Flip the Coin [BL]-Chapter 425. Business Cards

I even found an unlabeled cleaning solution and distributed it across the bathroom floor after letting the towels disappear.

Then I conjured up the mop, and Henry helped by just putting his weight on me, steadying my balance or something—in other words, he didn’t help at all.

"Want a mop since you caused all this chaos?"

"Sure. Can I stay like this while cleaning up?" he asked, his hands exploring under my shirt.

I sighed.

"You are awfully comfortable in your role as a helpless puppy, aren’t you?"

"Mhm, I can’t tell you how wonderful this is." He laughed joyfully before letting go and taking the mop from my hands.

I conjured up another, and with water and this ominous cleaning solution, we ended up in a sea of bubbles and foam to tackle next.

"Fuck. Can you acidify the foam?" I asked before noticing myself how damn lazy I had become with our, but mostly Henry’s, ability.

"Forget what I just said." I conjured another towel hill up and distributed them before grabbing Henry’s wrist and dragging him out of there, vowing never to come back—this time for real.

"I could have done it," he shrugged.

"No. Nobody is permitted to use their powers for bubbles; what the hell is wrong with me?" I uttered, and as I stepped out of the room, I followed into the kitchen, smelling a tantalizing feast.

"How are you?" I turned back before we entered the kitchen.

"Perfectly alright, ready to acidify whatever you desire."

"No. Just acidify what—" I stopped.

Can’t tell a psychopathic puppy he can acidify everything HE wants.

"Alright." I nodded while hearing him laugh.

"And you?" he asked, turning serious.

"Alright as well." I grinned and dragged him into the kitchen, where I saw the table full of meat, vegetables, and sweets.

Emma stood in front of the stove, putting a mouthwatering pot of melted chocolate on the stovetop to keep it warm.

I am not so much of a sweets guy, definitely not as much as the puppy—but hell, it feels like forever since I ate, and that included an even longer time with a bunch of sweets.

"Thank you for your service," I genuinely thanked Emma, and when I swallowed audibly upon seeing the chocolate, I already had Henry’s hands covering my eyes, leading me blindly to the bench, growling a "thank you" in her direction as well.

When Henry took his hand away, I found the child sitting beside me, beaming at me with his plate already filled, and in front of us was Ethan, who had also started eating already.

"Where are the others?" I asked him.

"It’s not time to eat for the staff sergeant and Mrs. Howard," Ethan explained.

"Oh. Because they are old." I nodded. It should be around noon now, so maybe they have to eat at specific times to take their meds or something.

I chuckled, seeing Ethan giving me a reproachful look.

"No, they ate not long ago; nobody knew when you would wake up... And the only reason we are eating with you is that the kid has to eat as much as possible; meanwhile, meat is also okay..." He stopped for a moment before breaking into a charming smile.

"And I can’t resist Miss Emma’s food and can always make room for more." He continued to eat.

The brown-haired girl smiled from the door, bowing slightly, before leaving us alone to eat.

"Yes, it’s really good, especially the broccoli." I turned to the kid to not put Ethan on the spot.

The lost look he had for a moment hinted at something else, something deeper that could have to do with the months’ worth of time he had been stuck inside the hellhole of the Deer-Monster world, where food was a luxury.

I really hope that guy hasn’t developed an eating disorder or something.

Ren grimaced, and I patted his head, hearing Ethan laugh before I again addressed him.

"Did you hear when I introduced the kid’s name? He is called Ren."

Ethan halted, this time while smiling, and reached inside his suit jacket.

"Oh, I am aware. Henry did tell me that you announced his name during my presence; I just apparently hadn’t heard it. But more importantly, I have received a professional business card already." He eventually pulled out a little folded paper.

He also unfolded it to show me, though he didn’t hand it over, as if he were scared that I might snatch it from him.

On the paper were the hesitant and shaky letters I had already seen from the kid, clearly displaying his name, ’Ren.’ Under it was a stickman picture of a child.

I grinned; even I, who didn’t have a good relationship with stickmen because they looked very similar to hangmen, found it cute.

I turned to the kid.

"Where did you print these cards? I want some as well."

The kid laughed quietly, covering his mouth as if he was holding himself back from bursting.

"Oh, and why didn’t I get one?" I pointed with the fork at myself, seeing the kid reaching into his sleeve like a magician and taking out a similarly folded little paper.

"Thank you very much." I put my fork down to receive the business card and unfolded it.

Very similar, and very cute as well.

I showed it to Ethan, pointing at the hair my stickman had, contrary to his.

Our attorney feigned tranquility, but I could see his envy. HA!

"And Henry?" I asked.

"I have mine already." He continued to eat.

"When did you get it?"

"He snatched my first one away yesterday, directly after finally waking up," Ethan said grudgingly.

Ah. So because of that, the paranoia.

"I wanted to give it to Kenny since he came up with Ren’s name, but now that he has his own, I will keep mine... now we have matching cards." Henry looked at me as if we had gotten partner suits or something while happily admitting to his crime.

Mhm, it wasn’t the first time he had snatched someone else’s property.

I laughed before I turned to him.

"Oh, you woke up yesterday?" What about the one week he had to guard the ungrateful me that dared to leave him alone?

"It was an awfully long twenty-four hours; it felt like... a year." He instantly understood what I was getting at and looked at me with puppy eyes, directly adding a reminder of the one-year-long absence he really had to go through.

"Mhm..." It worked perfectly on me, so who the fuck am I to critique? I let it go.

"Did you get any info about my cellmate?" I asked Ethan.

He put his cutlery away and patted his mouth with a napkin.

"Your cellmate’s name is Charls Chadwell, nicknamed Chacha."

Chacha... thinking back to his jiggling, wobbly cheeks and body, I found it absolutely matching. Much better than ’shitting buddy.’

"He disappeared one year after the earthquake in the south district."

Henry leaned back.

"A year after we entered the hole?"

"Yes. Not only did Mr. Chadwell disappear; other prisoners did so as well. Although the situation inside the city is still chaotic, I have reached a contact who looked into it."

How resourceful.

"So was there some other phenomenon, like the hole in the south district asking to send prisoners there?" I snorted.

I don’t know what I had expected; that they only sent our group out? That the other prisoners were safe?

Why the fuck should they even stay safe? They are goddamn prisoners!

I don’t care if the imaginary child molester I never killed got sucked up in some portal, but I do care if said child molester managed to level up because he got the opportunity to meet his counterpart.

And the fucking most I care about is if they sent innocent people in who shouldn’t have been inside prison in the first place, like Chacha.

God, I really like that nickname.

I mean, Teddy was in too for a crime he hadn’t committed.

Wait... with me, there were three people in there who were innocent?! What were the chances that everyone else was guilty, and I only met innocent people???

Is in that fucking prison even someone guilty??

Oh, the baldies were most certainly.

And Chacha had been bribed to be my prison mate, especially because of his even temperament and innocence.

I had leaned back as well, closing my eyes in annoyance when I felt Henry’s fingers stroking over my brows.

"Don’t frown," he said with a sad puppy look, making me laugh at his cuteness.

Ethan shivered and hugged himself as discreetly as possible before finally answering.

"I didn’t find anything about their whereabouts."

I sighed.

"What happened to the hole in the south district? The portal did close by itself, didn’t it?" I had never asked about that, but now I was curious.

Ethan stared at the food on the table while speaking.

"I had been there two years ago just to make sure. The hole is still there; it’s just that, from what I heard from the reports, not long after your group of prisoners had entered, the portal closed itself. It was still a hole, just with a visible bottom, and now..." He stopped.

"Now that nobody wants to live in that place... and given that this was before the rats appeared, and there was time and money..."

"Out with it," I continued to eat, curious about what got him so worked up.

"They made an artificial lake out of it. With boats and a small shaded island in the middle—this I saw for myself." He took his glasses off again to rub the bridge of his nose for a few silent moments.

"..."

Well...

I mean, I am not a fan of lakes for apparent reasons, though one thing is clear: ’water’ is something you can use to fill a hole with.

"Is someone riding these boats?" Henry asked, repelled.

"No. And when I was there, there was still the safety barrier around the lake, including the walls they put up. Just that they didn’t limit the access to the citizens, who nevertheless treated it like the cursed spot it was."

"Want to ride a boat sometime?" I asked Henry with a chuckle and saw his ears perk up again, his imaginary tail wagging.

"Just us two?" he asked with much more enthusiasm than I had expected.

Ethan cleared his throat uncomfortably while the kid grabbed my sleeve as if he wanted to come with us.

"Don’t worry. We will not go to any cursed lakes; we will go see the ocean someday, got it?"

Need to keep the kid away from dangerous waters.

Ren nodded as enthusiastically as Henry was being awfully silent.

No jealous growl, just acceptance?

I proudly petted Henry’s head before taking his hand under the table because he had to be strong now. I just remembered an issue that would also lighten up the atmosphere more than bad or cringy news would, for at least everyone other than Henry.

"By the way, there is something missing on the business cards the kid commissioned these talented craftsmen to print."

Ethan raised his eyebrows while the beaming kid looked at me curiously.

"His last name: Howard."