case, money included.
“Sarah, do you think the people of the universe are onions?” Shou asked as he flopped onto a chair and stared up at the ceiling.
Sarah put another file back in a cabinet and stood up. “Why specifically onions?"
Sig looked up from the newspaper he was reading, an eyebrow twitched upward.
“Because onions have layers,” said Shou.
“A lot of other things can fit that metaphor.”
“See Sig, I’m right! Different strokes for different folks!”
“You’re not changing my mind. Onions are the best metaphor.”
“Hey wait,” Sarah said. “If anything goes, then what food would fit us best?"
“Sig’s pretty hellbent on the onion thing so he’ll be that. That’s all I got.”
Sarah hummed. “Well in that case, I think you’d be… a blueberry.”
“Oh my god I was thinking the same thing!” Seiji exclaimed.
Shou had no idea when he came in or if he was too entranced by machinery or Sarah or something else entirely to make much noise up until now. Besides, none of that mattered when there were more pressing issues at hand.
“How the hell am I a blueberry ? Just ‘cause my armour’s blue doesn’t mean I’m stuck with being with that!”
Sarah nodded. “Yeah.”
“Sarah, I knew you got-”
“That’s just an extra reason.”
“WHAT THE HELL!”
Seiji was the first to burst out into full on laughter. In between bouts, he said, “Or maybe an egg.”
“That’s true, it does meet the requirement of layers but hm… I still think blueberry’s the best,” said Sarah.
“I agree. While an egg does have a layer, blueberries capture the fleeting burst of passion.”
“Sig!” Sumire closed the door behind her with a smile. “Do you do poetry because that was amazing!”
Shou grabbed a pillow nearby while he crumpled into his seat. “How would you know about that…”
Sumire pouted. “I read all sorts of stuff so how about that!”
Shou choked out another laugh. “Other than those mag-”
“Anyway what’ve I missed?”
Everyone but Shou looked at each other with smiles.
“Shou’s a blueberry,” they all said in unison as they fell into another fit of laughter.
“Then you’re all lemons!” Shou yelled, his words getting muffled by the pillow he was pressing his red face into.