[Back to Cedric]
Whirrrrrrr.
The noise of the dryer filled the room, creating a bubble of warmth around him. It was a constant, rhythmic drone that seemed to vibrate in his bones, loosening knots he didn't know he had.
Cedric sat on the chair, his back to the woman named Wise. He didn't move. He barely breathed. His eyes were closed, and his mind was drifting in a space that wasn't quite sleep, but wasn't fully awake either.
It was the warmth.
The heated air from the machine was soothing, but more than that, it was the touch.
Wise's fingers were moving through his hair. They were gentle. Careful. She lifted the heavy, damp strands, letting the heat penetrate to his scalp, then combed them down with a slow, deliberate motion. She untangled knots without pulling. She didn't rush.
It felt… safe.
He felt heavy. His limbs felt like lead, but in a good way. Like he was sinking into the floor.
His thoughts began to fragment, dissolving into the warmth. He forgot where he was. He forgot about the egg on his belt. He forgot about the Contract.
He was just… here. Warm.
[Oi. Earth to Cedric.]
The voice cut through the haze. It wasn't loud, but it was sharp enough to pull him back.
Cedric jerked slightly, his eyes snapping open. The warm bubble didn't pop, but it wavered.
[Don't fall asleep. You are drooling. It is undignified.]
'Noisy.' Cedric thought, though he didn't say it aloud. He resented the intrusion. He wanted to go back to the drift.
[I know you're comfortable. I know she has magic fingers or whatever. But focus. Do you remember why we are here?]
Cedric blinked, staring at the wall in front of him. It was covered in posters of old movies. A giant robot fighting a lizard. A detective in a trench coat.
'Hair…' Cedric thought sluggishly. 'Drying?'
[No, you goose. The Mission. The reason you are sitting in a stranger's bedroom instead of hiding in your cave.]
A holographic window flickered into existence in his mind's eye, overlaying the movie poster.
[Mission: Establishing Bonds]
[Objective: Make friends with Wise.]
[Reward: Egg Incubation Time Reduced by Half.]
Cedric stared at the text. The numbers seemed to sharpen his focus.
[You have been sitting here for ten minutes letting her groom you like a pet cat. She is letting her guard down. She is taking care of you. This is the perfect chance.]
The System's voice wasn't commanding like a general. It sounded like a mother nudging her shy child forward at a playground.
[Ask her. Establish the bond. You need this, Cedric. You need people in your corner.]
The System's voice was sharp.
[She is letting her guard down. She is nurturing you. This is the perfect tactical window. Ask her.]
Cedric felt a wave of resistance.
The warmth of the dryer suddenly felt a little less comforting and a little more like a debt accumulating interest. He didn't want to ask. Asking meant opening a door he had welded shut years ago. Making friends meant maintenance. It meant talking. It meant expectations. It meant eventually disappointing them or being disappointed by them.
[You need the Egg, Cedric.] The System countered instantly, her voice firm but not unkind.
[Do you want to wait a month? Do you want to risk dying because you were too proud to say one sentence? You can't do sixty years alone. Let her in. Just a little bit.]
Cedric gripped his knees. The fabric of the cargo pants was rough under his palms.
He took a breath. The air smelled of lavender detergent.
'Just words.' He told himself. 'It is just a transaction. I say the words, I get the reward. Simple.'
He swallowed. His throat felt dry.
"Wise." He said aloud.
His voice was quiet, barely audible over the hum of the machine.
The sudden silence was deafening. The warmth on his neck vanished, replaced by the cool, air-conditioned atmosphere of the room. The absence of the nmade the beating of his own heart sound unnaturally loud.
"Yes?" Wise asked.
Her voice was close. Too close. He could feel her presence right behind him. Her hand was still resting lightly near his hair, hovering.
Cedric sat perfectly still. His shoulders tensed up again, the relaxation of the last ten minutes evaporating. He felt exposed.
He opened his mouth, but the words stuck. 'Can we be friends?' It sounded childish. It sounded desperate. It sounded like the six years old boy in the playground asking if he could play football, only to be laughed at.
[Go on. She won't bite.]
Cedric forced his jaw to work.
"Can you..." he started, his voice faltering. He cleared his throat, hating the weakness in it. "Can you be my friend?"
He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the laughter. Waiting for the "No." Waiting for the "Why would I want to be friends with a freak like you?"
There was silence.
Wise didn't speak.
Cedric's heart began to hammer against his ribs.
Then, he heard a sound. A small exhale.
"Cedric." she said.
Her voice wasn't mocking. It wasn't angry. It sounded... amused?
"I bought you lunch." she listed, counting off the points. "I brought you home. I am currently drying your hair. What do you think I'm going to say?"
Cedric opened his eyes. He stared at the poster of the detective.
'What does that mean? Is that a yes?'
[She is being rhetorical. It means yes.]
Cedric let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. His shoulders dropped an inch.
"So... yes?" he asked cautiously, needing the confirmation.
"Of course." Wise said.
Ding!
A massive, golden notification exploded in his vision, so bright he almost flinched.
[MISSION COMPLETE!]
[Make friends with Wise: SUCCESS]
[Bond Established: Wise (Rank 1 - Friend)]
[REWARD DELIVERED: Egg Incubation Time Reduced by 15 Days.]
[GG, easy. Was that so hard? Now we have a base of operations and an ally. Good job, kid.]
Cedric felt a strange sense of relief. Not just because of the reward, but because... she hadn't laughed.
"But..." Wise continued.
Cedric froze. 'But?'
Was there a catch? Was she going to ask for money? Was she going to ask him to join a pyramid scheme?
"Being friends isn't hard…" she said, her voice changing. It dropped into a tone he didn't recognize—something mock-serious, authoritative but playful. "But I have a condition."
Cedric turned his head slightly, just enough to show his profile to her. He narrowed his eyes.
"Condition?" he asked warily.
'Here it comes. The price.'
He saw Wise out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling. But she was pointing a finger at herself with a dramatic flair.
"From now on," she declared "you have to call me 'Big Sister'."
Cedric stared.
His brain stopped.
'Big... Sister?'
He processed the words. 'Sister…'
Why? They weren't related. They had met an hour ago. It made no sense.
His face went completely empty with confusion. He looked at her as if she had just asked him to calculate the trajectory of a meteor using a spoon. His mouth opened slightly, then closed.
[...Okay. That was unexpected. She's teasing you. I think?]
"Well?" Wise prompted, leaning in slightly.
Cedric swallowed. He looked at the floor. He felt a strange heat creeping up his neck. It wasn't the heat from the dryer. It was... embarrassment? Awkwardness? He... didn't really know what he was feeling.
He didn't want to say it. It felt weird. It felt intimate.
"Sister..." he mumbled. The word felt clumsy in his mouth, heavy and foreign. "Big Sister Wise."
Wise beamed. He could hear the smile in her voice.
"Deal," she said softly. "We're friends. Now turn back around, you're still damp."
She turned the dryer back on.
Whirrrrrrr.
The noise returned, shielding him. Cedric turned back to face the wall. He stared at the detective poster again.
'Big Sister.'
He tested the word in his mind. It didn't feel like "Mom." It felt different. Less heavy. But still... significant.
[You completed the mission. And you got a 'big sis' out of it. Not bad for a day's work.]
"Shut up." Cedric thought.
…
…
…
Ten minutes later, the dryer clicked off for the final time.
Wise ran her fingers through his hair one last time. It felt different now. Lighter. Cleaner. It fell around his face in a soft, smooth curtain, no longer the heavy, matted mess it had been.
"Done." She announced, unplugging the device. "Did you watch what I did?"
Cedric turned in the chair and shook his head. He hadn't been watching. He had been calculating social debt.
Wise sighed, but it was a patient sound, not an annoyed one. She held up the dryer, presenting it to him like a teacher showing a student a tool.
"Look," she said. "This switch is for power. This one is for heat. Always test the air on your hand before you aim it at your head, okay? You don't want to burn your scalp."
Cedric nodded, his eyes tracking her finger.
"And one more thing," Wise added, her tone shifting. It became firmer, more managerial. "I could dry it straight away this time because the wind outside had already done half the work. But usually, after you shower, you have to use a towel first. Don't just blast soaking wet hair with heat. It damages it. Understand?"
"Yes," Cedric said dutifully. "Towel first."
Wise looked at him. She narrowed her eyes slightly, scanning him from top to bottom.
"Wait here." she said suddenly.
She turned and walked away from him. She went over to her closet, crouching down to rummage around in the bottom drawer. After a moment of shifting things around, she pulled out a sturdy canvas tote bag.
She stood up and walked to a different cabinet—her linen drawer. She opened it.
Cedric watched her. He sat perfectly still, unsure if he was allowed to move yet.
Wise pulled out a fluffy, grey bath towel. She folded it neatly and placed it into the canvas bag. Then she walked back to the chair, unplugged the black hairdryer, wound the cord around the handle, and nestled it on top of the towel.
She held the bag out to him.
"Here." she said. "Take this. Use it."
Cedric stared and took the bag. It wasn't heavy, but it felt substantial.
"Come on." she said. "I'll walk you out."
They descended the metal stairs. The moment they stepped onto the shop floor, the peace was shattered.
Belle was sitting on the reception counter, swinging her legs like a pendulum. When she saw them, her face split into a grin that set off Cedric's danger instincts immediately. She looked like a predator that had just spotted a limping gazelle.
"Well, well, well." Belle drawled, hopping down from the counter. "Look who emerged from the bedroom. That was quick. I expected you guys to be up there longer."
She circled Cedric, looking him up and down with mischievous eyes.
"Wow. You clean up nice. Silky smooth." She winked at Wise. "Did you... 'dry' him out, sis?"
Wise looked like she wanted to strangle her sister. "Belle. Not a word. I mean it."
Cedric clutched the canvas bag tighter to his chest. He didn't understand the joke, nor did he care to.
He ignored Belle completely. He turned to Wise, giving a stiff, formal nod.
"I will go now," he stated.
"Right," Wise said quickly, stepping over Belle to open the door.
She walked him to the door. The afternoon sun was golden now, warm on the pavement.
"Cedric," she said, stopping him with a hand on the doorframe.
He looked back.
"I live right here." she said, her voice firm. "The shop is open all day. If you need anything... or if you 'forget' something again... just come back. Okay?"
Cedric looked at her. He looked at the bag in his arms.
"Okay," he said. "Goodbye."
He stepped out.
He walked away. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Left. Right. Left. Right.
He reached the edge of the storefront. He was free. He was alone again. The mission was over.
But he stopped.
His feet stopped moving.
[Keep moving. We need to get back to the apartment and check the egg. We have 15 days shaved off. I need to recalibrate the timer.]
He turned around.
Wise was just about to close the door.
"Sister."
The voice stopped her hand. She froze, then pulled the door open again.
Cedric stood a few steps away. He had turned back to face her. The wind blew his now-dry hair across his face, but his purple eyes looked directly into hers.
"Thank you." He said.
It wasn't the robotic "Thank you." he had said at the restaurant. It wasn't the coerced "Thank you" he had said to get the dryer. It wasn't a payment for a service.
It was just... thank you.
It came out of him before he could stop it, before he could analyze it. A reflex.
He felt a strange flutter in his chest. A tiny, unfamiliar sensation.
[...Huh?. I didn't tell you to say that.]
The System sounded surprised.
Wise smiled. It was a soft, genuine smile that made her look less like a manager and more like the 'Sister' she had asked him to call her.
"Mhm." She nodded once.
Cedric turned and walked away. This time, he didn't stop.
He walked down Sixth Street, the canvas bag clutched to his chest and a strange, new warmth lingering on the back of his neck.
[Well.] The System murmured in his head, sounding almost proud. [That went better than expected. Maybe you aren't a lost cause after all.]
'Noisy.' Cedric thought.
But he didn't tell her to shut up