Hank made Rio walk at a pace he chose. She trailed behind as a matter of respect, and to observe how peaceful he was. His presence bolstered her confidence, until she wore a rare type of smile—one just for herself.

"What were you doing at Aika's?" she asked after a very long while, doing her best to sound curious, and not jealous.

Hank wasn't fooled a bit. He slowed to force her into his view. "How do you know where I was?"

"God, Hank-sama. You smell like her, head to toe. What were you doing? Making out? Huh? To icha icha shita ka? For real?"

"Wait a minute. You know Aika?"

"It shouldn't be hard to see. She's one of the best."

"The best what?"

"Best PEP Sponsor. She takes all the weirdos."

"That explains how she knows you."

After another long silence, Rio tried again. "So?"

"So what?"

"So what were you doing at Aika's? You didn't say."

"No. I didn't."

Hank began walking faster, forcing Rio to trot. She was about to poke him in the ribs to get him to talk, but he shot her with a look that made her change her mind.

"So you know Aika," he said more than asked. "Do you know Anna, too?"

Rio rolled her eyes. "I only really know her through you. But yeah. I kinda know a bit through Aika."

"So you called Aika, huh? Looking for me."

Rio grinned ear to ear. "No-o-o." She drew out the word, sounding silly. "I called to say Milton was missing."

"I was there. You never called."

"Well maybe I called after you left."

"So you called, and she told you where I was?"

"No-o-o. She told me to come over."

"On the subway?"

"Hai. That is right. She told me to take the subway."

"And there I was. Where you were."

"Hai. That also is right."

"You'll take the subway, but you won't take a cab."

This time she did poke him. He glowered, but then softened because she seemed so happy.

"No-o-o," she drawled again. "I also hate the subway. But when Aika says to do something…"

In his mind, Hank finished the sentence. You do it.

Rio carried on. "I've known her since the day I moved here. Since even before Milton. She's my first friend. She convinced me to stop running and make my stand."

"Make your stand?" Hank repeated, unsure.

"Ah, Hank-sama, come on. Make my stand, make a life, make this place my home. You see what I mean." She took to walking backwards a bit, as she had taken the lead. "Look, if you wanna talk about Aika and stuff, could you please catch up? Walk alongside me, okay?"

"Oh, I'm sorry." Hank said, before wondering why he apologized. "And you're the one who brought up Aika."

Rio fought off randy thoughts she didn't want Hank to notice. To cover for them, she addressed what she knew he was thinking.

"Ha! Aika and her friends are a scream, hey? I don't know how you got away with your pants."

Hank kept his mouth shut. Taking his pants off at Aika's sounded a whole lot better than rescuing Bumbles.

"So which one bit you?" Rio asked.

"Uh… I'm sorry? What?"

"Who bit your neck?"

Hank felt around the spot where Anna had left her mark. "I have something on my neck?"

"Hai. You may have other bite marks, but I'm asking about your neck."

If anyone could make Hank's stone white cheeks flush red, it was Rio. "Um… gosh," he said, to avoid the question.

Rio let it pass. "Aika is solid proof about the Enlightenment—Geniuses are crazy. They have this thing in their head that makes them think they can change the world."

Hank held back a laugh. "So when are you gonna change?"

"Maybe someday, I'll be nice. Do you think?"

He didn't say a word. She gave a cheesy grin.

"Maybe someday I'll do us a favor, and calm the fuck down a bit."

This time Hank did laugh. "Are you feeling better?" he asked. "Is everything more okay?"

"Everything's great, Hank-sama. Dōmo."

Together, they thought about Aika for a while.

"And so it makes sense, you can see," Rio said. "With Milton and Aika and me, we are a great team."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rio guided their walk away from the city's main streets and into the warehouse district. The sidewalks were dusty from not being used, and the road dirty from neglect.

Hank remembered what Milton had said about using the service drive. "This is the back way in, isn't it? The carriage house is here."

"That's right. We're going through the gate, then the woods up to the redoubt. I have a key."

"Don't you think the Bad Guys already have a key? Or you know… busted down the door?"

"Sheesh, Hank-sama, I don't know. I think maybe they smoke me out. You see? They get me by kidnapping Milton."

"But not through rescuing the dog?"

Rio blinked. She opened the gate by hand instead of using the electric opener to assure it wouldn't close automatically. With determination, she marched onto the property.

"Yeah. Maybe they get me through Bumbles." she said. "Come. I will show you something."

Rio led Hank to where the garden footpath took a turn through the woods before heading back to the manor. But the path was no longer there. Instead, a gaping chasm followed the arc it took, matching it with precision.

"This is how Bad Guys got Milton," Rio said with grim confidence.

Hank stepped up to the edge. The chasm was so deep that only shadows loomed. Listening, he could hear rushing water.

"It sounds like a river down there," he said.

"Hai. I think when the earthquake took out the bridge, it changed the course of the river that runs along the estate."

Hank looked over his shoulder at Rio. She stood a safe distance away, and up the hillside a bit.

"Stand here," she said. "And see."

The entire path was visible from her vantage point. Or at least, the part that was still left. The chasm loomed perilously close to the sunroom, snaking along where there had once been crushed gravel.

She gave a grim assessment. "It reaches further than before. It may swallow the house."

Hank returned to the edge and stared into the abyss. "And you think Milton's down there?"

Rio crept a bit closer. "Ah… ē to. I don't know. We're talking about Reality Making."

"So?" he asked, confused.

"So you guys do what you want at times. Despite people like me doing our best to Prevent it."

Hank remained skeptical. "You think Bad Guys did this?"

"Look how it follows the path. How quick it happened. Look how deep."

"Sink holes can be sudden."

Rio did her best to not bitch. "Kirisuto. Don't be a ninny. Even an RMer as blind as you ought to see. This isn't a sinkhole."

"See what, then?"

She stepped up to stand by his side, and peered into the chasm with him. "The black, Hank-sama. Look hard. It lurks like a viper."

After a silent moment, Hank's eyes adjusted to the dark. Greasy tentacles rode on the water, chewing away at the sides.

"I used to be able to stop them," Rio said in a serious tone. "They are easy to see on land. Then they learned how to use water. Much faster, but still easy." She sighed. "Now they attack from under ground. How am I to stop that?"

"I don't know, Rio. It just looks like water. I don't think anything evil did…"

No sooner had the words left Hank's lips than a monstrous black tentacle reared up from the pit and slapped the ground between his feet. Like sharp teeth through flesh, the whole of the earth gave way, falling into the darkness below.

Hank jumped back reflexively, his mouth agape in surprise. A second greasy tentacle slapped the ground, then a third, then a fourth, until he found himself stumbling backwards to escape. Each strike took a bigger bite than the last, each made him jump further back. Like a sea monster of epic proportion, a looming horror emerged from the chasm, ten feet tall and growing taller, intent on eating him alive.

Rio stepped onto the small piece of land between Hank and his doom. "Stop!" she yelled at the horror, at a volume not possible by human standards. Like the shockwave of an explosion, her voice rattled the trees of the forest.

The horror dissipated like steam. Rio looked over her shoulder and up at Hank, standing one inch away.

She wore a wry sort of grin. "It likes you," she said as a joke.

Bullets of sweat formed on her brow, and her body trembled with terror. Her honeyed skin had turned so pale, Hank thought sure she was going to faint. With her toes on the edge of the chasm, if she fell in she'd be gone forever. He wrapped her up in a big bear hug and took a huge step back, then another, until they almost fell on the ground. She managed to turn in his grasp and also wrap her arms around him.

Hank trembled as well, but Rio shook hard enough for the both of them. "Now you believe?" she managed to gasp.

"I saw something like that on the bus," he said in a soft voice.

"The bus?" Rio asked, confused.

"I was on it when the bridge washed away. Something like that attacked, but…"

"But what?"

"I made it stop. The lady at the PEP Center said it was a miracle."

Rio loosened the grip they had on each other so she could speak up to his perfect white face. "You save them by Preventing it. And now you will save Bumbles."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The redoubt was undisturbed. Rio unlocked the back door while Hank tried peering in through its block glass windows. Once inside, Rio flicked on a lone light, causing Hank to whistle. The light shone in just one small room, but it was worth the whistle.

Riot gear of all kinds sat on many shelves—shields and bullet-proof armor, along with helmets and nightsticks. A pair of electric cattle prods were plugged into a charger mounted on the wall. Rio donned a helmet and grabbed a cattle prod, searching for a holster to carry it.

"You should suit up," she said.

Hank kept his fingers in his pockets. Rather than obeying, he backed out the door and scanned the property for intruders. He then questioned Rio's sanity.

"What makes you think anyone's here? I haven't seen a soul."

She continued arming herself. "Don't speak. Either do stuff or stay out of the way."

Hank chose both the former and the latter. He walked to the other side of the redoubt, keeping behind the shrubs and bushes that grew alongside. The manor was closer than he thought. The sunroom loomed before him.

He returned to the redoubt door and peeked in on Rio. She was pulling on a pair of green dungarees, over her nylons and skirt.

"I'm just gonna go in," he said with ease.

Rio panicked. "What? Wait! No way!" She showed him a pair of binoculars. "Please. Just lay low. Let's check it out first."

Hank disagreed. He left her holding the binoculars while returning to the front of the redoubt. She tentatively trailed behind.

"You said so yourself," he said while slowly approaching the manor. "The stairs to Bumbles are right there."

Rio sputtered, but Hank paid her no mind. While she fumbled with baggy pants that were clearly not her size, he further examined the house.

"That's your room up there?" he asked. "Isn't it?"

Rio got upset for some reason. "So now you spy on me?"

A window on the far right was open a crack. "What room is that?"

"The bath."

"The Japanese bath?" Hank asked, excited. He remembered wanting to check it out.

Rio grew more upset. "Hai. That is my bath you see. I am Japanese."

"I'm going in," he said, moving closer.

She shouted at his rear end. "No! You can't!"

He turned and forced her through the door of the redoubt, making her walk backwards so fast that she had to hold her baggy pants up to keep from tripping. Once inside, he spoke in terse tones.

"This is stupid. All right?"

Rio crossed her arms. "What exactly is stupid? The part where Aika sends you to me, almost in gift wrap and bow?"

Hank's lips moved, but he didn't know what to say. "Huh?" was all that came out.

Rio gave a huff and took her turn at being silent. She kept her arms crossed and scowled.

Hank softened. "How do I fit into this nutty scheme? Why am I even here?"

"If only I freaking knew."

She dug into her inside right breast jacket pocket and found a crushed pack of bidis. After pulling one of the last cigarettes from the pack, she lit it with a farmer's match she found in the redoubt. Mindful of blowing smoke at Hank, she puffed out the side of her mouth.

"Dots like you are dangerous and unpredictable," she said, casting a scornful eye while puffing hard on her bidi. "All you do is toss little Realities out the window of a deli."

Hank thought about how unfair life could be. Rio hit him whenever she wanted, but because he was a gentleman, he couldn't hit her right now.

She continued. "That's what makes you such a pain in my ass. It seems Bad Guys can make Dots do stupid stuff of all sorts, where I can't get you to pay attention to your own damn farts and burps." She held back a tear and grew wistful. "But Milton could. He can do anything."

Hank eyed up the little stinker, struggling to not feel sympathetic. "You're a jerk," he said unemotionally.

Rio nodded while sniffling. "With a filthy mouth," she added in agreement.

"Yeah."

After another puff on her bidi, Rio apologized, first by shooting Hank a look with her puppy dog eyes. "Hank-sama, I am sorry. I'm such a bitch, you see."

"Yes. You are."

"And so… I'm very sorry. I'm sorry I'm a bitch. You're so nice a person, and I so much am not."

Hank touched Rio kindly. He roughed her up by shaking her shoulders with his oversized hands. As she smiled while being manhandled, he teased her by imitating her accent.

"Hai, Rio-chan. You are so much a bitch. But such a nice bitch, you see. And so, you see, you're forgiven."

"Dōmo, Hank-sama. The bitch says thank you." She egged him on with a sassy smile, to get him to keep shaking her. "I swear too much, though," she said. "Do you think?"

That warranted further shaking. "Hai. Yes, you do." He pulled her in for a one-armed hug while she snuck a puff on her bidi.

"Do you like it? My swearing, I mean?"

"No, Rio-chan. I'm not going to tell you I like it."

Technically, he didn't lie.

"Not all Dots are such a pain in my ass," Rio said. "It's just you…" She giggled as he shook her so hard she couldn't talk. "You are…"

"A real good ass pain?" he asked, being as rough as he dared.

Rio snorted and guffawed. "Yeah. You're a good pain in my ass." She grabbed his elbow to make the mistreatment stop.

"You're a good ass pain, too," he said.

"Thanks."

Hank again took charge. "I'm going to get Bumbles. I'm just gonna go in and get him."

Rio forced herself to stay calm. "Okay. But what will you do if you see someone?"

"I'll probably start with hello."

"Then what? You're gonna say 'I'm here for the dog?'"

"I don't know. Yeah. Maybe. Or I live here. I'm the plumber. I've come to fix the sink."

With a kiss on the top of Rio's head for good luck, Hank was off. He didn't get far, because she wouldn't let go of his arm. "You can't just walk through the door, for crissake! They'll be expecting that!"

Hank thought a bit, then agreed. "Okay. I'll go through that window."

"What? Where? Like, how?"

"I'll go through your window up there."

Rio shouted as loud as a whisper would allow. "No! Wait! You can't!"

"Yes I can. I'll climb on the roof of the sunroom and let myself in through the bath."

"What if they catch you?"

Hank was through with answering questions. He shook her off her grip and headed for the house at a gallop.

"I'll tell them I'm your lover!" he called back.

The Book of KINDNESS - Chapter SIX

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