Yurui The Cursed One

The lobby somehow manages to look even more ridiculous from the inside, and every few steps something new catches my attention. My gaze keeps drifting from the polished black floor beneath my shoes to the enormous screens built into the walls and the security gates sliding open before anyone even touches them. Even the ceiling feels excessive, stretching so high above us that a normal ladder probably wouldn’t reach halfway.

Okay, the ceiling has definitely crossed the line. What is even the point of making it high enough to fly a small airplane through here? It seems that people in the city were really dead set on spending their money on the most frivolous, useless stuff, while back in the slums, half the people I knew had to worry about whether there would be enough food left by the end of the week. Seeing it firsthand, the disparity was pretty glaring.

Employees in black suit like uniforms stream past us in droves without giving any of it a second glance, while I’m trying my best not to look like a kid who just wandered into a candy store.

Maya stops at the reception desk and says something to the woman behind it. I catch my name once, but otherwise I barely listen. I am too busy staring at a glass panel beside the desk where several lines of text seem to hover in midair.

A moment later, Maya walks back over and holds something out to me.

“Here.”

I take the card from her.

It is thin, black, and surprisingly heavy for its size. A silver Miracle Inc emblem is stamped into one corner, with my name printed beneath it.

Yurui Wells.

Security.

Ninth Squad.

Third Officer.

I stare at that last line for several seconds.

“All clear,” Maya says, looking more excited than I am. “That’s your check in card. From now on, you can use it to get through the security gates yourself.”

I turn the card over, half expecting to find some kind of disclaimer on the back. Temporary clearance. Pending approval. Anything that would explain how someone like me had somehow ended up with Third Officer printed under her name.

I look down at the card again.

“So there’s really no taking this back now?”

Maya smiles.

“Afraid not. Welcome to Ninth Squad.”

I look down at the card again.

Third Officer.

Just a few days ago, I was cursing Miracle Inc. whenever I stubbed my toe. Now I was officially working for them. At this point, I’m starting to think my life has simply given up on making sense.

Maya gives me a light pat on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry too much about it. I’m sure you’ll do great.”

For some reason, that makes me feel a little better. I’m not entirely sure I like how quickly I was warming up to her. She was, after all, working for Miracle Inc. I guess I was too, now that I thought about it, although it still didn’t feel real.

“I hope I fit in,” I say as I look down at the ground.

Do I ? I always hated all these rich scumbags working for Miracle Inc. Not that they have done anything to me, but simply thinking about other people swimming in luxury while I had nothing was enough to make my blood boil.

Maya starts walking again.

“You’ll be fine.” She says, looking back at me assuredly

“That’s easy for you to say,” I say, looking down at the floor. I wasn’t really comfortable making eye contact with strangers, especially as they were trying to comfort me; it felt like ceding control, which was one of the few things I wasn't willing to give.

“It’s, I’ve been here for over a year now.“

I hurry after her. “I’m not you. I wasn’t exactly great at the whole making friends thing back at school.”

She waves one hand dismissively.

“Good thing this isn’t school, then.”

Maya glances over her shoulder.

‘‘Ninth has its share of weirdos, but nobody’s going to care about your social standing. Do your job, don’t be an ass, and you’ll get along with most of them.”

That sounds suspiciously simple.

I slip the card into the inside pocket of my jacket and hurry after her.

“So what’s next?”

“We head to Ninth’s headquarters.” She replies, looking straight ahead.

I slow down and glance around the enormous lobby.

“I thought this was headquarters.”

Maya follows my gaze, then gives me an amused look.

“This? No. This is just the central section.”

“Just?” I ask, astounded.

She laughs. “You’ll understand when you see the rest.” She continues walking.

“The whole security complex is split between the ten squads. Each one has its own section.”

I glance down the corridor ahead of us. “So this entire place is basically ten headquarters shoved into one building?”

“More or less.”

“And Ninth has one of its own.”

Maya laughs. “Of course it does.”

She looks back and points further towards the hallway. “Come on. It’s this way.”

The farther we get from the lobby, the more crowded the corridors become. Uniformed agents stream past us in both directions, mixed with people in regular office clothes and a few who look like they just got back from a warzone. One man has dried blood streaked across the torn sleeve of his jacket. A giant woman with metallic scales covering half her face and obvious battle wounds all over her body casually strolls down the hallway. Nobody gives either of them a second glance, and I don’t seem to draw much attention either. That should probably help me relax a little, but all it does is make me more conscious of the disheveled school skirt peeking out beneath my borrowed jacket.

Maya, meanwhile, hums quietly as she leads me deeper into the building, looking completely at ease among all of this. Eventually, she turns down another corridor and gestures toward a heavy door ahead.

“That way.”

I follow her through.

The room on the other side looks like some kind of changing area, only much larger and better equipped than anything we had at school. Rows of metal lockers line the walls, with benches running between them and bags, jackets, shoes, and bits of equipment scattered around wherever their owners apparently felt like leaving them. For the first time since entering the building, the place feels almost normal.

Three men are sitting near one of the benches, talking among themselves. One has short, spiky hair and a white shirt tucked into dark military-style trousers, while the guy beside him is dark-skinned, with a buzz cut and his uniform shirt hanging half off one shoulder. He looks young, maybe around my age or a few years older.

The third sits a little apart from the other two, already dressed in full uniform. He is shorter than them, probably somewhere around my height. He mostly keeps to himself, flipping a small knife between his fingers while the other two carry the conversation.

Maya raises a hand.

“Hey! The new girl’s here.”

All three turn toward me at once, and heat immediately creeps into my face. Great. I’ve barely walked through the door, and somehow I already feel like retreating back into the hallway.

The dark-skinned guy speaks first.

“What’s your name?”

“Yurui.”

It comes out a little too curt, but he doesn’t seem bothered.

“Marcus.”

He gets to his feet and gives me two friendly slaps on the shoulder. I stiffen at the contact, but he either doesn’t notice or simply doesn’t care.

The quiet one finally looks up from his knife.

“Oba.”

That seems to be all he has to say. The spiky-haired guy beside him gives me a casual wave.

“Narun.”

I nod to both of them, and then we all just sort of stand there. Great. Introductions I can handle. Whatever is supposed to happen after them has always been more complicated.

Like an angel that she was, Maya steps in just in time to save me.

“The three of you still on break?”

Narun leans back against the lockers.

“Yeah. Alysa told us to relax until we hear otherwise.”

Maya sighs.

“Of course she did.”

Marcus glances at me again.

“So you’re the new Officer?”

My stomach tightens a little. “Yeah.”

Marcus looks me over for a moment, clearly trying to make sense of something.

“You’re younger than I expected.”

There it is. I knew this was going too smoothly.

“Is that a problem?”

“Nah.” He grins. “Just surprised me, that’s all.”

Maya gives him a look. “MARCUS“ She hisses quietly.

He gives her a side eye “Wut“

“I told you to behave,” Maya snarls

“But I’m behaving,” Marcus protests like a child.

He reminds me of Stephan a little. Just smaller, less intimidating, and much, much lamer.

Maya grabs him by the arm and drags him a few steps to the side, whispering something at him through clenched teeth. Marcus tries to argue at first, but after a few attempts he seems to give up entirely.

While they’re occupied, my attention drifts back to Oba. His uniform carries the same officer insignia as Maya’s, which I guess makes him the other officer. I wonder which one of them is the recent replacement Maevis mentioned. Or, more importantly, which one is supposed to be the unremarkable one.

Maya catches my glance.

“He’s the second officer,” she says, nodding toward Oba as she finally lets Marcus go.

I glance at the insignia on his uniform again. So he’s the one directly above me.

That makes it two people in this room who outrank me. Makes me wonder how long they’ve had their blessings. Years, probably. Maybe their whole lives. Meanwhile, I’ve had mine, if I can even call it that, for a whole two days and still don’t even know how to call it on command.

Great. I’m surrounded by people who actually know what they’re doing, and all it would take is one slightly specific question for the whole shtick to fall apart. I wonder what would happen if they found out I’m just some newbie who has absolutely no idea what she’s doing. Would they kick me out ? Demote me ? Hang me from the roof as an example ?

Knowing Miracle Inc., I honestly wouldn’t put anything past them.

Narun leans forward, and almost on cue, asks the one question I was hoping nobody would.

“So what kind of blessing you got ?”

My stomach sinks.

“Transformation,” I reply curtly.

Maybe I can get away with keeping it vague. God, I hope they don’t press any further. I just met these people, and the last thing I want is to start things off by exposing myself as a complete newb.

“Oh? Marcus immediately looks more interested. “What do you turn into?”

I hesitate.

That is a surprisingly difficult question. I’m not even entirely sure what my blessing is supposed to be. Hell, I’m not completely convinced it’s a blessing at all, or even that it’s really mine for that matter. I could say I turn into some kind of centipede, but that would probably fall apart the second they actually saw me transform. Whatever the hell I become barely even looks like one.

Honestly, “monster” might be the safer answer.

“I’m... not really sure how to describe it.” Is what I manage to muster out in the end.

Narun raises an eyebrow. “Then show us.”

I blink.

“Show you what?”

Marcus looks amused.

“Your transformation. What else ?”

“Oh.”

Right. Obviously. For some reason, my brain had decided he might be asking to see my ID card.

Marcus leans back against the bench.

“Unless it’s one of those transformations where you end up naked.”

He pauses, then smirks.

“Not that I’d complain.”

Maya slowly turns toward him.

Marcus immediately raises both hands. “Just kidding.”

Blegh.

Right. He’s going on the list of people I do not like. Admittedly, it’s already a very long list, but that’s hardly my fault when every other person I meet turns out to be some kind of disgusting asshole.

“It wasn’t funny.” Maya frowns.

“That’s subjective,” Marcus replies, looking seriously offended by that.

“Marcus.” Her voice sharpens.

“Alright, alright.” He lifts his hands in surrender. “Dropping it.”

He actually does.

Huh. Maya really does have him under control. I guess First Officer isn’t just a fancy title after all.

Narun turns back to me.

“So?”

Four pairs of eyes settle on me, and my mouth suddenly feels dry. I could probably get out of this if I tried. Say I’m tired, which wouldn’t even be a lie. Or tell them I already transformed earlier and don’t feel like doing it again. Maybe they’d leave it alone for now.

But only for now.

Tomorrow would come, and then the day after that. Eventually they were going to find out that their brand new Third Officer could barely use her own blessing, and the last thing I needed was for their first impression of me to be that I was some untrustworthy liar. I doubt I’d ever recover from that.

I rub my thumb against the side of my hand, buying myself another second.

I swallow.

“I can’t.”

Marcus frowns. “Can’t what?”

“Transform.”

The second I say it, I realize how bad that sounds.

“I mean, I can transform. I have transformed; I just…”

My eyes drop to the floor as I search for a way to make this sound even slightly less pathetic.

“I don’t know how to do it on purpose.”

Nobody says anything, and I can feel my face getting hotter by the second. Well, I’ve already dug the hole this deep. Might as well keep going.

“I only got my blessing two days ago.”

Nobody says anything.

I close my eyes as the silence stretches on. There. I’ve done it now. They know their brand new third officer has exactly two days of experience and can’t even use her own blessing properly. I can already imagine them gossiping behind my back once I leave the room.

What the hell were they thinking, putting someone this green in an officer position? How is she supposed to lead anyone?

Must be a nepotism hire. No other way to explain it.

Who cares? It’s not like she’s going to last anyway.

Guys, stop. Don’t be mean to her. Maybe she has potential.

God bless Maya. She’s even nice to me in my own imagination.

My heart sinks.

I don’t even know what I expected. For a moment, I really thought things might be different this time around. A fresh start.

In the end, it’s just more of the same shit, just in a different place.

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