Maruzensky flipped through the file one page at a time, her expression grim.
"So this is why you wouldn't tell me the truth about Eternal Meteor's past?"
"It's… half and half," Symboli Rudolf said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I wasn't completely sure myself at first. Meteor always acted so strong—so stubborn. I didn't expect it to be like this…"
Even Rudolf hadn't anticipated just how miserable Meteor's history was beneath that constant grin.
Most of it was too far back. Only fragments of surveillance footage remained.
But even those fragments were enough to make Rudolf grit her teeth.
A young girl drifting through the city.
Hungry—she'd glance around, find somewhere nobody was watching, and dig through trash.
Thirsty—she'd go into a restroom and drink from the sink.
Sometimes she'd spot a "Now Hiring" sign and step inside a shop… only to walk back out a moment later, hollow-eyed. Probably turned away for being underage—yet too ashamed to say it out loud.
When there were no hiring signs, she'd avoid people's gazes and collect recyclables to sell for cash—just enough to use an unmanned laundromat to wash and dry her clothes.
When the sun went down…
If it was cold, she'd carry cardboard into a restroom and curl up there.
If it was hot, she'd carry cardboard down to the riverbank instead.
Over and over, day after day—
until the day Rudolf finally found her.
"So what—every cop in this city is just dead weight?"
Maruzensky's anger was sharpening again, but Rudolf spoke before it could boil over.
"Her pride is… unusually strong. She cares about being seen—even when she has nothing. If there weren't cameras in some back alleys, we might not have been able to trace anything at all."
Rudolf paused, then continued quietly.
"And the reason I'm digging into this is to find what caused her self-destructive tendencies."
"Self-destructive…?"
"Yes. Self-destructive." Rudolf's gaze didn't waver. "She didn't tell you how those injuries really happened, did she?"
Maruzensky's disbelief surfaced immediately.
Meteor was normally so… normal. She joked around, teased people—she even got along well with Tokai Teio.
Then Maruzensky's eyes widened, remembering something.
"Wait—Meteor once scared Teio half to death by saying she wanted to jump off the Ferris wheel!"
The memory of Teio's story clicked into place. Maruzensky's face hardened.
Maybe… Meteor hadn't been joking after all.
"She claimed it was from start-gate training," Rudolf said.
"No way."
Rudolf just stared at her until Maruzensky forced herself to breathe.
"…Fine. Keep going."
"When I arrived at the field, the training gate was covered in blood. She was collapsed nearby—muttering over and over that she'd 'finally done it.'"
Rudolf's voice stayed steady, but every word landed like a weight.
"I also got a report that the gate itself had been dented."
"And when I questioned her, she told me she was trying to execute a 'fast start'—timing the gate and launching early, the instant it opened."
Maruzensky's brows twisted into a knot.
"So that's why you two fought."
"Yes." Rudolf exhaled. "And now I'm trying to make up for it. But there isn't much—only some recent footage."
She shook her head, frustrated.
"Even using the Symboli family's resources, this is all I could find. The one relief—if you can call it that—is that the sweep only turned up Meteor. Not a whole group of kids living like that."
They both fell silent, drowning in the same heavy worry—
until the phone on the desk started vibrating and shattered the quiet.
Rudolf picked up.
On the other end, Teio's voice came out breathless and panicked, like she'd been running nonstop.
"Finally—President, it went through! Something's wrong! Eternal Meteor ran out of the hospital!"
"What?!" Rudolf blurted.
Teio's volume was so loud that Maruzensky—standing beside her—also gasped.
"Calm down. Teio, where are you right now?"
"I'm at the shopping plaza east of the hospital. A bunch of people said they saw Meteor head east, so I'm asking around while I search!"
"I'm coming now. Don't panic."
Rudolf hung up and immediately called the Symboli household again—one blunt order:
Pull the cameras. Now.
Maruzensky was already sprinting for the door.
"That kid—please don't do anything stupid!"
Meanwhile, the "missing" Eternal Meteor—after "receiving assistance" from X and finishing her exam with suspicious smoothness—had simply gone to the restroom and washed her face.
Then, in a downright cheerful mood, she started browsing the shopping street for an apology gift for Rudolf.
"Taking an exam like that and you still needed me, tch," X scoffed inside her head.
"You count as part of my strength. This is all the result of my effort!" Meteor crowed. "Hahahaha!"
She wasn't embarrassed in the slightest—if anything, she looked pleased—skipping along while pedestrians stared like they were trying to figure out which psychiatric ward had misplaced a patient.
"Help me pick something, would you? What should I buy?"
"Here's my professional recommendation," X said sweetly. "Tie two ribbons on yourself, hop into her bed, and present that as the gift."
"An animal's mouth never produces ivory. Get lost."
She immediately regretted asking.
She knew perfectly well X never had anything decent to say—and yet she kept asking anyway.
…Was she kind of into suffering?
She shook her head hard, as if she could rattle that thought loose.
Why would she insult herself like that?
Then her eyes landed on a bookstore ahead.
She pushed the door open—and instantly lit up.
On a shelf right in front of her sat a book titled something like The Ultimate Collection of Terrible Jokes.
Meteor made a beeline, snatched it up, and held it like treasure.
"You're not seriously planning to buy that, are you?" X said. "Want to precisely snipe someone's blood pressure?"
"This has nothing to do with me," Meteor replied solemnly. "I can't be 'chilled' by cold jokes. All I can do is offer Air Groove my condolences."
She set the book down, clasped her hands together, and put on the most sincere prayer face imaginable—
except the grin tugging at the corner of her mouth completely sold her out.
"Your manners are so refined I'm starting to feel cold," X muttered.
Meteor ignored him, grabbed the book again, and walked to the register.
"Boss, I'll take this. Do you do gift wrapping? Like—make it look nice."
"Yes, yes—of course!"
The shop owner looked at the bandaged weirdo in front of him, sweat breaking out across his forehead, and clearly decided his one life goal was to send this customer away as fast as humanly possible.
The book was wrapped up quickly, transformed into something that looked like a Christmas present box.
Meteor hummed a happy little tune, watching it all—
completely forgetting one tiny, extremely tragic detail.
"…Do you have money?" X asked.
Meteor's face slowly turned the color of iron.
X burst into delighted, unrestrained laughter.
"Hahahahahaha—hic—how can someone be this stupid?! Hahahahahaha!"
"Enough. Laugh if you want, but why are you forcing the hiccup too? Seriously—"
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 80)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 80)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 74)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter20)
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